In late autumn, the vegetation in Baling City is still lush and green. Located in the south of the Yangtze River, there is not much coldness and desolation in the north, but it is full of countless gentleness and tenderness.
However, at this time, this gentle and tender place in the south of the Yangtze River ushered in a rare chill.
With high flags flying and neat queues marching forward, Dachu's Imperial Guard officers and soldiers all headed towards the city with their heads held high.
At this time, at the city gate, in the fields outside the city, and on the streets inside the city, a large number of gentry and common people came out, looking excitedly and curiously at the oncoming army.
Looking at the burly and imposing soldiers, everyone was afraid and at the same time felt infinite excitement.
Because this is the army that belongs to Da Chu and is their army.
With this iron army here, the rivers of Dachu will be impregnable, and as the people of Dachu, the stable life and interests they now have will also be guaranteed.
In troubled times, nothing is more important.
More and more people gathered, and those who came to watch the ceremony began to talk, and both sides gradually became noisy.
And this hustle and bustle reached its peak with the arrival of a gorgeous chariot in the distance.
Looking at the ceremonial staff symbolizing the king and the large banner fluttering in the wind, everyone knew that this was the arrival of the master of this city and the king of this country, King Chu.
Instantly, the crowd cheered.
Since his debut in Shaoyang Mansion, Lu Yuan has kept the people at peace, guarded the borders, and protected the place.
Later, he suppressed the Seven Star Rebellion, suppressed the Five Poison Miao Rebellion, restored peace in Dongting, founded Changsha, and restored stability to the county.
After that, the Zhou people were driven to the north, Qiang and Shu were conquered in the west, and three counties and eight prefectures were opened up, making the Chu Kingdom cover a land of 17 prefectures, ranking it among the great powers.
After Qianyue was destroyed, it even changed its national title, split the east and west with the Jinling Ning Kingdom, and competed for the hegemony of the world.
During this period, the State of Chu also held imperial examinations, selected talents, cultivated civility internally, trained soldiers and horses externally, accumulated armor and soldiers, and developed a large navy.
Through a series of measures, Da Chu's national power flourished and it became one of the few powerful countries in the world, with vague potential to be a hegemon.
These many achievements have already enabled Lu Yuan to win over countless people in Chu State and completely consolidate the foundation of these three counties.
The people of the three counties all believed that the King of Chu was one of the most wise kings in the world, and an invincible military god who could bring prosperity and glory to Chu.
Now, the King of Chu has led an army of 100,000 to defeat the barbarians in the southwest, destroying dozens of countries and expanding the territory thousands of miles.
In the southwest, the county of Qianzhong was established, and ten prefectures were established.
He also acquired the two vassals of Kunhai and Chili, spreading his prestige far and wide to the southwest.
After that, the leader of the Xichuan Kingdom surrendered his land, and the King of Chu once again led his troops to attack Xichuan westward, defeated Nanzhao, and captured the five prefectures of Xichuan.
Later, the ruler of Han Dynasty surrendered, and then led his army northward to force the Zhou soldiers to retreat. Then he ordered the ruler of Han Dynasty to move to Jianchuan and gain the second government.
At this point, Da Chu completely occupied the ten prefectures of Xichuan.
From the beginning of July of the fourth year of Shenwu, when the King of Chu sent troops, to the return of the army in early October of the sixth year of Shenwu, this war has lasted two years and three months, and it was finally won with a great victory.
And with this great victory, Chu's gains were also astonishing.
Central Guizhou received one county and ten prefectures, and Xichuan received seven prefectures, totaling seventeen prefectures. There are three vassal states in the southwest, which total about one county and five prefectures.
Adding everything together, Da Chu has expanded three counties in this army, and gained five innate masters. How can such a huge harvest not be exciting?
The above are only the gains at the national level of Dachu.
Regarding Lu Yuan personally, the gains are not small.
During his Western Expedition, he fought in ten battles and defeated nearly 400,000 troops from Dachanghe and Nanzhao. He even killed two innates, the great shaman of the Chili clan and the eldest prince of Nanzhao, which was a great achievement in battle.
After careful calculation, since Lu Yuan joined the army, millions of armies have been defeated by him. There were as many as four innates killed by him.
This kind of achievement has surpassed that of the former Yue Marquis Wu An, even far beyond it.
Even looking at all the countries in the world, Lu Yuan's record can be ranked among the top ten, or even the top five. He is definitely a real military god.
He was able to govern the country internally, expand territory externally, and he was a world-famous military god. These achievements had pushed Lu Yuan's reputation to its peak.
In the eyes of everyone in Dachu, he is the pillar of the country, a spiritual belief, and a strong guarantee.
Therefore, even if every Chu person did not see him, as long as they knew that he was there, they would feel confident in their hearts.
Now that the flag symbolizing the King of Chu appeared, everyone who saw it cheered and felt proud.
As the center of all this, Lu Yuan slightly opened the curtains of the king's chariot he was sitting in, and looked at the crowds of people outside who were cheering loudly and blushing because of his arrival. A smile appeared on his face, and then he put it down. Curtain, continue to sit cross-legged in the workshop, close your eyes and breathe.
Outsiders only saw what the people wanted, and the whole city rejoiced.
But in Lu Yuan's eyes, what he saw was that countless people's hearts all over Chu, and even all over the world, gathered together and turned into a torrent of fortune, swarming from Chao Baling from all directions and belonging to him, the King of Chu.
Although the population of Chu State increased by only more than two million due to this dispatch of troops, it was less than one-half of the original population. However, in terms of territorial area, the direct territory has opened up the land of the Seventeenth Prefecture, which has doubled.
If you include the vassals, the number has doubled.
Today, the Chu State is a large country with four counties, thirty-four prefectures, three vassal states, and an area of more than 30,000 miles.
In terms of territory alone, it has surpassed Jiangdong Ningguo.
In terms of military strength, the Chu State's eleven forbidden armies and 50,000 naval troops were gradually completed at this time. Soldiers from various prefectures and counties have completed the construction.
Including the Jinwu Guards guarding the capital, the Chu State had 382,000 troops in total.
The other three major vassal states can each provide 50,000 troops.
The total is more than half a million.
As for Ningguo, even though it is constantly expanding its army, it still only has more than 500,000 troops.
The two sides are pretty much on par.
In terms of innate masters, the Chu State itself has five, and the three vassals also have three, making a total of eight.
On the Ning State side, due to stimulation from the Chu State in the past two years, it seems that the training of innate masters has been accelerated. In the past two years, two geniuses, Bai Yi'an and Li Dao, have been trained respectively.
These two people are respectively after Wu'an Hou Bai Mengyang and Wuyang Hou Li Gui. Now they have inherited the names of Wu'an Hou and Wuyang Hou respectively, and have become the new generation of Ningguo's masters.
Counting Wuchenghou Shangguanming, Wuxuanhou Yang Jing, Wuminghou Mu Changqing, and the emperor Shen Qiu, there were a total of six innates in Ningguo.
In terms of innate numbers, Chu State also surpassed Ning State.
Nowadays, the only thing that Chu State is worse than Ning State is its population.
Even though Lu Yuan continued to dig corners of the Su State in the south, he successively took in nearly 400,000 Su and Yi refugees from the Ning State. He also captured millions of Yi people in Qianzhong County and kidnapped nearly 300,000 Yi women from Jianchuan Kingdom.
Later, it gained 500,000 people from Xichuan Kingdom and 300,000 people from Han China.
But all added up, it only amounts to 2.5 million people.
Counting the original 6 million people of Chu State, the total population is only 8.5 million. It is only equivalent to the Yuzhang County of Ning State, with the addition of An County.
Only half of the other person.
To sum up, the Chu State defeated the Ning State in terms of territory and innate masters, was equal in terms of military strength, and lost in terms of population. It won two, drew and lost, and it had already gained an advantage over the Ning State.
In the eyes of all countries in the world, the current Chu State may be slightly inferior to Ning State.
That is to say, Chu State did not occupy Jinling, the core of Yangzhou, and was a little short of orthodox status, so it seemed a bit on the side.
But in terms of strength level, there is no obvious gap. The two sides are already at the same level of national power.
This is something everyone has acknowledged.
In the competition for the supremacy of Yangzhou, Chu and Ning already have equal qualifications and strength.
Others, such as Nanhai, Su, Song, Nanzhao, and Dali, are just remote small countries and supporting chess pieces, not worth mentioning at all.
Even the great powers such as Zhou and Liang, after hearing about the gains of Lu Yuan's western expedition, had sent their envoys to Baling for communication, established stable post houses, and were stationed here permanently.
You know, this was originally a treatment that only belonged to Ning State, but now Chu State also enjoys it.
This undoubtedly shows that in the hearts of these two big countries, Chu and Ning are already on an equal footing and are qualified to interact with them on an equal footing.
This kind of international recognition and recognition from people all over the world made Chu State more prominent and gradually revealed its hegemony.
And these reputations and recognitions have also turned into a piece of luck, gathered from all over the world, and integrated into the Chu Kingdom's Tianzhu of Luck.
The above-mentioned gains have made Lu Yuan's own luck double what it was before the Western Expedition.
With the help of this, he can leverage more and more of the sky's spiritual energy with this vast amount of luck.
Now every moment, Lu Yuan is working his mind, using his energy to stir up the fairy spirit hidden deep in the sky, and guide it down with the help of the sky pillar for him to breathe in and practice his magic power.
Relying on this doubled spiritual energy, his cultivation speed suddenly accelerated.
Now, in just two months, he has broken through several small levels one after another, made a big step forward on the road of condensing two qi, and accumulated a lot of mana.
According to this progress, in five or six years, Lu Yuan will almost be able to condense the second energy of the five elements, and his cultivation will be further advanced.
Not only did his magic power increase, but his soul also became stronger and stronger as the spiritual energy nourished him and his inner energy nurtured.
Based on this accumulation, Lu Yuan has a vague feeling that maybe in two or three years, his soul will be strong enough to split off a trace of divine will and condense a second Yellow Turban Warrior clone.
By then, Chu will have one more innate-level combat power.
This kind of accumulated harvest naturally makes people happy.
Therefore, listening to the cheers outside, Lu Yuan's mood improved and he became very happy.
After passing several miles of cheering crowds on the outskirts of Baling, the queue in front quickly arrived at the city gate.
At the city gate, Cui Changqing had already led hundreds of officials to welcome the king's return.
The expressions on the faces of these officials were almost the same as those of the people around them.
The power of the Chu Kingdom was becoming increasingly prosperous, and the King of Chu's reputation was boundless. As ministers of the Chu Kingdom, they naturally benefited from a lot of benefits under this system.
Just a little.
The Chu State became powerful and the area under its control became larger. As central officials, their power status naturally continued to grow.
After the territory expanded, local official positions also increased, and their disciples and clan members also had more opportunities to become officials.
As for the other areas of southwest expansion, the benefits from the acquisition of various resources, the opening of trade routes, etc. are even more numerous.
All in all, the Chu State is powerful, and except for those defeated losers, everyone in the country can benefit.
Didn't you see that the prisoners who were exiled to Qianzhong County, although they were called exiles, after they got there, they still divided their wives, divided their Toyotas and divided their land, their wives, children, fields and houses, all at once.
Life is complete in an instant.
Aren’t these benefits?
"I've met the king."
Seeing Lu Yuan's chariot arriving, Cui Changqing and others immediately bowed and saluted.
"Well, gentlemen, please get up."
Lu Yuan came out of the chariot and helped Cui Changqing himself.
When the latter stood up, he carefully looked at this important minister who helped take care of many domestic government affairs while arranging food and grass to support the front line during his expedition, and he couldn't help but sigh.
It had only been two short years since we last met, and the left prime minister in front of me, who could be called Xiao He, had aged as much as five or six years. His head was covered with white hair, and his face was covered with wrinkles and spots.
If it weren't for the fact that the other person's eyes were still bright and full of energy, Lu Yuan would have thought that the other person was an old man with a candle in the wind.
But even so, he also knew that the other party only managed to survive by relying on this energy to hold him up.
Once this energy is exhausted, or the energy and spirit are burned out, life will come to an end.
And when will this time come?
Lu Yuan felt his spiritual thoughts and his heart trembled slightly.
If consumption continues at the current level, maybe in two years, the old man in front of him who has helped him so much will be unable to hold on.
"Prime Minister Zuo, I have been alone in the country for two years. Thank you for your hard work."
Lu Yuan opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't say anything to ask the other party to take a break and live for two or three more years while he still had energy for the rest of his life.
Because he could see the persistence and expectation in the other person's eyes.
"The king led his army to go on an expedition, destroyed all the countries in succession, and expanded the territory thousands of miles away. The world is in awe of this great achievement. I just keep my duties at home, stabilize people's hearts, and transport food and grass. I don't dare to take credit."
Facing Lu Yuan's words, Cui Changqing was still very humble and respectful, and his words were full of joy.
As Lu Yuan continued to achieve one achievement after another, the veteran's recognition and expectations for Chu State became deeper and stronger.
Especially now, the Chu State has expanded its territory to seventeen prefectures and taken over three vassal states, tripling its territory.
Counting the vassals together, there are enough areas for five counties.
Such a territory is not much worse than the eight counties of Dayue in the past when Jinghai Kingdom was not conquered.
During this period, the State of Chu also officially became the overlord of Yangzhou, standing side by side with the State of Ning.
These achievements also made the ambition that Lu Yuan had promised to him and Sun Siwen to unify Yangzhou and build a new prosperous age become more and more real.
Now, through Lu Yuan's efforts, more than half of this ambitious goal has been achieved.
The remaining half is also being advanced rapidly.
As a participant, especially one who occupies a very important position, Cui Changqing only feels that his life goals and life values have been greatly realized.
Cultivate oneself, manage one's family, govern the country, and bring peace to the world.
When it comes to self-cultivation, he is a great Confucian with profound knowledge. When he was in Qianyue, he was already famous all over the world.
Regarding the Qi family, his son-in-law is the right-hand prime minister of the country, and will soon become Xiantian. He is also the left-hand prime minister. The family is extremely prominent, the upbringing is extremely strict, and he has never had any bad reputation.
In terms of governing the country, since he became the left prime minister, the Chu State has become increasingly prosperous, and the wounds of wars in various places have been constantly healed, and a peaceful and prosperous age has gradually emerged.
In terms of bringing peace to the world, Chu State has successively expanded its territory. Now it has five counties, and it is just around the corner to unify Yangzhou.
Cui Changqing has reached the pinnacle of the four major goals of a scholar's life, and his achievements have attracted the attention of the world.
If I have any regrets, it is probably because I am too old and cannot survive a few more years to see the Chu Kingdom unify the entire Yangzhou and create another prosperous age.
But these regrets are nothing.
Cui Changqing believed that even if he died, with his son-in-law and disciple Sun Siwen still around, this descendant could still inherit his will and legacy, assist King Zuo Chu, the Ming Lord, to continue to unify Yangzhou and carry forward his unfinished business. .
With Sun Siwen here, this is not a pity.
And all he has to do is to continue to dedicate his abilities to make the Chu Kingdom stronger while he can still move and serve the King of Chu.
'At least, we must help the king to re-gover the seventeen prefectures opened up by this Western Expedition and make them prosperous, and completely become the foundation of our great Chu.
In this way, with this achievement and previous achievements, after my death, the title of the first prime minister of Dachu should be worthy of the name, and no one can compete with it. '
Cui Changqing thought so in his heart.
In life, there is always something to pursue.
He doesn't care about money, nor is he lustful, he just hopes to leave a good reputation.
And assisting King Zuo Chu to pacify the world and becoming the first prime minister of Chu was Cui Changqing's life pursuit.
Only by leaving a name in history and being admired by countless scholars in later generations can he live up to his experience in this life.
Lu Yuan was also aware of this and saw what the other party was thinking, so he did not say anything to tell the left prime minister to rest.
Moreover, in the current state of Chu, Sun Siwen is busy practicing with great concentration to achieve breakthroughs in innateness.
It is true that he cannot find another person who has enough prestige and whom he can trust to replace Cui Changqing and take over the important responsibilities of state affairs.
At this time, the Chu State could not do without this veteran minister.
Sighing in his heart, Lu Yuan patted the other party on the shoulder and encouraged him with a smile: "You are so humble, Prime Minister Zuo. Without the Prime Minister Zuo to coordinate all parties in the country and handle the country's affairs, how could I be able to fight the enemy on the front line with peace of mind and achieve such success?" Achievement.
When it comes to martial arts, I am the best in Chu.
In terms of political governance, the left prime minister is the leader of our Chu country.
I, the great Chu, have made great achievements for thousands of years, but I cannot do without the left prime minister. "
At the gate of the city, in front of hundreds of officials and people, the scene of harmony between the monarch and his ministers happened to be staged.
