In the evening, Cining Palace.
After Queen Mother Zhang spared her son from greeting her, she backed away, pulled her son to her side, and asked worriedly:
"My son, what happened today?
How come you have such a quarrel with hundreds of officials and nobles, as well as the kings of the clan? Although you are the emperor, the world is not the emperor's hall. It is better not to have too much quarrel with the civil and military nobles of the dynasty. No matter who it is, you have nothing to do with the world. Or it is inappropriate for most people to be enemies. "
Although Queen Mother Zhang has been invisible all these years and has always abided by the ancestral precepts not to interfere in politics, just because she does not interfere in politics does not mean that she does not know anything. At this time, she was afraid that her son would get into trouble with the officials, so she spoke.
"Mother, you don't know how extreme they are.
Today, that old guy named Qi actually wants me to delegate power to the local governor and local powerful men, and let them form their own private armies to fight against the White Lotus Sect. Does he think I'm stupid, or does he think I haven't read the book?
If the local governor had military power, what would be the difference between him and the Jiedushi of the Tang Dynasty and the local separatist regimes in the last years of the Celestial Dynasty? He was clearly cursing me for the demise of Daqian.
If only my great-grandfather were still here.
Today I can kill him on the spot and destroy the clan. "
After all, it was in front of his own mother, so Emperor Xuanwu rarely made any pretense, but directly vented his anger, with a vague tone of complaint.
"That's it, don't be angry.
It’s not like you don’t know the temperament of those ministers. I’m afraid he didn’t really mean to do this when he said this. He just wanted to use this to stimulate you, make you compromise quickly, and wipe out the White Lotus Sect as soon as possible. "
"By the way, there are rumors outside that you and Princess Jiahe are in a cooperative relationship, and the two of them worked together to steal all the gold, silver and jewelry in the capital.
Now there are two people working together with the White Lotus Sect to eliminate the local feudal kings and powerful people.
Although Ai Jia knows that this should not be the case.
But if the rumors spread too widely, it may not only have a serious impact on your reputation, but may also cause some officials, nobles and clans to alienate you. "
After saying a few words of relief to her son, Queen Mother Zhang immediately mentioned another thing that worried her.
"What?" Emperor Xuanwu didn't pay much attention to the gossip in the capital. Previously, his main focus was on those officials who refused to remonstrate and the clan members of the Imperial Ancestral Temple. So when he heard this rumor, he was first shocked and then angry:
"Bold, who is so bold as to falsely accuse me, arrange me, really think that my sword is at my disadvantage?"
"I don't know, but according to the Ai family's estimate, it's most likely the fault of the civil servants. Those military generals don't have such brains. Maybe they are really in pain and are afraid of the White Lotus Sect. They are doing everything just to force you. Hurry up. The White Lotus Sect was wiped out, along with Jiahe.
This way they were satisfied and the rumors were disproven.
Although it feels a little aggrieved, after all, you are not your grandfather or grandpa Zeng. You do not have such a high prestige, nor do you have so many loyal subordinates, so sometimes you still have to compromise where you should compromise! "
Empress Dowager Zhang, who is taciturn and usually invisible, has a high level of political consciousness. She knows very well why this situation has occurred, and she also knows that her son's position at this time is not as stable as imagined and is far from what he wants to do. Just do whatever you want and kill whoever you want, so you have to make some compromises.
In order to make her son listen to what she said, Queen Mother Zhang quickly continued to persuade her son with sincere words:
"You have to know that the core of Emperor Wenzhi's failure was not that he was stupid, but that those who were enlightened were helped a lot, and those who were unjust were seldom helped. It was because he offended too many nobles and clans, but even he couldn't. It's just that he offended the nobles and the clan and praised the civil officials.
You are now dissatisfied with all three.
That is because it was not you who did these things, but the White Lotus Sect, and the local vassal kings did not have 100,000 or 200,000 troops at their disposal like in the past, so nothing happened.
But now they have begun to suspect that you are the mastermind behind the scenes. Regardless of whether you are, as long as they think you are, then they may treat you as
If you become the culprit, I will deal with you just like I dealt with Emperor Wenzhi.
Even if you can't get the feudal king to rebel.
But there must be other means.
So you should listen to my mother's advice and stop thinking about the snipe and the clam fighting. The fisherman has benefited. Some things don't need to be done in one step, so you can stop. "
During the more than ten years that the late emperor supervised the country, Empress Dowager Zhang was very helpful. In many aspects, including her understanding of government affairs and the checks and balances of power among civil and military officials, she was no worse than the late emperor. On the contrary, Emperor Xuanwu was slightly weaker.
Not thinking comprehensively enough!
In other words, he underestimated the strength of civil and military officials.
Empress Dowager Zhang, who was afraid that something might happen to her son, could only continue to persuade her son to stop in a more straightforward manner.
At this time, Emperor Xuanwu's expression was naturally very bad, but the reason for his bad expression was not that he was angry with his mother, but mainly that he was angry with the civil and military officials. After a long time, he growled:
"Is it possible that they still dare to kill the king?"
Queen Mother Zhang did not speak this time. After a few seconds of silence, she nodded in approval.
Then, Emperor Xuanwu's face became even more ugly.
After a long time, he sighed:
"Mother, I'm afraid you will need to take more care of the harem from now on. You must ensure the safety of the harem, especially the safety of food, so that nothing can go wrong.
Alas, originally I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to completely solve the problem of the vassal king and solve most of the land annexation problems. If I succeeded, I could at least extend the country's fortunes for another sixty years, but now it seems that I can only be considered a barely successful. Half, at most, the national fortune will last half a decade.
That’s all…”
Although it was a pity, Emperor Xuanwu obviously did not want to fight against the civil and military officials, so he could only compromise at this time.
Then, of course, he discussed some details with his mother, left Cining Palace, and in the morning of the next day, he took the lead in issuing an order to denounce Marquis Wanping.
It can be regarded as expressing one's attitude.
When all the officials saw this, they immediately understood that the emperor had compromised, so of course they expressed their thoughts and opinions unceremoniously.
And after arguing for more than an hour, they came to a result that all the forces could reluctantly agree with.
That is to dispatch three armies separately.
Don't worry about any local affairs, just pursue and exterminate the White Lotus Sect as your mission. It is bound to completely wipe out the White Lotus Sect in various places, kill the Holy Mother of the White Lotus, Princess Jiahe, and the so-called Daughter Kingdom will also be wiped out.
As for Wanping Hou, he was directly escorted to Beijing.
Countless impeachment memorials await him.
Good guy, I asked him to suppress the bandits all the way, but in the end, none of the bandits were killed, and instead they ate a lot of food.
I don’t know how to share the food with everyone and eat alone.
Who can be impeached if he is not impeached?
At the same time, it was obvious that Qu Jie, who had given herself numerous prescriptions along the way, did not know what was going on in the capital.
But she really didn't want to let this land, which had been peaceful for a while, start war again. If it weren't for the purpose of acquiring enough people to build the daughter country she created overseas, she might not even cooperate with the White Lotus Sect.
So Qu Jie received the news.
Of course, he immediately informed his subordinates and the followers of the White Lotus Sect, asking them to retreat immediately.
Withdraw from Daqian Kingdom.
And he deployed a maritime defense line around the first island he developed to prevent them from attacking the daughter country.
Therefore, when the three groups of people from the imperial court, leading a total of more than 300,000 troops, arrived at the county where the White Lotus Sect was finally wreaking havoc, Qu Jie and the others had already fled.
The imperial army was incompetent and furious.
In fact, there is no good way.
The most they could do was to send people back to Beijing to report, and at the same time follow the White Lotus Sect's retreat trajectory, and they ran after each other without even catching up. In the end, they could only stare at the sea and sigh on the coastline near Nanwan Island, temporarily stationed at the same time. , and asked for support from the imperial navy.
There is no way, they are all soldiers, even a large part of the soldiers
They don't know how to swim. At the same time, apart from recruiting some small fishing boats from the surrounding areas, they have no big boats at all. They can't rely on small fishing boats to attack the daughter country somewhere overseas. That is not to wipe out the remnants of the White Lotus Sect, but to lead troops. Go to the ocean and die!
So we can only stay where we are and wait for support.
As for Emperor Xuanwu, it doesn't really matter. If you want to fight, just fight. Anyway, the state treasury has made a lot of money recently by selling off those unowned properties. In addition, a large number of disaster-stricken people have been taken away by the White Lotus Sect, which means a lot less money is spent on disaster relief every year. The treasury is now quite full of funds, and those officials insist on annihilating the White Lotus Sect.
So Emperor Xuanwu went with them. He asked for water troops and money for money. If he won, he would guide him well. If he lost, he would give him whatever he asked for. It was obvious that the generals were incompetent and the officials were incompetent. inability.
However, even though Emperor Xuanwu was very cooperative, the court officials did not cause any trouble because there were many fixed procedures to follow. When the navy finally arrived near Nanwan Island, it was already a month later. When the official attack was launched, it would be even more difficult. It's the stormy season.
How to describe this season?
Even Qu Jie and the others did nothing at all. Those naval forces who did not know much about the ocean conditions and had only fought in inland lakes or rivers chose to go to sea on a sunny day without any precautions, and then they did not find Qu Jie and his daughter's country. The location was hit by a violent storm.
Not only were the ships heavily damaged.
The casualties were also extremely heavy.
When they made an emergency return and returned to the coast for statistics, a total of nearly 30,000 soldiers were missing.
Fifty-six ships were damaged.
These were completely damaged and could not be repaired or sank directly in the ocean. There were also countless severely damaged and slightly damaged ships. Not a single ship came back intact. The losses in other aspects such as materials and weapons were huge. Not to mention, impossible to measure.
On the contrary, Qu Jie and the others discovered that there were still many people surviving on the ocean, so they quickly dispatched an emergency ship. Through various operations such as salvage, they rescued a total of more than 10,000 people and imprisoned them while treating them.
After all, they are enemies, and even if they have a life-saving benefit, they may not recognize it, so it is better to lock it up for the time being and conduct careful inspection or education before talking about it.
Time goes back to more than a month ago.
Although the White Lotus Saint and the elders of the White Lotus Sect feel that Qu Jie is a bit alarmist and are confident that they are not afraid of the imperial court's encirclement and suppression, because Qu Jie is giving orders as the White Lotus Saint, other senior officials are not only willing to obey orders, but they are also I am very curious about what the daughter country created by Our Lady of the White Lotus looks like.
Therefore, in the end, their arms could not twist their thighs, and there were fewer people than more people, so they had to agree.
And followed the large team to retreat to Nanwan Island.
Transfer to a sea boat and head to Jiahe Island.
Jiahe Island is the first large island that Qu Jie captured. It is not only the current capital of the Daughter Kingdom, but also the most developed island among all the islands under Qu Jie's control. It is enough to serve as a model house, or a benchmark island.
All immigrants need to receive certain education on this island, master some skills, and understand local rules and laws before they can go to other islands to reclaim wasteland, eliminate savages, or do other things.
The people of the White Lotus Sect are no exception.
Not only was their treatment no exception, but their attitudes after arriving on this island were not much different from those of the refugees who had just arrived. They were all dumbfounded and surprised, just like Grandma Liu visiting the Grand View Garden.
"What is that black smoke over there? Is it a monster? Is the black smoke a monster? Why are there people inside?
Oh my god, that thing is cutting rice..."
"Is this the legendary rice sea? Each rice ear is so big and the yield must be extremely high. If my parents could have grown such high-yielding rice seeds back then, my eldest and second sisters would not have to be sold. .”
"What are those tall things? Sorghum?"
"This road is so smooth and wide. I feel like even the official roads are not as good as this road. It is indeed a country founded by the Holy Mother. It is really extraordinary!"
Just what they saw and heard on the road was enough to surprise the White Lotus Sect's senior officials, not to mention what they saw after entering the city. All the people's clothes were basically unpatched, their faces were rosy and shiny, and the food at various small stalls was extremely rich. , all kinds of delicacies emerge in endlessly!
It can be said that their journey was quite shocking, and it was also a journey where their faith became more pious.
Many people are even more convinced that Princess Jiahe is the Holy Mother who has come to earth, and she really wants to lead them to open up the kingdom of God on earth and create a new vacuum hometown in the mortal world.
Even the White Lotus Saint and the others were doubtful.
I doubt that Qu Jie is really the Holy Mother of White Lotus...
Otherwise, how could a princess be so capable?
In the next half month, Qu Jie did not summon the White Lotus Saint and the others. She just asked them to wander around within the actual control of the daughter country, learn about the people's livelihood, and memorize some local rules and laws, until the final decision was made half a month later. , they should have visited most of the places they could visit, and had a more detailed understanding of this place, before Qu Jie summoned them.
At Jiahe Palace, the pilgrimage hall summoned them.
Discussing further cooperation plans, to be more precise, can be regarded as a plan to annex the White Lotus Sect.
