Chapter 59: Ascension

The change of dynasties is a cruel thing, and basically no one from the previous royal family will stay.

In addition to Yang Rui who had already passed away, there were also the Third Prince Yang Yuanlu and the Fourth Prince Yang Yuanqi who had fled to Shangjing, both of whom could not escape death. Empress Dowager Qi was spared death because she was crazy, but she was imprisoned in a nunnery and would not be released for the rest of her life.

There were six princesses in the Sheng Dynasty. Song Yuzhu showed mercy and did not kill these women. Instead, he demoted them to commoners and allowed them to continue living in Shangjing. There were also many nobles who held empty titles, all of whom were demoted to commoners, their mansions were confiscated, and anyone who dared to disobey was killed without mercy.

Two of Emperor Longwu's sons were still left outside, the twelfth prince Yang Yuanhao in Shuzhou, and the tenth prince Yang Yuanji in Yunnan.

These two men neither surrendered nor declared themselves kings. They stayed in their fiefdoms with their own troops, as if they had no connection with the Sheng Dynasty.

However, Song Yuzhu would take over these two places sooner or later. Since Shuzhou and Yunnan were not open on the map, his mission had not been completed.

Several of the royal relatives who resisted stubbornly in Shangjing were killed, and the rest basically packed up their bags and left.

A lot of old ministers from the previous dynasty were carefully selected and retained, as there was really no one left. The military generals were still available, such as Zhao Xiao, Xu Dingkun and others, but the only civil official who remained in Xuzhou was Xu Bing.

The last step was to liquidate the aristocratic families. There were four major families in Shangjing, namely Yin, Jiang, Feng and Qi. Except for the last Qi family which was the queen's mother's family, the other three families had roots of hundreds of years.

They controlled most of the country's wealth, and like a cancer, they coiled around the people and sucked their blood, sucking the dynasty to death.

Song Yuzhu ordered that those who needed to be confiscated should have their homes confiscated, and those who needed to be exiled should be exiled, in order to clean them out in one go to prevent them from becoming a hindrance in the future.

He sent two thousand soldiers to search the houses, but it was still not enough because the accumulated wealth was simply too much!

These noble families owned tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land, countless gold and silver treasures, and so much grain that the granaries could not hold it all. They left the old grain to rot underneath, and did not give it to the poor people. Poor General Ye Qing led his troops to the front line to fight, but the soldiers could not even have a full meal.

The two people in charge of the house search were Zheng Da'an and Bai Yizhou. Song Yuzhu intended to let Deputy General Zheng deal with these rats and let him see with his own eyes what he had been loyal to before.

Zheng Da'an watched his men transport cartloads of grain out of the farm with red eyes, and was so angry that he wanted to skin these princes and nobles alive!

If these noble families had been willing to provide food, how could the general have died, and how could Dasheng have perished? These beasts! Now that their property has been confiscated and they have been exiled, this is their reward!

It took seven or eight days to search the four major families, and the confiscated silver ingots filled up the treasury! Someone was sent to count them, and the total amount of silver collected was 35.7 million taels. You should know that the tax revenue of the previous dynasty in one year was only 3.5 million taels of silver!

The rest included 480,000 taels of gold, 76.5 million strings of copper coins, 16,000 gold artifacts, more than 30,000 silver artifacts, more than 3,700 jade carvings, more than 1,860 coral ornaments, and seven sacks of pearls as big as longan... All these things were put into the warehouse, filling the empty treasury in an instant.

After breaking down the grain into smaller categories, there were 500,000 shi of new grain, 1.3 million shi of old grain, and 780,000 shi of moldy grain. It would take more than half a month just to process all this grain, so Zhao Xiao had all the soldiers in the barracks go to dry the grain.

These are the result of exploitation of the people's hard-earned money for nearly a hundred years. If it weren't for them, people all over the world wouldn't have to live such a hard life.

While clearing out the aristocratic families, Song Yuzhu was also recruiting wise officials, such as Liu Lin, the Minister of Rites, Zhang Qikai, the Minister of Punishments, and Qin Fengtu, the Privy Councilor. Song Yuzhu did not hesitate to treat them with courtesy and repeatedly visited them to ask for their assistance.

Liu Lin planned to return home and had packed his luggage. The fall of the prosperous dynasty had made him lose his spirit and he didn't want to waste any more time in the court.

When Song Yuzhu heard that he was leaving, he drove directly to their doorstep, stopped Liu Lin and said, "In the past, your great-grandfather Xu Gong, although he was born in the countryside, was able to rise to prominence and help Emperor Chonghua establish a peaceful and prosperous era. Now I also need talents like you."

Liu Lin said: "My great-grandfather had great ambitions, but I am not as ambitious as him."

Song Yuzhu said, "I heard that Lord Liu's hometown is in Jizhou. Do you know that Jizhou has suffered from a severe drought this year? There has not been a drop of rain since April. The soil is now dry and cracked, and the people have missed the spring ploughing. I don't know what the situation will be like next year."

Song Yuzhu was not lying to him. They had been fighting in Jizhou for more than a month, and there had not been a drop of rain until the weather warmed up. A severe drought was about to come.

Liu Lin asked, "If I stay, can the king guarantee that the people of Jizhou will not starve?"

Song Yuzhu held his hand and said, "When you return to the court, I will grant you food and silver for disaster relief."

Liu Lin no longer hesitated, knelt down and kowtowed, saying: "Your Majesty, I am willing to be loyal to the King of Heaven!"

There were those who were unwilling to work for the new dynasty, and there were naturally those who were willing to continue serving as officials. After all, not everyone could devote themselves to the previous dynasty until their death.

Many officials studied hard for more than ten years just to sell their knowledge to the emperor. Besides, they still have wives and children to feed, so if they don't become officials, will they just go back to farming?

Upon learning that the new emperor would still employ them, everyone happily went to sign up.

In order to maintain the operation of the country, we can only use these old ministers for now, and then select new talents after the special examination next year.

Although there are still serious vacancies in the court, the six ministries are already functioning and will eventually get through this difficult time.

The official system was a continuation of the previous dynasty, and Song Yuzhu had never thought of directly changing the feudal society into a modern society. Moreover, the social system formed over thousands of years could not be changed overnight.

There were so many wise rulers who were more powerful than him in the past life, but none of them could make the ancient feudal dynasty directly leap to the modern era. Song Yuzhu did not overestimate himself. If he failed to change the social system, the country might be brought down.

*

In mid-June, Xu Bing, Song Bai and others rushed over from Xuzhou.

Mr. and Mrs. Song Bai were sitting in the carriage holding their child. Four-month-old Xiao Yutong had a chubby little face and was dozing off in Jiang Rong's arms.

Song Bai lifted a corner of the carriage curtain, and the couple looked out with curiosity and surprise on their faces. Shangjing was much more prosperous than Xuzhou City, and even the ground was flat blue brick slabs, and the horse's hooves made a clattering sound when they stepped on it.

Jiang Rong: "I don't know what happened to Yuzhu. My heart is pounding and I can't believe it."

Song Bai had never thought that his son would one day unify the world and become emperor. Who would have thought that Song Yuzhu followed him to practice medicine and treat illnesses last year...

The carriage took them directly to the edge of the imperial city. The person in charge of receiving them was Fang Wei, the commander of the Shangjing Military Division. Knowing that the people in the carriage were the parents of the new emperor, he naturally did his best to help them.

Song Yu prepared a residence for his parents in advance, a mansion very close to the palace. This was previously the residence of the third prince, Prince Lu. After the fall of the Sheng Dynasty, Yang Yuanlu was expelled from Shangjing and exiled, and this place became empty.

The palace was very large, with three large courtyards in front and back, and was built magnificently. Because Yang Yuanlu had a leg disease, Yang Yuanli was quite generous to his younger brother and rewarded him with such a large house.

When Song Bai's family first arrived, they were so frightened that they could not sit still. It was not until the evening when Song Yuzhu and Zhao Xiao came that they felt relieved.

Song Yuzhu held the chubby little sister in her arms, loving her very much.

Song Bai and Jiang Rong knew Zhao Xiao and had a good impression of this young and honest boy.

Jiang Rong: "Zhu'er, when we entered the city we heard that you...you were going to ascend the throne and become emperor. Is that true?"

Song Yuzhu nodded: "The country cannot be without a king for a day. After arranging the miscellaneous matters, it is almost time to ascend the throne."

Jiang Rong said with some concern: "Will mother still be able to see you in the future?"

Song Yuzhu took her hand and said with a smile: "It's not like I'm staying in the palace outside the Great Wall. I will come to see you when I have time."

Jiang Rong smiled, and the more she thought about it, the more proud she felt. Her son had such a bright future! The Supreme Ruler, the King of the World!

She had also heard the story about the reincarnation of the golden dragon. She had thought it was ridiculous before, but now she actually believed it a little.

The family sat together and had a meal. Song Yuzhu didn't have time to stay longer as there were still a lot of things waiting to be dealt with in the palace. She took Zhao Xiao back to the palace before dark.

The road was dark. Song Yuzhu and Zhao Xiao had a rare moment alone together, so they walked hand in hand along the city wall.

Song Yuzhu asked: "Ah Xiao, what kind of official do you want to be?"

"Is the Queen okay?"

Song Yuzhu smiled and said, "I'm afraid not. I have decided not to have a harem."

Zhao Xiao stopped and said, "What about your offspring? Without any offspring, who will inherit your throne?"

"Why should my offspring inherit the throne?"

"Hasn't it been like this for thousands of years? If you pass the throne to someone from another family, wouldn't that mean a change of dynasty?"

"As long as he is a wise ruler who can govern the country well, it doesn't matter whether he is my descendant or not."

This idea was too advanced and Zhao Xiao found it a little difficult to understand, but as long as it was Song Yuzhu's decision, he would support it without any reason.

Zhao Xiao pulled him to his side: "Last time, you promised, but you haven't fulfilled it yet."

Song Yuzhu's face turned slightly red. The evening breeze ruffled his hair and his heart.

"When do you...want..."

Zhao Xiao stroked his wrist and said in a hoarse voice, "Tonight."

*

The arrival of Xu Bing and others accelerated Song Yuzhu's ascension to the throne.

Ascending the throne is a costly affair. Take the previous dynasty for example. When Emperor Sheng Taizu Yang Yong ascended the throne, he spent millions of silver coins to build palaces and quetai.

Song Yuzhu did not intend to continue the old system of extravagance and waste.

When a new dynasty is established, there are places to spend money everywhere. Since a new dynasty has been established, we should take its essence and discard its dross.

Before ascending the throne, the Neizaofu asked the emperor how to make court robes.

Song Yuzhu looked at the pattern sent to her. The previous court dress was too complicated. The crown, clothes, skirt, knee-covering, belt, shoes, this outfit alone weighed dozens of kilograms.

Moreover, the workmanship was extremely exquisite and the cost was enormous. Just one piece of gold-thread brocade outer garment cost tens of thousands of taels of silver, and it took hundreds of embroiderers three months to weave it.

Song Yuzhu didn't have that much time and didn't want to waste money, so he simply drew a new pattern for court robes and handed it to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

He changed the court dress into one imitating the Ming Dynasty style, but the colors were not reddish brown or bright yellow, but a low-key black.

The luxurious gold brocade fabric was replaced with ordinary silk satin fabric, and a golden dragon was embroidered on the shoulder alone, symbolizing the legend of the reincarnation of the golden dragon.

The court robes of all officials were changed as well. The first-rank civil and military officials wore navy blue round-necked robes embroidered with kirins, the second-rank officials wore peacock blue round-necked robes embroidered with cranes, the third-rank officials wore sky blue round-necked robes embroidered with elephants, and the fourth-rank officials wore vermilion round-necked robes embroidered with mandarin ducks. All the others wore brown robes without any patterns.

The official uniform was simple and elegant, and was almost completed in just half a month.

The ministers were all surprised when they received their new official uniforms. Although the clothes looked good, the material was too simple. They looked like what ordinary wealthy people wore. Officials and nobles had always valued wearing brocade, but now they suddenly changed to this cheap silk, which was really not presentable.

Guanglu Doctor Jiang Yan was one of them. He felt that wearing silk was beneath his status, so he wrote in a letter saying that he would rather not be an official than wear silk official uniform.

The official uniforms of the previous dynasty were all custom-made brocade. It took five feet of cloth to make one piece, not counting the embroidery and lining. All in all, one piece of clothing cost at least five hundred taels of silver.

There are thousands of civil and military officials in the court. How much does this cost?

After reading the memorial, Song Yuzhu sent someone to tell him, "I don't need such arrogant and extravagant people to serve as officials!"

Well, originally Jiang Yan just wanted to take the bridge to save face for himself, but who would have thought that the emperor would directly label him as arrogant and debauched. This time he lost both his reputation and even his official position.

After hearing about this, the officials all shook their heads and said that he was confused. They dared to find fault with the new emperor without even understanding his temper. He must be thinking that he was not dying fast enough.

Many ministers also submitted memorials to flatter Song Yuzhu, saying that he was frugal and thrifty, which was a sign of a wise ruler!

However, this suit suits Zhao Xiao very well. He has broad shoulders, long legs and is tall, and is a real clothes hanger. When he puts on the navy blue Qilin robe and stands there, Song Yuzhu can't take her eyes off him.

In addition to changing the court dress, the headwear was also changed. The previous emperor's crown was a flat crown with ten tassels made of white jade beads, all seven inches wide and two inches long, round in front and square in the back, with a red and green lining and a black top, four inches in front and three inches in the back, tied with twelve tassels made of white jade beads, and the tassels were made of colored ribbons. ①

It was too cumbersome to wear, so Song Yuzhu ordered the Imperial Household to make a simple gold crown. The ministers also changed their crowns. The first rank was a yellow jade crown, the second rank was an emerald crown, the third rank was a black jade crown, the fourth rank was a green jade crown, and the fifth rank and below were all ordinary white marble crowns.

Everything is ready and it is already August.

On the sixth day of August, everything goes well.

With the congratulations of all the officials, Song Yuzhu ascended the Quetai to worship heaven and earth and officially ascended the throne.

The dynasty was changed to Qi Dynasty and the country was named Changzhi, which means long-term stability.

(End of this chapter)