Chapter 1228 – Imperial Capital

1st month, 8th day, all the Provincial Governors returned to their respective areas.

Even Bing’er went back to Qiongzhou to learn once more. Since she did not dislike such a life, Ouyang Shuo was prepared to let her have a few years of training in Qiongzhou Prefecture.

Thinking about how the Provincial Governors all asked carefully about when they would be able to upgrade to imperial dynasty, Ouyang Shuo smiled bitterly. On the night of the ceremony, Ouyang Shuo had taken a look at the requirements to upgrade.

Compared to the nine for the Emperor dynasty, the imperial dynasty required only three things.

Requirement 1. Unify China.

This requirement was not anything special. Unifying China was originally Great Xia’s set goal, and if everything went well, they could unify China in the 7th year.

Requirement 2: Obtain the Overlord position in Asia.

This was a little tougher.

Thinking about how Great Xia managed to obtain the position of Overlord in China, one would not know hard this was going to be.

Asia was also the strongest region in the world. Apart from Great Xia, there was the Romanov Dynasty, Ashoka Dynasty, Peacock Dynasty, Gupta Dynasty, Persia Dynasty, and Arab Dynasty.

Even Caesar Dynasty occupied a corner of Asia.

If Great Xia wanted to obtain the position while being surrounded by so many enemies, they would have to destroy many dynasties. The biggest challenge would be from the three in India.

Requirement 3: Obtain the recognition of all the dynasties in the world.

This was even tougher. Thinking about the situation that Great Xia was in, if it wanted to do so, they would need to basically smash the cake of Azure Badge and Silver Hand.

If not, it would be hard to reach this requirement.

Apart from the above three conditions, there were no title, reputation, territory size, or fate requirements. After all, if one completed the above three requirements, the other requirements were basically included within.

Ouyang Shuo was thinking that Gaia set such strict requirements because it did not expect any dynasty to upgrade to Emperor dynasty. After all, considering that it was the 7th year of Gaia, there were only four years of game time left.

“No matter what, I have to give it a try.”

The moment Ouyang Shuo checked the requirements to upgrade to imperial dynasty, he made up his mind to make upgrading Great Xia to an imperial dynasty as his final goal.

Only then would he be left with no regrets.
…
Just as Ouyang Shuo was dealing with the debriefs of the Provincial Governors, Shanhai City’s expansion had started, and this slowly became the most exciting thing in the entire Emperor dynasty.

The interest in this had even exceeded the interest in the upgrading ceremony.

Everyone could see that compared to the already crowded old city region, the new one was an unopened virgin land filled with numerous opportunities and riches.

All of a sudden, be it the normal civilians, the nobles, or the officials, they either met in the open or in secret to discuss this.

Everyone wished to obtain some land in the new city.

However, the Shanhai City office hid the planning of the new region. No matter how the nobles and merchants searched and asked, from the Shanhai magistrate to the normal officials, none of them said a word.

The Shanhai City office was in a tough spot. A few days ago, the overall planning power was taken from them by the Imperial Court and controlled by the Administration Court, Financial Court, industrialization department, Civil Affairs Department, imperial colleges, and the like to participate in. Then the Cabinet would vet the plans.

The scale and importance of this had exceeded everyone’s expectations.

Before deciding on the overall plan of Shanhai City, the first thing the Cabinet did was adjust the administrative region of the Lianzhou Prefecture.
…
1st month, 9th day, morning, imperial city, emperor palace.

Along with the imperial university, army military university as well as the Guards Legion Corps moving out, the imperial city instantly became spacious. Looking out, everywhere was filled with busy artisans.

Regardless of whether Ouyang Shuo was willing or not, to fit the position of the Emperor dynasty, the palace had to be expanded.

Based on the planning, the imperial city would be split into three parts, with north-south as the intersection. The entire north part would be the palace region, while the south would be split into two. The west would be the office region and the east would be the temple of heaven and the ancestral temple.

The camp of the 1st legion corps was not gathered in one area. Instead, it was split into five large drill fields that took up every crucial region of the city. They would patrol day and night to ensure the safety of the imperial city.

Based on the system, the 1st legion would not participate in conquests and wars.

The outer halls of the palace would be guarded by the Divine Martial Guards while the back palace would be led by the Hua Mulan headed court lady guards.

For this, Ouyang Shuo especially expanded the Divine Martial Guards to five thousand men. With that, even if Ouyang Shuo went out, he could leave two thousand men to defend the palace.

Apart from defenses on the surface, there were many Wulin experts of the Shadow Guards in hidden areas of the palace.

If anyone tried to assassinate someone in the palace, they would have tried to do so in the wrong place.

Such a plan was not because he was timid, rather, it was because of the relatively recent Hanwu Emperor assassination and Feng Qiuhuang poisoning event. Ouyang Shuo had to defend against such acts.

Great Xia had too many enemies, and if someone was anxious to do so, Ouyang Shuo would not feel surprised at all.

Within the Imperial Reading Room, Jiang Shang was describing the importance of adjusting the Lianzhou Prefecture administrative zone, “Your majesty, Shanhai City is the capital and is the center of the Emperor dynasty. It radiates out to the entire land and signifies the entire dynasty. It has a really high position, and its importance cannot be emphasized enough, which is why we need to confirm its position through administrative means.”

Ouyang Shuo did not understand, “Didn’t we make Lianzhou Prefecture into a Zhili Prefecture?”

“If I may, at the Emperor dynasty stage, the Zhili Prefecture status is already too low. I suggest we follow the Tang Dynasty system and make Shanhai City the imperial capital and Zhili Prefecture the Imperial House, having an Imperial Governor whose position is the same as a Provincial Governor.”

The place where the son of heaven lived would have a high status, so it was called the imperial capital.

Naming it the imperial house showed the scale and prestige of the capital of the country.

Listening to Jiang Shang’s explanation, Ouyang Shuo indeed learned a lot. He did not expect that within such small words would actually be such huge meaning. He smiled and said, “Okay!”

Although it was just a small name change, great meaning was contained within.

“Your majesty is wise!”

“Regarding the choice of Imperial Governor, does the Cabinet have any suggestions?” Ouyang Shuo asked.

Jiang Shang was stunned; this was something he did not expect. For the Zhili Prefecture to become the Imperial House, it should be natural for original Shanhai Magistrate Zang Wenzhong to be promoted.

However, listening to the words of the emperor, he was ready to change the personnel.

“Is your majesty unhappy with Zang Wenzhong, or is there a deeper meaning?” Jiang Shang was not sure, so he could only play safe and ask, “I feel that he is a suitable choice.”

“Although he is suitable, does the Cabinet not have other choices?”

“This…”

Facing the questions of the emperor, Jiang Shang felt a little nervous.

Truthfully, the position of Imperial Governor looked really stunning and shining, but it was a tough job.

The imperial capital was an important place and was at the foot of the emperor. Everyone on the streets was a noble and some even had titles. As such, the Imperial Governor would face pressure from both the Imperial Court from above and the nobles from below and would be unable to make anyone unhappy.

The person chosen must be smooth and good at flattering.

The Tang Dynasty had many changes to their Imperial Governor, which astonished others. It was mentioned by Bai Juyi in one poem, “How to be an Imperial Governor and remain at the job. Numbers had it at 15 people for 10 years.”

On average, the position was changed at least once in less than a year.

Ouyang Shuo did not force him and said, “Let Tian Wenjing and Zhang Wenzhong switch roles!”

“The emperor is wise!”

Jiang Shang heaved a sigh of relief; the heart of the emperor was heart to read.

Ouyang Shuo did not make his decision because he was unhappy with Zhang Wenzhong. First, Zhang Wenzhong had been the Shanhai Magistrate for three years, and it was time to move him. To be a Provincial Governor at the Shu Lands would be treating him well.

Secondly, he did not want the Imperial Governor role to be as spineless as the Tang Dynasty. He wanted an iron-faced governor, which was why he chose Tian Wenjing.

Tian Wenjing was among the first batch of officials of the Emperor dynasty and was one of the 24 meritorious officials. Be it in terms of experience or ability, Ouyang Shuo believed that he could do the job well.

After they discussed the matter of the Imperial House, Ouyang Shuo continued, “I’ve heard that there have been people talking about turning Chuannan Province into a Zhili Province and becoming the head of the provinces. What do you think?”

Jiang Shang had confidence about this topic and replied directly, “I think the time is not right.”

“Since that’s the case, it’s time for those rumors to stop.” Although Ouyang Shuo was really expressionless when he spoke, his words were filled with killing intent.

Regardless of who it was pushing those rumors in the dark, they had touched Ouyang Shuo’s nerves.

An important place like the capital never lacked hidden currents.

“Do not worry your majesty, I understand!”

Jiang Shang knew that it was time for those people acting smart to receive their due punishment.