Chapter Forty-Third: The Conspiracy of the Ten Attendants
Located to the north of Luoyang City, there is a large group of palaces, which is the palace where the Han emperor's royal family lived. Inside the palace, there are endless palace buildings, which are extremely magnificent. In the more than 160 years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were 17 emperors.
Living in this palace. It can be said that this palace represents the entire history of the Eastern Han Dynasty!
Emperor Liu Hong of the Han Dynasty has been feeling unwell recently. As soon as the news came out, the atmosphere in the palace suddenly became unusual. Originally, Emperor Han was only in his thirties, in his prime, but Emperor Han was
Over the past few years, he has been drinking and drinking every day, and his body has long been drained by wine and sex. This time, he became seriously ill, with no sign of improvement for several months. As a result, everyone inside and outside the palace was unhappy.
A few people had some thoughts, and the relationship between people from various factions became unprecedentedly tense.
In a certain corner of the palace, there is an unknown small palace. In the dark night all around, only a candle is lit in the innermost corner of the palace. Under the weak light of the candle, the side is vaguely revealed.
There are about a dozen figures, and there are also some weak whispers. If you don't listen carefully, you really can't make out what they are saying. But if you listen carefully, you can tell that these voices are different from ordinary people's voices.
, the vocal cords are very sharp, neither like a man nor a woman, it makes people feel goosebumps all over their body when listening to it.
"Guo Sheng! What did the imperial doctors who came today say after examining His Majesty's condition?" one of the voices asked sinisterly.
As soon as this question was uttered, other whispers stopped immediately. After a moment of silence, another voice slowly replied: "Those imperial doctors don't seem to be very optimistic about His Majesty's condition! But one of them is checking.
After seeing His Majesty’s condition, I mentioned to Jian Shuo that there was a man named Zhang Zhongjing in Jingzhou who seemed to be able to cure His Majesty’s illness!”
"Jian Shuo? Huh!" The voice that raised the question before snorted, seeming to be very disdainful of the name Jian Shuo, and said: "Isn't this guy just relying on some brute strength? Since he was favored by His Majesty,
, he has become more and more public recently! Let him be proud for a while! There will be plenty of opportunities to deal with him later!"
These words immediately gained the approval of others. After a while, another voice said calmly: "Zhao Zhong, Jian Shuo's matter has been suppressed for the time being! The most important thing now is His Majesty's condition! I'll wait.
We all rely on Your Majesty to survive today. If Your Majesty is no longer here, how can we save ourselves? Those foreign officials in the court hate us to the core, and when the time comes, I am afraid they would like to cut us into pieces.
So I’d better make plans in advance!”
"Mr. Zhang is right!" the voice known as Zhao Zhong said immediately: "Your Majesty's condition is now so bad that even the imperial doctor in the palace can't do anything about it. I guess the so-called Zhang Zhongjing is just...
The imperial doctor's excuses are of no use! In your opinion, if His Majesty passes away, which prince should be enthroned?"
Zhao Zhong asked the last sentence, which caused everyone to murmur again. After a while, one person said: "Then Queen He was recommended by us to enter the palace, and she is usually pretty good to us. It would be better if the prince was enthroned."
!Then Queen He and He Jin will definitely be grateful to me, and then won’t we be able to continue to enjoy wealth and honor?”
"Confused!" Another person immediately retorted: "Then He Jin has been supporting those foreign officials and working against us all these years! If his nephew is appointed to the throne, wouldn't He Jin's power become even higher?
When the time comes, if those foreign officials give them some encouragement, He Jin will definitely take action on us!"
"What Duan Gui said makes sense!" Someone immediately supported this suggestion. "Besides, the Prince Bian has never been liked by His Majesty. His Majesty may pass a secret edict to the Prince's Association before his death! If we support the Prince's Association, then by that time
It is justifiable and very convenient! Moreover, the Prince Bian is now quite popular among the foreign officials. It is very difficult for the Prince Bian to ascend the throne. If he can ascend the throne with our help, then we will be able to follow the dragon! The Prince Bian is also
You will trust me more!"
"Song Dian, it's easy for you to say!" Guo Sheng, who had previously answered Zhao Zhong's question, immediately snorted, "Now He Jin's power is so overwhelming that even His Majesty is a little afraid of it! With the support of those foreign officials, it will be necessary to
How difficult it is to push Prince Xie to the throne! If Prince Xie fails to ascend the throne and He Jin finds out that we are against him, our lives will be at stake!"
Originally, Duan Gui and Song Dian's proposal had received support from everyone, but when they heard what Guo Sheng said, they suddenly lost their temper. This was a matter of their lives. When they thought that He Jin's butcher's knife could fall at any time.
On their necks, they all shrank their heads involuntarily.
"Guo Sheng, what do you mean, do we support Prince Bian to ascend the throne?" One of them asked with a trembling voice. It was obvious that he had just been frightened by Guo Sheng and had not yet fully recovered.
"Uh." Guo Sheng did not answer directly, but hesitated for a moment and said: "Now that He Jin is full-fledged, I am afraid that even if we want to reconcile with He Jin, He Jin will not agree.
Right?" What Guo Sheng said was the truth, and it immediately caused everyone to sigh.
"Hmph!" The man who Zhao Zhong called Mr. Zhang before snorted and said: "You are too timid and fearful! Don't forget, this palace is still under our control now! He Jin
How can that butcher achieve great things if he is so indecisive?"
"Mr. Zhang, what should we do according to your wishes?" Zhao Zhong obviously respected Mr. Zhang very much and asked quickly and respectfully.
"In my opinion, the best policy is to support the Emperor's Association's accession to the throne!" Zhang Gong did not hesitate at all. He had obviously made his decision a long time ago, "If the Prince wants to make any progress and help those foreign officials, if we support him, it will be no more than that."
This is the icing on the cake! If the prince ascends the throne, even if He Jin doesn't cause trouble for us, we will never be favored! But now the prince association is different, there is no trustworthy person around him, there is only one
Empress Dowager Dong supports him! Then Empress Dowager Dong is just a concubine of a vassal and has no power in the court. If we defect to her, how can she and the Prince not shed tears of gratitude?"
Mr. Zhang has a high prestige among the people. As soon as he said his words, he immediately received unanimous approval from everyone. But at this time, Mr. Zhang changed his subject and said: "But there is some truth in what Guo Sheng said.
Logically speaking, we have to be on guard against this! In my opinion, when His Majesty is dying, he will definitely leave a message to Jian Shuo and pass it on to the Prince Association! When the time comes, we can just let Jian Shuo take the lead. If something goes wrong
What a mistake, put all the blame on Jian Shuo!"
Obviously, the reputation of Jian Shuo mentioned by Duke Zhang was very bad among the people. When they heard that Jian Shuo was asked to be their scapegoat, everyone even cheered a few times. Then Zhao Zhong asked with some doubts:
"Mr. Zhang, this is safe, but won't all the credit come at the expense of Jian Shuo? If the Prince Xie ascends the throne, I'm afraid he will only value Jian Shuo. What benefits will we get by then?"
"What's the rush!" Zhang Gong scolded and said calmly: "Starting from tomorrow, our troops will be divided into two groups! One group will mostly walk around Queen He to express loyalty to Queen He, while the other group will
Go to Empress Dowager Dong more often! Once these two women are settled, we will make no mistakes whether the princes will ascend the throne or the princes will ascend the throne!"
"Great! This move of Mr. Zhang is really good!" Mr. Zhang's words aroused a burst of praise from everyone. Guo Sheng said flatteringly: "This plan of Mr. Zhang is very clever! Then He Jin has always been soft-hearted.
!If Prince Bian ascends the throne at that time, we only need to plead with Queen He, and Queen He will vouch for us, and He Jin will have nothing to do with us! And if Prince Bian ascends the throne, Empress Dowager Dong will only think that it is our contribution, and add
She and the Prince Association have no power in the court, so they can only use us!"
"Having said that!" Regarding the praise from everyone, Zhang Gong said lightly: "You have to be cautious about this matter! As far as I know, the Empress Dowager Dong does not really have no help! The former general Dong Zhuo seems to be
We are somewhat related to Empress Dowager Dong!"
"Dong Zhuo?" When Song Dian heard this name, he said contemptuously: "Why worry about this useless person! When the thieves were in trouble, this person spent a lot of money to seek help from me, so I asked him to replace Lu Zhi.
He was in command of an army, but unexpectedly he was beaten up by the bandits and fled! Fortunately, Huang Pusong came to clean up the mess for him, otherwise, even I would have been implicated by him!"
"Don't talk too much!" Zhang Gong said immediately: "As far as I know, Dong Zhuo and Huang Pusong worked together to put down the rebellion in the kingdom, and they performed very well! And the Xiliang soldiers under this man were very good.
He is strong! We must be careful! However, this Dong Zhuo still seems to be attached to us, so we might as well bring him in as help to deal with that He Jin!"
"Mr. Zhang is right!" Zhao Zhong thought for a moment and then said: "Song Dian, since you have dealt with him, it is up to you to write him a letter and ask him to come to Luoyang with his troops!
But remember, don’t make it too obvious, so as not to leave clues!”
Song Dian immediately replied: "Don't worry, Mr. Zhao! I can still handle this matter well! I will send someone close to me later. I have a man named Zuo Feng who is very smart in his work, so I will just let him deliver the message."
Got it!"
After Song Dian fully agreed, Zhang Gong made the final decision and said: "Okay! It's settled now! From tomorrow on, we will act according to the plan! Dong Zhuo? I hope he won't let me down."