Chapter 372 Liu Yu Falls Ill
It takes ten years to sharpen a sword, and although it is still a bit tight to finish it in the next two years, it may not be worth a try!
The biggest problem was not how she was going to replace the throne of the Han Dynasty, nor how she was going to break the alliance between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao at the moment, but...
How could she ensure that, with such drastic changes, those of her subordinates who still had loyalty to the Han Dynasty would stand on her side and avoid chaos during the handover?
Being loyal to the Grand Marshal and being loyal to the new emperor who replaced the Han Dynasty are by no means the same thing.
Since Zhong Changtong promoted "Changyan", Qiao Yan has received several letters. Although the letters did not mention the ideas of the subordinates of each party, they all mentioned whether they should return to Chang'an City or Luoyang to report on their work around the New Year.
Especially those who were stationed in Liangzhou and Yizhou.
Compared with the previous targeting of her by Liu Yang, Wang Yun and others, her real counterattack this time undoubtedly sent a particularly special signal to her subordinates.
A signal that could very well be earth-shaking.
But even if they had doubts, none of these subordinates who could detect clues would be stupid enough to write such questions in the letters asking her whether she had the intention to represent the Han Dynasty, in order to prevent them from making inappropriate speculations and causing trouble for Qiao Yan because of the existence of these letters.
There are bound to be some who will not ask such questions of stance clearly, just like Xun Yu who took sick leave from Zhong Changtong after listening to her debate at Dingzhongguan.
How to make these people truly useful to her is not a problem that can be solved in a few words.
Even if any of them turned to Chang'an, it would be a huge loss for her.
So she still has to be extra careful.
However, there seems to be an exception.
After Cai Zhaoji went back to write the first draft of the article about Zhong Changtong to be published in the newspaper, Qiao Yan looked through the letters sent to her in the past two days and found that there was one that was the most special. It was neither like Xun Yu who was taking a wait-and-see attitude, nor like Xu Shu who knew her ambitions. He just wanted to make his position clear to her at this time.
The person who wrote this letter was Lu Bu.
This guy asked whether he could return in January to report on his work and even listed one, two, three reasons.
One reason was that his wife had not seen her daughter for a long time. If he needed to go to Luoyang, he could just take Lu Lingju, whom Qiao Yan was planning to dispatch back from Liaodong, to Bingzhou first.
The second was that people on the border of Jizhou and Youzhou regarded him, who had once kidnapped General Gao Lan, as some kind of terrible monster. Zhang Liao had originally said that he hoped Lu Bu would stay away for a while to give the other side a chance to attack.
The third is that he was not in Chang'an City in the first month of the first year of Jian'an, but Lu Lingju was there. As a result, his lucky money fell into the hands of his daughter, and he has not got it back until now. He felt it necessary to prevent the situation where one thing was missing and two things were missing.
Qiao Yan didn't know whether she should praise Lu Bu for being much more organized in his expression after several years of study, or should she say that she swears that others may use those one, two or three reasons to cover up the real purpose of returning, but Lu Bu really only has these three reasons.
But how should I put it? For such a general, ignorance can sometimes be a kind of bliss.
But unfortunately, for opponents in the political game, ignorance is just the reason for losing their lives!
"He brought up Zhong Situ's past, and Zhong Yingbo stepped down immediately. This..." Liu Yang was almost furious when he heard this.
Zhong Fu's qualifications, age and the time he has been in power are far beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Once one of the three ministers stepped down, Zhong Fu would also be one of the candidates to take over.
In fact, even though they were both Guanglu Dafu, Liu Yang was unable to win over Zhong Fu to his side as he had won over Chunyu Jia.
It was because Zhong Changtong's remarks this time were indeed too outrageous that he had the opportunity to confront Qiao Yan's subordinates.
But it was obvious that this "mission" to Luoyang did not achieve the results Liu Yang expected.
"I originally thought that as long as Zhong Yingbo could refute the part about politics in Chang Yan's book, he would be able to completely suppress all the innovative viewpoints in the book, including the theory that people are the basis. Who would have thought that the only person who had the opportunity to do this would be eliminated by such a reason."
Liu Yang clenched his teeth. His face, which might have been considered handsome, had become so sinister in recent days that it no longer showed any royal bearing.
"He really disappoints me!"
Hearing Liu Yang's words, a strange look flashed across Chun Yujia's face.
Chunyu Jia was not sure whether Zhong Fu's performance was disappointing or not.
At the meeting at Dingzhongguan, it was clear that the young man Zhong Changtong came well prepared.
He could even easily link the identities of the people on stage with the weaknesses in their backgrounds, and it was obvious that he had made extremely thorough preparations in advance.
With such a plan, even if Lu Zhi went, he might not get any good results.
What's more, Lu Zhi did not express his support for Liu Yang as they expected.
But one thing is certain, Liu Yang's performance at this moment made him extremely disappointed.
The celestial phenomenon of red energy penetrating the Purple Palace was a powerful weapon of public opinion for them without many supporters. It was Liu Yang who failed to make full use of the advantage of his status as a prince and maximize its effect, which instead gave Qiao Yan such an opportunity to counterattack. However, he took the initiative to shift the blame to Zhong Fu, who had nothing to do with their conspiracy.
Such performance made Chunyu Jia worried. If their next progress was still not smooth, would Liu Yang put all the blame on him before he ended up in complete defeat?
If he had no better choice at this moment, Chun Yujia felt that he would have to draw a line between himself and Liu Yang no matter what.
What to do, what to do...
He could only reply now: "There is nothing wrong with Zhong Yingbo's decision. When Zhong Situ was alive, he was indeed an official who governed the country as Chang Yan said. If it was Yang Xingzu's son, he might be able to argue with Zhong Chang on the grounds of seeking justice for Xuanyu Taishou. But since Zhong Yingbo is there, he should not criticize his father."
But how could Yang Xu’s son appear there?
Yang Xu's second son, Yang Xun, was Cai Zhaoji's brother-in-law. He had followed Cai Zhenji to Leping several years ago.
Although he cannot be said to have been given a high position, he was placed in a position that matched his abilities.
After Yang Xin and Cai Zhenji gained a foothold in Bingzhou, Yang Xin's elder brother, younger brother, and mother were also brought over.
His elder brother and Chang Lin held official positions in Shangdang County, while his younger brother was studying at Leping Academy.
Not to mention what Zhong Changtong said in the book, that because of the chaos in the world, there had to be someone like Xuanyu Taishou to serve as a benchmark for peace, but it was not so applicable in the current environment -
Even if he really criticized Yang Xu for some inappropriate behavior, Yang Xu's son would at most make such questions in Bingzhou instead of coming to Luoyang to question him in person.
Chunyu Jia couldn't help but sigh that at first glance, Zhong Changtong's actions seemed to be to rashly confront the enemies of the world's aristocratic families while holding weapons and ignoring protection, but in fact he was not so rash.
Several families whose interests have been tied to Qiao Yan's since the alcohol restriction order in the first year of Jian'an, will not become her enemy at this moment, as most of the new policies revealed will only be implemented in wasteland. Considering that the area is still sparsely populated, they will not become her enemy at this moment.
Most of those whose interests are not so closely bound together think that only if Qiao Yan defeats Yuan Shao and Cao Cao can their status rise, and they will not speak out at this time.
Among those who actually confronted Qiao Yan and Zhong Changtong, people like Zhong Fu were persuaded to come back by such remarks which were apparently derogatory but actually praising.
This made their plan to win over a group of people almost impossible to achieve under such circumstances.
Liu Yang finally heard some condemnation in Chunyu Jia's tone, and knew that he couldn't lose this ally at this time. At least Chunyu Jia, a serious official, would be more useful than Zuo Ci, Yu Ji and others who were recruited by him. He quickly replied: "I understand what you mean. I'm just wondering, is there really no way for us to restrict them?"
Although the Leping Monthly Report that arrived in Chang'an along with the news from Luoyang did not mention a single word about the Dingzhongguan meeting, as if the event had never happened, and only gave a summary of the events in the fourth year of Jian'an, Liu Yang had a hunch that Qiao Yan was still holding back a big move, and would never let this response end after the conversation in early December.
It is very likely that this record will appear in the January issue of the fifth year of Jian'an in a more menacing manner!
If Qiao Yan knew what Liu Yang was thinking at this moment, he might even praise him, saying that this guy's brain finally became much more useful at this moment.
But he still only knew that communicating with these short-sighted old guys at this time had completely cut off his hope of winning.
Although his action of finding Lu Zhi was secretive, Leping was after all Qiao Yan's base camp, and the news of the failed attempt to win over Lu Zhi had already been passed to her.
His attempt to obtain explosives from the mines in Bingzhou was half successful under the instruction of Qiao Yan, and it also provided a platform for the two Taoist priests who had defected to Liu Yang after Zhang Jin's death to display their talents.
It was really childish and ridiculous that he placed his military support on Xian Yuyin, Shisun Rui and Yuan Yao.
However, Liu Yang, who was in a dilemma, still felt that he had the capital to fight for it. When he heard Chunyu Jia say that he still had the residual power of the emperor, he nodded in agreement.
"You are right. In any case, my current identity is our greatest weapon."
What seemed more like good news for Liu Yang was that at the end of the fourth year of Jian'an, Liu Yu fell ill.
Normally, Liu Yang, as a son, shouldn't have been very happy about his father falling ill.
After all, he was just a prince and not a legitimate crown prince, which meant that all his glory and power came from his father, not from any achievements he had made.
But the situation at this time is somewhat special.
Even though Liu Yang was very short-handed during these months, he couldn't help but notice something that was extremely troublesome for him.
Liu Yu was collecting information about clan members from all sides, and even had the idea of recruiting them to gather in Chang'an City during the New Year!
If he were to accomplish this, and were to choose one of them as his future successor, then the little treatment he was enjoying now because of his status as a prince would disappear in an instant.
Rather than really facing such consequences, it is better to let my father fall ill so that he will not have the energy to do this for the time being!
He entered the imperial city of Chang'an with a gloomy face and paid his respects to Liu Yu as he had done in the past few days.
Before I even climbed the steps to the bedroom, I could already smell the strong smell of medicine coming from the house.
Xianyu Fu, a close minister of Liu Yu, walked out of the hall in a hurry holding a stack of documents. He brushed past Liu Yang and only greeted him in a low voice when he was very close to him, and then quickly disappeared from his sight.
On the one hand, Liu Yang felt that the other party's behavior clearly meant that there was some important matter that needed to be dealt with, but on the other hand, he felt that the other party's perfunctory greeting clearly showed that he did not take him seriously.
He secretly took note of Xianyu Fu in his heart, and even for a moment he forgot that since he came to see Liu Yu, he should first care about his father's health.
It was only when he sat in front of Liu Yu's bed that he focused his attention on Liu Yu.
Liu Yu's illness was definitely not caused by the change of seasons. After all, the cotton production was increasing day by day. No matter how much he wanted to pursue a simple way of doing things, he still had to take a full set of cold-proof measures from cotton-padded clothes to quilts, not to mention the windproof and warm facilities in the house.
What was revealed in his bleak expression was more like a disease caused by the accumulation of mental illness.
Liu Yang couldn't help but try to recall what Liu Yu looked like when they first arrived in Chang'an while looking at him.
Liu Yu at that time was by no means healthy.
After all, he had just experienced the defeat of Binhaidao not too long ago, and lost his eldest son who he had trained as his heir. He was still in a depressed state.
But if Liu Yang compares his father four years ago with his father now, the changes are still so striking that he cannot ignore them.
Even though there were few emperors in the history of the Later Han Dynasty who were in good health, Liu Yu was considered one of the oldest emperors. However, Liu Yang still felt that this was really due to Qiao Yan.
The idea of divine connection was nonsense, he didn't believe a single word of it!
If the red energy in the Purple Palace had not been suppressed, the Emperor's Purple Palace would not have been affected so significantly.
Although Liu Yu's illness seemed to be good news for him at present, Liu Yang could not help but say indignantly at this moment: "Father is already very tired in handling government affairs. It's ok that the Grand Marshal does not share his worries, but he has to come up with something like Changyan at this time to cause unrest. In my opinion, she should resign from her post in Luoyang and return to Chang'an to apologize to my father!"
"Shut up!" Liu Yu suddenly interrupted Liu Yang.
Due to his long-term poor health and the onset of this illness, his words "shut up" sounded less powerful.
But Liu Yang was already somewhat afraid of Liu Yu, and he felt that these two words sounded like thunder in his ears.
"The Grand Marshal is diligent in serving the people and has worked hard for the army and defense. Is that something you can criticize?"
Liu Yang stiffened his neck and whispered back, "But if she really thought of herself as my father's subject, she shouldn't have made such a fuss. I don't believe she informed my father in advance before she did this! What's this about working hard for the people? It's clearly..."
Liu Yang's voice suddenly stopped as if someone had choked him.
Because at this moment, Liu Yu didn't know where he got the strength from, and he reached out and grabbed Liu Yang's wrist.
"What is it clearly?" Liu Yu asked word by word.
In this bedroom, which was not too dim, there were candles lit for lighting. The sunlight and candlelight mixed together, enough for Liu Yang to see Liu Yu's eyes clearly.
Liu Yang saw clearly the suffocating look in those eyes, as well as the pain and disappointment in them.
"I can guess what you want to say, but you'd better put this idea behind you. The people who can spread rumors in Chang'an can be counted on one hand, and the most likely one is you!"
"But rumors are rumors, and actions are actions. If you stop now and let me send you away as soon as possible, I can still pretend that none of these things have happened. What right do you have to take action against the hero who pacified the world, and intend to hold him accountable?"
Liu Yang stammered: "I..."
"There is no need to make excuses. Promise me that you will never become an enemy of Da Sima!"
Liu Yang was stunned for a moment, but Liu Yu obviously didn't intend to let him go so easily. He increased the strength of his hand and repeated the three words, "Promise me!"
Faced with this overwhelming momentum, Liu Yang was unable to free his hand from Liu Yu's hand for a moment.
When he tried to step back, he even felt that his wrist was about to be crushed by Liu Yu.
Such strength has almost never appeared in Liu Yu.
This never happened either when he was the governor of Youzhou or when he became the emperor.
Only at this moment did he speak this to his son in the most stern tone.
Looking at Liu Yu's eyes, which were bright and stubborn despite being ill, Liu Yang realized that any explanation he made would be useless.
He could only utter a few words reluctantly, "I...I promise you."
The moment he finished speaking, Liu Yu finally let go of Liu Yang's hand with satisfaction.
Or perhaps it was because his sudden strength could only be maintained for such a short period of time, allowing him to grab the other person's hand in this sudden attack, but now he had to let go.
He returned to his original lying position, muttering "Just agree to it."
But in Liu Yang's opinion, this promise made under such coercion was not binding at all.
When he walked out of the palace, there was only one thought left in his mind -
His father has become senile and he only has himself to rely on!
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