"It's been eight years." Zhou Jun sat in the carriage, looking at the scenery of the official road outside the window, and said softly: "We say goodbye to Chang'an, things have changed and people have changed."
Fan Jinian, the chamberlain supervisor, was sitting opposite Zhou Jun. When he heard this, he raised his hands and said, "The prime minister had a clever plan, defeated the rebel army, and restored Chang'an. This is an unparalleled feat."
Zhou Jun: "There is no one else here, so you should call me Zhou Jun."
Fan Jinian nodded and responded.
Zhou Jun looked at the dilapidated and uninhabited houses on the far side of the road and said: "When An Lushan entered Chang'an, he allowed his soldiers to massacre the city. Hundreds of thousands of men, women, old and children in Chang'an died in the war.
Chang'an has ten houses and nine empty spaces. There is no sound of human beings day and night. The blood of the dead dyes the Qujiang River bright red. The fish in the river feed on carrion and even jump on the shore to gnaw at the corpses."
Hearing this, Fan Jinian sighed: "The people of Chang'an City have suffered a great disaster. Fortunately, now that the Tang army is back, such a tragedy will never happen again."
Zhou Jun shook his head slightly. What Fan Jinian didn't know was that in another history, Chang'an had been massacred seven times.
The first time was An Lushan, the second time was the Tubo people, and the third time was the rebellion in the feudal town. Each of the massacres that occurred were so tragic that even the history books only have a few words and dare not record them in detail.
Zhou Jun asked: "Does Mr. Fan know the current situation in Chang'an City?"
Fan Jinian: "I don't know, please give me some advice from Zhou Erlang."
Zhou Jun: "Before talking about Chang'an, let's first talk about Luoyang... After An Lushan died, An Qingxu became the emperor of the puppet Yan. The latter ignored the government affairs and left all major affairs in the country to a group of civil servants.
."
"Those in power among the civil servants, such as Gao Shang, Yan Zhuang, Zhang Tongru, Ping Lai, Li Shiyu, etc., are vying for power. In order to expand their influence and win over allies, they have implemented policies in the capital and capital.
It has also shifted from the focus of plunder, suppression, and killing during the An Lushan period to collusion, division, and party formation."
"What's interesting is that many of the Guanzhong clans who had feuds with the Hebei clans have put aside their hatred and used local connections and resources to start contacting the Hebei clans with military power and official selection. The clans of the two places have formed alliances through marriage
, recommending, visiting, etc., and connecting with each other, they have formed a new force."
Fan Jinian was shocked and said: "The Puppet Yan is an army of thieves. There are many clans in Guanzhong. Why do they ignore the righteousness and seek benefits from the thieves?"
Zhou Jun: "If I could explain it in one word, it would be 'profit'."
"To put it in detail, Li Heng went to Jiankang and established the Southern Tang Dynasty. He also took advantage of the chaos to control large areas of land such as Jiangnan East Road and Jiangnan West Road. The capital of the Northern Tang Dynasty was Liangcheng, and the capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty was Jiankang. A discerning person
Everyone can see that the Tang Dynasty has been divided into the north and the south, and it is almost impossible to complete the unification in a short period of time."
"The Northern Tang Dynasty successively promulgated laws such as the Law of Power and Salt, the Order of Good and Disgraceful, the Order of Promoting the Worthy, etc., and also attacked the nobles in Liangcheng. The noble families in the world thought that I was from a humble background, and I used the military to rule the country, and I was an enemy of the nobles, so
They are alienating and hostile to Beitang, both emotionally and in terms of interests."
"Since the Northern Tang Dynasty was not a good place to go, the noble families set their sights on the Southern Tang Dynasty. However, when Li Heng was in power, there were frequent civil strife. When facing An Shouzhong, his troops suffered numerous defeats and lost ground one after another. Nowadays,
The Yan army had already reached the edge of the Yangtze River, just across the water from Jiankang City. Seeing that the Southern Tang Dynasty was really in trouble, the powerful nobles began to bet in many places, looking for new backers. The military was strong and they owned the Central Plains.
The fake swallows in the large land naturally became the target of the clans, which is why the Guanzhong clan and the Hebei clan put aside their hatred and colluded with each other."
Speaking of this, Zhou Jun himself felt a little emotional.
In another history, under the leadership of Li Heng, the Tang Dynasty suffered many defeats and took many detours. However, the noble families who were closely connected with the Li Tang royal family, whether from Hexi, Guanzhong, the Central Plains or
Jiangnan supported the Tang Dynasty from beginning to end.
In the new history, the sudden appearance of Zhou Jun caused the Tang Dynasty to be divided into two.
The forces of the Northern Tang Dynasty represented by Zhou Jun were mainly composed of the military towns of Beifan and Anxi. It represented the interests of lowly households including soldiers, merchants, craftsmen, and miscellaneous students. The Northern Tang Dynasty gradually bound these people through equal rights.
Together, they carried out a series of class integration moves; on the other hand, the Southern Tang led by Li Heng, although it was the Li-Tang orthodoxy, was in disarray due to the lack of major generals, general discord, eunuch chaos, and the suspicious emperor, and the entire Jiangnan was in disarray.
It was gradually cannibalized by the Yan Kingdom and was on the verge of collapse.
There were many intelligent people among the nobles of the Tang Dynasty, and they had clearly seen the trend of the world.
The essence of the power of the world is: the Anshi Rebellion - this was originally a war for power among the powerful families, but it has slowly changed. Now, it has transformed into a battle between the common people and the noble class to dominate the world.
of war.
Fan Jinian pondered for a moment and said: "What Zhou Lang means is that the world has been divided into three parts, and the Northern Tang Dynasty is different from the world's gentry?"
Zhou Jun nodded.
Fan Jinian sighed: "Our family is a common people and does not understand the divisions and unions of the world. I was willing to make friends with Zhou Lang because I thought you were honest and innocent. You are sincere in dealing with friends and colleagues... I will work with you."
In the final analysis, the goal is to have a good ending."
Zhou Jun: "Fan Gong put himself in danger several times for Zhou. Jun Ming felt deeply."
Fan Jinian nodded, not wanting to delay any more on this topic, and asked instead: "What Zhou Lang said earlier, the situation in Chang'an...?"
Zhou Jun: "In Chang'an today, although the Yan army was defeated, the remaining people are a mixed bag. Not only are the remnants of the Hebei bandit army, but also the forces rooted in Guanzhong clan. Facing the Northern Tang Dynasty who regained Chang'an, what they thought
It’s not about welcoming people all over the place, but how to restrain them so that the power of the military to suppress low-income families will not affect the interests of prominent families.”
When Fan Jinian heard this, he unconsciously turned his eyes to the brocade box in his arms and said, "Mr. Zhou, our family finally knows why you drafted such an imperial edict before leaving Liangcheng.
"
The voice of Wang Hong, the leader of the personal troops, came from outside the carriage: "Prime Minister, we have arrived at Chunming Gate in Chang'an City."
After hearing this, Zhou Jun opened the door curtain and stepped out of the carriage.
He stepped on the ground with both feet, stood firm, and looked at the majestic city in front of him.
The sun is still so bright, but the magnificent Chunming Gate in my memory has now been mottled by the flames of war.
Traces of fire and blows can still be seen vaguely on the city wall, and the land at the city gate is a dazzling dark brown, which makes people unable to let it go for a long time.
At the official road and the city gate, thousands of soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, wearing armor and carrying swords, knelt by the roadside and chanted to welcome the prime minister.
Zhou Jun took a long breath and whispered to himself: "Chang'an, I'm back."
This chapter has been completed!