On the seventh day of the death of His Majesty Emperor Xiaokang of the Han Dynasty, the national funeral ceremony officially began.
Under the leadership of Yang Biao, all officials in Luoyang were dressed in plain clothes and stood in the square outside Jiade Gate according to their rank.
Unlike in the past when the officials were busy discussing and exchanging greetings during the great dynasty meetings, the atmosphere today was extremely depressing. There were hundreds of officials in the first batch in the entire square, and it was completely silent.
Firstly, this is not a court meeting, but a national funeral, so no loud noises must be made. Secondly, the situation in the court is tense now, with constant military disasters around Luoyang, which is frightening.
Many officials stood solemnly. Standing at the front of the hundred officials were the three ministers and nine ministers. General He Jin said he was ill and did not participate in the funeral.
Following the shout from the salute officer, the Jiade Gate slowly opened, and all the officials slowly entered and arrived outside the Yutang Hall.
The mournful music was played in the Yutang Hall, and the gongs, drums, konghou, and chimes were played, and the sound was solemn and solemn. Hearing it made people shed tears and feel sad.
Under the command of the salute officer, all the officials entered the palace. The Queen Mother, the Queen, the two princes and other members of the royal family were waiting in front of the coffin. The officials entered one after another and stood in order.
Then came the crying, commanded by the salute officer. The mourning members headed by the Queen Mother followed the command of the etiquette officer. All the officials cried loudly and jumped, and some of them cried heartbreakingly.
This situation will last for seven days. After all the thousands of officials in Luoyang have cried, it will be the turn of many officials and princes who came from other places.
Then it will continue for another seven days, and finally it will be suspended for another seven days, a total of 47 and 28 days. Then the new emperor will ascend the throne and the previous emperor will be buried.
After Liu Bian ascended the throne, he respected his mother, Empress He, as the Empress Dowager. Because the young emperor was young, the Empress Dowager He came to the throne and proclaimed the throne. He announced a general amnesty and changed the title of Yuan Dynasty to Guangxi. He named his nine-year-old brother Liu Xie the King of Bohai. He named Yuan Wei the Tutor.
Together with the general He Jin, he recorded the ministerial affairs.
Originally, Liu Bian ascended the throne, and logically speaking, the court should be considered stable. In two days, the late emperor would be buried, and everything would return to peace.
But Empress Dowager Dong was very uneasy. After Liu Bian ascended the throne, she summoned Zhang Rang.
"Zhang Rang, I will treat you well."
Liu Hong lived in the South Palace on weekdays, while Empress Dowager Dong lived in Yongle Palace in the North Palace, so she was called the Empress Dowager Yongle.
Zhang Rang was the head of the permanent attendants, and Empress Dowager Dong summoned him in Yongle Palace.
"The Empress Dowager is not telling the truth."
Zhang Rang knelt on the ground and said respectfully: "In the past, the Empress Dowager treated slaves and others with great kindness, and slaves and others were willing to die in return."
Empress Dowager Dong knelt down on the banquet and said with a cold face: "I will spare my life if I die. I came to see you today because I have something to discuss."
"The Queen Mother, please speak."
"Humph, He Jin's sister is just a butcher's family. I promoted her in the beginning so that she could enter the palace. Today her son is the emperor, and all the officials inside and outside are his confidants. The authority is too heavy, and it is very useless to me.
Li, what will I do?"
"this......"
Hearing these words, Zhang Rang's heart suddenly moved, and he remembered what Chen Mu had said before, that the core of politics is balance.
Nowadays, the He family is becoming more and more rampant. There is General He Jin outside and the Queen Mother inside. The Queen Mother Dong seems to have a high status, but in fact she is just being held up high by others. She has no power or prestige and cannot compete with the He family.
Now Empress Dowager Dong is unwilling to lose the power struggle with the He family and wants to come up with her own ideas. It seems that Chen Zigui is very knowledgeable and has thought of this a long time ago.
Zhang Rang thought for a moment and then said: "The people the He family relies on now are only the generals who hold military power and have too much authority. The Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager can come to the court and listen to the government behind the curtain; they can make the prince Xie the king; and they can add their uncle Dong as a major official.
, take control of the military power; make important use of ministers and others: great things can be accomplished.”
Empress Dowager Dong was overjoyed, but after a while, she added: "It's just that He Jin was appointed as a general, and all the troops and horses in the world were under his control. Even if Dong Chong was given the title again, he would only be a hussar general at most, and he still didn't have much military power.
, how to compete?”
Zhang Rang remembered Wang Jun's words yesterday. He vaguely remembered that Wang Jun once told him that Dong Zhuo held a lot of military power, so he suggested: "Has the Queen Mother heard of Dong Zhuo?"
"Of course I know."
"I heard that Dong Zhuo is from Lintao, Longxi, and is a descendant of Dong Yi, King of Zhai. Dong Yi is a descendant of Dong Hu, a good historian, and is also a descendant of Xin You. He comes from the same origin as the Dong family in Hejian..."
"You mean?"
Empress Dowager Dong opened her eyes wide. This relationship was really roundabout. It must have gone back five hundred years.
Zhang Rang nodded: "Yes, the Empress Dowager can recognize Dong Zhuo as her nephew and reward him."
Empress Dowager Dong understood it clearly and said happily: "Yes, that's exactly what it should be."
At this time, Dong Zhuo had actually arrived at Jianchi and was stationed here.
The Chichi is located in Hongnong County, only more than 100 miles away from Luoyang, and can be reached within two or three days.
He Jin summoned him to actually defend Yuzhou rebels in the south and asked him to go and attack. However, Dong Zhuo stayed put and stalled for time, refusing to go.
On this day, the Queen Mother's edict arrived at Dong Zhuo's camp. After hearing the order, Dong Zhuo immediately ordered his army men to come to discuss the matter.
Under Dong Zhuo's tent, Li Jue, Guo Si, Zhang Ji, Fan Chou, Li Meng, Wang Fang, Xu Rong, Duan Xuan, Hu Zhen, Yang Zhengxiu, Niu Fu, Dong Yue and others gathered together.
Besides them, there are two other people, one is Yan Zhong and the other is Jia Xu.
Jia Xu joined Dong Zhuo's camp in the second year of Zhongping. At that time, Xiliang was in chaos and Han Sui Bianzhang was making trouble everywhere. In order to protect himself, Jia Xu followed Niu Fu, who was also from Wuwei Guzang, and joined Dong Zhuo's army.
inside.
Yan Zhong joined Dong Zhuo's camp this year. Chaos broke out again in Liangzhou this year, and Han Sui started to cause trouble again. Gai Xun and others organized forces to resist in Hanyang County, but were defeated by Han Sui. All the officials in the city fled.
He ran to Yongzhou and joined Huangfu Song's camp.
Dong Zhuo was also in Huangfu Song's camp at that time. Yan Zhong received a secret letter at that time, so he joined Dong Zhuo's camp as a fellow villager and now followed Dong Zhuo to Luoyang.
Historically, Yan Zhong was already dead at this time.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Many people think that Yan Zhong was unwilling to rebel against the Han Dynasty, refused to help the emperor, and died angrily. He was a contradictory character.
In fact, Yan Zhong has never been a contradictory figure. He was the person who once persuaded Huangfu Song to surrender to the south. How could he be loyal to the Han Dynasty and be willing to die like Xun Yu?
He just didn't want Han Sui to use him as a shield for rebellion.
Who is Han Sui?
A cunning and cunning person.
When he first rebelled, he was coerced by Beigong Boyu. Once he gained strength, he immediately killed Beigong Boyu and became independent.
Immediately afterwards, Han Sui elected Bian Zhang as the leader and waited until Bian Zhang threatened him before killing Bian Zhang.
Then he recommended Li Wenhou as the leader, and then killed Li Wenhou.
Finally there is the kingdom.
Han Sui is an old scoundrel. If he doesn't stand up for himself, he elects someone else to be the leader of the rebels. In fact, he is setting up a puppet as a shield. If this shield really thinks that he is the boss and chooses not to listen to him, he will kill him.
Later, Han Sui wanted to elect Ma Teng as the leader, but Ma Teng was not an ordinary person. He saw through Han Sui's plan and disagreed anyway, so the two decided to elect Yan Zhong as the leader.
Yan Zhong is not stupid. Even though he is not famous in history, his intelligence is definitely above 90, so he naturally knows what the two of them are planning.
So he was very resistant and was beaten to death for not agreeing. Unfortunately, he did not have an army like Ma Teng and could not protect himself.
There is a high probability that Han Sui killed him because of his disobedience.
However, now, under the arrangements of thoughtful people, Yan Zhong has escaped disaster many times. He first escaped from Huangfu Song's military camp, then returned to Xiliang to become an official, and finally escaped to Dong Zhuo's command, so he was not as passive as in history.
Seeing that all his subordinates had arrived, Dong Zhuo sat on the banquet, waved the edict in his hand, and said: "Look, everyone, this is the edict from the Empress Dowager. She recognizes me as her nephew and makes me a general of chariots and cavalry. Let me
Lead the troops and horses, enter the capital as soon as possible, and discuss matters with General Dong Zhong, what do you think?"
Niu Fu said happily: "Father, is the Empress Dowager going to treat you as a relative and come to Beijing to take charge of the government?"
Dong Zhuo sneered, looked at Yan Zhong and said, "Cheng Han, what do you think?"
Because Jia Xu's talent and reputation were not obvious, Yan Zhong was firstly a famous scholar in Liangzhou and had a great reputation. Secondly, he had served as an official in various places and was known for his talents. Therefore, he was increasingly valued by Dong Zhuo and was now the captain of the army.
Yan Zhong pondered: "It seems that the general and the Queen Mother He have taken charge of the power. The Queen Mother He is in a bad situation and has to start looking for foreign aid."
Dong Zhuo thought deeply and said, "I see it this way too. What does Cheng Han think I should do?"
Yan Zhong thought for a while and said: "At this time, Luoyang is surrounded by wolves, watching eagerly. If you are not careful, it will be a disaster. It is too dangerous to enter Beijing now. I think we should continue to hold our troops."
"If I join forces with the Empress Dowager and the Hussars General to fight against the General, what are the chances of winning?"
Dong Zhuo asked again.
Yan Zhong said: "Now most of Luoyang's troops and horses are in the hands of the general. If Ming Gong joins, it should be five to five."
"That's enough."
Dong Zhuo was overjoyed and said: "With the great righteousness of the Empress Dowager, we should be able to achieve great things."
Yan Zhong hurriedly said: "Ming Gong, don't forget the Southern Army."
"Confederate Army?"
Dong Zhuo wondered: "Aren't they resisting the Yuzhou rebels? Moreover, the commander-in-chief of the Southern Army is Jian Shuo, so he must be of the same mind as the Empress Dowager."
Yan Zhong didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "It's hard to say. At least in name, the Southern Army is now under the command of the General. Once there is a head-on conflict between the Empress Dowager and the Queen Mother, if the General transfers the Southern Army back to Beijing, no matter who the Southern Army helps, Yuzhou and
There is no one to stop the rebels in Jizhou, and they will rush to the capital and Luoyang will become a ghost in the world in an instant."
Although Buddhism was introduced during the Eastern Han Dynasty, people at that time called hell not hell, but underworld, or Yin Ming, Netherworld. This is recorded in "Guanzi", "Book of the Later Han", "Lunheng" and "Shan Hai Jing".
Dong Zhuo's army was elite, truly elite. According to historical records, the army under his command was the Longxi Iron Cavalry, numbering five thousand.
Although there were only a thousand black-armored heavy cavalry among these troops, they were already Dong Zhuo's entire wealth.
However, how many soldiers and horses are there in Luoyang at this time?
The Northern Army is in the hands of Huangfu Song of Chang'an and is fighting with Han Sui. The Southern Army is spread across the surrounding passes, so Luoyang currently only has Huben under Guang Luxun, the Forbidden Army of the Second Battalion of Yulin, the Su Wei Army under Weiwei, and Zhi Jinwu.
The army of the Chengmen Colonel, Sili Colonel, etc.
The total number of these troops is approximately more than 10,000, most of which are in the hands of He Jin.
It seems very few, but the problem is that with the death of the emperor and Jian Shuo in the palace again, the command of the southern army gradually fell into the hands of He Jin. Among the five lieutenants, except for one eunuch who was a staunch party leader, Feng Fang took two thousand
In addition to the people who returned to the capital to help the eunuchs, others such as Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Xia Mou and others all had ulterior motives and had their own agenda.
Therefore, the situation is very good for He Jin, but the situation is very bad for Empress Dowager Dong.
Hearing his words, Dong Zhuo was very depressed: "Then according to Cheng Han's wishes, I can only sit back and wait for death? The general ordered me to hand over my soldiers to him before. Once the general gains power, I am afraid that my situation will be very bad."
Yan Zhong smiled and said: "No, Ming Gong can send people to Beijing to write a letter to build momentum for the Empress Dowager, and at the same time ask the Empress Dowager for the edict to recruit troops, and then secretly contact the heroes in Guanzhong, such as Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Li Kan,
Zhang Heng, Cheng Yi, Ma Wan, Yang Qiu and others win over them, absorb their soldiers and horses, and wait for the army to grow stronger before they can plan for big things."
In "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Li Kan, Zhang Heng, Cheng Yi, Ma Wan, Yang Qiu and others are the eight generals of Ma Chao. Later, Mao Zonggang revised "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and turned them into the eight generals of Han Sui.
General, but in fact, they are all powerful landowners in the Guanzhong area east of Hedong. After two years of rebellion, each of them has thousands of troops.
Dong Zhuo had served as the governor of Hedong before and knew all these powerful men in Hedong. Some time ago, when he stationed troops in Hedong, he found grain and grass bought by these powerful men. So when he heard Yan Zhong's words, Dong Zhuo was overjoyed and said: "Okay, then listen to the advice of honest men."