C140. Leaving Prelude.

C140. Leaving Prelude.

Just as the letter was sent out, Jia Qing, still recovering from his injuries, returned to try to stop him.

His words were harsh, but after several attempts, Wu Shanshi, furious, ordered Jia Qing to be imprisoned.

After Jia Qing was incarcerated, no one among his followers dared to challenge Wu Shanshi again.

The strategists who truly had Wu Shanshi's best interests at heart felt a chill in their hearts.

Few were as stubborn as Jia Qing, most understood the need to protect oneself. Some of the more intelligent aides around Wu Shanshi began to grow silent, while the flatterers increased.

The once admired ruler, Wu Shanshi, had created an irreparable rift with his courtiers.

A month later, the two letters sent to Qingzhou and Yanzhou finally reached Yuan Li's hands.

Yuan Li was inspecting the granary when he received the letters.

After reading them, he chuckled and said to Zhao Ying, "Zhou Gongdan is really cunning."

Zhao Ying thought to himself that indeed, he was. Besides the Lord's favorite, Chu Hechao, Zhou Gongdan was the last person one he would want to offend.

Yuan Li was in a cheerful mood, smiling as he ordered a servant to bring a brazier and burn the letters, muttering to himself, "Wu Shanshi is finally taking this step."

Wu Shanshi was finally set on becoming emperor.

Perhaps Wu Shanshi would never know the efforts Yuan Li had put in behind the scenes, and how much he had longed for this day to come.

Now, he had finally achieved the results he had been waiting for.

With a smile on his face, Yuan Li instructed, "Prepare a shipment of gold, silver, and jewels to be sent in two separate routes from Qingzhou and Yanzhou to Jizhou, making sure Wu Shanshi believes these treasures are replies from the governors of the two provinces."

*

During the two months of waiting for Che Kangbo and Hui Zizhen's replies, Wu Shanshi lived through particularly difficult times.

He anxiously awaited the responses of his future allies, eager for their support.

Finally, in August, the replies from Qingzhou and Yanzhou arrived.

These provinces did not bring any verbal messages or letters but delivered boxes of gold, silver, jewels, and many tributes for the imperial court to Wu Shanshi. What more did Wu Shanshi need to understand?

Overwhelmed with joy and determined not to let down his allies or suppress his inner desire, Wu Shanshi immediately decided to ascend to the throne in mid-next month.

He did not want to wait any longer.

On the clear sky day of September 20th, the third year of Zhouyan's reign, Wu Shanshi, dressed in the imperial dragon robe, held a grand coronation ceremony with the imperial standards. He visited the local gentry of Jizhou, invited scholars from all over to witness his imperial ascension.

At noon that day, Wu Shanshi read the imperial edict, officially declaring his coronation and establishing himself as emperor.

The imperial edict eloquently stated, "Emperor Zhouyan lacks virtue, causing chaos and warfare in the thirteen provinces, with endless conflicts and suffering of the people. While the people are left homeless and without food, Emperor Zhouyan indulged in pleasures without concern for the suffering of the people. I am deeply troubled by this. Now, with the will of heaven on my side, I shall rule as emperor. Upon ascension, I shall calm the fires of unrest, ease the hunger and cold of the people, and rescue the people from calamity."

The words were beautifully put. Afterwards, Wu Shanshi renamed Jizhou to Zhao Guo and established the era name as Chu Kang. He ordered all officials in Zhao Guo to address him as emperor, and the people to use Chu Kang as the legitimate era name.

Subsequently, Wu Shanshi began bestowing titles and honors on his subordinates and family members.

He appointed his mother, Lin Shi, as Empress Dowager, his wife, Lu Shi, as Empress, and his concubines as noble consorts, his children as princes and princesses. He also enfeoffed his officials as civil and military ministers.

After becoming emperor, every day was filled with excitement and exhilaration for Wu Shanshi. The only regret was that Zhou Gongdan had fallen ill and could not witness his coronation, nor receive Wu Shanshi's rewards openly in front of everyone.

Zhou Gongdan was a great contributor to Wu Shanshi's success, and Wu Shanshi felt that half of the credit for his successful ascension belonged to Zhou Gongdan.

Wu Shanshi intentionally reserved the top position among the civil officials for Zhou Gongdan, planning to confer honors after his recovery to show his appreciation.

After bestowing titles on his own people, Wu Shanshi did not forget to reward his allies.

Moved, he drafted an imperial decree and sent people with numerous treasures to Qingzhou and Yanzhou. He generously bestowed the position of generals of Zhao Guo to Hui Zizhen and Che Kangbo, comparable as Grand General Chu Hechao and Grand Marshal Yan Hui, with a gigantic 10,000 stones worth of treasures.

Wu Shanshi spared no expense to win them over.

The matter of Wu Shanshi, the Imperial Governor of Jizhou, declaring himself emperor was certainly not something that could be kept secret. Like a raging tsunami, the news quickly spread across the land, causing an uproar as if a drop of water had fallen into hot oil, stirring up the entire realm.

Wu Shanshi had declared himself emperor?

He dared to be so audacious as to crown himself emperor?

How could he?!

Countless proclamations and curses poured in from all corners of the realm, with warlords stirring restlessly, not only condemning Wu Shanshi but also Hui Zizhen and Che Kangbo.

Indeed, these two were in cahoots with Wu Shanshi! They harbored such malicious intentions; this was clearly a usurpation of the throne and imperial power!

If it were only Wu Shanshi, the warlords would have already risen in protest. However, with Qingzhou and Yanzhou both on board with Wu Shanshi's treacherous ship, the combined forces of the three provinces made the warlords powerless.

Two people who were even more at a loss than all the people in the world were Hui Zizhen and Che Kangbo.

These two people were stunned, completely unaware of what Wu Shanshi meant by this.

"You want to declare yourself as emperor, then do so, why involve me?"

"Why not appoint someone else as Grand Marshal, why appoint me? What have I done to offend you?"

Che Kangbo and Hui Zizhen were about to be driven crazy by Wu Shanshi, they had no idea why he would send gold, silver, jewels, and an imperial decree. In order to disassociate themselves, they hesitated to refuse Wu Shanshi's "appointment" without reservation, making it clear in their words that they did not know about Wu Shanshi declaring himself emperor.

Even when readers watched their reactions, they could see the thinly veiled message in their articles: If you want to die, then just die, but don't drag us down with you!

However, in the eyes of the people, their words seemed too insincere, and no one believed that they had no connection to Wu Shanshi declaring himself emperor.

Wu Shanshi was not a fool, if he didn't have their support, would he dare to openly declare himself emperor like this?

If you truly don't know, then why did Wu Shanshi not appoint someone else, but only the two of you?

And even appoint you as Grand General and Grand Marshal?

No one believed Che Kangbo and Hui Zizhen's words, not even Wu Shanshi himself.

Wu Shanshi just thought they were following etiquette, the rules of ceremony, and he didn't care, warmly appointing his allies once again.

This action further solidified the perception among the people that the three of them were definitely allies, and the clarifications made in Qingzhou and Yanzhou earlier all seemed like a farce.

Hui Zizhen and Che Kangbo were so furious that they felt pain in every part of their bodies. They wanted to immediately lead their troops into battle, but they had little rapport between them, each thinking the other had been won over by Wu Shanshi, while they themselves were innocent victims.

Therefore, in their view, Wu Shanshi must have allies, and if they were to lead troops to attack him, what if his allies ambushed them from behind?

It was with these doubts in mind that the two could only use feeble words to defend their innocence, once again rejecting Wu Shanshi's appointment.

They knew that mere words would hardly be believed by the people, but they had a plan - they were waiting for the movements of Chu Hechao and Yuan Li.

In the north, the only one who could deal with Wu Shanshi was Youzhou, and Che Kangbo and Hui Zizhen were not worried at all that Youzhou would not send troops.

After all, Chu Hechao and Yuan Li were loyal men who had killed the traitor Li Li, respected by all as renowned generals and scholars, loyal subjects to the emperor, and they would never tolerate Wu Shanshi usurping the throne. Once Youzhou sent troops, they planned to follow suit and prove their innocence.

It was with this plan in mind that the two remained silent with a tacit understanding.

But as they waited, months passed and there was no sign from Youzhou, as if they had not received the news of Jizhou declaring itself as the kingdom of Zhao. Time slipped by slowly, and suddenly it was deep winter, a season unfit for war.

The unresponsive attitude of Youzhou surprised Wu Shanshi.

It reaffirmed his belief that he was the "chosen one by heaven", as if the heavens were helping him, why else would Youzhou not attack him until now?

Feeling elated, Wu Shanshi personally went to visit Zhou Gongdan.

Since his coronation, Zhou Gongdan had fallen ill with a cold that only worsened with time. Now, he was bedridden, and Wu Shanshi was worried that he might not survive the winter.

During Zhou Gongdan's illness, Wu Shanshi promoted a few persuasive strategists. Although they weren't as talented as Zhou Gongdan, their constant praises of "long live the emperor" made Wu Shanshi happy, and in a short time, they gained his favor.

Fearing Zhou Gongdan's intelligence and status, and worried that they might lose Wu Shanshi's favor once he recovered from his illness, these sweet-talking but malicious strategists whispered derogatory words about Zhou Gongdan in Wu Shanshi's ear. Their comments were simple, revolving around one point - Zhou Gongdan falling ill at such an inopportune time.

Was it really so inopportune?

Wu Shanshi had just been crowned emperor, and Zhou Gongdan fell ill, and the illness only worsened, seemingly on the brink of death. In the mouths of these strategists, Zhou Gongdan's illness cast a shadow of uncertainty over Wu Shanshi's joyous coronation.

Originally, Wu Shanshi didn't dislike Zhou Gongdan for this, and had even scolded these people for their words. But hearing similar comments repeatedly, coupled with his infrequent visits to Zhou Gongdan, a slight displeasure towards Zhou Gongdan began to grow in Wu Shanshi's heart.

Why did Zhou Gongdan fall ill right when he was crowned emperor?

If he truly respected his lord, and truly rejoiced at him becoming the emperor, shouldn't Zhou Gongdan have come to witness his coronation despite his illness?

It was an ill omen, truly an ill omen.