Overlord!

After the third naval expedition to Nanyang, whether to spend money and continue to expand westward became a controversial political issue in the Song court.

At this time, the feud in the Song Dynasty was getting more and more intense, and even Sun Ce, as the emperor, could no longer suppress it.

Perhaps God blessed the Song Dynasty, or maybe it was because the palaces of the Song Dynasty were located in the southeast and there was no need to consider using messy mercury, lead, mercury and other things to keep warm, so the death rate of the princes of the Song Dynasty was less than 30%.

The most important princes, Prince Donggong and the second prince, have successfully reached adulthood and should be said to be in their prime now.

Although the Shang Palace Bureau was taken away by Sun Ce and handed over to professional female officials. However, the second prince still has the support of Zhou Yu, the commander of the right army, and the navy's move south is also in the interest of the second prince's faction.

Therefore, the Second Prince's faction fully supports the navy in continuing its fourth voyage to Nanyang.

The Prince's family is in charge of the three envoys, the Zuo Army Commandery, and the Shanhang Army Commandery Department. They advocate saving money and developing the Central Plains. At worst, they should develop the Yangtze River line and relocate the barbarians in Jingzhou and Yizhou. and invested heavily in developing local water conservancy construction and promoting agricultural development, so that the Zhuxia civilization could further consolidate the land south of the Yangtze River.

They angrily criticized the Second Prince's faction for being ambitious and overachieving. They believed that the land in the Central Plains had not yet been fully reclaimed, so sending out naval forces to mobilize troops to develop Nanyang was completely outweighing the gains and losses.

It’s hard to say whether the gains outweigh the losses. The key issue is that most of the wealth gained by the Navy from going to Nanyang belongs to the Second Prince’s faction. Therefore, they continued to recruit talents and expand their power.

At least 30% of the schools in Jiangnan received financial support from the Second Prince's faction, and a large number of scholars cheered for the Second Prince.

Therefore, the prince faction must firmly oppose the expedition to Nanyang. This has nothing to do with whether the expedition to Nanyang is profitable. The essence is to take the opportunity to suppress the development of the second prince faction.

The court has been noisy for a year, and it will be brought up for disputes from time to time.

Finally, in the twenty-eighth year of Kaiyuan, it ended with Sun Cegang often acting arbitrarily and urging the fourth voyage to Nanyang.

Sun Ce knew very well that as long as the navy worked harder, it would be able to reach the west coast of India, and then it would be possible to contact the Sasanian dynasty that was rising in Persia.

By then, the Maritime Silk Road and the Overland Silk Road will be completely connected, and Western wealth can be continuously transported back.

In the 29th year of Kaiyuan, the Song Dynasty had 15,000 elite naval forces and more than 10,000 soldiers. With the full support of Zhou Yu, the commander-in-chief of the right army, Zhou Lin was the commander-in-chief, and Zhuge Ke, the newly rising star of the Second Prince's faction, was the deputy commander-in-chief. , officially starting from Wuxing.

As a relative of the Zhou family, Zhou Lin had gone to Liaodong to market horses with Sun Quan, and his status and qualifications were very outstanding.

As the son of Zhuge Jin, Zhuge Ke is also one of the core members of the second prince's faction.

Although the Zhuge family has the habit of hedging their bets, Zhuge Liang was in the prince family, and Zhuge Jin was forced to enter the second prince family. But Zhuge Ke was different. This young man had always been ambitious. He believed that with his status and age, even if he joined the prince's family, he would not be able to reach a high position when the prince would naturally inherit the throne.

So he took the initiative to join the Second Prince's faction and make suggestions for it. In the hope that after the second prince ascends the throne, as a minister of Qiandi, he can rule the court.

And his talent, magnanimity and ambition were indeed highly valued by the second prince and his family, so he was appointed as the deputy general of the navy just after his thirtieth year.

Everyone in the imperial court praised him for his appointment as deputy general of the navy, praising him for carrying on the Zhuge family tradition and becoming the commander-in-chief of an army at a young age.

However, there are also rumors among the people: "I call on you, Ruoruo? Why do you ask Yang Zige for a single reed coat?"

This means that after Zhuge Ke died, his body must have been wrapped in reed mats, tied around his waist with bamboo strips, and his body thrown into a mass grave.

There is also a rumor among the people: "A Tong returned to A Tong and floated across the river with a knife in his hand. He was not afraid of the beasts on the shore, but he was afraid of the dragon in the water." "The south wind blows, blowing the white sand. Looking at the country of Lu in the distance, it is so craggy that thousands of years old skulls are full of teeth." "

It all seems to imply that the Song Dynasty, which has been in peace for more than thirty years, will inevitably face swords, blood, and war.

Especially when the navy set out, Zhou Lin's banner broke without wind, and the Zhou family's flag suddenly fell down in front of everyone's attention, directly killing a ceremonial follower below, and blood splattered on the flag. , this is not a good sign no matter how you look at it.

Zhou Yu was even a little hesitant. People become more superstitious in their later years. He suppressed the navy's sailing schedule and personally went to the Zhaoming Palace in Jiankang to ask the emperor if he would set off on a later date after consultation.

However, the emperor directly refuted his words and ordered the fleet to set off immediately without any mistakes.

On the day of the navy's departure, a large number of people from the Prince's family also appeared at the port, watching the navy's ships disappear into the clear sky and blue sea.

This surprised the entire court. You must know that by now, the prince's faction was already very angry with the second prince's faction because the emperor supported the second prince's faction in going to Nanyang.

Wherever there are people, there must be rivers and lakes. It is completely impossible for Sun Ce to suppress party strife in the court.

Party struggle is always one of the core elements of politics.

It is almost impossible to solve all this with political means and keep the court in peace.

People from the prince's family appeared in large numbers, which surprised the court and made them speculate about the reason.

Could it be that people from the prince's family are also interested in the benefits of going to Nanyang?

Or are you paying special attention to the results of this expedition to Nanyang?

The success of this voyage to Nanyang also lived up to the great trust. In the 29th year of Kaiyuan, the fleet sent back good news. More than 800 miles west of Xuanwei Division, the fleet defeated a band of sea pirates, beheaded more than 400 people, and dispersed three bandits. More than a thousand people were killed, and the leader of the thieves was escorted to the Central Plains for trial.

In the thirtieth year of Kaiyuan, the fleet lived up to the emperor's order and successfully bypassed the east coast of India, arrived at the west coast of India, came into contact with the Sassanid Empire, and opened trade exchanges.

In fact, the two sides have already had contact on land and both are aware of each other's existence.

It has been almost twenty years since the Sasanian Dynasty was established, and the caravans have already sent each other's news to the countries on the Silk Road.

The Silk Road has existed for decades. As powerful dynasties, both sides have a tacit understanding to maintain the security of this trade route.

Even if the two sides fought in the Khwarazm area, with more than 7,000 casualties, the Sasanian army only retreated more than 200 miles, and the Song army also withdrew from the Khwarazm area.

After all, the focus of the Song army has always been on the sea. Lu Xun can win here, but the size of the army is not enough to defend the territory.

The Sasanian Dynasty also truly saw the Song army's ability to conquer and fight. This group of Easterners were extremely bloodthirsty and unyielding on the battlefield. They were also used to cutting off the heads of the Sassanid people and hanging them on their waists. With more than a dozen heads attached, they rushed over with ferocious expressions.

The Sassanid people, who are slow in their hearts, really can't stand this kind of terrifying army.

They Zoroastrian believers call the Easterners the Balrogs and Red Tides, beings that destroy the world. In particular, they were used to beheading people to build temples, just like Khorne's followers, sacrificing their blood to the Blood God and offering their heads to the Skull Throne.

If it weren't for the limited number of Song troops and the Red Tide dispatching only a few thousand people at a time, the Zoroastrian believers would not dare to stay in the vast local territory.

As a result, 30,000 Song troops landed in the southern territory of the Sasanian Dynasty, almost frightening the local defenders to collapse.

You must know that their main army of more than 20,000 people was defeated by more than 6,000 Song troops in Khwarezm, and thousands of them were beheaded.

As a result, 30,000 red tides landed on the undefended coastal areas, and the officials of the Sassanid Dynasty panicked.

If Zhou Lin hadn't restrained himself and proactively stated that he was here for peaceful trade, the local rule of the Sassanid Dynasty would have collapsed.

Peace is always the vision that all nations aspire to.

Although the two sides have frictions on the border due to hegemony, the opening of trade routes is necessary for both sides' development and stability.

Therefore, the fleet that sailed to Nanyang this time was a great success. All the goods from the Central Plains carried by the fleet were sold at nearly ten times the profit.

But even so, both parties exclaimed that they had picked up a big bargain.

There are no tariffs from countries in the way, and there are no price increases from other caravans. The direct trade between the two empires has greatly increased each other's profits.

The Maritime Silk Road instantly aroused the enthusiasm of the entire Sasanian Dynasty. Countless nobles and merchants were asking how the members of the fleet could cross the ocean and reach the Central Plains.

And just when the ocean development reached its peak of prosperity, no one could have imagined that a coup would take place in the capital of the empire thousands of miles away.

In the Zhaoming Palace, Sun Ce sat calmly in front of the dragon collapse in the Qingshou Palace, comforting the trembling Yang Huiyu who was hiding behind him.

Yang Huiyu is the sister of Yang Hu, the famous general through the ages. Yang Hu is just eleven years old now. Yang Huiyu is seven years older than him, and she is now in her prime.

Such a young girl would feel uncontrollably frightened when faced with bright torches and the sound of countless iron armors clashing against each other.

After hundreds of armors surrounded the Qingshou Hall, the palace door was opened, and the prince's figure walked into the palace surrounded by countless civil and military personnel.

Seeing his father holding the beauty safely on the bed, he was obviously shocked. He frowned and looked at the ministers next to him with a look of surprise.

On the other hand, Sun Ce, surrounded by soldiers, spoke calmly and said: "No doubt, I just guessed that the army involved in the coup must belong to your prince."

"The time of your coup was much later than I thought. I am very relieved."

Sun Shao is now forty-seven years old. As a prince, he is already calm and dignified.

After a moment of surprise, he quickly calmed down. Behind him were gathered the prime ministers of the dynasty and the governor of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion. He was already confident of winning, so there was no need to mess up his position.

"Father, did you already know that Guhui would launch a coup?"

Sun Ce waved his hand and said to the other ministers: "You all go down. I will have a few words of family talk with the prince. At this point, are you still afraid that I will not pass the throne to the prince?"

Other ministers were still hesitant. After all, the emperor was talented in civil and military affairs. In his prime, he was the bravest of the three armies. If we fight to the death...

Sun Shao shouted angrily at this time: "Go down, are you still planning to do harm to the Supreme Being?"

Hearing the prince's angry shout, the surrounding courtiers who lowered their heads and did not dare to look directly at Sun Ce left first, and the others could only follow the crowd and leave.

After the crowd left, Sun Ce smiled and said: "In all dynasties, Taizong's succession has never been normal. The fact that the prince can succeed as the prince has already made the Song Dynasty surpass all other dynasties."

Although later generations will always point to Li Shimin's Xuanwu Gate Incident as an issue, Li Shimin was the most reasonable successor among all Taizongs. At least he ascended the throne as the prince. He only had a problem with the position of prince, not the problem of the throne.

The other Emperor Taizong of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wen, succeeded to the throne because the noble princes of the Han Dynasty killed Zhu Lu and supported him. Moreover, after he arrived in Chang'an, he killed the children of Liu Hui, Liu Bang's designated heir. The Taizongs of all dynasties were considered explosive.

Song Taizong's candlelight ax shadow, and after Song Taizu's death, he hurriedly changed the year name before the time came, so that even Sima Guang felt that there was something wrong with him.

As for Zhu Di, Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty, not to mention that he did not initiate a coup, but directly launched a civil war.

In the remaining small countries and divided dynasties, the position of Taizong all had various problems, either because it was established by powerful ministers or as a result of political struggles.

So Sun Ce said: "I have been giving you opportunities. At the beginning of the new dynasty, these forces in the dynasty are complicated. Without a big killing and reshuffling, it is impossible to stabilize the dynasty."

"The prince's ears are soft. With so many people in the prince's circle advising you to make a coup, you will definitely be persuaded. You are able to persist until now. I am almost seventy years old before launching a coup. You are more decisive and calm than I thought. ."

Sun Shao fell into silence. He always thought that he could succeed in the coup because his father was nearly seventy years old, lacked energy, was addicted to women, and ignored the government affairs.

But he never thought that his father deliberately gave him a chance.

But if you think about it carefully, you can clearly see that my father fought his way out of the troubled times and finally established the entire Song Dynasty.

He already knew that he would launch a coup. Without his acquiescence, how could he stand here safely?
And Sun Ce continued: "I pass the throne to you. Even if you don't advocate it, the ministers under your command will expel the generals and ministers related to the second prince and I appointed by me from the court. A purge will eventually bring about the end of the party struggle. This is the way to end military bloodshed.”

"I don't ask for much. I only have one request. It will do no harm to my brothers and sisters, and it will do no harm to the people of the world. Let the coup start at the top and end at the top."

Sun Shao nodded, agreeing to Sun Ce's request, and said: "The reason for the coup at this time is to take advantage of the main force of the second brother's faction to go to Nanyang, so as not to cause a civil war."

Sun Ce watched the prince grow up with his own eyes and knew very well that he was not a cruel and angry person.

Therefore, he officially issued an edict to abdicate and officially passed the throne to the prince.

It would be impossible not to abdicate. He is already sixty-eight years old and is about to reach the age of seventy.

Having fought his way out of troubled times, he is sixteen years older than Li Shimin and is already very satisfied. (End of chapter)