People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 341: The Imperial Decree

In the Xuchang Palace, three envoys from various princes, led by a eunuch, walked up the long stairs. Soon they would reach the palace at the end of the stairs.

They all knew that waiting for them inside was the Emperor of the Han Dynasty.

In fact, this palace is not that gorgeous. After all, Xuchang’s heritage cannot compare with Chang’an and Luoyang. Compared with the real imperial palace of the Han Dynasty, this place naturally looks rather shabby.

The dilapidated palace also reflects the current situation of the Han emperor to a certain extent.

Although Liu Xie now holds the title of Son of Heaven, the princes do not actually take him seriously. It seems that this Son of Heaven is just a title that everyone needs to do something with, so they just use it.

Even Liu Bei, when he became a local lord with sufficient money and food and many soldiers and generals, would no longer be bound by anything.

This is the reality. The strong will definitely control their own destiny. A nominal emperor is not enough to make them truly submit. All they have to do is maintain superficial respect.

Meeting the emperor was not actually the point. The person he really wanted to talk to was Cao Cao.

Before entering the hall, Zhou Yu, the envoy of Sun family of Jiangdong, Zhang Song, the envoy of Liu Zhang of Yizhou, and Xu Shu, the envoy of Liu Bei of Jingzhou, looked at each other, nodded, and then walked into the hall.

On both sides of the rows of ministers in the hall, Liu Xie sat high on the dragon throne. However, the three men only glanced at Liu Xie and soon focused their attention on a figure in the front row of ministers. That was the real master of Yanzhou, Cao Cao, who served as the Sikong of the Han Dynasty.

At this time Cao Cao also turned his head and looked at him. A gleam of brilliance flashed in his calm eyes. His heroic aura was different from that of ordinary people from afar.

The three people who actually saw Cao Cao for the first time were all shocked.

It turns out that it is not easy for anyone to become a local lord. Cao Cao's aura alone is enough to be frightening.

After coming to their senses, they stepped forward, all bowed to Liu Xie and shouted "Long live Liu Xie".

After Liu Xie responded that there was no need for the ceremony, Zhou Yu, Xu Shu and Zhang Song all represented their respective states to pay tribute to the emperor. In response, Liu Xie expressed his affirmation with a smile, and praised Liu Zhang, Liu Bei and Sun Quan one by one.

However, an audience with the emperor was just a procedure, not the purpose of the three people's visit. After such a performance, the subsequent court discussion got down to business.

Xu Shu was the first to step forward and give advice to the emperor.

"I, your humble servant, am here to make a statement on behalf of Liu Bei, the governor of Jingzhou. Today, the Han Dynasty is not at peace. There are powerful enemies entrenched in the north, and there are local separatist forces in Guanzhong. If this continues, the country may be divided into two parts, north and south. For the sake of the world, I ask the emperor to issue an imperial decree to unite the forces of the southern states and counties to prepare for the attack on the enemy!"

As soon as these words were spoken, all the ministers in the hall looked at him sideways, and no matter whether they were Cao Cao's men or Liu Xie's men, they all nodded in agreement.

Liu Xie was not surprised at this. In fact, court meetings were not meant to be used to discuss political affairs. All the discussions were done behind the scenes, and court meetings were only places to announce the results.

Before today, several envoys had already been received by Cao Cao and had discussed with each other.

Cao Cao also reported the results of this discussion to Liu Xie. Of course, this was not to ask Liu Xie for instructions, but to inform Liu Xie so that Liu Xie would know how to react when faced with this situation in the court.

Liu Xie certainly knew what to do. He made the affirmative decision without any hesitation and issued an imperial decree in the court, ordering all the southern states to gather troops and food to fight against the powerful enemy in the north.

With the issuance of this decree, the power of the southern princes was completely integrated.

There are three people, Sun Quan, Liu Bei and Cao Cao. Although Sun Quan is a little weak, he has Zhou Yu to preside over the overall situation. Not to mention Liu Bei and Cao Cao. Although these people cannot be considered good people, they are definitely not stupid. At least they can see the situation very accurately.

In today's world, Xuan Xia's momentum is unstoppable. If the South continues to have its own thoughts and hinder each other, they can only wait for Xu Chen to step on their heads and take the throne.

A common enemy that is so powerful that it forces them to unite. This has nothing to do with unity, but only with survival.

As for Emperor Liu Xie, he only played the role of a mouthpiece in this matter. The coalition forces needed the title, so Liu Xie could only give them the title.

Cao Cao was very satisfied with Liu Xie's cooperation. After the emperor arrived in Xuchang, he cooperated unexpectedly, which saved Cao Cao a lot of worries.

This emperor is very sensible and is a qualified puppet.

However, Liu Xie was not a real puppet after all. Forced by the situation, he could appear obedient to everything, but this obedience did not mean that he truly accepted his fate in his heart.

Liu Xie was actually angry.

To some extent, Cao Cao today is even more excessive than Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shao in the past.

At least, Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shao were not so crazy as to completely control his freedom. When Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shao were in power, he could at least summon ministers at will. But now, when he wants to meet someone, he even has to ask Cao Cao for approval!

This was a complete humiliation. Even though he was an unworthy emperor, Liu Xie found it hard to accept.

What's even more hateful is that he was deceived by Cao Cao and was delighted to think that the other party would be a loyal minister and that he could rely on him to restore the glory of the Han Dynasty. However, reality gave him such a hard slap in the face. This huge gap almost made him collapse.

But he couldn't resist, let alone blame others. Instead, he had to suppress his resentment and put on a smiling face to please others.

This made me even more angry.

Is this guy still considered the Son of Heaven?

A few years ago, Xu Chen's "Edict to Attack Han" had already made Liu Xie so angry that he couldn't sleep. This time, his "Letter to the Emperor of Han" directly pierced Liu Xie's heart. What kind of emperor is he without dignity?
All the ministers in the hall dispersed, and until the last person left, the smile on Liu Xie's face gradually faded, his fists clenched unconsciously, and his face became gritted with teeth.

But soon, he tried to calm himself down.

Prime Minister Cao was very considerate of Liu Xie as he was the emperor. In order to prevent him from being too busy with government affairs, he limited himself to meeting with ministers only once every half a month. Liu Xie must cherish this opportunity.

Liu Xie adjusted his mood, adjusted his belt, and entered the back hall. Not long after, a minister walked in.

"Your Majesty, your servant Dong Cheng greets you!"

A brief meeting between the emperor and his minister was conducted under the watchful eyes of the eunuch next to him. After the meeting, the eunuch hurried to Cao Cao and reported what was discussed in the meeting.

Cao Cao listened to the report quietly in the room and nodded calmly.

According to the report from the eunuch, it seemed that the emperor and Dong Cheng were just talking about daily matters and there was nothing to worry about.

Thinking that the matter was over, Cao Cao planned to leave to take care of more important matters.

Now that the alliance is imminent, the specific matters need to be discussed with the envoys of the princes.

However, at the end of the report, the eunuch's last words made Cao Cao's heart skip a beat.

"Finally, Your Majesty personally bestowed the imperial belt on Dong Cheng as a token of his favor, and Dong Cheng accepted the gift and left."

Grant an imperial belt?
Upon hearing this, Cao Cao suddenly felt a headache and his old illness came back again.

The headache made him gasp, but he still forced himself to think. The more he thought, the more suspicious he became.

Now, he could no longer sit still and simply went straight to the palace.

Not long after, he blocked Dong Cheng's way before Dong Cheng left the palace.

As an old official, Dong Cheng was still able to keep his composure. After seeing Cao Cao, he smiled and said to Cao Cao, "Are you going to see His Majesty?"

Cao Cao looked Dong Cheng up and down and immediately noticed the imperial belt in Dong Cheng's hand, which made his eyes narrow slightly.

However, he couldn't ask to check so bluntly, so he looked at Dong Cheng's expression.

But Dong Cheng looked calm and peaceful, and didn't think it was strange at all.

"This item looks like your majesty's belt. Why is it in your hands?" Cao Cao asked him with a smile while stroking his beard, as if he was just chatting casually.

Dong Cheng looked down at the imperial belt in his hand and said, "It was given by your majesty."

Cao Cao pretended to be surprised and said, "Even I have never had such an honor. It is really enviable that you have been favored by His Majesty."

Dong Cheng nodded without commenting.

Cao Cao said again: "The gift from the Emperor is fascinating, may I have a look?"

Dong Cheng's face looked a little ugly. This request was too much. However, seeing the unyielding look in Cao Cao's eyes, Dong Cheng still managed a smile and said, "Why not? It's up to you, Sikong."

Cao Cao calmly took the imperial belt, looked at it left and right, and did not find anything wrong with it, so he gradually felt relieved.

In that case, he did not waste any more words. He just smiled and congratulated Dong Cheng, returned the imperial belt to Dong Cheng, and then led the crowd to say goodbye, leaving Dong Cheng behind with an embarrassed and angry look on his face.

However, just after Cao Cao and his men had completely walked away, Dong Cheng suddenly began to sweat on his forehead and his heart began to beat wildly.

Any anger was just an illusion. In fact, just now, he almost suffocated. Every move of Cao Cao when checking the imperial belt made him very frightened.

Fortunately, Cao Cao did not find any flaws in the end.

Thanks to Your Majesty for doing this very thoughtfully.

Although even Dong Cheng did not know what the story behind the imperial belt was, he knew there must be a story behind it, because when the emperor handed the imperial belt to him, he clearly pressed it heavily in his hand.

The hint couldn't be more obvious; how could a veteran like Dong Cheng not understand it?

In any case, it was fortunate that Cao Cao did not notice any clues. Dong Cheng then hurried back home and after some careful study, he finally found a secret decree in the inner layer of his belt.

"I have heard that among human relations, the first is father and son; among the differences between the high and the low, the most important is the ruler and the minister. Recently, the thief Cao has abused his power and oppressed the ruler and father.
You are a minister of state and my dearest relative. You should remember the difficulties Emperor Gaodi went through in starting his business. You should gather loyal and righteous martyrs, wipe out the treacherous party, and restore the country. This will be a blessing to our ancestors! I cut my finger and shed blood to write this edict to you. Please be careful and don't let me down! Edict of March, the fourth year of Jian'an."

After reading the text of the imperial edict, Dong Cheng took a deep breath and felt that the responsibility in his hands was as heavy as a thousand pounds.

(End of this chapter)