Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 484 Ascending the Throne

(The results are out, Qian has the highest voting rate╭(╯e╰)╮)

The ministers bowed and said, "Please make the decision, Your Majesty!"

After thinking for a moment, Meng Jun said in a deep voice: "Zhou and Xia were both dynasties of the past. As for the Xin Dynasty, I have decided to use a completely new name for the country."

After hearing Meng Jun's words, Wu Tai and Chen Zilong both felt a sense of loss. Chen Zilong thought that Meng Jun would continue to use Zhou as the country's name. After all, people all over the world have become accustomed to the name Great Zhou.

At this time, Meng Jun looked at Li Weitai, Gu Yanwu and others. Meng Jun felt that the names of the country, such as Yu, Qing, Qian and Ning, were all acceptable. However, the two words "Yu" and "Qing" did not seem grand enough.

Meng Jun pondered for a moment, then said: "I think the word Qian is good, so let's name the new country Qian!"

Since Meng Jun had already made the decision, everyone could only bow and say, "Your Majesty is wise!"

Then everyone offered up their reign titles. When Meng Jun looked at them, he saw Kangxi, Xuantong, and Xianfeng. Meng Jun suddenly felt a sense of time and space confusion.

Meng Jun continued reading and found that he liked the two reign titles Zhenwu and Zhenchang better, so he decided to use Zhenchang as his own reign title.

As for the capital, although Nanjing is more prosperous and the north is not as prosperous as the south, it is precisely because of this that Nanjing cannot be the capital. As a centralized empire, it must balance the differences between the north and the south. Moreover, from a metaphysical point of view, since ancient times, those who established their capital in Nanjing were either short-lived or would cause war.

Therefore, Meng Jun decided to make Beijing the capital, name the country Qian, and the reign title Zhenchang.

In the palace, Meng Jun and his ministers discussed the details before becoming emperor, and then waited for the coronation ceremony.

On the first day of July, an auspicious day, Meng Jun ascended the throne in Beijing and became emperor.

It was the scorching heat of July and the weather was already very hot, but the hearts of the civil and military officials gathered in the palace were even more excited. Everyone knew that they were witnessing history and the rise of a new empire.

Witnessed by all the ministers, Meng Jun, wearing a black dragon robe, a crown with twelve tassels on his head, and a long sword hanging from his waist, ascended the dragon throne.

The only drawback is that there is no imperial seal. Meng Jun is now using the royal seal made by the queen. Yongli refused to abdicate and ran away with the seal, but his seal was not the one left by Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty.

As for the imperial seal carved by Qin Shihuang, it was lost as early as the time of Li Congke, the last emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty. Li Congke burned himself to death in the Xuanwu Tower in Luoyang with the imperial seal. From then on, the imperial seal disappeared from history. The Yuan Dynasty claimed that it had obtained it, but in fact it was just boasting.

After Meng Jun sat on the throne, Yang En took two steps forward, unfolded the edict of accession, and read aloud: "All under heaven, all the people of the land, have gathered here. I have received the mandate from heaven and the will of heaven. I will renew my virtue and respectfully ascend the throne to pacify the four seas and bring peace to the people.

Since the Wanli reign, the Ming Dynasty's national power had been declining, the people were impoverished, refugees were everywhere, factional struggles in the Ming court were frequent, and discipline was relaxed, resulting in disturbances by barbarians, frequent beacon fires, unrest in the world, and turmoil in the country.

In my grief, I fought with all my strength and vowed to avenge this humiliation. So I dressed in armor and led millions of soldiers to turn the tide and save the people from suffering.

Thanks to the protection of the gods of heaven and earth and the joint efforts of our officers and soldiers, we finally saw the sun after the clouds had cleared, wiped out the rebels, and restored peace to the country. Today, the country is at peace, all the people are happy and working, recuperating, and celebrating the peace.

I sympathize with the lives of the people and vow to revive the country, eliminate corruption, rectify the rules and regulations, clarify the administration of officials, and work hard to govern. From now on, all officials must work hard and love the people, improve the laws and regulations, revive the country, and seek long-term peace and stability. Let us join in this great cause and pray for the emperor's wisdom and blessing for the people."

After reading it, Yang En bowed again, presented the imperial edict, then stepped down the steps, led all the ministers, knelt on the ground and shouted: "The mandate of heaven cannot be rejected, the sacred artifact cannot be left for long, the world cannot be without a master, and the nations cannot be without a ruler. Please take the throne, Your Majesty!"

Meng Jun nodded and signaled Shen Congwen below to begin reading the second edict.

"All civil and military officials, thousands of soldiers, have high hopes for me. I dare not disobey the will of heaven. Now that I am the Son of Heaven, I will name the country Qian, establish the reign of Zhenchang, posthumously confer the title of Emperor and Empress to my four generations of parents, confer the title of Empress Dowager to my biological mother Zhou, and confer the title of Empress Zhang to my wife. I will appoint my eldest son Meng Chengzhao as the Crown Prince. I will announce this to the world so that everyone will know."

After Shen Congwen finished reading the imperial edict, he shouted loudly: "All civil and military officials bow to His Majesty the Emperor!"

Hundreds of ministers shouted "Long live the emperor" three times. Under the guidance of the officials outside the palace, thousands of soldiers knelt down at the same time and shouted, "Long live the emperor!"

Meng Jun sat on the dragon throne, looking past the civil and military officials below, looking at the ant-like crowd in the distance, feeling infinite emotion in his heart, then retracted his gaze and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, please stand up."

On the first day of July in the first year of Zhenchang in the Daqian period, Meng Jun proclaimed himself emperor in Beijing, and immediately announced a general amnesty, conferred titles on his ministers, and formally announced to the world that a brand new empire had been established.

It was a month later that the news of Meng Jun's enthronement reached Li Chengdong and Zheng Chenggong, and the two had different reactions.

After hearing this, Li Chengdong felt jealous and resentful, and ordered people to post a notice in Nanning city. The notice was full of angry insults against Meng Jun, calling him despicable, a traitor, and a villain who was plotting to usurp the throne. He also said that he wanted to raise an army to fight the rebels and recover the Ming Dynasty.

Among the people in Nanning, some agreed with him, while others were disdainful. Most people were indifferent to this. The gentry in Guangdong and Guangxi were extremely disdainful of Li Chengdong. It was simply a laughing stock that such a fickle and erratic person wanted to raise the banner of restoring the Ming Dynasty.

Although Li Chengdong ordered people under his rule to discredit Meng Jun, he knew that once Meng Jun proclaimed himself emperor, he would be his first target of attack. Moreover, Guangdong and Guangxi were not as powerful as Guanzhong. Even Wu Sangui could not defend Wuguan and was broken into by Lin Shiqi.

Therefore, Li Chengdong stepped up his offensive in Annan. In today's world, Meng Jun is the only one in power. Li Chengdong no longer has a boss to rely on. Annan is Li Chengdong's last retreat.

After capturing Luzon, Zheng Chenggong left part of the troops to garrison and returned to Fujian. Soon after Zheng Chenggong returned to Quanzhou, he learned the news that Meng Jun had proclaimed himself emperor. Zheng Chenggong felt lost about this.

He was a proud man, and had always wanted to compete with Meng Jun. However, things change unpredictably. Now Meng Jun had proclaimed himself emperor and founded a country, sweeping across the north and south, while he was still trapped in Fujian.

Although Zheng Chenggong was unwilling to admit it, he also knew that the Fujian scholars actually despised his pirate origin. If Meng Jun came to attack, he might be able to disturb Meng Jun's sea borders with his huge navy, but Fujian would not be able to last long under his siege.

Zheng Chenggong was hesitant, not knowing whether he should gather troops to resist or surrender. If he surrendered, Meng Jun had said when he sent an envoy to invite the Zheng family to send troops that the Zheng family could stay in Fujian forever. Zheng Chenggong didn't know whether Meng Jun would admit to this!