After the great victory at Luoyan Pass, Zhang Yun and his men held a grand celebration banquet to reward the three armies.
But early the next morning, Zhang Yun received an urgent message: Baoping County, one of the three major border passes, had fallen, and the Hu people had entered the pass!
It turns out that Huyan Zhuo mobilized all the troops from the grasslands this time, totaling 200,000 men, to march south.
The 200,000-strong army was divided into three routes. One route went to the Northwest Camp to contain the Northwest King, another went to Baoping County, and the last route was led by him personally to attack Luoyan Pass.
The number of people sent to Baoping County was not large, but it was still around 60,000.
The small county of Baoping was naturally too small to defend, but it was actually just a vanguard station; behind it were heavily fortified military towns with large troop concentrations.
Once the signal fire is lit on the treasure bottle, the important towns behind it can quickly gather heavy troops for support or to deploy troops for defense.
But the problem lies in the military town behind it.
After the smoke signals were lit in Baoping County, none of the several important border towns sent troops to support their defense!
Only one city sent 5,000 reinforcements, but they were intercepted by a small group of Hu people who circled around and captured them!
No one expected that the border troops of the Great Yun Kingdom had degenerated to such an extent!
Those 60,000 Hu people were not Huyan Zhuo's main force; they were composed of different tribes and had no sense of restraint or discipline whatsoever.
Discovering that the important towns on the border of Yun Kingdom were nothing but paper tigers, and that they didn't even dare to leave the city to fight when they saw them coming, they became extremely arrogant.
These people were used to a hard life on the grasslands; they had never seen the glamorous world of the Central Plains, with its fine wines, delicious food, and beautiful women...
Dazzled by the prosperity before them, they swept through the land like locusts, leaving nothing but desolation in their wake, and no garrison dared to stop them.
Those Yun soldiers who were valiant and skilled in suppressing bandits, often annihilating hundreds of thousands of rebels, were terrified upon hearing that a large cavalry force of Hu people was marching ahead. They all started to flee from a great distance...
Because of the time lag in information dissemination, Zhang Yun and his group received the news half a month after the Hu people entered the pass.
Moreover, even if he received the message, there was nothing he could do to help.
Northwest Camp, Luoyan Pass, and Baoping County are the three major border fortresses.
Baoping County is important, and Luoyan Pass and the Northwest Camp are even more crucial and cannot be lost.
The same sense of helplessness also arose in the heart of the Northwest King.
He only had 30,000 cavalrymen under his command. Qin Zheng took 10,000 of them away, leaving 20,000 cavalrymen who could not provide effective support. Moreover, this would render the 70,000 infantrymen left behind a dead end.
If Luoyan Pass and the Northwest Camp fall, then the north of Yun Kingdom will be without any more barriers, and the Hu people will be able to come and go freely without any hindrance.
Now, the Northwest King and Zhang Yun's side are defended as solid as a rock, and they can also control the Hu people inside the pass, preventing them from staying there for long.
This year is destined to be anything but peaceful.
News came in little by little, but none of it was good news.
The Hu people traveled south...
Several major cities have fallen...
Countless killings, burnings, and lootings...
Finally, the Hu army, having thoroughly feasted on meat and blood in the Yun Kingdom, retreated in style, broke out again from Baoping County, and fled back to the border.
The army of the Yun Kingdom responsible for blocking the Hu people could only follow behind the Hu army and smoke, while any army that encountered the Hu army head-on was basically wiped out.
Baoping County, having been plundered twice by the Hu people, had long since become a ruin, with bones exposed in the wilderness and not a rooster crowing for miles.
Countless people in the Yun Kingdom were displaced.
Even the residence of Zhang Yun's second uncle, the Prince of Yong, was ransacked by passing Hu people because of its location.
The Hu people also left a message, saying that the Yun Kingdom should exchange their king for gold, silver and silk.
In a fit of anger, Emperor Yunzhao vomited blood in the court and fell into a coma.
Less than a month later, news of a national mourning arrived from the imperial capital, Hongcheng.
The next emperor was the seventh son of Emperor Zhao, a little boy who was only five years old.
The power of the court fell into the hands of the Empress Dowager.
The officials in the court were only concerned with vying for power and profit, and the military and government in various places were in a state of chaos. No one cared about comforting the people who had been ravaged by the barbarians and were now in ruins.
Various rebel armies rose up in rebellion.
One of the rebel armies, known as the Taiping Army, led by its leader Sun Chengping, swept through the land with countless homeless refugees and displaced people who had been harmed by the Hu people.
In just a few months, they amassed an army of hundreds of thousands of rebels, storming cities and towns all the way to the imperial capital, Hongcheng.
When Zhang Yun received this news, he was utterly shocked!
Taiping Army, isn't that the name of the rebel army led by Qin Zheng in the original novel?
The leader, Sun Chengping, isn't he another general under Qin Zheng, second only to Xue Gui, in the original work?
He subconsciously looked at Qin Zheng, who was sitting next to him, reading the intelligence report with him.
"What's wrong?" Qin Zheng felt a tickle in his heart from his gaze, so he wrapped his arms around his waist and tried to kiss him.
It seems he's overthinking things. How could this guy, whose mind is filled with nothing but lewd thoughts all day long, possibly be the mastermind behind the Taiping Rebellion...?
It is estimated that he changed Qin Zheng's fate, which led to Sun Chengping becoming the final leader of the uprising.
But this is such a coincidence!
Their rebel armies were both called the Taiping Army!
Zhang Yun was lost in thought when he came to his senses and found that his clothes were gone and he had been pressed down on the table in front of him.
Military intelligence and affairs were scattered all over the place.
"Ugh... Qin Zheng! Are you a dog or something?!"
(Qin Zheng: Woof~)
...
The next day, Zhang Yun received an urgent letter from the King of the Northwest, ordering him to take his 10,000 troops and extra warhorses to Ziyan City to join forces with the troops that the King of the Northwest had drawn from various cities and counties in the Northwest.
After the meeting at Ziyan City, Zhang Yun led a total of 100,000 troops, including 50,000 cavalry and 50,000 infantry, and marched swiftly to Hongdu to defend the emperor.
When Zhang Yun and his group set off, the imperial capital, Hongcheng, was already surrounded by an army of 600,000 rebels.
At that time, the remaining eight princes of the court, along with various lords, also mobilized their troops to defend the emperor in Hongdu.
Despite being called loyalist armies, apart from Zhang Yun's army, which was the furthest away in the northwest and was traveling at full speed, the other armies were moving at an incredibly slow pace.
A month later, Hongcheng fell, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor immolated themselves in the palace, and the Taiping Army stormed into Hongcheng, killing, burning, looting and committing all kinds of atrocities. In a short time, they destroyed most of the prosperous Hongcheng.
Meanwhile, the various loyalist troops who were originally "on the way" suddenly seemed to have divine assistance and arrived in Hongcheng within a day, surrounding the hundreds of thousands of Taiping soldiers in Hongcheng.
The Taiping army was unwilling to give up and wanted to break out.
But in the end, they were just a motley crew of refugees who had temporarily gathered together. They stormed into Rainbow City with a surge of ferocity, and after reaping the fruits of victory, they lost their previous fearless and ruthless drive.
No matter how many people there are, they are just a disorganized mess.
The Taiping army was routed by the various loyalist forces lying in wait, suffering a crushing defeat. In the end, only their leader, Sun Chengping, managed to escape with just over four thousand followers.
When the various feudal lords besieged Rainbow City, they had already reached an agreement—
Whoever kills Sun Chengping, the leader of the Taiping Army, avenges the emperor, and retrieves the imperial seal will be honored as emperor. Naturally, Sun Chengping cannot be allowed to escape.
The remnants of the Taiping Rebellion were being pursued by various warlords. In their panic, they ran into the Northwest Army, which was rushing to the scene.
Sun Chengping committed suicide, and his four thousand remaining soldiers all surrendered to Zhang Yun.
The imperial seal naturally fell into Zhang Yun's hands.
Zhang Yun was dumbfounded.
The various warlords who caught up were also dumbfounded.
They were naturally dissatisfied and demanded that Zhang Yun hand over the imperial seal, or they would attack him en masse.
Zhang Yun sneered and arrogantly declared, "Who's afraid of who?"
If negotiations fail, the natural outcome is that a direct confrontation will escalate into war.
Although the total strength of the various princes and kings was more than 200,000, they came from all over the country and their orders were not unified. When they fought, they were like wolves and dogs. How could they compare to the Northwest Army, which had been stationed on the frontier for many years, had strict military discipline, advanced and well-equipped, and had recently fought a tough battle with the Hu people?
With Xue Gui, Guo Zicheng, and other fierce generals under Zhang Yun's command, they fought like wolves among sheep, crushing everything in their path.
The battle lasted only two days. The allied forces of the feudal lords were defeated and nearly 10,000 died, tens of thousands surrendered, and tens of thousands fled.
Zhang Yun led his troops into Hongdu, and in the end, the King of the Northwest became the biggest winner.
Everything was going so smoothly that when Zhang Yun entered the palace and sat on the throne revered by thousands, he could hardly believe it.
It's important to know that in the original story, Qin Zheng went through countless near-death experiences and dramatic ups and downs as he gradually unified the world.
But now that it's my turn, it's going incredibly smoothly.
Zhang Yun vaguely felt that there was something wrong, but he couldn't figure out where the problem was, so he could only attribute it all to the protagonist's luck.
...
The day after the Northwest Army entered Hongcheng, in a remote and deserted house.
A person knelt in front of Qin Zheng.
If Zhang Yun saw this person, he would be greatly surprised.
Upon closer examination of this man's appearance, one would find that he bore a striking resemblance, to Sun Chengping, the Taiping leader who had committed suicide in front of him two days prior.
The man knelt before Qin Zheng and kowtowed three times before saying, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for giving me this opportunity to personally kill the Empress Dowager and the treacherous minister, and avenge the fifty-seven family members who died unjustly!"
Qin Zheng said indifferently, "Sun Chengping, the son of Marquis Dingwu, is dead. From today onwards, you will be called Sun Ren, and you will be the deputy general under Xue Gui, leading the four thousand Taiping soldiers who surrendered to the heir."
"Yes!" Sun Ren replied respectfully.
"After the Crown Prince enters the Eastern Palace, I will advise him to re-examine the wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice within the last twenty years. The Marquis of Dingwu's family is full of loyal and righteous men, and their deeds will surely be made public."
Sun Ren's eyes were red, and he kowtowed heavily again, "Your Majesty's great kindness is something I can never repay even if I die."
Qin Zheng started to move, as if he was about to leave, but as he passed by him, he suddenly leaned down and whispered in his ear, "How does it feel to sit on the dragon throne?"
In an instant, Sun Ren felt as if he had been struck by lightning, his mind went blank, and he didn't know how to answer.
Qin Zheng did not want to hear his answer.
He patted Sun Ren on the shoulder twice, then got up and left.
It wasn't until long after he left, long enough for Sun Ren's legs to go numb from kneeling, that he slowly came to his senses. His clothes were completely soaked with cold sweat.
...
There are many things to deal with after the war: appease the people, win back their hearts, and win over the civil officials... At the same time, we also need to send someone to bring the Northwest King over to take charge of Hongdu.
The Northwest King was the uncle of the young emperor who committed suicide by fire, and their branch of the family also carried the legitimate royal blood of the Yun Kingdom.
With the emperor's direct bloodline now extinct, the most qualified to inherit the throne are naturally these princes.
When Qin Zheng came in, Zhang Yun was rubbing her temples. When she saw him come in, she immediately hugged him like a little puppy, looking aggrieved.
"What's wrong? What's bothering you again?" Qin Zheng asked with a doting expression.
"It was my father who sent him to take charge of the overall situation. He replied that his injuries had not yet healed and that it was not advisable for him to travel long distances, and told me to handle it myself!"
Zhang Yun was annoyed. "Ugh! This is so annoying! I've always hated dealing with official business! And now there's more and more of it!"
Qin Zheng chuckled and patted his head: "Is this already annoying? There's more to come."
Zhang Yun pulled him down to sit, straddled his lap, and wrapped her arms around his neck, saying coquettishly, "Don't you have a lot of capable people under you? Do you have any who are good at internal affairs? Could you transfer a few more over to help me?"
Qin Zheng put one arm around his waist and raised the other to flick his nose, saying seriously, "A good portion of the generals in your army are my men. Now they're even asking me for people for internal affairs. Aren't you afraid I'll sideline you?"
Zhang Yun chuckled and whispered in his ear, "Darling, please hurry up and sideline me. I don't want this torturous power at all. I just want to be your only Zitong..."
The memorials were scattered all over the floor.
The person responsible for reviewing them now occupied their place, their golden crown fell off, their black hair cascading down, tightly entwining the man pressing down on them.
...
Three months later, the Northwest King finally arrived in Rainbow City.
She proclaimed to the world that she had ascended the throne and taken the title of Empress Amaterasu.
The princess was made empress, Zhang Yun was made crown prince, Lin was made crown princess, Xu was made concubine, and their daughters were all made princesses.
Zhang Caiyue was granted the title of Princess Zhenguo and was given command of the military and political power in the Northwest.
Zhang Caixing was granted the title of Princess Protector of the Nation and continued to be in charge of the defense of Luoyan Pass with Yang Xin.
Qin Zheng was appointed Marquis of Champion, Commander of the Imperial Guards, and concurrently Grand Marshal of the Imperial City Army.
As for the other civil and military officials, their merits were rewarded and their positions were determined, which need not be detailed here.
Subsequently, the emperor issued an imperial edict appointing the crown prince to oversee government affairs, thus dumping the political duties onto Zhang Yun, while he himself continued to be a hands-off manager under the pretext of poor health.
Just when Zhang Yun thought he could finally take a long vacation with his Grand Marshal and enjoy a couple of carefree days, he could only silently pick up his imperial brush and continue working overtime.
At the end of that year, the Hu people invaded the border again.
Champion Hou Qinzheng led the team into battle.
With the main character involved, is the outcome even a question?
Qin Zheng led only 30,000 cavalrymen and marched straight to the capital of the Hu people, conquering all the Hu tribes!
The rebellion of the Hu people, which had plagued Dayun since the founding of the dynasty, has finally been completely resolved in this dynasty. This is a great achievement that will benefit future generations!
The people of Yun have suffered under the barbarians for far too long!
As reports of victories arrived from the border, and spoils of war and prisoners were continuously transported from the north to the capital, the entire Yun Kingdom rejoiced, praising Qin Zheng as the second war god of Yun.
(Northwest Army: The Crown Prince is the number one war god, no arguments allowed! ╭(╯^╰)╮\/ Yun Kingdom citizens: Yes, yes, you're all right!)
The various feudal lords and their troops, who had been observing from the sidelines, saw that Zhang Yun had such a powerful general who had directly defeated the renowned Hu people and wiped out their kingdom. They all immediately submitted petitions to Zhang Yun in the capital, expressing their willingness to submit.
For the few remaining disobedient lords who still harbored ambitions for the throne, Zhang Yun wrote directly to Qin Zheng, instructing him to "gently persuade" them by passing through their territories on his return journey.
Thus, after Qin Zheng returned victorious, the Yun Kingdom was completely unified.
The emperor had already passed the throne to Zhang Yun before Qin Zheng led his army to conquer the grasslands, and went off to become the retired emperor, taking the empress dowager, who seemed to have something to say but was reluctant to say it, to the southern palace to enjoy a carefree life.
After Zhang Yun ascended the throne, he adopted the imperial title Xinggan and appointed Qin Zheng as the Prince of Halberds, giving him supreme military and political power.
He was the first and only person in the history of the Yun Kingdom to be granted the title of king despite not being of the same surname.
Zhang Yun showered Qin Zheng with a whole host of privileges, such as the right to wear a sword in the palace, not having to bow to the emperor, sitting during court sessions, and free access to the palace, elevating Qin Zheng's status to almost the same level as the emperor.
The relationship between Zhang Yun and Qin Zheng as ruler and subject has completely refreshed the understanding of the court officials!
This was the first time they had ever seen someone whose achievements overshadowed the emperor's, yet the emperor not only showed no fear of them but also bestowed upon them the title of king and showered them with various favors.
This is unprecedented in history.
The relationship between Zhang Yun and Qin Zheng, a relationship between ruler and subject, was naturally recorded by historians and became a timeless tale, influencing countless rulers and ministers throughout history...
In the second year of Xinggan, the government was efficient and the people were harmonious, and everything was in need of rebuilding.
In the third year of Xinggan, the Empress gave birth to a legitimate son, who was then made Crown Prince.
For the next twenty years, the Yun Kingdom was well-governed, with all foreign countries submitting and paying tribute, and the world at peace.
In the thirtieth year of Xinggan's reign, Emperor Xinggan abdicated in favor of his crown prince, proclaimed himself the Retired Emperor, and retired with Prince Ji, who had never married. The two traveled together, creating a beautiful story.
The new emperor was named Jingzhi. Emperor Jingzhi inherited his father's ambition and worked diligently, pushing the prosperity of the Yun Kingdom to a new peak.
This period is historically known as the "Reign of Gan and Jing".
(End of this volume)
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