Chapter 76: King An decided to follow the example of the Zhou Emperor and learn...
"Your Majesty, you must not let your guard down. Queen Dowager An has thousands of palace guards at her disposal. As the Queen Dowager, she can command all officials and mobilize troops. We must be on guard."
Seeing that the king did not respond, Juyan became anxious and wanted to explain the matter directly.
That is, Empress Dowager An was capable of rebelling.
"The child she gave birth to will not have royal blood. It's true that the Queen Mother can mobilize troops, but I'm not so incompetent as to be dethroned by such a small number of people."
Shen Zhiwei felt that there was nothing wrong with this matter. Queen Mother An could give birth to a child if she wanted and raise the child if she wanted. With such a big palace, it would not be difficult to raise ten or eight children, let alone one.
That was the privilege of Empress Dowager An as the Empress Dowager, just like she had the right to mobilize troops, but these rights depended on whether the monarch fully agreed. Shen Zhiwei was in power now, and Empress Dowager An could not do anything beyond her control, including raising children.
Shen Zhiwei felt a little angry, but not because of the fact that Empress Dowager An raised a child, but because Empress Dowager An deliberately concealed it from her and raised the child secretly.
Did Empress Dowager An think that she couldn't even accommodate a few children?
Shen Zhiwei thought, she had even tolerated those princes claiming to be kings in the past, Queen Mother An really underestimated her. The key point was that Queen Mother An's move was indeed full of doubts in the eyes of outsiders. It was no wonder that Ju Yan felt that Queen Mother An might usurp the throne in the future.
There is nothing kind about concealing this act.
"Your Majesty is now firmly on the throne, so there's really no need to worry about anything else. However, you still need to consider the long term. Your Majesty has yet to have an heir, and you have no one to rely on..."
Boyou spoke hesitantly, his words implying the same thing: Shen Zhiwei had no offspring, and Empress Dowager An's child would be a threat as soon as it was born. Even if Shen Zhiwei gave birth to the future emperor, as long as Empress Dowager An was alive, the child would still be a threat.
Shen Zhiwei heard it and realized that this was a way to induce birth.
After all, she really had the throne to inherit. Before, she was young and the former King of Zhou had just died, so naturally no one urged her. Now that the former King of Zhou had passed away for many years and she was old, she had to have a descendant, so that the court officials would feel at ease.
People may die at any time, even the emperor will die. Without descendants, who will inherit this vast world?
Shen Zhiwei was silent for a moment, then waved his hand to silence the two.
"I understand your thoughts. The Queen Mother has just been pregnant for a short time. She is old and this baby may not be able to stay in the womb. Let's talk about it later."
Shen Zhiwei did not plan to let Queen Mother An give birth to the child, otherwise she was afraid that Queen Mother An would think about how to kill her all day long and support her child to take the throne.
It’s not that I’m afraid of Empress Dowager An, but I think it’s troublesome. If something really happens, who knows how many lives will be lost. It’s better to nip this matter in the bud and get rid of it once and for all.
Empress Dowager An is old, and it would be bad if something went wrong if she gave birth to a child at this age. She was thinking about the lives of many people.
No one in the world would believe that Empress Dowager An would live a quiet life with her children. The secret plot between Empress Dowager An and her eldest son, whose head and body were separated, was known to everyone. Moreover, there were similar events in history for Shen Zhiwei to refer to. People are greedy, and Empress Dowager An is not someone who can live a life that sticks to her original intention.
As for his heir, Shen Zhiwei had made plans. Starting today, he would set up an orphanage to adopt some orphans from the public and support the elderly.
Pick out a smart and lively girl from among them and keep her by your side as your heir.
Just tell others that she gave birth to the baby. Faking a pregnancy is not difficult. Just wrap your belly with a few layers of cloth.
As for the child's father, just keep it anonymous and make up a few names. Anyway, Shen Zhiwei didn't make it up, and there were many people who fabricated romantic debts for her to create the image of a romantic king for her.
Shen Zhiwei asked Yanxia to do these things. Yanxia didn't expect that she would be given such an important task. She was so nervous that her lips turned pale. If this were to get out, it would be a serious crime of confusing the royal bloodline!
"Yanxia, childbirth is too risky for women. If they're not careful, they could die. I have to leave this life for the rest of the world. I can't lose it just for a child. Do you understand?"
Shen Zhiwei didn't hide her true thoughts at all. She just felt that having a child would cost her life, so she didn't want to have one.
Yanxia is also a woman, so of course she understands the difficulty of having a child, but confusing the bloodline is a big deal. If it is not the royal bloodline, will it really be recognized by heaven and earth?
"Your Majesty, if you are not of royal blood, heaven and earth will not tolerate you."
"Then let's look for the royal bloodline. After the princes' kingdoms were destroyed, many of them were orphans left alone in the world. The princes and I were one family thousands of years ago."
It is said that the royal bloodline is cut off, but in fact it is not cut off at all. If you go back several generations, everyone has the same ancestor.
Shen Zhiwei didn't mind the child's background. As long as he called her mother, he was destined to have the surname Si in this life. He was raised by her, so the surname was inherited from her.
Yanxia was convinced by Shen Zhiwei. Indeed, the princes and the Zhou royal family were from the same family, and some even had the same surname.
After arranging this matter, Shen Zhiwei sent people to keep an eye on Empress Dowager An to ensure that she could not give birth to this baby, and the matter would be resolved.
However, Empress Dowager An's behavior reminded Shen Zhiwei of An Guo. She felt that An Guo had never been very obedient. Once the affairs of the Northern Kingdom were resolved, An Guo would be the next one to be punished.
The war between the many countries and the Northern Kingdom has come to an end. The one that has won a great victory is naturally the multinational coalition army. The Northern Kingdom has suffered heavy losses. No matter how good the Northern Kingdom's soldiers are at fighting, they cannot defeat the elite troops of so many countries.
When the allied forces began to discuss how to divide the North, Jingchang's army was defeated.
Hu Youan was appointed as the general again and led the troops to capture the north. With the previous ten cities as a foundation, Hu Youan took one step at a time and took very solid steps. He quickly captured cities and territories. Before the allied forces could react, Jingchang's army had already swallowed up most of the north.
Hu Youan led the troops in a way that was unstoppable. No matter whether the army stationed in the city ahead was from the Northern Kingdom or not, she would attack them without hesitation, making the Allied Forces complain bitterly. Many princes of the Allied Forces sent envoys to Jingchang, wanting to reason with Shen Zhiwei and let Shen Zhiwei take care of Hu Youan.
They've already taken those cities; they're theirs! Hu Youan attacks any city he sees and kills anyone he sees. Is Jingchang planning to declare war on all the princes in the world?
The princes clamored for an explanation from the Zhou emperor. They might have gone too far in attacking the Northern Kingdom and thought that the fake "emperor" of the Northern King was vulnerable and that the real emperor of Jingchang was not to be feared either.
Then Shen Zhi smiled and ordered his men to tie up the envoys one by one and send them back to the princes, telling them that if they wanted to fight, they could do so and not waste their time.
Jingchang is no longer what it used to be. These princes shout about their happiness, but in fact, they can't beat Jingchang at all. They had to fight the dying Northern King for so long, and even had to unite to fight. How dare they declare war on the powerful Jingchang?
"Everyone, please inform your 'Great King' that I am the Son of Heaven, and all the lands belong to the Great Zhou. Tell them to wait patiently for the Great Zhou cavalry to open their city gates, reclaim the lost territory, and restore the dignity of the Great Zhou royal family."
Shen Zhiwei's words seemed to imply that the princes were waiting for death. The envoys fled in a hurry, but were still tied up and escorted back to their own countries, which severely slapped the princes in the face.
Gui Yang exclaimed in delight, but she also felt that the king was truly merciful. Who couldn't deliver the message? Why did he have to let the envoys go? He said he should have cut off the envoys' heads and sent them, along with the royal decree, to the princes.
After listening to Gui Yang's idea, Shen Zhiwei called Gui Yang a coward. He not only wanted the lives of the envoys, but also the lives of the Jingchang soldiers.
If the envoy's head was really sent, it would be strange that Jingchang's soldiers could come back alive. Even if those princes did not want to kill Jingchang's people, they would be forced to kill them under pressure. By then, both sides would have shed blood and would have been forced to go to war.
Jingchang is indeed powerful, but not strong enough to face all the princes at once. Today's Jingchang looks shiny on the outside, but is still weak on the inside.
Because of the severe shortage of manpower, the conquered territories needed to be rebuilt and suitable people had to be re-assigned to take over. Talents were not like crops in the fields that could be grown in a year. Shen Zhiwei was so short of manpower that he wanted to pull all the students in the academy to do the work.
But that won’t work. If you really arrange a bunch of new people to manage a place, that’s not reconstruction, that’s destruction.
She didn't want the dynasty she founded to be as short-lived as the Qin Dynasty, like a meteor across the sky.
After the New Year, the imperial examination was held again. The number of participants in the second examination was greater, but the number of talents selected was smaller, and the number of talents was far less amazing than in the first session.
Those who were selected in the first imperial examination had basically already started their work and were shining in one field. Among them were some who were particularly talented and had made great achievements after just one year of work, such as top talents like Qiong Yu and Xia Qing, and there were dozens of second-level talents available.
Among the people who came out of the second imperial examination, only about ten were useful. They were considered usable talents, but they could not be used immediately and had to be trained first.
Because in the second session, a considerable number of students are from the north. Although they came to Jingchang early and passed the imperial examinations in Jingchang, they are still students from the north at heart. They don’t have a very good understanding of Mandarin, simplified Chinese characters and Jingchang’s policies. Even if they are properly trained, it will probably take one or two months before they can really use them.
The territory of the Northern Kingdom fell into the hands of Jingchang. King Yue of the North and other royal family members died for their country, and their loyal ministers followed them. The rest of the students were not so loyal to the Northern Kingdom. They were nominally citizens of the Great Zhou two years ago, but now they have simply returned to the status of citizens of the Great Zhou.
Finally, the dust settled. Two-thirds of the northern land was taken by Hu Youan, and the remaining one-third was divided up by the coalition forces of various countries. Anguo took a larger piece and became the largest vassal state among the remaining vassal states.
Prince An Zhuo also realized his previous wish and conquered a larger territory than his father.
Because of his previous experience of not managing the territory he had conquered, which led to rebellions and backstabbing in various places, after Prince An took the city this time, he, like Shen Zhiwei, removed all the local officials and replaced them with his own people.
He copied Jingchang's handling method completely. After Shen Zhiwei learned about this, he always felt that this action was a little familiar.
When she implemented the system of conferring titles based on military merit, it seemed that several vassal states followed suit. What was the result?
The result was that the policy was not suitable for the local conditions and caused great turmoil.
Shen Zhiwei also felt that Prince An's move was not a good idea, because Jingchang was the orthodox Zhou Dynasty, but Anguo was not.
It is useless to just remove local officials. If An Guo really wants to recapture a place, he must relocate all the local people, cut off the local people's roots, and completely sever their ties with the Northern Kingdom. He must also disperse the original northerners, let them live with the An Guo people, and gradually integrate into the country before he can truly digest the area.
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