Chapter 6: Success in the Heavens, Section 24, February of the first year of the Han Dynasty (19 AD). In February, Li Hong, the general of the Great Sima, was ready to go north to the desert.

Long Xiang's general Zhao Yun, Changshui's captain Mustafa, and Hu Cai's captain Sai Feng led 10,000 iron horsemen to accompany him.

The two governors Shi Yupeng, Sima Fugan, Chen Qun, Yuan Lian, and more than a dozen subordinates such as Bo Sima Yi accompanied him.

The day before departure, Taifu Ma Riyan, Da Situ Zhang Wen, and Da Sikong Yang Biao came to see him off.

The stability of the desert and the border counties will be directly related to the success or failure of Zhongxing's great cause, so the ministers are very much in favor of Li Hong's trip to the north.

However, the Jinyang Imperial Court had just been rebuilt, and the relationship between the Hebei Prefectures and the Imperial Court had not yet been straightened out, and the general's hasty northward movement under such circumstances was very inappropriate.

The ministers had all sorts of speculations about this. Li Hong didn't care, he comforted the three lords a few words, and then said: "The affairs of the Hu tribes can only be solved by me going." This time, the Xiongnu Shan Yuting and the northern Xianbei King ignored the Tianwei of the Han Dynasty and deliberately provoked an incident, causing a war on the frontier, and the crime was unforgivable. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I want to unite the tribes belonging to the Hu tribe and abolish the privileges of some of the Hu people. If we beat the Hu people honestly and fight for peace, we will have no worries, and we can crusade against rebellion with peace of mind. ”

"The general's idea is right, and we all support it." Taifu Ma Riyan said,

"Your Majesty has granted the general the privilege of envoy to the festival, and the general can cut it first and then play it, and there is no need to ask for everything." (The so-called envoy festival is to act as the monarch when he goes out on an envoy or expedition.)

In peacetime and wartime, officials up to 2,000 koku can be killed. ）

"Although using Hu to control Hu is a good way to stabilize the frontier, the general must pay attention to the fact that a certain Hu tribe cannot be made strong in the process of using Hu to control Hu." Zhang Wen said,

"The key to using Hu to control Hu is to weaken and restrain the development of the Hu people's forces, so this time the general must hit Shan Yuting hard, and it is best to let Liu Bao kill the Yellow River and sweep Shan Yuting away. This is also a warning to the vassal Hu people in the desert. Li Hong smiled and shook his hand,

"Shan Yuting is going to hit hard, but he can't kill them all. Killing, you can't solve the problem, the best way is to make them submit and let them completely belong to the big man. Surrendering without a fight is the best policy. ”

"That being said, we don't have time." Yang Biao sighed,

"The general is going, it's best to fight quickly and come back early. The longer you stay in the desert, the greater the danger in Hebei. ”

"In the short term, Yuan Shao doesn't have the strength to beat us." Li Hong said with a smile,

"Last time, you said that you wanted to send ministers to Luoyang and Yanzhou, first, to buy time for Hebei, and secondly, to split the internal forces of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. I think it's a good idea, so I can send someone to test it first. ”

"But neither His Majesty nor the eldest princess agrees." Zhang Wen said helplessly,

"The eldest princess said that since we have sent ministers to the five prefectures of Qing, Xu, Jing, Yang, and Yi, we can no longer send ministers to Luoyang and Yanzhou. This will make Yuan Shao and the officials of various prefectures and counties think that the imperial court is afraid of them and will increase their arrogance. The eldest princess suggested that the Son of Heaven and the imperial court should proclaim the sins of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. She believed that this was the only way to deter other states and counties, and to isolate Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. ”

"The Son of Heaven and the court must not bow to rebellion." Ma Riyan said,

"In this matter, I support the eldest princess. Rebellion is rebellion, and the worst sin is the worst sin. If rebellion can also become a successful minister, and the most heinous people can not only get away with it, but also stand in the court with the heroes, where is the majesty of the Son of Heaven and the court? What is the majesty of the law of the Great Han? If the Son of Heaven has no majesty, and the law has no majesty, how can the officials of various states and counties return to the imperial court? Yuan Shao still refuses to respect today's son, Cao Cao first slaughtered the city and then broke the embankment, these two people are heinous crimes, they should be killed, and they will never be pardoned. Li Hong had no intention of joining in the controversy, so he hurriedly interrupted the topic and brought the matter to the excavation of the Zhongxing Canal.

A large part of the 180,000 military households had to be recruited from the displaced people who had dug the canals. The number of people digging the canal has decreased, and the speed of canal digging will have to be slowed down, and if the Yellow River floods again this year, things will be in trouble.

Therefore, Li Hong repeatedly instructed the imperial court to repair the Zhongxing Canal before the flood season of the Yellow River came, and to connect all the major rivers on the land of Hebei, so as to facilitate the discharge of floods, the irrigation of fields, and the transportation of materials and soldiers.

In the evening of the same day, Li Hong invited a group of generals of the Northern Xinjiang Army in Jinyang, Xian Yufu, Xu Rong, Zhang Yan, Liyi, Lu Bu, Zhao Yun, Yang Feng, Yan Liang and other generals to be present one by one, and Li Wei, the great Si Nong, was also invited.

During the banquet, Li Hong said one sentence over and over again, no matter what happened to the Jinyang court, the southern and northern armies, the tiger ben, and the Yulin army must resolutely support the eldest princess.

The generals agreed with a bang. Yan Liang said with a smile: "Since the general is not at ease, then stay and let me and Zilong go to the desert." Li Hong smiled bitterly,

"I don't want to leave either, but if the desert matter can't be solved, there will be a lot of worries. In the future, when we go south to counterinsurgency, once the army falls into the dilemma of not being able to take care of both the end and the end, we will be miserable. ”

"It's just that the general is leaving, and I'm afraid Jinyang is about to enter an eventful season." Zhang Yan frowned and said worriedly,

"Many ministers said that the general took advantage of the affairs of the Huns and the Xianbei people to go north to the desert, which was done deliberately, with the intention of cleaning up the opposition forces in the imperial court."

"Opposition?" Li Hong said with a smile,

"What opposition is there in the imperial court? In the first battle of Kansai, the ministers of the Chang'an court were almost killed and wounded, they just wanted to make waves, and they didn't have the strength. Don't think about it, help the eldest princess and the eldest Situ to implement the new policy. Also, the soldiers need to be trained, and when I come back from the desert, we can go south. Then he talked about the new army.

"I know that some of you have an opinion about the new military system, and think that the imperial court has deprived you of military power, and do not believe you. Today, I'm here to explain. ”

"This military system actually comes from Emperor Guangwu. When Emperor Guangwu was in the Zhongxing Han Dynasty, in order to strengthen the restraint on the soldiers, rectify the military discipline, improve the combat effectiveness of the army, and at the same time to give full play to the talents of the generals, he adopted the method of dividing the generals into battalions. After the Zhongxing Dynasty, he also retained the Liyang Battalion, Yongying Battalion, and Huya Battalion for a time to defend the Beijing Division and maintain law and order in the county. ”

"The biggest advantage of the generals being commanded by battalions is that the generals of each battalion do not have more than 10,000 troops, and their strength is limited. Moreover, the generals also restrained each other, which laid the foundation for Emperor Guangwu to quickly withdraw the generals' military power and reduce the army after the world was pacified. The reason why Deng Yu, Geng Chun, Wang Ba and others were able to get a good death and benefit future generations is directly related to the fact that Emperor Guangwu easily recovered military power. When Li Hong said this, the generals had already roughly understood the purpose of Li Hong's desperate request to revise the military system.

In addition to increasing the army and reducing military expenditure, the ultimate goal is to prevent everyone from being killed in the future after the world is pacified.

"In order to revise the military system, the general and I have discussed privately many times." Xian Yufu said with a smile,

"We have rescued the Son of Heaven, and the next step is to calm the world. What about after the world is pacified? What are we going to do? Everyone is a general, they all have military power, and they all have an army, how can the Son of Heaven deal with us people? We cannot pin our hopes on the trust of the Son of Heaven. We have to leave a way back for ourselves. This back road is today's new military system. ”

"According to the regulations of the new military system, the general is in the court in peacetime, and in wartime, he leads the army in the major battalions with the emperor's holy decree and the 'tiger talisman'. In other words, from now on, we no longer have military power, and we no longer have direct control over the army. In the future, when the world is settled, if you are interested, you can enter the court as officials. If you are not interested in political affairs, you can resign and go home, or stay in the capital and become the head of a family. Everyone looked different and didn't speak, only Koji was very happy.

"The situation of the Northern Frontier Army is special, if we are still tied together as before, I will die, and you will not be able to live." Li Hong said with a smile,

"Fortunately, Zhang Wen, Cui Lie, Ma Riyan, and Brother Yu Xing, after a long time of discussion, they finally solved this problem. In the future, if I, the great general, falls, although you will be implicated, you will not lose your life, and you should be a hero or a hero. ”

"This military system has just been implemented, in order to prevent accidents from happening when I am not in Jinyang, and disaster will affect the Hebei and Northern Xinjiang Army, I ask you to support the eldest princess." Li Hong bowed his hand to the generals and continued,

"At present, the one who believes in us the most is the eldest princess. After all, she has been in Northern Xinjiang for seven years, and she knows both about Northern Xinjiang and us. As long as we support her and let her control the Son of Heaven and the imperial court, Jinyang will be fine, and Hebei will be fine. Seeing off the generals, Li Hong returned to the back tent and found that Fengxue had not returned.

This time he went north to the desert, and in order to deal with the affairs of the Xianbei people, Li Hong specially invited the Son of Heaven to bring his wife Fengxue with him.

The eldest princess has a deep relationship with Xiaoyu and Fengxue, and when she heard that Fengxue was leaving, she specially sent someone to take Fengxue to the eldest princess's camp to talk.

Since the Son of Heaven arrived in Hedong, the eldest princess no longer dared to enter and leave the general's camp casually. Li Hong hugged Xiaoyu, and as soon as the two of them warmed up for a while, the eldest princess sent someone over to pass the word.

It's too dark, ask the general to go to the eldest princess's camp to pick up Mrs. Fengxue back. Xiaoyu pursed her lips and snickered. Li Hong was helpless,

"There you go. It's so late that I can't enter the Eldest Princess Camp. ”

"Let's go for it." Xiaoyu tugged Li Hong's beard and said softly,

"She came to invite Fengxue in the afternoon, and I knew what she meant. The eldest princess has grown up, she is not a child anymore, you don't know her heart yet? Li Hong smiled bitterly,

"I know what can I do? She is the eldest princess, I am a general, if ......" Li Hong shook his head,

"Who in the world is not afraid? The Son of Heaven, the ministers of the DPRK and the Central Committee, and the generals of Northern Xinjiang, who is not afraid? Once the checks and balances of power are broken, things are out of control. She was still a child, too headstrong, and didn't know anything about it. ”

"She's seventeen years old, and if she's in Luoyang, she's already married." Xiaoyu said sympathetically,

"She's not a child anymore." Li Hong sighed and put the light rain on the ground,

"You go and fetch Xiaoxue back." Xiaoyu didn't move, and her eyes showed a look of pleading.

"It's a matter of social survival, and you can't let her." Li Hong shook his hand and said,

"Who would dare to marry her today? Who is eligible to marry her? Whoever marries her will be destroyed. Xiaoyu looked at him sadly and whispered, "It's all your fault." Li Hong looked at Xiaoyu in surprise and didn't speak for a long time.

"She has no one to marry, no one dares to marry, it's all your fault." Xiaoyu leaned over and grabbed Li Hong's hand,

"If it weren't for you, how could she not get married? If she gets married, do you still want to snatch her back? Li Hong closed his eyes, his face full of shame,

"The Son of Heaven is young, Sheji is defeated, except for her, who can support this court?"

"You are all for yourself, for your brothers in the northern frontier." Xiaoyu hugged Li Hong's neck and kissed him lightly on the forehead,

"You're not the hero who stood up to the sky anymore." Li Hong hugged Xiaoyu tightly, buried his face in Xiaoyu's chest, and remained motionless.

"You go and get Xiaoxue back, I can't go." In mid-February, Taifu Ma Riyan and Taifu Zhao Qi were ordered to hold the festival and persuade Qingzhou Tian Kai, Kong Rong, Xuzhou Liu Bei, Yangzhou Yuan Shu, and Liu Xuan.

Taichang Cheng Xu Shao, Zhishu Yushi Sima Fang, and Taizhong Doctor Yang Qi made a detour to the Yangtze River, went upstream, and were ordered to persuade Liu Biao in Jingzhou and Liu Zhang in Yizhou.

Guanglu doctor Zhou Zhong made a detour outside the Saiwai and was ordered to persuade Xiliang Han Sui. In early March, Li Hong led his army to the Duliao camp and met with the Duliao general Yan Rou and the Yanglie general Yang Ming.

Shan Yuting was terrified. Li Hong asked to go to Shan Yuting to meet Da Shan Yu. Atai was very scared and offered to give up Da Danyu and give way to Liu Bao.

King Hu Chuquan of Zuogu Liquan was very angry, scolded Atai, and then sent an order to the tribes in the name of Da Shan Yu, and immediately rushed to Shan Yuting with men and horses to assemble.

When the tribal leaders heard that Li Hong was in Duliao, none of them dared to go. Several Xiongnu tribal leaders, fearing that they would be retaliated against by Liu Bao in the future, informed Li Hong of the news that Hu Chuquan was plotting to attack and kill the Han army.

Li Hong was furious and led his army to surround Meiji overnight. King Youxian went to humble himself and saw that Shan Yuting was about to be exterminated by the Han army, and hurriedly united a group of Xiongnu nobles to kill Atai and Huchuquan.

Li Hong stationed in Meiji, wantonly arrested the Xiongnu nobles, and arrested all the Xiongnu nobles and tribal leaders who supported Atai's successor to Dadanyu.

At the end of March, Liu Bao, the king of Zuoxian, and Liu Ming, the king of Rizhu, returned to Meiji. Liu Bao successfully succeeded Da Shan Yu.

The Xiongnu nobles were almost completely killed by Liu Bao. In early April, the imperial court received a report from Li Hong, and issued an order to confer Liu Bao as the Xiongnu Dashan Yu, and at the same time deprived Shan Yuting of many privileges.

It was stipulated that Shan Yuting must pay a certain amount of livestock to Xihe County and Wuyuan County every year to offset the taxes, and must provide soldiers and war horses to the Duliao battalion.

The Xiongnu nobles and tribal leaders had to send their sons to Jinyang as hostages and study scriptures, just like Da Danyu.

Shan Yuting's status as a vassal state was greatly weakened. At the end of April, Li Hong led his army across the river to the desert.

Liu Ming, the right virtuous king of the Huns, led 10,000 iron horsemen to accompany him. At the same time, Jinyang was caught in the quarrel over the title system.

Although there was no response from the ministers sent to various places to persuade him, Jinyang received a joint performance from Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Liu Biao, Liu Bei, Yuan Shu, and Tian Kai.

The ministers respected the son of the day and obeyed the orders of the imperial court, but considering the current situation of the chaos in the society, the ministers were willing to defend the country and garrison the state and county for His Majesty.

Then it's time to talk about the conditions, which is very simple, add officials to the knighthood, and seal the land to build princes. We are our princes, Your Majesty is your Emperor, and this country is still the country of the Han Dynasty.

When the Son of Heaven saw it, it was a mixed blessing. It's good that you don't have to fight, and the world can be peaceful, but there will be endless troubles.

There was the Spring and Autumn Warring States of the Zhou Dynasty in the past, and the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion of the current dynasty in the future. The ambitions of the princes are very big, and a palm-sized fief can't satisfy their **, they want to be a country and a mountain.

The eldest princess vetoed it. Since they all want to be rebellious, then fulfill their wish and wait for death.

The ministers had mixed reactions. Some people think that it is a fact that the prefectures and counties support their own troops and divide one side, and that under the current situation that the imperial court is unable to quell the rebellion, this method can not only appease the rebellious heart, but also buy more time for Hebei to accumulate strength, which is a good plan, and can be conditionally agreed to them.

Some are vehemently opposed. As soon as this system is changed, Hebei is bound to be in chaos. Hebei's forces are complex, and there are many ministers with merit and army, and once they also jump out to ask for titles and fiefs, it will be completely over.

There is also a faction that is silent, that is, a group of civil and military officials in the former northern Xinjiang. But their silence put tremendous pressure on the Son of Heaven, the eldest princess, and the imperial court.

In May, the news that the imperial court was going to revise the title system and add a fifth-class higher title to the original 20th rank spread throughout the Hebei provinces.

For a time, the officials of the Hebei provinces wrote one after another, some agreed, some opposed, and even sent their cronies to Jinyang with heavy gifts.

There are at least several counties or even a county in the fiefdom of a high title, and the status and wealth are very different.

In mid-May, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Tian Kai and others wrote again, vowing to respect the Son of Heaven and obey the imperial court.

They explained that the main reason why we wanted the title of fiefdom was because we were afraid that the general would kill us, not to cause trouble and endanger His Majesty's country.

As long as we have the title and the fief, we will return the state and county to the imperial court and go to our own fiefdom to live.

The Son of Heaven was shaken. He summoned his relatives and some of the ministers of the former Chang'an court to discuss many times. In the end, he listened to the opinions of Fu De, Dong Cheng, Feng Shuo and others, and decided to restore the fifth-class title system.

Da Situ Zhang Wen and Da Sikong Yang Biao did not oppose the decision of the Son of Heaven. They believe that after Emperor Guangwu was revived, he demoted the titles of princes and kings to princes, and at the same time deprived them of military power in the fiefdom, so this duke can generally only be awarded to the prince, and no matter how great the merit of other people, at most they will only be crowned a marquis.

The duke did not have a military regime in his fiefdom, and the marquis certainly could not. But they reminded the Son of Heaven.

These rebels do not want titles and fiefdoms, but hereditary, hereditary power over the military and political power of the states and counties they occupy.

After sealing the title and fiefdom, they will continue to blackmail the imperial court, so the best way is to be perfunctory, and when Hebei recovers, they will be attacked immediately.

After the opinions of the Son of Heaven and the recitals of the ministers were handed over to the eldest princess, the eldest princess set fire to them. She ignored it.

In the second half of May, the eldest princess issued an edict to the Hebei provinces in the name of the Son of Heaven, and the imperial court never proposed to modify the title system.

If anyone dares to continue spreading rumors, they will be severely punished. At the beginning of June, the Son of Heaven moved to Jinyang Palace, and the imperial court moved to Jinyang City.

The Tiger Ben, the Yulin Army and the Southern Army were stationed with them. The Great Sima General's Mansion did not relocate because Li Hong had confessed before leaving Jinyang and continued to stay in the Longquan camp.

The Northern Army remained in the Longshan camp. The eldest princess refused to relocate. The Son of Heaven pleaded several times, but the eldest princess was unmoved.

The Son of Heaven was very angry and blurted out: "My sister is so old, and she still lives in the same battalion with the general, what kind of system is it?" The eldest princess was furious and raised her hand to strike him.

The Son of Heaven ran with his head in his hands, shouting as he ran,

"Even if I decree that I will marry you to the general, will the general dare to marry you? Even if the general dares to marry you, will the ministers of the DPRK and China agree? Those rebels are worried that they have no excuse to fight Hebei, and as soon as you marry on the front foot, they will be killed on the back foot. The eldest princess was so sad that she wept secretly.

In June, an astonishing news came from Yangzhou that Taifu Ma Riyan was to death by Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shu wrote to the imperial court to ask for the title of duke and the fiefdom of the two counties, but the imperial court refused. Yuan Shu was angry, and locked up Ma Riyan and Zhao Qi, who rushed to Jiujiang County to persuade them, and snatched Ma Riyan's scepter.

Ma Riyan scolded Yuan Shu and refused to eat, but he was hungry and angry, and died. Yuan Shu saw that the matter was too big and he couldn't get off the stage, so he released Zhao Qi and asked him to return to Hebei with Ma Riyan's coffin.

Then came another piece of bad news from Qingzhou. Tian Kai attacked Beihai Xiang Kong Rong, and Kong Rong asked the imperial court for help.

Kong Rong insisted that Qingzhou return to the imperial court, which made Tian Kai, who controlled Northern Qingzhou, very angry. Tian Kai has always been worried that Kong Rong, who controls Nanqingzhou, is not good for him, and now he has an excuse.

So with the secret help of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, he raised troops to attack Beihai. Kong Rong asked Liu Bei for help, but Cao Cao and Yuan Shu were eyeing the north and south of Xuzhou, and Liu Bei did not dare to move.

Kong Rong had no choice but to ask Hebei for help. The Son of Heaven did not hesitate and immediately ordered troops to attack Tian Kai and rescue Kong Rong.

The eldest princess withheld his decree. The Son of Heaven was very angry and yelled at Zhang Wen,

"If I don't save Kong Rong, who else believes in me, and who else is willing to submit to me?" Zhang Wen and Yang Biao went to Longquan to advise the eldest princess.

It's better for this soldier to come out, Your Majesty's words still make sense. The Pingyuan battalion currently has 10,000 horses, and we can let Zhichong Zhonglang lead Gao Shun to lead his troops across the river, threaten Northern Qingzhou, and force Tian Kai to withdraw his troops.

The eldest princess refused to send troops. The Son of Heaven was angry, and he said to Fu De and Dong Cheng that women are women, and they can't do big things except for giving birth to children.

I'm going to marry her off, marry her off immediately. Jump to