Chapter 16 9. Three Expeditions to Huainan

Huainan is not as easy to settle as originally imagined, and Chai Rong still needs to make greater efforts. While Daxing was fighting, Chai Rong was still doing construction work. Chai Rong has a unique enthusiasm for infrastructure projects. Although the Huainan War is tense, Kaifeng City is being rebuilt and expanded, Bian River is being repaired, and the Yellow River Dam is being heightened and widened, but Chai Rong still has to build office buildings. He built a new Yongfu Hall in the palace as a new office.Chai Rong has very strict requirements on the quality, organization and coordination of the project, as well as the construction period.In his busy schedule, he also visited the construction site himself.One day, Chai Rong came to the construction site of Yongfu Temple and found that the workers lived a very hard life. They used branches as chopsticks and tiles as rice bowls, exposed to the scorching sun on the construction site, filling their stomachs randomly.Chai Rong was furious, and immediately ordered the eunuch Sun Yanxi who was in charge of the project to be pulled out and beheaded.

On the basis of dredging the Bian River in the past, Chai Rong ordered that the Bian River be dredged to the north and merged into Jishui. From then on, the boats in the Qilu area can also enter the Bianshui and go straight to Kaifeng.Kaifeng's commercial circulation and cargo transportation are more convenient and smooth.The construction of this transportation infrastructure has played a huge role in promoting the prosperity of Kaifeng. In May, after Yongfu Hall was completed, Chai Rong renamed it Guangzheng Hall and officially opened it as a large office space.Later Zhou court owned a brand-new government office building.

On the fifth day of May, the Dragon Boat Festival, Chai Rong distributed a set of work clothes to each of the civil and military officials, which was regarded as a festival benefit. In the later Zhou Dynasty, all industries flourished and money was spent everywhere, but the policy of light taxation was implemented, so where did the money come from?It is speculated that there are no more than two sources: one is the closure and confiscation of a large amount of monastery property, which is an incomparably rich wealth; the other is the war fortune, which captured more than a dozen cities in the south of the Yangtze River and confiscated a large amount of treasury money.With money, the waist will naturally be straighter, and the confidence will naturally be stronger.Chai Rong, an emperor who likes to do business, naturally has more money on hand, and he is much more handy in doing things.

Shouzhou was pacified, Huainan was conquered twice, and Zhou Shizong once again appointed an official to reward him. The commander of the chief general's guard and the army, the Songzhou Jiedu envoy, and the Huainan road camp all recruited Li Chongjin to be the inspector of the school and concurrently served as a servant; The Jiedu envoy was appointed as the inspector Taiwei and Tongping Zhangshi; the Huazhou Jiedu envoy and the inspector in front of the palace, and the son-in-law Duwei Zhang Yongde was the Chanzhou Jiedu envoy, and he was awarded the inspection and inspection Taiwei; Zhao Kuangyin was appointed as Huazhou Jiedu envoy, appointed as the chief inspector of the school, and concurrently served as the commander of the palace; served as the commander of the guards and horse troops, and Han Lingkun, the Yangzhou Jiedu envoy, as the Chenzhou Jiedu envoy and Jiajian Taifu; acted as the commander of the guards and infantry The envoy and defense envoy of Yuezhou, Yuan Yan, was the envoy of Caozhou Jiedu, and he was appointed as the Taibao; Liu Chongjin, the commander of Zuo Shenwu, was appointed as the envoy of Jiedu of Dengzhou; Jiedushi; Bai Yanyu, the defense envoy of Yanzhou, was the Jiedushi of Tongzhou.

After the generals are sealed, civil officials are promoted.For the prime ministers Fan Zhi, Li Gu, and Wang Pu, the salary was increased and the honorary title was given to the meritorious officials.The privy envoy Wei Renpu was granted the title of Inspector Taifu, and Jin was given the title of Founding Duke.Wu Yanzuo, the envoy of Xuanhui North Court, was the envoy of Xuanhui South Court, acting as the agent of Xijing Luoyang to stay behind, and sentenced the Henan government.Wang Pu, deputy privy envoy and servant of the household department, is the school inspector and Taibao, and enjoys the treatment of privy envoy level, just like the position in today's society is followed by brackets, indicating whether it is equivalent to a director-level cadre or a ministerial-level cadre.

Some are rewarded, some are punished.Hou Xijin, deputy defense envoy of Mizhou, did not actively cooperate with the central government's inspection of Xia Miao. After being accused, Emperor Chai Rong ordered the boy's head to be beheaded.Due to the defeat in the Dingyuan Army and the Battle of Shouchun City South, Wu Ning Jiedu envoy and Zhongshu Ling Wu Xingde was demoted to the left guard general, and Heyang Jiedu envoy Li Jixun was demoted to the right guard general.Although both Wu Xingde and Li Jixun were fierce generals of the Zhou army, Chai Rong was clear about rewards and punishments and was absolutely unambiguous.

For the civil and military officials recruited from the Later Shu and Southern Tang, Chai Rong only hired a large number of them, and gave them preferential treatment. Weiweiqing Zhou Tinggou, Taifuqing Feng Yanlu, Taifuqing Zheng Mu, Hongluqing Sun Yu, Weiwei Shaoqing Zhongmo, Ministry of Industry doctor He Youchong, etc. each had 200 pieces of winter clothing material and 500 taels of cotton. Finally the winter came. In October, Zhou Shizong Chai Rong appointed Wang Pu as the guardian of Tokyo, and granted him the power to make decisions on the fly.Zhang Mei, the envoy of the third division, was the inspector of the capital.Leaving Wang Pu, the omnipotent prime minister, and Zhang Mei, the financial expert, the housekeeper, Chai Rong is 10,000 rest assured.Chai Rong continued to implement his strategic plan and wiped out Huainan.Chai Rong is so persistent. No matter how many difficulties there are, he will persevere in getting things done and never give up until he reaches his goal.

In November, Chai Rong led his army to the city of Haozhou.Taking advantage of Tang people's unpreparedness, Zhao Kuangyin launched an attack from the east of Haozhou City, Li Chongjin launched an attack from the south of Haozhou City, and Chai Rong personally went into battle to launch an attack from the west of the city.Since the Zhou army had a navy, it has become even more powerful, and its combat effectiveness has been greatly enhanced.Guo Ting, the training envoy of the Haozhou regiment in the Southern Tang Dynasty, said that he was helpless, so he surrendered the whole city. The Huai army in Haozhou was in a tight situation, and hundreds of Huai army sailors from Sizhou came to rescue after hearing the news.Chai Rong didn't stop, and led the water and land armies to meet the Huai army in Sizhou overnight, annihilating the enemies who came to help one after another along the way.Arrived at the foot of Sizhou city the next day.Zhao Kuangyin took the lead, led his troops to attack the city, burned the south gate of Sizhou city, destroyed the water village and the outer city.Chai Rong dispatched troops from all walks of life to attack Sizhou city in turn.

In December, Fan Zaiyu, the defender of Sizhou in the Southern Tang Dynasty, surrendered all over the city, and the Huai Army navy surrendered to Qingkou.Qingkou is the ancient battlefield where Zhu Bian's general Pang Shigu was defeated and killed in the previous document "Heroes Competing for the Deer".This place is easy to defend but difficult to attack.Zhou Junbing divided into three groups, Chai Rong led the bodyguards to march from the north bank of the Huaihe River, Zhao Kuangyin led the soldiers and horses to march from the south bank of the Huaihe River, and Zhou Jun's navy marched from the water of the Huaihe River.Zhou Jun and Tang Jun fought and walked in the reed marshes, mudflats, water plants, and gullies, chasing and killing them all the way. The sound of horns, drums, and shouts of killing stretched for dozens of miles.This pursuit battle went all the way to Chuzhou (now Huai'an County, Jiangsu Province). Zhou Jun chased for more than 60 miles and almost wiped out Tang Jun. More than 300 warships captured more than 7,000 Tang soldiers.The Huaihe Navy, one of the main forces of the two major naval forces of the Tang Army, suffered a devastating blow.

After the Zhou army broke through Shouzhou, it was like breaking through a bamboo, like entering an uninhabited land, attacking a city and pulling out a village is like searching for something.After hitting the border of Chuzhou, Zhou Jun took Chuzhou, Lianshui, Gaoyou, Yangzhou, and Taizhou in one go.During the march, Chai Rong repeatedly ordered the army not to harass the people. Zhou's army had strict discipline and orders, and Qiu did not commit any crimes. In the first month of 958 AD, Han Lingkun entered Yangzhou again. Chai Rong's crossing of the Huai River this time came with the determination to win, and he would never withdraw his troops until the Southern Tang Dynasty was completely wiped out.Chai Rong has a particularly strong learning ability. Although he came into contact with the navy late, he has already mastered the combat rules of the navy and is good at giving full play to the advantages of the navy.He planned to personally lead the navy to enter Hongze Lake and Gaoyou Lake from the Huaihe River, and then enter the Yangtze River through the river to fight against the remnants of the Southern Tang Dynasty.But there is a dam across the Huaihe River.Chai Rong ordered people to go to the site to survey the terrain and asked for another river to be dug out.The people sent out came back and reported that the terrain was too complicated to construct, and even if the river channel had to be excavated, it would take a lot of manpower, material resources and time.Undeterred, Chai Rong went to the site to conduct a field survey, drew blueprints, and mobilized peasants to dig the river channel. The project was completed in just ten days, not only opening up the waterway, but also saving time and effort.Chai Rong is really a master of engineering. He not only planned Kaifeng City himself, but also was good at digging river channels.

Hundreds of large warships of the Zhou Army Navy entered the Yangtze River from the Huaihe River with lightning speed, like a river god and water monster emerging from the water.The Southern Tang Dynasty was stunned, and they couldn't figure out how Zhou Junhui could get under their noses so quickly.When Zhou Jun came to the Yangtze River, he captured the Jinghai Fanzhen in the Southern Tang Dynasty in one go, and opened up the channel between the north and the Wuyue Qian Kingdom. In the past, Wuyue always took the sea route or detoured Hunan and Hubei to reach Bianliang. In March, Zhou Shizong Chai Rong arrived in Taizhou via Yangzhou. Zhou Jun's southern expedition directly threatened the safety of Jinling, and it is very likely that the Southern Tang Kingdom will be flattened.In the Southern Tang Dynasty, it was like a pot was boiling, and people were panicked and panicked.The first to panic was the Southern Tang royal family.According to Xu Zhigao's (Li Sheng's) last words, the three Li Jing brothers implemented the system of brotherhood and brotherhood on the throne.Seeing that the country was in peril, Emperor Li Jing was at a loss what to do, but he was unwilling to bow his head to Chai Rong, and he was unwilling to ruin the country in his own hands, so Emperor Li Jing planned to resign and hand over the throne. It means handing over historical responsibility.Li Jing chose to escape.Hundreds of years later, Song Huizong also used this trick once. Facing the enemy's pressure, he hurriedly passed the throne to his son Song Qinzong. What's ridiculous is that the throne, which was so hotly fought for, has now become a hedgehog, and no one is willing to take it.The emperor's younger brothers, Li Jingda and Li Jing, wrote letters one after another, saying that the country was in trouble and that they had no ability to save the country from peril, so they should resign as heirs and were willing to be demoted to the local governors.Li Jing saw that the two younger brothers were even more cunning, so he gave him a golden cicada to escape his shell, and slipped away when he was in trouble.In desperation, Li Jing turned his attention to his son Li Hongji, who made his son the crown prince and made him a scapegoat candidate.Li Hongji could no longer refuse, the historical fate of this useless man had befallen him. Li Jing gave up the last struggle and was completely desperate. There is a saying: "The heaven and the earth are all in one force, but the hero is not free when transported away." After arranging the funeral, Emperor Li Jing of the Southern Tang Dynasty sent Chen Jue, a privy envoy, to meet Chai Rong.Southern Tang expressed to Chai Rong that he was willing to cede all the land in Jiangbei, remove the title of emperor, pass the throne to the prince, and become a minister to Da Zhou.After Chai Rong finished listening, he still had a stern expression, and said unhurriedly: "This time I raise the teacher, I want to take the land of Jiangbei. Since your master is willing to belong to my Dazhou, it will be easy to handle. I don't have any other requirements. Your lord is now called the lord of the country, and you don't have to pass the throne to your son. You monarchs and ministers can continue to live with peace of mind." Since then, the Later Zhou Dynasty expanded its jurisdiction to the Yangtze River, added 14 prefectures and 60 counties, and obtained millions of gold, silver, silk, money, tea, and grain.In the Later Zhou Dynasty, Zhao Kuangzan was sent as the Jiedu envoy of Luzhou (now Hefei), and Song Yanwo was sent to lead the navy to garrison along the river.For the cemeteries of Yang Xingmi, Xu Wen and other former leaders of the Wu state in Jiangbei, Chai Rong sent people to take care of them carefully to show respect. Before Chai Rong returned to the north, he did one more thing. He had been doing this for several years. The previous two phases of the project were foreshadowing. This time he sent people to dredge the Bian River to the Huaihe River. great idea.The water and land of the Yangtze River can pass through the Huaihe River, pass through the Bian River, go directly to Bianliang, and then enter the Yellow River.This infrastructure has played an important role in promoting the development of the national economy. Chai Rong is not only ambitious, but also has the correct strategy of using troops. He is much stronger than Zhu Quanzhong. Chai Rong not only knows how to fight, but also thinks about construction at the same time. He is much stronger than Li Cunxu. After deploying these things, Chai Rong returned to Bianliang, the capital, in April. After the war is over, it is more important to deal with the aftermath.It was because Li Cunxu did not do a good job in the aftermath, which fundamentally shook the foundation of the later Tang Dynasty, which was dominant for a while. In May, Chai Rong held a civil and military meeting in the Chongyuan Hall of the Imperial Palace in Kaifeng to study various strategies after the war. This day is a solar eclipse.The sun covered most of the face, but this did not affect the warm and festive atmosphere in the court hall at all. Chai Rong was wearing a brand-new court dress, sitting on a high dragon chair, with the air of being proud of being king.Seeing that all the civil and military personnel arrived and took their positions according to the order of the train, Chai Rong said: "This southern expedition has made great achievements. Fortunately, the soldiers have worked together and the civil officials have exhausted their wisdom. Encouraging military exploits is our government's established policy. Now that the war is over, we should Rewards for meritorious deeds." After Chai Rong finished speaking, there was no sound in the Chongyuan Hall, and all the civil and military officials were eagerly waiting for the emperor to confer rewards.The so-called fame and fortune, isn't that why everyone comes out with their heads up? Chai Rong took out a long list, and announced in an orderly and resolute tone: "Du Yi, a bachelor of the Duanming Palace, was sentenced to stay in Henan Province and Xijing." The first person to receive the award was actually Dou Yi!No one thought of this.Dou Yi was the one who refused Zhao Kuangyin's request for cloth in Chuzhou.Due to Dou Yi's stubborn personality, she once offended the even more stubborn emperor, and was almost cut off by Chai Rong.Fortunately, Prime Minister Fan Zhi risked his life to save Dou Yi.Chai Rong still recognized Dou Yi's ability, but he was so angry that he almost killed a loyal minister by mistake.Now that Dou Yi is so highly valued, everyone is discussing and raising their thumbs up, praising Emperor Chai Rong for being wise. Chai Rong coughed, and continued to announce: "Tune Xiangzhou Jiedu Envoy and Grand Master An Shenqi as Qingzhou Jiedu Envoy, Xuzhou Jiedu Envoy Han Tong as Songzhou Jiedu Envoy and bodyguard Ma Budu Yuhou, Take Xiang Xun, the Jiedu envoy of Songzhou, as the Jiedu envoy of Xiangzhou, Zhao Kuangyin as the Jiedu envoy of the Zhongwu Army and the commander of the palace, take Wu Xingde, the general of Zuo Wuwei, as the Jiedu envoy of Fuzhou, and take the right Shenwu as the envoy. Jun Song Yanwo is the governor of Huazhou." After Chai Rong announced this series of lists, all the civil and military officials discussed a lot. This time it seemed that the pot had been boiled. It was no longer excitement, but more dissatisfaction and complaints.In this series of lists, only Wu Xingde and Song Yanwo were promoted, and the others were transferred at the same level.Because Wu Xingde has made new military achievements, he has been restored to the status of Jiedushi, which is a comeback.Song Yanwo was promoted to a provincial and ministerial cadre because the navy played an important role, which is a normal progress.But in this Southern Expedition, Zhao Kuangyin contributed the most. Almost every tough battle was fought by Zhao Kuangyin.On weekdays, Zhao Kuangyin likes to make friends, he is open-minded and kind, and he is very popular.Now everyone is complaining about Zhao Kuangyin, thinking that Emperor Chai Rong's reward is too thin.But Zhao Kuangyin didn't yell along with the civil and military officials, he smiled calmly and didn't say anything. In fact, not only Zhao Kuangyin was not promoted, but the so-called meritorious reward this time was just a formality.Therefore, if the motivation is inferred from the result theory, Zhou Shizong Chai Rong carried out a new round of cadre adjustments in the name of this award, especially the immediate transfer of generals.Its purpose is to firmly grasp the control of the feudal town, so as not to make these newly established and proud military leaders support themselves and separate themselves from one side.From this point of view, Chai Rong's political strategy as the emperor was indeed far-reaching and chilling.The reality of Chai Rong's mobilization in the name of a reward this time left a shadow in the hearts of Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Kuangyin's buddies. Chai Rong was stingy with rewards to military generals, but he was very generous to ordinary soldiers. He announced: "All soldiers who died in battle will be given to officials and nobles, and their descendants will be recruited according to their ability and enjoy the grace of Fengyin. Soldiers who were disabled in the war , give relief and pensions. Huainan prefectures and Xu, Su, Song, Bo, Chen, Ying, Xu, Cai and other states and counties that contributed to the war were exempted from the taxes owed in the autumn and summer of last year." Chai Rong was very smart. The territory did not rely on force to maintain its rule, but treated Huainan and the Central Plains equally, implementing the same legal system and governance policies, and striving for the common people to live and work in peace and contentment and restore normal production and living order as soon as possible.Chai Rong's policy was much more humane and reasonable than that of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and was supported by the people in Huainan.The eyes of ordinary people are discerning, and they know who is good and who is bad.People's hearts are pure and simple, and they support whoever treats them well and whoever makes them live a good life.From this point of view, Chai Rong was much wiser than Yelu Deguang, and did not implement a policy of plundering the occupied territories.Chai Rong consolidated the foundation of the broadest masses of the people, restrained the power of the military leaders, and showed the power of the emperor between firmness and softness. The great victory in Huainan was achieved at the same time as another major achievement.The construction of Kaifeng's outer city was completed, and it was completed in due course as an important gift project.This is also a large-scale political achievement project planned and supervised by Chai Rong himself.Chai Rong personally cut the ribbon for it and named the gates himself. Martial arts have been mastered, and Wenzhi has not been delayed. After experiencing the chaotic period of the Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, and Later Han Dynasties, the legal system of the Tang Dynasty was basically destroyed and chaotic.Zhou Shizong Chai Rong ordered the privy envoy Wang Pu to organize people to reorganize and compile the laws. Based on the principles of unified style, conciseness and practicality, the legal system was simplified and the legal system was unified, and compiled into the "Great Zhou Xingtong" code.This code is an important milestone in the history of Chinese legal system. In addition to the code, Chai Rong also ordered relevant departments to formulate a comprehensive code of etiquette, rhythm, and calendar.In a feudal society dominated by agriculture, the calendar played a pivotal role. It can be said that the calendar is the work and rest schedule of the whole society and an encyclopedia for the people of the whole country.The four seasons of solar terms, important days, holidays, weddings and funerals, sowing and harvesting, good and bad times with soldiers, building houses, children's birthdays, old people's birthdays, etc. all rely on this calendar as a guide.The "Qin Tianli" formulated in the later Zhou Dynasty was of high value, and Chai Rong specially gave it to Li Jing, the ruler of the Southern Tang Dynasty, as an important gift, so that he could study and use it carefully to guide domestic work such as farming and silkworm farming in four seasons. Agriculture is the foundation of feudal society and the foundation of national finance and social stability.Chai Rong attaches great importance to agriculture. In order to remind himself to always pay attention to agriculture, he specially carved two wooden figures standing at the door of the office, one is a farmer and the other is a weaver girl.How to manage agriculture well is a very important and mind-consuming task. Referring to the practice of previous dynasties, Chai Rong implemented the policy of equal land rent, re-measured the land, and approved the tax burden according to the amount of land occupied.This is undoubtedly much more reasonable than taxation by head, and it also consolidates the foundation of taxation sources. According to the strategic conception of Wang Pu's "Ping Bian Ce", the second step of the strategy of "first south and then north" should be to conquer Shu.Chai Rong put the attack on Shu on the agenda.But when Chai Rong was researching the plan to conquer Shu, an external factor disrupted his plan, which led to an accident, which completely ended Chai Rong's great dream.