Tiger Guards

Chapter 101 North-South Double Team
In Anyi City, the embers of the daytime arson were still lingering.

The air was filled with smoke and dust, and there were cries of grief everywhere.

Inside the official residence, outside Huan Dian's sickbed.

Most of the nobles gathered here. The oil lamps were dim and not as bright as the moonlight outside the courtyard.

Taiwei Yang Biao sat at the top with a gloomy face. They didn't want things to develop to this point.

The source of all the out-of-control events was actually that Emperor Lingdi fell ill and died in his prime.

Without the person who could suppress all forces, the fighting broke out without restraint, and heavyweight figures were killed one after another, and often entire families were exterminated.

Finally it came to the point where Empress Dowager Dong was killed. After Dong Zhuo entered the court, with the support of several forces, Dong Zhuo betrayed Yuan and completely lost control, going on a rampage.

So when it came to burning Luoyang and moving the capital to Chang'an, Dong Zhuo would rather burn everything than sit there and wait for death with his entire family.

Even when the imperial court moved eastward, Yang Biao did not want things to develop to this point.

However slow-witted Li Jue and Guo Si were, they also realized the importance of the emperor. The two sides fought five bloody battles, and a total of more than 50,000 officials and soldiers died.

The powerful families in Hedong, led by the Wei family, ignored the imperial court; Zhang Yang in Henei wanted to welcome the emperor to the court, but his generals disagreed.

Liu Xuan of Xihe wanted to support the imperial court, but he could hardly protect himself and could not provide any help.

Taiyuan County was rich, but the roads were blocked by the Huns, making it impossible to communicate.

I thought the Hu Ben recruited from Hedong could change the situation, but the situation changed too drastically.

If Zhao Ji had been more domineering and overbearing when he first entered the court, they would not have repeatedly tested him.

Now it's all over. The Baibo bandits broke out of the military camp and fled. Fires broke out everywhere in Anyi. The soldiers and civilians in the city either lost their property or had their relatives and friends injured, and they are already filled with resentment.

As for the treasury, even the people of Hedong who were most loyal to the court had to consider the influence of Zhao Ji's proposal of ten years of tax exemption.

Zhao Ji fought with Huan Dian in order to protect the wealth of the people of Hedong. In the eyes of the ignorant common people, he was clearly a Hedong hero who was protecting his hometown!

The most annoying thing was that Zhao Yan led his troops south and stationed them north of Anyi, blocking the other route.

Just when he was at his wit's end, Weiwei Zhou Zhong walked into the living room holding a blood-stained arrow.

After taking his seat, he threw the arrow with a bloody tip into the hall: "Old Zhao Yan has closed his camp and refused to accept anyone. The messenger has revealed his identity, but two have been shot dead, and the third has been wounded and retreated back to the city. No one dares to go anymore."

Minister of Works Zhang Xi picked up the arrows and said in a serious tone, "The emperor has been wronged. We should apologize to the world. What's wrong with complying with Zhao's request?"

Yang Zhong, the Imperial Censor, spoke up: "The emperor is still young. Without our help, he will inevitably be bullied by the Zhao family."

As he spoke, he glanced at Si Tu Zhao Wen, who was from the Chengdu Zhao family, a family of nobles for generations.

The Zhao family of Chengdu is a descendant of the Qin Dynasty. If one is thick-skinned enough, they can trace their ancestry back to the brothers E Lai and Ji Sheng during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and can barely be considered a fellow clan member of the Zhao family of Langya.

Zhao Wen had an elder brother, Zhao Qian, who served as a minister during his lifetime. During the reign of Dong Zhuo, he served as a general in commanding troops to attack Baibo and was the main general who completely defeated the Baibo bandits.

Yang Feng and others were Bai Bo's surrendered generals who followed Zhao Qian into Guanzhong. Others such as Han Xian and Li Le who surrendered were settled north of the Fen River.

But in the year when Wang Yun was attacked and killed by Li Jue and others, Zhao Qian took over as Si Tu and also served as Shang Shu Ling, and then died of old age and illness.

If Zhao Qian were still alive, or if either Huangfu Song or Zhu Jun were still alive, the court would not be so passive.

When Yang Zhong observed Zhao Wen, Zhao Wen had a blank expression on his face. He knew a little about military affairs.

Although he didn't know much, it was more than the three Yang brothers; just because he knew this little bit more, he knew very well how difficult Zhao Ji was.

Forget about the various forces in Hedong. Even if Zhao Ji and his eight hundred brave warriors were thrown into Guanzhong, they would be able to force Li Jue and Guo Si to close the door and guard themselves, not daring to fight in the open.

Given the current situation in Guanzhong, after losing the emperor and all the court officials, when Li Jue and Guo Si dared not go out of the city to fight in the field, they also lost the influence of remotely controlling their subordinates, and it was only a matter of time before they were surrounded and killed.

At this time, Zhao Wen didn't want to say anything.

If you say something wrong, some people will make a big fuss about it and report it to others in order to whitewash themselves.

He even dared not sigh because of Cai Yong's incident.

While the ministers were silent, Emperor Liu Xie suffered from insomnia again and was also staying up late.

Pei Mao had already returned and submitted a memorial signed by Zhao Ji, Fu De and others, seeking to impeach and hold Yang Qi accountable for the crime of misleading the emperor and causing turmoil in the country.

Yang Qi was detained in the Wei family manor and was obviously unable to prove his innocence.

As for the three conditions Zhao Ji wanted, they were nothing to Liu Xie. Zhao Ji refused the most important gold, and the five-zhu coins he wanted were for official business. He also agreed to the court's audit of his accounts. He was so well-behaved that there was nothing wrong with him.

He really couldn't understand why Huan Dian, such a steady person and a former official of the Yuan family, would follow the example of the Yang brothers and get angry with Zhao Ji?

Zhao Ji had already given him a lot of face, and had restrained himself from getting angry when he was in a low position.

After he became a minister, he only broke Huan Dian's legs, not Yang Qi's legs.

In terms of his status as the Lieutenant General of the Tiger Guards, Zhao Ji broke the leg of his colleague, the Lieutenant General of the Imperial Guards, Huan Dian; in terms of his position as the Palace Attendant, Yang Qi was also a Palace Attendant.

Insulting and fighting each other among colleagues is not considered excessive in the court.

The Imperial Censors who accompanied the emperor were responsible for maintaining the decorum of all officials and preventing them from fighting.

However, often the dukes and ministers were old, and insults were the main form of violence, and the injuries in fights were not serious.

Zhao Ji was young and hot-tempered. He could not stand insults and was not used to the court atmosphere. He was strong and Huan Dian was old and weak, so he hit him hard.

As for the military remonstration mentioned by Pei Mao, Liu Xie was not afraid at all.

Because Zhao Yan was a counselor and lecturer in the Forbidden City, he was one of Liu Xie's regular lecturers, and they had a good relationship.

With Zhao Yan around, how much more could Zhao Ji, who regarded gold as dirt, go?

The empress was from Langya, so Zhao Yan was also trusted by the emperor and the empress.

Liu Xie finished reading the long memorial, which resembled a scroll, and wondered, "Lord Zhao has lived in the mountains for a long time. Why does he become so irritable when he encounters insults?"

Pei Mao knelt down and replied, "Your Majesty, Minister Zhao has been a loner since childhood, and he is extremely proud and unyielding. Among my fellow townspeople, only my nephew Xiu, who lost his father at a young age and is very intelligent, is quite close to Minister Zhao."

Pushing his nephew Pei Xiu, Pei Mao explained, "Minister Zhao is from a poor family, so he's aggressive and protective. Young men in the village don't argue with him, so there's no verbal abuse or bickering. This makes Minister Zhao even more arrogant, and none of his peers dare to challenge him."

He didn't know the details, but just made this inference based on common sense.

The real reason is that Zhao Ji himself was not even afraid of his father and brothers at home, so each family would warn their children not to provoke Zhao Ji.

Before the Baibo War in Wenxi, there was a loner named Guan Yu who suddenly launched an uprising, killed all the male members of a powerful family, and fled to the underworld. The lesson from the past was not far away, so no one with a little property wanted to offend Zhao Ji, and it was not easy to get in touch with him.

Those from weaker families would have bullied and beaten Zhao Ji to death, but Zhao Ji's two brothers were not dead.

Revenge is a popular belief among the people. If your brother is beaten to death, how can you hold your head up high and live your life without revenge?

By then, anyone will be able to kick you a few times, and life will be difficult, let alone development.

Fighting over water is a public war in a sense, and the winner is determined after the fight; this kind of family feud can only be stopped by killing all the male members of the other party's family.

The reason why Guan Yu's family can still survive is that Guan Yu killed so many people in the past.

Even if there were collateral relatives, they would stop after dividing the deceased's property. After all, Guan Yu was just fleeing, not dead.

The Zhao family is poor, so there is no need for them to fight to the death with such a poor and aggressive outsider.

Liu Xie felt that what he heard made sense. The deepest impression Zhao Ji gave him was his 'strong aura'. Wherever he stood there, there was an invisible spotlight on him, making him stand out from the surroundings, attracting attention and difficult to ignore.

He took over the government on the first day of the first lunar month of the previous year. Like Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling, he did not receive the normal education of an emperor since childhood.

Without the old emperor watching over him, who would be willing to teach him the real things?
Of course, all the hardships we have endured for nearly a year cannot be in vain.

With Zhao Yan, a teacher who did not need to worry about the issue of descendants, to explain his enlightenment, Liu Xie had already recalled many things.

But what can he do?
The Yang family is now the biggest pillar of the imperial court, and this pillar is densely populated with scholars from Xizhou.

There is no way to use force to hit the Yang brothers, let alone settle accounts.

While pondering, Liu Xie asked, "What will happen to the soldiers and civilians of Anyi when Zhao Qing leads his troops into Wei?"

"Your Majesty, do not worry. Minister Zhao leads the Tiger Guards to protect Your Majesty, and no one in Anyi dares to stop him."

"Well, no matter how hard Pei Qing works, the common people are ignorant and easily deceived. Please also tell Zhao Qing to be more tolerant and not to harm the officials and people of Anyi."

"Your Majesty is so kind, I will leave the city immediately."

Pei Mao bowed deeply and kowtowed to the ground.

(End of this chapter)