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

Chapter 172: World Peace?

"Murong Kuo, the captain of the Western Garden Imperial Guard, was convicted of embezzlement and corruption and was imprisoned for punishment."

"Ma Buyuan, the deputy commander of the Eastern Garden Imperial Guards, has been handed over to the Ministry of Justice for the brutal murder of his concubine. He will be dealt with openly and justly."

"Liu Buchan, the martial arts instructor and former commander of the Southern Garden Imperial Guard, abused his power for personal gain, seizing two thousand acres of fertile land and ordering others to silence him. He is hereby arrested and sent to the Imperial Prison."

"The Northern Garden Imperial Guards..."

For several months.

Major cases broke out one after another in the five imperial guards of the East, West, South, North and Central regions, and dozens of mid- to high-ranking officers were handed over to the authorities for trial.

And what followed was that many soldiers and confidants who were closely related to these officers were also investigated and either removed from the Imperial Guard or tried and convicted.

On the surface.

All the officers and soldiers who committed these crimes deserved their punishment.

however.

If someone were to analyze the situation comprehensively, they would surely see that almost all of those who were removed from the Imperial Guard were agents of various powerful families within the Imperial Guard.

More than half of them were simply scions of powerful and influential families.

The fact that these people were able to occupy high positions in the military is itself a concrete manifestation of the era of powerful clans.

"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." Although the Great Zhou Dynasty did not express this statement so explicitly, most elites could still vaguely summarize this principle.

In fact.

In the past, which commander of the Imperial Guards would have dared to discipline his troops like this? He would probably have died the very next day.

however.

The current commander of the Imperial Guards is none other than His Majesty the King of Zhou.

With his divine might in suppressing the powerful Sima family and annihilating the Jie tribe in the north, he undoubtedly intimidated many forces within the dynasty and won over the hearts of most people and soldiers.

Only such an entity could exercise punishments on such a large scale within the Imperial Guard.

Otherwise, if it were like the Zhou kings of ancient history, they might very well "dissolve in water or fire" in a few days.

Even someone as powerful as Gu Xuan has faced numerous remonstrances from court officials in recent days.

Some say, "Talented people are hard to come by, so it's better to handle them gently."

Some say that "the law does not apply to high-ranking officials."

Others said, "General So-and-so is a scion of a powerful family in the south. Taking him down could easily cause instability in the south."

And so on.

This naturally led to a backlash from various forces.

However, in every single case, there was solid evidence, and the officers and soldiers involved were clearly guilty of crimes.

Furthermore, the deliberate promotion by Gu Xuan further fueled public outrage.

Therefore.

Even though the powerful clans were extremely dissatisfied with this, they ultimately could not change the outcome.

However, there was a fierce counterattack.

One day, on his way back to the palace from the Imperial Guard camp, Gu Xuan was attacked by several assassins. Gu Xuan captured one of them with one hand. The assassins were suspected to belong to the family of Liu Buchan, the former commander of the Southern Garden Imperial Guard. They were later completely wiped out.

The madness of these people greatly shocked Gu Xuan's personal guards, who were also the orphans of the Imperial Guard, and they felt extremely angry.

but.

All of this was within Gu Xuan's expectations, and there were not many surprises.

He knew all too well that this was just the beginning. What he was dealing with was a terrifying, unprecedented interest group that had grown and amassed over thousands of years of accumulated corruption within the dynasty!
Even someone as capable as him would have to approach this problem with caution and take it step by step to solve it, rather than expecting it to be a piece of cake.

……

Fortunately, hard work pays off.

After these days of rectification and cleanup, it has faced some intense backlash and even backlash.

Like boiling a frog in lukewarm water, Gu Xuan roughly eliminated the hidden agents of various powerful families from the Imperial Guard system, and instead promoted a large number of poor scholars and orphans of the Imperial Guard.

And that's not all.

Because the Imperial Guards were located near the capital, many of their soldiers were seasoned veterans born in the capital.

Although these people are not accomplices of reactionary forces, they generally will never participate in the fight against them, and sometimes they may even cause trouble.

Therefore.

Gu Xuan consciously selected these seasoned soldiers from the five imperial guards of the East, West, South, North, and Central Gardens and placed them specifically in the Central Garden Imperial Guard.

By this time, it was clear to everyone that His Majesty the King of Zhou was determined to thoroughly reorganize the armed forces and create a completely new imperial guard system.

only.

Although this can be seen, there is no force that can truly stop it.

Because King Xuan of Zhou still possessed immense prestige, far surpassing that of the mediocre kings of the past.

And no one knew what Gu Xuan's ultimate purpose was in doing this.

Otherwise, these forces would do anything to join forces to stop him, or even conspire to assassinate him.

Thus, after a great deal of effort, Gu Xuan finally created the elite Imperial Guards of the four gardens in the east, west, south, and north. The vast majority of them were orphans of the Imperial Guards from poor families, totaling nearly 30,000 men.

This can almost be described as an independent kingdom of Gu Xuan.

As for the Imperial Guards of Zhongyuan, they were isolated far away by Gu Xuan, basically living a life of idleness and waiting to die, although that might be exactly what those seasoned soldiers dreamed of.

Only at this moment could Gu Xuan truly and officially begin his actions.

……

I don’t know when it started.

Among the elite imperial guards of the four gardens (east, west, south, and north), a secret society called "Datong Society" quietly emerged.

The so-called "Datong Association" is derived from the idea of ​​"universal harmony".

Its underlying philosophy is to resist the darkness and cruelty of the Great Zhou Dynasty, including numerous injustices, oppressions, and even bullying, until a fair and just world of great harmony is established.

Some say that this concept originated from the core advisory group in martial arts.

Some say they were selected from several mid-level officers in the Imperial Guard.

Some people even whispered that it was actually the current supreme commander of the Imperial Guards, His Majesty the King of Zhou. However, no one dared to spread this claim; it only existed in a small circle of a few people.

However, His Majesty the King of Zhou seemed completely unaware of this phenomenon, instead focusing the vast majority of his energy on army training and combat effectiveness.

What's special is...

Since the Imperial Guard system had almost become an independent little kingdom of Gu Xuan, it was not until many days later that the outside world, especially the court officials, gradually became aware of this trend of thought circulating in the Imperial Guard.

This discovery was extraordinary and immediately caused a huge uproar in the government and among the public!
What is a "world of great harmony"?
What are the various injustices, oppressions, and even bullying that the Great Zhou Dynasty has suffered today?
Are these ruffians and orphans in the Imperial Guard up to no good?!
The representatives of various powerful clans in the court, namely many court officials and even the ladies in the royal palace, successively put forward large-scale remonstrances in the court and the royal palace.

Some radicals even proposed a thorough purge of the Imperial Guard, otherwise it would "shake the foundation of the nation"!
In an instant, the entire court and the public were in uproar, as if a hornet's nest had been stirred up.

However, Gu Xuan was not without supporters, mainly young officials from humble backgrounds. Although their numbers were small, they were very united.

These officials from humble backgrounds suggested that the matter be discussed extensively in the official gazette.

(End of this chapter)