"The Change of Heaven"
Volume 2: The Edge of Heaven
Chapter 136: Dispute
(Author’s note: This article is by no means history, and contains many fictional characters. As you can imagine, when the teacher in the article appeared, the entire history changed irreversibly from the moment he bought the official position, and everything is no longer official history.
Also, the emperor at that time was Emperor Ling, so the word "Hong" was often replaced by "Hong", "Hong", "Hong", etc. in writing; and it was replaced by words like "Wei", "Huang", etc. in oral communication; and the so-called "Ling" is a posthumous title only given after death, so it is absolutely not allowed to write something like "The current Emperor Ling is in power" in similar texts.)
Dong Zhong died, and so did his "accomplices". Some of them were innocent, and some died on the same day, while others were delayed for a few days. When the princes from all directions were summoned, they were beheaded together, naturally to show them. I did not go to supervise the execution, I couldn't bear it, but I couldn't stop it this time. I believe that the prestige of the Han Dynasty does not need to be established by killing people, but this time I don't have the final say.
Although Dong Zhong is dead, I am not very happy. Father, the killings in recent years are just like the Party Imprisonment back then. It is this sentence that I cannot let go of. He Jin and Dong Zhong were both once glorious and powerful, and their factions spread all over the world. But they are all dead, and all their former splendor and prestige have returned to this yellow earth. Looking back at Liang Ji, Huo Guang and others, their glory and wealth may all be in vain, or a game with an unknown ending. When they are successful, they can control everything and dominate the world, but when they are in decline, their heads will fall off in a moment, and their bodies will be separated. Am I not trapped in this game like this? In fact, I have long understood that the reason why I can exist like this, that I can be second to one person and above ten thousand people without holding real power, is because I am a special political bond between the other three allies who are called second to one person, but are actually above ten thousand people.
If one day, anyone loses power, I might also become one of that person's followers - just like Dong Zhong's people, the only difference is whether I will leave on the same day or the group that will take a few days to leave. I don't know if I am too pessimistic, but I really can't be optimistic.
I was reinstated in this pool of blood, and I was once again the Marquis of Ping'an Fengyun. The only thing that was not restored was my original title as the emperor's adopted son. I killed that man, and after all, he was still a member of the Liu clan. It was the best outcome for me to be the Marquis of Ping'an Fengyun again. I had nothing to complain about. The Dong family had killed even a child wearing an open-crotch knuckle, but I was still alive. What else could I do
I am Xie Zhi, the last of the four ministers who assist in the administration. It was not until Dong Zhong died that I finally gained some power, but these powers were too heavy.
One night, I looked in front of the bronze mirror, trying to relax myself, but I found that I couldn't smile anymore.
I'm lonely and I miss Yinling, especially now.
The whole country was in chaos, and everyone had tens of thousands of soldiers and horses. Some were recruited by wealthy commoners, some were recruited by powerful people themselves, some were remnants of the Yellow Turbans, and some were recruited by various other bandits.
The court was also in chaos, and most of the ministers with official titles had connections outside. When I saw pairs of eyes looking at me with various meanings, and when all kinds of flattering and probing voices lingered in my ears every day after the court, I knew that I had finally experienced the politics of the court.
The teacher saw that something was wrong with me, and one night he had a long talk with me. When it came to this, I was still a little confused and asked, "Isn't this the same thing as the war between Wu and Chu?" "No, in the past there were the Xiongnu outside, and most of the states within were in Wu and Chu. We resisted the Xiongnu's invasion, but the disaster was on our backs. Now there are other rebels to resist the barbarians outside, and we are close to the edge of the sky and outside the sky, so that they have many enemies around them, and their backs are in our hands." "Why don't the court appoint internal officials to deal with them?" "I'm afraid it will encourage them to rebel early."
That night, I was very lonely and smiled bitterly in front of the bed: "It seems that we really have to take a step back."
But I slept very badly that night. I thought of a question. If one day, the four ministers did not support the Han Dynasty, where would the situation go? I could not answer it. I even felt that the Han Dynasty lacked a solid foundation to support it. Thinking back to the time when the relatives and eunuchs fought for power, the party imprisonment, I really don’t know how the Han Dynasty has supported it until now. It is difficult for us to understand the reason now. In the past, the tyrannical Qin Dynasty had harsh laws and severe punishments, and the country was destroyed after 15 years. But Emperor Shizu was established and ruled the world with virtue, and he often used leniency as a way to rule the world, but the powerful and wealthy people in the world rose up. Until today, thousands of people are killed every day. Why is that? It is difficult to understand in my heart. Teacher Xinnian asked us to learn the Taoism of Laozi and Zhuangzi, understand the classics of the Legalists, and learn the meaning of Confucianism. Isn’t it to cultivate the nature with the Taoism of Laozi and Zhuangzi, govern the country with the classics of the Legalists, and comfort the people with the classics (at that time, it mostly referred to "Chun Qiu", compiled by Confucius, which belongs to Confucianism, author's note).
Later, I didn't come up with a really good solution. But I suddenly felt that if I didn't talk so much and let the Yellow Turban Army support for a few more years, it would not have only hit those county princes and dukes who existed in name only, but spared so many tyrants and wealthy people. Originally, I only knew about the tyrants, but now I know there is another kind of people called wealthy people. At first, I didn't care and treated them as tyrants, and didn't take them seriously because they had no salary and no official position. Now I realize that they are more terrifying. The tyrants have their own place, and you can count them with your fingers, but these wealthy people are densely packed on the land everywhere, like wild grass that spread wildly, and I don't know how to cut them.
I think I understand politics.
On July 24, the first year of Chuping, the place where I lived caught fire early the day before yesterday because I knocked over an oil lamp. But it was definitely not the most important thing that day. That morning, the front of Weiyang Palace was crowded with people. That day, Eunuch Zhang just came back and read it there. The meaning is roughly or the most straightforward description is as follows:
Since the world already has the system of provincial governors, it would be better to return to the feudal system of the Zhou Dynasty and enfeoff these restless but unnamed princes, let them have their own land and become real princes. Then there will be nothing to complain about. If you want to rebel again, it would be treason.
I suddenly thought of a sentence: "I can tell you responsibly that the emperor is very angry and the consequences are very serious." I don't know how I thought of it, the thought flashed through my mind, and I don't know where it came from, as if it came from somewhere in the sky or on the ground, but I think it's very interesting.
Of course, from our various arrangements, we can see that we have definitely considered various issues. For example, in terms of tax collection, we initially considered:
The emperor is the master of the world. Every year, the princes pay tribute (each person over 15 years old pays 10 coins, these are the basic conditions, please read the book for special conditions, it is not possible to use space for historical education, author's note), head (children from 7 to 14 years old each 0 coins) and two taxes; the princes offer taxes (the head tax collected by the princes from their own territory, 6 coins); they can send soldiers and taxes; these cannot be reduced, and the rest is for the princes to enjoy. The princes raise their own troops, and every three years they must send a certain number of soldiers according to the number of troops they support. Iron still belongs to the central government, and salt is stored in various places. All places that produce salt need to pay salt tax every year, and collect 10 coins per head; every 100 mu (about 461 square meters) of the princes' fields can produce 20 stones of millet, one piece of cloth, and two stones of cotton. If they cannot produce, they need to pay land tax and mulberry and cotton tax. Every three years, the princes have a big offer, which is after the autumn. They also need to contribute other special products of various colors. There are many other provisions for gains and losses, which are too numerous to list. Unless there is a major disaster, if they do not pay or deduct, the whole world will discuss it. The household registration and land are all paid according to the number of times they were enfeoffed. Here is a slippery trick: if you can expand the territory and open up wasteland for farming; improve internal affairs, make the people live and work in peace and contentment, and have a prosperous population, etc., the extra money is yours. I like this kind of slippery trick, and everyone doesn't hate it.
But when we first started talking, I was shocked. I never thought that all our taxes were so heavy, and there were many kinds of corvée, and even some of the extortions seemed to be nothing. I never knew it was so much. I knew I had to pay taxes, but I never worried about it. I sighed when I thought about it. Later, we deleted the last land tax and mulberry and cotton tax, and offered the total weight of the things for the big betrothal. Because we can't be too harsh on these princes, I thought about lightening the exploitation of the people, but we only manage ourselves, and we still can't do anything about the various behaviors of these princes.
That's politics.
Another thing is the enfeoffment of these people. Considering the final positions of the enfeoffment, we can get a general idea. This is politics:
The emperor enjoys 18 armies in Sili, which are divided into eight inner and eight outer armies. The inner eight armies are responsible for the garrison of each city and pass, and protect the emperor; the outer eight armies conquer the barbarians in the four directions and suppress the rebellion in all directions. Other imperial guards such as Yulin are not included, totaling 200,000 people. Soldiers are provided by various vassal states, and they rotate every three years. However, it is estimated that most of them will be paid by various places, rather than conscripted. I don’t know when the precedent was set, but it has become a routine now. (The original Han Dynasty was a conscripted soldier system, and later it was similar to the professional soldier registration system of Cao Wei. Obviously, the latter is easier to maintain combat effectiveness, author’s note) In the first year of Sili, there were seven counties, 101 counties, 1 million households, and 4.5 million people. The numbers here and below are not accurate. The listeners know that these are the numbers from a few years ago, but many things have happened in the past few years, so the household registration has not been properly counted. This year, it was finally counted, but it happened that before the household registration was fully reported, there were indeed some problems with the fiefdom.
My father was the Duke of Zhao. He changed from the Prince of Ping'an to the Duke of Zhao. I don't know whether he was demoted or promoted, but he and his gang surrendered themselves to make the world without a king. He had seven armies and governed five counties, including Bingzhou, Shuofang, Shangjun, Xihe, Taiyuan, and Shangdang, 58 counties, 100,000 households, and 500,000 people. But if you think about it, my father has to support an army of more than 80,000 people and 500,000 people. I'm afraid he can't support it. I think it's too little, but my father didn't mind it later.
My father's neighbor to the north was Lu Zhi, the Duke of Yunzhong, who also enjoyed seven armies and governed the remaining four counties of Bingzhou: Yunzhong, Dingxiang, Wuyuan (the nine Qin counties, author's note), and Yanmen, plus Dai County of Youzhou. There were five counties, 51 counties, 70,000 households, and 500,000 people. I was not from Bingzhou, so I secretly took out the map and looked at it. Sure enough, my father was in Henei and Lu Zhi was outside the river. There were Black Mountain bandits near Lu Zhi's territory, and the number of bandits was said to be as high as 100,000. Now it seems that he may have a harder time than my father because there are Xianbei to his north. And my father still has a piece of land to take, that is, there is a piece of land to the west of Henei (the inside of the Yellow River), which has not been included in the territory of the Han Dynasty. If my father sends troops to conquer this place, my father will have an additional county. In addition, Han people and Xianbei people live together in Henei, and troublemakers from the Central Plains often come here. If a government is established to govern the affairs and collect refugees, it will become a county in a few years. Even if the Xianbei people are provoked, the Xianbei people will not care which Han people do it, but will only cause trouble for Lu Zhi to the north of the Great Wall, Gongsun Zan from Youzhou, Ding Yuan who is about to move there, and the Han people in Xiliang to the north of the Great Wall. And most importantly, it is also connected with Beidi County on the other side of Liangzhou, covering Sili.
Because the person over there happened to be Jiang Wei, the emperor's son-in-law who was the Marquis of Qin. Jiang Wei's imprisonment should have been planned by the teacher. In fact, the teacher knew it long ago, but he was "bad" and he didn't break it. He knew Jiang Wei's temper very well, but he persuaded the emperor to betroth the princess to Jiang Wei. Jiang Wei naturally refused, and then Dong Zhong made a foolish scene. The emperor was also unhappy, so he put Jiang Wei in jail. At this time, the teacher's "badness" was even more obvious. When he came out, the eldest princess also cried in the harem and almost wanted to commit suicide, which made my adoptive parents very upset. Alas, I want to sigh when I think of this. The teacher's "bad" part is that he said to the emperor at this time: "Your Majesty, this matter must not be done. Dong Zhong and Zi Yu have a grudge. If he knows the inside story, he will secretly poison Zi Yu, and the princess will be in danger." The emperor naturally shouted: "He dares." The teacher continued: "Your Majesty's adopted son was killed by him. Why did he care about the emperor's thoughts? And if he hadn't been so scheming and fighting everywhere, why would Zi Rui take such a bad plan? It is reported that Dong Zhong had sent people to Xiangyang to assassinate Zi Rui. Fortunately, Zi Rui understood and fled to Wu County in the east early. "At this time, the emperor was naturally furious, and his original wavering heart to kill Dong Zhong was completely determined. Otherwise, I really don't know how to come back. So, I saved Zi Yu. I can't do it on the scene, but I have more credit behind it, but the emperor and the queen can only be the Gongcao for me. Especially the queen, getting rid of Concubine Dong should be more beneficial to her.
Jiang Laoer finally became the emperor's son-in-law. At first, all the grievances were pushed to Dong Zhong. After Dong Zhong died, he got married and went to his vassal state of Liangzhou to be the Marquis of Qin, and he was very free. According to Liangzhou Wudu, Hanyang, Anding, and Beidi, the four counties were just to protect Sili and put in front of the group of Western Liang wolves. There were not many households, but with Hanzhong in Yizhou, it was very impressive. Although Hanzhong had been poisoned by Dong Zhuo, many people in Sichuan migrated to escape, and people who were wandering in the mountains often returned to the city. Listening to the strange voice of the eunuch Zhang, except for the five counties and forty-three counties, there was nothing reliable. Ziyu estimated that he had 120,000 households and about 600,000 people. However, it was a bit difficult to support the five armies he could enjoy. However, Longyou and Jincheng were given to Han Sui, the Eastern Liang Bo in Wuwei. In the future, he would have to trouble his two brothers to deal with the Qiang people south of Kunlun. He might not need to spend a lot of military funds.
Further west, Zhangye and Juyan were withdrawn and merged into Zhangye County, Jiuquan and Dunhuang as the territory of Xiliang Bo Ma Teng. He and Han Sui both had three armies, and if they wanted more land, they had to find the remaining Xiongnu in the northwest and the Xianbei in the north to find a place. Han Sui only had 25,000 households and more than 100,000 people, but the actual number might be slightly larger, but not much more. Ma Teng was not much better, anyway, everything was left to them to solve.
The teacher still holds the state of Jingzhou, but "voluntarily" gives up Wuling County and temporarily establishes the title of Marquis of Jiange. This warms my heart no matter what, because the teacher at least decided to make up for the negligence of my disciple. The emperor approved his request and enfeoffed the Marquis of Jiange as the Marquis of Ba, enjoying the five armies and temporarily moving to Wuling. According to the meaning of the will, the enfeoffment was originally to be made after the suppression of Dong Zhuo in a few years. Wuling has 50,000 households and 250,000 people, which naturally cannot support more than 60,000 troops, but he does not need so many. In the future, they will surely be protected by the Duke of Chu, the teacher. However, I always feel a little sorry for letting old man Liu Hui, together with the young generals and the children and people of Shu, cushion Mingzi. But after all, it is a solution, and Liu Hui also benefits. So at the same time, he also serves as a pioneer to face the enemy behind us. And I suddenly thought that if my brother and I are at odds, when he wants to lead people out, he will also run into the Shu people first. After the division of fiefs, the teacher did something that I didn't expect. The teacher presented the north of Nanyang County, including Wancheng and more than a dozen other cities, to the emperor. I didn't get such news during our discussion, but my father and Brother Mengde didn't change their minds at all. They praised the teacher's righteousness and concluded that this was the teacher's idea, leaving the princes of the world speechless. But even so, the teacher's five and a half counties, more than one million households, five million people, and the seven armies still made the teacher's back very strong.
But the toughest one is definitely Brother Mengde. Almost the entire territory of Jizhou, seven counties, and eighty-one counties are densely populated and rich in salt and iron. Moreover, it relies on the Great Wall in the north, the danger of the Yellow River in the south, and the father's Zhao and the emperor's Sili in the west. In the east, there are Wang Kuang, the son of Rao, in Hejian County of Jizhou, Zhang Yang, the son of Xing, in Bohai County, and Liu Yu, the Duke of Jinan in Qingzhou Plain and Jinan. Below him, only Liu Biao, the Marquis of Wei in the five northern counties of Yanzhou in the southeast, has some strength. Although this person is called the Eight Horses and has a reputation as a famous scholar, my teacher Brother Mengde is indecisive, which is the opposite of me. He is meticulous in some places, but he is not a person who can grasp the general situation, so he is not to be feared. Moreover, he is a royal family, and he is not expected to make any moves. The remaining neighbors in the east who are viscounts are all powerful local tyrants, but I have never heard of their names. Only Liu Yu is Lord Liu Bo'an, the deputy of Gongsun Bogui in the past. Let him come out now to divide Gongsun Zan's property.
Youzhou transferred Ding Yuan in and inserted him between Gongsun Zan and Lu Zhi. Ding Yuan was the Duke of Yan and controlled Shanggu, Fanyang, Guangyang, Yuyang, and Youbeiping. He was originally from the Northwest faction and had a lot of connections with Dong Zhong and others in the court. This time he was transferred, which already implied that it was a favor outside the law, and I hope he will be grateful. But I don't have confidence in this, and neither do my teachers. So Gongsun Zan, the Duke of Liao in the five counties in the east, and his teacher in the west are considered as the Northeast faction and inserted him on both sides. These people have a lot of grievances in the court. Now putting them together can only. His existence is just to cut off the connection between the two families. Once we mobilize troops against any one family, we can lead the other family; or block the way, or attack from three sides, the only difference is which family it is. In order to ensure that Brother Meng De's advantage is outside the Great Wall, we also placed Dai Zi Han Fu in Zhuo County, which is close to Jizhou. This is another cushion.
To the south of him, in Qingzhou, there is Duke Yuan Shao of Qi. He is the fastest to rise this time. He has millions of people in Qingzhou. I can still remember his advisers. I think he will be the most terrible enemy. How can you keep such a tiger? What's more terrible is that several people in the Yuan family were conferred titles this time. I even think that you may have done something wrong. However, I don't know whether these Yuan family members can be united.
Further south is another member of the Yuan family named Yuan Yi. I don’t know him, but I know that he is now the Duke of Song in Xuzhou, Donghai and Langya. I know Xu and Tao Qian in Pengcheng and Xiapi. Another person I knew at the same time is now the Duke of Cai in Jiujiang and Lujiang in Yangzhou. When I mention Liu Yao, I think of the snow on Tianqian Mountain. The past is really unbearable to look back on, and it makes people feel sad when they think about it.
I'm familiar with the last one named Yuan, but not the good one. He became the Suihou of Yuzhang. The place I planned to take down eventually became the land of this bastard. And Yuzhang alone has more than one million people, which makes me even more angry. The remaining four counties of Yangzhou are the Wugong territory of General Zhu Jun, but for me, the people under this man are even more worrying.
And they eventually swallowed up the place we occupied, but the elders told me that we had to give way to show our generosity and the emperor's courage. I believe the first one, but I believe that no one believes the second one. I don't want to slander the emperor, but the current emperor has thrown all political affairs to the four ministers, or the three ministers, and seems to be living a relaxed and carefree life as he wants.
Yanzhou and Yuzhou are connected, and most of them are counties with large populations, so they are the most complicated. In addition to Liu Biao's Wei in the north, there is also Kong Rong, a descendant of Confucius. This person is Lu Bo. Looking at his slightly bloated body, his face is very elf-like, which is interesting. Thinking of the fact that the counties and kingdoms were originally withdrawn to counties, and now they have become kingdoms, it is really a futile effort, but it is interesting.
Yingchuan, which is adjacent to Sili, is a royal relative of Liu Yan, the Marquis of Chen, who was formerly the State of Chen and is now Huaiyang County. It seems that this person started in Bingzhou and had already made connections to go to Yizhou. It seems that he also saw the unrest in the Central Plains and wanted to find a safe place to stay, but he happened to catch up with me tricking Dong Zhuo into Shu, so the matter naturally had to be dropped. I don't know if this person bears a grudge against me, but on the spot, he seemed to have no expression on his face and just thanked me.
The remaining Runan, Dangjun (formerly Liang State), and Sishuijun (formerly Pei State) were the Dukedom of Zheng of another great general Huangfu Song. He was still the same, but a little older, his eyes were a little tired, and he didn't feel much like he did when we met before.
The entire Jiaozhou was given to another royal relative of the Liu family. The reason why so many people of the Liu family were given fiefs this time was because these people of the Liu family relied on their special status and were the most enthusiastic to lead troops to come. To be honest, although these people are not good at being emperors, they definitely don't want to overthrow the Han Dynasty, otherwise they will lose their support and status. But this group of people cannot be too many, and their strength cannot be too strong, otherwise it will be a headache if they join forces to take the throne.
That's it, my land is gone and I didn't want it.
That's politics.
The emperor felt that he had to give me some, but I really don’t need it.
I firmly refused to accept the title of Duke. This was my proposal and we discussed it with the teachers. Because of what I did, I really couldn't call myself a duke. My father also asked to be demoted by one level, because the title of Duke was originally because of me. I refused, and my father also refused. Since my father refused, I don't care about these things anymore. Anyway, my father only has me, the son bestowed by the emperor, and in the end, I will inherit my father's position. Lord Zhao, it sounds good. And I sighed again, I can feel that I haven't been completely assimilated here.
In the current world, the three regents have surrounded most of Sili, and the rest are surrounded by Liu clan members. All the powerful ones are strangling each other's necks, or some insignificant people are used as buffers in the middle. I hold the military power in Sili. Most importantly, those who are tightly surrounding Dong Zhuo are all standing in an "alliance" like us, so we are not afraid of anyone colluding with Dong Zhuo. This is politics.
After listening to the teacher's ceding of land for pilgrimage, I understood that the three elders had a division of labor: my father was in Bingzhou and could control the entire northern territory. As long as he moved, he could provoke the Xianbei to move, and all the princes in the northern border would be suppressed. Brother Meng De seemed to be a man who could use troops to attack at any time; he could intimidate the eastern vassal states; and the teacher stood with his back to Bashan Mountain, in charge of the Yangtze River waterway, and the navy could go down the river, making it extremely convenient to pacify the various places east of Jiangdong. This is politics.
However, I am more concerned about the consequences of our actions. Fortunately, the Xianbei people are not strong enough, and they fight each other. If there is a country as powerful as the Han Dynasty next to us, will we be on the road to national destruction? But there is no way now. When there is no major external threat, this kind of internal conflict is the most terrible. When the whole thing was settled, I made up my mind not to consider any mistakes and to implement it firmly. So when I started to consider it, I didn't consider my own fiefdom, and they also thought it was better to keep one person in Sili, and I was obviously the most suitable candidate that all three of them could accept. This is politics.
Later I felt that this alliance showed its structure at this time, and I was the middle link. If there was a gap between them, even if it was just a small gap, I would know about it. This is politics!
I think I am beginning to understand politics deeply. These few days feel like decades, but looking back, they just passed by in a flash. This is politics!
I have an apartment in Pingcheng Street, and I was promoted to General of Cavalry and Commandant of Sili. From now on, I will be responsible for the safety of the entire Sili. I will be in charge of the sixteen armies, divided into internal and external, and I will be in charge of the tiger talismans of the eight external armies. It seems that I will be more reassured in this position. I wrote a letter to ask Brother Chen to help move his family here. I recommended Tian Jian, Song, E Huan and others to be my subordinates, and the original people all followed Dong Chong. One day, I mustered up the courage to mention Bo Cai and Han Xian to my father. My father pondered for a long time, which made me feel sad, but he also thought that such people should be used if possible. After all, most of the talented and wise men in the world were killed more than ten years ago, and he felt it was unbearable.
In this way, I got used to it, running my own government with ease, dealing with those God knows what things, and maintaining order in this near-sky world. This is politics, and I have touched upon its existence from time to time.
As proof, the phrase I heard most often from my father is: “Don’t worry about it.”
I can understand some of these things, so I am happy to be free. I took some time to write to my brother, the King of the Southern Barbarians, asking him to come and pay homage. At a time when the barbarians don't pay much attention to us, his coming will make the emperor happy, and it will also add a credit to me, and my brothers will also benefit. On weekdays, I also took my brothers out to hunt in the teacher's territory.
The teacher then gave me the garden to take care of. A few days after the enfeoffment, he left. Before the teacher left, the other princes also left. I was very polite. I sent people to see off almost everyone, and some of them I went to see off myself. Even Yuan Shu, I didn't want to go, but the teacher forced me to go. He was also tactful and didn't bother me too much, so I let him leave Sili alive.
However, I can hardly enter the palace at will. I really want to thank my former adoptive parents in person, but now I no longer have the freedom I once had.
When the teacher left, he said something stupid to me: "You have to work hard!" I nodded and said humbly: "Of course." But the teacher was a little surprised. He sighed, shook his head, smiled and said "fool", then left.
Brother Meng De was even more puzzled. He also said this, and I couldn't help but ask. Brother Meng De was also very surprised. Finally, he shook his head, laughed, and slowly became louder. Finally, he pointed his finger at me and almost choked: "Haha, if you have no descendants, who will take care of Zhao State in the future!" After that, he laughed and left.
They left, and only my father and I were left. Later, my mother came. Zisheng and Zishe also left. Zisheng went to Zhao to help his father, and Zishe returned to Jingzhou - his teacher's Chu.
After they all left, my father suddenly said to me before going to court: "Son, give me a grandson." This is not politics, but a voice that warms the heart. Fortunately, there are still things that can make me laugh and give me some hope.
The emperor also gave the seating arrangements for the four regents to take charge of state affairs.
Three years ago, my father came to the court to assist in the administration. Qing means Qing, and Qing relies on you. I believe my father deserves this title. And nine years later, it will be me. At that time, I will lead Yizhou. At that time, I will be 27 years old.
My mother moved here with the whole family from Shanghe, and my uncles and aunts all went to Zhao. My father asked Zhang Liao and Zisheng to set up the current Zhao court. But when it came to the crown prince, he looked at me and sighed. Then he loudly blamed me for why I had been married for so long without any movement. He also suspected that I was not working hard, which made me helpless. But he really hoped that I would have a son as soon as possible, and then let my son become the crown prince and be the regent. Naturally, I was annoyed and said, "Can he be the regent? Putting him in the middle at such a young age will not be too cruel to the child." "It's just a matter of appearance, idiot, he can't understand anyway."
I ate all three meals at my father's official residence, which was the order of my father and mother. It was also because we ate together that I could see at a glance that my sister was still at the table and had not married yet. When I asked why, my sister was waiting for the wedding invitation in a listless manner. I felt that there was something wrong, so I asked my father, and my father told me that Brother Meng De actually already had a wife and children, but he would still marry my sister, and if my sister went, she would be canonized as the principal wife. It was difficult for me to comfort my sister about this matter, because I also had two wives.
My sister is definitely a bully. She pesters me every day, asking me to take her horseback riding or making trouble everywhere. Given her status, no one dares to mess with her. That's why my father prefers me to take her with me. But with this little follower, my brothers and I can't have fun.
In mid-August, before my family moved in, my father asked me to go with my mother to visit the ancestral graves. My mother would visit the ancestral graves there every month on the 14th of every month. I was planning to get rid of my terrible sister, so I packed my things and went without saying anything.
It was boring when I got there, but I knew why my mother came every year. I also saw the tomb of my benefactor Shen Gongcheng, and I went to pay my respects when my mother was not there. My mother mainly paid respects to her sister and the tomb of "Shanghe County Duke Shen Gongshe". He was the real son of his parents, but died young. It was very pitiful. Looking at his tomb, I thought that if I had died eighteen years ago, there would be only such a big mound of earth, or maybe even no one. So I couldn't see anything good in the world in the past eighteen years. I don't know, it seems that I am still very lucky.
But I still felt a little guilty when I was with them. They seemed to have treated me as their own child and loved me very much since I entered this family. And I lied to them about my life experience.
In the last few days of August, when it was still warm, the Nanman King Meng Jie came in person to meet the emperor with tribute. Naturally, he and I were very happy to rub our backs. We didn't talk about those unpleasant things, but just talked about our own situations. We stayed together for a few days and had a lot of fun. It was very comfortable and I felt relieved.
The emperor gave him the golden seal of "King of Tiannan" and allowed him to continue to rule the southwest. He also gave him many gifts. The emperor was very happy, but I always felt that it was just for the sake of face. Meng Jie was also very happy, mainly because he gained a lot and had a backer, which is also politics. But he was still good to me, which should be considered friendship. I suggested that the emperor send one or two doctors of classics to him to help him solve his doubts and govern the country. The emperor approved the suggestion and finally rewarded me.
A few days later, I sent my brother away, and everything went back to normal.
In a blink of an eye, the cicadas in the green leaves stopped chirping, and only some birds that had been frozen were still struggling to chirp among the dead trees and withered grass. I thought that after five years, I would lead the army of the world to suppress Dong Zhuo and rule Yizhou. After nine years, I would be in charge of the government. That would be the way it would be. After twelve years, I would return to Yizhou when I was thirty. Every nine years, I would come back, and every twelve years, I would return again. That would be how my life would be.
But things are not always so dull, otherwise there would be no stories to tell. In the blink of an eye, it was late autumn. In September of that year, my family moved to Luoyang, except for those who had to go to school and were entrusted to the master's family. Yinling also came from Wu County, which had been transferred. It was the time when the national census was completed and things suddenly became busy. That day, I was talking to my father about how to commend a county magistrate named Zhang Qian (a historical figure) who did a good job.
At that time, Yinling, Guo Pei and I had never spent a single good day together, and I had no idea what happened to Zhang Qian later.
Because, suddenly Jiaozhou reported that the barbarians were in chaos and the Marquis of Yue had been killed by the bandits.
Then everything is no longer dull.
The reason for this is that I am the only person in the world who is suitable to quell this disaster. This is not my opinion, but the unanimous opinion of the emperor, father, and all the ministers.
However, I could not take a single army from Sili, so the emperor gave me food and silver to recruit troops from other states other than Sili. As a result, I became a vassal five years ahead of schedule, enjoyed five armies, was given the title of Yuehou, and was exempted from tribute for three years.
So things quickly became interesting and really tense. The first thing I did was what I learned from Yin Ling. I sent E Huan and some of his people over. Although the southern barbarians were not the same as these Luoyue people, they were somewhat close after all. I asked them to go and find out the situation. Obviously, this was the first step I needed to take. The so-called knowing yourself and knowing the enemy will ensure victory in a hundred battles.
"Zi Rui, it is inconvenient for you to recruit troops from any other state. If you are close to them, you will lose friends, and if you are distant from them, you will make enemies." This is the opinion of my beautiful and lovely Yin Ling. I fully agree with her. This is politics. I just smile at her, and she occasionally smiles at me, and she still maintains a solemn scene. But then it gets dark, and her finger goes down to my thigh.
"Song Yudong, Tian Jian and I have discussed it. General Huangfu, also known as the Marquis of Zheng, has reported to the emperor that there are many remnants of the Yellow Turbans entrenched in Runan, and that he does not have enough troops on hand. It will be difficult to pay tribute this year. Although he wants to evade the tribute, the main problem is not this. We plan to see if General Bōcai has any solution. He and Han Xian have already taken some people there. I have issued them a pass. They are going there as people from the court. I don't know if Huangfu Song recognizes Bōcai. If he does, I don't know what he thinks. I have also discussed it with my father. We have to make up a story to make Bōcai show up." I looked at the map of Jiaozhou and the urgent reports of various mishaps in Jiaozhou and began to think about the problem, trying my best to forget the pain in my legs.
"You're almost becoming a Yellow Turban." Yin Ling seemed helpless.
"So what?" At this time, I would not think about these things. I just explained the current situation casually: "My father also has many former Yellow Turban soldiers under his command, such as his bodyguard general Cheng Yuanzhi. Meng De also has some. He can help me a little, and my father will also give me a soldier. When my teacher wrote to me and asked me to stay in Lingling when I go there, he should be able to give me some."
I believe Yin Ling must be in a dilemma: "Are you only going to use these people? The people of Luoyue are fierce and hard to tame, and these remaining Yellow Turbans are all from the north. What will we do if they can't adapt to the local climate?"
"So some of it still depends on my wife's family." I smiled and looked at Yin Ling: "Do you have any solution?"
Yinling immediately felt that she had been cheated, and I always felt that some black sticks were dangling in front of my eyes, so I could come up with this idea, but she still admitted it frankly, but her tone became colder later: "Yes, okay, maybe I can help you find one person from the Dongyue people and the Minyue people. And whose idea was this?"
My two military advisors definitely understood the subordinate relationship of my family, so they pointed at me without any loyalty.
"You seem to have changed?" Yinling sighed.
“Yeah!” I let out a long sigh and continued to study the map, mumbling to myself: “Sometimes, I don’t even know if I’ve become a different person. Is this politics?”
The first batch of soldiers that came to me were sent by Brother Meng De. Xiahou Yuan gave me the list, and he seemed a little embarrassed. But I was already very satisfied. 1,532 people, from the beginning, it was not a small number; they were all from the former Taiping Qingdao. Most of them didn't even have weapons, but most of them were guys, not bad, and some of the leaders were quite capable. I heard from Brother Miaocai that Meng De had enough soldiers. There were about 100,000 people from the former Taiping Qingdao alone. In addition to me, he also supported my father a little.
My father may not be able to help me for the time being, because he did take action against Hanoi, which is not within the territory of the Han Dynasty, but it was General Zhang Zisheng and others who did it for him.
So, at first, I only had three brigades. They had four people called leaders, three of whom were obviously from ordinary people. One swung an iron rod, like a porter, and usually used a shoulder pole. Cheng Yuanzhi was like this. He liked to carry the iron rod on his shoulders when he had nothing to do, and put his hands on it; one swung a big axe, and looked like a woodcutter. He always held the axe handle with both hands and wanted to chop vertically high things. Unfortunately, I seemed to have these characteristics; there was also a double-knife, who should be a butcher. When he swung it, it felt like he was chopping meat, but I didn't know what meat it was. The last one was a little strange. At first, I didn't notice that he was carrying a weapon. Finally, I saw two hammer heads under his clothes, and then I knew that he was using a meteor hammer. I have seen Gan Ning use this meteor hammer, but I didn't ask him how he learned it. This time, I heard this man named Bian Xi tell me that he was originally a herbal farmer in Mount Tai, and he usually had to carry a hook and rope to climb the cliffs to pick herbs. It seems that Gan Ning might have done this job as well.
There were so many things to do in the last few days before leaving Wangnan. ** seemed impatient and dressed neatly every day to get ready to leave; but in fact, it was Yinling who left here first. I knew I asked her to go, but I still couldn't bear it. It showed that I had a tendency to be a hypocrite. But when I was with Guo Pei, I just couldn't say a lot of things. I couldn't tell her how much I missed her and how much I wanted to be with her. Guo Pei might have felt it, so she avoided me; but Yinling also felt it, so she refused to let me see her off. She rode away alone with a few followers. I looked at her back, turned around and looked at my own yard, and suddenly felt that I was useless.
Po Liu Han Lie Ya came from Liangzhou. The eldest and second brothers sent him to me, and Nan was also sent here. They were the same kind of people as **, also dressed neatly and ready to fight. Lie Ya also brought me a letter with only two simple sentences: "Third, if you have anything, come. Remember to keep an eye on Fourth and Second."
Bō just sent me a Pegasus letter, which was even simpler. It was a huge piece of board with just one big word on it: “中.” It was very powerful and cheerful.
I can't let Lie Ya know about this. The Xianbei people, contrary to our expectations, actually crossed the river to fight back against General Zhang and his men!
Ziyu gave me another letter. The messenger asked me to avoid others and only read it to me: "Third, the Xianbei outside the pass are heading east from the west to attack your father's Zhao State. Don't let Four know. Second year."
I wrote back: "One, two, attack them from behind. Three."
I immediately found my father, who was looking at the battle report with a frown on his face. I reported the contents of Ziyu's document to him and put forward my suggestions.
On the second day, the imperial edict was issued. It ordered the Xiliangbo, Dongliangbo, and Qinhou to go north of the Great Wall to attack the Xianbei. They could keep all the people and property they captured, and the emperor would also reward them. These last two sentences are the best. Now the princes have motivation, but we can't expect them to attack very hard. However, they will be very careful in robbing things and looting people, including the second brother, but as long as they do this, the Xianbei will suffer. However, the ancestors in the north of Xiliang took action, which is obviously related to Ding Yuan, the "old northwesterly" who went to the northeast. But we can pretend not to know, and he is the same, this is politics.
I didn't do anything good to the Xianbei this time, this is also politics. I am not worried, although I have a brother who is a Xianbei, but fortunately he doesn't like politics.
The remaining Yellow Turbans in Runan surrendered, and Bō proposed to take them directly to Jingzhou for rest. This person thinks ahead, and I like him very much. While replying: "Yes"; I wrote to the teacher and asked him to send someone to help. I also transferred all the food and grass that should be transferred, and then we really should set off.
But before I leave, I have something I need to deal with. I have been holding it in for a long time, and now that I have to leave, I have to do it.
I remember that night, I was carrying a bag, looking at my wife, and smiling apologetically: "Pei, it's hard for you to follow me."
She smiled and shook her head, but it felt heavy.
I took my bag and went to my father and mother. My father was a little depressed, and my mother had just cried, and when she saw me, she started crying again.
I calmly told my parents my true life story, from beginning to end. They were stunned in disbelief, and their lips were trembling.
But I did not understand the meaning of their astonishment at the time.
Until I took out my first cotton-padded jacket, my mother snatched it away, holding it in her hands, her hands trembling and tears flowing.
My father grabbed me and looked at me carefully, his tears never stopping.
"You—are—my—son!" My father uttered these words viciously, and my mother could only look at me, trembling and speechless.
"Yes, now you are my father and I am your son." I bowed respectfully, but in my heart I was thinking that my father and mother seemed too excited.
"No!" My father angrily grabbed my collar and hit me on the head. My mother rushed over and grabbed my father's hand.
"What are you doing?" Although the mother's voice was trembling, she still looked distressed.
"This fool doesn't understand?" Father almost roared, then he stared at me fiercely, as if I would suddenly disappear, and suddenly he was full of pity, even a little proud: "Fool, your surname is Shen. You may not have thought that you thought only your uncle was soft-hearted and let that old Taoist go?"
I suddenly felt that there was something I didn't know at the time, and this thing was too shocking.
"Do you know? In order to save the only remaining bloodline of the Fan family, I secretly replaced my son with Fan Pang's son!" My father suddenly dragged me to stand up, but pointed to the west softly, and said in an almost childish voice: "And do you know Jiang Wei? He is Fan Pang's son. And you, are my biological son, Shen Gongshe!"
My father is my father and my mother is my mother.
But then I thought of another thing, my wife is not my wife.
Note 1: The quote is from "A World Without Thieves". In line with the spirit of keeping pace with the times, it is New Year's Day and this chapter may be a bit heavy, so the author adds a paragraph, which is purely for making you laugh during the festival and has no other meaning.