I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 214 This is a beginning

Time quickly came to the early morning of October 7th.

The outline of Mangshan Mountain had just been dyed with crab-shell blue, and the ridge-shaped roof of the three-tiered eaves of Deyang Palace had already pierced through the remaining night. Seventy-two bronze bells were suspended under the eaves, trembling slightly with the morning breeze blowing from Beimang, startling the dewdrops in the mouth of the ceramic Vermilion Bird on the ridge of the palace to fall onto the three-meter-high platform and shattered into cold stars on the green lichen.

Yuan Feng once again summoned all the ministers and officials to Deyang Palace. This day was the day when all the resolutions made since the mutiny were officially announced.

The officials, some excited, some worried, some neither happy nor sad, lined up in neat rows and stood outside the palace gate.
As the bell rang, the palace gates opened one after another. The sound of 800 Tiger Guards from the urgently reorganized Tiger Guard Battalion striking the ground with their spears crushed the remaining mist on the Luo River. They welcomed this group of important officials who held power over the world with an extremely majestic attitude.

At this moment, most officials already know who this majesty comes from.

The ministers moved forward slowly and arrived at the main hall - Deyang Hall. The ceremonial guards in the hall slammed the staffs in their hands to the ground, and the three thousand gold bricks in Deyang Hall vibrated at the same time, which made the ministers excited.

All the ministers took off their shoes and swords, and hurried in with their heads lowered and their chests hunched. They stood at their respective seats, and at the command of the ceremonial officer, they all knelt and sat on the throne, waiting for the arrival of the emperor.

Soon, the new emperor Liu Li made a grand appearance.

Although Liu Qi has not yet officially held the enthronement ceremony, it is obvious that today he will go through the process to implement procedural justice.

However, this process was not as smooth as the ministers believed.

Yuan Feng ordered that the plan that Yuan Shu and a group of ritual officials had brainstormed on how Liu Hong could become emperor be made public, and he embarked on the route of first deposing Liu Hong and then enthroning Liu Kui.

After the declaration of Tang Zhen, the Minister of Rites, all the civil and military officials in the court realized that Liu Kui was the most suitable candidate for emperor in Liu Zhi's mind.

Liu Hong was pushed to the throne by the Dou family's in-laws.

For the sake of their own wealth and glory, the Dou family's relatives abandoned Liu Kui and chose Liu Hong. However, from the very beginning, Liu Zhi had never chosen Liu Hong, so letting Liu Kui ascend the throne to become emperor was the true compliance with the wishes of the late emperor.

As for Liu Hong, he was just a lucky man chosen by a tampered summons, so strictly speaking, Liu Hong could not even be recognized as the emperor. Therefore, the fact that Liu Kui demoted Liu Hong to a commoner and did not recognize that he had ever been an emperor was very reasonable and legal, and should be recognized.

It can be said that this edict was the only one that Liu Kui was willing to and even took the initiative to stamp with the imperial seal. Only at this level did Liu Kui feel that the Yuan family was his own people.

Apart from this incident, all other matters were decided by Yuan Feng and Yuan Shu and had nothing to do with Liu Kui.

It was just this one imperial edict that completely negated the meaning of Liu Hong's existence and even deprived him of the opportunity to inherit his father's title. For all the ministers and officials, this was tantamount to a large-scale "cognitive repair."

But the good thing is that those who can stand here are either vested interests or people whose past interests have been preserved. They have no reason and will not ruin their own interests and future for a deposed emperor who has no gratitude or feelings towards them.

Therefore, on this basis, the significance of Liu Hong's existence was completely denied.

The years during which he became emperor were concluded to be acts of usurpation and rebellion. Together with the Dou family's foreign relatives who had been completely destroyed, he was nailed to the pillar of shame in the history of the Han Dynasty and could never turn over again.

Liu Kui's status was thus officially recognized by the Luoyang court.

Afterwards, all the ministers and officials knelt down and saluted Liu Kui together, shouting "Long live the king", and formally acknowledged Liu Kui as their monarch.

Then, Liu Kui officially announced the change of Xiping era name to Zhengshi era name, and the first year of Xiping was the first year of Zhengshi.

He appointed his wife, Wang, as queen.

The nine-year-old legitimate son Liu Li was appointed Crown Prince.

It is worth mentioning that Liu Kui had eleven concubines and seventy surviving children. It is said that more than a dozen children died of illness before. He can be called the Alexandre Dumas of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

He was only in his thirties, not even forty, and his intense sowing intensity could even be compared to that of Lao Liu's ancestor, Liu Sheng, King Jing of Zhongshan.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why his body is so fragile...

At least that's what Yuan Shu speculated privately.

In short, Liu Kui's becoming emperor was confirmed, his throne and imperial lineage were formally established, and the Eastern Han Empire entered a new era. What happened after that had little to do with Liu Kui.

Because the subsequent rewards and demotions were all decided by Yuan Feng and Yuan Shu.

With the coercive force of Yuan Feng's control over Luoyang and the name of Emperor Liu Kui, the three major factions of Yuan's disciples and former officials, the Yi Xin Hui group and the collaborator group reaped the sweetest fruits after the successful coup.

They fully enjoyed this honor.

Especially the group under Yuan Shu. At the beginning, the status of this group was the lowest, and the average age was the youngest. Almost no one had an official status. They were all commoners, and at most they had the title of Yuan Shu's disciple.

However, with this wave of rewards, not only did the more than 6,000 people who participated receive rewards of money and silk cloth, turning themselves into small wealthy people, but more than 600 people also received official positions of varying degrees and successfully obtained official positions.

Some of them obtained official positions in the imperial court, some obtained full-time or deputy positions in local governments, and some obtained middle-level or grassroots military officer positions.

From the Luoyang court departments to the central military system, from local prefectures to county governments, as long as there were vacant positions and as long as they could be placed there, Yuan Shu did his best to place his core personnel there.

Especially in the core areas of the Central Plains, namely Yuzhou, Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Xuzhou and Jizhou, Yuan Shu was doing his best to place his own people in the local areas to spread his influence all over the local areas. He also connected them together with the collective will of the Yi Xin Hui, trying to create a huge Yi Xin Hui power network.

This was the beginning of his management and change of the world.

From another perspective, Yuan Shu's promise was also fulfilled.

He said that he would not enjoy this glory alone, he would let everyone share the glory with him, he would share all that he had obtained with everyone, and let everyone follow him to get what they deserve.

Therefore, all the subordinates who made contributions did enjoy the glory, but due to the limitations of their qualifications and age, they could not rise to high positions overnight.

Among the people who received the most rewards besides Yuan Shu, Lu Zhi was awarded the position of City Gate Captain, which paid a salary of two thousand stones.

Then came Lian Da, who was given the position of Sima, the captain of the city gate, with a salary of one thousand shi.

Next was Jia Xu, the Minister of the Chancellery, with an official salary of one thousand dan.

Cheng Li, Shangshu Pushe, 800 stones.

In general, only a small number of Yuan Shu's subordinates were given positions with a salary of 1,000 dan or more, while the rank of most of them did not exceed 600 dan.

Despite this, most people are sincerely grateful to Yuan Shu for fulfilling his promise.

Because according to their background, they may not even be able to become a clerk in their lifetime.

The entire Eastern Han Empire had a staff of only more than 7,000 officials and more than 100,000 clerks.

Not to mention the clerks, the official establishment is a real one-size-fits-all situation. With the empire's finances going downhill, the number of officials will only decrease and it will be difficult to increase.

Moreover, these precious official positions were basically monopolized by high-ranking nobles and court dignitaries, and were almost never open to the public. Not to mention ordinary people, even if a local tyrant wanted to get an official position, it would be extremely difficult.

For those who followed Yuan Shu into battle, this was an impossible gap to cross. Even if they joined the army and achieved great military exploits by chance, they might only be able to get a small official position and then soon lose their power.

It is just like Liu Bei in the past, who relied on his military exploits in fighting the Yellow Turban Army to obtain the position of county lieutenant as a commoner, but soon lost this position.

Because he did not bribe, he did not play by the established rules of the dynasty, which was fatal for someone without background.

But things are different now.

They chose someone who could in some sense control the rules, followed him, served him, pledged allegiance to him, and achieved great feats with him.

Then they changed their destiny, crossed their own class, and completed a class leap that they had never dared to imagine.

(End of this chapter)