Traveling through Tianlong: Starting from the Zhenlong chess game

Chapter 578: The bloodless march eastward
After Zhao Mu ascended the throne, there were still many things to deal with, and his army was also gathering in full swing.

In addition to giving his subordinates reassurance and conferring titles on them.

Then there was the matter of re-drafting the reign title. Now that Zhao Mu had ascended the throne as emperor, the previous reign title was naturally unusable. Therefore, everyone suggested that Zhao Mu change the reign title.

After much thought, Zhao Musi had no imagination, so he used the "Kaiyuan" of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang as the new year name for himself when he was crowned emperor.

Although everyone thought it was rather rustic and unlucky, Zhao Mu liked it, so they just followed his wishes.

Immediately, the court changed the reign title from the third year of Zhenguan to the first year of Kaiyuan.

Although Zhao Mu's reign title was "Zhenguan Year Three", he had actually been king of Qi for just over a year. The reason why it was called "Zhenguan Year Three" was because when he first arrived in Qi, it was autumn and winter. The reign title was just announced and the year ended. The next year was a full year. When Zhao Mu changed the reign title, it was spring, and only a few months had passed. That's why it became "Zhenguan Year Three".

After establishing his own legitimacy and rewarding and winning over the people he should win over.

The rest was to confer titles on his harem. Although Zhao Mu felt that this was unnecessary, the maids around him were vying for it, and even Wang Yuyan, in order to gain a position, willingly gave herself to Zhao Mu.

Seeing how excited they were, Zhao Mu had no choice but to meet their demands.

First of all, there are the two queens. Zhao Mu still did not set up a main palace, but only enfeoffed Li Qinglu and Mu Wanqing in the name of East Palace and West Palace.

After that, there were two imperial concubines. Zhao Mu gave these two positions to Anping and Huyan Jin. This was because Princess Anping was a princess of Goryeo, and in terms of status, she should be given the title. Huyan Jin had been married to him for a long time and had a noble status, so he gave her the title.

As for the positions of the four imperial concubines, Zhao Mu also allocated them according to their origins. Qian Yuhuan and Chai Wenxiu were both princesses of the Song Dynasty, so they deserved their positions. Then there were Wang Yuyan and Ah Zhu.

Zhao Mu gave the nine concubines the four swords of plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum, the two servants of autumn frost and winter snow, and then Musa and Abi. Seeing Yelu Jinnu's pitiful appearance, Zhao Mu also gave her a position.

As for Princess Anping's maid Cui Yan and other women he had touched, Zhao Mu gave them official titles such as idle beauties and talented women.

As for the last concubine, Zhao Mu also planned to leave it to a woman whom he had not seen for a long time. This woman was his "cousin-in-law" Liu Ying.

Speaking of the widowed Madam Liu, Zhao Mu calculated the time and found that her mourning period should be over. It was time for Zhao Mu to return to Bian Jing to pick up the master and servant.

After dealing with all these miscellaneous matters, Zhao Mu's army had completed its rotation.

In the next few days, Zhao Mu's manifesto to attack Huizong spread like wildfire from Qi State to the Song Dynasty.

After the proclamation was issued, the military leaders of the various towns that were used to "defend" Zhao Mu also rose up one after another. The military supervisors and state officials who knew the current situation followed them and defected to Zhao Mu.

Those who were ignorant of the current situation were directly chopped off by these generals as a sacrifice, as a token of their allegiance to the new emperor Zhao Mu.

Before Zhao Mu's army left Xiaoguan, the defenders in Xiningzhou, Hezhou, Danzhou, Weizhou, Qingzhou and other places defected and surrendered.

Moreover, they took control of the local government office in an instant. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the guards at Xiaoguan had no choice but to surrender.

In this way, Zhao Mu issued an edict and basically encountered no resistance, and he marched straight to the city of Chang'an in Jingzhao Prefecture.

When Zhao Mu arrived in Chang'an City, the governor of Yan'an Prefecture, Zhong Yan, the grand marshal of Qi State, Wang Xian, and officials of Jingzhao Prefecture all went out of the city to welcome Zhao Mu.

When Zhao Mu arrived on horseback, the prefect and the garrison commander of Jingzhao all knelt down to greet him, shouting "Long live the emperor". However, Zhao Mu was a little confused now, because in his previous thinking, there should be a fierce battle around here.

But I didn't expect that my journey eastward would be so smooth.

Along the way, some people either defected or surrendered. Napoleon's return to Paris must not have been as smooth as mine.

Zhao Mu came up to him and dismounted. The palace guards holding the canopy came over quickly.

Zhao Mu walked closer and said, "My dear ministers, please stand up!"

Although he had been the emperor for quite some time, Zhao Mu still hadn't gotten used to his new identity. He usually called himself "the lonely king" and it was a bit hot to shout "stand up" to everyone.

After hearing Zhao Mu's order, Jingzhao Yin, Wang Xian and others stood up one after another.

Zhao Mu looked at the wide-open gates of Chang'an City, and then said to Wang Xian: "Your Excellency, this is a great achievement."

Wang Xian said, "It's all thanks to your Majesty's great fortune." Then Wang Xian said to Zhao Mu, "Your Majesty, I accidentally met an old friend at Brother Zhong's house."

As he said that, Wang Xian pulled Wang Jin, who had a gloomy face, over.

Seeing Zhao Mu again, Wang Jin was so excited that tears welled up in his eyes. He immediately knelt on the ground and shouted, "Prince!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Xian quickly corrected him, "My brother is wrong. You should call him Your Majesty now."

Seeing Wang Jin's embarrassed look, Zhao Mu quickly said, "Okay, now is not the time to get hung up on these titles. General Wang, why is he like this now? Shouldn't you be a general of the Imperial Guards in the capital? Why are you here now?"

Zhao Mu was quite surprised that Wang Jin appeared here.

Wang Jin stood up and replied, "Alas! This is a long story. Originally, I followed Your Majesty in the Northern Expedition and made some achievements in the Western Expedition. I was appointed as the Inspector of the Imperial Guards by the Emperor. But after the new emperor ascended the throne, he placed great importance on Gao Qiu. Because he was the emperor's confidant, he was appointed as the Grand Marshal and concurrently the Minister of War. As soon as he came, he accused me of a crime. I had no choice but to flee with my mother. Fortunately, I found refuge with Brother Zhong and got him asylum. It was only when Grand Marshal Wang came that I was able to meet Your Majesty."

Zhao Mu didn't expect that the original incident in Water Margin still happened. In the original world view, it was because Huizong ascended the throne and Gao Qiu gained power. Wang Jin moved to the Jinglüe Mansion because he was afraid of being assassinated by Gao Qiu.

Zhao Mu felt that by promoting Wang Jin and making him a general and a high-ranking official, he could change his fate, but he did not expect that it would be a different path but end up in the same place, and Wang Jin still could not escape this hardship.

Thinking about the generals who followed Zhao Mu in those days, who had the greatest contribution? The leader was not only the Iron Buddha Commander Wang Xian, but also the Imperial Guards Inspector Wang Jin. The two of them were known as the "Two Kings" in Zhao Mu's army.

Among them, Wang Xian had the best luck. He followed Zhao Mu to Qi State and was appointed as the Grand Marshal, the head of the military generals, and the Privy Councilor.

Wang Jin's luck was worse, as he was kept in the capital by Zhezong to serve as the inspector general of the imperial guards and the governor of the entire capital's defense.

But Zhezong's original intention was to let Wang Jin stay and wait for the right time to open the city gates to Zhao Mu. Although Gao Qiu was in a high position and made things difficult for Wang Jin, Huizong could not remove Wang Jin's official position without the emperor's seal.

But Wang Jin fled out of fear.

(End of this chapter)