Another Visit to Luoyi

A gentle breeze stirred, dispersing the murderous chill that hung over Haojing City.

Surrounded by the allied armies of the feudal lords, Crown Prince Ji Fu held his coronation at the ancestral temple in Haojing.

The old Zhou people, who had suffered so grievously at the hands of the Rong People, could finally appear on the streets again, even though those streets lay in ruins.

As Grand Clan Head, Luo Cheng presided over the grand Heaven-Worship Ceremony and the ceremonies honoring the ancestors.

Ji Fu stood atop the altar, while the representatives of the various Marquisate States stood below it in order of rank, each holding their state's banner.

"The Son of Heaven shall offer three bows."

Ji Fu descended from the altar and offered the feudal lords the earth bow, the seasonal bow, and the heaven bow. Once he had completed the rites, he returned to the altar.

The feudal lords ascended the altar in turn to present gold, jade, and precious treasures to the Son of Heaven.

This step alone took a long time, but everyone waited patiently.

Ji Yi's earlier coronation had been a farce. This grand ceremony was meant to show the Zhou people that the Son of Heaven was exalted, and that countless feudal lords throughout the realm remained loyal to him.

During the sacrifice to Heaven, all the feudal lords and Dukes and Ministers followed Luo Cheng in chanting an ancient hymn.

"Heaven's mandate, solemn and unceasing.

Oh, how radiant, the purity of the Sage King's virtue.

Bestow its abundance upon us, and we shall receive it.

May Hui bless our Sage King; may his descendants remain steadfast."

This was a hymn praising the Sage King, passed down since the reign of King Kang. There was not a single Zhou person who could not chant it.

"The Sage King's spirit dwells in Heaven, how glorious, how radiant.

How pure the Sage King's virtue; we must inherit it.

Along the path of the Sage King's Mandate of Heaven, may our children and grandchildren walk forever."

Presiding over the ceremony, Luo Cheng raised the Son of Heaven's crown.

Ji Fu lowered his head slightly, and the magnificent crown settled upon it. A gentle breeze stirred, and warm sunlight shone down, bathing them both in a layer of golden light.

All of Haojing City was immersed in sacred chanting. Countless Zhou people knelt upon the ground like a surging tide.

They paid homage to the new king, the son of Heaven.

They paid homage to the Sage King, the god of all Zhou people.

The Court Historians hurried to record the scene, while the painter, his heart aflame with excitement, etched it into his memory.

Since "The Sage King Carrying King Kang," no painting so evocative of receiving Heaven's mandate had been passed down to the world.

"The King Receiving the Mandate"-he would make this scene into a masterpiece for the ages.

[Your Fortune Points are increasing rapidly.]

[Your family's renown has increased.]

Ji Zhao watched all this from the unseen realm. His eyes showed no particular joy. His gaze was tranquil, like an ocean of light.

It was hard to imagine what towering waves he might raise if he grew angry, or whether thunder might descend from the nine heavens to punish the world.

Fortune and calamity depended upon one another. That was the way of Heaven.

He had gained too much from the Zhou State. The Luo Clan was bound to it so deeply that, when the day of destruction came, the great edifice would collapse and leave nothing behind.

Though Ji Fu was the Son of Heaven, he still had to kneel and bow on an occasion such as this sacrifice to Heaven. The chanting that resounded throughout Haojing City made his whole body tremble.

What did it look like when ten thousand people chanted together?

He had never seen it, nor had he even imagined it.

But now he witnessed it, and, like every Son of Heaven before him, he was shaken to his core.

He finally understood the Sage King's standing among the Zhou people.

He could not help lowering his head, expressing his humility to that ancestor in the unseen realm.

The Zhou State welcomed a new king: Ji Fu, the Son of Heaven.

[History has opened a new chapter. You have gained a large number of Fortune Points. You have obtained the Mystic-Tier Item—Loyalty of Pure Blood.

Unique Mystic Tier · Loyalty of Pure Blood (Heaven bears witness to loyalty; pure blood washes the devoted heart): Activate this card with your life. Heavenly phenomena will manifest, and golden lotuses will spring from the earth. It can kill one who brings calamity upon the state. Upon death, the user becomes the Yellow Tier item · Blood Jade.]

This was a Mystic-Tier Item whose effects clearly exceeded its rank, yet still fell short of the Earth Tier.

The feudal lords escorted the new king to the council hall.

The two most important matters upon a new king's accession were passing final judgment on the past and rewarding his subjects according to their merits.

They had to establish the official verdict on Shen State's rebellion and the feudal lords' campaign to rescue the king, especially concerning the great figures who had died in the fighting.

First and foremost were the chief culprit, Ji Nie, and the perpetrators of regicide, Marquis Shen and Crown Prince Yi.

Ji Fu's affection for Ji Nie ran deep. After all, Ji Nie's love had extended to him as well, and he had treated him genuinely kindly.

But he knew his father would never receive a favorable posthumous name. In the end, he obediently accepted the feudal lords and Dukes and Ministers' choice of "You" for Ji Nie.

Though the feudal lords and Dukes and Ministers cited "one who dies bereft and loses his station is called You," he knew perfectly well that "one who violates ritual and disorders the moral order is called You" was their true reason for choosing it.

Ji Yi's posthumous name was decided quickly: "one who slaughters the innocent is called Li." He would be known as Crown Prince Li.

Marquis Shen received the posthumous name "Gan": "one who violates the state's Ji is called Gan." He would be known as Duke Gan of Shen.

As for the other feudal lords and Dukes and Ministers who had followed Marquis Shen into rebellion, some were executed and given condemnatory posthumous names, some were stripped of their titles and states and reduced to commoners, and some were even reduced directly to slavery.

There were two main criteria for these differing treatments. First, how grave their offenses were. Those whose crimes were too great would have to take the blade regardless. Second, how strong their connections were-in other words, whether their marriage ties gave them someone who could speak on their behalf.

Afterward, all guilty members of Shen State's ruling house would be executed, and someone else would be selected from the ruling house to succeed as its sovereign.

Shen State would be relocated to the western Liang Region, an even more desolate place. Reestablishing the state this time would be far harder than it had been a hundred years earlier.

Shen State's rank was also lowered to a viscountcy, effectively striking it from the ranks of the great states of All Xia.

Of the two men with the greatest military achievements, the Count of Zheng was elevated to Marquis of Zheng. Ten cities were carved out of Mi State and Yan State for him, and the new Zheng State was thus established east of Luoyi.

Zao Fei, of the Zhao Clan of the Ying Lineage, rose in a single bound from a subordinate vassal to a feudal lord through his great achievement of slaying the Rong king. He was enfeoffed as Count of Qin and granted a quarter of Western Shen State's entire territory.

The other feudal lords and Dukes and Ministers also received land, gold and silver, jewels, people, weapons, and more.

Thus far, the division of the spoils after the war remained harmonious. By and large, it was impartial, and everyone gained something.

Once these questions of legitimacy and paltry benefits had been settled, the truly substantial interests were laid before them all.

The feudal lords and Dukes and Ministers, who had previously stood united, instantly split into different camps according to their interests.

The first division was between the two largest camps: those who wanted to remain and those who favored moving east.

The stay-behind faction consisted primarily of Haojing's local Dukes and Ministers and nobles. They controlled power within the Royal Domain and, through the Son of Heaven, held sway over the entire Zhou State.

The eastward faction consisted primarily of the feudal lords who had come to rescue the king. The Marquis of Jin, the Marquis of Zheng, and the others adamantly demanded that Ji Fu move to Luoyi.

After all, they had contributed enormous effort this time. If they could not place the Son of Heaven within their own spheres of influence, they would merely have sewn another man's wedding robes.

"King, the people of Shen and the Rong People have thrown the Royal Domain into chaos. Not only is Haojing City in ruins, but the entire Royal Domain has suffered devastation. With years of natural disasters on top of that, this is no longer a capital capable of bearing the Mandate of Heaven.

"Moreover, the old lands of Fenghao are crawling with Rong People. If you remain here, King, you will surely suffer their constant raids. How dangerous that would be!

"If you move to Luoyi, the Ji-Surname Feudal Lords there are stronger.

"Jin State lies to your north, Zheng State to your east, and Wei State to your northeast.

"And powerful states such as Song State, Luo State, and Qi State can serve as your shields. Only then can your safety be assured.

"King Kang and King Zhao both made Luoyi their capital and brought prosperity to the Zhou State's Mandate of Heaven there. If you move there, you will surely be able to revitalize the Zhou State."

These words were not baseless nonsense, but a reasoned argument. The problems facing the Royal Domain around Haojing were indeed grave.

Although the allied armies had slain the rebels from Shen and driven away the Rong People, they could not remain here forever. Once they left, the Royal Domain's strength alone would be nowhere near enough to face the Rong People pouring into the Wei River Plain like a tide.

Nor were the feudal lords of the Central Plains the only ones supporting the move east. In fact, many lords outside the Royal Domain, scattered throughout the Three Rivers Basin, supported Ji Fu's eastward relocation.

The greatest difference between the lords outside the Royal Domain and the Lords of the Royal Domain was that the former believed in increasing their strength with swords, while the latter preferred to plunder through political means.

Once the Son of Heaven moved east, the lords outside the Royal Domain could expand their lands without restraint. This was especially true of the newly elevated Count of Qin, who commanded formidable military strength and was itching to put it to use.

But the Lords of the Royal Domain within Haojing were unwilling. Had the move east happened more than two hundred years earlier, they could have migrated alongside the Son of Heaven. Now, however, Luoyi already had a large number of ministerial clans.

Where would spare land be found to grant them?

Without lands and fiefs, they could not sustain their enormous clans and would soon fall amid the fierce competition.

That was something they could not tolerate.

"Though Luoyi is grand and magnificent, it lies open to attack on every side. When the state is strong, it can command the realm, but when the state weakens, enemies surround it. It cannot serve as the capital.

"Haojing lies amid great mountains and mighty rivers. The natural defenses of Xiao Mountain and Hangu Pass can block enemies from every direction.

"As long as we sweep away these Rong People and regain control of the passes, there will be no need to fear danger.

"Once the disasters pass, Guanzhong has vast tracts of land that can produce grain, and countless Zhou people who can fight for you. This is the land Heaven left to the Zhou State so that its Mandate of Heaven might endure!

"How could we abandon our ancestors' foundations and move to Luoyi?"

The Marquis of Jin snorted coldly. "High Minister, your intentions are truly venomous.

"Qi Mountain collapsed. The Luo River, Jing River, and Wei River all ceased flowing. The entire Fenghao Plain suffered tremendous devastation. Who knows when it will recover?

"The Rong People scattered throughout Fenghao threaten the Son of Heaven's safety at every moment. You say, 'as long as we sweep away the Rong People,' but what if we cannot?

"How exalted is the Son of Heaven! How could he risk himself alongside you?

"If you were loyal subjects, how could you place the Son of Heaven in such a predicament?"

The Marquis of Zhang chimed in as well. "Luoyi is the center of the realm. There, the Son of Heaven can receive the homage of every feudal lord beneath Heaven and truly be the common sovereign of all.

"The Marquis of Zheng, the Marquis of Jin, and I are all feudal lords of the Ji lineage, kin to the Son of Heaven. Would we ever place him at a disadvantage?"

Faced with this situation, Luo Cheng said nothing. The outcome had been settled from the very beginning.

Leaving aside the political bargain he had already struck with the lords outside the Royal Domain, moving east was inevitable even from Ji Fu's own perspective.

First, Ji Fu's affections inclined him toward the Marquis of Jin, the Marquis of Zheng, and the other Ji-Surname Feudal Lords who had helped him ascend the throne.

Second, after living in Haojing all these years, everything Ji Fu had seen and heard left him with little hope of defeating the Rong People.

Especially since both his father and mother had indirectly died at the hands of the Rong People, he was all the more eager to leave this dangerous place.

Finally, there was military strength. The lords outside the Royal Domain now possessed an overwhelming military advantage that the Lords of the Royal Domain could not begin to match.

They simply had not realized it yet. Once the Marquis of Jin and the others did, they would probably stop wasting words on these clamoring Dukes and Ministers and nobles, who commanded only a handful of troops.

"Duke of Luo, what is your opinion?"

Ji Fu already wanted to go to Luoyi, but the man he trusted most had yet to speak. He therefore turned his gaze toward Luo Cheng and sought his counsel.

When Ji Fu asked for Luo Cheng's opinion, everyone turned to him, eager to hear what he would say.

Luo Cheng did not equivocate. He said plainly, "King, with an army of one hundred thousand escorting you to Luoyi, you should be safe."

He deliberately stressed the words "an army of one hundred thousand," instantly jolting everyone in the hall awake.

Smiles appeared on the faces of the Marquis of Jin and the Marquis of Zheng. Exactly. We hold an absolute advantage right now. Why waste words on this pack of good-for-nothings?

They would take the Son of Heaven to Luoyi first. It had been the capital before, after all, and its maintenance had never ceased over the years. The King could assume control of state affairs as soon as he arrived.

The Dukes and Ministers and nobles of Haojing looked as though they had lost their parents. They stammered a few times, glanced at the murderous-looking feudal lords who had only left the battlefield days earlier, and dared say no more.

Watching this scene, Ji Zhao confirmed something he had long suspected: this truly was a world.

What he was experiencing now was more like a combination of a player and a background story. In the actual game, history could not be changed at all, and the protagonist's family simply drifted with the current.

But ever since he had begun, every item he used could alter some predetermined fate. Perhaps the world's framework still caused certain events to occur, but the people involved had changed completely.

According to the historical setting, Ji Yi should have ascended the throne. But because his maternal grandfather had brought in the Rong People and plunged Haojing into chaos, the people of the capital had rejected him, and he had ultimately gone to Luoyi alone.

Without the support of the capital's people, the royal house's strength had plummeted.

Now, however, Ji Fu could take a large number of impoverished people from the capital with him when he moved east. At least for a short time, the Son of Heaven would still have reserves to draw upon, leaving him far stronger than in actual history.

Once the decision to move east was made, the feudal lords would naturally depart together, bringing a group of the capital's people along. They would first escort the Son of Heaven to Luoyi, then lead their respective armies home.

Luo Cheng was appointed Bearer of the King’s Mandate and chief administrator of the Haojing garrison, with overall charge of Haojing's military and state affairs. He was also granted the title of Grand Tutor, one of the Three Dukes, and would remain in Haojing for another two or three months.

His main tasks were to inventory all property belonging to the royal house within Haojing City and compile a list of Zhou people willing to migrate later.

Judging by the outcome, after King Yi moved east, the Zhou Dynasty fell into complete decline and headed toward destruction. Yet this was a classic case of mistaking effect for cause.

King Yi's eastward relocation was not the beginning of the royal house's decline, but its result.

The Zhou royal house's interests in the Fenghao Royal Domain had already been divided up by the Lords of the Royal Domain, and the foundations of royal rule had been hollowed out. Its only hope of revival lay in the six hundred li of territory within the Luoyi Royal Domain.

According to historical records, the Zhou royal house did indeed rally during the early period after the move east. Supported by a group of powerful feudal lords, King Yi gathered the Ji-Surname Feudal Lords around the royal house and struck forcefully at the barbarians on all sides, as well as the lords who refused to obey royal commands.

This proves that blaming the Zhou Dynasty's decline on the move east is a classic fallacy.-"A History of the Rise and Fall of the Zhou Dynasty"

Praise the sage!

I suppose I'm suited to writing stories about holy charlatans.