In the main hall of the palace, Yang Rui sat high on the dragon throne, and in front of him were civil and military ministers who came to worship. Yang Rui did not wear a crown like he used to go to court, but was just dressed as a normal woman. Moreover, her bulging abdomen also showed that she had been pregnant for a long time and could no longer be an emperor who could be diligent and self-disciplined and not care about anything like before.

The court officials were divided into two squads, each with one side, and there was no distinction between the Eastern Prince's Mansion and the original faction of the court. The ones at the forefront were Han Jian, the East King and Gu Weipan, who was the head of the Shangshu, representing the current responsible persons of the court's military and political affairs. Yang Rui sat on the dragon throne and looked calm. After saluting, the civil and military ministers below each lowered their heads and did not dare to look at her.

"Today I have something to announce to you," Yang Rui made his opening remarks.

The young eunuch had read two imperial edicts, one to commend those who had made contributions in the war in the north, and the other to encourage soldiers and horses who were moving westward, including Yang Xi. These two imperial edicts are basically the situation and do not mention specific rewards.

Yang Rui looked around everyone, but finally looked at Han Jian and said, "Your King Dong is here first."

Han Jian paused first before slowly walking up the jade stairs. He went to Yang Rui's dragon chaise. Yang Rui waved his hand and signaled that the eunuch would come over to bring the chair so that Han Jian could sit with Yang Rui.

When Han Jian sat down, the ministers below were still at a loss. Although they knew that sooner or later, Han Jian would appear in front of the court officials as a "monarch", now everything in the court affairs is controlled by the Eastern Palace, but Yang Rui has become a puppet, how can they feel at ease?

"My great gift to the Eastern King will be held on March 16th." Yang Rui finally told the wedding date.

All the officials present were shocked. Even the generals of the Eastern Prince's faction were not happy about this. For the court officials, the marriage between the Queen and the Eastern Prince was a two-mighty situation, and no one would get any benefits. On the contrary, it would be better to let the Queen raise a few faces by herself, so that it would not involve any matters in the government and each would be at peace with each other.

"Ministry of Rites." Yang Rui ignored the surprise and discussion of the people present, and said. Someone from the Ministry of Rites immediately came out to receive the order, and Yang Rui continued. "It is necessary to prepare the matters of the Ministry of Rites to draft a big gift."

"Yes, your Majesty."

Yang Rui looked at the people present and said, "The family of all the people must have heard some rumors from the outside world. Today I will clarify here. The King of Dong is the backbone of the Wei Dynasty and the pillar of the court today. No matter what rumors are outside, I believe that the King of Dong is dedicated to the court and the country of the Wei Dynasty. In the future, the King of Dong will take charge of military affairs on my behalf. In terms of the government, my health will also be inconvenient and will be handed over to the King of Dong to deal with it. Do you have any opinions from your family?"

There was a silence in the hall, who dared to contradict Yang Rui openly at this time? Even if some people think that Yang Rui was forced to say this, the King of Dong is here now, and speaking out is equivalent to dying.

"Okay." Yang Rui nodded with satisfaction, "From today, I will be unable to manage the government affairs for a while. All matters in the court can be decided by the Secretary of the Court. If there is a major problem, it can be handed over to the King of the East. There is no need to bother me in trouble."

After saying that, Yang Rui seemed very tired and wanted to stand up. Han Jian personally helped each other. When Yang Rui got up, he smiled and looked at the ministers present and said, "The court and the Eastern Prince's Mansion are originally one family, and they are not distinguished from each other. If anyone uses this to make trouble, it will be ignored by the court. I will not spare you."

After saying that, Yang Rui walked out of the hall with Han Jianxiang helping him and headed to the inner courtyard of the palace.

As soon as the person left, the hall was immediately in full swing. The ministers who had not said anything were talking about each other now, and some even wanted to do it. As a witness to everything, Gu Weipan turned around and walked out of the palace. Today's affairs had exceeded his expectations. Han Jian's attitude was already very clear that he wanted to return military power. He was not sure why he didn't even mention this matter in the end. Instead, Yang Rui decided to say that everything in the future military affairs would be handed over to the Dongwang Mansion, and even the government affairs would be taken care of by the Dongwang General.

As soon as Gu Weipan left the hall, before he could take a few steps, a man quickly followed behind him, but Ning Yuan, the Minister of Personnel, who had said nothing in the hall before.

"Master Gu, please stay." Ning Yuan walked up and saluted first, then looked at Gu Weipan with a smile.

Gu Weipan frowned and said, "Is there anything wrong with Shangshu Ning?"

"I just want to talk about what happened today with Master Gu. It seems...it's a bit difficult."

Gu Weipan didn't say anything. He couldn't say anything about Ning Yuan or had any dislikes. In general, he just treated Ning Yuan as a colleague. As for whether Ning Yuan gave a woman to Han Jian to take office, that was a concern for outsiders. He only knew that his daughter lived a good life in the Eastern Palace, which was enough.

"It is better for Shangshu Ning to say anything. I have to go back to Shangshutai to deal with some things." Gu Weipan knew that he should not discuss some things without authorization at this time. After all, everything should be based on Yang Rui's announcement. Now Han Jian and Yang Rui have even decided on the wedding date. After a simple court meeting, Han Jian and Yang Rui have left at the same time. They will deal with conflicts by themselves. It is not their turn to be the ministers' worries.

Ning Yuan was a little surprised and said, "Didn't Master Gu know that the Southern Dynasty people took advantage of the situation to rob and use their troops to move closer to Yuzhou. Now the troops have crossed the river and will arrive in Yuzhou soon?"

As the chief assistant, how could Gu Weipan not even know about this?

"What exactly is Shangshu Ning talking about?" Gu Weipan glanced at Ning Yuan who was following him, but his pace did not slow down.

"It seems that Grand Master Gu is unknown. Originally, the Eastern King returned to military power to test Your Majesty. It was obvious that the Eastern King wanted to make the general political affairs smooth before the chaos in the north was about to come. But I didn't expect that the Emperor should have seen the Eastern King's intentions clearly and persuaded the Eastern King to take back his life. This is why today's happening."

Ning originally thought that Gu Weipan would have an epiphany after saying this, but he didn't expect that Gu Weipan just nodded in the end and didn't even make any statement afterwards.

"Master Gu, the situation seems very serious now." After some words failed, Ning Yuan had to continue.

"Why is there a serious statement?" Gu Weipan said, "Even if Yuzhou is in an emergency, it should be the concern of the people of the Southern King. Now that Zhennan Hou leads his troops to suppress Luoyang, can it be possible to lift the siege of Luoyang?"

Ning Yuan smiled and said, "The words of Grand Master Gu are different. Does Grand Master Gu think that what you are most worried about now is the Marquis of Zhennan and the Southern Dynasties? They are all thousands of miles away, and even the Western King's Mansion is not enough to worry. After all, the Western King's Mansion is now in Guanzhong and waiting for work. I am afraid that what Your Majesty and the Eastern King are most worried is General Su who is about to return from the north."

"Su Tingxia?" Gu Weipan called him by his name directly.

"That's right." Ning Yuan nodded, thinking that the old guy should believe it at this time, right?

Gu Weipan nodded slightly and said, "If you worry, worry. That is the business of Your Majesty and the King of the East, and it has nothing to do with our ministers."

Ning Yuan couldn't help but admire Gu Weipan a little more, thinking that he is worthy of being the prime minister and his political awareness is high. Even if he says that there are wolves in front of Luoyang and tigers in the back, Gu Weipan can still be so calm and act like a stance that is not related to him. He wouldn't have been.

Ning Yuan said: "Ti Shi Gu is not an official who wants to take the opportunity to talk about things. It is really a big wave that is about to start. Should Tai Shi Gu know how to protect himself? I am afraid it will take less than a long time. Luoyang will become a battlefield for the fight between all parties. At that time, even if the court still had tens of thousands of General Lin's troops, and if some were transferred from Jiangdu, I would probably only witness others fighting for each other on this territory in the Central Plains. I might as well say that it was a despairing game, I am afraid that the court's aura... would not be long."

There is something in the words, no matter how dull Gu Weipan is, he can hear the hidden meaning.

Ning Yuan has always been a minister of the court, but he was too close to the Eastern King Han Jian, so it was hard to say which side he was looking for. But now when he heard Ning Yuan's words, it seemed that Ning Yuan still had some secrets in his heart, and what Ning Yuan said today was obviously admonishing him to do something that went against the current situation.

"Shangshu Ning doesn't need to say anything more. I have to lose more words. I have never heard of the bento. If I say anything more, I am afraid I will have to go to Your Majesty to participate in your book." Gu Weipan said in an proud tone.

Ning Yuan smiled and said no more. He was following Gu Weipan with all his steps. At this time, he stopped and watched Gu Weipan leave.

After the people left, several ministers came after him. As soon as they arrived, they hurriedly asked, "Shangshu Ning, what's the matter?"

Ning Yuan shook his head and said, "It's better not to change the stubbornness. It's better not to mention it."

Several ministers looked at each other and said that these were all from the Ningyuan faction. They were originally called for the wind and rain in the court. Now Gu Weipan has come out to be the chief minister, but the status of these people has not changed much. The main reason is that Gu Weipan is currently without anyone, and can only rely on the original Ningyuan system and some people from the side branch system to maintain the basic structure of the imperial officials.

...

...

It was the tenth day of March, and there were only six days left before the marriage between Han Jian and Yang Rui. The court's Ministry of Rites had basically prepared the gift of the emperor's wedding. According to the previous plan, Yang Rui would live in the palace even if he married Han Jian, and Han Jian's wife and children did not have to move into the palace, and everything remained the same. In this way, marriage was just a situation.

In more than half a month, Su Tingxia's troops were almost on the front line of the Yellow River. This time, Su Tingxia's troops retreated slowly, and only traveled fifty or sixty miles a day. The main reason was that the troops were too large and too many Bohai prisoners were with them. Wherever they went, they seemed like a bloated tumor, which made the local area uneasy. The local area provided food and grass, and they were already paying for it. Many troops robbed the people's food. However, under the overall situation, the court chose to remain silent about this and did not happen. Although Su Tingxia also ordered some people to be punished, he knew that if he was in the Wei Dynasty, if he could not use war to support the war, and if the court's food supply was less, there would be no other way except to rob.

During this period, the troops of the Southern Qi were also very slow. The troops were divided into several routes. The factional boundaries of the Southern Dynasty court were clearly defined, and the situation was also obvious when the army sent troops. The troops of each family sent troops separately, and they were divided into four routes to head towards Yuzhou. The troops who were in front were the troops of King Hui, who had always been in conflict with the world. There were probably more than 10,000 people, which was not considered elite, but they were the ones with a large number of troops this time.

Even Xie Rumo, who was strongly enlisting troops, had only allocated less than 10,000 troops. The Southern Qi went to Yuzhou, and the total number of troops was only about 40,000. No wonder Huang Shilang, the Marquis of Zhennan, thought that the people of Southern Qi were not worth worrying, so he still stationed troops outside Luoyang City without any intention to withdraw his troops.

During this period, the Xiwangfu had completed the garrison of Guanzhong, and all the troops had retreated to Guanzhong, building a very solid defense line, waiting for the imperial court and the Eastern Palace to fall into the trap. The people who entered Guanzhong in the court were mainly old, weak and disabled soldiers, and the number of troops was not large, and the supply was not enough. After approaching Guanzhong, they simply slowed down and waited for the arrival of reinforcements behind them.

In short, all the troops from all walks of life either garrison to wait for work or marching slowly. Each family seems to be waiting for other families to take action first.

Han Jian was also a little helpless about this. He originally hoped that Su Tingxia's troops could go to the Guanzhong line on the west side as soon as possible to complete the supply of war to support the war. However, Su Tingxia was a cunning person, as if he was intending to drag the court. In this way, the court would support the people, which was also to prevent mutiny in the army. But now the court had long been empty, so where did the food and grass supply be allocated to the troops with a total number of more than 200,000 soldiers and civilians?

Several times, he sent envoys to urge Su Tingxia's troops to urge him to return without success. Although Su Tingxia's troops moved westward, they were gradually moving south. By early March, it was only more than 200 miles away from Luoyang, and it was always the intention of going south to the Yellow River to threaten Luoyang.

Now Han Jian must consider whether to advance or retreat. There is Su Tingxia's troops in the north of Luoyang. This line of troops is strong and has a strong momentum. He just destroyed the Bohai Kingdom and defeated the Silla army. Such troops are also terrifying. Once he goes south to advance to Luoyang, Luoyang City will fall into a great passive state. But to say, the troops and horses of Zhennan Hou Huang Shilang are stationed in the south of Luoyang. Zhennan Hou has been holding troops, as if he is waiting for Luoyang City to reveal his flaws. Now withdrawing from Luoyang is a good opportunity for Zhennan Hou to have troops.

During this period, Luoyang was calm and even a pool of stagnant water.

After the city gate was closed, Luoyang had less contact with the outside world, and the murder of messengers occurred frequently. Before the army moved, the intelligence war was already in progress. Han Jian also arranged some fake information to deliberately let other families know. Moreover, there were real or false information in these information, which made people distinguish the specific situations that did not appear in Luoyang City.

On the tenth day of March, there was a sudden change in Luoyang City. Han Jian sent a team of envoys mainly from Lin Ke to personally go to Huang Shilang, the military camp of Zhennan Hou, to serve as envoys.

After all, Lin Ke is a member of the imperial faction. As soon as he came out, everyone felt that Han Jian was about to complete the internal cleaning. (To be continued...)

...
Chapter completed!