Sign a Lu Fengxian at the beginning

Chapter 181 The teacher returns to the court

Half an hour later.

The sound of fighting stopped suddenly.

Peace returned to the Blood Knife Gate.

The entire Blood Knife Sect, from the sect leader to the ordinary disciples, all fell into a pool of blood.

The Blood Knife Sect, the sect of Taishan Beidou in the Jianghu world, was destroyed by Cao Zhengchun and the factory guards.

I have to say, if this news spreads.

That would definitely shock the entire world.

You must know that the Blood Knife Sect is not an ordinary force in the world, but the Taishan Beidou in the world.

It can be said that Wuliangshan and Xuedaomen are the two leading leaders in the world.

The Blood Knife Sect was exterminated by the imperial court, and its impact on the world was by no means comparable to that of the Shen Fist Sect, which was exterminated by the imperial court.

Cao Zhengchun glanced at the corpses on the ground, turned around and left expressionlessly.

This is the fate of being an enemy of the imperial court.

Even Taishan Beidou, the most powerful person in the world, cannot escape this fate.

Hundreds of factory guards followed Cao Zhengchun and left silently, leaving only corpses on the ground.

The Blood Knife sect of "Bei Wuliang, South Blood Knife" in the world of martial arts was thus wiped out and became a smoke in the past.

…

The Hall of Nourishing Heart.

Zhou Chen walked out of the hall and looked up at the somewhat gray sky.

"Your Majesty, it's cold outside..."

Cao Shaoqin followed Zhou Chen and said respectfully.

"It's okay, I'm going for a walk, you don't have to follow me."

Zhou Chen ignored Cao Shaoqin's words and walked step by step along the steps of the Yangxin Hall.

Since Zhou Chen's body fully recovered, he has been stressed by various things, and his nerves have always been in a tense state.

It was rare that there were no messy things to deal with today. Zhou Chen wanted to go out for a walk and think about some things.

Yangxin Hall was the place where the emperor rested and handled government affairs, so there was a guard post every three steps and a sentry post every five steps. The imperial guards were very tightly guarded. Every few steps Zhou Chen took, he could see groups of forbidden soldiers patrolling.

The Imperial Guards who stood three steps to one post and five steps to one post all held their heads high when they saw the emperor Zhou Chen approaching.

"The Great Zhou Empire has too many shortcomings."

"This downhill road has already reached the bottom of the valley. So many moths have been removed from the court, but what about the place?"

"If I want to revitalize the Great Zhou Dynasty and change the decadent trend of the Great Zhou Dynasty, it seems that I still have a long way to go."

Zhou Chen walked slowly, thinking in his heart.

Although Zhou Chen first eliminated the relatives of Queen Wu Ying and General Wu Jinquan in the imperial court.

Then, Zhou Chen cleared up the power of the four wealthy families in the court, and took over important positions in the court such as the Prime Minister and the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue.

Most of the power of the imperial court center was taken back.

Let the imperial power no longer be subject to any restrictions.

But Zhou Chen knew that if he wanted to revive the Great Zhou Dynasty and change the current decadent situation of the Great Zhou Dynasty, these were far from enough.

Take the various places in Dazhou as an example, the degree of corruption there, Zhou Chen can get a glimpse of the whole situation from some news coming back from Dongchang.

This doesn’t even count the border issues on all four sides.

Taken together, these things are no easier to deal with than cleaning up the center of the court.

It may even be more difficult than cleaning the center of the court.

However, fortunately, Zhou Chen has taken the first step, cleaning up the court and taking control of the court.

This lays a solid foundation for what follows.

"time."

"As long as you give me enough time, these problems will not be a problem for me."

Zhou Chen thought secretly in his heart.

Whether it's local corruption or border issues, in Zhou Chen's opinion, he can solve them as long as he is given some time.

Now he has begun to make arrangements to solve the border issues.

Once the border issue is resolved, the basic situation of Dazhou will be stabilized.

Just as Zhou Chen was walking forward slowly and thinking about this, Cao Shaoqin walked over quickly.

"Your Majesty, Master Fang has returned from the four northern states."

"General Zhang has also returned with the Shenwu Guards."

After Cao Shaoqin came over, he bowed and said.

"oh!"

"Fang Xuanling and Zhang Liao are back."

When Zhou Chen heard this, he immediately stopped moving forward.

"Let's go back to Yangxin Hall."

Zhou Chen turned around and returned to the Yangxin Hall.

The Shenwu Guard counterinsurgency army and Fang Xuanling, the disaster relief imperial envoy, returned, and Zhou Chen had to listen to their work reports in person.

Not long after Zhou Chen returned to Yangxin Hall, Fang Xuanling, Zhang Liao, and Wei Xu walked in.

Lu Bu went to Shu, and the counter-rebellion army of the Beiying Shenwu Guard was led by Wei Xuzai.

"Chenfang Xuanling."

"The last general Zhang Liao."

"The last general Wei Xu."

"I have met His Majesty."

After entering the Yangxin Hall, Fang Xuanling, Zhang Liao, and Wei Xu all saluted Zhou Chen.

"Hahaha, my three heroes are back."

"Everyone is free of charge!"

Zhou Chen laughed and looked at the three of them with dusty faces.

Apparently, as soon as Fang Xuanling and the other three returned to Luoyang, they went straight into the palace without cleaning up.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Fang Xuanling, Zhang Liao, and Wei Xu stood up.

"What are the losses of the northern and southern Shenwu Guards' counterinsurgency forces?"

After Fang Xuanling and others stood up, Zhou Chen did not ask Fang Xuanling first, but took the lead in looking at Zhang Liao and Wei Xu and asked about the loss of Shenwu Guards.

In Zhou Chen's view, the army is the foundation and support of everything.

As long as the army is there, nothing will be a problem.

Therefore, Zhou Chen's first concern was to counter the rebel army.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the Nanying Shenwu Guards suffered more than 28,000 casualties."

Zhang Liao bowed and said.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the Beiying Shenwu Guards suffered more than 76,000 casualties."

Wei Xu also bowed and reported a number.

When Zhou Chen heard the two numbers reported by Zhang Liao and Wei Xu, his smile suddenly disappeared.

"How do you say that of the 200,000-strong counter-rebellion army, only less than 100,000 returned?"

Zhou Chen's brows knitted together.

Zhou Chen knew that it was impossible for a large army to suppress a rebellion without killing people or causing casualties.

But what Zhou Chen didn't expect was that the Shenwu Guards' casualties would be so heavy.

Of the 200,000 counter-rebellion troops, less than 100,000 returned, and more than half of the soldiers and horses were killed or injured.

This casualty is not small.

Especially the Beiying Shenwu Guards, a force of 100,000 people who suppressed the rebellion, lost more than 76,000 soldiers and horses, and less than 30,000 returned.

It is no exaggeration to say that the 100,000 Beiying Shenwu Guard counterinsurgency army was almost crippled.

Zhang Liao and Wei Xu were silent, and Fang Xuanling was also silent.

Of the 200,000 counter-rebellion troops, less than 100,000 returned.

This is indeed a heavy loss.

After all, the Shenwu Guards were no ordinary army; they were the capital of Zhou Dynasty to intimidate the world.

This loss of so many Shenwu guards and horses was no small matter for Dazhou.

Zhou Chen's face was a little tense.

The Twelve Shenwu Guards only had a total of 360,000 soldiers and horses, and now there were more than 100,000 casualties, plus the 30,000 soldiers and horses of the previous guard who followed the Grand Master and were completely annihilated.

The Twelve Shenwu Guards were almost completely damaged.

After Zhou Chen was silent for a moment, he raised his eyes and looked at Zhang Liao and Wei Xu: "You two must count these soldiers who died fighting for the Zhou Dynasty as soon as possible, so that no one is left behind."

"I will inform the Minister of War and the Minister of Hubu to properly compensate these soldiers who died fighting for the Great Zhou Dynasty."

"You two should also inform the generals at all levels in the army not to deprive the soldiers who died in battle at all of the pensions."

"If I find out that someone in the army is deducting the pensions of the soldiers who died in battle, I will not be able to spare them even if they have gone through life and death for the Great Zhou Dynasty."

Zhou Chen said with a stern look.

Zhou Chen did not want to see these Shenwu guards who died fighting for Da Zhou, shed their blood for Da Zhou, and let their families shed tears for Da Zhou again.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Liao and Wei Xu immediately bowed.

"Okay, now you all start talking about the specific details of counterinsurgency and disaster relief."

"Fang Xuanling, starting with you, how is the situation in the four northern states?"

After Zhou Chen finished caring about the army, he started to ask about other things.

When Fang Xuanling heard Zhou Chen's question, he immediately stood up and reported on the disaster relief situation in the four northern states in the past few months, as well as the current resettlement situation in the four northern states.

After Fang Xuanling reported on the disaster relief situation.

Zhang Liao and Wei Xu also began to report on some specific situations of how they suppressed the rebellion and annihilated the Zheng family in Rongyang.

…

More than an hour later.

Fang Xuanling, Zhang Liao, and Wei Xu all reported their affairs one by one.

Zhou Chen raised his eyes and looked at the three of them and said, "This time, you have made great contributions in relieving the disaster and quelling the rebellion and killing the rebels."

"In this way, you will be able to gain a foothold in the court and the army in the future."

Although the three of them, Fang Xuanling, were forcibly placed in the court and the army by Emperor Zhou Chen, they still needed to achieve merit in order to gain a foothold.

Otherwise, even if the emperor Zhou Chen is suppressing him, some people will inevitably be dissatisfied.

After all, they all squeezed into the ranks of ministers and generals from an unknown person.

It would be strange if no one was dissatisfied with this!

Now with these achievements, Fang Xuanling and others will have the capital to gain a foothold.

No one will be dissatisfied anymore.

"You must be tired from traveling all the way, so you should go down and rest first!"

Zhou Chen waved his hand and said.

The three of them returned to Luoyang in a dusty journey without taking a break, and went straight to the palace to meet the saint.

Now that Zhou Chen had finished listening to Fang Xuanling and the other three's reports, he asked Fang Xuanling and the other three to go back and have a good rest.

Judging from the state of the three of them, they must be very tired.

"I excuse myself."

Fang Xuanling, Zhang Liao and Wei Xu bowed to accept the order.

Then, the three of them exited the Yangxin Hall.

After Fang Xuanling and the others left, Zhou Chen pondered over the things that Fang Xuanling and the others had just reported.

A place where aristocratic families run rampant.

Corruption among officials is rampant and people's lives are taken seriously.

Many miscellaneous taxes were withheld from the people, and they were miserable and oppressed.

Zhou Chen didn't expect that the situation in the place was actually more corrupt than he imagined.

Zhou Chen had not received a memorial from Fang Xuanling reporting on the situation in the north before. Zhou Chen knew that the situation there was very corrupt.

But now after listening to Fang Xuanling's personal report, Zhou Chen realized that the local situation was much more rotten than he had expected.

It is no exaggeration to say that some of them are shocking.

"The situation in various places around the north is like this, so it is estimated that the situation in other places in the Great Zhou Dynasty will not be much different."

Zhou Chen thought with twinkling eyes.

…

Cining Palace.

Uncle Zhang Guo looked at the Queen Mother with runny nose and tears and cried: "Sister, you have to help big brother and help the Zhang family!"

"Now the eldest brother has nothing, and the Zhang family has nothing."

"If you don't help eldest brother and the Zhang family, eldest brother and the Zhang family will starve to death on the streets."

Uncle Zhang Guo looked at the Queen Mother with a pitiful expression.

Although Zhou Chen offered to spare Zhang Guoshu and the Zhang family the death penalty, the death penalty could be avoided, but the living penalty could not be avoided.

All the assets and other belongings of the Zhang family were confiscated, and all identities of the Zhang family were stripped away.

It can be said that although Zhang Guoshu and the Zhang family were lucky enough to survive, they went directly from heaven to hell.

To put it mildly, they are probably not even comparable to some ordinary people now.

"snort."

"If I had known today, why bother in the beginning."

"The Ai family really didn't expect that even you would be so brave."

"Zhi'er doesn't know how to live or die, don't you even know how to live or die?"

"If His Majesty hadn't spared your lives for the sake of the Ai family, do you know what would have happened to you?"

The Queen Mother looked at Uncle Zhang with hatred.

The Queen Mother has already lost her son King Zhou Zhi of Shu, and she is really afraid that she will also lose her only remaining brother and members of her natal family.

Fortunately, Zhou Chen looked at her face and let the Zhang family go.

Otherwise, the Queen Mother really cannot imagine what she will do in the future.

"Sister! I was also deceived by Zhi'er."

"It was Zhi'er who told me that Your Majesty is not my nephew, so I was so obsessed that I believed him."

"Especially that Ji Wusheng, he is even more hateful and talks sweet words..."

Before Uncle Zhang Guo finished speaking, he saw something was wrong with the Queen Mother's face, and immediately got stuck and lost her voice.

"what did you just say?"

"Zhi'er tell you, His Majesty is not your nephew?"

The Queen Mother's expression changed and she stared straight at Zhang Guojiu.

Zhang Guojiu nodded bravely.

"Did you confess all of this in prison?"

The Queen Mother asked.

Zhang Guojiu nodded bravely again.

The Queen Mother's expression changed and she fell down.

Upon seeing this, Uncle Zhang Guo whispered, "Sister, shouldn't I explain this?"

The Queen Mother glanced at Zhang Guojiu and waved her hand directly without saying anything else.

The old palace maid standing next to him immediately came over with several land deeds.

"This is a bit of property prepared by the Ai family for you. From now on, you can just live peacefully and be ordinary people!"

"If you cause any trouble again, the Ai family won't be able to save you."

The Queen Mother didn't want to say anything more, so she waved her hand and asked Uncle Zhang to leave.

This is all she can do for Uncle Zhang Guo and the Zhang family.

Zhang Guojiu pouted and wanted to say something, but when he saw the Queen Mother's direct gesture of waving her hand for him to leave, Zhang Guojiu swallowed his words again.

After taking a few land deeds from the old palace maid, Zhang Guojiu left Cining Palace.

After Uncle Zhang Guo left, the Queen Mother, who had already looked better, turned pale again.

The Queen Mother got up and returned to the couch.

There was only a faint sigh left in Cining Palace.

(End of chapter)