The Chu army's sudden northern expedition was indeed somewhat unexpected.
After all, just a year ago, the Chu army lost tens of thousands of Chu troops on the front battlefield at Hangu Pass, and almost all the elite Chu troops who detoured to the east of the river to raid the hinterland of Qin were also lost.
The Xiang clan's 40,000 Tenglong Legion had less than 20,000 people left, and the 30,000 Thunder Leopard Legion directly under the Chu royal family were completely defeated. Their generals died in battle, and less than 10,000 people survived.
The Shadow Tiger Legion was completely wiped out because Zhao Cong withdrew the Zhao State's heavy armored regiment without warning. The head of the Ji family, Ji Heng, who was in charge of the Shadow Tiger Legion, died in the battle. The sixteen-year-old young master Ji Bu had to Join the army in advance and rebuild the Shadow Tiger Army with the help of family elders.
And when almost all the elites of Chu State were wiped out, they could actually regroup their army and march north to attack Wei?
Even the court of Chu State did not expect this situation, and this was Li Yuan's first political achievement after becoming Chu Ling Yin.
Different from the noble and arrogant Chun Shenjun who is a descendant of the royal family of the Spring and Autumn Period, Li Yuan, who was born in an ordinary wealthy family in the Zhao Kingdom and lived in the market due to poor family conditions when he was young, has characteristics that Chun Shenjun does not have.
Sleek!
After the death of Lord Chun Shen, Li Yuan was nominally the only important minister remaining in the imperial edict of King Kaolie of Chu, and the uncle of the new King of Chu. Li Yuan's identity and status were different from those in the past, but Li Yuan still seemed to be that Chun Shen king. Li Yuan, Shen Jun's disciple, still maintains the disguise of being humble and gentle.
Moreover, Li Yuan was smooth enough in his dealings with others. This smoothness made the nobles who got along with him feel extremely comfortable.
This sense of comfort gradually eased the relationship between the Chu court and the local nobles. Moreover, after Li Yuan took charge of the government, he did not have the same status as Ling Yin and personally visited many large, medium and small nobles.
After all, the nobles of the Chu State did not want to fight openly and secretly with the Chu State's court all day long. Although it was to protect their own power and wealth, it was also tiring.
The political signals released by Li Yuan's series of measures are all expressing one meaning.
That is the early period of Li Yuan's reign. The Chu State court and the local nobles of Chu State will usher in a harmonious and friendly honeymoon period. This is what the nobles want to see.
As for the opponents in the court, Li Yuan did not govern cautiously because he was too afraid of the courtiers like Chun Shenjun. His governing style was very bold.
After all, he also has his own unique political advantage. As his nephew, King Han of Chu is only a five- or six-year-old child, and it is impossible to oppose his policies. Moreover, he has the experience of serving as Wang Yin. Li Yuan also controls the Chu Palace. In his hands, he eliminated the possibility of people who were secretly enemies of him meeting Chu King Han, and with the cooperation of the nobles, he initially took control of the Chu state's government.
But if Li Yuan wants to completely control the government, he still needs prestige and real achievements.
In this age of great strife, what achievement is more practical than the achievement of expanding territory?
What prestige can deter opponents more than that in the military?
It happened that the army under the control of Chun Shenjun was severely weakened, and Li Yuan got along well with the nobles. So after consultation with the nobles, Li Yuan recruited an army of 80,000 people headed by the nobles, and gathered in The Huaibei Fortress of the State of Chu, Fu Li Fortress.
Many ministers who opposed Li Yuan in the court thought that Li Yuan was gambling. With an army that was not good at fighting and whose soldiers were weak, the odds of victory were not high in the northern expedition to Wei. They were all waiting to see Li Yuan's joke.
If Li Yuan had not launched the Northern Expedition to Wei, it would have been only a matter of time before he took complete control of the court. However, if the Northern Expedition failed in such a hasty manner, if he failed, it would be difficult for Li Yuan to control the army from now on.
In troubled times, military power is the most important power.
With military power, everything else falls into place.
This is how my neighbors stock up on grain and I stock up on guns.
Li Yuan doesn't understand military affairs, but he understands a truth.
The Wei State has been fighting for years, and the age for enlistment has been lowered to fourteen. All leather, iron, copper and other mines are prohibited from casting farm tools and are only allowed for military use. In addition, before the merger, the Chu State and the Wei State, and the Zhao State and the Wei State had many battles. In addition to the soldiers killed in the Battle of Hezong, Wei's border garrison has not had any soldiers to change defenses for more than two years.
Such a weak Wei State, and Qin State's invasion of the western territory of Wei State, caused Wei State's eastern border garrison to be transferred westward and the number of garrison troops was reduced sharply. If the Chu army could not achieve results under such circumstances, the Chu State would simply switch sides and disarm. Li Lai surrender, perhaps King Chu Han still retains his status as a lord.
Everything was as expected by Li Yuan. The Wei army's garrison troops transferred westward in a large scale, and the Chu army took the opportunity to capture Dangcheng and Jiaocheng, the important towns in the southeast of Wei.
This Jiaocheng is not the Jiaocheng located south of the Yellow River that the Qin and Wei Dynasties fought for many times, but a city located in the north of Huaihe. It was the former royal capital of the Jiao Kingdom with the surname Ji. The soil is fertile, with sandy black soil, fluvoid soil, and brown loam soil. With many fertile soils such as lime soil and lime soil, it is a major grain-producing city.
The capture of these two cities also successfully established Li Yuan's prestige among the Chu army, and the court gradually stabilized.
Li Yuan rewarded half of the land of the two cities he obtained to the nobles who accompanied the army on this expedition. This fertile fiefdom made the nobles very happy.
Although the land allocated to each family is actually not that much, what matters is Li Yuan's attitude and his integrity in fulfilling his promise.
Of course, the happiest country is Qin.
As the last leader of the Hezong Alliance, the State of Chu openly tore up the Co-Vertical Covenant that the Hezong countries had not openly violated, severed diplomatic relations with Wei, declared war, and seized Wei's cities. This was a significant destructive force to the Hezong alliance.
The alliance, which was already isolated from the north and south of the Qin State and was difficult to form again, has completely lost the possibility of forming it since then.
On the other side, Zhang Ji, who had the last two nights before the wedding, was tossing and turning.
The wedding was so close, so the girls would no longer mess around. Even Zhao Ji and Chao Xiang had calmed down.
Zhang Ji, who was used to eating big fish and meat, was suddenly deprived of food and was not used to it.
I rolled over on the bed holding the brocade quilt, unable to fall asleep.
Suddenly, a wave of internal energy came, and the door bolt of Zhang Ji's house suddenly exploded.
It was an internal force that contained extremely yang attributes, and Zhang Ji was extremely familiar with the techniques related to this internal force.
The soul is like a dragon swimming.
Zhang Ji turned around and looked sideways. There was a dignified, elegant, graceful and luxurious figure, wearing a dark blue fishtail dress with orange sleeves. The evening breeze blew gently, fluttering the gently dancing skirt. put.
"Feiyan?"
Zhang Ji looked at Feiyan who came to his room with some surprise, but Feiyan's eyes no longer had the tenderness of the past, nor the excitement and nervousness of the upcoming marriage, replaced by a gleam of coldness.
Those cold eyes can feel stinging when you look at them.
Today's Feiyan is a bit strange.
There seemed to be a flash of blue light in those extremely cold, dark eyes.
(2054 words)
(End of chapter)
