It has been twenty-three years since Guanze came to the world, but every day of these twenty-three years has been humiliating for Guanze.
The territory controlled by the royal family continued to decrease with the enfeoffment and fighting between princes. It's not that Guanze doesn't want to restore the majesty of his ancestors, but if he wants to gain support, gold and silver wealth has lost its effect, and he doesn't have much treasure to reward.
As for things like eliminating vassal clans, it's enough to just think about it yourself, and you can't even talk about it.
Trapped in the world, but surrounded by nowhere, every time Guan Ze thinks about it at night, he has to lament that the situation his ancestors left him is really too dead to die.
Guanze felt that the only thing he could do now was to stand on the map and look back and forth.
"Reporting to your Majesty, the Crown Prince would like to see you."
Guan Ze was even more annoyed when he heard this. This unlucky son would probably die if Datong was in his hands. He would go out to play in the mud or tinker with wood all day long. He originally expected to marry a prince to improve the royal status, but he didn't like it. A yellow-haired girl from a farm family, Guan Ze was so angry that she couldn't eat.
He took a deep breath to suppress the unhappiness in his heart. He had no choice but to have two biological children, the prince, the heir, and his biological children. Guanze recited it silently several times in his heart quickly before he felt a little better.
"pass."
Guan Cheng almost ran in after getting permission.
"Father, please step aside, I have something important to do."
Guan Ze was a little surprised. Apart from making the old masters angry, how often had this son ever done anything serious?
Could it be that the so-called important thing is to marry that farm girl?
Thinking of this, Guan Ze's face couldn't help but darken a bit. He was simply a traitor and an evil beast. Nothing in this world goes well.
"You guys retreat, no eyes or ears are allowed within ten feet."
Soon the door of the main hall was closed again, and Guan Ze said calmly: "Let's talk about anything important, but I will put my ugly words first. If you dare to seize that Cao family woman again, I will deprive you of your crown prince position."
When Guan Cheng heard this, his face actually showed joy: "Father, this is what I came here to say."
Guan Ze couldn't believe his ears and didn't react for a while.
"Can you say that again?"
Guan Ze knelt down directly, performed the head-officering ceremony with a bang, and then solemnly said: "I sincerely ask my father to deprive me of my position as the crown prince."
There was a terrible silence in the hall.
As an emperor, Guanze has been an emperor for more than 20 years even if he does not have much real power. The skill of not being angry and being powerful is a passive skill. At this time, it has reached the full level. His eyes are full of confusion, anger and disappointment.
How can I endure this?
Seeing Guan Ze stand up and pick up a wooden stick with skillful movements, Guan Cheng's eyelids jumped and he shouted quickly: "Father, please calm down. After careful consideration, I have decided to save my Datong!"
Guan Ze paused for a moment after hearing the words, and squeezed the stick in his hand tightly. He thought that although his son was rebellious and not doing his job properly, he was still somewhat smart, so he suppressed his anger and sat down on the couch again. He pointed at the wooden stick in his hand and said with a cold voice. : "Okay, tell me, if you talk nonsense, I will beat you to death here, so that you will completely lose the country of your ancestors."
"Father, I fell down while riding a horse a few days ago. Can you stand up and say something?"
When Guan Ze heard this, the anger he had just suppressed almost rushed to his forehead again. Who of the people with some status would ride an animal? Who would go out and not ride in a carriage?
Seeing that his father was showing signs of going berserk again, Guan Cheng said quickly: "Kneel down, kneel down, I will kneel down and say."
"Father, I understand the current situation in Datong. The princes do not respect the imperial court, the court officials do not respect their superiors, the scholar-bureaucrats are arrogant and disobedient, the traffickers and minions are struggling to survive, the great rituals have collapsed, the order has been broken, and although the land occupied by the royal family is several counties, , but except for Zhili County, the rest of the country is separated by the princes, and the imperial decrees cannot go out of Zhili County."
"Furthermore, the army has been depleted, and one county cannot even support an army. The army my father can directly mobilize is only three brigades of more than 6,000 people. Even Peng State in the north has an army of 10,000 people. , so Datong will definitely not exist in the past. If there are no hunters, how can we hunt deer? Now the countries just don't want to be the first, and they still leave such a pitiful face to my royal family."
"But the general trend of the world will inevitably become unified in the end. How will the weak troops of the three brigades resist the unstoppable trend of the world?"
Guan Cheng's remarks surprised Guan Ze. This was a problem that had troubled him for more than twenty years. Even when he was the prince, he wanted to solve it but couldn't find the solution.
If the royal family wants to revive, it must have a strong army and gain the support of the princes. But apart from the land, what else can the princes look to? What else can the royal family do except for its reputation and righteousness?
Guan Cheng also stopped talking at the right time and quietly stood up when he saw that his father was already deep in thought.
Walking to the edge of the map, famous mountains and rivers are crisscrossing it, and counties are dotted like stars.
But the purple color representing Chase was extremely pitiful and was broken into pieces.
"Father?" Guan Cheng woke him up from his deep thoughts.
Guan Ze had a complicated look on his face and asked for a long time: "Your Majesty, tell the truth to your father. Did you think of these yourself or were you taught by someone?"
Guan Cheng smiled: "Father, of course this is what I think of myself. With my identity and character, I don't even bother to act like a villain. My father puts all his efforts into thinking about me every day, and I can see it, and he only hates himself." Incompetence cannot help my father."
Guan Ze was greatly relieved. At this moment, he was more like a father: "Your Majesty, you can think of these things and I am very happy as a father. However, these ills have accumulated for two hundred years, and the princes have already become powerful. It is not that the previous emperors did not want to solve them, but if If you want to win over the princes, what else can you get besides land? Gold and silver? Wealth and silk? Population? What does it mean to have land?"
"Wrong! Big mistake!" Guan Cheng suddenly shouted excitedly.
"My father used the land to help other countries to help the enemy and weaken himself. I have never tired of the desires of the countries. I have connected more than 5,000 counties. Now my father is in charge of no more than 100 counties. The ones who carry out the government are only one in eight counties." County land!”
Guan Ze sighed and said: "Do you think my father or grandpa doesn't know about it? Now that the matter has come to this, is there a solution to the important matter you mentioned?"
Guan Cheng also knew that things did not reach this desperate situation overnight, and it was meaningless to trace the source at this time.
"What I just said is a method."
Guan Ze frowned again: "What does this have to do with your position as crown prince? If someone else can solve such problems, let alone your position as crown prince, what if it costs me my life? Don't show off, tell me quickly. Come, otherwise..." Yan Bi took out another stick from nowhere.
Guan Cheng's eyelids twitched slightly. He had clearly hidden himself quietly just now, so how prepared he was.
"Father, do you know that you can emerge from a cocoon and become a butterfly?"
"I don't know."
Guan Cheng smiled and said: "My son only said this today, so of course my father doesn't know."
Guan Ze's face turned a little darker, and the wooden stick in his hand was slightly raised.
Upon seeing this, Guan Cheng quickly added: "My son was out today and accidentally learned that the butterflies flying in the sky were made from cocoons of an insect with no wings or legs. I realized something from this."
"What's the point? Butterflies are caused by insects. This thing is in Taige's agricultural book. Don't you like miscellaneous studies? Have you never read it?" Guan Ze looked at his son in front of him and teased.
"Well, okay, but that's not the point. In fact, what I want to say is that insects have no legs or wings, but after forming cocoons and breaking out of pupae, they can spread their wings among flowers. Then why can't I, Datong, be reborn?"
"How about a new student?" Guan Ze asked anxiously, feeling that this son might actually have a feasible solution this time.
"Four words, break and then stand!"
"Destroy and then establish? How to destroy? How to establish? Destroy your position as prince?" Guan Ze asked in confusion.
"Father, please see, the most powerful princes on this map are none other than Zhao and Chu, followed by Qin, Zhou, Qi, Wei and other countries, and then Song, Yan and other countries. There are hundreds of five-level princes in the world. These hundreds of princes and countries are mutually exclusive. There have been fifty-four conquests now, and the late emperors had no choice but to divide the territory of Datong into almost all parts, but our Datong royal family still occupies the great righteousness, and there are also some scattered counties."
Guanze knew where he was talking without looking. This map had already been imprinted in his mind. It was clear which country occupied how many counties.
"It's just some remote places in the southwest that are left. I'm afraid it's no longer safe at this time, and the court can't even take care of it."
Guan Cheng nodded and continued: "My son, I have seen it. As my father said, there are about four counties and more than thirty counties scattered near Zhongli Kingdom of Shu in the southwest."
"Yes, but you also said that the court's decrees can't reach anywhere at all, and those four counties have become enclaves. Recently, I have been thinking that instead of losing control, it is better to exchange land with Chu. The state of Chu is very powerful, even the small countries around the enclave I don’t dare to stop it. It may be feasible to exchange four counties for two counties by then. The imperial court’s strength is too weak and we must find ways to acquire more land.”
After saying that, he pointed back and forth on the map with the wooden stick in his hand: "There are also scattered counties in the Northeast, Central Plains, and Northwest. These places can all be used."
Guan Cheng smiled and said: "Father, all I think about is the southwest."
"Oh?" Guan Ze asked in surprise: "Why?"
"Father, please see. There are four counties and more than thirty counties in the southwest, which are relatively concentrated. It is the largest enclave. I think it is feasible for my father to exchange land. It is just a replacement with Zhongli and the Shu Kingdom. These more than thirty counties are relatively concentrated. The counties are connected together, and the four counties combined can be regarded as a fifth-class princes, and they can barely protect themselves. The other places are too scattered, and unlike the southwest, except for the two fourth-class princes Zhongli of Shu Kingdom, Outside are the fifth-level small countries. As long as they deal with it properly, they have a chance to develop and grow. By then, they can move north to form a benign alliance with Qin and southeast to become vassals of Chu. They will be able to devour Shu and destroy Zhongli in less than ten years."
Guan Ze thought carefully for a while and said: "You also know that Zhao Chu is the strongest in the world today. The place you mentioned is very close to the Chu State. If Zhongli is swallowed up, it will border the Chu State. What will happen then?"
Guan Cheng smiled slightly and said: "It's not difficult. Although Zhao and Chu face each other from the north to the south, they both have the ambition to dominate the world by force, especially Chu. In recent years, they have successively taken land from other countries to enrich themselves. Who in the surrounding countries is not afraid? Although Chu is strong, if it is surrounded by enemies on all sides, it will inevitably give Zhao a chance. As long as they lobby properly, maintain a low profile, make good friends with ministers, and treat the harem well, they should have a chance of survival."
"It will be more advantageous if the princes are provoked to attack Chu at the right time. The day of melee will be an opportunity."
"So what you said earlier about deposing you as the crown prince was for this?"
Guan Cheng knelt on the ground again and said: "Please forgive me, father. I think that the current situation is extremely dangerous. Although the countries are ministers, they are actually rebellious. Zhili County is under heavy siege and it is difficult to do anything. It is better to jump out." Let’s start this circle all over again. When our ancestors started their army, they only had three counties, a population of less than 100,000, and only more than 4,000 soldiers and horses. Two hundred years later, the area is tens of thousands of miles wide. Why can’t our descendants create another prosperous age? "
Guan Ze stepped forward and helped him up, with a mixture of relief and guilt on his face: "Your Majesty, do you know what this means?"
Without waiting for Guan Cheng to return, he continued: "It is a full five thousand miles away from Yong'an City to the Kingdom of Shu."
"Father, our ancestors have traveled more than ten or five thousand miles over the thorns and thorns." The young man's face showed perseverance and yearning.
Guan Ze seems to have seen himself in his youth, who was so high-spirited and full of confidence. He wanted to change the past and restore the glory of Datong. Unfortunately, Datong has been in decline for more than 20 years and has reached a point of no return.
Until now.
Yes, Guanze is tempted!
He had to admit that this seemed to be another way out, and it was the only way out. It must be implemented quickly, otherwise it would be too late when the princes broke up.
"My Qilin!"
