The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 296 Volume Zhen Mi
……

"Yuan Shao sent an envoy?"

Liu Xie raised his eyebrows.

"Where did the news come from?"

"It was the news from Bingzhou Governor Zhong Yao, saying that Feng Ji was leading a team and that they were going to present gifts to Your Majesty."

Liu Xie immediately felt the article: "Interesting."

Yuan Shao actually sent an envoy to himself at this time?
In light of recent events, Liu Xie was certain that Yuan Shao came just for the matter of Gongsun Zan.

But the problem is...

"Yuan Shao, in what capacity do you come to see me?"

Unlike Sun Ce, although that guy fought with the imperial court with real swords and guns, as long as he did not declare rebellion, he was still a subject of the Han Dynasty.

Yuan Shao set up a new government in Hebei, completely changed his ways, and no longer held an official position under the imperial court.

From the perspective of the imperial court, Yuan Shao was a traitor to the Han Dynasty.

As for the envoys sent by the Han traitors, what attitude and what etiquette should be used to deal with them are all problems!
This is probably the reason why Zhong Yao stopped Feng Ji in Hedong and prevented him from entering Guanzhong.

Liu Xie thought about it——

"Tell Feng Ji that if you want to see me, you can."

"But his identity cannot be that of a messenger."

"I and the court have never acknowledged Yuan Shao. How dare he call himself an envoy?"

Whenever he had to enter Guanzhong to meet the emperor, he had to have an identity.

Messenger? Then Feng Ji must be worthy of it first.

Yuan Shao was neither a minister appointed by the emperor nor a vassal state recognized by the court. How could he have the nerve to call himself an envoy?

"Let him think about his identity before coming to see me again!"

……

The emperor's words were heard by Feng Ji. Although Feng Ji was helpless, he had no choice but to obey the emperor's wishes.

All the original flags of the Hebei court were thrown away and replaced with the flags of the Han court.

Feng Ji no longer dared to call himself "Yuan Shao's envoy", but instead presented his business card to the emperor again as a "Hebei merchant", requesting to enter Guanzhong and meet the emperor in a private capacity.

Zhong Yao sent soldiers to escort these people to Guanzhong in the name of protection but in fact for surveillance.

When crossing the river at Puban, Zhong Yao specifically said to Feng Ji: "The emperor didn't want to see you before because you were serving a Han traitor like Yuan Shao."

"But you meet the emperor as a businessman. In the eyes of the emperor, you are just an ordinary citizen."

"Whether it's Guanzhong or Guandong! All land under heaven belongs to the king, and all the people in the world are his subjects. As long as you are willing to mend your ways, the emperor and the court will always be willing to accept you."

Feng Ji felt both embarrassed and annoyed after hearing these words.

The original complaints against the emperor and the court had dissipated a lot at this moment.

But Feng Ji still insisted: "The Han Dynasty under the rule of Lord Yuan is the orthodox one that inherited the old system!"

……

"Inheriting the old system does not necessarily mean it is orthodox."

"And when will the Han Dynasty need him, Yuan Shao, to govern?"

Zhong Yao is now a powerful official and no longer bothers to argue.

"Since we both come from the Central Plains, I would like to kindly remind you that you do not need to follow Yuan Shao all the way to the end. Otherwise, Xu You will be a lesson for you."

"Humph!"

Feng Ji thought that Zhong Yao was disturbing his mind and did not take Zhong Yao's words to heart. Instead, he looked at the busy Puban Ferry with concern.

Large quantities of military equipment, food, and provisions were piled up here and were continuously transported towards Hedong.

Mobilization of this scale has far exceeded ordinary trade activities.

"The imperial court is indeed planning to attack Hebei!"

Feng Ji watched with trepidation as shiploads of goods were shipped to Hebei, and at the same time glanced at the convoy behind him with some worry.

Although Jizhou is rich and has many treasures, the imperial court has inherited the treasury of Luoyang after all, and has fertile lands such as Jingzhou and Yizhou as support. Ordinary treasures may not be able to impress the emperor...

Feng Ji thought about it carefully and thought that the emperor had never seen the sea, so he brought some treasures such as corals, pearls, tortoise shells, and giant clams in order to arouse the emperor's interest.

However, when Feng Ji entered Guanzhong and saw the prosperity of Guanzhong, which was completely different from that of Guandong, he suddenly became disheartened.

Although the Han Dynasty has not recovered the Western Regions, Liangzhou has been settled and the Hexi Corridor has been controlled, thus opening up the road to the Western Regions.

A large number of treasures from the Western Regions have actually been unknowingly flowed into the capital city of Chang'an... Compared with them, the treasures brought by Feng Ji are actually somewhat shabby!

It was at this time that Feng Ji suddenly realized how foolish it was to use precious treasures to bribe the Han emperor!
But this can't be blamed on Feng Ji.

Wasn't Guanzhong still suffering from disasters a few years ago? Wasn't it still frantically buying grain from Guandong?
How did it develop to this point in such a short period of time?
Shouldn’t the people in Guanzhong be so poor that they can’t even afford to eat?
Shouldn't that emperor have to live out his hard life in the Weiyang Palace, which hadn't been repaired for hundreds of years?

When he came, no one told him that Guanzhong had become like this!

At this point, Feng Ji was completely desperate...

wrong.

Feng Ji looked at a carriage in the team.

If there is anyone who can be favored by the emperor, it is probably only her. The daughter of the Wuji Zhen family, Zhen Mi!

When Yuan Shao first talked about Zhen Mi, Feng Ji didn't take it seriously.

After all, no matter how beautiful a woman is, how beautiful can she be?

But when he saw Zhen Mi, Feng Ji knew he was wrong!
There are such beautiful women in the world...!
If Feng Ji hadn't known that this girl was to be a gift to the emperor, he would have wanted to take her for himself!

Originally, Feng Ji thought that Yuan Shao was a bit stingy for only giving this one beauty to the emperor.

But after seeing Zhen Mi's appearance, Feng Ji knew that having Zhen Mi was better than thousands of ordinary beauties!

"People like this can be called rare treasures."

Feng Ji really didn't believe that anyone could resist Zhen Mi's beauty.

Even if you are the emperor, it still won’t work!
After arriving in Chang'an, Feng Ji not only secretly gathered intelligence from the court, but also continued to provide for Zhen Mi, so that Zhen Mi could appear in her best possible appearance when meeting the emperor!
Just as the second year of Jian'an was about to end, Feng Ji was finally summoned by the emperor and allowed to meet him in the Weiyang Palace.

After entering the Weiyang Palace, Feng Ji became increasingly distracted.

If Feng Ji had never seen Chang'an or Guanzhong, and was thrown directly into the Weiyang Palace, he would probably be secretly delighted, thinking that the imperial court was in decline and could not even afford to repair the emperor's palace.

The entire Weiyang Palace's scenery has long been old.

The stone slabs are cracked and many tiles have fallen off, so there is no renovation.

From time to time, the smell of farm manure is blown into my nose by the wind...

In the entire Weiyang Palace, how could there be any sense of magnificence?
If compared with the palace built by Yuan Shao in Yecheng, Feng Ji would rather believe that the one in Yecheng is the authentic Weiyang Palace!
But after seeing the prosperity of Chang'an outside, Feng Ji felt a layer of cold sweat on his back:
"Chang'an is so prosperous, but the Weiyang Palace is so dilapidated... Is the emperor's ambition higher than Kunpeng's?"

Feng Ji's expectation of bribing the emperor with money and property has completely disappeared.

The only one I can rely on now is really Zhen Mi!
When Feng Ji was led into the emperor's palace by the eunuch, his first glance fell on the palace wall.

On the walls, there was almost nothing.

There was only an unsheathed Han sword hanging there quietly.

The sharpness of it made Feng Ji's forehead suddenly break out with a layer of fine sweat.

There is no other decoration, only Han Jianer!

Is such an emperor really a person obsessed with beauty?

If Feng Ji had previously felt a little gloomy about the prospects of completing his task.

When he saw Chang'an, the Weiyang Palace, and the Han sword hanging on the wall of the emperor's palace, Feng Ji suddenly felt bleak about the prospects of the entire Hebei regime.

Feng Ji really didn’t know, if Hebei couldn’t even surpass the imperial court in financial resources, then what else could Hebei rely on to defeat the imperial court?

In such anxiety, Feng Ji followed the palace servants to the innermost part and finally met the emperor.

"I, a humble commoner, am honored to see the Emperor. May His Majesty be in good health!"

Feng Ji originally wanted to retaliate against the emperor.

After all, what happened in Hedong was actually the emperor trying to intimidate him.

But after entering Guanzhong, Feng Ji no longer dared to act unruly in front of the emperor, and could only behave himself and observe the etiquette between the emperor and his subjects.

"I'm safe."

Liu Xie's voice was not loud, but it instantly calmed Feng Ji's originally nervous mood.

even……

Feng Ji felt a little secretly happy in his heart!
After all, this is the emperor's way of returning the favor, right?
What does this mean? This means that the emperor still considers himself a subject of the Han Dynasty!
Although Feng Ji didn't know why he was so happy, he just couldn't control himself...

And just after Feng Ji bowed, Zhen Mi behind him also bowed and saluted.

"I, the commoner Zhen Mi, greet the emperor."

"Ok?"

Feng Ji originally thought that the emperor would not show his emotions.

Unexpectedly, after hearing Zhen Mi's voice, the emperor actually expressed doubts?
……

Liu Xie really didn't expect that Feng Ji would bring Zhen Mi this time.

Goddess of Luo River!
His melodramatic story with Cao Pi and Cao Zhi is still talked about with relish even in later generations.

There are even some stories about Cao Cao in the middle...

Coupled with the mystery of the life experience of Zhen Mi's son Cao Rui, Liu Xie could not help but take a closer look.

Although Liu Xie admitted that Zhen Mi was indeed beautiful.

But it was not so good to see that it made him lose his mind.

But there were so many mysteries about Zhen Mi that Liu Xie remembered too many things after seeing her.

The most impressive thing among them is the poem Cao Zhi wrote for his sister-in-law Zhen Mi:

"As graceful as a startled swan, as gentle as a swimming dragon. As glorious as the autumn chrysanthemum, as flourishing as the spring pine. As light as a cloud covering the moon, as fluttering as snowflakes blown by the wind..."

……

As Liu Xie read out this sentence, the entire palace suddenly fell into silence!

The emperor's evaluation of Zhen Mi...is so high!
Feng Ji, who was originally extremely worried, was now smiling with wrinkles all over his face!
"This time, it's stable!"

(End of this chapter)