Wu Hong is the eldest son of Qingji, who has been an image of a benevolent and righteous gentleman since he was a child, and now he has become a "saint", famous all over the world, so that all the brothers are very convinced.

Not to mention anything else, Wu Fan is Wu Hong's hardcore follower, Wu Fan handed over the military power, how dare Wu Zhang act rashly.

Alas!

Father, Jiang is still old and spicy!

At this time, Wu Zhang also had to be convinced.

With Wu Hong's character, once he took over the 500,000 or 600,000 people of the Western Expeditionary Army, he believed that in the next step, under the instruction of Qingji, he would help the brothers to establish a feudal state here, and then dismember the Western Expeditionary Army to avoid causing a situation where some people support the army and respect themselves.

As a last resort, Wu Zhang and Wu Fan could only follow the imperial grandson Wu Ji to cross the ocean together and embark on the journey back to the homeland of Great Wu.

……

When they returned to the imperial capital of Jinling, it was already the forty-ninth year of Wu Shi Huang, that is, in 465 BC, the second lunar month.

At this time, in the huge Zide Palace, there were only three people: Qingji, Wu Zhang, and Wu Fan, father and son.

"Wu Zhang, I heard that you have many complaints on the way back to Jinling."

Qingji glanced at Wu Zhang, and said slowly: "You say, why is the crown prince the eldest son, who has not made an inch, and can inherit the throne in the future, while he is the second son, who has made great contributions to the empire, but he can't get anything?"

"Have you ever said anything like that?"

Hearing this, Wu Zhang couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, knelt on the floor with a "plop" sound, lowered his head and said, "Father, the son said such a thing. However, it is just a drunken gaffe, and it should not be taken seriously."

In front of Qingji, Wu Zhang didn't dare to lie, and he also knew that he had always had secret agents planted by Qingji around him, where did he dare to hide it?

"Hehe, get up."

Qingji folded his hands in his sleeves, closed his eyes, and said lightly: "Drunk gaffes, but often drunk and spit out the truth. Wu Zhang, you have such thoughts, I don't blame you."

"However, you overestimate yourself too much, and you underestimate Wu Heng too much."

"Why do you think that Wu Fan and you can be invincible in Eastern Europe, Central Europe, Western Europe, and North Africa, and lay down a vast territory around the Mediterranean?"

"Only by virtue of your military talents, and your soldiers' bravery? Wrong, very wrong!"

Qingji stared at Wu Zhang and Wu Fan, who didn't dare to speak, and said sharply: "What you have done in the West all these years is all the things that the prince has helped you do!"

"How many cities you have plundered and how many cities you have slaughtered, I don't need to say, you know it in your hearts."

"If you kill too much, you will lose peace after all."

"In the past few years, the prince has been the regent of the country, how much food and soldiers have you supported?"

"If not, even if I give you another ten or twenty years, you may not be able to achieve this!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Zhang and Wu Fan both lowered their heads and said, "Father, the son is guilty."

In fact, in the matter of slaughtering the city and sacking the enemy city, Qingji would not blame Wu Zhang and Wu Fan in his heart.

However, if you don't beat the two of them at this time, won't their tails be lifted to the sky?

"Zhang'er, Fan'er, father and emperor."

Qingji sighed and said, "I, nine out of sixty this year, I don't know how long I can live?"

"What I'm most worried about now is that my body won't be able to hold on, and after I die, the huge empire will fall apart and fall apart with my departure."

"The Wu family must not fall into the hands of outsiders."

"Therefore, I hope that your brothers can live in harmony and help each other."

"There must be no fratricide and room-fighting......

Wu Fanzheng said, "Father, it will definitely not. Whoever dares to rebel against the crown prince and the emperor of Great Wu, the sons will be the first to send troops and punish him for the nine clans!"

"The same goes for the sons!"

Wu Zhang followed and reassured.

Qingji glanced at Wu Fan and Wu Zhang deeply, and could only secretly say that he wished it was so.

"You're in Jinling

After recuperating for a few days, and catching up with your mother, queen and concubine, let's return to their respective feudal kingdoms. Without a will, you must not return to Beijing."

"No!"

Looking at the backs of Wu Zhang and Wu Fan, Qingji was still quite worried.

After his death, can Prince Heng and Emperor Sun Wu Ji be able to control these two?

……

The day after Wu Zhang and Wu Fan returned to Jinling, Qingji held a great court meeting in Fengtian Palace.

According to the usual practice, Qingji decided to set up 20 vassal kingdoms in the vast territory around the Mediterranean, such as Carthage, the Balkan Peninsula, Rome, Gaul, Celtic, and the Iliban Peninsula, and let his sons serve as vassal kings and go to the Mediterranean to establish a state.

In this way, the Wu Empire has eighty vassal kingdoms to date.

How big is the territory?

Qingji himself doesn't know very well.

Half of the American continent was occupied by the Wu Empire, and the Australian continent was completely occupied, plus North Africa, the Mediterranean region, and the Far East and Central Plains of the Wu Empire......

Judging from the map, the huge territory of the Wu Empire has spanned five continents: Asia, Africa, Europe, the United States, and Australia.

The total land and sea area of the planet is about 510 million square kilometers.

Among them, the ocean area is about 361 million square kilometers, accounting for 71% of the world's total area, and the land area is about 149 million square kilometers, accounting for 29% of the world's total area.

If you look at the map, the territory of the Wu Empire's vassal kingdom is vast, probably occupying more than one-third of the earth.

What is the concept?

In other words, the territory under the rule of the Wu Empire has reached a terrifying 50 million square kilometers!

There are not many people under his rule, but they are all densely populated areas in the world, about 85 million people, of which about half of them are in China.

The population is still too small, and Qingji feels unsatisfactory.

Of course, there were many barbarians who did not submit to the king, and slaves were not registered, so they were not counted.

In Qingji's lifetime, he has laid down such a vast territory, and he is also satisfied.

Historically, what was the territory of the Chinese dynasties?

Qin Dynasty, about 3.54 million square kilometers.

The Western Han Dynasty is about 6.65 million square kilometers.

Datang, about 6.15 million square kilometers.

Northern Song Dynasty, about 2.83 million square kilometers.

Yuan Dynasty, about 21.22 million square kilometers.

Ming Dynasty, about 12.33 million square kilometers.

Qing Dynasty, about 12.84 million square kilometers.

This was the territory of the great unified dynasty in its heyday.

It is not as vast as the 50 million square kilometers of the Wu Dynasty.

To maintain such a vast territory, the difficulty is not ordinary.

This can be seen from the rebellions that often broke out in various vassal kingdoms, especially in Ouzhou, West Asia, and the Mediterranean.

It is true that it can be suppressed every time, but it also makes the Wu Empire a little exhausted and overwhelmed.

In the future, if the national strength of the Wu Empire weakens, or the relationship between the emperor and the vassal kings falls out, many vassal kingdoms will inevitably be destroyed, and then the Wu Empire's vassal system established by Qingji will also fall apart......

This is something to be expected.

However, Qingji has indeed completed the great feat of no one who has ever done it before or after him.

Historically, Alexander conquered about 5 million square kilometers of territory in 13 years, and established a great empire from Greece and Macedonia in the west, to the Indus Valley in the east, to the first waterfall of the Nile River in the south, and to the Syr Darya River in the north, making Macedonia the largest country in the world at that time.

And the time spent on the celebration is even shorter.

He has conquered almost the entire world, and truly achieved that wherever the rivers go, the sun and the moon shine, all are Wu soil.

You must know that Alexander only conquered, not occupied, but the Wu Empire actually occupied and ruled.

Alex

The Macedonian kingdom on which Shanda relied was only a small country worth mentioning in Qingji's view, while Qingji was backed by the strong national strength of the Wu Empire.

Therefore, the Macedonian Kingdom and the Wu Empire are not the same.

This can be seen from the fact that the Chinese population accounted for half of the total population of the Wu Empire.

The Wu people were not incapable of assimilating the thousands of ethnic groups under their rule.

……

The next day, Qingji, who had nothing to do, took an ordinary carriage and inspected inside and outside Jinling City.

The physical condition of the elderly and weak is no longer allowed to travel far away, so he can only stay near the national capital to observe the people's feelings.

Wu Ji, who has been made the emperor's grandson, is by Qingji's side.

"Whose mansion is this? Why is it so lively?"

Qingji lifted the curtain of the carriage and saw that on the side of the street, there were many carriages and horses parked, and some entourages were still sitting on it, gathering in groups to chat.

"Grandfather Huang, this is the mansion of Zhongshu Ling Zengshen. These chariots and horses, as well as the endless stream of people entering the palace, are probably all scholars who have come to pay homage to Zeng Shen."

Wu Ji replied, "Grandfather Huang recently asked my father to be in charge of selecting courtiers and officials to take up the post, and they probably thought of Zeng Shen here and asked him to make it convenient."

「……」

After Qingji was silent for a while, he looked at the "Zeng Mansion" in the city, and couldn't help frowning, and said, "Zeng Shen dared to form a party for personal gain?"

"I don't dare to say that they are forming a party for personal gain, most of them are disciples of Zeng Shen, or protégés of Confucius, and fellow disciples of Zeng Shen. These Confucian scholars only came to visit Zeng Shen, and they did not accept bribes, and Zeng Shen was honest and honest, and he would not accept bribes......

That being said, Qingji's heart was uncomfortable after all.

Zeng Shen is trustworthy, but this bad atmosphere will inevitably make the future Dawu officialdom fall into a situation of "cronyism".

Like the Han and Wei dynasties and even the two Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Shi clan monopolized the court place, resulting in a pattern of "no cold men in the upper grades, and no scholars in the lower grades"?

Now, there are already signs of this in Dawu itself.

There are still few corrupt officials and corrupt officials, the problem of land annexation has not yet become prominent, and people still advocate virtue and are strict with themselves, but this bad atmosphere will still lead Dawu to the other extreme.

Although Dawu has now implemented 12 years of compulsory education, free education for all, and talents are cultivated by the state, if they want to become officials, they still have a "probation system", and they must first "worship the mountain"!

Familiar with the ministers of the current dynasty!

Is this good?

Not good.

If the grace of the private door is greater than the grace of the country, in the future, Dawu will definitely appear in the Han Dynasty's Runan Yuan family, Hongnong Yang family, like the "Four Worlds and Three Princes" family.