Han officials

Chapter 85: Boasting of Martial Arts [25]

Three days later, at the highest point in Bengshan City.

I saw that the shabby palace had been razed to the ground, leaving only a flat foundation stone.

After a group of military craftsmen worked hard for a while, they saw a ten-foot-high stone tablet being pulled up.

The appearance of the stone tablet looks very rough, as if it were a piece of freshly mined stone.

In fact, this is true. This stone tablet was found in the warehouse of Bangshan City.

It is said that King Anxie originally wanted to carve a portrait to offer to the gods, but it disappeared before the workers started.

So apart from the smooth surface of the stele, the entire stele has no patterns or shapes.

But that was before. After three days and three nights of overwork by the military craftsmen, the stele had changed drastically.

Gongsun Zhao and others who had been waiting for a long time looked over and saw that the front of the stone tablet was engraved with two large characters "Boundary Monument" from top to bottom. The characters were ancient and simple, and it was as majestic as Mount Tai.

When you turn to the back, you will see the three characters "东极碑" written horizontally at the top.

This is not difficult to understand. After all, from a geographical point of view, this place is indeed the easternmost point of the Han Dynasty.

Unless Wei Zhe takes over the Wa Island in the future, this will be the first place where the Han Dynasty sees the sun!

And below the [Dongji Monument], there are two lines of text engraved.

"Anyone who dares to offend will be killed!"

"Their country will be destroyed, their race will be annihilated, and their descendants will be exterminated!"

When Taishi Ci slowly read out the inscription on the back, he suddenly felt a surge of excitement in his chest!
"Great!" Gongsun Zhao couldn't help but exclaim excitedly at the sight, "That's what a man should do!"

Even Xi Zhicai, a scholar, couldn't help but feel a surge of heroic spirit in his heart when he saw these words!
"Ming Gong's words truly reflect my ambition!"

Seeing the reactions of the generals, Wei Zhe finally smiled.

However, Taishi Ci, who had been extremely excited just now, suddenly showed a look of disappointment and sighed, "I wonder if we will have the chance to erect the Four Extremes Monument again!"

As soon as these words were spoken, all the generals fell silent.

Indeed, if they could gather the four poles, their achievements would surely be remembered in history books of later generations.

Seeing this, Wei Zhe just smiled slightly: "Don't worry, there will always be a chance in the future!"

……

When Wei Zhe was showing off his martial arts in the Three Han countries, people in Luoyang were actually talking about him.

In fact, at the court meeting in October, an old and frail Imperial Censor impeached him.

"Lelang Governor Wei Zhe is lawless and has taken the initiative to provoke border conflicts, which is indeed suspected of usurping power."

However, before other ministers could second their opinion, Prime Minister Xu, who had already received instructions from the palace, stood up.

He said sternly and righteously, "What's wrong with hanging people and punishing criminals?"

After saying that, he took out the "Petition to Send Heavenly Soldiers to Han" sent by Lelang County and recited it in a rhythmic manner.

It’s true, many ministers couldn’t help but nod slightly after hearing this, with expressions of relief on their faces.

This is simply the best explanation of what Confucius meant by "conquering people with virtue."

The ministers who had originally had some objections to Wei Zhe's military deployment suddenly felt that the Lelang prefect was quite good. At least he was kind-hearted, and although he was a bit impatient, it was not a big deal.

Therefore, "going on a mission with a legitimate reason" is often not only for outsiders to see, but also for one's own people to see.

It’s a pity that the good mood of the emperor and the nobles of Luoyang did not last long!
Just after New Year's Day, news came from Youzhou: the former Zhongshan Prime Minister Zhang Chun joined forces with the former Taishan Prefect Zhang Ju to rebel in Yuyang County, and joined forces with Wuhuan Qiuliju and others to become the marshal of the Wuhuan in the five counties of Youzhou. They attacked counties, burned cities, and looted the people. In a short time, they gathered more than 100,000 people.

Among them, Zhang Ju even called himself the Son of Heaven, and Zhang Chun called himself General Mi Tian and King Anding.

Since both of them are not ordinary rebels, their connections and methods are far beyond those of ordinary people.

In addition, the two of them had carefully planned for a long time, so they were able to capture the counties of Youzhou one after another as soon as they launched the attack.

People like Gong Qi Chou, the commander of the Wuhuan Guard, Liu Zheng, the governor of Youbeiping, and Yang Zhong, the governor of Liaodong, were all killed by Zhang Chun's rebels. Even Lelang County was harassed by Zhang Chun's Wuhuan rebels.

If Yuan Jun had not been on guard against the Goguryeo people on the east bank of the Pei River, the Wuhuan people might have been allowed to enter.

Liaodong Governor Yang Zhong originally wanted to seek refuge in Lelang County, but unfortunately he did not run fast enough and was caught up and killed by the Wuhuan army on the way.

However, although Lelang County was able to defend itself, other counties in Youzhou were not so lucky.

Almost all the counties in Youzhou west of Liaoze fell. After a series of victories, Zhang Chun even sent Wuhuan Qiaowang and others to lead 50,000 infantry and cavalry into Qingzhou and Jizhou, penetrated deep into the hinterland of Qingzhou, broke through Pingyuan State and Qinghe County, and tried to attack Hejian County and Bohai State, killing and looting officials and civilians in the two states.

Perhaps the continuous victories made Zhang Chun go to his head. In his complacency, he actually sent a letter to the prefectures and counties, saying that the Han Dynasty was about to end, and ordered the emperor to abdicate and ordered the ministers to come to welcome him.

You must know that even the rebels in Liang Province who are still making trouble today are not as arrogant as Zhang Chun.

Therefore, after this news was reported back to Luoyang, Emperor Liu Hong was furious!
To be precise, it was a mixture of shock and anger!
After all, even though the rebels in Liang Province were so violent, there was no case of the two thousand stone officials following the bandits in Liang Province.

But Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju, two former two thousand stone officials, openly did such a thing, which is simply outrageous!
At that time, Wei Zhe's war in the Three Han countries was reaching a critical juncture. Due to his past military achievements, some people in the court suggested that Wei Zhe return from the Three Han countries and lead his troops into Lulong Pass to quell the rebellion.

To be honest, objectively speaking, this is indeed a good arrangement.

After all, whether in terms of level or ability, Wei Zhe is the best choice.

However, what puzzled many ministers was that the emperor simply did not transfer Wei Zhe back.

Not only did he ignore this proposal, but he also followed the eunuch's advice and appointed Gongsun Zan as the Cavalry Commander to be responsible for suppressing the rebellion. After all, in this rebellion of Zhang Chun, only Zhuo County under Gongsun Zan's jurisdiction had not fallen.

Although the ministers in Luoyang City were puzzled by this result, they could barely accept it.

Because the main force of the Northern Army is now suppressing the Liangzhou rebels in Youfufeng, it is impossible to take care of Youzhou at the same time.

Even if Gongsun Zan cannot quell the rebellion, it would be good if he could delay it for a while.

So when Wei Zhe led the Han army to sweep across the Three Han states, Gongsun Zan also led the Zhuo County Volunteers and many county soldiers to fight fiercely with Zhang Chun's rebels.

After several years of inaction, the three brothers Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei finally returned to the battlefield.

It's true, after several campaigns by Gongsun Zan, he actually recovered the western counties of Youzhou and compressed Zhang Chun's power into the areas of Liaoxi County, Shanggu County, Liaodong State and Youbeiping County.

In this way, Youzhou's richest counties, Zhuo, Guangyang, Yuyang and Dai, returned to the hands of the imperial court.

Of course, this is also due to Zhang Chun's rapid expansion and unstable foundation.

But no matter what the reason was, when the news reached Luoyang, everyone from the emperor to the ministers couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

A few days later, when the news of Wei Zhe's victory in pacifying the Three Kingdoms of Han reached Luoyang, the Luoyang dignitaries, who had been a little panicked, were now completely calm. The banquet continued, the singing and dancing continued, and the Han Dynasty was still the same Han Dynasty and would not perish!
The ministers in the court were also overjoyed when they heard this and immediately congratulated the emperor:
"God bless the man!"

"Long live the Han Dynasty, long live your Majesty!"

For a moment, Emperor Liu Hong was also very happy.

Even though Zhang Chun's rebellion had not been completely quelled, the defeated rebels were no longer worthy of worry for the Emperor of the Han Dynasty. They were just some minor sores and there was no need to worry about them.

With this mentality, when the Youzhou rebellion was still underway, Liu Hong actually wanted to hold a ceremony to offer captives to the Taimiao...

(End of this chapter)