Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 10 The Black Pot Man Liu Hong

The fact that Cao Cao was summoned by the prince was a major event that attracted the attention of the entire Luoyang City. He sent someone back home to get his clothes and returned home drunk. The Secretariat also received an imperial decree appointing Cao Cao as the General of the Tiger Guards.

All these pieces of information combined together completely confirmed that Cao Cao had become the prince's minister.

However, Cao Cao refused all visits from outsiders, and even when close friends and old officials asked him about it, the Grand Minister of Agriculture Cao Song simply said he didn't know. He then also said he was not feeling well and closed the door to visitors, leaving no one aware of what happened in the palace that day.

The former Lieutenant General of the Tiger Guards was Cui Jun, a famous scholar in Hebei and the son of Chief Justice Cui Lie. When Cao Cao wanted to take up the position of Lieutenant General of the Tiger Guards, he naturally had to transfer Cui Jun.

Cui Jun was transferred to be the prime minister of Chen State, with a rank of two thousand stones, which was considered a promotion compared to his previous rank of two thousand stones.

The Secretariat sent someone to inquire with the palace. According to the rules, Cui Jun had to go to the palace to express his gratitude before being promoted to the Prime Minister of Chen State with a rank of 2,000 stones, but the current situation in the palace... I don't know whether the prince will meet Cui Jun.

Liu Bian did not refuse to summon Cui Jun. In the past few days, many eunuchs and palace maids in the palace had been replaced. He also took control of the five schools of the Northern Army and appointed Cao Cao as the General of the Huben Army, which was an important armed force in the palace. He was no longer so worried about the trouble caused by leaking information when meeting with foreign officials.

In other words, he acted early. By the time the Taiping Dao Rebellion broke out, the Northern Army, the Huben Army, the Yulin Army, as well as the Praefectus Guards and the garrison troops under the City Gate Captains would all be controlled by He Jin and the gentry, and he would no longer have any say.

If it really comes to that, he will have to learn from Cao Mao, the Duke of Gaogui.

However, with the prestige of the Han Dynasty at that time, if he really put on the armor of Emperor Taizu Gao, wielded the Chixiao Sword, and drove the chariot to the battlefield himself, no one would dare to kill him even if he was defeated.

"Your Highness, Prime Minister Cui Jun of Chen has come to the palace to express his gratitude."

Liu Bian straightened his robe and nodded to signal Gao Wang to summon Cui Jun.

"Your Highness Cui Jun pays homage to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

Cui Jun, dressed in a black official uniform, wore a two-beam Jinxian crown on his head and a Jieli underneath. His every move was in accordance with etiquette, far more thoughtful and appropriate than Cao Cao's etiquette.

Although Liu Bian disliked scholars, he couldn't help but nod secretly when he saw Cui Jun's behavior. He thought Cui Jun did have the demeanor of a famous scholar.

"Get up."

After Liu Bian gave Gao Wang a seat, he said to Cui Jun with an earnest look on his face, "Mr. Cui, do you know why I appointed you as the Prime Minister of Chen?"

Cui Jun looked straight ahead, frowned slightly, and shook his head: "I don't know."

Although he said this, he felt in his heart that the prince was asking a question even though he knew the answer.

Now, who in Luoyang City doesn’t know that Cao Cao is the new prince who will rise to power overnight? Sending him to the State of Chen to serve as prime minister is just to make room for Cao Cao, right?

However, officials and scholars did not pay much attention to the military power of the Huben Zhonglang Jiang.

Although the Huben Lieutenant General is in charge of the 1,500-man Huben Guards, the Huben Guards have long been corrupt and are simply unable to handle the task.

The reason is simple. Among the Huben Imperial Guards, all the official positions above 600 stones, such as Huben Lieutenant General, Huben Left and Right Pushe, and Left and Right Beichang, were sold publicly by Liu Hong!
Liu Hong added a million to the price of the official title worth a certain stone and sold it publicly!

Originally, the position of Huben Lang was inherited by his son after his father's death. The successor would start from the lowest level, the Cong Huben (a rank equivalent to 200 shi), and would be promoted based on his talent and years of experience. In a way, it was a kind of iron rice bowl, so that the Huben Lang did not have to worry about what would happen after his death.

However, all the middle and high-level military positions were occupied by scholars as a gilded resume, and the Tiger Guards had long been decadent, and even the training was just a formality.

To put it bluntly, if 1,500 Tiger Guards were to fight against 1,000 servants of the nobles, it would be hard to say who would win or lose.

For Cui Jun, the promotion from the Hu Ben Zhonglang Jiang (whose salary was less than 2,000 stones) to the Chen Guo Xiang (whose salary was less than 2,000 stones) was indeed a leap of class, so he was not dissatisfied.

Anyway, after accumulating a few years of experience in external posts, he can be transferred to Sanfu or Sanhe as a local governor. Before he is fifty, he can return to the court to serve as a Nine Ministers, and before he is sixty, he can serve as one of the Three Dukes. This is the life that the Chief Justice Cui Lie has planned for his son, and if nothing unexpected happens, these plans will become reality.

"Haha, right now everyone in Luoyang is probably saying that Cao Mengde is a lucky minister, and they're scolding me for wasting talent for a eunuch's son, right?"

Seeing Cui Jun's expression, Liu Bian knew exactly what he was thinking. "Mr. Cui, please read this memorial first."

Liu Bian asked Gao Wang to hand a memorial on his desk to Cui Jun, indicating that Cui Jun should read it first.

Cui Jun looked at the memorial handed to him by Gao Wang with disgust. He stretched out his sleeve to pat the place on the memorial that Gao Wang had touched before opening it.

This was a memorial from the Minister of State of Chen, stating that Prince of Chen Liu Chong had raised private soldiers and accumulated thousands of powerful crossbows, and that his ambitions might be significant, so the court was advised to be on guard.

The Han Dynasty did not ban crossbows. Swords, spears, swords, halberds, bows and crossbows were available to everyone except merchants. There was no quantity restriction, and buying and selling were allowed. However, private possession of armor was not allowed, and no weapons were allowed to be passed on to other ethnic groups.

Therefore, King Chen Liu Chong did not violate the law, but what does it mean to have thousands of crossbows in stock!
Prime Minister Gongsun Hong during the reign of Emperor Xiaowu once said, "Ten bandits armed with crossbows and crossbows will not dare to advance."

And this is no exaggeration!

Seeing Cui Jun's expression change several times and he read the memorial twice before putting it down, Liu Bian no longer concealed his "true thoughts".

"Everyone in the world knows that the Minister of Justice Cui is a loyal and upright man. I have also heard that you have the same spirit as my father, so I would like to entrust you with the affairs of the State of Chen. I hope you will keep an eye on Liu Chong for me."

"Cao Mengde, while possessing some talent, is far inferior to Cui Qing. However, if I were to suddenly promote Cui Qing to the position of Prime Minister of Chen, I'm afraid Liu Chong would become alert. Therefore, I'm using the infamy of Cao Mengde being 'lucky in promotion' to cover up for you. Does Cui Qing understand my painstaking efforts?"

Cui Jun suddenly understood, and he felt that Liu Bian's words were highly credible.

The prince even called Liu Chong by his name. How much must he hate King Chen?
In this era, people usually address others by their courtesy names. If an elder adds the character "gong", peers or juniors will call them by their courtesy names. Calling them by their names directly is purely humiliating.

No matter how the eunuchs and scholars fought, the emperor was still the emperor, and the prince was still the prince. They were not as threatening as Liu Chong, a vassal of the Liu family who was talented but had ulterior motives.

Especially for the scholars, princes like Liu Chong who had certain strength to rebel were objects of their fear and disgust.

Even though the emperor disliked scholars, the battle was still fought on the chessboard. But what if a new emperor came who was strong and powerful and directly overturned the chessboard?
I originally thought that the prince was just after a plate of vinegar-wrapped dumplings, but I didn’t expect that the prince would have such a brilliant idea?
Moreover, the prince values ​​this scholar so much, which seems to be very different from the current emperor!
"I'll give Lord Cui a tip in private. There are less than half of the eunuchs left. It's a pity that my father insisted. Otherwise, not only would I have to keep the remaining eunuchs, I would have even imprisoned the clique..."

A hint of murderous intent flashed across Liu Bian's eyes, and this murderous intent also made Cui Jun tremble.

He was very sure that the prince's murderous intention was not fake!
"The prince is very virtuous!"

Cui Jun bowed down. He had also experienced the Party and Faction Persecution, so he naturally hated eunuchs.

In fact, all the officials were planning to make a collective appeal to the Crown Prince who was the regent at the grand court meeting at the beginning of the month, persuading him to kill the eunuchs and lift the ban on political parties. Unexpectedly, the Crown Prince had already done most of the work!

It seems that he must first persuade the three dukes and nine ministers through his father Cui Lie to postpone their advice and not to push too hard on such a wise prince.

"With the blessing of Emperor Taizu Gao, a wise ruler has been bestowed upon the Han Dynasty. This is a great fortune for the Han Dynasty!"

"Alright, alright, Mr. Cui, please don't be labeled as a 'flatterer', otherwise someone will slander you as a treacherous official in the future." Liu Bian held Cui Jun's hand. The young man, who was only one year away from turning thirty, looked at him with eyes that almost sparkled with brilliance.

Cui Jun is different from ordinary scholars, or it can be said that most scholars still miss the Han Dynasty in their hearts.

It's just that due to the influence of the dual monarchy, their loyalty to the Han Dynasty is far less than their loyalty to their teachers and sponsors. But the Cui family of Boling does not need any sponsor. It's just that the education they received since childhood and the political correctness of the Han scholars is to kill eunuchs, and it has been deeply rooted in their bones.

And when Liu Bian implemented the correct politics in the eyes of the Han scholars, the young and passionate Cui Jun felt from the bottom of his heart that perhaps this prince would be a wise and benevolent ruler who would revive the Han Dynasty.

Perhaps it's not just Cui Jun, there will be a large number of scholars who will come to take the bait he has thrown.

But you can't feed the fish enough bait at once.

Whether it is eunuchs or scholars, if they are not fed enough bait, they will rebel, but if they are fed enough, they will also rebel.

Fortunately, he has a father who can take the blame for him!
(End of this chapter)