Crowned the New Han Dynasty

Chapter 578: Using the state as bait to drive away tigers and devour wolves!
Dong Xu, like Zhou Ao, was deployed by Chen Zhi in the past, and they both followed Chen Zhi when Chen Zhi was Tai Leling.

Later, Chen Zhi was promoted from Tai Leling to Secretary Superintendent of the Secretarial Department. Dong Xu also came with him like Zhou Ao and is still serving as Secretary Cheng of the Secretarial Department.

In the past, whether Su Liao came to the capital or Chen Zhi wanted to inquire about the capital's news and intelligence, Dong Xu was the key point and would often send important information to Chen Zhi.

However, in private, Dong Xu still kept in touch with Zhou Ao, and the two parties communicated more frequently, because when Zhou Ao left, he asked Dong Xu to help take care of the family's children.

On the other hand, Dong Xu's letters often mentioned some news that he heard from the princes who visited the Secretariat Province by taking advantage of his position.

Generally speaking, Dong Xu would send news directly to Chen Zhi when it came to Beidi and Chen Zhi. However, when it came to issues that had little to do with Chen Zhi, such as policies for poor families, he would only tell Zhou Ao, which was almost a routine. .

But this time something is different.

"The prefect may become the governor? Isn't this a promotion? It's a good thing. Why did Dong Xu deliberately mark it to tell me? This matter involves the prefect, why didn't he inform him, but sent it to me instead? I specifically asked the servant who sent my heart to hide it on the road and not to be searched until it was handed over to my steward or my hands in person."

Frowning his brows, Zhou Ao realized that there might be a big problem involved, and there must be something fishy behind it.

Of course, the prefects of the New Han Dynasty had a lot of authority, and the border prefects even had the power to lead troops. They could not say that they controlled all the military affairs, but they at least controlled most of them and had great power. For example, Liu Kun, who was resisting in Bingzhou, was actually only one party. However, relying on the resources and contacts he accumulated as a prefect, he was able to pull together a team and resist until now after the Huns rebelled and annexed the state.

However, no matter how great the authority of the prefect is, it is still not greater than that of the governor.

The governorship was a watershed in the Xinhan bureaucracy.
An intuitive comparison is that in Xuzhou, the Xuzhou governor Zhang Chu, because of his personal likes and dislikes and taking into account natural and man-made disasters, could directly suggest that the administrative seat of a state should be moved from the north to the south.

Although this is due to Zhang Chu's family background, it is also a manifestation of the power of the governor, not to mention Wang Jun, the governor of Youzhou.

In the border areas, the county guards still have the right to lead troops, let alone Youzhou. After Wang Jun's management, coupled with the wars in Jizhou, Qingzhou and other places, the connection between Youzhou and Luoyang has become weaker and weaker. Under the influence of the Hu people, Yanran became a semi-independent kingdom. As the governor, he guarded this place and had the reality of separatism. He also used the war situation on the border to compete with the influence of the imperial court.

Even Wang Jun used Youzhou as his foundation to expand his territory, and finally opened up and concurrently served as the governor of Pingzhou. Just looking at these is enough to know how powerful and influential this governor, especially the governor of Youzhou, is!
"If someone in the imperial court really wants the prefect to be the governor of Youzhou, wouldn't it be a great thing? Isn't the prefect still worried that Wang Jun, the governor of Youzhou, will fall out with him after the war and put Daijun in trouble? ? If you become the governor of Youzhou in one fell swoop, then what do you have to worry about? Not to mention Daijun, several other counties are also under control, so why do you need to worry about Wang Jun's revenge and suppression? "

Zhou Ao thought like this and couldn't help but be eager to try. He was Chen Zhi's confidant and followed Chen Zhi all the way here. He gradually gained some influence in Dai County. If Chen Zhi could reach a higher level, he would certainly be able to lift all boats. One of the most profitable people.

However, Zhou Ao had spent time in the capital and knew that one should not just look at the benefits, but also the resistance, how many forces would be offended, and how many people's interests would be affected.

"Well, Wang Jun will definitely not give up the throne easily. This is a direct conflict with him, but as long as the court is willing to support the prefect, it will be easy to handle. No matter how arrogant Wang Jun is, he has to rely on the border war as an excuse. Bargaining with the imperial court and deceiving all the princes in the imperial court at the same time in order to gain room for maneuvering? As long as the imperial court, huh?"

He was thinking about this, and continued to look down. He was suddenly surprised, and finally understood why Dong Xu was so mysterious, and told himself in private.

"The idea of ​​making the eunuch the governor was actually proposed by Zhang Ying, in order to drive away tigers and devour wolves. By the way, the eunuch and the Yang family were also involved, in order to make the two families and Wang Jun consume each other. Therefore, the imperial court will not provide any help and will only give the prefect a name! This is like putting the prefect on the fire!"

There is no need to elaborate on the grievances between Zhang Ying and Chen Zhi, the first few things this person did after he came to power was sending Chen Zhi out.

"It turned out that the emperor and King Guanghan were returning to the capital, and the king of Jiangdu arrived to threaten him. So he wanted to do something, but Zhang Ying caught his mind. Taking the war in the north as an opportunity, he contacted Wang Jun, who was powerful. There are many taboos in the court, so this matter was mentioned. It can be said that making the governor the governor is just one part of it. In addition, there are many other suggestions."

Just by looking at Dong Xu's brief description, Zhou Ao could sense the reason.

"This Shangshu Ling, who sits in the center and is in charge of Yin and Yang, is really powerful. In just a few words, he can both govern and suppress political opponents. Their discussion was held in the Dongyuan Bookstore, so Dong Xu had What he discovered, and the reason why Dong Xu told me first, and then let me think about it before deciding whether to inform the prefect, it means that Dong Xu also felt that the prefect had encountered a crisis this time and might not be able to survive it, so he was not optimistic about the prefect?" Will Dong Xu's After putting the letter away, Zhou Ao fell into deep thought. He really couldn't decide whether to tell Chen Zhi or not. In terms of emotions and reasons, he should tell Chen Zhi about it, but even if he did, it seems that he might not be able to do so at the moment. What a change.

"The prefect has a good relationship with the emperor, but according to the meaning in this letter, the King of Jiangdu plans to finalize this matter before the emperor returns to the palace. Even if it is not announced for the time being, it will only be a matter of time before he can truly take control of the government. The King of Guanghan will still give face to the King of Jiangdu. The prefect wanted the emperor to suggest that the matter was suppressed, but Wang Jun would eventually find out. When the time came, Wang Jun was worried that the prefect would seize his position, but the prefect did not If you follow the justifiable imperial order, the situation might be even worse!"

As he thought about it, he became more and more distressed and opened another letter.

This letter was written by his friend, who is now an official in Jiangnan, and I heard that he will be transferred to the capital soon. Although the correspondence with Zhou Ao was not frequent in the past, it was not constant.

When I opened the letter, I reminisced about old times at first, and then changed the topic and mentioned that I was going to the capital to serve as an official. I also had one or two suggested places. If necessary, I could help Zhou Ao move back.

The more Zhou Ao looked at it, the more he frowned. What was written in the letter was quite straightforward -

"Prefect Chen used to have an outstanding reputation, which is well known to the world. I also heard about it in Jiangnan. However, things have changed. Now he has offended the minister of the dynasty, and because of his Buddhist comments, he is not happy with the king of Jiangdu. King Zhou followed him northward. Originally, he wanted to After completing some achievements, he returned to the court. However, Wang Jun has the exclusive power in the north, and the Xiongnu covets it. Now there is war in Xianbei, and the Daijun is exhausted. It is not a place to do anything. I see your uncle, and he has been entrusted by him to do it. It is certainly not as good as before for you to plan another errand in the capital, but it is better than to live precariously on the frontier, waiting for Zhou Jun to think about it and give you a reply."

To put it bluntly, his friend was not optimistic about Chen Zhi's current situation either.

This is also normal. As the saying goes, a gentleman does not stand behind a dangerous wall. Maybe if Chen Zhi survives, it will be a different situation. But there are a few people who can make fun of their own future, especially people like Zhou Ao, who finally recovered and has a little bit of trouble. Pantou, but because of Chen Zhi, stayed away from the capital. If his future was bleak in the end because of this, he would really be in ruins.

"But without the governor, I would have been just a gangster waiting to die, wasting my time in the yamen, and then finally sinking, that's all."

Shaking his head, Zhou Ao opened another letter from a friend. This person was not an official, but a wealthy man with many fertile lands to his name. This letter was written simply to reminisce about the past, but it can still be seen between the lines. It was meant to be an exhortation, but it was to persuade him to resign and go home, become a rich man and stay away from the political whirlpool.

His friend's home was located in the south of the Yangtze River. He mentioned in the letter that there was also unrest in the south of the Yangtze River. Some aristocratic families were concerned about the chaos in the north and the Shu region, and were dissatisfied with the imperial court's massive taxation of the south of the Yangtze River to subsidize the north and southwest. Therefore, the court may become more turbulent in the future, so it is better to leave as soon as possible and protect yourself wisely.

Zhou Ao watched, but smiled wryly, shook his head and said: "Gongbao is confused, if it is true that Jiangnan has changed and the court is chaotic, let alone cultivating in one place like him, even if he goes to the ends of the world, how can he be alone? I don’t do this!”

With this in mind, he opened the last letter, which was written by Ji Fa.

Zhou Ao was the most surprised by Ji Fa's letter. His relationship with this aristocratic family was not close at all. They only had official contacts and contacts. I don't know why this person wrote to him and avoided talking about it. Stop and ask the servant to bring it directly.

However, after taking a few glances, Zhou Ao's eyelids couldn't help but jump.

"Ji Fa actually asked me to persuade the prefect to give in and resign and go into seclusion for a period of time to avoid disaster!"

It turned out that Ji Fa also knew the plans of Zhang Ying and others through his own channels, and he knew more comprehensively than Dong Xu. According to him, there were more than one group of people in the capital who wanted to encourage Chen Zhi to fight with Wang Jun. They reap the benefits of being a fisherman.

Some people here want to use Wang Jun to suppress Chen Zhi, while others value Chen Zhi's background and are worried that Wang Jun will be completely difficult to cure after taking advantage of the Xianbei War, so they want to use Chen Zhi as his A chess piece, leveraging the general trend of the north, weakening Wang Jun, and preparing for the next step to eradicate this scourge in the north.

"Well, you finally said you wanted to recruit me. Since when did I become a fragrant steamed bun?"

Seeing the end, Zhou Ao became more and more confused.

(End of this chapter)