My younger brother Lü Fengxian

Chapter 339: Monopoly
Since Lu Yi won the battle, Liu Bian could naturally breathe a sigh of relief. After all, he no longer had to make another humiliating and embarrassing trip to Luoyang, right?
"I hope Your Majesty will know that although I have temporarily controlled the situation, there are many bandits in the imperial capital and we must be on guard!"

"Besides the imperial capital, another 100,000 Xiliang cavalrymen will soon attack Luoyang to avenge Dong Zhuo."

However, Lu Yi's subsequent report still made Liu Bian's heart plummet.

"There are so many internal and external troubles! What can we do?"

"The Marquis of Jin is so brave, why don't you entrust him with the important task and let him handle it?"

Zhang Rang, who was standing by, immediately stepped forward and made a suggestion upon hearing this.

In theory, eunuchs cannot interfere in government affairs.

However, since the Eastern Han Dynasty, the eunuchs' power has been so great that they can poison the emperor and depose and enthrone the emperor at will.

The Ten Attendants, including Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong, are synonymous with eunuchs in power in history.

Therefore, it was not excessive for Zhang Rang to give advice at this time.

More importantly, the emperor at that time was not a powerful ruler like the Qin Emperor and Emperor Wu of Han who held great power and ruled the world, but a weak new ruler like Liu Bian.

Not to mention ruling the world, he hadn't even started ruling the country yet.

If Lu Yi had not welcomed Liu Bian and used his name to pursue personal interests, Liu Bian's decrees would not even have been able to leave the Luoyang Imperial Palace.

Therefore, when Liu Bian heard Zhang Rang's advice, he seemed to have immediately grasped the backbone.

"Yeah!"

"What Zhang Daban said is very true. I will immediately promote Lu Qing to General of Chariots and Cavalry, and take part in the affairs of the Shangshu, with the power to control the military and political affairs of Luoyang."

Liu Bian was just cowardly, not stupid, and he immediately gave Lu Yi a series of titles that were very appropriate.

The status of the General of Chariots and Cavalry was far higher than that of the miscellaneous generals that Lü Yi had previously held. It was second only to the general and the three ministers, and above the nine ministers. It allowed Lü Yi to suddenly rise to a high position in the court.

The General of Chariots and Cavalry was in charge of suppressing rebellions, which was very suitable for the current situation and gave Lu Yi the legitimate right to suppress rebellion.

And being involved in the affairs of the Shangshu gave Lu Yi the right to handle state affairs.

Although he does not have the honor of prime minister, he already has the power of prime minister.

"Your Majesty, I, Lü Yi, bow down to thank you for your grace."

Seeing this, Lu Yi was very satisfied and immediately took the order respectfully and left.

However, he did not suddenly become the prime minister like Dong Zhuo did after he deposed and enthroned the emperor and thus took control of the government.

However, at the same time, because Lu Yi was not as rude and unpolitical as Dong Zhuo, he pushed all the nobles and aristocrats in the world to the opposite side.

Instead, he still made the correct political behavior of welcoming the emperor, which left a little room for relaxation among the gentry in the world, so that many people who were originally prepared to join Lu Yi would not be hesitant because of the name of traitor that appeared after Lu Yi deposed the emperor.

Politics is never a one-shot deal.

Dong Zhuo's unprincipled and rule-abiding behavior, which directly overturned the table, certainly made him powerful, but at the same time he also isolated himself from the world and laid the foundation for his own downfall.

Ever since Emperor Wu abolished all schools of thought and promoted Confucianism alone, the doctrine of divine right, respecting the king and expelling the barbarians has become prevalent.

To rashly depose or enthronize an emperor is to make an enemy of all the nobles in the world.

This was a stupid move that seriously angered the gentry throughout the world.

Lu Yi's thinking has always been clear.

His enemies will never be the nobles in the world.

Rather, it is a small number of aristocratic families and powerful princes who occupy the top of the power pyramid of the Han Dynasty.

The cake is only so big, and the nobles and the powerful occupy the vast majority of the cake. If Lu Yi wants to eat one more bite, they must eat one less bite.

This contradiction is irreconcilable.

Therefore, instead of trying so hard to please these aristocratic nobles and only getting some leftovers as rewards, Lu Yi would rather uproot them and enjoy the whole cake alone.

As long as he is a little more generous than these insects who occupy 99% of the cake but are still insatiable, and share more benefits with ordinary poor nobles and ordinary people.

Then these people, who account for 99% of the Han people, will become Lu Yi's strongest supporters.

Therefore, his strategy was to win over the majority of poor nobles who were at the bottom of the society and whose channels for upward mobility were monopolized by the aristocratic families, as well as the vast majority of ordinary people.

And strike against the few nobles and powerful people at the top of the pyramid.

Therefore, princes and aristocratic families like Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shao would have no way out if they fell into Lu Yi's hands.

However, if a poor boy like Li Ru, who has no political capital, is willing to surrender, Lu Yi does not mind giving him a break and making use of him.

Lu Yi is now in power.

With a sharp blade in hand, the murderous intent arises.

Although the external threat from the Xiliang Cavalry seems to be the most powerful, it is actually the easiest to resolve.

Over the years, Lu Yi has monopolized the smuggling trade in the entire Mobei region.

No, it can no longer be called smuggling now.

The entire southern part of the desert is Lu Yi’s horse farm.

All the Xiongnu tribes south of the desert had to offer horses to Lü Yi on time and in quantity.

Lu Yi only needs to promise them protection, and other than that he doesn't need to spend any more money.

This is what it means to make huge profits without any investment.

Coupled with the political donations from various wealthy families in Hebei represented by the Zhen family, money is no longer a problem for Lu Yi.

Now, Li Ru has brought a huge amount of wealth and embarked on the road to surrender the Xiliang army.

Although these Xiliang cavalrymen have big appetites, Lu Yi has stronger financial resources and is able to feed them.

Therefore, the so-called foreign enemies are not to be feared.

However, these nobles and dignitaries in Luoyang who seemed to be captured by Lu Yi were the most difficult to deal with.

Although they are now trapped in Luoyang city.

However, they are still wealthy and powerful in the local area, with a prosperous clan and many clan soldiers.

Moreover, his students and former officials are spread all over the world.

But let’s just talk about the Yuan family.

After one or two hundred years of accumulation, the political energy of four generations of three officials was empowered.

Almost all the officials in the world can be said to be related to the Yuan family.

From history, Han Fu, the governor of Jizhou, actually ceded the entire Jizhou to Yuan Shao, which shows the enormous power of the Yuan family.

Although Yuan Shao was also involved in the conspiracy, the power of these aristocratic families is hidden and dangerous.

Therefore, Lu Yi was prepared to choose a completely different path from Dong Zhuo.

Dong Zhuo lavishly rewarded and appeased wealthy families like Lao Nangua, but in the end, he was still privately regarded by all the ministers as a traitor to the country and an enemy who must be eliminated as soon as possible.

The reason for this is actually very simple.

The cake is so big.

The aristocratic and powerful families account for 90% of the shares. How could Dong Zhuo not create a new cake?

Therefore, the cake and benefits that Dong Zhuo shared did not come from himself.

Instead, he took it from the nobles by deposing and enthroning emperors and relying on the might of the Western Liang cavalry.

Dong Zhuo's behavior was like robbing another bandit who was weaker than himself, and using some of the money he had taken from the bandit to win over the bandit, in an attempt to make him surrender.

How ridiculous.

Lu Yi naturally would not follow his old path.

He planned to catch all these prominent families one by one.

Then trampled to death.

Of course, if they were willing to give up the cake and be a rich man, Lu Yi would not kill them all.

But, dare to show your teeth.

One is one.

Kill them all.

Carrying the emperor's edict, Lu Yi went straight to the new office of the General of Chariots and Cavalry.

"Bring up all the criminal officials and traitors who participated in the rebellion!"

Under Lu Yi's order, hundreds of nobles and aristocrats who participated in the rebellion were immediately escorted up.

"Traitor, traitor to the country!"

"Lü Yi, you humiliated the minister for no reason, you deserve to be put to death!"

It turns out that these people are either powerful figures in the court or scion of noble families with promising futures.

Now he has suddenly become a prisoner, with shackles on his neck and iron chains on his hands and feet.

Disheveled and humiliated.

Now that he saw Lu Yi, he was naturally furious and kept cursing.

But Lu Yi sat high in the main seat, smiling and looking contented.

What harm does insulting me do?

If one could achieve his ambitions just by cursing, then Lu Yi would definitely curse these prisoners in the hall even more vigorously and hysterically.

Unfortunately, insults are just the barking of fear and shame from a defeated dog who refuses to accept defeat.

To Lu Yi, it not only did not cause him any negative emotions, but instead made him feel very happy.

The more they cursed, the more it proved how powerful Lu Yi was.

The louder they cursed, the more it proved that Lu Yi was right.

The more hysterically they cursed, the more it proved that Lu Yi was invincible.

"This, this, and this..."

After Lu Yi appreciated the loser's praise for a moment, he stopped thinking about playing around.

He put away his smile and randomly pointed at the three prisoners who were shouting the loudest.

"Drag him out of the office and execute him in the street!"

As soon as Lu Yi finished speaking, the expressions of the three people he named immediately changed drastically.

His face, which had just turned red with excitement because of insulting Lu Yi, suddenly turned pale and looked like a human being.

"Jin, Marquis Jin, please spare my life!"

Under the threat of death, the three people who originally thought they could hide in the crowd and vent their anger suddenly wilted.

The expected law of not punishing the masses did not occur, but the three of them were caught by Lu Yi as an example and were about to be executed.

The three of them immediately burst into tears and screams.

But Lu Yi didn't even look at him and ignored him.

Not long after, three screams were heard in succession.

Three bloody human heads were brought in on a wooden table.

Lu Yi's trick is more effective than any scolding or comfort.

All the nobles in the hall, who had been barking non-stop, now fell silent and looked in fear at their companions who had died with their eyes open.

"I am the General of Chariots and Cavalry appointed by the Emperor himself, and I am in charge of investigating and punishing treason."

"Here is the imperial decree. Who dares to continue to act so presumptuously?"

After Lu Yi ordered someone to spread out the imperial edict, he asked indifferently.

The black and white text showed Lu Yi's power to all the officials in the room without reservation.

Although they didn't want to admit it, the emperor's edict was true, forcing them to bow their heads.

After waiting for a while, Lu Yi saw that no one dared to shout anymore.

He then clapped his hands, and immediately another group of more than a hundred officials entered the office.

"We are here to see the Duke of Jin."

But this group of people is different from the hundreds of people who were escorted here.

Not only were they not bound by any constraints, but they were also wearing official uniforms and crowns, and there was no sign of them being persecuted by Lu Yi.

These people are all surrenderists who have defected to Lu Yi.

Lu Yi promised to protect their lives, property, official positions and future.

But if they want to be right, they also have to point out the list of traitors for Lu Yi, or in other words, point out the list according to Lu Yi's wishes.

"Grand Tutor Yuan Wei..."

"Captain of the Imperial Guards Yuan Shao..."

A string of names and charges were forced upon the ministers and aristocratic families headed by the Yuan family as the surrender faction pointed out them one by one.

From the Grand Tutor to the clerks, no one can be immune to it.

"You are traitors and rebellious ministers. You have eaten the Han salary in vain and are unworthy of being a minister!"

Yuan Wei, Yuan Shao and others knew that they were going to die, so fortunately they no longer suppressed their anger.

He kept yelling and cursing at Lu Yi and the surrenderists.

Moreover, compared to Lu Yi, they directed most of their anger at the surrenderists.

Traitors are always more hateful than enemies.

The surrenderists saw that they had completely offended the nobles and the aristocrats, so they decided to go all the way and gritted their teeth to expose many negative facts about Yuan and others.

At the end of the quarrel, Lu Yi stayed out of it and watched with interest the fight between the two factions of nobles and aristocrats.

However, Lu Yi watched the show leisurely.

But Tian Feng on the side still faithfully carried out his duty as military advisor.

He wrote down every word of everyone in the hall.

These words were used to accuse the guilty officials and also served as a handle for the capitulationists.

Of course, you have to record it well.

Because too many people are involved.

The farce lasted from the afternoon until late at night.

Except for a few upright and honest ministers such as Lu Zhi and Zheng Xuan, all other nobles were basically convicted by Lu Yi.

Only then did Lu Yi present hundreds of volumes of carefully selected charges to Emperor Liu Bian.

Naturally, Lu Yi would not be stupid enough to be like Dong Zhuo and kill ministers without authorization.

The three unlucky guys he just named were just clerks he deliberately selected, not even officials.

Killing him is fine, it's no big deal.

But now, with a tutor like Yuan Wei included, Lu Yi cannot deal with him rashly.

It's not that Lu Yi didn't have the courage to kill Yuan Wei and others, but there was absolutely no need for Lu Yi to let dirty blood stain his wings and damage his reputation.

You see, it was you, the Emperor, who asked me to try this case.

I am handling this impartially, but these nobles and aristocrats are so disappointing and each of them is full of shit.

I had no choice but to report to the Emperor.

Now that the procedure is completed.

As for how to deal with it, that is the emperor's business, and has nothing to do with me, Lu Yi.

Of course, although Liu Bian has the right to choose, he can only choose according to the option given by Lu Yi.

"this?"

"Could it be that Lu Qing's charge was wrong?"

"If this happens, wouldn't it mean that almost all the nobles in the court and the nobles in the city have become rebels?"

When Liu Bian saw the charges that implicated hundreds of officials and dozens of noble families, he couldn't help but feel his hair tingling.

"Ok?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Yi frowned and showed dissatisfaction towards Liu Bian for the first time.

"Your Majesty, if you say so, could it be that I am being partial and perverting the law, using the opportunity of handling a case to deliberately eliminate dissidents in order to seize power alone?"

(End of this chapter)