Two days ago, in the Zhou capital, Chang'an.
Before Liu Bang, Chang'an was just an ordinary settlement next to Xianyang City.
——In view of the fact that King Ying Zheng of Qin once conferred the title of Lord Chang'an on his younger brother Cheng Jiao, it is possible that Chang'an Dingpotian was just a county.
After Liu Bang ascended the throne, he followed Lou Jing's advice and placed the capital in Guanzhong.
At that time, the Qin capital Xianyang had been burned down by Xiang Yu, so Liu Bang had to build a new city as the capital. So he chose Chang'an in the south of Xianyang as the new capital and built Chang'an City.
This is the Han Chang'an City.
The main buildings of Chang'an City in the Han Dynasty were palaces, but there were also a large number of official residences, markets, workshops and houses. During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the city had a population of more than 100,000.
Since the Western Han Dynasty, the Han Chang'an City has suffered many wars and destructions.
For example, after Wang Mang's demise, the Red Eyebrows invaded Chang'an and burned down palaces and excavated mausoleums.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was the rebellion of Li Jue and Guo Si. As for the wars during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, there were countless disasters. The damage suffered by Chang'an City was of course extremely serious.
Although the Former Qin, Later Qin, Western Wei and other dynasties all made Chang'an their capital and carried out some maintenance, they were ultimately unable to restore the prosperity of the Western Han Dynasty.
At this time, during the Northern Zhou Dynasty, a new problem emerged in Chang'an City: "all the water was salty." In other words, the water was seriously polluted and could not be drunk.
In ancient times, cities often dealt with domestic sewage by digging wells and pouring sewage into the water. After hundreds of years of habitation in Chang'an, the water in the water was completely undrinkable.
Compared with the rapid rise of the Zhou Dynasty, the city of Chang'an at this time needed urgent changes in both its structure and environment.
However, the energy and national strength of the Zhou Dynasty are not enough to rebuild a new Chang'an City. This is a matter for the future.
In the Zhengwu Hall in the imperial palace, Yu Yu, the second monarch and the first emperor of the Zhou Dynasty, was busy reviewing memorials.
The reason why he is said to be the first emperor is that the previous Emperor Yu was still called the Heavenly King at that time.
Three years ago, in the first year of Emperor Xiaomin's reign, Yu Yu was welcomed and enthroned by Yu Yuhu, the Prime Minister, and succeeded to the throne as the Heavenly King.
Last year, Yu Yu said that the Heavenly King was not powerful enough, so he changed his title to Emperor, posthumously honored his father Yu Tai as Emperor, pardoned the sky, and named the reign Wucheng.
Yu Yu is 27 years old this year, in the prime of his life.
He worked hard to govern the country, achieved remarkable political achievements, and was deeply loved by the people.
He was a tolerant person, and the relationship between the monarch and his subjects was relatively harmonious, so his prestige grew day by day.
Yu Yu is capable and independent-minded. Although he was supported by Yu Yu Hu to come to power, he is unwilling to be a puppet and is eager to govern the country himself.
Seeing that he was intelligent and capable, Yu Yuhu submitted a petition to return power on the 21st day of the first month of the previous year, the first year of Wucheng, and began to handle government affairs personally under the name of Yu.
Yu Yu appears weak on the outside, but is actually very smart and opinionated.
He refused to obey Yu Donghu in everything. After Yu Donghu pretended to return the government, Yu Dongyu began to exercise some power to handle state affairs and carry out reforms, but the military power was still firmly in the hands of Yu Donghu.
Yu Yu knew very well that his wings were not yet fully grown, but sometimes he could not restrain his inner impulse and argued with Yu Yu Hufa on some military and national affairs.
He was very angry about this.
He also knew that his cousin had begun to hate him.
This reminded Yu Yu of his third brother, Emperor Yu Jue.
On the first day of the first lunar month three years ago, with the support of Yu Hu, Yu Jue ascended the throne, proclaimed himself the Heavenly King, named the country "Zhou", posthumously honored Yu Tai as the king, his mother Yuan Xiao as the queen, and made his concubine Yuan Hu Mo the queen.
After Uehara proclaimed himself the Heavenly King, Uehara became the Prime Minister, and virtually all military and political power was in his hands.
Yu Yuhu was domineering and overbearing, and some of the elders were dissatisfied with him.
Taifu Zhao Gui conspired to assassinate Yu Hu and consulted with Taibao Dugu Xin. Dugu Xin stopped him but did not report him.
Later, someone reported the incident, and Yu Hu killed Zhao Gui on the charge of conspiracy. Dugu Xin was also dismissed from office and was soon executed.
Although Yu-kyeok is still a minor, he wants to rule the country himself.
Minister Li Zhi, military commander Sun Heng, palace officials Yi Fufeng and He Ba Ti, who were dissatisfied with Yu Wuhu, saw what Yu Wugu was thinking, so they conspired and asked Yu Wugu to get rid of Yu Wuhu.
Yujue agreed in his heart, but did not dare to act rashly.
Therefore, a group of warriors were recruited to the royal garden to learn martial arts and practice the techniques of catching and binding.
In August of that year, this group feared that they were outnumbered and weak, so they asked Li Zhi to recruit Zhang Guangluo, the Earl of the Palace.
Zhang Guangluo secretly informed Yu Hu, who knew that these people would not be able to achieve anything, so he did not kill them. Instead, he demoted Li Zhi, the leader, to the governor of Liangzhou and Sun Heng to the governor of Tongzhou.
Yi Fufeng, who was beside Yujue, was afraid that his plan to get rid of Yujue would fail after a long time, so he stepped up his plan to get rid of Yujue at a banquet hosted by Yujue.
This matter was reported by Zhang Guangluo again.
Yu Hu immediately summoned He Lanxiang, the Minister of State, and Chi Gang, the Commander-in-Chief, to discuss countermeasures.
He Lanxiang and others persuaded Yu 뀗 hu to depose Yu 뀗 jue and kill his accomplices.
Wei Chigang was in charge of the imperial guards at the time, so it was easy to do.
Yu Buhu then sent Wei Chigang into the palace to inform Yi Fufeng and others to go and discuss state affairs. As soon as they arrived, they were captured alive one by one.
Then he ordered the disbanding of the palace guards. Yu-jue realized that the situation was not good, and hurriedly ordered the palace maids and eunuchs to take up weapons to defend themselves. Yu-jue's faction He Lanxiang forced Yu-jue to abdicate and depose him as Duke of Lueyang.
Yi Fufeng, Sun Heng and others were killed first, and a month later Yu Jue was also killed at the age of sixteen.
Yu Yu's eyes fell on the memorial, but his mind was thinking about Yu Hu.
The third brother is a smart man, but he is too impatient. Yu Buhu has power over the government and the country. Can his foundation be uprooted in one day?
Yu Yuyu didn't want to follow the old path of his third brother.
Yu Yu put down the red brush and gently rubbed his temples. Although he was almost thirty years old, he still felt that he had a long way to go in terms of cultivating his Qi.
In this respect, he admired his fourth brother Yu Yong very much.
There is a ten-year age difference between the two, but the seventeen-year-old Yu Yong is much more mature than his older brother.
How to deal with the conflict with Yu Biaohu has been a headache for him recently.
Uehara has already expressed his dissatisfaction with him in various ways.
Yu Donghu can be a traitor to his third brother Yu Dongjue, and he can also poison him to death, Yu Dongyu.
This cousin of his, who has little ambition and talent but is insidious and vicious, can do anything.
When Yuyu was about to meet God, Yuhu asked to see him.
The request for an audience was just a formality, and Yu Yu dared not refuse.
After meeting Yu Yu, Yu Hu still behaved like a subject, not wanting others to see him do anything inappropriate.
"Is the Prime Minister here?" Yu Yu looked at the word "忍" (Ren) in the Chinese character for Dou which he had written with satisfaction, and said nonchalantly.
"Well, I see you, Majesty!"
"Brother, are you still angry with me because of what happened last time?"
Last month, Chongyang Pavilion was completed. Yu Yu summoned all the dukes, generals, ministers, and Turkic envoys to Fanglin Garden and rewarded them with a large amount of money and silk.
This went against Yu Hu's original intention. He believed that Zhou was weak and that the money should be used in more needed areas, such as military supplies and food on the border between Zhou and Qi. However, this was not approved, and Yu Hu was very angry.
After hearing Yu Yu's words, the muscles on his face twitched for the first time, and he stared at Yu Yu without saying a word.
Yu 뀗 Yu smiled and asked, "Why? Are you really still angry?"
Yu Hu bowed slightly and said in a low voice: "Yes! Your Majesty, now the Qi in the east are eyeing us covetously, and the Chen in the south are mostly former ministers of the Southern Liang Dynasty, and they are eager to take Jiangling back. Your Majesty is spending money to reward your officials at this time, and this humble minister is not doing it right!"
"Alas, brother, you misunderstood me!" Yu Yu sighed, his eyes flashing with a faint green light, "Don't think that only the Qi and Chen dynasties are our enemies, we must also guard against the Turks in the north. If they stab us from the back, let alone other things, I'm afraid Chang'an will not be able to be saved, right?"
Yu Hu thought for a moment and sneered, "What are the Turks? The iron cavalry of our Zhou Dynasty is not as strong as theirs! These reckless men are only eyeing our Zhou Dynasty's money and women. One day, I will let them see my colors!"
Yu Yu smiled and said, "Brother, you know that although I am the emperor of Zhou, I still rely on you for military affairs. I just gave some small money to those princes, generals, ministers and Turkic envoys. Isn't it just for the Turkic envoys to see, so that they can see that we Zhou are rich."
"By the way, I also want you to take those Turkic envoys to take a good look at our Zhou army!"
"Yes, they sent someone here, and the conditions they proposed were extremely rude. They even used Madam Yan to pressure me! I just thought that Madam Yan was my brother's biological mother, and I couldn't tear my face with them, so I just pretended to be confused."
Yu Bihu was stunned. Before the establishment of Zhou Dynasty, Yu Bihu's mother Yan Ji was captured by Qi Dynasty and had not been returned yet.
Although Yu Hu was cruel, he was extremely filial to his mother and deeply regretted that he could not bring his old mother back to Chang'an to serve her.
Yu Yu's words undoubtedly pierced the most vulnerable part of his heart.
After a while, Yu Hu asked, "Your Majesty, where is the messenger from Qi now?"
Yu Yusi was filled with emotion and said, "I left a long time ago! I have already told him that as long as they don't want us to split the land, as for money and property, they can name any amount, and I will agree to it!"
"Madam Yan is my brother's mother, and also my mother. As sons, who among us doesn't want to serve our mother in her later years?"
Yu Hu secretly clenched his fists. Yu Yu spoke very convincingly, but why didn't he tell me that the envoy from Qi came to Chang'an?
As long as I can bring my mother back, a few cities don’t matter!
Yu Yu did not let me see the envoy of Qi, there must be something shameful going on.
How can such behavior not make people feel chilled?
Do I really have to let you do whatever you want just because you sit on the emperor's throne?
Suddenly, Yu 뀗護's murderous intent rose in his heart...