As soon as this was said, there was a lot of discussion.
Everyone was whispering, and the hall was buzzing.
Even Zhuge Liang frowned, then quickly relaxed.
Liu Bei was stunned there, then sat there with some dejection and muttered to himself: "Yes, the big man is dead."
"The big man is indeed dead."
Shen Chen looked around and said loudly: "Whether your majesty truly abdicates or is forced by Cao Pi, whether in fact or in name, the Han Dynasty is dead. Just like the former Han Dynasty King Mang usurped the throne, there are no Han ministers in the north, and there are no Han ministers in the south. There is no longer a Han leader, and this is the biggest problem we have to face."
"Yes, your majesty has always regarded your majesty as the orthodoxy, but the emperor was forced by Cao Pi to hand over the Han Dynasty orthodoxy to Cao Pi. So in terms of righteousness, Cao Pi inherited the Han tradition, just like the great ancestor inherited the Qin Dynasty, but we lost Obtained a righteous reputation."
"Yes, Xiaoqing looked at the problem deeply and grasped the most important key. Now that the king has lost his status in the south, even if he wants to launch a northern expedition, under what name should he send troops to attack Cao Pi?"
"Isn't it okay to avenge the emperor?"
"Of course it won't work. The Han Dynasty has perished. If the Han unification does not continue, then the king will lack orthodoxy and justice, and it will be unreasonable to send troops to the north."
Everyone was talking a lot.
This is the dilemma Liu Bei is facing now.
Liu Bei is currently able to establish vassal states in the south. What legal principles does he have?
He regarded Liu Xie as his orthodoxy, and at the same time held the imperial edict on clothes and belts, raised troops in the south, and then attacked Cao Cao in the north to revive the Han Dynasty.
To put it simply, with the clothing edict in hand, Liu Bei could officially declare that Cao Cao was the current king Mang, who controlled the emperor and wanted to usurp the Han Dynasty and establish itself.
And he was a loyal minister appointed by Liu Xie to get rid of Cao Cao with the belt edict.
But because Cao Cao was powerful, Liu Bei came to the south to recruit troops and talents to help the Han Dynasty and save the emperor from fire and water.
But now the emperor is gone.
In name, Liu Xie abdicated the throne to Cao Pi, and the great Han Dynasty was gone.
So in terms of legal theory, Liu Bei's righteousness of using the Yidai Edict as the basis for his Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, the restoration of the Han Dynasty, and the service to the Emperor were naturally gone.
Don't underestimate this thing of righteousness and fame.
Even at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, the insurrectionary armies revolted under the slogans of countering the Yuan and restoring the Song Dynasty, countering the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty, and restoring Han people's clothes and clothes.
Sometimes it seems that righteousness is a vain thing, but the benefits it can bring are unimaginable.
It was with the banner of Liu Xie that Cao Cao took the initiative and appointed officials to whomever he wanted, and sent troops to conquer whomever he wanted. As a result, talented people from all over the world joined him one after another and contributed to the establishment of Cao Wei.
Therefore, the current priority is not actually launching the Northern Expedition, but how to seize the rightful name and take back the orthodoxy from the hands of Cao Wei.
Liu Bei's face was full of grief and anger. The demise of the Han Dynasty made him, a descendant of the clan, extremely painful.
Zhuge Liang stood up at this time and said: "Xiaoqing is right. The Northern Expedition is not important now. What is important is that the Han Dynasty is dead. The king used his clothes and ordered to raise troops and punish the thieves. However, the emperor abdicated the throne to Cao Pi. , who sent out troops in response to the imperial edict, he became an unknown army and was unpopular."
"But."
Liu Bei lamented: "Now that your Majesty has passed away and the Han Dynasty has been destroyed, what should I do?"
"King!"
Shen Chen stood up and said seriously: "Although Your Majesty is dead, the king is still here. If you are still here, who is the dead Han Dynasty? The emperor has lost the Han orthodoxy in his hands, so the rise and fall of the Han Dynasty will fall on the shoulders of the king. At this time, the king should just like Guangwu in Hebei to inherit the great unification, and bring out a new Han Dynasty, so that the people in the world who cherish the Han Dynasty can have a place of return!"
Get a new big guy out?
Although Shen Chen often speaks some incomprehensible sentences, even a fool can understand them.
If this is not to persuade Liu Bei to ascend the throne as emperor, what else can it be?
The people below were stunned for a moment, and then some people who reacted quickly stood up and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, the Han Dynasty has been seized by Cao Pi. Although Your Majesty is a Han official, the Han master is no longer here, and we no longer have allegiance." As the saying goes, a country cannot be left without a master for a day, so the king should inherit the great rule and continue the Han Dynasty."
"Yes, during the Pre-Han Dynasty, Wang Mang usurped the throne in order to continue the Han Dynasty. Emperor Gengshi, Emperor Siyuan, Emperor Liang Han, and Emperor Guangwu successively proclaimed themselves emperors. This was because of their orthodox titles. Now that the Han Dynasty has perished, the great king has risen The burden of restoring the Han Dynasty rests on my shoulders, so I have no shirking responsibility."
"I think what the Governor said is reasonable. It is a fact that Cao Pi usurped the Han Dynasty. Even the emperor has been killed. Since orthodoxy has died, the king should imitate Emperor Guangwu and ascend the throne as emperor. Only then can he expel the rebellious ministers and false emperors and launch the Northern Expedition!"
"What the gentlemen said is not unreasonable, and I also think it is true."
Many ministers immediately launched into a long speech, quoting various scriptures and references, including examples from Emperor Guangwu of the Western Han Dynasty, and others from the restoration of Zhongshan during the Spring and Autumn Period. The voices of persuasion became louder and louder.
Liu Bei was dumbfounded by what everyone said, and said hesitantly: "But I have been able to be where I am today because of His Majesty's heavenly grace, and I am an official in the court. How can I?"
"Your Majesty."
Shen Chen said: "The king is indeed favored by His Majesty, but now that the emperor has lost his orthodoxy, if the king still regards the emperor as the master, he will lack the rightful name. How can the people in the world who cherish the Han Dynasty find a home? Only when the king ascends the throne and becomes the emperor can he become the common master of the world and order the righteous people at home to fight against the Cao Wei puppet dynasty together!"
"Kong Ming, what do you think?"
Liu Bei looked at Zhuge Liang again, wanting to ask his opinion.
Zhuge Liang nodded and said: "What Xiaoqing said is absolutely true. I hope your Majesty will think twice."
"I hope your Majesty will think twice."
Everyone continued to urge them to come in, but they couldn't be slow at this time. Even Zhuge Jin, Lu Xun, Zhang Zhao, Gu Yong and other Jiangdong factions were shouting at the top of their lungs.
Everyone knows that if Liu Bei ascends the throne now, he will be a minister of the Dragon.
Although Cao Wei occupied the north and was powerful.
But after Liu Bei gained Jiangdong, his territory was larger than that of Cao Wei, but the population was smaller than that of the north, but it did not mean that he had no chance of unifying the world.
Even if they cannot unify the world now, as long as Liu Bei becomes emperor, their official positions will be further improved.
Whether it is for political considerations or for the interests of himself and his family, the benefits of Liu Bei becoming emperor far outweigh the disadvantages. In other words, after Liu Xie abdicates, even if Liu Bei becomes emperor, there will be no disadvantages at all, only benefits.
So everyone hopes that Liu Bei can proclaim himself emperor at this time.
First, it is to continue the Han Dynasty and Guo Zuo.
Secondly, after proclaiming himself emperor, he could justifiably reward hundreds of officials, unlike before, where he held official positions under the Kaifu of the King of Han.
Seeing that everyone was urging him to proclaim himself emperor, Liu Bei hesitated for a while and said, "If I inherit the throne, when can I raise an army?"
Shen Chen said: "Your Majesty, inheriting the throne is not a small matter. Firstly, we must inform the world, secondly, we must invite barbarians from all over the world, thirdly, we must offer sacrifices to heaven and earth, pray to God, and fourthly, we must comfort our ancestors. Now the emperor has After losing his country, there is no one to worship the spirits of the twenty-four generations of Han emperors. The king must not forget his ancestors."
"Ancestor?"
Liu Bei suddenly broke into a cold sweat.
The worship of ancestors during the Han Dynasty was unimaginable to many people.
In other words, even if Chinese people in later generations attach more importance to the concept of family, it is far less deeply rooted than during the Han Dynasty.
In the concept at that time, ancestors had spirits. If future generations were unworthy and failed to offer sacrifices to their ancestors and let them enjoy incense, then their ancestors would become wandering ghosts and suffer from hunger and cold.
The ancestor of the Liu surname in the Han Dynasty was naturally Liu Bang, including Liu Bei. He was not of the lineage of Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu, so Liu Xiu was not his ancestor, Liu Bang was.
But the Eastern Han Dynasty officially worshiped Liu Bang and the emperors of the Western Han Dynasty.
Liu Xiu also always regarded the Eastern Han Dynasty he established as the continuation of the Western Han Dynasty. He did not say that the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty were two dynasties. It was just that in order to distinguish them, people at the time called the Western Han Dynasty the Former Han Dynasty or the Early Han Dynasty.
Now that Cao Pi has usurped the Han Dynasty, the Han emperor will no longer be included in the official sacrifices in the north, and Liu Bei's ancestors will not be able to receive sacrifices and offerings.
Even if Liu Xie could still retain the right to offer sacrifices to the ancestors and emperors of the Han Dynasty in Shanyang, firstly, Liu Bei thought Liu Xie was dead and did not know about it. Secondly, this was not an orthodox sacrifice in the country, and the specifications and system were far inferior to those before.
Liu Bei apparently forgot about it for a while because he heard the bad news that the big man was dead and Liu Xie was dead. Now after being reminded by Shen Chen, he recalled it and was so frightened.
When he thought that his ancestors might be suffering from hunger and cold, he panicked and said quickly: "What should we do?"
Shen Chen immediately said: "Since the great king inherited the throne, he has reestablished the Han Dynasty in the south and built an ancestral temple to support the spirit of the late emperor. Otherwise, how could the twenty-four generations of late emperors rest in peace in the netherworld without an ancestral temple to rely on?" "
"Yes, for the sake of the Han Dynasty and the ancestors of the Han Dynasty, your Majesty should indeed do this."
"I also ask your Majesty to ascend the throne as emperor, launch an expedition to the north, and revive the country."
"Your Majesty, please ascend the throne!"
The ministers bowed their hands again and expressed their admonition to Liu Bei to advance.
This time Liu Bei finally no longer refused, but sighed deeply: "In this case, for the immortality of the Han Dynasty, and for the sacrifices to the ancestors' spirits, I can only do this. I just hope that after ascending the throne, I can go to the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains. , attack Cao Pi to comfort the spirit of the late emperor. Let Kong Ming and Xiao Qing handle this matter."
"Your Majesty is wise!"
Everyone saluted again.
In fact, Liu Bei had no reason to refuse.
Because the Han Dynasty was destroyed and the great Han Dynasty was gone, naturally there was no one above him.
Even if he is promoted automatically, he must ascend the throne and become emperor.
What's more, only by raising the banner of reviving the Han Dynasty can we regain the rightful reputation that was robbed by Cao Pi.
The slogan now being shouted by the North is very simple.
Liu Xie felt that he was unable to revive the Han Dynasty, so he voluntarily handed over the position of emperor to Cao Pi, who succeeded the Han Dynasty and established the Wei Empire.
In this way, Cao Pi inherited the Han Dynasty orthodoxly, just like Liu Bang inherited the Qin Empire.
Liu Bei in the south, on the other hand, became a rebellious traitor who did not obey the emperor's orders.
In this way, Liu Bei was born shorter in terms of righteousness.
Therefore, in order to regain the honor of justice, proclaiming the emperor is also an imperative thing. There is no need to hypocritically refuse the invitation to advance twice like Cao Pi, and only agree to the third time.
After agreeing to proclaim himself emperor, the next thing was relatively simple. Zhuge Liang, Shen Chen and others immediately started preparing the things they needed to prepare for proclaiming themselves emperor.
Historically, Liu Xie was usurped by Cao Pi in October of the 25th year of Jian'an, but Liu Bei only ascended the throne as emperor in April of the second year.
The intervening half a year was not caused by a lack of information, but by Liu Bei's preparations for his ascension to the throne.
It took four months from the time he received the news at the beginning of the second year to the preparations for his enthronement.
But even so, he ascended the throne in a hurry.
Because the actual enthronement ceremony often takes longer, as envoys from all directions must be notified, various matters for the new dynasty must be formulated, and the number of people must be determined before the enthronement ceremony can be held.
Now Liu Bei has left these matters to Zhuge Liang and Shen Chen. They want to create a new big man. Naturally, the two cannot slack off. All specifications and systems must be prepared and everything up and down during the ceremony must be arranged.
This naturally takes a long time.
And there is something very important inside.
That is, since the Han Dynasty is to be re-established, officials must be re-established according to the specifications of the empire.
In the past, officials were all subordinates of the shogunate of the Han Dynasty. Firstly, they were not officials recruited by the imperial court, and secondly, they were not ministers of the Han Dynasty, but ministers of the princes and kings of the Han Dynasty. There was a sense of unfairness in their names.
Now if Liu Bei ascends the throne, he will be able to legitimately switch to an official official position in the Han Dynasty.
Naturally, the list of officials was not determined when Liu Bei ascended the throne, but was determined in advance. After Liu Bei ascended the throne, large-scale rewards were given.
Therefore, Liu Bei left the matter of ascending the throne to the two of them. In fact, he also left the appointment of officials to them.
Basically, they have drawn up the list and Liu Bei will read it out when the time comes.
Therefore, in a sense, Zhuge Liang and Shen Chen had very great power at this time. They could arrange their own people in the court, and even make the entire court their party members, thus taking advantage of Liu Bei.
However, Liu Bei trusted them so much, naturally because of their firm character. Except that Shen Chen would appoint some really talented disciples under his sect, there would probably be no personal relationships.
So everything went smoothly.
Just taking advantage of this opportunity, Shen Chen proposed to reform the system of the Three Officials and Nine Ministers into the system of three provinces and six ministries, so that the Three Officials and Nine Ministers, as well as the generals, generals of hussars, generals of cavalry, generals of guard, etc. could establish their own small imperial courts.
Cancel it to strengthen centralization.
But Zhuge Liang objected.
He did not object to the problems with Shen Chen's system, but believed that since he wanted to inherit the Han Dynasty in terms of legal principles and orthodoxy, he should fully accept the Han system in order to appear orthodox.
Even though Zhuge Liang knew that the restructuring proposed by Shen Chen had its advantages, he could not be careless in fighting for the right to honor.
It would not be too late to wait until the future political power is stable or the country is unified to reform the system.
Shen Chen thought it made sense and agreed.
However, the current system of three ministers and nine ministers is indeed in name only. These positions can be used as false positions to place senior ministers with high moral standards.
Real power should still be unified. Now they need an efficient government, not an agency with decentralized powers.
Therefore, Shen Chen and Zhuge Liang were not only busy with ascending the throne these days, but were also carrying out certain political reforms, as a model for the newly established Han Dynasty's political clarity, high efficiency and high degree of centralization.
This is not an easy thing, and it is easy to offend people in the process. For example, if some people are given lower job assignments, they will definitely complain and feel unhappy.
But you have to do it even if it’s not easy, otherwise, you won’t be able to create a good political environment and an efficient government.
So for a long time after that, Liu Bei's counselors were extremely busy.
The adviser group with Zhuge Liang as the core in the Chen Dynasty, plus Fa Zheng, Jia Xu, Pang Tong and others, all participated and ran around.
It was not until the second year of Huangchu of Cao Wei Group and the second half of the 26th year of Jian'an of Liu Bei Group that it was barely completed.