After traveling through time, I was spotted by the new emperor

Two months before the New Year, Qi Yushen brought Ye Wuwei a letter: "This is from Prince Qi."

"Qi Wushuang?"

"Yes".

During the two years, although Ye Wuwei had heard some news about Qi Wushuang from Qi Yushen, Qi Wushuang seemed to have forgotten about him and did not say a word to him.

How come two years have passed and you suddenly wrote to him?

Ye Wuwei opened the letter and saw three big, domineering words written on it: Come to Chamdo.

Ye Wuwei handed the letter to Qi Yushen.

Qi Yushen took it and looked at it, then smiled and said, "That's really his personality!"

Qi Yushen placed the letter on the table:

"Prince Qi is a man who clearly distinguishes rewards and punishments. He knows all your contributions over the past two years. He will definitely reward you when you go to Qamdo."

"Isn't the prince's fiefdom Andu? How come he's still in Qamdo after two years?"

"According to common sense, Prince Qi's fiefdom is in Andu, so he should return to Andu. However, the emperor wants him to stay in Chamdo, and he cannot disobey his order."

"Yu Shen, is the emperor very afraid of the prince?"

Two years ago, Qi Yushen would never have answered Ye Wuwei's question. However, after two years of getting to know each other, Qi Yushen had come to regard Ye Wuwei as a trusted friend.

"The Emperor is indeed very wary of Prince Qi."

As Qi Yushen narrated, Ye Wuwei came to understand Qi Wushuang's life experience.

Qi Wushuang was the youngest son of the late emperor and the son of his favorite concubine, Concubine Yu. Qi Wushuang was named a prince by the late emperor and was heavily protected from the moment he was born.

It is because of this that Qi Wushuang was able to grow up safely.

When Qi Wushuang was fifteen years old, the late emperor was critically ill. Before his death, he sent Qi Wushuang to the border to serve under his uncle, General Chu, and issued an edict to announce to the world that Qi Wushuang could be equipped with 50,000 private troops.

Qi Wushuang stayed in the military camp for ten years.

During these ten years, Qi Wushuang had made numerous military achievements, defeated the fierce Ati people and left them without any chance to fight back, withdrew from the southern part of the desert and returned to the north, earning him the title of "God of War".

Not only that, Qi Wushuang also trained a private army of 50,000 people: the Black Armor Army.

The Black Armored Army is battle-hardened, invincible, and can defeat ten enemies at once. They are the most elite army of the Qi Dynasty.

After listening to Qi Yushen's words, Ye Wuwei asked, "What exactly did the late emperor mean by allowing the prince to build a private army of 50,000?"

"It's to give him the ability to protect himself."

Ye Wuwei asked in surprise, "But wouldn't this make the Emperor even more wary?"

"Wu Wei, you may not understand Qi Chao's situation yet."

"I really don't understand. I hardly hear anything about Qi Chao in Anping County."

Qi Yushen began to talk about Qi Chao in detail.

The Qi Dynasty was somewhat similar to the situation during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Although there was an emperor, the imperial power and the aristocratic families still shared control of the world.

The founding emperor of the Qi Dynasty was Emperor Taizu. So far, there have been three generations of emperors: Taizu, the late emperor, and the current emperor.

There are four major families and hundreds of small and medium-sized families in the world today.

Each big family has its own territory, and the taxes on its territory do not need to be submitted to the court, but are collected by each family itself.

Therefore, the four major families all have their own armies.

The remaining hundreds of small and medium-sized families are affiliated with the four major families, their industries are spread throughout the Qi Dynasty, and they also have their own armed forces.

The four major families are the Qi family of the royal family, the Ledu Zhuang family of the current queen, the Yingdu Chu family of Qi Wushuang's uncle, and the Fengdu Yuwen family of Prime Minister Yuwen.

The emperor's empress is a direct descendant of the Ledu Zhuang family, and the imperial concubine is from the Fengdu Yuwen family.

After listening to Qi Yushen, Ye Wuwei said:

"No wonder such a large city like Ji Prefecture only has 800 soldiers defending the city. It turns out that the troops are scattered among the various families."

“Yes, this is also the reason why the Ati people moved south to occupy the southern part of the desert and harassed our border.

It was not until recent years that Prince Qi’s military strength increased and he was able to drive the Ati people out of the desert south.”

"How many armies does each of the four great families have?"

“I don’t know the exact number, but the Qi clan, the royal family, should have the largest number of troops, but the Chu clan, to which Grand Marshal Chu belongs, has the strongest combat effectiveness.

However, the Zhuang clan and the Yuwen clan were on good terms, and the two clans basically advanced and retreated together and were mutually dependent, and both clans were very wealthy.

In addition to the four major families today, there was also a Ye family.

The Emperor's first wife's surname was Ye, and she was a direct descendant of the Ye family."

"What's going on with this Ye family?"

“The Ye family once fought alongside Emperor Taizu in his conquests. After Emperor Taizu ascended the throne, he appointed members of the Ye family as Grand Marshals and Generals.

The Ye family was once at its peak, and its power was greater than that of the current Yingdu Chu family, Ledu Zhuang family, and Fengdu Yuwen family.

Nineteen years ago, someone exposed the Ye family's conspiracy to rebel, and the entire Ye family was executed."

Ye Wuwei said in his heart:

Perhaps the Ye family's treason was a trumped-up charge, and the late emperor was jealous of them because their achievements were greater than his own, so he found an excuse to punish them.

Ye Wuwei continued to ask: "Besides the four great families who have their own fiefdoms, who else has their own fiefdoms?"

"Emperor Taizu had only one son, the late emperor. There were no other princes in the late emperor's generation, so there were no fiefs or territories.

The late emperor had six sons, but when the current emperor ascended the throne, only my father, the emperor, and Prince Qi were left.

My father was a prince, and his fiefdom was in Lindu, a small and not very wealthy place.

King Qi was a prince, and his fief was in the large and wealthy Andu.

The current emperor has three sons, none of whom have been crowned kings, and therefore have no fiefdoms."

"Who owns the taxes in Andu and Lindu?"

"Andu was the autonomous capital of King Qi, and its officials were appointed and dismissed by King Qi, and Andu's taxes also belonged to King Qi.

Officials in Lindu are appointed and dismissed by the imperial court, and taxes are split 50-50, with half going to my father and half to the imperial court."

Ye Wuwei thought:

The late emperor was indeed good to Qi Wushuang. He granted Qi Wushuang fiefdom and autonomy and allowed him to have his own army. He really wanted to protect him.

"How many private soldiers does your father have?"

"Fengdu is not wealthy and only maintains 10,000 private soldiers."

The reason why Qi Yushen told Ye Wuwei in such detail was because of Qi Wushuang's instruction.

Qi Wushuang mentioned in the letter to Qi Yushen: If Ye Wuwei asks about the situation of Qi Dynasty, let Qi Yushen tell him everything.

Ye Wuwei began to think in his mind:

There are five major forces in the Qi Dynasty: the emperor, Qi Wushuang, the Yingdu Chu family, the Ledu Zhuang family and the Fengdu Yuwen family.

Among them, the emperor, the Zhuang family of Ledu and the Yuwen family of Fengdu formed an alliance, and Qi Wushuang and the Chu family of Yingdu formed another alliance.

It seems that the emperor's alliance has the advantage, but in fact their alliance is not that stable. No wonder the emperor is so wary of Qi Wushuang.

However, since Qi Wushuang is so powerful, it would not be a mistake to join him.

After understanding Qi Chao's situation, Ye Wuwei said to Qi Yushen:

"Since the prince has asked me to go to Qamdo, I will leave in the next two days. But I don't know when I will see you again, Yu Shen."

He has gotten along well with Qi Yushen in the past two years. Although they are not close friends, Ye Wuwei also regards Qi Yushen as a friend.

“There’s always a chance to meet again.”

What Qi Yushen didn’t say was:

His father's second wife, Concubine Zhuang, had always wanted to send him to Chamdo as a hostage, so perhaps he would have to go to Chamdo soon.