After returning to Luoyang City, the first thing Yang Wu did was to find Fan Yu, the commander of the long sword in charge of intelligence.

Now that twenty years have passed, Fan Yu at this time is already gray-haired, and he is no longer what he looked like when he was young, but his mental state is still very good, his face is relatively ruddy, and his body is obviously not bad.

After seeing Fan Yu, Yang Wu immediately asked: "Xiangrui happened in Chang'an, what is going on?" ”

Fan Yu, as Yang Wu's cronies, naturally has something to say, will not hide anything, and will not have any taboos.

He said directly: "This matter was done by the third prince, and it is said that the county magistrate of Wannian County is the protégé of Lord Xu Shanxu." ”

"I see." Yang Wu immediately understood that Xu Shan was Yang Yu's uncle, and it seemed that he was also involved in this matter.

"So, how did Chai Zaiyong react to this?" Yang Wu then asked.

Chai Zaiyong, as the commander of Wu's garrison in Guanzhong, has a lot of power in his hands, and his son is now serving as the governor of Wu Guoxiao's cavalry, so Yang Wu must know what his attitude towards Yang Yu is, and whether he has joined forces with Yang Yu to participate in the battle for the prince.

Fan Yu said: "Back to the king, it is said that two days before Xiangrui was born, there was a bandit in Yanzhou, so Chai Dudu led the army to go to conquer. ”

Yang Wu immediately laughed when he heard this: "Really? It's really cunning to use this firewood again! ”

Although he said it politely, he was extremely satisfied with the choice of firewood reuse.

As the supreme commander of the garrison in Guanzhong, Chai Zaiyong has the right to inquire about everything in Chang'an City, it is impossible not to know what is going to happen in Wannian County, and it is even very likely that Yang Yu will send someone to contact him in advance.

However, in the end, Chai Zaiyong avoided this matter in the name of conquering the bandits, obviously he didn't want to be associated with Yang Yu, otherwise if it was just to suppress the bandits, why should he, the governor, go into battle in person?

In fact, Yang Wu also understands his choice, after all, Yang Wu is still young now, not even forty years old, with his current physical condition, even if he lives another one or two decades, it is not difficult.

For Chai Reuse, it is not a good thing to be involved in the dispute of the prince so early.

What's more, Chai Zaiyong's father and son are now reused by Yang Wu, and with their merits and influence in the army, no matter who becomes the prince in the future, it will not affect them; In that case, why take the risk of participating in the battle for the prince? It's better to remain neutral and be loyal to Yang Wu alone.

In fact, there are still many people like Chai Zaiyong in today's Wu army, and they are currently neutral in the battle for the prince, and those who really participate, except for people like Zhou Ben who have to fight, most of the others are only middle-level generals, and those meritorious veterans are basically not involved.

For such a state, Yang Wu is also satisfied.

Although he still likes his eldest son Yang Jiong in his heart, he has no clear objection to the actions of his third son Yang Yu, after all, it may not be a good thing to leave Yang Yu with a competitor.

It's just that all of this needs to be controlled within a certain range, and the competition can't be let out of control.

After listening to what happened to Xiangrui, Yang Wu then asked some more things, and was about to send Fan Yu down, but at this time, Fan Yu suddenly said: "King, there is one more thing, the minister thinks that maybe he should inform the king." ”

"Oh, what the hell is going on?"

"Does the king remember Song Qiqiu?"

"Song Qiqiu? Of course Lone remembers him. Yang Wu was stunned for a moment, and suddenly remembered that it had been exactly ten years since Song Qiqiu was dismissed.

Fan Yu said: "This Song Qiqiu is now serving as a staff member by the third prince's side, and it is said that this auspicious rui is from his handwriting." ”

"It turned out to be his idea!" Yang Wu was stunned, and at the same time groaned in his heart.

Naturally, there is no need to say much about Song Qiqiu's ability, even if the Wu Dynasty is now prosperous and has many talents, Song Qiqiu's talent cannot be ignored.

However, the reason why Song Qiqiu was deposed in the first place was because he had a problem with his character, not only because his temper was too impatient, but more importantly, he was too jealous and jealous.

If such a person is placed in the center, he will be able to display his talents, but other talents will not be reused because of this, and Yang Wu certainly does not want to see such a result, so he will decisively dismiss him at the beginning.

It's just that I don't know if Song Qiqiu's personality has changed in the past ten years.

After pondering in his heart for a while, he felt that it was better to observe first, so he said, "Let him stay with the third child for the time being." ”

"Yes." Fan Yu retired at this time.

After Fan Yu left, Chen Yanqian, Yan Keqiu, Guo Chongtao, Feng Dao and others came to visit together.

After a salute, Chen Yanqian asked first: "King, whether it is the situation in the world or the current reputation of the king, it is imperative to be the emperor." I wonder what the king thinks about this? ”

These people who came were Yang Wu's closest confidants, and as confidants, of course they knew Yang Wu's thoughts and understood that he was going to be officially proclaimed emperor after returning to Luoyang this time, so they didn't beat around the bush, but asked directly.

And Yang Wu did not blindly shirk this issue as he did in front of Baiguan just now.

He said bluntly: "It is imperative to be the emperor, but the name of righteousness must also be taken into account." In the past, Zhu Wen killed the monarch and seized the throne, which was considered by the world to be a great rebellion, and it has left a bad reputation to this day. Although he is called the Son of Heaven, he is not orthodox, he is just a tyrant. Lone must be the Son of Heaven, and he must also be the Orthodox Son of Heaven, so that the people of the world can be convinced. ”

In addition, when Zhu Wen usurped the throne, Lone once said that he would destroy the pseudo-Liang and restore the Tang Dynasty; Although the pseudo-beam has been extinguished, the words of the past are still there, I wonder if you have a good plan for this? ”

With the prestige of Yang Wu now, coupled with the powerful power of Wu now, even if he directly ascends the throne and becomes emperor regardless of it, others will not be able to do anything with him, and even feudal towns such as Li Maozhen, the king of Qi, Li Renfu, the envoy of the Dingyan Jiedu, and the envoy of Shuofang Jiedu and the envoy of Hexi Jiedu, will also recognize his orthodox status on the table.

After all, this is an era of the supremacy of force, as long as you have military power, you can be the emperor; What's more, Yang Wu now not only controls military power, but also controls most of the world's territory, and the foundation of the emperor is much stronger than Zhu Wen at the beginning.

But if he is forcibly called the emperor, there will always be a defect in the name of righteousness, Yang Wu doesn't want to be criticized as an emperor in the future, at least in this regard, he must think of a suitable way as an explanation to the people of the world.

Feng Dao thought for a moment and proposed, "Why don't you find a Li Tang clan, make him the Son of Heaven, and then make a Zen concession?" ”

As soon as the words fell, Yan Keqiu said: "It's not proper, it has been more than ten years since Zhu Wen usurped the throne and destroyed the Tang Dynasty, that is, there have been more than a year since the destruction of the pseudo-Liang last year. ”

Guo Chongtao also said: "Yes, and many princes of Zhaozong in the past have been killed by Zhu Wen, even other clans with similar bloodlines to Zhaozong have also been killed, and the rest of the clans are either too far apart by blood, or they have been incognito, and their traces are difficult to find." Such a person, even if he becomes an emperor, is difficult to convince. ”

Chen Yanqian added: "Moreover, since Zhu Wen killed Tang Zhaozong, we and other ministers of Huainan have always regarded the first king and the great king as the king, and in the past ten years, I only know that there is King Wu of the Yang family, and I don't know that there is a son of Li Tang. Now he wants to make a Li Tang son for no reason, not to mention that the hundred officials will not be convinced, even the old ministers will not agree! ”

The words were extremely firm, and it was clear that the matter was not negotiable.

At this time, Feng Dao was not as experienced as later generations after all, and as soon as he proposed it, he was unanimously opposed by everyone, and he immediately blushed and stopped talking.

In fact, the Li Tang clan was appointed as the emperor, not to mention that the hundred officials of the court were unwilling to do this kind of thing, even Yang Wu himself was not very willing.

His country was all built by his own hard work, what does it have to do with Li Tang Tianzi? From the very beginning, Yang Xingmi raised troops in Luzhou, and he had nothing to do with the imperial court, at most the imperial court only gave him a name, but the territory was fought by his father and son for two generations.

As for Yang Wu, he has been the de facto king for more than ten years, and if he gets a Li Tang Tianzi out now, then it will take at least another year or two before it is convenient to make Zen concessions.

During this period, wouldn't Yang Wu still have to bow three times and bow nine times to this puppet son of heaven? This kind of thing, just thinking about it, he feels unwilling.

In short, the proposal to appoint the Li Tang clan as the emperor would definitely be unanimously opposed to the current state of Wu, so this proposal was immediately rejected.

Yang Wu said in a deep voice: "It is not feasible to establish the proposal of the Li Tang Sect. However, the issue of righteousness must be solved and cannot be neglected. Do you have any other good ideas? ”

After a while, Yan Keqiu spoke: "Great King, in the past, Zhu Wen usurped the throne and established the empire that was condemned by us as a puppet dynasty and did not recognize its orthodoxy. Therefore, if you want to get the name of righteousness, this matter cannot be avoided by the people of the Li Tang clan after all. ”

"But it is not advisable to set up the Li Tang clan as the emperor, so the minister thinks that it is better to only let the Li Tang clan come forward as a representative, but not a new emperor."

"Oh, what do you mean by that?" Yang Wu was immediately interested when he heard this, and everyone else also looked at Yan Keqiu.

"The minister's idea is to gather all the Li Tang clans that can still be verified to Luoyang as much as possible, and let them represent Li Tang and write to the king, asking the king to ascend the throne and be the emperor to show the mandate of heaven! This can be regarded as an explanation to the people of the world. ”

Guo Chongtao nodded and said: "Good way, to let the people of the Li Tang clan come forward, symbolizing the transfer of the Mandate of Heaven from Tang to the hands of the king." In this way, you can not only give an explanation to the people of the world, but you don't have to set up a son of heaven. And after the fact, the king can be knighted appropriately according to the distance of the bloodline, and these people of the Li Tang clan can be appropriately knighted, so that he can be regarded as having an explanation for Li Tang. ”

Yang Wu nodded again and again when he heard this, on the premise of not establishing Li Tang Tianzi, if he wants to obtain the name of righteousness, it is obviously the most suitable and the most operational for the people of the Li Tang clan to come forward.

In the final analysis, the name of righteousness is to put a legal cloak on one's throne and give a proper explanation to the people of the world, so that the people of the world can not think that you are the son of grass, and the most important point is to rely on force after all.

As for whether the weight of this legal cloak is sufficient, in fact, people in the world will not pursue it too much.

In the past, Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, although he had the agreement of Emperor Yi to "enter the king of the customs first" as the name of righteousness, but strictly speaking, the so-called Emperor of Righteousness, his own name of righteousness is not very sufficient, let alone Liu Bang? In the final analysis, it was Liu Bang who defeated Xiang Yu and won the world.

Now, on the basis of the strong military force of the Wu State, and then let the Li Tang clan as a representative to symbolize the transfer of the Mandate of Heaven from the Tang Dynasty to Wu, this righteous name is basically enough.

Of course, if you add the officials, the people, and those feudal forces that belong to the Wu State to write a letter asking Yang Wu to ascend the throne and become emperor, it will naturally show the expectations of the public.

Yang Wudang summoned Fan Yu, who had just left, and asked him to send someone to investigate and see how many people from the Li Tang clan could be confirmed in the Wu Kingdom now.

The scale of the long sword capital naturally cannot be compared with the Dongchang and Jinyiwei in later generations, but in terms of efficiency, it is not bad at all, especially now that this matter involves Yang Wu ascending the throne and becoming the emperor, so the long sword is even more diligent, and it will not be long before there will be results.

Then, Chen Yanqian suggested: "In the past, the king was determined to avenge the Tang Dynasty, but now that the pseudo-Liang has been destroyed, the king should also go to Zhaozong and the tombs of the emperors of the Li and Tang dynasties to worship one or two to appease the hearts of the people in the world." ”

Yang Wu nodded again and again after hearing this: "Yes, this matter must be done, and other emperors are just fine, but Tang Gaozu, Taizong, and Zhaozong, the mausoleums of these three people must go." Do you have any other good advice? ”

Yan Keqiu and others mentioned some more, and Yang Wu wrote down all the feasible ones by heart, preparing to adopt them at the right time.

Then everyone discussed some details again, and only when they were almost done did they leave.

Before leaving, Chen Yanqian suddenly asked: "The auspicious rui that appeared in Chang'an recently, I don't know what the king thinks about this?" ”

"Xiangrui?" Yang Wu touched his chin and said in a deep voice: "If this is really the case, it is also destiny, and Gu is naturally happy." But do everything in moderation, don't be too deliberate. ”

Like when Wang Jian ascended the throne and became the emperor, there were auspicious appearances all over Shuzhong, such as dragons, phoenixes, unicorns, etc., all kinds of divine beasts rushed to appear first, for fear that others would not know that Wang Jian was going to be called the emperor.

These auspicious ruis seem to be building momentum for Wang Jian's ascension to the throne, but in the eyes of outsiders, they are like watching a joke.

In the final analysis, the foundation of Wang Jian's claim to be the emperor is too weak, not only is the territory only in Shuzhong, but the overall national strength is far less than that of Houliang, Wu, and Jin, at most it is stronger than Li Maozhen, the king of Qi.

Now that Yang Wu wants to be the emperor, it is enough to decorate one or two auspicious places, and if he does too much, it will only make people laugh.