Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 71: Li Yu, Empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty (Special thanks to book friend Feng Shao for his 2 monthly passes!)

Meng Chang was overjoyed and asked who these two people were.

Wang Zhaoyuan said:

"Your Majesty, Zhang Yongde, the Marquis of Jizhou in the Zhou Kingdom and the commander of the returned army in Germany, defeated the Han Kingdom in the "Battle of Xingzhou" in the first year of Kaixi and made great contributions to the Great Zhou Dynasty.

At the end of last year (the third year of Kaixi), Guo Zongxun, the young emperor of the Zhou Kingdom, implemented the "garrison system" of rotating senior generals in the marching army. Zhang Yongde was removed from the post of commander of the Forbidden Army Guards and Pro-Army Command, and was sent to Youzhou to take up the post of commander of the German Army. .

Moreover, Guo Zongxun is currently pursuing the strategy of cutting down the vassal vassal. He has recently issued an order to transfer 20,000 soldiers from the returned army to various places where the military governors were formerly envoys on the grounds that the Liao monarchs and ministers are fatuous and have no worries on the border. Zhang Yongde must be extremely dissatisfied. "

Meng Chang nodded and said:
"What Ai Qing said makes sense! As a relative of the Zhou Emperor and the son-in-law of Taizu Guo Wei, how could Zhang Yongde not be filled with resentment when such power was suppressed?

Dear, where is the other person? "

Wang Zhaoyuan said:

"Your Majesty, this other person is Wang Quanbin, the governor of Heyang in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

When Wang Quanbin was young, he was the bodyguard of Li Cunxu, Emperor Zhuangzong of the Later Tang Dynasty. During the "Xingjiaomen Incident", all the troops fled. Only Quanbin, Fu Yanqing and more than ten people remained in the fight to protect Emperor Zhuangzong.

After Li Cunxu was hit by an arrow, Wang Quanbin, Fu Yanqing and others helped him to Jiangxiao Hall, where Wang Quanbin cried bitterly and left.

Quan Bin later served as an official in the Jin, Han, and Zhou dynasties with his bravery.

After entering the Zhou Dynasty, in the second year of Xiande (955), Quan Bin followed Xiang Xun (Xiang Gong) to pacify Qin and Feng, so he also served as the training envoy of the Sizhou regiment. Soon he was promoted to concurrently serve as Sizhou defense envoy.

Following Zhou Emperor Guo Rong, he conquered Huainan. After regaining Waqiao Pass, he was appointed as Xiangzhou Liuhou.

After Guo Zongxun, the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, succeeded to the throne, he appointed Wang Quanbin as the governor of Heyang and controlled the Luoyang area of ​​​​Xijing.

He often laments to others in private:

"Fu Yanqing and I served Emperor Zhuang together when we were young. Now Yanqing is the King of Zhou and Wei, and I am only the envoy of Heyang Festival!
Is my talent far inferior to that of Yanqing? ! "

Your Majesty, in the past when the Zhou Emperor went south to Huainan and north to Youzhou, Wang Quanbin worked under Zhao Kuangyin several times, so he was not reused by the current Zhou Emperor Guo Zongxun.

Now Guo Zongxun has banned the Jiedushi system. Wang Quanbin and his ministers fought in the unified army in the second year of Xiande and exchanged letters. He has sent an envoy to contact me a few days ago! "

Meng Chang clapped his hands and said excitedly:
"That's great! Wang Aiqing, immediately responded to my instructions to Wang Quanbin, expressing my support for him with money and food from Shu.

As long as he raises troops to rebel against Zhou, I will send an army of fifty thousand to support him! "

The monarch and his ministers discussed for a long time, and finally decided to send Si Wencao's commander An Siqian to lead people to contact Wang Quanbin, the governor of Heyang Jiedu of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and Zhang Yongde, the commander of the Guide Army, to instigate the two to rebel against the Zhou Dynasty.

The secret service of Hou Shu was modeled after the Shu Kingdom of the Three Kingdoms, and was also named "Si Wen Cao". It had more than 7,000 people. On weekdays, it secretly monitored domestic subjects and obtained confidential information from enemy countries for Emperor Meng Chang of Later Shu.

The commander, An Siqian, is forty-two years old and has amazing martial arts skills. He followed Meng Chang as his personal guard when he was young and is his confidant.

After receiving the order, An Siqian prepared for several days before sending two teams of 300 men each to sneak towards the Great Zhou Dynasty:

He led the team all the way to Luoyang to meet Wang Quanbin, and the other team was led by deputy commander Zhong Han to meet Zhang Yongde in Ying, Mo and Yizhou in Youzhou.

At almost the same time, in the Jinling Palace of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the king of the country, Li Yu, was also in the Ziji Hall, discussing with his confidant Feng Mi, the Minister of Household Affairs, about the banning of Jiedushi by Emperor Chai Zongxun of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

In the second year of Kaixi (961), Li Jing, the central leader of the Southern Tang Dynasty, was afraid of the military power of the Great Zhou Dynasty under Chai Zongxun, so at the instigation of Privy Councilor Tang Hao, he moved the capital to Nanchang and named it Nandu. However, the streets in Southern Capital were narrow, and all officials in the Southern Tang Dynasty complained about it. Li Jing also regretted it and wanted to return to the old capital of Jinling.

Without success, Li Jing died in Nandu in June of the second year of Kaixi. Prince Li Yu succeeded to the throne in Jinling and became the later master of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

Li Yu was born in the first year of Shengyuan of the Southern Tang Dynasty (937), with the courtesy name Chongguang. He was the sixth son of Emperor Yuanzong of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Li Jing and Empress Zhong.

After he succeeded to the throne, he respected his mother, Empress Zhong, as the empress dowager, and appointed his concubine Zhou as the empress of the country. He was the great empress of Zhou Dynasty, and he conferred titles on his younger brothers. And accepted Yao Niang as his concubine.

Yao Niang is as light as a swallow. She is good at dancing a lotus-picking dance adapted from the "Lotus Plucking Song" by Wang Changling of the Tang Dynasty. She was favored by Li Yu and ordered the Ministry of Works to build a giant six-meter-high lotus platform with gold for Yao Niang. Dance.

Li Yu said: "Information came from the Great Zhou Dynasty the day before yesterday that Emperor Guo Zongxun was implementing the plan to reduce vassal status within the territory: the Jiedushi system was banned.

I heard that in the four years since he came to the throne, Guo Zongxun has built water conservancy projects, changed the corvee system to employment, and reduced land rent and commercial taxes. He is indeed a benevolent king.

I just hope that for the sake of our Tang State paying tribute every year, he will not send troops to attack our Tang State, and let our Tang State be its vassal state forever. "

When Feng Mi heard this, he secretly sighed in his heart: Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the current annual tribute of 600,000 taels of silver from the Tang State to the Great Zhou Dynasty is just a way to survive. Unexpectedly, the leader of the country, Li Yu, is so naive that he thinks that he can always be a vassal state of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Feng Mi said:
"Your Majesty, it would be good if the Great Zhou Dynasty never came to attack our country, Tang Dynasty.

Only two months ago, Emperor Guo Zongxun of the Great Zhou Dynasty sent 30,000 "Longxiang Army" south to attack Nanping and Wuqing Army. It was clear that he wanted to unify the world.

This time the policy of reducing vassal status was implemented in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Unexpectedly, Tianxiong Jiedushi Fu Yanqing and Zhaoyi Jiedushi Li Jun, who had strong military strength and were famous generals, immediately agreed to Guo Zongxun's plan to ban Jiedushi. will.

Both of them have recently begun to hand over their troops to the imperial court. Fu Yanqing stayed in the Wei Palace in Daming Prefecture, while Li Jun has moved to Bianjing with his son Li Shoujie, his daughter-in-law Madam Fu Jinding from Luzhou and other family members to the "Yi Guo Gong Palace" in Bianjing. "Residence.

As a result, the Jiedu envoys from all over the Great Zhou Dynasty did not dare to make mistakes, seeing that Emperor Guo Zongxun's plan to reduce the vassal vassal was about to succeed.

Your Majesty, although Guo Zongxun is young, he is a hero and his heroism has been revealed early. In a few years, after the Zhou Dynasty is stabilized, Guo Zongxun will definitely point his troops at the Tang Dynasty. Your Majesty should take action as soon as possible! "

Li Yu lingered for a long time and hesitated:

"My dear sir, Guo Zongxun treats the people benevolently and righteously, and I worship Weijin every year. He won't attack our country, Tang?"

Moreover, since the beginning of my father's reign, I, the Tang Dynasty, have been defeated in many battles with the Great Zhou Dynasty. Even if I know that Guo Zongxun is sharpening his sword against my Datang Dynasty, what can I do? "

Feng Mi pondered for a moment and said:

"Your Majesty, for the purpose of your order, I think there are two strategies:
First, we, the Tang Dynasty, immediately sent people to contact Wang Quanbin, the governor of Heyang, the Great Zhou Dynasty. According to my observation, this person is currently the most anti-Chou Jiedushi envoy.

We, the Tang Dynasty, should support him with all our resources and resources, and encourage him to raise troops to rebel against the Zhou Dynasty. This will destabilize the Zhou Dynasty internally, and then it will not be able to free its hands to attack me.

Secondly, if Your Majesty does not want to spend too much financial resources, you should send an envoy to Daliao secretly and marry the royal families of the two countries.

In this way, if the Zhou Dynasty wants to attack the Tang Dynasty in the future, the Liao Dynasty will not sit idly by and do nothing.

With the strong support of Daliao, our Tang Dynasty can maintain long-term stability. "

Being able to meet each other without swords was naturally something Li Yu, a romantic poet, was very happy about, and he immediately asked:
"Feng Aiqing, if we want to marry the royal family of Daliao, which princess of the Tang Dynasty should we send?"

(End of this chapter)