Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3745 The eagles fly back and forth. All the people are well-fed, but I alone suffer.

August of the tenth year of the Taixing era.

The official road from Xuchang to Sishui Pass.

The autumn wind, carrying the dryness and coolness unique to the northern plains, lashes the sparse, withered grass along the official road like an invisible whip.

The wind whipped up yellow dust, which filled the air, forming a thin, almost suffocating dust curtain that blanketed everyone's faces and bodies.

Against this dim yellow backdrop, the emperor's massive entourage, like a giant dragon tormented by illness, writhed forward on the uneven official road.

The armor of the Tiger Guards gleamed with a cold metallic luster in the dim light of the day, and their long halberds stood like a forest, tightly guarding the imperial carriage in the center of the formation, which symbolized supreme imperial power.

However, if viewed from above, the imposing guards appear less like a protective barrier and more like a series of moving iron fences, separating the imperial carriage from the real world outside.

The wheels rolled over potholes of varying depths, producing a dull, teeth-grinding 'clunk' sound, and with each bump, the figure sitting upright inside the imperial carriage swayed slightly.

The curtains of the imperial carriage were deliberately rolled up high, as if to proclaim the emperor's existence to heaven and earth.

Inside the carriage, Emperor Liu Xie of the Han Dynasty wore an elaborate and heavy black robe with twelve imperial symbols. The jade beads hanging from the crown tassels swayed slightly in front of his eyes from time to time, making the world before him seem somewhat unreal.

He straightened his back, which was slightly hunched from years of seclusion, and raised his chin slightly, trying to maintain an air of dominance.

Sunlight filtered through the dust, falling on his face, which was tense and deliberately strained, and strangely coated it with an almost sacred halo, even though this halo was so fragile that it seemed to shatter at the slightest touch.

He shouldn't be here.

He shouldn't have gone to the treacherous Sishui Pass in this way, like a puppet pushed onto a stage.

But then he came...

The root of everything seems to lie in that "Letter to the People of the World" which came from the Yellow River region out of nowhere and swept across the world in the blink of an eye!
General Fei Qian's proclamation, like a wildfire, with its subversive heat, easily burned through the seemingly thick but actually rotten curtain of the deep palace in Xuchang.

When those words—

When phrases like "division of duties and specialization," "all professions are for scholars," "expanding territory and increasing technology," and "unifying all nations" were branded onto Liu Xie's eyes like a red-hot iron, he felt not only the overwhelming anger of being offended as the emperor, but also a chill that seeped from the depths of his bones, enough to freeze his blood, and a sense of powerless absurdity.

That was hardly a manifesto written for the common people of the world.

That was clearly an invisible giant hammer swung by Fei Qian, carrying an overwhelming force, smashing straight down on the already shaky, symbolic 'Emperor' crown above his head!
Smash it! Overturn it!
Fei Qian is about to "flip the table"!

In Liu Xie's view, what Fei Qian wanted to overturn was the only table he had left, which could even be said to be the only thing he relied on to maintain his last bit of dignity and sense of existence...

Even if this table is just symbolic...

The table represents the old order of "All land under heaven belongs to the king; all people within the borders are subjects of the king"!
This made Liu Xie feel angry, fearful, and resentful. However, what truly pulled him out from behind the curtain of the deep palace and pushed him to the forefront of the storm at Sishui Pass was not Fei Qian's proclamation itself, but the officials who were now crowding around the imperial carriage, shouting "loyalty to the emperor and the country" and "protection of the Han dynasty"!

These swarms of insects and rats, clinging relentlessly to the sinking ship of the Han Dynasty...

The scene from the court assembly a few days ago was still vivid in his mind, echoing in his ears again and again...

The Imperial Censor Xi Lu, his hair and beard bristling, tears streaming down his face, felt as if the sky were falling and the earth were about to collapse. He fell to the ground, his voice hoarse and almost bleeding, "Your Majesty! The traitor Fei is arrogant and rebellious! He is utterly depraved! He dares to arbitrarily alter ancestral laws and confuse the hierarchy of Heaven and Earth; his heart deserves to be punished! This vile proclamation has stirred up unrest throughout the land, causing widespread unrest and imminent collapse of moral order! Your Majesty is the supreme ruler, the sovereign of the world, ordained by Heaven! At this critical juncture, only Your Majesty's personal presence on the front lines, proclaiming the glorious Mandate of Heaven, can inspire the soldiers' will to fight to the death and thwart the traitor's ferocious arrogance! This is a time of life and death for the nation; Your Majesty cannot remain indifferent in the inner palace any longer!"

His forehead slammed heavily against the gold brick, making a dull thud, and blood began to flow from it shortly afterward.

They did shed blood for the Han Dynasty, to some extent.

"Indeed! Your Majesty, please lead the expedition in person! For the sake of all the people!" Several ministers followed suit, echoing in unison, their voices reverberating in the empty hall with a strange, hollow resonance.

Another senior official, Grand Master of Ceremonies Wang Lang, stepped forward shakily. He stroked his sparse beard, his eyes gleaming with a complex mix of emotions that Liu Xie could not decipher. "Your Majesty is wise! That traitor Fei relies on nothing more than crude, outdated tricks and cunning techniques from the fields to bewitch the ignorant masses! His soldiers are mostly lowly farmers, barbarians from the frontier, raw meat and bloodthirsty creatures. How could they know anything of loyalty, righteousness, or propriety? Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, your divine might is here. By personally coming to the pass, merely revealing your imperial countenance and proclaiming righteousness, you will surely subdue them, utterly terrified! The people within the pass, grateful for Your Majesty's presence in this perilous situation, will surely welcome the royal army with food and drink, vowing to serve Your Majesty to the death and protect the Han dynasty!"

These impassioned and grand words drifted away in the noisy yet cool autumn wind, eventually transforming into this thin, seemingly inescapable, and inextricably linked gray-yellow dust before my eyes...

Behind the imperial carriage, Liu Xie could still see the faces, near and far, filled with excitement, anxiety, and grief. He even caught a glimpse of something deep in the seemingly sincere eyes of many people—a hint that they tried desperately to conceal but ultimately could not completely hide…

fear.

The source of that fear was not merely the dread of Fei Qian's battle-hardened army outside Sishui Pass.

The deeper fear, like a venomous snake gnawing at their souls, stemmed from the blueprint depicted in Fei Qian's manifesto!

That theory of "division of duties and specialization" and "all professions are for people" is like a sharp plowshare, determined to thoroughly till the soil on which they depend for survival!

We must thoroughly shatter the old order built on the monopoly of classical studies and social hierarchy, which allowed them to enjoy privileges, monopolize knowledge, control official careers, and exploit resources for generations!
Once this blueprint is realized, these generations of nobles and powerful families will be swept into the dust of history like rootless duckweed, with no place to stand again!
So, they managed to gather together, which was quite a rare occurrence...

Liu Xie knew this, but he also couldn't refuse.

Because of him, Liu Xie, the nominal ruler of the world, wasn't he also the most central and most tragic victim of this collapsing old order?
A puppet carefully enshrined on an altar, a symbol used to decorate appearances and maintain old dreams.

The old order, the old emperor.

If a new blueprint is implemented, what place will he have?
Regardless of the fluctuations in Liu Xie's thoughts as the imperial carriage swayed and rose, simply observing this immense tragedy that had lasted for centuries from an outsider's perspective inevitably raises questions. Why were these aristocratic clans of Shandong, like the legendary centipede, able to survive even after death, and even manage to be resurrected through successive dynastic changes, reaching their peak in the Wei and Jin dynasties, and even after being forcefully suppressed and wiped out in the Sui and Tang dynasties, still able to rise from the ashes?

As we trace the lineage of feudal dynasties over thousands of years, what is hidden will gradually be revealed.

The moment Emperor Wu "dismissed all other schools of thought and exclusively honored Confucianism," he sowed the seeds of today's calamity.

When the system of Imperial Academy Doctors and Disciples was established, and the right to interpret Confucian classics became the only key to power, the cage of thought was already cast.

Generation after generation of aristocratic sons, from childhood, were thoroughly brainwashed by this meticulously woven doctrine of "loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness," and "hierarchical order." When they ascended the political stage with this tamed ideology, becoming prefects, governors, and high-ranking officials, everything they did—whether forming cliques, annexing land, manipulating public opinion, or undermining imperial power—was to maintain the system that had enabled them to rise to power and to safeguard the absolute interests of their class. They were no longer subjects of the emperor, but rather slaves and guardians of this ideological system.

Boxers come from boxing gyms and then conquer the world.

The referee was a veteran boxer.

The thugs are the new generation of boxers.

There are also reserve boxers...

come!

How you want to fight, where you want to fight? If I can't beat you to death now, I'll beat your children in the future!
After the establishment of the Great Han Boxer system, during the Nine-Rank System of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it may have initially been veiled in the thin veil of "appointing only the talented," but it was quickly woven into an airtight power network by top clans such as the Taiyuan Wang clan and the Langya Wang clan through marriage alliances, promotions, and evaluations, truly "integrating" them into one.

They firmly occupy 70% of the official positions with a salary of 200 shi or more!
During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, when the Wang and Ma families shared power, Wang Dao, in order to reconcile the conflicts between the northern gentry who had migrated south and the local gentry of Jiangdong, actually took the initiative to raise the rank of the four families of Wu County.

This measure, originally intended to resolve class conflict, instead made the barriers between the entire aristocratic class even more stringent and their privileges even more entrenched!

This expedient measure, taken to avoid conflict and try to smooth things over, ultimately exacerbates the fundamental contradictions!
Is this absurd drama of repeated decay and collapse only playing out in the Jin Dynasty?
The emperors of the Sui and Tang dynasties saw the problem and tried to use the imperial examination system, which seemed to be a fair measure, to break down the power of aristocratic families.

Emperor Taizong of Tang ambitiously revised the "Clan Records" with the intention of re-ranking the aristocratic families and suppressing the old clans.

The results of it?
The ministers who compiled the document still ranked the Cui family as the first class!
This is strikingly similar to the attitude of certain US institutions in later generations who claimed "the facts are clear and the evidence is conclusive."

This forced Emperor Taizong to personally intervene and forcibly elevate the imperial family, specifically the Li clan, to the top position...

Even more fatally, when the equal-field system collapsed and the country's economic foundation was shaken, the shrewd old clans of Fanyang and Lu immediately turned to commerce, using their astonishing wealth to rebuild their influence, forcing the political upper class to compromise with them from an economic perspective.

This colossal structure, "too big to fall," transcends millennia and spans time and cultures!
Is it that the state controls capital, or that capital is holding the state hostage?
The boundaries have long been blurred.

Upon closer examination, the root cause of this age-old problem lies in an invisible shackle!

Thought!

Or rather, a 'culture' that has been monopolized, interpreted, and solidified by a specific class...

Once this is understood, the earth-shaking events caused by Fei Qian's proclamation in Shandong are no longer an incomprehensible spectacle.

Is it because Fei Qian's writing is so brilliant, with every word a gem?
Do not!
The fundamental reason is that Fei Qian and the Guanzhong forces he represents have the absolute power to overturn this "table of ideas"!

This table is not the symbolic imperial table that Liu Xie ostensibly possesses, but rather the "table of thought and culture" that truly dominated China for hundreds of years, deeply hidden in the shadow of Liu Xie, this clay and wooden puppet, constructed by Confucian dogma, aristocratic hierarchy, and rules for the distribution of interests!
This is the real reason why the powerful officials in Shandong felt utterly doomed!
This is the fundamental motivation behind their swift and "united" efforts to bring Liu Xie, the last totem of the Han Dynasty, out of the dust of the deep palace, clean it up, elevate it high, and carry it to the battlefield of Sishui Pass!

They wanted to use this tattered banner of the "Han Dynasty," carrying with it the deeply ingrained concept of "loyalty to the emperor" that had been ingrained for millennia, and the simple yet vague awe and illusions that the common people held for the "Son of Heaven," to ignite the last remaining attachment to the old era in the hearts of the garrison troops within the pass and the people of Shandong. They wanted to use Liu Xie's pale face and empty symbolism to oppose Fei Qian's blueprint for a new world, a blueprint full of allure yet capable of subverting everything!

The source of the thick, large "carrot" that attracted Liu Xie to step out, and the source of the "courage" that allowed him to sit upright in the bumpy imperial carriage, was the "three thousand" elite cavalrymen on both sides of the imperial carriage, dispatched by Cao Cao and commanded by Xiahou Jie, the "Tiger General"!
Because of the obstruction of vision and dust, Liu Xie's gaze could not penetrate the entire massive cavalry column, and naturally, he could not dismount to count the so-called "three thousand" one by one.

Cao Cao said three thousand, and his ministers also said three thousand, so it must be three thousand!
It looks like three thousand, and it is indeed three thousand, so it is three thousand!
Whoever wants to prove their innocence should prove it themselves...

After all, how could the emperor dismount his carriage and count the taxes like a tax collector? That would be a desecration of the imperial authority!
These cavalrymen, their armor gleaming, reflected a cold, hard light in the dim glow; their swords and spears pointed like a dense forest at the gloomy sky; as their warhorses moved, their hooves pounded the dry earth with a dull, continuous rumble, the dust they kicked up resembling a giant yellow dragon.

The ranks were orderly and imposing, seemingly possessing the awe-inspiring presence of a seasoned veteran, capable of easily pursuing and killing a mere cavalryman across counties and prefectures...

Whenever Liu Xie looked out the window, he would be met with the seemingly awe-inspiring gazes of the knights. Some officers, even squad leaders and captains, would, the instant their eyes met, straighten their backs as if drawn by an invisible thread, slamming their right fists into their chest armor with a dull thud, while simultaneously roaring, "The Great Han—victory!"

Swoosh.

well.

energetic.

Their movements were synchronized and uniform, exuding a powerful masculine energy and a sense of ritual.

This scene and this action were like injections of stimulants, injecting into Liu Xie's heart, which had been withered and cracked by despair and powerlessness.

Each low growl of "Wan Sheng" was like a spark, splashing into the parched lake of his heart, instantly igniting a small flame called "hope".

The flame, though faint, was enough to give him a long-lost sense of 'vitality' and 'warmth,' making him straighten his back and temporarily forget the fatigue of his journey...

Within Shandong, the loyalist royalists, the fence-sitters, and the anti-Fei faction who were simply afraid that Fei Qian's new policies would destroy their privileges, all temporarily set aside their differences and, remarkably, gathered under the banner of Liu Xie, despite the immense pressure brought by Fei Qian's manifesto.

These remaining forces represented the last struggle of the aristocratic families throughout Shandong, who lived in constant fear.

They gathered around the imperial carriage, their words earnest, even bordering on 'humble' plea, which fanned the faint flame in Liu Xie's heart to burn even brighter...

"Your Majesty! This is a golden opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime chance!" An elderly patriarch with white hair and beard excitedly approached the carriage window, lowering his voice, his eyes gleaming with fervent light. "Although Cao Mengde is a powerful minister, he is compelled by the overwhelming force of Fei's proclamation and deeply fears that the hearts of the scholars still lean towards the Han dynasty's legitimacy. Therefore, he has no choice but to send this elite army to protect Your Majesty! However, this army is nominally still the Emperor's personal guard! Your Majesty's personal presence at Sishui places the safety of the nation at stake. The soldiers of the three armies have witnessed Your Majesty's countenance and felt Your Majesty's might; how dare they not fight to the death to repay Your Majesty's grace?"

"Exactly!" another loyal minister chimed in, pointing forcefully to the imposing cavalry column outside the window. "Your Majesty, look! These are warriors who have survived countless battles, each one a ten men! Your Majesty need only ascend the mighty Sishui Pass, stand on the railing, and issue a command! Demonstrate the majesty of the Son of Heaven, and proclaim the righteous cause of punishing the rebels! Although that Fei rebel possesses a powerful army and is extremely fierce, his soldiers were once subjects of our great Han Dynasty! Their blood flows with awe for the Han Dynasty! How dare they defy the world, look directly at the Emperor's carriage, and commit regicide and usurpation, an act that will leave them infamous for eternity? Your Majesty's personal arrival will be the greatest deterrent to the rebel army! If this can subdue the Fei rebels, making them fear the might of Heaven and cease their attacks, then Your Majesty's prestige will surely be like that of Emperor Guangwu, who restored the Han Dynasty, shaking the world! At that time, how dare the likes of Cao Cao not bow down and obey Your Majesty's commands?" 』

"Yes... Your Majesty is wise!"

"Indeed... this is a turning point for the nation!"

"That's what I'm talking about..."

"The Mandate of Heaven rests with Your Majesty!"

A chorus of agreement rang out, buzzing and lingering.

"Subdued the Filipino bandits... both sides cease hostilities..."

These words, like a magical incantation, echoed, collided, and amplified repeatedly in Liu Xie's mind.

His hands, hidden in the wide sleeves of his robe, were already clenched into fists, his nails digging deep into his palms, bringing sharp, stinging pain. But this pain did not bring him to his senses; instead, it brought a strange, long-lost sense of 'reality' and an illusory sense of 'power'.

The pain seemed to be reminding him...

He's still alive, he can still feel, he...

still have a chance!

Yes!

who am I?
I am the Emperor!

It was Liu Xie, who was ordained by Heaven!

They are of noble bloodline from Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Guangwu!
Emperor Guangwu was able to turn the tide against Wang Mang's 400,000-strong army at Kunyang, achieving a great restoration of the dynasty! Why can't I, Liu Xie, recreate the glory of my ancestors at Sishui Pass?!

(End of this chapter)