Chapter 113: Dong Zhuo's Attack
"Third, attract refugees." Tian Ze continued.
In Tian Ze's heart, population always occupies a vital position.
The whole country is in chaos, and as the princes are fighting against Dong Zhuo, all places will inevitably fall into a state of disorder in a short period of time.
Moreover, without the suppression of the Han Dynasty, Tian Ze could gather the people at will. This might be the last chance to recruit refugees in large numbers.
Tian Ze had already communicated with Mi Fang. This time, the Mi family would do their best to help, and after completing this task, they would return to Liaodong. Tian Ze had already arranged a position for him.
After all, his sister is now Tian Ze's legal wife and has a son, so her future is extremely valuable. Mi Fang has long thought about retiring early and living a carefree life as a relative of the emperor.
"Xuan Gao, you are in charge of this matter. Gong Yi and Kun Tao are under your command. Lead 10,000 infantry and 20,000 navy to attract refugees from Ji, Qing, Xu, Yang and other states along the coastline, especially Qingzhou." Tian Ze's eyes revealed firmness and decisiveness.
"Now we don't have to worry about anything. We can act with great fanfare as long as we don't conflict with the local authorities. If necessary, we can just forcibly take the refugees away."
At this point, it was no longer advisable to follow the refugees' own opinions, as it was simply a woman's softness. Tian Ze gave a direct and tough order.
"Yes!" said Zang Ba and other generals.
Then, Tian Ze looked at Xu Rong again.
"Bo Jin, the nine counties of Liaodong are under your command. I will give you an army of 50,000. You must be careful and must not cause any trouble." Tian Ze's tone was full of trust.
"Don't worry, my lord. With my humble servant here, the nine counties of Liaodong will be absolutely safe," Xu Rong said solemnly.
After deploying all the troops, Tian Ze felt a little lost.
It seems that he has a lot of soldiers under his command, but when he actually deploys them, he finds that there is still some shortage.
The only ones who could accompany him to participate in the grand event of the princes' fight against Dong Zhuo were probably Pang De, Dian Wei and Gao Shun.
Tian Ze himself does not plan to send too many troops, just to ensure his own safety.
The first bird to stick its head out gets shot. This time the princes' attack on Dong Zhuo was just a show.
If someone sets up a stage and wants to perform a show, Tian Ze will naturally go to show off his face, but he won't risk his life for it.
After deploying the strategy for sending troops, Tian Ze began to look at the civil officials.
"We are sending troops to three fronts this time, and we have to resettle refugees. The logistics and management pressure is huge, and I will have to work hard on you again. The management of Youzhou, the elimination of the powerful, the implementation of policies, the resettlement of refugees, etc., all need to keep up with the advancement of the troops."
"The battle with the Xianbei and the recruitment of refugees from the Central Plains can be carried out at the same time, and the refugees from the Central Plains can be relocated to the Northeast Plain and the area around the Great Xianbei Mountain to live there."
"We must ensure that all personnel and materials are adequate. We must learn from the lessons of the Yellow Turban Rebellion and never allow ourselves to be underprepared again."
"The number of refugees we recruit this time may be no less than that of the Yellow Turban Rebellion. We must be extremely cautious."
"We understand!" Chen Gong and others bowed their heads and said with a serious expression.
……
Luoyang was covered in mourning.
Liu Hong eventually did not survive the serious illness and passed away.
However, he had not designated a successor before his death. Or rather, the news of his designated successor was concealed by some force.
Emperor Ling had two sons, Liu Bian and Liu Xie.
Liu Bian was older and was the son of Queen He, so he should have inherited the throne.
However, this eldest son was cowardly and lacked talent, and He Jin had now completely turned to the arms of the aristocratic family, which also made Liu Hong very worried.
Therefore, Liu Hong was inclined to make his youngest son Liu Xie, whom he had always loved and was extremely intelligent, as his successor.
In order to ensure that Liu Xie could inherit the throne smoothly, Liu Hong handed over the military power of the Eight Commandants of Xiyuan and Luoyang to the loyal eunuch Jian Shuo, and appointed him as the Marshal, in charge of the generals, and the commander of the Sili Commandant and below. Even the general He Jin was under Jian Shuo's command.
Emperor Lingdi had a good idea, but the actual implementation was not so smooth.
He Jin was of humble origin and had little political wisdom. After being deceived by the aristocratic families, he became a complete shield.
Emperor Lingdi's original idea of supporting the eunuchs and relatives of the emperor to fight against the aristocratic families was turned into an internal fight among the eunuchs and relatives of the emperor, as he encountered He Jin, a fool who was eager to become a member of the aristocratic family.
The noble families secretly gave advice to He Jin behind his back. They nominally supported He Jin, but in fact they hoped that both sides would suffer losses, or even perish together, so that they could dominate the country. After Emperor Lingdi used this trick, He Jin was indeed frightened, but the noble families were not.
In name, Jian Shuo commanded the entire army around Luoyang, but what was the reality?
The Yulin Army was directly under the command of He Jin, the Huben Army was under the command of Yuan Shu, who was then the Huben Lieutenant General. Among the eight lieutenants of Xiyuan were Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Chunyu Qiong, Bao Hong and others. Could these people listen to Jian Shuo?
Even Zhang Wen, the Inspector of the Imperial Capital, who was nominally a eunuch, had secretly been connected with the Yuan family.
Jian Shuo kept the death a secret and planned to lure He Jin into the palace and kill him, but his plan failed because someone informed on him.
Then He Jin won a great victory easily, Liu Bian ascended the throne, Empress Dowager He took charge of the government, Liu Xie was named King of Bohai, Yuan Wei was appointed Taifu and co-recordant of the Secretariat, and Yuan Shao was appointed Inspector of the Capital.
After Jian Shuo was killed, all military power was openly controlled by He Jin, while the political power was shared equally with the Yuan family.
It seemed that everything had been settled, the overall situation was in control, and He Jin had achieved the final victory.
However, the Yuan family has been planning for so long and may not give up so easily.
Yuan Shao, who was He Jin's "confidant", began to sow discord between He Jin and the eunuchs again at this time, and lured He Jin to completely kill Zhang Rang and other eunuchs.
He Jin was fooled again and actually prepared to kill Zhang Rang and others. However, Empress He was sober and stopped this, explaining the pros and cons to He Jin, which temporarily restored his sanity.
However, Yuan Shao provoked the relationship between He Jin and Empress He, and executed first and reported later. He arrested the eunuchs' relatives in various counties in the country in the name of He Jin, forcing He Jin to take action.
He even gave He Jin a bad idea, recruiting brave generals and heroes from all over the country to lead troops to the capital to threaten Empress Dowager He.
He Jin was in a dilemma and had to agree reluctantly.
He summoned Dong Zhuo, the governor of Bingzhou, Tian Ze, the governor of Youzhou, Qiao Mao, the prefect of Dongjun, Ding Yuan, the military commander, and others to Luoyang, and stationed troops around the area to pose a threat.
That's right, He Jin agreed to Tian Ze's request, appointed him as the governor of Youzhou, and let him lead his troops to Luoyang.
In fact, He Jin asked Tian Ze to come not for help. After all, Youzhou was thousands of miles away, and it would be too late to help by the time he arrived in Luoyang.
He Jin's main purpose was to test Tian Ze to see if he was loyal, but he also had the idea of taking away his military power and detaining him in Luoyang.
After all, Tian Ze and Dong Zhuo were both unstable factors. The reason why their appointment requests were allowed before was just to stabilize them.
If they could come to Luoyang, he could use their merits in serving the king as an excuse to promote them in name only and demote them in reality, leaving them in Luoyang to hold nominal positions.
He Jin planned well, but he overestimated himself.
What the aristocratic families wanted to see was that He Jin, Zhang Rang and others would suffer losses on both sides, or even perish together. Naturally, it was impossible for them to allow He Jin to successfully kill the eunuchs and take power alone.
So He Jin died, the eunuchs were all in power, and the aristocratic families won a great victory.
Especially the Yuan family, Yuan Wei served as the Taifu and the Co-recordant of the Shangshu, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu served as the Inspector of the Sili and the General of the Tiger Guards respectively, and all the civil and military power were in their hands.
As long as they spend a few days sorting out and digesting the military power in Luoyang, they can completely control the court.
However, they ignored or underestimated one person.
Dong Zhuo!
As Luoyang was in a power vacuum at this time, Dong Zhuo did not obey the orders of He Jin and the Yuan family and stayed at Sunset Pavilion.
Instead, he received a message secretly conveyed by his younger brother, the Commandant of the Imperial Chariot, Dong Min, and led 3,000 elite cavalry from Xiliang on a tentative march to Xianyang Garden.
Seeing the fire in Luoyang, Dong Zhuo immediately realized that the opportunity had come!
Without receiving any orders, he led his trusted confidant Qu Zhizhi to attack the enemy without any imperial edict, took the opportunity to bring back the emperor and stationed in Luoyang.
Although there were only 3,000 infantry and cavalry, Dong Zhuo cunningly adopted the strategy of sneaking out of the city at night and returning in the daytime with drums and flags. This made all the forces in Luoyang city think that the Western Liang army was constantly advancing into Luoyang, and they did not dare to act rashly for a while.
After intimidating Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu and others, Dong Zhuo took the opportunity to rely on the relationship with his younger brother Dong Min and the good relationship he had established with the Northern Army during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and gathered He Jin's subordinates in Luoyang City, the Northern Army, the Yulin Army and part of the Xiyuan Army before the aristocratic families.
Relying on his experience as the former governor of Bingzhou, as an honest old boss, he instigated Lu Bu to kill his dishonest current boss Ding Yuan and annex the Bingzhou army.
The reputation and prestige accumulated over the years of conquering various places helped Dong Zhuo a lot at this moment.
For a time, the Xiliang Army, Bingzhou Army, and Luoyang Army were almost all controlled by Dong Zhuo. This reckless man from Xiliang, who had always been looked down upon by the aristocratic families, finally showed his fangs and completely took control of the situation.
But just when Dong Zhuo thought the situation was settled, Tian Ze arrived.
(End of this chapter)
