Please call me Your Majesty!

Chapter 19: Weishui Alliance
Chu Shizhao actually wanted to curse.

His father, Emperor Yongjin, is truly the only war criminal in the Great Zhou, no doubt about it.

Pure top war criminal.

If he had not passed away, there would not have been so many problems, because Emperor Yongjin still had a central army under his command. This central army was an important bargaining chip for Emperor Yongjin to check and balance so many vassal states and make the vassal states always station troops to guard the border.

A central army of two hundred thousand men!

Of course, there are many ghost soldiers who are drawing salaries without working, but in Chu Shizhao's opinion, no matter how much they bluff, there should still be more than 100,000 central troops capable of defending the capital.

It’s still that kind of elite armored division.

So the question is, where did this army go?
Why did he disappear mysteriously?

That's right, this army, led by Lu En, went to the south to fight the rebels. As a direct general of Emperor Yongjin, Lu En fought and won some battles, but did not completely defeat the enemy, which gave the rebels a long buffer period of time to develop.

In other words, Rune was a loser who didn't know how to play in an advantageous situation. He just kept going back and forth to brush up his records and military exploits, and wasted wave after wave, allowing the rebels to gain a foothold in the south. Later, when he found that the opponent was not so easy to beat and was about to get rid of the rebels, Emperor Yongjin captured him and stopped him from "making trouble".

But that's where the coincidence lies.

Emperor Yongjin died at the most unexpected time.

This is where the funniest part lies.

Just when Rune was trying to show off his military achievements, he failed once. When Emperor Yongjin passed away, he also suffered a big setback.

You must know that when Emperor Yongjin was in power, he attached great importance to the control of power and basically did not share power with the princes.

Even the crown prince did not have much power and had no direct connection with the ministers.

After the death of Emperor Yongjin, the central army was leaderless.

It is impossible to say that the emperor can directly control the most grassroots soldiers. The emperor only orders the generals in the central army to do things, and these generals can directly control the grassroots soldiers.

Therefore, after the death of Emperor Yongjin, these generals had no prior contact with the prince, nor did they have a deep connection with him.

The relationship between the crown prince and the central army generals is very delicate.

The prince commanded the central army to fight Song and Wu as usual, but at that time Song and Wu both had their base in Yingtian Prefecture, which is Nanjing.

The central army did not have a general with complete authority to command it, and was no match for Song and Wu. By the time the crown prince dispatched the demoted Lu En back, the central army had completely collapsed.

Those who run run, those who disperse.

Without the central army that supported the imperial power, the military governors in the vassal states naturally became unscrupulous and no longer obeyed the orders of the imperial court.

Ma Su'an, the foreign governor, was the first to turn against the enemy and openly rebelled in Fan Yang.

Other Jiedushi were greedy for power and some were fence-sitters, so they naturally just watched and waited to see how the Emperor of the Great Zhou would deal with the situation. Regardless of whether the Emperor of the Great Zhou could deal with it or not, these Jiedushi would be the beneficiaries.

Just preserve your strength.

The rebels and the local vassal states are openly making such a fuss. Even if you send an emperor with some ability, you will not be able to win.

Because there is really no other way. How can you do anything if you don’t have military power?

What's terrifying is that these two were still relatively small. When the rebel army and the vassal states came to power and divided up the Zhou Dynasty, the Huns attacked again.

All that's missing is a small ice age to directly destroy the Zhou Dynasty.

Chu Shizhao made a good move in this simulation. During his exile, he unexpectedly settled the problem of the vassal states and even reached a marriage alliance with the strongest vassal state.

This also allows them to use the power of the feudal lords to push forward the rebel army.

To be honest, having achieved this, Chu Shizhao felt that he was a bit of a superman, but the damn situation did not allow Chu Shizhao to catch his breath.

There was no enjoyment at all. Just when they could catch their breath, the Huns attacked. And the worst thing was that Yang Zhuting was a very important person that Chu Shizhao placed in the north.

Chu Shizhao's power structure is Jinyang, Datong, and Beiping.

Yang Zhuting was the big brother of the Datong faction. He gave away all his 30,000 soldiers and horses along with the Datong generals. As for the Beiping forces, Chu Shizhao did not recruit any generals that could be used, so the main force he relied on now was still Jinyang.

The father-in-law who was the most capable fighter was sent to fight Song and Wu.

It's over. No choice.

Then who else can resist the situation?
I'll do it myself!
[In July of the sixth year of Kangxing, the Xiongnu dispatched a large army, and after careful consideration, their Khan decided to besiege the imperial court in Chang'an.]

[In August of the sixth year of Kangxing, the ministers advocated moving south, abandoning the Hexi and Chang'an areas, and retreating to Kaifeng and other places.]

[On September of the sixth year of Kangxing, you took a deep breath, drew your sword yourself at the court meeting, thrust the tip of the sword into the hall, and stood before all the ministers.]

[You didn't say anything, but your attitude showed your determination not to retreat, and you also knew that retreat would only bring greater consequences.]

[At this moment, Huan Sheng, who was unemployed in Chang'an, submitted a memorial, saying that the current situation was turbulent and the people of the world needed a wise and virtuous king to resist the strong enemy. If the general was not granted the title of emperor, how could he gather the people's hearts?]

【This is a petition to persuade the emperor to ascend the throne.】

[In October of the sixth year of Kangxing, you ascended the throne. Four emperors have taken over in ten years, and you are already the fourth emperor in these ten years. In the same month you ascended the throne, you changed the reign title to Hongsheng.]

【And he immediately appointed his own son Chu Jimin as the crown prince. 】

[After learning this news, Li Jin's attitude towards you has improved again. ]

[In the same month, Huan Sheng, who had gained an opportunity by persuading others to advance, was entrusted with an important task by Chu Shizhao. Huan Sheng seized the opportunity and immediately contacted Huan Jie, the governor of Liangzhou, to send troops to defend the king.]

[In November of the sixth year of Kangxing, Li Shengming, who was stationed in Kaifeng, decided to send all the troops in Kaifeng to Chang'an to support the capital under the persuasion of Li Fengning.]

[In December of the sixth year of Kangxing, Chu Shizhao directly put all the ministers who wanted to negotiate peace, surrender, or move south into death row, leaving only the brave and courageous war faction in the court.]

[In January of the first year of Hongsheng, Chu Shizhao gave one year's salary advance to civil and military officials in Chang'an, and half a year's salary advance to soldiers, who had to go to Beiping Prefecture to collect it. At the same time, other craftsmen guarding the city, and soldiers inside and outside the four gates of the imperial city were rewarded to ensure the stability of the people in Chang'an.]

[In February of the first year of Hongsheng, Liangzhou Jiedushi Huan Jie personally led 10,000 cavalrymen to rush to Chang'an for assistance. Henan Governor Li Shengming was also on his way with 40,000 Henan soldiers.]

[In the same month, after Liangzhou Jiedushi Huan Jie entered Chang'an, some ministers impeached Huan Sheng for colluding with Huan Jie and having rebellious intentions.]

【You look at Huansheng.】

[“If you wish to rebel against the court again, the emperor’s head is here. You can take it yourself.”]

[You have fought many battles in the south and the north, which makes you look aggressive and prestigious. Huan Sheng was so restless that he immediately knelt down.]

[What's more, Huan Sheng did not dare to have any other intentions, because Li Jin, who was currently on the southern expedition, and Li Shengming, who was about to arrive, were both powerful forces that should not be underestimated.]

[In March of the first year of Hongsheng, the Xiongnu invaded Chang'an. Chu Shizhao personally led the army to fight against the Xiongnu. Your personal expedition boosted the morale of the defenders of the capital, and the Xiongnu were unable to conquer the city and had to retreat.]

[In June of the first year of Hongsheng, after three months of fierce fighting, the Xiongnu were unable to capture Chang'an. After suffering a loss of nearly 20,000 people, they had no choice but to continue the siege.]

[In July of the first year of Hongsheng, the Xiongnu Khan Ashina Guluo, who had been unable to conquer the Zhou Dynasty for a long time, thought that the Zhou Dynasty was not as weak as he had imagined, and decided to ask for peace out of concern.]

[They invited the newly enthroned Emperor Chu Shizhao of the Great Zhou Dynasty to come out of the city to form an alliance in order to test the waters.]

[On July 9, the first year of Hongsheng, Chu Shizhao and Huan Sheng had a conversation with the Xiongnu Khan across the Wei River, angrily accusing him of ignoring the alliance with the Great Zhou for many years and harassing the Great Zhou territory. They vowed to send troops to attack the grassland to vent their hatred.]

[Seeing Chu Shizhao's murderous look, the Xiongnu Khan immediately asked for peace, offering a horse as a token of his intention to cease fire.]

[The Great Zhou Dynasty and the Xiongnu reached a ceasefire agreement, which was known as the Weishui Alliance.]

Seeing the retreat of the Huns on the screen, Chu Shizhao gritted his teeth.

If I don’t go to the grassland to beat you up later, I will be considered a coward!

You killed my generals and robbed my people. Do you really think I have no temper?
At this time, Chu Shizhao experienced the feeling of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, at his most humiliating. This incident was really too cowardly.

Any emperor would not be able to tolerate this.

(End of this chapter)