The Mythical Version of the Three Kingdoms: The Evil God Arrives

Chapter 515: Court Contest
"We don't need recognition from the other side, we just need to express our inclination." Jia Xu's face was calm. They had already secured victory and no longer needed recognition from the other side.

All they needed was a superior who could allow them to do what they wanted. As for whether Liu Bei himself wanted to ascend the throne, that was Liu Bei's own business. As long as Liu Bei could seize the highest power of the Han Dynasty, it would be fine.

As for the rest, they will help Liu Bei solve them.

"Is it not necessary..." Li You muttered to himself, and finally looked at Liu Bei. There was a tenacity on Liu Bei's face that Dong Zhuo never had. It was a firm belief that was always unique and carried through to the end.

"That's right. Now we don't need their recognition anymore." The hesitation on Li You's face disappeared, and he showed his murderousness and ruthlessness again.

Once upon a time, Li You also stood at such a crossroads, but at that time, although he controlled the strongest force in the Han Dynasty, it was so strong that he didn't even need the recognition of the world.

However, Dong Zhuo, whom he recognized, fell into depravity. He let them have whatever they wanted in the prosperous Guanzhong. Dong Zhuo's depravity eventually led to the collapse of the Xiliang forces, and also caused Li You's hard work in the first half of his life to go to waste.

Now, Li You once again stood at the crossroads of fate. He looked at Liu Bei, who was chosen by Chen Xi and Yang Ji. Liu Bei's eyes were full of faith that Dong Zhuo had never seen.

"We just need to do what we should do, and the rest will be..." Chen Xi looked at the ruins of Luoyang. After Liu Bei rebuilt Luoyang, what choice would the officials in the Chang'an court who claimed to be loyal ministers of the Han Dynasty make?
At the same time, Li You's butler Li Fan appeared in Chang'an. He came to Chang'an with Liu Ye.

He is different from Liu Ye. Liu Ye's apparent reason was to invite Liu Xie to return to Luoyang, while Li Fan came to find Li Jue, Guo Si, Fan Chou and Zhang Ji.

Because Li Jue and his men rebuilt the Zhengguo Canal, the Xiliang Army in Guanzhong is now living quite well. After all, the Xiliang Army's assassins basically collect taxes themselves, so it is basically impossible for the grain to be embezzled by middlemen.

Moreover, the Xiliang Iron Cavalry also spread the word that they would be responsible for the agricultural taxes within the coverage area of ​​the Zhengguo Canal. If anyone dared to cross the line, they would let the person who dared to take action try out the sharpness of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry's sabers.

By the way, this way of collecting taxes was not actually thought of by Li Jue and Guo Si, but was provided to them by Sima Lang and Zhuge Jin who were sent to Chang'an by Chen Xi. The purpose was to cut off the hands of major forces in Chang'an reaching out to Zhengguo Canal, because Li Jue and Guo Si really had the ability to cut off this hand.

Li Jue even did not forget to pay taxes to the court in Chang'an. After all, the tax he collected at Zhengguo Canal was 50%. He gave 10% to the court in Chang'an, and the remaining 40% would definitely be enough for the Xiliang Cavalry in Guanzhong to use.

As for whether the 10% given to the court was enough for the court to use, that was none of Li Jue and his men's business. After all, what they handed over was one-tenth of the people's total harvest, and the tax rate stipulated in the Han law was 1 in 30.

If anyone dares to use this to challenge Li Jue and his men, Li Jue and his men will dare to use the Han law to challenge that person. Why was it that the previous imperial court could function normally with only one thirtieth of it, and even defeated all foreign enemies such as the Huns and scattered their ashes?

Why is it that even with a one-tenth tax rate, you can’t make the government governance system work? Tell me, is there anyone among you who embezzles the state’s taxes?

The reason given by the officials in the court was that in the past, taxes from all over the country supported the operation of the court, but now there is only tax revenue from Zhengguo Canal. Of course, there is no way to make the court management system function. Moreover, your Xiliang Iron Cavalry is still the biggest stumbling block to the operation of the current court management system. Otherwise, why did the Xiliang Iron Cavalry replace the tax collecting function of court officials?
Then Li Jue said that the taxes from Lord Xuande were sent to Chang'an on time every year, and the taxes sent by Lord Xuande were even more than those paid through Zhengguo Canal.

We have already checked, and the tax collection during the reign of Emperor Huan was about this level. Why was the court management system able to function normally then, but not now?
The officials in the court were speechless. Could they explain this matter to Li Jue? No, if they really exposed this matter in the court, the consequence would not only be that Liu Bei would directly send troops to purge the emperor's side, but also that the aristocratic families hiding behind them would be liquidated.

Liu Bei already has the power to suppress and even liquidate all the Han royal families.

Moreover, the officials in the court really did not expect that such a vulgar guy like Li Jue would actually look through the treasury tax records during the reign of Emperor Huan.

This also led to the situation that when the officials in the court faced Li Jue's question, they were completely confused and had no idea what to refute Li Jue's question.

The treasury tax records during the Huan and Ling years not only caused headaches for the officials in the court, but also attracted Liu Xie's attention. He ordered Zhong Ji, Fu Wan and others to check and compare the current and past treasury tax records.

However, Yang Biao, Dong Cheng and others used their "eloquence" to convince the wavering Zhong Ji and Fu Wan, and asked them to persuade Liu Xie to give up investigating this matter.

Then Yang Biao, Dong Cheng and others who did not want Liu Xie to investigate the matter began to sow discord between Liu Xie and the Western Liang Iron Cavalry. There was no need to even sow discord, as the relationship between Liu Xie and the Western Liang Iron Cavalry was already hostile.

In Liu Xie's impression, Dong Zhuo had made a considerable contribution to turning the Han Dynasty into its current state. Therefore, Li Jue, Guo Si and other Western Liang Iron Cavalry, who were the remnants of Dong Zhuo, instantly encountered hostility from Liu Xie, and the previous action to check the treasury records came to nothing.

In the end, the situation in Chang'an returned to its previous state. The officials in the court angrily criticized Li Jue and others, but Li Jue and others did not listen to those people's accusations at all. Instead, they directly dispatched the Xiliang Iron Cavalry to surround some so-called righteous guys.

The Xiliang Iron Cavalry did not kill anyone, they just wanted these people to feel what it was like to be shrouded by death. After all, the murderous aura of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry was not something that ordinary people could endure.

People with poor physical fitness and weak spirits, after being attacked by the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, would not only be scared to death, but would at least suffer from a serious illness, and could even die from the illness if they were not careful. After all, the medical level in Chang'an is really hard to say.

It’s not that there are no doctors with excellent medical skills in Chang’an, but whether those people who have to endure the murderous aura of the Western Liang Iron Cavalry can get access to doctors who can cure their illnesses.

After so many times, even the Hongnong Yang family, whose students and former officials were spread all over the country, could not get their students and former officials to provoke Li Jue and others again.

It was not that the disciples and former officials were unwilling to go, but that the Hongnong Yang family themselves were unwilling to go. After all, the enemies they were facing did not follow the rules.

Faced with the unruly Xiliang cavalry, the Hongnong Yang family, who did not have many troops, were unwilling to waste their strength for no reason.

It was also at this time that the Hongnong Yang family realized their biggest flaw. Although they were in the central government, they did have enormous power, but correspondingly, they did not have the military strength to match it.

In troubled times, what is the most important thing? Of course, it is the military strength that can make people break the rules.

Power can only play its greatest role under rules. If you meet someone who doesn't want to follow the rules, it's best to show the ability to break the rules yourself.

Therefore, after realizing the importance of military strength, Yang Biao wrote to Liu Xie in the name of forming the Emperor's Guard, saying that he wanted to reorganize the Southern Army. In fact, Yang Biao originally wanted to reorganize the Northern Army. After all, the Southern Army had been disbanded a long time ago, and now he didn't know where to find people to reorganize it. But the Northern Army was different. Although the Northern Army was disbanded by Emperor Ling, Emperor Ling ordered Huangfu Song to use the soldiers of the disbanded Northern Army to form the Eight Schools of Xiyuan.

Although the Eight Schools of Xiyuan have been disbanded now, the Weiwei still has a list of relevant soldiers. Just by following the list, they can still recruit a group of veterans as the backbone, and then recruit a group of young and strong people to serve as the grassroots. After a period of training, it will be enough.

Unfortunately, when the Eight Schools of Xiyuan were disbanded, the capital of the Han Empire was still in Luoyang, so those old soldiers were scattered around Luoyang.

When Yang Biao got the list from the Weiwei and sent people to the vicinity of Luoyang to look for these veterans, most of them were no longer to be found. They had either been taken away by Liu Bei or poached by other interested parties.

After all, at that time, people were willing to work hard for you as long as you were given food to eat. Even those old soldiers who did not follow Liu Bei to leave Luoyang were eventually poached by some people with better ideas.

There is no other way. There is really no food left at home. If we don’t find a way to get food, our whole family will starve to death.

When Yang Biao's men returned to Luoyang with the list, only dozens of Northern Army veterans were left.

Looking at these dozens of veterans, Si Tu Yang Biao was silent for a long time, and finally wrote to Liu Xie, hoping to reorganize the Southern Army. After all, the Southern Army was not as formal as the Northern Army, and if a group of young and strong people were brought over for training, it could be accomplished quickly.

That is, Yang Biao had good intentions to reorganize the emperor's southern army, and Liu Xie also agreed to reorganize the southern army. However, Liu Xie immediately handed the task of reorganizing the southern army to Fu Wan without even looking at Si Tu Yang Biao.

Oh no, it cannot be said that Liu Xie did not look at Yang Biao at all. After Liu Xie gave the task of reorganizing the Southern Army to Fu Wan, he also gave Yang Biao the task of rebuilding the Xiyuan headquarters.

By the way, Liu Xie told Prime Minister Yang Biao that the people of the Southern Xiongnu could be incorporated into the Xiyuan headquarters.

After receiving Liu Xie's imperial edict, Yang Biao was stunned for a long time. He just wanted to get some military power for himself, but how come it suddenly turned out like this?

The Southern Army, which was in charge of Fu Wan, would definitely listen to Fu Wan in the end, and Fu Wan was a staunch royalist and Liu Xie's father-in-law.

And will the Xiyuan headquarters, which is filled with Southern Xiongnu, listen to him or to Liu Xie's imperial edict?
Did the Southern Xiongnu have any choice?

Let’s put aside whether the power in Liu Xie’s hands can suppress the Southern Xiongnu. What’s important is that Liu Xie has the righteousness of the emperor in his hands. Under the emperor’s edict, do the Southern Xiongnu have the courage to disobey?

Of course, if that were the case, Yang Biao would not have much worries in his heart. After all, the combat effectiveness of the Southern Army that Fu Wan was ordered to reorganize was still guaranteed. It would not be a problem to suppress the Southern Xiongnu. At worst, there was Liu Bei outside.

If Liu Xie himself could be helped back to his rightful place, these loyal ministers of the Han Dynasty might also lend a hand to him. After all, Liu Bei outside the Great Wall was merely dissatisfied with Liu Xie's continued trouble-making, not that he could not tolerate Liu Xie's existence.

However, Liu Xie's requirement to Yang Biao was that the Xiyuan headquarters should be formed faster than the Southern Army, because in Liu Xie's eyes, after the Southern Xiongnu were inducted into the Xiyuan headquarters and trained a little, they would be able to possess a certain combat effectiveness.

The Southern Army is different. It needs to be trained from scratch. With Fu Wan's ability, it will take a lot of time to train the 5,000 young and strong men into the level of an elite legion.

Not to mention whether the Weiwei has a list of successors to the Southern Army. Even if the Weiwei can provide a list and find the successors, the key is whether Fu Wan can complete the training of the Southern Army before the Southern Xiongnu move south.

If Fu Wan could complete the training of the Southern Army before the Southern Xiongnu moved south, he could then let the Southern Army announce the imperial edict and bring the Southern Xiongnu troops to Chang'an.

I’m afraid that Fu Wan won’t be able to complete the training of the Southern Army in a short period of time.

If no one was watching, would the Southern Xiongnu really not harm the people along the way as they moved south?

As for asking the Xiliang Iron Cavalry to help with defense... If the Xiliang Iron Cavalry could really help, Liu Xie would not have to rebuild the Southern Army and the Xiyuan headquarters.

If the Xiliang Iron Cavalry knew that Liu Xie intended to recruit the Southern Xiongnu to serve in the Xiyuan headquarters, you can imagine whether the Xiliang Iron Cavalry would kill the Southern Xiongnu halfway.

Therefore, Yang Biao was very uncomfortable with Liu Xie's order, but he had to carry it out, and he could not let Li Jue and others know about this order. The series of actions of Li Jue and others in Chang'an made it obvious that there was someone behind them.

In the end, Yang Biao rejected Liu Xie's order because he found that he seemed to have a way to get military power without going through Liu Xie.

However, it was precisely because Yang Biao refused Liu Xie's order that Dong Cheng and others believed that Yang Biao was disloyal, expelled him from the royalist faction, and began to compete with him for power.

Later, when the news came that Liu Bei had defeated Yuan Shao, Yang Biao was dismissed from the post of Grand Marshal and appointed as Situ. The post of Grand Marshal was given to Liu Bei, and the post of Grand Minister of Agriculture was given to Chen Xi.

However, Yang Biao didn't care much about the position of Taiwei at this time. The reason why he wanted to be Taiwei before was just to get some military power for himself. But now it is different, because he plans to write Yang Feng's name in the genealogy of Hongnong Yang family.

……

Li Fan came to the Northern Army camp occupied by Li Jue and his men. Originally, this should have been the base of the remnants of Xiyuan, but after the disbandment, the remnants of Xiyuan were no match for the Xiliang Iron Cavalry and were directly driven out.

Coincidentally, as soon as Li Fan arrived at the camp gate, he met Fan Chou who wanted to leave the camp.

(End of this chapter)