Chapter 835: You will never be young again!
Of course, there was more than one capable person in Liang State. Xie An and others could see that what Xiao Yan did was inappropriate. Not only was it not good for centralization, but most of the gentry did not like to have another lord above them.
Since the Later Han Dynasty, the kings were basically not allowed to be in charge of the political affairs within their fiefdoms. They only lived off the fiefdoms in the kingdom.
The person in charge of the internal affairs of the kingdom is the prime minister, an official of the same level as a county magistrate. These prime ministers are not only responsible for the affairs of the kingdom, but also for supervising the king.
But history is a cycle.
After the collapse of the Later Han Dynasty, starting from the Cao Wei Dynasty until the incident of regicide by clan members in the Cao Wei Dynasty, various countries began to make use of clan members again.
The kingdoms established by these princes who were scattered across the country and the relationship between them and the scholars in the kingdoms were no longer just the distant ones they had before.
Most of the scholars had served in the royal palace before, and then were recommended to the central government. There was a relationship of monarch and subject between these scholars and the king.
This kind of relationship between the monarch and his subjects is naturally not as good as the one between them and the emperor, but it is a step further than the conscription system of the Later Han Dynasty.
This is a dual monarchy that is even stronger than the dual monarchy of the Later Han Dynasty.
Because the master of the expedition is not the de facto king in any case, even if he is called the Lord of the Mansion or the Lord.
And the king.
This is the role of true nation-building.
Kingdom, even if a lot of power has been taken away, but he is still the undisputed monarch.
Once a prince was granted a fiefdom, it meant that in addition to the emperor, there was another monarch above the gentry.
The feudal system is a double-edged sword.
This system can ensure that local areas remain in the ruling order at a low cost, and it is quite effective in suppressing local forces, thus ensuring the rule of the royal family.
In this era where information is not transmitted quickly enough, the response speed between orders issued from the central government and orders issued directly at the local level is naturally different.
After the Qin Dynasty unified the world, if it had re-established the feudal system in the vast Guandong region, it would probably not have been easy even if the Luo family and Xiang Yu wanted to overthrow the Qin Dynasty.
Of course, the gentry did not want to have a royal family above them.
Their reasons are also very sufficient. Emperor, you have allowed the king of the royal family to stay in the local area, so don’t you worry about any danger?
Although we, the nobles, may sell you out at critical moments and establish our own regimes when the world is in chaos, we will not oppose the court unless it is absolutely necessary. Our loyalty can be guaranteed when the government is operating normally. But it is different for these kings when they arrive in the local areas.
After seeing these reasons, Xiao Yan pretended not to see them.
Humans are very strange creatures. They are completely different when they are young and when they are old.
When they are young, they are fearless and only want to create great achievements that the ancients could not achieve. But when they are old, they become hesitant, afraid of death, and only want to live a few more years.
When we are young, we are full of energy and have a strong receptiveness to almost all new things. We feel that we can change the world and we are basically full of passion in our hearts. However, when we get older, we will automatically turn into conservatives. Almost everything we cannot understand will be labeled as heretical and then rejected.
In terms of family affection, the older people get, the more they value family harmony and the more they like young children. They will become irrational, which is a very bad thing for a king.
As Luo Xianzhi said, if Xiao Yan really owed his other sons, he could give those sons wealth and honor, but he should not give them power.
Giving them power is like handing them a knife, and the final result will no longer be controlled by Xiao Yan.
The most outrageous thing is that Xiao Yan's sons did not have knives in their hands, and most people did not have any ideas about it, but Xiao Yan took the initiative to intensify the conflict.
This can be said to be the most foolish thing Xiao Yan has done in the past few decades. He is really old.
It is indeed best for an emperor to die at the most appropriate time, so as to prevent him from doing something that would bring disaster to the country and the people, causing the whole world to pay a heavy price for his mistakes.
In the end, Xiao Yan accomplished this task without Luo Xianzhi's forced persuasion. One by one, the princes left Jianye. Xiao Yan looked at his sons who had left and couldn't help but smile in the palace.
At his age, seeing that the unification of the world is nowhere in sight, what he hopes most is probably that his descendants can live in harmony, and then that the Buddha can grant him immortality. Everything else is no longer important.
After fighting for so many years, he basically never stopped. It's time for him to enjoy himself.
…
Such a big thing happened in Nanliang, so it was impossible to hide it from other countries. After Wang Meng learned the news, he was ecstatic and said: "Nanliang is on the road to chaos. Although I don't know why Gusu County Duke Luo Xianzhi didn't stop it, it doesn't matter anymore.
This is a good opportunity for Great Yan. While there are internal disagreements in Liang, we should immediately march eastward. As long as we can control Luliang Mountain, Guanzhong will have a natural barrier, which is a real place with four barriers."
The terrain of Guanzhong has always been very advantageous. Surrounded by mountains, one can rest assured as long as a few passes are guarded. However, many people think that the barrier in the eastern part of Guanzhong is the Yellow River, but it is not.
The Yellow River can never be compared with the Yangtze River in terms of natural dangers. The Yangtze River has more turbulent flow than the Yellow River and its water surface is much wider.
The Yellow River, which separates Hedong and Guanzhong, will freeze in winter and can flow directly from Hedong to Guanzhong. In the distant Zhou Dynasty, the reason why the Yellow River was not easy to cross was due to two reasons.
The first is that the shipbuilding technology was relatively poor at that time, so the ships crossing the river were prone to capsizing on the Yellow River. It was okay for small troops, but a large army naturally could not take this risk.
The second is that the flow of the Yellow River at that time was much greater than it is now. The climate at that time was very warm, and there were even creatures like elephants in the Central Plains. It is conceivable that the Yellow River at that time was not easy to freeze.
But as the climate gradually grew colder, the flow of the Yellow River also gradually became smaller, not only making Hangu Pass gradually deserted, after all, the riverbed was exposed, but also making it much easier to cross the Yellow River.
The real barrier of Guanzhong is Luliang Mountain.
Bingzhou has always been known as a place with mountains and rivers both inside and outside. There are four or five basins between Luliang Mountain and Taihang Mountain. It is a natural separatist area that is extremely easy to defend but difficult to attack.
But think about it the other way around. If the country that controlled those basins did not control the Luliang Mountains and the Taihang Mountains, the result would probably be that it would have to learn from the example of the State of Zhao and move its capital from Jinyang to Handan.
If the country that controls Guanzhong owns Hedong and then controls Luliang, wouldn't it be completely surrounded by mountains?
This is the most perfect national situation of Western Yan in Wang Meng's eyes. If he has such a national situation, he will have great confidence whether he is advancing eastward to compete with the imperial court or competing with Liang State.
Is it difficult to capture Hedong?
It was certainly difficult for the State of Liang, after all, this land had never belonged to the State of Liang, but for Murong Chui, it was not particularly difficult.
Before, this land belonged to Wei State. Although Murong Chui was a member of the royal family of Yan State, he inherited almost the entire territory of Wei State, as well as the gentry of Wei State. Secondly, those who now rule Hedong are basically the high-level officials of Yan State, and many of them are the emperor's men. But if these people are said to be loyal, then it is indeed not the case. Murong Chui's identity is too convenient for him to seize the throne.
His prestige in the State of Yan did threaten the existence of the emperor, and facts proved that he really had the ability to change the dynasty. Murong Chui led the army in Guanzhong, which included many Guanzhong gentry. The army crossed the Yellow River in a show of force, and then the cities in Hedong surrendered directly.
Those who were loyal to the emperor and resisted were only seeking death in the face of Murong Chui. There was no one in the world who could defeat Murong Chui head-on on the battlefield. Even if Murong Ke was resurrected, he would not be able to defeat Murong Chui in a simple battle.
Murong Chui took over the entire Hedong in just less than three months. At this time, the army of the Yan court that had withdrawn from Qingzhou finally arrived.
Was the Emperor of Yan cruel?
In the eyes of those who were killed, it was naturally brutal, and many people felt that they had suffered an unprovoked disaster, but in fact, the actions of the Emperor of Yan did not have too wide an impact.
He was the legitimate emperor, so naturally he had loyal fans. Even when half of Hedong surrendered, there were still people willing to die for him. This was enough to show.
This action of the Emperor of Yan State did not actually destroy himself, but the possibility of the entire Yan State unifying the world while he was alive.
It is naturally impossible for a divided Yan State to unify the world.
The Yan court withdrew its troops from Qingzhou, losing half of the benefits of destroying the Han Dynasty, with the aim of starting a civil war.
This was originally a war between the central government and local governments, but when it actually started, it was like a war between two countries. The reason was very simple, because the interest groups of the two sides were completely different, and it could even be said that the ruling groups were completely different!
Murong Chui led such a small number of people into Guanzhong and eventually achieved his current status. What could he do?
Did he want Guanzhong to accept what he brought from Yan State?
Of course not!
He was the weaker party, and all he could do was accept Guanzhong's culture and policies and fight for the interests of Guanzhong people!
Even though he was a Hebei native, even though he was from the royal family of Hebei, no matter what his former identity was, when he became the leader of the Guanzhong people, this was his mission.
Unless one day, like now, he can defeat the imperial army and return to Jicheng, he will become the emperor of the entire Yan State. Only then will he be qualified to represent the people of Hebei.
This is not just a war between Murong Chui and the emperor, but also a war between Guanzhong and Hebei. However, most people now do not have this awareness. Most people still hold the idea of following Murong Chui to become founding heroes, and have not considered it from the deepest level, because the occurrence of these events is really too confusing.
Not only did the people in Guanzhong fail to react, but even the people in Hebei failed to react. The emperor's behavior was wrong, and their reaction to Murong Chui was also wrong. This was more like a power struggle within the royal family.
Now in the world, only Luo Xianzhi can see through this, because in history books, there has been such a struggle, and the ancestors have recorded it and analyzed the reasons.
Murong Chui led his troops eastward in the unknown. His purpose was simple, which was to completely defeat the imperial army. He wanted to return to Jicheng, depose the emperor, and then exile him to the deepest and farthest jungle in Liaodong.
As for killing the emperor, that is not necessary.
After all, he was the emperor of the Murong clan, and killing him would not be a good thing for him. This is completely different from killing Cao Chengsi.
Killing a foreign monarch who is hated by the people can greatly increase his prestige, while killing his own monarch will only weaken the dignity of his own emperor. This is unacceptable to Murong Chui, who is going to become the emperor in the future.
After the Guanzhong army and the imperial army met, both remained in place. The imperial army was somewhat afraid of Murong Chui, while Murong Chui was simply cautious. After all, the imperial army looked stronger than he did.
The imperial court owns the entire Jizhou, Youzhou, Bingzhou and half of the grassland, and can also pull those foreigners from Liaodong out to fight. Its fighting power should not be underestimated.
Just Youzhou and Jizhou are enough to put the entire Guanzhong on high alert. It is known as the first of the nine provinces in the world, and it is definitely not a false reputation.
Murong Chui personally commanded the army and maneuvered with the imperial army among the mountains and rivers, looking for opportunities. The Emperor of Yan naturally would not go out in person. He was in Jicheng, waiting for news from the front line.
But everyone overlooked one thing, that is, when the army is outside, isn't it a time when the internal forces are weak?
Most of the gentry killed by the emperor were from Jizhou. After all, Jizhou was the strongest region for the Yan gentry.
While the confrontation was going on at the front line, no one expected that three rebellions broke out simultaneously in the State of Yan!
The sources of these three rebellions are completely different. Needless to say, the Jizhou gentry naturally came from rebellion. In addition, there was also a military rebellion!
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At almost the same time, the "War of the Two Emperors" suddenly broke out in Yan State, and the "Six Kings' Enfeoffment" occurred in Liang State. These two major events greatly weakened the two countries' organizational mobilization capabilities and external expansion capabilities, and the pace of world unification had to be postponed again.
If we delve deeper into the reasons behind this, we will find that it has a lot to do with the extremely chaotic thoughts in society at that time.
"Xianzhi in the South, Wang Meng in the North", these two talented people who were the kings of the time, both had the ability to govern the country in peace, but they could not change this trend of thought, and even found it difficult to realize it. - "Zhu Xia·Northern and Southern Dynasties"
(End of this chapter)
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