Chaos of the Three Kingdoms Summons

Chapter 2790 Anbei Protectorate, the Death of Zhu Zhanji

Since hearing the news of Wang Meng's death, Li Xiang has been bedridden.

The imperial physicians accompanying Huo Qubing and Xing Tian were so driven to the point of contemplating suicide that they almost wanted to hang themselves.

Despite the administration of various herbal decoctions and even some potent drugs, the emperor's condition remained recurring.

Even Li Xiang himself, after a rare period of lucidity, prepared a decree just in case and entrusted it to Xing Tian for safekeeping.

He secretly instructed him that if anything were to happen, he should take his imperial edict and tiger tally to the Hetao camp to meet Yue Fei, and Yue Fei would then inform the troops of the three northern camps before taking the imperial edict to the capital.

In fact, Li Xiang kept these things a secret from everyone when he instructed Xing Tian, ​​including Huo Qubing, the current commander of the camp.

However, as July arrived and the weather improved, the previously recurring illness seemed to heal overnight.

Even the imperial physicians accompanying the group couldn't help but marvel at it.

In August of the fifth year of Jian'an, two months had passed, and Li Xiang's health had fully recovered. He could still ride a horse and shoot arrows with ease.

In fact, by sheer pleasure, he even summoned the princess consort of the Yuan Dynasty and had her favored again.

On August 12th of the fifth year of Jian'an, tens of thousands of troops stationed in the Han Sea officially returned.

Now that things have come to this, it's time to go back.

For the first two months, Li Xiang was seriously ill, but this news was kept secret.

But the army has been stationed here for so long, especially after Wang Meng's message came, and they have still been stationed here for so long. If they do not take any action, people in the court and the army should have some doubts.

However, Li Xiang was extremely anxious and wished he could return to Luoyang the very next moment.

But whether it was Huo Qubing, Xing Tian, ​​or the accompanying imperial physicians, they all advised Li Xiang to abandon the plan of a forced march, for fear that Li Xiang's body, which had just recovered from a serious illness, might suffer some problems again.

Therefore, although they were all cavalry, their troops did not finally return to Luoyang until almost November.

Although it was nine months late, Li Xiang, upon returning to Luoyang, went to pay his respects immediately without even going back to the palace.

In December of the fifth year of Jian'an, Zhuge Liang, the former Minister of Works, was reassigned as Minister of Personnel, and Wu Qi, the Prefect of Tangzhou, took over the position of Minister of Works.

From then on, Wu Qi abandoned the army to enter politics, serving successively as the governor of five prefectures: Yang, Xu, You, Qing, and Tang. He eventually became one of the six ministers, thus achieving the accomplishment of becoming both a general and a prime minister.

When he joined the army, he held the position of Grand Commander, becoming one of the highest-ranking generals in the Jin Dynasty army.

After entering politics, he became one of the six ministers, which is equivalent to becoming prime minister, thus standing at one of the top positions of civil officials.

In the entire Jin Dynasty, he and Li Jing were among the few who achieved this.

Even Bai Qi was half a rank lower than him. After all, the ministers of the six ministries in the Southern court were half a rank lower than those in the Northern court.

As for Li Mu, his highest military rank was Deputy Commander-in-Chief. Later, his highest position in the Northern Army was Deputy General of the Northern Camp. When he was transferred to the position of Minister of the Six Ministries in the Nanjing court, he was still half a rank lower than Li Mu, who was also a Minister of the Six Ministries in the Northern court.

February of the sixth year of Jian'an.

In addition to the two major protectorates, Beiting Protectorate and Annam Protectorate, Li Xiang also established Anbei Protectorate.

Both the Beiting Protectorate and the Anbei Protectorate governed the northern grasslands. However, the Beiting Protectorate governed the grasslands north of Youzhou, while the Anbei Protectorate governed the grasslands north of Bingzhou and Liangzhou.

This was done to prevent any one Protector-General from wielding too much power and to avoid the concentration of military authority in one place.

Li Mu, the Minister of War of the Southern Court, was reassigned as the Grand Protector of Anbei, with Houmochen Chong and Huli Guang assisting him.

As for the position of Minister of War in Nanjing that became vacant after Li Mu's departure, Li Xiang promoted Yu Qian from the position of prefect and appointed him to this post.

From then on, the territory of the Great Jin Dynasty expanded rapidly once again, stretching from the islands of Southeast Asia in the south to the Han Sea in the north, from the Japanese lands in the east to the former territories of the Thirty-Six Kingdoms in the west.

The Jin Dynasty was far more prosperous than the Qin and Han Dynasties.

In March of the sixth year of Jian'an, Fushuifang reported that Zhu Zhanji, a remnant of the Zhu-Wu faction in Yizhou, had died of illness at the end of last year at the young age of thirty-eight.

Upon receiving the news, Li Xiang immediately decided to appoint Qi Jiguang as commander-in-chief, leading the East China Sea and South China Sea naval forces, and drawing another 50,000 infantry and cavalry from the south to conquer Zhu Wu.

When Bai Qi launched his southern expedition against the Kushan Empire, he faced logistical pressures due to the long distance. At that time, Guan Zhong, who was then the Minister of Personnel in the Nanjing court, made a ten-year agreement with Zhu Wu in order to solve this problem. In return, he gained Zhu Wu's navy to help them transport grain.

Now, ten years have naturally passed.

However, as the Great Jin Dynasty grew stronger, Zhu Wu became increasingly low-key, to the point that Li Xiang almost forgot about them.

This time, it's time to solve this problem as well.

Over the years, they have been quite lucky. In order to resolve issues in Southeast Asia, the Li Tang dynasty, and South Asia, the Great Jin dynasty has repeatedly spared them from their weaker position, allowing them to be dealt with only after these problems were resolved.

I never expected that they would keep us holed up on that little island for so long.

Hey!
Speaking of the South, it's not just Bai Qi who has been bedridden for years; although his health hasn't collapsed, he's never truly recovered.

Even Chang Yuchun retired and returned to his hometown several years ago due to health reasons.

Chang Yuchun was several years younger than the other generals.

However, he is a brave and skilled warrior who has personally fought many battles, and he has suffered many injuries along the way.

Because of the accumulated hidden injuries, my health has been fluctuating since I got older.

If it weren't for his health, this expedition should, in principle, have been divided into two routes, one by land and one by water, with one person in charge of all the generals.

At this time, the situation of Zhu and Wu forces was also not good.

Wu Zixu and Hu Weiyong were the first to die, followed closely by Jing Xiang, a veteran official.

Now, the two pillars of the civil service have been completely broken.

Among the military generals, Tang He, Feng Sheng, and Deng Yu, who had followed Zhu Yuanzhang since the time of his reign, have all passed away in recent years.

Yu Dayou was already quite old when he was born, but this veteran general lived a long life, passing away last May at the age of seventy-four.

Zheng Zhilong, the father of Zheng Chenggong, also passed away during these years.

The current Zhu-Wu military is now entirely dominated by Lu Xun, Li Wenzhong, and Fu Youde.