Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 41: Liu Congxiao in the Southern Tang Dynasty (Special thanks to book friends for their monthly votes!)

Chai Zongxun patted the armrest of the throne and said happily:
"Very good! Dean Ding and his colleagues are loyal to the emperor and have outstanding skills. They completed the task of developing the divine arm bow that I assigned within a few months!

I have many rewards! Dean Ding was rewarded with a hundred taels of silver, and the craftsmen of the R&D Institute were each rewarded with twenty taels of silver! Continue to research and develop iron smelting technology for me to create extremely sharp swords! "

Ding Luban was overjoyed. One hundred taels of silver was almost his two years' salary. He immediately saluted and said:

"Thank you for your majesty's grace! I will complete your majesty's will as soon as possible!"

Chai Zongxun nodded, and after pondering for a moment, he said:
"Manager Tang, Dean Ding, the Divine Arm Bow is my great weapon in the Great Zhou Dynasty, and it must not be told to anyone else!
You must have a good weapons management system in the arsenal and never let this skill spread. "

Tang Qi and Ding Luban both saluted and agreed.

Chai Zongxun then discussed with Ding Luban the plan for the arsenal to produce the "God's Arm Bow":

Currently, the arsenal has 2,000 skilled craftsmen selected from the Ministry of War Bureau and the Imperial Palace Works Bureau. After more than half a month of training, tens of thousands of orphans living in the arsenal have been able to make some simple accessories. Finally, the task of producing 100 divine arm bows and 5,000 specially-made bows and arrows was formulated.

Although the orphans do not need to be paid for work and only need to take care of food, the wages of the craftsmen, including the purchase of materials, etc., are about 600 taels of silver a day.

Because the orphans were young and the craftsmen had to continuously teach them production skills during production, Chai Zongxun determined that the daily working time of the arsenal was four hours, which later became the basis of the Royal Commercial Group of the Great Zhou Empire. Fixed work and rest system.

After Ding Luban withdrew from Huangji Hall, Chai Zongxun ordered people to summon Han Hui, Zhang Yong and others and introduced them to the newly created divine arm bow.

The generals were very happy to see such a labor-saving and powerful magic weapon.

Han Hui saluted and said: "Your Majesty, with this magic weapon, our "Long Xiang Army" and "Long Xiang Guard" soldiers will surely wipe out the world for your Majesty and attack the Khitan in the future!"

Chai Zongxun smiled and nodded, saying:
"Currently, the treasury of the Great Zhou Dynasty is not rich enough, so we have to save some silver for production, and the sergeants of the "Longxiang Army" and "Longxiang Guards" are still young. In a few years, the sergeants will grow up, and God will The stock of arm bows is also sufficient for use.

This bow is a sharp weapon of our great Zhou Kingdom, and the issue of confidentiality is very serious! "

After some discussions with the generals, Chai Zongxun formulated a military camp management system for the "God's Arm Bow": it should be kept in the arsenal during peacetime and after war, and the responsibility for its storage in wartime should be assigned to each sergeant.

Han Hui, Zhang Yong and others resigned from the palace. After returning to the military camp, they were very excited. They trained the soldiers of the two armies more intensively, looking forward to serving Emperor Chai Zongxun as soon as possible, conquering the surrounding enemy countries for the Great Zhou Dynasty, and unifying the world.

Ten days later, the first batch of one thousand standard "God's Arm Bows" was sent from the arsenal to the military camp. The orphan sergeants of the "Longxiang Army" and "Longxiang Guard" were all trained in batches under the arrangement of the officers. Practice using the "God's Arm Bow".

Therefore, the bow is extremely labor-saving and can be drawn by an ordinary ten-year-old child. The soldiers only need to train the shooting speed and accuracy, so they make rapid progress.

On the morning of June 2nd, there was nothing important in the court. Chai Zongxun discussed some internal affairs with the ministers.

The newly-appointed Ministry of Household Affairs sent out a report to Lu Mengzheng, the number one scholar in the matter, and said:

"Your Majesty, since your Majesty's benevolent policy of changing the corvee system to the employment system at the end of your last year has been implemented, the people have benefited greatly and their lives have become increasingly prosperous.

However, on the way to the capital from Luoyang several times, I asked the people who dredged the Cao River and learned that because it had been customized over the years, these people were still requisitioned by the government without pay and had to provide their own rations.

I beg that your majesty can also have mercy on these Cao people. "

After Lü Mengzheng became the top scholar in high school, after discussions between three prime ministers and six ministries, it was proposed that Lü Mengzheng be promoted to the Ministry of Husband and Minister of Affairs. He submitted it to Emperor Chai Zongxun, and Chai Zongxun approved it.

At this time in the Great Zhou Dynasty, the official position of the fourth rank in Shizhong was already a very high starting point for the new top scholar.

Chai Zongxun said happily: "I am very happy that Lu Aiqing observes carefully and asks for orders for the people!

With this, the old system of Caofu was abolished, and the imperial court also hired him with a monthly salary of 600 yuan, which benefited the country and the people. "Lu Mengzheng thanked him and left.

Prime Minister Fan Zhi came out and said:
"Your Majesty, since the late Emperor Xian De's second year of conquering the Southern Tang Dynasty and defeating the 100,000-strong army of Li Jing, the leader of the Tang Kingdom, at Purple Mountain, all the land north of the Yangtze River has been feared by the Great Zhou Dynasty in the southeast.

The Jiedushi envoys of Shiquan and Nanzhou stayed and followed, writing the form in silk and hiding it secretly in the leather belt. They sent the Yamen Cai Zhongyun and others to disguise themselves as businessmen and traveled to Hubei to express their sincerity of surrender to the late emperor.

The late emperor was pleased with it.

In the sixth year of Xiande's reign (959), Liu Congxiao sent Huang Yu to the Xijian Road to pay tribute. He offered Xie Zhi Tong Rhino Belt and several dozen kilograms of dipterocarp as tribute, and the late emperor granted him an imperial edict to accept it.

To show his sincerity, Liu Congxiao also requested to build an official residence in the capital. The late emperor had concerns and refused because he had always been attached to the Southern Tang Dynasty and was preparing for the northern expedition to Youzhou.

After the Queen Mother and Her Majesty killed Zhao Ni and his party, they became powerful in the world.

Yesterday, Liu Congxiao and Huang Yuxi drove around Jingzhou, paying a tribute of 20 kilograms of gold and presenting it to Your Majesty, asking for the public title of vassalage to our great Zhou Dynasty.

Only the Queen Mother and Her Majesty decided to do so. "

Chai Zongxun learned to stay and follow his example.

Liu Congxiao, named Yuanji, was born in the third year of Tang Tianyou (906).

Originally from Yongchun, Quanzhou, but settled in Fengting since childhood. Later, he joined Wang Shenzhi's headquarters in Fujian.

During the turmoil in Fujian after the death of Wang Shenzhi of the Five Dynasties, Quanzhang was occupied for 17 years. It was nominally subordinate to the Southern Tang Dynasty, but was actually autonomous. He adopted the policy of calming down troops, calming the people and protecting the land, and vigorously developed production and shipping. Xinghua, Quan, and Zhangzhou were The three places prospered and developed uniquely during the nationwide wars of the Five Dynasties, and became richer than any other.

When Empress Dowager Fu heard this, she thought of the late Emperor Chai Rong and said with a smile:
"It was during the time of the late emperor that Liu Congxiao sent envoys to pay tribute twice to repair the problem. He came again to pay tribute this time. His intention was very sincere.

Your Majesty, why don't we accept his surrender? "

After Chai Zongxun got to know his mother, he heard that Liu Congxiao was with his father, and paid tribute twice. He thought of his father and old friendship.

Liu Congxiao took control of Quan and Nanzhou and became independent, ostensibly following the orders of the Southern Tang Dynasty. If I agreed to his open surrender and professed vassal status this time, I was afraid that Li Jing, the leader of the Southern Tang Dynasty, would launch an army to attack him.

At that time, as the suzerain state, its own Zhou Dynasty will have to send troops to the southeast, and the rescue will be effective, which is a bit troublesome.

Chai Zongxun thought about it, thinking that in this era of inconvenient transportation and slow movement, even if Liu Congxiao received his imperial edict, it would be at least more than a month later.

After Li Congxiao declared his allegiance to Zhou Dynasty, it would be at least 4 months before Li Jing learned the news and launched an army to conquer him.

By then, the "Long Xiang Army" will have at least 14 young sergeants over years old, who are capable of fighting because they have the magic weapon "God Arm Bow".

It was just the right time for the Southern Tang Dynasty, which was prosperous and weak, to train its troops.

Chai Zongxun said with a smile: "The Queen Mother is nostalgic for the past, so she sent an edict to agree to stay and return to my great Zhou Dynasty.

Let him pay an annual tribute of 5 kilograms of gold to my great Zhou Dynasty, and I will ensure that his Quan and Nanzhou are safe and sound! "

Fan Zhi thought that it would not be a problem if he could mobilize troops to the Southern Tang Dynasty for rescue, because Liu Jun, the leader of the Han Dynasty, was seriously ill and the country was in danger.
The Lord of the Liao Dynasty, Yelujing, was even more addicted to wine and sex. He would kill ministers randomly for any trivial matter. The country was in chaos, and it could be said that the north of the Great Zhou Dynasty was worry-free.

Fan Zhi immediately discussed it with the ministers and agreed.

(End of this chapter)