Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 552 Edict
Heba Sheng looked at Xiao Yan with disdain. At this time, the sun was rotating and the strong light at the entrance of the hall had disappeared. Xiao Yan finally saw Heba Sheng's face clearly.

There was still blood on Heba Sheng's face, and the scars from the attack today were still very conspicuous. Seeing this, Xiao Yan couldn't help but shrink his body.

Heba Sheng, who was staring at Xiao Yan, grinned.

It turns out that these high-ranking figures can also be afraid?
At this moment, Heba Sheng's last bit of fear of these big shots disappeared.

Son of Heaven, he who has strong soldiers and horses will do it!
However, given the current situation, the third prince must be nominated to ascend the throne first.

Once I defeat those evil-minded royalist troops outside Jiankang City, I can also become an emperor!
After thinking this, Heba Sheng no longer wanted to waste time talking to Xiao Yan. He said to those around him in the hall:

"Where is the scholar who drafted the edict?"

After a dead silence, a young scholar stepped forward and said with a trembling body:

"Hanlin scholar, Shen Jun is here."

Shen Jun was a descendant of the Wuxing Shen family, which had been a large family in the south of the Yangtze River since before the Eastern Jin Dynasty moved south.

Shen Jun was proficient in Confucian classics and was selected as a doctor of the Five Classics. He was then promoted by Xiao Yan to be a Hanlin scholar, responsible for drafting imperial edicts.

Heba Sheng named someone at this time, obviously wanting him to draft an edict of Xiao Yan's abdication.

Most of the Hanlin scholars who had received the favor of Emperor Xiao Yan were unwilling to do such a thing, but there would always be speculators in any era, and Shen Jun was obviously ready to go all in and bet on Heba Sheng.

Heba Sheng asked with satisfaction:
"Do you know where the emperor's seal is?"

Shen Jun said quickly:

"I know."

"Very good. Draft an edict of His Majesty's abdication. I will report your contribution to the Crown Prince truthfully."

Shen Jun was overjoyed and kowtowed to express his gratitude. After Heba Sheng won over the people, he said to the soldiers behind him:
"Go and kill all the other scholars in the Hanlin Academy. They are all Zhu Yi's accomplices."

Hearing this, a cold wind blew in the hall.

Even Shen Jun, who had just been credited for his contribution, felt a chill running down his spine.

Only then did he realize that this was a brutal and bloody coup, and that Heba Sheng had killed people with a knife.

Unlike the time of Xiao Yan when officials were not subject to punishment, this domineering Northern Dynasty warrior would kill people without blinking an eye.

Xiao Yan, who was lying on the imperial couch, was also frightened, but the palace servants on both sides had heard Heba Sheng's order and hurried forward to drag him off the couch.

When the entire palace was quiet, Heba Sheng looked at the imperial throne that represented supreme power, strode forward and sat down.

The remaining people in the hall were all his confidants, and they all paid homage to Heba Sheng with laughter.

Heba Sheng also laughed out loud.

When he was under Erzhu Rong's command, Heba Sheng was also cautious and conscientious. Even if he was wronged, he had no choice but to go to Qizhou.

But in the Southern Dynasty, Heba Sheng was able to break through the city wall and sit on the imperial throne.

It is still uncertain whether the river can be divided and governed!

The ambition that emerged could no longer be suppressed. After Heba Sheng had satisfied his desire, he stood up and said:

"Go and invite the Third Prince over, and we will hold the coronation ceremony tomorrow!"

Heba Sheng was not carried away by victory.

Although he has now captured Taicheng, there are still troops outside the city who are far more numerous than his.

The reason why he was able to capture Taicheng was entirely because the military preparations of Southern Liang were lax, and he took advantage of the opportunity.

Even in Jiankang City, not all people supported Heba Sheng, let alone other areas of Southern Liang. As a northerner and a foreigner, he could not directly usurp the throne.

Therefore, the current plan is to first support Xiao Gang, who has the right of inheritance, to succeed to the throne, and then defeat the royalist army outside the city in the name of Xiao Gang, and finally slowly control Jiankang City.

This is the safest way.

For Xiao Gang, Heba Sheng was also his only partner.

Heba Sheng started the rebellion in his name and he was the one who supported him. If Heba Sheng failed, everyone else could distance themselves from Heba Sheng, except Xiao Gang.

Now the two of them are like grasshoppers on the same rope, and neither can leave the other.

When Xiao Gang heard that Heba Sheng had captured Taicheng and went to meet his father alone, his reaction was anger.

domineering!

I am the prince, but Heba Sheng went to see my father without taking me with him?
However, when Xiao Gang received an invitation from Heba Sheng to go to Jiankang Palace to succeed to the throne, he became happy again.

In his opinion, Heba Sheng, a surrendered general from the Northern Dynasty, could only rely on himself and support himself to be emperor.

After he became emperor, he would rely on Heba Sheng to quell those rebels who claimed to be loyal to the king, and then find a way to slowly deal with Heba Sheng.

This pair of monarch and minister, who each had their own ulterior motives, quickly reached a consensus on the issue of succession.

At this time, outside Jiankang City.

The current leader of the Qinwang Army, Xiao Yi, and the former leader of the Qinwang Army, Xiao Xu, have both received the abdication edict and the edict passing the throne to Xiao Gang, both stamped with the emperor's seal.

When the two edicts were delivered to the military camp, the entire army immediately split up.

The troops supporting the emperor in many places have already wanted to withdraw.

The siege of Jiankang City has lasted for several months, and no one wants to continue wasting time.

Anyway, he came to the rescue after receiving an imperial edict. Now that the emperor has passed the throne to Xiao Gang, he has lost his reason to come to the rescue. If he doesn't withdraw now, he will really have to spend the New Year in Jiankang.

Xiao Yi and Xiao Xu, the two leaders of the army to support the king, had the same idea, which was to use other people's troops to consume Heba Sheng's military strength.

Where in the world can there be such a good thing?
Except for Wei Fang and a few other generals who were truly loyal to Xiao Yan, the rest of the generals, after hearing the two edicts, all clamored to leave Jiankang and return to their own territories.

Xiao Yi felt overwhelmed. Why was everything different from when he started the army?

At this time, news came from Jingzhou.

Hou Jing went downstream from Jingmen and captured Jiangling, the capital of Jingzhou. Xiangyang, another important defensive town in Jingzhou, was also besieged, and it was unknown whether it had been captured.

Xiao Yi was even more panicked at this time. Although he expected Hou Jing to send troops to attack Jingzhou, he did not expect that Hou Jing would capture Jiangling City so quickly.

If any other city had been lost, even Xiangyang, Xiao Yi would not have panicked. However, after losing Jiangling, his title as the King of Chu would have been in name only and his life would have been cut off.

Everything is different from what we imagined when we started the rebellion.

Xiao Yi quickly summoned Wang Sengbian to discuss the matter.

After hearing about the situation, Wang Sengbian also felt very troubled.

Many of the soldiers from Jingzhou who they brought with them had their families in Jiangling. Now that their hometowns had been raided, the soldiers no longer had much will to fight.

The troops supporting the king were divided into pieces and were no match for Heba Sheng. Staying here would instead give Heba Sheng the opportunity to defeat them one by one.

Can we withdraw our troops? Not to mention whether we can defeat Hou Jing, we don’t even have enough food.

(End of this chapter)