The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 293: To Save or Not to Save
If we were to find a person among the princes of the late Han Dynasty who is most like Dong Zhuo, it would definitely be Gongsun Zan.

Although he came from a prominent family, he was not taken seriously and was only a county official when he started working.

However, Gongsun Zan relied on his own abilities to win the appreciation of the local county governor. He worked hard to catch up, was recommended as a filial and incorruptible official, and caught up with the descendants of famous families such as Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu.

Then, it was the road to invincibility just like the protagonist.

In the fourth year of Zhongping, Zhang Chun, a native of Yuyang, proclaimed himself General Mi Tian and King Anding, claiming to replace the Han Dynasty and succeed the throne. However, he was defeated by Gongsun Zan and promoted to Cavalry Commandant.

In the fifth year of Zhongping, the imperial court sent Gongsun Zan to attack Zhang Chun. Gongsun Zan fought with Zhang Chun and others at Shimen, a vassal state of Liaodong, and Zhang Chun and others were defeated.

When the leader of the vassal state Wuhuan, Tan Zhiwang, heard about this, he also led his people to surrender to Gongsun Zan. Gongsun Zan was promoted to the rank of Surrendering Lieutenant, General of the Central Army, and was granted the title of Marquis of Duting. He was also appointed as the Chief of Staff of the vassal state, stationed in the vassal state, commanded troops, guarded the border, and shocked the northern border!
In the second year of Chuping, the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou attacked Bohai and gathered 300,000 people, intending to join the Black Mountain Army. Gongsun Zan led 20,000 infantry and cavalry to defeat the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou in Dongguangnan, beheading more than 30,000 people, and once again shocked the world! After the war, Gongsun Zan was appointed General Fenwu and was granted the title of Marquis of Ji!
At this time, his classmate Liu Bei was only a county magistrate of Pingyuan County...

If Gongsun Zan continues to develop normally, it is entirely possible that he will sweep across Hebei and become the most powerful warlord in the world!
But the appearance of that man shattered Gongsun Zan's beautiful dream——

Yuan Shao!

Gongsun Zan, who had been victorious in every battle, finally met his lifelong enemy at Jie Bridge.

In the third year of Chuping, Yuan Shao defeated Gongsun Zan with a smaller force at Jie Bridge, completely shattering Gongsun Zan's hope of capturing Hebei.

After that, Gongsun Zan suffered a series of defeats in the Battle of Longcou, the Battle of Baoqiu, etc. From dominating Hebei and shocking Qi and Lu at the beginning, he could only defend Yi County.

The defeated Gongsun Zan did not reflect on his mistakes like King Gou Jian of Yue did, but instead he dug ten layers of trenches in Yi County, and then built a capital inside the trenches, which were fifty or six feet high, and put up high buildings on top.

Gongsun Zan specially built a ten-zhang-high palace in the middle of the trench for himself to live in, and stored three million hu of grain in it.

Gongsun Zan also said: "In the past, I drove out the rebellious Hu outside the border and swept the Yellow Turbans in Mengjin. At that time, I thought I could control the world. As for today, the war has just begun... From this point of view, the world is not something I can control. It is better to stop fighting, plant crops and raise grain to survive the famine! The art of war says 'a hundred towers should not be attacked'. Now I have a thousand high towers and three million hu of grain. When the military food is eaten up, I will know the general situation of the world!"

……

Since then, Liu Xie has never heard from Gongsun Zan.

At the same time, Liu Xie never took the initiative to contact Gongsun Zan again.

Because Liu Xie knew that Gongsun Zan was deposed...

The so-called "eating up three million hu of grain" was just an excuse made by Gongsun Zan.

But such a person actually sent an envoy to the court, which shows that Yuan Shao might have really forced Gongsun Zan into a desperate situation!
"It seems that the war in the south has given Yuan Shao too much stimulation."

Liu Xie guessed that it was probably because of the situation in the south that led Yuan Shao to decide to kill Gongsun Zan and seize his Youzhou.

Now that Cao Cao has occupied Xuzhou and Huainan, his power is, to some extent, comparable to that of Yuan Shao.

In addition, the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Anyi caused Yuan Shao's reputation to plummet too seriously, so Yuan Shao had to use foreign military force to divert internal conflicts.

Look around.

The imperial court in the west...can’t be defeated!

Cao Cao in the south...no need!

Sun Ce in the south... If Yuan Shao really dispatched a large number of troops to attack Sun Ce from afar with the natural barrier of the Yangtze River, Liu Xie would probably wake up laughing in his dreams!

But Yuan Shao was obviously not that stupid.

Looking around, isn't Gongsun Zan the only one left?

If Gongsun Zan could be pacified, not only would Yuan Shao's worries be completely resolved, but he could also use the prestige gained from destroying Gongsun Zan to suppress the gentry in Hebei.

Even if Gongsun Zan built a turtle shell like "Yijing", Yuan Shao would smash the shell and pull Gongsun Zan out!
"It seems that Gongsun Zan is in big trouble after all."

Liu Xie took the bamboo slips, took a look at them, and then threw them back to Yang Xiu.

"His Majesty."

Sima Yi had been standing nearby, listening to Yang Xiu's account of Gongsun Zan's situation.

"Yi County where Gongsun Zan is located is thousands of miles away from Jinyang. I'm afraid it's too late to rescue him!"

If the imperial court wanted to rescue Gongsun Zan directly, it could only send troops from Jinyang, pass through Yanmen, and cross Yanshan Mountain to reach Youzhou.

But such a route obviously posed too great a risk to the imperial army.

So what Sima Yi meant was that he didn't want Liu Xie to take this risk.

At this moment, all the civil and military officials gathered around, obviously having heard the commotion here.

"We'll discuss this later when we get back. The academy is a place for teaching and shouldn't be involved with these things."

After that, Liu Xie went to meet a group of great scholars and gave them tea, ginseng and other health supplements as a gift to show his filial piety to the elderly.

When he was about to leave, Cai Yong caught up and handed the food box in his hand to the emperor.

"Your Majesty, this is rhinoceros glue that I bought from a group of Liangzhou merchants... It is for the Queen and the others to replenish their bodies."

Rhino glue?
Liu Xie took the food box and felt that his father-in-law was becoming more and more worthy of punishment.

This thing isn’t even available in the palace. Who would have thought that Cai Yong could get it?
"Cai Zhongcheng is really... If you want to send something, why don't you just do it yourself? Why do you need my help?"

Cai Yong made a "tsk" sound.

"Your Majesty, you know it, so why are you asking me?"

……

Liu Xie then remembered that after Cai Yan became pregnant, not only did her personality change drastically, but her temper was also much worse than before.

The reason for this is probably that Cai Yan was too gentle in the past and suppressed a lot of her worries. Now, taking advantage of her pregnancy, she has let out the emotions that she had suppressed before.

Judging from Cai Yong's trembling appearance, it was probably because he was scolded too badly by Cai Yan last time, so he asked Liu Xie to deliver the things to Cai Yan.

"Okay! I understand!"

Liu Xie opened the food box and found five pieces of rhinoceros glue neatly arranged.

"Cai Zhongcheng is really thoughtful. He specially prepared two pieces for Mr. Cai?" Liu Xie looked at the rhino glue and suddenly had an idea about it. After all, he, the emperor, had never tasted what rhino tasted like.

"No."

Cai Yong pointed to the extra piece of rhinoceros glue and said, "The extra piece is for the queen."

"All four ladies are pregnant with children. Although the queen has the highest status... she is the only one among the four who has no elders to take care of her."

"I used to be friends with the Grand Tutor, and I was also the Queen's teacher, so I am more or less her elder. Now I am taking care of the Queen on behalf of the Grand Tutor."

Liu Xie no longer had any thoughts about this extra piece of rhinoceros glue...

"I understand."

"I will tell the Queen what Minister Cai said."

Cai Yong, an old man who had been upright all his life, suddenly became shy: "That's not necessary."

"Why not? It will always be a good thing for the Queen to know that there are elders in the world who care about her."

"Could it be that Minister Cai is afraid that the Queen will continue to play with you and draw pictures on your face?"

Liu Xie originally said something joking, but unexpectedly Cai Yong did not respond. Instead, he uttered four big words from his hoarse throat:

"I can't ask for it!"

……

After being stunned for a moment, Liu Xie smiled lightly, turned around and stepped onto the jade carriage.

Return to Chang'an.

Liu Xie was also not in the mood to deal with official business, so he directly ordered the jade carriage to be taken to the palace where Cai Yan lived.

At this time, the imperial physician came over to check the pulse as usual.

Liu Xie was waiting on the side, but Cai Yan called him over and whispered in his ear.

After hearing this, Liu Xie was helpless and had to call the imperial physician back to ask him a few questions.

"How is Mr. Cai's health?"

"The blood is abundant, your majesty, don't worry."

"Can you do... that?"

The imperial physician didn’t quite understand.

Liu Xie asked again in embarrassment: "Mr. Cai, can we have sex now?"

Imperial Physician:?!

The imperial physician was somewhat displeased: "Your Majesty! After all, the heir to the throne is more important right now. How can you have sex at this time? What if you accidentally hurt Lady Cai? What will we do?"

The imperial physician felt that His Majesty was a little too unreliable!

Being pregnant is already so hard, and you still want to have sex? !
Unexpectedly.

Liu Xie was relieved after hearing the doctor's answer. He shouted to Cai Yan who was lying in the bedroom: "Mr. Cai! Did you hear that? The doctor said no! Don't force me anymore!"

"..."

Bang!
Snapped!
Bang!

In the end, Cai Yan actually dropped her precious Jiaowei Qin, which scared Liu Xie so much that he rushed in to comfort her.

After much persuasion, Cai Yan finally calmed down.

When Liu Xie thought that there were three more people who needed to be appeased, he felt dizzy.

Faced with Liu Xie's dilemma, Cai Yan, who had always been sympathetic to the emperor, did not offer any comfort at this moment.

"It was His Majesty who wanted us to be together, and this is how it turned out..."

"Ahhhh!"

Liu Xie covered Cai Yan's mouth and almost knelt down to apologize to Cai Yan.

"Once everyone is safe, I will definitely compensate everyone!"

Only then was Cai Yan satisfied.

But she still asked without giving up -

"Can't we change positions now?"

"Absolutely not!"

"Is it not possible for me to kneel down?"

……

An hour later.

Cai Yan seemed to have regained her previous gentle self. Except for some slightly bruised knees, her mental and physical state had reached its peak!
She finally realized it at this moment. After remembering what she had done and said before, a blush completely flooded her face and she shyly buried her head in Liu Xie's arms.

However, seeing that Liu Xie seemed to be frowning all the time, Cai Yan still asked with concern: "Your Majesty, are you worried about something?"

"Nothing, it's just that there's war in Youzhou again."

After hearing this, Cai Yan finally stopped being shy.

She sat up worriedly and grabbed Liu Xie's arm: "Is the emperor going to war again?"

(End of this chapter)