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The edict of the Western Expedition was like a thunderbolt of lightning, piercing the comfortable night sky of Xinqin.

Yanwang Han Xin responded first. Although it is located in the northeast, because it borders the Xiongnu and Donghu tribes, the high-headed horses raised by natural pastures provide great convenience for Han Xin to train the cavalry.

Soldiers are always bloody.

Especially those new soldiers who have just enlisted in the army, in the past five years, they have listened to the great achievements of their ancestors in the battle of reunification, and longed for themselves to be able to devote themselves to the banner of Emperor Shenwu.

Under the example of Han Xin, the young Zhuang generals in the Qin army of various departments wrote one after another, and many of them were excited young generals who used their clothes and armor as silk, their own blood as ink, and broken fingers as pens, and made impassioned statements, asking to participate in the army of the Western Expedition, even if they were small pawns, they had no regrets.

Among the generals of the Qin army, the old and the old at heart, there is no need to say more, but, on the whole, those who are still eager to make meritorious contributions still account for the majority, thanks to Li Yuan's more than ten years of good intentions, ideals, beliefs, honors and insatiable ambitions, these illusory spiritual things, may not change anything in a short period of time, but imperceptibly, in the deepest part of the human heart, its influence is not trivial.

Li Zhongxiang, Luo Jia, Cao Xin, Ji Xin, Huan Chu, and even Feng Xuan, who was far away in Lingnan, all expressed their willingness to continue to fight under the command of Emperor Shenwu and the undefeated king Li Yuan.

In the seventh year of the Qin New Calendar, March.

When Li Yuan was sacrificing the fallen in the Chang'an Stone Forest, he officially sent out a signal of westward expansion in front of all the civil and military officials and envoys from all over the country.

"Old Qin, restore my rivers and mountains, blood will not be shed, and death will not be truce-! There is Daqin in the east, as the sun rises. Qin has a sharp soldier, who will compete? ”

In the majestic and sad battle song of the Praetorian Guard, Li Yuan was dressed in black standard armor, and two simple wooden planks were held high in his hair bun, standing in the crowd in such a dress, he looked no different from the soldiers around him, of course, if you look carefully, you can still find the emperor's majestic atmosphere from his personal bearing.

"Gentlemen—be quiet!" The Praetorian Guard generals who were in charge of maintaining the scene shouted loudly.

"Great Qin has been peaceful for a long time. Do you remember what the sword was used for? Is there still that blood in your chest? If you remember, then follow this king and go west together! Li Yuan's voice was low and deep, and his sharp gaze swept over the crowd of black and oppressive people around him, at this moment, in the sky and on the ground, I am the only one. The words of those explanations have been made clear in the edict today. In front of the many undead of the underground legion, Li Yuan's words were concise and shocking, and he expressed his heart directly.

"To the west, to the west!"

"Da Qin. Great Qin is invincible! The shouts of the soldiers of the Qin army were higher and higher, and they continued for a long time. Young people are always easy to be impulsive, not to mention that Li Yuan's merits and identity are there. The simple dress like a soldier has shortened the distance between him and ordinary soldiers.

Great Qin's war machine rumbled into action.

While boosting the morale of his generals, Li Yuan also tightened his control over the internal affairs of the imperial court. A series of edicts were issued to adjust the appointment and dismissal of officials, and some middle- and low-level officials rose to prominence in a short period of more than 10 days, stepping from local counties to the center, while others fell from high positions and were directly dismissed and went home to retire.

Among them, the most striking change is Changshi Li Zheng.

March 20th.

The day of the birth of his late father Li Si.

Li Yuan set up a family banquet in Yong'an Palace to invite Li Zheng's family. Li Si's lineage, after experiencing the Huhai Massacre, only Li Zheng and Li Yuan survived.

Maybe it's because of the lack of ordinary communication, maybe it's because of the different experiences when he was young, or maybe it's because Li Yuan's thinking is beyond this era, Li Zheng often has low self-esteem when talking to Li Yuan, the cheap third brother, and he is eager to prove himself, but he hurriedly steps into the wrong way. This was true six years ago, and this time is no exception.

The state of Qin ruled the country by law.

Other theories, under Li Yuan's strong suppression, basically did not have a chance to become dominant. In the process of Li Yuanshili's rise, Confucianism Shili led by Shangshan Sihao once gathered thousands of Confucian scholars to block the way to complain, trying to change the situation that Confucianism was not reused, but was ruthlessly suppressed by Li Yuan.

In the face of the bloody facts, the stalwart of Confucianism finally changed his idea of fighting hard and penetrated into the center of the Qin State in a tortuous way.

This time, the Confucian scholar Shili still aimed at Li Zheng, the long history, and the breakthrough was Li Zhengxinna's wife.

During the family banquet, Li Zheng's new wife behaved very low-key, and in detail, this bride who was not more than twenty years old was actually Li Zheng's third wife. Li Zheng's original partner was originally the clan of the Qin State, but after the difficulty of the court prison, the physical loss died early, and then, Li Zhengna's bride was the daughter of the clan Chen Di, in that change related to the fate of the clan, Chen Di's family was uprooted, Li Zheng was self-preservation, and it was naturally impossible to leave a hidden danger around him.

With these two lessons, Li Zheng's third marriage was very cautious. Of course, as the chief of the Qin State, Li Zheng's identity is there, and he is only about forty years old, which is the most mature golden age for a man, and his mate selection criteria will not be lowered much, especially in terms of the age and appearance of women.

In the end, the big clan surnamed Li from the same clan in his hometown Shangcai laughed in this marriage battle, and the Qin State was not as strict about the marriage between the same clan as in later generations, as long as the blood relatives were not within three generations, this kind of close integration within the clan was more reassuring.

However, Li Zheng made a lot of calculations, but he ignored one point. This Mrs. Li is not an illiterate fool, on the contrary, she once studied under the eighth grandson of the Confucian master Confucius, Kong Kun, and under her subtle influence, Li Zheng's political views have also changed unconsciously.

Behind every interest group, there is a spokesperson. Li Zheng is not only the second person in the Qin court, but also the agent of the Legalist doctrine, the honorary president of the Great Qin Chang'an Academy, if he supports the Confucian students in the court, then these junior students of Confucius will have a much better life.

Chang'an Academy.

It was a public school organized by the Qin court. Founded in the third year of the new calendar, it has been four years so far, not only in Chang'an, but also in other counties of the 36 counties. It also has a wide range of branches. Its existence also provided a reserve of young talents for various positions in the yamen at all levels in the Qin State.

Among the academies, there are not only Legalist works and theories such as Guan Zhong, Zichan, Shang Ying, Shen Dao, and Shen Buxian, but also works based on the Qin system such as "Han Feizi" and "Quotations from the First Emperor to Li Chengxiang", as well as schools that were prevalent in the Spring and Autumn Period, such as Confucianism, Mo, Zongheng, and Taoism. Over the years, with the increase in contact with Confucian scholars, doctors, and Zongheng scholars, Li Zheng's personal political views have also changed.

The essence of Confucianism lies in influence and belief in the inherent goodness of human nature, which contradicts the practice of striking first and being strong advocated by Li Yuan. And Li Zheng, under the recommendation of the Confucian students of the academy, said in his book as soon as his mind was hot, asking Li Yuan to think of the peace of the Great Qin Cangsheng and give up the idea of leading the army to the west.

Above the court, Li Zheng insisted on his own opinions, and gathered a group of doctors and imperial historians as backups. In addition to the influence of Confucianism, Li Zheng also believed that Li Qin's country was not stable. Li Ye is still a minor and cannot afford to be the crown prince, so the Qin State is still inseparable from Li Yuan, a strong leader. Once Li Yuan had something to do when he was on the western expedition. Then the Qin State will re-lead the collapse after the death of the First Emperor.

Seeing is different, and so are political positions.

As a result, the family feast began with joy and ended with unhappiness. Between brothers, Zuihou only left each other with a back.

Compared with Li Zheng's fierce opposition, Prime Minister Chen Ping's reaction was much calmer. He had no more objections to Li Yuan's edict.

Chen Ping is very accurate in his positioning, in Li Yuan's place, he is a part-time worker, the boss's decision is set, and his task is how to implement it better. At this point, Chen Ping is more like a professional manager, it is impossible for him to be loyal, and it will not be much of a problem for him to abide by his duties and do his part as prime minister.

"The matter of the army's westward expedition, the subordinates have been ordered, and all ministries and departments have been arranged, this is the roster of volunteers to join the army, please take a look."

This is Chen Ping's answer in the court, compared with Li Zheng's rhetoric, he is undoubtedly much wiser and more pragmatic, this somewhat feminine and sleek Prime Minister of Qin has always hidden himself behind the scenes, never revealing his edge, this time, he is no exception.

Although in his heart, Chen Ping did not want to put Qin's healthy finances into a crisis because of the huge military spending, the ancient adage of accompanying a king like a tiger still made him selectively forget to oppose it.

Compared with Chen Ping's obedience, Li Yuan quickly responded to Li Zheng's well-intentioned but unintentionally used as a gunman.

Kill chickens and monkeys.

Two days after the family banquet, Li Zheng was dismissed from the post of Changshi, and even the honorary president of Chang'an Academy was also dismissed.

Affected by this thunderous storm, the Confucian scholars in Chang'an Academy who commented on current affairs without authorization were silent one by one, they never thought that the emperor Li Yuan, who usually seemed to basically care about state affairs, would be so "crazy and desperate", even his own brother could be ruthless.

Under the high-pressure situation, officials at all levels of the Qin State showed unprecedented unity, and the high-speed state machinery was quickly put into operation, and teams of soldiers from various counties, and baggage trucks loaded with baggage and weapons were concluded from Jinyang, Jiangdong, Handan and other places to Chang'an.

At the same time, Zhang Liang also convened the Taoists in Zhongnan Mountain to clarify the grand goal of the Heavenly Master Dao, in addition to going to Chang'an in late March to explain the morality, the focus of the Heavenly Master Dao will be shifted to the west, focusing on the development of Taoist disciples among the Hu merchants who traveled to and from the Silk Road, and began to establish branch altars in the Western Regions and other places.

Imperial power and religion become one.

This system of integrating politics and religion made the Qin state fall into tension and busyness.

――。

There are new changes in Chang'an City.

This made the alien tribes in the border areas who were concerned about the movement of the Qin Dynasty extremely nervous, especially the Helian tribe and the Huyan tribe living in the Altai Mountains, and the remnants of the two Xiongnu had to continue to flee from the Kordo Lake and Beihai to the northwest under the oppression of the Qin army. In the past few years, their lives have been extremely hard, but in this way, Helian Bi and Hu Yanxie will still feel lucky.

Compared with the remnants of Maudun in the Hannan River, they were at least able to maintain the independence of their tribes and have their own armies, while most of the remaining Maudun tribes were forcibly relocated to the Central Plains by the Qin state, leaving only a small part of them imprisoned on the grasslands to teach the knowledge of herding among the farming peoples from the south.

Migration inward.

This was Li Yuan's strategy when dealing with the threat of the northern nomads.

This method of forcible dispersal, in a short period of time, can be described as extremely bloody, which also led to the long-lasting beacon fire in the area of the Hannan River, the non-stop resistance of the Huns, the resistance of the Hun tribes, but to Sujiao's border troops to add a little credit, the Qin army took advantage of the Huns' resistance to continue training.

The name of Su Jiao, among the Huns, is almost the same as a butcher. (To be continued......)