I, Liu Bian, the hero

Chapter 87
From Luoyang to Hejian County, the fastest way is nothing more than taking a boat from Mengjin to the plains, and then going north to Hejian by land.

The preparation mentioned earlier is actually mainly to prepare the big ship.

Before the evening of that day, the Lingdi brigade arrived at Mengjin, and Meng Jinling went out to meet him in panic, but unfortunately his status was not even qualified as a face saint. After Hussar General Dong Zhong gave his orders arrogantly, the brigade began to board the ship.

During this period, Liu Bian took Cai Yan, Zhao Chun, Xia Houyuan and others to carefully visit this Hejin, which was set on fire by Ding Yuan in history.

As one of the main waterway hubs around Luoyang, Mengjin is by no means comparable to Hejin. Liu Bian couldn't bear the thought that Ding Yuan set fire to this Hejin in response to He Jin's move to eradicate eunuchs in history to force Empress He to agree to eradicate eunuchs. I can't help shaking my head.

Just like what Cao Cao said to He Jin in history, if you want to eradicate eunuchs, you just need to send a jailer.
After all, He Jin still doesn't have the courage to do great things.

Of course, Yuan Shao was not much better.

Just as Liu Bian was secretly feeling emotional, Xia Houyuan, who was acting as a guard, glanced at the distance and reminded in a low voice: "Your Highness, it's time to get on the boat."

In view of Liu Bian's insistence on accompanying Emperor Ling to patrol Hejian, and Cao Chun, the Prince Sheren, also served as Yubayashi Youjian, unable to take into account the safety of Yubayashi Youqi, Liu Bian, Cai Yan and others, so he was ordered by Cao Cao Xia Houyuan, who came to deliver the letter, was temporarily arrested by Cao Chun and temporarily served as Liu Bian's guard.

Even after the brigade set off, Cao Chun gave Xia Houyuan a hundred Yulin cavalry, and asked Xia Houyuan to personally protect the safety of Liu Bian and the others.

Not to mention that Xia Houyuan was quite excited, Liu Bian was also happy to see it succeed, after all he also had a good impression of Xia Houyuan.

"Well."

Liu Bian nodded, and led the crowd towards a large ship tens of feet long and ten feet high where Emperor Ling was.

When he stepped on the board, he stretched out his hand to Cai Yan.

Cai Yan was taken aback, then reached out to catch Liu Bian's hand with a blushing face, and boarded the boat with the latter under the watchful eyes of countless officials and soldiers on and off the boat.

Seeing this scene, those who don't know Cai Yan's identity must be very curious about the details of this girl, while those who know Cai Yan mostly nod in praise, praising Liu Bian for being a grown man despite his young age.

Among them, the most admired one is none other than Emperor Ling.

Before seeing Liu Bian standing in Jinnei and not getting on the boat, Lingdi did not enter the boathouse after getting on the boat, but stood at the bow of the boat and sent someone to urge him. He nodded secretly in his heart.

From the side, headed by Taiwei Cao Song and Situ Cui Lie, a group of ministers in the court also praised each other. Hearing Lingdi Longyan Dayue, except for the sneer on the face of Hussar General Dong Zhong, in fact, even Dong Cheng and Liu Bian Younger brother Dong Hou and Liu Xie never showed any obvious hostility, but watched Liu Bian and the others approaching rather curiously.

"Father."

When approaching Emperor Ling, Liu Bian bowed his hands in salute.

When Lingdi nodded in response, Liu Xie, who was standing beside Lingdi, also hesitated a little, and bowed his hands to Liu Bian and Cai Yan: "Emperor brother...Emperor's wife."

Compared to Liu Bian's nod in response, Cai Yan was a little restrained. After all, she had never met Emperor Ling and Liu Xie before, let alone her first appearance in front of so many court ministers. Fortunately, she had lived in the palace for more than a year. , I learned a lot from Empress He, so I can hold on now, which has won the praise of all the courtiers, such as "as worthy of being the daughter of Cai Langzhong" and "with the appearance of a queen". It seemed that they didn't want money and blurted out from the mouths of Cao Song, Cui Lie and others, which made Cai Yan's ears burn when he heard it.

Not long after, thousands of imperial guards boarded the remaining large ships one after another, Habayashi Nakaro General Huan Dian came to report to Emperor Ling.

"Let's sail."

After giving an order, Emperor Ling led Liu Bian, Liu Xie and other officials to board the ship building.

The big boat used by the Son of Heaven for traveling has the layout of the building like a house, with all kinds of furniture. If you don't know that the boat is floating on the river, you can't tell that it is actually a boat.

After boarding the ship building, the first thing is to arrange personal rooms. According to the distance from the bow, the rooms on the left are the rooms of Empress Dowager Dong, Emperor Ling, and Liu Bian, and then the accompanying officials. , Huan Dian and a group of Zhonglang generals, Cao Chun is also on the list, but the room is near the middle of the ship's side.

In view of the one-day journey that day, there was no activity on the boat at night, and everyone went to bed early, but Dong Cheng and Cao Chun had to take their respective Habayashiro to patrol all night, one was responsible for the first half of the night, and the other was in charge. Responsible for the second half of the night.

Liu Bian was also tired. As soon as he lay down on the bed, he felt the ship shake slightly. When he asked Cai Yan, who was standing by the window enjoying the scenery, it was indeed the ship that was sailing slowly out of the mouth of the river. go downstream.

At dawn the next day, the fleet was still floating on the water and going down the river, but this did not prevent the people on board from enjoying breakfast, especially Lingdi, Empress Dowager Dong, Liu Bian, Cai Yan, Liu Xie and others. What was at the time, what is at this moment.

After breakfast, Liu Bian took Cai Yan, Zhao Chun, and Xia Houyuan to visit the ship.

During the period, he wanted to go to Lingdi and play chess with him to pass the time, but when he saw Dong Zhong, Dong Cheng, Liu Xie, Cao Song, Cui Lie and other people around Lingdi, he didn't think so. Feeling interested, he led Cai Yan to the top floor of the boat building, and looked out at the scenery from the window.

I have to say that the scenery outside the window from the nearly ten-foot-high ship tower of the big ship is excellent. The fly in the ointment is that the ship tower on the top floor shakes a bit, especially when the wind blows, let alone Cai Yan grabbed it In Liu Bian's hand, even Zhao Chun and Xia Houyuan were a little bit as if they were facing a big enemy. They were afraid of any mistakes and repeatedly persuaded Liu Bian to return to the middle level.

As the saying goes, no matter how good the scenery is, there are times when you get tired of looking at it. After a while, Liu Bian got tired of it, so he led everyone back to the house.

In the afternoon, Emperor Ling sent Zhang Rang to call him.

When he saw Liu Bian, Emperor Ling asked, "Why didn't you see my son this morning?"

Liu Bian said casually: "At that time, I saw many people around my father, so I took Wen Ji and the others to the top floor."

"Oh."

Emperor Ling was stunned, and he didn't ask any more questions. After all, he also knew that the son in front of him was actually quite individual, and he didn't like to flatter him like other people. He likes to be tight and actually appreciates the behavior.

While the father and son were chatting, Zhang Rang had ordered someone to set up a chess board for the father and son to play chess for fun.

During this period, Emperor Ling also informed Liu Bian of his itinerary, which was indeed to go to the plains by boat, and then to Hejian by land.

"...Jieshi, I will stay in Pingyuan for one night, and meet Pingyuan King by the way."

Emperor Ling said casually while playing chess.

"Pingyuan King?" Liu Bian was taken aback.

"Ah." Emperor Ling explained casually: "This man is the younger brother of Emperor Huan. In terms of seniority, I have to call him uncle, and you have to call him uncle."

"Oh."

Liu Bian responded, and belatedly remembered, it seemed that Liu Bei had been Prime Minister of Pingyuan in history.

By the way, the prime ministers of the feudal states like this are nominally assisting the princes and kings in managing the feudal states, but in fact the princes and kings have no direct control over the feudal states, and the prime ministers are actually equivalent to prefects.

Of course, the key to strengthening the centralization of power depends on the strength of the central government itself. If a prince with a strong style interferes with the prime minister, the court will have nothing to do with him.

For example, Chen Wang Liu Chong is a princely king with a strong style.

However, this vassal king is very loyal to the Han Dynasty, and Liu Bian's evaluation is at the same level as Liu Yu, the governor of Youzhou, and Liu Dai, the governor of Yanzhou. Liu Chong was killed by Yuan Shu, Liu Dai was the most useless, and was actually killed by the revived Qingzhou Yellow Turban.

Liu Bian was feeling emotional, but saw Emperor Ling casually mentioning the relationship between Pingyuan King Liu Shuo, Emperor Huan and their branch: "...Emperor Huan and Zhen, although not directly related, are actually from the branch of King Xiao of Hejian (Liu Kai) Hejian Xiaowang gave birth to Liwuhou Liu Yi, who was the biological father of Emperor Huan. Before Emperor Huan inherited the throne, he followed his father's title of Marquis of Liwu, and I inherited the title of Marquis of Jieduting, who was next to him. Therefore, in terms of seniority, Emperor Huan is actually my cousin."

Liu Bian hadn't deliberately paid attention to the relationship between Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling at the beginning, but now after hearing what Emperor Ling said, he knew that Emperor Huan of Han was Emperor Ling's cousin.

Seeing this, Liu Bian asked curiously: "What about Emperor Xiaozhi? Could it be that he is also from my Hejian branch?"

The Emperor Xiaozhi he was talking about was the nine-year-old emperor who was poisoned to death by his domineering relative Liang Ji.

After hearing this, Emperor Ling shook his head and said: "Emperor Zhi is not, he is a branch of Bohai Xiaowang Liu Hong..."

After a short pause, he said with emotion: "King Xiao of Bohai only had one son, Emperor Zhi, and it was too late to be happy that his son was welcomed as emperor, but he was murdered by Liang Ji without thinking about it. What's more, King Xiao of Bohai did not dare to have the slightest resentment at that time. , died of depression the next year, and left with his son. I heard that Emperor Huan once commented that Emperor Zhi was smart and early, and could recognize Liang Ji's traitors, but unfortunately he was smart but not good at hiding, so he was killed by Liang Ji... "

Speaking of this, he suddenly asked Liu Bian, "What do my sons think of Emperor Huan?"

Faint king, what else can you comment?

A thought came to Liu Bian's mind, but he said: "I dare not speak falsely about the late emperor."

Seeing this, Emperor Ling smiled slightly, and said to himself: "People in the world say that Emperor Huan is stupid, but I don't think that if Emperor Huan is stupid, he can get rid of Liang Ji? These are the party members' slander against Emperor Huan... It's ridiculous. The group of scholars, when Liang Ji was alive, none of them dared to show their heads. When Liang Ji was punished, they all showed up, flaunting each other, forming cliques for personal gain, and slandering the court. Therefore, Emperor Huan ordered the arrest and killing of these clique-forming people. … In contrast, Emperor Huan's situation at that time was worse than when I succeeded to the throne, but it was not easy when I succeeded to the throne..."

Perhaps because he was idle, or because he had other intentions, Emperor Ling told Liu Bian about his situation at that time. Inside, Cao Jie and Wang Fu acted recklessly in his name; Or it could effectively imitate Liang Ji's intention. Fortunately, Zhang Rang returned to the palace at that time.

At this time, Liu Bian learned that Zhang Rang was also an eunuch during Emperor Huan's period, and he was very favored. However, at that time, the eunuchs in the palace had not yet caused the eunuchs to hate the scholars because of Wang Fu's death. Because of being favored, he was framed and accused of having a relationship with Emperor Huan, and was expelled by the then empress Dou Miao. It was not until Emperor Huan died and Emperor Ling succeeded to the throne that he was able to return to the palace.

But even when he returned to Luoyang Han Palace, Zhang Rang had been reduced to a marginal figure in the palace at that time, so a young puppet emperor hit it off with a marginal eunuch and began to plan to seize power.

Under Zhang Rang's suggestion, Emperor Ling learned from Emperor Huan to hide his strength and bide his time, and at the same time, recruited Zhao Zhong and others who were not as good as the top and had more than the bottom, and secretly accumulated strength.

The master and servants first waited until Cao Jie led people to kill Dou Wu, and then killed Cao Jie and other old eunuchs during Emperor Huan's period. When the power of eunuchs in the palace gradually became headed by Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong and others, Emperor Ling finally Really took back the authority of the emperor.

After listening to these secrets, even Liu Bian must admit that although Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling were obsessed with wine and sex, and had disadvantages in personal morality, they were not completely stupid emperors. On the contrary, they were quite ambitious. Shen Ruan was so entrenched that the imperial power was constrained.

Seeing this, Liu Bian thought for a while, and took out Cao Cao's letter from his bosom.

(End of this chapter)