Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

Although more than three years have passed since Hou Jing's Rebellion, Jiankang City is still in a dilapidated state. Broken walls and ruins can be seen everywhere, and there is rarely smoke from cooking in the market houses.

Nowadays, the relatively intact places in the city that have been cleaned up and repaired are only a few places such as Taicheng and Fucheng. Most of the other places have neither the energy nor material resources to repair, nor the need to repair them.

The traces of the war may be erased, but the memories hidden deep in the minds of those who have experienced the war can accompany them throughout their lives, lingering like a nightmare. Although Wang Sengbian also promulgated many decrees to appease the exiles and scholars and people originally from Jiankang, they still had little effect when they were actually implemented. Many people would rather live in exile and beg for food than return to Jiankang to settle down and make a living.

The massive loss of population and the hopelessness of return are also important reasons for the delay in the recovery of Jiankang City's vitality. Moreover, although Wang Sengbian now holds military and political power, he himself does not have much ability to deal with chaos. The execution was not thorough.

Occasionally, some old people in the Kinei returned home because of homesickness, or they migrated from other prefectures and counties to enrich the Kinei, but because they were not resettled in a timely and effective manner, the losses were often heavy. There were also many sergeants committing atrocities, and vicious incidents such as robbery and robbery occurred one after another.

However, Wang Sengbian can't care about many people's livelihood matters at the moment. The most important thing before him now is to re-establish their legal system and court in Nanliang.

"Are the cultural relics needed for the ceremony ready?"

Due to the large loss of scholars and people in Jiankang City in the past, many court officials were recruited to Jiangling. Today, there are very few people who are still in Jiankang and are proficient in etiquette. He has not returned yet, so Wang Sengbian can only do everything personally, and personally handle all matters, no matter how big or small.

"To inform the Lieutenant, the cultural relics and gifts have just been decided, Yu Bao's materials are still being searched for, and there are many missing items from the imperial craftsmen and slaves..."

Although Wang Sengbian is extremely diligent, there are still objective problems that cannot be avoided. There are problems everywhere.

After Wang Sengbian heard the report from relevant personnel, he couldn't help but feel a headache. He secretly regretted that he had not strictly enforced military discipline when he regained Jiankang. When he regained Jiankang, due to the chaos in military discipline, a fire broke out in Taicheng, and many cultural relics and gifts were burned. Fortunately, the remaining ones were packed and sent to Jiangling one after another.

Compared with the two northern countries, Southern Liang has always been famous for its rituals, music, and solemnity. However, after being hit by repeated riots, it is now even impossible to purchase the cultural relics and gifts for the king's enthronement. This is really sad and cannot be relieved.

"No matter what, we must try our best to prepare the cultural relics as comprehensively as possible, so as not to make my king ashamed to see the world! You all need to do your best. If you know that you can't do it, or you have hidden efforts, you will never be lenient!"

Although he knew that these difficulties existed objectively, Wang Sengbian still glared and ordered sternly.

This time the new king ascended the throne was the first national ceremony after the national crisis. It was not only to tell the world that Liang Zuo was still alive, but also to create and strengthen Wang Sengbian's personal authority. Especially the latter point is the biggest reason why Wang Sengbian attaches so much importance to the new king's accession to the throne.

After Hou Jing's Rebellion ended, powerful local forces sprung up like mushrooms after a rain. Even Liang Emperor Xiao Yi was helpless when he was still there. When Wang Sengbian took over the military and political power, these local forces became increasingly arrogant and became more and more arrogant. hard to control.

Wang Sengbian also needs to use this enthronement ceremony to declare to the increasingly arrogant and powerful military leaders that he, Wang Sengbian, has the ability to establish a new king and continue the rise and fall!

But the vision is good, but it is also difficult to achieve it. All kinds of visible and invisible constraints from all sides are like hooks that tightly hold him, making him unable to move.

"Have the materials from Wuzhong arrived?"

After inspecting the production and preparation of cultural relics and ritual vessels, Wang Sengbian summoned an envoy from Wuxing to inquire about the preparation status of the supplies.

On the day of the coronation ceremony, not only the generals guarding the various parties should try their best to rush to Jiankang to watch the ceremony and greet the new king, but also the armies of all parties should gather their elite troops to Jiankang to prepare for the next step of military deployment. At present, the people's livelihood in Jiankang is declining and the treasury is dilapidated. They can only replenish supplies from the land of Sanwu.

"The Wu people value profit over righteousness, and there are many heroes who defend themselves and resist the government's orders. Although there are calls for recruitment, there are only a few who respond..."

When the messenger heard Wang Sengbian's inquiry, he opened his mouth to complain.

Wang Sengbian frowned immediately after hearing this. Before the messenger could finish speaking, he slapped the case and shouted angrily: "Is there a natural barrier between Jiankangzhi and Wuxing? I didn't hear anything about Du's actions in the state? I would like to report to the Lord that the country's destiny is very difficult, so don't be greedy. If food and supplies are not available in Wuxing a month ago, I will go to Wuxing in person to supervise its administration!"

Du Gong, the prefect of Wuxing, was Wang Sengbian's son-in-law, but he committed many acts of corruption and violence after entering the country. However, the current trend is such that as long as it is not too outrageous, Wang Sengbian is too lazy to interfere. But at such a critical moment, even Du Gong, a confidant, was acting in a submissive manner. This naturally made Wang Sengbian furious, and he deeply hated this short-sighted behavior that ignored the overall situation.

After being scolded by Wang Sengbian, Wei Wei, the envoy from Wuxing who was sweating profusely, responded and finally resigned as if he had been granted amnesty.

In addition to cultural relics, gifts and materials, the most important thing in the enthronement ceremony is naturally the people attending the ceremony.

Shortly after the news of the murder of Emperor Liang Xiao Yi reached Jiankang, Wang Sengbian notified the generals and ordered them to rush to Jiankang as soon as possible to support the new emperor. If all these people are absent, then this enthronement ceremony will undoubtedly become Wang Sengbian's one-man show. Whether it is held or not is of little significance, at least it will not achieve the effect of unifying all parties.

Those generals who originally obeyed Wang Sengbian arrived in Jiankang one after another, such as Cheng Lingxi, the governor of Qiaozhou, Xu Sihui, the governor of Qinzhou, Wei Zai, the governor of Yiyang, and so on. However, the attitude of some other generals who did not have a clear affiliation was more ambiguous, such as Wang Lin who recently occupied Huancheng and Chen Baxian of Jingkou.

Seeing that the enthronement ceremony was approaching, Wang Lin was still reluctant to leave, but sent an envoy here. The reason was that the emperor's father had not avenged his great revenge, and there was no reason to look back. The new emperor and the captain were within the capital, so he only needed to give them With the Jie Zhi and several men and horses, he went up the river and fought back to Jiangling.

This impassioned speech is indeed very majestic, but aside from its high-sounding superficial meaning, the inner meaning is nothing more than asking for soldiers and power. If he was really so determined, how could he lead the battle line from Xiangzhou to Jiangzhou?

Now he refuses to enter Beijing because he is worried that the court will take the opportunity to accuse him of attacking Huancheng, and he also wants to get the court to admit that he occupied Jiangzhou.

Wang Sengbian also expected Wang Lin's unwillingness to obey. He had already learned that this disciple was tough and difficult to control, otherwise he would not have been arrested and sent back last year just after the Hou Jing Rebellion was settled. Jiangling questioned the crime. Although it was not Wang Lin's order to guard Huancheng, it actually played a certain role in defending against the enemy, so there is no need to rush to deal with it for the time being.

Compared to Wang Lin, who has never been very submissive, Chen Baxian's uncooperative attitude at this time made Wang Sengbian deeply worried. Whether in terms of position, qualifications or power, Chen Baxian is now second only to Wang Sengbian in the country. And there has always been a certain tacit understanding between them.

However, this time, for such a big matter as establishing a new king, Chen Baxian rarely fully communicated with Wang Sengbian. He always used the tight war situation in Guangling as an excuse to express his inconvenience in leaving and returning to Jiankang.

After Wang Sengbian refused the Qi envoy's request to return Guangling, the Northern Qi Dynasty sent his king Gao Yue of Qinghe to lead an army of 50,000 to the south to attack Guangling. Chen Baxian left general Hou Andu to guard Guangling, while he led his troops to continue to guard Jingkou, with each other separated by the river.

Guangling is being besieged by the Qi army, and although the war is tense is an objective reality, it is not necessarily true that Chen Baxian can be completely immobilized. In the past, it was very difficult for Chen Ba to capture Guangling first. Now it is not easy for Northern Qi to recapture it. Especially Jingkou in the south can send reinforcements to Guangling from the river at any time. This also prevents the Qi army from fully launching its offensive, which is far from enough to defeat the troops stationed at Jingkou. It's hard to leave Chen Baxian for even a moment.

Whether Chen Baxian used this as an excuse or he really couldn't get away, it undoubtedly showed that he was not active enough in this matter.

The reason that Wang Sengbian can think of is that Chen Baxian had a relatively in-depth military cooperation with Li Boshan of the Western Wei Dynasty, and Guangling City was obtained from this.

Now that there is a great feud between the Western Wei Dynasty and the Southern Liang Dynasty to destroy the country and slaughter the emperor, Chen Baxian will undoubtedly become embarrassed, so he hesitates. As a result, Wang Sengbian had to re-evaluate whether the relationship and the way he got along with Chen Baxian needed to make certain adjustments.

But aside from these remarks, as the time for the new king to ascend the throne became closer and closer, Wang Sengbian's mood became more and more anxious. The good personnel news he was looking forward to did not come. Instead, a group of unexpected people came to Jiankang again, that is, the envoys from the Northern Qi Dynasty.