140 BC.

Gengzi, autumn.

The Great Chu Emperor Xiang Yanran drove out to Danyang to quell the rebellion against Xiang Bi, the king of Wu, and did not hesitate. Return to Jinling, after a month, Xu.

Inside the Royal Palace.

The ministers, concubines and eunuchs fell to the ground in front of the dragon couch, howling and crying.

"Great Chu Emperor Xiang Yanran.

The edict said:

I, since the pro-government, I have respected the heavens and the ancestors, worked hard all night, worked diligently day and night, and slept hard. And his lifelong long-cherished wish is to return to Le, and his unfulfilled wish is not without regrets.

Today's crown prince Xiang Tiange, fourteen years old and young, brave and diligent, has the legacy of Taizu, the fate of the Great Chu Emperor, diligent national politics.

He ordered Li Rong, the chief lieutenant, Kong Hanyou, the prime minister, Wang Su, the imperial historian, Chu Tianxiu, the hussar general, and Xie Anran, the Jiuqing Shaofu, to be the five auxiliary ministers. When there is a dispute in the court, the five ministers will discuss together, and the majority will be decided.

When the young emperor was eighteen years old, the five auxiliary ministers returned to the young emperor.

The ministers above Jiuqing, each holding a copy of the edict, give it!

Announce to the world, and make the salty envoy known. ”

Cai and the great eunuch wiped their tears and read out the edict of the first emperor.

Only then did the three princes and the ministers of Jiuqing open a volume of edicts in their hands one after another, compare them with each other, and there is no difference with the edict read by Cai He.

But they were still shocked.

In the emperor's edict, a total of five auxiliary ministers were elected.

It is not surprising that the third prince is among the auxiliary ministers.

They are all in their fifties and sixties, and they are all senior ministers who have stood in the court for decades, and they have extremely high prestige inside and outside the court, and they are all faction leaders.

Only, Xiao Duhou and Xie Anran, who were young in their twenties and thirties, were promoted above Jiuqing and became the auxiliary ministers of the young emperor.

The two of them were more than thirty years younger than the other ministers, and they were among the nine kings, as the auxiliary ministers of the young emperor.

This is extremely rare in the entire Great Chu Dynasty.

...

Next, for the emperor's funeral, the ministers were busy for several days.

However, the kingdom cannot be left without an owner for a day, and the crown prince will soon ascend the throne.

With the assistance of the four auxiliary ministers of Jinling, Prime Minister Kong Hanyou, the imperial historian Wang Su, the hussar general Xiao Duhou, and the Shaofu Xie Anran, the crown prince Xiang Tiange quickly ascended the throne and became the emperor, and began to govern the state affairs of the Great Chu Dynasty.

Xiang Tiange suddenly ascended the throne and became emperor overnight from the crown prince, obviously very unsuitable for this kind of change, and he was helpless about how to deal with the government.

The newly defeated princes of the Ten Roads, the top priority of the imperial court is, of course, to deal with these defeated princes, their dependents, and subordinate forces.

Every morning, hundreds of ministers come to the state politics one after another, each holding their own opinions, and making a noise.

Xiang Tiange sat on the high throne of the Jinluan Treasure Hall, looking at the black and oppressive crowd of ministers arguing below, feeling a buzzing in his head, and a mess.

In the past, when his father was on the throne, he sat on the crown prince's throne, and he only felt that the state affairs were simple, boring and boring. Ministers have to argue about something that is so simple.

Now he sits in the seat of his father, and when he has to make a decision, he feels that there are thousands of complicated things and countless tricky things.

In the rebellion of the princes, there are still a large number of remnants who have absconded and need to be pursued.

The rebels' deserted soldiers were in rebellion in the counties, and the number of bandits increased greatly, and they needed to be cleared immediately.

The autumn grain harvest is imminent, but many county towns, even the county orders have been killed by the princes. The small county towns that were captured by the princes' rebels were even more innumerable, and the local finances were extremely difficult.

One pile after another, rushing towards him like a mountain.

Xiang Tiange realized how difficult national politics is, every decision will involve thousands of households, and it is necessary to rack his brains to consider countermeasures.

Of course, it wasn't his turn to make a decision.

Taiwei Li Rong is still in the Shuofang area of northern Xinjiang, and the other four auxiliary ministers are presiding over the state affairs, as long as a few of them discuss the plan and finally report it to the young emperor, he can nod.

Xiang Tiange sat on the Jinluan Palace, his face was dazed, and he was stunned to listen to a large number of movements, and he could only look at the four auxiliary ministers and let them make up their minds.

Chu Tianxiu was in the court and rarely made a sound.

It's not that he doesn't have a place to speak.

With his outstanding military exploits and soaring prestige in the army and among the people, all the ministers were worried when they saw him.

Although in the court, he is still a "minority". But there are only a handful of ministers who dare to argue with him. Among the five auxiliary ministers, except for Taiwei Li Rong, the other three together are not enough to fight him.

These court recitals seem to be important, but for Da Chu, most of them are actually trivial things, and they have nothing to do with the general trend, so he is too lazy to bother.

The real big thing, in the rebellion of the princes, this matter has been settled. There is another one, which is the Xiongnu, and the northern expedition to the Xiongnu is a big project.

For trivial matters in internal affairs, let Prime Minister Kong Hanyou, Imperial Doctor Wang Su and Shaofu Xie Anran go to get the idea.

He was also a little more low-key, and the provincial ministers were jealous.

...

Three thousand miles away.

In ancient times, news transmission was slow, and it took a long time for news from the south to reach the northern border. Even if it is a carrier pigeon, it takes about five or six days to ten days.

The distant northern border city of the Great Chu Dynasty - Shuofang City.

Shuofang was a fortified city at the forefront of defending against the Xiongnu, with 30,000 households. Although it is a private household, the border people have always been strong.

In addition, there were 50,000 elite cavalry of the imperial court.

A total of 80,000 soldiers and civilians.

After Taiwei Li Rong arrived in northern Xinjiang, he directly sat in Shuofang City, the most border city, to monitor the movements of the Xiongnu army.

There are not many soldiers and horses stationed in Shuofang City.

However, I saw that dozens of miles outside Shuofang City, there were huge tents. Densely packed, as many as half a million troops.

Although the Xiongnu army was extremely large, it did not attack the city.

There was no intention of attacking Shuo Fang at all.

The Huns, all light cavalry, were good at fighting on the plains, fighting on the enemy's march, riding and shooting and plundering grain and grass. And is not good at attacking the city, if you want to capture this Shuofang City, which is personally commanded by Taiwei Li Rong, I am afraid that it will not be enough to kill 100,000 Huns.

This is a loss that the sparsely populated Huns absolutely cannot afford.

It is pointless to storm Shuofang City, but the price paid is huge.

After all, the Great Chu Dynasty was full of fortified cities and forts.

After beating Shuofang, there is a taller Taiyuan City behind it, which is far away from Chang'an and Luoyang. I am afraid that if I attack two or three such fortified cities, the Xiongnu will be killed or wounded by two or three hundred thousand, and the country will be destroyed.

The 500,000 Xiongnu army besieged but did not attack, and Shuofang City has been safe and sound.

Under the city, the king of the Huns, the military minister Shan Yu and his subordinates were watching the city.

At the head of the city, Li Rong and the soldiers were watching the city.

"King Ping, you have been besieged for two months, and the food in the city has run out, right?

More than ten princes rebelled, and the Great Chu Dynasty had become a pot of porridge. The entire Central Plains is dominated by a million-strong army of princes, and even if the Jinling Imperial Court wants to support you, it is powerless. Grain and grass are supplied, and the troops are even less adequate.

The Great Chu Dynasty is no longer good.

You better surrender as soon as possible, Ben Shan Yu has dealt with you all his life, give you a chance to surrender, and make you the king of my Huns! In the territory of Great Chu, cut a piece of land for thousands of miles for you. ”

The military minister Shan Yu said with a laugh.

Surrounded by the 500,000 Xiongnu army, Li Rong's 50,000 cavalry did not dare to leave the city. If you go around like this, once you run out of food, you will surely die.

Li Rong smiled and said lightly: "This king has long expected that the princes will rebel, and your Huns will definitely take advantage of the situation to attack, and have stored grain and grass in Shuofang City for more than a year in advance, which is enough for my army to eat and chew." As long as you are willing to surround you, this king will be with you for as long as you want. ”

The military minister Shan Yu and the Hun generals all frowned.

Li Rong prepared a year's grain and grass in advance?

Li Rong has always been cautious in his use of soldiers, and dared to personally sit in Shuofang, which is mostly true.

That's a problem.

Li Rong can last for a year, but they can't last a year. Horses need a lot of forage, and two months is already a huge drain for them.

Autumn has arrived, and in a little while, they will return to the grasslands to feed their horses and sheep.

"Besides, haven't you received the latest news of the princes' rebellion?! It seems that your meticulous spies are not too good!

Come, give the information received by this king and the news of the defeat of the princes to our Xiongnu Shan Yu. ”

Li Rong raised his voice.

Immediately, a soldier sent a piece of information and shot it down the city with arrows.

The military minister Shan Yu immediately ordered the soldiers to fetch it, opened it and looked at it, and his face suddenly changed greatly.

It is impressively written that the Marquis of Xiao Duan led the army to cross to the north, the Wujiang camp was breached, the princes of the Ten Roads were killed and wounded, and the army of 500,000 was destroyed.

The princes rebelled, quelled?

it!

A bunch of waste, blind and busy, for the past few months.