My father-in-law Guan Yu, I persuaded Liu Bei to launch a surprise attack on Xiangyang at the beginn

The reign title of Hongwu was presented by Xiao He.

Originally, Liu Bei wanted to choose "Zhangwu" as his reign title.

Xiao He, however, believes that Liu Bei, who rose from humble beginnings and struggled for half his life to establish an empire at nearly sixty years old, faced a difficulty comparable to that of the later Ming Taizu.

Liu Bei's achievements and experiences absolutely deserve the title of Hongwu.

After the coronation ceremony, Liu Bei's first act was naturally to bestow titles and honors upon his officials.

Liu Xi was rewarded for his meritorious service in abdicating the throne and was demoted to the Prince of Shanyang, with a fief of ten thousand households. He was granted the right not to address the emperor as a subject when presenting memorials and not to bow when receiving imperial edicts, but he still retained the imperial regalia within his fief.

For example, civil and military officials such as Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, and Mi Zhu originally held official positions in the Chu Kingdom, not in the Han Dynasty.

Now that Liu Bei has inherited the throne and ascended to the throne, he naturally has to grant them corresponding Han Dynasty official positions.

For example, Guan Yu, who was originally the Grand General of the State of Chu, was naturally promoted to the position of Grand General of the State of Han.

Although the title of the general changed from that of the Chu state to that of the Han dynasty, the power remained largely the same.

Therefore, Liu Bei compensated his ministers by granting them titles.

All civil and military officials were promoted one rank from their original rank. For example, Guan Yu was promoted from a township marquis to a county marquis.

Thanks to Xiao He's contributions, Zhuge Liang was promoted from the former Chancellor of Chu to the Chancellor of Han, taking charge of all government affairs and becoming the head of the civil officials.

The only exception was Xiao He.

Liu Bei promoted him from Grand Commandant of Chu to Grand Marshal of Han.

The Grand Marshal was ranked above the Three Dukes and was the head of the military officers, along with the Grand General.

The Grand Marshal was in charge of military affairs and had the power to mobilize troops, while the Grand General was in charge of military campaigns and had the power to command armies.

At this time, Xiao He's official rank was nominally equal to, or even slightly higher than, that of his father-in-law, Guan Yu.

Besides official positions, there were also noble titles.

After Liu Bei became king, Xiao He's title was promoted to county marquis.

At that time, in the entire state of Chu, only Xiao He held the title of county marquis, while even Guan Yu was only a township marquis.

Now that Guan Yu and others have been promoted to county marquis, it is impossible for Xiao He's title not to be promoted as well.

The next rank after a county marquis is a duke!
Liu Bei initially intended to enfeoff Xiao He as a duke.

Xiao He naturally declined the offer firmly, refusing with a resolute attitude.

That's a duke, how could he dare accept it?

Although there is only one rank difference between a duke and a county marquis, the difference is as vast as heaven and earth.

You may establish a state and elect your own officials!
Both Liu Bei and Cao Cao started by being granted the title of Duke and establishing their own states, taking their first step towards becoming emperors.

As a subject, you have been promoted to the rank of Duke. What is the meaning of this?
Do you also want to follow the same path taken by Emperor Liu Bei?

Xiao He was incredibly shrewd. Even though he knew that Old Liu trusted him completely and had no suspicions whatsoever, he would never cross that line and accept the Duke's conferment.

Xiao Hejian's refusal to accept the position gave Liu Bei a headache.

He was well aware of Xiao He's concerns, but he would feel guilty if he didn't grant Xiao He a higher rank.

After much deliberation, Liu Bei had a flash of inspiration and specially created a new title for Xiao He, "Marquis of a Commandery," between the titles of County Marquis and Duke.

This way, Xiao He could avoid suspicion while satisfying his obsession with promoting Xiao He to a higher rank, which was a win-win situation.

Xiao He was truly moved by Lao Liu's painstaking efforts.

If we continue to refuse at this point, it would be disrespectful to the emperor and a failure to appreciate his benevolent heart.

After twice declining, Xiao He finally accepted Liu Bei's bestowal of a title, becoming the Marquis of Jibei Commandery with a fief of five thousand households.

After bestowing titles upon his officials, he then appointed the empress and the crown prince.

As for the empress, Lady Mi, as the principal wife, had a son named Liu Yu, and her family had rendered meritorious service in supporting the emperor. She was undoubtedly made empress.

As for who to appoint as crown prince, that was a difficult question for Liu Bei.

The eldest son, Liu Shan, was already mentally impaired, so it was naturally impossible for him to be made crown prince.

Although Lady Mi was the empress, her son Liu Yu was still young, so it was impossible for him to be made the crown prince.

Although Liu Li, the third son, was quite talented, he was the third son.

Although Liu Yong, the eldest son, was slightly better than Liu Li in terms of moral character and reputation, he was inferior in talent and strategy. For a time, Liu Bei still found it difficult to decide who to make crown prince.

Fortunately, although Liu Bei is now over fifty, he is still in good health and has not reached the point where he absolutely must establish a crown prince.

After careful consideration, Liu Bei decided not to establish a crown prince for the time being, but instead to enfeoff his sons as kings.

The eldest son, Liu Shan, was the King of Jin; the second son, Liu Yong, was the King of Lu; the third son, Liu Li, was the King of Liang; the fourth son, Liu Yu, was the King of Song; and the fifth son, Liu Yuan, was the King of Zhao.

After the empress and princes were all established, Liu Bei immediately issued an edict to reward the soldiers and grant a general amnesty.

...

Chang'an, the Wei imperial palace.

A report of Liu Bei declaring himself emperor has been delivered to Cao Cao's desk.

"You big-eared scoundrel, a mere weaver of mats and seller of sandals, how dare you call yourself emperor and sit on equal footing with me?"

"Hateful, hateful~~"

Cao Cao was furious and threw the secret report about Liu Bei's claim to the throne onto the steps.

Inside the main hall, a murmur of discussion arose.

The Wei officials present felt mostly resentment and worry.

When you, Cao Cao, declared yourself emperor, your purpose was to bestow official titles and ranks upon the powerful clans and noble families of Yongliang, Guanzhong, and Longxi, in order to win them over to your cause.

Now look what's happened, Liu Bei has also declared himself emperor.

What you can give, Liu Bei can give too. Why should we hang ourselves on Cao Wei's tree?
The benefits of Cao Cao declaring himself emperor were thus diminished.

"Although the big-eared traitor claims to be supporting the Han Dynasty, he is actually very ambitious and has long coveted the throne. It is no surprise that he forced Liu Xi to abdicate and usurped the throne."

Sima Yi, however, remained unperturbed and showed no sign of being shocked.

The conversation shifted abruptly, but Sima Yi's brows furrowed:

"The big-eared traitor has the ambition to devour the world. I predict that after he becomes emperor, he will surely raise an army of the whole country to invade our Great Wei again."

"According to the existing intelligence, the Big Ear Bandit is indeed also transferring grain and fodder to the Luoyang, Youzhou, and Jizhou line."

"I estimate that once autumn is over, the big-eared bandit is very likely to launch an attack."

"Our top priority right now is to prepare for the invasion of the pseudo-Han people."

Sima Yi's words silenced the room instantly, and the worry and indignation on the faces of the officials turned into fear.

Cao Cao also frowned and nodded emphatically:

“Zhongda is right. The most important thing now is to stop the big-eared bandits from invading and defend our three states!”

"If there are any omissions in our army's deployment, all of you should speak freely so that we can ensure that nothing is overlooked."

The ministers offered their suggestions and began to identify and address any shortcomings.

The ministers unanimously agreed that Liu Bei's main target for his westward invasion must be Bingzhou.

The Chu army's attack routes were mostly from Jizhou to Jingxing Pass, from Youzhou to Pingcheng, and from Henan to Huguan.

The Wei army should then station heavy troops to defend the passes and fortresses in the Taihang Mountains, such as Jingxing Pass, Huguan Pass, and Pingcheng Pass.

“Your words are reasonable. If it were me, I would also focus on attacking Bingzhou.”

"In that case, I will send more troops to Bingzhou and order Yuan Rang to conscript laborers to continue to repair and reinforce the Jingxing Pass and other passes to ensure that nothing goes wrong!"

Cao Cao listened to the advice of his ministers, staring at the map and nodding slightly.

The strategy for resisting the invasion of the Han army seems to have been decided.

At this time.

Jia Xu, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke:

"Your Majesty, in my opinion, the key to whether our army can stop the Han army's invasion this time does not lie in how strong the pass is or how elite our soldiers are."

"The key question is whether Xiao He will participate in the war!"

"In my opinion, if we want to stop the Chu army and win this battle to defend Bingzhou, we must ensure that Xiao He does not participate in the war!" (End of this chapter)