Chapter 736 Preparation for Ascension
Chapter 736 Preparation for Ascension
In just ten days, Su Dingfang returned to Taiyuan from Yulin County. He brought a piece of news that shocked Xiao Xia. There were no 3,000 Turkic troops stationed in Yulin County. It was not that the Turkic army had returned to the grassland, but that they had never been stationed in Yulin.
This was inconsistent with the court's military report. The reason why Xiao Xia was sure that there were 3,000 troops stationed in Yulin was because of a military report Yang Gongren submitted to the court last year, which recorded that the Turks had 10,000 troops stationed in Hetao, including 4,000 in the front, 3,000 in the middle and back. The back was Yulin County, where the Yellow River turned south in a "J" shape.
Now there are problems with Yang Gongren's report. Xiao Xia really can't understand it. He knows Yang Gongren very well. When he was a warrior in Lingyan Pavilion, Xiao Xia knew that Yang Gongren was a very steady and serious person and would never deliberately falsify. It only means that Yang Gongren was also deceived.
Next to him, Su Dingfang reported carefully, "Do you want me to continue advancing westwards and enter Wuyuan County?"
Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and said, "The time is not right now. Let's wait a little longer. It will be enough to station 3,000 troops in Yulin County."
Xiao Xia then replaced Li Jing as the governor of northern Shanxi, commanding 30,000 troops stationed in Shanyang County, responsible for the defense of the five counties of Loufan, Mayi, Yanmen, Dingxiang, and Yulin. He also appointed Cui Fengxian as the governor of Taiyuan County, stationing 20,000 troops in Taiyuan County. Xiao Xia returned triumphantly.
It was mid-September when they returned to Luoyang. The Sui army held a grand triumphal ceremony. Amid the welcome of hundreds of thousands of people lining the streets, the 100,000-strong army marched into the city in a mighty procession. The ranks were well-organized and the momentum was huge. People on both sides sang and danced, beat drums and gongs, and cheered continuously.
When Commander Xiao Xia rode into the city on horseback, surrounded by three thousand cavalrymen, the entire military parade reached its climax, with countless people cheering and tears in their eyes.
"Long live! Long live! Long live His Royal Highness Prince Jin! Long live His Royal Highness the Regent!"
Shouts resounded through the sky. Xiao Xia rode on his warhorse and kept waving to the people on both sides.
At this moment, Xiao Xia's reputation reached its peak, and the officials of the Ministry of Rites felt relieved. They were racking their brains to think of how to implement the auspicious sign, but now it seems that there is no need. The triumphant return of the army is the best auspicious sign.
Xiao Xia returned home and enjoyed the family happiness and the tender love of his wives and concubines.
The next morning, Liu Wenjing and Zhang Yunqiu came to the emperor to pay a visit to Prince Jin. Xiao Xia received them in his study, Shanzhaiyuan, in the palace.
"Your Highness, I want to report on the situation of Li Jiancheng, the prince of Tang, coming to Luoyang!"
Half a month ago, Li Jiancheng came to Luoyang to request the resumption of trade, just for the sake of salt. Xiao Xia received a pigeon letter in Taiyuan and immediately approved it, allowing the sale of salt.
Xiao Xia only agreed in principle, but the specific details of the talks would be decided by the Zi Zheng Tang.
"Minister Liu, please speak!"
Liu Wenjing leaned forward and smiled, "Li Jiancheng took out a shopping list, and salt was only ranked eighth. After we removed salt, Li Jiancheng had to admit that the others were just for show, and salt was the real purpose."
"go on!"
"We finally agreed to sell them salt, with three conditions. First, we will sell it to them at the market price in Luoyang. Second, we will be allowed to open salt shops in Chang'an and Guanzhong. Third, they must use official salt. If we find that they are buying private salt, we will immediately stop supplying them with salt!"
These three conditions are good, and basically put Guanzhong under the category of salt tax. Xiao Xia asked again: "This is only civilian salt, what about military salt?"
"Military Salt purchases 20,000 stones of salt from us every year, also at the market price, and we supply it on a monthly basis."
Xiao Xia nodded. "Besides salt, what else do they want to buy?" "They also wanted to buy pig iron, but we rejected it. They don't want anything else but salt."
It is impossible to provide pig iron as it will be precipitated into weapons. Salt is a daily consumable and if it is blocked, we will be doomed.
"Besides Li Jiancheng, is there anything else?"
Zhang Yunqiu said, "Your Highness, in addition, the preparations for the enthronement ceremony were made in a grand and solemn manner without extravagance. We used all the materials that the previous emperor used to hold the enthronement ceremony in Luoyang in the second year of Daye. They have been stored for more than ten years and are basically still usable. Some of them only need to be slightly refurbished. If all the ceremonial materials were new, it would cost at least 300,000 strings of cash. We used old items and only spent 5,000 strings of cash."
"We still need to build an altar to heaven!"
"Your Highness, there is a ready-made altar for offering sacrifices to heaven in the ancestral temple, which is cast with copper blocks. We can transport it to the front of Ziwei Palace."
"Made of copper?" Xiao Xia was really surprised.
Liu Wenjing smiled and said, "It was indeed cast with copper. Five million kilograms of copper were used. Later, the emperor went to Luoshui for sacrifice three times and moved the altar to Luoshui. No new altar was built."
Xiao Xia shook his head and said, "It's too extravagant. There's no need for this. After the coronation, melt it down and mint coins. Then find a place to build a temple for heaven, which can be used in all ceremonies!"
"Wei Chen obeys the order!"
The news that Prince Jin was about to ascend the throne had already spread throughout Luoyang, and even to all the surrounding counties. Basically everyone believed it. In the minds of the vast majority of people, Prince Jin had long been the emperor of the Sui Dynasty. After the death of the previous emperor, he would be the inevitable successor. On the contrary, 90% of the emperor's grandsons did not agree with him. When the world was in chaos, there must be a strong monarch to reunite the world and restore order and peace. The emperor's grandsons obviously did not have this ability, and the ascension of Prince Jin to the throne was what everyone expected.
That morning, at the grand court session, Empress Dowager Xiao formally read out Emperor Wen's last will and announced that Prince of Jin Yang Xia would succeed his father Datong as the Crown Prince.
This solved the issue of the Prince of Jin's succession rights from a legal perspective. Empress Dowager Xiao also announced that on the auspicious first day of October, the Crown Prince of Jin would ascend the throne. When the news came out, the whole of Luoyang was in an uproar.
Yuan Xiaoju rode in a carriage slowly on Tianjie Street. He squinted at the street, which was decorated with lights and colorful lanterns everywhere, just like the Lantern Festival. Everyone had a beaming smile on their face. The ascension of Prince Jin to the throne gave everyone peace of mind. The once turbulent Luoyang was about to revive again.
Yuan Xiaoju felt very at ease. The King of Jin met with him specially on the third day after his return. He highly appreciated the Yuan family's practical actions of withdrawing from the Wuchuan Association and moving to Luoyang. Yuan Xiaoju was named Grand Secretary of Shangqing Pavilion and Yuan Hongsi was appointed Vice Minister of the Ministry of War. This was a reward for the Yuan family.
Yuan Xiaoju immediately donated one million strings of cash to the imperial court on behalf of the Yuan family. With real money and a firm attitude, the Yuan family finally passed this hurdle.
Yuan Xiaoju is already old, and looks like a frail and skinny old man. He also feels that he doesn't have much time left, so he goes out for a walk every day to take a good look at this world.
The carriage entered Anyefang. The Yuan family had a big restaurant in Anyefang, which was originally called Xiwei Restaurant and now was renamed Shangyuan Restaurant. There were eight Shangyuan Restaurants in Luoyang, which were previously confiscated by Wang Shichong and later Xiao Xia returned them all to the Yuan family.
The carriage stopped at the restaurant, and the attendant quickly opened the door and carefully helped Yuan Xiaoju down. As soon as he walked up the steps, he heard someone calling him, "Uncle Yuan, please stay!"
(End of this chapter)