"The common people who are lucky enough to be rewarded with kindness look forward to a very grand ceremony." [Qidong Wild Language·Jiading Baoxi]
Although the young emperor seems to be quite smart now, he is still young after all, so he must rely on his relatives to hold power for him and to check and balance ministers from wealthy families. This is a rule that has been established for hundreds of years.
Besides, what can a little emperor do even if he is smart and courageous? After all, he is just a child. This was Dong Cheng's current thought, but then he thought that although he was a relative, he was not as powerful as Wang Bin and the emperor.
In order to be close to him, if he wants to be a general in the future, Wang Bin will definitely become his strong enemy.
Although Dong Cheng agreed to the request of Wang Bin and Zhong Shao and tried his best to promote the surrender of Liangzhou General, there was a hint of hostility in his eyes when he looked at Wang Bin: "I don't know what happens after all the generals surrender."
, how will we arrange it?"
"Li Jue, Guo Si, and Fan Chou each worshiped the general and were granted the title of Tinghou. The other generals worshiped the general of Zhonglang and several lieutenants." Wang Bin replied, paused, and looked at each other with Zhong Shao, then replied.
He also said: "As for you, general, you will be temporarily appointed as the general of the auxiliary country, and you will be on the same level as Li Jue and others."
Afraid that Dong Cheng would be dissatisfied, Wang Bin immediately added: "General, please relax. If the general is superior to others, it will inevitably make the generals dissatisfied, so I ask the general to be aggrieved."
Dong Cheng pretended to be displeased and said, "How long will this grievance last?"
"After the troops are stabilized, the general will naturally be rewarded by His Majesty for his kindness to the Dong family." Zhong Shao explained on his behalf. Seeing that Dong Cheng still had doubts on his face, he remembered the emperor's advice. Although he was unwilling, he was still determined.
Lai said: "Although the general is your majesty's mother-in-law, the relationship is somewhat estranged. I wonder if there are any female relatives of the right age in the general's family? Now that Changqiu has not yet begun and the middle palace is empty, the general might as well give it some thought."
There was indeed a daughter-in-law in Dong Cheng's family who was not much different in age from the emperor. His eyes lit up, and he was immediately moved by Zhong Shao's suggestion: "Dong and the Han family have been related by marriage for a long time. Although they are estranged now, they are still showing off.
The blessing of the country should be strengthened by marriage. I have a daughter who is fifteen years old. Although she has no national beauty, she is also virtuous and can serve the country in the palace. "
"Okay, okay." Wang Bin had no idea that doing so would harm his future power. He was all too familiar with the extent of the emperor's desire for power. Even a powerful emperor like Wang Yun was
He was not allowed to appear in the court, let alone a general who was a relative of Wang Yun who was more powerful than Wang Yun?
Dong Cheng sent his daughter to the palace. Although he could use this to gain a higher status, if he wanted to use this to become a powerful official who was inferior to one person and superior to ten thousand people, then he couldn't even think about it.
Wang Bin did not think that the entry of Dong's daughter into the palace would have an impact on him, but in Dong Cheng's eyes, his agreement seemed to be a sign of weakness due to the situation: "In this case, why don't we let you go on behalf of me and let the matter rest for now?"
, I will accept the general’s daughter into Ye Ting. I will try my best to help you if you choose to establish a middle palace in the future.”
Dong Cheng also said that the imperial court wanted to persuade Li Jue and others to surrender, and wanted to use him to restrain the army, so he made so many concessions.
While he was overjoyed, how could he think of the doubts in this? For example, why did Cai Yong not tell Li Jue the truth that the imperial court was the emperor's head, and why did the emperor who was so smart in Wang Bin's mouth allow him to become a general?
These are all doubtful points that need to be considered carefully, and Dong Cheng only has the glorious past of his predecessors like Liang Ji and Dou Wu in his heart, so how can he care about these details?
After bidding farewell to Wang Bin and Zhong Shao, Dong Cheng returned to his house. At this time, he was inexplicably excited and was afraid that others would see the clues, so he had no intention of returning to the front hall to have fun with Zhang Ji.
He sat quietly in his room, trying to calm down and think about how to improve his prestige, so that he could quickly convince the ministers of the court and use him.
As the nephew of Empress Dowager Dong and a former relative, he certainly knew what he had to do first if he wanted to seize power.
That is military power. A powerful minister without military power is a rootless person. Wang Yun lost the support of Lu Bu's elite soldiers and was defeated by an imperial edict in an instant. This is the best evidence.
After agreeing to the request of Wang Bin and others, Wang Bin also appropriately told Dong Cheng some important news about the court that Cai Yong deliberately misinterpreted and concealed. According to Wang Bin, Wang Yun had no power in his hands because of Lu Bu's defeat in Xinfeng.
He was a soldier, and he had long-standing grievances with the court, so he was deposed by Ma Rixi, Zhao Qian and others.
The emperor's role in this was just to rush back to Weiyang Palace from Shanglinyuan to preside over the overall situation, acquiesce to the fait accompli, and stabilize the people of the court.
If the emperor only has this ability, then Dong Cheng will not be afraid of him. There are only two types of people he needs to worry about. One is Taiwei Ma Rixi and the ministers of the DPRK headed by Situ Zhao Qian. These people are easy to deal with.
, as long as he controls the military power, tries to get the emperor to make his daughter the queen, and officially becomes a general, he can easily remove the disobedient ministers.
The other group of people are Li Jue and Guo Si. They have long coveted the power of the government and are rebellious. If Dong Cheng wants to completely grasp the military and political power, these two people are an obstacle.
To persuade the Liangzhou generals to surrender to the imperial court, this was what Dong Cheng had to do, and he had to find a way to act as if he was mediating and contributing a lot to show favor to those who surrendered.
Moreover, he has also planned how to divide the generals in Liangzhou. For example, people like Fan Chou and Zhang Ji should be won over by Mingjue. As for ambitious unstable elements like Li Jue, he should find ways to eliminate them. In short,
To put it simply, it means attacking dissidents and winning over neutrals.
Dong Cheng's ideas gradually coincided with the emperor's. If he knew that the emperor's approach would be more decisive than his, I don't know how he would feel.
Just when Dong Cheng was being plotted by the emperor and was willing to be driven by him without knowing it, thinking that he was planning for himself, he suddenly heard several rapid knocks on the door, interrupting Dong Cheng's sole control of the future.
The longing for great power.
It turned out to be Zhang Ji who was slightly drunk. Seeing Dong Cheng alone in the house, Zhang Ji asked curiously: "It's so lively outside, what are you doing sitting here?"
Zhang Ji drank some wine, and because of his gentle nature, he spoke more casually. Dong Cheng raised his eyebrows slightly. Although they had similar positions in the army, being called such a disrespectful name by Zhang Ji still made him feel uncomfortable.
Dong Cheng, who was ready to become a general, was a little unhappy.
Dong Cheng said solemnly, "It's just because it was too noisy, so I wanted to find a quiet place to rest. You should have drunk enough. If you delay things due to drunkenness, it will be useless no matter how popular you are in the army."