Han officials

Chapter 109 The countdown begins

Wei Zhe naturally welcomed the arrival of Hua Xin and Tao Qiuhong.

After all, the two of them were at most aware of the situation but kept it to themselves. Wei Zhe's current power was enough to protect them.

Besides, Hua Xin and Tao Qiuhong are not wanted yet.

In this way, Wei Zhe was essentially picking up two famous Qingzhou scholars for free.

Celebrities may not be that important in the eyes of future generations, but their influence at the moment is real.

To a certain extent, these people represent the soft power of local states and counties.

Therefore, after appeasing the two, Wei Zhe invited Hua Xin and Tao Qiuhong to give lectures in Liaodong.

As more and more scholars came to study, the number of teachers in the county school became insufficient.

Although Bing Yuan was loyal to his duties and never slacked off, Guan Ning was a free and unrestrained person. When he felt like it, he would come to give lectures for a few days, and when he was no longer interested, he would go off to enjoy himself.

The same was true for Guo Yuan. As the affairs of the Buyehou Mansion became more and more numerous, he gradually had no time to teach.

As a result, only two great scholars, Bing Yuan and Sun Yan, remained in the county school.

In this situation, Hua Xin and Tao Qiuhong were simply coolies delivered to the doorstep.

The most important thing is that both of them are more than qualified to be a scripture teacher in terms of fame and ability.

Hua Xin and Tao Qiuhong were under the tutelage of Wei Zhe, so they naturally knew what was going on and agreed without hesitation.

Anyway, giving lectures is an elegant thing, and it will become a good story among scholars when it is spread out in the future.

Although it is the same thing, the rhetoric of giving lectures in Liaodong sounds much better than taking refuge in Liaodong.

As for Wei Zhe, he actually didn't suffer any loss.

After all, the addition of Hua Xin and Tao Qiuhong greatly improved the teaching staff of Liaodong County School.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Liaodong County School is now the best in the entire Youzhou.

If it weren't for Zhang Chun's rebellion that isolated Youzhou from the east and the west, there would probably have been scholars from Youzhou coming there to study.

……

Not to mention how happy Bing Yuan was at the county school.

After returning to the prefectural government, Wei Zhe quickly summoned Xi Zhicai to discuss matters.

Wang Fen’s rebellion was like a joke, but Wei Zhe couldn’t just treat it as a joke.

"Although Wang Fen has a great reputation, this matter will definitely fail!"

Like Wei Zhe, Xi Zhicai gave his judgment without hesitation after hearing it.

But then he couldn't help but frown and said, "But there may be something strange behind this matter."

Upon hearing this, Wei Zhe sighed and said, "I have the same suspicion!"

Although Wang Fen's behavior this time was a bit absurd, his fame was not earned for nothing.

At least he is not a fool, otherwise the numerous party members would not let him stand out.

But any normal person knows that deposing and enthroning the emperor is a big deal. How could Wang Fen not know this?

Wei Zhe didn't really believe that such a big decision could be made just based on the predictions of a Taoist priest.

Even if Wang Fen, the governor of Jizhou, was out of his mind, Xu You would never be persuaded by such words.

Xi Zhicai nodded in agreement after hearing this, saying, "Indeed, Zhang Mengzhuo, He Boqiu, Wu Ziqing, Xu Ziyuan, Wu Deyu, and the others were all friends of Yuan Benchu. They are both intelligent and courageous, and are definitely not fools."

At this point, Xi Zhicai paused, his face filled with uncertainty. After a moment's hesitation, he said uncertainly, "Perhaps... this wasn't Wang Fen's idea alone, but Yuan Benchu's behind the scenes, or even..."

Although Xi Zhicai didn't finish his words, Wei Zhe immediately understood his implied meaning.

"Ru'nan Yuan family?"

Thinking of this, Wei Zhe's expression suddenly became solemn.

Although Wei Zhe knew that during the period of Dong Zhuo's chaotic rule, Yuan Wei had personally taken off the seal and ribbon of Emperor Shao Liu Bian and put Emperor Xian on the throne, wasn't that dethronement forced by Dong Zhuo?

Thinking of this, Wei Zhe couldn't help but hesitate and said, "Yuan Benchu is not qualified to represent the Runan Yuan family now, right?

"Not really!" Xi Zhicai shook his head upon hearing this and said, "Although Yuan Benchu is not the eldest son of the Runan Yuan family, his influence has long surpassed Yuan Ji's."

"He was originally Yuan Feng's illegitimate son, but because his uncle Yuan Cheng died young, leaving no son to carry on the family line, he was adopted by Yuan Feng and his brothers. Therefore, he was doted on from a young age. In addition to Yuan Cheng's resources, his biological father Yuan Feng, seemingly out of guilt, also took extra care of him."

Speaking of this, Xi Zhicai also mentioned a little gossip about the Yuan family of Runan.

"It is said that Yuan Feng's legitimate son, Yuan Gonglu, was particularly dissatisfied with Yuan Benchu because of this, and conflicts between them continued."

After hearing this, Wei Zhe finally cleared up a doubt in his mind.

He said that how could Yuan Shao protect his party members in Luoyang under the noses of the eunuchs? It turned out that the family resources that this guy could mobilize were completely beyond common sense.

But think about it, if Yuan Shao could make the eunuchs afraid to act rashly just by being the legitimate son of the Yuan family, then the Yuan family of Runan should stop being an aristocratic family and just become the royal family.

Thinking of this, Wei Zhe suddenly felt that Xi Zhicai's guess was very likely.

For example, Cao Cao, who had an average relationship with Wang Fen, was still invited.

It is obvious that Xu You is behind this, and he is even the one who is in charge of this matter.

After all, Yuan Shao already had a certain influence among the party members, and coupled with his special status in the Yuan family of Runan, it was normal for Wang Fen to be tempted once he secretly instigated this matter.

As for what the alchemist Xiang Kai said, it was probably just a smokescreen used by Xu You to protect Yuan Shao.

And Xu You himself can also represent the attitudes of some people.

You have to know that the Xu family is a big family in the Central Plains, and even its various branches are of great importance.

For example, the two brothers Xu Zijiang of Runan who were in charge of the "Yuedanping", Xu Xiang, one of the three highest officials of the dynasty, and Xu Gong, who was a retainer and assassinated Sun Ce, and even Xu Chu were considered to be one of the side branches.

However, Xu Chu and other branches of the Xu family basically have no foundation.

Even the "Xu" in "Xuchang" represents the "Xu" family.

By the way, this place is not called Xuchang now, it is called "Xu County".

It was not until Cao Cao's eldest son, Cao Pi, became emperor that Xu County was renamed "Xuchang County" on the grounds that "Han Dynasty fell in Xu and Wei Dynasty flourished in Xu".

Upon thinking of this, Wei Zhe immediately smiled playfully and said, "The Central Plains nobles are indeed very courageous!"

Tsk tsk~ It’s understandable that the people of Liangzhou betrayed the Han Dynasty.

But the Guandong gentry have always been the biggest winners of this dynasty. Even they are beginning to become alienated. It seems that even if there is no Luoyang Rebellion in the future, the Han Dynasty will not last for a few more years.

However, Xi Zhicai laughed upon hearing this and said, "The Ruying nobles have always been like this. Just get used to it, my lord!"

Wei Zhe couldn't help but laugh after hearing this, but then he said decisively: "Write a letter to Ziliang, and tell him to be more careful in his recent actions and not get caught in the crossfire."

With the sudden intrusion of this butterfly, Wei Zhe couldn't guarantee whether there would be any accidents later.

However, Wang Fen's incident did serve as a wake-up call to Wei Zhe.

As the prestige of the Han Dynasty gradually declined, time was running out for him...

(End of this chapter)