Rebuilding Mountains and Rivers: Starting from Hedong

In 947 AD, just after the fall of the Later Jin Dynasty, the Khitan retreated to the north, and the Central Plains fell into a power vacuum. The spirit of Zhao Zheng, a modern soldier, Liu Zheng, the concubine of the Liu family in Hedong, faced the short-lived Later Han Dynasty that was about to be established and the eyeing Khitan. He knew that if history was not changed, the sixteen states of Yanyun would be lost forever, and the Northern Song Dynasty would suffer from border troubles for three hundred years. Zhao Zheng raised troops in the name of "Qing Jun Side", first helped Guo Wei establish the Later Zhou Dynasty, and then used Chai Rong's power to implement comprehensive reforms: purging the forbidden army, leveling land tax, building water conservancy, and establishing martial arts schools. He secretly formed a "firearms camp", used saltpeter purification methods to improve gunpowder, and created early fire blunderbuss and thunderbolts. When Chai Rong died young, Zhao Zheng decisively launched the "Second Change of Chenqiao", and Huangpao joined in to establish the new dynasty "Dasheng". He rejected the traditional strategy of "first south and then north", and personally led an army of 300,000 in the Northern Expedition under the motto "If Yan Yun is no longer there, why should we call home?" At the foot of Youzhou City, he destroyed the city with firearms and surrounded it with cavalry. He defeated the Khitan Tielin Army and regained the entire sixteen states of Yanyun in one fell swoop. In the next ten years, Zhao Zheng sent his troops southward, using both gentleness and force to force Wu Yue to "accept land and return it to the Song Dynasty" and Li Yu, the later lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty, to surrender. By 969 AD, the Dasheng Dynasty unified China, ending the 72 years of chaos in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Zhao Zheng ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, established his capital in Bianliang, and initiated the "Government of Shengwu", laying a foundation for China's prosperity for thousands of years.