Chapter 173: Establishing a Crown Prince
Song Benhe and the Nanzhao envoy were both imprisoned in the Shangjing prison. The jailer did not torture them and treated them much better than ordinary prisoners.
Matsumoto Tsuru hugged his knees and leaned against the wall. The envoy from Nanzhao next door was still shouting, but no one paid any attention to him after shouting for a long time. He was so tired that he couldn't speak.
The two couldn't figure out how Da Qi knew that they had conspired to poison Yeluta.
"What should we do? It seems that Daqi doesn't want to let us go!" said the Nanzhao envoy with some concern.
Matsumoto Tsuru was even more anxious than him. Unlike the envoys from Nanzhao, he was a prince representing the Kingdom of Fuso. If the Emperor of Daqi was angry with his own country because of this incident, he would rather die!
"Did you leak the news?"
The Nanzhao envoy stood up excitedly and said, "Bullshit! If you hadn't taken the initiative to write to our king and said that this was foolproof, how could we have easily tried it? I even suspected that this was a trap you deliberately set for us!"
Matsumoto Tsuruya said angrily: "What good will this trap do to me?!"
"Who knows?"
Matsumoto Tsuru suddenly stood up, knocked on the iron fence and shouted: "I want to see your emperor. I have a way to stop the Jin Kingdom and Nanzhao Kingdom from sending troops!"
There were footsteps outside the door, and Zhao Xiao walked in and asked, "What do you have in mind?"
Matsumoto Tsuru's eyes lit up, knowing that this man was Daqi's general. As long as he could persuade him, Fuso would surely escape the disaster!
"I admit that I was the one who killed Yeluta. If you send me to the Kingdom of Jin, they will naturally not send troops again."
Zhao Xiao remained silent, and Matsumoto Tsurugi continued with hope: "As for the Nanzhao Kingdom, they are a small and barbaric country and are no match for Daqi at all."
The Nanzhao envoy next to him was so angry that his face turned red: "You! You despicable and shameless villain, how dare you say this about us Nanzhao!"
Matsumoto Tsuru ignored him and knelt down, saying: "I was ignorant before and tried to shake the tree with an ant. I beg the Emperor to forgive my sins and not to vent his anger on my country." He was a prince who was very flexible. His knees were as soft as noodles and he would kneel down to anyone he met.
"It's too late. Binzhou's navy has already attacked Fuso. In a month, there will be no Fuso anymore."
Matsumoto Tsuru's eyes widened: "No! You can't do this! The Central Plains is a country of etiquette, how can you bully the weak!"
Zhao Xiao said: "Why not? You can covet Daqi, do we have to give in to you?"
The Nanzhao envoy gloated, “Hahahahaha, you deserve it!”
"You don't have to be happy. The army sent to Nanzhao will arrive at the border soon, and you won't be able to escape by then."
The envoy from Nanzhao was like a rooster whose throat was suddenly strangled. He made a short cry and was unable to utter any more words.
Zhao Xiao came out of the prison and returned to the palace. "As you expected, Matsumoto He took the initiative to ask to go to the Kingdom of Jin."
Song Yuzhu put down the memorial and said, "It seems that the letter was sent to the Kingdom of Jin."
This matter should have been planned by Matsumoto Tsuru, Jin State and Nanzhao. Otherwise, with Matsumoto Tsuru's cowardly character, he would have dared to go to Jin State after killing Yeluta. Song Yuzhu could not guess any other reason.
Zhao Xiao: "Everything is ready in the barracks. We will split the troops into two groups on a chosen day. Zheng Da'an will lead 20,000 troops south to join the Xuzhou garrison to attack Nanzhao. I will lead another group of troops north to support Beiguan."
Song Yuzhu raised her head, her eyes filled with worry: "We must be extremely careful on this trip."
"I know."
Although Song Yuzhu is not a warlike person, he knows that he must fight!
The enemies have already been doing whatever they want in their own home. If they continue to act recklessly, the owner of this house will probably have to be changed!
The six departments have been working overtime in the past few days and are ready for battle.
The Ministry of Revenue allocated 170 million taels of silver for military expenditure, part of which was used for military expenses and the other part was used to purchase food and fodder.
Throughout history, no dynasty has ever been able to allocate so much money to fight a war. It must be said that the recuperation in the past few years has allowed Daqi to accumulate enough wealth.
The country's 28 large iron and steel mills stopped all civilian production and converted into military manufacturing facilities.
The soldiers wore armor made of fine iron, and the weapons they carried were extremely sharp.
The Ministry of Military Industry took out 3,700 improved iron cannons, 100,000 artillery shells, 6,700 muskets, and 1 million bullets, almost using up all the ammunition.
The musket was developed just a few years ago. The first musket was made of pure iron, weighed 130 kilograms, and required two people to work together to shoot.
Later, Song Yuzhu gave them some suggestions, suggesting that the rear end be replaced with wood, which would reduce the weight several times. The disadvantage was that the recoil was large, and the shooter would need to have very skilled techniques.
For this purpose, the army also established a special musket army. They are all experts who never miss a shot. This army is the sharpest blade of Daqi.
On the other hand, the Ministry of War temporarily recruited 370,000 soldiers from 11 states across the country.
Veterans who had retired in the past were recruited to join the army. They had been waiting for this day! After so many years of training, it would be a waste if they didn't go to the battlefield to kill the enemy!
At Shangjing Medical College, more than 300 teachers and students volunteered to go to the battlefield as medical soldiers.
The country was in trouble, and resources were collected from all directions. Before the court even opened its mouth, the two major grain states, Zhongzhou and Jizhou, handed over 3 million dan of wheat and corn. This amount of food was enough for the soldiers to eat for three months!
All railways in the country were temporarily closed to the outside world and were on standby to transport troops and supplies.
*
Everything was ready before the war. On the tenth day of the first lunar month, Song Yuzhu formally appointed Song Yutong as the crown prince in Baohua Hall.
Amid the congratulations of all the civil and military officials in the court, Song Yutong, wearing a black robe and a golden crown on his head, walked up to Song Yuzhu.
Although her face was still childish, her expression was very serious. She pursed her lips and looked majestic without being angry, looking a bit like an emperor.
Because a war was about to break out, the crown prince ceremony was not overly lavish.
After the eunuch read out the edict to establish the crown prince, Song Yuzhu took Princess Changle to burn incense to announce to heaven and earth, offer sacrifices to the gods, and finally receive the title by imperial decree. That was the end.
Despite the bumps and bruises along the way, Song Yuzhu finally pushed her sister to this position.
*
On the 16th day of the first lunar month, Zheng Da'an led 20,000 troops to advance southward. On the same day, Zhao Xiao led 10,000 troops to the North Gate.
A few days before the expedition, the sky was particularly gloomy and the north wind was blowing fiercely.
Song Yuzhu and Song Yutong went to see him off together. He wore a black cloak and walked up to the city wall. In front of tens of thousands of soldiers, he sang loudly: "The wind rises and the clouds fly. My power spreads across the country and I return to my hometown. How can I find brave warriors to guard the four directions!"①
"Son, kill the jackals and protect our hometown!"
The soldiers below raised their arms and shouted: "Kill the jackals! Defend our homeland! Kill the jackals! Defend our homeland!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The war drums sounded, flags flew, and heavy snow fell. In an instant, only white remained between heaven and earth.
Zhao Xiao waved at him from a distance, and the army split into two groups and slowly left.
Song Yuzhu stood on the city wall and watched them go away.
"Brother Emperor, it's windy up there, let's go back to the palace." Song Yutong pulled him and whispered.
Song Yuzhu clenched his fist and coughed a few times, his face flushed abnormally: "Let's go."
In order to plan this campaign, he had been busy for half a month without sleep. His body, which had just recovered, was going on strike again due to overwork.
After returning to the palace, Song Yutong said, "Brother Emperor, Brother Zhao told me to tell you before he left that you must have a good rest. Leave the rest to us, don't worry about it!"
Song Yuzhu looked at her sister's serious expression and couldn't help but curl her eyes: "Brother is fine."
"No!" Song Yutong snatched the memorial from his hand.
"Go and have a rest. I will read all the memorials and dictate them to you later."
Song Yuzhu pinched her nose helplessly: "What if I tire you out?"
Song Yutong counted on his fingers and said, "No, I can now run 5,000 meters, lift an 80-jin hammer, ride a horse and shoot a wild deer, and I can even defeat Li Dehai with my bare hands!"
Song Yuzhu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Well, his younger sister was still a strong woman.
He really needed to take a break, but he was still worried about leaving all these matters to Tongtong, so he summoned Xu Bing and Qin Fengtu to the palace and asked them to assist their sister in handling government affairs.
Originally, Qin Fengtu had always been resentful about the Emperor appointing Princess Changle as the crown prince. Unexpectedly, after working together this time, his opinion of Princess Changle changed instantly!
A little girl who just turned twelve years old, not only was she familiar with government affairs and handled her work without delay, but she also clearly distinguished between rewards and punishments. Compared with Song Yuzhu's kindness, Song Yutong was more decisive and ruthless like an emperor.
This is such a pleasant surprise!
Qin Fengtu always felt that the current emperor was too kind, which made the ministers less respectful. Princess Changle was just right, neither tyrannical nor indiscriminate, nor encouraging evil tendencies. It was a blessing for Daqi to have such a crown prince!
In the Shangshufang, Song Yutong sat at the desk and arranged a pile of memorials. These were the ones she had reviewed today.
It was getting late outside, so she stood up and said, "Uncles, it's cold so go back early."
"Yes." Xu Bing and Qin Fengtu bowed and took their leave.
Walking out of the study, the two looked at each other and couldn't help but smile.
"To be honest, I never thought that the princess would be such a wonderful person."
Qin Fengtu couldn't help but say, "Just now I asked her what she thought about Daqi's use of troops against the Jin Kingdom. Listen to her answer!"
"Using force is a bad idea. It can only temporarily relieve the siege. As long as Daqi cannot destroy the Jin Kingdom, they will find a chance to attack Daqi in ten years."
Xu Bing nodded: "Princess, what you said is indeed correct."
"She also said that if we want long-term peace and stability, the best strategy is to conquer the hearts of the people. Now the Jin Kingdom has three princes. If we can let them fight among themselves and split into three countries, the Jin Kingdom will no longer have the strength to fight against Daqi."
Qin Fengtu clapped his hands and said, "This, this is actually an idea thought up by a child!" He also has a daughter, who is about the same age as the princess. She has a naive personality and apart from reading a few books and writing a few poems, she knows nothing about court affairs, let alone understanding the current situation in the world.
I thought the princess was at most stronger than my daughter, but I didn't expect her to be so powerful!
Xu Bing smiled and said, "Don't you want to see who her teacher is?"
Chen Li, the former imperial tutor, was the teacher of Emperor Longwu and was well versed in the ways of being a monarch. Gao Yi, the tutor of the crown prince, was a man of extraordinary talent. These two elderly men, who were nearly 70 years old, were personally invited by Song Yuzhu to teach her younger sister.
In addition, Song Yuzhu and Zhao Xiao had heard it from their own experience, so how could Song Yutong be wrong?
"It is a great joy in life to be able to assist such a wise ruler and crown prince! I'll treat you today, have a drink with me!"
Xu Bing said: "It is my honor, please come to my place!"
(End of this chapter)
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