Covering the sky: Starting with the holy body, the immortal Taoist comes to attack

Chapter 170 Three Great Mountains
In fact.

When Gu Xuan returned to the capital with the power to annihilate the Jie tribe, the entire court and the public were in shock.

From the moment he drove his chariot out of the palace to attack the powerful minister Sima clan, everyone witnessed the courage and bravery of the current King of Zhou, which was no less than that of Emperor Gaozu.

When he displayed the pinnacle divine power of the Great Zhou Divine King Technique, people seemed to witness the rise of an unparalleled powerhouse.

but.

When Gu Xuan personally went to the northern border and wiped out the Jie tribe, a former vassal state of the Great Zhou Dynasty and now a rebel, within a few months, everyone still felt a strong sense of shock and disbelief.

It should be understood that over the past few decades, the Jie tribe's formidable military strength and brutal plundering have cast a psychological shadow over the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Even the powerful Sima family, which held absolute power in the country, could only tolerate the Jie people in every way.

This was solely because they needed to rely on the other side's strength to defend against the Quanrong tribes beyond the western border.

"Everything is for the greater good!"

This is what the Sima clan once said to the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

It was precisely through such rhetoric that the Sima clan repeatedly deceived the people, repeatedly allowed the Jie tribe to raid the northern border of the dynasty, and further allowed them to commit arson, murder, rape, and plunder in the western capital, Luoyang.

Of course, there were people who stood up to denounce the Sima clan's behavior, but the only result was that they were suppressed and killed.

The reason why the Sima clan was willing to act like tortoises and ostriches was all in order to concentrate their power and first complete their usurpation of power.

For this purpose, they were willing to make some sacrifices, since it was neither the Sima clan nor their allied families that would suffer humiliation and death.

As for whether to purge the Jie and Quanrong tribes after seizing power, that remains to be seen and depends on whether the descendants of the Sima family have the ability and courage to do so.

Unfortunately, although the Sima family's plans were brilliant, they encountered the arrival of Gu Xuan.

In less than a year, King Gu Xuan of Zhou completely annihilated the Sima clan and the Jie tribe.

The entire Sima family, led by Sima Shang, was beheaded and their heads displayed to the public. All their remaining followers, including their assassins, were also wiped out.

The Jie tribe, led by Nuchi, who had committed evil deeds for decades, were annihilated by the army, and their corpses were used to build a Jingguan (a mound of corpses) to intimidate the northern border!
His Majesty the King of Zhou's magnificent feat is like a reincarnation of the ancient ancestor Gaozu, and even surpasses him, which has amazed hundreds of millions of people in the Great Zhou Dynasty!
……

but.

When Gu Xuan returned to the capital and resumed personally handling various memorials and other state affairs.

He realized more and more clearly that what he had accomplished was only a small part.

In fact.

After he replaced the original Zhou king, he had a vague feeling about the current predicament of the Zhou Dynasty and the human race.

And now, this feeling is becoming increasingly clear.

That is, the reason why the Great Zhou Dynasty was beset by internal and external troubles and why the human race was in a situation of being bullied was mainly due to the existence of three great mountains.

First, there was the Jie tribe in the north.

It is no exaggeration to say that if the Jie tribe were allowed to continue to grow stronger and win time and time again, it would be a huge success.

They will eventually unify all the small tribes outside the North, and even the border troops of the North may be absorbed into them.

At that time, it was not impossible for the Jie tribe to invade the entire northern border, or even plot against the entire Great Zhou Dynasty.

Because whether it is the Jie tribe, other small tribes, or even the human race, "Ying Xue" (the study of winning) is prevalent.

Seeing the Jie tribe "win" time and time again, it's hard to guarantee that other tribes won't choose to join. Once it becomes a trend, its momentum may be difficult to stop unless extremely heavy costs are paid.

Just like the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the timeline before Gu Xuan's time travel, a small clan bullied a large country.

Secondly, there was the Quanrong tribe from the western border.

If the Jie people are somewhat special, as a former vassal state of the Great Zhou Dynasty, they are both a source of internal troubles and external threats.

Therefore, the Quanrong tribe was truly the greatest external threat to the Great Zhou Dynasty for thousands of years.

In the past, the Great Zhou Emperor fought a bloody battle across the eight wastelands, leading the human race to carve out a place for rest and recuperation on this land, which is the origin of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

From its very inception, the Great Zhou Dynasty faced a tremendous threat from the Quanrong, a foreign tribe.

As early as the time when Emperor Gaozu established the dynasty, the capital suffered various disturbances from the Quanrong tribe, who raided the borders and slaughtered humans. There were even fatal attacks that led to a large-scale invasion and approached the capital.

Even a powerful emperor like Emperor Gaozu, when leading his army in a counterattack, could only manage a draw.

Some even claim that the Zhou dynasty actually lost that battle, but managed to stabilize its military formation and prevent the Quanrong from gaining further advantage.

Emperor Gaozu suffered severe injuries in that battle and passed away shortly thereafter.

From then on, the Great Zhou Dynasty maintained a defensive posture against the Quanrong tribe.

In a sense, this is a entanglement and a life-or-death struggle between two races and two civilizations.

If the Great Zhou Dynasty cannot resolve its relationship with the Quanrong tribe, then one day in the future, humanity's last refuge may be completely destroyed, just like the kingdoms or races that were wiped out by the Quanrong tribe.

Even if it manages to survive, the Great Zhou's vitality will be short-lived, and its civilization will be unable to reach a higher level due to suppression and humiliation.

Therefore.

In the era following Emperor Gaozu, there were a couple of powerful rulers who rose up to change this situation.

Therefore, they recruited widely and launched a major counterattack.

One of the powerful kings said, “Now our human race is just beginning to establish itself, but the Rong barbarians are invading China. If I do not change the system, future generations may fall into ruin; if I do not send troops to conquer, the world will be in turmoil. Therefore, I have to burden the people.”

And he did indeed achieve considerable success, not only recovering all the important border cities occupied by the Quanrong in one fell swoop, but also pursuing and driving the Quanrong thousands of miles away.

Unfortunately, even so, it could only deal a blow and ultimately could not completely eliminate the Quanrong as an external threat.

This only addresses the symptoms, not the root cause!
As later dynasties declined, the Quanrong began a new wave of incursions.

From the perspective of ancient Xuan, it can be seen as the relationship between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu in ancient Chinese history. Of course, there were great differences in the specifics, but there were some similarities in general.

Thirdly, there were reactionary forces within the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Specifically, it mainly refers to the numerous landlords, large and small, represented by powerful clans.

The Sima family was the ultimate representative of this kind of reactionary force.

The process by which the Sima clan seized power was a historical record of their collusion and exchange of interests with numerous powerful families.

If the Sima clan had successfully usurped the throne, the aristocratic system would likely have reached its zenith.

At that time, all kinds of injustices, even cannibalism, will become commonplace, and the lower classes will never have a chance to rise up.

As a folk song illustrates, "Those recommended as scholars are illiterate; those recommended as filial and incorruptible have fathers who live separately; the poor and honest are as muddy as dirt, while the high-ranking generals are as timid as chickens."

These three major challenges represent the growing pressure that King Xuan, as the Zhou king and the supreme ruler, has gradually come to perceive in recent days.

Today it is today.

He pacified the Jie tribe and destroyed the Sima family, which can be considered as taking down one of the three great mountains.

It doesn't even reach half of what it used to be.

Although the Sima family could be considered a powerful and influential clan, it was only a small force compared to the numerous powerful families within the Great Zhou Dynasty. Many larger and more powerful families remained hidden in the shadows.

It was precisely these factors that forced Gu Xuan to ponder how he, as the supreme ruler with unparalleled military power, could change this situation.

Of course, he could have chosen to blend in with the powerful clans and families, choosing to "cooperate sincerely" to secure his position as ruler, but this was clearly not what Gu Xuan was pursuing.

As one of the incarnations of a peerless Heavenly Emperor-level master, he would never allow such an evil and ugly situation to continue to exist.

now.

With the Jie tribe destroyed, the most immediate problem facing Gu Xuan was whether to deal with the Quanrong or the internal reactionary forces first.
This is naturally a well-worn topic, namely, "to pacify internal strife, one must first secure external stability."

……

As Gu Xuan's answer to this question gradually became clearer, he naturally refrained from making any rash moves, lest he alert the enemy.

Even now, though he is the King of Zhou and possesses unparalleled martial prowess capable of fighting against a thousand men, he still has to be cautious.

however.

Even under such careful circumstances, Gu Xuan still aroused the suspicion of hostile forces early on.

This was an obvious result, because his identity was too special. As a true dragon, even if he did not move, he would still be viewed with hostility by others.

During Gu Xuan's journey back to the capital from the northern border, even though all his travels were kept strictly secret, he still survived two assassination attempts.

The first time, someone set up an explosive trap on the road, which caused a huge explosion that killed more than ten guards.

The second time, someone even managed to get hold of a repaired, semi-abandoned ballista and hid it among the vines on a cliff along the way, attempting to assassinate the victim, but they failed.

Without a doubt, anyone who could obtain explosives and ballistae must hold a high position within the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Afterwards, although the assassins destroyed all traces, including their own bodies, Gu Xuan's personal guards still managed to find some clues.

Needless to say, this was the result of cooperation between certain powerful and influential families.

These people sensed a deadly threat from Gu Xuan's iron-fisted style.

However, Gu Xuan strictly ordered his personal guards to keep the investigation results a secret, and not to utter a single word about them.

After returning to the capital, Gu Xuan still rarely went back to the palace, and spent most of his time at the Imperial Guard's garrison.

He spent his days with the soldiers of the Imperial Guards, especially the many orphans of the Imperial Guards whom he had promoted.

This phenomenon is naturally quite unusual.

Many old-fashioned courtiers, and even the queens in the palace, submitted memorials opposing his return to the palace.

These people are clearly not used to the current Gu Xuan.

Even if he was "silent until he made a stunning debut," once King Zhou left the palace, he was like a bird released from its cage, never wanting to return.

Some people even suspected that His Majesty the King of Zhou had changed his nature, or even been possessed by a ghost or god. Of course, the latter was just a guess in their hearts, and no one dared to say it out loud.

Gu Xuan ignored all of this, and he already had a plan: "Although the traitor Sima has been eliminated, the world is still in turmoil, and I am on edge. The military camp can put my mind at ease."

Such a reply, along with a few words of reassurance, ultimately stopped the old-fashioned civil officials and palace ladies from questioning the matter.

And he eventually got down to business.

First, we must stabilize relations with the Quanrong, which is the so-called principle of "pacifying the external before pacifying the internal."

Therefore, taking advantage of the visit of the Quanrong envoy to the capital, he proposed to stop the fighting and allow the two sides to trade with each other.

The message was quickly delivered to the Quanrong king by carrier pigeon.

It has to be said that it was somewhat of a coincidence.

Because this period coincided with the time when the Quanrong king was beset by internal and external troubles, he did not want to wage a large-scale war against the Great Zhou Dynasty at such a time.

Furthermore, Gu Xuan's feat of personally going to the northern border and annihilating the Jie tribe made the Quanrong king deeply wary.

The Jie tribe was a powerful military force, a force that even the Quanrong tribes had to take seriously, yet now it had been annihilated by the Zhou king.

Therefore.

With both sides readily agreeing, Gu Xuan and the Quanrong king reached a brief peace agreement, with neither side agreeing to invade the other's territory.

Of course, how long this agreement can last depends on fate.

This was not the first time such an agreement had been signed during the thousands of years of conflict between the Zhou Dynasty and the Quanrong.

Second.

After stabilizing the external situation, Gu Xuan began to take complete control of the dynasty's internal military forces.

This is always of utmost importance!

Therefore, carrying the prestige of pacifying the Jie tribe, he inspected places such as Guangmo City, which is not far from the western border.

In Guangmo City, he ordered Ma Qi and Yu Chi Rui, the two main generals stationed on the western border, to come and report back, and also to take the opportunity to see their attitude.

With the Quanrong tribe now declaring a temporary peace, and with His Majesty the King of Zhou residing in a city not far from the border, Ma Qi and Yuchi Rui really had no good excuse.

Therefore, the two generals had to come with some trepidation to pay homage to the current King Zhou.

During this meeting, Gu Xuan completely overwhelmed the two main generals with his absolute power and made certain agreements with them during the conversation.

Shortly thereafter.

After returning to the capital, Gu Xuan established a new martial arts academy within the capital to train mid-level officers for all the army in the dynasty.

If this were an ordinary Zhou king, he would most likely be met with indifference and fail to achieve any real results.

however.

Gu Xuan was a man of unparalleled martial prowess and illustrious military achievements. No soldier dared to question his authority.

He started by selecting elite mid-level officers from the tens of thousands of imperial guards in the central government for training.

After that, they were rotated one by one from the Northern Border Army Corps and the Western Border Army Corps.

The so-called training is only superficial.

The real trump card was that Gu Xuan granted these mid-level officers the right to submit secret memorials, allowing them to do so in a legitimate and regular manner to His Majesty the King of Zhou.

This undoubtedly undermined the power of the major border army commanders to some extent, but it also allowed Gu Xuan to gain a deeper level of control over the Imperial Guard and the major border army legions.

There was resistance during this period.

Ma Qi, Yuchi Rui, and even Jiang Bushi all raised complaints in their memorials, but ultimately had no choice but to accept them under Gu Xuan's suppression and appeasement.

It took Gu Xuan nearly a year to finally gain a real and comprehensive grasp of the military forces within the entire dynasty.

And he finally had the possibility to take the next step.

(End of this chapter)