Thief Emperor

Chapter 887: Admit Defeat
Li Yun was not angry either. He just looked at Emperor Wu in front of him with interest.

Although he had not met the Emperor of the Great Zhou for many years, after various things and many long-distance "fights", Li Yun had more or less understood Wu Yuancheng's character.

This person is definitely not a strong-willed person.

To put it bluntly, he was an extremely weak emperor.

In other words, the look he showed in the court at this moment was most likely an act, and the reason was very simple: he just couldn't save face.

After all, many of the people in the Luoyang court today were his old ministers from the Wu Zhou Dynasty. If he bowed his head and admitted defeat as soon as he met them, he would really lose all his face.

Li Yun was not annoyed, but just looked at Wu Yuancheng with a smile and said, "The situation in the world has been determined. Your Majesty, do you recognize it?"

Although Li Yun no longer recognized his status as a minister of Zhou after being dismissed from his post by the Zhou court, up to now, Li Yun and the entire Xin Dynasty court recognized Wu Yuancheng's status as emperor.

Otherwise, there would be no talk of the abdication ceremony in the future.

Only by recognizing Wu Yuancheng as the orthodoxy can Li Yun be the orthodox in the future.

In fact, Wu Yuancheng is indeed the undisputed orthodoxy, because in the world today, except for the dead Wang Junping, no one has claimed to be emperor, and other forces except Li Yun are still nominally subjects of the Great Zhou.

This is the only emperor in the world today. It is reasonable for Li Yun to call him "Your Majesty".

Wu Yuancheng looked up at Li Yun, then lowered his head slightly. His two hands under his robe were trembling slightly.

"I...I..."

With his personality, it is impossible for him to say that he is not afraid at the moment.

I was just holding on for the sake of the emperor's face.

He hesitated for a long time and didn't say anything. Li Yun sighed and was about to speak when His Royal Highness the King of Chu strode up to him. Without saying a word, he knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, we Wu family recognize..."

"Wu admitted it!"

Li Yun looked calm.

Wu Yuanyou was pulling Wu Yuancheng's sleeve frantically. The latter gritted his teeth, knelt on the ground and lowered his head to Li Yun.

Li Yun stood up from his chair and walked in front of the two brothers. He stretched out his hand to help Wu Yuanyou, the King of Chu, up and asked, "When you were in Nanjing, the emperor sent people from the Imperial City Bureau to stab you many times. Don't you bear a grudge in your heart?"

The King of Chu lowered his head and said in a hoarse voice: "Your Majesty, at that time, the Great Zhou court was still in existence. My presence in Jinling was a threat to the Great Zhou court. It was not necessarily that Big Brother wanted to kill me."

"Maybe the emperor wants to kill me."

At this point, he looked up at Li Yun, then lowered his head and said, "Now...now, my elder brother will soon no longer be the emperor. My elder brother and I are brothers from the same mother..."

"Naturally I want him to continue living."

Li Yun was startled when he heard this, then he patted the King of Chu on the shoulder and said with emotion: "Brother Wu is really a wonderful person."

After saying this, he bent down again and helped Emperor Wu up. Then he looked at the emperor and said slowly, "Your Majesty, before Your Majesty ascended the throne, there were chaos everywhere in Jiangnan and the Central Plains. After Your Majesty ascended the throne, the world became even more chaotic. Just here, I have seen at least millions of people die in the chaos."

"The ones I didn't see were countless."

"In the past few years, the Central Plains was littered with dead bones. Hebei Province fell into the hands of the barbarians. Hedong Province and Shuofang were all filled with flames of war."

He looked at the emperor, narrowed his eyes, and murderous intent surged in his eyes: "Some of these are not your Majesty's fault, but some are indeed your Majesty's fault."

"Does your Majesty agree?"

Wu Yuancheng looked up at Li Yun, his face had turned a little pale, but he still didn't speak.

"For example, Liang Wen, the governor of Henan Province appointed by His Majesty."

Li Yun said with his hands behind his back, "He was in Henan Province. Over the past few years, he killed nearly a thousand women and civilians. He once said that he would be unhappy if he didn't kill one person every day."

"Jiannan Road, after your majesty arrived at Jiannan Road, the originally isolated Jiannan Road was immediately devastated. In the past few years, the number of lives lost by the Imperial Guards in Jiannan Road alone has increased significantly."

"I'm afraid you've already lost count?"

Li Yun had personally experienced everything that had happened in the past few years. Now he could tell the story in detail, basically describing everything that had happened in various parts of the world.

Finally, we continued talking about Jiangnan Road.

"When I was young, Yuezhou was in turmoil. I was ordered by General Su to fight against the rebels together with him. Wherever General Su's troops went, the rebellion of Qiu Dian in Yuezhou was like snow meeting the scorching sun, melting away without a trace."

"However, less than half a year after the Yuezhou Rebellion, the general was implicated by the imperial court and died in battle in the Central Plains. In the end, the old man was even carried into the battlefield."

"General Su treated me like a disciple, and I also respected him as a teacher. To be honest, Your Majesty actually had a grudge against me for killing your teacher."

After hearing this, Wu Yuancheng finally couldn't hold on any longer.

A large part of the cause of the unrest throughout the world was naturally the accumulation of the previous emperor's dynasty, but the death of General Su Jingsu was truly related to him. It could even be said that he died at his hands.

The emperor subconsciously turned around and saw General Su's eldest son Su Sheng, standing in the first row of officials, staring at him intently.

He was startled and his legs went weak.

He knew that the King of Wu in front of him might not necessarily want to kill him, but the son of General Su would definitely kill him if he found an opportunity, without any hesitation.

His Majesty the Emperor could hardly stand, his voice trembling: "I...I did make a mistake."

At this point, he looked up at Li Yun, his voice trembling even more: "I...I know I have lost my moral integrity."

"I am willing...I am willing to abdicate to the wise king."

His voice was not loud, but it was loud enough for many people to hear.

In a corner, several clerks were writing furiously, recording what he said.

Today's court meeting is destined to be recorded in history books, and will surely be talked about with relish by future generations.

Li Yun glanced at him, then sat back on the main seat with his hands behind his back. He looked at the emperor calmly and said, "Since your majesty has said so, I will not say much today. I still have many things to discuss at the court meeting today, so I will not keep your majesty any longer."

"His Royal Highness the King of Chu."

Wu Yuanyou immediately stepped forward and bowed, "Here I am."

"Please take His Majesty and his family to your house temporarily. They will stay in your house for the time being."

At this point, Li Yun showed a faint smile on his face: "After all, you are brothers. If I live in your place, people won't say anything to me. If I live in my place, something might go wrong."

"Then I can't clean myself up."

His Royal Highness the King of Chu took a deep breath and bowed: "I obey your command."

After saying that, he pulled Wu Yuancheng and was about to leave the hall.

The emperor finally looked up, glanced at Li Yun, gritted his teeth and asked, "How is the new dynasty?"

Li Yun looked calm: "If your majesty lives long."

"We will see it in the future."

"it is good."

The emperor said in a deep voice: "As long as the King of Wu allows me to live, I will keep my eyes open and watch carefully!"

After saying this, he shook off his brother's hand that was supporting him, turned around and strode out of the hall.

Li Yun watched the two brothers leave and said with a smile: "These two brothers are really interesting."

After saying that, he looked at Su Sheng and asked, "General Su, do you have any comments?"

Su Sheng bowed his head slightly, clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, Wu Zhou killed my father. Now Your Majesty has destroyed Wu Zhou and avenged my father. As for this Wu Emperor."

He said in a deep voice: "No matter how the king arranges, I have no objection."

"That's good."

Li Yun nodded, then sat up straight, looked at the ministers below, cleared his throat, and said, "Today, meeting the Emperor of the Wu family is only the first thing. The new dynasty is about to be established, and there are many things that need to be announced at this court meeting, and there are many things that need to be discussed at this court meeting."

"You all can be regarded as the founders of the new dynasty in the future because you are here. Today, everyone should be careful. If you feel there is something wrong, just speak up."

"Let's make some adjustments."

At this point, he paused and said, "Now, I have two announcements to make."

"The first thing is to promote Su Sheng to General Su..."

"For the general."

Li Yun looked at Su Sheng and said with a smile: "This is the first great general of our new dynasty. Before the ceremony, there was only one great general, and other generals in the army were promoted."

"We have to wait until the new dynasty is established."

As soon as Li Yun finished speaking, almost everyone present looked at Su Sheng, and some people also looked at Zhao Cheng.

At this time, smart people could already see that Li Yun was not very satisfied with the outcome of this southwest war.

And just this little clue may cause Zhao Cheng to be surrounded and attacked in the future.

Zhao Cheng just lowered his head slightly and said nothing.

Li Yun coughed and continued, "The second thing."

"Since the establishment of the six ministries, the chief of the Ministry of War has been vacant."

Li Yun looked at Zhao Cheng with a calm voice.

"I have decided to appoint Zhao Cheng as the Minister of War and order him to set up the Ministry of War."

"And preside over the affairs of the Ministry of War."

(End of this chapter)