I will be the master of Xuande

Chapter 604: Shaking the foundations of the imperial court

Dong Zhuo rubbed his head and turned his head to the side with a rather painful expression.

"Oh, it's really annoying."

Dong Zhuo sighed in distress: "Why did so many rebellions suddenly pop up? Can the troops left behind in Guanzhong be pacified?"

Liu Ai said: "According to the reports, the troops in the hands of Li Jue and Guo Si, who are responsible for guarding Chang'an, are enough to deal with these rebellions. After all, most of the rebels are refugees or low-level savages. Although they can swarm together, but They will collapse upon contact, and these rebels have few armors, poorly equipped weapons, and no one who knows how to use military tactics, so it is no big deal at the moment."

When Dong Zhuo heard this, he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. He said with emotion: "That's good, that's good. It's just a good thing. How come there are so many rebellious thieves? Isn't this a serious matter to destroy me?"

When Liu Ai heard this, he didn't speak for a long time.

"What's wrong? It seems that Liu Shizhong has something to hide? He has something to say, but it doesn't hurt to say it!"

Liu Ai bowed to Dong Zhuo respectfully: "Xiangguo, in fact, according to the regulations of the last officials, the reason why there are so many rebellions in Guanzhong is because five baht small coins were newly minted and widely distributed among the people. , which greatly plundered local wealth, thus leading to more local rebellions."

Dong Zhuo frowned.

"People's wealth has been plundered even more. Grain prices in Guanzhong have skyrocketed. Local prominent families have controlled grain prices and made huge fortunes. As a result, ordinary people can't even eat. For many people in Guanzhong, it is death to rebel." , is also death, it seems like this, why not fight back?"

After hearing this, Dong Zhuo became angry and slapped the edge of the bed.

Because his movements were too large and involved too much, Dong Zhuo suddenly began to cough violently again. His coughing was very serious this time, and the attendants next to him hurriedly stepped forward to caress his chest and help him breathe.

Dong Zhuo stretched out his hand to push away the attendants, and then glared at Liu Ai fiercely.

"In your opinion, what should it be?"

Liu Ai was silent for a while, and then slowly said: "According to the opinion of the officials, there are only two ways to prevent the situation from deteriorating."

"Tell me."

Liu Ai said seriously: "Xiangguo, in addition to the areas directly controlled by the imperial court, whether it is Hebei controlled by Liu Jian, Jingchu controlled by Yuan Shao, Jiangnan controlled by Cao Cao, or even Jiangnan controlled by Cao Cao, Yizhou, which Liu Yan and Yuan Yi fought against, both openly wanted to respect the imperial court, but in fact secretly resisted and were unwilling to circulate small money. In this way, most of the materials that the imperial court could plunder were actually in Guanzhong, Si The state may also be the common people under the jurisdiction of the Central Plains..."

When he finished speaking, Dong Zhuo roared angrily: "Yuan Shao, Liu Jian and his people are really hateful! On the surface, they seem to respect the imperial court and put the emperor first in everything, but secretly they are all selfish and evil-minded people!"

Liu Ai sighed: "Of course these people are hateful, but we can't do anything to deal with them now. Now the people the court exploits with small money are our own people. The prime minister's western expedition relies on taking profits from the people. The people in Guanzhong cannot make ends meet." , there is almost no way to survive. If this continues, how can the people not be in chaos? How can the refugees from all sides not rebel?"

"Ignorant people!"

Dong Zhuo said angrily: "The benefit of the Western Expedition lies in the future, and the merit lies in the country. At present, the imperial court is only asking them to borrow a small profit. When Liangzhou is pacified, the Western Regions are conquered, and trade continues, they will naturally benefit. What's wrong! Can't you just be patient for a while?!"

After hearing this, Liu Ai sighed secretly in his heart.

If it were Dong Zhuo in the past, although his temper was cruel, he would never say such superficial words.

But now...

It seems that Xiangguo's illness has overwhelmed his reason. It is not only his body that is getting weaker day by day, but also his mind.

Liu Ai patiently advised Dong Zhuo: "Xiangguo, ordinary Li Shu people, it's not impossible for them to be patient. The problem is that the current food prices have been raised extremely high by the wealthy families in Guanzhong. Ordinary Li Shu people It seems that there is no way to survive. To allow them to continue to endure is nothing more than to cut off their way of survival... No one wants to die."

Dong Zhuo suddenly raised his hand and said: "In short, the war in Liangzhou is urgent at the moment, and it affects the overall situation. It is a battle that I personally command, and there must be no room for failure! The politics of small money cannot be withdrawn at this critical time. This is related to The direction of the war in Liangzhou is also supported by my army!"

"As for the matter of Guanzhong Haoyou driving up food prices, I will naturally send someone to deal with it. You don't have to worry about it. Your main task at the moment is to assist me in accomplishing things in the northwest! Do you understand?"

"Here, here..."

Liu Ai kept bowing his eyebrows and saluting Dong Zhuo. He knew that Dong Zhuo was already extremely angry at this moment. If he continued to discuss it, he would easily anger Dong Zhuo.

Once Dong Zhuo turns against him, it will be like disowning his relatives and killing whoever he catches.

Even though Liu Ai was now the most powerful thinker second only to Li Ru, Dong Zhuo was so anxious that he wouldn't feel any distress if he killed Liu Ai.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Dong Zhuo turned his head and coughed for a while, then he looked at Liu Ai aside. "It's just that the local tycoons took advantage of the government's new money policy to drive up food prices, put all the people in trouble, and destroyed the country and the country. It's really hateful. If we don't straighten it out and kill a few of them, it's not enough to make the people angry. It is even more insufficient to demonstrate the power of the imperial court!"

"Send the order, let Guo Si investigate this matter thoroughly. If necessary, arrest some of the leaders who are hoarding grain and driving up grain prices, take them to the downtown area and kill them, confiscate their belongings, and enforce the law of the country!"

When Liu Ai heard this, he hesitated: "Is it too radical?"

Dong Zhuo said coldly: "Is this considered a fierce method? How many wealthy people has Liu Jian killed in these years? Compared with him, I am already pretty good!"

What Liu Ai actually wants to say is that it would be inappropriate for Guo Si to handle this matter. After all, Guo Si was a horse thief from Liangzhou. Although he has become a general now, he has not changed his bad habits and punished the leader of the wealthy family in Guanzhong. I'm afraid he will mess up the matter...

But when the words came to his lips, Liu Ai still swallowed what he wanted to say.

After all, Guo Bang is Dong Zhuo's direct descendant. Perhaps for Dong Zhuo, Guo Bang is far beyond himself in his heart.

As the saying goes, one cannot be close without being close, but speaking ill of Guo Si based on one's position in Dong Zhuo's heart would be a bit overstepping the bounds.

Moreover, Guo Si is not a good person. Once the matter reaches his ears, I am afraid that this person will definitely not break up with him.

You're so good, why did you offend that man!?

"Report!"

At this moment, I saw a Xiliang Army guard hurriedly ran into Dong Zhuo's commander's tent, raised his hands to Dong Zhuo and said: "This is for the Prime Minister, General Lu has sent someone to bring good news to the Prime Minister!"

"Oh? How?"

"General Lu set up an ambush a hundred miles southwest of Nan'an and defeated Ma Teng's cavalry. The leader of the thieves, Ma Chao, was defeated by General Lu himself!"

"it is good!"

When Dong Zhuo heard this, he was very happy.

Ma Chao was young but very brave. He followed Ma Teng and defeated his Xiliang generals several times, which made Dong Zhuo very angry.

This time, Lu Bu was asked to take action and punish Ma Chao severely, which relieved his anger!

"Okay, very good, send someone immediately, give me a heavy reward! Ma Teng and Han Sui, I want to see how long they can dance!"

……

……

In fact, the people who have been keeping a close eye on Liangzhou and Guanzhong are not only Dong Zhuo and Liu Jian, but also another person, and that person is Yuan Shao.

As the head of the Yuan family, Yuan Shao has now integrated the resources of all the four generations and three princes. He has a large number of elite advisers under him, and among them there are many who have far-sighted vision.

"Mr. Yuan, today Dong Zhuo has ordered Guo Si to punish those who drive up food prices in Guanzhong. It seems that old thief Dong can no longer hold on."

"The policy of petty money set up by today's emperor is extremely stupid. He wants to raid the states and counties in Guandong, but how can he know that the people in Guandong are at his mercy? Now that the emperor is in a cocoon, I am afraid that during the turmoil in Guanzhong, he will not Far."

The person who spoke was Kuai Yue, who was now highly respected by Yuan Shao's subordinates.

At this time, there were only two people in the hall, Yuan Shao and Kuai Yue.

Yuan Shao leaned forward and asked: "Sir, what should I do at this time?"

Kuai Yue told Yuan Shao straightforwardly.

"At this time, you can send people to Guanzhong to spread rumors and secretly unite with the powerful people in Guanzhong to disturb the foundation of the imperial court."

　There will be more in a while

　　
　
(End of this chapter)