Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 395 Luoyang Fusion
After receiving this news, Su Ze immediately gave up his plan to inspect Zhechongfu and returned to Yongle City.

Seeing Su Ze's cautious attitude, the accompanying ministers also became nervous. It was not until they returned to Yongle City that Su Ze immediately summoned all the ministers from the shogunate and the Council of State to discuss matters.

Is it some kind of military emergency?
No way? Now Guanzhong is stable, and there is no war in the north.

Xiao Baoyin, the only threat to the Guanzhong region, had completely lost his spirit in the face of reality. He spent his entire day drinking and having fun in Chang'an, causing disgust among people in Yongzhou.

For the Su Ze Group, taking over Yongzhou is a natural thing. The reason why it has been delayed until now is entirely because of the greater good.

After all, Xiao Baoyin was the Grand Commander of the Western Expedition appointed by the imperial court. When all the officials and nobles in Yongzhou had secretly defected to Su Ze, Su Ze was unwilling to bear a bad reputation.

So something must have happened outside the customs?
After all the ministers gathered, Su Ze said:

"Empress Dowager Hu adopted Yuan Zhao, the son of Lintao Prince Yuan Baohui, as the heir to the throne."

After these words were spoken, everyone understood why Su Ze rushed back to Yongle City in such a hurry!
Something big really happened in Luoyang!

Lintao King Yuan Baohui, like the current young emperor Yuan Xu, is the grandson of Emperor Xiaowen and a close relative of the royal family.

Emperor Xuanwu had only one son, the little emperor, so Prince Lintao Yuan Baohui was the closest branch to the royal bloodline.

More importantly, this Lintao King Yuan Baohui had always been in poor health and was on the verge of death by the end of this year.

It can be said that it was a brilliant move by Empress Dowager Hu to adopt Yuan Zhao, the son of Lintao Prince Yuan Baohui, to the young emperor.

Yuan Zhao's own biological father was critically ill, and the lineage of King Lintao once rebelled after Emperor Xuanwu ascended the throne because of Gao Zhao's abuse of power. The rebellion was rehabilitated after the young emperor ascended the throne. He did not have much presence in the royal family and his power was very weak.

Lintao King Yuan Baohui was about to die and had no control over his youngest son.

Yuan Zhao was less than one year old and was so easy to control.

Gao Hui, who once served as an official in the court, said angrily:

"Your Majesty is not even fifteen years old yet, and the concubines in the palace have been pregnant before, so why do you want to take in an heir? This is the evil queen trying to depose the emperor!"

Everyone present was a smart person, and they all understood this principle without Gao Hui explaining it, which was why Su Ze was eager to gather everyone together to discuss the matter.

Because of the appearance of Su Ze, some changes occurred in history, but as the little emperor grew up, the conflict with Empress Dowager Hu became more and more intense.

Especially the coup d'état by Prince Gaoyang Yuan Yong this year, which killed two of Empress Dowager Hu's favorites, made Empress Dowager Hu even more sensitive.

Prince Gaoyang Yuan Yong was a man without much ambition. After the coup, he returned to his house to enjoy himself. However, Empress Dowager Hu had no choice but to use the power of the royal family. Now, except for Li Daoyuan, everyone in the Menxia Province has the surname Yuan.

This is a tricky matter.

Empress Dowager Hu was not completely without political talent. When she was a concubine in the palace, she also witnessed Emperor Xuanwu eliminating the kings.

The royal family is a very special force.

They could be defenders of imperial power or challengers of it. However, within only twenty years of Emperor Xiaowen's reforms in the Northern Wei Dynasty, many powerful officials from the royal family emerged one after another.

Empress Dowager Hu's husband, Emperor Xuanwu, was mainly responsible for fighting against the royal family during his reign.

Emperor Xuanwu appointed his uncle, the powerful minister Gao Zhao, who took advantage of the royal family and fought against all his uncles and brothers. For example, Yuan Ziyou's father, King Pengcheng Yuan Xie, was executed at this time.

The reason why Empress Dowager Hu was still able to rule was because the current head of the royal family, Prince Gaoyang Yuan Yong, was a man with no ambitions. He was also old and had no interest in usurping the throne. After killing Empress Dowager Hu's two lovers, he returned to his mansion to enjoy himself.

However, the royal family also has its own special characteristics. To deal with them, the emperor must take action to be legitimate.

But the young emperor Yuanxu would never help Empress Dowager Hu fight against the royal family.

In the historical timeline before Su Ze traveled through time, the young emperor gave birth to a princess three years later, but Empress Dowager Hu announced that it was a prince. Then she poisoned Yuan Xu and supported the princess named Yuan Girl to ascend the throne. Finally, when the matter was exposed, she took Yuan Zhao as the successor and supported him to succeed the throne.

After Empress Dowager Hu's wise operation, the royal authority was completely destroyed, and she was finally sunk into the Yellow River by Erzhu Rong.

Because Su Ze changed history, Empress Dowager Hu was unwilling to wait even for her own son to give birth to a princess, and directly forced Yuan Xu to inherit Yuan Zhao. Was she preparing to take action against the emperor?

Su Ze could only sigh that this Queen Mother Hu was truly the "Phoenix Cub" of the Wei Dynasty.

The source of her power was the young emperor Yuan Xu. Moreover, she and Yuan Xu were not adoptive mother and son. She was Yuan Xu's biological mother. When Zigui's mother died, she risked her life to give birth to this son.

Moreover, the conflict between mother and son was not a life-and-death one. The young emperor Yuan Xu had a very cowardly character. He was very honest during the Xuanguang Incident and several coups d'état. He was so cautious that he did not even dare to issue an imperial edict to support the emperor.

Compared with the other pair, Empress Dowager Wenming was the grandmother of Emperor Xiaowen, but in fact they had no blood relationship. Emperor Xiaowen waited until the Empress Dowager's death before he took power. After taking power, he did not liquidate Empress Dowager Wenming and gave her a high historical evaluation.

Empress Dowager Wenming also personally taught this non-blood-related grandson. After her death, Emperor Xiaowen continued her policy of sinicization reform and still made use of the talents she left behind.

Su Ze really couldn't understand why Empress Dowager Hu would not get along well with her own son and instead choose to establish a grandson who was not related by blood.

Your Great Wei has already come to this point, what power is there left to fight for?

Su Ze couldn't understand, but he had to make a decision. If he could get the news, then Erzhu Rong, who was closer to Luoyang, could definitely get it too.

Erzhu Rong had already set up spies in Luoyang. His daughter Erzhu was the emperor's concubine and also had sources of information in the palace.

Empress Dowager Hu adopted a son for the young emperor. Would Erzhu Rong in Jinyang take any action?

This is a question that Su Ze needs to think about.

Su Liang was the first to speak: "If something unexpected happens in Luoyang, what will the Duke do?"

All the ministers looked at Su Ze. It was obvious that Su Ze had gathered everyone to discuss countermeasures, but if the leader did not set the tone, no matter how many decisions were made, they would be useless.

Su Ze's meeting style is always simple and clear. The situation in Luoyang may change at any time, so Su Liang asked directly, and everyone supplemented the plan based on Su Ze's tone, which was the most efficient approach.

Of course Su Ze also understood this truth. Entrepreneurs since ancient times have always been arbitrary and arbitrary.

If you want to hide behind others, let your subordinates charge first, and pick up peaches yourself, why would others still follow you?
Emperors who use conspiracy and power to control their subordinates and hide behind the scenes to let their subordinates come to the fore will only appear in the middle and late stages of a dynasty.

When you start a business, you have to take on the greatest responsibility and make all the important decisions yourself.

Only then can you not control your defeat.

Of course, even if you want to explain your strategic intentions, you still need the art of language.

Su Ze thought for a moment and said:
"This county lord is deeply indebted to the emperor, and I will never let His Majesty be poisoned by the evil queen."

Everyone present understood Su Ze's intention, which was to protect the little emperor in this coup.

But of course it is very difficult to implement this strategic plan.

Su Liang said:

"If we raise an army now to defend the king, firstly, we have no reason to do so, and secondly, it will be too late by the time we reach Luoyang. Has the Duke made any arrangements in the palace?"

Su Ze said:

"This is something that I have already arranged. I have built palaces in Guanzhong to prepare for your majesty's move."

Hearing Su Ze's words, the important officials present were both surprised and felt it was reasonable.

What was surprising was how deep Su Ze’s arrangements in Luoyang were.

It is not surprising that Su Ze set up a backyard in Luoyang and was able to obtain first-hand intelligence in Luoyang.

However, after hearing Su Ze's plan, the ministers realized Su Ze's influence in Luoyang. He could also secretly contact the palace and secretly influence the situation in the palace.

Those who knew some inside information, such as the Su brothers, knew that Su Ze was able to secretly get the court to appoint Li Shengui as the General of the North, and they knew the secret influence of Su Ze in the Wei court.

After all the ministers left, Su Ze looked towards Luoyang and could only say that Empress Dowager Hu's stupid move had also disrupted his own plans.

But when it comes to fighting for the dragon, there is no way you can just develop well and then conquer the world. You are just being pushed forward by the situation in the world.

Now that the situation has changed, we can only deal with it as it happens.
-
The atmosphere in Luoyang becomes increasingly tense as the New Year approaches.

Yuan Ziyou spent another day in Luoyang today.

Dragging his tired body back to the palace, Yuan Ziyou showed a dejected expression in front of Su Shun.

"The opinions of the kings are different. I don't know what tricks the evil queen used, but King Gaoyang actually supports your majesty to adopt an heir!"

Su Shun has been with Yuan Ziyou for so many years. He is good at observing words and expressions and knows very well that Yuan Ziyou has a firm character. He thinks these words are not a discussion with him, but just to ease his emotions. So Su Shun kept silent and just listened to all of Yuan Ziyou's complaints like a tree hole.

After Yuan Ziyou cursed several princes, he finally said:
"Since the kings cannot form a united force, there is no room for maneuver in this matter. We can only enter the palace as soon as possible and persuade His Majesty to issue a secret decree and use foreign troops to intimidate the Demon Queen."

After much thought, since the power of the prince cannot be relied upon, this is the only way to break the impasse.

However, foreign troops are more dangerous and more difficult to control than princes, so this is a last resort.

Yuan Ziyou had already received the Secret Decree earlier, but the young emperor later changed his mind and just let Yuan Ziyou keep the Secret Decree.

However, Yuan Ziyou still had to discuss with the young emperor about who to order to come to the rescue. But when he entered the palace for an audience the next day, he was stopped by the eunuch guarding the palace gate.

This eunuch also knew Yuan Ziyou. He forced a smile and said:

"Your Majesty, your majesty is not feeling well. The Supreme Master has ordered me to guard the Yellow Gate and help your majesty maintain peace."

Yuan Ziyou's expression was stricken. This meant that Empress Dowager Hu had already taken action and imprisoned the little emperor!
(End of this chapter)