The World Online
chapter-1204

Great Zhou Dynasty, Handan City.

At the end of the 8th month, at the start of autumn, the leaves of the white birch trees started to turn yellow. The leaves of the maple trees throughout the mountains and wilderness were between yellow and green. They were really nice to look at, and it was like they had a layer of makeup on.

Just yesterday, the huge army had slowly withdrawn from the frontlines and were arranged to rest outside of Handan City. The closely packed camps and the clamor covered awkwardness, and the lost and exhaustion that could not be wiped away.

Roughly thinking back to a month ago, in a similar place on the west outskirts. The Great Zhou king gave out an eager expedition proclamation to say that they were going to take down Great Jin and enter the mid plains, attracting loud cheers.

That was the brightest moment in Great Zhou's history.

While the cheers were still reverberating through the mountains and had not totally subsided, the army was hit badly and had to flee back in embarrassment, slowly returning to their land to lick their wounds.

They were like wild grass slowly turning yellow, devoid of life.

Regarding the failure of their expedition and what to do next, the Imperial Court needed to take out a plan. Soon afterward, news spread out about Great Xia attacking Jiangnan Province, which made the already badly bruised Great Zhou even more distressed.

Palace, meeting hall.

Great Zhou's civil servants and generals were all present. Xiong Ba, Chun Shenjun, and Zhan Lang had especially rushed back from their cities for the meeting to discuss the fate of Great Zhou.

At the start of the meeting, Di Chen announced an important decision, "From tomorrow onward, Jingchu Province will be given to Song and Donghai Province will be given to Ming. This was a signed agreement, and we cannot go against it. To prevent needless conflicts, I have already agreed to this matter. Once the meeting ends, we will start the movement out of these two provinces."

Seeing that war was rising in the south once more, Di Chen was not going to drag on and admitted his situation cleanly.

Di Chen was really decisive. He had no ability to prevent these two provinces from being forcefully occupied, and unneeded delays would also make Qin and Tang doubt them, which was not good for the close relationship of the five country alliance.

Smoothly giving them two provinces could allow Song and Ming to both have a good impression of Great Zhou.

The moment his word landed, the hall started to buzz.

Especially the two marquises Chun Shenjun and Zhan Lang. Their faces were totally black. Even if they wanted to disagree, they could not find a reason to do so nor did they have the ability to do so.

In the end, they could only take it quietly.

Toward any dynasty, giving away land was a humiliating matter. Such a humiliation was something they needed to swallow.

Di Chen pressed down his hands to instruct everyone to keep silent. Following which, he continued, "Wandering Magic is removed from his role as Wannan Provincial Governor and Qi Marquis Zhan Lang will take over. Sha Pojun is removed from his role as Ludong Provincial Governor and Chu Marquis Chun Shenjun will take over."

This time, the black-faced ones were Sha Pojun and Wandering Magic.

Thinking back to the past, to stabilize the crisis within the Yanhuang Alliance, these two Lords were forced to abandon their territories and shifted to become Provincial Governors. As a result, their power was greatly restricted.

When Great Zhou established the country, they were given the title of Marquis, which made them feel a lot of pent up frustration.

Who knew that Di Chen would actually be so cold? To take care of Chun Shenjun and Zhan Lang, he did not hesitate to chase Wandering Magic and Sha Pojun off the stage.

However, they had no ability to retaliate.

The once glorious overlords of the wilderness had fallen to such a level, making one sigh.

Di Chen had always been really cold toward chess pieces that were useless. He only accommodated Chun Shenjun and Zhan Lang because the two of them had influence on the Pill Sun legion corps and the Blood Red legion corps. Once this influence disappeared, when needed, DI Chen could be heartless and sacrifice both of them for his own interest.

In Di Chen's eyes, there were never chess pieces that could not be sacrificed.

Through this matter, Di Chen's power in the dynasty reached new heights.

His current mood could be described as a mixture of sadness and happiness.

If he could obtain today's position two years earlier, Great Zhou probably would not fall to such a level.

The cause and effects within made it hard for one to grasp.

When Di Chen announced their appointments, there was no surprise on the faces of Chun Shenjun and Zhan Lang. Prior to the meeting, Di Chen had met both of them alone using this as a condition for them to not oppose giving up the provinces. After all, the two of them were marquises. If they wanted to make noise, it would be bad for Di Chen.

The dynasty had already fallen to such a level, and the three of them could only each take a step back.

The part that surprised Zhan Lang was the fact that Di Chen placed Chun Shenjun in Ludong Province and not the nearby Wannan Province. He thought, 'Is it to purposely draw him away from the place where he is deeply rooted in, or is he defending against me?'

Whenever he thought about his own secrets, Zhan Lang would not be able to sleep at night.

Just as Zhan Lang was in deep thought, Di Chen continued, "Due to the horrendous performance of the palace guards in the Battle of Jin, Lianpo is removed from his position as marshal and demoted to deputy marshal and fined a year of salary."

"Thank you, my king, for your light punishment."

Lianpo walked up to thank the king for his kindness. His face was filled with guilt and shame.

During this expedition, Wuqi led the troops to successive victories, while the palace guards suffered two defeats. It had lost all of Di Chen's face, and if he did not punish Lianpo, he would not be able to answer to the people.

However, no matter how Di Chen punished him, the palace guards could only be led by Lianpo. If it were Tiandan, Wuqi, or someone else, Di chen would not be at ease.

It looked like a punishment, but in truth, it was protection for Lianpo.

Everyone understood the intentions behind this, and they looked coldly at the king and his servant.

After punishing Lianpo, Di Chen changed the topic and said deeply, "The palace guards are the pillar of the dynasty, and they have lost 150 thousand troops. We need to replenish them quickly. Do any of you have ideas?"

Chun Shenjun, Zhan Lang, and Xiong Ba felt their hearts tremble; they had a bad feeling.

Although Di Chen did not look at them, the three of them could feel that everyone present was focusing on them and waiting for them to make a statement.

This matter concerned military power, so why would the three of them say anything easily?

Didn't Wandering Magic and Sha Pojun become disposable just because they lost their military power? Today it could be Sha Pojun, and tomorrow, it could be them.

As a result, this military power could not be given up no matter what.

However, with the matters of today, it was not something they could avoid just by not speaking up.

At this moment, a general stepped up. It was the Yuan Dynasty general Zhang Hongfan that Ouyang Shuo cast aside. After appearing in the wilderness, he joined the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Di Chen did not reject anyone that was interested in joining and accepted him into his charge.

There were some things that were not good for Di Chen to say himself. As such, he needed his officials to speak up. Zhang Hongfan was playing such a role. After stepping up, he said confidently, "My king, the palace guards are the most elite force in the dynasty. To replenish the loses, we can only select troops from the warfighting legions. To these soldiers, being selected into the palace guards is the biggest honor, and they would not reject it."

Zhang Hongfan's words were right.

It was a similar case for the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps. Every time they suffered loses, they would select from the various legion corps.

However, Great Zhou and Great Xia were totally different.

Ouyang Shuo as the Xia King had uncontested prestige and power in the Great Xia Army. To select members for the Guards Legion Corps was naturally something that Baiqi and the other generals could not say anything about. This was also the usual practice, and everyone was already used to it.

Great Zhou was different, as their army belonged to different factions, and they did not have such a precedence.

This time, the palace guards had suffered heavy losses, and the surrounding Zhou situation was really dangerous. This situation allowed Di Chen to grasp the chance to pry open the Pill Sun, King, and Blood Red legion corps.

Along with Zhang Hongfan opening his mouth, the other officials agreed and felt that it was the most suitable method to select troops from the other warfighting legions. Such a method could reduce the risk to the minimum.

Maybe they felt that if this situation continued it would be really detrimental to them, but Chun Shenjun could not take it anymore. He was the first to step up and argue, "Pill Sun legion corps, King legion corps and Blood Red legion corps lost close to 50 to 60 thousand troops in the Battle of Great Jin and need to be replenished too. How can we move troops to replenish the palace guards?"

Zhang Hongfan stepped up once more to act as the vanguard for Di Chen and said, "The lacking troops of the three legion corps can be selected from the reserve forces. That is really easily done."

"Then why not let the palace guards select from the reserve forces?"

"The palace guards are the trump card of the dynasty, so their standards are naturally higher than normal warfighting legion corps. Choosing from the reserve forces? That's a huge insult to the dynasty."

The matter went full circle.

Within the court, there was instantly a heated debate. Some supported the move, while some opposed it.

However, as the debate went on, it grew more detrimental for Chun Shenjun and the others. At the back, there were already some officials who linked the matter to loyalty to the dynasty. It was like disagreeing with the move was being disloyal to the dynasty.

Through that, one could see that Di Chen had a good control of the Imperial Court.

When Zhan Lang saw that, he gave out a sigh. He knew that since it had reached such a stage, they were totally powerless and would have to yield sooner or later. As such, he sighed and said, "I agree."

"Zhan Lang, you!"

When Chun Shenjun heard that, he wanted to scold Zhan Lang for being weak. However, looking at his dispirited expression, Chun Shenjun swallowed his words. In the end, he let out a long sigh.

'The Great Zhou Dynasty cannot take any more problems and trials.'

In the end, out of the three legion corps, only the king legion corps was temporarily let off the hook. The reason Xiong Ba gave was logical, "Great Xia is attacking Jiangnan Province, and the King legion corps cannot be weakened."

When Di Chen heard that, he did not insist. Being able to weaken the Pill Sun and Blood Red legion corps had already made him really satisfied. More amazingly, Chun Shenjun and Zhan Lang were moved away from their roots, and the Pill Sun and Blood Red legion corps could only select their troops from reserve forces.

At this stage, Di Chen could make big moves.

With Di Chen's control of these two provinces, he could use the chance to make use of the reserve forces to stretch his authority into the Pill Sun and Blood Red legion corps to infiltrate these two legion corps.

As long as a breach was opened, it would not be impossible to control these two legion corps. Di Chen placed down his thoughts and said to Xiong Ba, "Regarding the Jiangnan war matter, I have an idea."