Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 514 Kievan Rus (Special thanks to book friend 2023…0703 for the 2 monthly tickets!)

After arriving at the Beiming region of the Great Zhou mainland, the journey became much easier. There was a military camp every few hundred miles along the way for rest and supplies, and the temperature reached a cool and pleasant ten to twenty degrees.

After more than four months of running, the first group of angels returned to Bian Jing in mid-September of the 39th year of Kaixi.

After more than a year, the angel sent by Emperor Chai Zongxun finally arrived. The citizens of Bianjing and even the entire country were extremely excited.

The regent Crown Prince Chai Jiyu immediately summoned the first batch of angels to the Yangxin Palace, with the chief eunuch Tang Qi at his side.

After the greeting, Chai Jiyu asked the angel in detail about his father's personal expedition to Maya. Hearing that the Empress Dowager Xiao Chuo of Liao had surrendered the capital and that the Great Zhou had conquered nearly two-thirds of the territory of the Maya continent, he could not help but feel happy.

After understanding the situation clearly, Chai Jiyu took the imperial edict from Tang Qicheng and looked at it.

The emperor's edict mainly stated three things:
First, four more Longxiang Army corps will be dispatched from all over the country, and will set off for the Mayan continent in the early spring of next year.

There is no need to narrate the details of the Mayan war to the civil and military officials in the court, only to say that the troops were insufficient.

Second, three million Han people were recruited from populous states to immigrate to the Mayan continent, and each household was rewarded with 20 taels of silver and 500 acres of land.

At that time, the Royal Navy will send warships to transport the immigrants and four Dragon Army corps along the coastline to the central and western coast of the Mayan continent for landing.

Be sure to carry more food, seeds and production tools on the warships.

Thirdly, he ordered the Ministry of Works to recruit enough technical talents and craftsmen from various industries, and the court gave them a high salary of ten taels per month, and they went to the Maya continent together with the Royal Navy warships.

After reading it, Chai Jiyu asked Tang Qi, the chief eunuch of the palace:

"General Manager Tang, my father is wise and powerful, and he has achieved immediate success. We are in urgent need of immigrants to establish our Great Zhou's rule in the Mayan continent.

But my father is clearly on the verge of conquering the Liao and Maya peoples of the entire Maya continent, so why doesn't he allow me to tell the civil and military officials clearly? "

Tang Qi smiled and said:

"Your Highness, His Majesty has always been a man of foresight. He has a hidden agenda in not allowing the Crown Prince to inform the civil and military officials of the details of the war.

Your Highness, please follow my orders."

Chai Jiyu's mind moved, and the words that his father often denounced, "officialism and hierarchy are harmful to the nation," flashed through his mind, so he nodded.

The next day, September 16, the 39th year of Kaixi, there was an early morning court session.

Accompanied by Tang Qi and other eunuchs and palace maids, Chai Jiyu walked into the Chuigong Hall in the front yard of the imperial palace, and waited for the hundreds of civil and military officials in the hall to pay their respects and said:

"Greetings to His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince who is the Regent! May His Royal Highness live a thousand years and a thousand thousand years!"

Chai Jiyu said:

"Everyone loves you!"

He sat down on a bright yellow imperial couch slightly to the right of the golden throne.

Chai Jiyu said:

"Yesterday, my father sent an angel back to the capital to announce his will. We have already conquered two-thirds of the Mayan continent. This is cause for celebration.

Chief Steward Tang, read the imperial edict to all officials. " After Tang Qi bowed and agreed, he unfolded the imperial edict with both hands and read it out in a sharp voice.

After all the ministers had listened, Chai Jiyu said:

“The three things that the emperor has ordered me to do are not difficult and should be completed as soon as possible to live up to the emperor’s expectations.

The other two things are easy to do, but there are only two Longxiang armies left in Bianjing that can be mobilized. How can we gather four armies safely? You can give us some advice and suggestions."

The Prime Minister Li Hang came out and said:
"Your Highness, I think that we cannot leave only the Imperial Guards and the Military Virtue Department in Bianjing. The two Dragon Army regiments cannot be dispatched. We should draw four regiments from the local areas and send them to the Maya Continent in accordance with your majesty's decree."

Chai Jiyu nodded slightly and said:

“The Prime Minister’s opinion is reasonable.

What I mean is that after more than three years of benevolent rule in the land of the Star Sect, the people are living a good life, the atmosphere among the people is relaxed, and there are no more rebellious armed forces. We only need to continue to strictly govern the officials and promote industry and commerce. In the future, the rule of our Great Zhou will become increasingly stable, and we can gradually reduce the local garrison.

From the seven corps currently in Central and West Asia, two will be drawn back to the capital, one from the three corps in Khwarezm and Khirgos, and one from the northwest, which will be enough for four corps. "

The chief military minister Hu Yanzan came out and said:

“Your Highness is wise, but I think that troops can be drawn from the other three places, but not from the Northwest Ming.

There is a country to the west of the "Longxiong Mountains" in the northwest, called "Kievan Rus". The people there have fierce faces like ghosts, red hair and blue eyes. They bully the good and fear the evil, and are extremely cruel.

At that time, Your Majesty sent our Longxiang Army to the north to capture the entire Beiming territory. After I led the First Corps to capture the "Longxiang Mountains", I began to build the city according to the imperial decree.

Unexpectedly, the Kievan Rus people often intruded into the territory of our Great Zhou. Hunting and catching animals was ok for them, but they often killed the natives of the North Ming whom they met on the way and abducted the women back to their country as slaves.

After being chased and hunted down several times by my troops, thousands of Kievan Rus people were killed. Only then did they become frightened and dared not cross the "Longxiong Mountains" again.

If Your Highness withdraws a corps of troops from the Beiming garrison, I am afraid that if the garrison is sparse, the Kievan Rus will find an opportunity to attack again."

In 882 AD, the Vikings conquered Kiev and its surrounding areas and established a country composed mainly of East Slavs, with Kiev as its capital. This was Kievan Rus.

It was founded by the Viking Oleh and mainly populated by Eastern Slavs. The territory of the country includes the land between the Dnieper River and Lake Ilmen, and is the birthplace of Eastern Slav culture.

In the early AD, the Eastern Slavs still retained the clan system, and each tribe was composed of several clans. They cut down forests, leveled the land, engaged in farming, raised livestock collectively, hunted and fished, and all issues were decided by the clan assembly.

From the 8th to the 9th century, the social class differentiation of the Eastern Slavs became increasingly widened, and the tribes attacked each other and wars continued.

In 862 AD, the Norman Rurik was invited by the Slavs to come to the East European plains to resolve the Slavic civil strife. He led his personal guards to ascend the throne of prince in Novgorod and established the first Russian kingdom, the Rurik Dynasty.

In 969 AD, Sviatoslav I ascended the throne and soon launched a war against the Khazar Khanate and captured its capital, Sakr. He then led his troops to the Volga River to attack the Bulgars.

In 971 AD, he captured the Bulgarian capital of Preslavia. In the same year, he suffered a series of military defeats at the hands of the Eastern Roman Empire and was forced to give up his sovereignty claims over Bulgaria and Crimea.

In the 980st year of Kaixi ( AD), Sviatoslav's youngest son Vladimir I succeeded to the throne and was also a wise ruler.

After ascending the throne, he reorganized the administration and the army, promulgated a code of law, and made peace with the Eastern Roman Empire. The national strength gradually reached the peak of Kievan Rus.

(End of this chapter)