Chapter 821 The Dagger Appears
Chang'an, Weiyang Palace, front hall.
The young emperor looked majestically at the courtiers below, looking at the vacant space below Dong Zhuo, his heart filled with gloom.
Liu Xie felt that his life was terrible, especially when compared with his father, his life was even more miserable.
My father was just having fun all day long and didn't care about the affairs of the government and the public. Although he eventually caused a Yellow Turban Uprising, he was still a wealthy emperor who had been a wealthy emperor for twenty years.
And what about Liu Xie?
You have to struggle at a young age, and the more you struggle, the more difficult the situation becomes.
He originally thought that he was diligent in political affairs and restored Kansai's national power well, but a battle with the Taishan Army in May directly took off Kansai's gorgeous coat, revealing its weak body.
I originally thought that the biggest loss in that war was Uncle Liu Huang, but who would have thought that the biggest crisis would break out at this time?
No, these two should have an influence. If the emperor's uncle was still here, would Fatty Dong still dare to act so wantonly?
How dare he ask for the title of King of Qin? How dare he?
In fact, Liu Xie has always been wary of Dong Zhuo. Even though he was indeed crucial to his control of Guanxi, it is undeniable that Dong Zhuo showed signs of having power to influence the government.
At the beginning of this year, in order to completely quell the rebellion in Liangzhou, Dong Zhuo personally sent troops to guard the western front.
Although Dong Zhuo's team stopped when they marched to Chencang, because at that time Niu Fu and other rebel generals finally put down the rebellion with the help of the local tyrants of the Liangzhou clan.
Although Dong Zhuo did not put down the rebellion himself, he still used his credit to ask the court to arrange a victory ceremony for him.
When Dong Zhuo returned to the court with his achievements in quelling the rebellion, he quickly abolished the three official positions in the court and moved out the prime minister in the name of having too many political leaders and being unable to deal with the chaos.
The candidate for prime minister is still Dong Zhuo.
The Grand Master and the Prime Minister are not the same thing under Han legal principles.
Taishi is the emperor's teacher. In fact, it is more of an honorary title and belongs to the internal court officials. But the prime minister is the head of a hundred officials and the leader of the foreign court who helps the world coordinate yin and yang.
It can be said that whoever can be the prime minister can control the outer dynasty.
Not only that, Dong Zhuo also nominated Li Ru to be the minister.
Shangshu Ling is the leader of China and North Korea. It can be said that if Dong Zhuo is the prime minister and Li Ru is the Shangshu Ling, then Dong Zhuo will have the opportunity to completely control the entire court. Coupled with his power in the military, the Yi Dynasty Emperor can only be in the palm of his hand. .
So Liu Xie must be unwilling.
However, Liu Bei, an important minister who supported Liu Xie at the time, was sent to Yizhou by Dong Zhuo to put down the rebellion. Neither the court nor the military had anyone who could compete with Liu Xie.
After Liu Xie expressed his dissent, Dong's group began to suspend government affairs, and finally forced Liu Xie to agree.
But Liu Xie still had a trace of hallucination in his heart, that is, Dong Zhuo's health has not been good since the beginning of this spring. He was always sick when he went to Chencang, and he stopped taking part in government affairs after he came back.
After so many years of fighting for power, Liu Xie knew that a healthy body was a necessary condition for power. If the body was not in good health, even the will of the emperor would not be able to leave his side, let alone Dong Zhuo?
Therefore, Liu Xie saw that Dong Zhuo was too ill to go to court, which means that even if he became prime minister, he would not be able to check himself. However, he could take advantage of Dong Zhuo's serious illness to continuously win over his political party members.
And to take a step back, what is Liu Xie worried about? I am just the right age, and I can survive Dong Zhuo to death just by enduring it.
When the time comes, once Dong Zhuo dies, he will be the only voice left in the Kansai court.
It was precisely with this thought that Liu Xie agreed to Dong Zhuo's conditions.
But how did Liu Xie know that almost all experienced politicians have one trick, which is to pretend to be ill?
Dong Zhuo, who was thought to be terminally ill, entered the palace to preside over the court meeting on the day he was announced as prime minister. Not only that, he also started to form his own team of the Prime Minister's Office according to the Han family system.
He made Liu Jing, the Sima of Taishi Prefecture, the Prime Minister of the West Cao Dynasty, He Yong of Nanyang was the Prime Minister of the East Cao Dynasty, Tian Jing was the master of records, Huangfu Jianshou, the son of Huangfu Song, was the Fa Cao and the history of the Fa Cao, and Wang Yao was the Literary Cao.
When Liu Xie saw these lists, he was shocked. Why?
Liu Jing and Tian Jing didn't mind it, because they were Dong Zhuo's personal servants, and they had been the clerks of the Taishi Mansion before.
But He Yong, Huangfu Jianshou, and Wang Yao are completely different.
These three parts represent the scholarly, military, and political circles respectively.
Needless to say, He Yong was a veteran among the party members. He was originally out of reach of Dong Zhuo. The only connection may be that they were both disciples and former officials of the Yuan family.
But now that He Yong has joined the Prime Minister's Office, this means that the remaining party forces in Kansai have defected to Dong Zhuo.
Although the power of the party members in Kansai is not very strong, these people control the Qing Dynasty and can influence public opinion on the policies and personnel of the imperial court.
Let's talk about something that is unspeakable. Once Dong Zhuo has some treacherous thoughts, these people can also advocate for Dong Zhuo, which can be said to be very bad.
The other one named Wang Yao, although not famous, was a student of Liu Kuan, the old Taiwei of the previous dynasty.
Liu Kuan's disciples and former officials occupied many positions in the court. When Wang Yao entered the Prime Minister's Palace, Liu Xie could not help but wonder whether the courtiers of Liu Kuan's line had defected to Dong Zhuo.
But if He Yong and Wang Yao only surprised Liu Xie, then the appearance of Huangfu Jianshou in the Prime Minister's Mansion made Liu Xie's liver and gallbladder tremble.
He is the son of Huangfu Song. After his father was unjustly killed in Kanto, he took his family to Kansai on bicycles.
Although Huangfu Song fell to the Kanto side during the separation of the two capitals, the Huangfu family, as the top generals in Kansai, has great strength and prestige, and there are still many former members of the Huangfu family in the army. .
Dong Zhuo had no dealings with Huangfu Song, but he had a good relationship with his son Huangfu Jianshou. Therefore, after Huangfu Jianshou fled to Kansai, Dong Zhuo also asked him to unite a group of Huangfu family's old troops, and he established another group in the army. Flag.
Later, due to serious internal strife in Guandong, especially after the Ganlu Incident, many of Huangfu Song's old troops also fled from Guandong to Kansai.
Dong Zhuo arranged these people under Huangfu Jianshou.
But at that time, Huangfu Jianshou could not be said to be Dong Zhuo. He had a good relationship with Liu Bei, and he was deeply influenced by his father. Loyalty to the emperor was the creed of their Huangfu family, so he always supported Liu Xie. A military force.
But now this military force turned to Dong Zhuo, which shocked Liu Xie to death.
After his influence in the army suffered another setback, Liu Xie did not dare to act rashly at all, and began to install elm statues at the court meeting.
Everything Dong Zhuo said is right, and everything Dong Zhuo does must be implemented.
Seeing Liu Xie's cooperation, Dong Zhuo did not take any more drastic action. He only granted several of his nephews and nieces the title of marquis and king, and even added food to his infant grandson.
Later, when Dong Zhuo was in power, he really did a lot of things that a prime minister should do.
Encourage farmers to grow mulberry trees, build straight roads, repair ditches, and prepare troops to fight against dissatisfaction.
For example, when Liu Bei was pacifying Yizhou, it was Dong Zhuo's work that allowed Li Jue to attack Chengdu directly from Wudu.
Not to mention the deep surprise behind this robbery of military honors, from a military perspective alone, this is undoubtedly a very exciting military operation.
Therefore, after pacifying the Yizhou rebellion, Dong Zhuo was rewarded with three privileges for his merits.
They are that the master of ceremonies does not call him by name when he performs the ritual, he does not have to walk quickly like other ministers when he goes to court, and he can carry a sword and wear shoes. These three rights are the same courtesy as the former Han Dynasty Xiao He.
It can be said that Dong Zhuo did indeed achieve great achievements, but he also truly wielded power. Liu Xie was already desperate to be a puppet, but who knew that God would take care of the descendants of Liu again.
That means Dong Zhuo's health is really in danger, and this time it's really not acting.
But Liu Xie never imagined that it was when Dong Zhuo's health reached the last moment that he finally proposed to be crowned king!
When Li Ru came to the table the day before yesterday, he revealed in his words that this so-called kingship was actually a consolation for Dong Zhuo's death.
Dong Zhuo is about to die anyway, so being granted the title of king before his death can be regarded as a consolation to the Dong clan.
Li Ru said something nice, but Liu Xie was keenly aware that he couldn't agree.
After that, he spent two days to discuss with his confidants Sun Rui and Zhao Wen.
Both of them were veterans of Fuyu's political struggle, and they immediately saw the purpose of Li Ru's appearance.
That is to pave the way for Dong Zhuo's brother, nephew and son-in-law.
Because in addition to Li Ru's request to be granted the title of King of Qin, there was another request for Dong Zhuo to be granted a title.
This so-called feudal state is the land of Yongzhou in the Great Kyushu.
As we all know, there were fourteen states in the Han Dynasty, but in the world designated by Dayu, there were actually nine states in the world.
And this Yongzhou is Si and Liangzhou.
Yes, Dong Zhuo wanted to be granted the title of King of Qin, but he suddenly wanted to take away Si and Liang states as feudal states. Then what would be left for the emperor in the end?
Even Yizhou is now the territory of people like Li Jue. In other words, once he agrees to Dong Zhuo, Liu Xie will really be a nominal emperor.
Although the current situation is indeed like this, but the reality is this, it is even more impossible to let the status be given away.
Therefore, the three of them thought about it carefully and finally found a breakthrough.
That was Dong Zhuo's younger brother Dong Min, the captain of Fengche who protected him in the chaos.
……
At this time, all the ministers from the Dong family were present in the main hall.
Because Dong Zhuo was away, these people were quite presumptuous, walking around the hall at will, talking freely, and not paying attention to the emperor at all.
In the end, Li Ru couldn't stand it anymore, so he scolded these rough guys and told them to keep quiet.
When the front hall gradually became quiet, the court meeting that was time to leave began.
In fact, this time the Great Dynasty is also very rare in Kansai.
In the most chaotic years, both the late emperor and the current young emperor summoned the three ministers and ministers by name every day, and then made detailed decisions on specific matters.
This is the first time that people have been called together like this.
But everyone knows the reason. It seems that His Majesty finally cannot withstand the pressure from Dong Zhuo's people, and is really going to make Dong Zhuo king.
Thinking of this, some courtiers who were still loyal to the Han Dynasty felt sad.
Sure enough, without talking to the little yellow gate next to him, his Majesty's Li Ru came out with a list of memorials.
He looked directly at Liu Xie above and saw that his face was calm. Although he was surprised, he still said loudly:
"At the beginning, the late emperor rushed west, the sea was boiling, the world was full of rebellions, and the hearts of the people were hardly Han. But at that time, it was the prime minister who blocked the rebel army in Hedong. Later, the late emperor died, the palace and the palace were fighting, and Chang'an was shocked three times a day , it was also the prime minister who was ordered to rush to Beijing to help protect the Han Dynasty. ”
"If only one of these two great achievements is placed on someone else's head, it is the merit of making a prince. And what about the prime minister? Later, he made some mistakes and punished disloyalty. For such a great achievement and great kindness, he should be rewarded with the title of king, let alone The Prime Minister is seriously ill and this is nothing more than what he wants in this life."
As if it was agreed, with Li Ru's words, all the ministers behind him came out to agree, and their number occupied a large part of the front hall.
The remaining people originally wanted to join the queue, but when they saw the look in Zhao Wen's eyes, they froze in place.
The look of wanting to take a step but not daring to take a step is quite funny.
Today is only seven days away from New Year's Day of the Gengzi Year.
But during this performance, Liu Xie, who was above him, remained calm and did not answer the question at all.
But in fact, by this time, Li Ru no longer cared whether Liu Xie agreed or not. He just regarded this time as a formality.
In fact, what he wanted to discuss this time was the process of conferring the title of King of Qin on Dong Zhuo.
This is not because Li Ru was uneducated and incompetent, but that apart from the eight kings with different surnames and the Lu brothers in the Pre-Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty never had any other kings with different surnames since then.
So what is the process of conferring a kingship on someone with a different surname? What the world can know is only those who study ancient books.
Therefore, without the need for Liu Xie to speak, Li Ruyue faced all the courtiers on his behalf:
"It's just that the matter of conferring the title of king is important, so I'll let you and others discuss how to confer it."
Is Li Ru really brave enough to say anything at this time? Is that what he can say?
Some courtiers secretly looked at Liu Xie and saw that he was still expressionless, as if he was indifferent to Li Ru's transgression.
In this way, some wavering courtiers once again tilted the balance in their hearts.
In fact, when the little emperor was preparing, Li Ru was also preparing.
Just after he said these words, someone immediately came out and gave the "answer":
"In the past, the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty granted the title of princes, which was called the tin order. The princes who were granted the title should be placed on the loess, receive the emperor's order, receive the nine tins, and get the land of the king."
This sentence actually exposed the consensus of the Dong faction, which was to regard Liu Xie as the virtual emperor and give all real power to the King of Qin.
Judging from Wang Mang's story back then, Dong Zhuo was really interesting. Maybe he really just wanted to be the King of Qin under the Emperor of Han.
But what is the situation at the scene? Just four words:
"Silent and silent"!
The one who broke the silence was Zhao Wen, the leader of the foreign imperial party.
He did not let his disciples speak up, but stood up directly and said:
"My husband received Jiuxi and opened up the earth, and he was the Duke of Zhou. He was granted the title of eight kings in the Han Dynasty, and he became a commoner with the emperor, and established the king's business. His achievements were so great, how can Dong Zhuo compare with him?"
Zhao Wen called Dong Zhuo by his first name, which made Li Ru look very ugly.
So he pressed down his hand, and a rough warrior rushed out from behind.
He grabbed Zhao Wen's sleeve, pulled him to the aisle, and then kicked Zhao Wen in the stomach, knocking the old man to the ground.
After this man beat Zhao Wen in public, he turned around and looked at the timid courtiers, and cursed:
"Without my Prime Minister being here, you would have long since lost track of where Death Seeker is. How can you still make irresponsible remarks here?"
"I think you are tired of living."
The entire front hall was silent and fell into a deathly silence.
(End of chapter)