Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 41 Is there still law? (Happy New Year's Eve everyone!)
In the Nangong Palace, inside the Jiade Hall, the atmosphere was a little depressing.

Liu Bian held a yellow silk cloth in his hand, his eyes slowly wandering over it, and he actually laughed out loud as he looked at it. However, this laughter was filled with a chilling indifference and coldness that made everyone present shudder.

"What a great Zhang Jiao! It's really great!"

Liu Bian's face was so gloomy that it seemed as if water could drip out of it. He suddenly slammed the yellow silk in his hand heavily on the table.

A loud "bang" startled all the court officials in the court. They secretly wondered what kind of news could have made His Royal Highness the Crown Prince so angry.

Liu Bian originally thought that he had made sufficient mental preparations in advance and could remain calm even in the face of the Taiping Dao's rebellious actions.

But the facts proved that he still overestimated his own determination, or rather, underestimated Zhang Jue's courage.

The silk still bore the all-too-familiar eight-character prophecy: "The Blue Heaven is dead, the Yellow Heaven shall rise." However, when Zhang Jue openly raised the "Yellow Heaven" banner in rebellion, he acted so brazenly that he even had a manifesto written to announce it to the world.

"The Blue Heaven is dead, and the Yellow Heaven must be established! The rebellious son Liu Bian has imprisoned his emperor and father, betrayed human ethics, and committed heinous crimes! My Taiping Dao, in compliance with the will of Heaven, will punish this disloyal and unfilial man on behalf of Heaven. The people of the world have suffered for too long, and now Liu Bian's rebellion has only exacerbated the national crisis. All my disciples, we must rise up with divine power, punish this evildoer, and restore the Way of Heaven! All my fellow believers, respond quickly, raise the banner of justice, restore peace to the world, and save the people from danger! On the day this manifesto arrives, we will immediately raise our troops and fight against the traitor together to fulfill Heaven's will!"

Most of this short manifesto of just over a hundred words was actually a harsh criticism of the Crown Prince who was the regent. Every word was as sharp as a knife, pointing directly at him for imprisoning his father and the emperor and usurping the imperial power.

On the day of the coup, a certain ridiculous emperor was swimming naked in the Qingliang Palace and the historians did not accompany him to record it. Therefore, the process of Liu Bian's coup was not generally recorded by the historians.

However, after Zhang Jiao announced this manifesto to the world, even if the historians wanted to keep the name of the respected person secret, it would be difficult to do so.

Liu Bian looked at another piece of silk in his hand, which was a battle report from Lu Zhi, the governor of Jizhou.

The headquarters of the Taiping Dao was in Julu County, but Zhang Jiao decided to start the rebellion in Xindu, intending to directly capture the Jizhou provincial capital and then take over the entire Jizhou in one fell swoop.

The idea was good, but unfortunately Lu Zhi was extremely wary of the Taiping Dao. He selected elite troops to guard the armory and granary in the city, and would never give the Taiping Dao any chance to take advantage.

Moreover, Liu Bian's official document was issued very promptly. The postman rushed 700 miles in two days to deliver the document to Lu Zhi. Then, Lu Zhi blocked the city gates before the Taiping Dao uprising started. With the assistance of the embroidered envoys from Xindu, he killed all 700 people in the city who colluded with the Taiping Dao rebels, thus thwarting Zhang Jiao's arrangement in Xindu.

Liu Bian took a deep breath, calmed himself, and asked, "I wish to lift the Party ban and pardon all those imprisoned during the two Party bans. Do you have any objections?"

objection?

Of course there is no possibility of objection!
If the Crown Prince had not lifted the ban on factions during the Taiping Dao rebellion, they would have wanted to clap their hands and laugh.

He is truly the wise and enlightened Prince!

Such a wise and enlightened prince was scolded like this by you just because he placed a tyrant under house arrest!

Is there any royal method?
Is there any law?
Different from the thoughts of other officials, the officials of the Crown Prince's Mansion also had their own thoughts when they participated in the grand court meeting for the first time, but no one agreed with what was said in Zhang Jiao's manifesto.

Even though the Han Dynasty ruled the world with filial piety, most of those recruited by the prince were not very satisfied with Liu Hong, or were people like Jia Xu who did not care about this at all, otherwise they would not accept the prince's recruitment at all.

Most of the prince's retainers were speaking up for the prince, or thinking about how to wipe out the moth thieves, but everyone glanced at Jia Xu, who was sitting below the seat of a two thousand stone official, from time to time.

"The Crown Prince's Guard Commander Cheng Yu has been commended for his contributions in arresting the Yellow Turban rebels and maintaining public order in the capital. He is hereby appointed Governor of Hedong!"

"Dong Zhuo, the former governor of Hedong, is a brave and skilled warrior. He has been appointed General of the Eastern Army. I would like to entrust him with the task of quelling the rebellion and maintaining national security!"

"Prince's servant Dong Zhao, appointed Governor of Henei!"

"Zhong Yao, the Crown Prince's Secretary, is appointed the Magistrate of Luoyang!"

"Zhou Yi, the former Luoyang magistrate, has a noble character and has devoted himself to public service for many years. He has been promoted to the rank of Guanglu Dafu." "Zhang Zhao, the Crown Prince's Secretary, has been appointed as the Chief of the Imperial Guards!"

"Zhang Hong, the Crown Prince's Secretary, is appointed Chief Architect!"

In return for lifting the Party Ban, Liu Bian secured several important positions for his retainers, especially the chief official in the Sanhe area.

This was not just to fight for power with officials and scholars, but Liu Bian really could not feel at ease to hand over the Sanhe area to others.

Luoyang, as the imperial capital, had no outer city walls. Only the palace city had city walls. Therefore, Liu Bian had to hold the Sanhe area in his hands and never allow others to get involved.

Of course, the wise prince Liu Bian also took into account the psychology of all the officials whose positions were replaced. Although they were promoted to empty positions with little power, their official ranks were raised from the 1,000-stone level to the 2,000-stone level.

In addition to the Sanhe area, the most important thing is to guard the gate of Luoyang - the Eight Passes.

The Eight Passes are Hangu Pass, Taigu Pass, Guangcheng Pass, Yique Pass, Huanyuan Pass, Xuanmen Pass, Mengjin Pass, and Xiaopingjin Pass.

As long as the Three Rivers are in our hands, the selection of the Eight Pass Commandants is not that important.

The eight passes are all easy to defend but difficult to attack. It is impossible for the Yellow Turban bandits to capture any of the eight passes without leaving behind more than ten thousand corpses.

Since Ma Yuanyi was captured and all the Taiping Dao rebels in Songluo and Henan were wiped out, Zhang Jue's rebellion plan could be declared a failure.

"Appoint Yuan Shao, the clerk of the General of Chariots and Cavalry and Imperial Censor, as the Commandant of Hangu Pass; appoint Wang Kuang, the clerk of the General of Chariots and Cavalry, as the Commandant of Taigu Pass; appoint Zhang Feng (son of Zhang Rang), the Minister of Chariots and Imperial Censor, as the Commandant of Guangcheng Pass; appoint Zhang Cheng, the clerk of the General of Guards and Counselor, as the Commandant of Yique Pass; appoint Jian Yong, the Grand Master of the Imperial Guards, as the Commandant of Huanyuan Pass; appoint Xun Wei (son of Xun Shuang), the Counselor, as the Commandant of Xuanmen Pass; appoint Yuan Shu, the Commandant of the Military Commandery, as the Commandant of Mengjin Pass; appoint Huan Dian, the clerk of the Minister of Civil Affairs and Imperial Censor, as the Commandant of Xiaopingjin Pass. These are the eight commandant passes!"

Liu Bian distributed the eight pass commanders to various factions, including officials from the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Mansion, the eunuch group, officials from the General of Guards' Mansion, officials from the Crown Prince's Mansion, the future new foreign relatives' forces, and officials from the Minister of the Interior's Mansion. This way, no single faction would be left with a dominant position, and all parties would be satisfied.

Yuan Wei was undoubtedly the most satisfied one among them, because Dong Zhuo, an old official whom he had recommended in the past, was promoted to General of the Eastern Army by the Crown Prince.

It seems that a small General of the Central Army is not worth mentioning at all, but what kind of power do the Generals of the Central Army have today?

The General of the Central Army in the North was the Governor of Jizhou and the Minister of the Secretariat Lu Zhi, the General of the Central Army in the Left was the Governor of Yanzhou and the Prefect of the Guards Yuan Pang, and the General of the Central Army in the Right was the Governor of Liangzhou Zhu Jun. If Dong Zhuo became the General of the Central Army in the East, it would mean that he had finally gained control of the military power!

Military power is a good thing. With it, you can do many things.

Yuan Wei believed that since the prince had promoted Dong Zhuo to the rank of General of the Eastern Army, he must be entrusting Dong Zhuo with the task of suppressing the rebellion.

Dong Zhuo has made many military achievements over the years and is considered a brave general. It should not be difficult for him to quell the Yellow Turban Rebellion. By then, Dong Zhuo will continue to climb the military ladder and gain access to more military power.

However, the prince unexpectedly appointed the governor of Beidi, Huangfu Song, as the General of the Central Army for Suppressing Rebellion, ranking above the General of the Central Army for the East, and assisted Dong Zhuo in suppressing the rebellion together with the General of the Central Army for the East.

"Assisting the Prime Minister in suppressing the enemy?"

Taiwei Yang Ci frowned slightly. As a Taiwei, he was particularly sensitive to these words.

In other words, neither Huangfu Song nor Dong Zhuo would be the commander-in-chief of the army, so who else could it be?
As the Grand Marshal, Yang Ci racked his brains to think of no other candidate in the court with such qualifications, prestige and ability.

Unexpectedly, the Crown Prince suddenly stood up, slamming his hands on the table, his knuckles turning white from the exertion. His eyes widened as he scanned the court, then angrily raised the manifesto: "I have decided to personally lead the charge to defeat the moth bandits!"

　I was a bit busy on New Year's Eve, so the update is late. I'm really sorry.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)