Han officials

Chapter 141: Testing and Confrontation

In the sixth year of Zhongping, on the Wuwu day of the fourth month of spring.

Three days after Emperor Liu Hong passed away, Prince Bian ascended the throne at the age of seventeen.

At noon, the enthronement ceremony of the new emperor was solemn and dignified in Chongde Hall of the Northern Palace in Luoyang.

In a corner of the palace, Attendant Censor Yuan Jun, like other court officials, followed the chanting of the ceremonial officials.

After shouting "Long live the emperor" three times and dancing, Yuan Jun finally stood up straight this time.

Taking this opportunity, he secretly glanced at the new emperor out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help sighing in his heart.

Yuan Jun felt sorry for Wei Zhe. It would have been better if the victory report could have arrived earlier.

As a student and former official of Wei Zhe, Yuan Jun knew very well how much the late emperor valued his sponsor.

If the victory report could be delivered when the late emperor was still alive, Wei Zhe's reward would certainly be extremely generous.

But it’s hard to say now. After all, a new emperor appoints new ministers, just like now.

In the main hall, only the eunuch's voice was heard loudly reading the imperial edict: "

I, with my humble self, rule the land;
I am worried day and night, not knowing what to do.

The way of heaven, earth and man has three functions, and they must be assisted in order to achieve their goals.

"General Yuan Wei is a man of great virtue, generosity, and loyalty. I now appoint him Grand Tutor and Recorder of the Secretariat... I honor Empress He as Empress Dowager, who will oversee the government... I enfeoff my younger brother Xie as King of Bohai... I will forgive him and entrust him to the various empresses, each of whom will lead their respective duties, as I see fit!"

After the eunuch who announced the decree had spoken a long-winded list of rewards, he finally said in a dragging tone:
"The new emperor ascends the throne, grants amnesty to the entire nation, and changes the reign to Guangxi!"

Hearing this, many court officials in Chongde Hall couldn't help but look at the brothers Yuan Wei and Yuan Feng in the front row.

It was almost an open secret in Luoyang City that the emperor wanted to pass the throne to his second son Liu Xie.

Although Emperor Liu Hong did not say anything, officials were watching his political moves.

Liu Hong's many arrangements in recent years have actually allowed many Luoyang officials to see the clues.

But now the new emperor is the eldest son Liu Bian, and it seems that the previous emperor is slightly inferior after all.

To a certain extent, none of the court officials present cared whether the will was authentic or not.

You must know that since the founding of this dynasty, the emperor has been deposed and reinstated frequently.

How much effect can we expect from the will of a deceased emperor?

Now that the eldest prince has naturally inherited the throne, no one will bother about these details anymore.

As a mature bureaucrat, the Luoyang nobles only cared about stable order.

As for who sits on the throne, it makes no difference to them.

However, judging from the current situation, the He family should have reached some deal with the Yuan family.

After all, although the He family benefited the most from the new emperor's accession to the throne, the second was the Yuan family.

You must know that Yuan Weiwei is already the Grand Tutor, and now he is also participating in the affairs of the Shangshu together with the General He Jin.

Tsk tsk~ Even if four generations and three officials were officials, it would not be enough to describe the prominence of the Yuan family of Runan.

It should be noted that although the positions of the Three Dukes are honorable, not every one of them has the power to record the affairs of the Secretariat.

If Yuan Wei is given another three years, the influence of the Runan Yuan family may rise to another level!
By then, I'm afraid Liu and Yuan will share the world!
With this in mind, many court officials secretly decided to send someone to visit Yuan's mansion after the court session.

I'm not afraid that Yuan Fu won't remember it, I'm just afraid that Yuan Fu will remember it!

Others thought so, and Yuan Jun also thought so.

There is no way. When the late emperor was in power, Wei Zhe rarely interacted with the Yuan family in order to prevent the late emperor from becoming suspicious.

Wei Zhe still has some idea about this aspect, unlike He Jin, who has no idea what his own foundation is.

It is obvious that as a relative of the emperor, his foundation is the imperial power, and even the He family and the Ten Attendants are their common interests.

But this fool was fooled by the gentry and lost his way. Instead, he teamed up with them to deal with the eunuchs.

No wonder Empress Dowager He was so angry that she called her brother a fool. He was so stupid!
Just as Yuan Jun was thinking about what gift to send to Yuan Mansion later, this grand court meeting entered the next stage, which was to decide the posthumous title of the late emperor!

It is said that since the Western Han Dynasty, the posthumous title of the emperor was generally discussed by the new emperor and court officials and was considered as a public opinion.

This move was also intended to make every emperor feel more cautious during his reign.

However, in actual operation, many other factors are often involved.

For example, the posthumous title of the previous emperor, "Emperor Xiaohuan", was decided by Liu Hong and his court officials after he ascended the throne.

The character "Huan" is one of the 131 characters in the ancient posthumous name law, which means that the ruler will be close to him and the gentleman will be kind to him.

The Law of Posthumous Titles says:
To conquer the enemy and conquer the distant land is called Huan, to conquer the distant land and conquer the distant land is called Huan.
The one who can respect and inspire the people is called Huan, and the one who can expand the territory and annex the country is called Huan.

The reason why "Huan" was used as the posthumous title was mainly because of the reason of "suppressing the Qiang rebellion".

Liu Hong, who succeeded to the throne as a minor clan member, did this out of gratitude. So even though the late emperor Liu Zhi had a mixed reputation in the court and the country, he still insisted on giving the late emperor a beautiful posthumous title after he ascended the throne.

From this we can see that if the emperor wants a good posthumous title after his death, it mainly depends on whether his successor is capable enough.

Obviously, the new emperor Liu Bian sitting on the throne does not seem to be very powerful!

Only an attendant censor came out and said that in view of the late emperor's achievements, he should be given the posthumous title of "Emperor Xiaoling".

Yuan Jun, who was a little distracted, was suddenly shocked when he heard this.

You should know that the word "Ling" is one of the sixty-five characters in the posthumous name system, which means to annihilate the barbarians and to use it to treat villains.

The Law of Posthumous Titles says:

To achieve fame without hard work is called spirituality, and to be in chaos without being damaged is called spirituality.

Giving this posthumous title to the late emperor obviously means that he had no achievements at all during his reign.

The final conclusion of this sentence "there are merits but no achievements" is that there are both merits and no achievements!

So Yuan Jun immediately looked in the direction of the sound, wanting to see which colleague was so brave.

However, when he saw that the other person was the Imperial Censor Ping Xu, Yuan Jun's brows furrowed even deeper.

As far as he knew, this person was a former student and official of the Yuan family of Runan.

Ping Xu dared to put forward this statement, obviously as a pawn of the Runan Yuan family to test everyone.

For a moment, Yuan Jun couldn't help but feel worried.

After all, given the attitude of the Yuan family of Runan, it is obviously impossible for them to reward Wei Zhe handsomely.

Not to mention rewards for merit, you might even be sent to jail and charged!
The logic here is very simple, because if Wei Zhe is rewarded handsomely, doesn't it mean that he has made great contributions?

In this case, wouldn't the late emperor, who promoted Wei Zhe, also have made contributions?

When the wind of the court blows to the border counties, it doesn’t matter whether the local areas have really made contributions!
I don’t know if the new emperor Liu Bian is not aware of the twists and turns here and dares not refute it.

Anyway, after these words were spoken, he did not say a word of objection, but just looked at his feet timidly.

Fortunately, although the previous emperor Liu Hong was absurd, he still left behind a few loyal ministers.

After hearing Ping Xu's words, Shangshu Lu Zhi was so angry that his face turned red.

So he immediately stepped out of the group. Lu Zhi did not look for Ping Xu, the little follower, but glared at Yuan Wei and said:
"Does the Yuan family intend to deceive the emperor?"

All that could be heard was the clanging sound of metal and iron, shaking the rubble and echoing continuously in the Chongde Hall.

General of the Cavalry Dong Zhong, General of the Left Huangfu Song, Imperial Secretary Ma Ritian, and Counselor Cai Yong also stepped forward. General of the Left Huangfu Song said frankly, "Although the late emperor had minor flaws, he conquered the Three Han and destroyed Goguryeo in recent years. He truly does not deserve this unpleasant posthumous title!"

After hearing this, many court officials could not help but secretly admire Huangfu Song's integrity.

All the officials present knew that Huangfu Song had been repeatedly suspected during the reign of the previous emperor.

However, he was still able to speak impartially and frankly about the late emperor's affairs after his death, which is really admirable!

The Minister of the Court, Ma Ritian, followed closely behind him, frowning and saying, "The word 'Spirit' is too strong, we need to discuss it further!"

Then, the counselor Cai Yong bowed solemnly to the emperor Liu Bian who was sitting on the throne and said:

"Your Majesty, I think the word 'gang' might be appropriate."

In terms of erudition and broad knowledge, it can be said that no courtier in the palace can compare to Cai Yong.

He spoke without consulting any books:
"The Book of Posthumous Titles says: 'To make up for past mistakes is called 'gang'. It means to make up for mistakes with diligence and goodness!"

"Similarly, the word [Jian] can also be used! Jian means to highlight one's righteousness and cover up one's faults. It means to clarify one's righteousness and cover up one's past mistakes!"

Seeing that General of the Cavalry Dong Chong, General of the Left Huangfu Song, Palace Attendant Ma Ritian, and Counselor Cai Yong were all standing behind Lu Zhi, as if they were advancing and retreating together, Yuan Wei immediately realized that the time was not right.

Although the Yuan family is currently at its peak, it still has enemies in the court.

Thinking of this, Yuan Wei remained expressionless.

Even though Lu Zhi had just been rude to him, Yuan Wei still smiled humbly and said, "Minister Lu, your words are too serious. How dare the Yuan family deceive the emperor? Since this person has spoken nonsense, he should be exiled."

As soon as these words were spoken, the Imperial Censor Pingxu, who had just looked righteous, suddenly turned pale.

But even so, he still trembled and knelt down to apologize.

There is no way around it. If you want a bright future, you naturally have to take risks. This is the unspoken rule in officialdom.

As a chess piece for testing, Pingxu's original role was to act in this way.

After dealing with Ping Xu, Yuan Wei turned to the new emperor and bowed, saying:

"Your Majesty, I think it would be better to use the word 'think'."

After hearing this, even Dong Zhong, Huangfu Song, Ma Riti, Cai Yong and others were speechless.

The Law of Posthumous Titles says:
Moral purity is called thinking;
Thinking about the outside and inside is called thinking;
Planning without error is called thinking;
Repenting for past mistakes is called thinking;
Although [Si] is only a common posthumous title in the "Book of Posthumous Titles", it is considered the best among the common posthumous titles.

The reason why Lu Zhi and others opposed the use of the character [Ling] as a posthumous title was not because they wanted to obtain a good posthumous title for the late Emperor Liu Hong, but because they wanted to fulfill their duty as a monarch and his subjects and seek justice for the late Emperor!
It would be fine if the late emperor had no achievements, but now that he has, we should discuss the facts.

In this way, Liu Hong's posthumous title was finally decided - Emperor Xiaosi!
And with just a few words, Grand Tutor Yuan Wei won praise from the court.

As for the little incident just now, no one cares about it. If it gets out, people will just say that others are slandering the Yuan family.

Yuan Jun did not do such a thankless task.

However, after leaving court, he secretly visited Lu Zhi, Cai Yong and others under the cover of night.

……

Not to mention how strange and unpredictable things are in Chongde Hall.

But with the passing of the previous emperor and the accession of the new emperor to the throne, everything seemed to be finally back on track.

Soon, the memorial about Liaodong became the top priority that the Secretariat had to deal with.

Since Liu Yu, the governor of Youzhou who served as the Grand Marshal, was still thousands of miles away, there were only two of the Three Dukes in Luoyang at that time, namely, Sikong Liu Hong and Situ Ding Gong.

But for some unknown reason, Situ Dinggong suddenly caught a cold last night and was unable to manage affairs. Sikong Liu Hong also accidentally injured his foot and was unable to walk.

As a result, the council hall became like this - Grand Tutor Yuan Wei and General He Jin sat at the top of the table.

After all, the new emperor’s edict yesterday said that Grand Tutor Yuan Wei and General He Jin would jointly record the affairs of the Secretariat!

However, even though he agreed to this condition himself, when He Jin was in the same room with Yuan Wei, the old fox, he still felt a little regretful. He really shouldn't have been so generous at the beginning.

He Jin, who was of average appearance, sometimes couldn't even understand Yuan Wei's subtext.

If his staff hadn't reminded him privately, he wouldn't even have noticed this.

So even though they had only worked together for one day, He Jin decided to work alone in the General's Mansion in the future.

In this way, he could gather everyone's wisdom and no longer have to face Yuan Wei alone.

But even though I think so, today's political affairs still need to be dealt with.

However, when He Jin opened the detailed memorial submitted by Wei Zhe to the Secretariat, he couldn't help but frown.

"Please establish the Andong Protectorate to control the fourteen states of Liaodong?"

Looking at this unfamiliar name, He Jin was a little hesitant for a moment.

In contrast, Yuan Wei understood Wei Zhe's meaning at a glance and couldn't help but nod slightly.

It is said that after Wei Zhe captured Maruyama City, he did not know that Emperor Liu Hong had passed away due to poor information. So he was eager to report the victory but did not withdraw his troops in a hurry. Instead, he wrote a memorial in the city.

Wei Zhe had actually been thinking about Goguryeo's post-war arrangements for a long time.

Although Gao Nanwu and the high-ranking officials of Goguryeo were wiped out by him this time, it does not mean that Goguryeo will be destroyed and Wei Zhe can rest easy.

After all, Goguryeo existed for more than two hundred years, and there was still basic national consensus.

If the court had directly established counties or vassal states in Goguryeo, someone would probably have rebelled within a few years.

It could be someone with damaged interests, someone with great ambition, or even someone who simply misses their homeland.

In this way, Goguryeo might become a quagmire in Liaodong, tying Wei Zhe down.

Therefore, after considering the Liaodong policies of successive dynasties, Wei Zhe finally decided to recommend to the court, based on the current situation in Liaodong, to establish the Andong Protectorate in accordance with the example of the Western Regions Protectorate, to govern the Liaodong countries.

You must know that Goguryeo is now in a state of disarray. In order to win the position of leader, various Goguryeo rebel forces are licking Wei Zhe without any bottom line.

Wei Zhe was able to hold out for so long at the gates of Maruyama Castle thanks to these people's plundering of the local area.

So after the war, Wei Zhe and Xi Zhicai screened and finally picked out the twelve people who worked the hardest and had enough strength to suppress the lucky ones below.

Thus, the Goguryeo Kingdom, which originally covered a thousand miles, completely disappeared, leaving only the Dongmushan Kingdom, Wanshan Kingdom, Shuruo Kingdom, Hexi Kingdom, Xiongchuan Kingdom, Gaotai Kingdom, Jixi Kingdom, Dongzhen Kingdom, and Heishui Kingdom standing on the remains of Goguryeo.

By the way, the three rebel armies in East Woju all wanted to call themselves the Woju Kingdom.

But Wei Zhe felt very bad.

If there was another Woju Kingdom, perhaps South Woju and North Woju would gradually unify in the future.

Wei Zhe thought about it again and again, and rejected this name in the name of fairness. Instead, he divided the eastern Woju land into three parts, calling them Binhai Kingdom, Jiuyan Kingdom, and Linming Kingdom.

In this way, Goguryeo was destroyed and the Twelve States of Andong were established.

At first, some of the Goguryeo survivors might try to resist this trend, but Wei Zhe did not need to worry about such matters. His loyal Goguryeo vassal army would naturally take action.

Because their interests are now tied to Hanting, it has nothing to do with ethnicity.

As long as they get through the initial period of unrest, there will be no more Goguryeo people in the long run.

Even if there were no Han immigrants involved, the Goguryeo consensus could still be eliminated after a generation.

This was the best solution Wei Zhe could come up with after racking his brains.

However, although Yuan Wei understood Wei Zhe's intention, He Jin did not see the deeper meaning behind this strategy...

(End of this chapter)