It’s hard to break a phoenix’s destiny

Chapter 675: Marrying a Phoenix-born Woman to Become the Emperor

After a heavy rain, it rained again a few days later, and then the weather gradually cooled down, with an autumn mood. In any case, we finally got through the difficult times, and everything was getting better and better.

Liu Yao also concentrated on taking his army to store food and grass, because the war never stopped. All people in this world know the power of power. Not only can they have supreme glory, but they will also have countless gold, silver, jewelry and beauties.

All forces have become blood-thirsty and are unwilling to stop.

Because of the severe drought, Liu Cong insisted on moving the imperial capital to Pingyang, taking a group of people with him and leaving Chang'an to Liu Yao.

But soon, he issued another decree, requiring Liu Yao to garrison the southwest front to prevent people from other tribes from coming to occupy his territory.

Liu Yao was not very happy at first. After all, his two sons were still young, and Yang Xianrong was a delicate woman. If she followed him to the cold and humid southwest, her body would definitely not be able to bear it.

After going back and discussing with Yang Xianrong, they decided to let the whole family follow Liu Yao, leaving only a few people in the General's Mansion to guard the courtyard.

Fortunately, the journey was relatively peaceful. Yang Xianrong and Cui Xi were safe in the army with their children. The children grew up quickly in such training and shared some things with them. Just like Li Lianhua and Liu Yue's two children had already joined the Shaoying Group, and together with Liu Cheng, they became the most important vanguard scouts in the "Yao" army and made many contributions.

Yang Ruoxi helped take care of Yang Xianrong's two children, and was indeed a great helper. It also gave Yang Xianrong and Cuixi some time to breathe, so that they would not be exhausted physically and mentally from the long journey.

Wars could break out at any time, and life in the camp was not easy. Liu Yao had always wanted to occupy a city as his base camp, but he had not found a suitable place along the way. The situation in the southwest was indeed too complicated, and everyone was at a loss as to what to do.

But what is even more disturbing is that an increasingly bizarre drama is being played out in the center of the Han Dynasty's imperial city.

Every day, countless war reports were delivered to the Pingyang Palace. Liu Cong read them at first, but later handed them to eunuch Wang Shen and others to deal with. He himself took Wu Shi San in his bedroom, and his mental state became increasingly depressed, and his temper became unpredictable.

In February of the third year of Jiaping, Liu Cong went to court to discuss matters. However, when the ministers were reporting on the situation in various places, he suddenly became irritable, drew his sword and killed seven officials including Taizhong Daifu Gong Shiyu and Shangshu Wang Yan in the hall. The reason he gave was that the eunuchs around him did not like them.

The court and the country were shaken, and everyone found it extremely unbelievable. How could an emperor kill a minister just because of the preferences of the eunuchs around him?

The attendant Bu Gan cried and advised against it, and was demoted to a commoner.

Prime Minister Liu Yi, Imperial Censor Chen Yuanda, Jinzi Guanglu Doctor Liu Yan and others all expressed strong dissatisfaction, but Liu Cong even wanted to confer the title of marquis on the eunuchs around him, such as Wang Shen.

Upon seeing this, General Liu Yi submitted another memorial to advise Liu Cong, which finally made Liu Cong angry. He even destroyed Liu Yi's memorial with his own hands. Liu Yi died of resentment. Upon seeing Liu Yi's death, Chen Yuanda was also disappointed with Liu Cong and committed suicide in anger.

Under the control of Wang Shen and Jin Zhun, the court was completely devoid of discipline and corruption was rampant. The officials only flattered their superiors. The concubines and palace maids in the harem were given generous rewards, but the army outside was short of resources. Seeing this, Liu Fu repeatedly advised against it, but Liu Cong scolded Liu Fu for crying and admonishing him frequently, which made Liu Fu sick with worry and anger and he died soon after.

Because of Liu Cong's complete trust, Wang Shen and Jin Zhun joined forces and took the opportunity to kill some officials they disliked and killed more than 15,000 soldiers in Pingyang City.

It was already a month later when the news reached Liu Yao and Yang Xianrong. When Liu Yao heard about this in the big tent, he was so angry that he threw a lot of things, and scared everyone so much that they dared not breathe. It was Yang Xianrong who quietly picked up the wine jugs, water bags, maps and other items on the ground and put them back in their original places, and then asked the soldiers who came to report the news to eat something first, and finally calmed the situation.

She knelt in front of Liu Yao, refilled his glass and handed it to him, saying softly: "Why are you angry? Wasn't this expected a long time ago?"

"It's just... I'm still angry!" Liu Yao drank the wine in one gulp and clenched his fists. "Why did he become like this?"

"There is no need to ask about these matters." Yang Xianrong's tone was extremely calm. She filled Liu Yao's glass again and whispered, "The general should be prepared."

Liu Yao looked at her, and his emotions finally calmed down a lot. He did not drink the second glass of wine. There was a bit more determination in his eyes, and he led his army back to Chang'an to guard it.

A year later, Liu Cong died.

He died very quietly, and it is said that he died in his afternoon nap. According to the previous arrangement, his eldest son Liu Can succeeded to the throne. But the situation in the Han Dynasty changed unexpectedly. Jin Zhun actually launched a coup, killed Liu Can, and beheaded all the Liu clan members living in Pingyang, regardless of age, in the East Market. He called himself the Great General and the Heavenly King of Han, and sent envoys to the Eastern Jin Dynasty to declare himself a vassal.

Upon hearing about the rebellion of Jin Zhun in Pingyang, Liu Yao personally led his army from Chang'an to Pingyang. When they reached Chibi, they met the Grand Guardian Hu Yanyan and the Grand Tutor Zhu Ji who had escaped from Pingyang. These people had been good friends with Liu Yao before, and now they were filled with righteous indignation and told him about Jin Zhun's various evil deeds, and also advised Liu Yao to make plans and arrangements early.

Liu Yao was not at all flustered. He directly took out a jade seal of the state and showed it to everyone, "Have you forgotten? The woman I married is Feng Ming Yang Xianrong. I want to be the emperor!"

With this statement, who can object?

Liu Yao immediately proclaimed himself emperor and changed the reign title to Guangchu, and this year became the first year of Taixing.

After Liu Yao became emperor, he appointed Zhu Ji as the Minister of Works, Hu Yanyan as the Minister of Works, and Fan Long and others were all restored to their original positions. He also ordered General Liu Ya and General Liu Ce to march to Fenyin. At that time, Shi Le was stationed in Hebei, so Liu Yao appointed Shi Le as the general, and they formed a pincer attack with Shi Le to attack Pingyang.

Soon, Jin Zhun was killed by his subordinate Jin Ming. His followers unanimously elected Jin Ming as their leader, and Jin Ming prepared to surrender to Liu Yao.

Shi Le was furious and sent his main force to attack Pingyang. Jin Ming asked Liu Yao for help, and Liu Yao sent Liu Ya and Liu Ce to meet Jin Ming.

However, Jin Ming had no good intentions and wanted to stab Liu Yao with a dagger when he saw him. Fortunately, Yang Xianyong and Yang Xiankang stood beside him, and Yang Xianyong even blocked the knife for him.

But it was this one blow that took Yang Xianyong's life.

Liu Yao was furious and killed Jin Ming and 15,000 other members of the Jin family outside Pingyang City to avenge Yang Xianyong.

At this time, the situation in the Guanlong area changed, and Liu Yao could not immediately turn against Shi Le, so he had to appoint Shi Le as the Prime Minister, the title of General, and give him special treatment. He gave him all the 24 counties of Henei, and later directly rewarded him as the King of Zhao. In short, all these actions were to stabilize Shi Le so as to free up his hands to deal with the hostile forces in the Guanlong area.