On the first day of June of the 6th year of Zhou Xiande (959), Li Yun captured Liaozhou in the Northern Han Dynasty and captured the governor Zhang Pi. On June 9, Chai Rong appointed Miss Fu Er as the queen, the eldest son Chai Zongxun as the King of Liang, and the second son Chai Zongrang as the Duke of Yan, and changed his name to Xirang. No matter how you look at it, you have the taste of being entrusted with an orphan. Yes, Chai Rong finally admitted his destiny at the last moment, and he wanted to make the final arrangements for his son and his empire.

As for civil officials, Chai Rong chose three prime ministers - Fan Zhi, Wang Pu, and Wei Renpu. They were all ministers favored by Chai Rong. Especially Wei Renpu, who had no professional qualifications and was not from a Jinshi, was promoted by Chai Rong. As for military generals, Chai Rong removed Zhang Yongde from the position of the prefect of the Palace Front, promoted Zhao Kuangyin to this position, and promoted Han Tong to the arch-rival guards of the Palace Front Department as the deputy commander of the Cavalry and Infantry Army (the second).

June 19, 959, was the last day of Chai Rong's life. He summoned Fan Zhi and three other prime ministers to the palace to receive the last order. Chai Rong also said, "The Hanlin scholar Wang Zhi is an old friend of my vassal residence. If I don't get up, I will summon him to the prime minister." But Fan Zhi turned around and left the palace and said to the other two, "The king was in the drunken village, and he was drunk. How could he become the prime minister? This must be a lord's life. Fortunately, don't let this say." Regardless of whether Fan Zhi was thinking about the court, at least he wiped out the prime minister Wang Zhi. But Chai Rong no longer knew because he died. He was 39 years old! He reigned for 5 years and 6 months. Five and six months. He was thirty, which was also the final understanding of Wang Pu's words, "Your Majesty can be 30 in power."

Among the nine emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty, the only ones who inherited Chai Rong's legacy and tried to recover the lost territory by Zhao Guangyi and Zhao Ji. Emperor Taizong of Song Dynasty almost lost all the entire family's fortune at that time. As for the Northern Expedition of Song Huizong, it is necessary to find out that the Northern Expedition of Song Huizong was related to the international environment at that time. I will only say one sentence: Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty's Northern Expedition was the surface of regaining the lost territory of Yanyun, but it was the real cause of the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty! From this we can see that the nine emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty, including Zhao Kuangyin, could not match Chai Rong at this point. Let's broaden our horizons, and all the emperors of the Han regime dared to fight the strong enemy in person and face the challenge of the strong enemy in the north. In my opinion, Chai Rong could rank third! The champion was Liu Yu, the Emperor Wu of Song Dynasty of the Southern Dynasty (but Liu Yu was not an emperor during the Northern Expedition), and the runner-up was Zhu Di, the Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty!

Through such personnel appointments, Chai Rong felt that he had achieved the result he wanted: the major affairs in the court were led by Fan Zhi and three senior prime ministers. Zhang Yongde and Li Chongjin were transferred out of the capital in the army, and the imperial guards were controlled by Han Tong. In order to restrain Han Tong, Zhao Kuangyin was appointed as the leader of the Palace Front Office, the enemy of the Guards. Although Zhao Kuangyin was very fast, his qualifications were too shallow and too young. Even if he wanted to be a monster, he had no appeal. His threat could be ignored for the time being. By the time he was senior, the 7-year-old emperor must have grown up. In this way, every link in the military and political system was restrained, so that they could not collude with each other.

Seeing this, Zhao Kuangyin became very depressed. He felt that he was still too young. The emperor was unpredictable. Chai Rong really gave him a vivid realistic political theory practice class. But he was not desperate. Chai Rong, 34, was able to defeat his mortal enemy Liu Chong in one battle and settle down. Zhao Kuangyin is also 33 years old this year, and he has his own way.

On June 20, 959, the 7-year-old Liang King Chai Zongxun succeeded to the throne by following the will. On July 19, an edict was issued, which directly promoted the establishment of the Song Dynasty half a year later. He ordered the commander of the Sima Infantry Army (the eldest) Li Chongjin to be the governor of Huainan and leave Beijing to take office. The original Tianping Jiedu was replaced by the deputy commander of the Sima Infantry Army (the second) Han Tong. Zhao Kuangyin changed from the Jiedushi Zhongwu Army to serve as the governor of the Guide Army of Songzhou, and immediately left Beijing to take office! Therefore, no action by Zhao Kuangyin in the second half of the 6th year of Xiande was found in history books...

But the officialdom of the Later Zhou Dynasty had undergone earth-shaking changes in the past six months. The changes were mainly in the military. Please see-

In the system of the Palace Front Department, the Palace Front Chief (the eldest) was of course Zhao Kuangyin. The deputy Palace Front Chief (the second) who had never been held by Zhao Kuangyin's brother Murong Yanzhao was appointed. The Palace Front Chief Commander (the third, Zhao Kuangyin's previous official position) was Shi Shouxin, and the Palace Front Chief Yu Hou (the fifth) was Wang Shenqi. These two people were Zhao Kuangyin's "Ten Brothers of the Yishe Society".

The mortal enemy of the Palace Front Department, the guards, the guards, Sima, the capital of the Infantry Army (third of the third) was Han Lingkun. The commander of the Cavaliers (third of the fourth) was Gao Huaide. The commander of the Infantry Army (fifth of the fifth) changed from Zhao Kuangyin's political enemy Yuan Yan to Zhang Lingduo.

Have you seen the trick? Zhao Kuangyin's enemies were expelled from the country, and his brothers and friends were all placed in various important departments, especially on the side of his hostile force Guards. Han Lingkun was a friend of Zhao Kuangyin. Zhang Lingduo and Gao Huaide would become Zhao Kuangyin's family after the establishment of the Song Dynasty - Gao Huaide married Zhao Kuangyin's sister, and Zhang Lingduo's daughter married Zhao Guangmei... I wondered all this, would Guo Wei, who founded the Palace Front Office and Chai Rong, who had worked hard to arrange for the orphanage, feel a sense of "human calculation is not as good as heaven's calculation"?

Of course, there are two top officials of the Guards Department - the eldest Li Chongjin and the second Han Tong, which Zhao Kuangyin could not handle. Unfortunately, Li Chongjin was in Yangzhou and was beyond the reach. Therefore, Han Tong was destined to face the whole group of hungry wolves with one person and defend the eternal state of the Great Zhou Dynasty! Han Tong's son Han Tuo was not sure whether it was out of his jealousy of Zhao Guangyi snatching Miss Fu San, or whether he was really foresighted, so he had seen through that aspect that Zhao Kuangyin would definitely become the biggest omen for the Great Zhou and his Han family. He had been urging his father to take action as soon as possible and take the initiative to get rid of Zhao Kuangyin... But his father was not aware of this.

In the late years of Guo Wei, the Later Zhou Dynasty had 97 states. After Chai Rong ascended the throne, he took 4 states in Houshu, 14 states in the Southern Tang Dynasty, 2 states in the Khitan, and 4 new states (including Xiongzhou and Bazhou that were recovered from the Khitan), and three states were abolished. At this time, there were 118 states in the entire territory of the Later Zhou Dynasty, reaching the prosperity of the Five Dynasties!
Chapter completed!