Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 544 A wake-up call
Yuan Ziyou's embarrassment was that just when he had finally succeeded in his coup and was ready to carry out his grand plans, he discovered that the whole world actually didn't care about him at all.

Yes, what is more unacceptable than failure is that others simply ignore your existence.

Yuan Ziyou originally had a good idea. As long as he controlled Luoyang and Henan Province annexed him, he could then take advantage of the current chaotic situation in the world to quickly control Xiang, Qi, Yan, and Qing states in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. In this way, he would have a foundation.

As long as we work hard and unite as one, relying on the reputation of the Great Wei, we will surely be able to restore the Yuan Dynasty.

However, what Yuan Ziyou did not expect was that the first step of the plan went smoothly. Su Ze focused all his efforts on dealing with Erzhu Rong and did not make any major response to Luoyang.

As for the Hedong region, which was originally what Yuan Ziyou was most worried about, Yu Jin led his troops north to attack Bingzhou and did not take the opportunity to attack Luoyang.

This made Yuan Ziyou feel fortunate but also extremely humiliated.

The traitor Su Ze was the same as Erzhu Rong. He did not take the Emperor of Wei seriously at all!

Yuan Ziyou secretly made up his mind that he must make Su Ze regret his decision today. He then began to dispatch envoys to advance his strategic plan.

But everything that happened next gave him a wake-up call.

Not to mention the imagined Xiang, Qi, Yan and Qing states, even Henei, which was separated from Luoyang by a river, decisively killed the envoys sent by Yuan Ziyou and chose to surrender to Su Ze.

In the end, Yuan Ziyou discovered that his territory was not as large as the territory occupied by the false emperor Yuan Hao when Chen Qianzhi launched the Northern Expedition.

This is very embarrassing.

The land is not large, but the expenses are high.

Luoyang City was once the largest city of this era. Even though it had been ravaged by wars several times and its people had fled several times, its population was still huge.

More importantly, there were a large number of nobles in Luoyang City who were not engaged in production.

These people were also the ones Yuan Ziyou relied on to seize power in a coup.

After Yuan Ziyou came to power, it was naturally impossible for him to suppress the royal family like Erzhu Rong did, so he had to treat them well.

As a result, the already tight finances became even more stretched, and there was even not enough heating in the palace this winter.

Yuan Ziyou could only send palace servants to Shanglin Garden to chop firewood for heating, and ordered the royal family to take the lead in saving firewood. Only then could he barely cope with the situation.

The heating problem has been solved, but there is still the problem of food.

The war in the capital region had lasted for several years, and Erzhu Dulü had been madly exploiting Yuan Ziyou when he was the governor of Henan. What Yuan Ziyou regretted most now was letting the imperial guards divide up Erzhu Dulü's property. Now he didn't even have enough food to survive the winter.

Thanks to Gao Aocao of Bohai Gao family, who begged for a batch of grain from the local tyrants in Henan, and Yang Zhong who led the imperial guards to obtain some beans and millet outside the city of Luoyang, they have managed to survive until today.

Only when you manage a household do you know how expensive food and fuel are. Faced with so many mouths to feed, Yuan Ziyu is already feeling overwhelmed.

In addition, the entire court was in chaos.

Although Yuan Ziyou was good at palace politics, the situation in Luoyang was too chaotic.

In the court, there were a few loyal ministers who were loyal to the royal family, and there were also treacherous people who had defected to Erzhu Rong.

Among the spies planted in the Central Plains was the fake official appointed by Chen Qianzhi during the Northern Expedition.

There are sons of noble families who speculate everywhere, and there are royal relatives and nobles who are arrogant and extravagant.

The small city of Luoyang was able to suppress those discordant voices when the Erzhu family was in power.

After Yuan Ziyou came to power, people from all walks of life jumped out to take advantage of him, and Yuan Ziyou was exhausted by them every day.

It just so happened that these forces opposing the Erzhus were Yuan Ziyou's reliance on coming to power, so he had to unite them.

Yuan Ziyou could only keep balancing the interests of all parties until the year before, when news finally came from other states. Xiang, Qi, Yan, and Qing all chose to surrender to Su Ze, and cut off the grain that was still transported to Luoyang during Erzhu Rong's time.

This time, Yuan Ziyou, who always treated his ministers as a benevolent monarch, lost his composure in the court for the first time.

He cursed these states and counties, accusing them of betraying the emperor's grace of the Great Wei.

All the ministers in the court were silent. After all, the emperor in Guanzhong was the legitimate emperor of Wei, right?

After Yuan Ziyou vented his anger, the food problem in Luoyang became more serious. However, there was nothing to discuss at the court meeting, so he could only summon his confidants to discuss it.

Faced with this difficult problem, the then Prime Minister Xi Yi could not come up with any good solution.

There is no way, Xi Yi’s ability is limited.

When it was obvious that there was an extreme lack of administrative talent in the Erzhu Group, Erzhu Rong did not use him too much. Xi Yi's own lack of ability was also an important reason.

Yuan Ziyou looked at the remaining court officials again. Ministers who were loyal to the royal family and capable, such as Wang Zunye, had been massacred by Erzhu Rong in the Heyin Incident.

Those who were loyal to Erzhu Rong and capable, such as Yuan Tianmu, had been killed by himself.

The rest are unfaithful and incompetent.

After taking a final look around, his gaze fell on Gao Aocao and Yang Zhong.

These two people were the biggest surprise after Yuan Ziyou’s coup.

Gao Aocao lowered his head. Although he was born into the Gao family of Bohai, he had never loved studying since childhood and did not have much talent in politics.

Yang Zhong finally stood up and said:

"Your Majesty, we can enter Henan from Xiangyang in Jingzhou. As long as the Southern Dynasty is willing to support us, we can solve the food crisis in Luoyang."

Hearing this, Yuan Ziyou felt depressed again.

Is it the destiny of the Luoyang court to become a vassal of the Southern Dynasty?

Moreover, the situation in the Southern Dynasty is not good now.

Heba Sheng rebelled and Taicheng was besieged. The army that came to support the king surrounded Jiankang City again. The entire Southern Dynasty was in chaos. How could it have the ability to support Luoyang?
Yang Zhong continued:

"Jingzhou is the territory of Xiao Yi, the prince of the Southern Dynasty. Xiao Yi has now gone to Jiankang to defend the king. If we ask him for help now, he might be willing to allocate some food from Jingzhou to Luoyang."

Yuan Ziyu's eyes lit up.

Now that all the troops to support the king have gathered in Jiankang, Xiao Yi will definitely take part in the fight for the throne.

If the Luoyang court he represented pledged allegiance to him, Xiao Yi would definitely increase his reputation. Xiao Yi might even be able to transport some food to solve Luoyang's food crisis.

Yuan Ziyou actually had no other choice.

The young emperor Yuan Xu, who was supported by Guanzhong, was the legitimate heir of the Wei Dynasty. If he wanted to ask Su Ze for help, he had to remove the title of emperor.

He killed Yuan Tianmu, and he and Erzhu Rong were enemies in life and death. Besides, Erzhu Rong was now unable to take care of himself and was unlikely to support him.

Yuan Ziyou had no choice but to say to Yang Zhong:

"Then please ask General Yang to go to Jiankang to negotiate with Xiao Yi on my behalf and ask Jingzhou to send some food to Luoyang."

Yang Zhong was ordered to travel south, but the ruler and his ministers in Luoyang did not know that Jingzhou would soon change hands.

(End of this chapter)