Chapter 744: Redemption
The wind blew from the north, shaking the steel-colored pool water.
In the newly built palace south of Taiye Pool, Liu Cong was leaning on the couch, looking at the gloomy sky outside, speechless.
Liu Can sat patiently with him on one side.
He seemed very busy, and officials came in from time to time and asked for instructions in a low voice.
Liu Can replied in a low voice. After the official received the accurate information, he saluted the two and left quietly.
The layout of Chang'an is very strange.
The emperor took more than 4,000 people across the river, which can be said to have lost most of the capital. The nine counties of Jingzhao, Beidi, Fufeng, Xinping, Shiping, Anding, Nan'an, Lueyang, and Tianshui west of Tongguan were all captured by Prince Liu Can over several years. Only Feng Yi and the newly established Shangjun by Liu Han were captured. It was captured during the time of the late emperor.
Nine of the eleven counties of Liu Han were conquered by Liu Can.
Officials are appointed by him.
The tribal chieftains surrendered to him.
A wealthy family married him and his trusted generals.
To put it bluntly, it has little to do with Liu Cong.
Liu Cong would have been happy to see this happen before the Shao thieves started to attack Bingzhou. After the national policy of "crossing Yongzong" was proposed, Liu Cong even tried his best to promote it.
As of this year, the six-year immigration process has never stopped, and even Shan Yutai has been established in Chang'an, just to lay a solid foundation for Liu Can and consolidate his status. After all, the serious prince Liu Yi has not yet Die.
But the situation in the world is changing rapidly, and everything has changed too fast.
Inadvertently, the Xiongnu lost ten counties in Guandong within three years, leaving only eleven counties in Kansai. This was embarrassing.
Liu Cong is named Emperor, but actually he does not have much influence in Kansai.
Even the five Huns who were loyal to him in the early years are not sure who they will listen to now. After all, six years have passed. During these six years, Liu Can has continued to make contributions and establish prestige. It is hard to say who the ministers will listen to - there is a high probability that they will not listen to Liu Cong.
In short, he was no longer worthy of his reputation as emperor, and was overtaken by Prince Liu Can.
Of course, Brother Cong knows this very well.
When Shao Xun defeated Shi Le and conquered Hebei, the knowledgeable people in Pingyang already understood that Bingzhou could not stop the Shao thieves who had countless manpower and material resources in Henan and Hebei, so "there was a merger with Yong" The policy has entered a state of accelerated implementation.
At the military and political level, the specific manifestation is the transfer of manpower and material resources - especially the transfer of the Xiongnu headquarters, and the adoption of active defense tactics externally.
However, the effect of going down the mountain several times was not good. Over and over again, active defense turned into passive defense, until this year's disastrous defeat.
The national policy of "crossing Yong and merging" is not ineffective. At least after many years of implementation, it has brought a complete Yongzhou, half of Qinzhou, and a small half of "Henan" including Shangjun to the Xiongnu. ——The so-called "Henan land" refers to the Hetao grassland. It was named because the Yellow River course at that time flowed eastward close to the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain (the Wuga River area). It was not until the Qing Dynasty that the Yellow River changed its course and flowed further south.
To be fair, the "cross-Yong merger" was half successful. At least the territory of Kansai was restored, but the Bingzhou was indeed gone.
Liu Cong does not regret his actions over the years too much.
I know what my body is like. I was no longer able to do well three years ago. I feel powerless and dizzy. The only reason I can hold on until now is because of an obsession in my chest.
He won't live long, maybe three to five months, maybe one or two years, that's all.
No one will take refuge in a king who will not live long.
Therefore, Liu Cong was very free and easy. When he was outside Pujin Pass, he issued an edict to let the prince supervise the country, which was equivalent to a formal transfer of power.
Liu Can received power and the right to exercise power, so he had no dissatisfaction.
In addition, my father looks like he will die soon, so why make it so ugly? It would be nice to wait silently for his father to die, not to mention that he is still somewhat grateful to his father.
So he often visited his father and used the Jianzhang Palace, which was rebuilt in recent years, as his father's residence to show his filial piety.
"Can Guanzhong be stable?" Liu Cong withdrew his gaze and asked aloud.
"These pavilions will be built first..." After Liu Can finished explaining to an official who came over, he looked at his father and said, "Father, don't worry, there is nothing wrong with the counties of Yongzhou."
He didn't even bother to say "Your Majesty" now, but Liu Cong didn't care and just asked: "Where is Qinzhou?"
"There are Chinese people in Lueyang and Nan'an counties. There are soldiers and horses from the imperial court stationed in Tianshui. Chen An is attacking Sima Bao's general Zhang Chun and others. The three counties of Yinping, Wudu and Longxi are still recruiting the Shao rebels next year. We will not be able to advance westward, but we may have a chance."
"If we take these three counties, we will face Liangzhou." Liu Cong looked at the map hanging in the palace and sighed: "What are you going to do? Deal with it?"
"You are also hesitating." Liu Can frowned and said: "Some people in the imperial court think that we should attack Liangzhou in the west, destroy the Zhang family, and take all the eight counties and forty-six counties. However, some people feel that Liangzhou has a strong army and it is not advisable to move rashly. At this time, it is time to move up the northern mountains, capture the Henan area, recruit the tribes, and strengthen the foundation. The areas along the river in Shangjun should be built with military forts and mansions to prevent Shao's troops from crossing the river. Go west.”
To put it simply, should we attack Hexi or go north to the Hetao grassland?
"What do you think?" Liu Cong asked.
"I feel that after Shao Thief recuperates, he will definitely find a way to move westward, so Henan is more important." When he said this, Liu Can's face looked a little ugly.
After all, life is still important. The pressure from Shao Thief is too great and he has to go all out.
The Zhang family in Liangzhou is full of internal conflicts. If you don't fight him, it will be difficult for him to take the initiative to send troops to fight you, and there will be no consensus within the family.
Looking at what they have done in the past few years, it is mainly to gather refugees and reclaim wasteland. Their intention to separate themselves and protect themselves is very obvious - there is no threat to the west, and it would be foolish to create a threat randomly.
"Not bad." Liu Cong closed his eyes and thought for a long time, sighed, and said: "I heard that in the past three years, there has been abundant rain in Guanxi and rich grass in Henan. Is this true?"
"Yes." Liu Can nodded and said: "In the mountains, riverbanks and even between the sand moraine, pasture is flourishing, and there are more cattle, sheep and miscellaneous animals. There are many descendants of the Xiongnu scattered among them, such as Di Qiang, Xianbei, The Jie people, Wuhuan and other tribes are scattered here. If they are properly rectified, it will not be a problem to have an additional hundred thousand people to control the strings. "
After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty defeated the Xiongnu, he placed a large number of Xiongnu surrender here. Later, many Qiang people migrated here.
By the late Han Dynasty, it had become a bit out of control.
After the fall of Xinmang and the establishment of the Later Han Dynasty, the control was greatly reduced. The local Huns nominally submitted to the Han Dynasty, but in fact they acted on their own terms and continued to encroach southwards.
By the time of Emperor Ling, the royal court of the Xiongnu had moved to Lishi. The Fenshui River Valley further south was full of Xiongnu tribes, and the Sanfu area in Guanzhong was also full of barbarian tents, so that the Han court had to move to Hedong and Hedong. Pingyang built a defense line in an attempt to prevent these nominally powerful Han subjects from burning, killing and looting.
At the end of Han Dynasty, Cao Wei and even the Jin Dynasty, they completely lost control of this land, and even nominal surrender was lost.
Nowadays, the Xiongnu people are the most numerous on this lush grassland, followed by the Qiang people, and then the Di people, Xianbei people, Wuhuan people, Jie people and various miscellaneous people whose ethnicity is unclear.
Migration between tribes was very frequent, and no one could really figure out how many people there were and which tribes they belonged to. Tuoba Dai and Liu Han are probably the two largest political parties in Henan. The former has a slightly greater influence and the latter has a slightly smaller influence.
But together, they only account for one-third of the territory and population of Henan. The rest is completely a "dark jungle" where "neutral wild monsters" fight each other. A balance was reached after that, but there were still people coming in and out, messing up the local situation, and then fighting for it again.
Generally speaking, these Hu people do not have a unified political power, but their folk customs are wild and sturdy, and their combat effectiveness is not weak. Otherwise, Tuoba Xianbei, the Huns and even Liangzhou would annex them.
Liu Can wanted to win over these people through both political and military means, but he was actually helpless.
"The Tiefu family has been at odds with Tuoba since Xinxing and Yanmen moved westward. Now they have surrendered entirely because they were defeated. We can think of a way." Liu Cong said: "But-"< br>
He wanted to say something, but in the end he just sighed and said: "You can decide for yourself."
"Okay." Liu Can agreed without hesitation.
"Have the envoys been sent to Pingyang?" Liu Cong seemed a little tired and closed his eyes and asked.
"Sent."
"That's good."
Liu Can smiled slightly.
My father wanted to use gold and silver to redeem some of the captured courtiers, clan members, and concubines. He "basically" agreed, but he didn't fully agree.
Some ministers can try to redeem, but some cannot.
He does not plan to redeem most of the clan, but only some have redemption value - value to Liu Can.
As for the concubines, he felt that they could all be redeemed.
However, Shao Thief should have already enjoyed them, right? Which man could bear to capture the enemy's palace and enjoy his sworn enemy's wife and daughter?
Does father mind if his woman is enjoyed by Shao Thief?
Liu Can thought that he probably didn’t mind, and he didn’t mind, either, after women. Historically, Liu Cong saw that Sima Chi had no women around him, so he rewarded him with the nobleman Xiao Liu. After Sima Chi died, Liu Cong Cong took this girl back and continued to dote on her.
Seeing that his father had nothing to say, Liu Can bowed and left. He still had a lot of things to be busy with. There was no way, the pressure from Shao Thief was too great and could not be ignored.
******
The envoys sent by Chang'an finally arrived in Pingyang a few days before the New Year. At that time, Shao Xun hosted a dinner in front of the Jianshi Hall to entertain meritorious soldiers, Bingzhou nobles, The Hu chieftains and some of Liu Han who were about to be promoted were demoted.
After receiving the letter, he chuckled.
Liu Cong is nostalgic for his old friendship, but he hasn’t enjoyed the three queens yet, how could he give them to him? Of course, even if he enjoys it, it is impossible to return it to him - can I still take out the things I put in my piggy bank?
"Do you want to go back to Chang'an?" At the highest point of Shangqiu Pavilion, Shao Xun stood behind the Queen Xuan, overlooking the lights of Zhaode, Wenming, Huiguang and other palaces in the north.
Xuan bit her lip lightly, with a slight panic in her eyes, as if she was afraid that someone was watching them in the dark.
She was still a little cold.
The gorgeous crown dress did not bring much warmth to her because there was nothing inside.
Two bags bulged out from time to time on the upper body of Mianfu. The bags kept changing shapes, as if there was something bulging inside.
"Think." Xuan's head was dizzy and she didn't know what she was talking about.
"How long have you been in the palace, and you think about Liu Cong so much?"
Under the crown, the hairy legs and the white legs are entangled together, the contrast is sharp.
Xu Shi had practiced dancing, and her white legs were often picked up and made to perform difficult movements, so that Xuan had to hold her hands on the window sill.
The sweat-soaked hair fell from his forehead one by one, obviously suffering an extremely strong impact.
Xuan's tears fell.
In the evening breeze, the wind chime in front of Zhaode Hall blew gently. It was made for her by Emperor Liu Cong when he was extremely bored. She regarded it as a treasure.
When she saw the wind chime, she seemed to see Liu Cong.
It was as if Liu Cong was quietly watching her sweaty and embarrassed appearance in the night.
Maybe it’s not just Liu Cong.
On top of tonight’s banquet, there are many demotions. Xuan almost cried every time she thought of their eyes.
"So innocent? Liu Cong is really blessed." Shao Xun took out a hand and gently wiped away her tears.
After wiping away his tears, he stretched his hand in again, and the strength seemed to be stronger.
As Xuan sighed softly, she shed tears again, secretly hating herself for not living up to expectations, because she actually felt the joy contained in the pain, and her whole body tensed up, with goosebumps rising.
The ringing in the wind became louder, as if it was angry.
"Liu Cong wants to ransom you back. It's really a dream." Shao Xun said: "If I lose the battle, my woman will end up like this."
Xuan seemed a little impatient, and even As if trying to restrain himself.
Amidst the increasingly louder sound of wind chimes, unstoppable tears flowed down the neck, across the upper body, accumulated in the depression of the waist, and then flowed to the round and smooth high pout, and finally in the strong vibration and rolled to the ground.
The dark clouds quietly dispersed, revealing the bright moonlight, illuminating the two people standing together in the attic.
"Will Liu Cong still want you?" A devilish voice came from his ears.
Xuan couldn't control himself anymore. She was so ashamed that she cried and laughed at the same time.
After a long time, Shao Xun sighed with satisfaction: "Enjoy yourself."
After saying that, he gently picked up Xuanshi, placed him on the couch, and said with a smile: "I have three aspirations. , all important affairs of the country are my responsibility; the first is to lead an army to a distant place, and to hold the ruler accountable for the crime; the second is to have the most beautiful wife in the world, whether close or distant, the third is now."
In the attic, Queen Wang, Fan, and Xiao Liu all bowed their heads after hearing this, not knowing what they were thinking.
(End of this chapter)