Chapter 664: A decree came through the clouds!
It has been more than a year since Dong Zhuo's rebellion was quelled, and peace has gradually returned to the states and counties. However, people with insight can see the turbulent undercurrents in it. No one knows how much evil and murderous intent are condensed in it, and no one knows when the war will suddenly reignite and sweep across the Thirteen States of the Han Dynasty, and even among the entire Xia countries.
The former Xiliang generals had been trembling with fear in the early days, but later they found that the princes of the world did not condemn them, so they gradually put their minds at ease and began to make moves.
Li Jue and Guo Si occupied the Three Prefectures, but their ability to govern was extremely poor, and their use of political power was extremely poor. As a result, their power was gradually usurped by the nobles and aristocrats who had basically no power.
Although Li Jue and Guo Si were not very smart, they had a keen sense of smell and soon realized this. The terrified two of them naturally did not know how to play the check and balance game, so they chose the classic tyrant method, which was to start a massacre.
The three prefectures of Chang'an, which had been relatively peaceful, suddenly became a river of blood.
The gentry in Guanzhong were completely desperate and migrated with their entire clans to Liangzhou, Yizhou and Sanhe.
In this era when the gentry was the boss, it was impossible to find so many officials just from common families. Seven out of ten officials at the grassroots level in Guanzhong resigned, and the court institutions in the entire Sanfu area were almost at a standstill.
Li Jue and Guo Si naturally didn't care about these things. They just felt that finally no one could threaten their status and lives.
Chang'an.
After Li Jue and Guo Si eliminated their political enemies on a physical level, they gathered together to discuss the future. After all, the situation did not look good.
Li Jue was more impatient and said first: "The most important thing now is to win over allies. Ma Teng and Han Sui of Liangzhou have accepted our titles.
Although Zhang Ji is a hypocritical person, he is from Xiliang after all, so he will not kill us. Now he wants to confer official titles on the princes of Shandong.
If you are willing to accept, it proves that you recognize the value of the Han Emperor in our hands and can be our ally. If you are unwilling to accept, then we are our enemy!"
Guo Si himself did not take Liu Xie seriously, so he judged others by his own experience and said, "Those Shandong princes are all as cunning as devils. Will they recognize that little kid Liu Xie?"
Li Jue laughed with a hint of sarcasm when he heard this and said, "Of course some people will not agree, but as long as the official position promised is high enough, there will always be people who will agree. After all, this is the emperor of the Liu family with the highest legitimacy. If you don't recognize this emperor, do you want to establish your own emperor?
There are some people in this world who are truly loyal subjects of the Han Dynasty, but they have problems in their brains. Don't think that the emperor in our hands is just a puppet, some people are willing to die for this emperor.
Have you forgotten the unrivaled Hou Luokong?
After Emperor Xiaomin died, he could have lived but he insisted on dying. There are more than one people like Luo Kong in this world.
Liu Bei, Liu Xuande, who now occupies Qingzhou, regards himself as a member of the royal family of Han. If we give him an order in the name of the imperial court, can he simply refuse?
The reason why he was recognized by Ying Hou and the two Lus was fundamentally because of Liu's bloodline, which allowed him to gather a group of ministers who intended to restore the Han Dynasty.
If he is still just a self-proclaimed governor of Qingzhou and does not obey the orders of the Liu clan, how will people in the world view him?
Most importantly, how would Liu Yu of Youzhou, Liu Biao of Jingzhou, and Liu Yan of Yizhou, who were high-ranking relatives of the Han Dynasty, view him?"
Upon hearing this, Guo Si looked at Li Jue in surprise. He didn't understand how Li Jue could analyze these things so clearly. In the past, only the military advisor Li Ru had such ability.
When Li Jue saw Guo Si's smug smile, he certainly would not tell Guo Si that he had already recruited new advisers to give him advice so that he could completely overwhelm Guo Si in the future and become the sole ruler of the three prefectures of Chang'an.
Guo Si was somewhat suspicious. He felt that Li Jue had become different now, which made him a little uneasy. Li Jue said, "How should we enfeoff these Guandong princes? Do you have any ideas?"
Reluctantly putting aside his complicated thoughts, Guo Si recalled the idea someone had suggested: "Although most of the prefectures and counties in Shandong now have their masters, they are all self-appointed. We can promote these people to the position of governor and prefect, and then promote their vassal states to the title of general and county marquis, so that they can fight each other."
This is an open conspiracy!
This trick will be useless unless the two parties can completely trust each other. But there is not so much trust between the lord and the vassal. It is just a military alliance.
For example, Cao Cao was Yuan Shao's younger brother, and was even supported by the same aristocratic group. Taking stock of the counselors under the two men, the Xun family, the Guo family, and the Xin family were all big aristocratic families. But once they developed, they immediately fought to the death and no longer cared about their previous relationships.
The aristocratic families are placing their bets separately, but there are also disputes within the families. If Yuan Shao wins, the head of the Xun family will naturally pass to the Xun Chen lineage. If Cao Cao wins, the head of the Xun family will naturally pass to the Xun Yu lineage. No one will hold back.
After Li Jue and Guo Si decided on the strategy to divide the Shandong princes, they began to plan to confer official titles on them. After they had thought about it for three days, one imperial edict after another came out, stamped with the emperor's seal.
The emperor said: "Since ancient times, the emperor has been in charge of the central government. Could it be possible that he lacks the assistance of wise ministers?
Since ancient times, haven’t the titles and positions of ministers been granted by kings?
Since ancient times, has there been any minister who established himself as an independent minister and had a good end?
I do not want to see the loyal ministers of the world being blamed for this. Now I will reward you with honorable positions so that you can lead the heroes openly.
I have given it careful consideration to the past contributions of all of you and will reward you according to this list.
Yuan Shao was appointed Governor of Jizhou, Administrator of Henan, and granted the title of Marquis of Ji, with a fief of 2,000 households.
Lu Bu was appointed as the governor of Bingzhou, and Zhang Liao was appointed as the General of Pingbei.
Gongsun Zan was appointed General Zhenbei, Marquis of Ye, with a fief of 2,000 households. Liu Yu was appointed Governor of Youzhou, and was given the authority to hold the imperial seal.
Cao Cao was appointed governor of Yanzhou and governor of Henei, and Guan Hai was appointed general of Pingdong and given the title of Imperial Seal.
Liu Bei was appointed as the governor of Qingzhou, and Zhang Yan was appointed as the general guarding the east, and was sent to hold the imperial seal.
…
Yuan Shu was appointed General Zhennan and Sun Jian was appointed Governor of Yangzhou.
Liu Biao was appointed as the governor of Jingzhou.
Appoint Liu Yan as governor of Yizhou.
Ma Teng was appointed governor of Liang Province, and Han Sui was appointed general to guard the west.
There are dozens of people on the list, including a large number of governors, generals with important titles, marquises, and many prefects and generals with miscellaneous titles, which are officials of the two thousand stone level.
The county marquis also made a special mention of this in the imperial edict.
For a rank like Tinghou, it would suffice to simply mention it in the imperial edict issued to the individual. This could be considered a huge spendthrift of a noble. Under such a spendthrift status, without an official rank of two thousand stones, one would not even be qualified to say a word.
Shandong is shocked!
I'm not feeling well. I'm going to the hospital. I'll post the 8,000-word chapter this afternoon.
(End of this chapter)
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