Chapter 820: If you want to bring peace to the world, conquer the Western Regions first
In the fourth year of Guangwu's reign, it was the second day of the second lunar month.
The dragon raises its head!
Queen Jiang Ni of the Great Shu Kingdom was pregnant for ten months and finally gave birth to the emperor's eldest son, Su Yingjian.
Su Mingzhe stood in the main hall of Changchun Palace, took his son from Po Wen, teased him for a while, and was in a good mood:
"Very good, looks like me!"
"let me see--"
Jiang Ni's voice came from the dormitory.
Although she had lost a lot of energy due to giving birth, Su Mingzhe had given her a Qi-tonifying pill before giving birth, so when she spoke at this time, she was still full of energy.
When Su Mingzhe walked into the dormitory, he saw Jiang Ni's cute little face, flushed with red, exuding the brilliance of maternal love, and her big eyes staring closely at the baby in the man's arms.
"Queen, look at our good son, isn't he cute..."
Su Mingzhe held his son in his arms, walked to the bed in a few steps, and slowly placed his son in Jiang Ni's arms.
As soon as Jiang Ni received the baby and saw her son inside, the brilliance of motherly love on her body disappeared without a trace in an instant, and she spoke with a taste of disgust:
"So ugly!"
Jiang Ni looked at her son's red and purple skin, pouted her lips, and asked the man:
"Your Majesty, is this really my child?"
"Why is your head so long?"
"Your skin is still so red?"
"Of course you gave birth to this! I've been staying here all the time, and no one dares to play the trick of 'changing the prince' under my nose!"
Su Mingzhe's words were barely a comfort.
Both Jiang Ni and Su Mingzhe have very fair complexions.
But the newly born Su Yingjian was rosy.
No wonder Jiang Ni couldn't believe it.
By the way, the head is very big and long!
Nothing like her and a man!
Seeing that Jiang Ni still had a look of disgust on her face, Su Mingzhe had to explain to her:
"Newborn babies are like this, and they will be fine in two days."
As Su Mingzhe spoke, he reached out to untie Jiang Ni's sweat-soaked clothes and began to guide Jiang Ni in feeding his son.
At first, the ginger paste was a bit painful.
However, maternal love is very great. The smile on her son's face after eating made her forget her fear of pain.
My son is just born and has a small appetite.
Jiang Ni’s two small steamed buns can barely feed his son.
When her son had finished eating and was getting ready to go to bed, Jiang Ni, a first-time mother, saw her son showing such a well-behaved and cute appearance, and couldn't help but start humming a Xichu tune from her memory, and slowly fell asleep with her son.
The news that the queen gave birth to the eldest prince was immediately spread to the court.
In the past three years or so, Su Mingzhe had taken in nearly a hundred beauties, but none of them were pregnant.
Under the impetus of some thoughtful people, there was a lot of discussion inside and outside the court. It can be said that there were all kinds of strange rumors.
For example, the queen is jealous, the emperor is incompetent, etc.
In the early summer of last year, news of the Queen's pregnancy spread, which somewhat dispelled others' suspicion.
Now, the queen gave birth to a dragon son, and everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Although Su Mingzhe had long said that his cultivation was already in the realm of land gods and he could live forever, so that everyone did not have to worry about heirs.
But in the eyes of courtiers, royal heirs are still very important.
Isn’t there an old saying, don’t be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of the unexpected!
What if Su Mingzhe suddenly disappeared and had no heirs left, wouldn't Great Shu be in chaos?
More than a month passed in the blink of an eye.
The prince's full moon banquet was held as scheduled.
The old ministers of Western Chu, led by Cao Changqing, Sun Xiji and others, handed over memorials and wanted to pay homage to Queen Jiang Ni and His Royal Highness the Prince of Shu.
At the full moon banquet, Su Mingzhe officially conferred the title of Prince of Shu on the eldest son of the emperor, Su Yingjian.
With this canonization, the increasingly fierce struggle for power between Western Shu and the old ministers of Western Chu has come to an end.
Now, the old ministers of Western Chu came to congratulate the queen and the prince.
Jiang Ni hugged her son and came to meet everyone.
Su Yingjian is only one month old. Under the care of two nannies, she has grown fair and plump, and is very energetic.
As the ministers' congratulatory gifts ended, the little guy stared with a pair of big black eyes, wanting to reach out and grab a handful of everyone he saw.
Jiang Ni hugged her son, who liked to stretch his arms and stick out his butt, and walked down from the throne, letting everyone meet him one after another.
After everyone confirmed the prince's appearance, Jiang Ni excused himself as tired and prepared for everyone to disperse.
The harem is not allowed to interfere in politics!
This is the ancestral rule!
Jiang Ni didn't care about government affairs either.
In her opinion, she was a woman who could make the emperor favor her and give birth to two sons, one to inherit Shu and the other to inherit Western Chu. This was enough.
No matter how important the court affairs are, they have nothing to do with a little woman like her.
"Your Highness!"
Cao Changqing finally saw Jiang Ni. How could he want to leave like this? He quickly called her out:
"Your Highness, do you know that your Majesty sent envoys to the Western Regions last month to request that the Western Regions surrender to the Kingdom of Shu!"
"have no idea."
Jiang Ni was a little confused when he heard this. He shook his head first, and then asked nervously with his innocent eyes:
"Uncle Qizhao, is there going to be a war?"
"Yes!"
Seeing that Jiang Ni's attention had been attracted, Cao Changqing explained to her:
"Your Highness, although the territory of the Western Region is vast, the population is not as large as that of Dashu, and the land is barren and the products are not abundant. The only place worth considering for Dashu is that the people are strong and have many natural horse farms!"
After Jiang Ni heard this, he suddenly didn’t understand:
"Then since the Western Region is not as good as Shu, why does Your Majesty want the Western Region to surrender to Shu?"
“It’s because of the location!”
Cao Changqing explained:
"If the Great Shu Kingdom wants to swallow up the whole world, just relying on the more than 30 cities and two million households of the Great Shu Kingdom is simply not enough!"
"If the weaker Western Region can be annexed first, then Shu's land area and population can easily double. Moreover, the Western Region has war horses, strong folk customs, and can also provide soldiers..."
"The most important point is that the terrain of the world is high in the northwest and low in the southeast."
"If the Great Shu Kingdom occupies the Western Region, it can attack Beiliang from high to low!"
Cao Changqing talked a lot about it.
Finally, Jiang Ni nodded in understanding.
Cao Changqing finally said:
"Your Highness, I believe that if your Majesty sends envoys to surrender the Western Regions, the Western Regions will definitely not obey and will eventually need to fight a war!"
"This battle is the first battle since the restoration of the Shu Kingdom, so it is particularly important."
"So, Wei Chen wants to be the leader of the army this time!"
Facing Cao Changqing's request, Jiang Ni thought for a moment and nodded this time:
"Uncle Qi Zhao, I will discuss this matter with Your Majesty."
Although Jiang Ni is naive and too lazy to care about the important affairs of the court, she is not stupid either.
Cao Changqing's ability to lead troops in war will be helpful to his future children.
For the sake of her son, Jiang Ni must also support him.
Everyone discussed again.
Finally, Jiang Ni saw that the prince in his arms kept pulling off his palace skirt, so he asked everyone to leave.
In the evening, when Su Mingzhe came to Changchun Palace to visit his son, Jiang Ni didn't mince words and directly told Cao Changqing that he wanted to lead the army to fight.
After hearing this, Su Mingzhe felt a little embarrassed.
Before that, he had promised Hongshu that he would take her to conquer the Western Regions in person.
The most fertile place in the world is the Central Plains area occupied by the Liyang Dynasty.
The most central position in the entire world is the three states of Beiliang.
Centered on the three states of Beiliang, in order of clockwise are the four major powers: Liyang Dynasty, Western Shu, Western Regions, and Beimang.
Su Mingzhe is not ready to go to war with the Liyang Dynasty for the time being, and can only deal with the Western Regions to the west first.
After occupying the Western Region, Su Mingzhe was not prepared to go to war with the Liyang Dynasty, but was prepared to go all the way north to pacify Beimang.
Among the many forces in the world today, the strength of the Western Region is far inferior to that of Liyang, Beimang, Beiliang, Dashu, and even the King of Southern Xinjiang.
If we really want to compare, the strength of Landuo Mountain in the Western Region is roughly equal to that of King Jing'an, King Jiaodong, King Langya and other forces of the Liyang Dynasty.
It is precisely because the strength of the Western Region is weak that Su Mingzhe is preparing to take the lead in taking over the Western Region, and then conquer Beimang from the Western Region!
And Hongshu is the niece of the lord of Dunhuang City in Beimang.
The lord of Dunhuang City was a member of the Beimang royal family.
In other words, sweet potatoes also have the blood of the Beimang royal family flowing through them.
At that time, due to an old incident between Buddhism and Taoism, the city of Dunhuang was destroyed.
Hongshu's aunt, the lord of Dunhuang City, had no choice but to send her niece Hongshu to Beiliang Prince's Mansion to be a 'proton' in order to protect Dunhuang City.
After Sweet Potato was sent to the Prince of Beiliang's Palace, he was trained as a dead soldier by Princess Wu Su of Beiliang and became a maid in Wutong Garden.
Su Mingzhe was preparing to attack the Western Regions, so he naturally had to have a valid reason.
What happened to Sweet Potato gave Su Mingzhe an honest reason to send troops.
"What? No?"
Jiang Ni noticed that Su Mingzhe was hesitating and quickly said:
"I'm just saying casually. Military and national affairs still have to be dominated by you."
Seeing Jiang Ni who was so considerate, Su Mingzhe couldn't help but look at her with a little more tenderness:
"It's not a embarrassment. With Cao Changqing's ability, the Western Region will definitely be able to capture it easily."
"It's just that the Western Region is related to the 'Conquest of Beimang Plan' four years later."
"If Cao Changqing is allowed to go to the Western Regions, I'm afraid he will have to stay there for four years!"
When Su Mingzhe said this, he smiled at Jiang Ni and said:
"Send someone to send a message to Cao Changqing tomorrow. If he is willing to stay in the Western Regions for four or five years, and leave it to him to conquer the Western Regions this time!"
"good!"
Jiang Ni didn't want to ask more about the government affairs. As soon as the matter was finished, she reached out to pick up her son in the man's arms:
"It's getting late, you should go."
She knew that men were almost unfavorable to women, and now that she had a son to take care of, she could only let the man find other women.
"I'm leaving."
Su Mingzhe originally planned to stay at Changchun Palace tonight.
Ever since she found out Jiang Ni was pregnant last year and now the baby is one month old, Su Mingzhe misses Jiang Ni very much.
However, there may be changes in Yujia's personal expedition to the Western Regions, and he needs to go to Xiangfei Hongshu to explain it.