The first stage of the Yuzhou War was the confrontation period.
Yuan Shu needed to wait for the reinforcements from Lu Bu, Yuan Shao and other troops of his own, so when faced with Zhang Fei's provocation, he resolutely ignored Zhang Fei's provocation, hung up his no-war card, and defended the camp.
Liu Bei also needed to wait for the results from Dian Wei and Guan Yu, so he was not in a hurry and set up camp outside the city, where he and Zhu Zhi were at odds with each other.
The confrontation period is a long process, and both sides are waiting for the results of other battlefields to be released.
Compared with the tense atmosphere in the south, where a war is about to begin, the atmosphere in the north is a bit strange. It is calm on the surface, but secretly, there is an undercurrent surging.
In Yecheng, it rained heavily that day. It had been a month since Hou Xu and Taishi Ci sneaked into Yecheng. For fear of being recognized by acquaintances, Hou Xu stopped his business.
Recently, the Tingwei Mansion was recruiting people, and an old man and a young man went to apply. The heavy rain made few pedestrians on the street. Both of them were holding Qingzhou oil-paper umbrellas and stepping on wooden clogs, walking slowly on North Street.
On the bluestone board.
Since the puppet emperor of Jizhou was deposed, the original three ministers and nine ministers were very embarrassed.
Even the emperor is gone. What meaning do they, the former ministers of the Jizhou court, have to exist?
However, Yuan Shao himself was a party member. Faced with the old party members, he did not dare to kill them, so he could only spend money to support them first.
As a result, the reputation of the party members was very high. Although Wang Fen died, the residual influence he left in Jizhou still existed.
Secondly, he himself is a party member, or he rose to power because of being a party member. If he starts to clear out party members immediately after taking office, it will be a big blow to his own reputation.
It can’t be said that people are betraying their relatives, but they are definitely alienating their morals. After all, in the eyes of the world, you were born in this class, but in the end you betrayed this class, and this class is still the clear stream of the Han Dynasty, where the reputation lies. Yuan Shao dares to attack the party members, and he is waiting for the reputation.
Destroyed once.
Therefore, he could only put all the party members and elders in a cabinet, evacuate their power, and prevent them from intervening in military and government affairs. However, living and material conditions were still provided, and some demands were met as long as they did not involve power.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is a waste.
As the leader of the Youth Party, Yuan Shao himself is almost fifty years old. As for the group of old party members, the youngest ones are nearly sixty years old, and the old ones are even over eighty years old. After they die of old age, they will
No one can be older than him in terms of seniority.
At that time, all party members' inheritance will belong to Yuan Shao. At the same time, as the fourth generation of the Yuan family and the leader of the aristocratic family, he has won the reputation of the Qingliu faction and the aristocratic family faction, and the support he will receive is bound to be indispensable.
Therefore, it can be said that Yuan Shao was playing the Luoyang Gongqing card by deposing the false emperor of Jizhou. He was playing the Party card by supplying Party members without offending them. He was playing the Party card by using the reputation of the Four Generations and Three Dukes to unite the major families.
Saga brand.
In addition, the ministers and generals under his command were mostly local factions from Yingchuan, Nanyang, and Jizhou, and the balance among various parties formed the huge structure of the Yuan Shao Group.
This is why Chen Mu believes that this is not a good time for the Northern Expedition.
Because Yuan Shao is now strong and powerful, internal conflicts have not emerged. Everyone has a common enemy for the time being, resulting in unprecedented unity among the Jizhou Group.
Once Qingzhou takes action, the best result is probably that both sides will suffer losses.
Therefore, he had to wait for a suitable opportunity, wait until the Jizhou Group's enemies began to be weakened, and wait until their internal conflicts began to break out.
Historically, Cao Cao only defeated Yuan Shao in the Battle of Guandu, but did not eliminate Yuan Shao at all.
Even if Yuan Shao was tricked and killed and 80,000 soldiers were surrendered, Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan combined still had more troops than Cao Cao and were stronger than him.
Even if Yuan Shao had not died of illness, the direction of history would not have been certain.
What Qingzhou has to do is to eliminate Yuan Shao, which is many times more difficult than the Battle of Guandu. Therefore, everything needs to be done carefully and planned step by step without making any mistakes.
Hou Xu stood at the door of Tingwei's mansion. Because it was raining today, there was no one on the street. Except for Ding Li who was doing the interrogation, he didn't meet any other acquaintances.
The official had already met the "father and son" last time, and had a neighbor's guarantee. In addition, there was indeed a "father and son" in the city, so he naturally did not have any doubts about them.
This is the benefit of identity swapping.
With Jizhou's current strict investigation methods against the Military Intelligence Department, if you don't have an identity, you will be found out soon.
This is not alarmist, nor does it mean how sophisticated Jizhou’s methods against spies are.
This is the current situation of society today.
Because this is not an era when a city has a population of millions or even tens of millions, but an era when a city has only a few thousand to tens of thousands of people.
Many people question why the population of a county in ancient times was so small, but what we need to know is that more than 90% of the people in the Han Dynasty did not live in the city, but lived in rural pavilions in the wild.
Except for capitals like Luoyang Chang'an, the cities at that time were very small. Even in Luoyang Chang'an, most of the people lived outside the city, and those who could live in the city were basically dignitaries.
This should be easy to understand.
For example, a county has a total population of 80,000, of which 70,000 are people living in villages and pavilions outside the city, engaged in agricultural work such as farming and growing vegetables. The other 10,000 live in the city, a small part of them are powerful nobles, and the rest are large
Some are handicraft workers and business people.
In this way, the officials who manage the city only need to be responsible for the 10,000 people living in the city, and do not need to be responsible for the 70,000 people living in the wild.
Yecheng is the seat of Wei County. Wei County has fifteen counties and a total population of four to five million, most of which are scattered in various counties and rural areas. There are only a few tens of thousands of people living in Yecheng.
Fewer people means it is easier to manage and become a mature society.
If you walk around the city without an identity, do you think you will be caught out on the second day after entering the city?
So it's not that the ancients didn't know how to use spies, but that spies need a complicated environment to cover up. Hiding a catfish at the bottom of the turbid Yellow River is different from hiding a crab in a clear stream.
Fortunately, Chen Mu had made arrangements a long time ago, and Hou Xu successfully entered the city as Lao Zhoutou. Now he is no longer an easy-to-find crab, but an ordinary pebble at the bottom of the stream, which can be seen everywhere.
Tingwei's Mansion is not big, just an ordinary house with three entrances and three exits. The front hall is a garden. Following the corridor and entering the deputy hall, Hou Xu and Tai Shici saw Zhao Gong who came to interview them.
There are not many people in Zhao Gong's house. As he gets older, he also feels that his body is not as strong as before, so he needs to recruit a few loyal servants to serve him.
Ordinary powerful families often do not recruit people from outside. They hire Zhuangzi from their own manor. But Zhao Gong belongs to the Party. The foundation of the Party in Jizhou cannot be said to be deep or shallow, but in the end it is worse than
Those powerful families that have been passed down for generations cannot be tolerated, so there is this need.
Hou Xu and Tai Shici were lucky. They had only been dormant for a month before they encountered such a thing. Originally, they had even planned to take the risk to visit the house in a while. Now that they can sneak in more covertly, it is naturally the best.
Zhao Gong sat at the banquet and watched them come in. He saw that Hou Xu was older and had a loyal and honest appearance, and nodded slightly. He also saw that Taishi Ci was young and strong, and must be a good worker, and he was also very satisfied.
"I've met the master's house."
The two of them bowed at the same time.
"Sit down."
Zhao Gong stretched out his hand and motioned for them to sit aside and talk.
Hou Xu and Tai Shici looked at each other and said with a smile: "Master, actually we are not here to be servants."
"Um?"
Zhao Gong looked at the housekeeper on the side.
The steward was surprised and said, "Didn't you say that before?"
"Before was before."
Taishi Ci took out the dagger from his arms and clamped it around the butler's neck: "We just found an excuse to enter the house."
Seeing this scene, Zhao Gong subconsciously touched the sword on his waist, but soon he remembered that this was his home, and he only took the sword with him when he went out. How could he have a sword at home?
"Mr. Ziqian, don't panic, we are old friends, aren't we?"
Hou Xu looked at him with a smile.
Zhao Gong frowned and looked carefully at Hou Xuchang's face, which was more than ten years older, full of wrinkles, and his temples had turned white. In his mind, the memories seemed to have returned to what he saw on the banks of the Luoshui River more than ten years ago.
That yellow turban bandit.
"Who are you?"
"Mr. Ziqian, remember me?"
Hou Xu smiled and said: "At that time, you were still Zhao Buwei."
"It turns out to be Mr. Hou."
Zhao Gong said in surprise: "I remember that my husband was captured by the court and later sentenced to death. I didn't expect that my husband actually escaped?"
At that time, Hou Xu devised a plan to escape from Zhao Gong, but soon they heard that he had been captured by the eunuchs, and the person who designed it was none other than Chen Zigui, the so-called savior of the party and a partner in justice.
Xun He once inquired about Hou Xu's whereabouts and found out that he was imprisoned in Luoyang Prison, which was located in the palace and was where major criminals were imprisoned by Tingwei. It would be difficult to escape and reach heaven.
Unexpectedly, Hou Xu survived.
Hou Xu smiled and said: "Eunuchs, as long as you give me money, let alone my humble life, they will sell it even to my biological parents."
This is scolding the eunuch for being unfilial. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, this was a very vicious curse.
However, Zhao Gong nodded with deep understanding: "That's right, Mr. Hou is right. As long as you give money, there is nothing that those eunuchs can't sell? Won't the Han Dynasty be sold by them in the end?"
Hou Xu said disapprovingly: "This is a bit serious. In the Han Dynasty, it was Dong Zhuo who did it alone. The eunuchs caused the trouble, but it was not as harmful as Dong Zhuo."
"Sir, are you here to argue with me?"
Zhao Gong's lips moved slightly, then suddenly smiled bitterly and said: "No, you are here to seek revenge on me, right?"
Hou Xu shook his head: "My husband and I have no grudges in the past, and we have no grudges recently. How can we seek revenge?"
Zhao Gong thought for a while, he didn't handle things quickly back then and fell into Hou Xu's plan. He didn't kill or capture any of their people, and it was in vain. There really couldn't be any enmity between them.
Thinking of this, he pointed at Tai Shici and asked, "In that case, what does Mr. Hou mean by this?"
"I'm just afraid of causing unnecessary trouble."
Hou Xu waved his hand and signaled Taishi Ci to put down the dagger in his hand.
Taishi Ci let go of the housekeeper. The housekeeper looked at Zhao Gong in surprise. Zhao Gong waved his hand and said, "You can go out first."
"gentlemen."
Taishi Ci turned to look at Hou Xu, who smiled, shook his head and said nothing.
The butler slowly walked out of the door.
Zhao Gong gestured: "Please sit down. Sir, you are as courageous as before. Aren't you afraid that I will ask the housekeeper to go out and ask someone to arrest you?"
Hou Xu smiled faintly: "Ziyi has courage that no man can match. With his ability, as long as the subordinates dare to call people, it will be easy to escape after killing the subordinates. As for me, it is just a cheap life. I will change the troops."
What's the harm in losing my life? It's just a pity for Mr. Gongshu's great cause."
Zhao Gong's expression changed drastically, he stood up from the table and walked quickly towards the door.
Taishi Ci looked at Hou Xu, who waved his hand again and sat on the table at the bottom of the main seat as if he was the guest. The old god was there and he didn't seem to be worried about Zhao Gong escaping.
Zhao Gong did not run away as expected, he just walked to the door and shouted something outside.
After a while, the housekeeper hurried over again.
"Let people watch the yard and don't allow anyone to come in."
"Okay Da Lang."
After the housekeeper responded, Zhao Gong closed the door again, not allowing anyone to see what happened in the hall.
This housekeeper was an old man left behind by his father, Zhao Yanshi, who was loyal and reliable. Since it was related to Hou Xu and Xun He, Zhao Gong had to be cautious.
He now also knew that Hou Xu was not here to kill him. Otherwise, he had no weapons and was already over fifty years old. He was no match for the young and strong Tai Shici, so he became more calm.
After giving instructions to the housekeeper, Zhao Gong turned his head and looked at Hou Xu solemnly: "Mr. Hou, what do you mean by what you just said?"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Haha."
Hou Xu smiled and said: "Is it possible that the subordinates don't know that Yuan Shao has deposed the Emperor of Jizhou and paid tribute to Luoyang. Although this does not mean anything, in the next step, you party members who surrendered to the Emperor of Jizhou will
, how do you think he will treat it?"
Zhao Gong's face changed slightly. He was not unaware of these things. After the amnesty for the party's scourge, the older group of party members who survived were basically in their forties, like Yuan Shao who was in his thirties, or even
Can be regarded as a young man.
But more than ten years later, this group of people has become old. As the young leader of the party, Yuan Shao was designated by Wang Fen as his successor to take charge of Jizhou.
After taking office, what did he do?
He shelved the old party members and placed more emphasis on aristocratic families and powerful forces. At the same time, he also abolished many policies left over from Wang Fen's period. The most important thing was that he even abolished the Emperor of Jizhou.
In fact, when party members seek political power, they don't care at all who becomes the emperor. What they care about is political clarity, without corrupt officials, and without eunuchs disrupting power.
No matter whether he is the emperor of Jizhou or the emperor of Luoyang, they don't care who is the emperor as long as they can meet their political demands, just like Wang Fen dared to dethrone the emperor and create a new court.
But the problem is that Yuan Shao not only abolished the Jizhou court, but also took back all the power of governance.
In this way, party members like them are completely reduced to mascots.
Let alone political demands, there is no way out.
Zhao Gong is relatively good, his status is not particularly high, Yuan Shao's surveillance of him is not serious, he just sent some people outside the mansion to watch.
Xun, Chen Yi and Li Du were completely controlled. One of them was Xun Yu's son, one was Chen Fan's son, and the other was Li Ying's nephew. They were all descendants of the most famous party members.
He has a high prestige among the Shilin Qingliu group, so he is strictly guarded.
Among them, Li Du died of illness last year. He was treated like this by a junior member of Yuan Shao's party. Yuan Shao's people were everywhere in the mansion to monitor him. Although he seemed to be respectful, he lived to this age and was watched like a prisoner. Who would be affected?
Come on?
He was so angry that he died last winter.
Xun He and Chen Yi were similar. They were both in good health, but they were both getting older and were being monitored all day long. Although they could go out, they had to be followed by dozens of people every time they went out.
He was worried about their safety, so Yuan Shao was naturally very angry.
There were only a few old party members left in Yecheng, and there were only a dozen of them left in Yecheng. Occasionally they would get together and scold Yuan Shao for being shameless in private. But after scolding them, they were powerless and couldn't do anything about it.
So it's not that Zhao Gong doesn't know how embarrassing the position of his party members is now, but he's just being watched all the time and can't find any other way out.
Now that a way out seemed to be at his door, Zhao Gong didn't care about anything else and said straight to the point: "Who do you represent to come to me?"
Hou Xu pointed to the west and said with a smile: "The Imperial Court, the Luoyang Imperial Court!"
Zhao Gong didn't react for a moment, as if he couldn't believe it, and asked again: "Who?"
"The Emperor of Luoyang!"
Hou Xu answered again.
"Ha ha ha ha."
Zhao Gong seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world. He pointed at Hou Xu and said: "Mr. Hou, you were a Yellow Turban rebel back then. You bought your life from the eunuch with money, but you were also the most hated evil party in the court. Unexpectedly, you
You actually said today that you came to me on behalf of the imperial court, which is really interesting."
Hou Xu said with a smile: "The world is unpredictable. When I followed General Tiangong in the uprising, I would not have thought that many years later, I would become an official of the imperial court. Mr. Ziqian made a joke. I am now a minister of the imperial court. For the sake of glory,
Luxun is an official."
Secretly, Hou Xu was the commander of military intelligence, but when he was walking in Qingzhou, he must have a public identity. Therefore, after he was cleared, he was conscripted by the imperial court as a Zhongsan doctor with a salary of 600 shi, which was an idle official position.
However, no matter how idle an official position is, he is still an upright official of the imperial court. He was a rebel back then, but today he has become an official. Who can explain this?
Zhao Gong smiled and burst into tears, and said sadly: "Even Mr. Hou has become a court official, and we party members have turned against the party. What kind of world is this? Those who are loyal to the country have become
Treacherous and traitorous traitors have entered the court. In this Han world, there is no country, and the world is in turmoil."
"What is pure will become clear by itself, and what is turbid will become turbid by itself."
Hou Xu said calmly: "This world is like this, black and white are reversed, and confusion is unclear. Therefore, someone should open up the world and stand up to make this turbid water clear."
"Who can take this position?"
Zhao Gong asked.
"Liu Qingzhou!"
Hou Xu pointed into the distance and shouted sternly: "Yuan Shao went against the grain, and his life will soon be over. Liu Qingzhou is the only one who can restore the country of Han Dynasty. Today, Mr. Bo'an is a wise man and is deeply loved by the world. If the party members don't wake up and surrender to the Luoyang court,
Are you waiting for Yuan Shao to be overthrown and be completely accused of being a traitor to the party?"
After a righteous scolding, Zhao Gong seemed to have been given a slap in the face, stunned, and froze on the spot.
yes.
They have been ignored by Yuan Shao in Jizhou, and politically they can no longer express their demands.
Now the emperor of Luoyang is no longer the Liu Hong who was bewitched by the eunuchs, but has become the wise and benevolent Duke Bo'an, who is known as the elder of the clan.
Liu Yu was already loved by everyone in the world, and was deeply affected by the tragedies caused by the previous eunuchs. He heard that eunuchs were no longer allowed to interfere in politics in the palace, and all the princes in the Manchu Dynasty were very clear-minded. This was a good time for the party members to revolt.
After all, they have been trapped in Jizhou and cannot extricate themselves. Now that someone has given them this step, if they don't follow this step, it means that they will be tied to the same boat as Yuan Shao.
Do the party members want to be tied to Yuan Shao?
Before Yuan Shao took away the power of the party members, they thought it didn't matter.
Now.
If you don't leave, you'll be waiting to die.
I'm not afraid of death.
What I was afraid of was that one day, the Luoyang court would really take over the world.
Until that time, they have always belonged to the rebel faction in Jizhou and have been firmly nailed to the pillar of shame.
For party members who are famous all over the world, this is really a life worse than death.
Thinking of this, Zhao Gong no longer hesitated and asked: "Since Mr. Hou is here on behalf of the Luoyang court, and our party members are all loyal and patriotic people, we have nothing to say without saying anything. Please tell us what you want us to do."
Hou Xu smiled slightly and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
If you persuade Zhao Gong, you are not far away from trying to persuade Xun and Chen Yi.
Although the power of the Jizhou Party was severely damaged by Yuan Shao, they still have reputation and residual power.
As long as another fire is added to Yuan Shao's internal contradictions, one day, this fire will turn into a raging flame and burn down the Yuan family building.