My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 788: Cao Cao murders the queen, Liu Xie awakens

Despite Xun Yu's repeated dissuasion, although Cao Cao was still very worried that someone in the Luoyang court would respond to Liu Bei, he temporarily gave up the idea of moving the capital again.

Only after the Chinese New Year did the guards of the Luoyang Imperial Palace were further strengthened, and surveillance of the emperor and other royal relatives became increasingly strict.

Liu Bei, on the other side, was busy with reforms, promoting the improvement of official administration and finance, and his achievements were flourishing. But Cao Cao, on his side, could do nothing and put a lot of energy into preventing internal friction.

It was the New Year, and the Lantern Festival had just passed, but the guards at the Luoyang Palace were strengthened again. The emperor's range of movement was also further restricted.

Some officials who could originally find excuses to see the emperor found it increasingly difficult to do so under the new circumstances, especially the family members of the emperor's concubines, who were not allowed to visit the palace - Cao Cao did not want another Dong Cheng to appear at this time, and he was absolutely the most strict and cautious about his in-laws.

The emperor and the people around him naturally felt this series of changes very clearly.

Especially Empress Fu Shou, whose father died when the capital was moved back to Luoyang a few years ago. Fu Wan was seriously ill at the time and could not stand the ordeal, and eventually died in Xu County. All these old grudges made Fu Shou hate Cao Cao very much.

But Fu Wan died of illness after all, and Cao Cao could not find any fault with the Fu family. Moreover, Fu Shou's mother was the daughter of Emperor Huan, a princess, so the rest of the Fu family had not been liquidated in recent years. Fu Shou could still meet her brothers, and her relatives from her mother's side could visit her in the palace.

Now Cao Cao has increased the security level, and no relatives of the Fu family can enter. Fu Shou feels more and more lonely and scared. All this prompted her to find an opportunity to discuss with her husband Liu Zheng and find an opportunity to break the deadlock.

Fu Shou mentioned to the emperor more than once: "Your Majesty, Cao's pressure is getting more and more urgent and severe. If we really stay in Luoyang City, when the Zongbo Qinwang army arrives here, I am afraid that Cao's cruelty will make him die, and he will also drag the royal family down with him. It is better to make plans early and try to escape from Luoyang in times of crisis..."

When Liu Xie heard this, his first reaction was to oppose it. He mistakenly thought that his wife was also persuading him to move the capital: "Are you also persuading me to move the capital? I have already told everyone in the world that I will make Luoyang my capital in this lifetime! I have suffered enough from Dong Zhuo! I will never move the capital again, even if I die!"

Fu Shou immediately explained: "I am not advising Your Majesty to move the capital. How could I not know Your Majesty's intention? But in a critical moment, temporarily leaving the capital to avoid disaster, how can it be equal to moving the capital?

During the Ten Eunuchs Rebellion, the palace was on fire and there was slaughter everywhere. Your Majesty was still the Prince of Chenliu at the time, and you also fled to Beimang Mountain with the Prince of Hongnong for several days. I just hope that when the crisis comes, I can take shelter like this."

After hearing this, Liu Xie was no longer so resistant, but he felt more and more conflicted and distressed inside because he was forced to recall many painful past events.

That night twenty-three years ago was when the Ten Eunuchs killed General He Jin, and then Yuan Shao led his army to attack the palace and kill the eunuchs.

Liu Xie and Liu Bian were forced by eunuchs such as Zhang Rang to escape from the Northern Palace of Luoyang, and wandered for a while on the banks of the Yellow River in Beimang Mountain. Finally, they were sent back to Luoyang by the army that was protecting the emperor and Dong Zhuo who had arrived.

At that time, his elder brother was the emperor, and Liu Xie was only the Prince of Chenliu, a nine-year-old child. It was not until a few months after he returned to the palace that he was made emperor by Dong Zhuo. In the blink of an eye, twenty-three years had passed, and he had grown from nine to thirty-two years old.

After being displaced for so many years and being a puppet for so many years, am I going to go through this again?
Liu Xie fell into painful memories. After a long while, he suddenly frowned and thought of an unhappy association: "I fled with my brother, and was later sent back by Dong Zhuo and made emperor. If I flee again now, won't I be sent back by Zong Bo? Wouldn't Zong Bo play the role of Dong Zhuo back then... Why is this happening?"

After hearing her husband's concerns, Fu Shou fell silent for a moment and was completely unable to answer.

Indeed, if we follow this historical template, when the emperor temporarily fled the capital to avoid disaster, Cao Cao played the role of the Ten Attendants, and Liu Bei became the Dong Zhuo of that year? Then who was Dong Zhuo in the end?
Liu Xie suddenly felt that if he followed Cao Cao to move the capital to Chang'an, Cao Cao would become Dong Zhuo, and Liu Bei would become the Cao Cao who fought against Dong Zhuo.

If he did not go to Chang'an, but only escaped temporarily on the eve of the siege of Luoyang, and was escorted back by Liu Bei after the battle of Luoyang was over, Cao Cao would become one of the Ten Attendants, and Liu Bei would become Dong Zhuo.

Regardless of whether he goes to Chang'an or not, there seems to be an important official who holds the military power of the world and can be compared to Dong Zhuo's role!
Then where is Liu Xie’s way out?

Liu Xie fell into deep doubt.

When Dong Zhuo entered the capital, he was going to depose and enthrone someone else. At that time, he had an elder brother who could be deposed, and then it would be his turn. But now he has no younger brothers or sons. If he is deposed, who will be enthroned?

At that moment, although he didn't want to think about it, from Liu Xie's perspective, he couldn't help but think of the possibility of Liu Bei, the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan, establishing himself as the ruler...

This cannot be blamed on the emperor. It is normal for the emperor to think this way. It only represents his own brain activities.

……

Liu Xie did not immediately make a plan to "prepare for escape from Luoyang when necessary", but Queen Fu Shou was more radical than him and could not help but start making plans.

There were not many people the queen could contact, just some officials who served her closely.

Therefore, Fu Shou could not contact any of Geng Ji and Wei Huang, the key figures who took part in the Yecheng Rebellion in the 22nd year of Jian'an in history.

The only person Fu Shou could contact was the imperial physician Ji Ping.

Because the Imperial Physician often had to enter the palace and was responsible for diagnosing illnesses of the royal family, it was impossible for Cao Cao to isolate him.

Fu Shou had been suffering from long-term sadness and depression in recent years, and had poor health and often needed treatment, so she had many opportunities to see Ji Ping through the curtain.

Ji Ping had participated in the anti-Cao movement in history, so he naturally had a loyal heart. When he heard the empress say that the emperor also had the idea of "trying to avoid disaster when encountering danger", Ji Ping took it seriously and did not consider the possibility of "the empress making private arrangements behind the emperor's back".

Then, the small group of Fu Shou and Ji Ping began to secretly plan something from the end of the 18th year of Jian'an.

Unfortunately, Ji Ping's rank was still too low. As an imperial physician, he was not good at political intrigue, and although he had a loyal heart, he was soon discovered by Cao Cao.

In this life, Ji Ping did not get the chance to poison Cao Cao to treat his illness, and he was not exposed because of poisoning. He was exposed simply because he helped the queen contact outsiders.

When Cao Cao found out about this, he was naturally furious. He immediately arrested Ji Ping and tortured him.

For the pro-Han faction, the only lucky thing about this matter was that Ji Ping was arrested, and Geng Ji, Wei Huang and other officials in the court who were secretly against Cao were not implicated.

Because at present, Ji Ping has not yet had in-depth cooperation with Geng Ji and Wei Huang. Even if they had some normal interactions as colleagues before, there were too many people of that level of interactions, and too many ministers in the court had been treated by Ji Ping. It is impossible for Cao Cao to implicate others based on that standard.

Otherwise, there would be few civil servants left in the Luoyang court. Even Cao Cao's confidants had many who had seen Ji Ping for medical treatment, and Cao Cao himself had been seen by Ji Ping. If people were to be killed or arrested based on "Ji Ping's medical treatment," then the court would have to be emptied out.

So, the final result was that only Queen Fu Shou was singled out as the mastermind.

Cao Cao didn't know whether Liu Xie was behind Fu Shou.

But even if there is, the case ends here.

Otherwise, wouldn't it become "Why is Your Majesty plotting rebellion?"
In addition, Cao Cao did not find any evidence that Liu Xie was directly involved, which made Cao Cao feel a little relieved.

At this critical moment, with Liu Bei's external pressure, there must not be any more problems internally. Cao Cao had no choice but to cut the Gordian knot.

So, Ji Ping was locked up by Cao Cao and tortured severely, but not killed for the time being - Cao Cao would definitely kill Ji Ping in the end, but not now. If he was kept for a few days, his life would have other uses.

Then, Cao Cao ordered his white glove, the attendant Xi Lu, to go to the palace to "invite" Queen Fu Shou.

Fu Shou cried and begged Liu Xie to save her, but Xi Lu insisted on taking the queen away and assured Liu Xie that he was only taking the queen away for questioning.

A few days later, Fu Shou "used improper medication, which aggravated his existing illness and led to his sudden death."

The cause of Fu Shou's death announced later by Cao Cao's camp was that she died due to the inappropriate use of drugs by the imperial physician Ling Ji Ping during her illness.

Ji Ping prescribed poisonous drugs at random, which killed the queen, beheaded her, and exterminated her entire clan.

At this point, Cao Cao finally killed the queen, resolved the threat posed by the Fu family, and completely cut off the threat from his foreign relatives.

Cao Cao knew very well that at this critical juncture, the people who could help the emperor with his affairs were mainly his external relatives.

Because relatives by marriage can enter the palace to visit relatives and help the emperor communicate inside and outside the palace and bring news, as long as relatives by marriage are not allowed to enter the palace, the emperor will be completely isolated from the outside world.

Cao Cao did not choose to publicly convict the queen and then kill her, but instead poisoned her to death. This was also a helpless move.

In history, Cao Cao had a much larger power and was less afraid, so he could have done something more radical, such as "confining the queen to death." He said that she died of her own accord after being imprisoned, but in fact, she was dragged to the cold palace and hanged.

In this life, no one dared to convict and depose the queen. This seemed a little milder, but it also left some problems - since the queen was not guilty, there was no way to make a big fuss and kill her entire family.

Originally in history, Fu Shou was guilty before her death, so her "brothers and clansmen, more than a hundred people in total" were all killed by Cao Cao, almost wiping out the entire family.

Now, it is impossible that all the more than one hundred members of the Fu family died suddenly due to some bizarre reason, right? Cao Cao could only put them under house arrest and keep a close watch on them, and then slowly find a way to deal with them in batches after the storm had passed.

The reason for the custody is simply to take care of these people's daily lives, fearing that someone might harm them in an emergency.

There is no need to publicize this reason, just implement it in a low-key manner and try to "do it without telling". Unless someone is stubborn and insists on asking, then explain it in private.

……

Although Queen Fu Shou's death was not an open conviction, Liu Xie could certainly see that it was an unnatural death.

What about dying from Ji Ping's wrong medicine? Liu Xie is not a retard, how can such an excuse fool him? However, Cao Cao did not break up with him, and Liu Xie would not take the initiative to break up with Cao Cao.

But this time, the anger that had been pent up in Liu Xie's heart for a long time finally exploded.

Liu Xie didn't care whether "in the future the Grand Master of the Clan will be like Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao will be like the Ten Attendants" or "Cao Cao will be like Dong Zhuo and the Grand Master of the Clan will be like Cao Cao".

Anyway, he now wants to fight Cao Cao to the death and not let Cao Cao have an easy time. Even if he falls into the hands of the Grand Master of the Clan and becomes a tool for the Master to kill Cao Cao, Liu Xie will not hesitate.

Liu Xie decided that at the right time, before Luoyang was threatened with siege, he must temporarily escape from Luoyang and seek refuge with Zong Bo! Then he would personally lead the anti-rebellion army back to the capital as the emperor! Even if he could not actually command that army!

However, the Queen was dead, the relatives by marriage were isolated, and Liu Xie's chances of contacting the civil servants outside were almost completely cut off. How could he find someone to discuss things with?
At the Luoyang court, the regular court meetings that were held every five days were temporarily suspended by Cao Cao on the grounds that the war was critical and there was no time to worry about those cumbersome formalities and empty rituals.

From then on, all important military and political affairs of the Luoyang court were discussed and resolved directly at the Prime Minister's Mansion.

The court meetings were reduced to a maximum of twice a month, every fifteen days. Moreover, the court meetings were purely public and ceremonial activities, and the emperor had no chance to communicate with the civil officials in private.

Liu Xie was almost in despair.

During the remaining days of February in the 18th year of Jian'an, and the entire month of March, Liu Xie did not find any opportunities. He could only endure and wait for the storm to pass, hoping that Cao Cao would relax his vigilance against him.

It was not until early April that Liu Bei's army on the Henan and Hebei fronts was about to launch a new offensive. A considerable part of Cao Cao's energy had to be diverted to military issues, and he could no longer focus on stabilizing the political situation.

At this time, Cao Cao was also anxious. In addition, Cao Cao felt that the matter of "Empress Fu's death due to illness" was over and the emperor should no longer be angry. So he sent the attendant Xi Lu to persuade the emperor to appoint another queen.

As for who to make the empress, there seems to be no choice. Historically, Cao Cao married all three daughters to Emperor Xian of Han, and finally chose one to be the empress.

In this life, Cao Cao would not sacrifice so many of his daughters. Perhaps he also realized that his position was unstable and that placing more bets might not be of any use.

On the other hand, it was also because Empress Fu in this life died about two years earlier than the same period in history, so two of the three daughters that Cao Cao originally wanted to send into the palace were not yet adults, at least not old enough for marriage.

Therefore, Cao Cao only chose his legitimate daughter Cao Jie, hoping that Liu Xie would make her the queen.

Liu Xie naturally did not agree, nor did he dare to refuse too directly. He just made excuses to delay and revealed his extreme disgust for the Shizhong Xi Lu.

In order to achieve his goal, Cao Cao slightly relaxed the control over court officials' audience with Liu Xie, and hinted to those officials under him who were willing to contribute to help find ways to persuade the emperor to change his mind.

Because Cao Cao himself realized that Xi Lu's white glove had been used over and over again and had turned into a black glove. Liu Xie hated this lackey too much, and letting Xi Lu do things again would easily backfire.

Of course, it was impossible for Cao Cao to get rid of Xi Lu, such a loyal lackey, nor would he punish Xi Lu to please Liu Xie.

Liu Xie is not worthy of it, and if Cao Cao really gets rid of him, how can he lead the army in the future?
At most, Xi Lu would be put on ice temporarily, and some other people would be sent to persuade the emperor to change his mind.

At this critical juncture, Geng Ji, Wei Huang and others who had not yet been exposed made a plan, and finally Geng Ji asked to see Cao Cao and expressed his willingness to help Cao Cao persuade the emperor to appoint another queen.

Geng Ji and Wei Huang had previously worked as Cao Yuan and Si Zhi respectively in the Prime Minister's Office. Although they both later became officials at the level of Nine Ministers in the court, they both worked their way up from the Prime Minister's Office system.

Therefore, before Cao Cao found any signs of rebellion among these people, he still trusted these "old team members of the Prime Minister's Office" quite a lot.

Knowing that Geng Ji was willing to help him persuade the emperor to change his mind, he was willing to give him a chance and nodded:

"Then I'll have to trouble Ji Xing. I remember that Ji Xing is now the Minister of the Imperial Household, right? As long as you can persuade His Majesty to change his mind and nod to make my daughter the Queen, I will naturally not treat Ji Xing unfairly, and he will naturally have another prominent position at that time."

(Note: Jixing is Geng Ji's pen name)

Cao Cao was too lazy to hide it, so he directly promised to give his subordinates official titles to motivate them. If the task was accomplished, they would be promoted half a level, and would not only be Shaofu.

Geng Ji immediately expressed his gratitude: "I will never be able to repay the Prime Minister's kindness! How dare I ask for a promotion again?"

……

After the pleasantries, Geng Ji went to the palace to meet the emperor the next day.

When Liu Xie first met him, he didn't look at him in a good manner, but he had to meet him.

Until this moment, Liu Xie still felt that people like Geng Ji were Cao Cao's men.

But Geng Ji was not in a hurry. He spent some time, trying to gain the emperor's trust, and pretended to say some persuasive words, taking the opportunity to dismiss the attendants - you know, at this moment, Liu Xie did not have the power to dismiss the attendants. Even the eunuchs around him had to keep an eye on them at all times, and they had to listen when the ministers met the emperor.

Many of these eunuchs were sent by Cao Cao, and Liu Xie couldn't command them to leave even if he wanted to.

But Geng Ji was also sent by Cao Cao. He cleverly created the illusion that "the emperor also wanted to save face before surrendering and did not want outsiders to hear the details of his persuasion." This made the eunuchs who were Cao Cao's confidants willing to give the emperor the opportunity to meet alone.

After all, Geng Ji came to help Cao Cao's daughter become the queen. If there were too many people listening to such a persuasive topic, Liu Xie would feel embarrassed to give in.

Finally, a brief one-on-one private chat opportunity was created.

Then, Geng Ji finally showed his true colors and gave Liu Xie a chance: "Your Majesty! The Prime Minister is monopolizing power, and everyone in the world knows it. How can we, the Han officials, not be angry about what the father-in-law and the Empress have experienced in the past few years!"

When Liu Xie heard this, he was shocked. He thought Geng Ji was trying to trick him: "Aren't you Cao Cao's confidant? Why are you saying this?"

Geng Ji was not in a hurry and told Liu Xie: "I also know that Your Majesty cannot tell who to trust in the court. We are all old people from the prime minister's office, so it is not surprising that Your Majesty does not believe.

But now that things have come to this, has Your Majesty never considered taking refuge at an emergency opportunity?
If you insist on staying in Luoyang Palace, do you think Cao Cao will allow you to wait here for Liu Bei's troops to attack?"

These few words just hit the nail on the head for Liu Xie. He really wanted to avoid being directly kidnapped by Cao Cao when Zong Bo reached Luoyang.

Moreover, in the past month and a half, he had no one else to discuss with, as Cao Cao had cut off all his private channels of communication with court officials.

Therefore, even if it was Cao Cao who was testing him this time, Liu Xie was willing to take the gamble. He would just treat it as a desperate attempt to find a cure.

Even if he lost the bet and was exposed, so what? What else did he have to lose?

The most Cao Cao could do is put him under tighter house arrest, which would be almost the same as it is now.

Anyway, Cao Cao wouldn't dare to ask him "Why did Your Majesty rebel?" Or would he dare to kill him directly?
On the other hand, people like Geng Ji took the risk to come in. If they were sincere, once they were exposed, their three clans would definitely be exterminated by Cao Cao.

In contrast, Liu Xie had nothing to lose and could afford the gamble.

"In that case, do you have a way to help me?" Liu Xie asked grimly.

Geng Ji bowed again and said, "If Your Majesty really wants to escape from this predicament, I wonder if you have thought in detail about which way to take to avoid disaster and which way to join the army that is coming to support the king?"

Liu Xie was stunned. He was stumped by the question. He really hadn't considered these geographical issues. It can also be seen from this that Liu Xie's armchair strategy was just daydreaming and he had never implemented a specific action plan.

It may also be that everything before was too vague, and he didn't want to suffer, so he didn't want to think too much about something that was completely impossible.

Fortunately, Liu Xie was an emperor who had experienced hardships and had traveled to many places in his early years. His geographical knowledge was better than that of his predecessors who had never left the palace.

He made a mental calculation on the spot, and then said: "I heard that the army led by Zong Bo to fight against the rebellion is the closest to Luoyang, which is attacking General Huang Zhong from Nanyang to Henan Yin.

General Huang Zhong had already captured Liang County, Yangcheng and other places last year. Now, among the eight passes of Luoyang, all the county towns except the three passes of Luonan have been cleared by General Huang. As long as they follow the Yishui River to break through the Yique Pass, or cross the Songshan Mountain to break through the Huanyuan Pass, the army that is coming to support the king will be able to enter the Yiluo Basin.

If I have the chance to leave Luoyang, I can either go up the Yichuan River and pass through the Yique Longmen Pass, or make up a pretext to go to Songshan Mountain, and then bypass Huanyuan Pass, climb over the dangerous Songshan Mountain and enter the area controlled by Zongbo’s troops, and I will be able to escape from danger. "

From a geographical point of view, this plan that Liu Xie came up with on the spur of the moment did indeed involve the least walking.

He did choose an army from Liu Bei's army that was closest to Luoyang to surrender, hoping that this army would protect him.

But after hearing the escape route that Liu Xie came up with on the spur of the moment, Geng Ji shook his head.

"From the perspective of distance, going through the Yique Longmen or crossing the Songshan Mountain to enter the counties controlled by the Taiwei is indeed the shortest. But Yique is blocked by a strong pass and the army patrols closely. The Songshan Mountain is dangerous and not something that ordinary people can easily cross. Cao Cao entrusted Xu Huang to be the governor of the three passes in Luonan. How could it be so easy to cross it?"

Geng Ji's analysis can be considered as a sincere effort to help Liu Xie.

Liu Xie thought it made sense and trusted him even more. He continued to ask, "Then according to your opinion, if I want to avoid the siege of Luoyang in the future, where should I escape?"

(End of this chapter)