Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 371: Not a Slave of Three Surnames

July 15th, the third year of Xiaochang.

Ge Rong proclaimed himself emperor in Dingzhou, named the country Qi, and established the reign title Guang'an.

Ge Rong also summoned leaders of various rebel armies to gather in Dingzhou, announced the establishment of hundreds of officials, and conferred rewards on generals.

After the uprising in Shanggu, Yanzhou, Du Luozhou, who quickly occupied the entire Youzhou, was also invited to join. The leaders of various rebel forces also pledged allegiance to Ge Rong. Relying on the residual power of the fatal battle against the government army, Ge Rong finally integrated the entire rebel force.

Zhongshan City, the administrative city of Dingzhou, was designated as the capital. After its establishment, it finally had some shape. The soldiers guarding the city were issued similar military uniforms, and they no longer looked like a makeshift team as they did when the army was first started.

Gao Huan and his entourage also set out from Yecheng and rushed to Zhongshan City to attend the coronation ceremony.

In a pavilion not far from Zhongshan City, everyone was taking their final rest.

It was already late today, so Gao Huan decided to set off early tomorrow morning.

The chief of Tingyi Posthouse was named Xu. He had been the chief before the Hedong turmoil. He abandoned the posthouse and returned home in the past few years because of the unrest. This year, when the world became a little more stable, he returned to the posthouse.

However, Ge Rong was obviously preparing to ascend the throne and establish a system, but building a bureaucratic system was a rather complicated matter. Ge Rong had only served as the deputy governor of Dingzhou, and it was difficult for him to put together a Da Qi court, so naturally he could not take care of the post station system.

Therefore, the identity of this Tingyi is very strange. Although it is an official post station, it is not managed by the government at all. The government of Da Qi does not have a system to manage post stations.

It is privately owned? But because it was an official post station before, many messengers going to Zhongshan would stop here, and some generals and officials going to Zhongshan would also stay here, even more than when it was an official post station of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

The official system of the Great Qi was also very chaotic, with all kinds of general titles being awarded at will. Before Ge Rong ascended the throne, there were already a bunch of generals of all kinds, and no one could tell which general was more honorable.

This time, all the "generals" who rushed to Zhongshan to attend the coronation ceremony crowded into this post station, and even fought for the best room, and even got bloodied. Gao Huan did not want to be high-profile, so he took everyone to live in the side room of the post station.

Dou Tai was very dissatisfied with this. He thought that he had made contributions to Ge Rong by resisting Yuan Yanming in the south and uniting the scholars and people of Jizhou.

However, some of the young generals who participated in the Battle of Wulu, who just waved flags and shouted cheers on the sidelines, were actually awarded the title of general, and even compared themselves to those whose contributions were above Gao Huan's.

After settling down, Dou Tai finally couldn't help but say:

"General! This time the emperor will definitely confer upon you the title of Duke, right?"

Gao Huan smiled bitterly at first, then shook his head. Sima Ziru knew what Gao Huan was thinking and rebuked Dou Tai, saying:

"Atai! So what if you get the title of Duke? The most important thing is that you can return to Yecheng this time."

Dou Tai said puzzledly:
"What? You won't even let us go back to Yecheng?"

Gao Huan shook his head. Before going to Zhongshan this time, Gao Huan left his brother-in-law Wei Jing in Yecheng, and also handed over all his core troops trained in Jizhou to Wei Jing.

Once Ge Rong asked him to move the town, he had to bring these most trusted troops with him.

Gao Huan knew very well that Ge Rong had overthrown Xianyu Xiuli to come to power, so he was very wary of local powerful factions.

For example, Gao Huan's old boss Du Luozhou, Ge Rong ordered him to come to Dingzhou many times, but Du Luozhou did not obey Ge Rong's dispatch before the Battle of Wulu. It was not until Yuan Shen was defeated that Du Luozhou reluctantly went to Zhongshan to attend Ge Rong's coronation ceremony.

Even so, Du Luozhou was very wary of Ge Rong. Not only did he bring two thousand elite cavalry from Yanzhou, he also left his family and subordinates in Yanzhou.

Since defeating Yuan Yanming, Gao Huan's reputation in Jizhou has been growing day by day. Not only did he gain certain support from the local gentry in Jizhou, but he also got Gao Aocao to surrender. This time when he went to Zhongshan, Gao Huan also brought Gao Aocao with him.

Gao Huan also became one of the local powerful figures that Ge Rong was particularly wary of.

In fact, Gao Huan didn't want to come at first. He knew Ge Rong very well and knew that this man was not broad-minded and not the kind of person who could tolerate others.

But since Du Luozhou had come to Zhongshan, he had to come as well.

Gao Huan couldn't help but sigh. Although Ge Rong was already preparing to set up the system, it could be seen from this post station that the entire "Da Qi" was still a makeshift team.

This is the helplessness of the rebels.

We all rose up to rebel against Wei. Even for Du Luozhou, you, Ge Rong, rose up later than me. Why can you become the emperor?

Just because you have the biggest fist?
As Ge Rong has the biggest fist, does he also have to be on guard against subordinates with bigger fists than his?

When the entire group is wary of each other and the upper level suppresses the lower level, there is no way they can unite as one.

Everyone treats you as a makeshift team and will not change their evaluation whether you have an establishment or not. At least for the gentry in the three states of Hedong, Ge Rong is still not a good partner.

However, there are also many speculators in troubled times.

When Gao Huan woke up the next day, he got up from Tingyi and set off on his journey, but he discovered another team whose clothing was obviously different from that of the other rebel forces.

The horses of this team were all top-quality horses, definitely not the mixed horses that Gao Huan, who came from a poor family, had saved up bit by bit. Moreover, all the guards were dressed in the same way, which showed that this was not an ordinary rebel army.

Gao Huan asked someone and found out that this was Xing Gao, the leader of the Qingzhou rebel army who had just defected to Ge Rong.

Gao Huan was stunned. He had also heard of Xing Gao. Unlike Gao Huan and other people from the Six Garrisons, the Xing family of Hejian was a second-class surname in the Northern Wei Dynasty and a well-known wealthy family in Hebei. Xing Gao moved from his hometown to Qingzhou after the Six Garrisons Uprising. The Hedong scholars who were forced to leave their homes and live in foreign lands were also discriminated against and suppressed by the local tyrants in Qingzhou, just like the survivors of the Six Garrisons who were suppressed by them when they came to Hedong.

Xing Gao then rose up in Qingzhou and quickly occupied half of Qingzhou.

This time when Ge Rong ascended the throne, Xing Gao also went to Zhongshan in person to express his allegiance.

A large family named Yi in Hedong openly expressed its willingness to submit to Ge Rong, which was also a very symbolic event.

Gao Huan had just concluded yesterday that Ge Rong was still a makeshift team, but he was slapped in the face today.

He looked at Xing Gao's personal guards riding away in bright clothes and could only say:

"In troubled times, dragons and snakes rise up together. Who is the real dragon and who is the forerunner of the real dragon? Who can see clearly?"

Next, Gao Huan entered Zhongshan City. Ge Rong transformed the provincial capital into a simple imperial palace. He also got five-colored soil from somewhere and built a mound outside the city to offer sacrifices to the sky when he ascended the throne. He also ordered the captured embroiderers to sew dragon robes.

However, it was too late to change the uniforms for officials, so they could only use the old clothes from the previous dynasty. Gao Huan also received a set of official robes for a military general and a Diao Chan crown.

There was also a shortage of ceremonial officials and musicians. The entire "Da Qi" couldn't even find one person who could organize the coronation ceremony. Fortunately, those who came to attend the coronation ceremony didn't know what the real coronation ceremony would look like.

In the end, the whole ceremony was more lively than solemn; even Ge Rong's dragon robe seemed a little ill-fitting.

But at least our Da Qi has been established!

Ge Rong then built six palaces and ordered the construction of a palace in Zhongshan. In addition, he also wanted to build seven temples to worship ancestors.

The last part is the rewarding part which everyone is most concerned about.

People still did not recognize the various innovative generals with miscellaneous titles, and finally Ge Rong had to go back to the old path of the Northern Wei Dynasty, continuing to set up four towns, four expeditions, four peace and four peace as regular generals, and setting up generals of the guards and generals of the cavalry above them.

In the end, Gao Huan only got the lowest-ranking general title of General of Annan, while Ge Rong's trusted followers got general positions such as Zheng, Ping, and An. Even Xing Gao, who had just defected to Ge Rong, was given the title of General of Zhengdong.

Because of the Yuwen family's risk of life and death for Ge Rong, Yuwen Luo was given the title of General Zhendong and was also given the title of King of Yuyang.

Du Luozhou was granted the title of General Wei and King of Yan.

The worst off were Xianyu Xiuli's old subordinates. Most of them were generals of miscellaneous titles, and their tribes were also annexed and divided.

Then there was another three-day banquet in Zhongshan City. After attending the banquet for the coronation ceremony, Gao Huan returned to the mansion given to him by Ge Rong and immediately summoned his trusted subordinates.

Gao Huan said with a gloomy face:
"I heard yesterday that the emperor wants us to attack Jingxing."

After this sentence was said, everyone was shocked, especially Sima Ziru who said:
"Absolutely not!"

"Erzhu Rong of Bingzhou is very powerful. He is not comparable to the imperial guards of the pseudo-Wei. Moreover, Jingxing is easy to defend but difficult to attack. How can we attack? Isn't this asking you to die?"

Gao Huan nodded. Sima Ziru was a smart man. The fact that Gao Huan's reward this time was so meager already showed Ge Rong's attitude, which was to weaken Gao Huan.

Ge Rong's intentions were too obvious to be revealed by transferring Gao Huan away from Jizhou and sending him to attack Erzhu Rong, the most powerful opponent around.

At this time, Gao Aocao, who had been silent all the way, suddenly said:

"In that case, how about joining Erzhu Rong?"

When this was said, everyone was shocked. Dou Tai said:
"What are you talking about? If you join the government army again, won't you become a slave of three families?"

Sima Ziru immediately scolded:
"Atai shut up!"

Sima Ziru immediately said:

"Birds choose trees, but trees cannot choose birds. Even birds can understand this truth. Since Ge Rong cannot tolerate us, we might as well go to another family."

Gao Huan actually had no psychological pressure to abandon Ge Rong, as it was not the first time after all.

He simply stopped acting and said directly:

"When Ge Rong was in danger, I led the army in Jizhou to defeat Yuan Yanming, which was also a way of repaying his kindness in taking me in."

"Send a messenger to Jizhou to inform Wei Jing to lead his troops to Jingxing and send someone to contact General Erzhu before making any plans."

"I have an old friend named Liu Gui in Luoyang, who is highly regarded by General Erzhu. If he introduces me, I should be able to receive courtesy."

Hearing this, everyone nodded.

...That reader didn't come to claim the prize. Wait one more day. If that doesn't work, draw another one.

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(End of this chapter)