Here in the capital, just as An Guogong was "recuperating" at home, Emperor Shuntian finally set a specific date for the imperial expedition: the sixth day of the first month of March.

The time of this expedition was calculated by Qin Tian, and it is said that it was an auspicious day.

In order to prepare for this imperial expedition, officials at all levels of the imperial court were busy.

In particular, the former had to assist the military department in raising a large amount of grain and grass to prepare for the expedition, while the latter constantly dispatched troops to gather in the capital.

Starting from Emperor Wu of Wei, who had made many personal expeditions, whenever the emperor went on an expedition, it was customary to appoint a general as a general.

The general was directly under the command of the emperor and had the right to command the entire army.

Because the position of general is extremely powerful, it can be said that one person is under ten thousand people, so it has always been held by the emperor's confidant general.

Of course, Emperor Shuntian was reluctant to appoint the Xie family as a general, but without the assistance of the Xie family, he would not be able to command the whole army as an empty emperor with no military power.

So he went against the previous rules and did not set up a general, but set up three general positions, the left general, the middle general, and the right general, to replace the position of the general.

Emperor Shuntian appointed his uncle Xie Yukun as the general of the Southern Expedition, Sun Pei, the general of Zhaoyi, as the left general of the Southern Expedition, and Ma Yihai, the general of Zhenguo, as the right general of the Southern Expedition. Each of the three led an army, referred to as the Left Army, the Middle Army, and the Right Army.

In fact, whether it is to abolish the general and replace it with the three generals on the left, center and right, or this candidate and appointment, it is Xu Yuchu's suggestion to Emperor Shuntian.

Although Sun Pei and Ma Yihai are both subordinates of the Xie family, the two of them represent the two noble families of the Sun family and the Ma family respectively.

The two families of Sun Ma have a large amount of land and various commercial interests in the southern region, and they are undoubtedly the most anxious families for the fall of various parts of the south.

Xu Yuchu believed that the two families must have a strong resentment in their hearts against An Guogong for ceding the two southwestern provinces in the first place, which led to the current situation where the Hu people are wreaking havoc in the south.

Now that Sun Pei and Ma Yihai are appointed as left generals and right generals, they just form a subtle confrontational relationship with the Xie family represented by Xie Yukun.

As long as there is a crack in the relationship between these two families and the Xie family in the future, it will be an opportunity for Emperor Shuntian.

After arranging the generals to go on the expedition, Emperor Shuntian had to face another headache: who would temporarily supervise the country during the period of his expedition.

According to the usual practice, even if the emperor went out to fight, the early dynasty could not be broken, otherwise all kinds of government affairs would not be able to be carried out.

Therefore, during the period when the emperor went on the expedition, someone needed to supervise the country and temporarily handle state affairs instead of the emperor.

Generally speaking, the best person to be in charge of the state is the crown prince. Because the crown prince is the prince, it is justified that he will supervise the country.

However, Emperor Shuntian has not had an heir until now, so this candidate for prison can only choose someone else.

But the problem is that except for Emperor Shuntian, all the other princes have died at the hands of the "rebels", so this candidate for prison can only be selected from among the cousins at the next level.

So Zhao Zhuo'an, the blessed king closest to Emperor Shuntian's bloodline, naturally became the best candidate.

The so-called side of the couch does not allow others to snore, and Emperor Shuntian, who is extremely sensitive to the throne, of course does not want his cousin Zhao Zhuoan to come to supervise the country, and he even proposed to let his mother Empress Dowager Xie temporarily supervise the country.

However, it was soon met with strong opposition from a large number of officials.

It is not uncommon for the empress dowager to listen to the government in history, but it only happened when the new emperor was too young to be able to deal with state affairs.

Now that Emperor Shuntian has reached adulthood, and there are not no candidates to act as the superintendent, how can Empress Xie be in charge of the country again. Not only is it unreasonable, but it also violates the rules of the DPRK.

Thinking about it a little deeper, if this case is opened, it will be difficult to guarantee that future generations will not have a situation where the empress dowager who holds great power will replace the emperor in charge of the country for various reasons and excuses, so this case must not be opened.

Because this decision was opposed by most officials, and there was a great tendency that he would rather not have the emperor personally conquer than allow the queen mother to supervise the country, Emperor Shuntian, who was eager to drive the expedition in person, finally compromised and promised to temporarily supervise the country by King Fu after the expedition.

Xu Yuchu, who acted as a confidant of Emperor Shuntian behind the scenes, began to feel that the situation was getting more and more out of control.

He could see that the reason why these officials, who had not made any statements like quails, suddenly became tough, was probably secretly instructed by someone behind them. And now the person who can have this kind of control above the court is An Guogong who is "recuperating".

Could it be that An Guogong wants to ......

A terrible thought that made him dare not think about it made Xu Yuchu feel a chill all over his body.

But the matter has come to this point, it is already difficult to ride a tiger, whether the emperor can break free from the control of the Xie family and regain military power depends on whether this personal expedition can be successful.

Thinking of this, Xu Yuchu decided not to tell Emperor Shuntian about this idea for the time being, lest he be cowardly before he frightened.

………………

Since ancient times, the emperor's personal conquest has been a major event related to the fortune of the country, so it is necessary to have major sacrificial ceremonies.

Three days before the expedition, the emperor would personally go to the "Qixu Temple" in Beijing to make a grand sacrifice.

The gods of worship are "Banner Head General", "Six Commanders", "Five Flag Gods", "Ruling the Ship God", "God of Golden Drums and Horns", "God of Bows and Crossbows, Flying Spears and Flying Stones", "Gods of the Formation and After, Wuchang and Others", a total of seven gods, sacrifice to the ether.

When entering the various health centers together, a temple should be set up behind the public office, with the commander as the main priest, and at the same time worship these seven gods in response to the worship of the Jingshi.

Before the expedition, another grand ceremony will be held.

The approximate process is: the emperor serves the martial arts, the palace is enshrined, the general enters the Danqi, bows four times, enters the palace from the west majesty, and then bows and kneels. Undertake the official announcement system, and award the general with the festival and the Yue. The general went out to the soldiers of the Le Department outside the noon gate, built a banner, sounded the golden drum, and marched in the ranks. The music is prelude, and hundreds of officials are sent out.

Since there were no generals in this expedition, only the left, center, and right generals led the troops, so these three generals took the place of the general.

On the sixth day of the third month, on this auspicious day of the zodiac selected by the Qin Tianjian, after a series of complicated rituals, an army of nearly 400,000 composed of 160,000 soldiers from the five military camps and more than 200,000 people marched to the south under the command of Emperor Shuntian.

The large number of people and the huge momentum made countless ordinary people who watched the ceremony surging and eye-opening.

Looking at the mighty army with no end in sight, almost everyone believed that this battle would be won.

"Long live the emperor!"

"Long live the emperor! Hooray, hooray, hooray! ”

"Long live Da Wei, long live the emperor!"

I don't know who started shouting first, and more and more people began to shout in unison.

For a time, shouts of long live could be heard everywhere on the entire street.

In this kind of long live sound one after another, Emperor Shuntian, who was wearing dragon pattern gold armor, wearing a bright red coat on his back, and straddled a high-headed horse with his feet swept away the haze of the past, and his whole face was full of excitement and excitement.

Sure enough, the decision of the imperial driver was right, he should have become a generation of saints like the ancestor Wei Wudi, and no one could stop him now.

Compared with Emperor Shuntian, who was excited, Xu Yuchu, who followed behind as one of the accompanying officials, was worried and worried.

If the Xie family really intends to carry out the idea he guessed before, then this trip is dangerous.

At this time, in the Anguo Mansion, An Guogong, who was originally bedridden, had already sat up.

I saw that he was sitting upright and imposing, not at all like a patient.

"Grandfather, the emperor has left the city." His grandson, Xie Changfeng, who had only returned to the capital from Jiangnan not long ago, respectfully reported.

"Are we all ready for the people in the south?" An Guogong asked in a deep voice.

"Rest assured, grandfather, everything is ready."

An Guogong didn't say anything more, but a strong killing intent flashed in his eyes, which made people feel cold.

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