Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 70 Yuan Wei: I will support your wife and children myself! (Please subscribe)
In Luoyang City, the battle report of the Crown Prince and Huangfu Song's suppression of the Yellow Turban Army in Yuzhou had been delivered for many days.

The more than 100,000 Yellow Turban troops entrenched in Yuzhou were wiped out in one fell swoop. When this news came, both the officials in the court and the people in Sanhe felt relieved, as if a huge stone in their hearts had finally fallen to the ground.

Yuzhou and Luoyang are very close. If the Yellow Turban Army marches westward, they can reach the city in just half a month, which is really hard to sleep.

In addition, most of the officials in the court were from Yuzhou. Although they did not have to face the threat of the Yellow Turban Army directly in the court, they were always worried about the safety of their families.

However, the Crown Prince and Huangfu Song pacified the 160,000 to 170,000 Yellow Turban Army with a force of less than 50,000, which also shows that this group of peasants were indeed weak and vulnerable.

When the external enemy, which was once regarded as a threat to the survival of the country, suddenly exposed its weak nature, cracks began to quietly appear within the internal unity that was originally closely united to resist the enemy.

On a day off, Yuan Wei invited Taiwei Yang Ci, Shangshu Ling Liu Tao, Guanglu Dafu Liu Kuan, as well as the Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Rites He Yong, the Chief Censor Han Fu, the Assistant Censor Hu Wuban, the Cavalry Commandant Zhang Miao, the Secretary Zheng Tai, and the Ministry of Rites Wu Qiong, a group of scholars of the modern literature school, to gather at his mansion. Such a large-scale gathering naturally could not escape the eyes and ears of the ancient literature school.

However, the ancient literature school did not pay much attention to this, and now the offensive and defensive situation has changed.

In their view, the ancient literature school had long since escaped the plight of being suppressed in the past and was no longer the school that could only develop among the middle and lower class scholars and was difficult to be accepted by the upper class.

The ruler of the Han Dynasty is the current Crown Prince. His Imperial Tutor is Lu Zhi, a leading figure in the School of Classical Literature. His Junior Tutor and future father-in-law is Xun Shuang, a leading scholar in the School of Classical Literature. Both of the Crown Prince's mentors are from the School of Classical Literature. As long as the Crown Prince's position is secure, the rise of the School of Classical Literature is unstoppable.

Furthermore, Lu Zhi now held the crucial posts of Governor of Jizhou, Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince, and General of the Northern Army, and was granted the power of the Imperial Guards. This made him arguably the most powerful official in the Han Dynasty. Cai Yong, another leading figure in the Classical Literature School, also served as Governor of Xuzhou and was granted the power of the Imperial Guards. With the Classical Literature School at its peak, what would it matter if two of the Three Dukes were members of the Modern Literature School?

Ma Riti said disdainfully, could it be possible that these insects from the modern literature school could overthrow all the giants of their ancient literature school?

However, Ma Riti did not expect that his uncle really planned this.

In the Situ Mansion, Yuan Wei looked at the people gathered today and said solemnly, "Everyone, those present today may be the pillars of our Modern Literature School, or they may be the young talents of the Modern Literature School. I will not elaborate further, but I only ask you one question: are you willing to let the Modern Literature School decline in our generation?"

Yuan Wei's voice was very flat, but his words made everyone present straighten their backs unconsciously, especially the young people.

No matter what difficulties the New Literature School faced, it could not change Yuan Wei's position as the leader of the scholars in the New Literature School, nor could it change the aristocratic status of the Runan Yuan family, with three generations of officials in four generations, and Yuan Wei's own official position as Si Tu. Naturally, this group of young people were moved by the recognition from the current Si Tu.

Although the older generation of modern literature masters, such as Yang Ci, Liu Tao and Liu Kuan, did not show it on their faces, a fire was burning in their hearts.

Regardless of whether they were the reason for the decline of the New Literature School, regardless of what status the New Literature School enjoyed in later generations, and regardless of how much effort they made, whenever the descendants of the New Literature School mention them, they will only say that the official status of the New Literature School was lost in their generation.

How could these older generation scholars of the Modern Literature School accept this?
"Wang Zishi sent his son Wang Jing back to the capital on the pretext of visiting his mother. After entering Luoyang yesterday, he brought a letter to me." As he spoke, Yuan Wei took out a bamboo slip from his sleeve and looked at everyone mysteriously.

"Lord Ciyang, what did Wang Yuzhou write in the letter?"

As the Chief Secretary of the Si Tu Mansion of Yuan Wei, He Yong naturally took the initiative to act as Yuan Wei's supporting actor.

"This isn't a letter from Master Wang Zi, it's a letter from Zhang Jue!"

Yuan Wei looked at the astonished crowd, stood up and personally handed the letter to Yang Ci, who was sitting in the first seat on the right. Seeing that Yuan Wei did not read the contents of the letter in public, but also handed over the bamboo slips personally, Yang Ci became more curious about the contents of the letter.

What kind of letter could possibly have caused Yuan Wei to be so cautious, yet still believe it could help their Modern Literature School achieve a comeback? However, when Yang Ci flipped open the bamboo slips and read their contents, his face suddenly turned pale. The fingertips on his hands turned white, and his body trembled. He felt as if the bamboo slips in his hands weighed a thousand pounds. He suddenly looked at Yuan Wei in surprise and exclaimed, "Ah!? How... Ci Yang, how could you... do this!"

Seeing Yang Ci's reaction, everyone became more curious. However, Yuan Wei did not respond to Yang Ci. He passed the letter in his hand to Liu Tao, and then to Liu Kuan, He Yong, and so on. The expressions on everyone's faces were either surprised or panicked, except for He Yong, who had a flash of joy in his eyes.

"If this matter were to become known to the world, even if he's not imprisoned, all his official positions would be revoked. Lu Zhi would also lose his positions as Governor of Jizhou and General of the Northern Army. The only person qualified to take over the military and political power in Jizhou..." He Yong excitedly slammed the table, his hands firmly on it, leaning forward, his face flushed with excitement, and said passionately, "The only one who is qualified is Dong Zhongying!"

Dong Zhuo had experience as the governor of Bingzhou and was also known for his bravery and fighting skills. He was qualified to succeed Lu Zhi in terms of both qualifications and abilities.

And Dong Zhuo's sponsor was Yuan Wei!

How can we not do something that hurts the enemy and benefits ourselves?

However, Yang Ci was not very optimistic about this matter. He frowned and said solemnly, "Lu Zigan is the Prince's tutor. He is the Prince's teacher after all. If he targets Lu Zhi like this, the Prince will definitely not be happy. Ci Yang should be extremely cautious and not act rashly!"

As a scholar of the older generation of the Modern Literature School who was of the same generation as Yuan Wei, Yang Ci was the only one qualified to persuade Yuan Wei so bluntly.

Liu Tao also frowned. Lu Zhi was now fighting bravely on the front line. Because of those idiots, the situation in Jizhou had already deteriorated. If he replaced the generals again in the middle of the battle, he was really worried that the situation in Hebei would become turbulent.

Yuan Wei, however, was somewhat disdainful. He addressed the crowd, "The Crown Prince and Huangfu Song, with less than 50,000 men, could have completely wiped out the 160,000 to 170,000 Yellow Turbans in Yu Province. Lu Zhi also possesses an extraordinary force, aided by Dong Zhongying. How could such a rotten situation exist?"

"Ha!" Yuan Wei sneered and said calmly, "In my opinion, Lu Zigan is clearly nurturing the enemy to protect himself, in order to maintain his power as Governor of Jizhou, General of the Northern Army, and Fake Imperial Guards!"

"Zi Qi (Liu Tao's courtesy name), you are the Minister of the Chancellery. You should know how many officials of our current literary school have been demoted since Lu Zigan became the Governor of Jizhou. He is clearly forming a clique in Jizhou to exclude dissidents!"

Upon hearing this, several young scholars of the Modern Literature School all looked at Liu Tao. Even Yang Ci, who had never known about this, looked at Liu Tao in surprise.

"Two prefects, one prime minister, and thirteen county magistrates were impeached and dismissed by Lu Zhi. The Crown Prince approved all of them."

Liu Tao smiled bitterly and slowly listed the number of local officials in Jizhou who had been impeached by the Secretariat since Lu Zhi took office. Even Yang Ci felt a little angry at this number.

This Lu Zigan's greedy behavior is a bit too ugly. He relies on the prince's reliance and trust to suppress the modern literary school.

"I need a responsible and courageous scholar to make this matter known to the world!"

Yuan Wei swept his gaze over the young talents present, his expression solemn, and said solemnly: "Regardless of success or failure in this matter, I will take care of your wife and children!"

"Your son, I will personally teach you the Meng Clan's Book of Changes and marry you to a legitimate daughter of our clan! Your daughter, I will select a talented person from our clan to marry!"

"The heavens and the earth have witnessed this!"

The young talents present swallowed their saliva. The pie that Yuan Wei painted was too big!
The Runan Yuan family, which had three dukes in four generations, had only lost the top spot among the Han gentry even though the modern literary school had declined. It was still a top gentry.

If they could make their son become the direct disciple of the head of Runan Yuan family, and teach him "Meng's Yi" as the family's teaching, and if they could marry him to the legitimate daughter of Runan Yuan family, or even marry their daughter to the talented man of Runan Yuan family, they would not hesitate even to be cut into pieces, let alone die!
(2608 words)-
PS: I just finished a seven-day wake yesterday and didn’t have time to save any drafts. This morning I was attending the weekly leadership meeting on behalf of my boss and I really didn’t have time to code. I skipped lunch, but I’ll try my best to write five chapters for you today!
(End of this chapter)