The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 183 Jingzhou Road (Part )
After the difficulties, the remnants of the enemy still remained and the army to resist the barbarians could not be withdrawn, so heavy troops were stationed both inside and outside the country.

The various towns can be roughly divided into four types. The rebel vassal states Zhao, Wei, Yan, Cang, Ding, and Qi are the most wealthy and powerful in the world. When the situation is not right, they will unite hundreds of thousands of troops to keep each other warm and bargain. Therefore, in the key points of Bian, Lu, Xu, and Hua, each of them has tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry. The third is the border areas headed by Qi and Bin, whose main task is to deal with Tubo, and from time to time they participate in the conquest of rebellion and fierce generals. Then there are the financial sources such as Liangzhe and Huainan, and the military control is very strict.

In general, the separatist regime was limited to Hebei. It is nonsense to say that the Tang Dynasty existed in name only after An Lushan. Even the unruly Six Garrisons in Hebei were almost dead. When the Liu family of Zhaoyi was defeated and exterminated for seeking the death of their father and son, the struggle between the central and local governments basically ended, and the various regions no longer directly challenged the authority.

What broke the national situation was the Chaos Rebellion. Tang Hongfu and Cheng Zongchu were killed, and more than half of the main forces in Shuofang and Jingyuan were lost. The archers in Hanzhong disappeared. The elite troops in Shu, such as Huangtou, Tujiang, and Shenji, were annihilated. The eight towns in the northwest of Beijing and Sanchuan, which had the strongest centripetal force, were severely damaged. Zhu Mei, a remnant of Pang Xun, Li Maozhen, a foreigner, Cai Zei, Lu Yanhong and other newcomers came to power. In addition, the camp of the Shen Ce Army was destroyed, making it difficult to control Qinchuan. Seeing the decline of the central government, the princes' ambitions grew and began to encroach on each other, and they were even more powerless to restrain each other.

The equilibrium of the towns could no longer be maintained, and the vassal state was no longer effective. Fortunately, by the time of Qianning, the evolution of the pattern of one superpower and many strong powers had been interrupted, and the situation had improved considerably. The question the sage was thinking about now was how to deal with Jingnan, Jinshang, and Shandong!
He was clear about the general policy, but the chaos in the world was unprecedented.

The literati wanted to be the governor. When Lu Shenzhong, who was living in Ezhou during the Zhonghe period, heard that the governor had died suddenly, he recruited thousands of soldiers to enter the city and called himself the governor. There were many powerful people - the rich people in Mianzhu, such as He Yiyang and Anren Fei, each trained an army to protect themselves, some with tens of thousands or thousands of people. Thieves were rampant and many wanted to take advantage of the chaos to get rich and powerful; not to mention the soldiers. What he needed to solve was how to achieve the most basic stability in these three regions under his rule - that is, no large-scale rebellion.

Under this guidance, all the men and women in the three states of Jinshang were relocated to the various counties in Guanzhong and Guanxi. The rest of the powerful officials and gentry were relocated to the mausoleums of Zhao, Qian, Jing, Hanmao, Yang, and Chang. The Sili Xiaowei Han Yi and Jingzhao Yin Sun Weisheng were in charge of the work. In two months, Jinshang would be a wasteland.

Can this approach be replicated in Jing and Xiang? Obviously, no. The former is based on the elimination of the indigenous soldiers from the masses. After Shu Zhen and others led their troops to Bian, Jingnan still had more than 30,000 naval and land soldiers, most of whom were locals. They were warriors in the barracks, and they had relatives, friends and neighbors at home. If the policy is unfavorable, there is a high possibility that the military and civilians will join forces to cause chaos. In other words, you have to deal with the local warriors first. What to do?
Absorbing... well, the saint has passed the stage of being hungry and indiscriminate. The feudal soldiers who have never lived and died with him, and have not established trust and emotional transformation, account for the majority of the imperial army system. It is unpredictable what will happen at a certain time and day.

Dismissed? In the first year of Yongtai, Yuan Jie passed through Jingzhou: "I suddenly saw my old subordinates, who still said that the army was good and they still hoped to belong to someone. I gave them a cup of wine and told them to burn their military uniforms." Boss! Why is it you? Woo woo woo, we are dismissed, take us away; they still wear the military uniforms they have kept and recall the past. Yuan Jie asked them to burn their military uniforms and live a peaceful life.

In Guanzhong, it was: "The deserted soldiers gathered together and became bandits."

When Hong Jinglun was inspecting Hebei, he heard that Wei Bo had 70,000 soldiers, so he forced Tian Yue to cut 40,000. After Hong left, the soldiers left and returned, so Yue used all his family property to support them and ordered them to return to their troops. Since then, Wei Bo resented the court.

This shows that these warriors who retired for various reasons still have a strong passion for being a soldier. The country had no choice but to "retain the governors and bring the imperial edict to recruit them one by one. If they are willing to return to farming, they will be supported in their livelihood; if they want to join the army, they will also be given food." If they don't want to retire, they can just report back to their units.

lay off…

Our Tang Dynasty has its own national conditions, so let it go.

Regarding Jingnan, after careful consideration, Li's temporary plan is: those who are willing to retire will be given a sum of money. The rest will be dispersed to various states. Secondly, the military strength cannot be increased at the current scale. Finally, several thousand soldiers will be deployed to garrison Kuimen and Jiangling. This is not only to alert the soldiers of Jingzhou, but also to show off authority. Such a large territory, with a rich population and many barbarians, and also neighbors like Ma Yin, Lei Man, and Wu Tao. If you don't show your muscles, you will be easily looked down upon by the people and all parties. Let my brother-in-law worry about the rest.

The regional adjustment and personnel appointments have been decided. The six states of Yu, Kui, Fu, Shi, Zhong, and Wan were divided into Chongqing Road, and the former Yaowu Army General Li Sizhou and Jingzhao Shaoyin Yuwenqi were paired together. In such a place, wars broke out from time to time, and in the future, they would also participate in the expedition against Zhu Wen, so power must be decentralized.

The Chongqing Road and Fangling, Zigui, Yiling, Jiangling, Wuling and Liling were used as the Jingzhou camp, and Zhao Kuangning was appointed as the recruiting envoy.

Chongqing Dao was incorporated into the camp and placed under the unified supervision of Zhao Kuangning, which was a safety rope for Li Sizhou and also a compensation for his elder brother-in-law. He took the initiative to move from Shandong to Jingnan, gave up the territory, reduced the scope of jurisdiction, changed the title, and reduced the power, which was not conducive to buying horse bones. The elder brother-in-law may not care, but the brother-in-law must be sensible. He called you His Majesty, and you really acted like an emperor in front of him?
They have their own gangs, and your soldiers, officials, guests, and clansmen will all have opinions on what you do.

The saint is very grateful to his elder brother-in-law. In this day and age, even if you are a loyal minister, it does not mean that you have to give up your vested interests. Just because your sister married the emperor does not mean that she should offer the seven states of Tang, Deng, Sui, Xiang, Fu, Ying, and Fang. Only Zhao Kuangning can do this. If it is Zhao Kuangming or someone else in the Zhao family, will they definitely give it to you? Difficult.

As for Shandong.

It was very troublesome. The Cai army group headed by my brother-in-law actually controlled seven states. To the north, it bordered Zhu Wen in Ru and Xu. To the east, it bordered Huaixi, Huainan, and Ezhou. The location was critical, surrounded by powerful enemies, and it was impossible to withdraw the town for the time being.

Second, the Cai army only recognized the Zhao brothers. It was no problem to send someone to take over as the Jiedushi. The eldest brother-in-law would give a heads-up, and everyone would not lose face for his brother-in-law. The problem was that once he left, the cannibal demon would go crazy.

In a nutshell, his brain circuit is abnormal, and he is likely to go crazy suddenly, and the people sent there are likely to lose their lives. This is not an exaggeration. The abstractness of the Cai army can be seen from the eldest brother-in-law - as the son of a Cai general family and a backbone general of Qin Zongquan, he became the last loyal man in later generations... Anyway, novels dare not write like this.

For Shandong, the sage's countermeasure is to boil the frog. Unlike Jingnan, Shandong has a strong military guarantee - 50,000 infantry and cavalry, and Cai's bandits alone account for 20,000. With pastures and navy, and some militia training, it is easy to gather 70,000 to 80,000 people. The eldest brother-in-law is the leader of Shandong and the Zhao family, but he is not equal to Shandong and the Zhao family. If they are not careful and feel stressed, it may cause rebellion.

The disturbance of the relocation of military governors during the Changqing period must be guarded against. Under the wrong handling of Emperor Muzong and his ministers, Zhu Kerong of Youzhou imprisoned Zhang Hongjing. Wang Tingcou of Chengde killed Tian Hongzheng. The army of Yingzhou was in chaos, and the inspector Lu Shigong was arrested. The army of Xiangzhou was in chaos, and the governor Xing Chu was killed. The army of Dezhou was in chaos, and Wang Ji was killed. Tian Bu, the governor of Weizhou, committed suicide. Liu Wu of Zhaoyi imprisoned the military supervisor Liu Chengxie. Wang Zhixing of Xuzhou expelled the governor Cui Qun. Li Chenze of Xuanwu expelled Li Yuan. Wang Guoqing, the general of Zhenhai Yamen, and Ma Yanluan, the general of Ziqing Yamen, were executed for treason.

Replace all the officials who restored the seven states of Ying and Fang during the Tang, Deng, Sui and Xiang periods at once, summon all the civil and military officials of the military government to the court in a short period of time or transfer them away through other means, split up and disband the army... Any minister who dares to make such a suggestion can be dismissed on the spot and never participate in politics again.

To this end, Li decided to ask his elder brother-in-law to recommend a group of "talents" and summon a small group of them to the court in disguise. The prefectures and counties did not move. When Shandong and Zhu Wen fought, there would always be casualties. Then, take advantage of the war and send people.

As for the army, Cai the thief is a dangerous element. Please ask my brother-in-law to take 10,000 people with him to Jiangling. The nominal saint has already thought of it - the guards.

It makes sense and is reasonable!
The Jiedushi is still held by Zhao's son - Zhao Kuangming. The administrative divisions will not be adjusted for the time being. Dengzhou will be upgraded to a defense envoy. A military office will be formed with Zhao Chong, Amonan, Dou Biao, Ouyang Jian, Fu Cunshen, Ashina Yingchen and other imperial army generals, with 15000 infantry and cavalry stationed there. While conquering Zhu Wen, it will provide a safety rope for the Shandong army and also provide a protective umbrella for the safety of the Zhao family. Now that Zhao Kuangning is gone, it is still unknown whether Zhao Kuangming can keep the situation under control. If there are thieves who want to murder Zhao Zili, they should first consider whether the Wang Shi in Nanyang next door is a waste. On the contrary, if the saint is not around, if there are warriors in the Dengzhou military office who have dirty thoughts, they must also consider the Zhao family in Xiangyang.

perfect!

Unconsciously, we have come to this day. This is a scene that I never expected. The emperor is the son of destiny. A king in danger is dangerous, but when there are certain advantages and the prestige of the court is restored to a certain value, many things will go smoothly. It is completely different from the war of annexation by warlords. If it were a powerful vassal governor, would Zhao Kuangning surrender? Without using force and relying only on political negotiations, can Cheng Li lead his people to the court? Will Lingnan and Fujian lose money? History proves that it cannot.

"The country is revitalized, the king's rule is revived, let's drink to victory!" The sage raised the wine jar.

"How dare I refuse? Cheers!" Everyone stood up and raised their glasses with both hands.

"Zhu'er, you used to be a horse breeder and swordsman in your uncle's house. Have you ever thought about your future? You have been in the court for more than two years. I wonder if you can live up to your wish?"

"I, Siyuan, Cunxin and others were either shepherds or servants in Yinshan. We all lived a carefree life when we were young... I suddenly dreamed about my youth in the middle of the night. Alas! I was honored as a viscount by the government for my humble service. I feel ashamed." Zhazhu said gently. Of the friends who played together in the past, only Li Siyuan, Li Cunxin and I have made some achievements now, right?
"Qiqi, what was it like when you were herding sheep for the chieftain in Hengshan?" The sage looked at the general again. He was wearing a tall hat and a wide belt, and he didn't look like a Tangut at all.

"I'm not afraid of being laughed at by the saint and you all. At that time, I was thinking about how to have enough food all day long." Mei Zang Qiqi sighed.

"When you were fighting the Tibetans in Tianshui, did you ever think about my sister who was serving as a concubine in the Chang'an Palace?"

"At that time, the land was full of bastards, and Li Maozhen invaded Qinzhou for years. I led my troops to survive in the cracks, and my life was in danger..." Zhao Fu said with emotion.

"Fu Cunshen, when you first came to the capital to escort your bride, I noticed that you looked depressed every day, as if someone owed you money. What are you worried about? Do you think you have no future?"

The generals burst into laughter. Fu Cunshen blushed and shook his head, saying, "At that time, I was saddened by the violent deaths of many men and women, and I hated that few warriors were like human beings. I followed a few Jiedushi, who were all rapists and robbers, and I was deceived... I have been fighting and killing for so many years, and I don’t know what they are busy with, so I am unhappy... Your Majesty is a holy monarch... In the past, my good friends in the army said that they would come to serve Your Majesty... I am not good at speaking..."

The saint also laughed when he heard this. "Xiao Fu, you are so immature. Hurry up and have a second child. Give birth to Fu Yanqing. I want to see your two granddaughters, Da Fu and Xiao Fu, in my lifetime."

"Li Cunxiao, I remember that you brought 800 soldiers to the court last winter and defeated Wang Zhong's army at the foot of Hedong City. Fight well in Dengzhou and read more when you have nothing to do. Marquis of Guanjun, Prince of Fenyang and Li Linhuai are the people you should become. Zhang Jide, you came from Xiazhou to enlist in the army in the year of Dashun. You are usually taciturn and never complain about hard work. You should be more talkative, otherwise how can you be a good coach? Li Zan, Mei Bize, you led the way for the royal army and helped me defeat the Qi people. You also fought beautifully against the Fengzhou bandits in Chongyang Valley. Ashina Luoxue, you made many contributions in sweeping Bianzhou. Lai Mei was also outstanding as a female historian in Penglai Palace, and she lived up to the Turkic royal family..." The saint said one by one, with wine in his hand.

"Don't dare to say anything!"

It was already dusk when the banquet ended, and the saint was helped back to his bedroom by Wenren Chuchu and Nangong Chongyan.

"I told you to drink less!" Chong Yan complained with a stern face while helping him wash his face.

"Yes, yes." The saint propped up his forehead and said. He didn't dare to get drunk before, but now that his foundation is solid and his morale is strong, it's okay to have fun occasionally. But he can't get drunk, dance with his hands and feet, talk too much, stagger in front of his subjects, vomit on the spot, or even lose his memory. This is the bottom line, and he must be aware of it.

“Where’s Ruo Zhao…” The saint asked after pulling Chong Yan over and wiping the sweat from his armpits to his nose and finding that the smell was wrong.

After throwing the wet wipes into the copper basin of hot water, Nangong Chongyan sat aside with an expressionless face.

Your Excellency, are you really favoring people based on their background? Whoever has a stronger family background will be favored?

"Why are there so many hairs?"

"Why, you don't like it?"

"My favorite."

You two, are there anybody here...

And the emperor's hobby is simply... he likes to get close to the concubines' armpits and deeply smell the body odor. He likes the hairy ones... what kind of taste is this? And Zhao Ruozhao... what, don't you like it? He can actually say such things, a shameless and slutty fox, it is indeed the true nature of Cai the thief. Chongyan frowned, pulled Chuchu, whose face had already turned red with shame and turned to look at the corner, and turned out of the room.

(End of this chapter)