Chapter 609: A Plot in Luoyang Palace

As soon as Luo Xiao's will was determined, the entire land centered on Xingyang began to operate at full capacity.

The young and strong men who had previously gone to Luoyang as decoys began to station there. The first thing Luo Xiao had to do was to build a stable logistical channel from Luoyang to Xingyang.

The last time we fought against Yuan Shao's army was because we had to set an ambush. We had to hide our whereabouts and take the enemy by surprise, so we used the elite troops strategy and completely defeated Yuan Shao's army with one wave of charge.

But it is very difficult to do so this time, and it requires a hard battle.

Hundreds of thousands of Taiping Army soldiers were sent in batches by Luo Xiao to the east of Xingyang and stationed there.

The most elite among them were the 20,000 central troops led by Luo Xiao, 10,000 armored cavalry wearing iron armor and invincible in charging into battle, and 10,000 light cavalry, each with two horses.

Such a large-scale troop mobilization naturally attracted the attention of Luoyang, and Luo Xiao's actions always caught them off guard.

The last time, they thought they were going to attack Luoyang, but ended up launching a surprise attack on Yuan Shao's army.

This time, they thought they would definitely attack the army of the princes in Guandong, but instead they marched across the border to attack Luoyang.

However, after Yuan Shao and other princes fled to Luokong and Huangfu Song's army and told the first-hand information about the defeat, all the princes who were loyal to the king fell silent.

Naturally, some people don’t believe it, but Luo Kong believes it.

Jia Wenhe is able to understand people's minds and has no omissions in his plans. If he says these people are not lying, then they definitely are not lying.

In the Wushuanghou army, Luo Kong rubbed his head in confusion, "Wenhe, this is the news I got from Huangfu Song before.

Zhang Jiao is a military commander like Han Wumu, and his command ability is not inferior to Han Wumu.

How come he suddenly became a military leader like King Xiang who was invincible in charging into battle?

He actually led two thousand cavalrymen to charge three thousand White Horse Volunteers and two thousand elite cavalrymen head-on, fighting ten fierce generals alone and winning the battle. This is simply like a myth. "

Luo Kong is quite knowledgeable. Gongsun Zan's White Horse Volunteers are the elite among the elite.

With the same number of troops, perhaps only the Warriors and the Temple Army can surely defeat the White Horse Volunteers, and the rest are almost on par with them.

But such a strong white horse was crippled in the head-on charge.

This only proves that Zhang Jue was too powerful, which made the Taiping Army's cavalry a level stronger.

Jia Xu said in a deep voice: "My lord, you really have to be careful this time.

Just now, when I was talking with Yuan Benchu ​​and Cao Mengde, I asked about the tactics and arrangements for the last battle and found that there was nothing wrong.

Losing despite having no mistakes and seemingly having the advantage can only mean one thing.

There was a problem in the estimation of Zhang Jue. This man is much stronger than imagined!

This person is most likely a super-powerful person who has reached the pinnacle in both military strategy and military situation, and is a god-level figure who is not inferior to the military immortal Han Wumu and the military lord Xiang Wang. "

Luo Kong studied in Zhaocheng. Although he had never seen with his own eyes how strong Han Xin and Xiang Yu were, he could tell from those passages that he was at least far inferior to them, because he could not achieve the same results as these two people.

Luo Kong couldn't help but think of a face that was always indifferent and extremely beautiful. It was the most talented child in the family, the entire Gaia Luo family who was recognized for his literary and military skills.

If it's my brother, then it should be possible, but it's a pity that I don't know where he is.

…

Yuan Shao and other defeated princes from Guandong were not actually discriminated against. Victory and defeat are common in the military, and there is no defeat in any war.

These princes basically had quite extensive networks of contacts. Some of them communicated with the princes they were on good terms with, while others directly left the army and went to Luoyang.

While the Han court was constantly discussing, the scene on the Taiping Army's side was completely different.

All the leaders were just waiting for Luo Xiao's orders and would not put forward their own opinions, while Luo Xiao was counting the opponents in the court for the Taiping Army leaders, mainly the Taiwei Huangfu Song and the Wushuang Hou Luo Kong.

These are the main leaders of the imperial army, but these two people, especially his younger brother Luo Kong.

Luo Xiao was very aware of his talents and abilities. He was a fierce general and could lead tens of thousands of troops without any problem. This was enough to conquer the world.

In any era, he is a general worthy of being considered a founding father.

But in this golden age, the gap between him and himself was so huge that it was no exaggeration to say that Luo Xiao could defeat him ten times out of ten just by using the charging strategy.

Now Luo Xiao has to command a large army and charge at the same time. It is no exaggeration to say that he can fight ten Luo Kongs at the same time.

And with the military ability of his stupid Ou Doudou, Luo Xiao could play him around in the palm of his hand.

This is what worries Luo Xiao the most. He is determined to break the Mandate of Heaven of the Han court and trample the sacred majesty of the Han court to the bottom.

During this process, the biggest obstacles were Marquis Ying and Marquis Wushuang.

These are his relatives, although he knows that with the collapse of the Mandate of the Han Dynasty, the fate of Marquis Ying and Marquis Wushuang is doomed.

But he couldn't let the blade of his sword be stained with the blood of his relatives, even as Zhang Jue.

Now Yinghou Luochuan has returned to Guandong. Before Luo Xiao dies, I am afraid I will never see Luochuan again.

The only thing to do now is to save Luo Kong's life on the battlefield, and it would be best if he could return to the Western Regions.

…

With the large-scale mobilization of the Taiping Army and the imperial court's troops, the eyes of all the states in the world seemed to be focused here, and even the war was weakened a little.

Anyone with a normal mind can see that this battle in Luoyang will determine the fate of the world.

If the Taiping Army won, the only thing the royal family could do was to flee to Chang'an, Yongzhou, and make sure they would not be caught by the Taiping Army.

Even if the Taiping Army was defeated, it would not be the end of the troubled times.

There are simply too many Taiping troops and bandits pretending to be Taiping troops throughout the world, and the imperial court is incapable of pacifying so many Taiping troops.

The emperor still has to rely on these princes who participated in the war, and by then the world will be divided into many factions.

Unless someone can shock all the princes in Luoyang.

This blatant situation was laid out before everyone, and the nobles in all the states and counties across the country began to look for warlords suitable for cooperation.

It is no exaggeration to say that choosing a lord is a lifelong event. If the chosen lord is not outstanding enough, it will be difficult to change jobs if you are dissatisfied later.

Generally speaking, you only have one chance to change jobs. If you change jobs twice, your reputation will be ruined. In this era, if you are branded as unfaithful, you can forget about getting by.

The people of the world were in unrest, so how could the emperor, who was far away in Luoyang, not be aware of this?

He was a tyrant, but not a fool. On the contrary, he was extremely smart.

It's just that he used all his intelligence for personal enjoyment and maintaining his supreme power, and he even did things that harmed the world for this purpose.

In the Luoyang Palace, there are tall, spacious and magnificent palaces, and extremely prosperous palaces. Pearls, jade, gold and silver decorations can be seen everywhere, and colorful curtains hang down from the corridors.

This is the emperor's bedroom, the residence of the emperor. Rows of palace maids are waiting quietly in the outer hall. The candlelight keeps swaying, flickering with a slight crackling sound.

It should have been a quiet night, but suddenly there was an angry roar from the palace: "Traitors! They are all traitors!"

The emperor woke up from his nightmare. The eunuchs and maids who served him at night came in and knelt on the ground to wait for his order. The emperor gasped for breath and recalled the scene in his dream. His face was full of anger and he shouted loudly: "Quickly call the eunuchs and summon the ministers close to him to the palace. I have an order."

After receiving the order, the eunuch hurried out. He did not want to stay in front of the furious emperor for a moment. Although it was night, the order came from the palace, and all the important figures were awakened from their sleep and hurried to the palace.

No one knew what was wrong with the emperor. They called people into the palace late at night. After entering the emperor's bedroom, they saw that the emperor was sitting on the bed and had not gotten down. Wang Yun, who came from a scholar-official family, was the kind of scholar-official who paid the most attention to etiquette. He immediately wanted to step forward and point out the emperor's disrespect.

As an emperor, how could he face the ministers of the court like this?

Isn't this disrespectful to the ministers?

Wang Yun's temper was too well known to his relatives and friends. He was pulled back and whispered, "This is not a formal meeting. Your Majesty is in a bad mood. The situation is tense now. It's better not to dwell on these trivial matters."

Wang Yun thought back to the tense situation during these days and felt that it was wrong to dwell on these trivial matters now. So he suppressed his dissatisfaction in his heart and sat down angrily, but he did not show it on his face.

When everyone was present, the ministers saw that the palace attendants were also present, and several of them immediately asked loudly, "Your Majesty, did you summon us ministers here to discuss important matters of state?"

The emperor finally came out of the nightmare and said in a hoarse and deep voice, "I just had a thought in my dream, so I summoned all the ministers here."

Hearing this, the men immediately said, "Then please ask the eunuchs to leave our seats. The three eunuchs who are known for their integrity are not here. What qualifications do these eunuchs have to stand in the palace with us upright ministers?"

As soon as these words came out, the attendant immediately jumped up and pointed at the scholar who was speaking and said angrily: "Who are you scolding? You are so arrogant to say hurtful words in front of His Majesty."

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became solemn.

The conflict between scholars and eunuchs was simply one of the eternal conflicts in the Later Han Dynasty. Especially after the Party and Faction Persecution Incident, the blood feud between the two sides could no longer be resolved.

The emperor did not expect that the scholar would start cursing directly on such an occasion, totally disregarding his face as the emperor. A surge of evil fire surged up in his heart, rushing from his heart to his brain!

The emperor looked at the two men fiercely, and the palace was filled with murderous intent. "If anyone says something hurtful again, drag them out and kill them.

The world is in such a critical situation, yet you are still fighting here. Do you still have respect for me, your father and king?"

Seeing that the palace had finally fallen silent, the emperor said, "I summoned all the ministers here because I am worried about the Taiping Army.

I just had a dream that the Taiping Army rushed into Luoyang City, and I and the princes and ministers fell in a pool of blood, and the whole city of Luoyang was on fire. "

The ministers did not expect that the emperor was actually worried about this, but they did not know what the situation was on the front line.

He could only comfort her vaguely, “Don’t worry, Your Majesty.

The Grand Commandant is well versed in military affairs, Marquis Wushuang is a veteran general from the Western Regions, and the rest of the princes are all heroes.

We will definitely be able to defeat the Taiping Army and restore order to the world."

The emperor glanced at everyone's expressions. In fact, this was not what he was most worried about.

What he saw in his dream was not the scene of the Taiping Army breaking through Luoyang. He believed that in order to wipe out the Taiping Army, everyone in the world would do their best.

What he was really worried about was the princes who were now trying their best to resist the encirclement and suppression of the Taiping Army.

He used to trust Huangfu Song, but with the attendants constantly whispering in his ears, he began to doubt him.

In particular, even the Five Surnames would rather go to Guandong to fight the bandits than defend Luoyang, which made the emperor very suspicious.

Huangfu Song clearly had an absolute advantage before, but he was ultimately defeated, which led to the lifting of the Party Ban and the rise of many heroes.

Did Huangfu Song really set up the trap to break up the factions?

Huangfu Song has not been removed yet because the court has no other generals available except Huangfu Song.

Moreover, the emperor believed that even if Huangfu Song was from the aristocratic family, he would not hand over Luoyang to the Taiping Army.

Several people analyzed the reasons why the court would win for the emperor. The emperor listened attentively on the surface, and then when everyone finished speaking, he suddenly said, "It seems that the defeat of the Taiping Army is only a matter of time.

I have a new worry. Even if we defeat the Taiping Army near Luoyang, I am afraid the imperial court will suffer heavy losses.

What should be done with the Taiping Army in various states and counties?

I received some news a few days ago. If some ministers appear to be loyal to me on the surface, but secretly have evil intentions, what should I do? "

As soon as the emperor uttered these words, which were light but tinged with a hint of coldness, the palace fell into silence in an instant, and endless waves were stirred in the hearts of the wise men.

At this time, the emperor actually suspected that those princes who held heavy troops had evil intentions!

If something goes wrong, this matter of serving the king might lead to something terrible. We must first find out who the emperor suspects!

————

The reasons for the demise of any dynasty are complex, but fundamentally, collapsed finances, corrupt administration, repeated natural disasters, and an unqualified monarch are always the main reasons.

As expected, on the road to the demise of the Han Dynasty, an atypical incompetent emperor emerged. The ancient Chinese nobles called him the "Ling" emperor, which means "a flexible and clever emperor." The author believes this is an irony.

Because he seemed to be really smart, and power never fell into the hands of others during his lifetime in power.

But that's all.

He trampled on almost all the conventional political rules. When faced with the increasingly corrupt official selection system and financial and taxation system, he chose the most wrong way and made money by buying and selling official positions and noble titles.

The Chinese called it "drinking a cup of poisoned wine to quench thirst", a wonderful metaphor, and the Han Dynasty fell into decline under the rule of this "spiritual" emperor. - "A Global History of the Qin and Han Dynasties, Volume 15"

(End of this chapter)