The first prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 41
"Everyone is flat," said Chai Rong and sat on the dragon chair.

The ministers shouted: "Thank you, Your Majesty." They stood up.

Every time he knelt and stood, Zhao Xu got tired of this etiquette.

After Chai Rong saw that the ministers were all standing still, he ordered:
"Zhang Dejun, come and announce the decree."

Chai Rong immediately got to the point without a word of nonsense, and Zhang Dejun slowly unfolded a piece of yellow silk, which was the imperial decree.

At this moment, Zhao Xu thought about it again, just pointing out the imperial decree, I was an antique at that time.When did he still think about this thing.

Zhang Dejun read slowly: "Fengtian Chengyun Emperor, the edict said:

"Since the Five Dynasties, the warriors have suffered from cholera and continuous wars, the Central Plains have been robbed, Qin Feng has been promoted, and four states have been occupied.

I inherit the great unification, inherit the last wishes of my ancestors, and decide to recover the lost land and restore the old land of my Central Plains dynasty.

Gu Youwo, the army of the Celestial Dynasty advanced to Xichui, thanks to the bloody battle of the soldiers, the protection of the emperor and the protection of the ancestors, there was a great victory.

It is indeed a great achievement to bring back the old place that has been separated from the Central Plains for many years to the hands of the Celestial Dynasty.I decided to reward those who have meritorious service.

Today, there are General Wang Jingxiangxun and others who are fighting bloody battles, and the forbidden army Zhao Kuangyin and his son led the Western Expedition. They have made great achievements in battle, so why should I begrudgingly confer honors on officials?"

"Specially appointed Wang Jing as Jingzhen Qinzhou and deployed on the west edge, and concurrently served as the prince's Taibao. Dujian Xiangxun was named Taibao, Zan Jurun was promoted to Qinzhou Inspector, and the rest of the Fengxiang Army each received a reward."

Wang Jing immediately knelt on the ground and led the generals of Fengxiang Army to write Chai Rong's favor to the emperor, vowing to repay the emperor with his death.

Chai Rong encouraged Wang Jing, motioned Zhang Dejun to continue reading, Zhang Dejun cleared his throat and continued reading:
"Father and son of the Zhao family, who were former imperial guards, led the army in the northwest, and made outstanding contributions. They specially promoted Zhao Kuangyin to be the commander of the capital in front of the temple, and conferred the title of General Huaihua under the third rank.

Zhao Xu, the deputy capital of Yuhou, was promoted to the front of the palace as the capital of Yuhou, and he was awarded the fourth rank of Zhuangwu General, and his son was the commander of Enyinying. "

It turned out that Zhao Kuangyin was the Marquis of Du Yu and the deputy commander. He was a general of Guide who was lowered from the third rank.

Zhao Xu used to be the deputy capital Yuhou, general Xuanwei from the fourth rank, and now he has been promoted by one level, and has become Du Yuhou, the strong military general under the fourth rank.

But what's even more funny is Enyin's son. Zhao Xu is only very old and hasn't married yet, so it's all about Enyin.

Grace is given to future generations. In order to commend the achievements of certain officials, the grace is specially reserved for her descendants to show her favor.

Zhao Xu was still wondering, I'm only old enough to have a son, and I don't know where my son is yet.

Now he understands a little bit why there will be redundant officials in the Song Dynasty in later generations. Anyone who has made great contributions can have a chance to have a place of grace.

Is it strange that there are not many officials?The officials in the court hall were all horrified:

"The father and son are really awesome. Both father and son are very young, but they are already in high positions, especially Zhao Xu, a 14-year-old boy, is actually the Marquis of Duyu. How many people dream of this?" position."

"It is undeniable that the emperor cultivated him on purpose, but he himself has made great military achievements. I heard that this time he recovered the four states. He also played a major role in the recovery of Qinzhou and the other three states by himself."

These officials all began to make their own calculations in their hearts, should they make friends with them in the future?

So although everyone is surprised at his age, they are more envious of his military exploits.

Amid everyone's envy, Zhao's father and son knelt down to thank the court for their grace, unable to conceal their inner joy.

Chai Rong appointed Zhao Yu as the governor of Yingzhou, which was regarded as a reward for his surrender and persuasion of the whole city.

Since then, Zhao Yu has been the governor of Ru, Mi and Ze states.After Zhou Zhou was replaced, he entered Zhou again and was appointed as Zong Zhengqing.

In the early years of Qiande, he was the governor of Qinzhou, and soon he was changed to the general of Zuojianmenwei, and he was sentenced to three divisions.Sexual mania, intolerable.But faithful.

Since the fifth year of Qiande (960), Prime Minister Zhao Pu has been impeached many times for privately violating the imperial ban and buying wood from Qin and Long to build houses, which was rewarded by Taizu Zhao Kuangyin.

After being impeached by the former Prime Minister Wang Pu, Song Taizu deposed it as Ruzhou Dental School, but it was still used in the future, which is a great grace.

Later, when Zhao Xu was in power, he held an important position and hated evil all over his body. Zhao Xu let him take charge of the lawsuit.

Even Wang Huan, who resisted desperately in Fengzhou and was later captured and surrendered, was awarded the post of General You Xiaowei, and later trained the navy.

But Zhao Chongpu would rather die than surrender, starved to death, and devoted his last loyalty to Shu.

In view of Zhao Chongpu's loyalty, Chai Rong ordered a generous burial and posthumously named him Taiwei.When the news spread to Hou Shu, Meng Chang also named Zhao Chongpu as grand master, and his son Enbu as the son of the state.

After rewarding the meritorious ministers, Chai Rong received the envoys from Hou Shu who came to seek peace. After some negotiations, Chai Rong agreed to Hou Shu's request for peace.

However, Hou Shu must agree that the four prefectures of Qin, Feng, Cheng, and Tier are the territory of Da Zhou, and the two countries demarcate the border and shall not be harassed.

I sent troops just for these places. If you don’t give it to me, I will continue to attack. When you give it to me, I will stop.

At the same time, Hou Shu borne the military expenses of the Great Zhou dispatch, 20 taels of silver, 2 taels of gold, and [-] shi of grain and grass.

This is purely to see Houshu's attitude. If you give all of this, it means that you Houshu are really afraid.

Meng Chang is not stupid. With so many things, you have to open your mouth to play, and I will give you what you want? So he asked the envoy to continue negotiating with the Zhou court.

Chai Rong originally wanted to take this opportunity to blackmail you, besides, you asked for peace, and you still bargained with me.

Under Zhao Xu's reminder, Chai Rong ordered the frontline troops to approach the situation of Hou Shu, and Wang Zhaoyuan's troops and Da Zhou were about to collapse.

Meng Chang was so frightened that he immediately accepted Chai Rong's suggestion, quickly sent what Chai Rong needed to Da Zhou, and proclaimed himself a minister to Zhou.

Da Zhou's army just withdrew from the territory of Shu, but did not completely evacuate, and kept monitoring the movement of Shu. This situation continued until Da Song defeated Hou Shu.

At this time, in the Zhao family's backyard, Zhao Hongyin's family was eating and chatting together. They said they were chatting, but they were chatting about state affairs.

Zhao Hongyin looked very old, a lot, when he fought in the battlefield when he was young, he had a lot of injuries on his body, and when he was old, he was about to suffer.

But he is still very satisfied, his son and grandson are all in high positions now, what else is he dissatisfied with?
The relationship between the emperor and their family is also extraordinary, at least their Zhao family will definitely be a famous family in the Great Zhou for decades to come.

Whenever he thinks of this, he smiles like a blooming chrysanthemum.At this time, Zhao Kuangyin was discussing the next move of the court, and Zhao Xu was listening to him all the time, without speaking.

"I think the next step is that I, Da Zhou, should attack Huainan." After listening to his grandfather and father talking for a long time, Zhao Xu suddenly expressed his opinion.

That's right, it was Zhao Xu who spoke. Before they could react, Zhao Xu said slowly again;
"Your Majesty today, Sheng Ming is far superior to other emperors after the fall of the Tang Dynasty. It can be said that he is a great talent. These years of conquests from south to north are for the purpose of unifying the world. Am I right?"

Zhao Hongyin and his son did not speak, nor did they object, but Zhao Kuangyin nodded.

"To unify the world, we must first solve our own problems. We must first solve our own problems. Our Great Zhou must first solve our own threats. My Great Zhou has always been threatened by the North and the South.

The Battle of Gaoping and the Great Zhou have resolved the safety of the northern part of the Great Zhou, and the four prefectures of Qin and Feng have also recovered, but the threat from the south still exists.Therefore, Huainan must be obtained. " Zhao Xu said slowly.

Over there, Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Kuangyi seemed to be in deep thought, Zhao Hongyin stroked his beard with one hand, and laughed loudly:
"Xu'er can see this, it's really good, you can be my son of the Zhao family, but you are still young after all, and you don't have a clear understanding of the problem..."

As a soldier, Zhao Hongyin was not very good at strategy, but he also had a strategic vision. He understood what Zhao Xu said.

Zhao Xu knew that Zhao Hongyin would say this:

"Grandpa, I haven't finished talking yet, those things just now are just superficial things, the most important thing we want is food from Huainan.

War depends not only on the army, but more on food and grass. The three armies go first without using food and grass, so we can see the importance of food and grass.

Huainan is a land of fish and rice. The people of Yuhang even claim that Yuhang is full of hundreds of cities, and it is a heavenly palace on the ground. It can be seen that its wealth is extraordinary.

First attack the fourteen prefectures in Jiangbei in the Southern Tang Dynasty. With Huainan, the treasury can increase the income of tens of millions of taels a year. Only when the treasury is full can it be able to dominate the world. "

After Zhao Xu finished speaking in one breath, the three of Zhao Hongyin and his son were already stunned. This is a 13-year-old child, and this is Zhao Xu, the former ignorant Zhao Xu.

Zhao Kuangyin's eyes were even more golden, because these were his original words, but they were spoken out by his cheap son.

"Xu'er, who taught you this?" Zhao Kuangyin thought that someone taught him behind Xu'er's back, and that person was the real "military teacher".

Zhao Xu had already figured out what his father was thinking: "Father is here, my son. I have recently read "Historical Records" and "Sun Tzu's Art of War", and combined with my situation in Dazhou, my son said it casually. Please don't be offended by grandpa and father." .”

Zhao Xu said it very modestly.

Hearing that Zhao Xu thought of it himself, Zhao Hongyin was even more flushed:
"Back then, Emperor Wu of Wei said that he should be like Sun Zhongmou when he had a son, but now it seems that my grandson is no different. Hahaha, the ancestors of the Zhao family are blessed."

Mrs. Du and Mrs. He next to her were also happy for their grandson and son.

Zhao Hongyin's laughter echoed throughout the banquet, being happy on time, that was joy.

Zhao Kuangyin also looked at his son with great admiration, what more could a husband ask for if he had such a son?
Zhao Kuangyin was very happy, not only because he had an outstanding son, but also because he had the opportunity to strengthen Zhou Guo's strength, so he jumped into the palace to meet Chai Rong.

(End of this chapter)