Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 404 The Second Emperor
After Erzhu Rong entered Luoyang, he only did one thing, which was to seize the military power of the Luoyang Imperial Guards and the City Gate Captain and began to suppress the riots in the various neighborhoods of Luoyang.

Those ruffians who tried to take advantage of the chaos were beheaded in public and their heads were hung on the gates of the neighborhoods. Local officials who failed to suppress the ruffians were also dismissed from office.

However, Erzhu Rong did not make any changes to the superstructure of the court.

The only ones who were liquidated were Empress Dowager Hu's followers. Erzhu Rong did not touch any officials who remained in Luoyang.

The Menxia Province only held two meetings to discuss the new emperor, and the meeting ended in nothing. Erzhu Rong never showed up in the Menxia Province from beginning to end.

After the New Year, Erzhu Rong finally took action.

On the fifth day of the first lunar month in the fourth year of Xiaochang, an imperial edict was issued from the palace to depose the false emperor Yuan Xu and enthrone Yuan Ziyou as the new emperor!

The next step was to change the reign title to Wutai and issue a general amnesty.

These were also within the expectations of the ministers. The young emperor had already gone to Guanzhong, and a new emperor would definitely be established.

Although Yuan Ziyou was not closely related to the young emperor by blood, he was also a well-known and capable person among the royal family.

But Erzhu Rong's subsequent actions made the ministers somewhat confused.

He also allowed his daughter Erzhu to remarry in the name of the empress dowager, and she went from being Yuan Xu's concubine to being Yuan Ziyou's queen.

Luoyang was in an uproar. It was really uncivilized for military men to be in power!
But another unusual thing was that after Erzhu Rong announced the enthronement of the new emperor and new queen, he did not hold the coronation ceremony immediately.

Just when people in Luoyang were discussing what Erzhu Rong was trying to do, another army entered Luoyang city.

These 5,000 men were also Erzhu Rong's elite cavalry, led by Erzhu Rong's cousin Erzhu Tianguang and nephew Erzhu Zhao, and they also traveled south day and night to Luoyang.

After the army entered Luoyang, Erzhu Rong announced that he would build a Five-Colored Terrace outside the city to hold the coronation ceremony of the new emperor and the ceremony of serving the country on the side of the Yellow River.

Yuan Tianmu and Xi Yi of Erzhu Rong's group were a little worried, but Erzhu Rong's prestige in the group was too high, and no one dared to ask about things he did not discuss with others. The various government offices in Luoyang could only cover their heads and work hard for the ceremony.

When the new army entered the city, Erzhu Rong stationed them in Yongning Temple.

Yongning Temple is the royal Buddhist temple built during the reign of Emperor Xuanwu. It was also Empress Dowager Hu's favorite place to pray to Buddha. After the Jinping overturned and assassinated the emperor, Yongning Temple rebuilt and expanded the wooden pagoda, making it taller than before.

Yongning Temple has more than a thousand monks' quarters. Princess Chenliu often stayed here. Chang Jing, a famous writer in Luoyang, once said that Yongning Temple is "the Sumeru Palace and the Tushita Palace. Nothing is better than this."

There are still a large number of treasures in Yongning Temple, which have now been rewarded to the soldiers by Erzhu Rong. Except that the Buddha statue in the hall is too solemn, the soldiers dare not go up to search for gold foil. All the treasures hidden in the temple have been looted by the soldiers.

Compared to the Qinghe Palace with its winding paths, waterside pavilions and singing stages, Erzhu Rong seemed to prefer the grand Buddhist temples, so he was willing to live in Yongning Temple more often.

Yuan Tianmu asked to see Erzhu Rong several times and advised him to spend more time socializing in Luoyang, but Erzhu Rong just stayed in the military camp in Yongning Temple.

In fact, Erzhu Rong was more familiar with Luoyang City than Yuan Tianmu.

The Northern Wei Dynasty was a regime established by a minority ethnic group. Even after Emperor Xiaowen had assimilated into the Han culture and merged with the Han Chinese aristocratic families in the north, he was still wary of the Han people.

Therefore, the power of the royal family in the Northern Wei Dynasty was superior to that of the scholar-officials. The surname "Yuan" that Emperor Xiaowen changed for the Tuoba clan means "origin of all things."

To put it more intuitively, in the city of Luoyang, there were dozens of royal palaces belonging to the Yuan family alone. In addition to those who were crowned kings, there were countless people who inherited the position of generals.

When Erzhu Rong was young, he traveled to Luoyang and sent fine horses to almost every palace. When these royal palaces were powerful, they looked down on him, a mere chieftain of a small and prosperous tribe.

But now these noble descendants of the Yuan family are vying to send visiting cards to Yongning Temple, wanting to request an audience with the newly appointed - Generalissimo of all military forces at home and abroad, Grand Chancellor of the Northern Road, Generalissimo of all military forces of ten states, Commander-in-Chief of the Left and Right, and King of Taiyuan.

In addition to the visiting cards expressing loyalty, there were also many superstitious reports and attacks by the Yuan clan princes on each other. The most attacks were directed at Prince Gaoyang Yuanyong, Prince Hejian Yuanchen, Prince Sikong Yuanqin, and Prince Yiyang Yuanlue, who were all in the Menxia Province. Yesterday, Prince Gaoyang Yuanyong even said a few bad words about Erzhu Rong after getting drunk, and today someone who attended the banquet exaggerated his words and reported them to Erzhu Rong.

Erzhu Rong did not reply to these letters and remained quietly in Yongning Temple.
-
After Su Ze "escorted" the little emperor into Tongguan, the first imperial edict was to appoint Su Ze as the envoy with special powers to supervise the military affairs of Guanzhong, the chief of the Western Road, and the general who supervised the military affairs of the six states.

The young emperor wanted to enthrone Su Ze as king, but Su Ze refused.

Su Ze's reason was also very simple, "Since ancient times, no one has been granted the title of king for great merit. Today, the world is not settled, so I dare not accept the title of king."

The little emperor was naturally "touched" and "encouraged" Su Ze.

In addition, the reign title of Xiaochang could definitely not be used anymore. After discussion among Su Cho and other Confucian officials, the reign title was changed to "Wu De", and a general amnesty was also issued.

After the young emperor entered the Pass, the first order from the County Duke's Mansion was to order Huazhou Governor Yu Jin to go to Chang'an to "take over" the palace.

Chang'an was the capital of Yongzhou. Xiao Baoyin, the former commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition, was in Chang'an. Su Ze's order was quickly responded to by the Yongzhou nobles who had been waiting for it for a long time. Xiao Baoyin did not even have a chance to resist and was imprisoned in his mansion. Under the leadership of the Wei and Du families, the nobles and officials in Chang'an quickly took control of the city. They sealed up the treasury and government offices, used family soldiers to maintain order, and waited for the three governors to come and take over Chang'an.

From a military perspective, Xiao Baoyin was less of a concern than Su Ze. The direct descendants he brought from Guanzhong had been almost completely destroyed, and the Guanxi nobles had long since ignored him.

However, Xiao Baoyin was originally the Grand Commander of the Western Expedition appointed by the imperial court, and he was also a clan relative with a special status. If Su Ze wanted to march into Chang'an, it would inevitably be against the greater good.

It’s different now. After the emperor issued an edict, the local forces in Yongzhou made their choice and directly abandoned Xiao Baoyin and threw themselves into Su Ze’s arms.

Of course, using the emperor to control the princes is not always useful.

For example, if the young emperor were to issue an edict to Luoyang, asking Luoyang to tie up Erzhu Rong and send him to Guanzhong, then this imperial edict would be a joke.

Or he could issue an imperial decree to the generals under Erzhu Rong, granting them official titles and promising them to betray Erzhu Rong, but such an imperial decree would have no effect.

In addition to the "natural outcome" blessed by the imperial edict, and the hostile areas where the imperial edict is ineffective, there is even a gray area.

The imperial edict can play a role in winning over some semi-neutral forces that neither side can control, such as the government forces resisting in the area controlled by Ge Rong, and enclaves such as Youzhou and Hengzhou where there are government forces.

The other imperial edicts issued by the little emperor were sent to Hengzhou and Youzhou respectively.

The rebel leader who occupied Hengzhou, Xianyu Ahu, was a fellow clan member of the former rebel leader Xianyu Xiuli, and did not obey Ge Rong's orders.

The relationship between Du Luozhou and Ge Rong in Youzhou is also very delicate.

The person sent by the court to Youzhou to quell the rebellion was Chang Jing, a famous writer in Luoyang. Chang Jing had more defeats than victories in battles, but he managed to survive every time.

Du Luozhou and Chang Jing were fighting to a "hard fight" and the situation was always "extremely tense", so Ge ​​Rong asked Du Luozhou to go south to join him several times, but Du Luozhou always used this as an excuse to shirk his responsibility.

These two people can also be won over by imperial edict.

In addition, the countries in the Western Regions, the grasslands, Tuyuhun, and even the Southern Liang, after having a little emperor, can also send envoys to submit letters and use diplomatic means against them.

Even the Eastern Jin Dynasty, a weak imperial court, enfeoffed many small regimes across the Yangtze River. Even when the Murong clan rose to power, they went to Jiankang to ask for enfeoffment.

In political matters, small forces must learn to please both sides if they want to survive and develop. Sometimes the so-called "great justice" is just an excuse for them to waver.

Yongzhou resolved the issue peacefully, and Su Ze's army entered Chang'an without losing a single soldier. However, Su Ze did not take his mansion and the little emperor directly to Chang'an. Instead, he used the excuse that the palace in Chang'an was dilapidated and not suitable for the emperor to live in.

He ordered Yu Jin to concurrently serve as the governor of Yongzhou, stay in Chang'an to take charge of the overall situation, and supervise the construction of palaces in Chang'an.

Before the palace in Chang'an was repaired, the little emperor naturally followed Su Ze back to Yongle City.

Yuan Xu was worthy of being a puppet emperor for many years, and he was very obedient to Su Ze's arrangements.
-
Luoyang.

After being announced as emperor, Yuan Ziyou was brought into the palace. Under the care of guards arranged by Erzhu Rong himself, Yuan Ziyou completely cut off contact with the outside world.

"Is there really nothing we can do?"

Compared with the poor control of Empress Dowager Hu back then, Erzhu Rong disciplined his army strictly. Now there is a guard every ten steps in the entire Huiyin Palace, and there is no way to communicate with the outside world.

The only chance Yuan Ziyou had to see outsiders every day was when Huangmen Lang Wang Zunye came to the palace to explain the classics. However, there were also people arranged by Erzhu Rong watching him, so Yuan Ziyou had no chance to pass on any message.

Yuan Ziyou felt a little regretful. He should not have returned to Luoyang at that time and stepped into this vortex. He was made emperor without knowing it and married Erzhu as his queen for no apparent reason.

Even Erzhu Rong held his daughter's wedding in a hasty manner. Yuan Ziyou only saw the beautiful queen once and never saw her again.

"Your Majesty, please stay low for the time being. Erzhu Rong will not stay in Luoyang for long."

Su Shun advised sincerely, but Yuan Ziyou was unwilling to be manipulated by Erzhu Rong.

"No, Huangmen Lang Wang Zunye is handsome and a loyal minister of Wei. I will try to get in touch with him during the lecture tomorrow."

"Also tell the guards that I want to see my brothers. Please invite the King of Pengcheng and the King of Shiping into the palace."

King Pengcheng and King Shiping were Yuan Ziyou's brothers, and they were both made kings after Yuan Ziyou ascended the throne.

Su Shun sighed, stopped trying to persuade him, and went out of the palace to negotiate with the officer on duty.

(End of this chapter)