Chapter 349 Ascending the Throne
The anti-rebel army was defeated.

There were corpses everywhere outside the capital.

Three thousand vicious cavalrymen charged back and forth, and the area within a radius of ten miles was littered with fallen weapons and armor.

The Regent fell to the ground, then stood up with difficulty with the help of the masters on his left and right. He did not run away. From the moment of defeat, his political life had come to an end. For an usurper of power, it made no sense to escape or not.

In the afternoon, the sun sets in the west.

Two thousand vicious cavalrymen dismounted and served as infantry, and incorporated more than 30,000 defeated soldiers. By occupying the positions of squad leaders and sergeants, they ensured control over this army.

Jiang He rode into the city here.

The 190,000-strong army collapsed, and the second-line troops defending the city had long lost their will to fight. The commander of the East Gate – Sanfu General led his subordinates to surrender and welcome the Marquis of Suppressing the Rebellion into the capital.

There was chaos in the capital city, with soldiers passing by like a comb. The people and officials were extremely wary of the army entering the city. Since ancient times, the identities of soldiers and bandits have always been easily switched. When the Regent entered the court, it was inevitable that a lot of unrest was caused.

The evil soldier holding a poisonous thorn spear came to report: “My lord, the three generals and the newly recruited officers hope to be rewarded.”

Three thousand cavalrymen travelled hastily overnight, so it was naturally difficult for them to carry gold and silver rewards with them. Their request for merit was actually intended to plunder.

The three generals of the three prefectures considered themselves to be loyal subjects who opened the city gates, and some slightly excessive rewards were customary. It was also a way of taking sides and defilement. With the evidence of allowing the soldiers to plunder on the day the capital fell, the emperor could deal with them at any time.

Jiang He rode on the Vermillion Bird Avenue and said calmly, “A group of defeated and surrendered generals are qualified to make conditions?”

“Fifty thousand surrendered soldiers will immediately surround the imperial city. You will lead a thousand evil knights to rob officials and merchants and collect their money. You will be accompanied by this general of the three auxiliary forces. Since he is willing to hand over the evidence, you might as well be straightforward, bear the infamy, and be a lone minister in the future.”

“Understood.” The evil soldier left with a poisonous thorn spear in his hand.

Jiang He looked calm. After all, he didn’t need the help of the three generals to enter the city, but it was necessary to rob the silver and money.

In ancient times, the annual income of the imperial court at the end of the Ming Dynasty was about several million taels of silver. The last emperor collected “donations” from all officials, but unfortunately few responded. His father-in-law gave out barely ten thousand taels to fool people.

When General Li attacked the capital, he only found 170,000 taels of gold and 130,000 taels of silver in the national treasury. However, the subsequent looting and slaughter of officials in the city eventually resulted in the extortion of 70 million taels of silver. The difference was like heaven and earth.

Jiang He looked around the prosperous capital. The numbers might be slightly different, but the bad policies in the late Daqian period should be similar. If he wanted to secure his throne, he urgently needed to solve the economic problem.

An army of fifty thousand surrounded the imperial city.

The majestic city before us is called Qingdu City. It has four gates in the east, west, south and north. It has a history of more than 800 years in this world. After five dynasties, it has gradually become a symbol of imperial power. The building complex centered on the three major palaces is magnificent and has a long history. More than 100,000 eunuchs and palace maids live here.

There was no need to attack. The fall of the capital meant the game was over. Although the imperial city was impregnable, there had never been a precedent in history of relying on the imperial city to suppress a rebellion. Three of the four city gates were opened from the inside, and the middle-aged eunuch Wei Wanzhong who arrived early led the surrender.

“The whole army is camped and holding its ground.”

When a military order was issued, the soldiers were confused, but the evil soldiers, who were officers, strictly carried it out. In the face of the order of the great king, whether they understood it or whether it was correct was not important at all.

Jiang He was waiting, his eyes had turned pure white. If Emperor Jianyan of Daqian knew what was good for him, he should have committed suicide in a dignified manner. Otherwise, he had no reason to treat the royal family of the previous dynasty well.

At the same time, messengers rushed to deliver secret letters. These were the respected dignitaries in the city, and there were also many decisive guys who knelt down outside the military camp.

“Great Lord, someone claiming to be the Grand Elder of Wudou Dao Palace wants to see you.”

“Xuan.”

Unlike others, this supreme elder is a grandmaster of the Taoist Palace and the imperial court. Daqian supports him with the whole country’s strength, and he will eventually be able to pick out a few heroes with the qualitative transformation of silver will. He is the biggest confidence for the Five Dou Taoist Master to dare to go north for a decisive battle during the dangerous period when the eunuch of the Chief Seal is about to pass away.

“I’ve met the Marquis.”

The Supreme Elder walked in gracefully, wearing a simple Taoist robe and a colorful lotus crown on his head. His hair was white, but he looked energetic. Compared to ordinary people in the Silver Age, the lifespan of ordinary creatures was very long.

Jiang He had no interest in arguing, so he directly put forward the conditions: “From now on, Wudou Taoism will still be the state religion, but the leader of the Taoism needs to serve as the deputy leader of the Wu Sect and do his best to provide elixirs for the imperial palace.”

“I’ll be frank with you. The biggest reason for giving in is that I don’t like trouble. When I feel that giving in will cause more trouble, then the Wudou Dao Palace can disappear.”

The Grand Elder remained calm in the face of danger and said, “Your Majesty, I dare to advise you that you only need to do five things, and the chaos in the capital can be settled overnight. The Wudou Dao Palace is also willing to cooperate with you to hold the coronation ceremony as quickly as possible.”

“First, the eldest son of Emperor Jianyan can be named Duke Anle, and the seven-year-old child can be raised outside the imperial city. This way, it will be difficult for people in the world to rebel under the banner of Daqian. Then, the princess of the previous dynasty can be taken as a concubine, and all the hidden dangers will be eliminated. However, the princess will not be allowed to have children in the future.”

“Secondly, if you make the only daughter of the Taoist leader the queen, all the elders and disciples of the Taoist Palace will sincerely submit. I am willing to personally enter the city and kill Jianyan to show the Taoist Palace’s obedience to Your Majesty.”

“Third, pardon the He, Hong, and Yan families. Even if all three families are wiped out, it will still appease the people of the world.”

“Fourth, your majesty has many strong men under his command. You can send one envoy to the north to slaughter the barbarians. When the heroes of the Nine Provinces are fighting, your majesty is willing to protect the border. With justice in hand, all the heroes pale in comparison.”

“Fifth, if Your Majesty is invincible in the world, you can invite the Lord of East Sea City to fight in the capital, so as to establish your honor as the best warrior in the world.”

The Grand Elder bowed to his knees and said solemnly: “I am not familiar with government affairs, but I would like to present five strategies for the security of the country to Your Majesty.”

Jiang He pondered, even though Daqian was destroyed, it still had many capable people.

“I have never heard of two suns in the same sky.”

“I will kill Jianyan immediately.”

The Supreme Elder left quickly. The new monarch would not release the eagle until he saw the rabbit. He had to kill Jianyan first before he could have any words.

Generally speaking, a regicide would be unacceptable to the monarch, but the Marquis of Suppressing Rebellion was obviously an exception, as he possessed extraordinary military power.

As for the succession to the throne, the difficulty of etiquette and law has been greatly reduced compared to five years ago. The regent has been planning this matter in recent years, and most of the related obstacles have already been removed.

……

June 6, the first year of Jianyan.

The Regent gathered an army of 190,000 and attempted to attack the capital. The Marquis of Suppressing Luan led 3,000 cavalrymen on a thousand-mile expedition, defeated the enemy in one battle, and quelled the rebellion caused by the Regent and others.

But in the middle of the battle, the son of the Duke of Yan misjudged the situation, thinking that the game was over, so he entered the palace to ask for an audience and threatened the emperor to die to show his determination, thus living up to the reputation of Daqian.

Emperor Jianyan committed suicide.

The Duke of Yan exterminated the three clans. The Marquis of Ping Luan entered the capital.

The emperor’s eldest son ascended the throne, abdicated the throne to his brother, demoted to Duke Anle, and lived in Zhuquefang in the capital.

As the country cannot be without a ruler for a day, the dignitaries in the court, led by the Grand Elder of Wudou Dao Palace, jointly advised the court to allow the Marquis of Pingluan to inherit the throne. After three refusals, the Marquis of Pingluan agreed.

The new emperor ascended the throne and granted amnesty to the world.

The sins of the upper-class families such as He, Hong, and Yan were absolved.

With the unanimous agreement of the emperor and the cabinet, Jiang Danglu is appointed as the governor-general of Yiqing, in charge of all military and political affairs. The 140,000 troops in the two places will be reorganized into the Yizhou Army and Qingzhou Army respectively.

After 20,000 Yizhou infantrymen entered the capital, they joined forces with 50,000 surrendered troops to reorganize the imperial guards. Jiang A’er was appointed as the commander of the imperial guards, responsible for the defense of the three passes of Jingzhou.

Jiang Ada was promoted to the Grand Commander of Anbei, and was fully responsible for border defense. He was going to choose a day to march north to attack the barbarians.

Changsun Jie, the defender of Tongguan, and Shanzhu, the general of the Three Auxiliary Forces, were transferred to the central government and served as the left and right vice ministers of the Ministry of War respectively.

Yue Shoufu and the Minister of Rites remained in place, and the King of Anbei came to Beijing to serve as the Tianguan of the Ministry of Personnel. Zhu’s eldest son entered the cabinet as the Minister of Revenue. In addition to the Six Ministries, the Ministry of War was established, and Jiang Er, the commander of the imperial guards and the ruler of Emperor Wuzong, was appointed as the Minister of the second rank.

Zhuang Ya, a close attendant of the new emperor, served as the female official in charge of the seal of the Imperial Household Department, and was actually the most important person in the inner court. Wei Wanzhong was promoted to the eunuch in charge of writing in the Imperial Household Department, and his status and power were second only to the seal holder.

In addition to personnel changes, the new emperor made the only daughter of the Taoist chief his empress, took the eldest princess of the previous dynasty as his consort, and had the Princess of Le’an County, Zhu, Changsun, Shan and others move into the backyard. The daughter of Hong was buried with the rites for a consort.

On June 6, Dongqian established the country.

The new emperor immediately changed the name of the era to Shengwu and announced it to the world.

……

The first year of Shengwu, the Imperial Palace.

Jiang He sat on the jade platform in front of the main hall of Qingdu, from where he could overlook the entire capital. The red brocade robe that belonged to a marquis had been replaced by an emperor’s dragon robe embroidered with a five-clawed golden dragon.

A female official in white was always by his side, feeding him fruits and vegetables from time to time. The person in charge of the Imperial Household Department was of low rank but had great power, and in fact was the representative of imperial authority.

Lao Hei has been teleported here through the ability of his animal companion. He is now the governor of two states, but in fact, the Evil Spirits and the Dawn Legion do not need a real commander.

Wu He stood on his shoulder and reported the situation: “Boss, there have been twelve rebellions in Qingzhou, all of which have been suppressed so far, with a total of 40,000 people executed. The bloody short spear stands in the Governor’s Mansion, and just like Yizhou, it can be switched at any time.”

“The estimated 370,000 volumes of Qingzhou and Jingzhou martial arts will be delivered to the palace tonight at the latest. After looting the capital, we will obtain 33 million taels of silver and 200 tons of gold, filling the treasury.”

“We have occupied three of the nine provinces in the world. This time, the unification mission is almost certain to be accomplished. In addition, the letter of challenge has been sent to Donghai City. The location of the fight is Zhuque Avenue in the capital. The opponent is at the peak of the silver level.”

Jiang He nodded slightly. The only people he cared about in the whole world were his family and countless martial arts. Being the emperor was just for the main mission and to speed up the progress.

“Aya, ask the Grand Elder to come over.”

“Ok.”

Zhuang Ya turned and came to the edge of the jade platform, where several female officials were waiting. She only needed to pass on the order and did not have to actually leave the city to go to the Wudou Dao Palace.

A quarter of an hour later, the Grand Elder entered the palace.

When he met the emperor, he secretly glanced at the three generals beside him. The little girl in white was in power, the middle-aged man had an army of 140,000 elite soldiers under his command, and as for the last crow from the demon tribe, he was vaguely the internal minister.

“Your Majesty, all the Wudou pills accumulated in the Taoist Palace are here.” The Supreme Elder took out a jade box from his sleeve. Inside was two hundred crystal clear pills. A rich fragrance immediately filled the surroundings.

Jiang He took the pill box. With the knowledge level of the alchemist, the security check would not be a problem. After the open and secret investigations by the Bird Legion, the Wu Dou Dao Palace had no secrets anymore.

Wudoudan, the most outstanding elixir in the Dao Palace, originated from the first generation Daoist leader, a fierce man who was very likely to have the ultimate skill of Silver.

Each Wudou Pill requires nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine kinds of medicinal materials. The number of materials is extremely large and of great significance. After calculating the labor, transportation, storage, and fire consumption, the cost of one pill is about fifty thousand taels of silver.

The problem is that this thing cannot be bought directly with money. The scale of medicinal materials itself is limited. Once the inventory is insufficient, the purchasing power of silver and money will be severely reduced.

Theoretically, the two hundred pills in the hands of the Grand Elder were worth tens of millions of taels of silver. They were taken out at this moment as both the Queen’s dowry and a political donation. In recent days, the looting and killing of the evil knights had made the old man feel uneasy.

[Name: Wudoudan]
[Category: Functional]
[Quality: Rare]
[Effect: In addition to charm, it strengthens the four basic attributes to a certain extent. When the medicinal power is full, each attribute point is increased. It is estimated that 22 Wudou pills in good condition are needed (this pill is only effective for creatures below silver level/attribute value below )]
[Note: The secret recipe is passed down orally by every Taoist leader and supreme elder, and is passed down from generation to generation by the Grand Masters of the Five Dou Taoist Palace]
Jiang He opened the pill box and took two hundred pills, half each to Lao Hei and Wu He. After taking them, the latter basically reached the silver baseline, while the former was expected to still need four rounds.

When the Supreme Elder saw that the emperor had immediately decided on the affiliation, he felt so painful that his eyes twitched slightly.

“The Dao Palace can still refine a few more furnaces.”

“Your Majesty, at most one furnace. The number of medicinal materials required for the Wudou Pill is huge, and the weight of each is also jaw-dropping. If you want to continue to open the furnace to make medicine, your Majesty’s full support is indispensable. The soil and water in Jing and Qing provinces are suitable. We only need to change the rice into medicine throughout the territory. In April, I will not let your Majesty down.”

The Grand Elder bowed his head heavily.

Jiang He remained silent. To convert rice into medicine in the two states might be more difficult than unifying the nine states. Even if they did not grow medicinal herbs, changing to a type of rice that obviously had a higher yield seemed to be a natural thing to do, but it was actually a huge task.

Theoretically, it is just a matter of changing the types of crops planted, but people need to eat food to survive. Asking the people to give up their familiar means of survival and choose another unfamiliar crop is almost no less than forcing them to rebel directly. It is a huge test for the court’s credibility and foundation.

“It’s a four-month period, and you have to support 20 million full-time auxiliary soldiers. Besides, the world is not yet stable. You just don’t like me.” Jiang He said indifferently.

Such a project would be a headache for the silver powers.

Regarding Lao Hei’s improvement, Wu He said: “How many problems can be solved if all the finished pills of Wu Dou Dao Palace are returned to their original form.”

The Grand Elder gritted his teeth and gave the final conclusion: “In one state, three months, I will do my best to produce five furnaces of medicine, exhausting the last furnace accumulated in the Dao Palace, and present them in full within seven days. I only ask Your Majesty to have mercy on the Queen.”

“allow.”

Jiang He lowered his eyelids slightly. The other party’s plan was not small. The queen was the only daughter of the Taoist leader. If she gave birth to an heir, the position of crown prince would basically be secured. If this system continued, the court and the Taoist palace would be integrated, and politics and religion would merge. This was the rhythm of planning to establish a religious country on earth.

Unfortunately, he and the bronze creature could not have children.

(End of this chapter)