Chapter 456

Zhou Yu smiled miserably.

Hearing this, Gu Yi couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Zhou Gongjin, you are also a wise man of the age."

"If Sun Bofu really killed me and successfully occupied the south, how could your Lujiang Zhou family members not rely on him?"

"At that time, as long as Sun Bofu was still alive, your Lujiang Zhou family would be meritorious nobles again."

"When one person attains the Dao, even their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven."

"So, do you still dare to say that all of this has nothing to do with the Lujiang Zhou family?"

Zhou Yu was silent.

In fact, although until now, the Zhou family had not provided particularly great help to Sun Ce.

But if Zhou Yu had not obtained the consent of the family.

How could he have defected to the command of Sun Ce, this "executioner of aristocratic families"?

To put it bluntly.

Ever since Zhou Yu, a direct descendant of the Lujiang Zhou family, defected to Sun Ce's command, it meant that the Lujiang Zhou family had already established an inextricable relationship with Sun Ce.

If Sun Ce succeeded in partitioning the south, the Lujiang Zhou family would receive a large dividend.

But now, Sun Ce had failed.

Yet the Lujiang Zhou family wanted to distance themselves—how could there be such a good thing in the world?

"Take Zhou Gongjin away."

"Execute him in a quarter of an hour."

Gu Yi waved his hand, and the personal guards beside him hurriedly responded.

Executing Sun Ce personally was because Sun Ce, to some extent, was someone who had betrayed Gu Yi.

But Zhou Yu was different.

Zhou Yu was not Gu Yi's subordinate, so there was no betrayal relationship; letting the personal guards handle the execution was sufficient.

As several provinces of the world had already been conquered by Gu Yi, minor matters naturally could not bother Gu Yi for too long.

Soon.

Zhou Yu was also executed.

And before the execution, he had requested to commit suicide.

It was just that the personal guards beside Gu Yi did not give him this opportunity.

As for the Lujiang Zhou family.

Gu Yi's plan was to execute all males over six years old, while old men over seventy and children under six would be exiled to the border of Liangzhou.

All women would be placed under military management.

Later, it might be like Cao Chengxiang in history, re-marrying these women to soldiers in the army who hadn't married.

Cao Chengxiang in history, besides his own love for widows, also had a feature of arranging marriages for his subordinates.

Of course.

These women arranged for marriage were also widows who had lost their husbands.

However.

These women were basically widows captured from the enemy army, not forced remarriage of the widows of their own soldiers who died in battle. (Highlight this point)

Therefore, although Cao Chengxiang loved others' wives, the protection system for the families of his own soldiers who died in battle was relatively well done.

For his own bachelor soldiers, the arranged marriage system could also be considered a form of care.

……

After dealing with the matters of Sun Ce and Zhou Yu.

Gu Yi met Su Fei again on the shore of Niuzhu.

Su Fei and the Jiangxia Naval Force could be said to have made great contributions to the victory of this battle.

"Wenheng, after this Southern Expedition ends, the imperial court will officially appoint you as Naval Commander." (Su Fei's courtesy name is suspected to be Wenheng; no exact record was found, so it is tentatively set as Wenheng.)

"The Jiangxia Naval Force will also double in size from its original scale."

"In the future, don't ever let this Prime Minister down!"

Gu Yi said earnestly.

Hearing this, Su Fei's face showed joy, and he immediately swore:

"I, Su Wenheng, will certainly go through fire and water for the Prime Minister, and will not hesitate!"

Under Gu Yi's command, what kind of position was the most valuable?

Of course, it was that group of important civil and military officials who could follow Gu Yi to make contributions at any time!

For example, Zhao Yun, Lu Bu, Hua Xiong.

Don't look at the fact that they didn't participate in the Southern Expedition this time.

But as long as it involved a northward campaign, the participation rate of these fierce generals was almost one hundred percent.

Besides that.

The Xiliang Iron Cavalry and the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry were now also the strongest cavalry in the world!

And for the naval force.

In fact, most northern warlords regarded the naval force as something dispensable.

There was no way around it; the territory was almost all land, and there was no use for a naval force at all.

But here at Gu Yi's, there was no intention to look down on the naval force at all.

In the era of cold weapon warfare, cavalry was the undisputed king.

But in the era of thermal weapons, cavalry would gradually be reduced to a branch eliminated by the times.

Gu Yi's goal was not just to unify the inherent territory of the Qin and Han periods.

His goal was to walk at the forefront of the times and build an "invincible fleet" that could roam overseas!

Of course.

This was still quite far off for the current level of industry.

In original history, the first fleet to go to Yizhou was sent by Sun Shiwan, led by Yan Wen and Zhuge Zhi.

But after only two voyages.

Because of various epidemics and sea storms, the original ten thousand people had been reduced to more than four thousand.

This matter made Sun Shiwan quite furious.

In a fit of rage, he directly executed Yan Wen and Zhuge Zhi.

His initial purpose for sending the fleet to Yizhou was to plunder the population.

But after going back and forth like this, not much population was plundered, but quite a few soldiers were lost instead.

For such a losing business, how could a stingy and miserly person like Sun Shiwan continue to do it?

Thus, the process of developing Yizhou slowed down.

As for the matter of exploring the sea, the voices of the opposition within Dong Wu also grew louder, and it eventually fizzled out.

But now.

Gu Yi had no intention of reducing the Jiangxia Naval Force, but instead wanted to double it on the original basis.

This move was naturally to pave the way for the great cause of going to sea in the future.

After accepting Su Fei, Gan Ning walked over with a look of grievance.

He knelt on one knee with a "thud" and said aggrievedly:

"Prime Minister, you cannot be partial!"

"The number of Jiangxia Naval Force is doubled, so what about our Bashu Naval Force?"

Seeing Gan Ning's aggrieved look, Gu Yi couldn't help but smile and soothe him:

"Xingba, I have always remembered your contributions."

"After Wenheng becomes the commander of the Jiangxia Naval Force, Ziyi will serve as the commander of the Bashu Naval Force."

"As for you, from now on, you will be the Naval Commander!"

"Your official position and various treatments will be equivalent to the Four Conquest Generals."

"Besides that."

"In the future, the fleet under your command will not only be the hundred thousand or so people of the Bashu Naval Force and Jiangxia Naval Force."

"Even fifteen thousand, twenty thousand, are all highly possible!" ===== CHAPTER 457 =====