The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 609: A Wise Ruler
"Queen!"

Zhang Bu and Puyang Xing appeared in front of Mrs. Zhu at this moment.

Madam Zhu was Sun Xiu's queen.

At the same time, she is also the daughter of the Zhu family, one of the four major families in Jiangdong. Her father is the late General Zhu Ju, and her mother is Sun Luyu, the Princess Zhu who was persecuted to death by Sun Luban.
Strictly speaking, Sun Xiu was her uncle, a real uncle, and her mother's brother.

But for the big families, as long as they don't have the same surname, it's not a big problem. It's not uncommon for an uncle to marry his niece. This was the case with Emperor Hui of Han, Liu Ying, during the Western Han Dynasty.

She looked a little cold, with an elegant and refined temperament and graceful manners, and she was a perfect match for Sun Xiu.

After learning the sad news of Sun Xiu's death, her eyes were red, but no tears shed.

Zhang Bu and Puyang Xing exchanged a glance before Puyang Xing spoke, "Queen, we are deeply saddened by His Majesty's passing, but the world cannot be without a ruler for a single day, and the affairs of the new ruler must be handled with caution."

Empress Zhu, worthy of being from a prominent family, quickly recovered. She looked at the two people in front of her and said, "That's right. What are your instructions?"

Zhang Bu said nothing and slowly took a few steps back. Puyang Xing, as the Prime Minister, spoke.

"Empress, the current situation has reached a critical point. Cao Cao is ready to make a move. Wang Ji's army is in Jingnan, and Huo Yi's army is in Jiaozhou. They are both trying to plunder Jiangdong."

"There are also many internal rebellions, and the Crown Prince is still young. I'm afraid it won't be easy for him to solve all these problems."

Puyang Xing's words were already very tactful.

Of course, Queen Zhu also understood what they meant.

In fact, although Queen Zhu had outstanding temperament, she had a cold personality and never interfered in important affairs of the court.

During the time when Sun Xiu was in power, she never participated in or was involved in any state affairs.

Even though the subject of discussion at the moment was her son, Queen Zhu was not moved at all.

She looked calmly at the two favorites in front of her who were trusted by her husband.

She still remembered that before Sun Xiu died, he held her hand and told her solemnly not to worry about what would happen after his death, and that the two ministers would help her and support their children to ascend the throne.

But when she saw the performance of the two people in front of her and thought of Sun Xiu's words, Queen Zhu felt inexplicably ironic.

Sun Xiu had just closed his eyes, but the two people in front of him showed no sadness at all. They came without stopping and asked to change the heir.

Well, her husband's vision was indeed good. He found two outstanding ministers to take care of her affairs after her death.

Seeing Empress Zhu fall silent, Puyang Xing spoke again, "Your Majesty, you may not know, but just now, before His Majesty closed his eyes, he took my hand and pointed at the Crown Prince, indicating that the Crown Prince was too young to be entrusted with important matters."

Queen Zhu was very clear about the truth here, and she probably knew best what Sun Xiu would say.

But, what can I do?

Even if she had the status of queen or even queen mother, it would be impossible for her to complete Sun Xiu's instructions without the support of ministers.

She has no foundation in the court, and the support of her clansmen alone is not enough to compete with everyone else.

What's more, even the two people that Sun Xiu had high hopes for were like this, what could he do?

Queen Zhu immediately accepted the reality.

She looked at the two people in front of her calmly and said coldly, "I am just a widow now. How can I know about the important affairs of the country?"

"As long as you can ensure that this will not harm the imperial court and that the royal family can rely on you, I have no objection."

There was a hint of sarcasm in her words.

Zhang Bu felt a little uncomfortable when he heard this, but Puyang Xing thought it was no big deal. He hurriedly asked the queen to give an order, and he recommended Sun Hao to the queen.

Of course Queen Zhu knew Sun Hao, as she was Sun Hao's cousin, so she did not object.

With the help of the Queen, the whole thing became simple.

Puyang Xing immediately announced the news of the emperor's death, and the entire Jianye was shocked and the officials were terrified.

Puyang Xing took care of many of the emperor's funeral affairs. He seemed to have rehearsed them many times and did them quite well without any mistakes.

At this moment, the ministers were most worried about the issue of the crown prince.

However, less than three days after Sun Xiu's death, Puyang Xing summoned all his ministers to discuss the important issue of selecting a wise member of the royal family.

To be honest, all the ministers were stunned at this moment.

Originally, all the ministers had already prepared for a big fight with Zhang Bu and Puyang Xing, because they firmly believed that the emperor would entrust his affairs to them and ask them to support the prince to ascend the throne. Those who did not want the young prince to ascend the throne naturally had to fight against these two people.

However, no one expected that they would take the lead in talking about this matter.

After serious discussions, the ministers agreed to Puyang Xing's suggestion. Puyang Xing's reputation even improved a lot because of this, and many ministers no longer disliked him so much.

The court made a decision and quickly sent people to welcome Sun Hao and enthrone him as emperor.

All this happened so quickly that Sun Hao, who was not yet 20 years old, became the emperor of Wu. He came to Jianye and paid homage to Sun Xiu.

After discussion, the ministers gave Sun Xiu the posthumous title of Emperor Jing.

Sun Hao also paid a visit to Queen Zhu and Sun Xiu's many children, and expressed that he would take good care of them.

Sun Hao's coronation ceremony was very quick, and the people of Wu were used to this pace, after all, they did it often.

After ascending the throne, Sun Hao quickly issued several orders, the first of which was to change the reign title to Yuanxing.

He then rewarded Shi Ji, the Left Grand Marshal, by raising his title, granting him land and special treatment, and appointed Ding Feng as the Right Grand Marshal, Zhang Bu as the General of the Cavalry and the Minister of the Interior, and Wan Yulai as the Grand Chamberlain of the Imperial Guard.
His lavish rewards made all the ministers extremely satisfied.

Sun Hao sat in the upper seat, looking at the ministers kneeling before him, his face showing both surprise and joy.

He could never imagine that he would actually become the emperor of Wu.

Looking at those lowered heads, for some reason, Sun Hao felt inexplicably comfortable in his heart. An indescribable spark of emotion burned in him, making his breathing become rapid.

All the ministers were waiting for the emperor to speak.

Sun Hao took a deep breath and looked at Wan Yu who had always supported him. Wan Yu nodded at him, signaling him to speak boldly.

Sun Hao then spoke, "I believe that to govern the world, one must be benevolent, righteous, and generous. One must implement benevolent policies. One must never let the people down!"

Hearing this, the ministers looked at each other in surprise.

Sun Hao cleared his throat and issued his first policy.

"From now on, stop building lake farms. No one is allowed to disturb the people. All county governments must provide relief to the people. Let them open their granaries and take out grain to help the poor! Let them cultivate farmland in their own areas!"

Upon hearing this, Puyang Xing's face turned pale.

But at this moment, several ministers felt their whole bodies tremble. They looked at Sun Hao in disbelief, unable to believe what they heard.

Seeing their expressions, Sun Hao looked at Wan Yu hesitantly again. Wan Yu smiled and nodded, letting him continue.

Sun Hao continued, "The world is in danger today, and the suffering of the people everywhere is evident to me. To help them, I intend to reduce the number of slaves in the palace, release any surplus rare animals, and reduce my own expenses."

When Sun Hao announced a series of policies, the entire temple was almost in an uproar.

Some people are happy that someone is worried.

After sending everyone away, Sun Hao's face was full of joy. Wan Yu followed him and took him to the inner hall.

"Mr. Wan, how was my performance?"

Wan Yu smiled and said, "Your Majesty is truly a benevolent ruler! Today's decree is enough to win the hearts of Jiangdong!"

Sun Hao was extremely happy to hear the praise and couldn't help laughing.

"Mr. Wan, what should we do about the appointment and dismissal of officials?"

Sun Hao said with some concern: "The officials in charge of the palace should be people close to me, but there are too few people close to me, and you are the only one..."

Wan Yu shook his head and said calmly, "Your Majesty, many matters within the palace are extremely important and cannot be easily disclosed. Therefore, we cannot use people who are close to us. We should choose people with high moral character. The same principle applies to selecting officials. If we ignore their moral character based on personal connections, it will definitely cause unrest."

Sun Hao immediately agreed to his request and said that he would choose a wise person to take the position.

When Sun Hao's edict came out, the Wu State, which was originally immersed in grief, suddenly became excited.

Those ministers who cared about the country were inexpressibly moved at this moment. Even Lu Kang almost cried.

God has eyes, this is a benevolent king!

The people of Wu State were immediately excited, believing that this emperor would definitely be a model of benevolent military who would surpass all the previous emperors!
After Sun Hao came to power, the decline of Wu State was swept away, and everyone from top to bottom became busy. The construction of lake fields stopped, and the people were able to return home. Officials also provided food for relief. The soldiers were greatly encouraged, and even the defection disappeared without a trace.

The news of Sun Xiu's death and Sun Hao's ascension to the throne reached Cao Wei at the same time.

He was soon sent to the Taiji Hall.

Cao Mao looked at the news in his hand and was a little surprised. Why did it feel like something was wrong?

Sun Xiu seemed to have left early, and why did Sun Hao's behavior not match the memory in my mind at all?

Isn't this something even more anthropomorphic than anthropomorphism? Why does it feel more benevolent than myself? Even Cao Mao didn't order the granaries to be opened to distribute to the poor.

This incident also caused a great sensation in the State of Wei, and many ministers felt that it would be difficult to carry out the crusade against the State of Wu.

However, Cao Mao did not feel discouraged. What would it matter even if a powerful king emerged?

The unification of Wei State had long been unstoppable, and neither Lu Kang nor Sun Hao could change anything.

(End of this chapter)