Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 519: Wine Edict

In Luoyang City.

"Your Majesty, Yuan Tianmu has returned to Luoyang."

Su Shun trotted all the way to the Emperor Yuan Ziyou's bedroom and reported the news to him.

"So fast?"

Yuan Ziyou had just finished washing up when he heard the news and his heart started pounding.

After Erzhu Dulü became the governor of Henan, the Erzhu family further lost the support of the people in Luoyang and the capital area.

Yuan Ziyou also seized this opportunity and, through Xi Yi, won over a group of forces that were dissatisfied with Erzhu Rong.

I originally thought that I could save up for a while, but I didn’t expect Yuan Tianmu to return to Luoyang so soon.

Yuan Tianmu and Erzhu Dulü are different.

As a member of the Yuan clan, Yuan Tianmu enjoys a high reputation in Luoyang.

He was also good at government affairs and able to coordinate relationships among his ministers.

When Yuan Tianmu Zi was in Luoyang, Yuan Ziyou could only stay in the palace and dared not make any moves.

Su Shun told Yuan Ziyou the information he had obtained from the outside court:
"I heard that Erzhu Rong was short of military rations in Jizhou, so he sent the old villain Yuan Tianmu back to Luoyang to take charge of the situation!"

Hearing this, Yuan Ziyu's eyes lit up.

He paced back and forth and said:
"That makes sense. The idiot Erzhu Dulu is in Luoyang and has messed up the grain transport. Now Erzhu Rong is short of food on the front line in Jizhou, so Yuan Tianmu has to come back."

"So, the situation on the Erzhurong front is very tense?"

Su Shun nodded. Luoyang is now the main hub of water transport in the world and a treasure trove of the world.

Due to Erzhu Dulü's mischief, grain and grass from all over the country could not be gathered in Luoyang, and naturally could not be sent to the front line in Jizhou.

The local food and grass in Jizhou had long been eaten up.

Bingzhou did not have enough food and fodder to support Jizhou, so it could only be transported from Luoyang.

Yuan Ziyou said:
"If there is trouble in Luoyang at this time, will Erzhu Rong in Jizhou cause trouble?"

Su Shun did not answer. He had been with Yuan Ziyou for many years and never expressed his opinion on military issues.

Obviously, Yuan Ziyou didn't want to discuss it with him either.

Yuan Ziyou followed his train of thought and said:

"As long as we can cut off Erzhu Rong's food and grass and defend Luoyang, Erzhu Rong will collapse?"

"As long as all states support me, will the world return to Wei?"

Su Shun looked at Yuan Ziyu and sighed in his heart.

As an emperor, Yuan Ziyou's forbearance and political skills were both top-notch.

But politics can only be played when no one is willing to turn the table.

Although there are still some people in the Wei Dynasty, in the face of interests and fists, this is nothing more than a few tears shed after drinking.

Even if we control Luoyang, how to defend it is a huge problem.

Even if Luoyang was controlled, how to make the surrounding states and counties submit to it would be a big problem.

It is true that the officials in Luoyang hated Erzhu Rong, but they were even more afraid of him.

The reason they were afraid of Erzhu Rong was because he was a good fighter.

All we can say is that Yuan Ziyou is accustomed to conspiracies and intrigues, and has developed path dependence, always thinking that he can turn the tables by relying on these conspiracies.

Little did they know that they had the ability to smash the chessboard.

But Su Shun had no intention of persuading Yuan Ziyou. His original mission was to lurk around Yuan Ziyou and gather intelligence.

The more Yuan Ziyou thought about it, the more excited he became, and he felt that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

He said quickly: "Send a message to Lord Xi quickly and ask him to send the orchestra to the palace."

Erzhu Dulü was a fool. After Yuan Ziyou rewarded him with land and beauties, he relaxed his control over the palace.

Yuan Ziyou summoned Xi Yi's family orchestra into the palace many times under the pretext that he liked listening to music, and sometimes these musicians even stayed overnight in the palace.

The palace spies who were responsible for guarding Yuan Ziyou did not think there was anything wrong with it, and gradually stopped reporting this matter as a special incident.

At the end of September, Yuan Tianmu finally arrived in Luoyang City. Due to Yuan Tianmu's special status in the Erzhu family, even Erzhu Dulu could only stand outside the city to greet him.

Unexpectedly, what awaited him was a whip from Yuan Tianmu.

Yuan Tianmu pointed at Erzhu Dulü and started cursing at him as if he was scolding his own nephew.

"General Tianzhu entrusted Luoyang to you! And you've managed Luoyang like this?"

"Pass on the general's order to remove Erzhu Dulu from his post as governor of Henan. He will continue to guard Henan and make meritorious contributions while serving his sentence!"

If it were someone else, Erzhudulu would have fought to the death.

But Yuan Tianmu was the most special. His position in the Erzhu Rong group was second only to Erzhu Rong himself. These Erzhus treated him like their own elder.

After punishing Erzhu Dulü, Yuan Tianmu had to appease the other officials who remained in Luoyang.

He first took Xi Yi's hand and said:

"Mr. Xi, it's thanks to you that we haven't caused any more trouble these days."

After saying this, Yuan Tianmu said to Liu Gui:

"Agui, you have managed the affairs of the Ministry of Personnel very well. You should continue to manage them from now on and come up with a plan to facilitate the canal transportation as soon as possible."

It turned out to be for the purpose of water transport.

Xi Yi secretly took note. This meant that the food shortage on the Jizhou front had reached a certain level, otherwise Yuan Tianmu would not have come in such a hurry and demoted Erzhu Dulü as soon as he arrived.

Just as His Majesty said, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

After greeting the ministers, Yuan Tianmu asked Xi Yi:
"Your Majesty, have you been well these days?"

Xi Yi said calmly:
"Your Majesty is doing well these days, but the Queen Mother is not doing well."

Yuan Tianmu frowned.

The empress dowager was Empress Dowager Hu. Erzhu Rong relied on Empress Dowager Hu to establish Yuan Ziyou. So even though he disliked Empress Dowager Hu in many ways, he still kept her and just guarded her in the North Palace to prevent her from doing anything evil.

Xi Yi said:

"The Queen Mother has been drinking heavily these days. Last month, she had a two-day hangover. I'm afraid she will continue like this."

Yuan Tianmu also frowned.

Regardless of this, Empress Dowager Hu was the empress dowager who had been in power for many years and still had a certain authority in the Northern Wei Dynasty.

If she died now, a national funeral would have to be held, and the legitimacy of the Luoyang regime would also be shaken.

Xi Yi took out the prepared words and said:

"Your Majesty is also very worried about this. It can be said that the king is back. If you want to persuade the queen mother, you can only rely on the king."

There was nothing wrong with what Xi Yi said. Yuan Tianmu was not only the most important official under Erzhu Rong, but also a member of the Yuan family.

It was reasonable for him to persuade Empress Dowager Hu to quit drinking.

Yuan Tianmu didn't think there was anything wrong with it, and he immediately said:
"Once the canal transportation issue is dealt with, I will immediately go to the palace and explain to the Queen Mother the dangers of drinking."

Xi Yi said quickly:

"Your Majesty, you can recite the Jiugao to the Queen Mother, following the example of Zhou Gongdan."

Yuan Tianmu nodded repeatedly, and then took Liu Gui and rushed to the Luoyang Canal Transport Wharf to solve the problem of canal transport congestion.

Yuan Tianmu's domestic affairs ability was indeed far stronger than his military ability. As expected, under his management, the blocked Luoyang canal gradually resumed operation, the storage yards around the dock began to operate again, and the military rations transported to Luoyang began to be transferred towards Jizhou.

While Yuan Tianmu was handling government affairs in Luoyang, Erzhu Dulü, who was scolded by him, had no choice but to leave Luoyang with his troops in disgrace and began to deal with the various bandits that blocked the canal transportation along the Yellow River.

This should have been the job of Erzhu Dulü, the governor of Henan Province. However, he stayed in Luoyang City and had fun all day, which led to bandits in the capital area and the looting of grain transport ships.

Yuan Tianmu was busy for three days and finally got the canal transport open. He dragged his tired body back to his mansion and waited for the messenger from the palace.

The round-faced Su Shun was full of flattery. He knelt carefully in front of Yuan Tianmu and said:

"Your Majesty, the Queen Mother has been drinking heavily these days, and Your Majesty is deeply worried. Now the prestigious elders in the royal family have gradually died, and the only one who can advise the Queen Mother is you, Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty would like to ask you to come to the palace tomorrow to persuade the Queen Mother not to indulge in alcoholism."

Yuan Tianmu thought of this and nodded:

"I understand. Tomorrow morning I will go to the palace to meet the Queen Mother, read the "Edict on Alcohol", and explain to her the harm of alcoholism."

(End of this chapter)