Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 216: Welcoming the Emperor, Hidden Pros and Cons

Upon learning the news of Dong Zhuo's death, Zhang Yu bid farewell to Dong Zhao and wanted to return to Jinyang as soon as possible.

Only because Zhang Yan asked him to stay did Zhang Yu stop for a day to discuss the strategy of connecting You and Ji. It took Zhang Yu about ten days to travel thousands of miles and return to Jinyang in May.

When Zhang Yu returned to Jinyang, Wang Jing, the second son of Wang Yun, had been waiting for Zhang Yu in Jinyang as an envoy for a long time.

In the provincial government, Zhang Yu sat on the couch. Although his expression revealed a hint of fatigue, he was mostly happy.

Zhang Yu said with a happy tone, "Dong Zhuo has brought chaos to the court, and I have been planning to do this for a long time. Now that my uncle has killed the traitor Dong, cleared up the court, and saved the Han Dynasty from danger, it is a great joy. Chaoguang has come from Chang'an, do you have any orders from your uncle or the emperor?"

Wang Jing is different from Wang Gai. Wang Gai has the style of Wang Yun and acts in a serious and rigid manner, while Wang Jing is a little frivolous because he was favored when he was young. Now that his father has killed Dong Zhuo, he has become the son of a powerful official, and his face is full of smiles.

Wang Jing smiled and said, "Father was very happy to hear that my brother-in-law had sent troops to the Three Jins to quell the war in You and Ji. Now, considering my brother-in-law's contribution to the Han Dynasty, he asked me to go on a mission to confer a title on my brother-in-law. In addition to conferring a title on my brother-in-law, my father also intends to have my brother-in-law send troops to suppress Niu Fu in Hedong."

"I had the idea of sending troops to Hedong before, but I was worried that my uncle was still under Dong Zhuo's command, so I dared not take any action. Now that Dong Zhuo is dead, it is my duty to send troops to Hedong and eliminate the remnants." Zhang Yu said with a smile.

Hedong has a population of hundreds of thousands and a salt pond that is like a treasure trove. Its wealthy households and counties are far superior to those of Henei County, which has been ravaged by war.

Zhang Yu had been eyeing Hedong since he decided to make Bingzhou his starting point. Even without Wang Yun's orders, he would lead his troops into Hedong County and seize the springboard to enter Guanzhong.

After a pause, Zhang Yu thought of Dong Zhuo's generals and asked, "Although Dong Zhuo and his clansmen have been destroyed, his trusted generals are scattered all over the place. I wonder how you plan to deal with them, uncle?"

Hearing this, Wang Jing frowned slightly and said, "Father was hesitant about this matter. After killing Dong Zhuo, father accepted Shisun Rui's suggestion and wanted to pardon Dong Zhuo's remnants and hand over the troops to the generals. But father suddenly changed his mind for some reason and said that although Dong Zhuo's remnants had not committed a serious crime, pardoning them might increase their prestige, so it would be better to give them a minor punishment."

"What is a small punishment?" Zhang Yu asked.

Wang Jing said: "According to my father's intention, he intends to let the Guandong soldiers control the Guanxi troops and not pardon the Guanxi officers."

"If Your Majesty pardons the soldiers but not the generals, I'm afraid all the generals in Guanxi will be insecure!" Xin Pi said worriedly.

"What does Lu Fengxian think?" Zhang Yu asked.

Wang Jing pondered for a moment and said, "Lü Bu repeatedly advised my father to pardon the soldiers and generals in Guanxi and to give all of Dong Zhuo's property to the officers and ministers in order to win over the people. However, my father thought it was inappropriate, so he did not accept Lu Bu's advice."

Then Wang Jing asked, "Brother-in-law, do you think that what father did was inappropriate?"

Zhang Yu hesitated for a moment and said truthfully, "Dong Zhuo has many soldiers and generals, no less than 50,000. Although it is good to pardon the soldiers, if you do not pardon the officers, the generals may be in danger. In an emergency, the generals may rebel. Don't forget that Dong Yue, Niu Fu and other relatives of Dong Zhuo are still here."

"Then I wonder what your opinion is, brother-in-law?" Wang Jing said.

Zhang Yu said, "There are two ways now. First, send Huangfu Song out of Guanzhong to appease the remaining Dong Zhuo troops stranded in the capital and order them to guard the strategic points. Second, allow me to lead troops to attack Niu Fu and block the important roads of Xiaohan so that the remaining Dong Zhuo cannot enter the pass and wait for me to lead troops to surrender."

Although Zhang Yu and Wang Yun belonged to the same faction, their positions were naturally incompatible. Wang Yun aspired to become Huo Guang, while Zhang Yu intended to change the dynasty.

To be honest, if Wang Yun died, Zhang Yu would inherit all of Wang Yun's political legacy. If Wang Yun didn't die, Zhang Yu would have conflicts with him sooner or later.

Zhang Yu didn't need to remind Wang Jing to sit back and watch the Guanxi generals rebel and march into Chang'an. However, Zhang Yu thought of Wang Yun's kindness to him in the past and couldn't bear to watch Wang Yun destroy himself. So he tried his best to provide suggestions to see if he could resolve the Guanxi troops in the most peaceful way possible.

Wang Jing nodded slightly and said, "I will report my brother-in-law's words back to my father to see if he can accept them!"

"good!"

Zhang Yu asked, "Besides the troops in Guanxi, are there any other unfinished business in the court?"

Wang Jing thought for a moment and said, "Cai Bojie made my father furious because of Dong Zhuo's lament. My father put Cai Jun in prison. For this reason, many ministers petitioned my father to pardon him, but my father was reluctant to release him, saying that he wanted to use this opportunity to intimidate the remnants of Dong Zhuo."

"This~"

Zhong Yao hesitated for a moment, then looked up at Zhang Yu and said, "My Lord, Mr. Cai is a great scholar in China, specializing in the history of the Han Dynasty, with many students and former officials. It is hard to feel at ease that he is being punished just for lamenting for Dong Zhuo!"

Because he had studied with Cai Yong when he was young, Li Song said, "Lord, although we don't have the grace of being disciples, we have the grace of teaching and passing on scriptures. I wonder if I can write a letter to the king to see if he can pardon Lord Cai!"

Zhang Yu looked at Wang Jing and said, "Mr. Cai has a high reputation and is respected by the scholars in Guandong. Now that the traitor has just died, it is time to win over the people's hearts. Besides, people are not plants or trees, who can be heartless? Dong Zhuo can make Mr. Cai feel moved with a small favor. If the Han Dynasty is in danger, will Mr. Cai turn a blind eye?" "When Lao Chaoguang returned to Chang'an, he explained the pros and cons to his uncle and spared Mr. Cai from corporal punishment and changed it to exile. He was exiled to Bingzhou and Yu sent people to take care of him!"

Asking Wang Yun to change Cai Yong's sentence to exile to Bingzhou was a way for Wang Yun to save his life. When Cai Yong arrived in Bingzhou, Zhang Yu treated him with courtesy and made him, like Lu Zhi, a banner for him to recruit scholars and people from all over the world.

"I'd like to pass on a message to my father for my brother-in-law!"

Although Wang Jing was the son of Wang Yun, he was biased towards Cai Yong. After all, corporal punishment for a single sigh for Dong Zhuo was probably too much. Moreover, Cai Yong was already in his sixties, and if he was subjected to corporal punishment, he might not be able to survive.

After chatting for a while, Zhang Yu asked Wang Ling to take Wang Jing away to rest first.

After the two kings left, Zhang Yu looked around the hall and asked, "Now that the prince is in charge of the government, he ordered our army to march to Hedong. Do you have any opinions?"

"We need to send troops not only to Hedong, but also to Guanzhong!"

Guo Tu said confidently: "Your Excellency has received the favor of the Han Dynasty and entered the court at a young age. Today, the court is in decline, the ancestral temples are in ruins, and in the prefectures and counties, heroes have risen up and are fighting each other, and the people are living in misery. Now that the prefectures and cities are roughly settled, how can we ignore the invitations of the ministers? We should welcome the emperor in the west, go to the palace in Jincheng, and use the emperor to command the princes. Who in the world can resist it?"

Li Song shook his head and said, "Your Excellency is loyal to the Han Dynasty and is a respected elder. Now that you are welcoming the emperor in Jincheng, I wonder who will be respected in the future? In my opinion, Hedong must be occupied, and Guanzhong must also be occupied. However, if your Excellency is in power, it is not appropriate to welcome the emperor in Jincheng."

Guo Tu frowned and said, "Mr. Li's words make sense. I wonder what your Excellency thinks?"

Zhang Yu did not answer, but looked at Zhong Yao and asked: "When I lived in Shangdang, you proposed to me the strategy of first taking Bingzhou and then occupying Guanzhong. Now, I wonder what you think of the current situation?"

Zhong Yao stroked his beard and pondered, saying: "Your Majesty once intended to return to Luoyang in the east, so he sent Liu He back to Youzhou to recruit volunteers to fight the bandits. If you are worried about the princes, it would be better to place the emperor in Luoyang, and the areas west of Luoyang can be returned to you."

"It may be possible to settle in Luoyang, but it is not easy for the court to be controlled by the princes. In the future, if any princes want to welcome the emperor, can't they just send an army to welcome him?" Xin Pi said.

"This is a disadvantage!" said Zhong Yao.

Zhang Yu's expression was slightly moved. In fact, compared to controlling the emperor himself, he wanted to hand the emperor over to Yuan Shu. Now Yuan Shu occupied Jingzhou, his tentacles penetrated deep into Yuzhou, and controlled most of Yingchuan and Runan counties. Yuan Mi, the prime minister of Pei State, was a member of the Yuan family. In terms of the princes who occupied the largest territory, none was better than Yuan Shu.

If Yuan Shu holds Liu Xie in his hands, he will probably abdicate and establish himself as the emperor after being instigated by me. Then the blame for the demise of the Han Dynasty will be borne by Yuan Shu, and all those who are determined to revive the Han Dynasty will regard Yuan Shu as an enemy.

After this, the legitimacy of the Han Dynasty would probably no longer exist, and wouldn't it be convenient for me to either support a new monarch or handle other matters?
The story of Cao Cao in history has told Zhang Yu that using the emperor to control the princes may be helpful in the short term, but it will eventually backfire on oneself.

It should be noted that there are advantages and disadvantages to welcoming an emperor. Why did Cao Cao have no worries about welcoming an emperor? It was because his own foundation was too weak and he needed the legitimacy of the emperor to help him control more states and counties.

As for why Yuan Shao never had the intention of welcoming an emperor, it might be related to Yuan Shao's territory at that time. Yuan Shao dominated Hebei, and welcoming an emperor might cause his internal forces to split. Considering that there were more disadvantages than advantages, Yuan Shao hesitated on the matter of welcoming an emperor.

What about Zhang Yu?
Although Bingzhou has a small number of registered households, it is at least a state. If he annexes Hedong, his strength will be further improved. When he conquers the Guanxi counties, he will not be afraid of anyone in the world!
And if he had the emperor, he would be able to better win over the counties of Youzhou!

Therefore, in summary, welcoming the emperor may be beneficial in terms of diplomacy and ruling legal principles, but it will also carry the risk of internal division. Therefore, the best solution Zhang Yu could think of was to find someone to take the blame for the demise of the Han Dynasty and simply make sure that there was no Han emperor in the world.

Looking at the heroes at the end of the Han Dynasty, perhaps Yuan Shu was the most suitable candidate. Yuan Shao knew how to restrain himself, Cao Cao knew how to be patient, but Yuan Shu was the only one who was obsessed with profit and had long had the idea of replacing the Han Dynasty.

Seeing Zhang Yu deep in thought, Xin Pi boldly asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Zhang Yu restrained his expression and said with a smile: "We will send troops to Hedong first, and then we will observe the situation of the court in Guanzhong."

Now Zhang Yu doesn't know whether his advice to Wang Yun will be useful. If Wang Yun doesn't listen, the soldiers from Liang Province will rebel in Guanzhong, and he will need to use force to resolve it; if Wang Yun listens to him, he will need to use political means to take back Guanzhong.

"What about the Huns?" Li Song asked.

"The situation has changed, so we'll discuss it later!" Zhang Yu said.

"promise!"

Zhang Yu originally wanted to send troops to deal with the Xiongnu at the beginning of the year, and then participate in Wang Yun's killing of Dong Zhuo. Unexpectedly, he was distracted by the situation in Hebei and had to send troops to intervene. Now on his way back, he suddenly learned that Dong Zhuo had been killed, and hurriedly returned to plot against Hedong in advance.

The above strategic changes are seriously affected by the current situation and it is difficult to carry out according to Zhang Yu’s plan. We need to constantly adjust the order of the strategies!
ps: Two chapters for now, one chapter is owed and will be made up tomorrow or the day after tomorrow

(End of this chapter)