Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 146 Inviting the Crown Prince to a "Feast at Hongmen"!
Inside the main hall, all the Yuan family members who had gathered there had dispersed, except for Yuan Wei, Yuan Ji, and Yuan Shu, who remained in the hall.

In stark contrast to his previous high spirits, Yuan Ji was no longer the humble and courteous man he once was. He slowly leaned back until he lay flat on the floor, letting out a heavy sigh.

Yuan Ji slowly closed his eyes, seemingly processing the surging emotions, anxieties, and regrets within him.

He felt that he had exaggerated a bit.

If we could turn back time to a year ago, Yuan Ji believed that the Yuan family might still have a chance; they just needed to wait for the right opportunity.

However, how easy is it to overthrow the Han Dynasty today?

Overthrowing the Han dynasty was not comparable to a simple palace coup like the one involving the crown prince or the emperors of the Later Han dynasty. In the end, it was still the Liu family ruling the country, and the crown prince was still the emperor's eldest son. Even if he acted rebelliously, he was still keeping the wealth within the family. With a series of measures to win people's hearts, he was able to initially consolidate his position.

If the Yuan family were to commit treason, even if their disciples and former officials were spread throughout the land, countless people would still raise troops to defend the emperor, such as Cao Cao, the governor of Qingzhou, and Zhu Jun, the governor of Liangzhou.

Moreover, the Crown Prince had already cultivated a powerful army that was absolutely loyal to him during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and the good men of the Sanhe region had also won his heart because of the Crown Prince's generous rewards.

This time, the imperial court has conscripted 80,000 good men from the Sanhe region and 20,000 good men from the Sanfu region. Under normal circumstances, the people of Sanhe would inevitably harbor resentment because of the court's frequent conscription of soldiers.

However, in the four hundred years since the Han Dynasty, have you ever heard of the people of Sanhe complaining that the number of soldiers to be recruited by the court is too small?

Such a scene could probably only have been witnessed when Emperor Taizu Gaozu destroyed the tyrannical Qin Dynasty.

Soldiers who were temporarily conscripted were not even eligible for rewards and could only rely on plundering spoils on the battlefield as their reward.

However, the Crown Prince not only allowed them to plunder some of the spoils of war, but also gave them generous rewards and compensation, and even promoted many meritorious people to join the Northern Army, the Imperial Guard, and the Tiger Guard.

The official rank of 200 shi (a unit of grain measure) meant that once promoted to one of these three armies, one had completely achieved a leap in social class.

Faced with such a great favor, the people of Sanhe's loyalty to the Crown Prince can be summed up in one sentence: they were all willing to die for him!
But having made such bold pronouncements, it's too late to take back what's been said.

Looking at Yuan Ji's dejected expression, Yuan Wei not only did not reprimand him, but instead raised his head and burst into laughter. His beard trembled slightly with his laughter, and a hint of approval appeared in his eyes.

Faced with this almost unsolvable situation, Yuan Ji's courage and determination to fight to the death pleased Yuan Wei. However, if that were all, Yuan Ji would only be considered a qualified successor of the Yuan family.

If Yuan Ji truly thought such a great undertaking was so easy, believing that he could easily accomplish this task simply because the Yuan family of Runan had disciples and former officials all over the country, then Yuan Wei would truly be greatly disappointed.

With both courage and rationality, if it weren't for a crown prince who was hostile to the Yuan family of Runan yet close to the classical literature school, perhaps Yuan Ji would have been able to lead the Yuan family of Runan to a new peak after his death.

Unfortunately... Thinking of this, a trace of desolation flashed in Yuan Wei's eyes.

After a moment of dejection, Yuan Ji propped himself up with his hands and sat up again, his previously bewildered gaze gradually hardening.

Since we have decided to undertake such a momentous task, we must plan with utmost urgency. Every second wasted increases the risk.

Yuan Ji took a deep breath, regaining his composure as the heir of the Runan Yuan clan. His posture was upright, but his gaze toward Yuan Kui held a hint of ruthlessness as he said, "Please, Uncle, recall those clansmen who just left. Do not let them return to their respective residences!"

“If anyone refuses to return, then send assassins…” Yuan Ji paused briefly, then held his palm to his throat as if to cut it, a resolute look on his face, and said fiercely, “Kill them!”

Yuan Shu stared blankly at his usually humble and courteous elder brother, his eyes wide with disbelief. If he hadn't heard it with his own ears, he would never have believed that such words of killing one's own clansmen could come from his mouth.

"No need to worry, their families have already been brought under control, either in the Situ residence or the Yuan family's old residence in Runan. If they have any disloyal intentions, I will handle them properly." Yuan Wei waved his hand slightly, his tone indifferent, as if these clansmen he mentioned were all unimportant strangers.

However, neither Yuan Ji nor Yuan Wei followed the principle of "keeping things secret after success" and were too worried.

As for taking the families of the clan members hostage, it was merely an additional precautionary measure.

Of all the Yuan family members present today, only Yuan Hong has turned his back on the family like he has. The rest are all loyal to the Yuan family. What good would it do them to betray the Yuan family, expose Yuan Ji's treason, and sell out Yuan Ji? Even if they could save their lives when the Yuan family of Runan was exterminated, they would inevitably be reduced to a lower-class aristocratic family after the family's destruction, and it would be uncertain whether they could even retain their aristocratic name.

As a beneficiary of the family's legacy, betraying the family at this time is clearly a path that only seeks survival and not wealth!
At least until the Yuan clan of Runan is in dire straits, these Yuan clan members will not betray their clan in order to save their lives.

Moreover, what if this succeeds?

Then they would become members of the royal family!

The more Yuan Shu listened, the more alarmed he became. He secretly glanced at Yuan Kui's face, then looked at Yuan Ji, who was unusually fierce at the moment, and couldn't help but ask, "Brother, do we really have to go this far as rebellion? Even if the Crown Prince is hostile to our Yuan family of Runan, we can simply hide for one or two generations during the Crown Prince's reign. Why be so resolute?"

As he spoke, Yuan Shu unconsciously twisted his hands in front of him, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Sigh, Gonglu, you're oversimplifying things," Yuan Ji sighed and shook his head slightly.

After all, his family was grooming him to be a leader, while his younger brother Yuan Shu, who was chivalrous and righteous, was being groomed to be a military general and a local official, lacking some sensitivity to the current situation and a sense of the big picture.

"What is the foundation upon which my Yuan family of Runan stands in this world? Is it the outstanding young talents that emerge generation after generation, the prestige of four generations of high-ranking officials, or the family's heritage and wealth?" Yuan Ji slowly stood up, put his hands behind his back, looked down at Yuan Shu, and shouted, "None of these!"

“When our ancestors were alive, the Yuan family of Runan was not as prosperous as it is today. What we relied on was our family’s learning and the ‘Mengshi Yi’ (Mencius’ Book of Changes), a modern text classic!”

"The right to interpret the Mengshi Yi is in our hands. As long as the official school continues to use the New Text version of the classics, the sons of our clan will continuously enter officialdom, and other scholars who want to enter officialdom will also come to rely on my Yuan family!"

“But the situation is different now. The Crown Prince is strongly advocating the Old Text School. I dare say that within five years, the Old Text Classics will replace the New Text Classics and become the new official school of the Han Dynasty.” Yuan Ji bent down, grasped Yuan Shu’s hand tightly, patted it heavily, and said earnestly, “If the Mengshi Yi loses its official school status, the Yuan family of Runan will fall behind in terms of prestige, connections, and the future careers of our clan members. If the Crown Prince also harbors hostility towards the Yuan family of Runan, then the Yuan family of Runan will probably be even worse than a third-rate aristocratic family, and may even have to associate with those powerful clans.”

"Gonglu, if we don't rise up and resist, the century-old family business of the Yuan family of Runan, which has been passed down for four generations, will be destroyed in our generation!"

"This is not a rebellion, but an attempt to save ourselves!"

If it were anyone else, Yuan Ji would never have explained it in such detail, but the person in front of him was his own brother. If the two brothers could not reach a consensus, how could they unite the entire Yuan clan of Runan to plan such an important matter?

Upon hearing this, Yuan Shu lowered his head and remained silent, but his hands under his sleeves were clenched into fists so tightly that his fingertips turned white from the force.

This led him to be relegated to associating with those lowly powerful figures and even the lowest of the low.

After a long silence, a murderous intent surged in Yuan Shu's left hand. He instinctively gripped the longsword at his waist, his arm trembling slightly. His voice was hoarse as he said, "Brother is absolutely right. We are trying to save ourselves, and to save ourselves..."

"This will inevitably offend the root of the problem!"

Yuan Shu slowly raised his head, a ferocious look appearing on his face, his eyes sinister, and said, "Why not just make that brat Liu Bian disappear!"

Yuan Wei gazed into those sinister eyes, his hand stroking his beard trembled slightly, and he nodded slightly, saying, "Gong Lu, continue."

Seeing his usually strict uncle like this, Yuan Shu no longer held back and said bluntly, "As long as that brat Liu Bian dies, and he has no heirs, and the emperor has no other heirs, and then we take advantage of the chaos to assassinate the emperor, Luoyang will surely be in great turmoil... No, the emperor is unpopular, and if the Guandong region is in chaos, the border regions will be in chaos, and the whole world will be in chaos. And this is the opportune time for my Yuan family!"

"At that time, my elder brother will go to Yuzhou, where he will gather heroes and stockpile provisions with the help of the entire clan; my uncle will go to Jizhou, where he will summon his former students and officials, and promise the people of Jizhou a three-year tax exemption, thereby winning over the hearts of the people of Hebei; and I, Yuan Gonglu, will go to Jingzhou to recruit soldiers and horses, forming a unified force from north to south. This world may very well belong to the Yuan family!" Yuan Shu's voice was low, but he could not hide his excitement.

Upon hearing Yuan Shu's plan, Yuan Ji and Yuan Wei couldn't help but look at Yuan Shu with slightly new respect.

While Yuan Shu had some hot-bloodedness and cleverness in the past, it was limited to mere cleverness. However, this time, even if Yuan Wei and Yuan Ji wanted to find fault with it, they had to acknowledge the feasibility of Yuan Shu's strategy.

"As for how to make that brat Liu Bian disappear..." Yuan Shu sneered, a cruel smile curving his lips, and said, "Four hundred years ago, that overlord let Liu Ji go at Hongmen in Xinfeng. Do you think my Yuan family of Runan can repeat the same mistake this time?"

(3024 words)
(End of this chapter)