Great Han Empire

Chapter 211
In the early morning, the Weishui River is quietly immersed in a solemnity, the thin mist floats comfortably and lightly on the clear river water, the crystal rain and dew lie lazily on the green and fluffy grass on both banks, and the soft breeze blows the A faint fragrance quietly spilled into the fresh air.

With his hands behind his back, Dong Zhuo walked slowly on the embankment alone.From time to time, he looked at the cheerfully flowing Weihe River around him, smelled the refreshing fragrance in the air, and listened to the melodious singing of unknown insects.His restless heart suddenly calmed down.

Yesterday, Li Ru, who stayed in the camp in Fufeng Huaili, once again sent someone to swim across the river to deliver a letter to him. Dong Zhuo was very surprised by the news.Li Hong suddenly sent troops to Chang'an and Sanfu to arrest Xiliang's bureaucrats, saying that he would rectify Xiliang's officials and punish corruption.Li Ru told Dong Zhuo in the letter that this must be Taiwei Zhang Wen's idea.Now that the war in Xiliang was about to end, Zhang Wen suddenly launched an attack while everyone was still focusing on the battlefield. The timing was very good, and the corrupt officials in Xiliang were caught off guard.Li Hong's men killed Zuo Chang's family in Chang'an, captured Qingwu in Maoling, and arrested more than 50 people in various places. The momentum of the crackdown on corruption was very fierce.Zhang Wen's intention is too obvious, that is to raise the butcher's knife to kill traitors, there is no room for discussion.

Li Ru advised Dong Zhuo not to count on reinforcements to rescue him, but to find a way to get out of trouble as soon as possible.Now, Zhang Wenwen and Li Hong are all focused on fighting corruption, looking for evidence that the eunuchs corrupted the law in Xiliang, and have no intention of helping Dong Zhuo.Li Zhonglang left only 6000 cavalry for relief, which was useless in the face of an army of [-] Qiang and Hu.A few days ago, Zhou Shen led his troops back to the Pingxiang camp. Zhou Shen himself was seriously injured. The northern army and Xiliang army suffered heavy losses in the early battle. Although Li Zhonglang's infantry was unscathed, Zhang Wen never ordered them to rush. Wangyuan came to the rescue.Zhang Wen seemed to have forgotten Dong Zhuo, Dong Zhuo and his [-] Xiliang soldiers.

Isn't this Zhang Wen's usual style of doing things? Could it be that Zhang Wen also has evidence of his corruption and breaking the law?Dong Zhuo felt uneasy.If the Taiwei's Mansion caught his handle, and Zhang Wen was not sure about lifting his military power, the greatest possibility would be to find a chance for the enemy to defeat him.In this way, I have no strength, and I can only tie my hands.Does Zhang Wen want to catch himself?
Could it be that Zhang Wen is so sure of defeating the eunuchs in the court?

Dong Zhuo sighed silently.

The gang of traitors in the court is indeed nothing.It has been more than ten years since I established a relationship with Cao Jie, the regular servant of the Central Committee. Not only did I give them a lot of property and treasures, but I also worked hand in hand with them and did many things that violated the law and helped them accumulate huge wealth. , although I have enough money to eat, and I have been promoted, but every time I see truckloads of money rushing out of my dock, I still have to curse them viciously.Those people are greedy insatiably, like a bottomless pit, there is no time to be satisfied.

A few years ago, after Cao Jie died and Zhao Zhong took the position of Great Changqiu, the eunuchs headed by Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang became even more unscrupulous. They intensified their search for people's fat and anointing, raped them, and stole the country, almost to the point of madness.Had it not been for the sudden rebellion of the Yellow Turban Ant Thieves, the Great Han Dynasty might have been eaten into an empty shell by this group of eunuchs and their protégés.

"General..."

Dong Zhuo woke up startled by the sound, and turned around to see that it was Li Su and Guo Si.

"General, why didn't you call us when you went out to patrol the camp? It's too dangerous here." Li Su said respectfully.

Dong Zhuo frowned, looked at the clear river below his feet, and remained silent.

"General, last night Li Zhonglang's cavalry harassed the Qianghu camp repeatedly and made a fuss all night." Guo Si laughed, "Now the Qianghu have to guard against Li Zhonglang's cavalry raid at night, and they can't sleep well. They have to guard against our breakthrough during the day, so they don't have time to sleep. If this continues, the enemy will not be able to support us in a few days. General, are we going to break out of the siege?"

Dong Zhuo turned around slowly and shook his head.

Li Su bowed and said: "General, although we have repeatedly reduced rations, there is still no food. The soldiers have been relying on cofferdam fishing for the past few days. Now that reinforcements are delayed, we will not break through. How many people will we be able to support?" sky?"

"General, if we break out of the siege now, we may suffer heavy losses, but we will not destroy the whole army." Guo Si said: "If we wait a few more days and the horses run out of feed, it will be very difficult for us to break out of the siege."

Dong Zhuo closed his mouth tightly, and stood by the river like a hill, looking towards the distance of the Weishui River.

"June Jinglei probably also knew about the news that the rebels were fleeing in Maverick Mountain. He should have thought that if General Zhou's troops came to support him quickly, his troops would be in a situation where they would be attacked from behind. But he was unmoved , We haven’t retreated so far, obviously we don’t have any reinforcements.” Li Su thought for a moment, then stepped forward cautiously, stuck behind Dong Zhuo, and said in a low voice, “June Jinglei knew that we had discarded food and grass during the retreat, so he wanted to Pick a cheap one to trap us to death. This stalemate will be very unfavorable to us. General, should we break out of the siege earlier?"

A trace of resentment flashed across Dong Zhuo's face, and a little murderous look gushed out of his eyes.

Guo Si sneered and said, "Zhang Wen is a villain, and he will take revenge. We failed to help him defeat the rebels last year, and he is here to take revenge on us now. His move is bad enough, and he will kill without blood."

Li Su looked at Dong Zhuo's face and knew that he was angry, so he hurriedly took a step back.

"Brothers are so hungry, they came out to fish so early." Guo Si pointed at the soldiers coming in twos and threes from the direction of Daying, and smiled wryly.

The Xiliang soldiers ran towards the river in a hurry, holding simple fishing tools in their hands, talking loudly.

Dong Zhuo looked up, his expression changed, he suddenly clapped his hands vigorously, and said loudly, "We will withdraw our troops tonight."

Li Su and Guo Bang lifted their expressions, smiled, bowed together and said, "General, let's go back and prepare."

Dong Zhuo smiled and said, "What are you preparing for? There is nothing to prepare for, except the cavalry. Let everyone come to the river to fish."

Li Su and Guo Si were taken aback, not knowing whether Dong Zhuo was joking or telling the truth, they looked at Dong Zhuo blankly.

===

The emperor took Zhang Wen's memorial, looked at it twice, and threw it on the desk.

Zhang Wen suddenly stopped delivering memorials these days.Recently, Zhang Wen has been making two or even three memorials a day, almost frantically begging the emperor for some money to tide over the difficulties.But since Zhang Wen wrote to the emperor that day, telling Li Zhonglang to take action against corruption and search the family assets of corrupt officials in Xiliang, these urgent memorials suddenly disappeared.The emperor was still a little uncomfortable for a while.

In the past few days, the court was noisy every day, and the noisy emperor was in full bloom.

The Zhongchang servants sued the bureaucrats headed by Zhang Wen on the pretext of suppressing corruption in Xiliang, plotting wrongdoing, and endangering the country; It endangered the country and ruined the common people; the relatives and dignitaries headed by General He Jin resolutely stood on the side of the family bureaucracy this time, accusing the eunuch of monopolizing power and disrupting the court.

In order to show his loyalty and to fight back against He Jin's accusation, Zhao Zhong resigned from the post of Chariot General to the emperor, and offered to donate [-] million yuan to the emperor's Wanjintang.The emperor was very happy.

Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang immediately impeached Zhang Wen, Yuan Pang, and Gai Xun, accusing them of arresting Xiliang bureaucrats without the approval of the emperor, and blatantly confiscating the family wealth of the arrested bureaucrats. The whole family of Zuo Chang, the former governor of Liangzhou, was left dead on the street (read qu), which shocked Sanfu.What was even worse was that they attacked Qingwu, King Wuyang's home, with troops and slaughtered more than a thousand innocent people in Wubao.

The emperor was shocked and angry, and immediately prepared to issue an order to punish Zhang Wen and others.Just then, Zhang Wen's memorial arrived.

Dong Zhuo led his troops to break through, and the Qiang and Hu troops withdrew immediately. So far, Xiliang's suppression of the rebellion was basically over.Zhang Wen said in the memorial that if Bian Zhang and Han Sui can be recruited smoothly in a short period of time, the remnants of the rebel forces will no longer exist, and Xiliang will be stable from then on.

The emperor hesitated.Zhang Wenwen and his subordinates had just made great achievements, not only did they not grant rewards, but they also issued decrees to punish them.

At this time, Zhou Wang, the Minister of Central Tibet, came.Zhou Wang is not tall, with a small round face and unattractive appearance, he does not resemble his father at all.He is often summoned by the emperor, because the emperor is very concerned about the increase of his property.Zhou Wang didn't talk much, and after reporting his recent income and expenditure, he immediately took out a black satin brocade box from his pocket.

"Your Majesty, these are all the lands and mansions that Li Zhonglang copied from the corrupt officials' homes in Xiliang. Please have a look at them, Your Majesty."

The Son of Heaven opened the brocade box with a cold expression and looked at the contents inside, he was immediately surprised.

"The people of Xiliang are really rich. In such a poor place, it's incredible to catch a few small officials and get such a big harvest." The emperor said lightly, "Li Zhonglang is very sensible."

Zhou Wang laughed and said, "It is rumored that he is an idiot, but I don't think he looks like one at all."

"It was sent through General Zhou?"

Zhou Wang nodded and said, "My father said that Li Zhonglang is good at fighting and has a good character. He is a talent."

"I think so too." The emperor shook his slender neck, shook his little head, and said with a smile, "He sent so much, it's generous enough."

"It's not that he is generous, but that Xiliang people are too rich." Zhou Wang said, "Could it be that Xiliang people are richer than Jizhou people, Yanzhou people, and Yuzhou people?"

The emperor's face darkened, his small eyes rolled a few times, and he sneered and said, "The skinny man only gave me [-] million yuan to make me happy. They always lie to me, always lie to me. A little Zhonglang general arrested dozens of people. A small official sent me so much, one can imagine how much money they have on them."

The thin man is Zhao Zhong.The emperor was with them since he was a child. He saw that Zhao Zhong was white and fat, and Zhang Rang was tall and thin. He thought it was fun, so he called Zhao Zhong thin and Zhang Rang fat.

Zhou Wang secretly glanced at the emperor, bowed his head and remained silent, feeling happy.

"Zhengxing, the fat man said Zhang Wen, oh no, it was Li Zhonglang who attacked Qingwu and said that Qingwu was the property of King Wuyang. Is there such a thing?"

"No. Qingwu is the property of Lord Zhang Hou." Zhou Wang replied respectfully, "People who don't know the inside story think it belongs to King Wuyang, but it is not."

The emperor's face was ugly. He licked his lips and asked, "What's the inside story?"

Zhou Wang said with a smile: "Back then, King Wuyang owed Zhang Hou a lot of money, but the prince has been procrastinating and unwilling to pay back, and the Hou has no choice. Back then, the Hou wanted to buy Qingwu, but he was afraid of letting others know and suing His Majesty. , so I found King Wuyang and planned to buy it in the name of the prince. The prince owed him a lot of money, so of course he readily agreed, and I heard that he took the opportunity to knock a sum of money from the prince."

The emperor slapped the table angrily, and muttered a few curses.

"It turns out that they are all pretending to be poor." The emperor said angrily, "I thought that if they got some money, they would just build a mansion in Luoyang. I didn't expect him to be able to buy Qingwu, you bastard."

Zhou Wang smiled triumphantly, "Hey..."

"Your Majesty, let Li Zhonglang be in charge of corruption in Xiliang. Li Zhonglang is young, knows how to fight, and is loyal to His Majesty. Although he is a bit idiotic, he is easy to handle now. If he is favored by His Majesty, he will He will definitely be heartbroken and swear allegiance to His Majesty to the death. His Majesty asked Li Zhonglang to squeeze the corrupt officials in Xiliang severely, and completely squeeze out the oil and water. Then this year, His Majesty not only pacified the Yellow Turban and Xiliang, but also won the hearts of the people of the world, especially His majesty's harvest this year..."

The emperor nodded repeatedly.He flipped through the contents of the brocade box again, and said excitedly: "Zhengxing is right. I will issue an order immediately, telling Li Zhonglang to be more ruthless, and arrest all the corrupt officials in Xiliang and squeeze them out." Send me all the money, fields and houses."

Zhou Wang's complexion changed, and he hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, you can't catch too much. If you catch too much, you will be in chaos. Several factions in the court have been involved in the troubled waters of Xiliang..."

The emperor waved his hand vigorously, interrupting Zhou Wang's words.

"What do you know?" The emperor sneered, with the corners of his mouth turned up, with a sarcasm on his face, "What do you know?"

Zhou Wang was startled, and hurriedly knelt down.

"Catch them all, kill them all." The emperor kept waving his hands and said excitedly, "They all lied to me? Well, if they dare to lie to me, I dare to kill them. They are all richer than me, but they wrote a letter to persuade them Admonish me, say that all the land in the world belongs to me, all the people in the world belong to me, and all the money in the world belongs to me. Tell me not to talk about public and private matters, and put all the money in the treasury for everyone to use. This It’s all nonsense. In other words, I want all the bureaucrats in the world to put their money in the treasury. Is it okay? No. Why not, your people, your money, your houses, and your fields are all from me. Yes, why not? Why didn't you take it out, but asked me to take it out. A bunch of bastards..."

The Son of Heaven patted the table vigorously, cursing incessantly: "A bunch of bastards, they should all be killed. Beat ant thieves, beat Xiliang rebels, and the treasury has no money. I ordered the rich and powerful in Guanzhong and Kandong to donate a little, and they donated it." A little bit is not enough for my daily expenses. If you donate again, there will be nothing left. Ask me to borrow from them. At this time, I don’t say that all the money in the world is my money, let alone that all the land in the world belongs to me landed."

"Li Zhonglang killed them in a hurry, and they are going to come to me to intercede. Give money, how much money sells a life, otherwise they will all be killed. Corruption, whose money is it? It is my money. They dare to rob me of my money , How can I not kill them. This time I will use Li Zhonglang's knife to skin these people and see if they still say such bullshit."

(End of this chapter)