Great Han Empire

Chapter 266 The situation changes suddenly
The north wind howled, and it was freezing cold.

On the banks of the Zhangshui River, the Black Panther Yicong and the cavalry soldiers from the Changshui Battalion were crossing the river in an orderly manner.

Army Sima Chen Mingfei got off his horse and saluted Li Hong out of breath.Chen Ming's thick body was wrapped in a black cloak, and he looked very bloated. His face was flushed red from the cold, and a beard on his lips was black, thick and neat.

"Zichan, thank you for your hard work." Li Hong hurriedly helped him up, and said, "Are you all okay, brothers?"

"Everyone is fine." Chen Ming replied respectfully, "I am sorry for your lord's concern. Why did your lord come here today?"

"It has been raining and snowing recently, and the road was muddy and difficult, which delayed the trip for several days." Li Hong said with a smile, "Are you in a hurry? How about what you are asked to do? Is there anything unusual in Jizhou?" ?”

Chen Ming said: "The officer has been carefully scouting Ye City for a period of time, and found several unusual things, which urgently need to be reported to your lord."

"Oh." Li Hong said happily, with a look of joy on his face, "Tell me, what are the things?"

"There is a famous alchemist named Xiang Kai in Pingyuan County. He recently came to Yecheng and set up an altar to give lectures, which attracted a large number of people." Chen Ming said, "He not only gave lectures, but also discussed with a group of scholars from Jizhou. State affairs, it is said that traitors should be eradicated, and the country should be governed by Huang Lao's learning and the "Taiping Jing".

"Are there similar things in other states and counties?" Li Wei interrupted and asked.

"We inquired about it, and there are disciples of Dazhitang preaching the "Taiping Jing" in every prefecture and county, especially Wei County, Bohai County, Hejian State, Changshan State, Zhongshan State and other counties with large populations. Things are very common." Chen Ming said, "Many bureaucrats and wealthy people in Jizhou believe in this Master Xiangkai, and it is said that most of them are still his disciples."

Li Wei smiled and said: "This master Xiangkai is too courageous, the matter of the Taiping Dao is not over yet, and he came out to preach the "Taiping Sutra", I think he is looking for his own death." He looked at Li Hong , continued, "His daring to do this has a lot to do with the connivance of Jizhou bureaucrats. This matter should be investigated carefully."

"Dazhitang?" Li Hong frowned and asked, "What does Dazhitang do?"

"You don't know?" Li Wei asked in surprise.

Li Hong shook his head with a smile, and said, "This is the first time I've heard of it."

"This Dazhitang is similar to the Taiping Dao. There are a group of alchemists in the hall. They are all masters of immortality, that is, the art of immortality. For spells, Master Xiangkai is the leader of Dazhitang." Li Wei explained, "Dazhitang also upholds Mohist theory, and many alchemists in the hall have the chivalrous style of Mohist giants."

"Ranger?" Li Hong asked, "Zhong Yuan, do these Taoist priests have something to do with ranger?"

"Yes." Li Wei said solemnly, "Since the Warring States period, Mohist giants have gradually existed in the world as rangers. Folk people, such as the Zhu family, Guo Xie and others, secretly organized the east, west, north, south, and other ways, which once gave great help to Emperor Gaozu. During the reign of Emperor Guangwu, the treacherous people among these people joined forces with rebels such as red eyebrows and bronze horses. To bring disaster to the country, but the virtuous men among them followed Emperor Guangwu to fight in the north and south, and made great contributions to the rejuvenation of the Han Dynasty. Two years ago, Zhangjiao of Taiping Dao rebelled, and many of these heretics who confuse the public with false rumors participated in it "Confucianism uses literature to disrupt the law, and chivalry uses martial arts to violate the law."

Li Wei pondered for a while, then continued: "If what Cao Cao said is true, then this matter must have something to do with Dazhitang."

Li Hong looked at him, then at Chen Ming, and asked, "Do you want to send someone to watch him?"

"I tried it." Chen Ming said, "Xiang Kai's whereabouts are uncertain, and the martial arts of his disciples are also very strong. It is difficult for us to find out anything."

"Forget it then." Li Hong smiled, "Forgive him for not being able to do anything earth-shattering. Zichan, what else?"

"The [-] new soldiers recruited in Jizhou were all recruited near Yecheng, and it only took half a month." Chen Ming said, "It is said that these people are refugees who ran back from Taihang Mountain. I think it is a bit It was unbelievable, so I went to the military market to inquire about it."

"How is it?" Li Hong asked, "Do you see any problems?"

"I think they are all soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army." Chen Ming whispered, "And they are still elite."

Li Wei Nong frowned and asked, "Why are you so sure?"

"Because I used to be a Yellow Turban Army." Chen Ming smiled, "I can tell at a glance. There is still a big difference between a refugee and a soldier."

Li Hong smiled slightly: "The matter in Jizhou looks very complicated." He waved at Chen Ming and said, "Go on, what else is there?"

Chen Ming said two more things.Recently, more than a dozen wealthy families in Wei County and Bohai County were arrested and imprisoned. All their property was confiscated and confiscated because they secretly helped the Yellow Turban Army in Taihang Mountain.According to Chen Ming's secret investigation, these are all unjust cases.At the beginning, there were people who were planning to go to Beijing to sue, but the people who clamored to sue were killed soon after, and then no one mentioned this matter.

The second is taxation.It takes a lot of money to welcome and arrange for the emperor to return to his hometown to worship the ancestors. Where does the money come from?For this reason, Wang Fen, the governor of Jizhou, convened the prefects and prime ministers of the nine prefectures of Jizhou several times before the Chinese New Year.The people of Jizhou complained a lot.

"Hasn't His Majesty Qian ordered the Shaofu to transfer it?" Li Hong asked Li Wei, "This Wang Fen is very courageous to lie to others."

"My lord, what's so strange about this?" Li Wei said, "It's not easy for Your Majesty to go back to his hometown. This opportunity to make a fortune is once in a thousand years. Who would miss it?"

"I can arrest Wang Fen based on these things." Li Hong sneered.

"We don't have any real evidence, how can we arrest people?" Li Wei smiled wryly, "This kind of thing that takes advantage of the opportunity to make money is not surprising in the Han Dynasty. There is also the unjust, false and wrongly decided case, which is normal. Who said that those people have no background? If they spent money at the beginning The money bought Wang Fen, and now the family is ruined, and the family is ruined?"

Li Hong glared at Li Wei dissatisfied.

"An old and cunning person like Wang Fen must be impeccable when doing things, and it is difficult to catch him. Therefore, we should take our time and push him slowly. If we push him, he will naturally show his feet." Li Wei smiled. Said, "It would never occur to him that we already knew about his tricks."

Li Hong nodded and said to Chen Ming: "Zichan, you should immediately go to the hometown of the emperor of Hejian Kingdom to see the repairs of the ancestral temple and the construction of the temporary palace. If there is any problem, report it immediately. In addition, I will write two letters , you send people to the governor's mansion and Jushen Ju to Julu County, I want to hear what they have to say."

Chen Ming bowed to accept the order and retreated.

"My lord believes Cao Cao's words now?" Li Wei asked.

"If it was true what Cao Cao said, Wang Fen would not go to build the ancestral temple and build the palace with great fanfare, which cost money and effort." Li Hong said, "When Zichan comes back, we will know whether Wang Fen is plotting something wrong."

"Then should we advance to the city or go directly to the barracks?"

"Didn't you say that you want to force him to reveal himself?" Li Hong said with a smile, "Let's go, let's go to the barracks."

====================
Chen Yi hurried into the study of Yecheng government office.

Xiang Kai asked, "Bo Yan, have Li Hong's troops crossed the Zhangshui River?"

"Still crossing the river." Chen Yi said worriedly, "In the past, the emperor would send his cronies to do this kind of thing, and we can easily dismiss it with a little bribe, but this time..." He looked Wang Fen and Xiang Kai sat at the table worriedly, and sighed, "Did the emperor know about our strategy?"

"Bo Yan is too worried." Wang Fen said with a smile.Probably because of overwork, his skin has turned darker, and his face is also covered with a layer of tiredness. "Think about it, if the Son of Heaven knew about our plan, would he still announce the amnesty in Luoyang, and enshrine Wanmin? Would he still insist on accompanying the Queen Mother back to his hometown? He would have sent people to arrest us long ago."

"But Li Hong is patrolling Jizhou with [-] cavalry, so we have to be on our guard." Chen Yi said, "I think it's better for Brother Yuan Shan to go out of the city early to meet Li Hong by the Zhangshui River."

"Is he worthy?" Wang Fen sneered disdainfully, "A barbarian, there is no need to be so polite to him. If he hadn't brought our military funds, I wouldn't even go out of the gate of Yecheng, at most I would go out of the government office to pick him up." It's already giving him a big face."

"Your Excellency is wrong." Xu You said, "Brother Boyan didn't mean that. He was worried that Li Hong would go straight to the military camp if he didn't enter the city. Ten thousand troops, we are very passive."

"What does that matter." Xiang Kai laughed, "If he wants to take over, let him take over."

"He was going to die." Wang Fen said with a smile, "Master and I had to spend a lot of time to save his life for the time being."

Chen Yi and Xu You were taken aback and looked at them puzzled.

"Li Hong's schedule is very tight, and there is no time to stop along the way. Even if he takes over our army, he will leave at most a few officers and hundreds of cavalry. Head of the village, should all the team leaders be replaced by his people? The bitter chieftain is in the barracks, with his prestige, who would betray him?" Wang Fen explained with a smile, "Besides, the enmity between the Yellow Turban Army and Li Hong is as deep as sea. How can the officers and soldiers listen to him? When the bitter chieftain heard that Li Hong was coming, he clamored several times to kill him and avenge Zhang Dashuai. Go and persuade him not to ruin our great event."

Xiang Kai nodded.Chen Yi and Xu You seem to have realized something.Xu You is more than 30 years old, of medium build, with a long face and short beard, a pair of shrewd and wild eyes, and looks quite conceited.He twisted his beard and said with a smile: "Your Excellency has already made arrangements, no wonder you are calm and not in a hurry."

Xiang Kai said to Chen Yi: "Bo Yan, it will be February soon, and there is not much time left for us to make various preparations. You must do the matter of the prince's northward journey immediately, and there is no longer any delay."

"No money." Chen Yi said with a sad face, "I have met with the prince's secret envoy many times. The prince asked us to strictly follow the etiquette of the big man to handle the matter of enthronement. We must not be sloppy at all. There are so many places where money is used. How can there be money to prepare for this? But the emissary of the prince said that if we are not ready, the prince will not be able to leave."

"Yuanshan, can you squeeze some money out?" Xiangkai asked.

Wang Fen shook his head helplessly, and said, "Master, Li Hong is going to Hejian Kingdom soon. The ancestral temple over there has not been repaired yet, and the temporary palace is just an empty shelf. There is no need to rush. This time repairing the ancestral temple and building a temporary The timber and stone materials for the palace were sold to us by Tiao Hou Dong Zhong, not only the price is high, but also the payment must be paid first, so I really don’t have any money now.”

"We recently raised more than one billion yuan, why is there no money to use now?" Xiang Kai said unhappily, "Tell me, what is the money used for?"

"The Dazhitang took some, bribed the traitors and bureaucrats in the capital and used some, the Yellow Turban Army in Taihang Mountain took some, and used a lot to bribe bureaucrats in various counties..." Wang Fen wrung his fingers, slowly Said.

"During the Chinese New Year, you guys also took a lot, right?" Xiang Kai interrupted Wang Fen's words very dissatisfied, and said coldly, "Yuanshan, I heard that you took [-] million yuan by yourself. What do you want? How much money for what?"

Wang Fen said unhurriedly: "For this matter, I invited dozens of friends and disciples. They ran to help me at the risk of being killed by the nine clans. They have deep affection for me. I can't say It’s the Chinese New Year, and there’s still no sign of it. To be a human being, you must be kind and righteous, and you can’t be indifferent, which makes people feel chilling.”

Xiang Kai didn't speak.

Xu You suddenly said: "My lord, the disaster relief money allocated to Youzhou by the imperial court..."

"The [-] million yuan has already been paid to Tiao Hou Dong Zhong." Wang Fen said, "We must transport all the materials to Hejian Kingdom immediately, otherwise, how will this loophole be filled? Li Hong is not a greedy eunuch. , he is a leopard, if he sees a problem, it will be troublesome."

Wang Fen thought for a while, and then said: "Now, the counties in Bohai County are still collecting taxes from below, and the money may not be delivered for a while. The only thing we can count on is the [-] million yuan that Li Hong brought us from Beijing. military money."

Xiangkai was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "Yuanshan, then I'll leave it to you."

He turned to Chen Yi and said, "The king of Hefei must arrive in Jizhou when the emperor leaves Beijing."

Chen Yi nodded and sighed: "Once we hijack the emperor, we can immediately support the King of Hefei as the new emperor. In this way, we have taken advantage of the opportunity, but the world will be in chaos because of this, and people will suffer a lot."

Xiang Kai glanced at him, and said: "Reviving the big man is an earth-shattering event. Although people will bleed to death, it is better to bleed to death every year."

He was silent for a while, and then said: "After we support the new emperor, King Anding will start an uprising in Youzhou, Zhang Yan will lead the army to capture Bingzhou, and Bai Rao, Yu Du and others will send troops to attack Hanoi. , A few months later, the northern states and counties will be in my hands. By that time, the chaos in Luoyang will be over, and the surviving bureaucrats will go out of the city to welcome the new emperor."

"Luoyang chaos?" Xu You was taken aback and asked involuntarily.

"Although He Jin tried his best to keep the eldest prince in Luoyang, but staying in Luoyang does not mean that he can become emperor." Xiang Kai laughed, "Can a dead person still be emperor?"

===================

(End of this chapter)