Chapter 1060 Princess of the Three Kingdoms, Attacking Shu
The first day of June.
It's five o'clock, and it's still dark.
As the internal officials kept calling, Su Mingzhe finally remembered that he had to attend the morning court today, and quickly patted the beauty lying in his arms and motioned for her to move.
Princess Emei of Shu State snorted, and slowly opened her beautiful eyes. She noticed the man's warm hands walking on her back. She looked at the man with a pair of innocent eyes and whispered softly:
"Your Majesty, it's Sister Zhenning's turn."
It took Su Mingzhe a while to react, and then he was amused by the woman:
"I'll see you sister Zhenning again in the evening. It's time for me to go to court in the morning."
Princess Zhenning of Liang Kingdom was sleeping very lightly. She opened her phoenix eyes when she heard someone calling her name.
A few seconds later, Princess Zhenning knew that the man was going to court, so she climbed down from the bed, called the palace maid, took the Han Emperor's crowned dragon robe into the bedroom, and put it on the man.
However, Princess Yining of Tang State, who was sleeping on the bed, was so tired that she did not even open her eyes when the man left.
Su Mingzhe sat walking and rushed to the Tai Chi Palace before the first ray of sunlight arrived at dawn.
The Han Dynasty held a great court meeting at the beginning or middle of each month.
Umrah is held every May.
The main topics of this imperial meeting were the 'Xia Flood' and the 'Fighting of Shu'.
Starting from May to August, the summer flood season in the Yellow River Basin has always been the worst.
Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, vegetation in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River has begun to be extensively destroyed.
Soil and water loss in the Loess Plateau is becoming increasingly serious, and the climate crisis is becoming more and more serious.
Su Mingzhe arranged for Duan Lianshan, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, to be responsible for the summer flood work based on the previously determined data.
Duan Lianshan, although he has no political stance and is a wallflower, has a very serious work attitude and outstanding abilities.
Let Duan Lianshan be responsible for the summer flood work and give him a little mental encouragement, and Su Mingzhe will feel relieved.
Later, the Minister of Rites reported that Emperor Yan of Shu resisted the Han's attempt to surrender.
"I knew that Wang Yan would not be so honest and obedient. In this case, at the beginning of next month, I will go on a personal expedition to conquer the Kingdom of Shu."
Su Mingzhe knew Wang Yanshi's virtue before sending the envoy.
The reason why we sent envoys to Shu to persuade him to surrender was entirely for the sake of Princess Dujuan of Emei and to give Wang Yan one more choice.
Since Emperor Yan of Shu refused to accept this favor and had to go through some trouble, Su Mingzhe did not hesitate to make the trip.
By coincidence, Su Mingzhe also wanted to see what kind of heavenly beauty the two ‘Mrs. Hua Rui’ from the Kingdom of Shu were like.
Among the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, there were five stunning beauties, whose names were passed down to future generations as "Mrs. Huarui" and "Queen Zhou".
The first of them, Mrs. Huarui, was the Empress Dowager Xu of Shu, the biological mother of Emperor Yan of Shu.
The Queen Mother of Shu was already over forty, five or six years older than the Empress of the Tang Dynasty, Princess Zhenning of the Liang Kingdom (the mother of Yuan Jie and Yuan Cheng).
As for the second Mrs. Fei, she is still in her prime and has not yet married Meng Chang, the lord of Later Shu.
The third Lady Huarui, and the two Zhou queens, Big and Little, were all concubines of the empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty.
Thinking of the Empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Su Mingzhe suddenly thought of another thing.
Li, the Taizu of the Southern Tang Dynasty, whose name is now Xu Zhigao, originally held the power of Southern Wu together with his adoptive father Xu Wen.
Last winter, Xu Wen died of illness.
Now in Southern Wu, Li Sheng alone is in charge of the court.
A few years later, Li Sheng would first call himself Emperor of Qi, and then change the country's name to Tang, which was called Southern Tang in history.
"Nowadays, apart from the Qi State, which was annexed by the Han State, the Dingnan Army, the Uighur tribe, and the Tang State, there are still more than a dozen vassal towns in the world who are kings and emperors, namely Liang (Hou Liang), Chu (Ma Chu), Nanping, Han (Southern Han), Nanzhao, Wu (Southern Wu), Wuyue, Min, Guiyijun (Jinshan Kingdom in the Western Han Dynasty), Wu (Nanyue region), Peiguo, Qiguo, Xingguo, Tubo, Khitan, Bohai, etc."
If Su Mingzhe wanted to conquer all these many kingdoms and vassal forces, it would really take a lot of effort.
Finally waited until the meeting was over.
Su Mingzhe did not return to the harem to continue his absurdity, but stayed in the imperial study room of Taiji Palace and began to review the memorials.
After successively destroying the Qi State, the Dingnan Army, the Uighurs, and the Tang State, plus the land of the six states snatched from the Liang State, the current area of the Han State is almost equivalent to a quarter of the territory of the Central Plains of the Tang Dynasty. .
Of course, although the territory is equivalent to a quarter, the population is not even one-tenth.
In the past hundreds of years, bandits and military governors from all walks of life have appeared in turn.
Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, the local prominent families and millennium-old families that have been a "constant problem" for the imperial court, faced these unreasonable Qiu Bashi, all turned into soft-legged shrimps and big fat sheep, unable to protect the place at all.
At this time, "soldiers are like combs, bandits are like grates", which has become the most true portrayal.
Since Su Mingzhe ascended the throne, he has ordered local prefectures and counties to carry out household registration.
After accepting Tang household registration in April this year, the total population of Han Dynasty only exceeded 6 million.
You must know that when the Tang Dynasty was at its most prosperous, there were 15 million households. Adding in the hidden population and absentee slaves, the total population was close to 80 million.
Today, the Han Kingdom occupies a quarter of the Tang Dynasty's Central Plains territory, but only has a population of one-quarter.
The population is small, and there are no prominent families or aristocratic families, and the powerful families are domineering.
The local officials in the Han Dynasty were particularly clear and clear.
In addition, after Su Mingzhe exempted himself from the Dingkou tax and other exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, he only charged a ten-per-acre land tax, and the wandering and fleeing people gradually stabilized.
In the blink of an eye, the end of the month is here.
Seeing that the man was about to go to war, Cui Yingying took the matchmaker and Chuntao to bed with him.
Su Mingzhe was originally going to confer the title of "Concubine Yan" on the matchmaker, but the matchmaker was unwilling to leave Cui Yingying, so in the end she only accepted the title of "Concubine Yan".
The four of them are considered an old married couple, and they are enjoying their time together.
The next day, the first day of July.
The Han army set out to conquer Shu.
When the Shu Emperor Wang Yan learned that the Han army was attacking, he was frightened. He immediately ordered the Shu army to move the Shu people outside the Shu Road back to Sichuan, then destroyed the Shu Road, sealed Jianmen Pass, and prepared Use the most conservative defense method - strong walls and clear fields, and fight the Han army to the end.
Strong walls and clear fields are really effective.
Su Mingzhe led the Han army to build roads while advancing. The Shu Road, which could have been completed in more than ten days, had to walk for more than a month before reaching Jiange County.
By this time, the Han army's food routes had stretched to thousands.
It stands to reason that it would be extremely dangerous for the grain road to be so long.
However, Su Mingzhe dared to do this.
When the army arrived in Jiange County, ten places outside Jianmen Pass, the captain of the former army scout camp came to report:
"Informing your Majesty, the Shu army has completely sealed Jianmen Pass. There is no way around. General Wei ordered the general to come and report. Your Majesty, please make a decision as soon as possible!"
"Instruct the front army to find a camp outside Jiange Wu!"
Although the Shu army had sealed Jianmen Pass, the Han army still had to strictly abide by the rules when setting up camp without any carelessness.
This has nothing to do with whether Su Mingzhe is afraid of being attacked by surprise. It's a matter of habit.