Chapter 21 The Uninvited Guest

In addition, Liu Xiu married Guo Shengtong, and then stabilized Liu Yang. His heart disease has been cured, and he will gather a large army today, planning to send his troops northward, and continue to implement his strategic intention of taking Youzhou first and then attacking Handan.However, the arrival of an unexpected guest forced Liu Xiu to change course. This uninvited guest is Han Hong, the court envoy who arrived belatedly. When Han Hong saw Liu Xiu, he read out the edict and ordered Liu Xiu to attack Handan urgently. As for the imperial court, he sent Shang Shuling Xie Gong to support him, led 30,000 troops, attacked from Hanoi, and met Liu Xiu under the city of Handan.

Liu Xiu received the imperial edict and complained secretly.He had cut off contact with the imperial court for more than three months. When he needed the imperial court the most, the imperial court had not heard from him and left him to fend for himself. There was no charcoal in the snow, but the icing on the cake added to the chaos. This is Liu Xiu's perception of the court at this time. After all, the imperial edict cannot be defied, and disobedience is tantamount to rebellion.Liu Xiu had no choice but to accept the imperial edict, and comforted Han Hong with a gentle face, asking him about his journey.Han Hong replied: "Handan is blocked, so we have to detour to Bingzhou, cross Taihang, pass Jingxing Pass, and then arrive at Miancheng to meet Da Sima." Liu Xiu heard the words, sighed endlessly, ordered a big banquet, and ordered the generals All of them will accompany Han Hong to take the wind and wash away the dust.

During the dinner, Liu Xiu asked about the dynamics of the court, and Han Hongzhi answered everything one by one. It turned out that the imperial court moved the capital from Luoyang to Chang'an as early as February this year.The emperor remained the same as Liu Xuan, with Li Song as the prime minister and Zhao Meng as the great Sima of the right, both in charge of the government.Under the suggestion of Li Song and Zhao Meng, Liu Xuan bestowed all the meritorious officials as kings. The Liu Clan granted titles of kings: Liu Zhi was the King of Dingtao, Liu Qing was the King of Yan, Liu She was the King of the Yuan Clan, Liu Jia was the King of Hanzhong, Liu Ci was the King of Wan, and Liu Xin was the King of Ruyin.

The leaders of the Green Forest Army were crowned kings: Wang Kuang was the king of Muyang, Wang Feng was the king of Yicheng, Zhu Tuan was the king of Jiaodong, Wang Chang was the king of Deng, Chen Mu was the king of Yinping, Zhang Ang, the general of Wei Wei, was the king of Huaiyang, General Jinwu Liao Zhan was King Rang, Shangshu Hu Yin was King Sui, General Shuiheng Cheng Dan was King Xiangyi, General Hussars Zong Li was King Yingyin, and Yin Zun was King Yan. The heroes of Nanyang are crowned kings: Shen Tujian is the king of the Ping family, Li Tong, the general of Zhutian, is the king of Xiping, and Li Yi, the general of Wuwei Zhonglang, is the king of Wuyin.

Among them, Zhu Tuan refused to be crowned king because Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty, had an agreement that "non-Liu family should not be called king".Therefore, a total of nineteen people were named kings. Han Hong stated dryly, speaking calmly.However, Liu Xiu has a keen eye, and can see through the complicated hidden truth behind this list of kings at a glance. Under Liu Xiu's guessing and restoration, the truth is this: Luoyang is the capital well, so why did you move the capital to Chang'an?The so-called relocation of the capital is actually more like a reshuffle of power.At the time of Luoyang, the three major factions in the court (the leader of the Green Forest Army, the Nanyang Heroes, and the Liu Clan) were fighting openly and secretly, and the leader of the Green Forest Army obviously had the upper hand because he controlled the emperor Liu Xuan.It is conceivable that as long as the capital continues to be located in Luoyang, the leader of the Green Forest Army will continue to sit down.

Naturally, the Nanyang heroes were unwilling to accept this, so they advocated moving the capital to Chang'an. The reasons were high-sounding: Chang'an was the former capital of the Han Dynasty for more than two hundred years. Of course, the old capital should be honored, to comfort the ancestors, and to show the world. But under this high-sounding reason, Nanyang Heroes wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of moving the capital to isolate Emperor Liu Xuan from the leader of the Green Forest Army far away, so as to control Emperor Liu Xuan in his own hands.Once you have mastered Emperor Liu Xuan, you have mastered the highest power.

Facts have proved that Nanyang hero's strategy really succeeded.After moving the capital, Emperor Liu Xuan got rid of the control of the leader of the Green Forest Army, but fell into the siege of Nanyang heroes.Li Song and Zhao Meng are the representatives of Nanyang heroes. With the merit of moving the capital, Li Songrong was promoted to prime minister, Zhao Mengrong was promoted to the right chief Sima, and replaced Zhu Yu to control the central power. The cruelty of the power struggle lies in that it is either you die or I die, otherwise there will be no peace.Pushing Zhu Tuan and other leaders of the Green Forest Army out of the power center is only the first step.Next, it is natural to further weaken the power of the leader of the Green Forest Army, and finally achieve the goal of eradicating and then quickly.However, this must be well planned.The leaders of the Green Forest Army all have heavy soldiers in their hands, and they will definitely not do it if they come hard, they can only kill them invisible with soft knives.

As for what kind of soft knife it is, we can see the clue from the fact that Li Song and Zhao Meng suggested that Emperor Liu Xuan be the king. At that time, Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, and his ministers killed the white horse as an alliance: "It is not the Liu family who is king, and the world will fight against it together."It is impossible for Li Song and Zhao Meng not to know this period of history. Now that they know it, why are they willing to risk the disgrace of the world, violate the legacy of Han Gaozu, and encourage Emperor Liu Xuan to make a hero with a different surname king?

Could it be that the two of them want to use the public to benefit their own interests, and take the opportunity to become a king?However, looking at the list of kings, the two are obviously not on the list. Or, the two of them wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to become the king, to confer a special conferment on the heroes of Nanyang, so as to overwhelm the leader of the Green Forest Army in terms of title?One can count the list of kings. There are only three Nanyang heroes who are kings, and they are all from the Li family in Wancheng. There are ten people who are the leaders of the Green Forest Army.It can be seen that this explanation is not reliable.

The only reasonable explanation can only be: Li Song and Zhao Meng not only wanted to keep the leaders of the Green Forest Army away from Chang'an, the capital, but also planned to break them up and send them back to their respective fiefs.Previously, the leaders of the Green Forest Army had all been sealed as marquises. If they were dismissed according to the rank of marquis, it would not be impossible, but after all, I was afraid that there would be a backlash.That being the case, simply take one step at a time, directly seal the king, and then come to dismiss, and the management is guaranteed.Think about it, you have become a king, the highest level of a minister has reached the top, and it is meaningless to continue to toss, because it is impossible for you to get more. Next, you have no dreams at all in life, and you can only retire honorably. When he returned to the feudal country, he claimed to be a widow and a widow, and ended his life by taking advantage of the common people and molesting their daughters.

Liu Xiu then asked Han Hongdao: "Have all the kings returned to the country?" Han Hong didn't understand Liu Xiu's intentions, so he answered truthfully: "Zhu Yu is the Zuo Da Sima, Wan Wang Liu Ci is the former Da Sima, and together with Wuyin King Li Yi, guards the Guandong. Xiping Wang Li Tong guards Jingzhou, and Deng Wang Chang is the Nanyang prefect. Most of the rest of the kings have already entered the country." Liu Xiu smiled slightly.It seems that the leaders of the Green Forest Army really fell for the trick, and they took their newly-appointed princes and went back to their respective kingdoms happily.When it comes to playing tricks, these illiterate leaders of the Green Forest Army are obviously not on the same level as Nanyang heroes. In the same list of kings, what Liu Xiu saw was the strife between factions, but what Liu Xiu's generals saw was injustice—among the nineteen kings, there was no Liu Xiu? The fate of all the generals has been tied to Liu Xiu, one will prosper and one will suffer.Their marquis positions were all conferred by Liu Xiu, without the official approval of the court, and now Liu Xiu has not even been conferred as king, does it mean that he has fallen out of favor in the court?If the imperial court refuses to accept the account and refuses to recognize the Marquis position that Liu Xiu granted them, then their work will be in vain!Thinking of this, all the generals were indignant, half for Liu Xiu, half for themselves.Wang Ba drew his sword even more, and scolded Han Hongdao: "Why is there no Grand Sima Liu Gong when the court confers the king? In terms of clan relatives, outstanding military exploits, Duke Liu should be granted the title!" Han Hong was terrified, waved his hands again and again, and argued: "This matter has nothing to do with me." Liu Xiu stopped Wang Ba, and said, "General Wang, don't be rude. How dare you talk about court affairs!" Toasting Han Hong suppressed Han Hong's shock, and asked about the situation in Chang'an. At the beginning, before the Han army came to Chang'an, the heroes near Chang'an saw that Wang Mang was exhausted, and wanted to speculate for a piece of the pie, so they all attacked Wang Mang under the banner of the Han Dynasty. A group of mobs really made Wang Mang alive died.These heroes are self-respecting for their meritorious service, and everyone is looking forward to being named a marquis. Soon, Shen Tujian led the Han army to arrive and take over Chang'an.Shen Tujian was studying in Chang'an at the beginning, and he was bullied by the heroes of Chang'an.It stands to reason that Shen Tujian is also a well-known hero in Nanyang, but in the eyes of the heroes in Chang'an, he is just a low-level foreigner or a foreigner, so what can he do if he bullies you!Once Shen Tujian was in power, he would naturally express his grievances.First of all, he took Chang'an Godfather Yuan She and cut him with a knife, and hung his head in Chang'an City.He also ordered the arrest of the rest of the Chang'an heroes on charges of treachery, seeking glory, injustice and disloyalty.You so-called Chang'an heroes, when Wang Mang usurped the throne, did any of you have the guts to say a word?Since you didn't resist at that time, it was acquiescing that Wang Mang was your emperor and your master.Now that Wang Mang's downfall is imminent, you realize that the seller can seek glory, and shamelessly counterattacked in an attempt to flatter the Han army.However, it was too late! To be fair, the reason why Shen Tujian wanted to kill the heroes of Chang'an was not only to avenge his own personal revenge, but also to clean up Chang'an and prepare for the imperial court's relocation of the capital.The heroes of Chang'an saw that there was no hope of being a Marquis, and even life-saving became a problem. They fled Chang'an one after another, and gathered troops in the county. Sanfu was in turmoil again.Shen Tujian was furious, and sent troops to attack, but he could not attack for a long time, and the chaos became more and more fierce. After the imperial court moved the capital to Chang'an, under the suggestion of Li Song and others, Liu Xuan announced a general amnesty, and the heroes of Chang'an surrendered again, and Chang'an was finally stabilized initially. All the ups and downs mentioned above came to Han Hong's mouth without mentioning a single word, but he only replied vaguely to Liu Xiu: "Thank you Mr. Liu, the situation in Chang'an is very good. It's not a small good, but a big good. It's a good thing." Liu Xiu saw that Han Hong looked like a spokesman for the imperial court, and knew that he was obviously not telling the truth, but he didn't ask any more questions. He just kept persuading him. It can be said that it has been a long journey and a hard journey. After returning to Chang'an, rewards for meritorious deeds must be a no-brainer." Liu Xiu's seemingly inadvertent polite words aroused Han Hong's angry face in an instant.Han Hong didn't answer, he just poured himself a drink and poured several bottles angrily.Liu Xiu pretended to be startled and said, "Brother Han drinks so fast, but I said something wrong?" Han Hong put down his wine glass, looked at Liu Xiu, and sighed, "Who am I lying to? The situation in Chang'an is not good, but bad." Liu Xiu looked even more surprised, and asked, "Where do you start with this?" Han Hongdao: "'Be raised under the stove, the general of Zhonglang; the stomach of the rotten sheep, the captain of the rider; the head of the rotten sheep, the Marquis of Guannei', have you heard this Chang'an folk song?" Liu Xiu shook her head: "I've never heard of it. What does this ballad mean?" Han Hong sighed: "The ministers of the DPRK are all appointed, cronyism, and indiscriminately conferring titles. Even the cooks at home have followed suit--the one who adds firewood to the stove, you will be a middle-class general; if you can boil the stomach of a sheep, you will be good." For your ability, I will make you a riding captain; it is rare to be able to boil a sheep's head, so I will directly make you a Marquis of Guannei." Liu Xiu said indignantly: "So, Brother Han hasn't been conferred a Marquis yet, so he's not as good as a cook?" Han Hong smiled wryly, lowered his head and drank the wine. Seeing this, Liu Xiu comforted Han Hong and said, "Brother Han, please rest assured that today's son is a wise man, and he won't just let the minister do whatever he wants." Han Hong sneered and said, "Can someone be called a sage? Hmph! Although the Han Dynasty is revived now, someone can be regarded as the founder of a country. Generally speaking, the founder of a country should have some talent, right? However, a certain There are no people, not at all. When a certain person first arrived in Chang'an, he lived in Changle Palace, Shengqian Hall, where the officials and officials were assembled in the court. When a certain person saw the big scene for the first time, he bowed his head and scraped the seats, not daring to look down. Finally, a familiar general came to see him, and someone asked, "How many things have you robbed today?" You see, this is clearly a face of a robber who can't stand on the stage, how can he have the power of a big man?" Liu Xiu said sternly: "You can't speak ill of the emperor casually. Brother Han drank too much, and he can't drink any more." As he spoke, he desperately poured wine for Han Hong. Han Hong became more and more drunk, and wondered, why can't I finish the bottle of wine in my hand?I was puzzled for a moment and couldn't understand it, so I stopped thinking about it and continued to complain, saying: "A certain person took the daughter of Zhao Meng, the right chief Sima, as his wife, and all political affairs were decided by Zhao Meng, while he was drinking and feasting in the harem day and night for fun. The ministers want to talk about things, but they are often drunk and cannot see them. As a last resort, they let the servants pretend to be themselves and sit in the curtain to talk to the ministers. Zhao Meng's father, relying on his daughter, is domineering and domineering. He lives and kills himself. For Meng's indulgence, someone was furious and cut him with his sword. From then on, no one dared to speak ill of Zhao Meng. Another servant accidentally offended Zhao Meng. Zhao Meng ordered someone to kill him. The servant begged for mercy, but Zhao Meng refused to listen and insisted on killing that servant." Han Hongman drank a bottle, and said again: "In Chang'an City, the ruler is no longer the ruler, and the ministers are no longer ministers. The generals who are outside will only punish and reward, and each will be guarded by herdsmen. The states and counties are intertwined, and they don't know what to do. Everyone talks about the world. It's already settled, and I can only say that the military revolution in the world is flourishing." After finishing speaking, he stared at Liu Xiu and said, "Does Da Sima think so?" This question can be true or false, small or big, it is really hard to answer for a while.Fortunately, Liu Xiu didn't have to answer at all. He saw that Han Hong had vomited on the ground. After vomiting, he licked his lips, collapsed on the spot, and fell into a deep sleep.