Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 484: Ancestor
February, the fifth year of Tianwang.

Haian.

“Get out of the way! Get out of the way!!”

On the official road, the knights shouted and the people along the road made way for them. The knights rushed into the city and charged towards the government office.

Several knights jumped down in front of the government office and walked quickly inside.

After a long time, Yao Xiong was seen walking out of the office in a hurry, riding on his war horse, and leading his men, rushing quickly out of the city.

Hai'an Ferry.

General Wang Lin, who was in charge of the Eastern Expedition, stood on the newly built platform and watched the warships lined up in the distance.

Another warship was launched, and Wang Lin couldn't wait to form a new formation.

Almost all the southern generals who came to surrender were here. They sat on different warships and arranged in various formations.

The Han Dynasty currently has two giant warships, one is the Gaitian and the other is the Yuli.

Gaitian was an old giant warship they had captured before, and Yuyu was a gift from the State of Chen before. The word Yuyu comes from Records of the Grand Historian, referring to the lovebirds and flounder respectively. It was originally meant to prove the harmony between the two countries, but now it has become a weapon for the Han State to use against the State of Chen.

In addition to these two giant ships, there are more than eighty different warships, and then some small boats.

During these years, Wang Lin established shipyards in Guangzhou and Haizhou, actively employed shipbuilders from the south, built many small boats and medium and large warships, and secretly purchased a number of warships from the State of Chen.

Whether or not the Chen State should do business with the Han State was not up to their emperor. Even if it was expressly prohibited, there were still people who dared to bring large ships to sell goods in exchange for war horses and ironware from the north.

The scale of the navy today is certainly far smaller than that of the State of Chen, but at least they dare to go out for patrols, unlike before when they hid at the ferry and dared not to come out.

The navy of the State of Chen also became much more obedient and did not dare to go to the vicinity of Haizhou at will.

They still had to give face to Wang Lin and the two giant ships. Chen Guo’s patrol did not dare to send out two giant ships at the same time.

Wang Lin is in high spirits.

The old man stood in a high position, looking at his increasingly strong navy. Although the current scale was far from his past peak of ten giant ships, eight hundred warships, and one hundred thousand soldiers, the growth rate was already very fast.

Wang Lin was usually kind and gentle, but once he started training or fighting, he became very cruel.

At this moment, he was looking at the formation in the distance, his beard blowing with anger.

"Cao Qing, this guy! How can he not make any progress? Is this how a giant ship is used? If there was a real battle, he would have been sunk long ago!"

"Someone, come and pass on my military order, twenty lashes!!"

The personal soldiers around him hurried out.

Wang Lin continued to stare into the distance. The more he looked, the angrier he became. He cursed under his breath and asked his subordinates to note the mistakes of these people and prepare to hold them accountable after the training was over.

While Wang Lin was busy, Yao Xiong led the knights to the navy camp.

After the soldier came to report, Wang Lin called Ouyang He who was supporting on land and asked him to continue keeping an eye on the warships in the distance, while he went down to meet Yao Xiong.

Yao Xiong seemed particularly excited at the moment, rubbing his hands. When he saw Wang Lin coming, he quickly saluted and asked with a smile, "I hope I didn't bother you, General?"

"No, you came just in time, so I can suffer less!"

"Ah? Why do you say that?"

"It's really painful to see these people lined up!"

Yao Xiong laughed. He didn't know much about water formations. However, in the current Han State, except for a few surrendered generals who had experience in naval warfare, the rest of the people were basically blank slates, and Wang Lin's requirements for them were very harsh.

Yao Xiong pulled Wang Lin out. He looked around and whispered, "The reward results are out!"

"Oh?"

“Who is the first to achieve this?”

"General Wei was the first to achieve great success, and was promoted to General of the Cavalry and Duke of Lanling County."

Wang Lin was shocked. "General of the Cavalry? What a huge reward!"

"Capturing the false emperor alive is the first priority for military merit."

"Except for him, the rest of the people were also rewarded. Hulu Xian was promoted to Zuo Guanglu Dafu, Special Advancement, Yitong Sansi, Kou Liu was promoted to Qing Guanglu Dafu, and was granted the title of Zhenjun General, and Zhang Heizu was promoted to Zhonglingjun."

Yao Xiong hurriedly took out the notice from his arms and handed it to Wang Lin. Wang Lin picked up the notice and they read it together.

Just as Yao Xiong said, the court rewarded those who made contributions this time generously. The two commanders were rewarded the highest, followed by those generals who made outstanding contributions. Basically, they were promoted several levels, and the four An and four Ping levels were all full. There were also some more outrageous ones, the most outrageous of which was Shi Wansui.

This guy relied on several times of being the first to charge and breaking into the enemy's lines to rise up the ranks and eventually became a third-rank Central Guard General.

What does this mean? If we only consider the rank, he, the Central Guard, is on the same level as Zu Ting's Palace Attendant.

Yao Xiong looked at these rewards with a gleam in his eyes.

Even Gao Yanzong was promoted to the position of General Zhennan because of his many contributions, such as capturing Jiangling and killing Zhang Zhaoda.

Yao Xiong just felt regretful.

"Alas, it's none of our business! What a pity!"

Wang Lin quickly read through them and asked in confusion, "Why do I feel like there's someone missing from this reward?"

Yao Xiong clapped his hands, "Yes, we are here to contain Chen Bing, so we should at least give him a mention!"

Wang Lin shook his head. "We have no merit. However, Tian Zili, Cui Gang and others who were in charge of transporting grain and grass were rewarded. Why is it that Zu Ting was the only one not rewarded?"

Yao Xiong finally reacted. He looked at the document again and searched for it several times.

“Not really.”

"Why?"

Wang Lin stroked his beard and said, "It seems that the General of the Cavalry is not the first to achieve the credit."

"I'm afraid the person who made this contribution will be rewarded after returning to Yecheng."

Yao Xiong was even more envious, "In General Wang's opinion, when can we march into the State of Chen and also take the credit for destroying a country?"

"It depends on when our navy can be fully formed."

Wang Lin suddenly looked at the many warships in front of him, and then narrowed his eyes.

"The Zhou Kingdom also has a lot of warships."

"Jiangling still needs a general to go there."

Yao Xiong said excitedly: "Zhou has a lot of warships. If the two are added together, even if it is weaker than Chen, it is enough to start a war."

"We will not launch an attack on the State of Chen for at least three years. It may take even longer."

Wang Lin saw it very clearly.

"General Yao, I have to go back to Gwangju. After I leave, you have to pay more attention to the defense along the coast. Huang Fachu is definitely not an ordinary person. He may try to cause damage."

"Ah, you're going back to Gwangju?"

"I have to go see His Majesty. I have an extremely important strategy to present to His Majesty."

Yao Xiong stopped playing around and his face became solemn.

"Please rest assured, I'm here, nothing will go wrong."

"it is good."

Wang Lin led the elite navy to evacuate from Hai'an at a very fast speed, taking away many shipbuilders and others. The navy camp and shipyard in Hai'an suddenly became much quieter.

During the march, Wang Lin seemed extremely busy. He stayed in the cabin every day, rarely went out, and wrote day and night.

After returning to Gwangju, Wang Lin quickly adjusted the locations of several shipyards and naval training grounds. The entire naval affairs in the east were originally decided by Wang Lin. However, Wang Lin's decision at this moment was different from what everyone thought. After defeating the Zhou Kingdom and being able to look forward to the unification of the world, he chose to retreat, moved the shipyard back, the navy took the initiative to withdraw, made concessions, and even replaced the warships on the front line and in the rear.

Many generals did not understand Wang Lin’s thoughts, but here, Wang Lin was the boss and they had no way to question him.

While Wang Lin was issuing many orders and making many adjustments, letters were also rushing towards Yecheng.

At this time, it had been a long time since Liu Taozi destroyed Zhou, and the Han army had also been traveling back for a long time and was about to reach its destination, Yecheng.

The army had just returned and although there were still many government affairs to attend to, those who had gone with the army still had the opportunity to take a vacation.

The court officials were still busy appointing officials.

Judging from the situation in the Han Dynasty, in fact, what the Han Dynasty relied on was a complete and excellent system of minor officials. However, the officials were recruited locally and had little to do with the imperial court. The imperial court could only promote officials from various places while rushing to hold imperial examinations to increase the reserve of officials.

Of course, the imperial court also issued some new policies, including the settlement of local officials, promotion of the best, special rewards for public land, etc., all of which were to encourage people in the east to actively go to the west to serve as officials.

After all, becoming an official through the imperial examination is something that only a few people can accomplish. It is not easy to pass. In comparison, the civil service examination is child's play. One can pass it by studying algorithms, laws, reading and writing. It is much less difficult.

The court was extremely busy, and even Lu Qubing had no energy to bother Liu Taozi.

At this moment, the Great Han Heavenly King was resting in Cheng'an's old residence.

The village of Cheng'an had been surrounded by city walls a long time ago, but there had been no changes inside. It was Liu Zhang who refused and demanded that it be preserved. Probably because the king's parents had lived here for a long time, the court paid a lot of attention to this place, built city walls, and arranged soldiers to garrison here. The level of alert was higher than that of Cheng'an City.

The familiar peach forest looked somewhat desolate at the moment, with no flowers blooming yet and it was bare.

In the simple house, Liu Zhang's laughter could be heard from far away.

After Liu Taozi destroyed the Zhou Kingdom, the situation in the world changed drastically. The three-way balance of power collapsed, and the Han became strong while the Chen became weak.

The national strength of the two sides was not just a little bit different. The population in the south was originally small, and it had been devastated by Hou Jing before. Emperor Wen had finally recovered some of its strength, but Chen Xu fought wars for years. In addition, the powerful annexed land, the big families concealed their household registration, the people converted to temples one after another, and the temples also recruited tenants. All these things added up, and the Chen State's apparent data was very pitiful.

Tenants, slaves, and monks like these were not subject to tax, and many of them were not even registered in the state household register.

They do not pay money to the state, do not perform corvee labor, and certainly do not join the army.

Therefore, from the perspective of national strength, there are only three words: Chen Guowei.

Mrs. Liu Zhang became much richer, and her originally skinny cheeks were filled with flesh again. She stared at her son in front of her and found him pleasing to the eye.

At the beginning, she had persuaded her son to escape with her, but her son said that he wanted to kill all the evil people in the world and restore the country. At that time, she only thought that her son had great ambitions, but she never thought that he could succeed. She just thought in her heart that if it was absolutely necessary, she would let Taozhi catch Taozi, and then run away together and hide her identity.

I never thought that my son would actually do all this.

The Zhou capital was destroyed.

She put some more meat on her son's plate again and watched him eat with a smile.

Liu Taozhi was still asking at this moment: "Has Wei Xiaokuan been caught as well?"

"I am already your subject."

"Why not kill him?"

"This man has strategies and can guard against the northern barbarians."

"Are you going to attack the State of Chen?"

"Hurry to take Zhou, slow to destroy Chen, there is no rush."

The look in Liu Taozhi's eyes when he looked at Liu Taozi was slightly different, not as rude and arrogant as before.

When he knew that his son was rebelling and destroying the State of Qi, he felt that his son was a jackal, completely disloyal, and made him ashamed to face his former master. He was afraid that he would be infamous for eternity.

But as the situation changed little by little, when Liu Taozi and even the Zhou Kingdom were destroyed, Liu Taozhi's thoughts changed again.

Could it be that this kid really has some kind of destiny?

Many things in the past suddenly became mysterious, and it was as if this son had a mysterious cloak around him, which made Liu Taozhi feel something unusual.

At this moment, when Liu Taozi spoke, he listened more carefully.

In fact, the emperor's sacredness had long since disappeared, as evidenced by the three punches he struck at the emperor. However, whether the emperor was sacred or not depended on which emperor he was.

There are sacred and terrifying emperors, and there are also corrupt emperors.

People firmly believe that those who can accomplish great things must have extraordinary powers.

Liu Taozi didn't say anything about this change in attitude, only Liu Zhang was laughing about it.

Xiao Wu hasn't come back yet, and Ah Xian is resting in the house. There are only three of them here, but they are having a great time.

Shortly after they finished their meal, outsiders came and broke the harmony.

Zu Ting is here.

Knowing that they had important things to do, Liu Zhang hurriedly gave the courtyard to them and took Liu Taozhi to visit the peach forest.

Zu Ting looked helpless. "I shouldn't have come to bother you, but the state affairs cannot be delayed. I have to come. Please punish me, Your Majesty."

"It doesn't have to be this way."

Zu Ting didn't waste any words. He took out a lot of documents from his sleeves and started talking about business directly. "Your Majesty, Wang Lin wrote a letter saying that he wanted to come to Yecheng and had an important strategy to offer."

"Ah."

"Let him come."

"It is certain that Yang Jian defected to the State of Chen, but he was not given a high position. For some reason, Chen Xu did not release him and kept him in Jiankang."

"Ah."

"Another group of Zhou people have surrendered, and the Gao Jiong I mentioned to Your Majesty earlier is among them."

"Oh?"

Liu Taozi's expression finally showed some changes, "Gao Jiong surrendered?"

"Yes, this guy has always been very resistant, and his attitude is the most stubborn among those who were captured. But as soon as this group of people were transported to Yecheng, he was willing to surrender."

Zu Ting smiled and said, "I sent someone to ask, and it is said that this fellow decided to surrender after he learned that Your Majesty had preserved the sacrifice of Yuwen Yong and cleared Yuwen Xian's name, not letting him bear the crime of regicide."

"As expected of Your Majesty!"

"When Your Majesty ordered not to annihilate Yuwen Yong's sacrifice and to clear Yuwen Xian's name, I was very confused. Now I understand how wise it is. The loyal and righteous people of Zhou have all noticed Your Majesty's benevolence and are willing to serve you. Your Majesty's talent is truly unparalleled in the world!!"

"When I just returned to Yecheng, I heard Cui Jishu, Wei Shou and others criticize Your Majesty, saying that Your Majesty was too indulgent to these Western bandits. They felt that Yuwen Yong and Yuwen Xian should not be kept in the ancestral temple, otherwise it would be difficult to completely recover the Western Territory. How could they know the wisdom of Your Majesty? If I meet them now, I can refute them!"

Zu Ting flattered Liu Taozi, but he did not forget his job of framing his colleagues.

After completing the work of the treacherous minister, he returned to the main topic.

"Many people are talking about Wang Lin, thinking that he acted on his own initiative and changed the shipyard and eastern strategy privately. But I think this is Wang Lin's strategy. Wang Lin wants to show weakness and secretly accumulate strength."

"Although we are strong now, our navy is still inferior to that of the State of Chen. If we build warships and train our navy on the front line, it will certainly have a deterrent effect, but it will also make the people of Chen dare not easily sell warships and other supplies to us. But if we show weakness to the enemy, hide our new warships, and only show the enemy our old warships, then no matter what Huang Fachu says, the people of Chen will continue to buy and sell."

"What we need to do is to secretly accumulate strength and make the ministers in Chen neglect their power. When we are strong enough, we will march south to destroy Chen in one fell swoop!!"

"However, since General Wang insisted on coming here in person to report, there must be more strategies and tactics that I have not thought of."

Zu Ting started by talking about the strategy toward Southern Chen, and analyzed the documents in his hand bit by bit.

Liu Taozi waited until he finished speaking.

"His Majesty?"

"Zu Ting, listen to my orders!"

Zu Ting was startled, and quickly put down the document in his hand and knelt down to Liu Taozi, "I obey your order!"

"Zu Ting has served me for a long time, he is loyal, he has made suggestions, participated in military affairs, his merits are outstanding, and he has won my heart."

"I am now promoted to the position of Prime Minister, ordered to participate in the confidential affairs of the three ministries, and granted the title of Duke of Yan."

Zu Ting was stunned on the spot.

He was stunned for a long time, then bowed deeply to Liu Taozi, his voice choked with sobs.

"Your Majesty, I, Zu Ting, thank you for your grace!!!"

(End of this chapter)