Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 68 Gaining People’s Heart (Special thanks to book friends 2017…6364 for my monthly ticket for eating scallion pancakes!)
Chai Zongxun was in the Bianjing Palace and received a memorial from Hu Yanzhan, the first commander of the first corps of the "Longxiang Army" on July 4, the th year of Kaixi.

The other three memorials that arrived together were one from the eunuch Xiao Liuzi (He Yao), another from the "Longxiang Guard" Qianhu Hu Lian who accompanied the army, and one from the military police of the First Army.

These four memorials allowed Chai Zongxun to fully understand the process of the expedition against Nanping and the Wuqing Army.

After reading the four memorials, Chai Zongxun pondered:
“Hu Yanzan and Xiao Liuzi did a pretty good job.

I have established a system of eunuchs to supervise the military in the "Longxiang Army" and "Longxiang Guards", who are responsible for instilling the loyalty and patriotism of the sergeants on a daily basis. The salary of the sergeants is also distributed by the supervisory army, which directly cuts off the way for the military commanders to control the income of the sergeants.

The lack of financial power and the military police system can permanently prevent the army from becoming a private army of generals.

In a few years, when the sergeants of these two armies of mine have grown up and their combat capabilities have reached their peak, rotation of senior officers will also be implemented.

This is my personal army built by myself. It is extremely loyal and will be my main force in bringing peace to the world in the future. It will be adjusted once every five years.

Now that both the Nanping and Wuqing armies have taken over the territory, the next step is to start the "plan to reduce the vassal state"!

I just wonder how Li Xiang and Wang Taifu were talking with Grandpa and Li Jun? "

Then I thought again:

"I order the entire army to strictly abide by military regulations. They must not embezzle money from the treasury of the newly occupied areas, nor rob the people. The rewards for the meritorious soldiers must not be low."

On the afternoon of July 25th, Chai Zongxun received the report: Zhou Baoquan, the military commander of the Wuqing Army, had been brought to Bianjing, and with him was his father's confidant general Yang Shifan who carefully protected him all the way.

Chai Zongxun immediately summoned the two of them to the Huangji Hall to meet the saint.

Within a moment, Zhou Baoquan and Yang Shifan were brought into the palace by several eunuchs and imperial guards.

After the ceremony, Chai Zongxun looked at the two of them and saw that Zhou Baoquan was about the same age as himself, about 12 or 3 years old. He was not as tall as he was, and he was a little chubby and weak;
Yang Shifan was a military general in his forties, with firm eyes and a rather weathered look on his face. He looked at him warily and could not hide his look.

Chai Zongxun, who was sitting high on the golden throne, smiled and said:
"Don't worry, you two! You are not Liu Cong and Wang Wei, and I am not Cao Cao!
Since you two have sincerely surrendered to me, Da Zhou, and Zhou Jiedu is still young, no matter whether you were right or wrong, you cannot be blamed for what happened in the past.

General Yang's loyalty to his master deserves commendation.

I conferred the title of Marquis on Zhou Jiedushi and the title of Uncle on General Yang. I gave him a residence in the capital, so that I can live peacefully in Bianjing. "

Zhou Baoquan was young and simple-minded, so he immediately gave a big gift to express his gratitude.

Yang Shipan said doubtfully:

"May I ask if your majesty can really tolerate my little master? You will never use poisonous means to harm him?"

Tang Qi, the eunuch in charge of the palace who stood behind Chai Zongxun, scolded:
"Bold! Yang Shifan, you are just a defeated general. How can I, His Majesty the Emperor of Zhou Dynasty, allow you to question your eloquent words?!
Your Majesty spared your two lives, why don't you quickly thank the Emperor for his great kindness? "

Chai Zongxun waved his hand to stop Tang Qi from continuing. He turned to look at Yang Shifan in the hall and said:
"General Yang is very loyal and brave.

Before Zhou Xingfeng died, he entrusted his eleven-year-old son to you. With more than 20 years of military experience and the most prestige in the Wuqing army, you were able to loyally assist your young master and had no intention of treason and usurping the throne.

This alone is much better than Zhao Niqiang in my old days. I admire you very much.

In the future, General Yang can serve me as a great Zhou. " Yang Shifan felt relieved when he heard what Chai Zongxun said so sincerely. After thanking him, he and Zhou Baoquan exited the Huangji Palace together.

After living in the Marquis Mansion rewarded by Emperor Chai Zongxun, Zhou Baoquan devoted himself to history and later became a first-generation exegesis scholar in the Zhou Empire. He wrote many historical works and left a name in literature and history. He was sixty-two years old.

Yang Shipan was later appointed by Emperor Chai Zongxun as Taizhou Marching Sima. He was a brave and honest official and made many meritorious deeds. More than ten years later, he was promoted to the governor of Taizhou. He died of illness in office and died in the 31st year of Kaixi at the age of seventy-three. age.

A few days later, in the morning, the ministers learned that in just two months, the "Longxiang Army" had dispatched only 30,000 troops of the First Corps and the First Army, and had pacified the Nanping and Wuqing armies. They were all shocked. Xiao Xiao Emperor Chai Zongxun's prestige rose sharply.

The two places came under the rule of the Great Zhou Dynasty, with a total of more than 523,000 households and a population of more than 2.8 million people. The area covers more than 300,000 square kilometers.

After several days of discussion with the civil and military ministers, Chai Zongxun agreed on the policy strategy for Nanping and Wuqing Jiedu Prefecture:
There are 116 counties in twelve prefectures, including Jingnan, Tanzhou, Hengzhou, and Yuezhou. Each of them selected twelve Jinshi and Wu Jinshi who had performed well in the first year of Kaixi in the past three years. The assassination and defense envoy of the state.

The garrison troops of each government were dispatched from the front department of the Forbidden Army Palace and the personal guard and army department, with three thousand people in each government.

The Ministry of Industry immediately dispatched a team of officials to these twelve states to promote water conservancy, promote reclamation, and reduce local land rents from 60% to 30%.

Abolish the checkpoints between states and counties, encourage commerce, and build new markets in states and counties, charging only 20% of the commercial tax to promote people's business.

Chai Zongxun also secretly ordered the "Longxiang Guards" to increase the investigation of officials in the newly established twelve states. If there are those who have violated the law and harmed the people, they will be dealt with immediately according to law after collecting evidence.

After several months of implementation of the New Deal, the burdens of the people in the twelve prefectures including Jingnan and Tanzhou were greatly reduced, and they rushed to reclaim wasteland, and their lives quickly improved.

The local commodity economy began to develop rapidly, and the government's grain income from acres of land and commercial tax revenue also increased significantly.

After investigating and dealing with the previous illegal and criminal incidents of many local officials, the officialdom was greatly suppressed and the people were happy. Emperor Chai Zongxun was praised as a holy king, and the people's hearts were greatly harvested.

When Chai Zongxun was discussing with the ministers the policies for the newly acquired two places in the Bianjing Palace, Li Tao and Wang Zhu each traveled for more than 20 days and arrived at Damingfu and Luzhou respectively.

When Li Tao and his party entered the territory of Daming Prefecture on July 20, the fourth year of Kaixi, local officials immediately came to greet them.

When there were still ten miles away from Damingfu City, King Wei and Fu Yanqing, the envoy of Tianxiong Army, had led their eldest son Fu Zhaoshou, second son Fu Zhaoyuan and more than a hundred subordinate officials to greet Marquis Li Tao.

The two met several times in Bianjing when they were in Sejong.

Fu Yanqing was about sixty years old, and his body was still strong and strong. His weather-beaten face was now full of smiles. He came up to Li Tao and saluted:

"Angel Li Xiang has come all the way from the capital, and I am disappointed to meet him from afar!"

Everyone behind him saluted respectfully.

Li Tao returned the gift and said with a smile:

"I feel ashamed to receive such courtesy and honor from the King of Wei!
This time, under the orders of His Majesty, I have brought great news to King Wei! "

Fu Yanqing only thought it was what Empress Dowager Fu had said in a letter at home a few days ago that Emperor Chai Zongxun appointed his eldest granddaughter Fu Zhenzhen as his queen, and he was very happy.

Fu Yanqing took Li Tao's hand, and together they boarded the waiting luxury carriage and headed into Damingfu City.

(End of this chapter)