After Dong Zhuo's death, Wang Yun began to purge the forces in the court. In his view, anyone who colluded with Dong Zhuo was a threat to the Han court.
They are divided into two categories, one is the court officials, and the other is the Bingzhou soldiers and generals faction.
Regarding the former, Wang Yun adopted the strategy of killing chickens to scare monkeys. After hearing the news of Dong Zhuo's death, Cai Yong only sighed and became the target of establishing his power. Wang Yun was directly imprisoned. Even if many officials advised Wang Yun, it was of no avail.
, and finally Cai Yong died in prison for no apparent reason.
After Cai Yong's death, officials and people all over the world felt unjust and resentment boiled over. Wang Yun only regretted it too late.
As for how Cai Yong died, the reason is unknown. It may be that Wang Yun ordered the killing, or someone may have done it secretly to curry favor with Wang Yun, or someone may have framed Wang Yun as a blame, who knows?
However, the impact of Cai Yong's death was limited to Wang Yun's reputation among the government and the public, and it did not worsen the situation to the point where it was irreversible.
But the second point is very fatal.
Cleanse the Liangzhou soldiers and generals faction.
To be fair, Wang Yun's worries are not unreasonable, because they are the most elite soldiers of the Han court who have been fighting foreigners all year round. If they want to ensure the strength of the Han court, they must be firmly controlled.
Wang Yun and Lu Bu were from Bingzhou themselves, so the loyalty of their Bingzhou soldiers and generals could still be guaranteed. The key lies in the Liangzhou soldiers.
Dong Zhuo controlled the Liangzhou soldiers during his lifetime. After his death, Wang Yun hesitated repeatedly on how to treat his subordinates. Finally, despite Lu Bu's suggestion to pardon the Liangzhou generals, he decided to severely punish the Liangzhou generals and even secretly guarded against Huangfu Song, who was born in Liangzhou.
The most terrible thing is that he was also afraid of Lu Bu, and he refused his proposal to allocate Dong Zhuo's private treasury to Bingliang soldiers and win people's hearts, which made Lu Bu feel dissatisfied and the two of them drifted apart.
You must know that the number of generals in Bingzhou is far less than that of the generals in Liangzhou. The only ones who can support the overall situation are Wang Yun, Lu Bu, Zhang Yang, and Zhang Liao. But now they are suspicious of each other, which is tantamount to destroying the Great Wall.
So Wang Yun made the biggest stupid move in his life. He used the emperor to issue an edict to disband the Liangzhou soldiers, let the Liangzhou generals who were under Dong Zhuo go to Chang'an to plead guilty, and then the Kwantung soldiers integrated the Liangzhou soldiers.
How Wang Yun came up with this idea is unknown, but it undoubtedly triggered all the conflicts.
The Han Dynasty had two major sources of troops, the Bingliang soldiers guarded the outside world, and the Kwantung soldiers controlled the interior. It would have been better if the Kwantung soldiers had strong combat power. However, after a hundred years of management by the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Kwantung soldiers were already fragile, and their combat power could not be compared with that of the Bingliang soldiers.
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In addition, Cai Yong was killed, and the Liangzhou generals were afraid that they would be executed by Wang Yun after arriving in Chang'an. Everyone was in danger. Finally, Li Jue and Guo Si were cornered. Under Jia Xu's instigation, they gathered all the Liangzhou soldiers.
, attacked Chang'an directly, but the result was unexpectedly smooth.
The old soldiers from Shu rebelled in the city and opened the gates of Chang'an. The state troops poured into Chang'an. Lu Bu fled and Wang Yun was killed.
As for the emperor Liu Xie who stayed in the city, he was kidnapped again. His condition was far worse than when Dong Zhuo and Wang Yun were there.
Officials who had served under Wang Yun also fled across the country. Kong Rong was sent to Beihai as prime minister because he contradicted Dong Zhuo. He was first defeated by the Yuan family, and then took refuge with Liu Bei and left, returning to the Han Dynasty.
Now he serves as an envoy to welcome Lu Bu. It is also very sad for the two to meet again after so many years.
It is impossible to say that the two of them do not regret in their hearts.
Wang Yun originally had a good chance. He was just a little short of making the world stable again. But now it has slipped into an unpredictable abyss. No one can see the way forward clearly for the uncertain future.
Kong Rong told Lu Bu sincerely: "Although Marquis Wen and Cao Cao were already at loggerheads, the Emperor hopes that Marquis Wen can temporarily put aside his prejudices and jointly defend against foreign enemies."
"If there are Li Jue and Guo Si spying outside the emperor, and there are Baibo thieves inside who are trying to gain power, we should at least put them down first and return the government to the emperor, then we can sit down and talk."
When Lu Bu heard this, his eyes widened and he said angrily: "Why are you asking me to fight Li Jue and Guo Si, who are difficult to fight, while Cao Cao is allowed to fight the Bai Bo bandits who are easy to fight?"
"Are you trying to bully me into fooling me?"
Kong Rong was helpless, "I also know this is unfair. Besides, in Rong's view, Cao Cao is far less reliable than Marquis Wen."
"But the ministers in the court are now biased towards Cao Cao. This was caused by Wang Situ back then, and now only Marquis Wen can bear it."
The interpersonal relationships among officials in the Han Dynasty were very complicated. If you do one thing, you may make friends with one group of people and offend another group of people at the same time.
Although Wang Yun won over a group of people from Kong Rong and Lu Bu, after he came to power, he offended too many people. As a result, Lu Bu, who was not of high origin, was not liked by all the officials.
Moreover, Cao Cao also had the connections accumulated by his grandfather Cao Teng. In comparison, Lu Bu seemed particularly isolated and helpless.
Lu Bu still wanted to speak, but at this time Zhao Yun spoke up, "Young master ordered us to cooperate with Marquis Wen. Yun is willing to be the pioneer and bring an army of horses to meet Li Jue and Guo Si!"
Lu Bu had never seen Zhao Yun's martial arts, so he shook his head and said, "No, Li Jue and Guo Si's martial arts are extraordinary, so you may not be able to get a good deal."
Jushu said: "It doesn't matter. General Zilong knows how to advance and retreat. We can let him lead his troops to camp in the west of Anyi City to resist Li Jue and Guo Si."
"First test and fight. If things don't work out, then retreat to the stronghold."
After hearing this, Lu Bu thought for a while and thought that he was not using his own soldiers anyway. If the Youzhou soldiers were willing to take the lead, just let them go. He couldn't ask for more.
He immediately nodded in agreement, but heard Ju Shuo say: "I want to write a letter with Marquis Wen."
Lu Bu asked: "To whom?"
Jushou replied: "Give it to Duan Xuan who has returned to Huayin."
"This man is loyal to the Han Dynasty. Marquis Wen has an old relationship with him. My nephew Jujun who was killed is also on good terms with him."
"If Marquis Wen and Xu can persuade him to copy Li Jue and Guo Si's retreat, great things can happen."
Lu Bu heard this and immediately said: "Yes."
When Kong Rong greeted Lu Bu, Dong Cheng had already arrived at Cao Cao's military camp with a secret edict.
As soon as he entered the gate of the camp, he met a fat black boy of eight or nine years old. He was grabbing the maid's clothes and holding on to her clothes. He put his hand in and touched her, making the maid extremely embarrassed.
Seeing Dong Cheng looking at him, the fat black boy retracted his hand angrily and shouted: "What are you looking at!" After saying that, he walked back to the tent behind him.
Dong Chengxin said: Damn it, where did this bitch come from, so cruel?
When he turned around, he saw a young man with a gentle appearance hurriedly came out to greet Dong Cheng. He said to Dong Cheng: "I, Cao Ang, have been ordered by my father to come to greet the general."
Dong Cheng returned the gift quickly, and the two exchanged a few words before walking in. On the way, Dong Cheng mentioned the child he met at the door and asked casually. Cao Ang looked embarrassed and whispered: "That's my brother-in-law."
Cao Pi."
Dong Cheng was speechless after hearing this and stopped talking.
The two of them walked through dozens of tents and saw the door of the largest tent in front of them was wide open. Dong Cheng looked from a distance and saw Cao Cao sitting upright, with counselors and generals on both sides standing in awe.
At the entrance of the camp, there stood a black iron tower that looked like a big man. He was holding a huge axe. The ax blade was over a foot long and flashed with a sharp cold light. The big man would hold up the huge ax from time to time and glare at the people who passed by.
The fierce light was so threatening that no one dared to stay away.
Cao Ang saw Dong Cheng hesitate when he stepped forward and said hurriedly: "This is my father, Hu Wei Dian Wei. General, don't worry."
Under the glare of Dian Wei, Dong Cheng fearfully followed Cao Ang into the camp. He stayed far away and stopped walking. Instead, he cupped his hands and said, "General Chariot and Cavalry Dong Cheng has come to see the envoy by order of the emperor."
Cao Cao quickly got up and walked quickly to Dong Cheng. He took Dong Cheng's hand and said with tears: "Fuck, the general has been waiting for you!"
Dong Cheng was also in great mourning. He managed to squeeze out some tears and lamented: "Mr. Cao, Gong Cao, Cheng Ke has been waiting for you to come!"
"Now that the emperor has fallen into Xiao Xiao's hands, we urgently need Duke Cao to rescue him!"
Cao Cao raised his sleeves and wiped his tears and said: "Cao Cao heard that the emperor was in danger and traveled all the way in a hurry, staying awake day and night, before he arrived. How is the emperor's situation now?"
Dong Cheng sighed, "Forget it, the emperor is surrounded by jackals!"
"There are Li Jue, Guo Si and others who are watching with eager eyes, chasing and killing all the way. The ministers and ministers are all killed without a plan, and the emperor's personal guards are not alive. The ministers fled eastward in a hurry, and they were lost like beaten dogs!"
"There is Yang Feng, Han Siam, who is seizing power and leading Bai Bo to thief Hu Cai and Li Le. The thief behaves without etiquette, disrespects the emperor's reputation, forces the emperor to appoint officials, and wantonly beats and humiliates ministers. The Han court is disgraced!"
"Now, in accordance with the emperor's command, I invite Duke Cao to enter the city to take charge of the overall situation and welcome the emperor!"
After hearing this, Cao Cao was shocked and said angrily: "The traitor has such disregard for the power of heaven. He really deserves to be killed!"
When all the generals in the tent heard this, they all roared: "Kill!"
The sound was so loud that it startled Dong Cheng, and he quickly whispered: "This matter is of great importance. Let's go to Duke Cao first before entering the city. The Baibo thieves are too powerful to openly confront the enemy. I hope Duke Cao will think twice."
"
Cao Cao sighed: "What the general said is that Cao Cao was hasty."
He sneered in his heart, he could see through Dong Cheng's intentions at a glance.
If you need to keep it secret to please the emperor, then you also need to speak loudly in public, lest no one outside can hear it?
I'm afraid that this guy Dong Cheng's idea is to make himself and the Baibo thieves fall out and fight each other to the death, so that he can reap the benefits, right?
In fact, Cao Cao's guess was indeed correct. Dong Cheng's idea was to drive away the tiger and devour the wolf. After all, his own strength was the first priority. Who doesn't want to be Yi Yin Huo Guang?
For someone like him who has already gone halfway, there is actually no turning back. As long as he shows the slightest hint of timidity, he will be torn apart by the watching wolves around him.
Thinking about this, Dong Cheng concealed his sadness, put on a smiling face, and said: "In that case, why don't Mr. Cao follow me into the city immediately to meet the emperor?"
After hearing this, Cao Cao sighed: "Cao Cao has this intention. I wonder if the Baibo thieves will stop me if I lead my troops?"
Dong Cheng quickly replied: "Cao Jun does not need to worry, I have the emperor's oral instructions, and I will surely be able to open the city gate and enter the city smoothly!"
After hearing this, Cao Cao immediately said: "Well, the whole army will break out of camp and follow me into the city to welcome the emperor!"
The generals of Cao's army filed out, led the entire army, and marched toward Anyi in a mighty manner.
After traveling seven or eight miles to the south gate of Anyi, Cao Jun's vanguard gave a signal and the team stopped.
Cao Ren ordered the spies to check, and then came to the central army and said to Cao Cao: "There is an army of horses in front of the city gate, blocking the road into the city!"