Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 71 He Yong was executed by disembowelment! (Please pre-order!) (2/5)

As news of the crown prince and Huangfu Song's victory spread, the powerful and influential held banquets to celebrate, and scholars and the more affluent among the common people also flocked to the restaurants. Some gathered in groups of three or five, arm in arm, chatting excitedly; some even enthusiastically clinked glasses with strangers they encountered in the restaurants, toasting together to this great victory.

The Han Dynasty valued martial arts. According to the Han system, everyone from the emperor to the officials wore swords. Even the scholars in Taixue and Hongdumen School were no exception. They were all proud to wear long swords on their waists and naturally paid special attention to martial arts.

Inside a Luoyang restaurant, several Imperial College students toasted to the Crown Prince's victory. After three rounds of drinks, their faces flushed. After praising the Crown Prince's wisdom, a student named Fan Qin suddenly changed the subject.

"I've heard that the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou are the strongest rebel force under the Taiping Dao, aside from the forces led by the traitor Zhang Jue. Yet, the Crown Prince and the General of the Central Army, with fewer than 50,000 men, defeated an enemy force of 160,000 to 170,000." Fan Qin spoke, then suddenly glanced around with a wary look in his eyes. He lowered his voice slightly and asked, "But why did the General of the Central Army of the North lose cities and territory to the traitor Zhang Jue, suffering repeated defeats?"

Although Fan Qin lowered his voice, it was still barely audible to the nearby tables. A few of them had strange expressions on their faces, their originally cheerful faces froze for a moment, and then they pretended to be nonchalant, slightly tilting their ears and silently continuing to eavesdrop on the conversation at this table.

"Jizhou is the headquarters of the Taiping Dao. The moth bandits are deeply entrenched and have complex networks. I believe they have many accomplices within the city. Moreover, the bandit chieftain's forces far outnumber those of Lu Jizhou, and the incompetent king has abandoned the city and fled." Another Tai student named Du Xi frowned upon hearing Fan Qin's remarks and immediately retorted, "All these factors make me think that Lu Jizhou is still maintaining the situation in Jizhou. He is truly a world-renowned general!"

Lu Zhi had a reputation for being upright and selfless both in the court and in the country, and was always respected by scholars.

Now that the ancient literature school was on the rise and Lu Zhi was appointed as the Prince's Tutor, he became more and more admired by scholars and students.

A person who is upright and incorruptible, has a dignified appearance, is famous for his study of classics, is proficient in common affairs, is good at fighting, and even the barbarians are intimidated by his benevolence, righteousness and majesty, such a person is almost a flawless scholar in the eyes of the students.

If it were in later generations, Lu Zhi would be praised as "a general and a prime minister".

And when such a perfect scholar became the Prince's tutor, and was deeply trusted by the Prince and entrusted with important tasks and power, such a perfect and promising scholar naturally became an idol that the scholars touted as a "role model for the world."

The last person to be touted as a "role model for the world" was Guo Tai, but compared with Lu Zhi, Guo Tai was only praised for his character, while Lu Zhi was praised by people all over the world for his character, talent, and even his circumstances.

Anyone who dares to make a negative comment about Lu Zhi will definitely be drowned in the spit of countless scholars.

When Fan Qin heard Du Xi's defense of Lu Zhi, his already flushed face instantly became even redder, his eyes widened, and his anger seemed to be bursting out. He slammed the table and stood up, waving his sleeves to pour out all the wine and food on the table, and he was unaware that the wine splashed on his clothes.

He angrily scolded: "How do you know that Lu Zigan is not deliberately nurturing the enemy to gain power?"

"My uncle was Wang Fen, the former governor of Julu. He was demoted by Lu Zigan and replaced by Guo Dian, a member of the Fengyi Guo family, a school of ancient literature. What was the result?"

"Many cities in Julu County have fallen. This is clearly a gang of thieves attacking dissidents!"

"Nonsense! Everyone knows that Lu Jizhou is upright, how can I allow you to slander the court ministers!" Fan Qin's radical words instantly aroused Du Xi's anger. Du Xi stood up and clenched his fists, staring at Fan Qin. The muscles on his face trembled slightly with anger. He retorted sarcastically, "How do you know that Guo Julu's loss of the city and the land was not your uncle's 'credit'?"

Fan Qin was stunned when he heard this. The anger on his face turned into astonishment in an instant, and then a wave of shame and anger surged on his face. His teeth chattered, and he was immediately furious. He grabbed Du Xi's collar and punched him.

Du Xi's words were clearly mocking him, saying that Guo Dian, the current Julu prefect, lost the city and land because the previous Julu prefect Wang Fen left behind a mess.

As a martial arts-loving student of the Imperial College, Du Xi naturally could not just take a beating without fighting back.

While the two men were fighting, someone took the opportunity to instigate them, and the scholars and students of the modern literature school and the ancient literature school suddenly started fighting each other physically.

And similar things didn't just happen in this restaurant.

Throughout Luoyang, people were criticizing Lu Zhi in almost every restaurant.

And not surprisingly, these people were all scholars or students of the Modern Literature School. The entire restaurant in Luoyang City seemed to be swept up in the heated debate, and the air was filled with tension and gunpowder.

At first, Zhang Zhao, the Chief of the Imperial Guards, did not pay much attention to it, thinking it was just a struggle between the ancient literature school and the modern literature school.

The fighters were thrown into prison for a few days and then behaved themselves, while those who did not participate in the fight were expelled on the spot.

It was not until Luoyang Magistrate Zhong Yao told him that the prisons under his jurisdiction were no longer able to hold people and hoped to lend him a few rooms in the Praetorian Guards' prison that Zhang Zhao realized that something big was going to happen after he discussed it with Zhong Yao.

Just as the two were planning to go find Jia Xu, the governor of Henan, to discuss the matter, Xiahou Dun, the commander of the imperial guards, led the imperial cavalry and came galloping over.

"Zi Bu, Yuan Chang, quickly follow me to the palace gate. Disaster is brewing!"

Outside the gate of Luoyang Palace, a man was dressed in plain white clothes, with a green jade belt hook around his waist emitting a cold light.

The palace guards, puzzled by his meaning, approached with their spears in hand to question him. "I am He Yong from Nanyang!"

Facing the interrogation of the guards holding spears, He Yong shouted to the sky and gave his name.

Once upon a time, He Yong had offended the eunuchs and had to flee to Runan County during the Factional Persecution Dispute. He then worked with Yuan Shao to rescue other people who were being hunted by the eunuchs. Because of these heroic deeds, he became famous among the literati and was respected by people. Countless people visited him to seek his comments.

However, the Party Ban was lifted, and He Yong was surprised to find that even most of the Ten Attendants had been dealt with, and the power of the eunuchs was also restricted. Now the new political contradiction in the Han Dynasty was no longer the contradiction between scholars and eunuchs, but a dispute between modern and ancient literature among scholars.

When the conflicts among the scholars shifted to each other, the reputation that He Yong had accumulated in previous years from his struggle with the eunuchs was halved, and even his presence became much lower.

At the beginning, He Yong rescued scholars regardless of their schools of thought, so he gained a lot of popularity among both factions.

In academic disputes, it is absolutely not allowed to have two minds. You can study both modern and ancient Chinese literature, but you can only support one school of thought.

It was as if He Yong had just bought a piece of gold with his life's salary, but the price of gold was cut in half. How could he not feel lost and helpless?

What bothered He Yong the most was that he was not good at studying classics. It was not that he knew nothing about it, but when facing famous scholars of the ancient literature school who were of equal status to him, He Yong's level of studying classics was completely insufficient, and bullying the younger ones seemed cheap.

In other words, He Yong is just a pure vase now.

Since he has no practical value anymore, even though Situ Yuanwei is still willing to continue to support him and appoint him as the Chief Clerk of the Situ Palace, sooner or later he will be abandoned and his efforts over the years will be in vain.

He would never allow this to happen!
He would rather die famous than live in obscurity!

He Yong's bony index finger slowly smoothed the wrinkles on his plain white gown, his movements steady and slow, as if he were performing a solemn ritual. He then removed his crown and carefully gathered the drooping hair back into his Jinxian crown. The silver hairpin made a subtle, crisp sound as it pierced his bun.

The servant beside him brought an incense burner with curling green smoke and a bamboo mat for He Yong.

He Yong looked calm as he sat down slowly on the bamboo mat, his movements neither hurried nor slow, as if everything around him had nothing to do with him.

Afterwards, He Yong drew out the short sword from his waist and gently wiped the sword with the white silk in his arms. The sword gleamed with cold light, reflecting the elegant and delicate face.

Seeing He Yong draw his sword, the guards at the palace gate were immediately alarmed and pointed their halberds at He Yong. Some alert guards wrapped their hands with cloth and were ready to step forward and snatch the dagger from He Yong's hand at any time.

After smoothing out the last wrinkle on his clothes with his fingertips, He Yong took the bamboo slips handed to him by the servant. Seeing that the number of scholars and common people gathered here had completely blocked the street, He Yong took a deep breath and read aloud the contents of the letter between Zhang Rangbinke and Zhang Jue.

"I have heard that Madam Lu Jizhou has always followed the 'Taiping Qingling' and prayed to Zhonghuang Taiyi morning and night. This is truly a divine will. I should advise Madam Lu Jizhou to raise the banner of rebellion and respond to Huangtian!"

When the content of the letter included the fact that Lu Zhi's mother believed in the Taiping Dao and Zhang Jue was planning to persuade Lu Zhi to rebel against the Han Dynasty through Lu Zhi's mother, all the ministers and common people present were in an uproar.

However, He Yong ignored the excitement of the crowd, raised his dagger, and had a faint smile on his lips.

There was both determination and a hint of relief in that smile.

"Nanyang He Boqiu, I am willing to sacrifice my life to impeach the Northern Army General Lu Zhi!"

With a roar at the top of his lungs, He Yong held the dagger in both hands, stabbed it fiercely at his abdomen, and then cut his abdomen open with a horizontal cut.

The sound of it entering the flesh was particularly harsh, and the tiny crunching sound when it cut through the abdomen was even more terrifying.

The blood instantly dyed the plain white clothes red, which looked particularly dazzling in the sunlight.

(3033 words)
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PS: In fact, the Japanese also learned the "seppuku" thing from us. It was mostly used to die for the master and prove one's innocence (yes, similar to eating a few bowls of noodles! But the liver and intestines were cut out to prove one's loyalty and innocence)
During the Spring and Autumn Period, there was the case of Hong Yan, a minister of the State of Wei, who committed suicide by disembowelment for Duke Yi of Wei. There was also the case of Nie Zheng who disfigured himself and then committed suicide by disembowelment. There was also the case of Wei Zi, a retainer of Mengchangjun, who disemboweled himself outside the palace gate of King Qi to clear the suspicion that Mengchangjun and Tian Jia were conspiring to rob and kill King Min of Qi (in fact, they were indeed accomplices, and they used their death to confuse right and wrong).

PPS: Although I am too busy today and update slowly, the word count in each chapter is absolutely amazing!!!
PPPS: I'm so tired I almost fell asleep on my desk. I've been so busy, and my sleep and work schedule has been messed up lately. I'd rather not write full-time if I'm not in good shape than write garbage for my readers, which would disgust me and my readers. I'll definitely make up for the missed updates!

(End of this chapter)