Great Han Empire

Chapter 220
At the invitation of Geng Bi, the governor of Liangzhou, and the consent of Taiwei Zhang Wen, Dong Zhuo led five thousand cavalry to Long County.

Song Dian was bold enough to invite Zhen Ju to discuss, suggesting that Geng Bi, the governor of Liangzhou, temporarily preside over Xiliang's anti-corruption.He said to Zhen Ju: "My lord, you and I are both supervisors. It is not appropriate for any party to preside over this matter. It is better to let Geng Bi handle the matter of Xiliang, and let the people of Xiliang handle the affairs of Xiliang. Whoever we want to release, we will be free." Ask him to come forward to deal with it, and let him do all the things that offend people, so that if something unexpected happens later, we can shirk it completely."

Zhen Ju didn't dare to make up his own mind, and didn't agree, so he wrote to Zhang Wen to consult.Zhang Wen wrote back, saying that there has been no response to Li Zhonglang's recruitment of the rebels, and his life and death are not known at present, so this matter should not be urgent.Hearing what he said, Zhen Ju understood what he said, and immediately let Xian go.

Li Hong suppressed corruption in Xiliang, did not discuss anything with Geng Bi, and did not report to the governor's office afterwards, treating him like air, Geng Bi has always been annoyed.This time, with the support of Taiwei Zhang Wen, Zhongchang Attendant Song Dian and several other adults, he was asked to preside over Xiliang's suppression of corruption, which made him very excited.He is ambitious, and wants to do something that satisfies all parties in the DPRK and China, end Xiliang's anti-corruption as soon as possible, and put Xiliang on the right track.

The first thing he did was release the ball.Cheng Qiu is very good, which is the unanimous evaluation of him by all parties.Although he was detained by Li Hong for a long time and tortured in the camp, he has never confessed anything, including Geng Bi and many of his former governors. Grind your teeth, don't say a word.So Geng Bi and some people are very grateful to him.They knew how to repay their kindness, and on the first day the emperor announced the redemption list, these people paid for Cheng Qiu's life through their relatives and friends in Luoyang.

As soon as Li Hong left, the emperor's amnesty order arrived at Xiliang Governor's Mansion.Captain Xian Yufu, who presides over Zixiushan camp, is very reasonable and responsive, after receiving Geng Bi's letter and the emperor's pardon, he immediately ordered Cheng Qiu to be sent out of the camp.When Cheng Qiu returned to Long County, he was warmly received by many friends.He seemed to have endless money, so the next day he sent someone to Daying Military City with silk to redeem his wives and concubines.In the next few days, Geng Bi went to the camp to pick up people almost every day with the amnesty order.

On this day, school lieutenants Huang Fuhong and Li Su rushed to the camp with the amnesty order.Huangfu Hong has been stationed in Yicheng with his army.After Zhou Shen was ordered to return to Luoyang, Taiwei Zhang Wen temporarily transferred him to the Northern Army to lead the army.This time Zhen Ju wanted the Northern Army to support him, and ordered Huangfu Hong to lead the army from Huaili Camp to Long County.Li Su was ordered by Song Dian to advance Meng Tuo, governor of Liangzhou, and Huangfu Hong was ordered by Zhen Ju to advance the three prefects of Hanyang County.After the two explained their intentions, Xian Yufu immediately asked his men to pick him up.Before it was time for a cup of tea, the big camp was in chaos, and the prisoner camp broke out.

Although the Zixiu Mountain camp is very large, it is still very difficult to accommodate 10 people.Prisoner camps are now larger than soldier camps.Prisoners are held in prison camps.The prisoners didn't pay attention to the release of a few little people a few days ago, but today's release of Meng Tuo and several former prefects immediately attracted the attention of the prisoners.Everyone spread the word to ten, ten to a hundred, and gathered around to watch along the way. The more people gathered, the more people gathered.

The captives in Xiliang were oppressed by these people in the past, and now they saw that they were going to escape the punishment and get away with it, all of them were angry and hated. In the excitement, some people started to curse, and then some people rushed up to fight and kick them .After a while, the scene got a little out of control.Someone shouted: "Kill them to death..." As a result, thousands of people were in chaos in the prisoner camp. Meng Tuo and the three former prefects were beaten to death on the spot by the prisoners who lost their minds. , the corpses were trampled flat by the perplexed captives.After Xian Yufu and Qu Yi heard the news and led the army to the scene to disperse the crowd, he saw several meatloaf sticking to the ground.

With a full face of apology, Xian Yufu and Qu Yi sent off the angry Huangfu Hong and Li Su.

Seeing them walking away, Qu Yi finally couldn't help laughing wildly.With a smile all over his face, Xian Yufu said in a low voice, "Let's be careful these few days, and beware of their revenge."

"Haha..." Qu Yi couldn't stop laughing, and said intermittently, "My lord's idea is bad, you don't spit out the bones when you kill people, haha..."

Xian Yufu said with a smile: "Your Majesty said that money will be collected and people will be killed." After speaking, he couldn't help himself, and he opened his mouth to laugh.

After this happened, although Song Dian and Zhen Ju had the amnesty order in their hands, they did not dare to let Geng Bi send people to Zixiu Mountain camp to pick up people.They know in their hearts that there is something famous here, but they suffer from the lack of evidence to accuse them.Now even if all the captives are killed, no one can be rescued.It's nothing when a person dies, it's settled once and for all, but the amount of money used to redeem people is relatively large, which is too wasteful.They discussed it and decided to wait.As long as Li Hong died in Jincheng, everyone in the Xiushan camp could only be slaughtered by them.

At this time, Cheng Qiu came up with an idea: to provide only [-] military rations for the Zixiu Mountain camp, cut off the food for the captives, force Xian Yufu to punish the rioting captives, and send all the ransomed people to Long County. .Geng Bi was a little scared.This matter was not handled well. Once the [-] captives were extremely hungry and rebelled, things would get out of hand.Cheng Qiu kept inciting him, but finally persuaded Geng Bi.Geng Bi ran to seek advice from Song Dian and Zhen Ju.The two of them had nothing to do with themselves, and they hung up high, saying: "It's up to you, you are the supervisor, you have the final say, and you can do whatever you want."

===

Li Hong was very surprised when he saw Bian Zhang.Although Yang Qiu had already explained Bian Zhang's affairs in detail on the way to accompany Li Hong to Bian Zhang's house, Li Hong still found it difficult to accept.Seeing with his own eyes a famous and prominent figure lying dying in front of his eyes, and seeing life being lost from this strong body, Li Hong felt heavy and was speechless.

Bian Zhang was very happy and in a good mood.He first thanked Li Hong on behalf of the Xiliang rebels, then asked a few friends about their recent situation, and finally talked about the corruption of Xiliang.

"Your Excellency ignores the despicable power of the traitors and sycophants of the dynasty, categorically purges Xiliang's officials, upholds justice, and restores justice to the people of Xiliang. It is admirable."

Li Hong smiled, said a few words humbly, "We have too little evidence, and the corrupt officials are extremely cunning, so up to now, Xiliang's crackdown on corruption has not achieved great results."

Bian Zhang praised: "Your Excellency is too modest. Cheng Qiu, Meng Tuo, and Yang Dang are all giants in Xiliang and Guanzhong. They usually rely on power, domineering, lawless, and do not know how many bad things. We They all thought that this world belonged to them, and no one could control them. Fortunately, God has eyes, and they will be arrested one day if they obey the law. It’s a joy. It’s all thanks to the adults.”

Li Hong shook his hand and said with a smile, "Sir, you've praised me. Although we have arrested a few notoriously corrupt officials, many corrupt officials who are hidden deeper, we were unable to arrest because of lack of evidence or lack of evidence."

"As long as the adults are determined, there should be a way." Bian Zhang said, "No matter how cunning they are, they will inevitably leave a few clues behind."

Li Hong nodded slightly, pondered for a while, and said, "I'm leaving Yunwu soon, I don't know about Mr. Xiliang Su's corruption, do you have any better suggestions?"

Bian Zhang asked in surprise: "Your Excellency and we have reached an agreement so quickly?"

Li Hong nodded, and immediately asked back, "Mister, don't you know?"

Bian Zhang hesitated for a moment, and said, "Didn't your lord arrive yesterday? You..."

Li Hong immediately realized that something was wrong within the rebel army.Bian Zhang, as the leader of the rebel army, knew nothing about the meeting between the two parties last night and Han Sui's request on behalf of the rebel army, which is a bit abnormal.In terms of Bian Zhang's prestige, no one can shake his position as the leader of the rebel army, but in terms of Bian Zhang's current physical condition, it is completely normal for him to be emptied by his subordinates.Can this be used to achieve the purpose of appeasement?Li Hong thought to himself.

The terms Han Sui proposed yesterday were outrageous, and he had no sincerity in negotiating.Li Hong pushed Han Sui to a dead end by threatening to refuse to talk. He thought that Han Sui would give in and continue to invite him to continue the talk. The appearance of changing course seems to be determined not to talk about it.Li Hong was very frustrated.

Of course Li Hong didn't want to return empty-handed.Taiwei Zhang Wenwen, Jingzhao Yin Gaixun and several adults took a lot of risks and exhausted all kinds of thoughts in order for the emperor to agree to appease the rebels. They finally managed to obtain such an edict from the emperor. It's a waste of time, and it really doesn't make sense.What's more, after going back, how to explain to the emperor and Taiwei?The Xiliang rebellion has been delayed for a long time, not to mention time-consuming, but also money and food. In the end, it is the people of Xiliang who suffer. good thing.

Li Hong felt that from the current point of view, the Taiwei and a bunch of bureaucrats were still overconfident and wishful thinking when it came to recruiting the rebels, and of course he was one of them.Although the rebels were beaten badly, they still had territory and the support of the people of Xiliang and the Qianghu outside the country.If we really want to continue fighting, is it really not certain who wins and who loses?Another key question is, if everyone rebels, he is not afraid of killing the nine clans, so what else is he afraid of?The big deal is death.Now that the imperial court is taking the initiative to appease them, it is normal for the rebels to make some unreasonable demands and extract more benefits.

But Han Sui's request was too much, and the conditions for recruiting must comply with the Han law anyway, otherwise, how could His Majesty agree?Li Hong looked at Bian Zhang's expectant and disappointed eyes, and suddenly thought of whether he could put some pressure on Han Sui through Bian Zhang, forcing Han Sui to change the request of the separatist party?
"Sir, last night, I had a formal discussion with Mr. Han and several of your subordinates about the imperial court's appeasement, but your request is really unacceptable to the imperial court." Li Hong thought for a while, and said slowly, " Sir, you said that you are not against the big man, you are not against His Majesty, but against the treacherous and powerful ministers around His Majesty, and the corrupt officials in Xiliang, but judging from the conditions you put forward, there is a big gap with this statement."

Bian Zhang didn't make a sound, just concentrating on his thoughts.

"Sir, rebellion is not your purpose after all, nor is it a means to satisfy your personal desires, but a means to let everyone live a better life. Therefore, this time His Majesty's decree to appease is indeed an opportunity, a It is a chance for everyone to live a good life. What do you think, sir?"

Bian Zhang closed his eyes and fell into deep thought.He didn't speak all the time, and Li Hong couldn't find anything to talk about. After sitting for a while, Li Hong felt bored, then stood up gently, and said respectfully: "Sir, I will leave without disturbing your rest."

Bian Zhang slowly opened his eyes, but still didn't speak, not even a polite word.Li Hong looked at him as if he had been thinking about something, and he seemed in a trance.He guessed that Bian Zhang probably felt uncomfortable when he heard that his subordinates had abandoned him.

"Before leaving, Master Fu entrusted me to bring you a letter." Li Hong took out a roll of red silk from his pocket, carefully placed it in Bian Zhang's hand, bowed and said, "Congratulations, Mr. get well soon."

===

Xu Rong and Zhao Yun greeted Li Hong who came out of the house.

"My lord, what do you say, sir?" Xu Rong's huge hand tightly grasped his black beard, and asked unhurriedly, "Did he keep you?"

Li Hong shook his head, raised his eyes to look at the flowers and trees in the courtyard, and said with a smile: "Mr. Bian is very elegant, there are so many flowers in the house."

Xu Rong looked worried and didn't make a sound.

Zhao Yun asked softly, "My lord, when are we going to leave?"

Li Hong smiled slightly, pointed to the courtyard gate in the distance and said, "We are enjoying the flowers and chatting at the same time. If Mr. Bian doesn't call us when we get to the courtyard gate, we will go back immediately." After speaking, he walked first.

"Zi Lie, what are you worried about?" Li Hong looked at Xu Rong and asked, "It's normal if the negotiation fails. In this way, the two sides will start fighting again, and it should be after October. Counting, we still have to get along together." Three or four months. If the war drags on until next spring, we'll be together even longer."

Xu Rong is happy.

"Lord Captain is worried about the safety of our return journey." Zhao Yun smiled. "Whether the two sides can negotiate is secondary. There are too many people who want to kill you now."

Li Hong waved his hands indifferently, and said, "Everyone has his own destiny, why think so much?"

The three of them were chatting when a servant serving Bian Zhang flew over.

Li Hong looked at the two in surprise, and said, "Mr. Bian is very decisive."

===

"Sir..." Li Hong bowed and saluted, and asked, "Is there something wrong, sir?"

Holding Fu Xie's letter in his hand, Bian Zhang sighed and said, "My lord, don't leave Yunwu for the time being, wait another day. If there is no news tomorrow, I will personally send you across the Yellow River the day after tomorrow."

Li Hong waved his hands again and again, and said with a smile: "Don't dare to do it, don't dare to do it, sir, absolutely not, your body..."

Bian Zhang interrupted Li Hong and said, "My lord, you are a friend of Nan Rong's brother and a bloody man. I admire you, so let me tell the truth. My lord, you have been fooled."

Li Hong was a little puzzled, but when he saw Bian Zhang's serious look, it didn't seem like he was joking, he suddenly became nervous.

Bian Zhang sighed again, and said helplessly: "Actually, for this matter, a letter from Nan Rong is all it takes. Can I still trust him? I'm going to die, and I will die at any time. Why do I keep it?" ?”

He looked at Li Hong and said with a wry smile: "What are you doing here? Can this matter be negotiated when you come? Zilie is the captain of Liangzhou Governor's Mansion, so he can definitely represent you. Then Taiwei Zhang Wen tried his best to ask you to come to Jincheng to comfort him, and Nan Rong also tried his best to encourage you to come to Jincheng to find me, why?"

Li Hong was terrified and remained silent.

Bian Zhang waved the letter in his hand and said, "Nan Rong is a good man who is upright and loyal. He respects you, so naturally he will not kill you, let alone encourage you to come to Jincheng. Now he must be pressured by Shangguan to do this. .Fortunately, he has no conscience and wrote me this letter."

Bian Zhang shook his head in pain, and said: "Your Excellency is just like me back then. He was full of energy and went forward bravely. In the end, he didn't realize what he did wrong until he died."

"In this world, no matter what you do, there are tens of thousands of ways. I was the same as you are now, and I used the most costly method. Although I won a lifetime of fame, I got back a lifetime of pain and regret , what was lost can never be found again.”

Li Hong suddenly thought of the wind and snow, and in an instant, a heart-pounding pain and regret surged into his heart. His heart was sour, and tears wet his eyes involuntarily.Li Hong suddenly felt tired all over, and his legs could hardly support his huge body, so he slowly sat down on the side of the bed.At this moment, he no longer had the heart to listen to Bian Zhang's words, and his whole body and mind seemed to be drowned in the tears of the wind and snow.

"Your Excellency is fighting corruption in Xiliang. He is bold and willing to enmity. Unexpectedly, he has endangered all factions in the court and completely broken the balance of power between the court and the opposition. How can the powerful family who regard themselves as the central beam of the country see the crumbling big man?" There is another wave in the country. Do you know what this wave is? It is not a small matter of your corruption in Xiliang, but another huge force formed because of your corruption in Xiliang."

Li Hong looked up at Bian Zhang suddenly, and asked in surprise, "Power? What power do I have?"

Bian Zhang's face was solemn, and he raised his voice slightly and said: "A fatuous and incompetent emperor, and a minister with a heavy army, if these two forces are combined very skillfully, it will affect the entire court and all the forces above the court. Do you know what it means? My lord, do you know?" Bian Zhang grabbed Sijuan in his hand suddenly, his face was shocked, "The powerful ministers rule the country, before there was the disaster of slaughtering the clan, and later there was the hatred of subjugation. History abounds. yes."

Li Hong stared wide-eyed, pointed to his nose in disbelief and asked, "Me?"

Bian Zhang stared at him fiercely, a smile suddenly appeared on his thin face, he nodded, and said, "Yes, it's you, the second scourge of this dynasty."

"The second one?" Li Hong asked, "And the first one?"

"Huangfu Song." Bian Zhang said, "The one in front is Huangfu Song."

"Brother Yizhen shocked the world after he wiped out the Yellow Turbans. What about you? Although your background, qualifications, and prestige are all incomparable to Brother Yizhen, you are young and have military exploits. Like Brother Yizhen, you have won the honor of today Trust. If you are like Brother Yizhen, very wise, wise enough to stop when you see the opportunity and avoid disaster, you will not be regarded as a thorn in the side and a person who must be killed."

Li Hong asked strangely: "General Huangfu took advantage of the opportunity to avoid disaster? What should I say?"

Bian Zhang smiled and said, "You don't know about this?"

Li Hong suddenly came to his senses and said, "Sir, you mean that General Huangfu was dismissed by His Majesty after being raped and framed? I heard that General Huangfu was dismissed mainly because he and His Majesty were fighting against the rebellion in Xiliang. There have been serious disagreements and disagreements, so..." Li Hong immediately remembered that Fu Xie had told him that Huangfusong, Bianzhang, and Han Sui had been friends for decades, so the dismissal of Huangfusong, Bian Of course Zhang knew the inside story.

"What do you mean, sir, that General Huangfu did this on purpose in order to prove his case and avoid disaster?"

Bian Zhang nodded and said, "That's the truth. Two years ago, after Yizhen wiped out the Yellow Turbans in Jizhou, Yan Zhong, a letter from Anping County in Jizhou, once persuaded Brother Yizhen to raise the flag to rebel. Yan Zhong is also our friend. Now I live in Longxi. Brother Yizhen has been loyal for generations, how could he rebel? But this incident has spread to the court for some reason. The emperor trusted Brother Yizhen very much at that time, and he didn't care about such rumors. But the court was treacherous He was very vigilant with a group of family bureaucrats, and they made trouble for everything big and small. Brother Yizhen’s friends also made insinuations and reminded him to be careful. Although this kind of thing is said to be superficial, but in the future if you are not careful, you will be caught. It was the catastrophe of extermination, so Brother Yizhen immediately took advantage of the opportunity of going to Xiliang to quell the rebellion. The hostility disappeared immediately. His potential harm to the court and others disappeared because of his loss of power, so he and his family clan, disciples and children were soon safe."

Li Hong understood as soon as he heard it.Last year in Youzhou, Governor Liu Yu and Shanggu County Prefect Liu Fan, in order to avoid misfortune, one claimed to be sick and the other was old. Both resigned from office.Unexpectedly, Huangfusong, who is famous all over the world, is also like this.

"But looking at you now, looking at your suppression of corruption in Xiliang, you can see that the concerns of the court ministers are completely correct. People like you really cannot exist."

"The emperor's imperial decree, you rely on heavy troops, and immediately began to eradicate the corruption that has accumulated in Xiliang for decades. You have no family clan, no old students, no powerful officials to rely on, what you have is military merit, is Loyalty is bloody, and as a result, Xiliang's Shen Kui was struck by your thunder and fell apart, which in turn broke the balance of power above the court, forcing all the factions above the court to join forces to counterattack and attack you Attack it."

"What does this mean? It means that today's emperor and a powerful official guarding the border have jointly developed into a huge new force. This power is used in the hands of the emperor. He can fully seize the imperial power and wantonly deprive the court of traitors, relatives and family members. The power of the family; if this power is used by you, you can dominate one side and even directly threaten the safety of the Han Dynasty."

"General Huangfu cautiously avoided this kind of situation; but what about you? You displayed it to the fullest, and brought out its power to the fullest. Everyone knows it."

"If you don't die, they will die in the future."

Li Hong smiled wryly: "How is it possible? I was trying to save myself and those subordinates who followed me. Where would I think of these problems? Who knew that things would develop like this?"

Bian Zhang sighed: "Before the matter is over, who knows which direction the matter will fly in the future? Who of you is not taking a step to see." Then he shook Sijuan in his hand and said: "Nan Rong called I save you? How does he know what I am like now? I don't know what the next step is, just like I don't know that Wen Yue is going back on his word and rejecting the court's appeasement. All I can do is go to Jincheng with you. If you die, I can't live either. For me, it's a relief to fulfill my promise to my friend."

Li Hong lowered his head, and asked tentatively: "What you mean, sir, is that this matter was planned in advance, including Mr. Han's refusal to recruit, all for the purpose of killing me."

Bian Zhang nodded, and said very sadly: "Their design is perfect, the only loophole is Nan Rong. Nan Rong doesn't care about your life or death, but the evidence in my hand. I guess the powerful family has already negotiated with you. The eunuchs compromised. They need this evidence to blackmail the eunuchs in order to gain more benefits in the court."

Li Hong couldn't sit still anymore. He stood up and asked angrily, "Master Fu won't help me either? Show me his letter."

Bian Zhang looked at him sympathetically, and said: "Look. The letter only said that I should believe you and send the evidence to him according to his method. Obviously, this letter was not written by him, although the handwriting It was his, but the content of this letter was not written by him, he was forced."

Li Hong glanced at Fu Xie's letter to Bian Zhang hastily, and asked suspiciously, "How does sir know?"

"When he wrote to me, he always called me Laobian. He never called me by my name, let alone brother. Our two families are distant relatives. Speaking of which, he is still my nephew. How could he call me brother? Whoever wrote this letter must not have known that we were still relatives."

Li Hong laughed and said with relief: "It's okay, it's okay. If Mr. Fu also harms me, I'm really going to die of grief."

Bian Zhang looked at him in surprise, and asked, "Sir, can you still laugh at this time? Although Nan Rong doesn't want you to die, it's a fact that he wants that batch of evidence. It's normal for him to be involuntary because of his low official status."

Li Hong stared at Bian Zhang, and said with admiration: "Sir, just because of such a small mistake as Master Fu calling you a brother, you have introduced so many things, you are simply a god, no wonder you are so famous in Xiliang. Already, take it."

Bian Zhang didn't speak, but shook his hand modestly.

"Sir, can you guess how and where they killed me?" Li Hong asked.

Bian Zhang smiled wryly, shook his head, and said, "Take a step, I have to talk to Wenyue first. I want to know, who persuaded Wenyue to deal with you together? What benefits did that person promise Wenyue? Doing so, too Damaged the reputation of Wenyue."

"I tried my best to persuade him to agree to the court's appeasement. In addition, I will find a way to save your life. As long as you walk into the Zixiu Mountain camp alive, I have worked hard for decades and exchanged hundreds of lives for all kinds of things." Evidence will work, and those who have lost their conscience and harmed the country and the people will be punished."

Bian Zhang suddenly clenched his fists with all his strength, and said through gritted teeth: "You swear, even if I die, I will see them punished, you swear..."

Li Hong saw Bian Zhang's extremely angry and terrified expression, he was horrified, and said loudly: "I swear, I will use their heads to pay homage to your undead, I swear..."

===

Han Sui took the fife in his hand and walked slowly to Bian Zhang's bedside.

"Old side..."

Bian Zhang smiled slightly and asked, "What happened outside just now? Why was it so noisy? Who was blowing the horn?"

Han Sui laughed and said, "Someone killed the leopard."

(End of this chapter)