Great Han Empire

Chapter 964 Chapter [-]
After the general received the news, he left the city overnight on the grounds of inspecting the defense of Chencang and Dasan Pass.The General is the presiding officer of the case, and only the General knows the details of the previous interrogation. Without him, the case cannot be tried.

The eldest princess was very annoyed, she threw all her anger on Ting Weiqing Zhang Miao, reprimanded him angrily, and ordered him to conclude Yang Yi's case within this month.

Prime Minister Cai Yong, Yushi doctor Liu He and other ministers took the opportunity to play, thinking that the general is busy with military affairs and has no time to try the case.Grand Tutor Yang Biao, Grand Sima Xu Rong and other ministers hurriedly advised them, thinking that this discussion was inappropriate, and the general had already started trial, so it was not appropriate to change people midway.The two sides fought fiercely with each other, and their faces were red.

At this moment, Han Ming, the prefect of Yingchuan, urgently reported to the imperial court that Xiangyang sent a special envoy to discuss peace, whether to allow them to go north to Chang'an.As early as after the Luoyang War ended, the imperial court wrote several times to appease Xiangyang's rebels, and proposed generous conditions for appeasement, but Xiangyang did not respond and ignored them.At this moment, she suddenly heard that Xiangyang sent people to negotiate a peace. The eldest princess was overjoyed and hurriedly ordered Han Ming to accompany the special envoy of Xiangyang to go north.

If Xiangyang intends to be appeased, then Xun Yu cannot be killed, nor can Xin Ping, Xun Chen, Shen Rong and other former Luoyang officials be killed.If they are killed, the rebels in Xiangyang and other places will be full of suspicion and fear to the emperor and the court in Chang'an, which will make them feel the crisis of survival and seriously affect the major affairs of recruiting.

The eldest princess didn't say anything, she returned to Liyang, and discussed with the minister of Zhongshujian about recruiting Xiangyang.If Xiangyang can be appeased, Xuzhou, Jiangdong, and Bashu will be nothing to worry about. This will not only stabilize the world quickly, but also greatly promote the rapid success of ZTE's great cause.The eldest princess decided to go all out to appease Xiangyang as much as possible.

=

At the end of February, the Tingwei Mansion concluded the case of Hongnong Taishou Yang Yi.Although Yang Yi was guilty of many crimes such as deceiving the imperial court and bullying superiors and inferiors, but because his main purpose was to help the victims and he did not fill his own pockets, he was dealt with lightly and dismissed from office.Zongzheng Yang Qi was implicated, Yu Shitai believed that he was guilty of protecting and conniving, and impeached him.Yang Qi was dismissed from the position of Zong Zhengqing and transferred to the post of Taizhong doctor.

Two days later, the eldest princess decreed that Zang Hong be Zong Zhengqing and Ni Heng be the prime minister of the Shaofu.

On the same day, Prime Minister Cai Yong, Yushi doctor Liu He, and Ting Weiqing Zhang Miao rushed to Liyang to meet the eldest princess, and asked the eldest princess for opinions on how to try the cases of Ding Li, Xu Hun and Zhu Wei.Xu Shao is the teacher of the eldest princess, and Master Zhu Xiaolan is the chief history of the eldest princess's mansion. If the case of these three people is to be tried, there will be great resistance in the court, but once they get the support of the eldest princess, things will be very different.

"All three of them have been taken to the capital?" After reading the memorials of the three ministers, the eldest princess asked casually, "Are they all locked up in the prison of Tingwei Mansion now?"

"Yes." Zhang Miao bowed and said, "I think that since Yang Yi's case has been closed, these three cases should not be delayed any longer, and it is better to close the cases as soon as possible, so as to avoid panic among the states and counties. All eyes are fixed on these three cases, if they are delayed for a long time, they may be criticized by others, and it may damage the prestige of the emperor and the court."

The eldest princess pondered for a long time, then shook her head, "Take it easy for now, let's see if Xiangyang has the sincerity to be caressed. If Xiangyang really intends to be caressed, and if he is willing to be caressed soon, then the prestige of the emperor and the court will be greatly improved." It will suddenly increase, and the conflicts in the court will become more intense..." The eldest princess looked serious, and her cold eyes swept over the faces of the three ministers one by one, "Do you understand what I mean?"

Cai Yong, Liu He, and Zhang Miao looked at each other with worried expressions on their faces.

If Xiangyang is appeased, the conflict in the court will not be the open and covert struggle between various powers, but the struggle for military power.The eldest princess wants to join forces with all parties to weaken and regain the military power in the hands of the general.

"Let's put this matter aside for now, and try my best to appease Xiangyang." The eldest princess waved her hand and said without doubt, "When the special envoys from Xiangyang arrive, I will talk to them in person."

=

On February 29, the special envoy of Xiangyang arrived in Guanzhong and went directly to Liyang to meet the emperor and princess.

The eldest princess ordered Da Honglu Yuan Yao to greet him with the gifts of princes, and asked the prime minister Cai Yong, the imperial historian Liu He and other important officials in the court to host a banquet.

The little emperor was very dissatisfied, and yelled at the eldest princess, thinking that this was detrimental to the dignity of the court, "They are rebellious, they are rebellious, I will never treat each other with respect, never, I will kill them... ..."

The eldest princess coaxed and persuaded, but the little emperor just didn't listen, and turned his head to confront the eldest princess.In a fit of rage, the eldest princess locked him in the room and asked him to copy "Spring and Autumn" from beginning to end.Like a crazy little tiger, the little emperor smashed everything in the house to pieces without writing a single word.

The eldest princess was trembling with anger, burst into tears, and scolded the general in front of Prime Minister Cai Yong and other ministers, "Your Majesty has been taught badly by the general. In the past, whatever I asked His Majesty to do, he would do it. Now? Now I said one thing to him, and he contradicted me ten times. I told him to go east, but he went west. He didn't listen to me at all. Since he came back from the battlefield in Luoyang, he has been fighting and killing like a savage all day long. , wielding knives and swords, going out to ride and hunt every now and then, and there is no day when he can sit in the room and read and chant scriptures with peace of mind. How can he look like a big man now? How can he look like a monarch at all?"

This is the emperor's family matter, Cai Yong and others can't say anything, they can only comfort them.

=
The Xiangyang side attached great importance to this peace negotiation, and sent more than a dozen officials, large and small. Wait for the big official, the strength is very strong.

Many ministers in the Chang'an court were friends with them.Han Song is a member of the Han family in Yingchuan, and has been friends with Xun You, Zhong Yao, Chen Qun and others for many years.Xu Shu is a native of Yangzhai, Yingchuan. He was famous for his bravery in his early years.Cai Mao once served as a school lieutenant in the imperial court. Kuai Liang, Pang Yi (son of Pang Degong), and Ma Xuan (from the Ma family in Xiangyang) were all prominent families in Xiangyang, and they all had acquaintances more or less.

The banquet that night was very successful and the atmosphere was very harmonious.

=

On the first day of March, in the afternoon, the two sides held a formal meeting in Yueyang Palace, and the eldest princess came in person.

Xiangyang has come up with a complete peace negotiation plan.This plan accepted the premise of appeasement by the imperial court, respecting the emperor and the imperial court in Chang'an, but under this premise, Xiangyang requested the establishment of a vassal.

After the emperor of Xiangyang was deposed, the deposed emperor of Xiangyang and the Liu clan in the court of Xiangyang demanded that the land should be established as princes, and that they should have their own fief and all the military and political power in the fief.

Cai Mao said that as long as the emperor of Chang'an and the imperial court agree to the peace plan, the world will be unified immediately, the society will restore stability, and the great man will quickly advance along the road of rejuvenation.

=

On the first day of March, at night, the Phoenix Pond is brightly lit.

Xiangyang's peace negotiation plan was completely beyond the expectations of the eldest princess and the ministers of the court. No one expected that the day of unification of the world would come so quickly. A group of ministers headed by Prime Minister Cai Yong and Yushi doctor Liu He were overjoyed. Congratulations to the eldest princess again and again.

Cai Yong and other ministers believed that when Emperor Gaozu conquered the world, he also established a vassal state, which is the fastest and best way to stabilize the world.When the world is stabilized, the national power is strengthened, and the majesty of the emperor and the court has shaken the world, then try to cut down the feudal vassals, gradually seize the power of the vassal states, attack the strength of the vassal states, and realize the rejuvenation of the great Han.

Grand Tutor Yang Biao sat there dozing off without saying a word.Tai Wei Xun You, Tai Chang Xu Shao, and Da Si Nong Li Wei were chartered by the Eldest Princess to participate in tonight's discussion, but the three of them were in low spirits, with forced smiles on their faces, and did not make any comments on the peace negotiation plan.

Grand Sima Xu Rong, Guang Lu Xun Zhang Yan who acted as Taiwei, Zuo Cheqi General Xian Yufu, Wei Wei Lu Bu, Zhijinwu Zhao Yun and other ministers looked solemn, and no one spoke.The five generals remained silent at the same time during the Phoenix Pond discussion, which affected the atmosphere of the Phoenix Pond to a certain extent.

The eldest princess couldn't help asking: "Master Xu, what's your opinion?"

"Establishing a vassal is indeed a quick way to stabilize the world." Xu Rong hesitated for a long time, and said slowly, "But how to establish this 'fan', how big is the fiefdom of the vassal state, how many troops the vassal state retains, and the vassal state has to hand over to the imperial court every year. It will take a long time to negotiate how much tax, etc., to solve these series of issues, so let’s talk about it first. After talking for a while, we will probably know how much sincerity Xiangyang has to be appeased.”

Xu Rong's words were equivalent to pouring cold water on the heads of the elated ministers, and the atmosphere in the Phoenix Pond suddenly became cold.

=

On the third day of March, General Li Hong, who was patrolling Wuguan, received a letter from Grand Sima Xu Rong.

Li Hong was furious, smashed the letter in his hand to the ground, and roared angrily: "Since you forced me to kill someone, don't blame me for being ruthless."

Fu Gan was horrified, and hurriedly picked up the letter and read it carefully.

The matter of establishing a vassal started from the earliest appeasement of Yuan Shao, and it was passed on to the court time and time again. The intention of the rebels is very simple, to split Chang'an.

Li Hong and the people from Beijiang have made great contributions to the great Han's progress. If the imperial court wants to establish a vassal, it must first deal with Li Hong and a large group of people from Beijiang who have made great achievements.Just imagine, if the emperor and the court bestowed a group of rebels as feudal lords, but left aside the distinguished northern Xinjiang people, the consequences would be self-evident.In the past, Li Hong opposed the restoration of the five-class title system, and even opposed the establishment of feudal vassals. After the Great War in the Central Plains, he played the role of emperor, declaring his position righteously and sternly, and completely suppressed the "enfeoffment trend" in Hebei.

Today, when Luoyang was defeated and the situation was precarious, the rebels in Xiangyang raised the weapon of "Lifan" again, but this time their timing was very good, because they were in danger, and Chang'an would definitely believe that Their "sincerity"; secondly, they demanded that the Liu clan be enfeoffed as feudal lords. This did not conflict with Li Hong's vow that he would never agree to the restoration of the fifth-class title system.

However, with a letter from the vassal king, the development of the situation is beyond Li Hongneng's control.

With a letter from the vassal kings, the world will be peaceful, and Li Hong will hand over the military power in his hands, but Li Hong dare not hand it over. He will never believe that these vassal kings will sincerely submit to the emperor anyway.

Li Hong refused to hand over his military power, so the vassal kings had a reason to send troops. They could attack Li Hong under the banner of "eliminating traitors and sycophants, and be on the side of the Qing emperor", just like Yuan Shao and others attacked Dong Zhuo back then, and the world was in chaos.At this time, the ministers in the court will not support Li Hong.The world is at peace, why do you still hold military power?It is precisely because you control the military power and cause chaos in the government that this war that is enough to destroy the country has been triggered.The ministers will join forces to fight against Li Hong, will think of various ways to kill Li Hong, and will do their best to cooperate with the armies of the vassal kings from all over the country to attack Chang'an.

No matter how strong Li Hong's force is, he can't compete with the whole big man.From the day when the imperial court decided to establish a vassal, his fate has been decided, and he will be defeated step by step.

Li Hong's defeat meant the victory of the rebels.As for who the emperor of the great Han is, it doesn't really matter, as long as he is a descendant of Gaozu, anyone can be the emperor.

=

Li Hong was angry.

The memorials and oaths after the Great War in the Central Plains led to today's catastrophe, which was unexpected by Li Hong.If I knew today, I shouldn't have sworn to win the trust of the imperial court.

Ministers such as the eldest princess and Prime Minister Cai Yong accurately grasped this point, and planned to use "Li Fan" to force Li Hong to surrender his military power.Li Hong handed over his military power and left the court. The next step was to cut down the feudal clan.For the imperial court, the difficulty of cutting down the vassal was far less than that of seizing the military power from Li Hong.As long as Li Hong holds the military power, the country will face the threat of life and death, and the eldest princess and the ministers in the court will also be restless.

"General, don't get too excited." Fu Gan sighed and persuaded in a low voice, "If the eldest princess and the court agree to establish a vassal, Xiangyang will be a lion, and the negotiation process will definitely be very difficult, and the negotiation time will definitely be very long. So we still have plenty of time to turn things around."

Li Hong sneered, "We don't have time. Although the Prime Minister offended old friends like Yang Biao, Xun You and Xu Shao because of Sanyong, if there is a chance to pacify the world as soon as possible, they will immediately let go of their suspicions and come together Join forces against me."

"General..." Fu Gan wanted to persuade him again, but Li Hong punched the case table, "Urgently tell Zhang Liao and Jiang Ji to arrest and torture me. The more people implicated, the better."

"Sue Wang Dang again, arrest Zhang Chao, arrest all his subordinates, and interrogate me one by one. Anyone who is involved will be arrested, and no one will be let go."

Fu Gan looked at the roaring Li Hong, his eyes widened in horror.

=

(End of this chapter)