Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 362 Six States Old Elite

Jinyang Palace.

The palace door is wide open.

From the main gate to the gate in the inner wall, the entire route was guarded by soldiers from Shuozhou.

They stood extremely straight, at a fixed distance from each other, facing each other, holding spears and wearing armor.

These most elite soldiers were lined up on both sides, looking very majestic.

Liu Taozi wore an iron helmet, bright armor, a red neck guard, a black skirt, and a large black cloak.

The equipment he was wearing looked extremely heavy. When he walked, he looked like a giant bear. The sound made by the armor when he walked was frightening.

He led the way through the armored soldiers.

Behind him were more than thirty officials and generals.

Tian Zili and Gao Xiaowan were among them, but they were both limping and needed someone to support them to walk.

Liu Taozi strode through several gates and quickly walked up the stairs.

He strode towards the main hall step by step.

Jinyang Palace looked somewhat dilapidated at this moment, with various parts suffering varying degrees of damage, and even looting by rebel soldiers.

But for some reason, the Jinyang Palace, which showed some signs of damage, looked more majestic than before.

Liu Taozi walked into the main hall.

As soon as he walked in, he heard exclamations from inside.

Empress Dowager Hu sat on the throne in despair, hugging another woman who looked similar to her, and was in a state of panic.

Empress Dowager Hu no longer had any of her dignity as a queen dowager. Her hair was disheveled, her clothes were untidy, and her eyes revealed a deep sense of cowardice.

Liu Taozi didn't even greet them, but just strode up to the two of them.

Zu Ting stepped out from among the ministers appropriately and looked at Empress Dowager Hu.

"The general has pacified the situation both inside and outside the country and saved your lives. Why don't you thank him?!"

Empress Dowager Hu and the woman knelt hurriedly.

Liu Taozi had no interest in messing with such a person. He waved his hand and said, "Remove her from her position and send her back to her parents' home. Then investigate the faults of her clan and deal with them according to the law."

"only!!"

Zu Ting looked to both sides, and a soldier quickly stepped forward and took the two of them out.

Several members of the Gao family looked at Empress Dowager Hu coldly, without even a trace of sympathy in their eyes.

After the two of them left, Liu Taozi continued walking forward and came to the dragon throne.

The dragon throne in Jinyang Palace imitates the standard style of the Former Wei Dynasty.

The dragon throne where the emperor sat was four steps higher than that of his ministers. The dragon throne was also tall and could look down on everyone.

Everyone looked at Liu Taozi in astonishment, and at each other, with some anticipation in their eyes.

Liu Taozi walked up the steps and then sat directly on the dragon throne, facing everyone.

At this moment, the officials were stunned.

Yao Xiong knelt down and said, "Your Majesty!"

Zu Ting was quick to act and covered Yao Xiong's mouth before he could finish shouting.

Liu Taozi looked at everyone calmly, "I am used to sitting in the upper seat, please sit on the sides first."

However, people did not dare to sit randomly, and they took their seats one by one, starting with those with higher status.

Yao Xiong sat in the front seat on the left. Sitting here, an indescribable feeling filled his whole body, and he was slightly excited. He looked around and saw that many people had the same emotion, some were confused, some were excited, and some were happy.

Liu Taozi asked, "How should we deal with the Jinyang soldiers?"

Everyone instantly woke up from their excitement and returned to reality.

Jinyang soldiers.

The good thing about Jinyang is its soldiers, and the bad thing about Jinyang is its soldiers.

Even this can summarize the entire Qi State.

What made Qi strong was the powerful Jinyang Legion led by the nobles.

This legion has always been strong and prestigious. Even at its weakest moment, it can make the enemy tremble with fear and even defeat an elite army that is several times larger than its own.

But the stronger this legion becomes, the more difficult it will be to change many things in Qi.

This Jinyang tribe originated from the ancient Six Garrisons and had a mixed composition, but they all considered themselves to be old Xianbei. During the Gao Huan period, they refused orders issued in Chinese characters and demanded that all military orders be issued in the Xianbei language.

During the Gao Cheng period, they expressed strong dissatisfaction with the emperor's use of Han scholars and officials to impeach old Xianbei nobles by using Han people as supervisors, and they took the lead in causing trouble several times.

During the Gao Yang period, he expressed dissatisfaction with the emperor's training of Han recruits.

Later on, they opposed almost all policies that might shake their position as the core, causing Qi to remain stuck in the quagmire and unable to extricate itself.

They were the founders and destroyers of Qi State, as well as its guardians and gravediggers.

After King Gao, the emperors of Qi basically failed to completely control these old Jinyang people. They invisibly influenced the policies of Qi, causing it to gradually fall behind Zhou.

Han ministers like Yang Xiuzhi even believed that the Pseudo-Zhou was able to carry out so many reforms smoothly because they were beaten so badly by the Jinyang soldiers in the early stage. The old Xianbei in the country were killed or injured, and the nobles and military leaders were uneasy about their positions. They had no choice but to choose to absorb Han people to supplement their military strength, which led to many reforms gradually.

What should these people do?

The officials pondered.

Zu Ting looked around but did not speak immediately. He closed his eyes slightly, imitating others to rest their eyes.

"Brother Lord!"

Gao Yanzong stood up flexibly, walked quickly to Liu Taozi, and then bowed down. This was the etiquette used when facing the emperor in the past, and he used it on Taozi.

He raised his head and said, "My Lord, this time we have recruited more than 30,000 elite troops from Jinyang."

"When Emperor Shenwu established the Bafu, he settled the six states of Xianbei here. These people practiced day and night to replace their fathers with their sons, and they did not engage in farming. They can be said to be the elite of the world!"

"My lord, there are many soldiers under your command. Except for the Shuozhou and Youzhou soldiers, I'm afraid there are few armies that can be compared with them!"

"Why not reorganize them again, choose a brave general to lead them, and then use them to attack Duan Shao! Recover Henan!"

Gao Yanzong didn't even try to hide his thoughts. His expression basically said, Choose me! Choose me!

"No."

Someone interrupted Gao Yanzong.

Gao Yanzong looked over angrily, only to find that the person who spoke was his elder brother, Gao Xiaoyu.

Gao Yanzong was angry but dared not speak out.

Gao Xiaoyu walked to Gao Yanzong's side and saluted in the same way.

"My lord, the soldiers of Jinyang have always been arrogant. Even when Duan Shao was here, he couldn't completely subdue them. If they are still gathered together in one place, I'm afraid they will become evil again as they were in the past."

"Besides, the current system implemented in the country is the Fubing system, which is inconsistent with the system."

"I think we can disperse them to various military headquarters across the country. There are currently eleven military headquarters with more than 30,000 people. Each military headquarters can be allocated about 3,000 people. This scale is just right, not too many, not too few."

"I heard that the Shuozhou Military Prefecture has planned to deploy 15,000 troops. So, one prefecture has 15,000 soldiers, and 3,000 soldiers can be the backbone."

"Five new recruits will be led by an old soldier from Jinyang. The soldiers from Jinyang are strong and can be the core of all the military headquarters, which is beneficial to the training and formation of the military headquarters."

Many officials nodded after listening to Gao Xiaoyu's words.

It has been more than a year since the military offices were established in various places.

During this period of more than a year, the military headquarters still failed to form any combat effectiveness. Duan Shao proved that, except for the old Shuozhou soldiers led by Yao Xiong, the core of this army was the original Hengshuo elite. The other military headquarters that really started from scratch were not yet strong enough to fight.

A year is not enough to train an elite force of more than 10,000 people.

If the training is not adequate and they are sent out directly, they will just be giving heads to the enemy.

The enemies on all sides were not good. Yuwen Yong was eyeing the enemy covetously, and he had many powerful generals under his command, not to mention Duan Shao and Dugu Yongye. The elite of the Turkic Khan was more than ever before, and even the south had a pretty good emperor who was ambitious and had many famous generals under his command.

The situation in the past where all countries were big losers is no longer the same. Everyone has started to become strong, cleared their own obstacles, and sharpened their knives.

If the Jinyang soldiers could join, it would indeed quickly improve the combat effectiveness of each military headquarters.

The sooner the military government is formed, the more confident they will be in facing these powerful enemies.

Gao Yanzong looked at the nodding faces of the crowd and suddenly became anxious. He quickly said, "I don't think it's appropriate."

He looked at Liu Taozi and said seriously, "My Lord, my second uncle once told me that the elite troops must be gathered together. If the elite troops are dispersed and you want them to lead the mediocre troops to become equally elite, the consequence will only be that the original elite troops will also become mediocre!"

"Adding a small number of new soldiers to the elite can make them elite, but adding a small number of elite soldiers to the new soldiers will make them lose their combat effectiveness."

Gao Yanzong said excitedly: "My lord, these are 30,000 elite soldiers!"

"If these 30,000 elite soldiers can be reorganized and deployed to the front line, everyone who sees them will have to run away! They can face the 100,000-strong Zhou army head-on!"

"How can such a strong army be dispersed to various places like this?"

“Isn’t that a waste?”

The officials then expressed their thoughts, but more people supported Gao Xiaoyu and fewer supported Gao Yanzong.

Gao Yanzong was also quite helpless about this.

Zu Ting looked at everyone and saw that they had said almost the same thing, then he slowly stood up. After Zu Ting stood up, everyone stopped talking.

Although Zu Ting was only the chief secretary of the General's Mansion and had no clear official position in the temple, his status was already quite high. He was called the general's right-hand man, and even the veterans were surpassed by him.

Zu Ting looked at everyone, quite pleased with their silence.

He said, "Both generals have their own reasons."

"However, based on the current situation, there will be no large-scale wars for at least three or four years. Putting 30,000 elite troops on the front line can indeed deter the enemy, but even if they are not on the front line, I am afraid that no one will attack us."

"We have experienced too many wars in the past two years. The war in the south has just ended, but General Hulugu in the north is still fighting the Turks."

"There are many things we need to do. The northern states are well governed at the moment. This year's spring planting will be able to widen the gap with other pseudo-countries. At this time, if we continue to set up a hegemony government, stockpile troops, transport food and supplies, and spend a lot of money to maintain it, the disadvantages will outweigh the advantages."

"The military affairs are also a big problem in the local area. If these Jinyang soldiers are dispersed to various places, they may be able to solve many problems. Their combat effectiveness will definitely decrease in the short term, but when we really have to fight the enemy, the military offices in various places should be able to fight."

"At that time, there was sufficient food and grass, and the army was elite. It would be no problem to conquer all the countries."

Zu Ting gave everyone a summary. He did not even write a letter to Liu Taozi, but directly used his own decision-making power.

Liu Taozi didn't care about his tone or behavior.

Before coming, the two discussed the matter of the Jinyang soldiers many times, and both felt that it would be more beneficial to disperse them.

Gao Yanzong didn't know if he understood what he heard. He sat back in his original seat, and didn't know what he remembered. His face, which had been a little disappointed, suddenly became excited again. He must have been thinking about something bad.

Liu Taozi then ordered the stage to be responsible for the arrangement of the army, and let Yao Xiong and Tu Xiyue be responsible for on-site supervision.

There were no other major events in Jinyang City.

Those people in the city who were to be dealt with were dealt with by the rebel soldiers before Liu Taozi arrived.

This saves a lot of time.

However, Liu Taozi was not in a hurry to leave, and the Jinyang soldiers were immediately placed in many training grounds around Jinyang.

These people are still not at peace. Although they have received food supplies now, they still have a sense of superiority over other armies. This sense of superiority makes them look down on the Shuozhou soldiers and even the other legions.

When distributing them, we must be extremely careful not to cause unrest.

Even when we get to the local area, we still have to keep an eye on them.

It's just so troublesome.

Liu Taozi met with several ministers privately in Jinyang.

The first person he met was Zhao Yanshen, who had been secretly working for Zu Ting.

Judging from Zhao Yanshen's appearance, he couldn't tell at all that this man had any cunning or bad intentions.

He was like an honest old farmer, with a sincere and simple look in his eyes, which revealed a vague fear that made people unwilling to bully him.

This was even more so when he sat next to Liu Taozi, vividly portraying the image of a frightened and honest man who was inadvertently involved in a major incident.

Liu Taozi looked the old minister up and down.

"General, what happened in Jinyang is all because of me."

"The same is true for Duan Shao's case."

"I was deceived by Duan Shao and cheated by the generals."

Zhao Yanshen's voice became smaller and smaller, his face became paler and paler, and he wiped the sweat from his forehead from time to time.

Liu Taozi said, "It was when I was preparing to attack Guangzhou that I learned from Zu Ting that Lord Zhao was my man."

"Before arriving, I asked someone to investigate Lord Zhao."

"Mr. Zhao has never done anything against the law. Even his clan is like this. He is clean. The worst thing he has done in his life is to promote old subordinates and insult colleagues who are not on good terms with him."

"Not only did he not make any mistakes, he also did not have any political achievements. After he persuaded the enemy to surrender alone when he was young, Lord Zhao seemed to have never made any political achievements again. However, he was promoted continuously and even became the Minister of Civil Service."

"Mr. Zhao, what can you do here?"

Liu Taozi is very direct.

Zhao Yanshen was a little stunned, "I am an ordinary person."

"Mr. Zhao, just tell me the truth. I don't care about people's background or character when I hire them. As long as they are not heinous criminals and have the ability to govern the country, I am willing to promote them."

"What can Lord Zhao do? What can he be?"

Zhao Yanshen looked at Liu Taozi in front of him again, and his expression suddenly became calm.

"If the lord is willing to employ me, I can take charge of the lord's confidential matters."

"Speak more clearly."

"I am conscientious in my work, good at organizing documents and documents, and I have a photographic memory. There are many important documents, imperial edicts, and arrangements in the court. Just now, my lord said that I have no political achievements, but I can be the Minister of Education."

"I have been in the court for decades, and have always been in charge of confidential information. These things have never been leaked, not even once. This is my political achievement."

"Oh I got it."

"I remember that Lu Sidao leaked a secret once, right?"

"Yes, I also discovered him and arrested him after reporting it in time."

Liu Taozi nodded slightly, and Zhao Yanshen hurriedly said, "I just surrendered to you, and I am not qualified to be in charge of secrets. However, if the lord allows me to go to Pingcheng to assist the Xingtai, I can also teach them some experience. The secrets of the temple are of great importance and cannot be made wrong. Even just once will cause great harm."

"And Wei Xiaokuan and his ilk are very good at obtaining these secrets."

"I know that the general's subordinates have strict laws and it is difficult for Wei Xiaokuan to insert his people, but there must be his people among the officials. I think there must be people of the lord around Wei Xiaokuan."

"There is no way to completely eliminate this, so we need experienced people to help."

Liu Taozi did not refute.

"it is good."

"Then go to the Xingtai. I will send someone to inform Gao Yun and ask him to arrange an official position for you."

"Thank you, my lord!"

Zhao Yan thanked Liu Taozi deeply, then suddenly remembered something. After hesitating for a while, he couldn't help but ask, "General, now that you have destroyed Bao Qi, do you want to be a king or an emperor?"

"What does Lord Zhao think?"

"It's better to make him a king first. There's no need to rush to add the title of emperor. At least we have recovered Henan. It won't be too late to make plans later."

"Ah."

When Zhao Yanshen walked out of the palace, he felt inexplicably uncomfortable.

All his talents in this life have been spent on protecting himself, but now facing Liu Taozi, he has an absurd feeling of having nowhere to exert his strength.

Liu Taozi spoke directly and acted frankly, which was completely different from the previous ones. Zhao Yanshen even felt that being too good at protecting himself had become his shortcoming at this moment.
(End of this chapter)