Chapter 147: Heaven’s Blessing?
On the 24th of the 5th month in the 37th year of the Shu Tian Calendar, a coup occurred that later generations called the Evil Moon Change. Emperor Shu inexplicably passed away. Prince Zhou ascended the throne and changed the era name to “Tianyou,” so he should have been called Emperor Tianyou, but due to villains causing chaos in government around him, Xuan Chong had already mockingly called him Emperor Ling in advance.
In the temporarily renovated central palace, Emperor Ling’s ascension ceremony was at least completed. The court ministers did not jump out to mourn Emperor Shu or question the legitimacy of Emperor Ling’s ascension.
Just as Emperor Ling thought he could sit steadily and properly organize court affairs; he wanted to fulfill the merits of his advisor faction, but encountered “unpleasant advice.”
In the golden hall, a minister with an unhappy expression directly lashed out: “Your Majesty has just ascended the great throne and needs to establish trust under heaven; yet Your Majesty is lavishly rewarding ministers without merit, which will chill the hearts of the hundred officials.”
Emperor Ling sat in his seat, his face displeased; he very much wanted to order this fellow stripped of office and dismissed. But Heaven’s Mandate reminded him that this guy was not remonstrating straightforwardly at all, but simply wanted to resign.
This memorial was just like an employee planning to jump ship finally standing up to petulantly throw a vexing remark at the boss surrounded by flatterers.
Also in the great hall, those eunuchs from when Emperor Ling was Prince Zhou prepared to demote this remonstrating official to the very bottom.
Emperor Ling stopped these eunuchs from rising up in attack and temporarily did not let this person leave, merely placing him under house arrest in the capital.
At the subsequent court assemblies, when old ministers just released from the great prison and certain radicals wanted to stir up a great prison, Emperor Ling also temporarily stopped them.
Emperor Ling was very clear that his ascension process was improper. Although Emperor Shu had already abolished Prince Bo’s line, he still had many brothers born to concubines.
Sitting on the imperial throne, Emperor Ling looked at the canal network below, bent and no longer square due to the earthquake, as well as the gap in the nine palaces in heaven after the Evil Moon meteorite strike, and could not help but feel panic in his heart.
These ministers without merit were not just Su Wang and those who helped Prince Zhou seize the throne? Saying these people had “no merit” was not just saying that the rewards they gained from supporting the throne were something the people under heaven resented?
…Xuan Chong: This kind of ascension is like sitting on the mouth of a volcano…
After Li Shimin rewarded his subordinates following the Xuanwu Gate Incident, it did not provoke resentment and rebellion from all sides because Li Shimin’s military merit group had long been suppressed.
Emperor Ling came into contact with military affairs in the 27th year of the Shu Tian Calendar and botched the encirclement by the fifteen routes of armies; he fundamentally had no military merit. Was it that Emperor Ling did not want to support the military merit faction?
After he seized the throne, when his advisors nearby shouted “You are the rebel” at Mu Xingyu, he had already pushed aside the best army bases that Emperor Ling could originally rely on.
Emperor Ling could now only rely on these advisors; otherwise, even his meals and sleep could not be guaranteed.
And Emperor Ling’s advisors were selfish, pursuing their own interests and executing schemes that were quite shortsighted for the dynasty.
The reason these advisors spoke out at the time to label Mu Xingyu a rebel—was their heads muddled? No, it was a whisper murmuring softly by their ears, helping them bypass foolish loyalty thinking and clearly analyze the stakes they themselves faced.
Emperor Ling could not, like Emperor Shu, use and then discard the shadowy scholars he had relied on during his time as Prince Zhou.
Xuan Chong: A monarch with extremely high authority, when employing so-called Imperial Art of War schemes, needs only to plan everything in his own heart alone. Only a monarch with insufficient authority would use “shadowy scholars” to help him balance the various forces.
Thus, if Prince Zhou had ascended normally, his mansion’s advisors would have been useless; the merit of following the dragon would be limited to his sons obtaining minor official positions locally. But now that Emperor Ling ascended abnormally, he had no choice but to continue using these people.
Emperor Ling was not unaware that enfeoffing close ministers would further erode the dynasty’s rallying power. But his current environment for ascending the throne was truly full of crises on all sides. He could not afford to fall out with his advisors and had to rely on the advisors from his prince’s mansion period to maintain his eyes and ears.
Did this remonstrating minister not know Emperor Ling’s situation? No, he knew, but he just did not want to work under Emperor Ling anymore. He just wanted to expose the matter and resign to return home.
There were currently quite a few ministers holding the idea of “resigning.”
In the great hall, Emperor Ling looked at the full court of civil and military officials; many of these ministers had just been released from prison, spared only thanks to Emperor Ling’s great amnesty under heaven. How Emperor Ling hoped that just now some heavy minister would stand up and help him reprimand the so-called remonstrating ministers who wanted to resign and leave.
But! The court ministers were all like puppets, heads bowed and silent. This created the situation where the new emperor could not step down.
Everyone did not say it, but in their hearts they all tacitly accepted one sentence: “Son kills father, human relations and ethical norms are in ruins!”
Yes, it was indeed wrong for Emperor Shu to kill large numbers of ministers, but according to feudal ethical norms, what Prince Zhou should have done was take the light staff for the heavy staff and leave quickly, dispelling his father’s guard, rather than using that as a pretext to commit rebellion.
Even by the anti-authority standards of Earth’s 21st century, it did not hold up; a son taking down a father who made mistakes is correcting an error, but the son cannot then inherit the father’s authority according to ethical norms.
Xuan Chong history summary: A person (transmigrator) adapting to this old era can objectively adopt old standards due to the limitations of the times, but cannot straddle two eras, flexibly jumping around with double standards. Wanting both the freedom of the new era and the inheritance of old era interests is shameless no matter how you put it.
The warriors holding golden melons stepped forward one step.
…Chaotic yet undamaged is called Ling…
After the first straightforwardly remonstrating minister was dragged away, the contradictions did not subside;
Because the Emperor Ling “close ministers” who were being enfeoffed did not want to let the matter rest. A person behind Su Wang stood out to remonstrate: “This villain has offended heavenly might and should be thrown into the Heavenly Prison!”
Such inverting black and white stimulated the group of ministers, and how could the group of ministers not know that once this minister (censor) was sent to the Heavenly Prison, he would die without illness.
Emperor Ling still had some rationality at this time and exerted effort to preserve the censor’s life. He ordered the censor driven home and confined for a hundred days.
But in this way, the group of ministers did not appreciate it.
Thus, more ministers stood out:
“This minister is old and weak, unable to bear state affairs, and requests to retire to his hometown.” “This minister’s parents at home are calling, please Your Majesty let this minister return home to fulfill filial piety.” (This carried a bit of Yin Yang.)
Emperor Ling’s expression changed abruptly, looking at these fellows tearing down the stage and the court ministers lining up to stand and declare disbandment. He felt this was forcing the palace and loudly rebuked: “Drag them all down!”
And Emperor Ling’s close ministers, as if receiving a signal, decided to escalate, proclaiming the “golden melon warriors” to enter the hall.
Batches of golden melon guards arrived outside the hall to wait, and Su Wang loudly shouted: “Why haven’t you come in to protect the emperor!” These guards paused, seeing His Majesty’s face ashen, yet he did not rebuke Su Wang’s order.
Thus, they could only step forward to take down these ministers stirring trouble, and without regard for the officials’ dignity, used the grappling techniques for “those who offend the emperor.”
But at that moment, a minister shook off the palace guards clamping him on the side. These hall-front armored soldiers had all cultivated martial arts, with arms possessing a thousand jin of strength, but now they were shaken off by a civil minister. The powerful martial arts energy was as if dispersed by an invisible force.
Although at this time large numbers of great clans inheriting the Confucian School chose to protect themselves alone amid the great tribulation under heaven. But if the “state and family” in their hearts was trampled, when upholding the dao, they still possessed that share of righteous energy.
After shaking off the guards, this minister faced Emperor Ling directly and said coldly: “Your throne was not rightly obtained; hope Your Majesty takes good care of himself.”
With that said, he smashed his head against a stone pillar and leisurely departed.
As this minister’s head hit the pillar, the entire great hall trembled. —Under the system of classical mechanics, there should not have been such a great commotion. This impact was more like a needle pricking a person’s sore spot.
The palace buildings of Yao Capital, having endured thousands of years like living creatures, had breathing and pulsing. They were even closely linked to the Heaven’s Mandate borne by the Son of Heaven.
Due to the central palace where Prince Zhou ascended the throne now being a temporary repair, with the base array severely damaged and not yet repaired, it is merely relying on the earth vein Yao calculation power to push the makeshift earthen and wooden structure up to several dozen zhang in the air. On this repaired central palace, aside from the Ziwei Palace being slightly more intact for the ascension ritual; the other palace areas and buildings are full of defects, with beams and pillars covered in cracks. And the overall floating of the palace foundation relies entirely on the support from the other eight palaces in heaven. The stress points of the support are on the pillars of the Ziwei Palace.
This remonstrating minister’s collision actually hit the central palace’s most vulnerable “scaffolding.”
Who can blame Emperor Ling’s heaven’s mandate being deficient, and moreover, he is the most “deficient” one in this Yao dynasty over the past millennium.
Just like university students seeing an earthquake for the first time, the palace hall was in chaos, large amounts of dust fell from the hall beams, and the wooden plaque “mandated by heaven” behind Emperor Ling also tilted in the shaking, an ominous sign unseen in a millennium.
Emperor Ling was furious with shame; if he had truly known it would be like this, he might have endured it and just let that minister leave earlier, rebuking him as a mad scholar to end this embarrassment.
Establishing a new reign title was originally to be “Heaven’s Blessing” to protect the monarch, but Emperor Ling is now rejected by heaven’s mandate.
However, a close minister who rose to power with Emperor Ling, namely Su Wang, Su Kang’s brother, immediately ordered people to bring in the town lion into the palace hall to stabilize its descent.
After the hall stabilized, Su Wang did not claim credit and immediately labeled it to his political enemies: “This is traitors plotting rebellion.”
Emperor Ling felt this was a bit excessive, but personally sensing those questioning gazes from below, he could only grasp it like a lifesaving straw and order a strict investigation into the major rebellion case.
As soon as these words were spoken, the light entering the palace seemed to dim again.
Xian Daoren looked at the palace of Da Yao at this time and revealed a relaxed smile he had never shown before, because “myriad changes” had already begun in this unchanging dynasty.
…A cage firmly locking the emperor’s actions…
Six months later, Emperor Ling began selecting capable talents, namely those who could help him grasp great power.
The Imperial Guards, who were once a knife in Emperor Shu’s hand, were the quickest to shift their stance. As skilled harsh officials, whose hands they served under was no different.
On the streets, they began acting arrogantly again, going door to door to interrogate if others had plotted rebellion, and if no sufficient benefits or promises were obtained, they would convict on the spot.
When Emperor Shu used these harsh officials, he still kept them in check, namely designating certain people that these harsh officials could not touch.
Because Emperor Shu knew this group had no stance, only fit to be knives, and the knife had to cut with sufficient precision.
It must be known that Xuan Chong’s mind held a “class narrative,” but similarly, he did not dare rely on these harsh officials from even more “impoverished” backgrounds.
But Emperor Ling clearly lost control of this knife and handed the knife’s main control to his most relied-upon close minister.
After several remaining rational court ministers were quickly branded as rebel accomplices due to disputes with Su Wang over state governance, their entire families were taken down by the Imperial Guards.
The “chaos” on the imperial court where several factions’ voices checked each other disappeared, turning into a uniform wave led by Su Wang. At this point, even if Su Wang pointed at a rabbit and called it a turtle, the imperial court would all say “ah, yes yes yes.”
After grasping the power of the court situation, Su Wang thus began advising Emperor Ling on July 7: “Your Majesty is rich with the four seas, but locally they pay lip service while acting against it, this is due to the fiefdom affliction.”
Emperor Ling: “What can be done about this?”
Su Wang then stated his strategy for weakening the fiefdoms.
Emperor Ling, leaning on Consort Li’s bosom, was just about to say, “Handle it yourself.” Suddenly feeling a great terror, he immediately stood up and said: “This must be deliberated at length.”
Above his head, the starlight of the Vermilion Bird constellation temporarily dimmed, and if this astrological sign condensed to its extreme, a great fire would appear in the palace tonight.
Meanwhile, Consort Li’s fingers feeding Emperor Ling purple grapes were also scalded, and she sat politely to the side.
…Chaos in the court spreading to the four directions…
After the falling palace incident, some soldiers under Mu Xingyu fled back to Bo Prefecture, while others flowed toward the four directions under heaven.
If it were a hundred years ago, ordinary deserters would have no place to stand under heaven. They could only hide in mountains and forests, keeping company with tiger leopards and jackals. In bad cases, they become mountain wildmen, occasionally emerging to scare the people, and over time, drawing the attention of the Demon Suppressing Division, being subdued as demons. Of course, they might also be valued by the immortal family and taken in as servants.
But they are not ordinary deserters. The non-commissioned officers selected by Emperor Shu for Wu Fei all had backgrounds in Yao Capital, and these non-commissioned officers with backgrounds, their families were not only in Yao Capital but also had forces locally.
And at this time, many old ministers also used retiring to hometowns as an excuse to stay away from this place of trouble in Yao Capital, and before leaving, did not forget to leave some landmines for Su Wang’s faction.
These old guys also took the wives, children, and elders of those deserters from their own clans home entirely. And after these deserters returned home, they gave them gold and silver and fine goods, sending them north to ask the Marshal at Wu Fei’s place.
So after late June, a new batch of deserters arrived belatedly. Traveling north along the canal, they arrived in Bo Prefecture within one to two months.
Why did they arrive late? And why did the second wave come in a group? In this one to two months, which forces did they meet? Xuan Chong: “Da Yao’s waters are very deep; now they’ve sent all the whirlpools to me.”
After the patrol team in Bo Prefecture verified their identities, Wu Fei came to the drill ground, looking at these guys whose hair buns were not completely disheveled, and shook his head meaningfully.
After Wu Fei verified the list, the disposition for these returning deserters was: “Thirty military cudgels each.”
The reason for this beating of military cudgels was that they abandoned the commander and fled in defeat.
Regarding these military cudgels, they had to be beaten; among this group coming to seek refuge, how many were carrying petty motives from external forces, coming back to stir trouble.
It must be done on the drill ground, with the crackling sounds of clubs meeting flesh, to intimidate the soldiers and keep them distant from these deserters, but even so, some chaos spread out.
Soldiers passing by in formation during drills saw this scene and began whispering to each other in their own understanding.
New soldier 1: “These clubs hurt when they hit, huh? So fleeing in defeat just gets military cudgels?”
Old soldier: “Pah! Fleeing in defeat just gets thirty military cudgels? Dream on! Fleeing in defeat is at least a hundred military cudgels. This is still because they received retreat orders but couldn’t maintain formation; if fleeing after engaging the enemy on the battlefield, decapitation. Losing the general, with no one taking the flag to lead the army, even more so decapitation.”
New soldier 2: “Mm, big brother, I heard these people were all in Yao Capital~”
The old soldier suppressed the new recruit’s curiosity, cautiously looking around: “Don’t spread this outside, folks. Our Mu Xingyu General didn’t die on the battlefield; he was framed by corrupt ministers, so these brothers who fled over don’t count as fleeing in the face of the enemy. After all, the imperial court throws knives, we martial men don’t understand that.”
New soldier 3 lowered his voice: “Ah, big brother, the imperial court made a move on General Mu? Now they’re chasing to kill over here, does that mean our Marshal can only surrender helplessly?”
The old soldier’s eyebrows carried pride: “Our Marshal is righteous, definitely can protect them. Besides, even if the Imperial Court finds out our Marshal took them in, what can the Imperial Court do? Back when our Marshal in Yao Capital was patronizing all the brothels in the city, those people didn’t dare fart.”
This soldier almost blurted out treasonous words like “If the court ministers dare force our Marshal, we’ll stage a military coup.”
At present, the Imperial Court’s authority was clearly fading in everyone’s hearts; after all, under various secret pushes and amplifications these past months, Prince Zhou’s patricide and usurpation spread throughout the entire North, and similarly spreading was “Wu Fei wants to clear the monarch’s side.”
Wu Fei watched these old soldiers from afar; his excellent hearing allowed him to distinguish what they were saying, but Wu Fei had a solemn face, “Now under heaven, there’s a force that wants me to be the frontman!”
…The perspective shifts to the Southern Region…
And in the Southern Region, Zhu Liqiang’s three fiefdoms were originally the first to intercept some deserters from Yao Capital, but later they were shocked by what these deserters shouted, and afterward, they deliberately kept lax guard at night, letting these deserters escape!
Dai Commandery, at the General’s Mansion, Zhu Liqiang unusually did not drink wine; he had sent out scouts to probe the North and keep watch on the Eastern Market Army’s movements.
When Zhu Liqiang received letters from various sides, he hurriedly said to the disciples in his clan: “The New Monarch has ascended the throne; by rights, we should express our loyalty. But at present, the Son of Heaven is surrounded by petty people, so we should avoid getting involved.”
It must be known that back then, Prince Zhou’s supervisor caused the Northern Army to collapse. Zhu Liqiang and the other two fiefdoms had timely detached from Prince Zhou’s faction at that time, gained military autonomy, and only then steadied the situation in the North.
Wu Fei and Prince Zhou currently have conflicts, and Zhu Liqiang and the other military generals likewise have no favors owed to this New Monarch.
