Chapter 162: Submission

Jing Tianming sent people to deliver the eight severed snake heads to Xiujing Camp. After selecting them, Qingwei Zhenren sent one of the snake heads to Pingjing, putting pressure on the royal family of Pingjing again and forcing them to surrender.

The fact that the Taoist sect could kill the Yamata no Orochi without sending out the immortals meant that it was not difficult for the Taoist sect to capture Pingjing. It was just that the Taoist sect did not want to cause more casualties, so it gave Pingjing a chance to end the battle in a decent manner. .

Pingjing certainly understood this truth. The reason why Feigong Xizi desperately escaped was that only if she was alive, the royal family would have the qualifications to negotiate.

Of course, if you can't win on the front battlefield, you can't get it at the negotiation table either. Such a peace talk is just a unilateral surrender of the royal family.

Soon, the royal family sent a reply, accepting the conditions of the Taoist sect.

According to the content of the first peace talk, the royal family agreed to punish the criminals who provoked the war, including many important officials of the court, including the left minister. Dismiss all the wandering Taoists and abolish the status of Tianmen as a state religion. According to the standards of Taoism, all armies were reorganized, the aristocratic system was reformed, the land system was reformed, the royal family was downgraded to the royal family, and they became vassals of the Daxuan court. The royal family only existed as a symbol and no longer held real power. The Toyotomi Xiangfu took over all the rights of the Pingjing court and its subordinate yamen at all levels.

In addition, Taoism also put forward additional conditions. The three major artifacts should not be left in the hands of the downgraded royal family, but should be kept by the Fenglinzhou Daofu. In fact, the royal family did not have much say in this regard. The key depends on Feigong Xizi. Perhaps it was because the national teacher first broke the incarnations of the three main gods and then killed the dragon with one sword, which scared Feigong Xizi's courage. The last Zhai Wang did not insist too much and agreed to this condition.

The reason why the royal family agreed so happily was also because the reputation of Taoism has been very good over the years. It has not done anything to go back on its word, so there is no need to worry about being repaid later.

In this way, the balance that Taoism hoped for was achieved.

The Toyotomi Prime Minister's Office holds the real power, and the royal family is only a symbol. However, the royal family also has the existence of Da Tengu and Hinomiya Xizi, which can play a role in balancing the Toyotomi Prime Minister's Office. The Fenglinzhou Daofu is in the middle to balance, rather than standing on a specific side. However, checks and balances do not mean to set off cruel party struggles, so Qingwei Zhenren asked Toyotomi Hideshige to marry Jixianggong Tamako to ease the relationship between the two sides through marriage.

After the royal family agreed to the surrender conditions, Pingjing opened the city without bloodshed, and the Taoist army officially entered Pingjing. The lord of Fenglinzhou led the royal family members to welcome it, which meant the submission of the royal family.

After the army entered the city, the royal family of Fenglinzhou submitted a letter to the Daxuan court, expressing their loyalty and requesting canonization, and submitted the two proposed national name plans "Fenglin" and "Ashihara" to the Daxuan Emperor for decision. The Emperor of Daxuan finally chose the new country name "Fenglin" and conferred the title of King of Fenglin on the ruler of Fenglinzhou in the name of the emperor of the suzerain country, which was equivalent to the title of prince of the Daxuan court. He also granted him the golden seal, imperial edict, crown, nine chapters, jade, jade pendant, seven-pearl crown, shawl, gold pendant, and the inside and outside of the classics and coins, etc.

Since then, the rulers of Fenglinzhou have been conferred the title of King of Fenglin according to the rules. They can only call themselves "Gu" or "Gua Ren" and cannot call themselves "Zhen". Ministers can only call themselves "Da Wang" or "Your Highness" and cannot call themselves "Emperor" or "Your Majesty", otherwise it would be considered as usurpation.

At the same time, the Daxuan court also stipulated that the official uniform of the King of Fenglin was a dragon robe with a red background and golden patterns, and the Queen of Fenglin was decorated with phoenixes. Princesses, county ladies and concubines were decorated with flower patterns. The red pheasant clothes were the exclusive clothing of the prince level. The sky blue pheasant clothes were the level of the Queen of Daxuan, and the Queen of Fenglin and the Princess could not usurpation.

In the past hundred years, the changes that the Taoist sect has made to Fenglinzhou have been very huge. Most of the middle-class people have followed the Central Plains, from clothing to manners and habits, and even the accent of speaking. The closer to the imperial accent, the more authentic it is. Many Japanese are proud of speaking fluent Central Plains Mandarin. Many people even like to mix some obscure Central Plains words in their daily Japanese communication, using the two languages ​​​​mixedly to show their own advancedness.

Only the upper class still retains traditional clothing. After the royal family became a vassal, the Daxuan court directly made regulations on the royal family's clothing, that is, to implement "changing clothes" from top to bottom. As the saying goes, what goes up follows what goes down. Since the upper and middle classes are proud to imitate the Central Plains, the lower-level civilians will naturally follow suit.

Another point is that since changing clothes is implemented, you have to tie your hair and wear a crown. You can't tie your hair and wear a crown if you shave your head, so you naturally have to grow your hair. This is growing hair and changing clothes.

The next step is the reform of the title system. Because the imperial family has been reduced to the royal family, the prince and the inner prince are abolished, and the six ranks of county prince, duke, earl, viscount and baron are divided. The original prince is reduced to county prince, and the inner prince is reduced to county princess. The head of the Toyotomi family is also a county prince, and he is the only county prince with a different surname, and then it is divided down in sequence.

At this point, nominally it is a top-down reform of the royal family, but in fact it is operated by the Taoist sect behind the scenes. In other words, what titles can be conferred by the feudal lords and daimyo in various places depends not only on their own strength, but also on the attitude of the Taoist sect.

For example, Toyotomi Chiyo, she is the sister of Toyotomi Hidetsugu. With the death of Toyotomi Hidetsugu, she is destined to become a marginal figure in the prime minister's mansion. It is good to be able to be conferred a county princess, but because she is a benchmark figure promoted by the Taoist sect, and the degree of Taoist sectization is very deep, she is directly canonized as a county princess, which is equivalent to the princes and princesses, and even equal to Toyotomi Hideshige.

There is also Asai Yoshishin, although his ancestors were feudal lords, they had long since fallen, and in terms of strength, he could only be a viscount at most, but because of his great achievements, he was canonized as a marquis. Maeda Masao, who chose to surrender to the Taoist sect, was also canonized as a marquis.

Yagyu Munemasa, who has always firmly supported and upheld the Dao sect, was canonized as a duke. He was unwilling to accept it and gave the title to his son. The Dao sect also specially granted him the second-rank Taoist origin, the same treatment as Suzuka Gozen. This time, Yagyu Munemasa gladly accepted it.

These things, Qingwei Zhenren and Da Zhenren Zhang Qihan certainly would not do it themselves. At most, the people below would draw up a list and hand it over to them for review and approval. It was mainly decided by Fenglinzhou Daofu, Ancestral Hall, and Ziwei Hall.

Qi Xuansu, as the deputy head of Ziwei Hall, was also among them. He had no interest in these dukes and marquises. He just proposed to canonize a woman named Huanji as a viscount. The reason was also very sufficient. The proportion of women in the nobles of Fenglinzhou was too small, and most of them were princesses and county princesses from the royal family. They could not reflect the equal concept of the Dao sect and needed to be emphasized.

This reason was of course high-sounding. It involved the moral correctness within the Dao sect. No one could object, at least not openly. In addition, the majority of the profits here are concentrated at the level of dukes and marquises, so a small viscount is really insignificant. Moreover, Qi Xuansu did not get involved in the rating of these dukes and marquises, which was equivalent to giving up his share. Many people were happy to return the favor, so they directly changed Huan Ji from viscount to earl.

So Fenglinzhou had one more female countess.

For the people in the Taoist sect, it was not an earl of the Great Xuan court, but just a matter of moving a pen, which was nothing.

When Huan Ji learned that she was going to be canonized as an earl, she was happy, but also a little afraid, and deeply felt the great power and deep background of Qi Gaogong.

In terms of official appearance, he could let his small flag, who was at most a baron, directly jump two levels to become an earl. In terms of trade, he could also introduce the leading big merchants in the Central Plains to himself. What kind of power is this?

But Qi Gaogong has been very busy, either participating in the war or on the way to the expedition, which seems very mysterious.

Therefore, Huan Ji became more and more curious about Qi Gaogong. She was a person who was good at making friends. She had already established some connections with a local Taoist priest in terms of Taiping money. When she hosted a banquet, she began to ask about Qi Gaogong indirectly.

Taiping money and wine can always quickly bring people closer together. In addition, this was not a confidential topic. The Taoist priest directly told everything he knew: "Qi Gaogong? You mean the deputy hall master Qi? That's really amazing. He is a young talent. Many people say that he is the fourth best in Taoism. Do you know who can be called 'excellent'? First, he must be young, not more than 30 years old. Second, he must be good enough to compete for the position of the Grand Master."

Grand Master!

Huan Ji's pupils shrank slightly. She was shocked and felt some unspeakable pressure.

That was not comparable to the Tianmen Zhaiwang or the Emperor of Fenglinzhou. The Grand Master of Fenglinzhou Daofu, the Master of the Army, and even the National Master were all subordinates of the Grand Master.

That was the leader of Taoism, and even the leader of the entire Eastern world.

The Taoist priest on duty was a little drunk, and he didn't care about Huan Ji's reaction. He just said, "It's a bit far to talk about the position of the Grand Master. The Seventh Grand Master hasn't been selected yet, so how can it be the Eighth Grand Master? It will be decades later. Let's talk about the present. Jinque issued a decree to commend Deputy Hall Master Qi. Zhang Da Zhenren personally read the commendation order and spread it to the whole Taoist sect. What kind of treatment is this? I heard that Deputy Hall Master Qi will soon be promoted to the second seat, which is the top three positions in a local Taoist prefecture. If you become the second seat, the Taoist rank will also be adjusted, that is, promoted to Zhenren. Do you know what Zhenren under 30 means?"

Not all Taoist priests on duty are like Qi Xuansu who was free at the beginning. They have been in this environment for many years, so they naturally know the nine grades and twelve levels of Taoism in detail, and can talk about age restrictions, qualifications, and even factional struggles among the top leaders.

Huan Ji was shocked. The Grand Master was too far away, and no one could predict what would happen decades later. She was relatively calm and just regarded it as a good prospect. But what was about to happen was different. She thought that Qi Gaogong was already very great, but she didn't expect that she would change her name to Qi Zhenren in the near future.

The titles of Gaogong Master, Master, and Taoist Priest were only used by outsiders to refer to Taoist priests. They were not used by the Taoist sect. However, "Zhenren" was commonly used inside and outside the Taoist sect, which showed that Zhenren had a transcendent status. Only by becoming a Zhenren could one be considered to have entered the upper echelons of the Taoist sect, so Zhenren was also called the highest among the high-ranking Taoist priests.

The Taoist priest on duty probably drank too much and was also drunk. He half-dreamt and said: "Zhenren who are less than 30 years old and Zhenren who are 40 years old, as long as they don't die prematurely, even if they can't become the Grand Master, it's not a problem to be a Deputy Master and a Great Zhenren."