Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 35 Going to Yuzhou
After hearing Wang Ji's statement, Wang Hong thought deeply about the chaotic situation in the Central Plains. He changed his original mind and agreed to Zhang Yu's proposal.

After lingering in the inner hall for a long time, Wang Hong returned to the outer hall again.

"Your Majesty!"

"Master Wang!"

Seeing Wang Hong, Zhang Ji and Zhang Yu stood up to show respect. However, Zhang Yu found that Wang Hong's expression was different from when he first greeted them. He was smiling and full of warmth.

Zhang Yu glanced at the screen and saw Wang Ji winking at him with a smile on his face.

Seeing this, Zhang Yu was delighted, thinking that after Wang Ji's efforts, Wang Hong agreed to his proposal.

"Brother Bozhuo, Ji'an, please sit down!"

Wang Hong invited the two to sit down and said with a smile: "I have discussed the marriage proposal with the inner house."

"how?"

Zhang Ji's eyes were full of anticipation, as if he was the one proposing marriage, not Zhang Yu.

Stroking his beard and smiling, Wang Hong said: "Ji'an has an extraordinary appearance, can shoot with both hands, and bravely defeated the Hu tribe. He is a great man of the Yan Dynasty. This outstanding man asked my Wang family to marry him, how can I refuse him just because of family background!"

Zhang Ji was overjoyed when he heard this. He cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty is very open-minded and doesn't care about family background. I admire you very much."

Zhang Yu heaved a sigh of relief. It was really difficult for an ordinary man to marry a woman of higher status. He didn't know why Gongsun Zan was so easily favored by the Hou family.

Zhang Yu bowed and said, "I pay my respects to my father-in-law!"

"Please stand up, dear son-in-law!"

Wang Hong personally stood up and supported him, saying with a smile: "From now on, you and I will not only be master and disciple, but also father-in-law and son-in-law. I hope Ji An will take good care of himself."

"Thank you, father-in-law!"

The three of them sat down again, the atmosphere became more harmonious and the tone became more intimate.

Wang Hong hesitated for a moment and asked, "Do you know about Zhang Jiao's rebellion with the Taiping Dao?"

Hearing this, Zhang Ji was surprised and asked, "Did Zhang Jiao really rebel?"

"It's true!"

Wang Hong said, then reacted and asked, "Did you know in advance that Zhang Jue was rebelling?"

Zhang Ji glanced at Zhang Yu, nodded and said, "Last winter, Ji'an came back to the fort and said that the Taiping Dao might rebel soon. I asked why, and Ji'an said, 'The Taiping Dao is all over the Central Plains, with more than a million followers. Now they are buying horses and gathering food, and there might be unrest.' I didn't think much of it at the time, but I didn't expect it to be true as Ji'an said."

As soon as these words came out, Wang Hong clapped his hands and sighed, and asked: "Since Ji'an knew that Zhang Jiao was going to rebel, why didn't he report it to the authorities as soon as possible?"

Zhang Yu hesitated for a moment and said, "Master, it's not that I don't want to report it. This is just speculation from one family. Speculation alone is not enough for the government to accept. This year I wanted to investigate the depth of the Taiping Dao, but I didn't expect that it had rebelled."

"That's it!"

Wang Hong sighed in anger and said, "The people of the Central Plains are the shepherds of the people of the court, but they are ignorant of the Taiping Dao and are eating the salary of the Han Dynasty without any reason."

As he spoke, Wang Hong's tone changed slightly, and he exclaimed: "Before Zhang Jiao's rebellion, I didn't expect Ji An to have such insight, which is really amazing."

If Wang Hong valued Zhang Yu's personal military strategy before, now he was impressed by Zhang Yu's knowledge. Wang Hong was getting more and more fond of Zhang Yu, after all, he was his own son-in-law.

"Master Wang, you are so kind!"

Zhang Yu said modestly, "The royal teacher was dismissed because he offended the eunuchs. Now that the Central Plains is in chaos, Your Majesty may re-employ the royal teacher."

"Ok?"

Wang Hong raised his eyebrows slightly and asked, "Why did Ji'an say that?"

Zhang Yu pondered for a while and said, "The scholars have been fighting with the eunuchs for many years, and many have been dismissed from office due to the influence of the Party Imprisonment. Now Zhang Jue is rebelling. If the emperor does not pardon the scholars of the Party Imprisonment and promote them, once Zhang Jue conspires with them, I am afraid that the world will change drastically and the Central Plains will be in turmoil. It will be too late to regret it!"

"Although the royal teacher is not a member of the party, he is a scholar who has been harmed by the eunuchs. How can the court remain indifferent?"

"color!"

Wang Hong stroked his beard and smiled, saying to Zhang Ji: "Ji'an is so insightful. You are happy to have a son, and I am happy to have a good son-in-law!"

"Haha!" Zhang Ji had been in the frontier for many years, not only did he not know much about the affairs of the inner county, but he also lacked political sensitivity. Seeing Wang Hong smiling, he was happy because his son was praised.

In fact, Zhang Yu was able to make such a judgment not because of historical experience, but because of his own sensitivity to politics.

Zhang Yu could even say that anyone who had a deep understanding of Mr. Ma's theory in later generations could actually make similar judgments as himself, because this was based on the social classes of the Han Dynasty.

The Eastern Han Dynasty was an agricultural dynasty, and its ruling basis was composed of commoners and the landlord class, not ordinary people.

The common people and landlords possessed a large amount of social resources and had a large number of dependent populations under their rule. Their support was crucial to the dynasty.

If the Yellow Turban Rebellion had gained the support of the common people and landlords, it would have shaken the political foundation of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the situation would have become unstoppable.

Therefore, in order to win over the common people and landlords, the Eastern Han Dynasty would definitely issue an edict of amnesty, and recruit and promote them to suppress the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

It is often said that the more a mother-in-law looks at her son-in-law, the more she likes him. On the contrary, Wang Hong, as the father-in-law, likes his son-in-law more and more the more he looks at him.

Wang Hong was so happy that he talked to Zhang Yu about many things, covering many aspects. Zhang Yu answered Wang Hong's questions based on the principle of speaking out what he knew and not speaking what he didn't know.

Wang Hong was very satisfied with Zhang Yu's answers. He did not pretend to know the answers but answered them very honestly.

After chatting for a while, Wang Hong asked, "Ji'an, the Central Plains is in chaos right now, and it's time to use military force. I wonder if Ji'an has any thoughts on going to the Central Plains to make contributions?"

Zhang Yu looked at Zhang Ji and said truthfully, "To be honest with you, Master, the Central Plains is in chaos and war is about to break out. It is the time for a man to make achievements. I am willing to go there, but I don't know what my father and Master think?"

Although the Yellow Turban Rebellion was very powerful, from a historical perspective, it only lasted for half a year, and the gap in combat effectiveness between the rebels and the regular army was quite large.

Wang Hong looked at Zhang Ji and asked, "What does Bo Zhuo think?"

Zhang Ji pondered for a moment and said worriedly: "Although building a career is the foundation of a man, I am afraid that the war will be fierce and Ji'an's life will be in danger if he goes there!"

"Ha ha!"

Wang Hong smiled and said, "Bozhuo couldn't bear to see his son go to the water and fire, so how can I bear to see my son-in-law in danger?"

After a pause, Wang Hong revealed the information and said, "My brother Wang Zishi has been appointed as the governor of Yuzhou, and now he is short of manpower. If Bo Zhuo is willing, he can let Ji'an lead the troops south and be under the command of Zishi."

"Zi Shi is the governor of Yuzhou. He will not fight against the main force of the Yellow Turban rebels. Ji An will lead the cavalry south to protect Zi Shi. He will be able to establish great merit. Moreover, the geese are strong, so the scattered rebels are not a concern."

He participated in the suppression of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, but avoided taking part in high-intensity wars and was able to fight in the large army. This was Wang Hong's gift to Zhang Yu.

Hearing this, Zhang Ji was delighted. As a veteran in the army, he understood the feasibility of this.

Zhang Yu's mission is mainly to protect Wang Yun. If the situation is unfavorable, he can protect Wang Yun and retreat. If the situation is favorable, Zhang Yu will lead the cavalry to take advantage of the situation and kill Wang Yun, which can earn him a lot of military merits. He is not at fault in defeat, but he is meritorious in victory.

Moreover, as the governor of Yuzhou, Wang Yun's responsibility is to pacify the counties of Yuzhou, not to fight with the main force of the Yellow Turbans. If the main force of the Yellow Turbans is defeated, then Wang Yun has the responsibility to wipe out the remnants. For the frontier cavalry, destroying the remnants is indeed a low-level difficulty.

Zhang Ji smiled and said, "In that case, Ji'an can lead the cavalry south to help Master Zi."

With Zhang Ji's approval, Zhang Yu bowed and said, "I thank you for your recommendation. I will definitely protect the safety of Yuzhou when I go south this time."

"it is good!"

Wang Hong helped Zhang Yu up with both hands and said, "We are heading south to Yuzhou. There are many bandits along the way. Ji'an should be careful."

"promise!"

Zhang Ji was afraid that Wang Hong would be promoted in the future and would not acknowledge the marriage with his family, so he took the opportunity to say, "Brother Changwen, our two families have already been engaged, and Ji'an is going to travel far to Yuzhou, I wonder how to arrange the wedding date?"

Wang Hong stroked his beard and chanted, saying: "You can accept the marriage proposal first to seal our marriage. As for the remaining five ceremonies, we can discuss them after the rebellion is quelled and Ji'an returns to the south."

The first of the six ceremonies of marriage is the betrothal gift from the man, which the woman accepts to establish the marriage relationship between the man and the woman. After the ceremony, although the man and the woman are not actually husband and wife, they have an engagement relationship, and both parties will basically not regret it.

"You can follow Brother Changwen's advice!"

Zhang Ji was relieved and said with a smile: "Let Rong Ji write a letter and transfer another fifty cavalrymen to the south, gather a hundred cavalrymen, and let Ji An lead the cavalrymen to the south."

"good!"

Hearing the number of 100 cavalry, Wang Hong sighed secretly. He did not expect Zhang to be so powerful and to be able to send out 100 cavalry so quickly. It should be noted that in terms of the ratio of infantry and cavalry in the Han army, 100 cavalry can match 1,000 infantry.

Of course, Wang Hong didn't know that in the previous Canhewu, Zhang Ji would at most give Zhang Yu fifty cavalrymen. Now that Canhewu had annexed Chigan, Zhang's power had doubled, and it was not difficult to gather a hundred cavalrymen to win military merits with Zhang Yu.

(End of this chapter)