After Chai Rong disposed of these black sheep, he began to reward the meritorious personnel in the Battle of Gaoping. Guo Wei's nephew, Li Chongjin, the commander of the guards and the pro-army, was also the commander of the Zhongwu Army (Zhenzhi Xuzhou), which belonged to the flat tune, but because he also received a festival envoy, it was still profitable.

It's a pity that soon after the end of the Battle of Gaoping, the Dianqian Army was reorganized and became the absolute main force in the forbidden army, but it made Li Chongjin a loss. Zhang Yongde, the capital of the palace, also performed well in the battle of Gaoping, and was promoted to the commander of the palace, which gave Zhao Kuangyin a place, so that he had the opportunity to take over Zhang Yongde's position and serve as the palace capital.

From this time on, Zhao Kuangyin was considered an executive in the forbidden army. And soon after, Chai Rong began to carry out military reforms, so that the status of the palace army in the military system rose sharply, and Zhao Kuangyin naturally followed the tide.

In addition, Xuanhui envoy Xiang Xun was appointed to lead Yicheng (Zhenzhi Huazhou) Jiedu envoy, Zhengzhou defense envoy Shi Yanchao was promoted to Zhenguo (Zhenzhi Huazhou) Jiedu envoy, and the rest of the generals and colonels who were promoted because of merit were as many as dozens of people, and there were even more people who were directly promoted from soldiers to commanders.

On March 28, Chai Rong intended to send troops to the Northern Expedition, so he formally appointed Fu Yanqing, the envoy of the Tianxiong Army, as the capital of the camp to the east of the river, and Guo Chong, the envoy of the Zhenning Army, as the deputy, Xiang Xun as the capital supervisor of the Yicheng Festival, Li Chongjin as the capital of the Zhongwu Festival, and Shi Yanchao as the vanguard of the Zhenguo Festival, organized a group to send troops from Luzhou and invaded the border of the Northern Han Dynasty.

This time, Chai Rong was not ready to conquer Jinyang, and his main purpose was to retaliate for the invasion of the Central Plains by the Northern Han. At the same time, he also showed off his armed strength to them, so he only sent 20,000 horses. However, as soon as Zhou Bing entered Hedong. It's a different story.

It has been said earlier that Liu Chong does not pay officials salaries. Let them blatantly engage in corruption, and as a result, the Northern Han Dynasty has no officials and is not greedy, and the common people can no longer bear it. Therefore, after the Zhou army entered, the people of the Northern Han Dynasty immediately responded in groups, both working and contributing, and contributing food to the Northern Expeditionary Army, and repeatedly said to the Zhou army,

They really couldn't stand the brutal exploitation of the Northern Han government. Therefore, it is necessary to ask the Zhou army to quickly defeat the Liu dynasty entrenched in Hedong, so that they can be liberated one day earlier, and the scene is still quite touching.

After Chai Rong heard Xunxun, he was very excited, and immediately changed his mind, thinking that it was better to strike while the iron was hot and destroy the Northern Han in one fell swoop. However, before his excitement passed, a new situation came back from the front, that is, the Northern Expedition army he sent had surrendered because of the wind in various states and counties along the way. Now it has successfully hit the city of Jinyang. However, the army that arrived in Jinyang, because there was nothing to eat, began to plunder. The people who had supported them in the past were so frightened that they fled into the mountains and forests one after another, armed to protect themselves.

After Chai Rong got the report. He was very anxious, and hurriedly sent an envoy on a fast horse to pass the edict. It was strictly forbidden for the army to plunder, and to appease the peasants. It was announced that only the people of Hedong would be taxed for the current year, and the rest of the voluntary contributions could be exchanged for corresponding official positions. At the same time, he also mobilized Ze, Lu, Jin, Jiang, Ci and the states east of Taihang to quickly allocate grain and grass to pay tribute to military supplies.

However, this method is good, but it came too late, because once the contradiction between the people of Hedong and the Zhou army intensified, it was not so easy to eliminate. In addition, at this time, the grain and grass in the army were approaching, and the rear support was difficult to transport in a short time, so the army should grab or rob, and the will of Chai Rong was not resolutely implemented, and the situation outside Jinyang City was still very chaotic.

Chai Rong was so anxious that on April 27, he set off from Luzhou and rushed to Jinyang in person. On May 3, Chai Rong arrived at the city of Jinyang, the Zhou army was huge, waving the flag, and fighting more than 40 miles around the camp, which was daunting. However, the situation is not optimistic, on the one hand, Jinyang has been an important military town since ancient times, and the city defense is extremely strong, and it is not easy to conquer in the short term.

On the other hand, the contradictions between the Zhou army and the local people have not been eliminated. And the most important thing is that not long after Chai Rong arrived in Jinyang, the Liao State also sent reinforcements to the Northern Han.

The Liao general Yang Gon fled back to Liao shortly after the Zhou army invaded Hedong, and the Liao emperor Yelujing was very dissatisfied with his expedition, and immediately threw him into prison, and then sent troops from between Xin and Dai to rescue Jinyang.

After the news of the reinforcements sent by the Liao State reached Jinyang, Chai Rong immediately sent Fu Yanqing with more than 10,000 men to intercept them, and on 23 May, the two armies met in formation at Xinzhou (now Xin County, Shanxi).

This time, the Liao State sent few troops, only a few thousand men and horses, and the vanguard of the Later Zhou Dynasty commanded Shi Yanchao to take the lead in leading 2,000 people to rush into the enemy formation and win the first battle. Later, Zhaoyi Jiedu made Li Yun lead the main force to advance, and won another victory, repulsing the Liao army.

Originally, this battle situation was still very satisfactory, but Shi Yanchao was greedy for merit, and his reckless subordinates then pursued, but as a result, he chased farther and farther, and gradually distanced himself from the main force, and finally because of the small number of soldiers, he was surrounded by the Liao army.

Shi Yanchao was killed on the spot, and when the rest of the troops broke back, they happened to meet Li Yun who was chasing after him, and reported to him that they had encountered an ambush by the Liao army.

Li Yun didn't know the reality of the Liao army, and mistakenly thought that there was another large army in the Liao State ambushed behind him, so he hurriedly ordered the withdrawal of the army. But at this time, the Liao army had already been killed, and the Zhou army was defeated again in the panic and withdrawal.

Li Yun fought desperately, only to be spared, and fled back to Xinzhou in a panic.

After Fu Yanqing learned of this, he didn't dare to stay for a long time, so he had to lead his troops to withdraw to Jinyang and join forces with the army led by Chai Rong.

At this time, the situation on Jinyang's side is also very difficult. Because of the heavy rain that had fallen for many days, the soldiers were exhausted, and the plague spread. Therefore, after Chai Rong learned the news of the defeat of Xinzhou, he also intended to withdraw his troops.

On June 3, Chai Rong officially issued an order to withdraw the army, and he personally led the army to withdraw south, and Kuang Guojun (ruled in Tongzhou) made Yao Yuanfu lead another Xu Xing to break off. However, this time the withdrawal was not very smooth, and the Zhou army was not well organized.

Weaknesses such as inadequate coordination among ministries and a serious lack of experience in responding to emergencies have been exposed. Originally, at the beginning, Chai Rong and his main generals considered that in the process of withdrawing the army, the Northern Han would definitely send troops to pursue it, and they had already made corresponding arrangements.

However, wait until after the start. Although Yao Yuanfu repelled the pursuing troops of the Northern Han Dynasty according to the previous deployment, the withdrawal was too hasty. Even the hundreds of thousands of stones of grain and grass left in the city had no time to take away, so they had to be burned with fire.

Rumors are rife in the army. There were even strange incidents of various ministries plundering each other, leaving military supplies empty and suffering huge losses.

At the same time, the governors of the prefectures and counties, who had already received the news of the withdrawal of troops, were panicked when they heard the news of the withdrawal and fled one after another. After the Zhou army withdrew, all these prefectures and counties were acquired by the Northern Han Dynasty.

The process of this withdrawal made Chai Rong feel very depressed, because through this withdrawal, Chai Rong saw the army under his command. In particular, the pro-army of the Son of Heaven, on which he pinned high hopes, had serious defects such as redundant soldiers, loose work style, lax military discipline, untidy military appearance, weak combat effectiveness, and inability to keep up with training. Therefore, after he returned to Beijing, he began to carry out reforms in the army.

In fact, the lack of combat effectiveness of the forbidden army has become a big problem since the end of the Tang Dynasty, and it has not been fundamentally changed in the following five generations. There are many factors in this, such as the fact that in order to maintain the size of the forbidden army, the past dynasties pursued a policy of only entering and not leaving, and many soldiers have reached the age of retirement. It is still possible to receive a salary in the army, and such a soldier can imagine his combat effectiveness when he fights.

Then there is the fact that the five dynasties were too arrogant and indulgent to the forbidden army, and not only did they not have the courage to streamline it. On the contrary, they were afraid of causing their mutiny, so they all had to get by. However, the more arrogant the people in power, the more arrogant the soldiers became. At every turn, they will flee or simply rebel. Among the five generations. Several emperors died in this incident, including Li Cunxuan, who destroyed Liang in a hundred battles.

For these situations. Chai Rong began to carry out bold reforms, and soon after returning to the capital, he said to the left and right: "The soldiers are fine but not many, and today a hundred farmers can't afford to raise a single soldier, since these extra soldiers are useless, then why should they scrape all the people's wealth in the world to support these useless things?"

Now in the army, there is no distinction between the old and the young, the strong and the weak, the brave and the cowardly, the treatment is the same, how can they be relied on to win the battle? So the order was issued, and the various armies were streamlined, and all the strong ones were promoted to the "upper army", and the old and weak were eliminated.

He also issued an edict to recruit warriors from all over the world, regardless of the origin, and sent directly to Kaifeng by the states and counties, organized into the classes in front of the palace, and handed over to Zhao Kuangyin for unified training in front of the palace.

After such a reform, the forbidden army, especially the army in front of the palace, has a great prestige, and the history says: "From the elite soldiers, the modern times are incomparable, and the conquest of the Quartet is all successful, and the power of selection and training is also." ”

At this point, the process of the Gaoping War and its impact came to an end, and the result was that Chai Rong not only dealt a heavy blow to the living force of the Northern Han Dynasty, effectively established his prestige in the country, and formed a very elite army, but also discovered Zhao Kuangyin, a talent who played a major role in Chinese history.

The benefits are still very many. Of course, at the same time as the Gaoping War was going on, there was another thing that could not be left unsaid, that is, it was famous in Chinese history, and at the same time it was mixed, self-named "Changle Lao", known as "tumbler", Zeng Lishi five dynasties, eight surnames and eleven emperors, and Feng Dao, an evergreen in the political arena who did not leave the three divisions and three dukes, finally passed away.

The five dynasties followed the Tang system and implemented the system of three provinces and six ministries. The so-called three provinces are Zhongshu Province, Menxia Province and Shangshu Province, of which the main position of Zhongshu Province is Zhongshu Ling, and the deputy position is Zhongshu Shilang; The chief officer of the province is the servant, and the deputy is the servant; The principal governor of Shangshu Province is Shangshu

Order, the deputy is the left and right servants. In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, the chief officials of the three provinces were all served by civil officials of Zheng Erpin, and they were prime ministers. However, since the Middle Tang Dynasty, the chief officials of Zhongshu Province and Menxia Province will often be used as an additional official to the Jiedu envoy and will no longer be granted, and Shangshu Province will no longer be awarded to others because Li Shimin had served as Shangshu Ling before he ascended the throne.

In this way, the prime minister will be the deputy governor of the three provinces and the secretary of the ministry, the squire or other officials who will be appointed as the secretary of the same level.

Tongping Zhangshi is also a common word in this book, its full name is Tongzhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi, "Pingzhang" means to discuss the handling of state affairs, and only ministers with this name are regarded as prime ministers. But this only refers to the court officials, and the local festival makes the Jiaping chapter or the servant, the middle book order, etc., called the minister, although glorious, but has no practical significance.

At this point, there is no substantial change between the Five Dynasties and the Tang Dynasty, but the position of Shangshu Ling is no longer evaded, and it can also be granted as an additional official, for example, in the Later Tang Dynasty, Ma Yin, who seized Hunan, and Gao Jixing, who seized Jingnan, were both added to the Shangshu Order.

The system of three provinces and six ministries is a very complete system. If there is a major national event, the emperor must first discuss countermeasures with the Zhongshu Province, and after the resolution, the Zhongshu Province will draft an edict, and then the emperor will draw an edict and become an official edict, and then send it to the Ministry of Menxia.

Menxia Province is the unit in charge of "review", and after receiving the edict from Zhongshu Province, Menxia Province must seriously verify it, and if the review is passed, the Governor of Menxia Province will sign it and take effect, and it will be transferred to Shangshu Province for implementation. If it cannot be passed, it will be returned to the Zhongshu Province after giving an annotation in the matter, which is called "Tugui".

After receiving the returned edict, the Ministry of Zhongshu had no choice but to redraft it, because the edict without the signature of the provincial governor had no legal effect and could not be enforced.

After the edict passed through Menxia Province, it went to Shangshu Province. Shangshu Province consists of six departments: officials, households, rites, soldiers, criminals, and workers, of which the left servant shoots the officer, the household, and the rite three, and the right servant shoots the soldier, the criminal, and the worker three, which is the actual implementation department, and the specific affairs of the department are handed over to that department.

In addition to the three provinces and six ministries, there is also a supervisory body, called the Imperial History Terrace, the chief is the imperial historian, but not permanent, only in the five dynasties of the Later Tang Dynasty Tiancheng Li Qi Shi has been appointed, and then not removed, so in most cases,

The prefect of the Imperial Historical Observatory is the Imperial Historian, who has the posts of Imperial Envoy, Imperial Envoy in the Palace, and Imperial Envoy of Supervision, who are in charge of picketing and impeaching the affairs of hundreds of officials, similar to the current procuratorate.

The three provinces and six ministries are the main functional departments of the government, in addition, there are also many envoys, such as privy envoys, Xuanhui envoys, etc.

The privy envoy was an official position in charge of military and political power established during the reign of Emperor Zong of the Tang Dynasty, and was held by eunuchs until the end of the Tang Dynasty.

After the founding of the Later Liang Dynasty, the Privy Council was abolished and the Chongzheng Yuan was established, with Jing Xiang, a trusted minister, as the envoy of the Chongzheng Yuan, ranking above the prime minister, and was the chief minister of the country.

After the Tang Dynasty destroyed the Liang Dynasty, the Chongzheng Yuan was dismissed and the Privy Council was re-established, with Guo Chongtao and Zhang Juhan as privy envoys, of which Guo Chongtao was also the prime minister and was still the chief minister of the country.

In general, the duties of the five generations of privy envoys have not changed much from the Tang Dynasty, but they have been changed to ministers (after Zhu Wen killed the eunuchs at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the privy envoys have been changed to eunuchs, but at this time it was only four years before the death of the Tang Dynasty, so they were ignored).

The Xuanhui envoy was an official position set up at the end of the Tang Dynasty, which was divided into two courts, the south and the north, with the south court as the first. Xuanhui south and north court envoys are in charge of the palace departments and suburbs, court meetings, banquets and other affairs, for the general manager of palace affairs, and can participate in military affairs, extremely powerful, its status is slightly lower than the privy envoy, equivalent to the festival envoy, is an important member of the court, mostly by the emperor's cronies or relatives. In addition to the privy envoys and Xuanhui envoys, the common ones in this book are the imperial city envoys (palace guards),

The envoys of the guest province (royal protocol), the flying dragon envoy (managing horses), the military envoy (the late imperial city envoy), and the Zhuang Zhai envoy (managing the Gyeonggi Guantian) and other envoys, because their importance is slightly low, will not be introduced one by one, and the following mainly introduces a very important envoy of the five dynasties, that is, the three envoys. (To be continued.) )