The Great Han is dead!

As soon as these words came out, there was a lot of discussion.

The crowd whispered, and the hall was full of chatter.

Even Zhuge Liang frowned, and then quickly eased up.

Liu Bei was stunned there, and then sat there a little dejectedly and muttered, "Yes, the Great Han is dead." ”

"The Great Han is indeed dead."

Shen Chen looked around and said loudly: "Your Majesty, whether it is sincere or forced by Cao Pi, whether in fact or in name, the Han is dead. Just as the former Han king Mang usurped the throne, there are no Han ministers in the north and no Han lords in the south, and this is the biggest problem we have to face. ”

"Yes, the king has always been orthodox to His Majesty, but the Son of Heaven was forced by Cao Pi to hand over the orthodoxy of the Han family to Cao Pi, so Cao Pi inherited the Han dynasty in terms of righteousness, just like Gaozu inherited Qin, we lost the righteousness of the name."

"Yes, Xiaoqing still looks at the problem profoundly and grasps the most important key. Now that the king has lost his reputation in the south, even if he wants to launch a northern expedition, in what name should he send troops to attack Cao Pi? ”

"Isn't it okay to avenge the Son of Heaven?"

"Naturally not, the Han Dynasty is dead, if the Han Dynasty does not continue, then the king will lack orthodoxy and righteousness, and it will be unreasonable to send troops to the north."

There was a lot of talking.

This is the dilemma that Liu Bei is facing now.

Liu Bei is currently able to establish a vassal state in the south, what is the jurisprudence he masters?

It was to serve Liu Xie as orthodox, and at the same time hold the edict of the clothes and belts, raise troops in the south, and then attack Cao Cao in the north and restore the Han Dynasty.

To put it simply, with the edict in hand, Liu Bei can officially declare that Cao Cao is the current Wang Mang, who controls the Son of Heaven, and wants to usurp the Han Dynasty and stand on his own.

And he was a loyal minister appointed by Liu Xie to get rid of Cao Cao with an edict of clothes.

But because Cao Cao was powerful, Liu Bei went to the south to recruit troops and horses, recruit talents, and come with him to help the Han family and save the Son of Heaven from fire and water.

But now the Son of Heaven is gone.

Nominally, Liu Xie gave up the throne to Cao Pi, and the Han Dynasty was gone.

Then in legal theory, Liu Bei took the edict of clothes and belts as the foundation, the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, the revival of the Han Dynasty, and the righteous title of welcoming the Son of Heaven, which was naturally gone.

Don't underestimate the righteous name.

Even at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, the rebel army was raised under slogans such as anti-Yuan and Song Dynasty, anti-Qing and Ming Dynasty, and restoration of Han people's clothing.

Sometimes it is very empty to look at the name of righteousness, but the benefits it can bring are unimaginable.

It was with Liu Xie's banner of the Han dynasty that Cao Cao occupied the initiative, and he could seal the official to whoever he wanted, and send troops to recruit whoever he wanted, so that the talents of the world were attached to him one after another, contributing to the establishment of Cao Wei's country.

Therefore, the current top priority is not actually to rejuvenate the Northern Expedition, but how to seize the righteous name and take back orthodoxy from Cao Wei's hands.

Liu Bei's face was sad and indignant, and the destruction of the Han family made him, a descendant of the clan, extremely painful.

Zhuge Liang stood up at this time and said: "Xiaoqing is right, now the Northern Expedition is not important, the important thing is that now that the Han Dynasty is dead, the king raised troops with clothes and belts, and sent an edict to beg for thieves, but the Son of Heaven gave the throne to Cao Pi. ”

"But ......"

Liu Bei mourned: "Now that Your Majesty is deceased and the Han family is gone, what should the widow do?" ”

"King!"

Shen Chen stood up and said seriously: "Although Your Majesty is dead, the king is still there. If the Rin people are here, who is Yun Han dead? The Son of Heaven will lose the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty in his hands, so the rise and fall of the Han Dynasty will fall on the shoulders of the king, at this time, the king should be like Guangwu in Hebei to inherit the unification, make a new Han out, so that the people in the world who have the Han family in their hearts have a home! ”

Get a new big guy out?

Although Shen Chen can often say some incomprehensible sentences in his mouth, even a fool can understand this sentence.

This is not to persuade Liu Bei to ascend the throne as emperor, what else can it be?

Everyone below was stunned for a moment, and then someone who reacted quickly immediately stood up and said: "Yes, the king, the Han family was taken by Cao Pi, although the king is a Han minister, but the Han lord is no longer there, and we have no loyal king." As the saying goes, the country cannot be left without an owner for a day, and the king should inherit the unification in order to continue the Han Zuo. ”

"Yes, in the former Han Dynasty, Wang Mang usurped the throne, and in order to continue the Han Dynasty, the First Emperor, the Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, the Emperor of the Liang Han Dynasty, and the Emperor Guangwu successively became emperors, which was done because of the orthodox name. Now that the Han family has perished, the burden of the king's revival of the Han family is on his shoulders, and it is his responsibility. ”

"The minister thinks that the governor of Dadu is reasonable, Cao Pi's usurpation of the Han is a fact, even the Son of Heaven has been killed, and orthodoxy has been extinguished, the king should follow the example of Emperor Guangwu and ascend the throne as the emperor, so as to expel the rebel minister and the puppet emperor and rejuvenate the Northern Expedition!"

"The words of the princes are not unreasonable, and the ministers also think ......."

Many courtiers suddenly made a long speech, citing all kinds of scriptures, including the example of Emperor Guangwu in the Western Han Dynasty, and the example of Zhongshan's restoration in the Spring and Autumn Period.

Liu Bei was stunned by everyone, and said hesitantly: "But the widow has received the grace of His Majesty and has to be in the court, so that he can have today, how can he ......?"

"The King."

Shen Chen said: "The king is indeed blessed by His Majesty, but if the son loses his orthodoxy today, if the king still serves the Son of Heaven as the master, he will lack the name of righteousness." How can people in the world who cherish the Han family find a home? Only when the king ascends the throne as the emperor can he become the co-lord of the world, and the edict of the righteous people in the sea will fight against the Cao Wei puppet dynasty! ”

"Kong Ming, what do you think?"

Liu Bei looked at Zhuge Liang again, wanting to ask his opinion.

Zhuge Liang nodded and said: "What Xiaoqing said is extremely true, and I hope that the king will think twice." ”

"I hope the king thinks twice."

Everyone continued to persuade them, and they couldn't be slow at this time, even Zhuge Jin, Lu Xun, Zhang Zhao, Gu Yong and other Jiangdong factions shouted hard one after another.

Everyone knows that if Liu Bei ascends the throne now, it will be from the ministers of the dragon.

Although Cao Wei occupied the north, his strength was strong.

But after Liu Bei got Jiangdong, he was even bigger than Cao Wei in terms of territory, but the population was less than that of the north, but it was not without the opportunity to dominate the world.

Even if they can't dominate the world now, as long as Liu Bei becomes the emperor, then their official position can be further improved.

Whether it is for political considerations, or for the benefit of himself and his family, the benefits of Liu Bei being the emperor far outweigh the disadvantages, or after Liu Xiex's concession, even if Liu Bei is the emperor, there is no harm at all, only benefits.

So everyone hopes that Liu Bei can be the emperor at this time.

The first is to continue the Han Dynasty.

The second is that after becoming the emperor, he can justifiably reward hundreds of officials, unlike before, who held official positions indecently under the opening of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bei saw that everyone persuaded him to be emperor, hesitated for a while, and said: "If I inherit the unification, when will I be able to raise troops?" ”

Shen Chen said: "Great King, inheriting the great unification is not a trivial matter, one is to announce the world, the second is to invite the Quartet, the third is to sacrifice to heaven and earth, pray to the heavens, and the fourth is to comfort the ancestors. Now that the Son of Heaven has lost his country, and the spirits of the twenty-four generations of the first emperors of the Han Dynasty are not sacrificed, the king must not forget his ancestors. ”

"Ancestor?"

Liu Bei suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.

The worship of ancestors in the Han Dynasty is unimaginable to many people.

In other words, even if later generations of Chinese attach more importance to the concept of family, it is far less deeply rooted in the bone marrow than during the Han Dynasty.

In the concept at that time, the ancestors had spirits, and if the descendants were not able to sacrifice to the ancestors and let the ancestors enjoy the incense, then the ancestors would become wandering ghosts and suffer from hunger and cold.

And the ancestor surnamed Liu in the Han Dynasty was naturally Liu Bang, including Liu Bei. He is not in the line of Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu, so Liu Xiu is not his ancestor, Liu Bang is.

However, the Eastern Han Dynasty officially worshipped Liu Bang and the emperors of the Western Han Dynasty.

Liu Xiu has always regarded the Eastern Han Dynasty established by himself as a continuation of the Western Han Dynasty, not saying that the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty were two dynasties, but at that time, in order to distinguish them, they called the Western Han Dynasty the former Han or the first Han Dynasty.

Now after Cao Pi usurped the Han Dynasty, there was no Han Dynasty emperor in the official sacrifices in the north, and Liu Bei's ancestors could not be sacrificed.

Even if Liu Xie could still retain the right to worship the ancestor emperor of the Han Dynasty in Shanyang, Liu Bei thought that Liu Xie was dead at the time and didn't know about it. Second, this is not a national orthodox sacrifice, and the standard system is far worse than the original.

Liu Bei obviously forgot about it for a while because he heard that the Han was dead and Liu Xie was dead, and now after being reminded by Shen Chen, he recalled it and was so scared.

When he thought that his ancestors might be suffering from hunger and cold, his heart panicked, and he hurriedly said, "What should I do?" ”

Shen Chen immediately said: "Since the king inherited the unification, he re-established the Han family in the south and built a temple to support the spirit of the first emperor. Otherwise, the twenty-four generations of emperors have no temple to rely on, how can they rest in peace under the netherworld? ”

"Yes, for the sake of the Han Dynasty and the ancestors of the Han family, the king should indeed be like this."

"Please also ask the king to ascend the throne as the emperor, rejuvenate the Northern Expedition, and revive the country."

"Please enthrone the king!"

The ministers bowed again and persuaded Liu Bei.

This time, Liu Bei finally no longer refused, but sighed and said: "In this case, for the immortality of the Han family, for the spirit of the ancestors to have sacrifices, I can only do this, I just hope that after ascending the throne, I can go north to the Central Plains and attack Cao Pi to comfort the spirit of the first emperor." This matter will be left to Kong Ming and Xiaoqing. ”

"The king is wise!"

The crowd saluted again.

In fact, Liu Bei has no reason to refuse.

Because of the demise of the Han family, the Han Dynasty is gone, and there is naturally no one above him.

Even if he is automatically promoted, he will inevitably ascend the throne as emperor.

What's more, under the banner of reviving the Han family, he can regain the righteous name that was snatched away by Cao Pi.

The slogan that the North is shouting now is simple.

Liu Xie felt incapable of reviving the Han dynasty, so he voluntarily handed over the position of emperor to Cao Pi, who replaced the Han dynasty and established the Great Wei Empire.

In this way, Cao Pi is the orthodox inheritance of the Han family, just as Liu Bang inherited the Great Qin Empire.

And Liu Bei in the south became a rebellious minister and thief who did not obey the emperor's edict.

In this way, in terms of righteousness, Liu Bei was born a head shorter.

Therefore, in order to regain the righteous name, it is imperative to be called the emperor, and there is no need to pretend to refuse to persuade twice like Cao Pi, and only respond to the third time.

After agreeing to be the emperor, the next thing was relatively simple, and Zhuge Liang, Shen Chen and the others immediately began to prepare what they needed to prepare for the emperor.

Historically, Liu Xie was usurped by Cao Pi in October of the 25th year of Jian'an, but Liu Bei only ascended the throne as emperor in April of the following year.

This half a year was not caused by ill-informed information, but because Liu Bei was preparing to ascend the throne.

It took four months from the beginning of the following year to get the news and then prepare for the accession to the throne.

But even then, he was in a hurry to ascend the throne.

Because the real enthronement ceremony often takes longer, it is necessary to notify the envoys of the Quartet, and to work out various matters of the new dynasty, and finally determine the number of people before the enthronement ceremony can be held.

Now Liu Bei has handed over these things to Zhuge Liang and Shen Chen to handle, and if they want to get a new big man out, the two of them naturally can't slack off, all the specifications and systems must be prepared, and all the things up and down the ceremony will be arranged.

Naturally, this will take a long time.

And there's a very important thing in it.

That is, since the Han Dynasty is to be re-established, it is necessary to formulate officials again according to the specifications of the empire.

The previous officials were all subordinates of the Han Dynasty's shogunate, one was not an official of the imperial court, and the other was not a Han courtier, but a courtier of the Han princes, which was quite unjustifiable.

Now if Liu Bei ascends the throne, he will be able to justifiably change to the orthodox official position of the Han Dynasty.

The list of officials was naturally not determined when Liu Bei ascended the throne, but was determined in advance, and then after Liu Bei ascended the throne, a large-scale reward was carried out.

Therefore, Liu Bei handed over the matter of ascending the throne to the two of them, in fact, he handed over the appointment of officials to them.

Basically, they drew up the list, and Liu Bei came to read it out when the time came.

Therefore, in a sense, Zhuge Liang and Shen Chen at this time have a very large power, and they can arrange their own people in the court, and even let the whole court be their henchmen, so as to empty Liu Bei.

However, Liu Bei trusts them so much, naturally because of their firm character. Except for Shen Chen's appointment of some disciples who are really talented under his own disciples, there will probably be no personal affairs.

So everything went well.

Just taking advantage of this opportunity, Shen Chen proposed to carry out the reform, change the system of three princes and nine secretaries to the system of three provinces and six ministries, and let the three princes and nine secretaries, as well as the generals, hussar generals, chariot generals, Wei generals and other systems that can open a government and establish a small court on their own are abolished, so as to strengthen the centralization of power.

But Zhuge Liang objected.

He did not oppose that Shen Chen's system was problematic, but that since he wanted to inherit the Han family in terms of legal principles and orthodoxy, he should accept the system of the Han Dynasty in its entirety and take the identity of superficial orthodoxy.

Even if Zhuge Liang knew that the restructuring proposed by Shen Chen had its advantages, he could not be a little sloppy in the competition for righteousness.

It is not too late to wait until the regime is stable in the future, or to dominate the world.

Shen Chen felt that it made sense, so he responded.

However, the current system of three princes and nine secretaries is indeed a virtual reality, and these positions can be used as fictitious positions to accommodate those respected ministers.

The real power should still be pooled, and now they need an efficient government, not a decentralized body.

Therefore, Shen Chen and Zhuge Liang were not only busy with the enthronement these days, but also carried out certain political reforms, as a model of political clarity, high efficiency, and high centralization of power in the newly established Han Dynasty.

This is not an easy thing, and it is easy to offend people in the process, for example, some people have a low job arrangement, they must have complaints, and they will be unhappy in their hearts.

But even if it is not easy, it must be done, otherwise it will not be possible to achieve a good political environment and an efficient government.

So for a long time after that, Liu Bei's strategists were extremely busy.

The strategist group with Shen Chen Zhuge Liang as the core, plus Fa Zheng, Jia Xu, Pang Tong and others, all participated and ran around.

It was not until the second year of the Huang Chu of Cao Wei Group and the second half of the twenty-sixth year of Liu Bei Group's Jian'an that it was barely completed.