A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 483: Punish the rebels. The imperial power is declining, and the queen is established to take advantage of the Bai family.
The jumping firelight illuminated Sima Shi's old face, looking very scary.

"Why are you here? That's a good question. I heard that there are thieves who intend to cause trouble in the capital.

I made a special trip here to find out who it is that wants to harm the big man and harm His Majesty. It turns out to be you.

Xia Houxuan, your family has received favors from the Han Dynasty for generations, and His Majesty treats you well. Why do you carve talismans privately to correct imperial edicts and raise troops to cause chaos? "

Xia Houxuan knew that what had happened today was over, so he pointed at Master Sima's nose and cursed:
"Old thief Sima, don't pretend to be righteous in front of me. Who wants to bring trouble to the capital, and who wants to take over?

I tell you, as long as I am here, if you, Sima, want to harm the great man and humiliate His Majesty, you will not be able to succeed.

Today I have brought troops here just to kill the traitor Sima Shi for the country, and I will not take care of the rest.

He is a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty. Come with me to capture this thief! "

No matter how Xia Houxuan instigated, the surrounding soldiers and generals seemed unable to hear and remained motionless.

Seeing this, Xia Houxuan knew that he had completely failed. He drew out the sword in his waist, pointed at Master Sima and said:

"Your Sima clan has been so kind and powerful, and the great man is in danger. If I can't do anything today, it's destiny."

After saying that, he committed suicide and jumped from the top of the city.

Bai Cheng and three others who were still waiting for the door to open below the city saw someone falling from the city wall. They stepped forward to see if it was Xia Houxuan or someone else.

"It's Taichu. Oh no, this matter has been leaked."

Bai Cheng saw his face clearly first and shouted in shock.

Then I heard a loud shout from the top of the city: "Fire the arrow."

Dense arrows came towards the army led by Bai Cheng and Cui Cong.

"Retreat, retreat quickly!" Cui Cong ordered quickly.

Just as the three of them escaped from the arrow range of the city, they heard the sound of horse hooves all around.

It was General Wei Zhong Hui who arrived with his troops.

Zhong Hui pointed in the direction of Bai Cheng and the two of them, and shouted to the left and right:
"This is a bandit, please join me in killing the enemy!"

At dawn, the battle outside the city ended. The gates of Luoyang City were opened and the bodies scattered outside the city began to be cleaned up.

The final result was that Baicheng died from an arrow, Meng Huo escaped and disappeared, and Cui Cong was captured. ,

Most of the sergeants who followed them were captured and awaiting trial by the court.

Luoyang, Nangong

Liu Chen is anxiously waiting for the results of Xia Houxuan and others.

When the sound of footsteps came, Liu Chen thought he had succeeded and quickly sat down on the high seat.

As a result, what was waiting for him was Sima Shi in military uniform, with Zhong Hui and other generals behind him, escorting Cui Cong with disheveled hair.

"Your Majesty, I have received a secret report and heard that Taichang Qing Xiahou Xuan and the minister's servant shot Meng Huo and colluded with former general Baicheng and chariot general Cui Cong to conspire to establish a new emperor.

Then he led people to the east gate of Luoyang and found Xiahou Xuan appearing. Finally, he mobilized the city gate army and other armies outside the city to wipe out the rebels.

The rebels Xia Houxuan and Bai Cheng were executed, Cui Cong was captured by us, and Meng Huo disappeared.

Your Majesty, please order the remnants of the party to be searched, Cui Cong to be executed, Meng Huo to be wanted, and the Han Dynasty to be clear. "

Liu Chen's body couldn't help but tremble. He didn't know whether it was anger or fear, but for the sake of the overall situation, he had to agree with Master Sima's opinion.

September

Taiwei Sima Shi discovered a rebel gang headed by Xia Houxuan, and Queen Cui was implicated in it. After being deposed, she was thrown into the cold palace.

Fortunately, the Cui family was married to the Sima family, so only the Cui family members in Luo and those who were close to Liu were implicated, and the rest of the Cui family members were only demoted and removed from office.

Because the Xiuwu Marquis lineage was wary of Bai's attitude, they did not impose heavy penalties, but only disqualified Baicheng's lineage from inheriting the title.

He was succeeded by Bai Kan, the prefect of Yidu who had a good relationship with Sima Zhao, and most of the other Xiuwu Bai family's descendants were dismissed from their military positions.

The Xiahou clan of Dong'an where Xiahou Xuan belonged was executed by the whole family, and the title of Marquis of Dong'an was deprived.

Most of the other ministers who were loyal to Liu Chen or who disagreed with Sima's political views were transferred away from Luoyang or dismissed on the spot by Sima Shi.

Sima Zhao, who was sent to Qingzhou by Liu Chen, was also called back by Sima Shi to assume the position of Prime Minister Zuo.

This is to divide the original position of prime minister into two again, with Jia serving as the right prime minister.

Since then, Sima Shi has basically controlled the entire Luoyang by virtue of his right to investigate Xiahou Xuanyu's party.

Liu Chen thought about fighting to the death, but was stopped by Bai Yu.

Bai Yu was worried that Liu Chen was acting on his own initiative, so he found an opportunity to enter the palace and asked Liu Chen not to be reckless, leaving the green hills without worrying about having no firewood. Time was on Liu Chen's side.

Didn’t you see that Master Sima had done so many things, but were they all done in the name of Liu Chen?
This proves that the Liu family still has prestige in the hearts of people in the world, and the world still belongs to the Liu family.

In the end, Liu Chen listened to Bai Yu's advice, went into hibernation temporarily, and satisfied all Sima Shi's requirements.

November

Master Sima's resentment seemed to have been vented, and Luoyang finally returned to peace.

It's just that Liu Chen's rights have been further eroded, and he is becoming more and more like Liu Xie at the beginning.

Pingnan five years
After more than thirty years of power in the Han Dynasty, Sima Yi, a former powerful minister of Cao Han, Taishi of the Han Dynasty, and Huaihou, finally died of illness in his mansion at the age of eighty-nine. He was one of the few longevity people in the world except the Bai Kingdom.

As for Bai Wangkang, he had passed away three years ago in the White House of Bai Kingdom at the age of eighty-six because he missed Emperor Yuan too much.

The position of King Bai was passed to Bai Gongyu.

After Sima Yi passed away, it seemed that the Sima family's authority also dissipated a lot.

This made Master Sima very worried. In addition, he was nearly seventy years old and his health had become increasingly poor recently. I am afraid that I will suddenly leave one day. The glory of the Sima family can be summed up in this way. Sima Zhao's position as Zuo Prime Minister alone cannot protect the wealth of the Sima family.

October rd
Master Sima proposed to Liu Chen that the sky cannot be without the sun, nor can it be without the moon. The emperor and the queen are just like the sun and the moon in the sky, both are indispensable.

Since Queen Cui's rebellion, the position of queen has been vacant for two years, and the queen is related to the country's foundation, so she requested to establish a queen.

Liu Chen squinted his eyes, thinking about what Master Sima meant.

Finally, he proposed, how about establishing Bai Guigui as his queen?

Sima Shi rejected:

"Bai Guiren is the sister of the traitor Baicheng. Because she was pregnant with His Majesty Longzi and not involved in it, she was forgiven for her sins.

But this does not mean that she is not guilty. If Bai Guigui is appointed as the queen, how will the world view your majesty? "

Liu Chen asked Li Zhaoyi what about it?

Master Sima objected again: "Li Zhaoyi is nothing more than a palace maid. She jumped to the position of Zhaoyi because she gave birth to a prince.

I heard that his family has made a living by slaughtering pigs and selling dogs for generations. If this woman is made the queen, wouldn’t she have a queen and a general? "

Liu Chen then listed several nobles, including Zhaoyi, and even promised not to mention Sima nobleman.

Obviously, they were all rejected by Master Sima.

Sima Guiren is the niece of Master Sima and has been in the palace for five years. As soon as Liu Chen ascended the throne, he was arranged by Sima to enter the palace.

Now that Empress Cui has been relegated to the cold palace, and relying on the power of the Sima family, although she has no royal heir, she still controls the harem more than any other noble person.

Liu Chen pretended to be distressed and said:
"There are only these concubines in my harem. If they can't do it, then I really can't think of anyone else who can be my queen. Why don't the Taiwei go back first and let me think about it carefully? In the future, I will invite the Taiwei to come in. Palace, how about we discuss it carefully?"

Some people may ask, how can Sima Shi, who is only a Taiwei, interfere with the emperor's family affairs.

This is because Sima Shi is not only a Taiwei, but also a minister and a minister. With these two titles, he can intervene in anything.

In addition, Sima Shi is also the censor Zhongcheng, who has the right to punish guilty and derelict officials in the court.

Whether it is military or political affairs. Is it a family matter for the emperor or a national event? No matter in terms of power or authority, Master Sima can ask everything he wants to know.

Master Sima looked at Liu Chen's performance and knew that he was pretending to be stupid, so he stopped trying to deal with him and said directly:
"I heard that Noble Sima is currently in charge of your Majesty's affairs in the palace. This situation has been going on for two years. Why haven't I heard your Majesty mention her?"

Liu Chen was very angry. This was considered forcing him into the palace, but now that Master Sima had real power, he did not dare to turn against him in person.

He had to pretend to suddenly realize:
"Oh, if the Taiwei hadn't mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten it. However, Sima Guiren has told me many times that he only wants to take over the power of the harem for me temporarily, and will hand over the power in his hands when the Queen is established.

It can be seen that he does not want to take over the power of the harem, but because I have not established a queen, he has to take over temporarily.

For such a virtuous woman, we should help her.

What do you think, Taiwei? "

When Master Sima saw that Liu Chen had said this, he couldn't refute it. How could he say that noble Sima had told him that she wanted to be the queen?

Doesn’t that mean the inside and outside are inconsistent?

Liu Chen could use this reason to punish Sima Guiren for deceiving the emperor.

But this was not the time to fall out with Liu Chen, so Master Sima had no choice but to resign.

Looking at Master Sima's back slowly leaving because of his old age, Liu Chen couldn't help but cursed secretly: "You are a thief if you are old but do not die."

Just when Liu Chen thought Master Sima would give up.

October 15th

During the great court meeting, led by Prime Minister Zuo Sima Zhao, dozens of ministers wrote to Liu Chen, requesting that Sima Gui be appointed queen.

Seeing that most of the courtiers in the court followed Sima Zhao and bowed down, Liu Chen felt terrible on the one hand, Sima's authority was so great, and on the other hand, he felt that he was riding a tiger and couldn't get off, whether he agreed or disagreed.

Even though Bai Yu tried his best to help, he was pushed back by Sima Shi and a group of young and strong censors due to his weak strength.

Bai Yu was so angry that he scolded Master Sima for being unreasonable and not a gentleman. He presumed to be the leader of the officials and was a scum among the scholars.

But Master Sima turned a deaf ear to this and acted like you can do anything to me.

In the end, he was afraid that Sima Shi would take the opportunity to let Bai Yu return to his country and completely lose his help.

Liu Chen still compromised and issued an edict to canonize Sima Gui as queen from now on.

In order to fight against Master Sima, Liu Chen was eager to recruit all the help.

One day, Bai Yu was summoned to the palace and asked to summon his son, Bai Gongzhi, to Luoyang. He wanted to appoint him as Taichang Qing as Bai Yu's assistant.

Bai Yu agreed to his request and sent a letter to Bai Guo asking Bai Zhi to come to Luoyang.

Because Liu Chen's interests are consistent with the Bai family, or in other words, whether it is Liu Chen or the other Liu emperors, as long as the Liu family is the emperor, they have natural interests with the Bai family.

Now that the Sima family has usurped the Liu family's power, it is equivalent to usurping the Bai family's influence in the world. The Bai family cannot ignore it.

However, we cannot be like the Sima family and arbitrarily arrange for people from the Bai family to enter the court as officials. This will not only fail to achieve the goal, but will also arouse the emperor's suspicion.

Therefore, the Bai family would only send people to the court if the emperor actively requested to install people from the Bai family as officials.

October 23
Liu Chen ordered that Bai Gongzhi who came to Luo was a rare talent. Allowing talents to drain away from the people would be a loss for the Han Dynasty, so he ordered to recruit him as Taichang Qing.

When Master Sima heard the news, he knew that Liu Chen was using Bai's power to fight against him. However, as Bai Zhi, Bai Zhi's prestige in the world was not as good as that of Bai Wangyu, but it was not bad.

If he refuses to recruit Bai Zhi, he will be criticized among the scholars, which is inconsistent with Sima's policy of benevolence to scholars.

Today, the Sima family not only competes with Liu Chen for power in the court, but also competes with the Bai family for prestige in the scholarly community.

Since Sima Yi's death, the prestige of the Sima family among scholars has been getting lower and lower day by day. Anyone named Bai is a group of longevity monsters.

(End of this chapter)