Chapter 18: The Tower Will Collapse, Alone Supporting It (5)

  After Li Cunxu unified the country, the position of empress was still vacant.

  At this time, Zhou De said to his son: "I assisted the emperor and offended many people. I was often framed by them. I want to avoid it and go to a local place to be an official, so as to avoid great disaster in the future."

  According to the body's memory, Zhou Wenbo was also present at that time. Unfortunately, 13-year-old Zhou Wenbo couldn't come up with any suggestions at that time.

  Zhou Wenyan advised his father, "Father's power and prestige have reached this point, with one person below him and ten thousand above. Once he loses power, it will be like a dragon leaving the water or a tiger leaving the mountains - he will inevitably be controlled by ants. Father should consider other options."

  Zhou De-yuan's military advisor, Liang Wen-guang, presented a plan: "Now that you have achieved great things, even if there are petty people trying to harm you, they cannot drive a wedge between you and the Emperor. For now, it would be best to decline official positions, which the Emperor will certainly not permit. This will shut the mouths of those petty individuals who say you are greedy for power. Then, taking advantage of the current situation where the Empress has not yet been established, present a memorial to establish Liu as Empress, aligning with the Emperor's wishes. At that time, not only will the Emperor be delighted, but Liu will also be grateful to you. With Liu supporting you within the palace and the Emperor backing you up outside, who would dare do anything to you?"

  Zhou Deyan was very satisfied with this plan and acted accordingly.

  With the support of Zhou Dejian, the most prestigious official in the court, Liu Yulan finally successfully ascended to the throne of empress.

  But what is referred to as being ungrateful and disloyal, greedy for wealth and hoarding treasures, is precisely someone like Liu Yuniang.

  Originally, after Guo Chongtao pacified Shu, he monopolized all the power. The eunuchs who followed Li Jitao on his campaign could not get rich because of this and repeatedly secretly reported that Guo Chongtao was plotting against him. After being shocked, Li Cunxu still trusted Guo Chongtao and only sent eunuchs to investigate Guo's behavior. Even if Guo really had the intention of independence, he was not allowed to harm him and was only allowed to bring his father and son back to the capital.

  The eunuchs, in order to thoroughly defeat this political enemy, found Liu Empress. However, Liu Empress was stupid and at this time also forgot that she had become empress with the help of Guo Chongtao's support, she herself wrote a decree, ultimately killing Guo Chongtao and his son.

  What's even more extreme is that afterwards, Li Siyuan created chaos, and Zhuangzong Li Cunxu led the capital city troops to go out and meet the enemy, but his subordinate Guo Congqian rebelled, and Zhuangzong was shot by an arrow.

  At this time, Li Cunxu was seriously injured and thirsty for a drink. Liu's family sent someone to send only some drinks, but he himself only collected treasures and prepared to escape.

  After Zhuangzong died from excessive bleeding, Liu did not even see him one last time. She packed gold, silver, and treasures into bags on horseback and escaped with Zhuangzong's brother Li Cunxu. On the way, the two of them committed adultery.

  Her son Li Jigu was killed by hanging himself due to the collapse of the army. She escaped to Taiyuan and became a nun by shaving her hair.

  In the year 926 AD, Li Siyuan ascended to the throne and became the second emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty. After his accession, he immediately sent someone to Taiyuan to have Liu Hou put to death, presumably because Li Siyuan also believed that Empress Liu was the number one scourge of the Later Tang Dynasty.

  The queen has really gone to great lengths, leaving people speechless.

  Zhou Wenbo's flash of inspiration led him to find the key to breaking through.

  Empress Liu was ungrateful and inhumane, extremely greedy for wealth. As long as the Zhao Guo Gong Fu could offer a generous gift at this time, the Empress would be willing to speak up for the Zhao Guo Gong Fu.

  With Empress Liu fanning the pillow wind, the Zhao State Duke's mansion will surely be safe and sound.

  It just so happens that this jade hairpin I've just received can also be given to Empress Liu as a treasure, and she's sure to be extremely pleased.

  As long as the Zhao State's imperial court does not collapse, there will still be a chance for a comeback.

  At this time, we should make friends with courtiers and recommend our third uncle Zhou De Yu to enter the central government. Even if there is no very high position, it can maintain the overall situation.

  Of course, military power is the most important thing. At this critical moment, the urgent task is to think of ways to gather the scattered Zhou family army in Sichuan.

  In this chaotic world of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the army was not owned by the state or the emperor, but by big and small warlords!

  Zhou Wenbo must snatch food from Li Jiqiao's tiger mouth!

  If there were no troops, even if the Zhao State Duke's Mansion did not suffer any blows this time, it would have no foundation to stand in the future.

  Even if the troops are not recalled, Zhou Wenbo must now re-recruit new troops. Except for the official positions and lands that belonged to Zhou Deyan personally, which will be taken back, the lands belonging to the title of Duke of Zhao State still exist in large quantities!

  As long as the title of Duke of Zhao can be smoothly passed down, and the banner of the Zhou family army can be preserved, the Zhou family will be able to recruit and train a new army again, and they will have a foundation again! Soon, Zhang, the white-haired doctor, arrived at the mansion of the Duke of Zhao under the leadership of Zhou De, the housekeeper. Coincidentally, Old Lady Lü also woke up slowly at this time.

  The old doctor made a diagnosis and determined that it was a poison of qi fire attacking the heart, wrote a prescription, instructed on precautions, accepted the diagnostic fee handed over by Zhou De, and left with a small medicine box.

  Mrs. Lü sat on the bed, with a hot towel on her head, but her hands were clenched into fists like she had "chicken claw madness" and couldn't relax normally.

  Zhou Wenbo sat beside the bed, using both hands to comfort Mrs. Lü's hands that were covered with dry skin and old calluses, trying to calm her nerves.

  The elder sister-in-law and several concubines of the elder brother, as well as Fourth Aunt and others, were all anxiously gathered around the bedside. The two-year-old Zhou Jingshan in the elder sister-in-law's arms was wailing loudly at this time, and for a moment it seemed like they had reached the end of their rope.

  Two more hours passed, and after noon, the third uncle also got up, rested for a while after running around all night. The whole family had a simple lunch together, and Mrs. Lü ordered her maid to support her to the hall, where Zhou Wenbo sat with his two uncles.

  At this time, Mrs. Lü knew that she could not fall down. Although her husband and son had died in battle, there were still nearly a hundred people in the Zhao State's public house, as well as her grandson whose life or death was unknown, and her two-year-old great-grandson, Wén Bó who was also underage. If she fell ill now, there would truly be no one left standing in the Zhao State's public house.

  "Two brothers, and Wen Bo, now Deyan and Wenyuan are both gone, the situation has become like this, let's discuss what to do next?" asked Lady Lü, seated at the head.

  Zhou Dexiu was incompetent, and Zhou Deyu couldn't think of a solution in his haste. Lv Shi was just a housewife, although she was good at managing the household, but when it came to this major situation, she was also at a loss.

  Zhou Wenbo saw this situation and knew he had to stand up for himself.

  Then Zhou Wenbo went on to elaborate on the countermeasures he had thought of in the morning, and finally summarized them into several specific plans:

  Befriending eunuchs.

  Bribing Empress Liu with large sums of money.

  Three, Jiaohao Dachen assists San Shu Zhou De Yu into the central government.

  Send reliable people into Shu to gather the remaining troops.

  5. To establish new armies.

  As soon as the words were spoken, everyone in the room was shocked.