Great Han Empire

Chapter 624 The Heroes of Troubled Times Like the Abyss
Li Hong was extremely shocked, and for the first time felt the feeling of trembling, walking on thin ice, and facing an abyss.

Sun Jian's death dealt a heavy blow to Yuan Shu.With Liu Biao behind and Yuan Shao in front of Yuan Shu, it was almost impossible for him to securely occupy Jing and Henan states.There is too little time left for Yuan Shu to expand his strength.As the strength of the two ebbs and flows, the time for Yuan Shao to win Luoyang will be greatly advanced.In this way, if Beijiang cannot take Jizhou before Yuan Shao takes Luoyang, Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shao are very likely to attack Hedong.Under the situation of being attacked by the enemy from the front to the back, Beijiang is difficult to look at from head to toe, and failure is inevitable.

Li Hong, Xian Yufu, Li Wei and others discussed countermeasures overnight, and Li Hong went to see the eldest princess early the next morning.

Li Hong's words were astonishing, and he immediately revoked the Jinyang court, sent envoys to Chang'an to present a confession to His Majesty, and negotiated peace with Dong Zhuo.

Li Hong explained that the abolition of the imperial court was an expedient measure for the purpose of negotiating peace with Dong Zhuo, and at the same time, it was to show Yuan Shao and many other state and county officials an attitude that Northern Xinjiang meant to give up respecting the current emperor. In other words, In order to survive, Beijiang is willing to join hands with Yuan Shao and other state and county officials to resonate the country, so that Beijiang may maintain a good relationship with them in the near future and smoothly obtain food from the southern states and counties.

The eldest princess obeyed Li Hongyan.Seeing Li Hong's complexion turned black and haggard, she said with great heartache: "The general is working hard day and night for the affairs of the state, it's too hard, you have to pay attention to your health."

Li Hong forced a smile and said: "As long as Northern Xinjiang can survive the crisis safely and His Highness can see the hope of revitalizing the country, I will have no regrets even if I die."

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The ministers were very surprised by the development of the situation and Li Hong's decision.

The unknown Gongsun Zan was suddenly born in Jizhou, but Sun Jian, the famous Polu general in the past two years, died in a meaningless internal strife.The rise of Gongsun Zan and the fall of Sun Jian directly led to the sudden deterioration of the current situation.The ministers were dumbfounded and had to face the ruthless fact that the country was about to be overthrown. They fell into deep sorrow for the downfall of the great man.No matter how heroic Li Hong, the great general of the hussars, is, he is powerless at this time, and he is alone.

"After Sun Jian died, there was another dispute over the ownership of Yuzhou. Later generals Yuan Shu, Jizhou Mu Yuan Shao, Yangzhou governor Zhou Gan, Chen Guoxiang Xu Yu (chang), Runan prefect Xu Yu and other state and county officials will snatch Yuzhou again." Li Hong. Said, "Although General Longxiang Xu Rong has already rushed south to Yuzhou, but because the troops of the Northern Frontier Army are fighting fiercely with the Northern Army in the Kansai area, the various forces in Yuzhou may not accept Xu Rong's mediation, so we have to talk to Dong Zhuo first. Negotiate peace, first stop the fighting in Kansai, and then we will transfer some troops from Kansai to Luoyang to deter the southern states and counties of Luoyang, forcing all parties to give up the idea of ​​occupying Yuzhou, so as to ensure Yuan Shu's smooth occupation of Yuzhou, and ensure the northern Xinjiang and Yuzhou the relationship between."

"If we want to defeat Gongsun Zan, drive away Yuan Shao, and completely occupy Jizhou, we must obtain food from the southern states and counties." Li Hong looked at the ministers, bowed and said, "This is a battle for the survival of the northern border, and it is also a battle for the great Han society." It is a battle for survival. I beg your lords to put your country first, put aside all arguments and grievances for the time being, and focus on winning this battle with all your heart."

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After a long period of discussion and debate, many ministers including Zhang Wen, Lu Zhi, and Ma Rixun basically agreed with General Hussar's analysis of the current situation and also agreed with General Hussars' suggestion.In order to prevent the northern army from fighting on two fronts, and to buy enough time for the northern army to occupy Jizhou, the eldest princess negotiated a peace with Dong Zhuo on the condition that the Jinyang court be abolished. There was a big difference in strategy, and the parties with different opinions immediately argued fiercely.

The focus of the debate is to occupy Luoyang or give up Luoyang.

A group of ministers represented by Lu Zhi still insisted on their own views. They believed that Luoyang should be firmly occupied and the Central Plains should be ruled based on Luoyang, so as to revitalize the country quickly.It is best if Jizhou can be defeated. If it cannot be defeated, it is also possible to occupy the four counties in the northwest of Jizhou first.

Yang Qi, Wang Han, Li Wei, Zhu Mu, Zhang Fan and other ministers strongly opposed it.Northern Xinjiang's own strength is limited, and it cannot fight on two fronts at the same time, so one must be given up.Occupying Luoyang will be besieged by various forces, while occupying Jizhou, based on the land of Hebei, can connect the entire northern territory into one piece, so that the imperial court can concentrate all the strength of the northern states and counties, and wholeheartedly fight against the forces north of the Yellow River. All rebellion.This is the only correct strategy to revitalize the country.

Those who hold the "Central Plains Strategy" are basically court ministers, while those who hold the "Hebei Strategy" are basically the officials of northern Xinjiang.The debate between the two revitalization strategies is actually a debate between the imperial court and northern Xinjiang, a contest between the power of the court and China and the power of northern Xinjiang.

The discussion continued until the early morning of the next day. Both sides did not want to give in, and the voices of the debate were very loud.

The Huben guards guarding Longshan were very nervous, knowing that something serious happened to the court again.Captain Wei Duan and Ding Yi immediately increased their patrols, and the guards were so energetic that they didn't even dare to blink their eyelids.

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Hussar General Li Hong was uncharacteristically involved in the debate this time.He was very excited and had the loudest voice, often roaring loudly, and his voice could be clearly heard a hundred paces away.

Li Hong patted the table angrily, blushed, and shouted at Lu Zhi, "The main force of the Northern Frontier Army is in Jizhou. If Yuan Shao gathers troops from prefectures and counties to attack Luoyang, we won't be able to defend Luoyang at all. Don't you want Are you satisfied that all the more than 2 soldiers of our northern border army died in Kansai and Kanto?"

Lu Zhi did not show weakness. He stared at Li Hong, waved his hands and said, "Half of the main force of the northern army can go to Luoyang. As long as you are determined to defend Luoyang, how can Luoyang be lost? If Yuan Shao occupies Luoyang, the eldest princess and the court will Why move to Luoyang? Help Yuan Shao dethrone the emperor? Also, if the imperial court is not located in Luoyang and confronts the states and counties across the river, even if there are states and counties that want to respect the imperial court in the future, they will not be able to get in touch with the imperial court. Unable to support and help the court."

Li Wei pointed to the huge map hanging high on the side of the big tent and said: "My lords, please note that Youzhou is now under the control of the Taifu. As long as we take down Jizhou, Northern Xinjiang, Youzhou and Jizhou will be connected." As a whole, the army can advance and retreat freely. Although your lords think that after the imperial court occupies the land of Hebei, it will directly lead to the confrontation between the imperial court and the southern states and counties of the Yellow River, and prolong the time for revitalizing the country indefinitely, but your lords, please think about it , if we occupy Luoyang and face enemies on three sides, can northern Xinjiang survive for a long time? If the northern border is not protected, how can the country be revitalized?"

Zhang Wen immediately refuted it, "Occupying the land of Hebei, isn't it the enemy on three sides?" Zhang Wen took pictures of the map with his big hands, "Dong Zhuo in Guanzhong, Yuan Shao in Luoyang, and the prefectures and counties in Yanzhou, Qingzhou, and Xuzhou , as well as the Yellow Turban Army from Qingzhou and Heishan. If we hadn’t wiped out Gongsun Zan this time and allowed Gongsun Zan to escape back to Youzhou, then there would be an attack from Gongsun Zan from the northeast. This is not just three-sided enemy? This is five-sided enemy , Enemy on all sides. I would like to ask the general, is there so many troops in northern Xinjiang to resist the attack of the five, or even six or seven armies at the same time?"

"And you..." Zhang Wen pointed to Li Wei and said, "You said we can advance and retreat freely, how can we advance and retreat freely? Let me ask you, if we fight Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao will fight Hedong, and at the same time Liu Dai, Gongsun Zan, and even Huang Jin The army is swarming up, how can we enter the pass? Similarly, if we fight any enemy, other enemies will attack us. How can we advance? Where should we advance? And retreat? If all the enemies attack at the same time, should we retreat? Go to the desert to herd sheep?"

Li Hong waved his hands angrily, "It is impossible for such a thing to happen in the future. If everyone came to beat us, then Dong Zhuo would have died long ago, and the world would not be in chaos. The more arrogant you are, the more chaotic the world will be."

"How do you know it won't? It won't happen now, and it won't happen in the future?" Lu Zhi also pointed to the map and said loudly, "If we occupy Luoyang, we will have the risk of geographical advantage. It's easy to defend. If Yuan Shao can't get Luoyang, he will have to fight Gongsun Zan, and the prefecture and county forces will fall into a fierce battle with the Yellow Turban Army. At this time, as long as we firmly grasp Yuan Shu and skillfully use the technique of vertical and horizontal separation, we will be able to maintain the Kanto, The stability of Kansai maintains a strong deterrent to the forces of various states and counties. When the northern border is successful and the crisis is getting smaller and smaller, we can attack Dong Zhuo in the west and take down Chang'an, and go east to the Central Plains to quell the rebellion. In this way, a few years later The country can be shaken."

"Why are you so sure that Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan will not shake hands and make peace? Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu will not reconcile? Dong Zhuo will not take advantage of Guanzhong to attack Luoyang first? The states and counties will not attack Guandong with Yuan Shao's alliance? Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu Li Hong, Liu Biao, and Zhou Qian respect the court’s will?” Li Hong said sharply, “We took Luoyang in April, but until today, the eldest princess and the court are still staying in tents like Longshan. Is this fact true? Can't you make the adults sober?"

"Going to Luoyang is definitely a dead end for us." Li Hong didn't say, but roared, "If we don't occupy Jizhou today, the community will really fall apart. Please weigh the gains and losses carefully, and make an immediate decision." A strategy to revitalize the country."

At this moment, the Eldest Princess said, "When the father died that day, two ministers of Tuogu were appointed. Lord Lu and Lord Ding, you were both serving my father in the Jiade Palace at that time. You should know which two ministers they are?"

Lu Zhi and Ding Gong looked at each other, and already understood what the eldest princess meant.Lu Zhi bowed and replied: "His Royal Highness, one is the former Grand Tutor Yuan Kui, and the other is..." He turned to look at Li Hong, shook his head and smiled bitterly, "The other is the General Zhengbei at that time. The Hussar General Li Hong."

Before his death, the first emperor put Grand Tutor Yuan Kai in charge of state affairs, and at the same time gave two secret decrees to General Li Hong who conquered Peking.The contents of these two secret decrees are now known to the ministers, and the shocking "Han" character actually means Tuogu.It's just that what Li Hong has done so far, in the eyes of the ministers, has no intention of revitalizing the country.Most of the time, the Hushi General first thought of Northern Xinjiang, followed by Dahan Sheji, so the ministers were very dissatisfied with Li Hong, and no one was willing to let him take power.

The eldest princess stood up, bowed respectfully to the adults, and then said word by word: "Father trusts the general, I trust, and the emperor also trusts, so from today onwards, the general will be in charge." State affairs, the great task of revitalizing the great man is entrusted to the great general." Then she suddenly fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face, "For the sake of the great man, and for the common people of the world, I implore all the lords and the great general to work together to resonate the society. "

The eldest princess immediately bowed down.

The ministers were shocked, and they all knelt down to return the salute.Cui Lie thought of the big man in the wind and rain, and couldn't help but feel grief and tears, "Your Highness, even if the ministers are smashed to pieces, we will promise to ensure the prosperity of Han Zuo."

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The tears of the eldest princess and the three prostrations and nine kowtows made Zhang Wen, Lu Zhi and other important officials have to face the reality and give up their own opinions.The "Hebei Strategy" strongly advocated by Li Hong and other officials in northern Xinjiang gained the absolute upper hand, and the "Hebei Strategy" immediately became the imperial court's national revitalization policy.

Li Hong did not shirk the Lord's authority this time.Now that the situation is critical, what he needs most is to take power, so that he can quickly eliminate the differences between the ministers of the court and the officials in the northern border on the strategy of revitalization, integrate forces to the greatest extent, ensure the stability of the court and northern border, and ensure the army of northern border Being able to win Jizhou will ensure that the strategy of revitalization can lay a solid foundation.

The abolition of the court must first consider the majesty of the eldest princess and the court, so Li Hongzuo asked the eldest princess to dismiss more than 30 officials in northern Xinjiang, including Yang Qi, Wang Han, Guo Yun, Wang Ze, and Zhang Baiqi.

Wang Yi, the former governor of Bingzhou, served as the prefect of Hedong, Yu Peng, the former chief of Hushi, served as the prefect of Shangdang, Liu Gong, the former governor of Jizhou, and Liu Zihui served as the prefect of Yanmen County, and Cao Yu, the former deputy of the Taifu, served as the prefect of the acting county. Cao Yushilu, the former householder of Taifu's mansion, served as the prefect of Yunzhong, and Zuo Yan, the former prefect of Yunzhong, was transferred to Juntun to serve as Diannong Zhonglang general.A group of subordinate bureaucrats from Taifu's Mansion and Hushi General's Mansion also went to various places to serve.

After punishing the officials in northern Xinjiang, Li Hong immediately invited the eldest princess to abolish the Jinyang court.The Taifu Mansion in Jinyang was disbanded immediately, and the Jianyushi Mansion was still under the Hushi General's Mansion.

The scale of the Princess's Mansion expanded, and the powers increased. Zhang Wen, Cui Lie, Ma Rixun, Yuan Pang and other ministers from the former Taifu's Mansion came to the Princess's Mansion to take office.

The scale of the Hushi General's Mansion also expanded, and all the thirteen Caos in the original Taifu Mansion were transferred to the Hushi General's Mansion.The thirteen Caos were led by the long history Li Wei, that is to say, Li Wei actually acted as the prime minister of the imperial court.

The Hussar General holds power alone.Everything, big or small, has to go through the Hussar General.

After the affairs of the imperial court were finished, Li Hong immediately ordered that more than 30 people, including Yang Qi, be recruited to serve in the mansion of the General Hushi.

With the absence of the Jinyang court, the system reform will be abolished, but this matter must be dealt with aftermath.Li Hongliang was not guilty, and suggested declaring that Jinwen Confucianism is still an official school, but the study of prophecy should be banned, and the relevant classics of prophecy should be ordered to be seized and destroyed. Those who violated the order should be severely punished.The art of prophecy has been studied by Confucian scholars in both modern and ancient classics, but many famous scholars and Confucians of the two schools have objections to this, thinking that this is absurd.Now that the imperial court has made concessions, Yang Qi and others are not easy to push forward. After all, the majesty of the eldest princess and the imperial court still needs to be maintained, so they reluctantly agreed.The turmoil caused by the restructuring gradually subsided.

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Li Wei, Yang Qi and others wrote a long confession form under Li Hong's order.Li Hong immediately asked the eldest princess, Wang Rou and Fu Gan to bring this confession form to Chang'an to discuss peace with Dong Zhuo immediately.Li Hong said to Wang Rou, please go because you and Situ Wangyun are a family.Now Master Situ is deeply trusted by Dong Zhuo.It would be much easier if Master Situ dealt with this matter.Fu Qian is young, you take him to run around more, to hone and hone.

Before leaving, Wang Rou went to the princess mansion to bid farewell to the princess.The eldest princess wrote a letter from home and asked Wang Rou to forward it to the emperor.Zhang Wenwen, Lu Zhi and others kept Wang Rou behind for a long time to discuss secretly.That afternoon, Wang Rou set off for Chang'an.

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After discussing taxation with Zhao Qi, Li Wei and other ministers, Li Hong immediately discussed raising food with Xian Yufu, Zhu Mu, Yin Si, Yang Hua and others.

Li Hong said that Gongsun Zan occupied the two counties of Bohai and Hejian this month, that is to say, before Yuan Shao could transport the food from these two counties, Gongsun Zan snatched them.The two prefectures of Bohai and Hejian are the most affluent counties in Jizhou, with the most fields and the largest population. Yuan Shao lost these two counties. This year, Jizhou’s tax revenue will definitely decrease a lot, so even if he intends to provide us with food and grass, he is still very happy. It is difficult to meet the needs of our nearly [-] troops. Therefore, this winter, we must purchase a large amount of grain from southern states and counties. At the same time, we must ensure that these grains can be delivered to northern Xinjiang smoothly.

"The money for buying food is directly embezzled from the funds for farming, and you can embezzle as much as you want. There are more people in northern Xinjiang but less land, while Jizhou has more people and more land. So as long as we conquer Jizhou, the crisis in farming in northern Xinjiang will be resolved soon." Li Hong smiled and said, "Now that we have money, we can buy food, but it will snow soon, and the Yellow River will freeze, how can the food be transported? I invite you here just to solve this problem, and it must be solved. "

"We can build floating bridges on the Yellow River." Yang Hua said immediately.

"The Yellow River in the eastern section of the river is very wide and cannot be bridged." Yin Si shook his hand. "Even if we can use the heavy snow to make an ice bridge, it is difficult to ensure that it is strong and easy to use."

"There is a way." Yang Hua said, "We are now taking advantage of the fact that the Yellow River is not completely frozen, and immediately arrange ships to connect the south bank of the Yellow River to the north bank. After the Yellow River is frozen, the bridge will be strong. If the ship and The distance between the boats is too great, and we can put planks between the two boats. The bridge is mainly used to carry food, and it can handle it."

"Is this method okay?" Li Hong asked Yin Sidao.Yin Si pondered for a long time, then nodded.

"Then give the order immediately." Li Hong said, "As long as the military rations can last until May next year, and 10,000+ soldiers have food all the time, we will win this battle."

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(End of this chapter)