In this southern expedition, there were three additional armies under Li Zhongyi, including: Guangrui Army, more than 8,000 soldiers and horses; More than 10,000 soldiers and horses of the Divine Guard; Guangyong Army, more than 8,000 soldiers and horses.

The above three units allocated to Li Zhongyi were all infantry troops, totaling more than 26,000 people.

The Yulin Right Guard, which originally belonged to Li Zhongyi's lineage, is now officially established with more than 15,000 people, plus the 3,000 cavalry of the party led by quite Chaoyong, the total strength of the Southern Expeditionary Army is more than 44,500 people.

I think that at the beginning, when the first emperor drove twice to conquer the Southern Tang Dynasty, it can be said that the elite was exhausted, and each time there were no less than 120,000 soldiers and horses.

Due to the trust of Li Jing, the lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Lin Renzhao had more than 80,000 elite troops in his hands, which had exceeded two-thirds of the total strength of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

At present, Li Zhongyi has only more than 40,000 troops at hand.

It's not like I don't know, I'm scared, Lin Huzi's strength is more than double that of Li Zhongyi's soldiers and horses.

Even if the national strength of the Southern Tang Dynasty is declining, Lin Huzi is by no means an idle person, so among the Great Zhou court, there are only a handful of important ministers who are optimistic about Li Zhongyi's southern expedition.

Compared with Lin Huzi's strength, Li Zhongyi's troubles come more from within, and under his command, there are actually four military forces, and just coordinating work is enough to make people feel a pain.

Guangrui Army, that is one of the troops started by Hantong, most of the generals and colonels in the army are from Hanmen. Long before Taizu Guo Wei ascended the throne, this army had been following Han Tong, conquering the east and the west, attacking cities and plundering land.

Fan Zhen deliberately put Han Tong's housekeeping troops. was transferred to Li Zhongyi, obviously because he didn't want Li Zhongyi. took the opportunity of the southern expedition to secretly strengthen his military strength.

Divine Guard. has been subordinate to the front division of the palace before, hehe, anyone with a discerning eye knows that the relationship between this army and Zhao Lao Er is shallow.

As for the Guangyong Army, after the first emperor ascended the throne, in order to appease the miscellaneous warlords who lost their territory, they were specially organized into a regular forbidden army in the miscellaneous that was nominally subordinate to the Guards and Pro-Military Division, but was actually led by the emperor himself.

It's a mouthful, actually. The inside story is indeed extremely complicated, according to rumors, the first emperor once said in private: Guangyong should be called Guangli Army!

Obedient and listening, who is Chai Rong? His appraisal of the Guangyong Army actually confirmed the reality of the army's internal situation of numerous mountains and complicated interests.

Standing on Li Zhongyi's position, in fact, except for the right guard of Yulin and the party cavalry. and other than the Lingzhou Army commanded by Guo Huai, any other army could not be his descendants.

belongs to Li Zhongyi's relatively trustworthy allies, in fact, there are a few: the first is the Fuzhou Zhejia Army. followed by the troops of Tianwuwei Li Hu, and finally the generals of the Yang family in Linzhou.

The reason for this ranking is also related to the proximity of political interests. There is an inseparable relationship.

Fuzhou folds the family, folds the maiden home of the flowers. Li Zhongyi's grandfather's family of his sons and daughters, this relationship is indeed close enough. Unless Ruan Lao is confused, no matter what Li Zhongyi wants to do, he will definitely support it.

The Zhejia, this political and military ally, is very reliable and trustworthy at critical moments!

As for Li Hu of Tianwuwei, for the time being, as long as Li Zhongyi does not openly want to rebel, Li Hu will give sufficient support in most cases.

If Li Zhongyi shows his ambition to win the position, Li Hu's attitude will be a little uncertain!

Of course, if Li Zhongyi successfully grasps the central power of the empire, there is no need to stand on Li Hu's position.

As for the Yang generals in Linzhou, standing on the position of the warlords who they really want to divide one side, after Li Zhongyi grasps the real power, if he can expand the territory of the Yang family's army, he will raise his hands in agreement.

On the contrary, if Li Zhongyi is too strong and wants to cut the domain, then the Yang family will most likely stand on the opposite side of Li Wuyi.

As the saying goes, the ass (profit) determines the head, and this assertion can be described as true!

However, Li Zhongyi's strength lies in the fact that his direct line of soldiers and horses occupies an absolutely dominant position among all allies.

This is like a joint-stock company, Li Zhongyi belongs to the company's controlling major shareholder, which determines Li Zhongyi's dominant position in the entire alliance system.

The military strength that Zhao Kuangyin has is not small, but the strength of Zhao Lao's brothers, when added together, is even more than that.

This is also the key element of why Zhao Lao Er took a risk after controlling the situation and deliberately put on a Hongmen banquet to deprive his brothers of their military power.

Behind the seemingly warm and affectionate veins, from Li Zhongyi's current political perspective, the hidden dangers are really not for outsiders!

Thousands of years of history have proved that if the sovereign himself is strong, most of the courtiers will not have two hearts after laying down the country.

If the monarch was originally from a commoner, or his status at the beginning of the family was roughly similar to that of later courtiers, then after taking the country, there must have been a bloody purge of power.

Liu Bang is like this, Zhu Chongba is like this, Stalin is like this, and Mao Runzhi is also like this, this is out of the core need to consolidate power, and it has nothing to do with the so-called family, friendship, and friendship of robes.

Li Zhongyi already had an advantageous position at this time, and it was decided that once he took the country, he did not need to take drastic measures to clean up his old allies.

After sending the first emperor to the mausoleum, the entire national funeral ceremony can be regarded as a successful conclusion.

According to the unwritten filial piety, the new monarch will be mourned and filial piety, and one month will be used instead of one year, and filial piety can be removed at the end of three months.

Li Zhongyi was not at all interested in these cumbersome Confucian etiquette, but he didn't expect that there would be a nerd who wrote books to cause an uproar because of the question of how long the little emperor should be filial piety.

According to Fan Zhen's expectations, the little emperor was only a few years old, and he should mourn for the first emperor for three years, so as not to cause gossip.

However, some people just wanted to engage in political speculation and gamble on their future prospects, and they also gathered a large group of nerds from the Ziguo Zijian to officially write to the imperial court, stating: The little emperor can be removed from the service after serving three months of mourning.

At first, after Li Zhongyi learned the news, he didn't care, this is a big deal, why bother?

However, Liu Jinshan's words made Li Zhongyi suddenly open his mouth and suddenly realize.

According to Chai Rong's deathbed arrangement, the Empress Dowager Fu hung the curtain, the little emperor read, Fan Zhen was in charge, and the other seven phases were restrained, and Zhao Kuangyin and Han Tong led their own troops to achieve a balance of power with different opinions.

The problem is that according to the ancestral system, if the little emperor is removed from his service in advance, he will have the qualifications to learn to govern.

Logically speaking, the little emperor is very young, and even if he gets the opportunity to learn governance, the power is still in the hands of the curtained Empress Dowager Fu.

However, the little emperor will eventually become an adult, and after Chai Zongxun is in power, he has tasted the wonderful taste of the supremacy of imperial power.

Take 10,000 steps back and say, even if these people can't enjoy the treatment of Qingyun for the time being, what about their next generation of nephews?

Although Li Zhongyi can see through the mystery of the operation of political power, he is not a Confucian disciple after all, and he has not read several Confucian classics, and he knows very little about the mystery of Confucian disciples using etiquette to talk about things!

Now, Liu Jinshan, a scholar, has pierced this layer of window paper for Li Zhongyi.

Li Wujiao, Li Xianggong touched his chin, blinked, and said with a smile: "You scholars, it's really bad enough, Fan Xianggong has a hard time." ”

Liu Jinshan smiled and continued to explain: "Dong Weng, to be able to show such a big face in front of the new monarch, even if he is temporarily demoted and left Beijing, the good days in the future are all ahead!" ”

In the blink of an eye, Li Zhongyi was a little distracted, during the Ming Dynasty, when Emperor Jiajing first ascended the throne, how could the so-called "Great Rites Discussion" be so similar to today's events?

Liu Jinshan noticed that Li Zhongyi was a little absent-minded, and he mistakenly thought that Li Zhongyi was evaluating the matter, so he explained in depth: "In the opinion of students, it is about challenging the authority of the Empress Dowager and Fan Xianggong, and there must be someone to support it later." ”

Li Zhongyi retracted his thoughts, nodded, and said with a smile: "Who will get up early if it's not profitable?" ”

Liu Jinshan stroked his palms and smiled: "Dong Weng hit the nail on the head, and the students admired it." ”

Li Zhongyi shook his head secretly, although Liu Jinshan's loyalty is not much doubtful, it's just that he likes to tout the stinky problem that readers like to brag about, but it has always been like this.

Most of the average readers, before entering the office, are somewhat idealistic. When scholars have tasted the sweetness of privilege, most of them will have a humble attitude towards the lord who controls their future and destiny, for fear of losing the benefits they have gained but are not willing to lose.

This so-called, Confucian disciples have always advocated the deep-seated interest factors of full loss and humble benefit.

Throughout the ages, there have been thousands of records in history, and most of the subordinates who are arrogant and don't know the height of the sky and the height of the earth have not had good results!

"Dong Weng, are we ......" Although Liu Jinshan's words were not finished, Li Zhongyi understood very well what he meant.

"Let's not do anything in order to get the most benefit." Li Zhongyi does not have much available manpower in terms of administration, and once he makes a move, Fan Zhen will definitely be able to detect the clues.

Liu Jinshan rolled his eyes, pondered carefully for a while, and suddenly stroked his palms and smiled: "It's better to be still than to move, wait for some people to come to the door for help, far more than taking the initiative." ”

Li Zhongyi nodded and asked with a smile: "The shipwright recruitment is going well, right?" ”

Liu Jinshan was waiting for the opportunity to show his merits, and hurriedly introduced: "There is a great opportunity to be exempted from forced labor, and the shipwrights are quite attractive, and the application is very valuable and enthusiastic, and so far there are more than 1,000 people. ”

Fan Zhen may not want to provoke Li Zhongyi, and when he transferred Li Zhongyi out of the capital, he promised that Liu Jinshan would temporarily act as the seal guard.

The so-called seal protector is actually a different name for acting Kaifeng Mansion Yin, just because Liu Jinshan's status is too low, and he has made a workaround. (To be continued.) )