After discussing the war in the Liang Kingdom, the court meeting was not over, and Lu Yuan talked about another thing.

"At the beginning of the year, in order to plan to go north to Zhongzhou in the future, I sent an envoy to Zheng Guo, another large country in Zhongzhou with Liang, to spy on the reality of the country.

Just yesterday, the envoy I sent to Zheng Guo in Yuzhou returned, bringing the latest news of Zheng's civil unrest. ”

Lu Yuan looked at the ministers, and finally looked at the person below, and said, "Wen Qing, you are the chief envoy of this envoy, and you are also the head of the Honglu Temple, so it is up to you to tell the ministers about the latest situation of Zheng Guo." ”

In the crowd, Wen Shu heard the emperor call his name, lined up from the ranks, and after saluting, he said: "Back to Your Majesty, gentlemen, in February this year, the ministers were ordered to send Zheng Guo, the lord of Yuzhou, all the way down the river by boat, and finally arrived at Zheng Guo by sea at the end of February, and then went to Xinzheng, the capital of his country.

Emperor Zheng was quite happy when he heard that my Great Chu was coming, and he received his ministers ceremoniously.

During the meeting, after expressing His Majesty's greetings to Zheng Guo, Emperor Zheng also expressed his goodwill towards Chu State.

Later, he asked his subordinates several times about the details of Da Chu and His Majesty's strategy. According to His Majesty's instructions before departure, the ministers explained to Emperor Zheng in detail one by one.

After listening to this, Emperor Zheng greatly admired and admired His Majesty's majestic strategy and achievements.

Regarding the trade between Chu and Zheng, Emperor Zheng also agreed without the slightest refusal.

Later, the minister visited a cadre of the ministers in the city of Xinzheng, and the royal family of Zheng led by Zheng San, the ruling of Zheng Guo, was quite friendly to the minister's visit, and like Emperor Zheng, he expressed goodwill to my Great Chu.

However, when the ministers visited Zhang Shou, the general of Zheng Guo, his attitude towards my Dachu was quite cold, and he also expressed hostility to the ministers several times.

Later, the ministers looked for someone to investigate, and only then did they learn that twenty years ago, the current Zheng Emperor Zheng Lian had not yet ascended the throne, but when he was only the prince of Zheng Guo, he had competed with his brother Zheng Ze for the throne.

At that time, because of this battle for the throne, the Zheng Dynasty was divided into camps and divided into two factions.

They are the royal clan forces that support the eldest prince Zheng Lian and are headed by the ruling Zheng Chan; Support the third prince Zheng Ze, the aristocratic forces of foreign relatives led by the general Zhang Shou.

These two factions ......"

As Wen Shu slowly spoke, everyone in the palace also slowly understood the details of Zheng Guo's internal affairs.

It turned out that when Zheng Guo started, it was a small country in Yuzhou, ruling only two provinces.

At that time, among the neighboring countries of Zheng State, there was a large country that already ruled a county-Cao State.

And Cao Guo also sharpened his sword, and he wanted to expand outward with great ambitions, and his troops were directed at the area where Zheng Guo was located.

In the area where Zheng Guo was located, in addition to Zheng Guo, there were also seventeen small countries at that time.

These small countries are as weak as Zheng Guo, the big ones only rule one government, and the small ones only have three or five counties, and each country is weak and vulnerable.

Under normal circumstances, in the face of Cao State, which had already unified a county, these small countries led by Zheng Guo could not stop the soldiers of the DPRK at all, and finally it was difficult to escape the fate of being annexed one by one.

But I don't know if it was forced to be urgent, or if there was great wisdom between the countries, and in the face of the strong oppression of Cao State, those small countries near Zheng State were surprisingly united.

It's a real union.

After retaining their autonomy over the territory, the small states gave up their own rivers and mountains and chose to annex to Zheng, dedicating their own land and merging with it.

Zheng Guo, on the other hand, recognized the autonomy of the princes of the small states to their original territories and canonized them accordingly.

At the same time, it was stipulated that the dominions of these countries were required to pay a certain amount of taxes to the imperial court, and in the event of a national war, they provided private soldiers from the territory to fight.

In this way, the seventeen princes of the vicinity of Zheng completed the preparation of the original monarch to the vassal in Zheng State.

Those vassal states were also incorporated into the Zheng state and became domestic fiefdoms.

These small countries have compromised with each other to form a large country that can meet the interests of the majority.

So in an instant, Zheng Guo transformed from a small country with only two provinces to a large country with two counties.

Although this big country is very scattered, and there are many domestic fiefs, the territory that really belongs to the monarch is still only the land of the two provinces of the original Zheng State, and the rest are all countries within the state that belong to the vassals.

But regardless of the details of the inner and middle bottoms, after unifying the nearby small countries, Zheng Guo has essentially become a whole.

And with the name of the monarch, he can integrate the resources of the country by collecting taxes.

At the same time, it can also concentrate domestic troops and horses through vassal obligations, which can be used to deal with national wars that defend against foreign enemies or expand outward.

With this function, the newly-born Zheng State, relying on nearly twice its size, finally blocked the invasion of the Cao State after several years of fighting in the Great Patriotic War.

And through this war, Zheng Guo, who was originally only forcibly fused together and the people's hearts were still very scattered, slowly completed the combing of people's hearts and gradually shaped the concept of "Zheng Guoren".

Later, in order to strengthen this concept, the monarch of Zheng took the initiative to launch an attack on Cao in the name of revenge even after repelling the invasion of Cao.

Finally, after ten years of long war, he finally led the subjects of the whole country to destroy this former great enemy.

And the king of Zheng Guo, who led this victory at that time, also took advantage of the prestige of the great victory to move the capital to the former capital of Cao State, and renamed it Xinzheng, which is now the capital of Zheng State.

With the radiation of Xinzheng City, the national capital, the royal family of Zheng Guo, headed by the monarch, soon spread their influence to most of the original Cao State territory, extending the royal tentacles to all aspects of the new territory.

The fruits of the victory in the destruction of the Cao State were captured by the royal family.

And the Zheng royal family, relying on the national capital Xinzheng City, as well as the original territory, integrated a territory directly under the jurisdiction of almost a county, and its strength increased instantly.

Originally, in Zheng Guoguo, those vassal nobles who were about the same size as the royal family were suddenly widened, and it was difficult to threaten the status of the royal family.

In this case, some vassals and nobles thought that the royal family was too greedy, and it was clear that the Cao State was destroyed by everyone, but the benefits were almost eaten by the royal family, and they didn't get much soup.

Therefore, in the case of uneven distribution of benefits, there was great dissatisfaction with the royal family.

The monarch believes that now Zheng Guo has three counties and gradually has the foundation of hegemony.

However, there were many vassals in the country, and more than two-thirds of the territory was controlled by large and small vassals, and most of the domestic forces could not be concentrated, which greatly affected Zheng Guo's external expansion.

It also greatly threatened the majesty and security of the Zheng royal family.

Therefore, the Zheng royal family, headed by the monarch, naturally wanted to reduce the feudal domains, reduce those vassals, and centralize power.

These two almost irreconcilable contradictions between kings and vassals, under the constant temptation and strife between the two sides, almost turned Zheng Guo into a powder keg.

In the end, with Zheng Guojun's strong execution of Zheng Guoguo, the head of the Shangqing family who was represented by many vassals, was completely ignited.

The royal family of Zheng Guo and the local nobles and ministers were divided into two camps, and a fierce civil war directly began.

This fight is several years, during which there were countless casualties, and Zheng Guo was about to be beaten.

But it was at this time that Zheng Guo was about to split, and suddenly Xun Guo, a large country south of Zheng State, saw an opportunity and actually sent troops to invade Zheng State.

So I don't know if I'm tired, or if Zheng Guoren really agrees with the concept of "Zheng Guo", or both.

In short, in the face of the invasion of Xun State, the two camps of Zheng State, which were originally inextricably fighting, united at this time to resist Xun State together.

A crisis that could have caused division and even the fall of Zheng Guo was eliminated because of Xun Guo's help.

And it is precisely because of the brutal civil war and the crisis of almost destroying the country that the royal family and the local ministers of Zheng Guo no longer dare to act rashly after reconciliation, for fear of leading to a second civil war.

Therefore, in the subsequent relationship, both sides maintained considerable restraint, and the Zheng royal family continued to recognize the interests of the local ministers in their fiefdoms, and the local ministers also supported the Zheng royal family as usual.

The two sides will work together to safeguard Zheng Guo's interests and promote the expansion of this interest group.

For more than a thousand years, after experiencing several crises and twists and turns, Zheng Guo struggled to unify most of Yuzhou and became one of the overlords of Kyushu.

And Zheng Guo's royal family and local ministers have also expanded their strength rapidly in a series of expansions.

However, in the end, the royal family occupies the position of righteousness, and in the previous expansion, it can always get more benefits.

So now, Zheng Guo has a total of ten counties, half of the royal family and the minister's secretary, and the strength has changed from the original one to two to the current one to one, forming a balance.

It is precisely because of the balance that Zheng Guo has buried new hidden dangers.

More than 1,000 years have passed, and the civil strife that only existed in the history books has long disappeared in the long river of time.

Although the current people of Zheng Guo know that the civil war is terrible, it is just a few words in the history books, and they have not really experienced it, who knows how cruel it is?

"Therefore, in the past hundred years, as the strength of the Zheng royal family has continued to expand, it has begun to test the oppression of local ministers, and wants to reduce the feudal domain again in order to centralize power.

In order to protect themselves, the local ministers also had to hold together to fight against the threat of the royal family.

Decades have passed, and now Zheng has formed two major groups in the country, the imperial family and the minister, and once again began to fight and attack the court, launching several political purges.

Under these brutal political struggles, the two factions have become more and more like fire and water, and it is difficult to get along.

Even if this is the case, the situation is still controllable, and the struggle between the two forces only revolves around the court, and political means are used, and the bottom line has not been touched. ”

Wen Shu paused when he said this, and then seemed to remember some unbearable memory, and said with an ugly face: "But in May this year, Zheng Zong, the ruling Zheng State, made a statement to Emperor Zheng.

Please collect all kinds of rare treasures in the country and give them to the Chu State as a national gift, so as to thank the Chu State for the gift of the envoy this time, so as to show the friendship between the two countries.

When Emperor Zheng heard this, he readily agreed, so he issued an edict to the vassals of the counties and counties in the country to select rare things in the territory and offer them.

After January, all kinds of rare and exotic objects in Zheng Guo were selected and sent to the treasury.

However, during this period, the treasures offered by Zheng Guoqing's clan and Yang Shouguo, the son of Taiqiu County, were found, and many of them were confusing with inferiority, and there were even counterfeit things.

The ruling Zheng Chan reported it to Emperor Zheng, accusing Yang Shouguo of perfunctory royal affairs and using inferior fakes as national gifts, which was a crime of insulting the national prestige.

and requested that the title of the prince of Taiqiu County of Yang Shouguo be removed and his fief be stripped away, so as to correct the law of the country and clarify the rewards and punishments.

Emperor Zheng agreed to this request......"

Wen Shu continued to tell about the changes in the political situation of Zheng Guo caused by the gift to Chu State.

With Zheng Chan's proposal, which was allowed by Emperor Zheng Lian, this news immediately caused an uproar.

The local ministers in Xinzheng City jointly signed a letter requesting Emperor Zheng to revoke the punishment.

It is believed that Yang Shouguo is guilty and uses defective products as a national gift, which is indeed insulting to the national prestige, but it is enough to put him to death.

However, the fief of Taiqiu County is the family business of the Yang family, which was won by the people themselves, not given by the state.

So the emperor has no right to take it away.

Otherwise, the emperor can take away the Yang family's grave today, and won't he be able to take away my family tomorrow?

Their fief was not given by the emperor, but their ancestors took the territory as a shareholder, and it was their own from the beginning.

These ministers and the royal family are not in an absolute master-slave relationship, but mostly in cooperative relations.

Now that the collaborators are going to take their equity, how can this be accepted by many ministers.

Therefore, many ministers jointly signed a letter asking the emperor to revoke this resolution.

It is conceivable how Emperor Zheng could accept this proposal.

So the will to deprive the fief was forcefully implemented.

However, when the messenger who went to announce the decree rushed to Taiqiu County, halfway through, he heard that Yang Shouguo, the son of Taiqiu County, led his own three county fiefdoms and raised 30,000 troops to rebel.

Faced with this situation, it is obviously impossible to peacefully deprive the Yang family of their fiefdoms.

So the envoy returned to the court and reported the matter to the emperor.

Emperor Zheng was furious, and the ruling Zheng Chan made even more strong statements, demanding severe suppression and quelling the rebellion.

Many people from the royal family also agreed.

The ministers of the court and the central government continued to persuade them, saying that as long as the emperor could retract his will to take away the fiefdom of Taiqiu County, they could let Yang Shouguo commit suicide and thank the country, hoping to stop this matter.

But Emperor Zheng still didn't allow it.

The 50,000 counterinsurgency troops sent by the imperial court were quickly assembled and sent to Taiqiu County.

This instantly became the lead to fuel.

Seeing that the emperor and the royal family were still unrelenting, they must kill the Taiqiu Yang family, and in Zheng Guoguo, some ministers who were good friends with the Taiqiu Yang family also rebelled.

In just half a month, Zheng Guoguo had two county men, a county son, and a government uncle, raising the anti-flag.

And the royal family, it seems that they have long expected this, and when each family rebels, the local counterinsurgency army, which has been prepared for a long time, will be sent out.

It didn't take long for these ministers who hastily raised troops to be wiped out.

Those who were destroyed were uprooted, and thousands of people were killed.

This brutality, as well as the royal family's hostility towards the local ministers, caused great panic and indignation among the other ministers who were on the sidelines.

So after writing to the emperor again and requesting that the request to revoke the order to send troops was rejected, the representatives of the ministers in Xinzheng City finally recognized the reality.

The ministers headed by the general Zhang Shou, after realizing that everything was irreparable, directly robbed Zheng Ze, the third prince who failed to seize the throne and was claustrophobic at home, and returned to his fiefdom Yongqiu with the other party.

After taking Zheng Ze away, Zhang Shou convened many ministers in Zheng to hold an alliance, and counted the crimes of the current lord of Zheng State, Emperor Zheng Lian.

Then he told heaven that he would no longer recognize him as the master, but instead supported Zheng Ze as the emperor and set up another court in Yongqiu.

In this way, on July 14, the 25th year of Shenwu, among Yuzhou, two Zheng states appeared.

One is Beizheng, which is located in the north and is dominated by many local ministers, supporting Zheng Ze as the monarch and setting the capital of Yongqiu.

One is Nanzheng, which is located in the south, with the royal forces as the main body, supporting the original Zheng Emperor Zheng Lian as the monarch and setting the capital of Xinzheng. ”

Wen Shu said this, his throat was a little dry, but he still continued: "Now Northern Zheng occupies the five northern counties of Zheng State, and Southern Zheng occupies the five southern counties of Zheng State, and both sides each have millions of soldiers, and there are no less than ten people by nature.

The war clouds on both sides are thick, and there is already a big fight.

In a short period of time, there is no possibility of separating the winner from the loser.

The entire Yuzhou, also after the division of Zheng State, was divided into three.

Southern Zheng, Northern Zheng, and Jin each occupied the land of the five counties and divided the entire Yuzhou equally.

These three countries, although their strength is not weak, can be called one hegemon.

But they are only small and medium-sized hegemons in the state, and it is difficult to compare with the hegemony of the world in a state. ”

Speaking of this, Wen Shu paused, and his face showed a trace of unbearability: "Originally, when Zheng Guo was still one, he was dominant in Yuzhou, and relying on his size as the overlord of the world, he could naturally block the covetousness of other world powers.

Therefore, the Tang State of Jingzhou and the Xu State of Liangzhou, which are located in the north of Yuzhou, even if they are eyeing each other, they are also afraid of the strength of Zheng Guo and dare not attack rashly.

But now that Zheng Guo is divided into two and Yuzhou is divided into three, they are not one with each other, and it is no longer difficult to stop the ambitions of the two countries.

When the minister left, he heard that Northern Zheng had colluded with the Tang State of Jingzhou, and the Jin State had colluded with the Xu State of Liangzhou, and both made a decision to cede the northern territory of their country, and led the troops of the two countries to the south, preparing to jointly attack and destroy Southern Zheng.

In this way, the north lost the south to make up for it, and the northern Zheng and Jin kingdoms, with the help of this means, temporarily avoided the blows of the Tang and Xu kingdoms, and with the help of the two countries, they sought benefits for themselves in the south.

Alas!

If this matter is successful, the former overlord of Yuzhou is afraid that he will die out.

And once it is destroyed, how can the Northern Zheng and Jin Kingdoms, which are seeking the skin of the tiger, survive alone?

The land of Yuzhou will eventually be occupied by the two kingdoms of Tang and Xu. ”

Wen Shu sighed with emotion, as if he was grieving for the dying overlord.

He sent Zheng Guo and was extremely courteous to Emperor Zheng and Zheng Lian, but he didn't expect such a result to be changed in the end, which is really embarrassing.

After listening to Wen Shu's story, the other people in the hall also looked at each other, and they all felt outrageous about the Zheng civil strife caused by the envoy of the Chu State.

Lu Yuan was also a little depressed.

He sent someone to envoy Zheng Guo, because he really wanted to make friends with the other party, and he didn't think about doing things.

Who would have thought that Zheng Lian, the emperor of Zheng State, would cut down the feudal domain in the name of giving a gift back to Chu State, but the means were so rough, and things were not done well, but he broke up his huge empire.

Now it's good.

The feudal domain was not cut, but Zheng Guo was about to perish.

When this matter spread, people who don't know know about it, and they still think that the Chu State has done something to split the boss empire?

Lu Yuan could already think of how those monarchs and ministers would arrange themselves in private among the countries of Kyushu.

In the future, the envoys sent by the Chu State to other countries will inevitably suffer from a long period of white eyes.

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