Chapter 1576 Chaos, Imperial Court, Rewards
July, the sixth year of Chunyou.

Su Mingzhe felt the Emperor Zhao Yun's trust in him, and also to ensure the success of the Northern Expedition, so he went straight to the grassland.

Guyuk, the son of Ogedei, who was originally going to inherit the throne of the grassland Khan, was assassinated on the eve of his enthronement.

This sudden assassination left all the grassland nobles stunned.

Some people suspected that it was done by Ogedei's grandson Shiremün.

Because before his death, Ogedei passed the throne to Shiremün.

The reason why Guyuk succeeded to the throne later was entirely due to the reckless behavior of Ogedei's queen, Toreke.

Although Shiremen also wanted to assassinate Guyuk, he was not the one who did it this time. When he heard others accusing him, he pointed the finger at Kuoduan.

Kuoduan was also the son of Ogedei and Queen Toregene, and had always enjoyed prestige on the grassland.

When Genghis Khan was still alive, he instructed Ogedei to pass the throne to Quduan.

Therefore, now that Guyuk has been killed, Kuoduan is the biggest suspect.

As the quarrel became more and more serious, it eventually ended in a bad mood.

Queen Toregene continued to serve as regent on the grassland.

Under the protection of his followers, Shiremün returned to the Kingdom of Ögedei and inherited the throne of the Kingdom of Ögedei.

Kuoduan arrived in U-Tsang and announced that he would inherit the throne.

Other members of the Golden Family who attended the conference included Jochi's son Orda, Chagatai's son Yesun Mongke, and Tolui's son Mongke.

After returning to their fiefdoms, they all declared themselves the successors to the Khan throne.

……

The wind and clouds are gradually rising on the grassland.

When Zhao Yun learned the news from the grassland, he jumped up and down with excitement. He also asked someone to convey his order to Su Mingzhe, asking Su Mingzhe to prepare the Northern Expedition as soon as possible and try to take advantage of the turmoil on the grassland to recover the Central Plains in one fell swoop.

At this moment, Su Mingzhe believed that Zhao Yun really wanted to be a promising monarch!
……

The seventh year of Chunyou.

March.

Su Mingzhe has trained 200,000 troops for the Northern Expedition.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong also rushed to Qizhou with their children, preparing to join Su Mingzhe in the Northern Expedition.

Just now.

The two imperial edicts reached Qizhou, shocking everyone.

It turned out that during the New Year, Zhao Yun, who wanted to celebrate with the people, took his concubines to visit the West Lake. They were hit by a tornado and fell into the water. Although they were not drowned, they were infected with lung disease.

It was mid-February.

When Zhao Yun died, he left a will, in which he appointed Zhao Chun, the son of the palace beauty Tang An'an and his only son, to succeed to the throne.

If only that were the case.

As a subject, Su Mingzhe naturally had to obey the imperial edict and go to Beijing to pay his respects.

However, Zhao Chun was only two years old, and even with Zhao Yun's will, it still attracted a lot of opposition.

The loudest voice of opposition came from Prince Yi Zhao Guiqian.

Zhao Guiqian opposed Zhao Chun's succession to the throne for three reasons.

The first reason is that the crown prince chosen by Song Ningzong was Zhao Hong.

Zhao Yun succeeded to the throne and was a puppet who was promoted to the throne by Empress Yang and Shi Miyuan through a forged imperial edict.

This reason is that Zhao Yun’s throne was illegal.

Since Zhao Yun's throne was not legitimate, Zhao Chun was even less qualified to succeed to it.

Second, Zhao Chun’s biological mother, Tang Anan, was born in a brothel and entered the palace when she was pregnant. The child in her belly was not necessarily from the Zhao family.

This is questioning the legitimacy of Zhao Chun's succession.

Third, the ruler is young and the country is in doubt!
Zhao Chun is only two years old. The Song Dynasty is already in danger. If a little kid is allowed to inherit the throne, power will inevitably fall into the hands of others, which will make some people have unpredictable thoughts.

To this end, Prince Yi Zhao Guiqian expressed that as the son of Song Ningzong, brother of Zhao Yun, and prince of the Song Dynasty, he was willing to learn from Song Taizong and shoulder the burden of the Song Dynasty.

After Zhao Guiqian stood up to oppose, there were voices of opposition as well as support.

Prime Minister Shi Songzhi is a staunch supporter of Tang Anan and her son. After all, he knows best what is going on with them.

However, Yang Gu and others became supporters of Zhao Guiqian.

The questionable origins of Tang An'an and Zhao Chun were raised by Yang Gu. Both factions have their supporters.

As for Zhao Chun, thanks to Zhao Yun's imperial edict and the support of Prime Minister Shi Songzhi, he gained the support of most court officials after rushing to hold the coronation ceremony.

However, Zhao Guiqian ascended the throne in Nanchang and proclaimed himself emperor with the support of several pacification envoys.

After both sides ascended the throne, they issued imperial edicts to all provinces and cities in the country in an effort to rectify their names.

It was under such circumstances that Su Mingzhe received two imperial edicts.

……

Su Mingzhe was secretly delighted upon learning about the current situation in the Song Dynasty, but on the surface, he sought the advice of his master Guo Jing:

"Master, which side's imperial edict should I accept?"

"This one……"

Guo Jing also felt that this was a bit difficult.

Logically speaking, with Zhao Yun's will, Su Mingzhe should respect Zhao Chun, the new emperor.

However, Zhao Guiqian's reasons are also valid.

Not to mention that Zhao Chun's identity is questionable, even his age makes everyone very worried.

Unable to make up his mind, Guo Jing had no choice but to look at his wife Huang Rong:
"Rong'er, what do you think?"

"..."

Huang Rong rolled her eyes at the man, then looked at her disciple and asked:
"Mingzhe, are you worried about which imperial edict to receive, or are you worried about other issues?"

Su Mingzhe recognized Huang Rong's words and immediately looked up, looking back with sincerity:

"Master's Wife, to be honest with you, I am now focused on the Northern Expedition and do not want to pay attention to these internal struggles!"

"Mingzhe, since you don't want to pay attention to it, just ignore it."

Huang Rong guessed what her disciple was thinking and supported him very straightforwardly.

Compared with Guo Jing and Huang Yaoshi, Huang Rong did not have so many ideas of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism.

This time, she followed her husband Guo Jing to Jingdong Road to help Su Mingzhe in the Northern Expedition.

Before this, the couple had also been to Jingdong Lianglu.

At that time, people in Jingdong Road were living in poverty, bones were exposed in the wild, and all the horses were silent.

Today, under Su Mingzhe's governance, Jingdong Road is full of vitality, although the population is still small.

From this perspective, Su Mingzhe has the potential to be a wise ruler.

……

Su Mingzhe finally accepted the imperial edict sent by Lin'an. After all, he was his own son.

The eunuch who announced the imperial edict in Lin'an was Chang Xi.

Chang Xi had a good relationship with Su Mingzhe. Seeing Su Mingzhe preparing to welcome the imperial edict from Lin'an, he let out a long sigh.

Then, Chang Xi read out the imperial edict.

The imperial edict was drafted by Prime Minister Shi Songzhi.

The article begins by praising Su Mingzhe's achievements.

Then came various substantial rewards.

The first content of the reward was to raise Su Mingzhe's royal title from one level, from the original prince to the "king of the same level" - Prince of Lu.

(Among the "kings standing side by side", the title of Lu ranks only after Qin, Han, Tang, Jin, Qi, Chu, Yan, Wei, Zhao, Han, and Song, and is considered the highest-ranking king title.)
(In the Song Dynasty, there were no two kings named Zhao and Song.)
The second reward was to appoint Su Mingzhe as the Grand Marshal of the Army, allowing him to conquer rebellions on his own.

This gave Su Mingzhe the power to launch wars on his own without asking the court for permission.

This is unique in the entire Song Dynasty.

Su Mingzhe guessed that this reward should have been added by Tang Anan.

Finally, he was given the Nine Gifts, the privilege of being the Grand Master of the Three Departments, etc.

After receiving the imperial edict from Lin'an, Su Mingzhe asked about the recent situation in Nanchang and Lin'an.

Chang Xi hesitated for a moment, but finally explained the situation.

After all, even if he didn't say it, Su Mingzhe would only know it a few days later.

When Su Mingzhe learned that more than a dozen governors of the Southern Song Dynasty were all granted titles of duke or king by the Nanchang and Lin'an courts, his eyes widened:
"This is not ready, right?"