Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 85 Boating on the Yangtze River (Special thanks to book friend Lin Yuxuan for his monthly ticket!)
Li Fangyi, Princess Yongning of the Tang Dynasty, led a hundred subordinates of the "Imperial City Secretary" and left Luoyang immediately after converging with more than a hundred geishas of the Tang Dynasty waiting in Luoyang City.

A few days later, on November 16, the fourth year of Kaixi, we arrived at Jiangling City in Jingzhou in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Everyone dressed up as a geisha troupe that came to the Great Zhou Dynasty, and under the support of personnel from the "Imperial City Department" of the Tang Dynasty stationed here in Jiangling, they entered the city from the north gate through customs declaration.

Li Fangyi sat in the carriage and walked all the way. Looking from the carriage window, she saw the bustling city of Jiangling, orderly and prosperous business.

But the people were smiling, many of them were wearing very new coarse cloth clothes, and they were busy in the market.

Li Fangyi asked in surprise, "Imperial City Division" Zuo Qianwei General Xu Xuan, who was riding beside the carriage, and said:
"General Xu, is Jiangling always so lively? I feel that the people here are generally richer than the people in Jinling City of the Tang Dynasty."

Xu Xuan was a veteran general of the "Imperial City Division" of the Tang Dynasty and a confidant of the central leader Li Jing. Before Li Fangyi took charge of the "Imperial City Division", Xu Xuan was the commander.

He has been stationed in Jiangling for more than a year and is ostensibly the shopkeeper of a large business. He is a well-rounded person and has made friends with all the powerful people in Jingzhou.

Xu Xuan raised his hands and saluted on the horse and said:

"Reporting to Princess, when I was first stationed in Jiangling City, the Gao family still ruled this place.

At that time, the government's land rent was 6%, but the officials in the Gao family were corrupt, the bureaucrats plundered, and the people were in poverty.

In mid-July of this year, the Great Zhou Dynasty sent the Huyan Zan Division of the First Corps of the "Longxiang Army" to go south to capture the Nanping and Wuqing armies. The young emperor Guo Zongxun issued an imperial edict to establish more than ten state capitals in the two places to implement A New Deal for Farmland and Business.

The land rent was reduced from 60% to 30%, and the commercial tax was abolished. Various miscellaneous taxes were abolished, and only 20% of the commercial tax was collected.

After the autumn rice harvest last month, people in Jiangling and other places immediately had surplus food at home, and their lives improved. As a result, the business in Jiangling City also flourished a lot. "

After hearing this, Li Fangyi sighed in the car:

"It seems that the Emperor Guo Zongxun of the Great Zhou Dynasty is really a child prodigy that is widely rumored.

In just a few years since he took the throne, he not only rectified the rebellious military governors in various places in the country, but he was able to find a new way at a young age and create two powerful armies, the "Longxiang Army" and the "Longxiang Guard". The same is true for internal affairs. Excellent.

Look at Zhang Yong, the commander of the "Long Xiang Guard". How many people in the world are there like this?

He is truly a wise and powerful general!
Alas, what should I do in the Tang Dynasty? Is it really destiny that lies in the Great Zhou Dynasty? "

This time it was Xu Xuan's turn to be surprised:

"In the "Battle of Yangzhou" that day, it can be said that Zhang Yong was the master of shooting and his force was astonishing.

Could it be that in this "Battle of Luoyang", the more than fifty Long Xiang Guards commanded by Zhang Yong were able to instantly defeat the more than three hundred masters of the "Siwen Cao" commanded by Shu Kingdom An Siqian? ! "

Li Fangyi nodded slightly and sighed:

"This matter was reported back by six generals of our "Imperial City Division" who stayed in Luoyang. They all confirmed this matter. How can this be false?"

Xu Xuan was stunned, because he had commanded the "Imperial City Division" of the Tang Dynasty for more than ten years, and had been fighting with An Siqian of the Shu Kingdom for many years. He knew that An Siqian's force was unfathomable, and he had no confidence in defeating him.

Now that I heard that the more than 300 "Si Wencao" masters led by An Siqian were defeated by the more than 50 Longxiang Guards commanded by Zhang Yong, I was naturally surprised and suspicious.

The motorcade drove for a while and stopped in a large mansion. Li Fangyi and more than 200 subordinates stayed here.

In the next few days, several singing and dancing performances were held in Jiangling City, which caused quite a stir among the dignitaries and common people in Jiangling City. After earning a lot of money, Li Fangyi led everyone to bid farewell to Xu Xuan and sat on a table at Jiangling Pier. A large building ship sailed eastward along the Yangtze River to Jinling.

During the Five Dynasties, shipbuilding technology made greater progress than during the Tang Dynasty.

"Maritime merchant ships vary in size. The larger ones are made of five thousand materials and can carry five or six hundred people. The medium ones are made of two thousand to one thousand materials and can also carry two to three hundred people." Li Fangyi and others took a ship on this trip. A merchant ship worth 1,200 yuan has been plying trade between the upper and lower reaches of the Yangtze River for many years.

Being in a lonely boat on the river, the journey was boring. What Li Fangyi saw was the majestic water of the Yangtze River. Feeling about her own circumstances, she couldn't help but compose a poem in the cabin, and came up with two sentences:
“The Yellow River returns as it should, and it is hard to see a beloved man’s white horse now.”

When the ship arrived at the southern capital (Nanchang), Li Fangyi received intelligence from Luoyang: the Wang-Shu coalition forces fought against the Longxiang Army of the Great Zhou Dynasty thirty miles outside Luoyang City on October 3 and lost the first battle.

At present, Han Hui has led Long Xiang's army to heavily besiege Luoyang, and the young emperor Guo Zongxun of the Great Zhou Dynasty has sent Cao Bin, the governor of Jingzhou, to march out of Kuizhou, forcing Shu to be unable to move.

The boat traveled quickly, and it took more than ten days to travel by land. Only six days later by water, on the afternoon of November 6, it reached Jinling, the capital of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Fangyi ignored the fatigue of traveling and traveling, and as soon as she entered the city, she went to the palace to ask for an audience with Li Yu, the leader of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Yu was drinking and writing lyrics with the Queen of Zhou Dynasty in the "Bai Chi Tower" in the palace. He heard the eunuch report that Princess Yongning asked for an audience, and immediately announced her arrival.

After a while, Li Fangyi, led by the eunuch, entered the "Hundred Foot Tower".

After seeing the ceremony, before Li Fangyi reported the expedition to Luoyang, Li Yu, who was in high spirits, said:

"Mei Yi, sit down quickly.

Please rate the poem I recently wrote. "

Li Fangyi thought about the news she had received on the way that the Longxiang Army of the Great Zhou Dynasty had won a great victory in the first battle and besieged Luoyang City. How could she think of commenting on lyrics and music at this moment?
However, he had no choice but to obey the emperor's brother's orders, so he had no choice but to sit down on a square stool to express his gratitude.

Li Yu's face was full of intoxication, as if his spirit had been withdrawn to another time and space, and he slowly said:

"The month before the cherry blossoms have fallen,

Like a bed, I lean against the smoked cage.

Much like last year today,

Hate but still agree.

The two servant girls are not calm and the clouds are haggard,
Tear stained bra.

Where is the pain of lovesickness?

The screen window is in a drunken dream. "

Li Fangyi thought of the prosperous scenes she saw in Luoyang and Jiangling and other places of the Zhou Dynasty, and felt sad in her heart. However, she did not dare to dampen Li Yu's interest, so she could only reluctantly praise a few words.

Li Yu was overjoyed, and after talking to Li Fangyi for a while about his hidden aftertaste in this word, he was satisfied.

After a while, Li Yu seemed to have just remembered and said:

"Sister Yi, I think things must have been settled this time when I went to Luoyang. I just received the "Exhortation to Guo Zong" sent to the world by Wang Jiedushi a few days ago. Although the meaning of the writing is very correct, the humanistic and literary talent of the draft is too poor. !
I think it was done by a fool in Wang Quanbin's shogunate.

Now Wang Quanbin and the Shu Kingdom have joined forces to capture Qianzhou Prefecture in the Great Zhou Dynasty with great momentum. The Great Zhou Dynasty has been internally unstable since then, and no longer has the energy to attack our country, Tang Dynasty. How wonderful! "

Li Fangyi knew that the emperor's brother had received the information from nearly two months ago, and said sadly:

"Your Majesty, the combined forces of Wang and Shu were defeated in their first battle with the Longxiang Army of the Great Zhou Dynasty in early October!
Han Hui has besieged Luoyang City for more than a month, and Wang Quanbin and the Shu Kingdom are destined to be defeated! "

(End of this chapter)