Chapter 111 The Troubled Times Are Coming
A victory report and a letter requesting help were urgently delivered to the emperor.
When Liu Hong saw the news in Tian Ze's battle report that nearly 10,000 people were beheaded and a small number of his 5,000 county soldiers were killed or wounded, he felt quite complicated.
Liu Hong lazily leaned on the dragon chair, frowned slightly, and his eyes revealed deep worry. He said to Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong below: "Do you think Tian Ze can be trusted?"
Now, although he was forced to lift the Party and Faction Ban, he never really gave up the idea of suppressing the gentry.
Over the past two years, he has been secretly allowing the eunuchs to grow in power, hoping that they would fight with the gentry and firmly control the government for him.
However, although many prominent officials from aristocratic families were defeated in this power game, the situation did not improve at all.
In the court, the aristocratic families were still like big trees with tangled roots, firmly controlling all important positions. The situation in the world was becoming increasingly chaotic, like a tangled mess, leaving him with no idea where to start.
Liu Hong is short of people now!
Although Hongdumen School has trained many officials, these people have too shallow a foundation and are mostly good at literature and art. They were all forcibly pushed to high positions by Liu Hong using imperial power, and they are simply unable to compete with the officials from aristocratic families who have been in the officialdom for a long time and are shrewd.
Moreover, these people were only good at idle talk and had no real talent. Because they were also born into local powerful families, but their status and power were relatively low, many of them began to flirt with the aristocratic families and gradually deviated from Liu Hong's expectations.
As for the eunuchs, needless to say, they can help him make money and seize power, but it is impossible for them to control the local area.
He Jin, the relative of Liu Hong who was originally entrusted with important tasks, now began to have evil thoughts and prepared to throw himself into the arms of the aristocratic family.
Liu Hong now feels like a lonely man. After so many years of struggle, he still only has these eunuchs to rely on.
Zhang Rang secretly exchanged a glance with Zhao Zhong, and understood Zhao Zhong's position from his eyes. He bowed slightly and said, "Your Majesty, Tian Ze is from an aristocratic family after all, so we must be on guard against him."
"However, he later fell out with the Tian family, swept away the lawless tyrants in Liaodong, collected a large amount of taxes for the court, and has been guarding Liaodong in an orderly manner. He should be loyal to Your Majesty."
Zhao Zhong continued, his voice sharp and with a hint of flattery.
"He defeated the Wuhuan and helped put down Zhang Jiao's rebellion. Now he has defeated the rebellious Zhang Chun. This shows that he is an excellent leader. If he can be used properly, he may be able to solve many problems for Your Majesty."
"I think this man can be used, but we must also be careful of him."
Having been with Liu Hong for many years, Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong knew the emperor's thoughts best.
Therefore, although there is some bias in the words, it still maintains a certain degree of neutrality.
Liu Hong slowly sat up straight, his dragon robe swaying slightly, and he sighed softly.
"It would be great if he was not from the Tian family. This person cannot enter the court. His talents can be used to govern a region, but I am not sure of his loyalty. Tian Ze has elite troops at the border, and it is not a good idea to allow his power to grow."
Although Tian Ze concealed something, Liu Hong also vaguely realized that the army under Tian Ze's command was quite powerful.
Liu Hong actually admired Tian Ze's ability. He could fight wars and also make money for the court.
Since he took office as the governor of Liaodong, he has governed the local area well. The most rare thing is that the taxes and grain collected are much more than before, which greatly comforts him as he loves money like his life.
Hearing this, Zhao Zhong had an idea: "Your Majesty, why not promote Tian Zeming and demote him secretly, appoint him to an idle position and concurrently serve as the governor of Jizhou, and at the same time secretly deprive him of his military power and hand it over to an important official trusted by Your Majesty?"
"In this way, Tian Ze can relieve your majesty's worries and prevent him from becoming too powerful."
This move was originally prepared by Liu Hong for Dong Zhuo in the future, but unexpectedly it was proposed by Zhao Zhong in advance and used on Tian Ze.
Zhao Zhong is not a fool. Although Tian Ze is close to him, he can still sense some of the little calculations in his mind.
He didn't want Tian Ze to become an unstable factor, so it would be more in his interest to send him to Jizhou, where he was unfamiliar with the place, and let him fight with the local aristocratic families.
The most important thing is that his younger brother Zhao Bao is still in Youzhou! He was General Jianwei at the time. If he were in charge of the Liaodong military power, the power of their Zhao family in Youzhou would be more entrenched.
Liu Hong's eyes flashed with a hint of gloom, but he shook his head calmly: "Then how should the garrison problem in Youzhou be solved? The Xianbei and Wuhuan are not easy to deal with. Moreover, the rebellion of Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju has not been resolved yet."
"This matter still needs to be carefully considered. We must not act rashly to avoid provoking a mutiny. We can wait until the rebellion of Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju is quelled before we discuss it."
Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong responded in unison: "Your Majesty is wise!"
The officials in the court had the same idea after learning about this.
The situation is too chaotic at the moment and has somewhat gone out of their control, so it is not appropriate to create any more trouble.
Because Tian Ze's troops had suffered "heavy losses" and were short of manpower, the emperor did not force him to attack Zhang Chun, but instead ordered him to stay where he was and protect Liaodong. Having hit a snag in Liaodong, Zhang Chun no longer marched northward, but stayed there to wait for the opportunity.
The emperor sent General Meng Yi and General Jianwei Zhao Bao to attack together, but they suffered a great defeat.
Zhang Chun's momentum became even stronger for a while. He took advantage of the situation and marched his troops westward, moving the capital to Yuyang and marching his troops to Ji County, intending to split off from Youzhou.
In March of the following year, Liu Yan proposed to reinstate the governors of the provinces. Due to too many rebellions in various places, the emperor finally agreed.
Liu Yan was appointed governor of Yizhou, the Grand Coachman Huang Wan was appointed governor of Yuzhou, and Liu Yu, the Minister of the Imperial Clan who had served as the governor of Youzhou, was appointed governor of Youzhou.
After Tian Ze heard the news, his expression was extremely complicated, and he sighed and said: "Liu Youzhou is here after all!"
"My lord, are you worried that Liu Youzhou will take away your military power?" Dong Zhao asked.
Tian Ze shook his head: "Liu Youzhou has a kind personality and will not do such a thing. However, his reputation in Youzhou is too high. If we let him stay, I am afraid it will be a great obstacle for us to occupy Youzhou in the future."
"Now that the matter is done, my lord, we should close the door and continue to develop ourselves, and deal with Buyeo and Sushen first. After the rebellion of Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju is quelled, it will not be too late to find a way to get rid of Liu Youzhou." Jia Xu said.
He never doubted whether Liu Yu's arrival could curb the rebellion of Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju.
The reason is simple, the Wuhuan people don't want to fight anymore.
During the past year, the Wuhuan people followed Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju to plunder various counties and gained a huge amount of wealth. They have already begun to think about stopping.
They knew too well the strength of the Han people. They could cause trouble occasionally, but if they really fought to the death, they would be in big trouble if the Han people got serious.
Taking advantage of the arrival of Liu Yu, who treated the Wuhuan well, they would definitely choose to surrender as they had a way out.
However, Tian Ze and Jia Xu did not expect that something unexpected would happen in the court again.
The emperor ordered the Southern Xiongnu to cooperate with Liu Yu in the expedition against Zhang Chun, without learning the lesson from the Wuhuan rebellion. As a result, the Southern Xiongnu also rebelled.
Then a series of major events happened immediately afterwards.
Another rebellion broke out in Yizhou. A group of bandits called themselves the Yellow Turbans, killed the governor, and had tens of thousands of soldiers. They also proclaimed themselves the emperor, but fortunately it was quickly put down.
The seven counties in the Central Plains, which had finally recovered somewhat in the past two years, were hit by floods, and the people were displaced. The Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou and Xuzhou rose again.
Wang Fen, the governor of Jizhou, plotted a rebellion, intending to take advantage of the emperor's northern tour to depose the emperor and establish the Marquis of Hefei. However, the news leaked and he failed.
The battle situation in Liangzhou also made no progress, and the two sides remained in a stalemate.
The emperor realized that the situation was not right, and began to form the Eight Commanders of the Western Garden in the capital just in case.
The situation became increasingly corrupt. Zhang Chun, who had been quiet for a while, felt that the time had come, so he took the opportunity to instigate Qiu Liju to plunder the four states of Qing, Xu, You and Ji.
Zhao Bao led his army to attack again, but was defeated and killed.
The following year, Liu Yu, who had already been appointed as the governor of Youzhou, arrived in Youzhou. As Jia Xu had expected, the court was completely blind.
After Liu Yu arrived alone, he streamlined the troops, showed kindness and generosity, and sent envoys to inform the Wuhuan that the court would treat them leniently and forgive the crimes they had committed. He also offered a reward for the arrest of Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju.
As a result of this operation, without any soldiers being involved, Qiuliju and others immediately came to submit. Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju were deserted by their relatives and friends and had to flee to the outside of the Great Wall. They were eventually killed by their subordinates and their heads were sent to Liu Yu.
The massive rebellion led by Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju was put down so easily and with a whimper.
If it weren't for the imperial court's "help", the rebellion would have been quelled a year earlier.
The emperor immediately promoted Liu Yu to the position of Grand Commandant and conferred him the title of Marquis of Rongqiu.
Tian Ze took the opportunity to instigate Zhao Zhong and suggested to the emperor that Liu Yu be transferred to be the governor of Jizhou, so as to use Jizhou to pacify the north and solve the problem of the Yellow Turban rebels in the Central Plains.
After careful consideration, the emperor agreed and the statue of Liu Yu was finally moved away from Youzhou, which made Tian Ze breathe a sigh of relief.
But at the same time, news came that the emperor was seriously ill, and Tian Ze was both excited and nervous.
The real chaotic world is finally coming!
(End of this chapter)
