Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

"What can I do..." Second Sister avoided her gaze.

Empress Dowager Fu nodded, feeling complicated: "That's the promise, I will tell the officials about this matter, be prepared, you are a girl without personnel, but don't be afraid, the officials... very sharp."

The second sister didn't speak, "He...I won't be afraid of him, but he... the officials, what if the officials look down on me."

Seeing that the second younger sister who is usually lively and active, fearless and fearless, showed a nervous look, Empress Dowager Fu smiled, "Why, the second younger sister is such a good-looking girl."

.......

At the end of May and the beginning of June, Shi Congyun began to make arrangements with various feudal towns, issued edicts one after another, and took many measures.

[-]. The irrelevant Jiezhen near Daliang was directly cancelled, the strong soldiers and horses were recruited to attack the imperial army, and the rest paid for their dismissal.

[-]. In the outer areas, such as the Zhaoyi Army and the Guide Army, etc., first entrusted to the confidant generals in the court, but instead of letting them go to Jiezhen to lead the army, assign military officers and deputy civil officials to manage them on their behalf, and no longer recruit troops to expand the army.

[-]. Important border towns, military towns that need to maintain combat readiness for a long time, send confidant generals to guard them.

[-]. From this year onwards, except for border towns, each military town needs to select a certain number of young and strong soldiers to join the forbidden army every year.

[-]. Starting from this year, the military and government taxes cannot be collected by the Jiedushi separately, and handed over after deducting the expenses. Instead, they will all be handed over to the imperial court, and then the imperial court will distribute them according to needs, except for a few border towns.

Each of the five measures is an edict with a seal, three provinces, and the Privy Council's signature. The edicts are so dense and highly valued that everyone can see that the emperor attaches great importance to them.

In addition, Gong Li had just been executed a few days ago, dozens of officials were exiled, no one dared to slack off, and the news quickly spread throughout the world.

However, this is a major event after all, and it cannot be done immediately, but many officials and military officers are already busy, and the entire Qin State has begun to move.

In the north, the Northern Han Dynasty was newly destroyed, the Liao Kingdom was newly defeated, and the Southern Tang Dynasty was subdued in the south. There has never been such a stable internal environment to implement domestic reforms.

So many things went very smoothly. In addition, Jiedu envoys are all in the capital, and there is no leader in the local dragons. There is no resistance at all, and the implementation is very smooth.

Even though no direct and concrete results could be seen for a while, standing in the vertical arch hall of the Daliang Imperial City, Emperor Shi deeply felt that his power was growing day by day!

Chapter 366, Looking South

Time slows down to June.

The affairs of the DPRK and the Central Committee are progressing in an orderly manner, and there are many civil and military personnel under him, and Shi Congyun asks them to do many things.

He has a big heart and is not the kind of person who can't let go of anything. As for himself, of course he takes care of the little fish in his pond in the harem.

In early autumn and July, with Li Gu's official appointment, Wang Pu's dismissal, Gong Li's execution, dozens of ministers were deposed or exiled, and many new officials from Shu, Jiangnan, Hedong and other places brought back by Shi Congyun arranged to enter In the imperial court, on the way to centralize power, Emperor Shi also vaguely took on the appearance of Emperor Qin and Han Wu, and truly made government orders accessible to all directions, and the world obeyed his orders.

At night, there was a strong wind outside the palace city, Emperor Shi was half lying on the bed comfortably, the silk curtain outside the hall was swaying, and the figure of the palace lady outside the door could be vaguely seen.

Fei's hair in his arms was in a messy bun and his face was flushed. Shi Congyun came here today to teach Fei a lesson.

"Are you still used to coming to Daliang?" Shi Congyun asked while playing with her black hair.

Fei nodded: "It's cooler here, but it's all good."

"If there is anything, you can tell Lin Shanggong directly." He asked while playing Wang Nong.

Fei nodded, and said in a low voice: "Officials, some officials from the Shu region asked the female officials in the palace to find me and sent some letters, saying that they wanted me to speak for them in front of the officials..."

She said timidly, firstly, she was used to being bullied, and secondly, the execution of Gong Li happened just before. Everyone knew that the officials were very disgusted with the formation of cliques.

After hearing this, Shi Congyun asked curiously, "How did they find you?"

Fei said: "The manager of my palace is Shang Gong from Shu, her brother-in-law's friend was a judge in Kuizhou, and he happened to be acquainted with the Minister of Rites of the Later Shu court.

After the official family pacified Shu, many officials, big and small, were brought to Daliang, and they were among them. "

"What are they looking for you for?" Shi Congyun asked curiously.

"Two of them were because the houses by the Bian River were not assigned, the land in Daliang was expensive, and their salaries were not enough to buy new ones. They went to the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Industry, but no one paid any attention to them, and there was no result in going to the sparse, so they begged me to go to the official house. Talk to them in front of them.

There is another one who is old and asks to be told to go back to Shu, and the fallen leaves return to their roots. "Fei said, got up and took out a lot of letters from the drawer of the table next to him, "The letters are all here, and I don't know how to respond, so I waited for the official to come. "

Shi Congyun nodded, he understood all of a sudden, and didn't look at anything. Unknowingly, his harem also became a wonderful balance.

Because he enjoyed the dance at Zhou Xian's last night, and what he enjoyed was not a serious dance. Afterwards, Zhou Xian also told him that Jiangnan wanted to talk to the emperor through her relationship, and sent letters and gold and silver. Take out all the treasures for him to see.

This is interesting, officials in Jiangnan would first think of Zhou Xianla when they wanted to talk to him; officials in Sichuan and Shu hoped that the concubine Fei would stand up for them; have a good impression; and most of the officials and generals in Hebei are more supportive of the queen.

Just like the incident against the empress last time, many veteran officials from the former court participated, but none from Hebei, because the empress is from Hebei, it seems that intentionally or unintentionally, whether they like it or not, they will become the objects of foreign ministers' curry favor. Representatives of the other forces have become their expectations.

Fei represents Sichuan and Shu, Zhao Shijian is the historian's confidant, Fu Liumei is Hebei, and Zhou Xian is Jiangnan. This kind of change is not deliberately shaped by anyone, but a pattern formed naturally and subtly.

Shi Congyun thought about it, he was powerless to stop this kind of thing, even if he is the emperor and the greatest power in the world, he is still only a human being, the will cannot stop the law, there is no way out if a river is blocked by force, the more the dam becomes The higher the water, the higher it will be.

Blocking is worse than sparse.

If used well, this in turn is also a very good way for the emperor to monitor ministers and obtain information, provided that the concubines are loyal to him.

Shi Congyun shook his head, thinking that it is really a ruthless emperor's family, many things will deteriorate in the face of the supreme power in the world.

"In the future, if the officials of the Shu region ask you for something, don't agree to it, don't deal with it privately, just tell me, and I will handle it."

"En." Fei nodded obediently.

"I estimate that there will only be more and more officials looking for you. Some of them want to go through the back door, or ask for an official position and so on, and refuse directly. You can tell me about other things."

Fei carefully remembered that in the middle of speaking, Shi Congyun changed the subject: "I heard from Lin Shanggong that your palace costs less than half of other palaces. What's the matter? I have enough money, so you don't have to help me." Save that."

She seriously shook her head and said: "The officials said that I was extravagant and wasteful in Sichuan, that I poisoned the people and taught my concubines a lesson... I think the officials taught me the right thing, so I need to save money and make up for my mistakes in the future. "

Seeing that she took it seriously, Shi Congyun smirked: "Silly woman, I just made an excuse for you to take it seriously... You don't need to do this in the future, anyway, I will teach you the same."

.......

In mid-July, Fu Yanqing retired from Hebei and returned to Luoyang. When passing by Zhengzhou, he was defeated by Bianjing. Shi Congyun sent people to send gold and silver rewards.

At the end of July, after the consultation of the three provinces and the Privy Council, it was decided to expand the Shenhuo Army to a main force corps of the same size as Long Jie, Hu Jie, Kong He, and Iron Cavalry, with [-] people in the left and right hatchbacks under its jurisdiction.

With the expansion of the empire's territory, there is no delay in expanding the army. Typical standing armies such as Han and Tang are almost the same, ranging from more than 30 to more than 50, except for the strange ones like the Song Dynasty.

But now his Qin Dynasty's standing troops are only in the early 20s. With the expansion of the empire's territory, it must be more and more insufficient.

Now Guanbei (north of the Three Passes, south of Youzhou), Yanmen, Jingnan Army, Guanzhong, Luzhou (Hefei), Yangzhou, Tanzhou (Changsha) and other places in Hebei are bordering foreign enemies and need long-term garrisons. Xinping, Hedong also needs the army to sit in the town. In this way, more than 20 troops will eventually be stationed near Daliang to defend the capital. As a mobile force, only about [-] will be used to check and balance the frontier army.

This is the safest way to garrison troops in the empire era. The central imperial army and the frontier army maintain roughly the same size and rotate regularly. If there is a long-term imbalance, Tang Xuanzong will be a lesson.

With successive wars, especially after the terrible performance of breaking Taiyuan in a few days, the Shenhuo Army has been paid more and more attention, and the expansion of the army is also expected. If there is no artillery from the Shenhuo Army, then Taiyuan might have to fight for a year or so, and I don’t know how many deaths how many people.

The amazing performance was seen by everyone, and there was no pressure to expand the army, and almost no one in the DPRK was right about this matter.

After much deliberation and careful consideration, Shi Congyun entrusted the recruitment of new soldiers and the expansion of the organizational system to his confidant Wang Zhong. This kind of work should not be randomly assigned. At the beginning, he placed cronies in the army, and he rose step by step until he sought power. To usurp the throne, the beginning is that the old man purges the imperial army.

.......

The matter of expanding the army has been arranged. In autumn and August, the Mid-Autumn Festival, Shi Congyun took the queen and concubines to enjoy the moon in the garden outside the city, and entertained all the officials. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the chrysanthemums in the garden are just right, and the flowers are yellow everywhere. Everyone is very interested Gao, many courtiers came out to recite poems and compose Fu, extolling meritorious deeds, and some clever ones directly recited Huanghua Ci from the emperor, bragging for a while.

Although there are elements of bragging, the poems of Huang Hua in the Battlefield are indeed excellent, a height that many clichés cannot reach.

In the middle of the banquet, drinking was in full swing, and the dishes were full of flavors. Shi Congyun was also quite interested in such a style of writing and ink, but he was too lazy to copy poems brazenly, and thought of looking at the list of Jinshi last year when he was happy.

I want to see what kind of young talents and useful talents his Qin country has in recent years. He has been fighting in the north and south all the year round, and has no time to pay attention to them.

As the supreme son of heaven, only after entering the Jixian Hall can the Hanlin Academy enter his eyes.

Wei Min took the list and looked at it for a while, and Shi Congyun frowned suddenly, because he knew someone among them, he was a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, Tao Yu, the son of the former emperor Tao Gu.

Shi Congyun immediately became suspicious, and immediately asked Tao Yan if he had come, and left and right told him that he was working in the Ministry of Rites, so he should be there.

Emperor Shi nodded, and immediately called someone to come over, and told Zhou Xian to test his knowledge. Zhou Xian was well-read and full of knowledge. If a woman can take the imperial examination, she must be the number one scholar.

He is worried because he is afraid that these officials will protect each other and go out of their way. This is very unfair to others, and children from poor families will lose the opportunity to rise.

Tao Yan below was quickly approached, and after saluting, he didn't dare to look up at all, and was a little nervous.

Zhou Xian was a little surprised by his order, but he still opened his mouth to test a few classics. Although Tao Yan stuttered and was afraid, he answered all of them. Shi Congyun didn't know if this level was enough, because he was uneducated.

Seeing that he answered all of them, he just nodded: "That's right, but since we have this matter today, I would like to make two requests.

In the future, if the children of high-ranking officials go to high school, they will still need to take the examination of the Imperial Academy to see if they have real talents and real learning. If they cheat, I will punish them severely, and the children of poor families will be exempted.

Secondly, the palace examination will be resumed in the future. Every year, the top three high school students will be brought to the palace. I will personally test the school, and let all the officials see if they have the ability. "

"Yes!" The secretary next to him recorded it, and Qi Qilang also wrote down the words and deeds of the officials.

Later, in front of all the officials, Shi Congyun said very seriously: "The imperial examination is the foundation of the country. Today, all the officials are here. I will make it clear that I will reserve the quota for you, but dare to pass the imperial examination. Whoever dares to make a move, I will destroy the three clans, and I will show no mercy."

The words were so serious that many ministers turned pale with fright and bowed their heads to express their understanding.

Shi Congyun nodded, he didn't want to say such a thing at this moment, but it could deepen the memory and let them remember it more deeply.

He doesn't think that he is a saint through the ages, and he has no ability to change the world, but as a five-good young man who has received education from later generations, he has his own persistence in his heart. In any case, the imperial examination is the only way for the bottom people to rise. Keep it safe.

Of course, there were many people at the autumn banquet, and these words were also spread, and the spread became more and more exaggerated, but in any case, it won the hearts of many poor people in the world for the emperor.

........

Just after the fifteenth day of the eighth month, news came from the south that the envoys from Jiangnan had arrived.

Shi Congyun was reviewing memorials in the Chuigong Hall at that time. After hearing about this, he asked the officials of Honglu Temple to arrange them to stay. He tapped his knuckles on the table, thought for a while and said, "I will see them tomorrow at noon, and they have something to summarize. Talk to them every now and then, and speak briefly."

"Yes!" The Honglu Temple official stepped back after being ordered.

As far as Jiangnan's information is concerned, Si Chao, who guards Yangzhou in the south, has already sent people to Beijing to report.

In May, Li Jing, the lord of the south of the Yangtze River, died of illness. The prince Li Congjia succeeded to the throne and changed his name to Li Yu. He took all the officials from Hongzhou back to Jinling from Hongzhou, leaving only some people in Hongzhou, and moved the capital back to Jiangling. Already very obvious.

Thinking of Li Yu, it is impossible for Shi Congyun not to remember, after all, it has only been a few years since he robbed his wife, but this change in Jiangnan made it difficult for him to judge the situation for a while.

Among the southern powers today, the Southern Han Dynasty, and later generations of Guangdong, Guangxi, and Vietnam are not to be feared.

The only things that make him wary are the later generations of Yunnan, Guizhou, and the land in the south of the Yangtze River.

The two worries are different. The worry about the boundary of Yunnan is that Yunnan is really high in mountains and densely forested, with a huge difference in altitude and a huge climate span. Moreover, the army in Yunnan has been good at it since ancient times due to its unique geographical influence and poor mountains and bad waters. fight.

However, unlike the Jiangnan army who is good at water warfare and the northern army who is good at horse warfare, they are proficient in mountain warfare and defensive warfare. If they really want to send a large army deep into Yunnan to fight, the outcome is really unpredictable.

If the opponent is a northern country, or it looks like there are many peaks, but in fact the altitude is not high, and the ground is flat in Guangdong and Guangxi, his Central Plains army has the upper hand, so basically as long as the north is unified in history, Guangdong and Guangxi will definitely be destroyed. , and there is only one situation where Guangdong and Guangxi can be separated, and that is when the world is in chaos and there is no time to control the north.

But it would be troublesome if you really went to the real mountains like Yunnan. The ideal is to win the Southern Han Dynasty.

But Jiangnan is another situation. It is said that Jiangnan is no longer able to compete with Qin by force. the richest.

If the will to resist is stronger, it is likely to drag him into a protracted war and consume a lot of the national power that he has finally accumulated. This is what Shi Congyun does not want to see.

In his plan, the best way is not to send troops. Once troops are dispatched, Jiangnan will be settled within a year, and production will resume in the next year. The main source of taxation in the Tang Dynasty cannot be smashed into a piece of scorched earth in his hands. Otherwise, all great plans and great achievements in the future will be in vain.

So long before the arrival of the Jiangnan envoy, Shi Congyun had actually thought about it many times, how to deal with the Jiangnan people, how to fight for more benefits for himself and the empire.

Tribute is definitely indispensable, but it is necessary to prepare for future military operations, and to try where the bottom line of the new king Li Yu is.

After thinking about this, Shi Congyun wanted to go back and prepare for it. The Lord of Jiangnan is weak, but Feng Yanlu is not easy to deal with.

Then he waved his hand, called the old man Fan Zhi below, and retaliated: "Mr. Fan, I'm tired today. You have to approve all the papers before leaving get off work. I'll come back tomorrow."

Chapter 367, Why Do You Think of Xiao Zhou?

"The minister is born in the sons, and he is really ashamed of his talents. He came out of Jiaoyang, and his heart is sparse and profitable. He was nurtured by his father and brother. He enjoys the sun and the moon to travel leisurely. He misses the remnants of the nest.悃, suing the ancestors, it is not a false word, the one who knows more...

.......

The living beings of Fangzhu a country depend on the restoration of the nine heavens.His Majesty Kuang is gentle and generous, and his wife is benevolent. He must pretend to be clear, and even more so than in the past, relying on the power of the emperor, he will caress the old state, and if he can get the banquet, he can get from Kangtai......

.......

However, what is worrying is that the Wuyue Kingdom is adjacent to the poor land, and it is similar to a deep siege. I am afraid that the border will be sealed off, or there will be disturbances.Still thinking about clever and wanton tongues like a spring, raising doubts about expressing, playing heresy, sneaking in deceitful ways.I would like to return to Jianzhu, to tell right and wrong, to envoy distant ministers, to be safe and sincere. "

Feng Yanlu respectfully read the letter written by Li Yu, the lord of the south of the Yangtze River, to the Son of Heaven in the hall. Shi Congyun was in a daze when he heard it. Can't these people write some vernacular, what kind of sentence?

After working for a long time, he didn't really understand what Li Yu wanted to say, but he was too embarrassed to admit it, it was too embarrassing.

Shi Congyun waited for him to finish reading, pretending he didn't listen, and asked Feng Yanlu to excuse him: "I'll give you half an hour, don't delay if you don't have much time, just speak up if you have something to say."

Feng Yanlu paused for a moment, then sighed and cupped his hands and said: "This time, I am here on behalf of our lord. Firstly, it is a new king who is succeeding to the throne. I have come here to report to the Son of Heaven, and to the king of a great country.

Second, the Former Lord rides the crane to the west, hoping that the emperor will be magnanimous, consider the hearts of the people in the south of the Yangtze River, and restore the title of the Former Lord. "

Shi Congyun understood this. When he attacked the city of Jinling, he forced Li Jing to give up the title of emperor, so he could only call himself the lord of the country and pay tribute to China.

Now that Li Jing is dead, I want to restore the title of emperor. First, let Li Jing download it as the emperor, which is more face-saving and honors the ancestors. Second, it shows that Li Yu, who has succeeded to the throne, is filial.

Shi Congyun didn't get it right about this kind of face-saving matter, and directly agreed: "Li Guozhu has always been submissive to the court, and has no major faults in the south of the Yangtze River. I allow him to restore the emperor's title for burial. Dou Aiqing, you go to the Imperial Academy to discuss one. Grand and honorable."

"Yes!" Dou Yi, who was accompanying her, got up and took the order.

Feng Yanlu was a little surprised. He didn't expect things to go so smoothly. He thought that although the former lord was gone, it would be too difficult to restore the emperor, and the title was still a big deal. The so-called sky is boundless, and the great powers of the Central Plains might not agree. He didn't think it would be so simple. Thanks again and again.

"The Son of Heaven is generous and benevolent, with the sun, the moon, and rivers in his chest. It is truly a blessing in the world. The old minister thanked the Son of Heaven on behalf of the Lord!"