The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 220 If you are killed, you will die

"General! I can't suppress it!!"

"Two more counties have been captured!"

The scout hurried into the tent and reported to General He Zeng.

He Zeng had a stern face and looked extremely ugly.

At this moment, he was wearing armor and sitting at a desk with several officers standing beside him.

Sima Shi appointed him as the General of the Northern Expedition and made him the governor of Hebei. However, the situation in Hebei was somewhat out of control at this moment, and even the newly appointed General of the Northern Expedition was unable to suppress it.

"Where's Chen Ben?! What is he doing?!"

He Zeng's eyes widened with anger, and he raised his head to question.

Chen Ben was Chen Qian's elder brother and the General Zhenbei, responsible for the defense of You, Ji and Bing states, and stationed in Jizhou.

But he was stationed in Jizhou.

The Four Expeditions were higher in official rank than the Four Garrisons. They were only below the Three Dukes and had the power to send troops.

To explain it in the simplest terms, the four generals were only responsible for garrisoning, and they had no right to go on an expedition on their own unless they received a military order from the imperial court to send troops.

The four generals had the power to dispatch troops independently to a certain extent, which was something the four towns could not match.

Hearing He Zeng's question, a general timidly said: "His army also mutinied, and some participated in the rebellion. He said that he was reorganizing the army and could not send troops."

"Send troops! Let him send troops! If he dares not to send troops again! I will report to the imperial court and punish him!"

He never pounded the documents.

In fact, He Zeng's relationship with Sima Zhao was much closer than that with the other generals. The other generals were close to Sima Shi, but he was close to Sima Zhao.

He Zeng was born into the He family of Chen County. He was knowledgeable and studious, filial to his parents, and had a great reputation. His father was He Kui, the Grand Coachman. Like Guanqiu Jian, he served as a literary official of Cao Rui when he was young.

After Emperor Ming of Wei ascended the throne, he served successively as Deputy Minister of the Imperial Guard, General of Agriculture, and Imperial Guard. He advocated that "the foundation of governing lies in getting the right people", and was highly praised by his contemporaries.

He was a very polite, filial, and caring person towards his friends, having the demeanor of a gentleman. However, like Sima Zhao, this was only external. He was actually a mean-spirited person who appeared generous on the outside but was jealous on the inside. In history, when faced with the rising star Jia Chong, he actually took the initiative to bow his head, took him as his leader, and helped him deal with the loyal ministers in the court.

In short, he is just a qualified heir to a big family, shameless, ambitious, and good at disguise.

But Sima Zhao couldn't resist his love for him. He always acted like a trusted minister and even sent his son to visit him. He doted on him in every way, so much so that even people within Sima Zhao's circle felt that He Zeng was the closest to the Sima family among the four expeditions and four towns.

But obviously, Sima Shi didn't think so.

He Zeng had no idea what was going on. When he woke up, he heard that a rebellion had occurred in Jizhou. He Zeng was quite happy at first.

He felt that this was a good opportunity for him to gain military merit. Of course, he could openly massacre civilians to pretend to be a military merit, but if someone under his command did it, he would not try to stop him.

However, things were a little different from what he had expected. This time the Hebei Rebellion seemed a little different from previous ones.

There are so many contradictions in Hebei, and they have accumulated to a very serious level. When someone makes a fuss about it, it spreads like wildfire, which is shocking.

Within just a few days, great unrest broke out in various places, rebels appeared everywhere, the county government was destroyed, and many large families in Hebei were slaughtered. At this time, He Zeng could no longer be happy.

He has a good relationship with the ministers in the court, and they are very close in private.

At this moment, the great families in Hebei were suffering such a massacre. As the highest military commander in the area, he must bear the responsibility.

Even when he sent troops to various places to suppress the rebellion, Chen Ben remained unmoved.

Just a quiet road closure
Although He Zeng held a high official rank, he did not have many troops under his command because his garrison was in Jizhou. Chen Ben was also responsible for defending against the foreign Hu people, so he had more troops under his command.

In addition, the soldiers under He Zeng's command, well, their combat effectiveness is not very high. After all, there has been no war here for a long time.

The Yongliang war zone fights Jiang Wei every day, the Yuyang war zone fights Eastern Wu, and the Youbing war zone fights the Hu people. The new General of the Northern Expedition of Jizhou is a little embarrassed.

The best solution He Zeng could think of at this moment was to pass the buck and put the blame on the General Zhenbei.

What's more, this matter is indeed somewhat unusual. Although there have always been rebellions in Hebei, this is the first time that such a large-scale one has been seen. He Zeng always feels that there seems to be something going on here.

He Zeng hurriedly wrote a letter and asked someone to send it to Luoyang again.

In the above memorial, He Zeng severely reprimanded General Zhenbei for his poor military management and believed that the current affairs in Hebei were all due to Chen Ben.

At the same time, he submitted a petition to the imperial court, requesting that someone be sent to help.

At the same time, Chen Ben, who was far away in Youzhou, was still sitting in his comfortable general's mansion, drinking tea and chatting with his confidants.

Today, Chen Ben is still the head of the Chen family. Their father, Chen Jiao, originally had the surname Liu, but adopted his mother's family and changed it to Chen. No one in the family had held high official positions, nor had they achieved fame through their classical studies. Like Guanqiu Jian's father, Guanqiu Xing, the lineage's rise began with them, making them the first representatives of the lineage.

They cannot be considered to be from an old and powerful family. An old and powerful family is one that can be traced back all the way. For example, He Zeng can come forward and say: I am the descendant of the General of Chariots and Cavalry of Emperor An of the Han Dynasty, and the son of the former Grand Coachman.

Chen Ben and his brother have completely different personalities.

Chen Qian is a gloomy person who doesn't like making friends. He values himself more than his family. This is understandable, after all, there are not many people in his family.

Chen Ben was pragmatic, simple, cautious, and very polite to others. The two brothers were a bit like Zhong Yu and Zhong Hui, and Chen Ben actually served as a court judge.

"General, General Zhengbei has issued another order, requiring us to suppress the rebellion as soon as possible."

A counselor spoke up.

Chen Ben said unhappily, "Didn't I send people to fight the rebels these days?"

"How else do you want me to send troops? Abandon all the fortresses, ignore the barbarian bandits outside, and focus on attacking and killing the rebels in each county? If the barbarians invade, how can he dare to repel them?!"

No one spoke.

In Hebei, the person who received Sima Shi's order was not He Zeng, but Chen Ben.

Sima Shi sent his assassins to help, and Chen Ben also sent people to secretly carry out these things. Those officials close to him had already left because of the "important meeting".

But what Chen Ben did not expect was that the scale of the rebellion in Hebei was somewhat beyond his original expectations. There were even several people who called themselves generals and kings. Chen Ben had already begun to attack them. His legion was different from He Zeng's and still had some combat effectiveness.

Although there were some risks in doing so, Chen Ben thought it was worth it, simply because those death warriors not only brought orders, but also brought an imperial decree of appointment.

If the two families form an alliance, he can also change his name "Zhen" to "Zheng".

Because of its remoteness, Sima Shi asked Sima Zhao to blockade Luoyang. These places are too remote, and it is still unknown what happened in the temple.

Sima Shi only said that he was in poor health and was unable to control the powerful family, but he did not tell how critical the situation was.

There is an information gap between the government and local authorities.

When the officials in the court thought Sima Shi was seriously ill, the local generals still thought Sima Shi was full of energy.

Now Sima Shi is dead, but the local generals are still in the stage where the general is seriously ill.

Sima Shi was very good at taking advantage of this information gap and even made advanced judgments on many situations.

Before Lu Yu started causing trouble in the Secretariat, Sima Shi probably knew what he was thinking, and immediately decided to take advantage of the civil uprising in Hebei, combined with the bombs planted by Lu Yu, to detonate this explosive situation.

The aristocratic families are not gods. If they are hit by an arrow, they will die. When the Yellow Turban Army swept across the world, countless powerful families were overwhelmed by the angry people.

If it were just ordinary civilians and a few assassins, they certainly wouldn't have caused much damage. But with the addition of generals stationed in various places, it would be a different story. In front of the army, what does your clan mean? If your clan's combat effectiveness was truly superior to the army, you wouldn't have been so passive during the Eight Princes Rebellion, nor would you have been so vulnerable when the Hu people's army rampaged across the Central Plains.

Luoyang.

"What did you say?!"

Lu Qin took the letter from the scout's hand and just glanced at it for a few seconds. He felt dizzy and almost fell down.

Lu Qin looked at it again and again in disbelief, his eyes red and his blood boiling.

He took a deep breath and rushed into the mansion with the letter that He Zeng had sent. He ran too fast and even fell at the threshold, but he didn't care at all and continued to crawl towards the inner mansion.

"Father!!!"

Lu Qin's shout interrupted the meeting of the Shangshutai.

Lu Yu, who was in the limelight, looked up and sat in the upper seat, with his ministers sitting on both sides.

At this moment, Lu Yu seemed to be acting as the leader of the ministers. After gaining power in the Secretariat through intimidation, he easily filled the mines he had laid. All the supplies were ready. Officials would be promoted, soldiers would get supplies, and the people could go to farm!
Lu Yu accomplished all this in just a few days; he was eager to show off his abilities.

All the ministers knew that he had prepared these things a long time ago and they did not complete them at the last minute. Even though they knew this, they still congratulated him against their will.

Lu Yu was indescribably happy at this moment. Sima Zhao had already gone to observe mourning, Gao Rou was hiding in the mansion and refused to come out. The Queen Mother trusted him very much, and the ministers did not dare to disobey him. The next step was to make the generals from all over the country submit to him with good reason, and the policies he was going to implement next could completely achieve this.

At this moment, he was discussing the reform of the Zhongzheng system with everyone.

Lu Qin rushed into the mansion in disheveled clothes, interrupting their meeting.

"Father!!"

Lu Qin looked at Lu Yu and burst into tears.

(End of this chapter)