Chapter 348 Ascending the Throne
Li Heng was only one step away from the throne, but he did not relax at all, because the situation in the Tang Dynasty was still not optimistic.

Although the government troops recaptured Luoyang, the rebels' manpower was not completely depleted. Although An Lushan fled, he did not run too far. He only ran from Luoyang to Yecheng. At the same time, he ordered Yin Ziqi to withdraw his troops to Suiyang and control Bianzhou.

Controlling Bianzhou could not only cut off the Grand Canal of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, but also threaten the eastern gateway of Luoyang.

An Lushan gave up Luoyang and simply compressed the defense line, switching from offense to defense.

Shi Siming, who retreated to Boling, recruited soldiers from Fan Yang, cooperated deeply with the Khitan, Tongluo and Shiwei, gathered a large army, and captured Raoyang while the imperial court was sending heavy troops to recapture Luoyang.

When An Lushan first started his rebellion, he did not take Raoyang seriously, but now the situation has reversed and the rebels have changed their goal from conquering the world to establishing their own region.

As for the separatist regime, Raoyang's location in Hebei is crucial.

After all, both Dou Jiande and Liu Heita regarded Raoyang as an important military base in Hebei.

The two rebel areas now are somewhat similar to Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong in the early Tang Dynasty.

Moreover, after Shi Siming changed his goal, his thinking also changed. He learned from Dou Jiande, gave up burning, killing and looting, and began to govern Hebei with "benevolence and righteousness."

Of course, Shi Siming's transformation was also because he had enough strength, because An Lushan sent all the treasures looted from Luoyang to Fan Yang, which made Shi Siming, who controlled Fan Yang, very rich.

In addition to the An Lushan Rebellion, other parts of the Tang Dynasty were also fraught with danger.

Before Li Longji was controlled, in order to guard against Li Heng, he appointed Li Lu as the Grand Commander of Jiangling, and the Jiedushi of four towns: Lingnan, Jiangnan West, Qianzhong, and Shannan.

Li Lu had long harbored the ambition to seize the throne. Now that he was in charge of four towns alone, he began to plot to secede and establish himself as a king, and put forward a sixteen-character policy: "Preserve Jiangdong, learn from the Eastern Jin Dynasty, occupy one side, and establish oneself as king."

In order to win over the hearts of the people, Li Lu also invited Li Bai, who was living in seclusion in Mount Lu, to be his adviser.

Li Bai thought he was serving the Tang Dynasty, so he went happily.

The above are internal problems.

As for external threats, although the Uighurs sent troops to help the Tang Dynasty, they were also preparing to attack the Karluks at the same time, determined to unify the northern desert.

Nanzhao took advantage of the six months of civil unrest in the Tang Dynasty to capture Huihejun of Yue County, occupy Qingxi Pass, and Xunchuanman and Pyu Kingdom submitted to Nanzhao.

To the south, Nanzhao occupied present-day Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and other areas, and to the north, conspired with Tubo to prepare to swallow up Huizhou and Shezhou in Jiannan.

The Tibetan Trisong Detsen was still alive. After stabilizing the internal situation in Tibet, he conspired with Nanzhao to advance eastward to Jiannan, while preparing to move westward again to compete with the Tang Dynasty for control of the Western Regions.

Li Wan, the Prince of Rong, who was stationed in Jiannan, had no intention of treason, but he was sick.

Military issues are serious, but domestic issues should not be underestimated.

Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong successively controlled the government. Although these two people are dead now, the people they trained are still there, and most of them are corrupt.

After all, the Tang Dynasty had been extravagant from top to bottom for decades, and it was difficult to correct it in a short period of time.

In addition, Li Heng has not appointed a new right prime minister, and the position has been vacant, so some people are eyeing it, and various forces are coveting the position of right prime minister.

Faced with such serious internal and external troubles, if Li Heng made any mistake in his actions, he would drag himself and the Tang Dynasty into the abyss.

Li Heng sorted out all the thoughts and finally decided to ascend the throne first.

There are three reasons why Li Heng chose to ascend the throne at this time.

First, the An-Shi Rebellion broke out, and he was the regent. In addition, the rebels spread negative propaganda all the way, and Li Longji's reputation had been ruined. However, he was known as a wise king, and he used his illness to promote the Mandate of Heaven, and presided over the recovery of Luoyang. The people supported him, and accepting Li Longji's abdication at this time was a new atmosphere for the new dynasty.

Second, he could wait, but his subordinates could not. His direct descendants followed him, Chang'an was occupied, and the merit of suppressing the rebellion was also achieved. If he did not ascend the throne, his direct descendants would always be worried and would be restrained in doing things.

Third, although he had real power, he did not have the title of emperor. After all, Li Longji had been the emperor for decades, and there were still many people outside the Great Wall who did not understand the situation. If he hesitated at this time, it would only lead to more and more fence-sitters.

Therefore, after refusing three times, Li Heng accepted Li Longji's abdication, and the coronation ceremony was scheduled to be held in the Daming Palace on April 754, , and he ascended the throne.

Once the time is set, preparations for the coronation ceremony will begin.

Li Ying asked to keep everything simple, but the necessary preparations still had to be done, such as the reign title.

Among them, some people proposed to stop using the year name, restore the Zhou system, and change the beginning of the year to November.

The beginning of the year in China for most of the time was inherited from the Xia Dynasty, with January as the beginning of the year. The Shang Dynasty's calendar used December as the beginning of the year, and the Zhou Dynasty's calendar used November as the beginning of the year.

The Tang Dynasty had always used January as the beginning of the year, but after the An-Shi Rebellion broke out, some people recalled the past and felt that the feudal monarchy was not as good as the Zhou Dynasty's feudal system, so they began to think about restoring the Zhou rituals and proposed to use November as the beginning of the year.

Historically, Li Heng was forced to believe half of it.

But Li Heng didn't buy it at all. He insisted on changing the reign title and took January as the beginning of the year.

Li Heng originally wanted to use Zhiyuan as the reign title, but considering that the Anshi Rebellion had not yet been quelled and the Tang Dynasty was in crisis, using Zhiyuan would be too bold, so it was temporarily decided to use Jide.

After all, there is no greater filial piety than carrying on the virtues of others, and no greater achievement than reviving the country.

He planned to first restore the Dezhong Restoration and then change the reign title.

……

On April 754, , amidst the sound of grand ceremonies and music, Li Heng was surrounded by the civil and military officials of the Tang Dynasty and first went to the ancestral temple to pay homage. Then he returned to the Xuan Zheng Hall in the Daming Palace to receive the worship of the civil and military officials.

Li Ying originally thought that the coronation ceremony was just a formality, but when he was wearing a yellow robe, a crown on his head, entered the Xuanzheng Hall and walked towards the throne, he couldn't help but feel deeply moved.

All the twists and turns and hardships along the way were not for this moment, but they are presented at this moment.

With every step he took toward the throne, all the wars, forbearance, and calculations he had experienced in the past came flooding back to his mind.

His bravery, his fear.

His cruelty and his compassion.

His glory, his shame.

His strength and his fragility.

His hate, his love.

Today, all of us are heading towards Nirvana through the trials of blood and fire.

In a trance, Li Heng couldn't help but want to hold Yang Yuhuan's hand, but found that Yang Yuhuan was not around.

He could only enthrone Yang Yuhuan as queen after he ascended the throne.

Li Ying waved his hand in the air for a moment, then retracted it. He walked to the dragon throne with a serious look and sat down. All the civil and military officials came to pay their respects and shouted "Your Majesty".

Looking at the people who were worshipping him, Li Heng did not feel happy. Instead, he developed an inexplicable sense of loneliness.

After the worship, the imperial edict was issued.

The edict on the day of his enthronement was very routine. Its content was basically to announce to the world that a new emperor had been created, and that there should be universal celebration and amnesty.

……

The next day.

Li Ying officially moved into the Daming Palace, and all the people from the Shouwang Mansion also moved into the Daming Palace.

Li Heng had his meal early, and after paying his respects to Li Longji and Consort Wu Huifei, he returned to the government hall to discuss official business with his ministers.

The first official business to be discussed was the employment of personnel, or in simple terms, the division of interests.

Li Heng had already planned this.

(End of this chapter)