Chapter 4: Mr. Da, the Strategist
Judging from the information from the previous world, her cousin, the Crown Prince, was much more sober and rational than his father, the Emperor. He lacked the obvious tendency to be ambitious and suspicious, and he had quite a reputation. If he had ascended the throne sooner, perhaps the Great Zhou Dynasty would not have perished so quickly.
Telling the prince about this matter at the same time is like adding an extra layer of insurance.
"Mr. Du is indeed a talented person who has been planning for the royal palace for many years. He has thought things through carefully. I will do as you say." Liu Ziye praised sincerely.
Before Du Hui arrived, he had never imagined that the young marquis had asked him to come for a serious matter. He even received the young marquis's approval and praise for the first time. He could only secretly sigh, "If the prince is still alive, the prince has really grown up overnight!"
Seeing that he had entered the state, Liu Ziye stood up alone and began to look around the old prince's study.
It would take at least a month for the Chief Secretary's memorial to be sent out before the Emperor and the Crown Prince in Yanjing received it and made the final decision. No matter how many points could be gained by doing this well, that would have to be a month later.
Right now, she also urgently needs a way to quickly gain points.
While wandering around the study, she couldn't help but glance at Du Hui who was writing excitedly several times.
This person seems to be working very hard, but why is there no notification from the system and the points remain unchanged?
The reason why Liu Ziye chose Du Hui as the target of his rebellion was naturally not a random act.
While she was soaking in the bath, she had already absorbed and digested the world line information loaded by the system. Just as that unreliable broken system had said, in her previous life, the original owner had indeed died on the day the eunuch sent by the emperor arrived to announce the decree. After the original owner's death, some of the officials and staff of the Xiguan Palace turned to the eunuch Liu and became slaves, some resolutely lived and died with the palace and were directly killed, and some took advantage of the chaos to escape the palace and seek other ways to make a living.
Du Hui is one of the third category.
Even after he left the palace, he still caused quite a stir in the Great Zhou Dynasty.
According to the information provided by this world line, after leaving the Xiguan Palace, this Du Hui traveled south to seek refuge with the King of Yiyang in the southeast. Years later, when the original owner's uncle, the emperor, was facing criticism both internally and externally, it was this King of Yiyang, as the crowned king of the Great Zhou Dynasty, who raised the first banner of anti-imperialism within the Great Zhou Dynasty.
At that time, Du Hui was one of the three most important counselors around King Yi Yang.
Liu Ziye guessed that Du Hui must have contributed a lot to Prince Yi Yang becoming the first force to rebel against the emperor.
The reason why Du Hui spared no effort to instigate Prince Yiyang to rebel against his uncle the emperor was obviously related to the fact that he was born in the Xiguan Palace, which was suppressed by his uncle the emperor.
This is a person whose power should not be underestimated and who has friendship with the King of Xiguan.
If such a person with the power to stir up the world could be successfully kept in the Marquis' Mansion and willingly used by oneself.
Liu Ziye just doesn’t believe that the points won’t increase significantly!
In addition, after receiving the world line information, Liu Ziye once again had an intuitive understanding of the difficulty of his so-called mission.
Doesn’t her so-called thousand-mile fiefdom now sound like a very large area, at least?
But compared with the entire Zhou Dynasty, it is not enough.
The Zhou Dynasty, founded by Emperor Shengzu, stretched from the ancient Great Wall in the north to the South China Sea, eight thousand miles away, and from the Yumen Pass in the west to the shores of the East China Sea, five thousand miles away.
The Great Zhou Dynasty governed thirty-six prefectures and three hundred and twenty cities, each with an average of ten thousand households. Four garrisons in the border states, two in the central states, and the imperial guards of Yanjing totaled a million men. All of this was now controlled by the uncle, the emperor.
Eight years have passed since the original world line, when the emperor's uncle committed suicide in various ways, which eventually led to the alienation between the emperor and his subjects, the grief of the people, and the fall of the dynasty due to the rise of rebellion.
Although the Emperor's uncle was gradually losing popularity, his cousin, the Crown Prince, had moderated his influence, and his killing of meritorious officials hadn't reached its most brutal point. The people had been in chaos for too long, and now, finally, they could tolerate his actions for the time being.
Look at yourself again.
The so-called thousand-mile fiefdom was only the area of one of the thirty-six counties, and the number of households in the entire county was only the number of one city.
Two armies are stationed at the ancient Great Wall in the northwest and Yumen Pass to guard the border, and there are guards stationed in the southeast direction of the capital to guard the second line of defense.
If she made any rash move, there would be no need to send out a large army. Just send a troop of a thousand men to destroy her entire mansion.
Let’s talk about her fiefdom again.
In the original world line, the Xiguan Palace was completely destroyed in this desolate land after the death of its original owner. In the same year, the largest snowstorm in the 30 years since the founding of the dynasty struck the northwest border.
In this cold and snowy winter, houses on the northwestern border collapsed and Xisai Lake was frozen for dozens of miles.
The local residents are accustomed to digging the lake surface in winter and taking snow fish from the lake as a side dish to supplement the energy and fat needs of meat, and add a year's stored food to survive the winter.
This year, the people had just experienced a famine, and their food stores were insufficient. The snow and deep ice on the lake made excavation more difficult. The people, having lost their homes and already suffered from the severe cold, collapsed in the snow and ice of Xisai Lake.
The remaining people surrounded the Xiguan County Governor's Mansion and begged him for relief. During this process, it is unknown what happened, but it eventually triggered a civil uprising in which the victims besieged the Governor's Mansion.
Although the governor's office does not have enough soldiers under its jurisdiction, Xiguan is the place with the most border garrisons in the surrounding area.
How could these hungry and cold people be a match for the imperial border guards?
After a brutal massacre, only a few hundred border residents managed to escape with their lives and fled to the mountains and forests. Until the fall of the Zhou Dynasty and the continuous war in the Central Plains, these border residents disappeared.
After that, Xiguan ceased to be an independent prefecture and was incorporated into the joint management of neighboring prefectures. Years later, when the Great Zhou Dynasty was facing internal and external difficulties, the border garrisons along Xiguan, at the emperor's request, abandoned their original defense line, completely clearing out this desolate land and retreating to a secondary line of defense.
The once thousands of miles of frontier has completely become a battlefield for border confrontations.
It was now late October, and the heavy snow that had brought despair to the thousands of miles of northwestern border was about to fall in less than two months...
She is now benefiting from the imperial edict of her uncle the emperor today. Although she has been given the title of marquis, she has only the title but no salary. If the people in the northwest border die out again, she will probably have to starve to death as well.
"Young Marquis! Young Marquis! This old servant has something to say."
There was a shout outside the study. It was the old butler Liu Biao who had finally arrived after receiving the notification.
Liu Biao's voice was obviously breathless due to anxiety and blood loss.
After shouting hurriedly, he did not enter the room without permission, but continued to wait in the outer room of the study.
Immersed in thought, Liu Ziye picked up a few books and stepped out from the rows of bookshelves: "Well, come in."
After getting permission, Liu Biao hurriedly staggered in, holding the door. Behind him was Liu Bing, the housekeeper's godson, who followed him closely, ready to lend a hand at any time.
The wound on his head had been simply bandaged, but was still oozing blood.
Liu Biao, however, was too disinterested to care. "Young Marquis, I've heard you're looking for Mr. Du... When the prince was alive, Mr. Du worked tirelessly for the prince and our Xiguan Palace for over a decade! What was the situation our palace was in then? Later, with the rise of numerous kings in the Great Zhou Dynasty and the abundance of wonderful places to visit, Mr. Du never harbored any resentment, let alone the thought of abandoning our prince! Now, his official position has been demoted along with our palace, and he's even left with nowhere to stay..."
"We have to be fair to him and not use the same dirty tricks on Mr. Du as we did in the past!"
"And this study, you can't..."
He looked around and saw the neat and tidy study without any signs of damage, and suddenly stopped the second half of what he was about to say.
Du Hui, who was sitting quietly at the desk, holding a long pen and obviously writing furiously before he came, was now looking at him without blinking and with an embarrassed expression.
Steward Liu Biao: ...
Um...it seems that the young marquis hasn't started smashing the study or beating the teacher yet?
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