Now that you have made up your mind to ascend the throne and become emperor, all kinds of preparations will naturally be carried out as soon as possible.

First of all, the auspicious Rui on the Chang'an side was quickly confirmed by the imperial court.

According to the official statement, after the turtle with the words engraved on its back was sent to Luoyang, led by several university scholars in the cabinet, dozens of famous scholars and Confucians inside and outside the government and the opposition successively confirmed that the turtle had indeed lived for thousands of years, and the eight ancient seal characters on its back were also written in the pre-Qin period.

After this was officially confirmed, the news of auspiciousness soon spread all over the country, causing heated discussions among the people.

For Yang Wu and others, this kind of auspiciousness naturally understands the Tao, but it is different for ordinary people who don't know the truth.

After learning the news of the birth of the Divine Turtle, many people immediately said: "No wonder the Tang Dynasty will perish, but the Wu Kingdom will be so prosperous, it turns out that it was destined to go to heaven as early as a thousand years ago." ”

There are also some people with flexible brains who even associate this matter with the news of the defeat of the Jin army by the Wu army some time ago, believing that the Wu army is worthy of being the party where the mandate of heaven lies, and the Jin army is against the will of heaven, and defeat is inevitable.

There are even some people who think more deeply, they not only think that the defeat of the Jin Kingdom is related to proverbs, but also think that the reason why Li Maozhen, the king of Qi, who was prosperous in the past, will decline in the end must be because they have no mandate of heaven.

Just a proverb knocked down this blockbuster at once, and even Li Maozhen, the king of Qi who had long surrendered to the Wu State, was innocently lying on the gun, if Yang Wu knew, he would definitely laugh three times.

Compared with the ordinary people who watched the excitement, the reaction of the officials was much stronger.

Many people realized that this proverb was a sign that Yang Wu was about to become emperor.

Therefore, a few days after Yang Wu returned to Luoyang, hundreds of officials in the court and local officials wrote letters one after another, asking Yang Wu, the king of Wu, to ascend the throne and become the emperor, so as to obey the orders of the heavens, follow the orthodoxy of China, and calm the hearts of the people in the world.

What's more, officials in some areas also organized tens of thousands of words for the people, bluntly saying that Yang Wu said that the emperor is the destiny of heaven, and everyone expects it, and if heaven does not take it, he will be blamed.

All the feudal towns, including Dingnan, Shuofang and other feudal towns, as well as Li Maozhen, the king of Qi in Fengxiang, all went to the table, and for a time the government and the opposition were full of calls to ask Yang Wu to be emperor.

In the face of these calls, Yang Wu first stood up to express his gratitude to everyone for their support, but at the same time, he showed that his moral prestige was still shallow, and he did not dare to peep into the supreme position in vain, and directly rejected the invitation of the hundred officials.

Soon after, Yang Wu issued an edict that he would personally go to the mausoleums of Tang Gaozu, Taizong and Zhaozong to pay respects, and the hundred officials of the court, the queen, and the crown prince would accompany him.

With so many important people traveling, it is almost equivalent to the entire imperial court will be dispatched, and the safety along the way is extremely important.

Therefore, Yang Wu ordered that 150,000 troops would be summoned to escort all the way.

If the capital of Wu was still in Jinling at this time, then the main force of the Wu army would have to stay in Jiangnan, and the number of troops in the north would be somewhat insufficient in the south.

Now, as long as the army stationed in Luoyang is mobilized, and some troops are appropriately mobilized from the surrounding areas, 150,000 troops can be easily dispatched, which may be the advantage of moving the capital to Luoyang.

In addition to mobilizing the army, more importantly, Yang Wu also deliberately issued an edict to give Li Renfu, the envoy of the difficult festival, Han Zhu, the envoy of the Shuofang festival, and Li Maozhen, the envoy of the Fengxiang festival, who had officially returned to the table at this time, and asked them to come to Chang'an in person to meet them.

When the news broke, the world shook.

In these feudal towns, Li Renfu and Han Zhu were relieved to say that after all, their reputation in the world was not great, and the titles they received were not high, so even if they came to see Yang Wu in person, it was nothing.

But Li Maozhen, the king of Qi, is different, in terms of generation, he was originally a person of the same generation as Yang Wu's father Yang Xingmi, and even when he was famous all over the world, Yang Xingmi was still fighting with Sun Ru in Jianghuai, and he was not very famous.

In terms of title, Li Maozhen's title of King Qi was not self-proclaimed, but was given to him by Tang Zhaozong back then, which was the same level as Yang Wu's title of King Wu.

In terms of power, although today's Li Maozhen is far inferior to Wu Guo, in those days, he was also a powerful domain in the world, and he was one of the few who dared to wrestle with Zhu Wen head-on.

As for influence, Li Maozhen once coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, and his influence was also very strong, not much worse than that of Wu State.

In other words, in addition to being inferior to Wu in strength, Li Maozhen is no worse than Yang Wu in other aspects.

Now that Li Maozhen wants to come to the court to meet Yang Wu, a junior, many people feel that this matter is very difficult, and there are likely to be twists and turns.

However, what people didn't expect was that it didn't take long for news to come out from Fengxiang's side that Li Maozhen, the king of Qi, had confirmed that he would go to Chang'an to meet Yang Wu in person.

When the news broke, the world was shocked again.

In fact, for Li Maozhen, he has no other choice now.

When the news of the defeat of the Jin army by the Wu army in Pingyin reached Fengxiang, Li Maozhen expressed his obedience to Wu under the persuasion of his son Li Congyi.

Now Yang Wu personally led an army of 150,000 to Chang'an, and asked him to come to meet him in person, if Li Maozhen dared to say a word, who would dare to guarantee that Yang Wu would not take advantage of the situation to attack Qi at that time? With the current strength of the Qi State, even the Shu State cannot be defeated, and there is really no hope of resisting the attack of the Wu State.

In this case, it is better to go to Chang'an honestly, although it will be left behind, but it is better than annoying Yang Wu and causing the Qi and Wu families to go to war.

Of course, considering that Li Maozhen's title is King Qi after all, and Yang Wu has not yet been crowned emperor, so in the edict to Li Maozhen, Yang Wu still said it politely, just saying that he was invited to come to Chang'an to worship Tang Gaozu and Taizong, which also saved some face for him.

As for Han Zhu, Li Renfu and others, they were naturally not so polite, and directly said that they would come to meet them.

At the beginning of February, Yang Wuxian led hundreds of officials to hold a grand ceremony at the Heling Tomb on the outskirts of Luoyang City to worship Tang Zhaozong.

Although Tang Zhaozong's historical achievements in the Tang Dynasty were far inferior to Gaozu and Taizong, he was the last orthodox emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and he was killed by Zhu Wen without losing his morality, and there are still many people in the world who sympathize with and miss him.

Now Yang Wu publicly worships Tang Zhaozong and announces that he has exterminated the pseudo-Liang and avenged the Tang Dynasty, which can be regarded as an official explanation to the people of the world.

Soon after, under the escort of an army composed of 5,000 Yulin Army, 5,000 Xiao Cavalry Army, and more than 100,000 forbidden troops, Yang Wu and the queen, the crown prince, and hundreds of officials of the clan, marched all the way to Chang'an, and officially arrived in Chang'an at the end of February.

Chang'an has long been dilapidated after the war at the end of the Tang Dynasty, especially after Zhu Wen conquered Li Maozhen, he directly burned down Chang'an City in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, so the Chang'an City at this time was actually rebuilt in the Later Liang period, whether it is the scale or magnanimity of the city, it is far from being comparable with the magnificent Chang'an City before.

When Yang Wu arrived in Chang'an, Li Maozhen, the king of Qi who was one step ahead, had already arrived in advance under the escort of the 3,000-foot cavalry, and after learning the news of Yang Wu's arrival, he personally went out of the city to meet him with Chai Zaiyong, the commander of the Wu army stationed in Guanzhong.

Although Li Maozhen has now surrendered to the state of Wu, considering his huge influence, as well as his title and seniority, Yang Wu still gave him great respect.

So when meeting with Li Maozhen, Yang Wu gave him the gift of a junior and called him uncle, which was enough to save face.

And Li Maozhen also knew that his strength was too far behind Wu Guo, so he didn't dare to rely on the old and sell the old in front of Yang Wu, but respectfully and respectfully courtesy.

Seeing that Li Maozhen was so knowledgeable, Yang Wu was naturally happy to appease him, even if he said that the Fengxiang Festival made the throne was canonized by Zhaozong, and now it belongs to Li Maozhen, the king of Qi, it will inevitably be inherited by his eldest son Li Congyi in the future, and will not be under the jurisdiction of the imperial court.

He is not a fool, for a feudal town like Li Maozhen who took the initiative to surrender, it is naturally easier to appease him with a promise than to use a sword.

For example, there are still many forces that still do not submit to Wu today, of course, we should deal with those forces first.

As for the future, if the world is really unified, if you want to deal with the remaining feudal towns, can't you find an excuse?

What's more, Li Congyi is interested in Wu State, even if he is allowed to take over, as long as he is properly operated in the future, there is still a chance to completely recover it without using his sword soldiers.

Soon after, Han Zhu, the envoy of Shuofang Jiedu, and Li Renfu, the envoy of Dingyan Jiedu, also arrived successively and personally met Yang Wu.

In terms of prestige and status, these festivals are obviously far from being compared with Li Maozhen, the king of Qi, and they don't have much ambition, they just want to keep their existing territory, and for the Central Plains Dynasty, they have always adopted the principle of big things.

At the beginning, the rear beam was powerful, so they surrendered to the rear beam; When Wu destroyed Hou Liang, they immediately sent envoys to submit to Wu.

For these feudal towns, Yang Wu also did not have much energy to deal with them at the moment, so as long as they obediently submitted, he also made a promise to them, promising that they could pass on the throne to their descendants in the future.

After receiving such a promise, whether they believed it in their hearts or not, these marshals finally felt a lot more relieved, and they all expressed their willingness to guard the frontier for the Wu court and resist foreign enemies.

Li Renfu even took the initiative to stand up and say that he was willing to send troops to help the imperial army attack the Jin State and share the worries of King Wu.

Such a proposal would definitely be readily agreed to by ordinary people, but Yang Wu was extremely wary of Li Renfu.

After all, later generations knew that the Dingyan Festival would eventually develop and grow, and become the Western Xia Kingdom that later gave the Song Dynasty a headache.

Now although Li Renfu has surrendered to himself and offered to send troops to help, who can guarantee that he does not want to take the opportunity to expand his territory? When the time comes, if he has made meritorious contributions on the battlefield, if he is not rewarded or the reward is insufficient, it will inevitably be criticized; And if it is rewarded more, it will make Li Renfu sit big.

Therefore, after thinking about it, Yang Wu only said that he appreciated his loyalty and that he would carefully consider his proposal, but he did not agree immediately.

Then, Yang Wu personally went to the tombs of Gaozu and Taizong to pay respects, and the queen, the crown prince, the hundred officials of the clan, as well as Li Maozhen, Li Renfu, Han Zhu and others also went with him.

At the time of worship, Yang Wu naturally had to recount the merits of Gaozu and Taizong in the past, as well as the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty and the decline of the late Tang Dynasty, and scolded Zhu Wen for killing the monarch and usurping the throne.

Of course, the most important point is to show how the two generations of his father and son were entrusted by Zhaozong, inspired to revivenation, and dreamed of sleeping for decades, and finally exterminated the pseudo-Liang and avenged the blood revenge for the Tang Dynasty.

After the end of the sacrificial ceremony, the hundred officials of the court, Li Maozhen, Li Renfu, Han Zhu and others once again respectfully invited Yang Wu to ascend the throne as emperor, so as to conform to the will of the people in the world.

This time, the momentum created by the hundred officials was greater than the last time.

The last time I persuaded in, although there were many officials who wrote to the letter, there were not many who were really qualified to meet Yang Wu; And this time, because of the festival, more officials gathered, and there were also prestigious feudal towns such as Li Maozhen, the king of Qi, who participated, and the momentum was naturally far greater than last time.

Hundreds of officials and generals gathered outside Yang Wu's palace and asked Yang Wu to ascend the throne as emperor; The scene was so huge that the guards in the palace were like a great enemy, and they thought that the hundred officials were going to force the palace.

In the face of the invitation of hundreds of officials, Yang Wu claimed that he was fighting in all directions, and all he did was to revive the Tang Dynasty; Now that the pseudo-Liang has been destroyed, it is time to find the Li Tang clan to inherit the unification in order to truly realize the revival of the Tang Dynasty, so he once again rejected the invitation of the hundred officials.

If you add the last refusal, then Yang Wu has already rejected twice.

According to the usual practice, such a major event as ascending the throne and becoming the emperor must go through three invitations, so all the officials have a good idea of the current situation and begin to prepare for the third persuasion.

At the same time, after the mausoleum, Li Maozhen, Li Renfu and others were not in a hurry to return, they knew that Yang Wu was about to ascend the throne, so it was naturally not good to leave at this time.

And Yang Wu did not return to Luoyang immediately, but issued an edict in Chang'an, which would lead a large army to crusade against Zhu Youqian, the former puppet king of Liang and Ji, who was entrenched in Hezhong Mansion, and ordered the military department and the household department to begin to prepare grain and grass for the war.

After Zhu Youqian originally fell out with Liang Guo, he took the initiative to join the Jin Kingdom, but he has always maintained a relatively independent relationship. The status of the establishment is not completely consistent with the Jin State.

Last year, Chai Zaiyong led the Wu army to attack Hezhong Province, but was finally defeated by Jin reinforcements; This time, Yang Wu claimed to avenge last year's defeat, and when the news spread, Zhu Youqian panicked.

At this time, the news of the defeat of the Jin army in Pingyin had already spread all over the world, and even the army led by the King of Jin himself was not the opponent of King Wu, and now King Wu was ready to personally lead nearly 200,000 troops to crusade, where did Zhu Youqian dare to resist?

Therefore, before the Wu army set off, he sent someone to send a surrender table, and sent his eldest son and second son as hostages, and cut off the heads of several minor officials stationed in Hezhong Mansion by the Jin State to show his intention to completely break with the Jin State.

Yang Wu originally had no intention of sending troops to attack Hezhong Mansion, but now that he was busy claiming the title of emperor, how could he have the kung fu to personally lead the troops to the expedition? The reason why he made such a claim was just to create momentum and scare Zhu Youqian; After all, the 150,000 army was mobilized to Guanzhong, so you can't just go back without doing anything, right?

Now that Zhu Youqian really obediently asked for surrender, Yang Wu naturally accepted it when he saw it, agreed to Zhu Youqian's request to surrender, and decided to lead the army back to Luoyang.