While Chen Chong was secretly investigating the witchcraft case, Liu Dan was also planning big things.
Since Liu Xie's death, white flags have been hung all over the city of Luoyang to pay homage to the emperor. Although Liu Xie eventually suffered a disastrous defeat in Jiangnan, he was frugal and likes to be hands-on. He often cultivates his fields in the northern suburbs and harvests after autumn to benefit the people.
, so the people of the Eastern Capital did not have much resentment towards him. On the contrary, many people privately remembered that His Majesty was so rich and handsome back then. From a distance, it was as if he could see the snow on Yushan Mountain, and when he looked up close, he was like entering a house of Zhilan. I don’t know how many years later he will be able to do so.
I saw such a prince of Chang'an again. Therefore, during the autumn harvest, there was an endless stream of people going to Fuling to worship.
But for Liu Dan, these days were extremely difficult. After Liu Xie issued the order to renounce the vassal before his death, Sili Colonel Chen Qun repeatedly sent people to urge him. He used the excuse of keeping vigil for his brother to delay for a few days.
But after Liu Xie was buried, he had no choice but to start cleaning up the palace and make plans to establish a vassal state.
Looking back on the past two years, Liu Dan has painstakingly used various means and made a lot of unknown arrangements around the matter of establishing the crown prince, but the result was in vain. Just because Chen Chong supported Liu Xie, the result was in vain.
Liu Dan could not accept it. Originally, he planned to make long-term plans in the capital after Liu Xie died of illness. Unexpectedly, Liu Xie took money from the bottom and issued a vassal order. He had to make a short-term decision: in the end, he completely gave up on the throne.
Ambition, to become an idle prince, or to muster up the courage to make a last stand against Chen Chong?
This was not an option at all for Liu Dan. As early as when he was in Jinyang, both his peers and elders showed great care and concern for him. He came and went with countless followers and countless supporters. Therefore, he called himself the Young Master of Jinyang.
, had quite a lot of expectations for the future. But what disappointed him was that Liu Bei had no intention of changing his reserve, and since Liu Xie came to the throne, he had been strictly guarding him and not letting him relax even a little bit. As a result, the court became increasingly desolate, and few people came to visit. In contrast, Liu Xie
How can we not make people feel disappointed and even resentful? Therefore, Liu Dan will never accept failure.
He went to find his third brother Liu Cheng. The two brothers had already reached an alliance before. Liu Dan promised Liu Cheng that as long as he gained power, he would make Liu Cheng the governor of the Beifu. Therefore, during this period, Liu Cheng has been advancing and retreating with him.
After Liu Dan sat down, he asked directly: "Liu Xie and Chen Chong want you and me to join the feudal clan directly. Are you willing?"
When Liu Cheng heard this, his anger immediately broke out and he shouted: "How can I be willing to accept such a villain!"
Liu Dan was secretly happy. He held the tables with his hands, leaned forward and whispered: "If you and I go to seize the feudal lordship, it will be like a bird entering a cage. How can we get ahead? If we don't want to get moldy in the fiefdom, I'm afraid we have to get rid of Chen Chong!"
"
Liu Cheng was startled and kept silent for a while. He said dejectedly: "It's not necessary. Chen Tingjian is almost sixty years old, and he has hidden wounds all over his body. How long can he live? He might as well wait a few more years. When the time comes, his mother will be here. Isn't he still afraid?
Can’t we come back?”
Liu Dan secretly despised him and sneered: "In a few years, I'm afraid this giant python will develop into Wang Mang, with such a huge appetite that he will even want to eat the emperor's seat." He added: "
Don’t forget, Tu Gao’s prophecy should be applied to the Han people, for fear that it will be applied to him.”
Seeing Liu Cheng shaking his head repeatedly, he immediately stood up and left, and said: "I can understand that you are greedy for life and afraid of death now, but don't wait until Chen Tingjian seizes the throne and puts the knife on your neck. It will be too late."
Liu Dan thought to himself that Liu Cheng was not courageous enough, and it seemed that he could not count on him. He originally hoped to use him to stabilize the Queen Mother, but even without him, there is still a way to fight against Chen Chong. After all, there are still people who are in alliance with him now.
There are Taifu Zhongyao, Taiwei Fazheng and others. With them around, I can still find a way.
So he deliberately claimed to be sick while moving furniture, and then went to visit Zhong Yao secretly late at night. Zhong Yao also knew the reason for his visit, but remained calm on the surface, waiting for him to speak first.
Seeing his profound appearance, Liu Dan couldn't decide for a moment whether his attitude was to support him or to persuade him to give up. So the two of them chatted for a while, but they still didn't get to the point. When he saw tea spilled on the bank of the table, he
Suddenly his eyes lit up, he dipped his hand in water to draw a winding line, and then said to Zhong Yao: "I heard that in ancient times there was a mythical beast called a dragon, which could call the wind and rain, and cover all things. Why do some people call it that now?
For harm?"
Zhong Yao was so smart that he immediately replied: "That's because the wind and rain were too strong and blocked the sky and the sun, which reversed the yin and yang."
Liu Dan heard what Zhong Yao said and said hurriedly: "Then we have encountered such a dragon now. It has been covering the sky and the sun for a long time. If we let it develop, I am afraid it will harm others and ourselves."
Zhong Yao stood up and was silent for a moment, then finally nodded and said, "Then let's capture him as soon as possible."
Although this was Liu Dan's original intention, he could not help but be surprised. He turned around and looked around the secret room, seeing that there were only two of them.
Speaking of this, Liu Dan immediately told his thoughts: "Master, now it's time to make a decision. When I really leave the capital, how can I come back? While Guan Yu is not in Luoyang now, we still have
If there is a chance, if we wait until next year and the north and south are stabilized, won't he alone have the final say in government affairs? My promise to you remains unchanged. As long as you can help me regain the throne, I will definitely share the glory!"
Zhong Yao looked solemn and remained silent for a long time.
Although he was also dissatisfied with Liu Xie's long-term exclusion of him, for Zhong Yao, his original intention was only to regain the power of assistant government, and launching a full-scale political struggle with Chen Chong was not actually part of his plan. It was just as he followed
The showdown between the two sides has intensified the political differences, and now it has become a situation that cannot be eased. Judging from Chen Chong's current measures, he is afraid that he will no longer have his own position in the prime minister's palace, and the eldest son Zhong Yu is not a great military leader.
, As a result, the family may decline within two or three generations, which is undoubtedly unacceptable to Zhong Yao.
Fortunately, he was not the only one who had such worries. Liu Bao, Fazheng, Meng Da, Yang Dan and others also hated Chen Chong's style. Over the past few years, everyone could see clearly that the reason why Liu Xie was able to exclude veterans in this way was
, in addition to his own methods, Chen Chong was behind the scenes to support and instigate more. If Chen Chong was not driven out of the capital for one day, the old people would not be able to live in peace for one day. So in the past two years, everyone has slowly come together.
But considering the matter, using Liu Dan to deal with Liu Xie and Chen Chong was originally just a temporary measure, but the development of the situation is always beyond the control of ordinary people. At this point, the only way is to fight with swords.
From this moment on, the two of them were completely bound together.
The two then hatched a plan. Now their party members are extremely full. Zhong Yao and Fa Zhenggui are Taifu and Taiwei. Their party members can be said to be all over the government and the public. Even if some people are unwilling to support, Zhong Yao is confident that he can make them.
They watched on the sidelines. But the most important thing was to see who Luoyang's army would fall to. If Guan Yu was in the capital, there would be no suspense about this issue, but now that Guan Yu has gone to Xiangyang to take charge, there is still room for maneuver.
Luoyang's army is mainly divided into three parts. The first part is the Shanglin Army that guards the capital. It is still being rebuilt and has about 20,000 people. It is led by Wei Yan, the general of the Wei, and is stationed in Xuanwu City. The second part is the Luoyang Army.
There are about 3,000 guards guarding the city gates in Yang. During the reign of Emperor Ling, the city gate captain was in charge. However, when Chen Chong entered the Lord Sili Mansion, this position was abolished. Now these 3,000 guards are affiliated with Henan.
Yin is in the hands of Yang Dan. The third part is the imperial guards in the palace. There are about 4,000 people. One thousand people are subordinate to Shaofu Liu Bao, one thousand people are subordinate to Guanglu Xun and Fan Xian, and two thousand people are subordinate to Fan Xian.
Guard Gao Tanglong was directly responsible for the order inside and outside the palace.
Among the three, Wei Yan is Chen Chong's die-hard loyalist and is absolutely unconvinced. But fortunately, the Shanglin Army is still rebuilding, does not have much combat power, and is in a remote location. As long as it is handled properly, before he intervenes in the situation,
As long as the coup is completed, it has nothing to do with the overall situation. What matters is the city gate guards and the palace guards. Although nominally, these soldiers are affiliated with Zhong Yao's party, in fact Chen Chong took over the city defense in the north of Luoyang and went to the palace.
Deng Ai, Jiang Wei and others were transferred internally, so that out of the 7,000 people, about 2,000 were directly subordinate to Chen Chong. And among the remaining people, how many of them could stand firm and join Zhong Yao in the coup?
It’s also a bad thing to say.
Now that the matter has come to this, Liu Dan no longer avoids taboos and asks directly: "Chen Tingjian seems to be powerful, but as long as he dies, which of the remaining people will be buried for him? In my opinion, it is better to ambush a few people in the palace directly.
He is a killer. Once he enters the palace, he will be chopped into pieces like the Chang Chang who killed He Jin! If he is declared to have rebelled afterward, what other tricks can he pull out?"
Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Zhong Yao with a wave of his hand. Liu Dan was extremely unhappy, but he had to listen to him say: "Absolutely not, do you think you are in the era of assassinating King Liao? Let's not talk about the armor around Ting Jian.
Shi Ruyun, even if we really succeed, with Guan Yu and Zhuge Liang in the south and Zhang Fei in the north, we can only win the support of Ma Chao and Yuan Tan, isn't it going to be a civil war? This is self-destructive! We can only
You can force him to delegate power, but you can never actually kill someone!"
"Okay, then let's find a way to master the palace ban first." Liu Dan didn't want to argue, and continued: "I think it can be scheduled on the Double Ninth Festival. According to convention, the curfew will be canceled on this day, there will be a night market, and many palace guards will also
They all rested early. We can try to lead troops into the forbidden area at this time. As long as we take Erlang (Liu Yi) back before Lin Jun reacts, and then plead with my mother and empress, we can use the emperor and the emperor to
In the name of the Queen Mother, an edict was also issued to Chen Tingjian, asking him to plead guilty and release his powers, so he must have no choice but to admit defeat."
"Plead guilty? What crime?"
"Exclude wise ministers and monopolize power."
"Can this really convince the public?"
"If Chen Chong admits it himself, he will be able to convince everyone."
Zhong Yao thought for a moment and then said: "It's still not thorough enough. Deng Ai and Jiang Wei are rising stars in the army. I'm afraid it will be difficult to deal with them quickly."
Liu Dan smiled and said to Zhong Yao: "Master, judging from our current manpower, it may be close. But in the past two years, I have been buying dead soldiers around Yanshi. There are more than 2,000 people.
At that time, I transferred them all to Luoyang. As long as I can get Yang Shijun to open the door and let them all in, no matter how good Deng and Jiang are, they will be unable to defeat four hands with one fist!"
Zhong Yao was shocked when he heard that he had two thousand dead soldiers in private. He reminded him: "That's what I say, but it's better not to involve too many people. The more people there are, the greater the possibility of leaking the secret."
After lingering for two moments, he asked Liu Dan again: "You don't have other arrangements secretly, do you?"
Liu Dan laughed loudly, waved his hands repeatedly and said, "Where is there?" Regarding Liu Xie's use of witchcraft, he thought he did it perfectly, and he never told any of his comrades.