I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 135 Dangerous Liu Li

One thousand seven hundred people, this number is not enough to give people great confidence, but this is the maximum limit that the Yuan family can intervene openly under relatively peaceful circumstances.

If we continue to blatantly interfere in the army, the eunuchs will definitely notice it, and other forces will also be aware of it.

Can these 1,700 people fight against the 8,000 eunuchs?
Therefore, under normal circumstances, the Yuan family was unable to form a power advantage over the eunuchs in Luoyang, and the eunuchs relied on this armed force of more than 8,000 people to form a power advantage over the anti-eunuch forces in Luoyang.

Relying on this advantage, they slaughtered indiscriminately in the Luoyang area, killing the soldiers miserably. However, the soldiers fought on their own and were unable to resist.

As for the Yuan family, even if they deployed the one thousand men that Yuan Shuming could mobilize, there would only be two thousand seven hundred people in total. Facing the eight thousand central troops, their chances of winning were not very high.

Even if Yuan Shu used various means to bring the 2,500 farmers who had received military training in Maoling Liangzhuang and all the elite members of the security department to Luoyang, that would only add about 3,000 people.

The rest of the people may have military power and combat effectiveness, but they are not organized and have not received formal military training. They will definitely not be able to defeat the regular army that can fight in military formations.

To deal with regular troops, you still have to use regular troops.

This means that at this time, the Yuan family can only muster about 5,700 regular troops who have received military training and are capable of fighting in the Luoyang area.

Five thousand seven hundred people are obviously not enough to face the eight thousand central troops.

Of course, the Yuan family is a powerful family with deep roots. In order to protect their huge family business, they must have some private armed forces unknown to outsiders. In other words, most of the powerful families in the world actually have some private military forces, but they are unknown to the public.

It was not difficult for the Yuan family of Runan to mobilize an army of tens of thousands of people, let alone thousands of armed troops. However, how to legitimately bring so many people to Luoyang was a big problem.

The empire is still very sensitive to large-scale population migration. If it is on a small scale, it will take more time. The food, drink, defecation and accommodation of so many people in the Luoyang area is also a huge problem.

The eunuchs legitimately had an army of 8,000 supported by the national treasury, while the Yuan family mainly relied on themselves, and this huge expenditure was by no means a trivial matter that could be handled with just a flick of the finger.

Yuan Shu was able to mobilize armed forces mainly because of the prestige he gained through verbal attacks and the economic benefits he obtained. Now he does not need to spend any money of his own to support so many people, but if he were to pair them with so many people that Yuan had brought in from other places, it would certainly be more difficult.

So after the three Yuans got together and brainstormed for a long time, they decided to take the approach of doing things right away.

As for the eunuchs' base, we should not touch them for the time being, but start from other areas that do not have clear affiliations.

You can try to send people to contact and win over the Tunqiying and Changshuiying troops.

Other gate guards under the city gate captain can also try to contact and win over.

In addition, we can take advantage of the eunuchs' surrender this time and push people from the Yuan family to serve as the Prefect of the Guards and take control of the 720 people.

Although they have little combat power, they are responsible for guarding the Luoyang armory. Once a mutiny is launched, it will be very important to open the armory and take out weapons and equipment. Therefore, it is of great significance to seize it as soon as possible while the Praefectus Urbi is vacant.

If the above plan is implemented smoothly, then with the addition of the manpower that Yuan Shu can mobilize, the two sides can barely be evenly matched.

By then, with his deliberate planning and Yuan Shu's ability to talk nonsense, he might be able to kill the eunuchs with one blow, eradicate them completely, and complete Yuan's great cause.

"In short, I think the most important thing is to control the soldiers in Luoyang. Control as many as you can. For those you cannot control, try not to become enemies with them."

Yuan Feng and Yuan Wei both agreed with Yuan Shu's view, but how to persuade military commanders to serve the Yuan family or how to persuade them not to become enemies of the Yuan family was worth discussing.

"The eunuchs are powerful and have many dealings with the Luoyang garrison officers. They give them money or power, and the Luoyang garrison is mostly trying to win them over. Moreover, the previous sieges against Dou Wu and Chen Fan were mainly coordinated by the Luoyang garrison. I think the two sides have a tacit understanding. If we want to win them over, it will be very difficult. Does my son have any good ideas?"

Yuan Feng habitually asked Yuan Shu for strategies.

Yuan Shu thought for a moment and said, "The only thing that eunuchs can use to buy people's hearts is money and power. However, eunuchs are always greedy. How much money can they give? As for power, can't Yuan give it?

Moreover, the eunuchs themselves are rootless duckweed, and what they can give is naturally what is available at the moment, which will disappear once the wind blows. However, what my Yuan family can give is something that can be passed down. As long as we are willing to give, there is no one we cannot win over. "

Yuan Feng looked at Yuan Shu.

"What does my son mean?"

"The grandson of Infantry Captain Dong Xuan is already a member of the Yi Xin Society, and he also has the title of Yuan's disciple. Dong Xuan is willing to serve me."

Yuan Shu said, "I think that eunuchs can win people's hearts, and so can my Yuan family. Moreover, my third uncle will soon ascend to the position of the Three Dukes. My Yuan family will become the most powerful family in the world with four generations of Three Dukes. By then, our reputation will soar. This is a good opportunity to make friends with the powerful and win people's hearts."

Yuan Feng thought about it and agreed.

However, Yuan Wei has some opinions of his own.

He did not object to Yuan Shu's attempt, but he suggested that Yuan Shu must collect complete intelligence before making any contact and not contact the officers stationed in Luoyang at will to avoid leaks of information.

It seemed that he was still haunted by the betrayal of a servant in his house.

As the saying goes, once bitten by a snake, one will be afraid of ropes for ten years. Yuan Wei was obviously more cautious.

Yuan Shu naturally had nothing to say about this. It was right to be cautious. The fewer people who knew about it, the greater the chance of success. Many things failed because too many people knew about it. So at present, only the three of them knew about it, and no one else knew about it.

Even the people Yuan Feng sent to inquire about the news of Liu Kui and Liu Shuo did not know what Yuan's plan was.

"By the way, brother, there should be news from King Pingyuan and King Bohai, right? Our discussion here went smoothly, but in the final analysis, it is still these two who can make the final decision. If these two are unwilling to cooperate, this matter will be difficult to accomplish."

When Yuan Wei asked this, Yuan Feng also nodded.

"The first group of people should be back soon, and we should be able to get news in the next few days."

Yuan Feng’s prediction was correct. Just one day later, the first group of people who went to Hejian Prefecture to inquire about the news had returned.

The news brought back included both normal and surprising ones.

The normal news is Liu Kui's reputation.

Compared with a series of corrupt officials and princes and grandchildren who were not very human, Liu Kui had a relatively good reputation in the local area. He had never done anything illegal and was a relatively low-key person.

Although he spent a lot, he did not cause public outrage and his subordinates were relatively honest. There was no rumor of him bullying others by abusing his power. He seemed to be a rare honest person in the royal family.

But the strange thing is that there are rumors about Liu Kui circulating in the local area.

The rumor was that after Liu Kui restored the title of King of Bohai with the help of Liu Zhi's will, he did not seem to have much gratitude towards Liu Zhi, but instead had some words of complaint.

Specifically, it seems that he felt that Liu Zhi was being unkind by not passing the throne to him. They were brothers, so wasn't their relationship closer than that of Liu Hong?

There are even rumors that in the first month of the first year of Jianning, Empress Dowager Dou Miao and General Dou Wu established Liu Hong, Marquis of Jie Duting of Hejian State in Jizhou, as the successor to the throne, and sent people to Hejian State to welcome the emperor. At that time, Liu Kui was angry that Liu Zhi did not pass the throne to him, and wanted to lead his troops to seize the edict to welcome the emperor.

I don’t know why this matter was dropped, and the court seemed to have no reaction to it.

In addition to this news, the person who was trying to find out the news also accidentally got another piece of news from the Bohai Palace.

It is said that after Liu Kui angered Liu Zhi with his smooth talk and was stripped of his title, he sent someone to contact Wang Fu, a powerful eunuch at the time, hoping that Wang Fu would say a few good words for him so that his title would be restored, and promised to give Wang Fu a reward of 50 million yuan after the success.

Later, Wang Fu didn't know whether he really tried hard, but Liu Zhi didn't issue an edict to restore Liu Kui's title of King of Bohai until he was seriously ill and dying, which seemed like a last wish.

Later, Wang Fu sent someone to ask Liu Kui for a bribe. Liu Kui said that restoring his title was his brother's last wish and it had nothing to do with Wang Fu, so he refused to pay the money.

"So, there is still some old grudge between Wang Fu and King Bohai?"

Yuan Feng was very surprised by this and said hurriedly: "No wonder I heard news from the palace before that Wang Fu seemed to have said bad things about King Bohai in a memorial to the emperor, asking the emperor to be careful of King Bohai or something like that."

After hearing this, Yuan Shu frowned and had some ideas.

"Father, Third Uncle, I find this a bit strange. How could such a thing be spread among the people so openly?"

After Yuan Shu said this, Yuan Feng and Yuan Wei, who had not noticed it for a while, also reacted and frowned.

Yes, this kind of news of snatching the imperial edict and blaming the dead brother for not passing the throne to himself shouldn’t have spread so much that even the people knew about it, right?
If such taboo things can be spread out, isn't that equivalent to handing the evidence of one's guilt directly to the court and waiting for the court to deal with one?

Moreover, Liu Kui's identity was inherently sensitive.

As Liu Zhi's younger brother, he naturally has a place in the succession to the throne, and his reasons for inheriting the throne are far more solid than Liu Hong's.

Compared with Liu Hong, who was forced to the throne by Dou's relatives, Liu Kui's ascension to the throne would be more legitimate.

What’s more important is that Liu Kui was already in his thirties and had a son. If he came to the throne, it would naturally be more conducive to the inheritance of the imperial power of the Han Empire and the stability of order.

How could this person not arouse people's imagination when he was rumored to be eyeing the throne within the fiefdom of Bohai Kingdom?

Following this line of thought, Yuan Wei suddenly noticed a problem.

"Brother, Shu, we know that the eunuchs support the emperor and rely on him to hold power, so the eunuchs themselves should also know that without the current emperor, the eunuchs are naturally rootless duckweed. Therefore, it is important for them to crack down on the party members. At the same time, it is also important to eliminate all risks that may threaten the current throne."

Yuan Wei’s words reminded Yuan Shu.

He suddenly understood some things.

"Not good, father, Third Uncle, the eunuchs are probably targeting the life of King Bohai."

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PS: After intensively surfing the Internet to read a certain book, I finally understood that if we talk about exploitation, it has to be Laomei. What is imperialism (leaning back), this is it!
(End of this chapter)