Overlord!

In the second year after Sun Ce abdicated, when he was seventy years old, the imperial court officially changed the name to the first year of Shenwu.

Since ancient times, the succession of the Taizong Dynasty has not been smooth.

Sun Ce was very pleased that the Song Dynasty could succeed to the throne with such a minimalist coup.

He could pass the throne to the prince, but if the throne passed too smoothly, Sun Ce would not be able to eliminate the hidden dangers hidden in the calm sea.

When he dies, it will probably cause even greater waves.

If a situation like Taizong of the Han Dynasty or Taizong of the Ming Dynasty occurs, his hard work will be ruined.

Facts have proved that Sun Ce's expectations were indeed accurate.

As soon as Taizong succeeded to the throne, he began a bloody purge.

There is no family affection in the Tian family. Even if Sun Ce peacefully handed over the throne to the prince, the prince would not hesitate to order the butcher's knife.

He first eliminated more than a dozen generals loyal to Sun Ce in one fell swoop. These were all direct line generals appointed by Sun Ce during his reign.

Eight of them were relieved by the prince with a glass of wine and allowed to return to their hometown to retire.

Six people were executed directly by the prince, shocking the court.

During this period, four people knelt in front of Yanfu Palace in Bailuzhou and begged Sun Ce to save their lives.

Sun Ce's heart palpitated for a long time, and finally he chose to close his eyes, protect himself wisely, and hide behind closed doors.

This is why since ancient times, most emperors have refused to give up their power even if they are about to die of illness.

Once he gives up power, whether actively or passively, and the new king takes over, he will definitely cleanse his direct lineage to ensure that his power is stable.

Three months after the prince purged Sun Ce's direct lineage, the butcher's knife reached out to the second prince.

The second prince was forced to surrender to the feudal vassal, and Zhou Yu was imprisoned for treason.

Before going to prison, Zhou Yu knelt in front of Yanfu Palace and asked Sun Ce to intercede for the Zhou family. Sun Ce did not see him the whole night.

When Zhou Yu left in the early morning, his hair turned gray all night long. He wept and cried in front of the palace gate and said: "Since ancient times, no one has been as ruthless as the Tian family! Even if I die, I will not go to the Ancestral Temple to accompany the sacrifice!"

He was then sentenced to prison by the Xiuyiwei officials who arrived.

As Zhou Yu was imprisoned, the second prince forcibly surrendered the vassal, and the entire faction of the second prince dispersed like birds and beasts. When the news came out, the navy who was returning from Nanyang was frightened. In the chaos, Zhuge Ke killed Zhou Zhi, supported his troops, and established his own country. Southeast Asia.

When the imperial court heard the news in the first year of Shenwu, the emperor was furious. He was worthy of the posthumous title of Emperor Wu in later generations. The butcher's knife was swung even more fiercely, and he wiped out all the factions of the second prince. At the same time, he took the opportunity to completely disintegrate the founding fathers.

All the official positions in the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion were replaced by him, including Zhuge Liang, who was once the core of the prince's family.

This is what makes Sun Ce most gratified. The emperor must be ruthless enough to show no mercy even to his own people.

The prince used Zhuge Liang to control the military power and the government. After taking control of the power, he directly kicked Zhuge Liang out of the army and turned him into a civil servant, serving as a minister and servant, which was the same position as Li Jing, the military god of the Tang Dynasty.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army was completely replaced by the cronies trained by the prince, including Wang Jun, the famous general who unified the three kingdoms in history, Luo Tong, the outstanding talent, Zhao Tong, the son of Zhao Yun, the prince accompanied Deng Ai and Captain Fengche on their travels.

It can be seen that these people are all young people, so the authority of the Fifth Army Governor's Office has been slightly reduced, and it can no longer threaten the imperial power. Its position is low and powerful, somewhat similar to the General Staff and the Privy Council. It only gives the emperor the power to serve as military advisor.

And it can be seen that today's emperor is quite tolerant. Zhou You is the core of the second prince family after Zhou Yu. He is the youngest son of Zhou Yu. He is rare in talent, upright and well-read. He is slightly older than Lu Kang and Yang. Hu, but together with these people, they are called the rising stars of the empire.

The emperor used it in an eclectic way, which shows his broad mind.

For this reason, Zhuge Liang did not torture Zhou Yu after he took power. Just like expelling Li Yan, he was classified as a commoner and exiled to Lingnan.

In the first year of Shenwu, the country granted amnesty to the whole world. He returned to Lujiang to retire halfway.

After returning to Lujiang, Zhou Yu closed his doors and never saw guests again. In the third year of Shenwu, Zhou Yu, a famous general, passed away at home. Before his death, he had only one last word: "I wrongly blamed your majesty, and I have no shame to see you again. Don't ask me to accompany you to sacrifice in the Taimiao after your death."

Obviously Sun Ce had anticipated that Zhuge Liang would be in power and would definitely not kill him. But if Sun Ce opened his mouth, the emperor would be worried about the Supreme Being interfering in government affairs, so he would definitely not let go of Zhou Yu, a commander with a strong reputation in the army.

But his last wish was destined to be unfulfilled.

In the eleventh year of Shenwu, the eighty-one-year-old Emperor died of illness in Yanfu Palace.

The emperor strongly rejected the cabinet's several posthumous title proposals and respected his father's greatest wish. He was given the posthumous title of Emperor Wen and the temple name of Taizu.

By the eleventh year of Shenwu, the eleventh year since the emperor ascended the throne, he had already reconciled with his father and clearly recalled his father's love for him. From the day he was born, his father decided that he would pass the throne to him! That’s why he sent the top talents and most powerful ministers to his side!
From beginning to end, the second prince was just a precautionary option. As long as he doesn't die young, the second prince will have no chance!

When the Emperor was critically ill in his later years, the Emperor often stayed in front of his bed, with tears streaming down his face and his clothes untied. Chang regretted that he had followed the advice of his subordinates and launched a divine military coup. Although all of this is my father's plan.

The talent of his father, the divine martial arts, was really beyond what a middle-aged prince like him could compare with.

Therefore, regarding the posthumous title, the emperor must comply with his father's last wish and insist on the posthumous title as a document no matter what.

The first batch of ten people including Lu Fan, Zhou Yu, Lu Meng, Zhao Yun, Cheng Pu, Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, Jiang Qin, Sun He and Zhu Zhi accompanied the sacrifice at the Ancestral Temple.

The courtiers did not dare to disobey the emperor's majesty. By the eleventh year of Shenwu, the emperor's majesty had reached the point where the ministers did not dare to disobey him.

Thanks to Emperor Wen's accumulation in the 32nd year of Kaiyuan, the imperial treasury was extremely full of supplies.

Sun Shao, the emperor who succeeded to the throne, began the road of pioneering martial arts with the outside world.

In the second year of Shenwu, the Song Dynasty, with the famous general Lu Xun as its commander, sent 70,000 troops from Jiashi City to the north to attack the remaining Xianbei troops who were fleeing to the west. The Song army crossed two thousand miles of Gobi and annihilated the Xianbei Royal Court in Mobei in one fell swoop, beheading three people. There are more than 10,000 levels, and hundreds of thousands of livestock are collected.

In the fourth year of Shenwu, the Song Dynasty again appointed Wang Ji as its general and led 40,000 troops out of Liaodong to attack Duanbei Xianbei, who had risen in Liaodong, and beheaded more than 18,000 people.

In the fifth year of Shenwu, Song Ting rebuilt the navy and went south to Xuanwei Division to find the rebellious Zhuge Ke. Song Ting's 30,000 navy and 10,000 rebellious navy fought fiercely for two days and two nights on the battlefield more than a thousand miles southeast of Xuanwei Division. The Song army defeated the rebel army and captured Zhuge Ke back to the Central Plains alive. As the folk song said, after beheading, Tie a mat and throw it in a mass grave.

In the eighth year of Shenwu's reign, the Han Dynasty's southwest expansion finally angered the court. If the Han Dynasty wanted to develop, it was inevitable to plunder people from the north.

After the death of Sun Quan, the king of Yongchang Kingdom in the Song Dynasty, Yongchang Kingdom was no longer able to defeat the Han army.

The armies of the two countries fought, and more than 4,000 people from Yongchang were beheaded.

There is no way around this. The territory of the Han State can develop southward and expand thousands of miles, just like the Chu State during the Spring and Autumn Period.

Although Yongchang has the advantages of the Central Plains civilization, the Han State has a vast territory like the Chu State, so it has more than 60,000 troops in the country.

In this decisive battle, the Han State sent more than 30,000 troops, but Yongchang's army could not resist it, so the country was destroyed. The Han army entered the capital of Yongchang and killed Sun Quan's son Sun Deng.

So the emperor was furious and sent troops from Yizhou County with Wang Jun as general and more than 70,000 infantry and cavalry to attack the Han army.

The two armies fought in the mountains for more than two years. The Song army finally defeated the Han army, beheading more than 15,000 soldiers, capturing more than 40,000 enemy men and women, and expanding their territory for more than a thousand miles.

The Song Dynasty incorporated them all into the Song Dynasty, established Meng Yangguo, and moved the second prince to the vassal state.

In the tenth year of Shenwu's reign, the Hu people in Yongchang and Mengyang rebelled. The imperial court sent troops again, with Zhong Hui as general and 20,000 troops under his command. The peace was restored in a few months, but a total of more than 130,000 foreign men and women were slaughtered. The wind is clear.

In the 16th year of Shenwu, the Sasanian Dynasty competed with the Central Plains for the small country of Kang'an in the Western Region, which was a small country in Sogdian language and the place where the nine surnames of Zhaowu were located in later generations.

Sogdia also felt miserable. They originally lived in Zhaowu City at the foot of the Qilian Mountains. After their country was destroyed and their families were destroyed, they all fled to the vicinity of Samarkand in Central Asia. In the end, they still could not escape the Central Plains army.

A nation that was once good at conquering and fighting is now full of talent for doing business, what else do they want?
But under the power, they can't help it at all.

After the Sassanid Dynasty invaded here, Lu Xun was once again ordered by the emperor to lead an army of 20,000 to the west. The troops defeated the main force of the Sassanid Dynasty of more than 40,000 people here.

The imperial court immediately established four towns in Anxi, with Kang'an, Suiye, Shule, and Qiuci as the four major military towns, and stationed 24,000 troops. Anxi Governor's Office was set up, and Lu Kang succeeded Lu Xun as the Governor of Anxi.

At the same time, all the countries east of Qiuci, the governor of the Western Regions, set up counties and counties and were classified as Guazhou, with Jiang Wan as the state pastor. In the 17th year of Shenwu, the imperial court once again took the initiative to raise troops to attack the Qiang and Hu who were entrenched in Longxi. The imperial court raised more than 60,000 troops. They attacked the plateau in one fell swoop, expanded the territory for more than a thousand miles, and captured more than 100,000 Qiang and Hu.

By the time of the death of Emperor Taizong in the 18th year of Shenwu, the territory of the Song Dynasty reached its peak.

In less than fifty years after the founding of the country, the Song army defeated all the countries in the east, west, north, and south, and the blood flowed like rivers!
It truly and vividly demonstrates the martial virtues of the founding of the Song Dynasty.

So much so that even if Emperor Taizong and Emperor Wu Sun Shao died, no foreign race would dare to jump out and start making trouble again.

At this time, the territory of the Song Dynasty extended to Mobei in the north. Xianbei on the grassland was in decline and Rouran had not yet emerged. No tribe dared to be the enemy of the Song Dynasty and claimed vassalage one after another.

The west reaches Samarkand, and the territory has crossed the Onion Territory.

It happened that the Sassanid Dynasty entered a period of decline. They were defeated by Rome in the west. King Shapur I of the Sassanid Dynasty invaded Anatolia. Although he won the first battle and defeated the Romans, he was later defeated by the Romans and their allies. The wives and concubines of Odenathus Shapur I of Palmyra were captured and the Roman territories they captured were lost. A ransom of 500 pence had to be paid to Rome, as well as annual tribute. At this time, the Sasanian dynasty entered the ultimate decline, with a population of only 000 million.

During the expansion in the east, the Sasanian Dynasty encountered the famous general Lu Kang. If Lu Kang had not been busy digesting the tens of thousands of miles of Guazhou's territory, he would have continued to advance into the hinterland of the Sasanian Dynasty.

At this time, the Sassanid Dynasty was also forced to surrender to the Song Dynasty and lose its imperial title of King of Kings.

In the famous Pantheon of Samarkand, the King of Kings sitting in the middle is Sun Shao, Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty, not Li Zhi, Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty.

However, if the Song Dynasty is destroyed, Tang Yi may not be able to march to this place again and re-establish his position as the King of Kings.

To the south, the Song Dynasty had set up more than 30 cities along the line of Xuanweisi in Jiugang, with more than 10,000 troops stationed and thousands of officials to tax the trade routes.

Only the development of the southwest direction was not very smooth, and the development of the Han and Song Dynasties was not able to make rapid progress in the southwest. The local climate has really restricted the pace of the Central Plains.

Since ancient times, a unified dynasty has only two fates, either to die after two generations, or to live for hundreds of years.

The second generations of Qin, Jin, Sui and Ming were all extremely unstable, with large-scale wars sweeping across the country.

Although the coup of the Song Dynasty was also tragic, it greatly purged the nobles and forces in the process of unification in troubled times, leaving these nobles without the strength to initiate the war that swept the country.

In that tragic coup, the distribution of benefits was completed and the court was successfully stabilized.

In addition, Emperor Wu Sun Shao's reign was relatively short and he died of illness in eighteen years.

Before there was any further trouble, his prince successfully succeeded to the throne.

However, because one of his princes died in infancy, this prince was actually a young grandson that Sun Ce had never seen before. He was only thirteen years old.

Minister Yang Hu, the younger brother of Yang Huiyu who accompanied Sun Ce in the end, served as the auxiliary minister to assist him in his ascension to the throne.

Yang Hu had outstanding virtues and was tolerant to others. Therefore, after taking charge of the government, he implemented a tolerant policy, which greatly alleviated the famine among the people caused by Emperor Taizong Wu's border expansion.

At this point, the territorial expansion of the Kaiyuan and Shenwu dynasties of the Song Dynasty came to an end, and later generations regarded it as the Yuanwu Dynasty.

Because of his outstanding virtue, Yang Hu went through three dynasties and assisted Gaozong, Xianzong and Dezong.

But by the sixth generation of Emperor Song Shenzong, the rise of Rouran in the north posed a great threat to the security of the Central Plains.

Emperor Shenzong, this posthumous title clearly reflects his mixed life.

During his tenure, official corruption was rampant, and the government was no longer as clean as it was when Yang Hu was in power. Traitors were appointed, which led to the failure of the war against Rouran and the loss of hundreds of thousands of troops.

In the middle period of Shenzong, Rouran had already invaded Hebei, and the land of Jizhou was no longer owned by the Central Plains.

But there was one thing about Emperor Shenzong that later generations greatly praised: he did not cede territory, pay indemnities, or negotiate peace.

In the late Shenzong Dynasty, the imperial court repeatedly raised troops, and finally defeated Rouran to exhaustion. The border troops marched for more than two thousand miles, quelling Rouran's threat in one fell swoop.

The entire Rouran race completely disappeared in Monan. If it weren't for the Mobei Desert, this race would have disappeared directly.

However, the war that lasted for more than thirty years also led to the rise of northern vassal towns. In order to enable the north to fight against the Rouran cavalry, the imperial court gave too much power to the governors of each town.

The Shenzong Dynasty tried to reduce the vassal state, but failed to do so in time. Emperor Shenzong died of illness in Jiankang.

Emperor Xianzong's succession to the throne was not smooth. Xianzong was not Shenzong's biological bloodline, but a collateral descendant from the bloodline of Emperor Taizuwen.

Every time Emperor Shenzong gave birth to a son, he abolished the position of Xianzong. His son died young, so he reestablished Xianzong as the crown prince.

After three ups and downs, the court was in turmoil.

By the time Emperor Xianzong was firmly on the throne, the separatist rule of the northern vassal towns was inevitable.

However, Xianzong did not undergo systematic emperor education and hastily cut down the vassals, forcing the vassal towns to rebel.

This rebellion lasted for more than fifty years and had not been suppressed by the Xianzong and Mu Zong dynasties.

When Emperor Zhezong succeeded to the throne, he had grand plans and relied on the natural dangers of the Yangtze River to defeat a hundred thousand rebels in the north and launched the Northern Expedition. Although he conquered many important towns such as Chang'an, Luoyang, and Yecheng, it seemed that the Song Dynasty had lost its destiny.

The young Emperor Zhezong, only 26 years old, died of illness in the palace only four years after he ascended the throne.

He left countless sighs for future generations.

Countless people lamented that if Emperor Zhezong could live half as long as Emperor Taizu, relying on the prosperous Jiangnan, it might not be impossible to achieve the renaissance of the Song Dynasty.

In the 260th year of the founding of the Song Dynasty, the Li family, a military aristocrat from the Longyou area, unified the north. They claimed 500,000 elite infantry and cavalry and marched to the Yangtze River.

When everyone thought that the Song Dynasty was about to be destroyed, no one expected that there would be a Prime Minister Yu Yun in the Song Dynasty who would support the building from collapse.

This is a descendant of the Yu family from the southeast, whose ancestor was Emperor Taizu Wen's eldest son, Yu Fan.

Everyone said that this prime minister was a savior given to the Song Dynasty by God.

At that time, King Li Qinwu wrote a poem on the bank of the river: Since ancient times, the writings on chariots have been confused, so why do southerners waste money on lathes? With a million troops on the river, they immediately mounted the first peak of Mount Wu.

I want to get mixed up in the world in one fell swoop.

However, Yu Jun organized the Song Dynasty army to be defeated by Niuzhujin.

This was the place where Sun Ce crossed the river. No one expected that the resurgence of the Song Dynasty would also start from this point.

As a famous prime minister of the Song Dynasty, Yu Jun reformed the tax law internally, equalized taxes on farmland, strengthened the sorting of commercial taxes, and strictly investigated the wealthy families who evaded taxes. He actively took the initiative externally, and wrote an article "The Gains and Mistakes in the Governance of the Past Dynasties" .

It even criticizes Emperor Taizu Wen's Sun Ce's national policy of emphasizing the southeast and underestimating the northwest, believing that from the moment Taizu established his capital in Jiankang, the rebellion in the northwest was inevitable.

The northwest will definitely be a national danger in future generations. There is a kingdom of abundance in the land, and there are powerful soldiers and horses, how can it not rise?
He urged the Song army to break through Guanzhong in order to weaken Li Qin's rebellious forces.

Both sides have been mincing meat in the Central Plains for more than thirty years, and Nanyang, Luoyang, Yanzhou, and Qingzhou are almost all ruins.

In the end, civil strife broke out in Li Tang and he was devoured by the barbarians.

Song Ting was unable to fight anymore, because after the famous Prime Minister Yu Jun died of illness, Song Ting once again fell into political corruption.

After the Song Dynasty was dying for a hundred years, a rebellion broke out in the south of the Yangtze River. Heroes who raised troops from Luling swept the south of the Yangtze River. In the end, Zhu Shuo, a commoner in Huaibei, swept the world with his unparalleled talent. He entered Jiankang and changed the dynasty to the Ming Dynasty.

But fortunately, this emperor was very broad-minded and did not massacre the previous royal family and moved them all to the south of Jiaozhi.

Because as the war spread south of the Yangtze River, barbarians once rose on the Indochina Peninsula and have not yet completely subsided.

The Sun family will fully assume the responsibility of opening up the southeast, and it will take another three hundred years to completely make the area a part of the Central Plains.

(End) (End of this chapter)