Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 366: "Live Broadcast" of the Grand Court Meeting
The sixth year of Jian'an will be the last year of "Jian'an".
Almost all the princes who have some connections in the court have already learned of the news and are waiting for Liu Xie to announce the new reign title at the grand court meeting on the first day of the first lunar month!
"Jian'an" was the new era name established by Cao Cao after he welcomed Liu Xie back to Xu County in the east. Now it came to an end with Liu Xie's return to Chang'an in the west.
In the original history, "Jian'an" was also the last era name of the Han Dynasty, and it was used until the 25th year of Jian'an, when Cao Pi became emperor in place of the Han Dynasty.
Now Liu Xie returned west to Chang'an, the former capital of the Han Dynasty, and prepared to establish a new reign title, symbolizing a new beginning - Xingshun.
Not only does it want to revive the Han Dynasty, but it also wants to be smooth and easy. This is a beautiful wish.
On the first day of the first lunar month, apart from the imperial court in Chang'an, Jingzhou Prefecture was the most lively place.
Liu Xie had already informed them that he would send a "messenger to inform all" to announce the enthronement of Liu Cong...
Since the event had to be "informed to everyone" anyway, Liu Xie decided to do it in a grand manner after discussing with his ministers - mainly by announcing the new year name and preparing to enthrone a group of princes!
Liu Cong will not only be officially appointed as the governor of Jingzhou, but will also be appointed as the Marquis of Cai...
Well, there was also a State of Cai during the Spring and Autumn Period, which was always between "being oppressed by the State of Chu" and "joining forces with other countries to attack the State of Chu", and was eventually destroyed by the State of Chu. Is there any element of indirect criticism in the title of "Marquis of Cai"... Bai Tu doesn't know either, and he is too lazy to ask.
However, the city of Xiangyang was bustling at this time. Many aristocratic families gathered in Jingzhou Prefecture. Because they had received the news in advance, they had even prepared a sign of "Cai Hou Mansion".
If there is something unpleasant, it is that after Kuai Yue failed in his northern expedition to Wancheng, he withdrew his troops more than a month ago, but the central army just returned to Xiangyang yesterday. As a result... due to some scheduling issues, the city gates have not been opened to welcome the army in!
Of course, the so-called "dispatch" problem is actually the manifestation of some contradictions between the gentry of Nanjun and the gentry of Nanyang and Jiangxia, as well as the close staff left by Liu Biao.
However, even so, most of the troops in Wengcheng were still led by the generals of Cai and Kuai, so the Nanjun gentry just kept this unhappiness in their hearts...
Today is a big day for Jingzhou Prefecture, and everyone is waiting happily for the enthronement!
They had received news long ago that the imperial court was going to give out the Nine Gifts...
I can also guess some of the court’s thoughts - let you be the King of Wei, let you be the King of Chu, let you be granted the Nine Gifts... Now I will give them to you one by one, and see if you still feel happy!
Anyway, the separatist forces in various places are basically warlords or semi-warlords, and are actually independent of the imperial court. Now that two copies of the Nine Gifts have been given out, giving more will only cause the Nine Gifts to be "devalued."
Soon, in Jingzhou Prefecture, when all the civil and military officials were celebrating, the live broadcast... no, it was "letting everyone know" began!
Compared with the "Everyone Knows" forcibly promoted by Jinling Ji in Bai Tu's time, the scope of the "Everyone Knows" of Dahan Ji is wider. Any city in Han territory can see this scene in mid-air when they look up.
At a grand court meeting attended by many ministers, Liu Xie first officially announced that the capital would be moved to Chang'an and renamed "Xingshun", with this year being the first year of Xingshun. He then began to commend Liu Bei and others who had welcomed him back to the west...
Of course, Yuan Tan, who saw this scene in Handan, wanted to curse - it was obviously our Yuan family who made the first contribution! But in the end, we were accused of being traitors?
Liu Xie did not commend these meritorious officials for nothing, and he rewarded them one by one...
Ma Teng was conferred the title of Marquis of Yong, Han Sui was conferred the title of Marquis of Zhai, and Yang Feng was conferred the title of Marquis of Sai. These titles were given by Xiang Yu during the period between the Chu and Han dynasties when the three surrendered generals of the Qin State were under the rule of the Three Qins. However, Liu Xie conferred the title of Marquis only on marquises, not kings.
Zhang Yan was conferred the title of Marquis of Zheng - the task of repairing the Zhengguo Canal in Guanzhong is indeed being done by the people who moved from Heishan, but... the Zhengguo Canal was a canal built by a Korean named "Zheng Guo" who was invited by the Qin State, and it has nothing to do with Zheng State.
"Zheng" was the name of a country during the Spring and Autumn Period. It was the feudal state east of Hulao Pass, including the present-day Xu County. It mainly revealed that Liu Xie wanted to take back Xu County and connect Xuzhou, Qingzhou, Sili and Liangzhou.
Originally, Liu Ai and others suggested that Liu Bei be named King of Qi and Liu Zhang be named King of Shu. After all, even Cao Cao and Bai Tu were kings, so couldn't the Liu clan members do the same?
However, Liu Bei refused to accept the title, so the two relatives who occupied a state were only given the titles of Marquis of Qi and Marquis of Shu...
This changed Liu Xie's opinion of Liu Bei a lot.
If Liu Xie had made the decision himself, he would have wanted to declare Zhang Lu a rebel now, because as long as he could take over Hanzhong, he could not only occupy Hanzhong, the birthplace of the Former Han Dynasty, but also connect Liu Zhang's Yizhou with Guanzhong, which would then greatly increase the court's advantage.
However, this idea was unanimously opposed by Liu Ai, Liu Bei and others - they were completely unable to attack Hanzhong now, and in the short term, their primary task was to clean up Guanxi, Sili, Hedong, and open up the Xu County area...
After hearing this, Ma Teng was very interested in joining the battle.
However...it is obviously unrealistic to expect the Western Liang army, which is strong in cavalry, to attack Hanzhong.
Between Hanzhong and Yizhou, it is "Jiang Ge is rugged and towering", while between Hanzhong and Guanxi, it is also "clouds across the Qinling Mountains, where is my home, snow blocking the Lan Pass, the horses cannot move forward".
The Qinling Mountains stretch for a thousand miles from east to west and six hundred miles from north to south, with an average altitude of two thousand meters. Only a handful of small paths are suitable for marching.
These include the "Baoxia Road" that Liu Bang had openly built to appease Xiang Yu, the "Chencang Road" that he secretly used when he attacked Guanzhong, the "Qishan Road" that Zhuge Liang preferred in the original history, the "Ziwu Road" suggested by Wei Yan for a surprise attack, and the "Tangluo Road" that Zhong Hui took when he attacked Shu.
Take the Tangluo Road for example. In order to conquer Shu, Zhong Hui specially built a long plank road. During the march, the horses’ hooves also fell into the road. When Cao Shuang conquered Shu, he got lost for a month...
Relying on Ma Teng’s Xiliang army to go in?
I'm afraid that even after three months of sending troops, Zhang Lu still doesn't know that the Western Liang Army is attacking him!
In this case, the only one who could attack Hanzhong was Liu Zhang of Yizhou. And for Liu Zhang to attack Hanzhong, did he need an imperial edict?
Regardless of whether Zhang Lu is declared a traitor or not, Liu Zhang is attacking Zhang Lu, and it is foreseeable that... there will most likely be no progress .
If that is the case, why is there such a rush to make Zhang Lu hate the court?
Liu Xie had also gradually learned how to control his temper and consider things from the perspective of "interests", so he just ignored Zhang Lu.
After bestowing six sets of the Nine Gifts in one breath, Liu Xie showed no intention of paying any attention to Bai Tu and Cao Cao.
Although he would not completely break off relations with them, he also intended to suppress their authority. The seventh one... Liu Xie also specifically emphasized that it was the last one to be canonized today - Liu Cong, who was given the title of Marquis of Cai!
In fact, even many people in Xiangyang only learned today that Liu Biao had passed away.
However, because of the support of the court, although Liu Cong was a young boy, he had the right to rule.
What Liu Xie didn't know was that half an hour before he announced the canonization of Liu Cong on the live broadcast, hundreds of soldiers suddenly rushed out from the backyard of the Jingzhou banquet and controlled all the hundreds of civil and military officials at the banquet...
Fortunately, Jingzhou Prefecture has always valued civil officials over military ones, otherwise, with more military generals present, hundreds of soldiers might not be able to control the situation!
