Chapter 170

In fact.

When Gu Xuan returned to the Imperial Capital bearing the might of annihilating the Jie Tribe, the entire court and public were in a state of shock.

From the moment he drove his chariot out of the Wang Gong to campaign against the powerful minister clan, the Sima Clan, everyone witnessed that the Current Emperor's blood courage was no less than that of the High Ancestor.

And when he displayed the peak divine might of the Great Zhou God King Formula, people also seemed to see the rise of a peerless powerhouse.

But.

When Gu Xuan personally went to the North Border and exterminated the Great Zhou Dynasty's former vassal state and current rebel — the Jie Tribe — in a matter of months, everyone still felt a kind of intense shock and disbelief.

One must know, over these dozens of years, the Jie Tribe's formidable military strength and ferocious killing and plundering had brought a certain degree of psychological shadow upon the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Even the Sima Clan, a powerful minister family that monopolized authority domestically, could only endure the Jie Tribe in every way.

Only because they had to rely on the other's power to defend against the Quanrong Tribe outside the Western Border.

"Everything is for the sake of the overall situation!"

This was the Sima Clan's explanation to the human subjects within the Great Zhou Dynasty in former years.

It was also precisely by relying on this kind of explanation that the Sima Clan coaxed and deceived the commoners time and again, indulged the Jie Tribe's harassment within the dynasty's North Border time and again, and even indulged their burning, killing, raping, and plundering in Xijing Luocheng.

Of course, there were those who stood up to angrily denounce the Sima Clan's behavior, but the final result could only be being suppressed to death.

And the reason the Sima Clan was willing to play the turtle and ostrich was entirely to concentrate the power in their hands and first complete the great undertaking of usurping the throne.

For this purpose, they completely did not hesitate to sacrifice some; after all, those who suffered humiliation and death were not them, the Sima Clan, or their allied aristocratic families.

As for after usurping the throne, whether they would settle accounts with the Jie Tribe, Quanrong Tribe, and so on, that could only be seen when the time came; it depended on whether the Sima Clan's descendants in later generations would have such ability and courage.

It's just a pity that although the Sima Clan's calculations were clattering loudly, they encountered Gu Xuan's arrival.

In less than a year's time, this Emperor Gu Xuan annihilated both the Sima Clan and the Jie Tribe completely.

The Sima Family headed by Sima Shang was beheaded and displayed publicly to the last man, and all their dead soldiers and remnants were completely liquidated.

And the Jie Tribe, which had committed evil for dozens of years, headed by Nu Chi, was strangled by the Great Army, their corpses piled into a Jingguan to deter the North Border!

The Current Emperor's such divine and martial feats were like the High Ancestor reappearing in the world back then, even surpassing him, and they awed the hundreds of millions of commoners within the Great Zhou Dynasty!

……

However.

When Gu Xuan returned to the Imperial Capital and once again personally handled various memorials and court affairs.

Only then did he increasingly clearly feel that what he had accomplished was still only a small part.

In fact.

When he initially replaced the original body's Zhou King, he had a certain not-so-obvious feeling about the Great Zhou Dynasty's and the human race's current predicament.

And by now, this feeling has become increasingly clear.

That is, the reason the Great Zhou Dynasty is beset with difficulties both internally and externally, and the human race has fallen into a situation of being humiliated, is mainly because of the existence of Three Great Mountains.

The first is the Jie Tribe in the North Border.

Without exaggeration, if the Jie Tribe were allowed to continue developing and growing like this, winning again and again.

They would sooner or later unify all the small tribes outside the North Border, and even the Border Army of the North Border might be absorbed into them.

At that time, it would not be impossible for the Jie Tribe to occupy the entire North Border, and even plot against the entire Great Zhou Dynasty.

Because whether it is the Jie Tribe, other small tribes, or including the human race, "winning-ology" universally exists.

【33】 Watching the Jie Tribe "win" again and again, it is hard to guarantee that other tribes would not choose to join; once it becomes a torrent, its momentum might be difficult to stop, unless an extremely tragic price is paid.

Watching the Jie Tribe "win" again and again, it is hard to protect against other tribes choosing to join in; once it becomes a torrent, its momentum may be difficult to stop, unless an extremely heavy price is paid.

Just like the Qing in the spacetime before Gu Xuan's transmigration, a small clan lording over a great nation.

The second is the Quanrong Tribe outside the Western Border.

If the Jie Tribe is somewhat special, being the Great Zhou Dynasty's former vassal state, counting as both internal trouble and external threat.

Then the Quanrong Tribe is truly and genuinely the Great Zhou Dynasty's greatest external threat for thousands of years.

In former years, the Great Zhou High Ancestor blood-battled the Eight Wastelands, leading the human race to open up a place to recuperate and multiply on this land; this was the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

And from the very beginning of its establishment, the Great Zhou suffered the enormous threat of the Quanrong, this alien race.

As early as the era when the High Ancestor established the capital, it suffered the Quanrong Tribe's raiding of the borders, killing of the human race, and various harassments; there was even a large-scale invasion that pressed close to the Imperial Capital, a fatal move.

Strong as Emperor Gaozu was, leading the army to counterattack, he only barely fought to a draw.

There are even sayings that that battle was actually a Great Zhou defeat; it was just that the battle formation was stabilized, not letting the Quanrong gain more advantage.

And Emperor Gaozu received severe wounds in that very battle, and passed away soon after.

From then on, the Great Zhou Dynasty has always been in a kind of defensive posture against the Quanrong Tribe.

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

If the Great Zhou Dynasty cannot resolve the relationship problem with the Quanrong Tribe, then it is possible that on some future day, the human race's last habitat will completely disappear, just like those nations or races exterminated by the Quanrong Tribe.

Even if they can linger on, the Great Zhou's vitality will be hard to last long, and civilizational creation will also be unable to rise to a higher tier because of suppression and humiliation.

Therefore.

In the era after the High Ancestor, there were also two or three heroic rulers who rose up, wanting to change this situation.

For this, they recruited widely and launched a massive counterattack.

Among them, one heroic and martial monarch said this: "Now our human race's myriad affairs are just beginning, yet the Quanrong invade and oppress China; if We do not change the system, future generations will fall; if We do not go on a punitive expedition, Tian Xia will not be at peace; for this, We cannot but trouble the people."

And he indeed achieved considerable results, not only recovering all the border strongholds occupied by the Quanrong in one stroke, but also pursuing the fleeing enemy northward, driving the Quanrong thousands of li away.

It's just a pity that even so, it could only deal a blow; ultimately it still could not thoroughly eliminate this external threat of the Quanrong.

It only treats the symptoms, not the root cause!

By the time later generations' kings declined day by day, the Quanrong began new harassments again.

From Gu Xuan's perspective, this can be seen as the relationship between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu in ancient Chinese history; specifically there are of course huge differences, but broadly there are some similarities.

The third is the reactionary forces within the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Specifically speaking, the main ones are the numerous landlords large and small, represented by the aristocratic clans.

Among them, the Sima Family is the ultimate representative of this type of reactionary force.

For the process by which the Sima Clan seized power step by step is a chronicle of years of mutual collusion and exchange of interests with numerous aristocratic clans.

If the Sima Clan were allowed to succeed in usurping the throne, the aristocratic clan system would very likely reach its peak.

When that time comes, all kinds of injustice, even cannibalism, will become phenomena in broad daylight, and the common people at the bottom will never have a day to rise.

As a ballad demonstrates, "Those recommended as Filial and Incorrupt have fathers living apart; the pure and innocent of humble birth are muddy as clay; high-ranking good generals are timid as chickens."

The above Three Great Mountains are the general trend that Gu Xuan, as the Zhou King, has gradually felt these days as a true supreme ruler.

As of today.

He pacified the Jie Tribe and destroyed the Sima Family; at most this can count as toppling a little more than one of the Three Great Mountains.

Not even one and a half mountains reached.

For although the Sima Family can be said to be a powerful ministerial aristocratic clan, relative to the numerous aristocratic clans within the Great Zhou Dynasty, it only counts as a minor force.

More, and larger ones, still lurk in the dark.

And it is precisely these that force Gu Xuan to ponder deeply: as a supreme ruler bearing peerless martial power, how should he act to change this situation?

Of course, he could also completely choose to be one with the dust alongside the numerous aristocratic clans, choose "sincere cooperation" to sit securely on the ruler's seat, but this is obviously not Gu Xuan's pursuit.

As one of the avatars of a peerless Heavenly Emperor Level Expert, he absolutely will not allow this evil and ugly condition to continue existing.

Now.

With the Jie Tribe already destroyed, the most direct problem before Gu Xuan is: the Quanrong and the internal reactionary forces, which to deal with first?

This is naturally an old commonplace question, namely: settle internal matters before external ones?

……

When the answer to this question gradually became clear to Gu Xuan, he naturally did not act rashly, lest he startle the snake.

The current he, though noble as a generation's Zhou King and bearing peerless martial power that can contend against thousands, ultimately still must be cautious in response.

However.

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

This is an obvious result, for his identity is too special; as a True Dragon, even if he does not move at all, he already makes others hostile.

On Gu Xuan's journey returning from the North Border to the Imperial Capital, even though all itineraries were strictly confidential, he still encountered two assassination attempts.

The first time, someone laid an explosive trap on the road midway, triggering a massive explosion that blew up over a dozen personal guards.

The second time, someone even got hold of a repaired half-abandoned Bed Crossbow, concealed in vines on a mountain cliff midway, attempting assassination, but did not succeed.

Without doubt, those able to obtain explosives and Bed Crossbows must hold not low positions within the Great Zhou Dynasty.

And afterwards, although those assassins completely destroyed all traces, including their own bodies, Gu Xuan's personal guards still uncovered some clues.

Needless to say, this is naturally the result of cooperation by certain aristocratic clans.

These people, from Gu Xuan's iron-blooded style, sensed a kind of fatal threat.

But this investigation result was strictly ordered by Gu Xuan to be kept secret by his personal guards; not a word must leak out.

After returning to the Imperial Capital, Gu Xuan still rarely returned to the Royal Palace, and still spent most of his time in the Forbidden Army Garrison.

He spent all day with the Central Forbidden Army soldiers, especially including the many Feather Forest Orphans he had promoted.

This phenomenon is naturally rather abnormal.

Many old-school court officials, even the consorts in the palace, submitted memorials opposing and requesting he return to the Royal Palace to reside.

These people clearly feel maladjusted to the current Gu Xuan.

Even if "silent until a startling cry," the Zhou King His Majesty who left the Royal Palace is like a bird out of its cage, never wanting to return.

Some even suspect the Zhou King His Majesty has changed personality, or even had his body seized by ghosts and gods; of course the latter is just a guess in their hearts, no one dares say it aloud.

And Gu Xuan ignores these, and he also long had a countermeasure: "Though the traitor Sima is removed, Tian Xia is still chaotic; Our heart trembles; the military camp can slightly ease Our heart."

A reply like this, plus a few soothing words, ultimately still temporarily stopped the doubts of old-school civil officials and palace consorts.

And he also ultimately began his proper business.

First, stabilize relations with the Quanrong, namely the so-called settle internal matters before external ones.

For this, he took the opportunity of the Quanrong Envoy coming to the Imperial Capital for audience to propose a ceasefire and mutual trade between both sides.

Under the Carrier Pigeon's delivery, this news quickly reached the Quanrong Wang's hands.

Must admit, it is also somewhat coincidental.

For this period also happens to coincide with the moment when this generation's Quanrong Wang faces internal and external troubles; he likewise does not want to wage major war with the Great Zhou Dynasty at this time.

And Gu Xuan personally going to the North Border, the feat of destroying the Jie Tribe, also made the Quanrong Wang deeply wary.

The Jie Tribe's military strength was strong; they were a powerful race even the Quanrong had to regard askance, yet now they were so annihilated by the Zhou King.

Therefore.

With both sides hitting it off, Gu Xuan and the Quanrong Wang reached a brief peace agreement: mutual non-aggression.

Of course, as for how long this agreement can last, that still depends on Gift.

In these thousands of years of the Great Zhou Dynasty and the Quanrong contending, this kind of agreement has not been signed for the first time.

Secondly.

After stabilizing the external situation, Gu Xuan began the move to completely control the dynasty's internal military power.

At any time, this is the top priority!

For this, he brought the prestige of pacifying the Jie Tribe to patrol places like Guang Mo Cheng not far from the Western Border.

In Guang Mo Cheng, he ordered the Two Major Generals garrisoning the Western Border, Ma Qi and Yu Chi Rui, to return and report, simultaneously taking the opportunity to observe the two's attitudes.

Under the current situation where the Quanrong Tribe has declared temporary peace, plus the Zhou King His Majesty being in a city not far from the border, Ma Qi and Yu Chi Rui really had no good excuse.

Therefore, the Two Major Generals had to come with some trepidation to audience the current Zhou King.

This meeting, Gu Xuan with absolute aura completely subdued these Two Major Generals, and in the conversation agreed on certain matters with the two.

Soon after.

After returning to the Imperial Capital, Gu Xuan established a new martial academy within the capital, for the purpose of cultivating all Middle-Rank Officers within the dynasty's armies.

If it were an ordinary Zhou King, doing this would most probably result in outward compliance but inward defiance, making it difficult to achieve real results.

However.

Who is Gu Xuan? With his personal Peerless Martial Power, plus his illustrious Military Merit, there was not a single soldier or officer in the army who dared to question his Authority.

He first started from the tens of thousands of the Forbidden Army in Zhongyang, selecting the Jing Ying Middle-Rank Officers among them for training.

Afterwards, he then rotated through the North Border Border Army Corps and the Xi Jing Border Army Corps one by one.

And the so-called training was merely the surface layer.

The real trump card was the secret memorial authority Gu Xuan granted these Middle-Rank Officers, allowing them to present memorials to him, this Zhou King His Majesty, in a legitimate and regular manner.

This undoubtedly, to a certain extent, hollowed out the power of the several Border Army main generals, yet also let Gu Xuan control the Forbidden Army and the several Border Army Corps at a more Deep-level.

During this period, there was no lack of resistance.

Including Ma Qi, Yu Chi Rui, and even Jiang Bu Shi, they each raised complaints in their own memorials, yet Ultimately still helplessly accepted under Gu Xuan's suppression and appeasement.

This process took Gu Xuan a full Approaching one year's time, before he truly and genuinely grasped the entire dynasty's military armed forces in a general sense.

And he also finally had the possibility to proceed to the Next Step.

(Chapter End)