The Eve of the Great Chaos (3)
“Only now, when the resentment of the Qingliu faction erupts.”
Xun You concluded that way, with Jin and Yuan watching over him.
“We liken the emperor to the sky because we expect at least harmony with the ministers who are the earth.”
Jin listened without understanding a word of Xun You’s words, simply staring.
Xun You had no idea what lay beyond that ignorance.
It was not even the ambition to elevate the Cai family to the level of the old in-laws.
He followed Xun You’s words instinctively and answered Yuan’s schemes.
He was a beast that could turn from docility to ferocity at any moment.
“No matter how much a minister is praised for his merits and builds up his fame, it all comes from serving the emperor. But if the emperor only sees that ‘service’ as mere ‘obstruction’, how will the ministers know what path to take for the Han dynasty?”
Yuan was different from Jin.
He understood Xun You’s words perfectly and tapped his knee in sympathy for the resentment of the Qingliu, while also pondering how it would benefit him.
“Is the Colonel of the Rapid Tigers (Yuan Shu) a man who is stingy with wealth?”
“For doing great things, how could wealth be a bother?”
Originally, Yuan saw his wealth as that of the Yuan family, not his own.
Since the Yuan family only used his filial piety, Yuan viewed the entire Yuan family as a target for exploitation.
After hearing Yuan’s answer, Xun You nodded subtly and said.
“The emperor’s actions are only guesses, but it has been confirmed that he is connected to the Taiping Dao. That is a great achievement by the Colonel of the Rapid Tigers.”
Yuan bowed modestly.
“It is only a pity that we couldn’t catch the Taoist priests and dig out their inner secrets.”
“The eunuchs are in between, and the Taoist priests have been involved in the care of the deceased...”
Xun You glanced at Jin’s face. Jin had entered Zhang Miao’s house to meet his sister but hadn’t learned the deep secrets.
Of course, if he had been cunning enough to investigate, Emperor Ling wouldn’t have left him alone.
“...That alone is enough to make a rough guess.”
Xun You unfolded a silk. It was a map drawn on silk.
It wasn’t a map covering the entire country.
It was a map where Luoyang was in the lower left corner, and on the upper right, Youzhou, Qingzhou, Jizhou spread out widely.
The map ended at the part on the left holding part of Bingzhou, above holding part of Youzhou, and the sea barely visible.
When Xun You pointed to a place there, Jin and Yuan leaned forward.
“Even if the Taiping Dao forces spread across the various provinces of Guandong, the center is Jizhou. That the emperor decided to tour Jizhou’s Hainan Commandery means there has been considerable progress in negotiations with the Taiping Dao.”
Jin understood that going to Jizhou by the emperor was problematic, and Yuan recalled the lineage of Hainan Commandery and the emperor.
Regardless of what the two thought, Xun You’s explanation continued.
“By the Partisan Prohibitions, the Qingliu were blocked from serving the country, and merchants or those equivalent to merchants were promoted to office, replacing the scholars. In addition, drawing in the Taoist priests... if things proceed according to the emperor’s plan, no scholar-official will ever be able to make a name for himself again.”
“Does Gongdal (Xun You) believe the emperor’s intention is to suffocate and kill the Qingliu?”
“Yes.”
Xun You’s guess of the emperor’s intention was to block the Qingliu from entering official positions and gradually dismantle their power.
It was different from the emperor’s actual intention to dismantle it all at once with the power of the Taiping Dao, but the direction was almost exactly inferred.
“Obtaining fame through office, and merit through office leading to fame again. If this cycle is cut off, no matter how much land and power you gather, it will be useless. Scholar families will gradually decline.”
“What should we do to stop it.”
“We cannot hope for the emperor’s thoughts to change, so we must change the owner of the imperial throne.”
Yuan skillfully hid his anger as much as he hid his joy.
“Depose the emperor and make Liu Bian the emperor.”
Yuan muttered heavily.
Jin’s expression changed.
“Make my sister’s only son the emperor?”
“Yes. Governor of Henan should be like the old powerful in-laws...”
“I don’t know who they are.”
Jin’s eyes rolled like a fierce beast eyeing Yuan. Even Yuan, who was skilled at hiding expressions, had never seen such a gaze, so he flinched slightly.
“If there is anyone who makes my sisters unhappy, I will have them executed.”
Xun You smiled faintly at Yuan as if to say “look at this”.
This was the power that moved Jin.
In fact, when Xun You first met Jin, he was an unremarkable man as the Marquis of Yingchuan. However, he believed thoroughly that following the emperor’s command was the way to make his sisters happy.
Zhang Yang had married his second sister, so for her happiness, Jin would do anything for the emperor and the eunuchs.
“Even if you are the empress, I will make sure my brother doesn’t die as a Taoist priest and enter the palace to suffer all sorts of hardships. That child...”
Jin paused to catch his breath.
“...After that child becomes empress, his face will only be gloomy.”
Jin didn’t know the details that the Empress He had been framed for killing Wang Mi, or that she lived in constant fear. But he knew that the “brother-in-law” who called him “brother-in-law” intimately was not a good husband.
However, the brother-in-law was the emperor, and Jin could do nothing.
In front of such Jin, Xun You and Yuan appeared saying “something can be done”. So Jin was listening to their words.
“The chaos is my sister’s only child.”
Jin said only that, but Xun You and Yuan knew what the silence after that meant.
If something happens to Liu Bian, and his sister cries, you will be executed too.
* * *
The year changed, and finally 184 AD. In the Later Han era name, it was Guanghua 7th year.
184 is more known as Zhongping 1st year than Guanghua, and this “Zhongping” era name was changed to commemorate the suppression of the Yellow Turbans.
If I change history so that the Yellow Turban Rebellion doesn’t happen, perhaps the Guanghua era name would continue.
Or perhaps the era name changes to Zhongping by another method, but I hope it was a better way than the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
There was a monkey demon quest called “Conquest of Northern China”, but I was thinking about the direction that would make Cai Yan happy.
Well, that doesn’t mean I was doing nothing.
Rather, seeing merchants coming and going in Luoyang, I could better imagine how to connect it to Duman City and Shouxiangcheng to take trade profits.
Moreover, since I became “Liu Bao” not by my own claim but by the emperor’s approval, and the emperor treated me as well as a cousin, in a way the situation was better than the original history.
Anyway, in this fateful year, I turned 12.
Before persuading the emperor, Cao Cao and I had to persuade Yuan Shu first.
At first glance, it seems that Yuan Shu is receiving the support of the Qingliu, and Yuan Shu only associates with heroes, but the “Yuan family as a whole” is leaning towards Yuan Shu.
“I know all this and you want me to shut up?”
Yuan Shu opened his mouth in amazement, looking back and forth between me and Cao Cao.
“Are you trying to stop it before things flow to an extreme. Gonglu, don’t tell the family.”
“Ma De, you know how many Taiping Dao there are in Yuzhou, right? No, don’t just think about if it goes well, think about if it doesn’t go well. If the Taoist priests from Henan and the people following them suddenly rebel, are we all going to die? How safe is Pei Kingdom? You don’t think about your family?”
“It’s not like we’re defenseless, and if it’s our family, we have at least a small fortress. If you’re worried, just stack food and weapons inside and prepare. But pretend you don’t know about the emperor’s affairs.”
The “o” or “o wall” refers to a small fortress. In the Later Han era, various warlords didn’t just build mansions on open land, but had such fortresses.
In the original history, the Mi Wall built by Dong Zhuo in Youfufeng Mi County or the Ten Thousand Years Wall was such a thing.
“No, I still don’t understand. So, you should have just handed over the Ma Yuan to Jin according to that guy’s thinking?”
“So, what if the Taiping Dao rebellion really breaks out? Don’t you remember what Brother Xun said at Zhang Hong’s house last time?”
I don’t know what he said, but Yuan Shu seemed to be recalling memories.
“Listen well, Gonglu. Brother Xun got the literary scholars into your hands, the ones you dislike. Now, what is lacking?”
“...The warriors, of course.”
“Yes. That man is only looking for opportunities to achieve military merits. So, he will be the Colonel of Sili, so you should be the Colonel of the Rapid Tigers... well, for now he is the Colonel of the Rapid Tigers, but anyway, if the Taiping Dao causes chaos, the outer in-laws will become the General Who Guards the East or the General Who Guards the Standard as usual.”
“So Jin will become that?”
“Maybe even the Grand General. The reason Brother Yuan is attached to Jin is because of that.”
Only then did Yuan seem to understand.
Shaking his neck left and right as if he couldn’t help but be annoyed, he licked his lips and said to Cao Cao.
“Now I don’t know. You guys try to figure out if he’s the emperor or the Great Worthy Teacher, aho.”
* * *
“Am I going to the Wei Commandery?”
I entered Luoyang City again with Cao Cao and met Emperor Ling. This was the third meeting.
This meeting was the place where the emperor presented the strategies he wanted, so I spoke more boldly.
“The Filial and Mu Emperor was originally the king of Hainan Commandery.”
Before approaching the emperor, with Cao Cao’s help, I had looked up the vast lineage of the Hainan Commandery royal family, the original place of Emperor Ling.
Filial and Mu Emperor.
Or the Filial King Liu Kai of Hainan Commandery.
That was the person who would become the great-grandfather of Emperor Ling.
Originally just the king of Hainan Commandery, but when the previous emperor, Huan Emperor Liu Zhi, who was the emperor’s uncle, ascended the throne, he posthumously honored his grandfather.
When honoring an ancestor who was not emperor, do not attach “Di” but end with “Huang”. So Filial and Mu Emperor.
The Filial and Mu Emperor was the sixth son of the three great generals of the Later Han.
Among the sons of this Filial and Mu Emperor Liu Kai, a man named Liu Zheng inherited the position of Hainan King.
The current Hainan King is Liu Hai, a great-grandson of Liu Zheng, and a seventh cousin of Emperor Ling. Since Emperor Ling was the grandson of Liu Shu, another son of Liu Kai.
“The emperor heard that before becoming the Son of Heaven, he was the Hainan King of the Hainan Commandery. Returning to his hometown is something even the late emperor did, so it is appropriate as an excuse. While touring Hainan Commandery, please visit the Wei Commandery and meet Zhang Jue directly.”
It was impossible to say that Jin and Yuan were trying to take the Ma Yuan.
Originally, it was difficult to publicize that the emperor sent eunuchs to contact the Taiping Dao. It would be hard to provoke Jin and Yuan for obstructing a difficult-to-publicize matter.
Jin, sure, but if provoking Yuan, who knows what chaos would ensue.
Since our goal is to handle things as smoothly as possible, we should just let it go.
“Is there any reason it had to be the Wei Commandery?”
“My foolish thought is, first, because the Ma Yuan can use the Taiping Dao organization to protect the safety of the emperor. If there is a group plotting a vicious conspiracy while the emperor is out of Luoyang, it would be good to block it where the power of the Taiping Dao is strong.”
In the original history, four years later, in 188.
The Qingliu officials plotted to assassinate Emperor Ling and make his younger brother, the Marquis of Hebi, emperor.
I was worried that by skipping the Yellow Turban Rebellion, this event might be advanced.
So, I was trying to protect Emperor Ling’s safety using the Taiping Dao organization.
The emperor thought for a moment and answered.
“Tell me the second reason.”