Chapter 719 The Last Expedition
During the Spring Festival of the 25th year of Jianxing, Liu Chan recalled Zhuge Liang, Ma Su, Huang Quan, Liu Yin and other civil and military officials, as well as the crown prince Liu Xuan. In the palace of Chang'an, Liu Chan launched the largest reward in history.
Among them, Zhuge Liang and Ma Su had already held the highest positions among the ministers, so naturally there was no more to be given. However, Liu Chan still added 10,000 households to their fiefs, and their sons were all promoted to county marquises, directly appointing the Langya Zhuge family and the Yicheng Ma family as the prominent families that would prosper with the country.
As for the rest of the military and civil officials, they all received generous rewards. For example, Jiang Wei was granted the title of Jixian Marquis, Deng Ai was granted the title of Jinyang Marquis, Liu Yin was granted the title of Mianzhu Marquis, and Zhang Yi was granted the title of Yiyang Marquis...
Among them, Liu Yin was promoted to General Wei, and sat to the left of Ma Su. This basically means that the General's Office and the Emperor reached a consensus and appointed Liu Yin as Ma Su's successor.
On the other hand, Chen Zhi, the chief clerk of the General's Mansion, was granted the title of Marquis of Jiangling and sat beside Fei Yi. This was also the appointment of Chen Zhi, a close confidant of Ma Su, as the successor of Fei Yi.
In addition, the other four generals of the four expeditions and four towns were all rewarded to a certain extent.
So far, the successors of the new round of military and political team of Ji Han have basically been very clear. And the most important feature of them is that they are all disciples of Ma Su.
Ma Su can be said to be powerful in the court...
Of course, among the rewards this time, there is also a small figure who was granted the title of marquis, that is, Cao Mao, the last seedling of the Cao family clan. After he was brought back to Chang'an by Ma Su, the seat next to Liu Chan was finally occupied as he wished.
And Cao Mao also quite likes Liu Chan's temper. The five-year-old child is polite and has extraordinary conversation. And he also actively compliments him in his words and deeds, and talking with him makes Liu Chan feel very comfortable.
Because of this, Cao Mao was conferred the title of Anle Gong, which was Liu Chan's recognition of him.
After Cao Mao was conferred the title, Xiahou Ba also surrendered voluntarily and was offered as the rear general by Zhuge Liang, which was considered to be a face for his uncle.
After all the rewards were given, Liu Chan took the crown prince Liu Xuan, and took Zhuge Liang and Ma Su to enter the Taimiao together. He offered sacrifices to Liu Bei and his ancestors, and at the same time reported the good news to all the ancestors that Yanhan was revived for the third time.
Looking at the spirit tablet of Emperor Zhaolie Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and other old ministers still couldn't help crying.
It was not easy for everyone to come all the way.
It was at this time that Liu Chan officially issued an edict to change the year, changing the 25th year of Jianxing to the first year of Yanxing, and amnesty for the world!
After offering sacrifices in the Taimiao and reporting the merits of unifying the world. A few months later, Liu Chan set off for Mount Tai to offer sacrifices to the Shangshutai and the Prime Minister's Office.
This move formally swore to all the people of the thirteen states of the Han Dynasty the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty. All those who have a little ambition will have to consider whether they dare to make trouble after seeing this situation.
However, the days after the unification of the world are obviously not easy, for Zhuge Liang, for Liu Chan, and for Ma Su.
The small court of Ji Han was established by Liu Bei at the last moment when he lost half of Jingzhou and Cao Pi usurped the Han Dynasty. The many defects from the beginning, coupled with Liu Bei's three-year big card, brought a lot of hidden dangers to this court.
And this small court, with the help of Zhuge Liang and Ma Su, swallowed up the whole world in just 20 years. A lot of contradictions and hidden dangers accumulated in it, and more than 60% of the territorial rule foundations were very unreliable.
In the past, such contradictions had to give way to the unification of the world. But now that the thirteen states of the Han Dynasty are basically all back, the previous contradictions and hidden dangers can no longer be shelved.
The old accounts, taxes, the ruling foundations of various places, the appointment and removal of officials, and the investigation of hidden households. All the work needed to be solved bit by bit, and these heavy burdens were finally summarized to the Shangshutai and the Prime Minister's Mansion.
Therefore, after returning from the Fengshan Ceremony at Mount Tai, the whole Chang'an was in a busy state. Fei Yi, Chen Zhi, Zhuge Liang, Huang Quan, even Liu Chan and even the Crown Prince Liu Xuan, all began to work overtime.
After all, what they need to be responsible for now is no longer a small area like Yizhou and Guanxi. All places in the thirteen states of the Han Dynasty need them to be responsible.
In addition, in order to strengthen the authority of the central government, under the leadership of Zhuge Liang, the power of the governors of each state was reduced by more than half. Except for the Guandong Prince's Mansion presided over by the prince himself, all other officials were not allowed to recruit talents without authorization.
If found, they would be executed immediately!
At the same time, because of the great population reduction at the end of the Han Dynasty, the population of many counties was pitifully small, and in some places, even nine out of ten houses were empty. This resulted in many county magistrates having nothing to do, and basically eating the court salary for nothing.
So in response to this matter, Fei Yi also presided over the reduction of the size of counties. Some counties with a population of less than 1,000 households were downgraded and abolished, and everything was simplified.
The civil officials were busy, and the military generals were obviously not going to sit and watch. After the Fengshan ceremony,
Jiang Wei and Shu Ji immediately led their troops back to the Six Towns to continue to guard the northern border for the court. Zhang Yi was ordered to serve as the Grand Commander of Yongliang and lead his troops to protect the safety of the Hetao Corridor.
Deng Ai served as the Grand Commander of Lianghuai to prevent the self-defense forces in the southeast from reviving and continue to cultivate in the Lianghuai area.
As for Xiang Chong, Wang Ping, and even Guan Yinping, they basically had heavy tasks. There was almost no one in the entire court who was not troubled by work.
Why do I say almost? Because Ma Su was so idle at the moment.
The entire Ji Han seemed to be running, but Ma Su, a general who had fought in all directions before, suddenly became idle at this moment. When he returned to Chang'an after the Fengshan ceremony, he suddenly felt that he was somewhat out of tune with the entire court.
There are naturally a lot of things to do in the General's Mansion, but these have been taken over by General Wei Liu Yin. As the appointed successor to the General's Mansion, he has to take over the power at this moment.
As the work of the Shangshutai became more and more complicated, Ma Su felt that he could not help.
Even the rebellion that broke out in the local areas of Ji Han, he could not intervene at all. Basically, every time before he arrived at the place, the local rebels heard his name and ran away or surrendered first.
It was not until this time that Ma Su realized that after the fall of Wei and Wu, his work seemed to have ended. Now he is basically no different from retirement.
This result made Ma Su suddenly feel that he was really old. The world-famous general had reached the point where there was no war to fight.
The Hu people in the north were indeed dishonest, but the cost of the expedition was too high. Even if Zhuge Liang wanted him to go, Ma Su was worried about wasting money and labor.
As for the small countries in the Western Regions, they were all so honest that they didn't need him to intimidate them. For the entire year of the 25th year of Jianxing, Ma Su basically stayed in Luoyang to help the prince intimidate Guandong.
However, such a life is too boring. If Ma Su could stay idle, he would not have become a mighty general.
What's more, if a screw with high-intensity wear for a lifetime is idle, it will rust faster. For Ma Su, he didn't want to die in bed like this.
So, after a year of rest in Luoyang, Ma Su couldn't sit still and returned to Chang'an to report to Liu Chan in person and asked to attack Liaodong.
After the Han army recovered Jizhou, Sima Zhao and Sima Shi took the remaining remnants to Liaodong. Although it seems to be lingering and not threatening, it is still a disaster, so it is better to solve it.
However, Ma Su's request for war really made Liu Chan embarrassed. After all, Ma Su is already this old, and he is about to die. It is really unsafe to go to Liaodong, a place with a harsh environment.
You know, Cao's good friend Guo Jia died in the bad weather in Liaodong.
So Liu Chan's idea is to send a general to lead a small army to suppress it, and there is no need for Ma Su to go to the expedition in person.
But Ma Su's attitude is very firm, and he must go to the expedition in person.
"Your Majesty, the remnants of the pseudo-Wei are not simple, and this matter must be done by me."
"What's more, I know my health well, I will definitely come back safely and continue to assist the prince to go to Guandong!"
Faced with Ma Su's fierce request for battle, Liu Chan finally approved it helplessly. With Liu Chan's reply, Ma Su embarked on his last expedition...