Thief Emperor

Chapter 962 The End of the Old Era

In the Ganlu Palace, Privy Councilor Su Sheng, Minister of War Zhao Cheng, Vice Minister of War Li Gao, and three prime ministers were all present.

All the ministers bowed to Li Yun and called him "Your Majesty".

Emperor Li pressed his hands and said, "Everyone please find a seat."

There were many chairs in the Ganlu Hall, which had been arranged at this time. Everyone sat down according to their respective seats. Du Qian naturally sat in the first seat to the left of Emperor Li, while Su Sheng sat in the first seat to the right.

Li Yun asked the palace servants in Ganlu Palace to pass the secret report sent by Jiusi to everyone for circulation. After everyone had read it, Emperor Li said seriously: "You have all seen that the battle on the front line has officially begun."

"This year, the goal of the entire court is to retake Youyan and then look north to Liaodong."

Emperor Li looked at Du Qian, then at Su Sheng, and said, "The court's focus must be shifted to this war. All government offices must cooperate with each other to at least ensure that the logistics supply to the front line is not a problem."

As he spoke, he looked at Su Sheng and said in a deep voice: "Meng Qing has about 100,000 men under his command. 100,000 soldiers are probably enough, but just in case, we need to prepare some reinforcements as backup."

Su Sheng looked at Li Hao, the Minister of War, and said, "Your Majesty, General Deng Yang of Taiyuan has 50,000 soldiers under his command, which can be used as reinforcements on the Youyan battlefield."

The Taiyuan Army was a permanent army established in Taiyuan Prefecture after Li Tang took over Hedong Road. Although this army was nominally the Taiyuan Army, it was stationed in the Yunzhou area to guard against enemies from the north.

Deng Yang was the first general of Taiyuan and had been serving in Taiyuan for four or five years.

Su Sheng said this and continued, "I have already started to arrange this matter three months ago. General Deng can support Youyan at any time."

"In addition, the Privy Council has also made arrangements with the Qingzhou Army, so they can also go north at any time."

"With these three armies, there will be no problem in pacifying Youyan. Your Majesty can rest assured."

Su Sheng said this, looked up at Li Yun, and said, "If it really doesn't work, we can draw some troops from the Imperial Guards to go north, but I think that it won't be necessary to send out the Imperial Guards to pacify Youyan."

By the eighth year of Zhangwu, the entire military arrangement of the Li Tang Dynasty was almost on track. In addition to the garrisons mentioned by Su Sheng, the court also set up the Chengdu General in Jiannan Road and the Chang'an General in Guanzhong Road.

The rest of the places are all generals.

As for the large remaining force, Li Yun divided it into twelve guards, each with more than 10,000 men. They were all gathered near Luoyang and became the central imperial guards of Li Tang.

The original Yulin Army also became the Left and Right Yulin Guards among the Twelve Guards.

These imperial guards were nominally under the control of the Privy Council, but in reality they were basically commanded by Emperor Li himself because the generals of the Twelve Guards were basically Emperor Li's confidants. Among them, Chen Da was transferred back from Guanzhong by Li Yun three years ago to command the Left and Right Divine Guards among the Twelve Guards.

The rest of the generals were either from Emperor Li’s direct anti-theft team or were close confidants of the emperor.

All in all, the new dynasty today is as stable as a rock.

At least during Li Yun's Zhangwu reign, it was unlikely that any major problems would occur.

Seeing Su Sheng mention the imperial guards, Zhao Cheng was silent for a while, then stood up and bowed to Li Yun and said, "Your Majesty, I believe that General Meng can take back Youyan soon."

"If that doesn't work, I will ask to lead the troops in Hebei Province to fight against the Khitan."

As the official Minister of War, it was actually quite normal for him to take command in accordance with the imperial order. However, Minister Zhao's words obviously had some different meanings.

He... had been out of the military for too long.

For eight years, he had not directly led the army again, and until now, the battle of Jiannan Road was still a knot in his heart, and he urgently needed a war to make up for his mistake.

Emperor Li smiled upon hearing this and said, "I just want you to make preparations in advance. Things haven't gotten that bad yet. We'll talk about everything after the battle on the front line."

"Since the battle has already begun on the front line."

Li Yun stood up and said slowly: "We are in the rear, so we must make various plans so that we can deal with problems as soon as possible."

"Today, all those who have a say in military affairs in the court are here. We will spend the entire day working on these rough plans."

At this point, Emperor Li glanced at Du Qian and said with a smile: "If everything goes well, Brother Shouyi can consider the candidate for the governor of Youzhou and Jizhou."

Hearing Li Yun's words, everyone in the room laughed. Prime Minister Du even laughed and said, "Your Majesty, don't worry. I already have a plan for the governors of these two states."

His Majesty the Emperor spoke personally and made a joke, and the atmosphere in the venue suddenly became lively. Everyone started to discuss a series of possibilities about the Youyan war and the corresponding arrangements.

As a result, the meeting lasted a whole day, until it was completely dark, and the ministers left one after another. Emperor Li did not stand up, but just watched them leave, then quietly sat back in his seat, looking down at the intelligence about Youyan.

Although Youyan may be just an inconspicuous place on the map, it is the throat of the Li Tang Dynasty. Only by occupying this place can Li Yun have the confidence of a hundred years of stability.

Otherwise, after his reign as Emperor Zhangwu, the imperial court would have most likely suffered a defeat at the hands of the Khitans.

Gunpowder, firearms, and artillery cannot change anything.

We must occupy this place, and then rebuild Shanhaiguan...

Afterwards, the troops entered Liaodong and completely nipped the hidden dangers in the bud!

Thinking of this, Emperor Li took a deep breath and stared at Youyan on the ground.

It was unknown how long it had been, until late at night, when a eunuch in his thirties walked in cautiously and bowed his head to Li Yun and said, "Your Majesty, someone from the Chenliu Palace has sent an urgent letter."

Hearing the name of Prince Chenliu, Emperor Li looked up at the eunuch in front of him and asked thoughtfully, "What happened to the Prince Chenliu's Mansion?"

Emperor Li started to employ palace maids when he was in the Palace of Prince Wu in Nanjing. More than ten years have passed since then. During these ten years, some of the inexperienced palace maids have naturally stood out. The one following Li Yun now is the current steward of the palace. His surname is Gu and his given name is Chang.

After hearing what Li Yun said, Gu Chang lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, the urgent letter from Chenliu Palace said that Tianshun Hou is on his deathbed. I'm afraid... I'm afraid he won't survive tonight."

Marquis of Tien-shun was the title given to Wu Yuancheng by Emperor Li.

This title is naturally a bit unpleasant to the ear, but throughout history, the titles of kings of fallen countries have never been very pleasant to the ear.

In addition, Wu Yuancheng was not among the two kings and three Ke, so the title given to him by Emperor Li was more or less mocking and was also a punishment for his years as emperor.

After all, Wu Yuancheng had been in power for eight years and had done very little.

His only achievement might be that he followed the will of heaven and abdicated the throne to Li Yun, so he deserved the title of Marquis of Tianshun.

During the years that Wu Yuancheng was emperor, he was driven around everywhere and had no peace. Especially in his last few years in Xichuan, he had completely lost his mind and began to indulge in material things and pleasure.

By the time he was captured and brought to Luoyang in the eighth year of Zhaoding, he already had many white hairs on his head and wrinkles on his face.

At that time, his health was not good.

To be honest, if he hadn't lived a peaceful life in Luoyang for the past few years, he would probably have died long ago.

But the peaceful life in Luoyang could not save him for long. After more than seven or nearly eight years, the last emperor of the old Zhou Dynasty finally came to the end of his life.

Emperor Li stood up subconsciously and wanted to take a look, but as soon as he stood up, he sat down again and shook his head slightly.

By now, there are very few people who are qualified for him to visit in person.

At least the old Zhou emperor Wu Yuancheng was not among them.

The report from the Chenliu Palace was just reported to the Emperor in accordance with the rules, and there was no request for the Emperor to come over.

Emperor Li sat in his seat, thought for a moment, and said, "Let's go to Prince Jin's mansion."

"Let the Prince of Jin go and visit him on my behalf."

Eunuch Gu quickly lowered his head, answered yes, and then took small steps and left carefully.

Emperor Li was still sitting in the Ganlu Palace, looking down at the maps of Hebei Province and Liaodong.

It was not until late at night that he went to bed with his clothes on.

The next day, the news spread throughout Luoyang.

Tianshun Hou Wu Yuancheng passed away.

He was forty-three years old.

(End of this chapter)