Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 69: The Five Lords release their military power (Special thanks to book friend Luo’s Bookworm Fallen for his Nightmare Monthly Pass!)
Li Tao and Fu Yanqing were sitting in the carriage, chatting about past events along the way, mostly about how Taizu and Shizong put down the rebellion and defeated the Liao Kingdom.

When talking about their happiness, the two of them would hold hands and laugh from time to time.

The carriage traveled for more than an hour and entered Damingfu City.

Along the way in the city, Li Tao saw that the local people were densely populated, the folk customs were strong, and there were many business travelers.

About a quarter of an hour later, the carriage arrived at the Palace of the Prince of Wei, and Li Tao entered the palace with the whole family welcoming him.

Fu Yanqing had already ordered his servants to prepare a banquet in the mansion, and immediately entertained Li Tao and his entourage.

After a day of feasting and feasting, Li Tao, who was tired from traveling and traveling, went to bed early to sleep.

On the morning of July 21 the next day, not long after Li Tao got up and had breakfast, Fu Yanqing sent someone to invite him to the inner courtyard for a talk.

After sitting down in ceremony, Fu Yanqing said:

"Since His Majesty ascended to the throne, he has built new internal pro-army forces, the "Dragon Xiang Army" and the "Dragon Xiang Guard", which are powerful in battle. He has also implemented a rotational garrison system of officers for the Forbidden Army and the Returned Army to stabilize the army.

Externally, the "Battle of Xingzhou" defeated the Han Dynasty and shocked the Liao Kingdom, and the "Battle of Yangzhou" defeated the coalition forces of Han Ni and the Tang Dynasty, shocking the world!
In fact, I am the sage king of the Great Zhou Dynasty!
Li Xiangnai is a confidant of His Majesty. In the past few years, he has made suggestions and implemented new policies for His Majesty. His contribution is to the country! I admire you so much!

I wonder what important matters your Majesty has to convey to you when you order Prime Minister Li to come here this time? "

When Li Tao saw that apart from a few maids, there were only Fu Yanqing and his son in the room, he immediately felt relieved and said:
"The king of Wei praised me, and I felt ashamed to be worthy of the official position.

The lower official came to visit the King of Wei this time. In addition to proposing a marriage proposal to Fu Zhenzhen, the eldest granddaughter of the King of Wei, to be the queen, there was also a major matter related to the stability of the country that he wanted to discuss with the King of Wei. "

Fu Yanqing thought:
"It's true. Otherwise, if Your Majesty just made an appointment to marry Zhen'er as your queen, and the Queen Mother has written a family letter to me, why would you need such an important official as Prime Minister Li to come here to announce the decree?"

Fu Yanqing smiled and said:
"Your Majesty sent Prime Minister Li here in person. It must be a big deal. I am all ears."

Li Tao straightened his clothes and said solemnly:

"Although His Majesty is young, he is a generation of sage kings in our Zhou Dynasty and even in China. He can be called the first child prodigy emperor in history!

In the past few years, your majesty has implemented new policies on water conservancy and commerce in our territory, which has greatly increased the number of acres of land cultivated, commerce has begun to flourish, the people have enough food and clothing, and the government's tax revenue has also been greatly abundant.

And the "Dragon Xiang Army" and "Dragon Xiang Guard" created by our orphans from all over the Zhou Dynasty are the most powerful in the world. They have recently conquered Nanping and Wuqing armies, shocking the world!
Since the overthrow of the Tang Dynasty, the world has been in strife for more than fifty years. Warlords everywhere have killed people, and the people have been in ruins. Jieduzhi was not able to control the enemy, but instead became a source of chaos.

Your Majesty is determined to wipe out the eight wastelands and Liuhe and unify the world. He will soon direct his troops towards the Liao Kingdom of Tang, Shu and Yanyun, and save the people from hanging upside down! Then we must start by consolidating our country in the Great Zhou Dynasty!
Your Majesty and his ministers have been discussing secretly for a long time, and have decided to increase the rewards greatly, release the military power to the "five nobles", and abolish the military envoy system, so that the people can become rich, and our country, the Zhou Dynasty, can also be enriched and the army strong.

In the future, His Majesty will let the sergeants under the command of the military governors from various places disarm and return to their fields, and use the imperial army to securely guard the border state capitals.

The King of Wei is your Majesty's closest relative, and both the Queen Mother and Your Majesty have agreed to make King Wei's eldest granddaughter, Fu Zhenzhen, their queen, and will be favored by them for generations to come.

Now, among the military governors from various places in the Great Zhou Dynasty, only the King of Wei and the military governor of Zhaoyi are looking forward. Your Majesty's coming this time is to convey your Majesty's message:

The King of Wei's family can control the Daming Mansion. In cooperation with His Majesty's strategy of banning the Jiedushi and "cutting down the feudal vassal", the Tianxiong Army was handed over to the court to set an example for the people of the world! "

Fu Yanqing was quite surprised when he heard this, because abolishing the local Jiedushi system was something that even Taizu and Shizong did not dare to think of.

Sejong Guorong was known as the "First Mingjun of the Five Dynasties", but he only greatly strengthened the strength of the central imperial army and formed a tendency to crush the local Jiedushi.

However, thinking of the "Battle of Yangzhou" in the first year of Kaixi, and the "Battle of Jiangling" and "Battle of Tanzhou" that had just recovered Nanping and Wuqing's army, the "Longxiang Army" and "Longxiang Guard" founded by the young emperor Guo Zongxun The super combat power displayed and the fact that he only obeyed the orders of Emperor Guo Zongxun made Fu Yanqing ponder. After a long while, Fu Yanqing opened his mouth and sighed:

"Prime Minister Li, I have lived through the Liang, Tang, Jin, Han and Wu dynasties, and I am used to seeing changes in the situation and changes in power. Only the military power in my hands is the foundation for me and my family to settle down and live.

Although Your Majesty is closely related to me by flesh and blood, and I also believe in Your Majesty’s love and care for my Fu family, in the future when the country is in the hands of your Majesty’s descendants and emperors, can I still be able to protect my Fu family as a king for generations to come? "

Li Taozhi would definitely be reluctant to let Fu Yanqing, who had spent his whole life fighting in troubled times, suddenly give up his military power.

Li Tao smiled and said:

"King Wei, Your Majesty is just worried that you won't worry about the longevity of the king's title, so he asked the Queen Mother to make an appointment with the King of Wei for the queen's marriage to her eldest granddaughter Fu Zhenzhen.

Moreover, this time the subordinate came to Daming Mansion, he not only brought a generous gift from His Majesty to the King of Wei, but also a newly made "alchemy iron certificate" ordered by His Majesty. As long as it is not a serious crime of treason, it can protect the throne of the King of Wei for generations to come. No worries. "

Li Tao waved his hand lightly, and a personal attendant quickly presented a long wooden box to Fu Yanqing.

Fu Yanqing opened the box cover anxiously and took a look. He saw an iron plate about three feet long and eight inches wide. There were hundreds of characters engraved on it with cinnabar, which were exactly the words written by the young emperor Chai Zongxun.

After Fu Yanqing read it, he was deeply moved when he saw the sincere words and sincere words in Chai Zongxun's book.

And over the past few years, Fu Yanqing has also learned that although the young emperor Chai Zongxun is young, he is very wise and far-reaching and decisive in his actions.

The young emperor Chai Zongxun had such a sincere conversation this time, which also showed that the young emperor was determined to "cut down the vassal" and could not object.

If he did not agree, the 30,000 Tianxiong troops under his command would not be able to stop the 10,000-strong "Long Xiang Army" from attacking. Even if he united with more than a dozen Jiedu envoys to join forces, they would be defeated by the little emperor's 270,000 soldiers and the three major military commanders. The pacification of the "Longxiang Army" and "Longxiang Guard" of the Corps is almost a matter of no doubt, and the risk is too great.

Moreover, Fu Yanqing did not want to meet his close relative, the young emperor Chai Zong, who was training his troops. The situation was uncontrollable, so she had no choice but to believe him at this time.

After Fu Yanqing thought about it for two days, he expressed his stance to Li Tao and fully agreed with the young emperor Chai Zongxun's strategy of reducing the vassalage.

Both parties were very happy, and they drank and talked happily every day in the Wei Palace.

Li Tao was kept in Prince Wei's Mansion and entertained hospitably for seven days before he set off back to Bianjing.

As for the Taifu Wang Zhu who went to Luzhou to persuade Zhaoyi Jiedushi Li Jun, after conveying the decree of the young emperor Chai Zongxun, Li Jun knew about the marriage between Fu Jinding and his son Li Shoujie, which was granted by the Queen Mother Fu and the young emperor. Zhenglong agreed not long after.

I just bargained with Wang Zhu for a few days about the title and other benefits. Wang Zhu followed Chai Zongxun's instructions before leaving and finally agreed to Li Jun's request for the title of Duke.

Seeing that the matter was settled, Wang Zhu drank fine wine for ten days at the Jiedu Envoy's Mansion in Luzhou, and then set off back to Bianjing on July 25th.

Li Tao and Wang Zhu returned to Bianjing on August 10th and 12th respectively to report the details of their mission to the young emperor Chai Zongxun.

At this time, the First Army of the First Corps of the "Longxiang Army" had returned to Bianjing on August 2.

Chai Zongxun rewarded the entire army. Each sergeant was rewarded with ten taels of silver, and was promoted to one rank. Army commander Hu Yanzhan was granted the title of "Pingchuzi", promoted to the Commander-in-Chief of the First Corps of the "Longxiang Army", and was awarded a pair of golden whips.

After listening to the detailed reports of Li Tao and Wang Zhu, Chai Zongxun saw that things were in harmony, so on August 15, the fourth year of Kaixi, he officially issued an edict to the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty to abolish the Jiedushi system, which was known in history as "Shizu Mid-Autumn Festival". "Cutting the vassal edict".

(End of this chapter)