The Son of Heaven looked at the map on the desk and was speechless for a long time.

He was annoyed, rebellion after rebellion, and there was always more bad news than good news, which made him feel both tired and helpless. Why has the Great Han Kingdom become like this in recent years? If you want money without money, if you want soldiers without soldiers, natural and man-made disasters are endless, if you go on like this, when will you be able to get through?

Thinking of the face of the minister of the DPRK and China, he was even more angry. These people are not good at fighting, but they are more active in fighting for power and profit than anyone else. As soon as he locked up Wang Han, the chief Sinong and Wang Han, the impeachment of Wang Han was piled up, and he wondered, since Wang Han had done all the bad things of corruption and perversion of the law, why had no one played it before this?

He knows what kind of person Wang Han is, except for pestering himself every day to ask for money, which is disgusting, the others are impeccable and a good person. However, in recent years, Wang Han has done his best to raise military funds and maintain the expenses of the imperial court, which has offended many people. He proposed to reduce the bureaucracy, which offended the bureaucracy; He proposed to borrow land rent from the princely magnate, but offended the princely magnate; He borrowed money from Shaofu and asked Wanjintang for money, but he offended himself. To put it bluntly, he was offended by all the offended people, even the eunuchs and Zhonghuangmen who guarded the Beisi Prison hated him, and Wang Han was beaten half to death by them as soon as he entered the Beisi Prison.

Just look at the recitals of the Three Princes' Mansion and the Great General's Mansion, there are too many people eyeing the position of Dasi Nong, this is a fat shortage, you can embezzle hundreds of millions of dollars with any effort, and all the powers in the DPRK and China have begun to fight openly and secretly for this fat shortage, and everyone wants to grab it. Now the affairs of the Great Si Nong are temporarily in charge of Sikong Ding Palace. In the eyes of the Son of Heaven, Sikong Ding Gong has a close relationship with the general He Jin, he is not at ease, but it is not easy to change people immediately, because the Queen Mother has already instructed him, no matter what, let Ding Gong be responsible for a while, and wait until the big Si Nong pays off all the money borrowed from the Queen Mother, and it doesn't matter who the big Si Nong is the Queen Mother.

He had already thought about who would do the big Sinong, and he was not in a hurry, he just wanted to find an excuse to release Wang Han as soon as possible and let him go home to live for the rest of his life.

His headache was Zongzheng Liu Yu's request to go to Youzhou. He was reluctant to let Liu Yu go, and as soon as Liu Yu left, there was one less person in the court who he could trust. If Liu Xie, the Marquis of Xiao Dong, was to be made the crown prince, he had to control the inner and outer courts as much as possible in order to deal with the great general He Jin at the right time. Because of the support of the mid-ranking officials and the fact that Shang Shutai was in charge of military affairs, the strength of the inner court was gradually strengthening, while the outer court could only rely on the clan members of Taichang Liu Yan and Zongzheng Liu Yu to gradually control it. As soon as Liu Yu left, the Son of Heaven felt that his efforts for a long time had been in vain.

It is not an easy task to choose a member of the clan who is recognized by the whole court to serve as the important position of Jiuqing. If you don't have real skills, you can't do it, don't say that you are not at ease, that is, the opposition of the bureaucrats of the world and the secret elbow are enough to deal with it yourself. Look at Zhao Zhong in Da Changqiu, Zhang Rang in Zhongchang, and He Jin, the great general, these powerful people, can their relatives do Jiuqing? He Miao is the only one who has been Henan Yin before making military merits, but that is only equivalent to Zhuqing. Today's court is still the world of the gate lord family. Among the clans, only a few people such as Liu Yan and Liu Yu are currently recognized by the gate lord clan because of their outstanding knowledge.

Liu Yu's insistence on leaving Luoyang was selfish, he didn't want to be involved in the battle for the imperial system. His Majesty liked him to be the captain, but the queen and the general and other forces were afraid that the Son of Heaven would control the military power through Liu Yu, so they obstructed it in every way, so the Son of Heaven vacated the position of the captain for more than a month, but in the end the Son of Heaven compromised, what does this mean? It shows that the power of the general has become greater and greater, the struggle with the Son of Heaven has become more and more intense, and the battle for the imperial throne, which everyone is secretive, has become more and more clear. At this time, if you continue to stay in Luoyang, there are only two choices, either support the eldest prince to inherit the unification and stand aside with the queen and general; Either support the little prince to inherit the unification and stand aside with His Majesty and the Queen Mother. Liu Yu had no choice but to choose to escape. The chaos in Youzhou was his best chance to get out of Luoyang.

The Son of Heaven didn't know Liu Yu's thoughts, and if he knew, he would definitely be furious and would put him in Beisi Prison. The Son of Heaven thought that Liu Yu was bothered by the rumors in Luoyang, so he specially talked to him once, hoping that Liu Yu would stay by his side, but Liu Yu cried bitterly, and insisted on leaving under the pretext of thinking about the people of Li in Youzhou, and he even said that he would rather resign than go to Youzhou to fight the rebels and be loyal to the Han Kingdom.

The Son of Heaven was distressed and helpless.

Liu Yu saw the appearance of the Son of Heaven's soul, and his heart was also uncomfortable, he knelt on the ground, burst into tears, and was about to change his words, but he thought of the coming bloody rain, he still gritted his teeth and held back. Liu Yu thought about it for a long time and decided to finally test the mind of the Son of Heaven.

"Your Majesty, if General Li's counterinsurgency is over, how does Your Majesty plan to arrange for him?"

The Son of Heaven seemed to have an idea, and said without thinking about it: "Bingzhou has always been an important place on the border, which is directly related to the safety of Luoyang, so I plan to let him guard Bingzhou, recover the lost territory, and protect the Jingshi." ”

Liu Yu's heart was cold, knowing that the Son of Heaven arranged Li Hong like this, and he was already determined to support the little prince to inherit the unification. He no longer had the intention of staying in Luoyang, and said loudly: "Your Majesty, after the minister arrives in Youzhou, he should try his best to quell the rebellion and guard the border for His Majesty. ”

The Son of Heaven was not happy when he heard this, he looked at Liu Yu, shook his head and said, "Doesn't Aiqing know that I need you to stay in Luoyang even more?" ”

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The Son of Heaven's thoughts were interrupted by the shouts of Huangfu Song.

Huangfu Song and Lu Zhi were explaining the battle situation in Youzhou to the Son of Heaven in detail.

"Your Majesty, the thief is so huge, the loss of Youzhou is a foregone conclusion." Huangfu Song raised his head and said calmly, "After the fall of Jicheng, the eastern and central counties of Youzhou have been occupied by ant thieves, and we have no way to rescue them at present. ”

The Son of Heaven snorted and asked unintentionally, "When will the reinforcements arrive in Zhuo County?" ”

"Your Majesty, the top priority is not to urge reinforcements to go north, but to order General Li to rush to Jinyang immediately to prevent Zhang Yan from suddenly turning around and returning to Changshan." Huangfu Song said, "Our reinforcements are small in number and weak, even if we rush to Zhuojun, we can't defeat the rebels, let alone recapture Jicheng, at most, it is to delay the rebels' southward speed, to no avail." ”

The Son of Heaven was stunned for a moment, looked at Huangfu Song and Lu Zhi, and asked strangely, "What do you mean by the two Aiqing?" Zhang Yan saw that the leopard arrived in Taiyuan, turned around and ran, don't fight? If he doesn't fight, Li Hong can chase after him. ”

"General Li is powerless to pursue, because Yang Feng, the ant thief who attacked the Shangdang, will immediately go north to Taiyuan to entangle him." Huangfu Song said, "As soon as Zhang Yan runs, General Li has no choice." ”

"Your Majesty, it's not that Zhang Yan doesn't fight, but he can't fight, he must rush back to Changshan as soon as possible in order to help the rebels in Youzhou quickly move south and occupy Jizhou." Lu Zhi brushed his beard and said, "The minister and the emperor have been thinking for a long time, what is the point of Zhang Yan occupying Taiyuan County? What problem can it solve for ant thieves? Later, we suddenly realized that Zhang Yan's attack on Jinyang was a plan to lure the enemy, and he just wanted to drag General Li's army into Bingzhou. The real purpose of the Yellow Turban Thieves is to quickly occupy Jizhou. ”

The Son of Heaven looked dazed and puzzled.

"Your Majesty, the ant thief is ambitious, he is both the emperor and the founding of the country, and the momentum is so big, he doesn't just want to stay in that barren place in the northern Xinjiang, right?" Huangfu Song explained, "After they occupy Jicheng, what do they want to do next?" ”

"What? Do thieves still want to fight Luoyang? The Son of Heaven asked with a glare.

"Of course they don't dare to think about Luoyang, but Jizhou still has to fight, otherwise, where will their grain and grass come from? Without food, grass and possessions, how can they sustain themselves? Lu Zhi said, "But Zhang Ju and Zhang Chun's rebels alone can't defeat Jizhou." ”

"Hundreds of thousands of ant thieves are not enough?" The Son of Heaven asked, "Don't they still have Karasuma cavalry?" ”

"The Karasuma rebels will not stay far from the northern frontier and penetrate deep into the hinterland of our Han Central Plains, we can be sure of this." Lu Zhi said, "First, my Han has been accumulating prestige for a long time, and the Hu people are afraid of my Han, for many years, we have killed them, and they have only plundered near the border at most, and there is no precedent for attacking the hinterland of my Han country, especially now, we have just defeated the 120,000 army of the Xianbei people in Western Xinjiang, which can be imagined as a blow to their confidence." Second, the Hu people went south with cavalry, and they had to carry a large number of cattle, sheep and livestock as rations, and Jizhou was different from Xiliang, there was no grassland with abundant water and grass, only arable land, so the forage for livestock became a problem. If the Hu people can't solve this problem, their rations will naturally become a problem. ”

"At present, the Karasuma people can neither expel the fear in their hearts nor solve the fodder for their livestock, so it is very unlikely that they will go south to Jizhou with the rebels. If Zhang Ju and Zhang Chun tempted them with heavy profits, I think at most only some of the Karasuma people would be willing to go south with him, not all of them. ”

"In this way, the strength of the rebels to attack Jizhou is not enough. Even if they could win a few cities in the early days, by the time our reinforcements arrived, they would not be able to move an inch. In the case of lack of support, the rebels still have to withdraw to Youzhou. Huangfu Song continued, "Therefore, we conclude that Zhang Yan will return to Changshan and capture Zhending, so as to contain our forces and cover the rebel attack on Jizhou in Youzhou. After the three rebel armies of Zhang Ju, Zhang Yan, and Bai Huan converged, they would have enough men and horses to attack the city. ”

"Where's our reinforcements?" The Son of Heaven asked incredulously, "At that time, where were our reinforcements?" ”

"Your Majesty, the minister has already said that our reinforcements will be assembled in at least a month, and when they arrive in Jizhou, the rebels may have already reached Julu County and Anping Kingdom." Huangfu Song frowned and said, "So the top priority now is to keep Zhang Yan in Bingzhou, trap Bai Huan in Wei County, and stop Zhang Ju and Zhang Chun in the area of Zhongshan and Hejian to prevent them from meeting, so that their attempt to occupy Jizhou will fail." ”

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The Son of Heaven looked at the map, and the more he looked at it, the more angry he became, and he slammed his fist on the case, and shouted loudly: "Kill, kill all these rebels for me, kill as many as you want, I don't believe that I can't finish killing." ”

He pointed to Jian Shuo, who was standing on the side, and shouted: "Immediately give an order to Li Hong, tell him to surround the ant thieves in Jinyang, and no one is allowed to escape." ”

Jian Shuo hurriedly agreed, and stepped aside to draft the order.

"How do you trap the ant thieves in Wei County and stop them from going north?"

Huangfu Song bowed and said, "Your Majesty can give an order to let Jizhou Mu Yang Qi lead the army to block the enemy on the front line of Zhangshui." Although Lord Yang doesn't have any soldiers in his hands, it's still okay to delay the speed of the ant thief going north. When the county soldiers of Yanzhou East County, Chenliu County, and Jiyin County, which were closer to Wei County, went north to support, it was difficult for the ant thieves to continue and had to flee back to Montenegro. ”

"In addition, if Bai Huan, the leader of the ant thieves, has not received the news that Zhang Yan has led his army to attack Changshan, he may take the initiative to give up going north and withdraw to Montenegro."

"Aiqing can be sure?" The Son of Heaven asked.

"Your Majesty, the rebellious Zhang Ju proclaimed himself emperor, and Zhang Chun also claimed to be the prime minister, so why didn't the leaders of the ant thieves Zhang Yan, Yang Feng, and Bai Huan call themselves generals? Is it that Zhang Ju did not seal it or is Zhang Yan and others unwilling to accept it? You must know that nominally, Zhang Yan is the big leader of the Yellow Turban Ant Thieves, and he is just like Zhang Jiao back then, with a high status in the eyes of the ant thieves, but now the leader of the ant thieves has become Zhang Ju. What is the status of Zhang Ju among ant thieves? Huangfu Song pondered for a moment and said, "Perhaps, they have some internal problems. ”

"Therefore, the minister thinks that in this case, Bai Huan, who has been a thief for many years, will of course preserve his strength to maintain his own survival, so he ......"

"Hmph......" the Son of Heaven sneered, "Rebellious thieves, everyone gets and is punished, and there is no good thing." So how to stop the Youzhou rebels from Jizhou? ”

"I can only count on the county soldiers in Qingzhou." Lu Zhi pointed to Pingyuan County on the map and said, "Qingzhou's Pingyuan County and Bohai County are adjacent to each other, and the soldiers and horses of the two counties can immediately gather to the north to meet the enemy and the Hejian Kingdom together." As long as Zhang Yan's rebels did not reach Changshan, the minister estimated that the Youzhou rebels would not dare to go south easily. If General Li can quickly surround Zhang Yan's rebels in Jinyang, we will have enough time to gather more troops and horses to keep the enemy out of Jizhou. ”

"In that case, in the name of Shang Shutai, you personally write a letter to Li Hong, detailing Shang Shutai's counterinsurgency strategy, asking Li Hong to follow your arrangement, warning him not to attack at will in his own right, if Zhang Yan is allowed to flee to Changshan and cause the loss of Jizhou, you ask him to send his head to Luoyang." The Son of Heaven said with a smile on the corner of his mouth, "This leopard is unruly and disobedient, if you don't threaten him, I'm afraid he will fight together again in the state." ”

Huangfu Song and Lu Zhi laughed silently.

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Lu Zhi smiled and asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty, after the soldiers and horses of the counties in northern Xinjiang to quell the rebellion gather in Jizhou, you need a person to command the troops, I don't know ...... Your Majesty."

The Son of Heaven suddenly thought of Liu Yu. He glanced at Lu Zhi with a small eye, and wondered if Liu Yu had found him in private. Could it be that Liu Yu was in such a hurry to leave Luoyang? Immediately remembered that forty or fifty people up and down the Shangshu platform had not left the North Palace for more than half a month, and it was impossible for Liu Yu to see Lu Zhi. The Son of Heaven felt something in his heart and couldn't help but sigh. At this time, Lu Zhi proposed who would lead the troops north to Youzhou to quell the rebellion, and his intention was not asked.

The bureaucrats in the court are still careful of their own reuse of Liu Yu, and beware of their own abolition of the palace and civil strife, in the final analysis, these gate lords and scholars are still on the side of the general. If the outer court does not support its confidant ministers, it will not be able to influence the nobles. Without the support of the scholars, can he let Xiao Donghou succeed him as the unification smoothly? For a while, the Son of Heaven was in turmoil.

The Son of Heaven looked at Huangfu Song. Huangfu Song lowered his eyebrows and lowered his head, his face was like water, but the perseverance in his eyes seemed to tell the Son of Heaven that he agreed with everything Lu Zhi said. Lu Zhi's eyes were staring at the Son of Heaven with blazing eyes, and there was clearly a persecution in his friendly smile.

"Which minister does Aiqing think is suitable?" Although the Son of Heaven already understood what Lu Zhi meant, he still wanted to ask.

"The minister believes that Zongzheng Liu Yu Liu once served in Youzhou Assassin History, is very familiar with the situation in Youzhou, and when he was in Youzhou, he was honest and honest for the officials, benevolent for the government, and thought about the people, and did many good things for the people of Youzhou, and was deeply loved by the people of Youzhou. Liu Yu has always adopted a gentle policy towards the Hu people, opposing the killing, and he moved inward and persuaded the Hu people to benefit all ethnic groups. The Hu people felt the grace of their morality, and they paid tribute endlessly in all seasons. Lu Zhi praised from the bottom of his heart, "If Lord Liu leads the army to Youzhou, not only can he reorganize the people's hearts, but he can also get the help of the Hu people, which will be of great help to quell the rebels as soon as possible." ”

"The minister believes that Lord Liu is the most suitable commander of the counterinsurgency army."

The Son of Heaven smiled helplessly, "But he is ranked in Jiuqing, how can he be demoted?" ”

"Your Majesty, at this time of crisis, you can make temporary changes." Lu Zhi said, "Your Majesty can let Lord Liu lead the Youzhou Assassin with the rank of 2,000 stone officials, hold the Jieyue, control the soldiers and horses of the counties, and unify the army to the north." ”

The Son of Heaven was silent.

"The minister knows that His Majesty favors Lord Liu and is unwilling to let him go, but this is an extraordinary time, and Lord Liu can't take on this important responsibility." Lu Zhi said earnestly, "Your Majesty wants to reuse Lord Liu, and everyone in the court knows about it. This time, His Majesty originally wanted to promote Lord Liu to the rank of Grand Lieutenant, but because of the rumors in Beijing, Lord Liu was impeached, and His Majesty failed to do so. ”

"Your Majesty, if Lord Liu arrives in Youzhou, quells the rebels, and makes great achievements, then Your Majesty will recall him to Luoyang to entrust him with a heavy task, what will happen? I'm afraid that even if there are more rumors, it won't be able to stop it, right? ”

The Son of Heaven moved. If Liu Yu succeeds in quelling the rebellion and builds a meritorious career, isn't it expected to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant? And at that time, Liu Yu had disciples in northern Xinjiang and subordinates in the army, and he spoke with weight in the court......

Lu Zhi saw that the Son of Heaven was hesitant, and then said: "Your Majesty, although the rebels in Youzhou are powerful, they are located in the barren land of northern Xinjiang, and it is difficult to last, and it will be almost a year and a half, and besides, Your Majesty, don't forget, there is also Li Hong in Bingzhou." As long as Taiyuan is pacified, Li Hong can wave his army north. At that time, it will be difficult for Lord Liu to think about it. ”

The Son of Heaven's heart suddenly brightened, raised his eyebrows and smiled: "Then let's play according to Aiqing." ”

＝＝＝

Late at night, the candles were still lit in the study.

Huangfu Song slowly put down the pen in his hand and said to Lu Zhi, who was sitting on the side: "Zigan, Lord Liu has made contributions to the dynasty, and the situation in Luoyang will change, if it is ......"

"Yizhen, it's a good thing that Lord Liu left Luoyang." Lu Zhi put down the bamboo slip in his hand, looked around, and then sat opposite Huangfu Song, and whispered, "No matter in the court or in the opposition, as long as you are not a person with a desire for power, you will not like a relative to be a general." Whether it's you, me, Liu Yu, or Sangong, we don't like He Jin to be a general. Look at the previous dynasties' successive generals of foreign relatives, there are several merits to my Han Kingdom. The general of the foreign relatives is different from the general from the family, the former is powerful, and the latter is the country, which is very different. ”

"After Cao Jie and Wang Fu killed Dou Wu in the middle of the year, they didn't set up a general, and we all thought there was nothing wrong with it in public and private. If it weren't for the ant thief rebellion, how could this foreign general come here? If it weren't for this general, how could there be today's battle for the emperor? ”

"I, the National Prince of the Han Dynasty, has always been a sage, and if the elders are incompetent, they can naturally be sages. Shi Hou and Dong Hou are both young and don't understand the world, we can't think that Shi Hou is stubborn because he doesn't have the prestige of a king, from the current point of view, both of them can inherit the unification. But the matter of establishing a prince is a major matter of the state, and it is necessary for His Majesty and the ministers to make peace, but what about today? Why didn't Your Majesty make peace with the ministers? Why didn't Your Majesty make a crown prince? All because there are great generals. ”

"If you establish the Marquis of History, then the Marquis of Dong is dangerous, and if you establish the Marquis of Dong, the general is also dangerous, this is the reason why Your Majesty insists on making the Marquis Dong the crown prince." Lu Zhi sighed in a low voice, "Your Majesty would rather kill the general than hand over the lives of the Queen Mother, Dong Hou and his own clan to the general." Lessons from the past abound, how could Your Majesty repeat the mistakes of the past? ”

Huangfu Song frowned tightly, and said in a low voice: "Establish Dong Hou as the crown prince, although there is no disaster of the general, but there is the harm of treachery, the two sides are weighed, of course, the former must be taken, but Your Majesty takes the latter, it is really the next policy." He glanced at Lu Zhi and asked, "Does this have anything to do with Lord Liu's departure from Beijing?" ”

"Yes, Liu Yu is not in the court, the power of the clan will be reduced, and His Majesty will rely on the lieutenant officials. Now that the old middle officials are weak, and the small middle officials are gradually rising, it is a good opportunity to eradicate them. Lu Zhi sneered, "The two tigers fight, either death or injury, and then ......."

Huangfu Song had a slight understanding, "Two birds with one stone? ”

Lu Zhi nodded, lowered his voice and said, "Yizhen, you just need to understand this matter." If you want two tigers to compete, you need heavy bait, and this heavy bait ......"

Huangfu Song suddenly woke up and exclaimed in shock: "Zigan, this is playing with fire*." ”

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