Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 251: Draining Value, the Ninth Army Division
Weiyang Palace, Zhaode Hall.

"Your Majesty will move east to rule the country, but the harem has been vacant for a long time and it is difficult to carry out the will of heaven and rectify the ancestors. General Jiwei's daughter Hui has the beauty of Ren and Si Huiyin, she is prudent, gentle and virtuous. I think your majesty can marry her as your queen, and she will rule the world with your majesty. This is a blessing for the court." Dong Zhao said holding the tablet.

Liu Xie looked hesitant, looked at Zhu Jun, Zhang Yu, Shisun Rui and others, and asked, "What do you think about Minister Dong's request to establish a queen?"

Zhang Yu bowed and said, "Your Majesty, Dong Hui comes from a prominent family and is related to Empress Xiaoren. His father, Dong Jiwei, followed the emperor to fight against the rebels and made outstanding contributions to the Han Dynasty. Your Majesty has no empress now, so you may as well marry Dong Hui and move to Luoyang in the autumn. The two will be happy to have a chance to rule the country and the whole country will celebrate."

Dong Cheng was under his command, and no matter how Zhang Yu tried to cover it up, everyone knew that it was his idea to make Dong Cheng's daughter the queen. So after Zhang Yu asked Dong Zhao to submit a memorial, he simply went out and made his attitude clear.

Yang Biao hesitated for a while and said, "I think what Cheqi said makes sense!"

Zhu Jun glanced at Zhang Yu for a few times. It was not that Zhu Jun could not agree to make Dong Cheng's daughter the queen. After all, compared with other powerful ministers, Zhang Yu's methods were relatively mild. It was only during the previous period when powerful ministers were in power that the world was still the world of the Han Dynasty, but today the world is divided into pieces.

The emperor moved east to Luoyang, and the princes of the world were divided. I wonder if the Han Dynasty can be restored?

For the sake of the Han Dynasty, we might as well tolerate Zhang Yu a little more. After all, if Zhang Yu had not taken action, the government would probably still be controlled by Li Jue.

"Your Majesty, General Dong is a capable general of the court. He is loyal and righteous. I think we can follow the advice of the cavalry!" Zhu Jun said.

Liu Xie wanted to make Fu Shou his empress, but seeing that everyone wanted him to marry Dong Hui, Liu Xie could only obey silently. As a young emperor, he had experienced the reigns of two powerful officials, Dong Zhuo and Li Jue, and he was used to obeying.

When he returns to Luoyang and gets rid of Zhang Yu's control, he will be allowed to work hard and gradually take back power. He will achieve great things!

"In that case, let's do as Minister Dong said and marry Dong Jiwei's daughter as our queen!" Liu Xie said.

"Your Majesty is wise!" Dong Zhao stepped back into the crowd.

"Your Majesty, the governor of Yizhou sent an envoy to offer money and food, and said that he is old and frail, so he asks the court to allow his eldest son Liu Fan, the General of the Left, and his second son Liu Dan, the Imperial Censor, to go south." Shangshu Wu Shuo reported.

"I wonder what your opinions are?" Liu Xie asked.

Shangshu Liang Shao said: "Your Majesty, the governor of Yizhou has blocked the road to Shu, promoted his trusted aides, and made him noble. Now that he has a young son by his side, Your Majesty should not allow the eldest son to enter Shu."

Liang Shao was already being conservative in his words. Liu Yan was pretending to be the supreme ruler in Bashu, riding in the emperor's carriage, and looked like a separatist prince. Moreover, since Dong and Li started to cause chaos, Liu Yan had been watching the show and had no intention of sending troops to rescue the emperor.

Shi Sun Rui pondered for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, the governor of Yizhou is the governor of the country. If his sons go to Shu, won't they be free from restraint? Why not issue an imperial edict to appease the people and keep the two sons in the capital as a check and balance?"

"What do you think of the General of Chariots and Cavalry?" Liu Xie asked.

Zhang Yu said, "The governor of Yizhou now has two sons by his side. If Your Majesty understands that the governor of Yizhou is old, you may leave the eldest son in the capital and the second son to return to Bashu. The governor of Yizhou will be grateful to Your Majesty for seeing the second son."

Liu Yan had four sons, Liu Zhang was the youngest. Liu Yan left Liu Zhang in Bashu on the pretext of illness, and the third son Liu Mao followed Liu Yan into Shu first. Now only the eldest son Liu Fan and the second son Liu Dan remained in Chang'an. In history, the two were killed by the rebel army because they contacted Ma Teng to attack Li Jue.

Zhang Yu planned to keep Liu Fan in Luoyang. After Liu Yan's death, he might be able to use Liu Fan to do something and see if he could profit from it.

In fact, judging from what Zhang Yu has done recently, controlling the emperor is not without benefits. For example, Zhang Yu uses the appointment of court personnel to almost control the situation in the world. However, this advantage only exists in the early and middle stages. He uses the emperor to issue orders and squeeze out the surplus value of the Han Dynasty. After the value is squeezed out, the Han Dynasty monarchs and ministers will backfire.

Therefore, Zhang Yu's idea is very simple. He will try to squeeze out as much value as possible from the emperor's orders before Liu Xie moves east to Luoyang. Then, let the Han emperor and his ministers fight freely in Luoyang. After all, Dong Cheng is not an easy person to deal with. Needless to say, Liu Bei may have conflicts with Dong Cheng.

While Zhang Yu was planning for the future situation, after discussion among everyone, Liu Xie adopted Zhang Yu's opinion and let Liu Dan go south to Bashu, while Liu Fan continued to stay in the court.

"Your Majesty, Li Jue fled to Anding, and his former subordinates are causing chaos in Fufeng. I'm afraid we need to send people to suppress them." Ma Yu reported.

Liu Xie knew that he had no troops, so he looked at Zhang Yu and said, "The rebels are causing chaos. I need you to lead the expedition to suppress them."

"Yes, sir!" Zhang Yu said, holding the tablet and bowing.

After a few words of idle chat between the monarch and his ministers, today's court meeting was over. Zhang Yu returned home from the palace and ordered people to summon Lü Fan, Zhang Liao, Li Song, and Guo Tu as soon as possible.

"Your Majesty!"

"sit!"

Zhang Yu motioned for the four to take a seat and asked, "How is the reorganization of the troops today?"

"My Lord, although our army won a great victory in the battle of Luoshui, we lost nearly 2,000 soldiers. The combined forces of Hao Zhao and Cheng Pu only have 5,000 men. Therefore, according to your Lord's arrangement, each unit will recruit the best soldiers who surrendered to strengthen each unit."

Lu Fan reported the situation of the reorganization of the troops and said, "Except for the National Protection Army, there are 30,000 soldiers in the six armies of Xi'an, Xihe, and Heyang. If the 10,000 soldiers of the National Protection Army are added, the total number is 40,000." "In addition, according to your military order, Fan and the generals will reorganize the troops, with 5,000 people in each army. Now we have two new armies, with Zhang Ji as the commander of the Fengxiang Army, and the commander of the Xianyang Army must be appointed by your majesty!"

Zhang Yu surrendered more than 60,000 soldiers from the Guanxi Army, including about 40,000 old and weak people from Sili who were released to return home, and more than 20,000 elite soldiers from Guan and Long were incorporated into his own army.

The Xihe and Xi'an armies had only 5,000 men before, and the two armies were filled with 5,000 men, reaching the full size of 10,000. As for the National Protection Army, which was directly under Zhang Yu, Zhang Yu implemented the strategy of strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches, selecting 3,000 men from the surrendered soldiers, and then selecting 2,000 men from various armies, totaling 10,000 infantry and cavalry. Xu Chu, Gao Shun, Zhao Yun and other generals were promoted.

The other 10,000 people were divided into two armies. Zhang Ji had made great contributions by defecting in the battle, and Zhang Yu did not want to deprive him of his troops, so he selected and dismissed some of them and formed the Fengxiang Army based on Zhang Ji's original troops.

Zhang Yu looked through the list and asked a few people, "Man Chong and Meng Ningzhi, who is more qualified to be the General of the Central Army?"

"Meng Ningzhi has followed you for many years. Although he acts roughly, he is strict in military discipline and is more than capable of commanding 5,000 men," said Zhang Liao.

Lu Fan thought for a moment and said, "Man Chong is proficient in military strategy and has the talent of a great general. It is just right for you to appoint him as the commander of the Xianyang Army!"

"Where is Bosong?" Zhang Yu looked at Li Song who was silent and asked.

"Both of them are capable of doing the job, but in addition to them, Song wants to appoint Shi Yi as the main general!" Li Song said.

Seeing that the three people recommended different people, Zhang Yu frowned slightly.

Man Chong, Shi Yi, and Meng Ningzhi all have the ability to serve as the General of the Central Army. If the selection of the General of the Central Army is based on ability and military merit, Man Chong is the first choice, followed by Shi Yi, and finally Meng Ningzhi. However, seniority cannot be ignored. Among the three, Shi Yi is probably the only general who has followed him the longest.

Seeing that Zhang Yu was silent, Li Song continued, "When you occupied Shangdang, I was able to rely on Shi Yi to run back and forth, and helped me to conquer Dingxiang and drive back Guo Yu. They all had military merits. I hope you will think twice about your selection."

Zhang Liao was also touched and said, "When you formed the Cloud Cavalry, Shi Yi followed you into battle. Now even Cheng Pu and Zhang Ji can be the main generals, why can't Shi Yi be the main general?"

"What about Meng Ningzhi?" Zhang Yu asked.

Zhang Liao thought for a moment and said, "Meng Ningzhi can also be the commander-in-chief, but his qualifications are a little weaker now. You can first select Shi Yi and then appoint Meng Ningzhi!"

Zhang Yu smiled and said, "Wenyuan is very loyal!"

Zhang Yu said with emotion: "Shi Yi has followed me for many years and is a veteran in the army. I have been hesitant to use him, fearing that his identity as a Hu person would cause resentment among his subordinates. However, it is not appropriate to employ people based on their backgrounds, and there are many Hu soldiers in the army now, so we should make full use of the Han and Hu people!"

"Shi Yi will be the commander of the Xianyang Army. Meng Ningzhi and Man Chong will be discussed later when the army is expanded. You can recommend them to serve as the General of the Central Army first!"

The system of generals under Zhang Yu was clear: one thousand men were colonels, two thousand men were captains, and five thousand men were lieutenants or generals of miscellaneous titles. Among them, those with less seniority and military achievements were lieutenants, and those with more seniority and military achievements were generals.

Zhang Liao, Li Song and Zhang Yang made great contributions in defeating the bandits, and Zhang Yu appointed them as Generals Dangkou, Anlong and Dingye respectively.

"Your Excellency is wise!"

After arranging the appointment of generals, Zhang Yu said: "Zhang Jun will lead his troops west to Henei to repair the Luoyang Palace. Bo Song needs to lead his troops north to the border to protect Bingzhou for me. Now the Fufeng bandits are in chaos and Li Jue is in exile. I wonder if Wen Yuan is willing to be the chief general and fight against the bandits with Zhang Ji!"

Zhang Yu did not intend to personally fight against Li Jue and the Fufeng bandits, but wanted to let his subordinates lead the troops to cultivate their ability to lead troops. Among all the generals with both experience and military achievements, only Zhang Liao and Li Song were suitable for Zhang Yu's command. Li Song led his troops back to the border, so Zhang Yu planned to train Zhang Liao first.

Hearing this, Zhang Liao looked solemn and said, "My Lord, how dare I not obey your important task!"

Seeing Zhang Liao taking on the important task, Zhang Yu smiled and said, "We can first defeat the Fufeng bandits, and wait until the emperor moves east to Luoyang, then we can defeat Li Jue. Li Jue is still useful at the moment, so we shouldn't destroy him so quickly!"

"As ordered!"

Zhang Liao understood what he meant and said, "We are not familiar with the terrain in Guanxi when we first arrived there. We should find out the situation and then send troops to attack Li Jue."

"good!"

"Sir, the remnants of the warlords in Guanzhong are entrenched in Guanzhong. Should we conquer them now?" Lu Fan asked.

Zhang Yu shook his head and said, "People are now relatively calm, so it is not appropriate to send troops to suppress them. You can let Wenyuan lead the troops west and command the generals in Guanzhong to attack Li Jue. If the generals disobey orders, you can send troops to attack them."

Although Li Song and Zhang Yang had left Guanzhong, Zhang Yu still had 40,000 troops. With 40,000 troops stationed in Guanzhong, Guanzhong would not be in chaos. Therefore, for Zhang Yu, controlling the government was the key. When Liu Xie moved east to Luoyang, he would begin to rule Guanzhong.

ps: There will be another chapter tonight

(End of this chapter)