Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 510 Taking Office (Part )

Erzhu Dulü's appointment to Luoyang soon aroused strong dissatisfaction among the officials who remained in Luoyang.

After asking for the mansion, Erzhu Dulü directly asked the emperor for official positions and rewarded several of his trusted subordinates with the title of generals.

After this, Erzhu Dulü still felt it was not enough, so he simply began to openly sell official positions and titles in Luoyang.

Whenever someone paid a visit to Erzhu Dulü and asked for the official position he requested, Erzhu Dulü would order his confidants to send the appointment to the Menxia Province and ask the emperor and Xi Yi to approve it. Xi Yi hated this, but because Erzhu Dulü's surname was Erzhu, he could not refuse his request, so Xi Yi had to claim illness and not go to the Menxia Province.

This was a tough time for Liu Gui, who served as the Palace Attendant. All these documents were piled in front of him, and he didn't know whether to approve them or not.

Luoyang, in the imperial palace.

Emperor Yuan Ziyou looked at the memorial sent by the Menxia Province and was extremely angry.

During these days, because Erzhu Rong was not in Luoyang, although the guards and eunuchs in the palace had been purged many times, under Su Shun's bribery and appeasement, they turned a blind eye to Yuan Ziyou.

Everything needs people to do it.

Some people always think that powerful officials can cover the sky with one hand and do whatever they want in the court.

In fact, the guards and eunuchs who guarded the emperor were all human beings. They were not a monolithic entity and each had their own interests and demands.

The guards that Erzhu Rong replaced this time were basically his Xiurong fellow villagers.

However, the Xiurong folks who stayed in Luoyang were also dissatisfied. Those folks who followed Erzhu Rong to fight had captured spoils and military merits, but there was no benefit in guarding the emperor, and it would be a crime if any problems arose.

The palace guards who had been purged by Erzhu Rong were a bloody example.

No one wants to do something that will get them no credit if they do it well, but could result in death if they mess it up.

Moreover, these people were stationed in Luoyang and could not go home for the New Year, and their loyalty to Erzhu Rong was also declining.

After Su Shun's appeasement and bribery, their supervision over the emperor became increasingly lax, which also gave Yuan Ziyou more room to maneuver.

For example, after dinner every day, Yuan Ziyou would be given some time to be alone, and the guards and eunuchs would stay away from him.

After confirming that no one was eavesdropping, Yuan Ziyou slammed the table and said:
"Erzhu Dulu actually treated the court's public property as a joke! He is so reckless and domineering! Sooner or later, the Erzhu family will be in great trouble!"

After saying these harsh words, Yuan Ziyou lowered his head again.

He didn't know whether Erzhu was about to meet with disaster, but his Yuan family's life was becoming increasingly difficult.

After failing to capture Yubi for a long time, Erzhu Rong began to think about moving the capital to Luoyang.

Hedong County is in Su Ze's hands, Luoyang is still too dangerous, and Hedong County can attack Luoyang at any time.

If Su Ze had not launched a surprise attack and captured Yanmen Pass, Yuan Ziyou would probably have been in Jinyang.

But you can hide from the first day, but you can't hide from the fifteenth day. You can still do some small actions in Luoyang, but if you go to Jinyang, Erzhu Rong's old nest, it will be worse than going to jail.

In addition to Yuan Ziyou, the entire Yuan clan also suffered a major blow.

Except for Yuan Tianmu, almost all the Yuan clan princes were deposed. Those Yuan clan princes who served as provincial governors either rebelled and surrendered to Southern Liang or were dismissed and replaced by Erzhu Rong.

Yuan Ziyou couldn't help feeling a little melancholy. How could the foundation laid by his ancestors be ruined like this in such a short period of time?

The only thing Yuan Ziyou could rely on was that there were still some officials and people in Luoyang who still cared about the Wei Dynasty. Erzhu Rong's brutal crimes in Luoyang also aroused the disgust of the aristocratic families and powerful people in the world.

But human hearts are also subject to change.

We still cherish the old love and hatred, but over time these friendships and hatreds will fade.

Yuan Ziyou continued:
"But it's better this way. By doing this, Erzhudulu is actually pushing people to my side."

Xi Yi was very dissatisfied with Erzhu Dulü's usurpation of the power of the Menxia Province, so he claimed to be sick and stayed at home. Liu Gui, who was originally a staunch supporter of Erzhu Rong, was also dissatisfied with Erzhu Dulü's behavior. This shows that the entire Luoyang officialdom hated Erzhu Dulü.

Yuan Ziyou also felt that this was a good opportunity to win the hearts of the people in Luoyang.

He said to Su Shun:

"Let Xi Shizhong be patient for a while, and make friends with more righteous men who are dissatisfied with the Erzhu family."

Su Shun nodded respectfully.

"As long as people's hearts are still in Wei, I still have a chance!"

Yuan Ziyou said firmly.

Su Shun lowered his head, but no one knew what he was thinking about.
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The young emperor Yuan Xu, who was welcomed into Guanzhong, was treated much better than Yuan Ziyou.

However, Su Ze's magnanimous attitude also aroused criticism from some ministers.

Some ministers, such as those scholars who had completely given up on the Wei court and had long since defected to Su Ze, had been completely tied to Su Ze's chariot. In the future, they would either be meritorious followers of the emperor or sinners who would be doomed to eternal damnation. They believed that Su Ze's attitude towards the Yuan Wei royal family was too gentle.

Another group of ministers joined Su Ze and served in the government after Su Ze used the emperor to control the princes, or they were originally aristocratic officials of the Wei Dynasty. They thought that Su Ze was being too hypocritical.

Faced with these contradictions, Su Cho, who was in charge of the Government Affairs Hall, was also very troubled. Any regime seeks a greatest common divisor.

Nobles, gentry, civil officials, military generals, powerful people, common people, Han people, and Hu people.

When fighting for the world, the best way is to make more friends and fewer enemies.

The signboard of the Northern Wei royal family is a good common denominator.

However, everything has its pros and cons, and this greatest common divisor also caused a problem, that is, the usurpation of the throne was a subversion of the Confucian monarch-minister system.

Things like legal system are disdained by power-seekers and are just rotten words on a pile of old papers in the eyes of realists, but they have practical impact on the world.

What's more, it is still the Southern and Northern Dynasties, an era where one can be elected emperor based on a prophecy.

Li Mi at the end of the Sui Dynasty became the leader of Wagangzhai just by saying "The Li family should be the emperor".

At that time, when people rebelled, they would find a leader according to the prophecy.

The theory of destiny was deeply rooted in people's minds. Once there was any change in the celestial phenomena, all kinds of rumors would spread, and the emperor would take the lead in asking for forgiveness from heaven.

It can be said that since Sima’s oath at Luoshui destroyed the rulers’ last fig leaf, the situation of ritual collapse and music decline in the Wei and Jin Dynasties was caused.

The concept of legal legitimacy is illusory, but in reality its influence is very great.

Once the Confucian narrative of monarch and ministers fails, it becomes "the emperor is the one with the strongest army and powerful horses."

The Sima family could not explain the source of the legal system, and then there was the Rebellion of the Eight Kings and the Invasion of the Five Barbarians.

After this, the Hu regime, even if its military power was strong for a while, would eventually collapse quickly. One of the main reasons for this was that there was no succession law. All those who were qualified to challenge the throne were sharpening their knives. Once the powerful monarch died or was defeated in the war, the empire would quickly collapse.

This is also the reason why Emperor Xiaowen was determined to implement Sinicization reforms and promote Confucianism.

If you localize it in Chinese, you will die. If you don’t localize it in Chinese, you will die faster.

Now it is an era of the collapse of rituals and music, and the issue of legal legitimacy is once again placed before Su Ze.

Although Yuan Xu is very cooperative now and is very well behaved and doesn't cause trouble.

But even Emperor Xian of Han came up with something like the Yidaizhao.

Not to mention Cao Mao, who cursed the Sima family with the blood of the emperor.

Today, Su Chao once again urgently convened a meeting of the Government Affairs Hall.

However, this time, not only the ministers of the Government Affairs Hall attended the meeting, but also the six ministers in charge of specific administration.

Such enlarged meetings usually discuss important matters. Sure enough, Su Chao said:
"Yesterday, another student from Chongwen Pavilion wrote a letter to persuade him to become a county duke."

Now everyone understood that these Chongwen Pavilion students wanted to make progress too much!
This was the second time this month that Su Chao had been persuaded to take the throne. This gave him a headache. If the Government Affairs Hall did not respond, next time it would probably not be the students of Chongwen Pavilion who would write letters, but officials who would persuade him to take the throne.

But the situation this time is even more troublesome than the last time.

The last time, it was just a few drunk Chongwen Pavilion students who suddenly had the idea to write a letter of persuasion, and the content was nonsense.

Su Chao handled the matter quickly. He expelled these students from Chongwen Pavilion on the grounds that they did not abide by the rules and drank alcohol while studying.

But this time it was different. The Chongwen Pavilion students who wrote the letter were the more outstanding students of this class.

I am not afraid of others wanting to make progress, I am afraid of those who want to make progress having culture.

The students proposed the "Tang and Wu Revolution" as the theoretical basis for persuading him to ascend the throne.

The so-called "Tang-Wu Revolution" was a revolution in which Tang of Shang and King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Central Plains dynasty by force.

At the end of the Xia Dynasty, King Tang of Shang defeated King Jie of Xia at Mingtiao Field and destroyed Xia in one fell swoop. In the Battle of Muye during the reign of King Zhou of Shang, King Wu successfully defeated King Zhou.

In the Book of Changes, there is a line: "Tang and Wu carried out a revolution, following the will of Heaven and responding to the will of the people."

The leader this time was Zhen Luan, a teacher at Chongwen Pavilion. He himself was an expert in mathematics and Yijing. He started with the revolution of Tang and Wu, and from the perspectives of metaphysics, astrology and Yijing, he explained that the Northern Wei Dynasty was about to end and that the Duke of Su should replace Wei.

Su Cho was also very troubled. The key was that Zhen Luan's knowledge of the Book of Changes was too good. Although he was also a Confucian, he really could not defeat him in a debate.

So today Su Cho gathered everyone together to discuss how to deal with this matter.

But the situation has changed.

After everyone finished reading Zhen Luan's article, many important officials nodded, acknowledging Zhen Luan's academic achievements.

The one who reacted most strongly was Su Tong, the current Minister of Rites.

After reading it, he said:
"If the Duke had not sent troops to Luoyang, Your Majesty might have been killed by the evil queen or Erzhu Rong. Later, the Duke helped the country and took back Youzhou and Dingzhou from the traitor Erzhu, and also took Yizhou from the Southern Liang. This is the merit of rebuilding the country."

"It's too early to talk about Tang and Wu's revolution, but for such great achievements, he should be crowned king!"

Su Chuo was stunned after hearing this. I asked you to stop the fight, why did you start a commotion?
(End of this chapter)