Han officials

Chapter 304 A hopeless case [4K]

The reason why Yuan Shu dared to declare himself emperor in Shouchun was not entirely for his own selfish desires.

His self-proclaimed title of "Emperor of the Zhong Family" was also a political maneuver.

After all, only a minority of people have vision; the vast majority can only see their own small plot of land.

For example, under Yuan Shu, morale soared after he bestowed titles and rewards upon his officials and the entire army.

Looking around, one sees military officers being promoted to military commanders, military commanders to colonels, and colonels becoming generals.

As for the former generals of Yuan's army, they all "rose to prominence" this time.

For example, Ji Ling was appointed "Grand General"; Zhang Xun was promoted to "General of Chariots and Cavalry"; Qiao Rui was appointed "General of the Rear" and concurrently Prefect of Jiujiang; Li Feng, Yue Jiu, Liang Gang, and others were appointed as General of the Vanguard, General of the Left, and General of the Right, respectively. Liu Xun was also appointed "General Who Conquers the South," responsible for conquering the Jiangdong region.

These military men didn't care whose imperial decree it was; they were happy as long as they could get promoted and make money.

When morale and fighting spirit are high, combat effectiveness will naturally follow.

To some extent, Yuan Shu's declaration of himself as emperor did indeed unite the people and enhance military strength.

However, this doping agent has a limited duration of effect; it may be effective in the short term, but its effectiveness will be questionable in the long run.

Therefore, the day after declaring himself emperor, Yuan Shu launched a massive southern campaign.

For the counties of Yangzhou that had not yet submitted, they offered high-ranking officials and generous salaries to persuade them to surrender, while simultaneously threatening them with large armies.

This operation doesn't seem to have any problems.

With an official hat in one hand and a gun in the other, they were incredibly useful.

When Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu became emperor, he used this tactic to conquer dozens of cities without firing an arrow.

The problem is that Yuan Shu was not Emperor Guangwu, so his position as the emperor of the Zhong clan was not very attractive.

Apart from his own civil and military officials, the other counties in Yangzhou didn't take it seriously at all.

Yuan Shu's imperial edict had some effect outside of Jiujiang Commandery, meaning it only had some effect in Danyang Commandery.

No, it might work in other parts of Yangzhou, but only as a side effect!
For example, after receiving Yuan Shu's imperial edict, Lu Kang, the governor of Lujiang, beheaded the messenger without saying a word and displayed his head to the public.

When the news reached Shouchun, it immediately enraged Yuan Shu, who was still immersed in the joy of declaring himself emperor.

You shouldn't hit someone in the face. This is so disrespectful!
Enraged, Yuan Shu immediately mobilized his entire army and ordered the three commanderies of Runan, Jiujiang, and Danyang to launch a pincer attack on Lujiang.

As for him, the emperor of the Zhong family, he personally led the expedition.

Of course, that's what they say, but in reality, how could Yuan Shu, this lazy and aristocratic young master, possibly go to the front lines?

His so-called "personal command" was nothing more than sitting in Hefei and directing the army from Jiujiang to attack Lu'an.

The proclamation even claimed that it was ready to lead 100,000 troops to conquer Lujiang and quell the rebellion.

Even so, this pressure is still considerable for Lujiang County.

The news really startled other counties and prefectures in Yangzhou.

In fact, Yangzhou only has six prefectures in total.

Danyang Commandery was originally a vassal state of Yuan Shao, but was later occupied by Wu Jing and the remnants of Sun Ce's forces, thus becoming semi-independent. Liu Miao, the governor of Jiujiang, was killed by Yuan Shu along with Chen Wen, the governor of Yangzhou.

Others, such as Zhou Shu, the Prefect of Yuzhang, Sheng Xian, the Prefect of Wujun, Lu Kang, the Prefect of Lujiang, and Yang Dao, the Prefect of Kuaiji, were all veterans from the previous emperor's time.

Among these six commanderies, Kuaiji Commandery and Yuzhang Commandery are the largest in area.

Yuzhang Commandery was equivalent to the entire Jiangxi Province in later times, while Kuaiji Commandery included the entire Zhejiang Province, the entire Fujian Province, and a small part of Jiangsu Province in later times.

It was precisely because of these two large prefectures that Yangzhou became the largest of the thirteen prefectures of the Han Dynasty!
Therefore, geographically speaking, Lujiang Commandery and Wu Commandery were originally Yuan Shu's first targets.

Among them, Lujiang Commandery was in the most dangerous situation. It was surrounded by Runan Commandery to the west, Jiujiang Commandery to the north, and Danyang Commandery to the east. It was almost surrounded by Yuan Shu's army on three sides and had long been regarded as a piece of his own.

Otherwise, Yuan Shu would not have personally led the expedition this time.

He was certain that he could capture Lujiang County, and that's why he planned to seize this victory to give the other counties in Yangzhou a warning, so that he could smoothly pacify them.

Unfortunately, he had the misfortune of running into Lu Kang, the prefect of Lujiang!

It's worth noting that this was the man who made Sun Ce fight a bitter battle for two years, eventually besieging the city multiple times before finally capturing Shu County.

Even so, less than a month after the city fell, Lu Kang, who was nearly seventy years old, died of grief and indignation; the Lu clan also suffered from famine and hardship due to the war, and "nearly half of them died."

This time, facing Yuan Shu's overwhelming army, Lu Kang had no intention of begging for mercy.

Because Lu Kangzhi had been in Lujiang for a long time and was deeply loved by the people, the people even spontaneously formed a militia to help defend the city.

At the same time, Lu Kang adopted the suggestion of his eldest son Lu Jun to "implement the six policies internally and utilize the power of Heaven and Earth externally".

In short, it means uniting the people internally and deploying the "Heavenly Thunder Tiger Formation" externally, establishing a comprehensive defense system that includes tanks, trenches, watchtowers, and other facilities.

In this situation, the outcome was predictable.

With everyone united, Yuan Shu would not be facing a few thousand soldiers from Lujiang County, but nearly 500,000 people from Lujiang.

Yes, even the gentry and powerful families of Lujiang looked down on Yuan Shu, the emperor of the Zhong family.

The powerful clans of Lujiang were even afraid of being associated with Yuan Shu, lest they be tainted and jeopardize their future in the new dynasty.

So after a whole month, Yuan Shu gained nothing except for occupying a few cities.

Wu Jing's troops in Danyang County were firmly blocked by Lu Kang north of the Yangtze River.

Yuan's army in Runan was trapped in the Dabie Mountains. After occupying three counties, they were firmly blocked along the Anfeng-Lu'an line.

As for Yuan Shu's army in Lujiang, which he personally commanded, it goes without saying that they repeatedly attacked Liu'an without success, and were even attacked by Lu Jun's navy from Chaohu along the waterway to Hefei, almost losing their home base.

Startled by Lu Jun's words, Yuan Shu realized that Hefei was not safe either, and made an excuse to return to Shouchun.

However, with Yuan Shu's departure, the morale that had been painstakingly boosted by his declaration of himself as emperor immediately dissipated.

After all, if even the emperor is like this, how can we expect anything from the soldiers below him?

So although there was no legendary victory like Zhang Liao at Xiaoyao Ford in this era, this ordeal did earn Lu Jun the reputation of bravely repelling Yuan Shao's 100,000 troops!

Tsk tsk, Yuan Shu is really greedy, he wants to fight for everything.

Even though they finally made it to Hefei, they wouldn't let Sun Quan steal the spotlight!

……

Meanwhile, while the fighting raged in Yangzhou, Chang'an was also not at peace.

After finally being pacified by the Liangzhou rebels led by Ma Teng and Han Sui last year, the Sanfu region should have been at peace for a while and been able to recuperate.

However, some people are just like that; they're hopeless and can't be helped.

Even though Li Jue and his ilk had control of the court, they still maintained the behavior of bandits.

They didn't know how to organize production; when they ran out of military rations, they would rob; and if they took a fancy to a woman, they would seize her.

As a result, Ma Teng, Han Sui, and others retreated, but the Guanzhong region remained in constant turmoil.

The most troublesome thing is that although Li Jue has a dominant position in the court, the two previous coups have also given Guo Si and Fan Chou the power to "establish their own offices" for their merits, greatly increasing their power. Together with the Three Dukes and Li Jue, they form the Six Offices.

Li, Guo, and Fan indiscriminately placed their cronies and servants in Guanzhong, only concerned with vying for power and profit.

The most outrageous thing is that the three of them lacked management skills, which led to rampant thieves in Chang'an, with robberies occurring even in broad daylight.

So Li Jue, Guo Si, and Fan Chou, seeing that they couldn't stop the thieves, simply divided the city into three parts and joined in themselves to prevent others from looting. As a result, under their indulgence, the people of the Three Auxiliary Regions lived in utter misery.

In addition, a severe famine had already broken out in Guanzhong this year, with people resorting to cannibalism, piles of bones, and filth everywhere.

In Guanzhong, a region with a population of one million, people were starving and fleeing in an instant.

Those who were able to move around migrated south to the territories of Liu Biao, Liu Yan, Zhang Lu, and others.

However, Li Jue and his two companions were only concerned with vying for power and profit, and their conflicts became increasingly intense.

Ultimately, Li Jue and his men inevitably engaged in a bloody battle.

During a court assembly, Li Jue's nephew, Cavalry Commandant Hu Feng, suddenly attacked and killed Fan Chou and Li Meng. Li Jue then seized the opportunity to annex Fan Chou and Li Meng's troops, and for a time it seemed that he had become the only one in power. However, the generals became even more suspicious of him.

However, just as Li Jue was feeling smug, news of the many changes in Guandong finally reached Chang'an.

On this day, in the Jiade Hall.

Zhong Yao stepped forward, his face ashen, and reported with great indignation:

"...Liu Biao of Jingzhou usurped the title of Duke of Chu; Wei Zhe of Yecheng usurped the title of Duke of Wei; Liu Zhang of Yizhou usurped the title of King of Hanzhong; and Yuan Shu of Yangzhou disregarded loyalty and righteousness, usurped the title of Emperor, and established the Zhong clan."

"Your Majesty, if we do not severely reprimand them now, what will become of the court's prestige?"

As soon as Zhong Yao uttered these words, an uproar erupted in the vast hall.

All the officials, both civil and military, were shocked and discussed the matter extensively, especially the veteran ministers of the Han Dynasty who shared Zhong Yao's stance.

They never imagined that, in the blink of an eye, rebellious kings would be everywhere.

It is worth noting that not long ago, two sons of Liu Yan, the governor of Yizhou, sacrificed their lives for the emperor, demonstrating extreme loyalty and righteousness. This shows that Liu Yan's family education was quite good.

Now that Liu Yan has just died, how could Liu Zhang, who succeeded him, be so rebellious?

Even... Wei Zhe, the General of the Flying Cavalry, has shown his disloyal intentions!

However, what the public did not know was that it was because his two sons died in the chaos of the battle in Chang'an that Liu Yan became increasingly resentful of the emperor and his ministers in Chang'an.

However, due to the grief of losing his son in his old age, Liu Yan suddenly developed carbuncles and died.

Otherwise, Liu Yan might already be proclaiming himself emperor in Chengdu!

However, the young Emperor Liu Xie on the throne was unaware of these inside stories.

Even so, he was still terrified and turned pale.

You should know that he had even considered secretly summoning Ye City to ask his cousin Wei Zhe for help.

Seeing that even Wei Zhe couldn't be relied on, the young emperor was suddenly at a loss.

However, faced with the righteous indignation of the court officials, Li Jue, who was always arrogant and domineering, remained silent at this moment.

Seeing this, Zhong Yao had no choice but to ask, "General, what do you think?"

After all, the court is now under Li Jue's control, and without his approval, imperial edicts cannot even leave Chang'an.

But Li Jue remained silent, his brows furrowed.

After a long while, seeing the unanimous advice of many senior officials, he issued an edict to severely reprimand these rebels.

Li Jue finally spoke, his face icy cold:
"We don't know if these messages are true or false, so how can we act rashly in such a hurry?"

"Let me send someone to investigate the situation in Guandong first, and then we'll talk about it again. Let's not mention this matter again!"

After saying this, Li Jue left the hall on his own, leaving behind only the emperor and his ministers with grim expressions.

However, on the other hand, although Li Jue was rude, there was some truth to what he said earlier.

Some veteran officials felt that they should indeed act cautiously to avoid misunderstanding loyal and virtuous officials.

To their surprise, they received no further news after waiting.

Fearing another joint attack from the warlords of Guandong, and especially the renewed provocation of Wei Zhe, the god of war, Li Jue acted as if he had heard nothing and continued to live a life of debauchery in Chang'an.

Even though court officials gradually confirmed the information through other channels, Li Jue continued to delay, citing the ongoing verification process.

For a time, the loyal and virtuous people of the world were greatly disappointed!
This reaction from the Chang'an court caused the last vestige of prestige of the Han dynasty to slowly dissipate.

Apart from a very few old Confucian scholars, the consensus among scholars across the land gradually became that "the Liu family's mandate of heaven has been lost."

……

Regarding the shift in public opinion, Wei Zhe in Ye City had also heard some rumors.

However, when his subordinates were secretly preparing to persuade him to take the throne a second time, he suppressed their advance without hesitation.

"The will of Heaven is unpredictable; success depends on human effort!"

Of course, after Wei Zhe left those words, the civil and military officials of Ye City immediately understood his intentions.

Relieved, they became even more determined, feeling that the road ahead was full of sunshine.

Therefore, even without declaring himself emperor, Wei Zhe's promotion to "Duke of Wei" could still inspire those above and below him and unite the people.

Because he didn't take things too seriously from the start, leaving room for maneuver, his subordinates had even more motivation.

In contrast, Yuan Shiwan, who suffered a setback in his first personal campaign, looked like a clown.

Aside from causing immense suffering to the people of Lujiang County, it has made almost no progress whatsoever.

However, Wei Zhe didn't have time to pay attention to him at this moment.

Because he is facing a very important and far-reaching problem.

That is, what kind of system should be implemented within the State of Wei, and what kind of administrative method should be used in the imperial court?

This issue may seem like a formality, but it is actually more important than choosing the name of the country!

"How about we follow the Han system?"

In the study, Xun You couldn't help but suggest:
"After Emperor Shizu established the country, he bestowed titles such as Duke of Lu and Duke of Qi upon his sons, which is a precedent to follow."

To be honest, the title of Duke is quite unfamiliar in the Han Dynasty's system.

Since Liu Bang founded the Han Dynasty and became emperor, the Han Dynasty never granted the title of Duke, nor did the Qin Dynasty.

During the Han Dynasty, the titles of kings and marquises were the main ones. Marquises were further divided into county marquises, township marquises, and pavilion marquises.

It was precisely because of this that Guoyuan immediately shook his head upon hearing this:
"Although Emperor Guangwu briefly abolished the title of prince and replaced it with the title of duke, he restored the title of prince after a few years of trial. This example is not reliable."

"In my opinion, it would be better to take the pre-Qin states as examples and learn from the Zhou system."

However, as soon as he said this, Xi Zhicai frowned slightly and retorted:

“The events of the Spring and Autumn Period are now a thousand years ago. As times have changed, things have become very different.”

"If we follow the ancient system of the Spring and Autumn Period, wouldn't that be like trying to find a lost sword by marking the boat?"

After all, time is still a river.

Once the boat has flown away, it's gone; how can you go back to what you were looking for?

Seeing that the three of them held their own opinions, Wei Zhe suddenly felt a headache coming on.

Being too conservative is bad, being too backward is bad, so... is being too advanced also bad?
(End of this chapter)