"Your Majesty?"

Chen Mo pondered for a moment, then immediately said, "Is there any progress on last night’s matter?"

Sun Meng replied, "It’s about King Chong and the Soul Devouring Array."

"Let’s talk about it while we walk."

The roads in Luonan were destroyed by the earthquake, unsuitable for carriages, and taking horses would require a detour, so it’s better to walk. Besides, the Prime Minister’s Mansion isn’t far from the Imperial Palace.

"According to Wang Suo’s confession, King Chong was killed by Lu Sheng and buried... Just now, I ordered someone to dig it up, and after verification, it was indeed King Chong’s body.

As for why Lu Sheng killed King Chong, Wang Suo is not clear, but according to Xu Zheng, King Chong was sacrificed for the Soul Devouring Array."

"Who is Xu Zheng?"

"He is the Supervisor from the Astronomical Bureau, and it was he who modified and launched the Soul Devouring Array. However, according to his confession, Lu Sheng forced him to do it. He had no choice as his whole family was in Lu Sheng’s hands. Also, the bodies of those dozens of ministers in the Prime Minister’s Mansion dungeon have been investigated. These were people who attempted to desert but were caught by Lu Sheng and sacrificed to the Soul Devouring Array," Sun Meng narrated slowly.

"No wonder I couldn’t sense any Spiritual Qi from those bodies before. Now I understand..." After understanding, Chen Mo said, "What about Lu Sheng’s family’s whereabouts?"

"Wang Suo refuses to say, even after torture. Judging by his fear of death, he is holding firm this time. It seems his family was also moved along with Lu Sheng’s family," said Sun Meng.

Chen Mo slightly furrowed his brow, then said, "Finding King Chong is enough; we have basically captured all major heads of the rebel faction. Of course, don’t give up on the investigation; find them alive or dead."

"I understand," replied Sun Meng.

...

Wu Yanqing, Nangong Xian, Jiang Li, Diwu Fusheng, Liu Ji, and others had been waiting at the Vermilion Bird Gate for a while.

Except for Jiang Li who was still in armor, Wu Yanqing and the others had changed into regular clothes, indicating their importance on today’s early court session.

Besides these people, there were some officials in court robes whom Chen Mo didn’t recognize, but they seemed to be ministers from the court.

Upon seeing Chen Mo and his group approaching, they immediately came forward to offer congratulations: "Congratulations to King Wei."

Their tone was very flattering.

Wu Yanqing stepped forward and quietly explained.

It turned out that these people were scattered officials with no real power.

Whether Xu Guozhong or Lu Sheng was in power, they always sided with them but were never valued, remaining marginalized. Some of them didn’t even qualify to attend court sessions.

The reason they appeared here is due to their "political instincts." With every major change, a batch of positions at the court opens, so they try their luck to see if they can get any benefits.

The matter of Chen Mo being granted the title of King Wei was told to them by Chen Mo and Wu Yanqing.

Finally, Wu Yanqing pulled Chen Mo aside, saying that among these people, a few were capable and could serve as speech officials or imperial censors.

As for the rest, they should remain as scattered officials.

However, Chen Mo didn’t entirely agree; he only agreed with Wu Yanqing on the capable few.

The rest of the scattered officials should all be dismissed.

Fortunately, the Four States’ imperial examination had selected some talents, so Chen Mo was not worried about having no one to use.

Of course, Chen Mo didn’t discuss this with Wu Yanqing on the spot, planning to talk privately later.

...

Based on the time, the early court session should have been long over.

But since Chen Mo hadn’t arrived, they had to coordinate with his timing.

Today’s early court session had many issues to discuss.

The most important was finalizing Chen Mo’s title of King and his subordinates’ official positions to formally announce to the world.

The second concern was the relocation of the capital.

The capital is the face of a nation.

With Luonan destroyed by the Soul Devouring Array, it was definitely not suitable to be the capital anymore.

Ultimately, it was decided to relocate back to the Celestial River.

Wu Yanqing proposed making Linzhou Xiangyang the capital.

But Chen Mo denied it.

The dynasty hadn’t even changed yet, and moving to Xiangyang, how would that look to the world?

Moreover, relocating the capital means needing a new Imperial Palace. Moving to Xiangyang means building a new palace, which is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive but also extremely costly.

The Celestial River already has an existing one, though it was plundered by the Xiliang Army, but after so long it’s stabilized, and it would only need minor repairs after moving.

Lastly, there needed to be an explanation for Luonan’s citizens.

The Soul Devouring Array destroyed the citizens’ homes. Although Lu Sheng caused this, now that he is dead, the mess left behind has to be cleaned up by the victors.

The solution is straightforward and rough.

Relocate Luonan’s citizens to Celestial River as well.

In these troubled times, the population of the Great Song has been reduced by at least half in just a few years. (This is not an exaggeration, it may even be understated. During the time of the Eastern Han Emperor Huan, the population was around 50 million; by the Three Kingdoms period, it was only over 7 million.)

So, there is no worry that moving Luonan’s population to Celestial River would cause issues of homelessness or lack of farmland.

During the period before the capital relocation, the survival of the citizens would be subsidized by the court.

After the early court session ended, Chen Mo didn’t get any rest; there were too many matters he needed to handle.

However, as the official positions of the court departments were roughly arranged, the court could start its preliminary operations.

...

In Luonan City, the political atmosphere shifted. Squads of armored warriors moved through the streets, beating gongs and drums, while countless citizens peeked out from the gaps in their broken windows and doors.

"His Majesty has decreed: Former Prime Minister Lu Sheng, King Chong Chu Yan, Prince Huai Chu Yi... disrupted the court and plotted rebellion, thanks to Duke An..."

"Duke An subdued external enemies and made meritorious contributions in eliminating the traitors, and is now promoted to King Wei..." The armored warriors shouted one by one, then posted an announcement on every street.

The armored warriors spoke a lot, but the citizens gleaned the following:

First, the former Prime Minister Lu Sheng colluded with King Chong, Prince Huai, the Liang Family, and the Luo Family in a conspiracy but was discovered by Duke An, Chen Mo, and has now been eradicated altogether.

Second, Chen Mo repelled foreign enemies and protected against rebels, and for his merits, he was promoted to King Wei.

Third, with the rebel faction removed, they could come out, and all miscellaneous taxes this year were waived. Additionally, the Government Office would provide porridge at the south and east of the city twice a day.

Lastly, His Majesty decided to relocate the capital to Celestial River, and citizens who choose to go along will not only receive land and houses there but also monetary and grain compensation.

The announcement also specified that those who wish to register within the first three days will get compensation in money and grain.

Anyone not registered after three days will be forcibly "moved" without compensation.

Upon hearing this, the citizens were shocked, followed by an uproar.

Whether Chen Mo was conferred a king or not didn’t affect the citizens much.

But relocating to Celestial River was hard to accept for citizens who have lived in Luonan for generations; it felt as if the sky had fallen.

As for the money and grain compensation mentioned, it wasn’t specified how much, and in the citizens’ view, it would certainly be just symbolic.

After all, the government taking and extorting has been common, so if they didn’t further exploit them, the citizens would already be fortunate. How could they be so generous to offer compensation?

Even the more pessimistic ones worried whether the government might do something to them during the relocation.

After all, moving meant taking all their belongings with them.

However, it was the scholars who took the pseudo-court civil examinations under Lu Sheng who felt worse.

Now that Lu Sheng is dead and declared a rebel, they questioned the validity of their examination results.

For a time, they regretted participating in those examinations immensely. Had they known, they would have traveled further to participate in the exams under Chen Mo’s Four States.

Some brave individuals organized a group of successful provincial examination scholars to demand an explanation outside the Government Office.