Chapter 271 Each person saves ten years of detours
The spread of rumors from the outside world continued, but Liu Bei never expressed what he meant.
Because he couldn't figure out the specific situation and Liu Bei didn't take any action, Zheng Tai didn't know whether he should leave for a while.
He was struggling with borrowing it. His family urged him several times, but he still couldn't make up his mind to leave.
He doubted whether Liu Bei cared about this matter very much, and whether other people cared about this matter very much. If everyone tacitly did not believe this matter, then if he left, would he soon become a pure clown?
After struggling for so long, he finally decided to release this tactical nuclear bomb. As a result, Liu Bei showed no reaction, and the entire Luoyang public opinion field was also terrifyingly quiet.
What exactly is going on?
If you leave suddenly at this time, let alone return to Luoyang, it is not certain whether the Zheng family status can be maintained. So, how can you leave at this time?
He held many meetings with Jia Xi and others to exchange information. Finally, he learned that some of the core personnel within the Liu Bei Group had already talked with Liu Bei and must have known something.
It's just that each of them kept silent, didn't reveal any useful information to the outside world, and didn't make any unusual moves. Everything was still going on, so that they were still unable to accurately judge the situation here.
And let alone other parties, even the royal family seems to have no reaction. The little emperor will not say it. Now he is just a topic maker. Empress Dowager Dong is sick and is still recovering from her illness. Regarding the outside world,
The reaction was not concerned at all.
They don't seem to care about this.
What is going on?
They can't understand.
However, while they were in a trap, someone had already taken action.
Zhang Rang was not the first person to ask Liu Bei for relevant information, but after a few days after the incident, Zhang Rang could not sit still and personally visited Liu Bei secretly to ask Liu Bei's true views on the matter.
Liu Bei's response to him was also very direct.
"Old Zhang, go and prepare. Draw up a list of the names of the eunuchs you think are reliable. Give it to me. I want to determine as soon as possible which eunuchs can be used in the palace and which eunuchs cannot be used. This is very important.
"
Zhang Rang was stunned for a moment by Liu Bei's request, and then turned pale with shock.
",you……"
"Am I not clear enough?"
Liu Bei raised his head and looked at Zhang Rang: "Unreliable people cannot stay. What I need is someone who is trustworthy, or someone who is honest and able to obey orders. I don't want someone who belongs to someone else."
Before I take charge of everything, Lao Zhang, you have to help me get rid of all those disobedient eunuchs. The new palace cannot tolerate these insects, and I have no intention of continuing to raise them."
Zhang Rang completely understood what Liu Bei meant.
"Have you really decided?"
"Someone helped me decide in advance. It's okay if I don't decide. If I don't decide, my subordinates will help me decide. So I might as well decide on my own."
"real?"
"How can this be false?"
Liu Bei waved his hand impatiently: "Go and do the work quickly. If you do it well, I will count this as your first credit. If you don't do it well, prepare to go back to your hometown and become a rich man."
Zhang Rang no longer had any doubts in his heart, only a very urgent sense of urgency.
Before the new emperor ascends the throne, he needs to screen and cleanse the internal forces in the palace. Those who are reliable and capable will stay, and those who are unreliable will not be allowed to stay.
This power seems to be in Zhang Rang's hands, but Zhang Rang also knows very well that Liu Bei has given this matter to him as a task. If he can't handle it well, he believes that Liu Bei has many ways to punish him.
So he turned and ran.
After running a few steps, Liu Bei's voice sounded behind him.
"Lao Zhang, do your job well. This is a task I entrust you with because I trust you. This trust is hard-earned. We have been friends for so many years. I don't want to do things too badly, so don't let me down. Don't
You betrayed my trust in you."
Zhang Rang stopped and looked back at Liu Bei.
"You promised to make me rich and prosperous throughout my life."
"certainly."
"good."
Zhang Rang ran away.
After that, no one came to ask Liu Bei related questions.
However, in this turbulent situation, Liu Bei did not think that other forces could remain calm. The more he remained calm, the more people became unable to remain calm.
Just as he expected, within a few days, someone else couldn't sit still.
The visitors this time are quite interesting.
It was Liu Yu, the current Situ who had just taken office.
He did not come as an individual, but as a messenger.
After Liu Yu took office as Situ, he started to let himself go. Except for not doing serious things, except for things that were not illegal, he did everything.
After taking office, he moved into Situ's mansion and took good care of it. He moved out some things that he thought were vulgar and moved in some things that he liked and belonged to literati, such as various green plants.
, flowers and plants and the like.
The rockery in the mansion was also repaired, the pool in the mansion was also repaired, and some small fish were stocked in it.
In addition, he made a special trip to Liu Bei and asked Liu Bei for some calligraphy. Because he heard that Liu Bei was good at writing, he asked Liu Bei to write to him some poems he had written, especially the poem "The Road to Shu is Difficult".
.
He wanted to take it back to decorate the facade and show off his collection to visitors to improve his social status.
Liu Bei readily agreed to this, so he wrote a few words for Liu Yu on the highest quality Qingzhou leather paper with a splash of ink, stamped it with a seal, and presented it to Liu Yu.
After Liu Yu took it back, he actually hung it in the reception hall. Every time a banquet was held in the mansion, he would point it out to the guests, saying that it was written by General Liu Bei himself. He saw it written by Liu Bei with his own eyes.
show off.
In addition to being extremely flamboyant in social situations, he stands out as quiet and inactive in politics.
Anyway, none of the three princes of the Eastern Han Dynasty had much power. The main reason why Lu Zhi was so diligent was because he was Liu Bei's teacher. With this status, no one would say anything wrong about him.
But Liu Yu felt that he didn't have this need.
Moreover, he had been busy in Qingzhou for many years and was exhausted mentally and physically. Now that he was getting older, he really just wanted to enjoy the honor and not do anything, so he jumped out of the involution whirlpool and became the first person in the Han Empire to resist involution.
Many people envy Liu Yu's living conditions, but there are some things that they cannot envy.
So for a long time, Liu Yu appeared in the political life of the Han Empire as a person who had nothing to do with himself, highlighting a person who didn't care about anything, did nothing, and focused on enjoying life.
Become a new star in Luoyang City's social circle.
But let’s not say that Liu Yu is useless.
He is useful.
Precisely because of his high status but little real power, many people are willing to associate with Liu Yu, and are willing to talk to Liu Yu about many things. Liu Yu can even become an intermediary between two or three parties.
messenger, middleman.
Liu Yu was very familiar with the matter of speaking on his behalf. This was another identity he had in Luoyang City.
When Liu Yu came to visit Liu Bei this time, he did not represent himself, but represented a certain force and came to have a preliminary exchange with Liu Bei - about the rumors in Luoyang City.
Of course, Liu Yu himself really wanted to know what was going on here.
When Situ of the Dynasty came to visit, Liu Bei of course wanted to entertain him warmly. He planned to have a banquet arranged, but Liu Yu refused and dragged Liu Bei into his office for a private chat.
Xu Chu, who was on duty, wanted to enter to protect Liu Bei, but Liu Bei shook his head, so Xu Chu stood outside and did not enter.
But he was very focused and always stayed in the room, just in case.
Liu Yu didn't care about this, and the purpose of coming here was not to chat with Liu Bei.
"There are no other people here. We are all clansmen and our surname is Liu. I will get straight to the point. I want to know what this rumor is about?"
"Did the Empress Dowager invite you here?"
Liu Bei smiled and poured Liu Yu a drink.
Liu Yu didn't hide it and nodded directly.
"The Empress Dowager didn't care at first, but Dong Zhong seemed to be more concerned about it. He went to the Empress Dowager personally to tell the matter, so the Empress Dowager asked me to ask you what is going on."
Dong Zhong?
interesting.
Liu Bei paused, smiled and nodded.
"The Empress Dowager is recovering from illness recently. She shouldn't let these worldly things disturb her. Some people are just too ignorant. I thought they had repented, but I didn't expect that they are still evil."
Liu Yu picked up the cup and took a sip of the drink in the cup.
Sweet.
",This is not an important matter, he can't change the world."
"It's still more important. He has become my enemy again and again. Even if I want to let him go, my subordinates won't agree."
Liu Bei smiled and asked: "Of course, it is also important to answer your question. This matter has nothing to do with me. It is Zheng Tai who spreads the rumors."
"Zheng Tai..."
Liu Yu read his name again.
"Why did he do this?"
"Because I want to promote the government affairs conference and the official elimination system. This system will eliminate many incompetent officials who have insufficient abilities and are just trying to fill their jobs. Among them, there will be many mediocre people with high backgrounds but no actual abilities. Zheng Tai and others believe that this policy will
harm their interests.
So they came to me and asked me how to compensate them. For example, how should I compensate them for taking down a county governor or a state minister? How should I compensate for taking down a county magistrate? They came to negotiate business with me and treated national government affairs as their own.
He came to talk to me about business, but I didn't agree.
Many times before, I needed their support, so I had no choice but to exchange some benefits with them. This time, I didn't need their help, but they still wanted to ask me for things out of habit.
When I didn't give it, they became anxious. During these days, they looked for people everywhere to join forces to deal with me. They looked for Jian Shuo and Dong Chong. They had some intentions of raising troops to fight me, but no one responded to them.
.”
As soon as Liu Bei finished speaking, Liu Yu's face darkened, and he slapped the cup on the table in front of him, almost knocking over the cup on the table.
"You bastard! How can a national event be such a child's play?!"
After getting angry, Liu Yu also looked at Liu Bei angrily.
"Such a thing is wrong. Why did you agree to them before? I think with your ability, if you want to promote reform, you don't need the help of these people at all, right?"
"It's not needed now, but it was still needed before."
Liu Bei shook his head and said: "You should also know how difficult it is to be in power. A few years ago, the world was still in a state where no government orders came out of Henan Yin. No one implemented the government orders at all. It was just a look. There were not enough people to respond to me and help me. Damn it.
I push it myself, but I don’t know when it will be successful.”
Liu Yu was silent for a moment, still very angry.
"Even so, you can't spoil this group of people like this. Now I know why many people in Luoyang City are saying that except for you Liu, there is no difference between the ancient literature school and the modern literature school. Without you, they might still be able to survive.
Not like today’s literary school! What kind of bastards are they!”
Liu Bei smiled.
"This...I am speechless."
"Of course you should be speechless! Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many people in Luoyang City who want to promote Huang Lao's art reform. They only believe in you and not the ancient literature school. How dare you say that you have no responsibility?"
Liu Yu said dissatisfied: "I know you are busy with work and under a lot of pressure, but you should also have your own persistence in some things! How can you join in the same trend with those despicable people?"
"This time I persisted and refused to compromise. Then, they spread rumors against me. Although no one is talking about this openly, secretly, it must have caused a storm. I am also very helpless."
Liu Bei sighed and said: "This matter has brought me a lot of trouble, and it is even difficult to end. Mr. Situ, tell me, is this my problem?"
Liu Yu pursed his lips and felt helpless. Shaoqing, he looked at Liu Bei.
"I remember that once before, there was news from the Jinwen School that you were going to rebel and seek the throne. How did it calm down that time?"
"That is a problem of the modern literature school itself. I covered it up with the dispute between modern and ancient literature. It is a very lucky thing, but it is indispensable. It is completely different from this time."
Liu Bei shook his head and said: "Times have changed, and even I have no choice but to do many things. Mr. Situ, if there were no rumors this time, many things might still be able to continue, but once the rumors broke out, the situation would be completely different."
"I have also heard some private discussions, and it seems that many people have opinions on this."
Liu Yu glanced at Liu Bei, looked at his face, and said slowly: "How do you plan to deal with this? And Zheng Tai, how do you plan to deal with him?"
"Zheng Tai did this kind of thing to completely oppose me and trap me into injustice. I will not let him and his family go. Neither will anyone who participated in this matter."
Pass."
Liu Bei said slowly: "As for how to solve this matter, alas... Mr. Situ, if I want to solve this matter, I'm afraid I have to use the method I least want to use."
"means?"
"I think I need to communicate this matter directly with the Queen Mother and discuss it with her."
Liu Bei shook his head and said: "If the Empress Dowager is willing to cooperate, this matter can be truly resolved, but before that, I still need to clean the court one last time."
Clean?
Liu Yu remembered that he had heard some news about Liu Bei's cleaning of the court before. Every time, there were always heads of people, and groups of unlucky people always lost their heads.
Liu Yu is a conservative. He likes gentle wind and drizzle, but dislikes strong winds and heavy rain. He doesn't appreciate such violent techniques.
But he also knew that every time Liu Bei purged the court, he had legitimate reasons and many people supported him. This time... I'm afraid it will be the same.
Anyway, if Liu Bei wanted to do something to Zheng Tai, he would not object, unless Liu Bei wanted to expand it, then he might not be able to accept it.
"Then how should I explain this matter to the Empress Dowager? Do you want to go and tell it in person?"
Liu Yu said worriedly: "After the Empress Dowager fell ill, her body bones have been relatively weak. I heard from the doctors in the palace that the Empress Dowager is more seriously ill this time, and her symptoms are quite strange. I don't know whether she can be cured.
This matter is of great importance. If you are not careful, the outcome will be unpredictable. If you want to discuss it directly with the Queen Mother, I have no objection. However, you still should not make the Queen Mother too worried."
"That's natural."
Liu Bei nodded.
Of course he won't let Mrs. Dong worry too much. As long as Mrs. Dong can think openly, everything will be fine.