Chapter 603: The Regent

"The Southern Liang of the Dou Family, the Wu of the Liang Family, the Qi of the Han Family, the Pseudo-Song established by the Xie Family, and the Fan Family that wishes to establish a nation in Yunzhou—it is said that the national titles are already prepared, with the latter called Pingnan. It shouldn't be long before they establish their nations."

Imperial Villa, the residence of Zhao Heng.

The four rooms of the central courtyard were opened up and converted into a temporary place for deliberating state affairs.

When news of the Han Family establishing their nation arrived, Zhao Xu summoned ministers such as Yang Feng and Mi Yan to meet with Zhao Heng.

During this period, in addition to the heir apparent of the Ryukyu Kingdom, many Imperial Merchants, members of the Royal Clan, some officials from humble backgrounds, and ordinary merchants arrived in Yanzhou.

Just as he had anticipated, with the influx of these people, Yancheng became much more prosperous, and the prices of all kinds of residences rose, allowing the Prince's Mansion to make a large profit.

However, everything has its pros and cons, and some troubles followed in their wake.

The shrewd Imperial Merchants, members of the Royal Clan, and officials came to visit him the moment they arrived in Yancheng.

As for those with more stubborn minds, they often went to Zhao Heng's villa to wail.

The implication was that he, the Yan Wang, was slighting Zhao Heng.

The residence arranged for Zhao Heng was mediocre, and there was not even a place for a dignified imperial court deliberation.

Zhao Xu naturally could not be bothered by the clamor of these people.

But thinking about it carefully, the Rich Clans were establishing nations one after another, with every palace and hall, and every ceremonial guard and imperial carriage looking quite impressive.

If Zhao Heng, this Emperor, lived too shabbily, wouldn't it be just as the Xie Family slandered him, making it truly seem like Zhao Heng was under his coercion?

If the news spread, the reputation of this new Imperial City in Yanzhou would likely not be very impressive, which would affect his ability to attract Imperial Merchants, scholars from humble backgrounds, and so on.

After all, the Xie Family had also realized this and had been slandering him, using the First Prince to compete with him for these resources.

Thus, he decided to restore court deliberations to make Zhao Heng look a bit more like an Emperor.

In this way, every time he took out an Imperial Edict, it would not appear so casual, as if he had written and printed it himself.

Although there was no difference in essence, generally speaking, having some sense of ritual was more appropriate.

The Han Xiandi of that era still lived in a decent palace,

and had a group of ministers pretending to hold court every day.

It was just that everything was decided by Cao Cao.

Besides restoring court deliberations, he also planned to build the Wuji Palace in the North City.

Of course, this Wuji Palace was not an imperial palace built specifically for Zhao Heng.

With the increase in Yanzhou officials and institutions, the Government Office had become very crowded.

Moreover, as new institutions would continue to emerge in the future, he felt it was necessary to take precautions.

Therefore, while the name Wuji Palace sounded like an imperial palace, it was actually an office area for officials.

He would only build a larger residence within the Wuji Palace for Zhao Heng to live in.

At the same time, for the construction of the Wuji Palace, he would not consider wooden structures like those of an imperial palace, but would adopt a brick-concrete structure with concrete pillars.

Simply put, it meant bricks, cement, and pillars poured with concrete.

In this way, the construction cost of the Wuji Palace would be much lower.

According to his design, Zou Rong calculated that it would only cost about 300,000 taels of Silver.

This amount of Silver could only be called a drop in the bucket compared to the wealth the Imperial Merchants had brought to Yanzhou.

"These Rich Clans have long harbored evil intentions, and now they have finally revealed their fox tails one by one." Yang Feng's face was flushed with anger.

The magnificent Great Song Dynasty was now filled with various nations; what kind of state was this?

"They think that by establishing nations, the Great Song has perished, but as long as the Great Song Imperial Court exists, they will always be rebels." Mi Yan was also there, and at this moment, he clenched his fists.

Besides the two, there were also Liu Fu, Chang Wei, officials from the Government Office like Zhu Tuo, and civil and military officials who had come from Jinling.

These officials were all those who had chosen to join the Prince's Mansion.

Compared to the past, Zhao Heng clearly had more spirit.

Restoring court deliberations made him feel like an Emperor again.

Most importantly, he was truly bored in Yancheng, and he finally had something to do.

Of course, he also always remembered the tacit understanding he had reached with Zhao Xu.

Therefore, the final result of the court deliberations still required Zhao Xu's nod.

"This is all to blame on me for being too foolish, thinking that these Rich Clans could harbor a shred of kindness toward the Imperial Clan; now it seems it was just wishful thinking." Zhao Heng sighed.

The chaos in Jinling had left him completely disappointed with the Rich Clans.

This exclamation was also from the bottom of his heart.

Now that the Great Song had disintegrated into so many nations, he felt even more guilty.

Compared to the Northern Di, these Rich Clans were equally dangerous.

After saying this, he looked at Zhao Xu, "Yan Wang, now only you have the ability to turn the tide for the Great Song. With the various Rich Clans establishing nations one after another, what do you think should be done?"

The purpose of Zhao Xu's visit this time was for this very matter.

When he had discussed it with Liu Fu and Chang Wei, they had prepared to observe for a period of time to examine the movements of the various Rich Clans.

Now, the movements of the Rich Clans were basically set.

It was time to start cleaning up this chaotic situation of the Great Song.

He said, "Father Emperor, the Rich Clans establishing nations is the greatest contempt for our Imperial Clan. Your son believes we should act decisively and strike first to avoid the Rich Clans bringing the flames of war to Yanzhou."

Once the Rich Clans established nations, it meant they no longer recognized the Great Song Imperial Court and had become enemy nations of the Great Song.

Toward enemy nations, there could only be a life-or-death struggle.

Moreover, Xu Ke had also told him that on the day the Qi established their nation, the Rich Clans shouted the slogan, "Swear to destroy the Yan Wang and act on behalf of Heaven."

It was evident that the Rich Clans of the world hated him to the bone; the future war would not only be a war between him and the Rich Clans, but also a war between him and the Rich Clans.

However, he was very confident in victory.

Before coming to the Imperial Villa, he had already set Mi Wen's Propaganda Department in motion to carry out propaganda toward Qizhou.

The power clans rely on the Rich Clans, so he will rely on the common people to see who can have the last laugh.

Hearing this, Zhao Heng took a deep look at Zhao Xu.

The news of the power clans establishing their own states one after another still left him quite shocked and fearful.

This meant that across the vast territory of the Great Song, only the region controlled by Yan Wang still belonged to the Imperial Clan.

If he were the one governing Yanzhou, he would only shrink back into Yanzhou and defend it strictly.

Yet Yan Wang had the courage to take the initiative and strike.

However, thinking of how Yan Wang had taken the Ningjin Dusi by his own strength, he felt relieved.

This ninth son of his was truly beyond his understanding; it would be best to continue eating, drinking, and having fun, passing his days in leisure.

At the same time, he was grateful that Zhao Xu had built Wuji Palace and restored some Imperial Clan rituals, such as leading the officials to discuss state affairs with him whenever there was a major event.

Thinking of this, he felt more and more at ease, feeling that the only right thing he had done in his life was choosing to come to Yanzhou.

Seeming to have made up his mind, he said, "From this day on, I appoint Yan Wang as the Regent of the Great Song. All government affairs of the Imperial Court shall be handled by Yan Wang; there is no need to report back to me."

After a pause, he said to the officials, "From now on, seeing the Regent is like seeing me. Do not be negligent, and there is no need to cry out grievances on my behalf. I am living here very comfortably and it is rare to have a few days of peace; do not annoy me."

"Yes, Emperor," the officials replied.

Zhao Xu was stunned; Zhao Heng was preparing to completely wash his hands of all responsibilities.

The Regent oversees all national affairs, which is equivalent to acting as the regent for the Emperor.

Although in Yanzhou, it made no difference whether he had this title or not.

But having it was naturally better than not having it; in this way, any order he issued from now on would be equivalent to an order from the Imperial Court.