Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 45. Liu Bei ascends the throne
Ever since that day when Jian Yong came to report the news that the Han Dynasty had fallen, Liu Bei was so angry that he fainted. He was unable to handle affairs for several days and could only recuperate in the palace.

After recuperating for a few days, Liu Bei felt that he had recovered as before, so he picked up the memorials on the table that had been handled by Kong Ming recently and contained important issues that he needed to make the final decision on personally.

When Liu Bei picked up the first one, his brows furrowed. He glanced at it quickly, put it aside, and picked up another one. When he looked at it again, his frown became even deeper.

Liu Bei simply picked up a few memorials at random, opened them and scanned them, and found that the contents were exactly the same. He became furious and called the eunuchs.

"Immediately call the military advisor and all officials to the court."

The eunuch did not dare to delay and immediately went to notify all the civil and military officials in the court to come to the palace.

The officials were well prepared and all of them gathered in the main hall in less than an hour.

"What is the meaning of this memorial?"

Liu Bei and others were present. After some greetings, he picked up the memorials piled on the side and showed them to everyone.

One of the memorials said that a spring suddenly emerged from a dry well in the northwest corner of Chengdu, and the water was sweet and refreshing, and the people rushed to drink it. Another one said that a unicorn appeared in Hanzhong today, which was a good omen.

All of these were different, but in the end they all called for Liu Bei to ascend the throne as soon as possible and inherit the dynasty.

"The Han Dynasty has just fallen, why are you deceiving each other with this?"

Liu Bei angrily threw the memorials to the ground and looked at his ministers.

"Your Majesty is the grandson of Emperor Jing. Now that the Han Dynasty has just fallen, Your Majesty should inherit the throne and continue the Han Dynasty."

Zhuge Liang stepped out first and made his speech.

"Your Majesty, the Cao rebels are rebelling against the Han Dynasty, and the whole world hates that we cannot unite to defeat them. If Your Majesty does not succeed to the throne, does not bear the name of the Han Dynasty, and does not raise an army to defeat the rebels, you cannot be called loyal and righteous. Today, all the people in the world want Your Majesty to become the emperor, defeat the rebels and revive the Han Dynasty. If you do not follow the will of the people, I am afraid that the loyal hearts of the world will be chilled."

Taifu Xu Jing came out first to persuade Liu Bei.

"Although I am the grandson of Emperor Jing, my virtues and grace have not yet spread to the people. How dare I usurp the throne and claim the throne! If I act in this way, I will be no different from the traitor Cao Pi!"

Liu Bei was furious and refused to follow the advice of his ministers. Even though Zhuge Liang tried to persuade him, Liu Bei refused.

Finally, Liu Bei was forced into a panic by his ministers, so he simply brushed off his sleeves and went straight back to the palace, leaving everyone staring at each other in bewilderment.

"Kong Ming, what should we do? If the king insists on not obeying, there will be endless troubles in the future."

Xu Jing was quite worried. Zhuge Liang fanned himself with a goose feather fan, pondered for a moment, and made a plan.

A few days later, the news that Zhuge Liang, the military advisor, was seriously ill spread throughout the city. Upon hearing this, Liu Bei personally visited him. When he arrived at Kong Ming's house, he entered his bedroom and saw Kong Ming lying on the couch.

"What illness does the military advisor feel?"

Seeing Zhuge Liang's depressed look, Liu Bei became quite anxious and asked repeatedly.

"Alas, I am extremely worried and I am afraid I will not live long!"

Zhuge Liang was also deliberately setting up confusion, and Liu Bei fell into the trap and asked repeatedly.

"I wonder what the military advisor is worried about?"

Zhuge Liang just said that he was seriously ill, sighed deliberately, and closed his eyes without answering. This made Liu Bei even more anxious, and he asked many questions.

Seeing that the time was right, Zhuge Liang also let out a long sigh.

"Since I came out of the mountains, I have been fortunate to be recognized by the king. I have been with you until now and have always obeyed your words. Now the king has the land of the two rivers, and you have lived up to my words. But now Cao Wei has usurped the Han Dynasty and wants to end the Han sacrifices. The civil and military officials want to serve the king as the emperor, to fight against Cao and restore the Han Dynasty in public, and to seek fame and leave their names in history; I didn't expect that the king would insist on not doing so, and the officials would all be resentful, and they will soon all disperse. If the civil and military officials all disperse, Wu and Wei will attack, and the two rivers will be difficult to protect. How can I not be worried?" When Liu Bei heard Zhuge Liang's words, he realized that he seemed to be thinking only about his own ideas. You want to know why the civil and military officials are willing to follow him? Isn't it because they hope to have some of their own interests while restoring the Han Dynasty?

"I am not unwilling to refuse, but I am afraid that people in the world will regard us as no different from Cao the traitor."

"As the old saying goes, if the name is not right, the words will not flow. Now the king's name is right and the words are right, what is there to discuss? Haven't you heard that if you don't take what God gives you, you will suffer the consequences?"

After much deliberation, Liu Bei decided to shirk some responsibilities.

"There is no rush for this matter. Once the military advisor recovers, it won't be too late to perform the grand ceremony."

Unexpectedly, Zhuge Liang jumped up from the bed, and many civil officials came in one after another and bowed to the ground.

"Since the king has agreed, please choose a day to perform the grand ceremony."

Liu Bei was so shocked by this sudden scene that he was speechless. He stared at the people who were bowing like a wooden chicken. He also watched Zhuge Liang, who did not feel the slightest bit uncomfortable with bowing with him, and he did not know what to say for a moment.

After a while, Liu Bei sighed and suddenly waved his sleeves.

"You actually conspired with the military advisor to put me in an unjust situation?!"

Zhuge Liang and others didn't care about these. Since they had just agreed to it, they had to ascend the throne.

"Since the king has agreed to our request, we can build an altar and choose an auspicious day to perform the ceremony."

Afterwards, while sending Liu Bei back to the palace, he asked Doctor Xu Ci and Counselor Meng Guang to be responsible for building the altar and making preparations, and asked Qiao Zhou to write the sacrificial text.

In just a few days, everything was done. Liu Bei walked on the road to the altar, with imperial carriages on both sides, which made Liu Bei's thoughts wander and returned to his youth.

When I was young, I once pointed at the tree and said, "I will ride in this carriage with feathered canopy."

Now, he has numerous civil and military officials under his command, and how can their carriages and canopies be compared to the big trees they used to have?

Thinking back to my life of wandering, if it weren't for Zhuge Liang's strategy, I wouldn't have been able to survive until now. If it weren't for the surprise attack by the Eastern Wu, I'm afraid my second brother would still be by my side today...

Liu Bei climbed up the platform with a mess of thoughts in his mind to perform the sacrifice. Qiao Zhou beside him also took out the sacrificial text that he had prepared long ago and began to read it.

After the sacrificial oration was finished, Zhuge Liang led his officials to present the imperial seal. Liu Bei took the seal, held it on the stage, and repeatedly declined.

"I have no talent or virtue, please choose someone with talent and virtue to accept it."

Zhuge Liang said first:
"Your Majesty has pacified the four seas, and your merits and virtues are known to the world. Moreover, you are a relative of the Han dynasty, so you should take the throne. I have already offered sacrifices to the gods, so why should I refuse?"

Then, Kong Ming took the lead and all the civil and military officials shouted "Long live the emperor". After the ceremony, Liu Bei also announced that the reign would be changed to the first year of Zhangwu, and his concubine Wu would be made empress, his eldest son Liu Chan would be made crown prince, his second son Liu Yong would be made King of Lu, and his third son Liu Li would be made King of Liang.

Zhuge Liang was promoted from military advisor to general and Grand Marshal to prime minister, and Xu Jing was made minister of justice. Officials of all ranks were promoted and rewarded, and a general amnesty was granted. The soldiers and civilians in the two Sichuan provinces were all delighted.

Naturally, Feng Xi was also promoted. Although it was a promotion in title, from Guannei Hou to Shenwu Hou, a title similar to Guanjun Hou that had more symbolic significance than actual benefits, his salary did increase a lot.

This day was also the first day of Liu Bei's court meeting, during which he formally issued an order to launch an eastern expedition against Sun Wu.

"I have sworn brotherhood with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei since Taoyuan, vowing to live and die together. Unfortunately, my second brother Yunchang was killed by Sun Quan of the Eastern Wu. If I do not avenge him, I will be breaking the alliance. I want to mobilize all the troops in the country, cut off the Eastern Wu, capture the traitor alive, and avenge this hatred!"

Although the ministers had known about this for a long time, they still couldn't help but give some advice. Zhao Yun, who had been promoted to General Huwei, was the first to step out and kneel down to give advice.

"I hope Your Majesty will think twice about this matter."

(End of this chapter)