Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 315 Imperial Power Tactics: Deep Planning and Foresight

Looking at the neatly folded letter in Li Yan's hand, Madam Li was slightly taken aback, and then stepped forward to take the Prime Minister's letter.

Since the use of Wei Shi paper for official purposes, Han Dynasty officials have largely replaced bamboo slips with Chang'an paper for correspondence and daily official business.

The paper in Li's hand had turned yellow, with deep creases, rough edges, and even some fine cracks, clearly caused by repeated reading.

Upon opening the letter, one can see that the Prime Minister's handwriting is neat and meticulous, showing his dedication.

"...I have known you for a long time, and I have been entrusted with the heavy responsibility by the late Emperor. I swear to work together with you with one heart and one mind to restore the Han Dynasty. This heart and this will are known not only to men, but also to Heaven and Earth and the gods."

"My lord was appointed to govern Jiangzhou, entrusted with the weighty military and political responsibilities of the East. He never consulted with others, treating everyone with utmost sincerity and trust. I believed his sincerity could move even metal and stone, and that our friendship would last forever. But unexpectedly, things changed midway..."

"In the past, Chu Qing was dismissed and pardoned three times, yet he was eventually reinstated. This is what is meant by righteous thoughts leading to blessings; it is the natural order of Heaven and Earth. I hope you will deeply repent of your past transgressions and strive to make amends."

"Although you have resigned from your post and your family fortune is no longer what it once was, you still have over a hundred servants and guests. Your son, Guosheng, serves the Han Dynasty as the Left Protector of Jiangzhou. Your family is still of high standing."

"If one can sincerely repent, cleanse one's heart of wrongdoing, and work sincerely with Gongyan, then the path can be reopened, and the trust can be restored."

I hope you will carefully consider this admonition and understand my intention. As I write this, I am filled with sorrow and can only weep.

After reading the letter, Madam Li remained silent for a long time.

Looking up at Li Yan, she saw him walking slowly in the courtyard, his expression somber, clearly troubled.

After a long silence, Madam Li finally sighed and shook her head:

“You often told me that when the late emperor was about to pass away, he summoned you and the prime minister to be entrusted with the heavy responsibility of supporting the young emperor, and appointed you as the Protector-General of the Central Army, in charge of military affairs both inside and outside the capital. This was the last measure the late emperor took to check the prime minister.”

Upon hearing this, Li Yan stopped, squinted at Li Shi, and although he seemed to want to say something, he ultimately remained silent.

Li continued to shake her head, speaking in a low voice:

“You often told me that the Prime Minister was in Chengdu, holding all the power of the country, while you commanded the army in the east, defending against Eastern Wu on one hand and guarding against the Prime Minister on the other. You said that this was the late emperor’s foresight.”

At this point, she looked directly at Li Yan, her voice suddenly rising several decibels:

“You often told me that although the late emperor left instructions to the prime minister on his deathbed.”

“If the heir is capable, assist him; if he is incompetent, you may take the throne yourself.”

"However, this was merely a show of trust and authority to the Prime Minister, granting him full power. But the mighty Emperor of the Han Dynasty could not possibly be completely unprepared."

"Therefore, Li Zhengfang, who was capable, prestigious, and had military power, became the check on the prime minister."

At this point, Li paused, looked into Li Yan's eyes, and continued to shake her head.
"You, Li Zhengfang, have said all these arrogant and complaining things to yourself, to me, and to Guosheng countless times."

"Perhaps... the late emperor may have had this intention back then."

“But…” she emphasized the word “but”, her gaze sharp and fixed on Li Zhengfang’s bewildered and astonished old face.

"But you, Li Zhengfang, ask yourself honestly, have you lived up to the weighty responsibility entrusted to you by the late emperor?!"

The lady's question was like a thunderclap, causing Li Yan's face to turn deathly pale. He wanted to rebuke her angrily, but in the end, he couldn't utter a sound.

Li was not afraid of Li Yan:
"In your opinion, the reason why the late emperor summoned you to be a trusted minister to assist the young emperor was to use you to check and balance the prime minister. However, in my opinion, the late emperor only hoped that you could lead the people of Dongzhou and work together with the people of Jingzhou who are gathered around the prime minister to maintain the reins of the country, defend against powerful enemies from the outside, and improve the administration internally."

"And what did you do?" Since Li Yan was dismissed and demoted, Li had never talked to him about these things like this before.

Today, Li Yan took the initiative to show the Prime Minister's handwritten letter, and her meaning was self-evident. She finally poured out all the words she had been holding back for more than half a year... no... for several years, and spoke freely.

"With the passing of the late emperor and the young age of Your Majesty, the Chancellor has been acting as regent. He has told all the officials that 'the Han dynasty and the traitors cannot coexist, and the royal cause cannot be confined to one side.' He is single-mindedly focused on the northern expedition, but he is only fulfilling the late emperor's wishes and working tirelessly to restore the Han dynasty and return to the old capital."

"And what about you? Entrusted with the heavy responsibility of resisting Sun Quan by the late emperor, you, Li Zhengfang, are like that coward Sun Quan, aiming to establish your own independent regime. You only think about your small territory of Yong'an, how to expand your power, and how not to be controlled by the Prime Minister!"

Li pressed on relentlessly, her words like knives, piercing Li Yan's most unwillingly acknowledged selfish desires and realities. Enraged and humiliated, he blushed and angrily rebuked her:

"Li! You...you haven't you heard of 'the husband is the head of the household'?!"

"Is this how a wife of Li Zhengfang should speak to her husband?!"
"It's so presumptuous!"

Undeterred, Li suddenly raised the Prime Minister's letter and placed it in front of Li Yan:

“After the Southern Region was first pacified, you used flattering words to persuade the Prime Minister to accept the Nine Bestowments and be promoted to King. What are your intentions?”
"Do you want the Prime Minister to follow Cao Cao's example and commit treason? Or do you want to put the Prime Minister in a very difficult position? Where do you intend to lead the Han Dynasty? These are not words a subject should speak!"
"The ruler is the guide for the subject, the father is the guide for the son, and the husband is the guide for the wife! These are the Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues, the righteous way of Heaven and Earth! Now, my husband, you have severed yourself from the principles of ruler and subject, and disobeyed the late Emperor's entrustment. How dare you ask me to uphold the principle of the husband being the guide for the wife?!"

Veins bulged on Li Yan's forehead as he tried to retort, but the all-knowing look in his wife's eyes rendered him speechless.

Li continued to speak eloquently:

The Prime Minister replied with a letter of refusal, saying, "If Wei is destroyed and Rui is beheaded, the Emperor will return to his former residence and be promoted along with his sons. I would accept even ten lives, let alone nine evil ones." This was already giving you, Li Zhengfang, some face.

"And when your plan failed, you devised another one." Madam Li recounted her actions, "You actually wanted to request that the five prefectures of Badong, Bajun, and Fuling be ceded to form Bazhou, and offered yourself the position of governor of Bazhou!"

"Li Zhengfang, tell me, is your next step to follow Cao Cao's example and get the Nine Bestowments and become a king?"

However, after saying that, she burst out laughing and shook her head repeatedly:

"You don't have the ambition or the ability."

"You are nothing but unambitious, complacent, selfish, and only think of yourself as superior and the only one who matters, seeking some glory in front of outsiders."

Outsiders may not know Li Yan, but she has been married to him for decades and knows all too well how capable her husband is.

"You have failed the late emperor's entrustment of your son, and you have also failed the prime minister's repeated heartfelt advice, hoping that you would see the error of your ways and return to the right path."

"You always complain, always feel resentful, saying that the Prime Minister wields absolute power, establishing his own government and managing affairs, excluding you, the Central Protector-General who should be in charge of both internal and external military affairs, from the center of power." Madam Li's tone turned to deep sorrow and lingering fear.

“But, Li Zhengfang, my husband.”

"Ask yourself honestly, if someone like you were truly placed in the central government, would the Han Dynasty... possibly have succeeded in its Northern Expedition?!"

"If you, a trusted minister entrusted with the care of the young emperor, were to hold a key position in the central government and stand on equal footing with the prime minister, do you know how many scheming and opportunistic officials would flock around you and flatter you?"
"If you were in the imperial court, you would openly proclaim your argument that 'the Han Dynasty is weak and should be like that coward Sun Quan, who carved out a territory and waited for the right time.'"

"How many people will abandon the late emperor's will and the great cause of the Northern Expedition for fame and fortune, and instead follow you?"

She finally became agitated, her voice trembling:

"If that's the case, the court will be thrown into chaos, and the people's hearts will be scattered! The Northern Expedition will have to be shelved!"

"Will the Han Dynasty still have a prime minister preparing for a northern expedition?"
Will the Great Han Dynasty ever again have its emperor personally leading troops into battle?
"Will the Han Dynasty ever regain its current momentum of resurgence, having recovered Guanzhong, returned the capital to Chang'an, and even with Jingzhou seemingly within reach?"

After the disastrous defeat at Yiling by Wu, Li Yan and the prime minister had a disagreement on the strategy. The prime minister insisted on a northern expedition, while Li Yan opposed it, arguing that the country was small and the people were poor, and that it was not advisable to launch a northern expedition.

There must be a change in the world.

Cao Pi's death was a turning point, but the Han Dynasty was not prepared at the time, and its national strength was far from recovered. Therefore, the matter could only be dropped, and the Han Dynasty missed this "change in the world".

The only thing left to do was wait for Cao Wei to make a mistake.

After Cao Rui ascended the throne, he remained stable and did not launch a major campaign against Han and Wu, so there was no hope of any change in the world.

Human nature is always restless. Since we can't wait for external conflicts to provoke us, we can only turn our attention inward and seek solutions from within.

As a result, Li Yan, who was already opposed to the Northern Expedition, began to fight each other even more fiercely.

To quell external threats, internal stability must come first. With the south in chaos, the Prime Minister wanted to conquer it but had no troops to spare. Li Yan, who commanded a large army, refused to send any. So the Prime Minister trained his own troops and led the southern campaign himself. Li Yan watched coldly, waiting to see the Prime Minister suffer a humiliating defeat in the south. If the Prime Minister suffered a major defeat, he could easily return to the center of power.

Unexpectedly, the Prime Minister, a Confucian scholar who had never trained troops or fought in a war, achieved a great victory in the thorny Southern Rebellion.

Only then did Li Yan begin to completely give up. So much so that when he heard that the emperor was personally leading the expedition and received the emperor's urgent decree, he delayed sending troops and supplies for a whole month.

He never expected that the Northern Expedition would actually succeed.

To everyone's surprise, the emperor made a stunning debut.

Kongming might consider their past friendship, the fact that they were both trusted ministers entrusted with the care of the young emperor, and the fact that he had not caused any serious consequences, and thus show leniency towards him, hoping to influence him to "work together with one heart and mind to achieve the great cause of the kingdom."

But the emperor would not.

In a farce in Jiangzhou, he personally beheaded several of his trusted confidants who had rebelled because of his "ineffective governance," thus cutting himself off from the world.

He was demoted to Chengdu, and no one dared to get close to him anymore.

He was all alone, and all his achievements and fame vanished.

He was completely overwhelmed by the wife's barrage of questions and slumped back, all his strength drained away.

Li took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down:

"Thieves and bandits cannot coexist, and a kingdom cannot be built on partial peace."

"This is the late emperor's will, and it is also Your Majesty's will."

"But you are selfish, arrogant and narrow-minded. Although you have been entrusted with the heavy responsibility of raising the young emperor and have received extraordinary favor, when the Prime Minister was leading the northern expedition and Your Majesty was personally leading the campaign, you did not think of being loyal and serving him. Instead, you caused trouble and deceived the emperor."

"When His Majesty personally visited Jiangzhou, although he feared that his treacherous plot would be exposed, he still harbored a侥幸心理 (a sense of侥幸, or a belief that he could get away with it), and did not personally bind himself and beg His Majesty to punish him. In the end, he was dismissed from his post and his achievements were completely destroyed."

At this point, Madam Li looked directly into Li Yan's eyes again, her gaze returning to calm:
“I do not grieve for this, but rather consider it a blessing.”

Li Yan was taken aback upon hearing this.

Lady Li shook her head: "If it weren't for Your Majesty's wise decision to depose the emperor here, we would never know what kind of disaster the emperor would have caused, not only implicating his family but also overthrowing the foundation of the Han Dynasty. Your Majesty's decision to depose the emperor was merely to prevent disaster from taking hold."

Li Yan's face was deathly pale, his lips moved slightly, and he finally slumped down, head bowed in despair.

After a long silence, Madam Li's tone softened slightly:

“Husband.

"To this day, do you realize your mistakes and repent?"

Li Yan's body trembled almost imperceptibly. He didn't look up or respond, but kept his gaze fixed on a certain pattern on the bluestone floor.

silence.

But silence itself is an answer.

Lady Li gazed at him quietly, taking in all the struggles and embarrassment of this trusted minister entrusted with the care of the young emperor, and understood in her heart.

If this had happened six months ago, given Li Yan's arrogant nature, he would probably have been furious and stormed off upon hearing her hurtful words today.

However, today, from initial shame and anger, to later attempts to argue, and finally to complete silence... even the arrogant Li Yan couldn't utter a decent rebuttal.

It's not that we have nothing to say, but rather that we're at a loss for words.

It's not that I'm unwilling to argue, but deep down I can no longer convince myself.

Madam Li then said:

“My husband possesses the talent to govern the world; how could he be content to spend his life in the idle post of Grand Master of the Palace? Now that His Majesty is borrowing money from the entire nation for the sake of the great affairs of the country, why don’t you contribute funds to relieve the difficulties and show your sincerity to His Majesty? Otherwise, if you remain a minor official for the rest of your life, wouldn’t that be a waste of all your learning? The late Emperor entrusted his son to you, and the Prime Minister showed his sincerity to you; wasn’t it precisely because he valued your talent?”

Li Yan looked up, his expression complex.

He seemed about to speak, but ultimately let out a long sigh.

As night fell and the lights dimmed, Li Yan paced alone in the courtyard, recalling his youthful ambitions and the heavy responsibility entrusted to him by the late emperor... Memories of the past flooded his mind, and his emotions churned.

Finally, he made up his mind, straightened his clothes, and headed straight for the gate of the mansion.

Outside the palace gates, the night was deep.

Li Yan walked to the palace gate and bowed to the guards on duty: "I, Li Yan, Grand Master of the Palace, request an audience with Your Majesty."

The guard recognized Li Yan and immediately went inside to inform him.

About an incense stick's time later, the attendant announced, "His Majesty has retired for the night; Physician Li may return."

Li Yan was slightly taken aback, but showed no intention of backing down.

They retreated to one side of the palace gate and stood respectfully waiting.

On a summer night, swarms of mosquitoes swarmed, and before long, his face and hands were covered with red, swollen welts.

However, he seemed oblivious, simply standing still, his gaze fixed on the palace gate.

As the moon began to set in the west, the over-fifty-year-old minister, entrusted with the care of the young emperor, had stiff legs and was increasingly itchy from the mosquito bites, yet he still showed no intention of leaving.

Just then, footsteps approached from afar.

Li Yan turned around and saw his wife carrying a lantern and walking briskly towards him.

"Why is my husband so foolish?" Lady Li lowered her voice, her tone reproachful. "If you stay here all night and His Majesty doesn't see you, wouldn't he be branded as cruel?"

Li Yan was taken aback: "What does Madam mean?"

The lady sighed softly, "Go back. If His Majesty wishes to see you, he will summon you at the appointed time."

However, he had just returned to the gate of the mansion and had not yet entered when he heard the sound of horses' hooves and the shouts of an attendant behind him:

"Physician, please wait!"
"His Majesty has just awoke and heard that the Grand Master of the Palace is requesting an audience. He has summoned the Grand Master of the Palace to the Xuan Room for an audience!"

Li Yan's heart skipped a beat, filled with both surprise and trepidation. He quickly straightened his clothes and hurriedly followed the attendant back into the palace.

Inside the Xuan Shi Hall, the lights were on full display.

Liu Shan had changed out of his imperial robes and was now wearing a casual robe. He sat behind his desk, looking as if he had just been awakened, with a hint of weariness on his face.

"What brings you, Minister Li, to this late hour?"

The emperor's voice was calm, revealing neither joy nor anger.

Li Yan knelt on the ground, not daring to raise his head, his voice choked with sobs:

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, I have heard that the Prime Minister has implemented the national debt policy in Guanzhong and raised more than 600,000 bushels of grain. I know that Your Majesty's return to Chengdu this time is also to implement this policy that benefits the country. Your Majesty, I am willing to donate my family's savings of 30,000 shi of grain accumulated over the years to the country, in order to do my bit!"

(End of this chapter)