The Great Arcanist Who Traveled Through the World of American Variety Shows.

Chapter 433 Unification of the world

When the civil and military officials went to Luoyang, they were all very satisfied with it. After all, the newly built Luoyang City was almost twice the size of Kaifeng.

Kaifeng City has developed rapidly in recent years. When Kaifeng was first built, the factor of overpopulation was not taken into consideration at all. As a result, during the Great Zhou period, the population of Kaifeng City continued to increase and the city became extremely narrow.

Many yamen were not even as big as a county government office, and some yamen were actually used by several departments together and were very crowded.

After the relocation to Luoyang City, each department had its own government office, and the offices were close to each other, which made it convenient for work. The most important thing was that there was an official office, and from then on, all the officials in Beijing could live in the official office.

In order to prevent the office from being occupied by other people, Richard strictly stipulated that only officials in the capital could live in the office, and once they left office, they had to leave within one month.

With the imperial court relocating its capital to Luoyang, the originally empty city of Luoyang soon became bustling. The imperial court relocated about 200,000 people, plus the local population of Luoyang and the common people and wealthy families who followed the imperial court to migrate, the population of Luoyang soon exceeded 500,000, and this number was still increasing rapidly.

With the convenience of the canal and horse-drawn trams, the city became increasingly prosperous.

After moving the capital to Luoyang, Guo Rong issued an edict to downgrade Kaifeng to a secondary capital, calling it Dongjing Kaifeng. At the same time, he promoted Youzhou Prefecture to Beijing, Chang'an to Xijing, and Nanjing to Jinling, but Jinling is still the capital of Southern Tang.

Of course, this was only temporary. After the court completed the relocation of the capital to Luoyang, Guo Rong had already begun preparing for the southern expedition.

In fact, during this period, the southern countries had become extremely corrupt and had long lost their enterprising spirit. They only wanted to live in peace in a corner. If it were not for the natural barrier of the Yangtze River, the southern countries would have been destroyed long ago.

Just last year, Jingchu took the initiative to send envoys to express its willingness to submit. At this time, there were only a few separatist regimes left in the south, namely Hou Shu, Southern Tang, Southern Han and Wuyue.

Guo Rong personally led the army south to attack Southern Tang, and then sent his general Han Lingkun to attack Hou Shu. As for Zhao Kuangyin, he followed Guo Rong to the south to attack Southern Tang.

As the army moved south, Li Yu, the ruler of Southern Tang, had no power to resist at all. In addition, the Zhou State had already trained a navy that went downstream from Jingchu. The army was unstoppable and soon arrived in Jinling. Southern Tang could not withstand the pressure and surrendered.

Guo Rong did not kill Li Yu. Although Li Yu was not good at being an emperor, he was a great poet. He immediately made him Marquis of Jiangning and allowed him to live in Luoyang and write poems according to the emperor's order.

After the Southern Tang was defeated, the remaining Wuyue ruler Qian Zong, who was already submissive, immediately went to Jinling after seeing the Zhou Kingdom easily destroy the Southern Tang. After seeing the mighty Jinling imperial army and Guo Rong's extraordinary demeanor, he immediately submitted his allegiance and surrendered his land to the Zhou.

The thirteen states, one army, eighty-six counties, 556,800 households and 110,000 soldiers were all presented to the Zhou Kingdom, and the Wuyue Kingdom was spared the disaster of war and was successfully recovered.

Guo Rong was very happy that Qian Zong surrendered and offered his land. During the banquet, he took Qian Zong's hand and asked, "After the court recovered Jinyang, it has been lacking an important official to guard it. I wonder if the King of Yue is willing to share my worries?"

Qian Zong also held Guo Rong's hand and said, "Since the Former Tang Dynasty, our Qian family has been court officials. Now that the sage has given an order, we will naturally obey it. However, I am old and weak, and I am afraid that I cannot guard the land of Jinyang."

"The King of Yue has been loyal for generations. You are able to maintain peace in this chaotic world. You are the pillar of the country. I intend to promote you to the King of Jin and guard Jinyang. What do you think, King of Yue?"

The banquet scene suddenly became quiet. Qian Zong took two deep breaths and heard shadows behind the palace screen. It seemed that there were executioners holding their breath and waiting for orders. The hand held by Guo Rong was also covered in sweat.

In fact, Qian Zong was mentally prepared when he came. After all, ministers such as Yuan Dezhao and Pei Jian in the Wuyue Kingdom had decided to surrender. What could he, a king without much real power, do?

So when Qian Zong saw that Guo Rong was not lying, he immediately said, "If the sage does not regard me as old, I am willing to serve you!"

Guo Rong laughed loudly and pulled Qian Zong to the surrounding officials and said, "The King of Yue is truly a loyal minister and should be the King of Jin."

He immediately summoned people to come forward and said, "The imperial decree states that King Qian Zong of Yue has made great contributions by leading his army to the rescue, and has surrendered his land to Zhou Youde. He is given the titles of Taiwei, Taizi Taibao, and Zhongshu Ling, and is promoted to King of Jin. He is to move his capital to Jinyang, and the four thousand households in Xinzhou are given as the King of Jin's fiefdom."

"I thank the emperor." Qian Zong was overjoyed and thanked him. Jin was a great country in the Spring and Autumn Period. He went from being the King of Yue in a remote place to the King of Jin in the Central Plains. His rank was raised by one level, and he also had 4,000 households in Xinzhou.

Of course, the fief was not given to him directly, but the people paid taxes to the government, and the government then handed it over to the lord. How much fief could be given depended on the emperor's mood.

In fact, by this period, the number of fiefs with 4,000 households was not much. The annual tax of a household was no more than one string of money, which means that the annual salary of a fief with 4,000 households was only 4,000 strings of money, which was equivalent to 4,000 silver coins. The annual salary of a second-rank official in the court was more than this.

Of course, this royal fiefdom is another kind of honor, which can be said to be unique. You should know that in the Great Zhou Dynasty, the royal fiefdom of the opposite sex is unique.

By this time, only the Southern Han was left in the south. The Southern Han regime was a strange kingdom. Simply put, it was a eunuch dynasty.

All the court officials were eunuchs. If you wanted to be an official, you had to be castrated. This was outrageous. But for Lingnan, it was during this period that Lingnan was truly included in the rule of the Central Plains court.

Let the people of Lingnan truly recognize themselves as the same as the people of the Central Plains in terms of culture and psychology. You should know that even in the Former Tang Dynasty, Lady Xian opened the Qiaoguo Lady Shogunate. During the Sui Dynasty, Lady Xian took on the great cause of stabilizing Lingnan alone, united the Li Liao tribes and was loyal to the country, instead of being independent like Zhao Tuo.

Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian, then appointed Lady Xian as Lady of Qiao to open the imperial court. This was also the only imperial court in Chinese history dominated by a woman.

It is precisely because Lady Xian set a good example that from then on, until the founding of New China, the Zhuang ethnic group, as the largest ethnic minority, has been the confidant that every dynasty could rely on.

Although the emperors of the Southern Han Dynasty were cruel, they did a good job in maintaining the hearts of the people in Lingnan. It was during the decades of Southern Han's rule that the Central Plains culture and system penetrated into Lingnan. After the Northern Song Dynasty, Korea was completely integrated into the country and became an inseparable part. At this time, Liu Sheng, the third emperor of the Southern Han Dynasty in the Xingwang Mansion, ascended the throne by assassinating his brother Liu Yin. In order to prevent his brothers from imitating him, he directly killed fifteen of his eighteen brothers.

The highest record was that he killed eight of his brothers in one day. This was rare among emperors in ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad. Hu Hai silently gave a thumbs up.

However, unlike Hu Hai, this man was very successful in state affairs. He defeated Southern Tang, Jingchu and other countries successively, expanding the territory of Southern Han to its largest extent. In politics, he vigorously promoted the imperial examination system and actively developed maritime trade.

The whole person is exactly the same as Gao family of Northern Qi Dynasty, and his main feature is split personality.

Although Liu Sheng was very successful, the division of the human race was also a serious problem. He had no restraint in killing. When killing a minister, he actually killed all of his very distant cousins. This level was far beyond the level of killing nine clans, exterminating three clans, and exterminating the entire clan.

How could the ministers not be afraid of such a mentally ill emperor? Therefore, when the Great Zhou army marched south, these ministers directly acted as guides. A large number of officials surrendered without a fight, and the army smoothly marched all the way to Prince Xing's Palace.

The vanguard army marched southwards, and the destruction of Southern Han was only a matter of time. However, Guo Rong still had an important thing to do, which was to worship and repair the tomb of Lady Xian.

As for why it needed to be restored, it was entirely because Lady Xian’s tomb was destroyed by people sent by Wu Zetian when the eldest branch of the Feng family was ransacked.

Of course, she did not open a museum to mutilate the corpses or expose them in the wilderness, but she demolished the sacred road, mountain mausoleum, and sacrificial temples that Lady Xian admired, and destroyed the stone statues in front of the tomb. As for the case of Feng's rebellion, later generations do not know the inside story, but even if Feng really rebelled, no matter how you count, it cannot be blamed on Lady Xian, who has been dead for more than a hundred years.

As a result, she insanely destroyed Lady Xian's tomb, causing the people of Lingnan to become alienated from the Central Plains court. It was not until the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang that Lady Xian's sixth-generation grandson Gao Lishi, who was in power, asked Emperor Xuanzong to order the restoration of Lady Xian's tomb in Lingnan.

However, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang was not done yet. He only agreed to repair Lady Xian's tomb, and did not order the Ministry of Works to restore it to its previous size. He also did not vindicate Feng, but only repaired it privately. After hearing Richard's story, Guo Rong looked down on Emperor Xuanzong even more.

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

Richard emphasized this point in his advice to Guo Rong on pacifying Lingnan, so the first thing Guo Rong did when he arrived in Lingnan to appease the people was to repair the tomb of Lady Xian.

Under Guo Rong's order, the Ministry of Rites quickly drafted a posthumous award and reward for Lady Xian, and sent people to various places in Lingnan to publicize the reconstruction of Lady Xian's tomb by the Zhou Dynasty, and at the same time let people know that the Zhou Dynasty court recognized Lady Xian's achievements and offered sacrifices to Lady Xian with the dignity of an emperor, so as to attract Lady Xian's descendants.

Guo Rong mobilized 10,000 people to rebuild Lady Xian's tomb, and then set up shrines for Lady Xian and her husband Feng Bao, offering sacrifices of three animals.

By the time Guo Rong officially held the sacrifice, members of the Xian and Feng clans who were now entrenched in the Leizhou Peninsula and Qiongzhou Island had already arrived.

Guo Rong immediately announced that Lady Xian would be posthumously awarded the title of Xia Nanhai County King, with the posthumous title of Zhongzhen, and allowed temples to be built in various places to worship her and give her the title of Zhongzhen Protector of the Country Nanhai King. When Guo Rong's edict was issued, tens of thousands of onlookers cheered loudly, and the Xian and Feng clansmen who came from Qiongzhou and Leizhou knelt down and cried bitterly.

There are only a handful of women in Chinese history who were given posthumous titles. In the past, there was Princess Pingyang, the sister of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, who was posthumously named Zhao and was called Princess Pingyang Zhao. Since then, there has only been Qin Liangyu of the Ming Dynasty, who was posthumously named Zhongzhen.

Seeing this scene, Guo Rong hurriedly had them lifted up and asked them to move a tribe to live here to be responsible for offering sacrifices and guarding the tomb. At the same time, Guo Rong announced that Feng Junheng, the governor of Guangzhou who was killed during the reign of Wu Zetian, was vindicated, and then the land confiscated by Feng during the Wu Zhou period was returned to the Feng family.

Seeing how far Guo Rong had gone, Xian and Feng knelt down three times and kowtowed nine times to express their gratitude to him, and expressed their willingness to obey the Zhou Dynasty and never rebel.

Guo Rong immediately stated that after the army entered Lingnan, they were not allowed to rob, rape, plunder, or commit crimes. He also ordered that if the people had grievances, they could come and appeal. Guo Rong ordered the Ministry of Justice to send officials to conduct special interrogations.

As Guo Rong's edict spread throughout Lingnan, Lingnan was pacified and wealthy families from all over the country came to pay their respects and expressed their willingness to donate money and food to help the royal army.

As expected, the army was unstoppable, and people from all over the country lined the streets to welcome them. Local nobles also donated money and food to support the army. Guo Rong ordered the purchase of supplies at a price higher than the market price, and paid the people to serve the army.

At this time, the levels of taxation and corvee labor in the Southern Han Kingdom had increased significantly, and the officials were equally vicious. After the imperial army arrived, they immediately put a group of corrupt officials on trial and gained the support of the people. Then the people in Lingnan spread the news, saying that the royal army had arrived.

It can be said that after a series of combined punches, the people of Lingnan were reconciled and settled down. The Zhou army fought almost on its own land in Lingnan, and all the movements of the Southern Han army were reported to the people.

The Southern Han Dynasty was desperate and even sent out an elephant army to attack. More than a dozen elephants two or three meters high charged forward, which was terrifying, but Guo Rong was well prepared. When the elephant army was first dispatched, it was indeed powerful, but elephants are actually very afraid of fire and loud noises.

Richard had warned him long ago, so Guo Rong told the front troops to be careful and prepared fire arrows and gunpowder. Gunpowder had already appeared in the late Tang Dynasty, but due to the formula problem, its power was not great.

Richard organized craftsmen to make improvements, and the power of gunpowder was greatly enhanced. Although muskets and cannons had not yet been made, it was used to make bombs and then launched by catapults, and its power was still very good.

So after seeing the elephant army attacking, the Zhou army directly used fire arrows and gunpowder. The huge noise and flames scared the elephants so much that they turned around and ran away. Instead of defeating the Zhou army, the elephants were defeated and trampled on each other, which directly broke up the Southern Han army.

Seeing this, Guo Rong immediately ordered the army to attack. The Southern Han army had not yet recovered from the defeat of the Xiang army, and was beaten by the Zhou army again, and the army soon collapsed.

Soon after, the Zhou army took advantage of the situation and attacked into the city. Liu Sheng heard the sounds of the defeated army fleeing outside from the inner city and did not dare to stay any longer. He immediately took his personal guards and some ministers and wanted to escape to the port.

The Southern Han Dynasty had developed maritime trade, so it naturally formed a navy with hundreds of large ships. Liu Sheng wanted to escape by boat to Qiongzhou or even farther Champa, but what he didn't know was that the navy had already defected to the Zhou Dynasty, and the Xian and Feng families also came to help.

Liu Sheng fled to the port but found that it had been occupied by the Zhou State. At this time, the Southern Han was already doomed, and the Zhou soldiers who came after him blocked Liu Sheng and arrested him and his son.

(End of this chapter)