Chapter 371 Ascending the throne and proclaiming himself emperor
For Lin Hao, he would not accept any of them, so Lin Hao went through so much trouble just to preserve the national strength of the Song Dynasty as much as possible.

Wait until the Ming Empire has recovered, then find the right opportunity, and then they will strike ruthlessly to kill all the enemies around them. This is the correct way to deal with it.

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To ascend the throne and become an emperor, with music and dance in the three harems and six courtyards every night, is Lin Hao’s dream!
Starting from December, Lin Hao and his ministers began to establish a series of matters including rituals and court systems, enfeoffment of officials in the inner and outer courts, etc.

Drawing on the experience and failures of the Great Revolution during the Republic of China period, the Kuomintang only wanted to overthrow the corrupt Qing Dynasty, but had no subsequent strategy for governing the country. As a result, the whole world was torn apart.

Moreover, this is the feudal era, so Lin Hao naturally has not thought of changing the world like our party has done.

After all, this is the way the era is. Without a mass base, Lin Hao only needs to establish a new dynasty and follow the rules of his own dynasty!
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After a month of preparation, on the third day of the first lunar month, Lin Hao led his ministers to the southern suburbs of Bianjing.

On the fourth day of the first lunar month, he officially offered sacrifices to heaven and earth, ascended the throne as emperor, named the world the Great Ming, and founded the country with the name Jianxing.

Afterwards, Lin Hao wore a robe and offered sacrifices to the Lord of Heaven, the Emperor of Earth, Daming (sun), Yeming (moon), the stars, the Tai Sui of the State, Yuezhen, Haidu, mountains and rivers, and the City God.

Afterwards, Lin Hao, the Emperor Jianxing, began the grand ceremony and read the edict of enthronement...!

After a series of tedious and complicated processes, Lin Hao finally completed the coronation ceremony.

When the coronation ceremony was completed, the dark clouds that had been gloomy for days actually retreated, and it became "the sun was bright, the sky was clear, and the stars were bright!"

This happened in front of the eyes of all the civil and military officials and common people. As soon as Lin Hao completed the coronation ceremony, the sky cleared up immediately.

Anyone who sees this would say it is destiny!

Of course, the reason why such a "coincidence" happened was because Lin Hao had already experienced an ordinary version of ascension to the throne.

Therefore, Lin Hao used the time rewinding skill to choose this good day, otherwise how could it be such a coincidence.

In short, everything is a routine. After all, since ancient times, true love cannot be retained, and only routines can win people's hearts.

Afterwards, Lin Hao reappointed all the civil and military officials of the Jianxing Dynasty. After all, it was a change of dynasty, and the necessary procedures had to be followed.

However, Lin Hao did not completely use the official positions of the Song Dynasty. Although he also used the system of three provinces and six ministries, he quoted the Cabinet of the Ming Dynasty and the Grand Council of the Qing Dynasty, and also referred to the modern system.

In short, Lin Hao doesn't want to be buried in memorials all day long. It is good to have a cabinet to help him handle government affairs. And with the Grand Council, he can also ensure that the military power will always be in his hands.

The "road" in the local administrative system of the Song Dynasty was also changed by Lin Hao to the "province" he was familiar with, and the local administrative hierarchy, with reference to modern administration, was also changed to the structure of province, prefecture, county, township, town and village!

At the same time, after all, the country has been founded, so it is natural to reward the meritorious officials. In this regard, Lin Hao has never been stingy with rewards. He rewards people according to their merits. Those who followed Lin Hao earlier also received rewards.

Lin Hao also made appropriate adjustments to the original titles of the Song Dynasty, reducing the number of hereditary titles.

However, only a few people can be granted titles by Lin Hao. After all, no major wars have taken place since he took over the Song Dynasty, so naturally there are fewer people who can be granted titles!
However, Lin Hao also promised these generals that if they wanted to obtain the title, they would have to wait until the war with the Liao Kingdom broke out and then go to the battlefield to get it!

Afterwards, Lin Hao also adjusted the ranks of concubines in the harem, roughly citing the ranks of concubines during the Tang Dynasty.

As the emperor's only wife, Queen Minglan, like Lin Hao, has no rank, but can of course be classified as a super-rank.

Below the Queen is the Imperial Concubine of the first rank, whose titles are Xian, Hui, Shu, De, Jing, Ning, Hua, Zhuang and Yi!

At present, only four imperial concubines have been conferred titles. Wei Yuner was conferred the title of Xianfei, Rong Shuangyue the title of Huafei, Yu Yanran the title of Shufei, and Rulan the title of Ningfei.

Next are the concubines of the second rank, whose titles are Shu, Jing, Li, Yi, Chun, Xian, Ying, Zhen, and Zhen!

And for Rong Shuangyue's sake, Lin Hao gave Rong Feiyan the title of Zhen Fei, and Xiaodie, who had always followed Lin Hao, was named Xian Fei, and Pinlan, the eldest wife of the Sheng family, was named Li Fei.

The most surprising one is the sweet and sour Sheng Shulan. She was named Zhenfei by Lin Hao. There was nothing she could do about it, because her face was so likable!
The nine concubines of the third rank had the same titles as those in the Tang Dynasty:
Zhaoyi, Zhaorong, Zhaoyuan, Xiuyi, Xiurong, Xiuyuan, Chongyi, Chongrong, Chongyuan!

Minglan's personal maid Danju was named Zhaoyi, and Xiaotao was named Zhaorong. There was nothing they could do about it, as the two girls were close to each other and were often pulled into the room by Minglan to fight against Lin Hao!

At Minglan's instigation, Molan was named Chongyuan. On the one hand, it was because Minglan requested it, and on the other hand, Molan was really pretty. As a member of the Beauty Party, Lin Hao was naturally forced to accept it.

Originally Minglan wanted Lin Hao to give Molan a lower rank, but Lin Hao thought that this was too much, so he made Molan the lowest rank among the nine concubines.

What happened next was exactly the same as the Tang Dynasty harem:

Fourth rank, Concubine!

Fifth rank, beauty!

Sixth rank, talented person!

These three levels have no titles, and each has nine people. Together, they are called the Twenty-Seven Generations of Ladies.

Seventh rank, Baolin!

The eighth rank, the imperial concubine!

Ninth rank, colorful girl!

These three levels are prepared for the promotion of palace maids. There are twenty-seven people in each level, collectively known as the Eighty-one Imperial Wives.

Lin Hao’s next step is to fill up the harem. After all, there are still so many empty positions, and Lin Hao always feels uncomfortable!
In the end, Lin Hao followed Liu Bang's example and named his father, the Duke of Yingguo, as the Supreme Emperor, and Lin Hao and Minglan's only legitimate son, Zhang Yuchen, was named the Crown Prince!
With this, the Ming Dynasty was clearly arranged from inside to outside and from top to bottom, and this also marked the official end of the Song Dynasty.

Among the more than 300 prefectures in the entire Song Dynasty, 229 prefectures formally wrote letters to support Lin Hao's ascension to the throne.

In addition, there were more than ninety provincial capitals that remained silent. Lin Hao naturally understood what they meant.

In addition to a group of people who still support the Song Dynasty and claim to be Song ministers and are unwilling to associate with Lin Hao, there are also some people who have different intentions, and some even directly raise the flag of rebellion.

Of course, there are also people who do not have time to report due to inconvenient transportation.

In response to this, Lin Hao directly dispatched those nobles who had been eager to make achievements and to have their wives and children honored with titles, and ordered them to lead the troops to suppress the rebellion.

Afterwards, Lin Hao sent out four armies to encircle and suppress the rebels.

Of course, in addition to handling government affairs, several of Lin Hao's women became pregnant, and Lin Hao was not prepared to wrong himself, after all, there were still so many vacancies in the harem. So Lin Hao issued an order to select concubines, and recruited beauties from all over the world to enrich the harem!

Then the entire Ming Empire was in an uproar. This was a great opportunity to rise to fame overnight!

There are precedents for this. For example, the Rong family, which was originally looked down upon because of the fall of the Song Dynasty, actually gave their two daughters to Lin Hao, and they became Lin Hao's concubines before he ascended the throne.

And now she is more of a royal concubine and a concubine.

Another one is the old Grand Tutor Yu, who had originally withdrawn from the power center and retired. At a time when he was being ridiculed, he gave his own granddaughter Yu Yanran to Lin Hao as a concubine.

Now she has been promoted to a higher position and was directly named a royal concubine!

Of course, compared with the Sheng family, these two families are nothing. Look at the Sheng family, they gave away five daughters, a queen, a noble concubine, two concubines, and one imperial concubine.

Even their maids were given one concubine and two imperial concubines.

That would have been fine, but the key point is that Sheng Changbai married the emperor's sister, and the father and son of the Sheng family were also highly valued by Lin Hao.

Therefore, the Sheng family is now even more prosperous. Just thinking about it makes people envious, so civil and military officials sent their daughters to the selection of concubines, eagerly waiting for Lin Hao to choose!
After a month of selection, ninety-nine well-educated beauties stood in front of Lin Hao, and Lin Hao happened to see a few familiar figures!
It was Hai Chaoyun, Shen Hezhen, Yu Yanhong...!

However, there are only so many places in Lin Hao's harem, so he did not give them special care. As for whether they can make further progress, that depends on their abilities!

That night, Hai Chaoyun was summoned and became the first concubine to serve Lin Hao in bed!
Hai Chaoyun is the second daughter of the head of the Jiangning Hai family. She comes from a family of scholars and is a noble family. She is also an expert in domestic fighting.

But she is not a cruel person, and she is good at virtue, appearance, eloquence and merit. Her family has a good reputation. Her father and brother also took advantage of Lin Hao's opportunity and are now serving as officials in the court.

Looking at Hai Chaoyun who was very shy in front of him, Lin Hao walked up to her, held her shoulders, and started chatting with her to relieve her nervousness.

So Lin Hao asked:

"Come here, Chaoyun, I heard that your family rules state that a man can take a concubine only when he is 40 and has no children. Is that true?"

Upon hearing this, Hai Chaoyun immediately replied carefully:

"Your Majesty, the Hai family does have certain rules, so the men of the Hai family are the most popular among all families, and they all want to marry their daughters to the Hai family!"

Seeing that Hai Chaoyun was a little nervous, Lin Hao picked her up and gently placed her on the bed. While doing his work, he asked:
"Then, is it the same for married women?"

"That's not the case. However, since I was a child, I grew up in the Hai family. The women of the Hai family are inevitably more cautious about their husbands taking concubines. Therefore, the daughters of the Hai family are the most difficult to marry!"

“Hahaha~! That’s right…” Then Lin Hao said with emotion: “This red sandalwood dragon bed is really sturdy!”

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The next day, a satisfied Lin Hao issued an edict, conferring the title of fifth-rank beauty on Hai Chaoyun. It was not because Lin Hao did not want to get them all at once, but mainly to leave room for them to be upgraded in the future!
Besides, these beauties selected through the selection are different from Wei Yuner and Rulan. It is already a blessing for Hai Chaoyun to be able to have a beauty.

Then the second night it was Shen Hezhen who slept with him, the third night it was Yu Yanhong, and the fourth night...!

Half a year passed in the blink of an eye, and this old bastard Lin Hao finally favored all those beauties. It wasn't that Lin Hao was not capable, but that he was not completely obsessed with women.

During this six months, Lin Hao developed the economy and expanded projects such as steel smelting, cement forging, and glass manufacturing.

At the same time, a large army was sent to rectify the salt industry, crack down on salt smugglers, and also confiscated a lot of their property.

Later, Lin Hao used their money to increase the construction of salt fields in coastal areas. At the same time, he used some modern methods to vigorously develop and update the salt industry and nationalized the salt industry. The annual salt tax directly increased by 20 million taels of silver!
On the other hand, the four armies sent out by Lin Hao basically suppressed and recovered the previous rebellion.

As the civil officials sent by Lin Hao quickly took over local government affairs, the entire Ming Empire finally calmed down!

The border between the Ming Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom is currently relatively stable because the emperor is stationed at the border.

The main reason was that at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Lin Hao was well prepared and did not allow the Liao Kingdom to find any opportunity, but the rebellion was quickly put down by Lin Hao.

Before the Liao army had completed its assembly, it received news that the Ming rebellion had been put down.

Therefore, the Liao Kingdom only made some attempts on the border, but after being fiercely counterattacked by the retired emperor, it returned unwillingly.

In this way, time came to the second year of Jianxing. After these two years of Lin Hao's hard work, the Ming Dynasty safely passed through the most dangerous period.

Lin Hao took control of the local government. With the reduction of taxes and levies and the promulgation of a series of policies that benefited the people, the Ming Dynasty not only grew in national strength, but also in military power.

Now, Lin Hao can be said to be no longer afraid of any challenge. Not only that, Lin Hao is looking for an opportunity to go north to deal with the Liao Kingdom.

So in June of the second year of Jianxing, Lin Hao asked the retired emperor to return to Bianjing City to take charge, and Lin Hao, despite opposition from all the civil and military officials in the court, personally led 100,000 cavalry to lead the army in July.

In ancient wars, troops were generally dispatched in autumn because only after the crops were harvested in autumn would there be food to support the army.

At the same time, it also avoided the delay of autumn harvest due to the conscription of civilians for labor service, which was related to the national economy and people's livelihood.

In ancient times, when the imperial court was fighting a war, it needed to start collecting grain, and the price of grain would continue to rise. Then when the people wanted to eat, they found that they couldn’t even afford to buy grain.

Moreover, although the emperor wanted to ensure that the people had enough food to eat, he had to continue to increase taxes in the face of the huge amount of money spent on the war, and the people's lives would only become more difficult.

This is why Emperor Wu of Han, in his fight against the Huns, reduced the wealth accumulated by five generations of emperors to the point of emptying the national treasury.

Because the consumption is so great. How great is it? For example, if you want to supply the consumption of an army of 100,000, of which 40,000 are combat soldiers, the remaining 60,000 are civilians or auxiliary soldiers.

Then at least 12 tons of grain would be consumed each year, but only one tenth of the grain would remain when transported from the grain-producing areas to the enemy's territory.

This means that 120 million tons of food are needed, not counting the consumption of horses. If these are added, the figure is simply astronomical.

But Lin Hao is different. After all, he has the skill of Traceless Stretching Spell, which can expand space equipment. Lin Hao's mental power is 13 points, so he can make 13*13*13, which is 2197 cubic meters of space equipment!
One cubic meter can hold 0.52 tons of flour, 2197 cubic meters can hold 1140 tons, and if it is used to hold rice or soybeans, it can hold about 1600 tons.

Therefore, when Lin Hao went out to fight, he did not need too many laborers to transport food for the army. He only needed to make a hundred or so space equipment to carry millions of tons of supplies.

It was precisely because of such logistical tools that Lin Hao was able to respond calmly in his many campaigns with a small entourage and was able to maneuver quickly without being hindered by logistics.

(End of this chapter)