lady, please calm down

Chapter 325 The King of Chu
On June [-], the process of making Lu An the king began. Fan Gongzhi proposed to designate Lu An as the King of Chu. He handed it over to the regent Princess Jiarou to confer the title with a seal, and then handed it over to the Ministry of Rites to plan the auspicious date for the canonization.

However, Xu Derang, the Minister of Rites, who accidentally fell at Xuandemen during the morning court on the [-]th, temporarily suppressed the matter at the Rites Yamen on the pretext of staying home to recuperate.

Xu Shangshu's actions aroused the admiration of individual officials.

Nowadays, all the people in the dynasty are willing to wait and see, and only Xu Shangshu is strong-willed. With such an uncooperative attitude, he shows the integrity of the few scholars left in the Qi Dynasty. It is respectable and admirable!

But Chen Chu didn't get used to him. After only waiting for three days, he used Xu Derang's excuse of illness to promote Du Zhaoqing, a doctor in the Ministry of Industry, to the minister of rites in the Ministry of Rites to take over the matter of sealing.

On the 23rd, after all the procedures were quickly passed, Chen Chu was granted the title of King of Chu in the Daqing Palace, his wife Zhao was granted the title of Princess of Chu, and the Cai and Chen families were granted the title of concubine.
As soon as the news came out, the capital was silent, and there were a lot of discussions everywhere.

Not to mention that there was no precedent in Qi State for a privy envoy with military power to be granted the title of king, even Zhou State, which had been in power for three years, had never done so before.

Such a powerful minister, both in name and in reality, is rare in this world.

On the day he was crowned king, the court discussed the funeral of Emperor Daxing again. Four important ministers, including Chen Chu, King of Chu, Fan Gongzhi, Minister of Quanfan, Zhang Chunxiao, Minister of War, and Lu Chaoji, Minister of Industry, attended the funeral, discussed various matters, and ordered People from all walks of life in Qi Dynasty came to attend the emperor's funeral.

From the time of chaos in Tokyo on the 23th to the day when Chen Chu was crowned king on the [-]rd, after seven days, the news had already spread throughout the country.

Compared with the calm situation in Tokyo at this time, the military leader who was originally on good terms with King Lu gradually made some changes after several days of preparation.

On the 24th, the Hedong Road Weisheng Army and the Zezhou Army gathered tens of thousands of people and stationed themselves at Tianjingguan in Zezhou, only more than 500 miles away from Tokyo City.

Although he has not come east yet, his actions are suspicious.

The Ministry of War sent a letter asking Zhu Xun, the Jiedushi envoy of Weisheng Army, why he mobilized troops privately, but the latter could not read back.

Seeing this, Chen Chu stood still. Two days later, news of explosions were announced one after another.

On the 27th, the Hebei Wang Yan rebels who had been fighting with the officers and soldiers for many years suddenly issued a statement in the "Da Qi Qiyao Journal", saying: In the troubled times of our country, we do not want to see brothers and fathers killing each other and the lives of people in ruins. Wang Yan of Hebei is willing to lead his troops Eight thousand were summoned by the King of Chu!

As soon as this news came out, military leaders everywhere were surprised and confused.

Wang Yan's subordinates are not a bunch of blind people gathering in the grass. Otherwise, King Lu would not have been entangled with him for many years and was helpless.

Moreover, Wang Yan's statement is very intriguing. He was not recruited by the imperial court, but by the King of Chu by name.
This news has not yet been digested. On the 28th, "Da Qi Qiyao" published another article. This time the protagonist was replaced by the former Shandong Road officers and soldiers who had rebelled for many years.

In the statement, the leaders of the Guiyi Army, Yang An and Xu Ruxian, also felt that the King of Chu was righteous and willing to lead their troops to serve the country.

Subsequently, two groups of 'rebels' were stationed in place, waiting for the King of Chu to send people to reorganize and confer titles. Wang Yan, Yang An, Xu Ruxian and others had already set off for Beijing, preparing to meet His Highness Jiarou and the King of Chu.

This is the rare good news since the founding of Daqi, and it is two pieces in succession.

It has quite a symbolic meaning of a new dynasty, a new atmosphere, and returning home from all over the world.

Officials who had privately complained about Chen Chu's appointment as king had to be convinced.

Even 'temporary worker' Jiarou gained a wave of fame through this.

Since ancient times, military merit has been the only choice for those in power to gain high reputation, not to mention conquering two rebel armies in this bloodless way.

The focus of other military leaders was that King Chu suddenly gained more than 1 warriors who were good at fighting.

Now, with the Huaibei Army's Tokyo garrison and Huaibei garrison, plus the two groups of reformed and rebel armies that have already emerged on the mountain, the King of Chu can control nearly [-] elite troops.

Within Daqi, even the most powerful Yongxing Army only had an infantry force of over 1 horses.

The king of Chu has become so powerful that it can no longer be shaken by the army of one place, unless all the armies in the world jointly suppress it.

But each family has its own territory and each family has its own interests. Although Her Highness Jiarou is a woman, she also occupies Liu Qi's orthodox status. Who would want to get into trouble for no reason.

So, on the [-]th day, Jing Chao, the military commander of the Weisheng Army stationed at Tianjingguan, quietly led his troops back to the station and sent his son Jing Peng to Tokyo to attend the condolences of the Daxing Emperor.

At this point, there was temporary peace inside and outside Tokyo, and Daqi, which was in turmoil, experienced a rare peace and stability in all directions after experiencing a turmoil.

Hundreds of miles away in Caizhou City, Chen Jing'an met with Hu Quan from the computer room of the Privy Council of Zhou Dynasty in the duty room of the Jieshuai official office.

As early as last year before Chen Chu's wedding, the two parties had been in contact, but this time, Hu Quan said with emotion, "Brother Shouqian, I shouldn't have anything to say about your Qi State affairs, but the Qi State court has blocked the road. What do you want to do when you become the King of Chu?"

The land of Chu spans the north and south of the Huaihe River. If you look at this title in a small way, it will easily arouse the suspicion of Zhou State; if you look at it in a big way, is your Qi State coveting the land of Zhou State?

Chen Jing'an didn't show any favor to this man of the same age, and said directly: "Just now, Bang Heng only said one thing right."

"Which one?"

"Just that sentence, 'Normally, I shouldn't have anything to say about your affairs in Qi'."

"Shou Qian is being unreasonable! How can a title be granted to another country? It would be more appropriate to change the title of King of Chu to King of Huaibei."

"Hey~"

Chen Jing'an sneered and said: "Your Zhou Kingdom has lost half of Huaibei, and now you are entangled in such minutiae. Isn't it ridiculous?"

"you!"

Chen Jingan's words touched Zhou Guo's sore spot, and Hu Quan's fake annoyance just now turned into real anger. But then, Hu Quan quickly adjusted his mentality, remained silent for a moment, and said in a sincere tone: "Hey! It’s not like Brother Shouqian doesn’t know that Mr. Chen is having a difficult time in the court. You and Mr. Chen are from the same family, so this matter is also his intention."

It's okay not to mention Chen Bokang, the Minister of War of the State of Zhou. When he mentioned this person, Chen Jing'an immediately frowned and said: "Don't discuss personal affairs when discussing state affairs! Furthermore, a few months ago, your Lin'an Daily suddenly broke the news that Aunt Chen, the concubine of the King of Chu, was It was his idea that Mr. Chen lost his beloved daughter, right?"

"Uh" Hu Quan was speechless for a moment.

This matter was naturally Chen Bokang's idea. He originally wanted to use this to drive a wedge between Chen Chu and the Qi court, but unexpectedly, the subsequent development of the situation completely exceeded their expectations.

Seeing Hu Quan's embarrassment, Chen Jing'an added: "We are each our own masters and work for the country. There is nothing wrong with it. But it is a bit underhanded to drag a woman into the overall situation!"

Hearing what Chen Jingan said was unpleasant, Hu Quan murmured for a long time before holding back a sentence, "Who said Mr. Chen wants to take advantage of women! Mr. Chen really has a daughter who was lost when she was young, so Aunt Chen might really be the daughter of his family."

"Do you think I am a three-year-old child? Go ahead and lie to ghosts!"

At midnight, after the not-so-pleasant meeting with Hu Quan ended, Chen Jing'an drove Jian Cong out of the government office and prepared to go to the south of the city to see Jiang Huaixiong recruiting new soldiers.

When passing by the stock exchange on Yaqian Street, I saw that the vast hall was crowded with people, and some people had already queued outside.

There was an exchange clerk standing on a ladder, constantly changing stock prices on a large blackboard with stocks such as Sihai Commercial Bank and Luliuwei Farm Reclamation Group written on them.

Chen Jingan stopped and watched for a while. In just a quarter of an hour, he watched Sihai Commercial Bank's stock rise from 720 Guan [-] yuan to [-] Guan [-] yuan.

Luliuwei Agricultural Reclamation Group was not far behind. Under the leadership of these two stocks, Sitong Passenger Transport, Caoji River Transport, Zhujia Construction Materials and other stocks soared across the board.

This is a established rule. Every time the Huaibei Army wins a battle, it will cause a surge in stocks on the Caizhou Exchange.

Nowadays, Huaibei merchants who are keeping an eye on stock prices can obtain frontline news not much slower than the government offices.

In the afternoon of June [-], the Huaibei Army took control of Tokyo City. At midnight on June [-], the government office received the news.

The merchants, just over an hour later than everyone in the government office, learned the news through the information channel they jointly established.

When the information was reflected in the market, merchants rushed to grab the stocks of Sihai Commercial Bank and Luliuwei Farm Reclamation, which in turn led to a sharp rise in prices.

When Sihai Commercial Bank first went public in the eighth year of Fuchang, the price per share was ten guan. Later, with the rapid expansion of the Tongshan Group, the stock price rose again. By this month, when the news came back that the Huaibei Army occupied Tokyo, the stock price had exceeded the [-] guan mark. .Subsequently, Cai Hua, who was in charge of the trading company, divided the stock into ten shares on the grounds that "the stock price was too expensive and the investment threshold was too high." While continuing to invest a small amount of circulating shares, the stock market was once again enlarged.

According to Chen Jing'an's knowledge, nearly [-]% of the investors in these two major stocks are from the Zhou Kingdom in the south, and many of them are officials who receive royal salaries.

These people bought the stocks of Sihai Commercial Bank or Luliuwei Farm Reclamation, thus investing in Huaibei in a sense and forming a loose alliance of interests.

Although the stock transactions were all anonymous, Chen Jingan knew that Cai Sanniang had a secret list of officials from the Southern Dynasties who had interests in Huaibei.
If Huaibei wins, the stock price will rise. If the stock price rises, they will reap the profits. But they don’t know, if there is a conflict between Huaibei and Zhou Guo one day, what will they choose?

While Chen Jing'an admired Cai Sanniang's profound strategy, he also lamented that if she hadn't shared the joys and sorrows with Yuan Zhang, how could Cai Sanniang be worthy of a royal wife.

Just as he was sighing, he heard a loud noise of gongs and drums. He looked up and saw a guard of honor coming from the east gate. His brother Chen Jingyan was accompanying the imperial envoy to the direction of Sajin Lane.

Chen Jing'an didn't remember that his brother had invited him yesterday to welcome the angel today. Chen Jing'an had no official status and was too lazy to socialize, so he simply declined.

At this time, it seemed that the imperial envoy was here to read out the imperial concubine's decree.

Chen Jing'an, who was originally going to go outside the city, pondered for a moment, then suddenly smiled and turned around to go to Academy Street.

Caizhou Five Days Newspaper Office, Shuyuan Street.

In the check-in room, Chen Jinyu read the articles by Han Fang and Dong Xi, both academicians of the Caizhou Academy of Literature, and felt goosebumps all over the floor.

These two old men, who were well fed and raised in a liberal arts college outside the city, complained all day long at first, criticizing Caizhou's policy policies and Lu Anhou's domineering style.

It seems that they can't be seen otherwise.

However, since a few days ago, when the two of them learned that Lu Anhou had become the Prime Minister and was granted the title of Prince of Chu, their attitudes suddenly changed 180 degrees.

He wrote several parallel prose with gorgeous rhetoric in succession, praising the king of Chu.
Only then did Chen Jinyu learn that people didn't look down on the powerful, but that the former Marquis of Lu An was just a local hero, and they looked down on him.

But now that Chen Chu has become the Prime Minister, it's different!

After learning literary and martial arts, he was sold to the emperor's family. The king of Chu finally became a "king".

Just after reading these two disgusting parallel articles, Liu Changqing, who was recently transferred from Tongshan to serve as Chen Jinyu's deputy, knocked on the door and entered.

Hand over a few comic books that have just been printed.

The cover of the top book showed a handsome man astride a horse wielding a sword. Under the man's sword was a strange-looking creature that could barely be identified as a long-horned bull.

The name of this comic book is "The King of Chu Kills the White Bull". The two books at the bottom have different covers, they are "The King of Chu Puts Down the Rebellion" and "The First Encounter at Qifengling".

These comic strips were inspired by Chen Jinyu after listening to Liu Changqing's story about how the King of Chu used "Journey to the West" to promote Zhuyan Guo.

That strange story tells that instinct can mythologize a vegetable, and naturally it can use this method to mythologize a person.

"The King of Chu Beheads the White Ox" has some bizarre and divine qualities.

"The King of Chu Puts Down the Rebellion" is adapted from Chen Chu's pacification of Huaibei. It mainly highlights a Chu king who protects millions of people in Huaibei.

"First Encounter at Qifengling" tells the romantic story of the first encounter between King Chu and Ren Ren, highlighting a kind and human nature.

This is the effect Chen Jinyu wants to achieve, to make many people in the world who have never met Chen Chu respect and love him.

Paving the way for big things in the future. Nowadays, in the top management of Huaibei, it is a tacit secret among everyone.

Furthermore, after Chen Chu came to Tokyo, Chen Jinyu no longer had any concerns about publicity.

At noon, Zhuan Yun suddenly came to report that Chen Jingan was here.

The second uncle had never been to the newspaper office before. Chen Jinyu was surprised and personally welcomed the second uncle into the check-in room.

While his niece was serving tea in person, Chen Jing'an took a casual look in the duty room. His eyes were attracted by the little book on the public case at a glance, and he did not go forward to pick it up and read it.

When Chen Jinyu saw this, he smiled shyly and said, "Ayu did it randomly, which made my second uncle laugh."

When saying this, Chen Jinyu was both shy and hopeful, hoping that her second uncle would realize the usefulness of the little book.

The thoughtful Chen Jing'an did not disappoint Chen Jinyu. After a rough look through it, he immediately praised: "Ayu, this is not just messed up. This thing has great use."

Seeing this, Chen Jinyu pursed his lips and smiled with satisfaction, but then asked, "What's the big use? Second uncle, come and listen to it?"

"Hey, you still need to take the exam for the second uncle of the school?" Chen Jingan was in a good mood, pointing to the comic strip and said: "This thing has no reading threshold. People who can read can read the text below. Illiterate children and old women can also read it. Illustrated stories are very easy to spread. It won’t be long before Yuan Zhang’s reputation will spread among the people on both sides of the Huai River.”

After listening to the second uncle's words, Chen Jinyu became even more proud, and explained to herself: "Well, what the second uncle said is absolutely true. Moreover, people who like to watch strange things will definitely love the story of killing the white cow; they will also like the marching and fighting. Yes, you can watch the chaos in Huaibei be quelled; if you like to hear about scholarly girls, your first encounter in Qifengling will definitely satisfy their appetite."

Oops, this is to cover all genders and all ages!
Seeing his niece being so complacent, Chen Jing'an smiled, but said meaningfully: "Ayu, you have done so much, does Yuan Zhang know?"

"."

Chen Jinyu was stunned on the spot by her second uncle's question. Since they left in May, Chen Chu hasn't even written a letter for more than a month, but she is still planning everything for her uncle. This feeling naturally makes people feel a little bit... Wronged.

At the same time, the second uncle's words seemed to have revealed something.

The aggrieved Chen Jinyu glanced at her second uncle and saw that the latter still had a warm smile on his face. Somehow, he suddenly became bolder and couldn't help but said aggrievedly: "He doesn't know now, but he will definitely know that I have done many things in the future."

Chen Jing'an nodded and said, "Ayu, do you know that the imperial envoy has come and wants to make people princesses? Cai Sanniang and Aunt Chen, who is your good friend, have been made side concubines."

"."

Chen Jinyu, who heard about this for the first time, opened her mouth slightly and was stunned for a long time. She didn't know what to say at this moment. She had given up all the restraints of her daughter's family, even the private meeting to negotiate peace.

But now, her uncle has gained power and is a prominent member of the family, but she doesn't even have the right to be jealous.

Thinking of this, Ayu felt more and more that she was the most wronged person in the world, and she once wanted to make up her mind to ignore her uncle again.

Ignoring the presence of her second uncle, Chen Jinyu turned her back and cried silently facing the bookshelf.

When Chen Jingan saw this, some of the suspicions he had already had in his heart were immediately confirmed.

But he was different from what Chen Jingyan thought.
Chen Jing'an sighed silently, and suddenly whispered to Chen Jinyu: "Ayu, Yuan Zhang has invited me to Beijing to be his counselor. Are you willing to go with me?"

"Second uncle!"

Chen Jinyu turned around suddenly, and because of the excessive movement, the crystal tears on her cheeks were thrown away.

Her pretty face was stained with tears, but her charming dimples could not help but show up, "Second uncle, you really mean what you said!"

"Of course it's true. I'll go and tell your father's side for you."

"Then when shall we set off!"

Just now, the determination to ignore his uncle from now on has been thrown out of the window.

(End of this chapter)