My older brother is Gao Huan.

Chapter 408 He shall be crowned king!
Yuan Xiu hastily ascended the throne in Ye City.

Yuan Gong, who was far away in Luoyang, also hastily ascended the throne and became emperor.

Both of them were 'puppets', but the treatment of puppets was vastly different.

The imperial palace in Luoyang had been continuously renovated since the reign of Emperor Xiaowen. Although Yuan Gong was a puppet, he still lived in the palace every day.

Yuan Xiu could only live in the mansions provided by wealthy families; the 'royal palace' was incredibly shabby.

Moreover, the so-called "civil and military officials" in the imperial court were actually mostly people from the Gao brothers.

There were also members of prominent families such as the Cui family of Qinghe, the Cui family of Boling, and the Li family of Zhaojun, but these families could not truly stand on Yuan Xiu's side; they were merely betting on and investing in the Gao brothers.

Originally, Wang Sizheng was there to help him share the burden.

But Wang Sizheng was also taken away by Gao Yu, leaving him truly alone.

The court assembly was more like a formality, with these people playing along with Yuan Xiu in a childish game of 'pretending to be the emperor'.

"Greetings to Your Majesty!"

Yang Yin spoke loudly, bowing very respectfully to Yuan Xiu, who was in the main seat, but glancing out of the corner of his eye at the table in front of Yuan Xiu.

Yuan Gong is worse than Yuan Xiu in every way, but there is one thing in which he is far inferior to Yuan Xiu.

That is the Imperial Seal!
Before Yuan Ziyou, with a death wish, led his men to confront Erzhu Rong at Tongtuo Street, he left a will entrusting it to Wen Zisheng and others, and even entrusted the Imperial Seal of the Great Wei to the two of them.

Although the jade seal in the hands of the Great Wei was a forgery, the real Imperial Seal of the State was in the Taiji Hall in Jiankang.

But no matter what, it was passed down from the previous emperors of the Great Wei Dynasty.

Its legitimacy is far superior to that of the 'new, brand-new' imperial seal currently in the Luoyang palace.

"Military Advisor Yang, you've come from Qingzhou, is there something you need to report?"

Yang Yin did not receive an official appointment from the imperial court. He was an official under the Tian Ce Mansion, serving as a registrar and concurrently as a finance official in the command center.

Although the official positions were not high-ranking, they were all positions with real power and tasks, and Gao Yu wanted to train him.

Besides...

Yang Yin was young, just coming of age, and it was impossible for him to be placed in a high position right away, lest he become too powerful and regret it later.

There is still a gradual process of growth.

Yang Yin was indeed talented, but he also needed to handle a lot of government affairs to learn and grow gradually.

After bowing respectfully, Yang Yin immediately said, "I have come here to bring Your Majesty some good news!"

"Oh?"

Yuan Xiu countered with, "What good news?"

Yang Yin took out an official document from his pocket. This was the battle report that had been sent from Gao Yu's camp to Tian Ce Prefecture by express courier.

The imperial court was kept in the dark and had no idea what was happening on the front lines.

Firstly, the speed of message transmission is limited.

Secondly, Gao Yu deliberately wanted to conceal the information.

After all, in the battle against Hou Yuan, Gao Yu wiped out Hou Yuan, Liu Lingzhu, and other generals in one fell swoop.

Furthermore, because Yingzhou is surrounded by Jizhou, Yinzhou, and Dingzhou, it cannot directly reach Xiangzhou, where Erzhu Rong is currently located.

When ancient armies were defeated, aside from a small number who died directly on the battlefield and a small number who were captured, the majority were those who fled in disarray.

These defeated soldiers would spontaneously go to the pre-arranged assembly point to gather, and the generals would usually go to the agreed place to collect the defeated soldiers. At that time, Gao Yu's army occupied the south, so the defeated soldiers could only flee north. Moreover, the soldiers in Hou Yuan's army were basically coming from the north to the south, so it was normal for their first reaction to flee north.

This further slowed the spread of the news.

However, Gao Yu did not expect the news to be completely cut off; he only hoped to delay Erzhu Rong's access to information about Hou Yuan's defeat as much as possible.

Yang Yin knew Gao Yu's thoughts. Therefore, he silently counted the days in his mind. Gao Yu should have already entered Yinzhou territory, and might have already joined up with Gao Huan, or even started fighting with Erzhu Rong. That's why he came to see Yuan Xiu.

Yang Yin did not hide anything, but spoke up in advance, "Our army won a great victory, capturing the enemy's commanders Hou Yuan and Liu Lingzhu in one battle!"

Before Yuan Xiu could speak, Sima Ziru suddenly stepped forward.

"Is this serious?"

Yang Yin said loudly, "Of course!"

"Good! Good! Good!!"

Sima Ziru was extremely excited, but realizing he had gone a bit too far, he quickly changed his tune, "Heaven bless Great Wei! Heaven bless His Majesty!! His Majesty will surely win a great victory in this battle!"

Yuan Xiu's expression softened considerably.

Sima Ziru personally took the battle report and then respectfully handed it to Yuan Xiu.

Yuan Xiu opened it, glanced at it, and couldn't help but clap and cheer!
"General Tian Ce is indeed valiant! He defeated Hou Yuan's hundreds of thousands of troops in a single battle! He completely pacified the three prefectures of Yan, You, and Ying in one battle!"

The ministers in the court exchanged glances and offered their congratulations.

They were unaware of what was happening at the front.

But you can tell just by hearing the place name.

With Yingzhou and other places pacified, it means that there are no more worries about the rear, and we can concentrate our forces on fighting Erzhu Rong to the death in Xiangzhou!

Yuan Xiu was overjoyed and immediately looked up at Yang Yin again.

"Indeed, this is a good thing, a good thing indeed! General Tian Ce truly lives up to the late emperor's praise of him as 'a reincarnation of an ancient overlord,' a valiant warrior of our time. With General Tian Ce here, the traitor Er Zhu Rong will surely be executed! The late emperor's spirit in heaven can rest in peace!!"

Yang Yin didn't speak, but looked at Cui Li beside him.

After receiving a signal from him, Cui Li immediately stepped forward and spoke with a serious expression.

"Your Majesty! General Tian Ce has rendered such outstanding service and should be richly rewarded!"

Yuan Xiu was stunned when Cui Li said this.

Sima Ziru immediately realized what was happening.

Cui Li remained unfazed.

The Cui family is now completely tied to Gao Yu.

Cui Jie was the Left Chief Secretary of the Tian Ce Mansion and concurrently the Left Vice Minister of the Xingtai, making him arguably the foremost scholar under Gao Yu.

However, the Cui family of Qinghe still suffered a loss.

Because Cui Xian, Cui Jishu, Cui You, and Cui Zhifan all belonged to the Cui clan of Boling.

Although the Cui clan of Boling and the Cui clan of Qinghe were originally from the same family, after they separated, they can be regarded as two separate groups with different interests.

In order not to fall behind the Cui family of Boling.

The Cui clan of Qinghe naturally had to find a way to curry favor with Gao Yu and pave the way for the young talents in the clan to take up official positions in the Tian Ce Mansion.

Yuan Xiu was furious.

Isn't this blatantly and openly demanding a reward from him?

Although he was a puppet emperor without real power, being ignored like this still made him very unhappy.

None of these so-called 'ministers' spoke up for him or defended him.

Yuan Xiu's face was grim as he said coldly, "In your opinion, how should I reward General Tian Ce for such meritorious service?"

After taking a deep breath, Cui Li said loudly!
"Your Majesty, in my opinion, the merits of the General of Heavenly Strategy should... be granted the title of King!"

(End of this chapter)