Xie Xuanchen had already asked people to clean up the palace on the way. As soon as Mu Mingtang entered, he even had hot water boiled.
Xie Xuanchen planned to settle in Youzhou, so the palace, government offices, mansions etc. must start making preparations. Youzhou was originally an important place already, so all the government offices and other services were ready. Only Xie Xuanchen’s palace took a little more effort.
Although the Emperor had revoked Xie Xuanchen’s title, the Prince didn’t care at all. In Xie Xuanchen’s words, Xie Rui had stolen the throne, so did Xie Xuanchen even need his title? Someone tentatively mentioned that he should be crowned Emperor instead, but Xie Xuanchen refused. Although his tone was calm, his attitude was very firm, “It’s not yet time.”
When will be the time? Xie Xuanchen didn’t say anything and it was difficult for the others to ask. Ultimately, they still addressed him as King Qiyang. Although Xie Xuanchen refused to proclaim himself Emperor, he could not delay the preparations for the imperial court. Everyone understood that Youzhou would be the capital of the new dynasty from now on.
Xie Xuanchen decided to make Youzhou the capital, but several advisers did not agree with it. Without him around, it would be too risky.
Youzhou was less than a hundred miles away from Ju Yongguan(1). For the capital of a country, this distance was too close. If the border was lost, the capital would face a crisis.
(T/N: Assume that it is something like the Great Wall of China that acts as a separation between two countries)
Xie Xuanchen insisted on this. He answered, “It is precisely because it is close to the border that we have to settle here. If we are far away, we will not know the hardships of war. Only by settling here can we force the royal family and the ministers to work hard to be prepared for danger in times of peace.”
When the counsellors heard this, they secretly lamented that Xie Xuanchen was truly a lunatic. They knew they couldn’t dissuade him, so they stopped trying to.
But even without mentioning it again, after the centre of power was moved to Youzhou, everyone knew that the Beirong people were not far away, so they all worked hard.
The heavens were also taking care of him very well. During the time when Xie Xuanchen was facing the most internal and external troubles, Ye Luyan in the north was questioned by the Empress Dowager Xiao for indirectly killing Ye Luji. The Emperor in the south capital, on the other hand, was critically ill. Xie Xuanji and his younger brothers were fighting for the throne whereas the ministers were also busy with taking sides. For a while, no one could spare any effort to conquer Xie Xuanchen.
When they finally remembered about Xie Xuanchen, wheat had been harvested in Youyun and other places. In fact, the portion of wheat for the second year had been planted. Xie Xuanchen added 300,000 men into his troops from Zhongshan and Hejian without losing any blood. Now that he had collected food, he was finally on a firm footing with both manpower and supplies.
Both Beirong and the capital were beating their chests in anxiety, but it was too late to regret now. Both the Ye Dynasty and Beirong have been greatly weakened this year. They were at each other’s throats for the first half of the year, but by the second half, they were exhausted. Now that the weather had turned cold, which was not conducive to marching ahead, neither side dared to start a war hastily. They could only stay put for the time being and wait for a winter to pass before making plans.
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