I, Liu Bian, the hero

Chapter 88
In the quiet room, Emperor Ling frowned as he read Cao Cao's letter, his face gradually revealed a look of dismay.

Seeing this surprise, Zhang Rang peeked at the contents of the letter from the side. Immediately, his face showed horror. He turned his head to look at Liu Bian, and immediately ordered the two little eunuchs behind him in a low voice: "Go and stay outside, no one is allowed." Come in."

The two young eunuchs left as promised.

Not long after, Emperor Ling put down the letter in his hand, frowned slightly and asked Liu Bian: "This is why my son thinks Jizhou is dangerous and wants to dissuade me from going?... When did my son receive this letter?" Why are you hiding it?"

Liu Bian heard that Emperor Ling was displeased, and clasped his hands and explained: "Father forgives the crime, it's not because the sons and ministers hid and refused to report, but this matter... has a lot to do with it, and there is no evidence, just based on Cao Mengde's one-sided words. I don't know if my father will believe me..."

"How does my son know that I won't believe it?" Lingdi glanced at Liu Bian, then looked at the letter in his hand, and said coldly for a while: "I believe it!"

Hearing this alone, Liu Bian guessed that this stupid king had a deep prejudice against scholars, and spread his hands and said, "Even if the father believes it, what can we do? Send people to arrest Wang Fen? Just rely on Cao Mengde's one-sided words? That's it. It will only scare the snake away."

"..."

Emperor Ling was silent for a moment, then suddenly raised his head to look at Liu Bian, and said meaningfully: "It seems that my son has a plan?"

"Yes."

Liu Bian didn't hide anything, and said in a low voice: "I accompanied my father to patrol the river this time, just to see if Wang Fen really did what Cao Mengde said, conspiring to rebel in private. The emperor sweeps away this beast, or my father and son can work together to remove it, and severely dampen the arrogance of the scholars."

Hearing this, Zhang Rang immediately clapped his hands and praised: "Your Majesty and His Highness join forces, and you will be invincible in the world."

On the other hand, Emperor Ling had a strange expression upon hearing this.

He still didn't take Zhang Rang's flattery seriously, but it was undeniable that Liu Bian's words touched his heart. After all, his father and son had almost no memories of their common experience so far except playing chess.

Father and son join forces to eradicate traitors?

If you think about it carefully, it does seem to be a bit emotional.

Thinking of this, Emperor Ling asked in a low voice: "What is my son's plan?"

"It's very simple." Liu Bian spread his hands and said: "Pretend not to know, wait and see what happens, wait for him to make trouble, and then strike later to ensure that the evidence is convincing, so that he can't argue."

"Well." Emperor Ling nodded approvingly, and then deliberately asked: "Only with the two armies of Huben and Habayashi, can I be sure?"

Liu Bian smiled and said: "If the troops are not enough, the emperor can transfer the troops from Zhuojun and even Youzhou. My son knows that Liu Yu and Liu Bo'an, the governors of Youzhou, are people trusted by the emperor, and the captain of Zhuojun, Gongsun Zan, and others They are disciples of Master Lu and Erchen's senior brother, as long as the father calls, the two of them will definitely send troops to King Qin."

Emperor Ling looked at Liu Bian in surprise: "It seems that my son has already planned it?"

Liu Bian arched his hands and said: "I dare not say that it is safe, but it is about the safety of the father and the emperor, and I dare not be careless."

Hearing this, Emperor Ling stared blankly at Liu Bian for a while, then smiled, nodded with some relief, and said, "My son has a heart."

Immediately, the father and son had some simple discussions, but no one knew about it except Zhang Rang.

In the evening, according to the previous arrangement, Emperor Ling held a banquet on the building boat to celebrate with all the officials.

Perhaps because he learned of Wang Fen's plan, Emperor Ling's interest in this banquet was greatly reduced, and he participated in this banquet just to deceive others.

Taiwei Cao Song and Situ Cui Lie were both good at observing words and expressions, and felt that Emperor Ling was not in high spirits, so they inquired about it, so Emperor Ling lied and said he was seasick, which dispelled the doubts of the officials who accompanied him on the tour.

After three days like this, on the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth month, the fleet going down the river arrived at the ferry in Pingyuan County.

Not long after the fleet docked at the ferry, Liu Shuo, the king of Pingyuan, led a group of ministers from the kingdom to greet him.

As mentioned before, Pingyuan King Liu Shuo is the younger brother of Emperor Huan. He is about 50 to [-] years old by visual estimation. In terms of seniority, Emperor Ling has to call uncle, while Liu Bian and Liu Xie have to call uncle.

"Sir Liu Shuo, welcome Your Majesty."

"The king of Pingyuan is exempt."

Both are members of the Hejian Liu family, and Emperor Ling inherited the mantle of Emperor Huan. Liu Shuo, King of Pingyuan, treats Emperor Ling and his party, and the two get along fairly well.

Why do you say it's a good relationship?

Emperor Ling revealed to Liu Bian on the way to Pingyuan that the reason was because of Emperor Huan's other younger brother, Liu Kui, King of Bohai.

During the period of Emperor Huan, his younger brother Liu Kui was granted the title of King of Bohai. Later, because of signs of rebellion, he was demoted as King of Tao by Emperor Ling.

Considering that Emperor Huan had already got rid of Liang Ji at that time, and only the scholars of the court were against the imperial power, it is not difficult to guess that the rebellion of Bohai King Liu Kui was not groundless.

But even so, Emperor Huan still didn't kill his younger brother, but only reduced his younger brother's food, leaving only one city for Liu Kui, which can be described as the utmost benevolence.

Later, Liu Kui regretted it, so he contacted Wang Fu, the Zhongchang attendant next to Emperor Huan, and offered 5000 million yuan as a condition of gratitude in exchange for Wang Fu to help him restore the former Bohai Kingdom.

Wang Fu agreed to Liu Kui, and Emperor Huan died two years later, and in his will he ordered Liu Kui to be restored as King of Bohai.

Unexpectedly, Liu Kui refused to hand over the 5000 million yuan to Wang Fu on the grounds that it was his brother's last wish and not Wang Fu's contribution.

This is a total of 5000 million yuan. Can Wang Fu spare Liu Kui?

So at the beginning of Emperor Ling's accession to the throne, Wang Fu, who held a grudge, framed Liu Kui, saying that Liu Kui resented his brother Emperor Huan for not passing on the throne to him, so he wanted to plot a rebellion.

At that time, Emperor Ling had just succeeded to the throne, and Dou Wu and Chen Fan were preparing to follow Liang Ji's actions. The only eunuchs he could rely on were Cao Jie and Wang Fu, the "elders of the second dynasty" in the era of Emperor Huan. Jean, Zhao Zhong and others, what can he do?
So under Zhang Rang's suggestion, Emperor Ling acquiesced in this matter, and sat and watched Wang Fu frame Bohai King Liu Kui, causing the latter to be tortured in prison and eventually forced to commit suicide. All servants also died in prison.

By the way, this incident also laid the groundwork for the deposed Empress Song in the future. The reason is that Emperor Ling's empress Song at that time was the niece of Song Shi, the wife of Bohai King Li Kui. Wang Fu was afraid that Empress Song would retaliate against him in the future. , So in the name of Queen Song cursing Emperor Ling with witchcraft, he killed Queen Song.

And because of the murder of Empress Song, Empress He was able to ascend to the throne after giving birth to the prince Liu Bian a few years later.

In all fairness, after knowing these secrets, even Liu Bian did not think that Emperor Ling was at fault at the time. After all, Emperor Ling was just a puppet emperor at the time. Still under the control of Cao Jie, Wang Fu and other eunuchs during the Huan Emperor period, what can he do?
When the older eunuchs Cao Jie and Wang Fu were killed, and when Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong and others ascended to the throne, Emperor Ling could still be considered to be in charge of the imperial power.

But it is undeniable that it was indeed Emperor Ling who accused Liu Kui in the name of the Son of Heaven, so he and Liu Shuo, the King of Pingyuan, still had a bit of a grudge, as long as the two sides could keep the water in the well and not the water in the river.

So, as Emperor Ling said before on the boat, their large group of people stayed in the plain for one night, received warm hospitality from the king of the plain, Liu Shuo, and embarked on the journey to Hejian the next day.

Hejian County also has a country, the ruler of the country is Hejian King, the current Hejian King is named Liu Kai, he is the fifth Hejian King after the first Hejian King Liu Kai, and Liu Chang, the biological father of Emperor Ling, and the third The generation of Hejian King Liu Jian was of the same generation, while Lingdi was of the same generation as the fourth generation of Hejian King Liu Li.

Of course, in fact, Hejian King Liu Kai didn't call him that, but respectfully called Emperor Ling as His Majesty, with a hint of fear, which was very different from Pingyuan King Liu Shuo.

Just when Liu was puzzled, he vaguely heard Emperor Ling say to Liu Kai: "...I have never blamed your father, so why would I blame you? You don't have to restrain yourself."

Liu Bian asked Emperor Ling in private: "Is there any quarrel between father and the previous king of Hejian?"

"It's nothing."

Emperor Ling told Liu Bian lightly afterwards that it was nothing more than that when his family was in distress, he had borrowed food and cloth from Liu Kai's father and his cousin Liu Li. Empress Dowager Dong, mother and son Lingdi lost face greatly.

Emperor Hou Ling succeeded to the throne, and then with the help of Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong and others, he gradually regained the imperial power, and made a special trip back to Hejian to meet Liu Li.

When the anger in his heart came out, the matter was over. Even when Liu Li passed away seven years ago, Emperor Ling sent someone to express his condolences.

The residence of King Hejian was in Hejian, but Emperor Ling and his party did not stay in Lecheng, but went straight to Jiedu in the northwest of Lecheng.

As the saying goes, ten miles is a pavilion, and ten pavilions are a township. Jiedu is not a county, but it is not even a township. At best, it is just a manor. The old house where Empress Dowager Dong lived was surrounded by dependent civilians and some old servants.

However, due to the frequent riots in Jizhou in recent years, especially the rebellion of Zhang Ju and Zhang Chun, the civilians and old servants who used to live in Jiedu died and fled, and even the old houses were destroyed by the rebels, so that Even though both Jizhou and Hejian Kingdom are concerned about sending people to renovate, what is presented to Lingdi, Liu Bian and others at this moment is still a scene of sparsely populated and desolate fields, but the renovated old house looks rich and magnificent.

"Warn all around!"

Following the order of Yubayashi Zhonglang Huan Dian, the Huben Army and Yulin Army, led by Cui Jun, Dong Cheng, and Cao Chun, set up defenses around the old house.

Immediately, Emperor Ling personally supported the Empress Dowager Dong, and accompanied by Zhang Rang, Dong Zhong, Liu Xie, Cao Song and other patrol officials, they headed towards the old house together.

Only Liu Bian knew that Empress Dowager Dong didn't like him, so he didn't go to join in the fun. He took Cai Yan's hand, took Zhao Chun, Xia Houyuan and a hundred Yulin cavalry with him, and took a random tour to see if there was any danger to guard.

If he remembers correctly, within a few days, Wang Fen of Jizhou will use the name of Zhang Yan's black mountain bandits to attack prefectures and counties, and send people to ask Lingdi to raise troops. Jiedu where the emperor is.

"Hurry up, Wang Fen..."

Looking in the direction of Yecheng, Liu Bian said secretly.

(End of this chapter)