I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 369 Ichishin Will Become Stronger

Upon hearing this, Yuan Feng thought about it carefully and immediately realized that it was indeed true.

Even amidst such speculation, Yuan Shu remains a crucial component. Those who harbor doubts must also suspect that their actions are motivated by a desire to win over Yuan Shu as an ally. With the help of Yuan Shu and the Yixin Group, his path to becoming emperor will be smoother.

Yuan Feng even believed that if he wanted to become emperor, but Yuan Shu disagreed, then he might not be able to become emperor at all.

Because Yuan Shu controlled the most powerful army in the entire country, he enjoyed exceptionally high prestige within the army.

Yuan Feng was somewhat annoyed, and then gave a wry smile.

"If someone truly harbored ambitions to become emperor, even if their own son reached such a level, they probably wouldn't be very happy. It's only because I don't have any ambitions to become emperor that Zijia's life is so comfortable!"

Cheng Li understood Yuan Feng's thoughts and immediately offered a flattering compliment.

"If it weren't for your lack of ambition to become emperor, the young master wouldn't have reached this point today, nor would he have been able to wield so much power. All of this is because you were willing to become King Wen of Zhou and to help the young master achieve the same success as King Wu of Zhou. In the future, when the young master achieves great things, you will be the one to make the greatest contribution."

This flattery was very loud and hit Yuan Feng right in his favor, making him feel very comfortable.

Yuan Feng then burst into laughter.

"Although this may sound like flattery, it is indeed the truth. If it weren't for me as his father, would Zijia be where he is today? Humph!"

Yuan Feng was quite pleased with himself for a while.

But soon he thought of Yuan Ji and Yuan Shao, and then he became depressed again.

“But I have fulfilled Zijia’s wishes, but I cannot take care of my other two sons. Zhongde, tell me, am I a very unsuccessful father?”

"It is said that there are no fathers and sons in the imperial family. The higher one's status and power, the more difficult it is to take care of family ties. Even Emperor Xiaowu was no exception."

Cheng Li said slowly, "You have been able to clearly establish an heir, help him eliminate all the hidden dangers, and protect their lives so that they can continue to live and not die from fratricide. You are already a very successful father."

After hearing this, Yuan Feng remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking.

"If I hadn't heeded Zijia's advice to raise an army, perhaps I wouldn't be in this predicament today. But if I hadn't listened to Zijia's advice, I would have become fish on the chopping block for the eunuchs. In the end, there's no such thing as having it all..."

Seeing Yuan Feng's dejected appearance, Cheng Li knew that Yuan Feng was incapable of changing dynasties or becoming a founding monarch because he was not ruthless or hard-hearted enough.

Without Yuan Wei and Yuan Shu by his side pushing him forward, he would never have reached where he is today. As a powerful minister, he is incompetent.

But it is precisely because of this that Yuan Shu's path was relatively smooth, preventing him from embarking on the tragic path of father and son distrusting each other and brothers killing each other.

From this perspective, Cheng Li felt that Yuan Shu was really lucky, very lucky.

Yuan Feng ultimately offered no explanation for the outside speculation. When people inquired about it privately, he did not give a clear answer, but only asked his trusted subordinates to support the decision and not to oppose it.

Those who support him will naturally gain his trust and rewards.

Those who oppose it will follow in the footsteps of those party members.

Ultimately, the group of Yuan's protégés and former officials and Yuan Shu's Yixin Society group maintained a supportive attitude, while the majority of the remaining people remained silent, neither supporting nor opposing.

Only a handful of people explicitly opposed it.

They argued that although there was a precedent of Emperor Guangwu of the Western Han Dynasty abolishing the temple names of the emperors, Emperor Guangwu was an emperor, and it was permissible for an emperor to do such a thing. However, for a subject to raise such an opinion was suspected of being rebellious.

These few people launched an attack on Cheng Li, as well as on Grand Commandant Duan Jiong, who had clearly supported him, arguing that Duan Jiong was morally flawed and should not continue to serve as Grand Commandant.

The outcome of this matter was quite simple.

Yuan Feng symbolically informed Liu Li of this matter, and then had Liu Li approve it with his seal. Following this, an imperial edict was issued, approving the proposal and, in the name of the Han emperor, abolishing the temple names of Emperor He of Han, Emperor An of Han, Emperor Shun of Han, and Emperor Huan of Han, thus depriving them of their right to enjoy individual sacrifices.

Alright, this is something that has been approved by the imperial edict issued by the emperor. Do you have anything else to say?
If not, then this matter is settled.

Those who supported it were very happy.

The silent person breathed a sigh of relief.

Those who opposed it looked at each other in bewilderment.

Three days after Liu Li's imperial edict was issued, Guo Hong, the Minister of Justice, submitted a memorial impeaching six officials who had previously voiced their opposition, arguing that they were suspected of dereliction of duty and requesting that they be dismissed from their posts and detained for further investigation. Emperor Liu Li issued an edict granting the request.

These six officials were therefore dismissed from their posts and taken to the Court of Justice for further investigation to determine their crimes.

More opponents of the Yuan regime were taken down.

The Yuan family's power within the Luoyang court became more consolidated, and the Yuan regime's deterrent effect was further enhanced. There were no longer any open opponents, and those who opposed them in secret also withdrew their claws and lay low, not daring to make a sound.

All of these events were eventually conveyed to Yuan Shu through Cheng Li's letters, allowing Yuan Shu, far away in Bingzhou, to learn what had happened on the imperial court's side.

After learning about this series of events, Yuan Shu was actually quite happy. Although he was not the one who initiated this matter, he realized that his subordinates had begun to give him feedback and help.

They have grown up, and grown up quite well.

Earlier, they were a group of small fry who could only survive in Luoyang by relying on Yuan Shu's protection. Without Yuan Shu's protection and help, they would not even have a place to stand in Luoyang and could only stay in their hometown and wait for the chaos to come.

For years, the only thing they could give back to Yuan Shu was to follow his orders and the routes he had designed.

In other words, it means being obedient.

At most, they could risk their lives to fight alongside Yuan Shu, exchanging their lives for his.

But in this era, life is worthless, especially for those of them from poor families and commoners. Their lives are as cheap as grass and have little value. So it is no exaggeration to say that they are tiny, helpless creatures who depend on Yuan Shu for survival and rely on his kindness.

But that's not the case now.

They have grown up.

Under Yuan Shu's promotion and guidance, they grew up and gained a new identity. While following the path defined by Yuan Shu, they were also able to exert their initiative to gain some additional benefits for Yuan Shu.

They began to be able to exert their own initiative and even influence Yuan Shu's future in some sense.

They can use the power they control and manipulate it to achieve goals that Yuan Shu himself finds inconvenient to achieve but desperately needs to achieve.

Yuan Shu himself doesn't need to be present, or even remotely direct them; they can organize themselves and act with Yuan Shu's interests as the ultimate goal.

So at this point, Yuan Shu could finally confirm that the political power of the Yixin Group had finally begun to overflow, finally overflowing the scope that Yuan Shu had defined for them, and beginning to spread outward and generate additional influence.

Initially, the Yixin Society was not powerful enough. Although it acquired a lot, it basically relied on Yuan Shu's overwhelming ability and influence to make up for the society's shortcomings, allowing it to barely operate within the scope defined by Yuan Shu.

Their political, organizational, and planning abilities are all lacking, and Yuan Shu needs to use his command skills to make up for them.

However, from this incident, Yuan Shu realized that his years of training had been successful, and his years of effort and investment had not been in vain. The Yixin Group had finally taken over its original sphere of influence on its own, and began to expand beyond his direct command.

They began to spontaneously fight for the interests of Yuan Shu and the Yixin Society as a whole, and spontaneously sought cooperation, merit, and more rights from both above and below.

The main plan to eliminate Yuan Ji and Yuan Shao was proposed by Cheng Li, refined by Jia Xu, and implemented by many Yixin members. Afterwards, they also gained some of the benefits that originally belonged to Yuan Ji's group through this success.

Without Yuan Shu's direct involvement, they destroyed Yuan Ji's alliance with the party members and ultimately seized that portion of the profits, thus spontaneously strengthening their own power for the first time.

This made Yuan Shu very satisfied.

The political capabilities of the Yixinhui Group began to show a qualitative leap. Even without Yuan Shu in charge, the remaining leaders could still use their limited strength to complete this political operation.

How is it bad?
In this way, Yuan Shu felt even more at ease about the situation in Luoyang. He was even more convinced that the members who stayed behind could protect the overall interests of the Yixin Society, which would greatly dispel his worries and stabilize his rear in his all-out fight against the Xianbei.

He could finally concentrate all his energy on launching a final attack on Tan Shihuai.

During the months following Liu Kui's death and Liu Li's ascension to the throne, Tan Shihuai went a bit too far.

Taking advantage of the fact that Yuan Shu was preoccupied with Luoyang, Tan Shihuai launched three more attacks on Youzhou, and finally captured the two county towns of Ning County and Guangning County in Shanggu Commandery, defeated Hu Xun, the Protector of Wuhuan, and obtained a large amount of spoils.

The governor of Youzhou, Tian Yan, and the prefect of Shanggu County, Wang Qiu, joined forces to provide emergency support, but they were unable to arrive in time. By the time they reached the war zone, Tan Shihuai's main force had already retreated.

Enraged, Tian Yan disregarded Wang Qiu's advice and led his troops out of the border to pursue the enemy. However, they were ambushed by the rear guard deployed by Tan Shihuai. After two defeats in three battles, Tian Yan retreated to the border in disarray and submitted a memorial to Luoyang to plead guilty.

(End of this chapter)