Chapter 393: Chapter 209: Founding the Nation and Ascending the Throne_3
Translator: 549690339
But those were four Inborn Grandmasters and 140,000 elite soldiers, weren’t they?
Such a massive show of strength; just bring them to Yiyang City, and the city would be effortlessly seized, right?
After hearing what Lu Yuan had to say, Yang Jing knew exactly what he was planning.
However, there was some truth to Lu Yuan’s words.
This Zhou thorn planted deep within Jiangnan, if not uprooted, will be a threat to the court and its rear flank.
And if this city is not besieged, it’s unlikely that this Southern Conqueror General before me, the future ruler of Changsha, will be marching north.
After some pondering, he nodded at last: “It can be done. Upon my return, I will lead the army with Wucheng Marquis and join forces with the King of Changsha.”
Even though the official announcement of his enfeoffment had not yet been declared, Yang Jing was already addressing Lu Yuan as “king”.
Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan couldn’t help but roar with laughter: “Good. At that time, I will await the arrival of Yang Brother’s mighty army. Come, let’s celebrate. There is a feast prepared in camp. Join me for a toast of goodwill!”
“I thank the King of Changsha.”
This time, Yang Jing accepted willingly instead of declining the invitation.
Despite the mutual suspicion, given that he would need the help of the King of Changsha to fight against the Zhou in the future, he might need to be on the battlefield with him.
Therefore, it’s necessary to build rapport and maintain friendly relations on the surface for the time being.
The feast not only bridged the gap between them but also discussed official business.
During the banquet, Lu Yuan and Yang Jing agreed that Yang Jing would bring troops with him after a month.
At that time, in front of the gathered armies, Yang Jing will publicly read the edict of enfeoffment.
And on that day, Lu Yuan will indeed ascend to the throne and accede to the king of Changsha.
After a round of joyous drinking, both host and guest wended their merry way until the depths of the night before dispersing.
The next day, Yang Jing made his excuses about being busy with official business and left.
This time, Lu Yuan was exceedingly gracious, personally seeing Yang Jing off for ten miles to the lake pier, before turning back to camp.
After sending off Yang Jing, Lu Yuan returned to camp and immediately set to writing dispatch orders.
The difficulties from the court have already been resolved, and the imperial edict of enfeoffment has already been delivered.
Now that the founding of the nation is imminent, preparations naturally have to begin.
And amongst all the preparations, what’s most crucial is, without a doubt, consolidating public sentiment— announcing to all within the county that he has received approval from the court and will soon ascend to the throne.
It hasn’t even been half a month since the abrupt conclusion of the official selection exams, has it?
Based on this, Lu Yuan has truly come to understand the importance of public sentiment and justice.
Now that the court has already extended this moral high ground to him, he naturally can’t let this perfect opportunity slip by.
Now he must summon representatives of the local elites, and influential scholars, to participate in the event, to personally witness the court’s enfeoffment.
He will let everyone know that the sky in Dongting was really changing.
So he wrote a dispatch, instructing local prefecture heads to bring along local influential figures to participate in the founding ceremony.
The matter is urgent and needs to be dealt with immediately.
Therefore, as soon as he finished writing the dispatch orders that day, he immediately assigned fast riders to convey the orders to each prefecture.
And with these fast riders delivering the orders to the localities, the whole of Dongting and the nine prefectures of Jiangnan was unavoidably stirred.
The founding of a nation.
The court has actually recognized this, and enfeoffed the Southern Conqueror General as King of Changsha, thereby formally establishing the nation and indeed becoming the sole authority?
Upon hearing this news, countless people were left in bewildered shock, weeping in despair or exhilarated with joy.
But everyone agreed on one thing.
Anyone who received an invitation via dispatch order immediately set about packing their belongings and started heading towards Changsha.
A new nation is now established, and Da Yue is failing.
The future of Dongting belongs to Lu.
This invitation from King Lu; anyone who wants to survive in Dongting under the rule of the new King of Changsha, who would dare to refuse to show face and not come to Changsha?
Not only are the invited people on the move.
There are also many who have sensed the change in the wind and want to strike it rich in the new dynasty who have begun making moves.
Like fish scenting blood, they were all moving towards Changsha.
The official selection exam just concluded last month. Although it ended abruptly, and the execution was very poorly done.
Even so, many people have come to realize that Lu Yuan’s side was desperately short of officers.
If you could win the favour of the future ruler of the new nation now, then a meteoric rise, overnight rise to the top, was not out of the question.
Isn’t the reason these scholars are studying to become officials?
Now that the only shortcoming of Lu Yuan’s had been smoothly resolved with the court’s enfeoffment.
So what reason do these scholars have to refuse Lu Yuan’s recruitment and not consent to serve as officials?
The public sentiment in Dongting was surging like a great wave, converging towards Lu Yuan.
When they were busy planning the founding ceremony of the nation, in other places.
In Jianan Prefecture’s Nine River Sword Sect, and South Sea Prefecture’s Nanhai Sect, they also received envoys from the court.
After the court read out the enfeoffment edict, Nanhai Sect’s Yan Wangqiu took one step ahead of Lu Yuan. On the twentieth of the fifth month of Hongdao’s seventh year, he announced the founding of the Nanhai Country in South Sea Prefecture, commencing the Da Yue fiefdom enfeoffment sequence.
Upon receiving the edict, the Nine River Sword Sect moved swiftly too, declaring on the same day that they were relocating their sect to Yulin County.
Su Xuange himself was rather eager.
He led some core disciples of the sect, and in just ten days, they had rushed to Yulin County.
Then, under the witness of the court’s messenger, he announced the enfeoffment edict in Yulin City, and officially declared the founding of the country, establishing the Ninghai Country.
The establishment of two countries in Lingnan one after the other sent ripples of shock throughout the nation. Especially amongst the people of Da Yue, it was as if thunder had struck on a clear day.
From that moment on, everyone recognized that Da Yue was truly in dire straits.
Not only was it unable to retain its present territory, but it was also failing to maintain its orthodox dignity.
Now that two nations have been established, how many more nations will be established in the future?
No one knows.
But everyone is clear that the wind has changed in this world.