Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 523: Lure the Snake Out of the Hole (Special thanks to book friend 2017…8585 for the monthly ticket!)

Tang Qidao:
"Don't worry, Your Highness!
When Your Majesty led the army in person, proper arrangements had already been made.

Your Majesty has often worried that since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established Confucianism as the only official ideology, the system of officialism and privilege has become the mainstream in China. Although the power of the aristocratic families has declined greatly due to the great economic development and social turmoil since the Tang Dynasty, the stubborn and backward forces have lasted for thousands of years and are probably deeply rooted.

Since Your Majesty ascended the throne, you have implemented benevolent policies, abolished bureaucratic privileges such as the system of nepotism and recommendation, vigorously developed the commodity economy, promoted social and judicial justice and class mobility, and ushered in a glorious era for our great Zhou.

Your Majesty has taken the Imperial Family on several trips over the years, but has failed to drive out the stubborn reactionary forces hidden deep within the country. I am deeply worried.

Your Majesty's expedition to Maya this time is intended to give these stubborn reactionary forces an opportunity, which is a strategy of luring the snake out of its hole!
This Lu Duosun has made few contributions, and his official position is not low. His own sons are not ambitious and failed to pass the imperial examination. He actually resents Your Majesty for abolishing the system of favor and recommendation! He is bent on restoring the privileges of the bureaucratic aristocracy. He is really a treacherous villain who is a disaster to the country!

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can now take advantage of the situation and pretend to agree to Lu Dosun and the others, try his best to lure out all of their followers, and then launch a thunderbolt to catch them all!
This is a great achievement that will help Your Majesty resolve his worries! Your Highness the Crown Prince will surely receive Your Majesty's favor!"

Chai Jiyu hesitated and said:

"My father is leading the army outside. If I expand the army, even though it is to lure out Ludoson and his party, I am afraid that it will displease my father."

Tang Qidao:
"Your Highness, don't worry! The Kievan Rus devils dared to enter our country to kill and plunder the people of our Great Zhou. When your majesty returns home, he will definitely lead a large army to conquer Kievan Rus!

Your Highness's expansion of the army will be just the right thing for Your Majesty to use when he returns to the country to fight! I will explain this to Your Majesty in the memorial."

Chai Jiyu was very pleased, and he discussed with Tang Qi for a long time to work out the details.

After Tang Qi took his leave, he immediately submitted a memorial with the details of his request and sent several soldiers from the Wude Division to the north overnight, crossing the sea from the "Weifeng Peninsula" to the Mayan continent to report to Emperor Chai Zongxun.

In the following days, Chai Jiyu summoned important officials in the court, such as the chief military cabinet minister Huyan Zan, the commander of the Longxiang Guard Zhang Yong, the chief cabinet minister Li Hang, and the commander of the Longxiang Army Han Hui, for secret discussions.

On the first day of May in the 41st year of Kaixi, the regent Crown Prince Chai Jiyu issued an edict to recruit 360,000 young people from across the country to form the 31st to 34th Corps of the Longxiang Army.

That afternoon, Chai Jiyu summoned Lu Duosun to an audience in Yanfu Hall.

After greeting, Chai Jiyu said:

"Master Lu said something very good:

Even if there is only a one in ten chance of shaking the Crown Prince's position, I have to be cautious.

Although I have issued an order to expand the Dragon-Xiang Army to four regiments across the country, there are only a few people in the court who are loyal to me. Even if I seize the throne, how can I maintain control of the government?"

In order to strengthen the prince's determination to seize the throne, Lu Duosun, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, recommended Zhao Bai, the minister of the Central Secretariat, and other key figures to Chai Jiyu, and made a list of gentry across the country who supported the prince, which numbered more than 3,000 people.

Ludoson said:

"Your Highness, the teachings of Confucius have been passed down in China for thousands of years. How can you say that there is no one there?

It’s just that under your majesty’s previous policies that did not distinguish between the common people and the gentry, most of us, the saint’s disciples, retreated to avoid disaster.

Your Highness, the people on this list that I have drawn up are all those who have sworn an oath of blood and are willing to die for Your Highness!

As long as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince ascends the throne, the number of people who can be mobilized by these famous scholars in various places will be more than a hundred times greater!"

Chai Jiyu nodded and said:
“If this is the case, Master Lu can continue to invite like-minded people to join.

After the four dragon cavalry have trained for a few months and have sufficient combat power, we will then work together to plan great things."

Lu Duosun was overjoyed. After leaving the palace, he summoned Zhao Bai and others to discuss in secret for several days, and mobilized his followers to vigorously recruit conservative gentry to join the party. …

On May 12, the 41st year of Kaixi, after several months of pursuit and interception by nearly six corps of the Longxiang Army, the Liao army led by Yelu Xizhen was finally driven out of the central forests of the Maya continent and forced to the Great Lakes area.

After discussing with Yelu Xizhen, Yelu Moge and others, they realized that they could no longer gain a foothold in the Mayan continent, so they planned to break out to the south and escort the Liao Emperor Yelu Longxu to the continent south of the Mayan Empire (South America in the previous life).

On May 16 and May 22, after two battles with the blocking Zhou army in Xiaowai, the Liao army with only 60,000 people broke through the heavy encirclement and arrived at the central and southern part of the country, which the local Mayans called "Sitting Bull Valley" on May 26.

The Liao army was tired and hungry, so Yelu Xizhen ordered the entire army to set up camp and have a meal, and then take a short rest before heading southwest.

After the meal, all the generals gathered in the main tent to discuss.

After these days of running, Yelu Longxu, who grew up on horseback, was fine, but the Empress Xiao Ya and their three children, two sons and one daughter, were all exhausted.

Xiao Ya complained:

"Your Majesty, now the Queen Mother and the Mayan Empire have surrendered to the Great Zhou, and I have not heard that the Emperor of Zhou killed them.

We had an army of 200,000, but now only 60,000 are left. It is clear that guerrilla tactics are not feasible when facing the encirclement and interception of the Zhou army that is several times larger than ours.

It would be fine for me to follow Your Majesty in the army, but my three children are all so young, how can they endure long-term exile!"

When Yelu Longxu was hesitating, Taiwei Yelu Xizhen saluted and said:
"It is my fault that Your Majesty and Her Royal Highness the Queen have suffered so much from traveling so long!

But Taizu's entrepreneurship was extremely difficult, and the late emperor traveled thousands of miles to establish the Maya foundation. If it were to perish in the Great Zhou, we would all be ashamed of our ancestors!
Your Majesty, don't worry. From here, if you go southwest from "Zuo Niu Valley" for more than 500 miles, you will enter a long and narrow peninsula. If you go south for another 100 miles across the peninsula, you will reach another vast continent.

By then, they will be far away from the Zhou army. If the Zhou army wants to pursue them in a large-scale, the supplies for hundreds of thousands of troops will be insufficient.

Our Liao will surely find a place to establish a nation in the New World."

Yelu Moge said:
"Your Majesty, the commander is right.

If we are intercepted by the Zhou army on the way, we will take all the blame for resisting Zhou, and Your Majesty can lead the Queen and others to surrender to the Great Zhou."

Yelu Longxu sighed:

"This is all we can do for now! I just hope the spirits of our ancestors can bless us."

The Liao army escaped the pursuit of the Zhou army and continued to march southwest for five days. They were already near the Yucatan Peninsula in the southwest of the Mayan continent. They only needed to cross a mountain range in front of them to move south along the peninsula.

After lunch on June 4, the 41st year of Kaixi, the Liao army broke camp and continued to march south.

When they were about to reach the foot of the mountain range, there was a sudden noise and a Zhou army galloped out from the forest and blocked the Liao army's way.

The leading general was Zhang Ning, the commander-in-chief of the Fifth Corps of the Longxiang Army.

When Yelu Xizhen and other Liao people were shocked, Zhang Ning laughed and said:

"Yelü Xizhen, our army has long known that you want to flee south, and this commander-in-chief has been waiting here for two days!

You are now at the end of your rope, why don't you quickly surrender and go to the capital to meet His Majesty? With His Majesty's magnanimity, perhaps you can spare your lives!"

(End of this chapter)