Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

375 Divergent
After Dong Zhuo's death, Wang Yun began to cleanse the forces in the court. In his view, those who colluded with Dong Zhuo were threats from the Han court.

It is divided into two categories, one is the officials of the court, and the other is the faction of Bingzhou soldiers and generals.

Regarding the former, Wang Yun adopted the strategy of killing chickens to scare monkeys. After hearing the news of Dong Zhuo's death, Cai Yong only sighed, and became the target of Liwei, and was directly sent to prison by Wang Yun. Even if many officials persuaded Wang Yun, it was of no avail. In the end, Cai Yong died in prison for unknown reasons.

After Cai Yong's death, the officials and common people all over the world felt injustice, and the people complained, and it was too late for Wang Yuncai to regret it.

As for how Cai Yong died, the reason is unknown. It may be that Wang Yun ordered the killing, or someone did it privately to curry favor with Wang Yun, or someone was trying to frame Wang Yun, who knows?
However, the impact of Cai Yong's death was limited to Wang Yun's prestige among the ruling and opposition parties, and it would not cause the situation to deteriorate and become irreparable.

But the second point is very fatal.

Purge the faction of soldiers and generals in Liangzhou.

In all fairness, Wang Yun's worries were not unreasonable, and he was indifferent to soldiers, because he was the most elite soldier of the Han court who fought against foreigners all the year round. If he wanted to ensure the strength of the Han court, he had to firmly control them.

Wang Yun and Lu Bu are from Bingzhou themselves, so the loyalty of their Bingzhou soldiers can still be guaranteed, and the key lies in Liangzhou soldiers.

Dong Zhuo controlled the soldiers of Liangzhou during his lifetime. After his death, Wang Yun hesitated repeatedly on how to treat his subordinates. In the end, he ignored Lu Bu’s suggestion of pardoning the generals of Liangzhou and decided to severely punish the generals of Liangzhou. He even secretly guarded against Huang Fusong who was born in Liangzhou.

The most terrible thing is that he was also afraid of Lu Bu at the same time, and he also rejected his proposal to distribute Dong Zhuo's private treasury to Bingliang soldiers and buy people's hearts, which caused Lu Bu to feel dissatisfied, and the two gradually drifted apart.

You must know that the number of generals in Bingzhou is far less than that of Liangzhou generals. Wang Yun, Lu Bu, Zhang Yang, and Zhang Liao are the only ones who can support the overall situation. Now they are suspicious of each other, which is tantamount to self-destructing the Great Wall.

So Wang Yun made the biggest stupid move in his life, using the emperor's edict to disband the Liangzhou soldiers, and let the Liangzhou generals who were under Dong Zhuo go to Chang'an to plead guilty, and then the Kwantung soldiers incorporated the Liangzhou soldiers.

How exactly Wang Yun came up with this idea is unknown, but it undoubtedly ignited all the contradictions.

In the Han Dynasty, there were two major sources of soldiers, and the Bingliang soldiers controlled the outside. The Kwantung soldiers dominated the interior. It would be fine if the Kwantung soldiers were strong, but after a hundred years of governance in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Kwantung soldiers were already fragile, and their combat power could not be compared with the Bingliang soldiers. .

In addition, Cai Yong was killed, and the Liangzhou generals were afraid that they would be executed by Wang Yun when they arrived in Chang'an. , directly attacked Chang'an, but the result was unexpectedly smooth.

The old soldiers from Shu in the city rebelled, opened the gate of Chang'an, and the state army poured into Chang'an. Lu Bu fled and Wang Yun was killed.

As for the emperor Liu Xie who stayed in the city, he was held hostage again, and his situation was far worse than when Dong Zhuo and Wang Yun were there.

The officials who had been under Wang Yun's family also fled in all directions. Kong Rong was sent to Beihai as minister because he contradicted Dong Zhuo.

Now he was welcoming Lu Bu as an envoy, and the two met again after many years, and it was extremely embarrassing.

It is impossible to say that the two of them have no regrets in their hearts.

Wang Yun originally had a good chance, only a little short of it, and the world will be stable again, but now he has slipped into an unpredictable abyss, and no one can see clearly the way forward for the uncertain future.

Kong Rong said earnestly to Lv Bu: "Although Marquis Wen and Cao Cao were already on fire, the Son of Heaven hopes that Marquis Wen can temporarily put aside his prejudices and defend against foreign enemies together."

"If there are Li Jue and Guo Si spying on the outside of the emperor, and there are Baibo thieves taking power inside, at least they should be put down first and returned to the emperor, so that we can sit down and talk."

When Lu Bu heard this, his eyes widened, and he said angrily, "Why did you let me fight the difficult Li Jue and Guo Si, and let Cao Cao deal with the easy-to-fight Baibo thief?"

"Is this bullying me to fool me?"

Kong Rong was helpless, "I also know it's unfair, and in Rong's opinion, Cao Cao is far less reliable than Marquis Wen."

"But the ministers in the court are now biased towards Cao Cao. This is the cause planted by Wang Situ back then, and now only Marquis Wen can bear it."

The interpersonal relationship of Hanting officials is very complicated. Doing one thing may offend another group of people while making good friends with one group.

Although Wang Yun recruited a group of people from Kong Rong and Lv Bu, but after he came to power, he offended too many people, which led to the fact that Lv Bu, who was not well-born, was not liked by the officials.

Moreover, Cao Cao still has the contacts accumulated by his grandfather Cao Teng. In comparison, Lu Bu is particularly isolated and helpless.

Lu Bu was still about to speak, but at this moment Zhao Yun said, "My lord ordered me to cooperate with Marquis Wen, Yun is willing to be the pioneer, bring an army of horses, and meet Li Jue and Guo Si!"

Lu Bu had never seen Zhao Yun's martial arts before, so he shook his head and said, "That's not right, then Li Jue and Guo Si are extraordinary in martial arts, you may not be able to please them."

Ju Shou said: "It's okay, General Zilong knows how to advance and retreat, so let him lead his troops to set up camp in the west of Anyi City to defend against Li Jue and Guo Si."

"Try to fight first, and if things don't agree, then return to the village."

After hearing this, Lu Bu thought about it for a while, and thought that he was not using his own soldiers anyway, if the Youzhou soldiers were willing to take the lead, let them go, and he could only wish for it.

He nodded in agreement immediately, but he heard Jushou say: "I want to write a letter with Marquis Wen."

Lu Bu asked, "To whom?"

Ju Shou replied, "To Duan Yan who has returned to Huayin."

"This man is loyal to the Han Dynasty. Marquis Wen has an old friendship with him, and my nephew Ju Juan who was killed is also on good terms with him."

"If Marquis Wen and Shou can persuade him to follow Li Jue and Guo Si's back, great things will happen."

After hearing this, Lu Bu immediately said, "Yes."

When Kong Rong greeted Lu Bu, Dong Cheng had already arrived at Cao Cao's barracks with a secret edict.

As soon as he entered the gate of the camp, he met a black fat boy of eight or nine years old, who was holding on to the maid's clothes, and stretched his hand in for a while to fumble, which made the maid extremely embarrassed.

Seeing Dong Cheng looking at him, the fat black boy withdrew his hand angrily, and shouted: "What are you looking at!" After speaking, he walked back to the tent behind.

Dong Cheng thought, "Damn it, where did the dog come from, so arrogant?"

When he turned his head, he saw a gentle and elegant young man came out in a hurry, and said to Dong Cheng, "I'm Cao Ang, I was ordered by my father to come to meet the general."

Dong Cheng hurriedly returned the gift, the two exchanged a few words, and then walked in. On the way, Dong Cheng talked about the child he met at the door, and asked casually, seeing Cao Ang with an embarrassed expression on his face, and said in a low voice: "That's my brother-in-law. Cao Pi."

Dong Cheng was speechless after hearing this, and stopped talking.

The two walked through dozens of tents, and saw the door of the largest tent in front of them was wide open. Dong Cheng looked from a distance, and saw Cao Cao sitting at the head, and the advisers and generals on both sides stood up one by one.

At the entrance of the tent, there stood a black iron tower that looked like a big man, holding a huge axe with a blade that was over a foot long, shining with a sharp cold light. The fierce light is overwhelming, and everyone dare not stay away.

Cao Ang hesitated when he saw Dong Cheng taking a step forward, and hurriedly said: "This is my father, Hu Wei Dianwei, general, don't worry."

Dong Cheng fearfully stared at Dian Wei, and followed Cao Ang into the camp. He did not leave when he was far away, but cupped his hands and said, "Chariot General Dong Cheng, by order of the Son of Heaven, came to see the envoy."

Cao Cao hurriedly got up, hurried all the way, walked to Dong Cheng, took Dong Cheng's hand, and said with tears: "Fuck, the general is here!"

Dong Cheng was also grieved, forced out some tears, and lamented: "Mr. Cao, Mr. Cao, Cheng Ke has waited for you!"

"Now that the son is in Xiaoxiao's hands, I urgently need Mr. Cao to help him out!"

Cao Cao raised his sleeves to wipe his tears and said, "Cao Cao heard that the Son of Heaven was in danger, so he rushed all the way, without sleeping day and night, and just arrived. How is the situation today?"

Dong Cheng sighed, "Don't mention it, the emperor is surrounded by wolves!"

"Outside there are Li Jue, Guo Si and others staring at them all the way, chasing and killing all the way. The ministers and ministers are all dead. The emperor's personal guards are not ten thousand. All the officials fled in a hurry, lost like a defeated dog!"

"There are Yang Feng Hanxian who exercised power, attracted the Baibo thief Hucai Li Le, the thief behaved without etiquette, disrespected the emperor's prestige, forced the emperor to appoint officials, and wantonly humiliated the ministers. The Han court is disgraced!"

"To honor the emperor's command, I invite Mr. Cao to enter the city to preside over the overall situation and please the emperor!"

When Cao Cao heard this, he was shocked and said angrily: "The thief is so disregarding Tianwei, he really deserves to be killed!"

When all the generals under the tent heard this, they all roared: "Kill!"

The voice was loud, but Dong Cheng was taken aback, and he quickly said in a low voice: "This matter is of great importance, let Cao Gong enter the city first, and the Baibo bandits are powerful, so it is not good to openly confront the enemy, I hope Cao Gong will think twice. "

Cao Cao sighed: "What the general said is true, you are being hasty."

He sneered in his heart, he could see through what Dong Cheng was up to at a glance.

If it is necessary to keep secrets to please the emperor, then it is necessary to speak out loudly in public, lest people outside will not hear it?
Maybe Dong Cheng's idea is to make himself and the Baibo thief turn against each other, and both sides will lose out, so he can sit back and reap the benefits, right?

In fact, Cao Cao did not guess wrong. Dong Cheng's idea was to drive away tigers and wolves. After all, his own strength is the first. Who wouldn't want to be Yiyin Huoguang?

For a person like him who has already gone half way, there is actually no way to turn back. As long as he shows a little timidity, he will be torn apart by the wolves watching around.

Thinking about this, Dong Cheng concealed his sadness, put on a smiling face, and said: "Since this is the case, why don't Mr. Cao follow me into the city right now, how about meeting the Son of Heaven?"

Cao Cao heard this, and sighed: "Cao Zheng has this intention. I don't know if I lead the troops, will the Baibo bandits stop it?"

Dong Cheng quickly replied: "Cao Jun, don't worry, I have the emperor's word, and I will be able to open the city gate and enter the city smoothly!"

After Cao Cao heard this, he immediately said: "Well, the whole army will pull out the camp, and come with me into the city to welcome the emperor!"

Cao Jun's generals filed out, led the whole army, and headed for Anyi in a mighty way.

When they were seven or eight miles away from the south gate of Anyi, Cao Jun's vanguard sounded a horn, and the team stopped.

Cao Ren ordered the spies to check, and then came to the central army and said to Cao Cao: "There is an army horse in front of the city gate, blocking the way into the city!"

(End of this chapter)