The end of the first year of Jian'an arrived quietly.
This reign name was when the emperor's convoy arrived at Anyi. Emperor Liu Xie offered sacrifices to heaven and earth and issued an edict to amnesty the world. At the same time, he changed the country's name to Jian'an.
It is said that this is the fourth reign title since Liu Xie ascended the throne. In 189 AD, when Liu Xie was elected to the throne by Dong Zhuo, he used Yonghan, but the following year it was changed to Chuping.
In the fourth year of Chuping (AD 194), it was changed to Xingping, and today, two years later, it was changed to Jian'an.
The people around Liu Xie are also constantly changing, from Dong Zhuo to Wang Yun, from Li Jue and Guo Si to the generals of the Baibo Army, and now to Lu Bu, Dong Cheng, Zhang Yang, Wang Kuang, and even Cao Cao, Yuan Xi and others behind the scenes.
Like a revolving lantern, they appear one after another.
Some of the people who came before have been eliminated by the torrent of history, some have had their ups and downs, and some have emerged, but no one knows who will persevere to the end.
When Liu Xie changed his reign name to Jian'an, he was in a state of constant panic. At that time, Bai Bojun and Dong Cheng were fighting internally, and Li Jue and Guo Si were pressing externally. Liu Xie's original intention of changing the reign name was probably just to change his luck.
.
But what he didn't expect was that his bad luck seemed to have really come to an end.
Lu Bu and the Youzhou army came, Cao Cao came, Li Jue and Guo Si were defeated, the generals of the Baibo army were driven away, and Dong Cheng also restrained himself a lot.
For Liu Xie, it was simply the best thing for Lu Bu, who was closest to him and not very powerful, to take over.
Lu Bu had few followers, and his reputation was also criticized. Most of the nobles did not want to be attached to him, so he could not monopolize power like Dong Zhuo and Wang Yun. This gave Liu Xie a lot of space. In just a few months, the court
Liu Xie cleaned everything up and down.
He was sitting on the Dragon Throne, accepting the worship of the officials below. Congratulatory messages celebrating the New Year and the emperor's well-being flooded the court, and he raised his head slightly.
The main hall above the head was built by Zhang Yang, the prefect of Hanoi, who urgently recruited civilians. It was called Yang'an Hall. Although it was very rough, it finally gave him a spacious place to summon his ministers.
This Yang is also strange. Liu Xie found that apart from liking farming, he was not interested in profit or officialdom, but he liked fame.
When the emperor's chariot arrived in Anyi at the beginning, it was Liu Xie who first led people to greet the emperor and provided him with food and clothing, allowing Liu Xie to overcome his difficulties.
As a result, chaos broke out in Huaicheng. Zhang Yang rushed back to calm the situation in the city, but missed the drama of the four-party struggle in Anyi.
It's hard to say whether it was lucky or unfortunate. After all, the situation at that time was extremely dangerous. He might have stayed in the city and lost his life by accident.
However, Zhang Yang still seemed to be very worried about it afterwards, so after the emperor's car arrived at Huaicheng, Zhang Yang started a lot of construction work and built a hall for Liu Xie to receive officials, and named it after himself, which was considered as fulfilling his wish.
Listening to the congratulations of the officials, Liu Xie felt the beauty of being an emperor for the first time. Now, there are no powerful ministers around him. This feeling... is really great.
But what made him a little worried was that, except for Lu Bu, the two biggest heroes he had fawned over seemed to have disappeared.
One was Yuan Xi, who returned to Yecheng with his imperial edict, and then turned around to attack Montenegro.
I asked him to mediate the Heishan dispute in Jizhou. Is this how he mediated?
However, Liu Xie originally had little hope for Yuan Xi. After all, no matter how stupid he was, he would not betray the Yuan family for himself.
Therefore, Liu Xie had already prepared. After Yuan Xi left, he replaced Wang Kuang, who was sent to Montenegro to mediate, with Zhong Yao.
Facts have proved that Zhong Yao had Cao Cao's back, and he did have a way. He tried every means to give up Yang Feng and brought Zhang Yan back, making her a big help to Liu Xie.
Of course, Liu Xie understood that Zhang Yan should have colluded with Cao Cao a long time ago, otherwise he would not have agreed so happily, but it didn't matter, as long as he found a way to win over Zhang Yan, sooner or later he would make him understand that following Cao Cao was definitely not as good as
Follow your own path.
But if Liu Xie can still control these trends, what happened in Puyang City was somewhat unexpected.
Although Cao Jun let brothers Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao go, they killed all their family members!
This was beyond Liu Xie's expectation. Although Cao Cao later wrote a letter saying that some soldiers had committed the crime without authorization and had beheaded him in public, Liu Xie not only did not believe this, but Kong Rong, who had returned, also testified in court every day that it was Cao Jun.
Under the command of the general.
Kong Rong demanded that Cao Hong and others who took the lead be executed. Zhong Yao and Ding Chong of Cao Cao's faction naturally opposed it. The two sides have been arguing for two months and have not stopped yet.
Of course Liu Xie knew that this matter could no longer be pursued. He also keenly felt that he had been tricked by Cao Cao, even more so than Yuan Xi.
Cao Cao nominally followed the imperial edict and let the Zhang Miao brothers go, but he took advantage of a loophole and killed the two and their families. This was a secret warning to the whole world that anyone who offended the Cao family would never end well, even if the emperor intervened!
This incident really shocked a large number of people, and it seemed to have subdued Liu Xie's momentum. Many ministers in the DPRK who were previously wavering had begun to secretly turn to Cao Cao!
This gave Liu Xie a hint of something bad. Although he was wary of Cao Cao, at first Liu Xie felt that Cao Cao would still rely on him honestly for a period of time.
After all, in his opinion, Cao Cao was controlled by Yuan Shao, and faced the threat of Yuan Shu. Without his support, his status was not established, and his territory was in jeopardy. Who else could help him?
But the incident in Puyang made Liu Xie alert. Cao Cao was not as desperate as he thought, and he was not as important in Cao Cao's mind as he imagined!
Why is Cao Cao so confident?
His brows were furrowed. Neither one of them could be sincere to me, but instead took advantage of me in every possible way. When did the relationship between the monarch and his ministers turn into such a naked exchange of advantages and disadvantages?
After all the ministers finished the ceremony, they saw that Liu Xie was still silent and did not dare to raise their heads. It took Liu Xie a while before he came back to his senses and said to the audience: "Do you have anything to say today?"
All the ministers looked at each other secretly, and one of them immediately came out to pay homage: "I have something to report."
"Gongsun Du of Liaodong established himself as the Marquis of Liaodong and the pastor of Pingzhou."
As soon as these words came out, all the ministers held their breath and concentrated. Sure enough, the man said again: "I heard that Gongsun Du has joined forces with Marquis Anguo Ting, and I don't know what the two sides want!"
Immediately, another person came out and said: "Self-proclaimed the title of new marquis and established a new state. This is unprecedented for the Han Dynasty!"
"This is an illegal act and cannot be tolerated!"
Someone said: "Can't we tolerate it? Do you want to persuade the emperor to submit a petition or send troops to attack?"
The previous minister blushed and retorted: "Why, is the Han system in vain?"
Someone sneered and said: "Gongsun Du did behave badly, but Liaodong is far away in a barren land and is thousands of miles away from Huaicheng. What can be done?"
"We can't send troops. Even if we issue orders below, the other side will ignore them. Doesn't this further damage the prestige of the Han Dynasty?"
Someone said: "Is this the end of it?"
The person in front of him replied: "Of course not. If you want to win over him, just block his account separately."
"If you really want to teach him a lesson, you can only attack him nearby. You can't send troops in Huai City, right?"
The person behind sneered: "Let people attack you?"
"Who is willing to go against him? Gongsun Du is already the overlord of this place. Who can do anything to defeat him in that place?"
Someone said: "Gongsun Du broke the rules and established himself on Youzhou territory, so how about asking Youzhou Mu to send troops to attack him?"
As soon as these words came out, everyone fell silent. Some people thought to themselves, well, this is obviously to mobilize Zhao Yun, but secretly it is aimed at Yuan Xi.
Everyone knows that Zhao Yun is a subordinate of Yuan Xi, and the real person in charge of Youzhou is Yuan Xi. This idea is clearly to drive a wedge between Yuan Xi and Gongsun Du, and to make Yuan Xi unable to get off.
Some people are secretly happy, who asked you Yuan Xi and Gongsun Du to join forces, now it depends on what you do!
At this time, someone came out and spoke out, "Tianjia, this matter involves a lot, so we have to act with caution."
When everyone saw it, it was Yang Biao.
He bowed his head and said: "Although Gongsun Du is rebellious, his location in Liaodong is very important."
"The Han Dynasty was weak and the foreign barbarians were causing trouble. Over the years, Xianbei and Goguryeo outside the Pass have been encroaching on the borders of the Han Dynasty. If Gongsundu hadn't stopped them, the Waihu might have already entered the Pass, wreaking havoc on the border and causing harm to the people."
At this time, someone interjected: "Gongsun Du is no more than a warrior. He and the foreign barbarians are fighting for their own territory. How can he ever have a big man in his heart?"
"He just lost Liaodong, but he still has Marquis An Guoting and General Zhengbei in Youzhou."
"A ferocious tiger and a dragon can't stop a mere outsider?"
After everyone heard this, they thought that what they said was really sinister. It was flattering and degrading, and it also brought trouble to Yuan Xi and Zhao Yun.
He also uses a tiger and a dragon to imply that the two have joined forces, and their ambition is not small. Originally, the name Fierce Tiger is a bit taboo, not to mention the addition of a dragon.
Ever since Liu Bang killed the White Snake and revolted, and it was rumored that Liu Bang's mother had a dragon in her arms, the emperor had established a close relationship with the dragon.
Of course, other people in the world can also be called dragons, and there are many people with this name. However, since the Eastern Han Dynasty, the combination of dragon and tiger has gradually appeared, and they have been widely used whether in stone carvings or in tombs.
The reason why this is so is because the meanings contained in the combination of dragon and tiger range from evil spirits to astrology, from power to life and death, to the vision of immortality, and finally to prophecy. There is also a hidden deep meaning.
Change of life and death, change of dynasty.
Therefore, it is impossible for the nobles who are proficient in Huang-Lao's way not to know the sensitive meaning of the meeting of dragon and tiger, not to mention the ministers and emperor present.
The emperor might not believe these heart-breaking words for a while, but what if he said too much?
Everyone thought that this was heart-breaking. Suspicion often starts from a small thing. When everyone spoke of it, something would naturally take root and sprout in the emperor's heart!
Someone immediately refuted it, saying that if Youzhou failed and Waihu went south to the Central Plains, it would not be the Han Dynasty that would suffer?
Someone just said a few words and Jizhou was in the way, but was immediately interrupted. This intention was too obvious and too boring. Could it be that the whole world was not the king's territory, but could it be given up to everyone?
Seeing the quarreling among his loyal ministers, Liu Xie tilted his head and thought for a moment, then said, "Gongsun Du's move is indeed inappropriate."
When all the ministers heard this, they all became quiet.
Liu Xie turned to Zhong Yao and said, "I issued an edict to warn him of his improper behavior."
When Zhong Yao heard this, he felt happy and quickly agreed.
He thought that if this happened, there would be a rift between Gongsun Du and Yuan Xi, and Yuan Xi would be in a dilemma between the emperor and Gongsun Du Du. Let's see what he will do!
Unexpectedly, Liu Xie's next words shocked everyone, "Tell Gongsun Du that he has to fight for the territory by himself."
"If he can follow Wei Huo's example and take back the four Han counties, or even pacify North Korea and expand his territory, then why not if I make him a king with a different surname?"