Chapter 254: Destroying the Sixth Han Baling
Zhengguang two years, March 1st.
Xi Kangsheng was executed.
Xi Nandang was escorted to the execution ground together with his father, and he cried and bowed to bid farewell to his father.
Xi Kangsheng was still full of vigor and showed no sadness. He said to Xi Nandang: "My father and son died for the country. Why are you crying?"
The officials drove Xi Kangsheng to the execution ground.
It was already dark, and the executioner failed to kill Xi Kangsheng after several attempts at chopping him with the sword. Instead, the sword broke when it hit the ground.
The onlookers were all crying, and the executioner was so frightened by Xi Kangsheng that his hands were shaking. Finally, under the urging of his superiors, he finally executed Xi Kangsheng.
After Xi Kangsheng's death, his son Xi Nandang also went to his death calmly. The people of Luoyang all admired this father and son.
Two days later, March 3rd.
Liu Teng, a close ally of Jiangyang Prince Yuan Yi and the Grand Chamberlain who had held great influence in the inner court since the reign of Emperor Xuanwu, died of illness in the palace.
This eunuch leader who had been powerful all his life and took Xi Kangsheng and his son away before his death finally died.
After receiving the accurate news from the palace, Princess Chenliu, who had recently claimed to be ill, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Liu Teng was a huge rock weighing on everyone's head. No matter what, as long as Liu Teng was there, no one dared to do anything small in the palace.
Now that Liu Teng is finally dead, the matter is finally settled.
The female historian looked at the information in the palace and said:
"Liu Teng's adopted sons fought fiercely for Liu Teng's inheritance, and even caused a bloody incident."
"After Liu Teng died of illness, no one buried his body. Finally, King Jiangyang rushed to the palace and presided over the burial of Liu Teng's body. However, half of the treasures that Liu Teng had prepared for burial were missing."
"In the end, King Jiangyang buried Liu Teng with the remaining treasures. It is said that King Jiangyang buried Liu Teng in a secret place according to Liu Teng's last wishes, and also killed the craftsmen who built Liu Teng's tomb."
Princess Chenliu tapped the table lightly with her fingers and said:
"Liu Teng, this old dog, is still self-aware. He knows that he will not have a good ending after his death. It is good enough that King Jiangyang treats him like this."
"But this alone cannot hide the location of the tomb. If the emperor takes power or the empress dowager regains power, he will definitely open the coffin and mutilate the body."
The lady also nodded and said:
"Your Highness is wise. With Liu Teng's death, King Jiangyang's control over the palace has become even weaker."
Princess Chenliu nodded. When Liu Teng just died, his adopted sons fought for his inheritance. There was no eunuch who could inherit Liu Teng's prestige, and naturally no one could control the inner court as completely as Liu Teng.
The biggest victims in this coup were the Xi family, but the emperor and the empress dowager did not suffer much loss.
In fact, because of Liu Teng's death, the empress dowager and the emperor were freer than ever before.
The lady historian asked:
"But the emperor and the queen mother didn't dare to take the lead in Xi Kangsheng's coup, so how can they deal with King Jiangyang?"
Princess Chenliu smiled and said:
"Once Liu Teng dies, King Jiangyang will surely become even crazier. His monopolization of power has already offended you, my noble family."
The lady said:
"Your Highness, do you mean King Gaoyang?"
Princess Chenliu nodded and said:
"I will be visiting Uncle Gaoyang's residence in the near future. As long as Uncle Gaoyang is willing to stand on the side of the Queen Mother, it is only a matter of time before Yuan Yi is eliminated."
Prince Gaoyang Yuan Yong was the younger brother of Emperor Xiaowen and the number one tool man during the three dynasties of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
During the reign of Emperor Xiaowen, Prince Gaoyang Yuanyong kept his tail between his legs in front of his brother. Emperor Xiaowen once commented on his brother: "I cannot fathom the depth of this child, but judging from his honesty and straightforwardness, he may be a late bloomer."
Translated, this sentence is almost equivalent to pointing at Yuan Yong's nose and saying that he is mentally retarded.
During the reign of Emperor Xuanwu, he was still very close to his uncle who was designated as "mentally retarded" by his father.
During the reign of Emperor Xuanwu, the most important thing was to promote external relatives and close ministers to fight against members of the royal family. A number of capable members of the royal family, including Prince of Pengcheng Yuan Xie, were killed by Emperor Xuanwu. In order to maintain the dignity of "uniting the royal family", Emperor Xuanwu continued to promote Prince of Gaoyang Yuan Yong and gave him the position of head of the royal family.
Later, after Emperor Xuanwu died, Yuan Yong was deposed by the powerful official Yu Zhong. After Yu Zhong's downfall, Empress Dowager Hu invited him to serve as prime minister as a mascot of the royal family.
When Prince Qinghe was in power, he also appointed Yuan Yong as prime minister. In fact, he was only responsible for advising the royal family to be frugal and did not make any useful contributions.
While advising the emperor to be frugal, Gaoyang Prince's Mansion was one of the most luxurious mansions in the whole of Luoyang. Hejian Prince Yuanchen (the one who was cheated by Yuan Shen) competed with Yuan Yong for wealth, but was also overshadowed by Yuan Yong.
King Gaoyang's advice was not very convincing. Every time he went to court, it was just a show, and soon everything was back to normal.
Prince Yuan Yi of Jiangyang was a distant relative of the royal family and lacked legitimacy to rule alone, so he promoted Prince Gaoyang to be prime minister, but in fact did not give him any power.
Princess Chenliu and her father agreed on the ability of her uncle.
But now, among the royal family members, Prince Gaoyang Yuanyong has become the head of the clan and has great influence in the clan.
If Emperor Xiaowen saw that his foolish brother, whom he described as "simple and honest, and perhaps slow in achieving success", had become an important official in charge of the government, he would probably be so angry that he would sit up from his grave.
Princess Chenliu saw it very accurately. The basis of Yuan Yi's rule was the power of the inner court represented by Liu Teng and the power of the royal family and nobles represented by himself.
The power of the inner court had disappeared with the death of Liu Teng. As a distant relative of the royal family, Yuan Yi did not have the influence to convince all the princes.
If we can unite with King Gaoyang, even if King Gaoyang is a fool, we can still defeat Yuan Yi.
This is much safer than relying on Xi Kangsheng to risk launching a coup.
Princess Chenliu then gritted her teeth and said, "Write a letter to that guy! Ask him to send more things to the capital! Last time I almost spent all my money to get an official position for him!"
Xi Kangsheng was executed, and many guards loyal to the royal family were implicated.
Princess Chenliu acted decisively and used her influence to protect them.
This of course cost a lot of money.
These people were arranged by Princess Chenliu to live in Jianyangli, and their daily expenses were a huge one.
Princess Chenliu looked towards the west. The war in Guanzhong was intense, and she didn't know when she would have the chance to leave Luoyang.
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"how's it going?"
Gao Huan's hands were covered in blood, but it was not human blood, but the blood of a ewe that had difficulty giving birth.
The young herdsman said:
"The nutrition during the winter was too poor, and the ewes simply didn't have the strength to give birth to lambs."
Gao Huan looked at the animal shed. In this shed alone, there were ten ewes that had died in childbirth.
This was still possible with the help of the pastoral medicine apprentice left behind by Su Ze.
Gao Huan sighed. This was still his own animal shed, and he had stored some grass before the winter.
In those more remote tribes, countless female animals died in childbirth.
Gao Huan said to the veterinary doctor:
"Slaughter the cattle and sheep that died in childbirth and send them outside the city to the victims."
Gao Huan walked out of the barn with a heavy heart. Disasters on the grassland often come one after another. In the winter, the animals that survived the white disaster would also suffer from malnutrition, dystocia or stillbirths, which would further reduce the size of the herd and lead to a larger scale of famine.
In the face of extreme resource scarcity, the only option for herders to survive is to compete with each other.
This was also the method used by the town commander Yang Jun. The town commander's office no longer accepted arbitration for conflicts between tribes. The farther away from the town, the jungle law of life and death replaced the original weak order. Many people from many tribes, along with their livestock, disappeared quietly.
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Liuzhen, Woyezhen.
The situation in Woye Town is actually better than that in the other five towns.
Because the land in the Hetao area is fertile, Woye Town is named Woye.
However, the white disaster this winter also dealt a huge blow to Woye Town.
The livestock that were lucky enough to survive the white disaster were now faced with the disaster of difficult labor.
Po Liu Han Baling held a wooden stick and helped a mare that was having difficulty giving birth to a foal. The owner of the mare thanked him profusely and gave him some dried meat as a thank you gift.
Po Liu Han Baling refused the gifts from the simple herdsmen, and people in the tribe had already started to starve to death.
Looking at the skinny herdsmen, Po Liu Han Baling looked towards the direction of Woye Town.
The Woye Town is now filled with hay that can be ignited with just a spark.
After leaving the tribe, Po Liu Han Baling's trusted sons gathered around him by the bank of a thawed stream.
Po Liu Han Baling divided the world into twelve regions, and each region sent an envoy to incite war. These envoys were called Qu Shuai in his system.
In addition to his own disciples and confidants, Po Liu Han Baling also did not hesitate to unite other forces that wanted to rebel. For example, Wei Ke Gu near Wuchuan Town was also appointed as the leader of a faction by Po Liu Han Baling, and the list of believers near Wuchuan was handed over to Wei Ke Gu.
"True King, General Kongquequ is already in Jingzhou preparing to raise an army."
Po Liu Han Baling nodded slightly. Last year, he sent Po Liu Han Kongque south to contact Hu Chen's troops in Gaoping County to rebel.
However, unexpectedly, the new Gaoping County Magistrate Yu Jin had just taken control of Hu Chen and his generals as soon as he took office, preventing Gaoping County from rebelling.
Po Liu Han Kongque was also implicated. After he finally left Gaoping County, Mo Zhe and his son in Qinzhou had already killed the governor, rebelled, and proclaimed themselves king.
When the situation was going very well for Mo Zhe and his son, they certainly were unwilling to "join" the True King's business. At that time, they were busy launching their own brand "Qin Wang".
Later, after Mozhe Dati died and Mozhe Niansheng was captured, Mozhe Tiansheng changed his strategy and escorted Po Liu Han Kongque into Jingzhou.
The people of Jingzhou were already filled with resentment over the large number of grottoes and Buddhist temples built when Xi Kangsheng was in office, and the local wealthy families in Jingzhou also complained about their exploitation by the government.
The folk beliefs of the Northern Wei Dynasty were complex. Po Liu Han Baling had long ago sent his disciples to Jingzhou to spread his "New World Theory" and had accumulated many secret believers.
Because of Xi Kangsheng's mess, the post of governor of Jingzhou was vacant, and the person in charge of Jingzhou was Jingzhou Beijia Jin Wei.
Jin Wei was a Xiongnu. His branch also had a great origin. His ancestor was Jin Midi, a famous minister during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty.
Jin Midi was a member of the Xiutu tribe who was defeated by Huo Qubing. After being captured, he became a horse slave of Emperor Wu of Han.
Relying on his loyalty to Emperor Wu of Han and his cautiousness in handling affairs, Jin Midi finally became an important minister entrusted by Emperor Wu of Han, and Huo Guang even married his daughter to Jin Midi's son.
The Jin family has been passed down to this day and has become an important force in Jingzhou.
Po Liu Han Kongque didn't know what method he used, but he went into the Jingzhou Governor's Mansion alone and had a detailed conversation with Jin Wei all night. Finally, Jin Wei agreed to let him rebel against the Northern Wei.
There was not much joy on Po Liu Han Baling's face. Gaoping, Qinzhou and Jingzhou were all just detachments he had deployed.
If we can raise an army, it would be best to tie down the Northern Wei's military forces.
The key still lies in the Six Towns.
Po Liu Han Baling said to his followers and disciples:
"The time has come to build our ideal country, a new world where everyone can find their place and live a peaceful and happy life."
“This is a new world where a wise king sits on the throne, adjudicating all conflicts impartially, resolving and adjudicating all disputes, and allowing everyone to live in peace.”
There was a fanatical light in the believers' eyes.
In their hearts, Po Liu Han Baling is the holy king sent down from heaven!
He was able to understand the suffering of the people and had very noble personal character.
He had no wife or children, and devoted everything to the rebellion.
He had no personal property, and only wore coarse linen clothes. He carried an ordinary wooden stick and traveled through the wilderness of the Six Towns, treating the people and livestock.
Since Po Liu Han Baling attained enlightenment in middle age, he has traveled all over the six towns and cultivated and developed a large number of disciples.
This was also on the historical timeline before Su Ze traveled through time. When Po Liu and Han Baling joined forces, the entire six towns responded quickly.
You should know that the Six Garrisons are not six connected small towns, but six defensive fortresses spanning the entire northern territory of the Northern Wei Dynasty. From the fertile land in the west to Huaihuang in the east, it takes a month to reach them on a fast horse.
At this time, several believers pressed a young man to the front of Po Liu Han Baling.
"True King, this child has escaped from the Artisan Village without permission."
This is a sixteen or seventeen-year-old youth from the Six Towns. He struggled and said:
"True King! I don't want to be a craftsman. I want to fight in the battlefield! Kill that damned town commander to avenge my grandfather!"
Po Liu Han Baling looked at the young man's tender face with a compassionate expression.
The Craftsman Village is where Po Liu Han Baling gathered craftsmen to forge weapons.
These craftsman villages are usually hidden in the mountains and wilderness, making weapons day and night.
Because the business was related to rebellion, the artisan village was guarded very strictly and the artisans were not allowed to enter or leave freely.
Po Liu and Han Baling didn't even need to listen to know that this was a citizen of Liu Town who was persecuted by the town commander.
There are so many people like this, and their stories can be told for days and nights. Po Liu Han Baling touched the young man's head and said:
"My child, everyone has his place, and your place is that of a craftsman, not a warrior."
The craftsman said stubbornly:
"True King! I can swing a hammer! I can also fight in battle and kill the enemy!"
Suddenly, Po Liu Han Baling's wooden stick hit the young craftsman's head, and his brain mixed with blood plasma burst open.
Po Liu Han Baling's followers and disciples were used to it, and the young craftsman fell to the ground and died before he could react.
Po Liu Han Baling leaned on his wooden stick and said:
"The conflicts in this world are caused by desires. Desires come from the desire to escape from the fate that one is supposed to have."
"Artisans should make weapons, warriors should go into battle and kill the enemy, and everyone should be content with their own position. This is the new world I want."
"Bury the child under the iron furnace in the craftsman village, and execute all the warriors guarding the craftsman village."
(End of this chapter)