At this time, Zhao Kuangyin had personally led the army to Zezhou, so that Li Yun's fate could not be changed. On 1 June, Zhao Kuangyin arrived outside the city of Zezhou, visited the city in person, and commanded the troops to launch a non-stop onslaught on Zezhou day and night.

On June 13, the city of Zezhou was broken, and Li Yun set himself on fire after the defeat. After receiving the news at Taipingyi, the emperor of the Northern Han Dynasty, Liu Chengjun, immediately led his troops to flee back to Hedong. And on June 19, Li Yun's eldest son Li Shoujie surrendered to Luzhou. At this point, the Zhaoyi Rebellion was over.

The easy pacification of the Zhaoyi Rebellion still played a positive role in the stability of the new regime of the Northern Song Dynasty. In terms of the comparison of the pre-war strength of the two sides, it was not difficult for the Northern Song Dynasty to win this battle, but the difficulty was in the word "easy". Because of the dangerous terrain of Luzhou and the support of the Northern Han Dynasty behind him, it is not very easy to deal with.

However, the Northern Song Dynasty had just established a state, and its foundation was not yet stable, so if the war was unfavorable and the two sides were deadlocked, it would be difficult to ensure that other local feudal towns could not disagree. Especially at the same time as the Battle of Zhaoyi, there was another heavyweight in the Northern Song Dynasty who was already uncontrollable, this person was the former Hou Zhou's regent Taiwei, the commander of the guards and the army, and Li Chongjin, the envoy of Huainan Jiedu.

Li Chongjin has mentioned many times before that since Chai Rong ascended the throne, he has been with Zhang Yongde in front of the palace, and he is the two giants of the Later Zhou Forbidden Army.

And this person's style is very high, although Chai Rong has always been suspicious of him, constantly suppressed him by supporting Zhang Yongde's forces, and even left him in Yangzhou after seizing Huainan, Li Chongjin has never been in a mood, and has always worked diligently and steadfastly, setting a good example for domestic officials.

Li Chongjin has been serving as the leader of the Forbidden Army's Guards Division in the Later Zhou Dynasty, while Zhao Kuangyin has always worked in the front division of the palace since he was transferred to the Central Committee by Chai Rong.

The two have no business dealings. The feelings are not deep, and the guards are a very important armed force, so after Zhao Kuangyin ascended the throne, he immediately removed Li Chongjin's guards and troops from his post and transferred them to his sworn friend Han Lingkun to take over.

In this way, Li Chongjin was frightened. hurriedly wrote a letter to ask to enter Beijing to see him, but Zhao Kuangyin issued an edict to stop him in order to appease him.

The result backfired, after Li Chongjin received the edict, considering that he was not only a relative of the Later Zhou Dynasty, but also held the military power for a long time, for fear that Zhao Kuangyin would take him to the knife, he was restless in Yangzhou City every day, and his spirit was always in a state of extreme anxiety. As a result, the anti-will gradually sprouted.

Only three months after Zhao Kuangyin ascended the throne, Li Yun raised an incident in Luzhou, and Li Chongjin immediately sent his close acolyte Zhai Shouxun to take a small road north to form an alliance with Li Yun, preparing to raise troops in Yangzhou in response. However, Zhai Shouxun's political sense is still very sensitive, and he smelled that Li Yun was a daredevil, and Li Chongjin was not necessarily strong, and there was definitely no future for rebelling against them, so after leaving the city, he went straight to Daliang. reported the collusion between Li Chongjin and Li Yun to Zhao Kuangyin.

At this time, Zhao Kuangyin was busy sending troops to recruit Li Yun. Therefore, he was very afraid that Li Chongjin would rebel on the southern front, so he hurriedly rewarded Zhai Shouxun and arranged an arduous task for him, telling him to return to Yangzhou as soon as possible and do his best to stabilize Li Chongjin so as to avoid the situation of fighting on both fronts at the same time.

Zhai Shouxun's ability to do things is also very strong. When he went back, he strongly persuaded Li Chongjin not to act rashly, but it was not clear what kind of rhetoric he used, in short, he fooled Li Chongjin, and as a result, until the end of the Battle of Luzhou, Li Chongjin did not raise troops in Yangzhou.

After Zhao Kuangyin suppressed Li Yun. When he returned to Daliang, he felt that it was time to deal with the Huainan problem, so he ordered Chen Siyu, the envoy of the six houses, to go to Yangzhou to pass the decree, and transferred Li Chongjin to Pinglu (ruled in Qingzhou) as the envoy of the festival, and in order to make Li Chongjin go on the road as soon as possible, Zhao Kuangyin also gave him a piece of iron scroll to avoid death.

However, there were too many cases of being killed after giving the "iron coupon to avoid death" in the five dynasties, and Li Chongjin refused to believe it at all, and immediately took Chen Siyu into custody after receiving the order, and then began to build the city wall, control the weapons, and officially erect the anti-flag.

Li Chongjin was a very good general in the world, but his rebellion was even more hasty than Li Yun's. Li Yun has also been in Luzhou for eight years, and he has a group of old people who are used to it, plus there is the support of the Northern Han Dynasty behind him, and he still has certain conditions for rebellion. Not long after Li Chongjin arrived in Huainan, the people's hearts could not be completely attached.

After the rebellion, Li Chongjin sent an envoy to the Southern Tang Dynasty for help, but Li Jing, the lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty, was a person who was afraid of the Central Plains, how could he dare to go to this troubled water? He didn't dare to let Li Chongjin's envoy enter the country at all. Li Chongjin had no soldiers and no food, so he was trapped in the lonely city of Yangzhou, and defeat was an inevitable fate.

Zhao Kuangyin learned that Li Chongjin had rebelled against Yangzhou, and immediately appointed the general Shi Shouxin to deploy the camp in Yangzhou, and ordered him to lead his troops to recruit. Soon after Shi Shouxin left, Zhao Pu made a statement to Zhao Kuangyin, saying: "Li Chongjin is guarding a lonely city, there are no rescuers outside, no grain and grass inside, and all he holds is the danger of the Huai River. If Your Majesty can personally command the army to go on the expedition, he will definitely be able to break it in one battle. ”

Zhao Kuangyin thought so, so that on October 21, he sent a decree to conquer Yangzhou. Seven days later, Zhao Kuangyin led his army across the Huai River from Sizhou and arrived at the city of Yangzhou on November 12, where he immediately began to attack the city, which was breached on the same day. After Li Chongjin's army was defeated, he set himself on fire, and the Yangzhou Rebellion was put down.

Within a year of his accession to the throne, Zhao Kuangyin successively put down two rebellions initiated by Li Yun and Li Chongjin, and the results should be said to be very ideal. In the process of quelling these two rebellions, Zhao Kuangyin fully demonstrated his strong military strength to the world, thus completely defeating the uneasy thoughts of other feudal towns in China. Later generations praised this: "At the beginning of Yizu Linxuan, within one year of his life, Xia Ze, Lu, Pingyangzhou, and the prestige of the order, such as the momentum of breaking the bamboo, the rest of the feudal towns are tied up and obey orders!" ”

However, Zhao Kuangyin was not complacent because of this, he was born with a special mission to shoulder the great emperor, quelling the rebellion and stabilizing the situation is only the first step in the long march, his ultimate goal is to cut off the princes, mix the day, and then clarify the United States, and establish a unified and powerful dynasty.

Li Chongjin was defeated and self-immolated on November 12, the first year of Jianlong in the Northern Song Dynasty (960), which also meant that the domestic turmoil caused by local feudal towns officially came to an end, and the main problem before Zhao Kuangyin was how to unify the whole country.

This is the time to test a person's wisdom again, because since the end of the Tang Dynasty, the sea has collapsed, and the princes have been divided for more than 80 years.

By the time of the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty. In the north, there are the Northern Han Dynasty and the powerful Liao State, and in the south, there are even more mountains, and there are seven independent regimes in the Southern Tang Dynasty, Later Shu, Jingnan, Wuyue, Southern Han, Zhangquan, and Hunan, which are not essentially different from the Later Zhou Dynasty.

So how can we eliminate these separatist forces as soon as possible? And how can we achieve more with less effort? This can't help but make Zhao Kuangyin very nerve-wracking. At this time, Zhao Kuangyin couldn't help but think of his number one think tank, Zhao Pu, a native of Jixian County, Youzhou.

One winter night that year, it snowed heavily. Zhao Pu returned home as usual and read the Analects behind closed doors. As mentioned earlier, Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Pu are not of high cultural level, but after Zhao Kuangyin became a nobleman, he began to realize the importance of knowledge, so he began to read angrily in addition to Rong Ma.

not only read it himself, but also specially instructed Zhao Pu to read it too. Zhao Pu is very obedient, and his political sense is quite sensitive. As soon as he smelled the self-beating Zhao Kuangyin came to power, the generals were afraid that they would not be popular, and only by studying and learning well could they get ahead, and if they didn't recharge themselves, they might not be able to keep up with the situation.

So every day when I get home from work, I have to lock myself in the study room to read for a while, and Zhao Pu is also very good at learning, and he picks the essence to learn. I don't look at it at a glance, so I only read the book "The Analects" from beginning to end. And just looking at the first volume, I don't even want to read the next volume.

This look is decades, and the first half of the "Analects" is very familiar to him, so he gives him the nickname - half of the Analects expert.

Zhao Pu was also complacent about this, and often boasted to others that he relied on "half of the Analects to rule the world", and said the great Confucians of the same generation one by one speechless.

This evening. Zhao Pu was still flipping through his half of the Analects, when suddenly his family came to report: "The official family (the emperor) has arrived." After Zhao Pu listened, he hurriedly tidied up his clothes and went out.

When I went out, Zhao Kuangyin had already entered the yard. Zhao Pu hurriedly welcomed him into the house. After a while, Zhao Kuangyin's younger brother, Zhao Guangyi, who was inspected by the inner capital, also rushed over.

Zhao Pu looked at this posture and felt that something big was going to happen, but Zhao Kuangyin refused to say it clearly, and it was inconvenient for him to ask more. The three of them are all old buddies who have been rolling together for many years, and they don't need to be polite, so Zhao Pu sent them to the stove, and the three of them sat around the fireplace, drinking and chatting after the barbecue.

At this time, the snow was falling outside the house, but the inside of the house was reflected red by the firelight, and the three of them had a good time drinking and having fun. At first, the three of them chatted about some chores, but when the wine was half-drunk, Zhao Kuangyin changed his words and asked Zhao Pu: "Since the Tang Dynasty, the sea has fallen apart, the princes are good at guarding, I want to sweep away the heroes, and after a day, does Mr. have a good plan to teach me?" ”

This is a huge topic, and Zhao Pu is not willing to express his position easily, so he asks rhetorically: "I don't know what Your Majesty wants?" ”

Zhao Kuangyin already had a fixed opinion in his heart, but he refused to say it directly, and deliberately said in reverse: "The Northern Han Dynasty is the deep hatred of the country, and I want to destroy this dynasty first, I don't know what Mr. thinks?" ”

Zhao Pu was silent for a long time after listening to this, and then said: "Since Your Majesty has already made up your mind, the minister has nothing to say. This is an obvious opposition signal, Zhao Kuangyin immediately asked after hearing it: "Mr. has something to say, but it doesn't hurt to say it." ”

Zhao Pu pondered for a moment and said slowly: "Although the Northern Han Dynasty is small, it is the Khitan and the party alone.

If the Northern Han Dynasty is destroyed, I will be the only one. Why don't you take the Northern Han Dynasty after leveling the countries, and then take the Northern Han Dynasty, so that you can escape in peace! Zhao Kuangyin was overjoyed when he heard this: "That's what I mean, try Qing'er!" ”

Whether Zhao Kuangyin really thought of one thing with Zhao Pu, the answer should be yes, this is because the strategic idea of first south and then north put forward by Zhao Pu is the essence extracted from the "Pingbian Policy" of Wang Pu, a famous minister of the Later Zhou Dynasty, and has occupied a dominant position in China as early as the Chai Rong era.

Wang Pu is a person whom Zhao Kuangyin respects very much, it is said that after Zhao Kuangyin ascended the throne, he once visited the Hall of Meritorious Heroes, and suddenly a gust of wind blew the door of the palace open, and there happened to be a statue opposite Zhao Kuangyin. When Zhao Kuangyin saw that the statue was Wang Pu, he immediately dressed and bowed solemnly.

The people around him were very surprised, so they asked Zhao Kuangyin: "Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, and Wang Pu is just a minister of the previous dynasty, can he be so respectful?" Zhao Kuangyin pointed to the clothes on his body, and said to the people on the left and right very seriously: "If this person is here, I can't wear this robe." ”

It can be seen that Zhao Kuangyin respects Wang Pu very much, so of course he highly recognizes the strategic concept that Wang Pu first put forward in the south and then the north.

However, after all, this is a very important national policy, and once it is established, it cannot be changed, so it is also necessary for Zhao Kuangyin to seek Zhao Pu's opinion before making a formal decision.

And since Zhao Pu also has a soft spot for this strategic concept of first the south and then the north, and a consensus has been reached among the monarchs and ministers, then this basic national policy has been officially decided on this snowy night.

The "Snowy Night Decision" is a very famous event in Chinese history, which marks the formal establishment of the basic strategy to end the five generations of troubled times, and is about to go into action.

However, before the official launch of the National Unification War, Zhao Kuangyin had a more urgent matter to solve, that is, he must change the bad style of military generals who have supported their troops and are domineering and domineering since the end of the Tang Dynasty. If this issue is not properly handled, even if we can defeat the country, we will not be able to defend it, and even if we can achieve reunification, we will inevitably split again.

The troubled times will continue, and the Northern Song Dynasty will not escape the fate of being reduced to the sixth generation after the fifth generation. However, after all, the arrogant atmosphere of military generals has a deep historical foundation, and the emperors of the five dynasties have also made many attempts to solve this problem.

But every effort often leads to bloodshed, smoke, and even the end of a dead country and the destruction of the country. So, what kind of means does Zhao Kuangyin have to rely on to solve this problem, and can he get a satisfactory result in the end?

After Zhao Kuangyin pacified the Erli Rebellion, he summoned his adviser Zhao Pu one day and said to him: "For decades since the Tang Dynasty, the emperor Fan Yi has eight surnames, fighting endlessly, and the people are ruined, so why is it? I want to rest the soldiers of the world and plan for the country for a long time, what is the way forward? This is the way to ask Zhao Pu about the long-term peace and stability of the country.

Zhao Pu replied as follows: "Your Majesty said this, and the blessings of heaven, earth, man and god are also. This is not because of it, Fang Zhen is too heavy, and the monarch is weak and the minister is strong. If you want to rule it now, you can only seize its power a little, control its money and food, and collect its elite soldiers, and the world will be at peace. Zhao Pu's words attributed the source of the world's troubles to the power of the feudal towns, which made some sense.

The Tang Dynasty died in the hands of the feudal town, the Later Liang started in Bianzhou in the five dynasties, the Later Tang, the Later Jin, and the Later Han Dynasty started in Hedong, and the Later Zhou Taizu Guo Wei raised troops in Weibo, it can be said that the five dynasties all came from the feudal town, and the Later Tang Dynasty and the Later Han Dynasty died directly in the hands of the feudal town, which shows the great influence of the feudal town in the five dynasties. However, this problem has been recognized by Chai Rong in the Later Zhou period. (To be continued.) )