Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 701 Transformed Elbows and Armpits
Ma Lin's deputy general Sun Zhizhi led 5,000 soldiers and horses to camp behind the pass not far from the three cities of Heyang. He originally planned to wait and see the military situation in Luoyang before deciding whether to execute Li Baochen's order.

Or see if there is any benefit to be gained.

Sun Zhizhi was very smart and sent hundreds of people to Heqing City, located on the north bank of the Yellow River and west of Beizhong City, to inquire about the news. It would have been fine if he hadn't inquired, but once he did, he was scared.

Li Baochen had actually returned to Guanzhong, and Luoyang was also captured by the Bianzhou army. If the deaths of An Shouzhong, Li Huaiguang and others were also taken into account, the situation around Luoyang was now completely changed!

There is nothing left to gain here. Not only that, Sun Zhizhi judged that Li Baochen was very likely to seize Puzhou!
So this "brother hero" who came from a wealthy family in Longyou, after some thought in his mind, did not even wait for a day and went directly to Puzhou via the Chenguan Road.

He left just in time. Just one day later, Liu Longxian, who had already captured the three cities of Heyang, sent troops to capture the empty Chenguan Pass. From then on, the area under Liu Longxian's jurisdiction extended to Chenguan Pass in the west, Huaizhou in the north, the three cities of Heyang in the south, and Yecheng in the east, forming its own system.

Liu Longxian immediately submitted a petition to the court in Bianzhou, requesting that he be granted the title of "Defense Commissioner of the Three Cities of Heyang and Chenguan", and immediately recruited soldiers and horses locally.

The memorial was sent to Bianzhou, and Fang Chongyong approved it immediately and sent it to Liu Longxian by express horse. In return, Liu Longxian sent his two sons to Bianzhou to show his loyalty.

As for Li Guiren, he said nothing, and Liu Longxian did not write him a letter to explain the situation, which showed a strange "tacit understanding".

In fact, everyone understands what Li Guiren and Liu Longxian mean. Since they have parted ways, there is no need to say hurtful things now. They can still be polite to each other when they meet in the future.

Li Guiren suffered a loss in silence.

However, Li Guiren's silence now does not mean that he has nothing in his mind, nor does it mean that he will not trick Liu Longxian in the future.

As I said, we'll have to wait and see!
The series of offensive and defensive battles surrounding Luoyang came to a temporary end.

Fang Chongyong’s previous arrangements were almost all realized.

Capture Luoyang City, split Li Guiren and Liu Longxian, let Liu Longxian defend the flank north of Luoyang for the Bianzhou court, and so on, no one escaped.

These victories greatly improved the strategic environment of Bianzhou, eliminating the threat of war to the west of Bianzhou and allowing the city to concentrate its forces to attack Hebei.

Now, Fang Chongyong still has a man-eating tiger that he has not subdued, which is also the force that poses the greatest, most direct threat to Bianzhou and is most geographically prone to breaking through the defense line: Shi Siming and his "Great Yan Kingdom" in Hebei.

In order to cope with the new situation, after Fang Chongyong returned to Bianzhou from Dengzhou, he discussed with his core staff and issued several important decrees in the form of court documents. He posted them publicly for public display and sent them to the government offices of various states.

The first and most important decree is the new Military Service Law.

The old soldiers will be assessed and eliminated, and the recruitment of new soldiers will be implemented according to the new law. Although the details have not yet been determined, the principles of the new law have been determined.

First, the treatment of the imperial guards was improved, and the disabled and the old and weak were properly resettled. The imperial guards were divided into the upper and lower armies. In name, the upper and lower armies guarded the imperial city, and the lower and lower armies guarded the capital. When fighting outside, they were counted separately. In field battles, the upper and lower armies were mainly composed of cavalry, and the lower and lower armies were mainly composed of infantry.

Secondly, the "Instruction Institute" and "Archer Examination Institute" were established. The former was used to recruit military instructors who did not have to fight in battles and received generous treatment. As long as they had a specialty, they could be hired regardless of their background after inspection. These people were responsible for training soldiers and were usually sent to various states to participate in the training of united soldiers.

The latter is matched with the "archer system" proposed by Fang Chongyong. It is headquartered in Bianzhou and affiliated with the Privy Council.

Each state has an archer assessment point for recruiting "reserve archers". In the united army, reserve archers must serve as officers, even the lowest fire chief.

The rotation will be completed gradually within three years.

These institutions were independent of the provincial governor's office and also had the purpose of monitoring the local areas. Once the qualified archers in the local area were sent to Bianzhou to join the imperial guards, they had to undergo a review by the Privy Council and become official "archers".

Once these archers were employed by the Privy Council, as long as they did not commit crimes in the future, they would be given priority to serve as servants in government offices in other places after retirement according to their personal abilities. Those who were unwilling to leave their hometowns, those who were willing to farm were given land, and those who were willing to buy property were provided with various assistance, including interest-free loans.

In the future, the Imperial Guards will, in principle, only recruit archers (except for special cases), and give priority to promotion, title, and rewards.

In addition to having qualified skills and tactics (at least not being unable to shoot arrows), archers must also live in the local area (not having any land) and have two or more neighbors willing to act as guarantors.

The most important thing is to swear allegiance to Fang Qing himself in front of the examiner.

The third decree is related to the economy.

As Bianzhou's commerce was growing more prosperous and its scale was expanding rapidly, although most merchants were law-abiding, there were some bad apples who ruined the overall reputation.

Therefore, the imperial court will promulgate the "Law on Access for Large-Scale Stores" in the near future to assess existing merchants that have reached a certain sales scale.

Those who fail to meet the requirements will be prohibited from doing business in Bianzhou (but not elsewhere), and any of their products will be prohibited from being sold in Bianzhou. Along with this, there is also the so-called "Trademark Law". All merchants above a certain scale must mark their own business names on the products they sell, otherwise they will be confiscated as counterfeit goods.

For small-scale private businesses, a tax-free policy will be further implemented and they do not need to pay attention to the above-mentioned laws.

The last one is not a decree, it can only be regarded as a "news": the court will build several Luocheng (the number is uncertain) around the outer city of Bianzhou, close to the canal and related water transport routes. The locations will basically be near the ferry, after all, those places are places with prosperous commerce and a relatively dense population.

Accompanying this are the dredging of rivers, the construction of warehouses, the expansion of ferry crossings, etc.

Luocheng is not something new. Both Shazhou and Yangzhou have Luocheng, or satellite cities, which are clearly recorded in historical documents. In the Tang Dynasty, this kind of "satellite city" was generally called "Luocheng", which means "listed in between".

Building several satellite cities at once is equivalent to constructing the economic and defense system of Bianliang City for the next few decades.

The significance in all aspects cannot be underestimated.

However, the imperial court could have discussed this matter among itself, but the fact that it was posted out in public is somewhat intriguing.

These news were posted along with notices in various counties of Bianzhou, and the influence spread accordingly.

When the people learned that the court in Bianzhou was going to make a big move, some were ecstatic, some were nervous, and many were eager to make a move. Many people were eagerly looking forward to what impact the new law would have after it was promulgated, and how much benefit they could gain.

However, whether it was victory in foreign wars, the further consolidation of the court's prestige, or the frequent introduction of new laws internally, all of them had nothing to do with the person who was supposed to be in control of everything!
He was like a spectator, watching everything that should belong to him getting better and better, and more and more like a "revitalization", but he felt that these good things were getting farther and farther away from him.

Even if I wanted to touch it, there was no way.

This feeling is like a loser watching his cute childhood sweetheart being abducted by a strong and muscular man.

Then the childhood sweetheart was conquered by the burly man in bed, and fell in love with her both physically and mentally. Under the burly man's cultivation every night, she became more and more beautiful and charming.

The sadness in my heart is so severe that it hurts for days just thinking about it.

This unlucky man is the current emperor Li Lin.

After learning that the Bianzhou army had won a great victory, easily captured Luoyang, and had made a series of new legal reforms internally, his mentality completely collapsed.

That night, Li Lin was drinking in the imperial study again. Nowadays, there is not even a book in the imperial study, but only toys. There are even dozens of polo clubs hanging on the wall.

Gao Shang quietly waited by the side, lowering his eyelids, feeling extremely bored and uninterested. Foolish emperor, he got the treatment he got today just because he was born into a good family.

Good, bad, rich and powerful, and trembling with fear. In fact, Li Lin is just a lowly, arrogant, and mean insect who is oppressed by Fang Qing.

Gao Shang complained in his heart, but his expression was as calm as water, with a hint of gentleness.

"Tell me! Why does Fang Qing get everything done smoothly? Why does he? Why does God favor him?

Why are An Shouzhong, Li Huaiguang and others dead, but he is still alive?"

Li Lin suddenly smashed the wine glass to the ground, his eyes red, and roared at Gao Shang.

"Your Majesty, Fang Qing is just lucky. His luck won't always be good."

Gao Shang suppressed the nausea in his heart and spoke to comfort Li Lin.

"Yeah, you put it lightly.

Hehe, are you Fang Qing's spy? Were you sent by him to spy on me?
Why does he know everything about me? Why did you come back alive after being imprisoned? Did you secretly join him? "

Li Lin suddenly got drunk and went mad, grabbing Gao Shang's neck!
This was not the first time Li Lin had gone crazy while drunk, but it was the most serious one.

Gao Shang was startled and subconsciously grabbed Li Lin's wrist with one hand.

However, this puppet emperor, whose body was corrupted by alcohol and sex, was not as strong as this eunuch.

Li Lin inadvertently brought out the evil in Gao Shang's heart!
At the beginning, Gao Shang did agree to be Fang Zhongyong's insider, hoping that the other party would let him go and spare his life. It must be said that the political credibility of this Marshal Fang is indeed second to none. At least Gao Shang has never seen anyone more trustworthy than him.

But after returning, Gao Shang seemed to have forgotten about the incident and did not report it to Fang Zhongyong. Since the other party did not mention it, he pretended not to know.

But how did Li Lin know about this?

In fact, Gao Shang just scared himself.

Drunken people can say anything, even if they have no evidence.

When Gao Shang was imprisoned and came back alive, how could Li Lin not suspect him? He just couldn't be sure. Besides, there weren't many people around Li Lin who could be used. Since Gao Shang was still loyal, he could only make do with him.

As a result, as soon as Li Lin drank, he spoke his true feelings and vented his anger towards Chong Yong on Gao Shang.

All of this was in line with the current mood of Li Lin, the puppet emperor. After all, no matter how dissatisfied Li Lin was, how could he dare to throw a tantrum in front of Fang Zhongyong?
When Li Lin saw that Gao Shang dared to resist, he became even angrier and stretched out his hands to strangle Gao Shang's neck.

In a flash, the anger in Gao Shang's heart surged up!
Damn it, you are the emperor, you are so great, right? I am unlucky to serve a stupid pig like you!

In a hurry, he kicked Li Lin in the crotch. This "kick to the crotch" was very vicious, and the drunk Li Lin was unable to dodge and was accidentally hit. He bent over in pain, like a shrimp, and instantly rolled on the ground!
He rolled, twisted, wailed, and cursed Gao Shang.

"I'm going to kill you! You turtle slave!"

Li Lin shouted incoherently.

Oops!

Gao Shang was shocked, and an indescribable fear surged in his heart.

Li Lin was drunk, but he was sober and had not drunk a drop of alcohol. A puppet emperor was still an emperor, and he was just a house slave after all.

It’s easy to tell what Li Lin will do when he wakes up!
What should I do? Gao Shang was confused for a moment.

He looked at Li Lin who was lying on the ground groaning, and suddenly, a piercing chill flashed in his eyes.

Since he had already started, Li Lin would not let him go even if he begged for mercy now. Should he wait for Li Lin to sober up and then be executed by his order, or... strike first?

Gao Shang was torn between his conscience and his desires.

Whatever, it is better to lose both than to win alone. Since it has been done, why not just become a person who goes down in history?

Gao Shang was so angry that he knelt down and pressed his knees on Li Lin's neck tightly!

Although Li Lin was drunk, his body still reacted instinctively. He was like a live fish pressed on a chopping board, twisting and struggling desperately. But the more he struggled, the more Gao Shang pushed his knees.

Gao Shang's eyes widened, his mind was blank, he had no idea what he was thinking or doing, only his face was ferocious and terrifying.

It was unknown how much time had passed, but when Gao Shang calmed down, Li Lin was already dead under his knees. He lay on the ground with his eyes wide open.

It turns out that the emperor is also a human being. If he is killed, he will die, just like a dog.

Looking at Li Lin lying motionless on the ground, a strange idea popped into Gao Shang's mind and he felt relieved.

Many big things seem out of reach before we try them, but when we really start to try them, they don’t matter.

"Now how to do?"

Gao Shang sat on the dragon chair and talked to himself.

He had already committed regicide. The dead cannot be resurrected. It was meaningless to think whether he was impulsive. The problem was that Li Lin was dead, but Gao Shang himself did not want to die.

How to deal with the aftermath?
Gao Shang moved Li Lin's body to the dragon throne and sat him down, leaving him lying on the table, as if he had fallen asleep due to drunkenness.

After doing all this, he looked at Li Lin's body and said fiercely: "Li Lin, you have brought this upon yourself. Even if you become a ghost, I am not afraid of you!"

Gao Shang didn't take anything with him and walked out of the bedroom directly.

He instructed the eunuchs on duty: "The emperor is drunk and does not want anyone to disturb him. The emperor has ordered me to go on an errand and I will not be back until three days later. If you have anything to do, you can report it after I return."

After saying this, Gao Shang hurried away, left the Bianliang City Palace, and disappeared into the night.

(End of this chapter)