Three Kingdoms: I don’t want to fall in love in troubled times

Chapter 24 Before moving the capital

Cai Yong was promoted, which did not exceed Xu Jiashu's expectations.

He knew during the simulation that Old Man Cai would go through the "Middle Platform", "Xiantai" and "Outer Platform" within three days, and then directly stay as a servant, but he knew one thing and witnessed it happen with his own eyes. Completely two concepts.

At first, the Shizhong was a close official of the emperor, in charge of private internal affairs such as driving and clothing.But by the end of the Han Dynasty, this position no longer had to deal with chores, but served as an advisor to the emperor. It was an extremely noble official position, and it was also a springboard for a confidential job worth two thousand shi.

In other words, in just three days, Cai Yong jumped from the head of the department of the Imperial College to a close minister of the emperor, and may be appointed as a high-ranking official of Jiuqing level at any time. This speed is not unsatisfying.

But soon, Cai Yong's limelight was overshadowed.

Xun Shuang, the current leader of the Xun family in Yingchuan, was then worshiped as Sikong. This was not long after he had lived in seclusion for many years and wrote books. Calculating carefully, it only took 93 days for a commoner to become a minister.

It stands to reason that for such a great Confucian who has been looking after his whole life, it is the right thing to do as the Third Duke. However, the sudden promotion of a Third Duke in such a short period of time still sends out some unusual signals.

Dong Zhuo was anxious.

At Cao Cao's call, the prefects who had been enfeoffed by himself gathered together to respond, and actually raised a huge coalition army!

In terms of combat effectiveness, Dong Zhuo, who holds two elite border troops and the entire imperial army, will naturally not be afraid of those state and county soldiers, but the problem is that there are still enemies in Luoyang City.

Li Ru had said before that scholars should not be trusted, but looking at it now, it was not only untrustworthy, but everyone regarded him as Dong Zhuo's life-or-death enemy!
Luoyang North Palace.

Dong Xiangguo has restrained himself recently. At least he no longer holds the concubines in his arms when meeting outsiders. However, Li Ru is not an outsider. In order to make up for pretending to be so hard, his rough hands carelessly wrapped a mutton-fat body in his arms. physical exploration.

The purpose of Li Ru's trip was to report to Dong Zhuo the investigation situation around Luoyang City.

No large-scale hiding of troops was found, which made Dong Zhuo feel a little more relaxed. Now that there are coalition forces outside, they can no longer be threatened internally.

Seeing that his son-in-law was still frowning, Dong Zhuo asked with a smile: "My son-in-law thinks that it is too easy for those scholars to get official positions, and would like to use them instead?"

He took the initiative to bring up recent events. If someone who didn't know Dong Xiangguo saw this expression, he might think that this increasingly fat face looked very honest and approachable.

Li Ru slowly bowed to Dong Zhuo and then replied: "It is the right thing to pull one faction to fight against another. Now is the time when scholars are divided and disintegrated. How can my son-in-law have any objections?"

"Then what are my son-in-law worried about?" Dong Zhuo seemed to have a plan in mind. He had a large number of elite soldiers and occupied all the important passes in Sili territory. In terms of military tactics, he was already in an invincible position.

What's more, he had already thought about it, but if it didn't work out, he would move the whole city to Chang'an. The prefectures and counties in the east wouldn't listen to him anyway, so he might as well imitate Qin and guard Hangu Pass, and firmly hold the territory in the west. , Ten birds in the forest are worse than one in the hand.

"What my son-in-law is worried about is moving the capital!" Dong Zhuo had told Li Ru this idea a long time ago. Now seeing that things were about to develop as he imagined, Li Ru couldn't help it anymore. "Although moving the capital is a wonderful move, it just won't be the same from now on." From now on, the direction of the world is no longer in our hands. I forgive my son-in-law for speaking out, but the collapse of the world will probably begin with the relocation of the capital!"

Hearing this, Dong Zhuo suppressed his smile and asked seriously, "What do you mean by this? If we move the capital, firstly, we can prevent the Duke of Luoyang from causing rebellion; secondly, we can shrink the defense line and use the victory in the pass to calmly defend the enemy and preserve our strength; thirdly, we can lose Luoyang." Wouldn't it be safer to go out and let the rebels in Guandong rebel? When the time comes, we can hold the center and the Liangzhou army to conquer the rebels and defeat them one by one."

Li Ru nodded: "My uncle has been in battle for a long time, so of course there is no need for my son-in-law to talk about military matters."

"But!" He slapped the beam next to him heavily, and his always kind face became violent in a rare way, "The bad thing is that Luoyang is lost. My uncle is in the hearts of the people in the world, and it is difficult for him to be in charge of the center justifiably. Well, it is a pity that the great situation that we originally occupied Luoyang and sat in the imperial court and calmly commanded all directions has been lost!"

Dong Zhuo's words were absolutely correct, but Li Ru was very scared. Some kind of intuition kept telling him that moving the capital was a road of no return. If he took this step, it would be difficult to turn back.The world is like an exquisite copybook. It may have typos or stains, but it cannot be torn in half.

Although the 400-year rule of the Han Dynasty has been shaky until now, this old framework is still moving forward with difficulty thanks to inertia. Once this framework is broken, nothing can stop it from disintegrating on its own.

To say that the sky is falling is an understatement.

These words represent Li Ru, as a scholar, the few conscience he has left in the world.

Upon hearing this, Dong Zhuo stepped forward and gently stroked his son-in-law's back, comforting his most trusted advisor: "There are things we can say directly between you and me. I admit that I was too hasty before, but now there is no turning back." gone."

"I, Dong Zhuo, am a border general. Whether I depose an emperor or become a bullshit prime minister, it's all just to make this group of noble families bow to me!"

Dong Zhuo's voice was fierce and he said angrily: "The great rats in these countries only flatter each other, collude to deceive the world and steal their reputation, and they dare to put themselves above others and disobey me, a good son of Kansai!"

"The Liu family's relatives in the world can sit down, and the eunuchs without eggs can sit down. I, Dong Zhuo, have been fighting for the country for many years, and I almost lost my life in Xiliang, but I can't sit down? If Liang Ji, the domineering general from far away, doesn't say anything, am I still inferior? How can we get ahead as a pig-killer? If you still hesitate, wait for them to collude, and the fate of Sanming in Liangzhou will be my future, Dong Zhuo!"

It was about the wealth and life of the entire Dong family. For this reason, Li Ru had no choice but to nod in agreement: "These aristocratic families really cannot be trusted."

But after a while, he couldn't help but persuade: "If I go to Chang'an in the future, just hang them up as signs. After all, the purpose of conquering the world is to dominate the world. We must rely on scholars to govern the country. My son-in-law dared to persuade his uncle and aunt Please think twice before doing anything from now on.”

The two of them knew very well that if Dong Zhuo had not acted so carelessly when he first came to power, but had taken the initiative to show weakness to the nobles, he might not have been able to coexist peacefully with them, and then slowly clean up the court, cultivate his own power, and become a truly powerful minister.

It's a pity that it's too late to review now. One step is wrong and every step is wrong.

Hearing this, Dong Zhuo rarely stopped moving his hands around his concubine.

He pondered for a moment: "We will talk about moving the capital later, but the current disaster must be solved."

"The Yuan family and the Yang family are colluding. The two old thieves Yang Biao and Huang Wan might as well be demoted to be Guanglu officials. Among the scholars, Wang Zishi (Wang Yun's nickname) is quite loyal and respectful to me and has a reputation for being upright. He is a good candidate, I think it would be better to let him be the third official."

In this way, Tutor Yuan Wei's wings in the court were completely cut off. If the war on the front line went unfavorably, Dong Zhuo could massacre the Yuan family at any time and take revenge on Yuan Benchu, who resisted him in the first place.

"King Yan Zhao knows that he can buy horse bones for a thousand gold, and the prince is now in charge of the ministerial office. Since my uncle regards him as one of her own, why not let him continue to serve as the ministerial order as the third prince, so as to show his attitude and win the hearts of scholars all over the world."

"Hahahahahahahaha, wonderful!" Dong Zhuo became more and more satisfied with his son-in-law. "Those scholars pride themselves on their virtues. How many of them are as disdainful of their official positions as my son-in-law?"

"My aunt and I are a family. We only care about the safety of our whole family. Official positions are useless to me."

Li Ru replied like this, but he sighed in his heart, how many people who have been loyal to the emperor since ancient times have been able to die well? With a hero like his father-in-law acting cruelly and without caring about the family behind him, the future of the Dong family is uncertain.

As for himself, if he had a choice, he just wanted to be a doctor of the Five Classics.

(End of this chapter)