Jinting Han people

Chapter 115 Rewards and Warnings (4k)

To the world, the political struggle to overthrow Yang was bloody and cruel. After a whole night of fire and fighting, the tragic scene on the banks of the Luo River followed, with corpses piling up like mountains and wailing like rain.

But for those involved in the coup, these are nothing to worry about. Where there is success, there is sacrifice, and killing is just a necessary sacrifice on the road to success and glory. Now that the sacrifice has been offered, they are more concerned about how to share the fruits of victory.

Almost half of the imperial court participated in the execution of Yang Jun, but how to reward him and how to reward him was a big question.

The essence of bestowing rewards is the redistribution of power resources, which will directly determine the relative strength of various factions and the future direction of the political landscape. If care is not taken and the rewards fail to satisfy the various factions, resentment will accumulate, and there is a possibility of further unrest, repeating the mistakes of the Three Yangs.

The imperial court was well aware of the difficulty of this matter, so after exterminating Yang Jun and his gang, they did not rush to reward, but first tried to discuss a suitable person to preside over the reward. After all, it is difficult to be completely fair in such matters. If the person in charge has a certain reputation, he might be able to suppress such dissatisfaction.

Logically speaking, as the first meritorious official in this imperial edict to overthrow Yang, it would be most appropriate for King Chu Sima Wei to preside over the reward.

But there are gains and losses. Although Sima Wei himself wanted to compete for this position, his performance in overthrowing Yang was too radical, which caused anxiety among the other ministers. In addition, many parties tended to avoid having a monopoly in the court, so they all evaded and rejected Sima Wei's request.

In the end, it was Wei Guan, the Duke of Ziyang, who stepped forward and said in the court that it would be a good idea to let Sima Liang, the King of Runan, be in charge of the awarding of the title.

This candidate caught the attention of all the officials.

Although Sima Liang did not contribute much to the overthrow of Yang, he was, after all, a minister who had assisted in the administration of the country with Yang Jun during the Sima Yan period, and an elder in the royal family. His prestige and virtue were enough to convince the people.

And precisely because he did not participate in the coup, he could not promote himself, but he could treat everyone equally when it came to rewards, and at least he was not suspected by others.

After receiving the unanimous approval of the dukes and marquises, the empress immediately drafted an imperial decree ordering Sima Liang, Prince of Runan, to return to the capital. She appointed him Grand Chancellor and ordered him to record official duties, not to rush into court but to wear a sword and sandals. She also gave ten men to each of the palace's officials and a thousand armored soldiers and a hundred cavalrymen as guards. She also appointed Wei Guan, Duke of Ziyang, as Grand Protector. Together, they drafted a list of titles and rewards.

On the 23rd day of the third month of the first year of the Yuankang reign, Sima Liang, the King of Runan, returned to Luoyang and within three days submitted a list of rewards to the Secretariat. This draft quickly caused an uproar, shaking the court and the people.

The reason is simple: this reward list is too unreasonable.

For Sima Wei, the King of Chu who had made great contributions, Sima Liang appointed him as General of the Guards, Commander of the Northern Army, and granted him the title of Shizhong and Acting Tutor to the Crown Prince.

The title granted to the King of Chu may seem intimidating, but upon closer inspection, the General of the Guards is a second-rank honorary position, noble in name but useless. The Minister of the Court is a stepping stone to entering the provincial government and participating in politics, but in reality it is also an honorary position without any specific power. The Acting Prince's Tutor is even more empty. Although it is also a first-rank official position, it still has no real power, not to mention the addition of the word "acting".

The only useful position in the entire reward is the position of Lieutenant General of the Northern Army.

The Northern Army Zhonghou was a position in the imperial guards during the Eastern Han Dynasty, responsible for leading the Northern Army in Luoyang, also known as the imperial guards.

During the Cao Wei era, this position was renamed Zhonglingjun. During the Gaopingling Incident, Sima Shi, in this capacity, was able to recruit 3,000 loyal soldiers, helping the Sima family seize power. During the reign of Sima Yan, due to his immense power, he split this position into various generals: Erwei, Front, Rear, Left, Right, and Xiaowei.

Now Sima Liang restored the position of Northern Army Lieutenant in order to commend Sima Wei's contribution and handed over the military power of the entire Luoyang to Sima Wei.

But it did not give them the power to participate in politics and assist in government administration.

Of course, this is understandable. After all, the King of Chu had obtained military power. If he was given the power to assist in government administration, no one could compete with him politically. Therefore, even if Sima Wei was dissatisfied, he would not get the support of the people.

But the following list of rewards is really confusing.

After appointing Sima Wei, Sima Liang also appointed Sima Jian, Prince of Qin, as the Grand General, Sima Mao, Prince of Dongping, as the Grand General of the Fu Army, and Sima Huang, Prince of Xia Pi, as the Minister of the Chancellery.
Ma Yao of Dong'an Company was made Shangshu Zuo Pushe and later promoted to King of Dong'an;

Sima Yue, the crown prince of Longxi, was granted the title of Marquis of Five Thousand Households and promoted to Palace Attendant and General of the State.
Sima Rong, General Zhengdong and Prince of Liang, was appointed General Zhengxi and Commander-in-Chief of the Guanxi Military Forces.

Ruan Yuan, the former Junior Tutor of the Crown Prince, was appointed General Pingdong and in charge of military affairs in Qing and Xu states, and Wang Rong, the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, was appointed Right Prime Minister.

On this list of rewards, only Sima Huang, Prince of Xia Pi, Ma Yao, the Minister of Dong'an, and Sima Yue, the Crown Prince of Longxi, deserved any recognition, as they had participated in the campaign against Yang Jun. Sima Jian, Prince of Qin, Sima Rong, Prince of Liang, Ruan Yuan, the former Junior Tutor of the Crown Prince, and Wang Rong, the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, all merely expressed their support verbally. They didn't even participate in the martial law, let alone kill the enemy. So, what rewards were there for them?

The most baffling case is Sima Mao, Prince of Dongping. He had been courted by Yang Jun and was widely considered to be a member of his faction. If the other princes had verbally supported the coup, Sima Mao hadn't even expressed his support. How did he even get on the list of those who would be rewarded?
The other princes who personally participated in the martial law, such as Sima Jiong, King of Qi, Sima Xia, King of Qinghe, Sima Yi, King of Changsha, Sima Yun, King of Huainan, and Sima Ying, King of Chengdu, all gained nothing. This was especially true for Sima Yun, King of Huainan, who had already received an imperial decree ordering him to return to his fiefdom as soon as possible and continue to govern Yangzhou.

At this point, Sima Liang's intentions were already obvious. This elder, who was recognized by everyone as a virtuous man, was actually using the name of rewards to build up his own faction.

His idea was also very clear, which was to suppress the younger generation of royal family members who had made contributions in the coup, and to activate the older generation of princes who were familiar with him.

Because the younger generation of the royal family, mostly led by Sima Wei, the King of Chu, were young and energetic and difficult to control. The elders, especially those who had no merit but were promoted by the King of Runan, were more slippery and more prone to compromise. Although they had no qualifications, they needed the support of the King of Runan even more.

In this way, although King Sima Liang of Runan made no contribution to the overthrow of Yang, he was able to control the entire court overnight with a hastily prepared list of rewards.

However, the Chu King Sima Wei and his party, who took the risk of a coup and offended a large number of people, ultimately failed to gain a single position in the court.

After the list was drawn up, the atmosphere in Luoyang suddenly became extremely tense. Originally, when the Prince of Runan came to the capital, the officials expected him to treat everyone equally. Unexpectedly, this expectation became a tool for him to form a clique and pursue personal interests. This was simply unreasonable!
For a time, the imperial guards involved in the coup were in an uproar. Many signed a petition, urging the court to reconsider their rewards. Some even went so far as to assemble a group of imperial guards and stage a demonstration in front of the Sima Gate. Hundreds of them, clad in heavy armor and wielding gleaming swords and spears, chanted loudly in front of the palace gate, terrifying passersby.

Faced with the outrage, Sima Liang had to draft a new list overnight, saying it was an appendix to the previous list, and only then was he able to barely suppress public opinion.

This second list was indeed a supplement to the first list. There was no change in the appointments on the first list. It was mainly to reward non-royal officials and appease the grievances among the imperial guards.

Among them, Meng Guan made the greatest contribution. He planned the entire arrangement to overthrow the Yangs. Although there were some accidents, he was able to wipe out the Three Yangs in the end without any danger. Therefore, he was directly promoted from the eighth-rank Palace Zhonglang to the fourth-rank Yellow Gate Assistant Minister. He was specially allowed to have forty confidants, and was also granted the title of Shanggu County Duke with a fief of 6,000 households.

This reward was indeed a great honor. Although the country had many titles, only a few could reach the rank of Duke, let alone a County Duke. You know, even the title of Anle Gong was only a County Duke.

However, Sima Liang also concealed a subtle tactic. He transferred Meng Guan from a military position to a civilian one, granting him little real power, yet offering him a title and reward so generous that it was impossible to find fault with him. This effectively eliminated Sima Wei's influence. Li Zhao, who served as a liaison between the various anti-Yang forces, was second in merit. Sima Liang promoted him to the fourth rank of General of Crossbows, granted him the title of Marquis of Pingshu County, and granted him a fief of 2,000 households.

Liu Xian came in third. He fought hard in the Eastern Palace, defeating Yang Ji and rising from the sixth rank of Crown Prince's Attendant to the fifth rank of Crown Prince's Left Guard Commander. He was granted the title of Marquis of Luxiang and a fief of 1,000 households. Thanks to the efforts of Crown Prince Sima Yi, he was also awarded 400 bolts of brocade and a 1,000-yuan bounty.

Liu Qiao was the prince's groom and a colleague of Liu Xian. When Yang Ji launched a night attack, he took advantage of the chaos to go to Meng Guan to seek reinforcements, and was therefore granted the title of Guannei Hou.

In addition, others worth mentioning on the list include Dong Meng, Jia Mo, Guo Zhang, Wang Kai and others.

Dong Meng was a direct descendant of Empress Jia and was rewarded with the title of Marquis of Wu'an for his contribution to the coup.

The same is true of Jia Mo. Although he is Yang Jun's confidant, he is actually an undercover agent of the Hou party among the Three Yangs. Because of his merits, he was awarded the title of Marquis of Pingyang and a thousand households.
The same was true for Guo Zhang, who was born into the Taiyuan Guo family and was of the same clan as Jia Chong's wife Guo Huai. As a result, he became the core of the Hou party and was granted the title of Marquis of Guanjun County and a thousand households.
As the younger brother of the late Empress Dowager Wenming (Wang Yuanji), Wang Kai took the initiative to befriend Empress Jia and actively participated in the overthrow of Yang, for which he was granted the title of Duke of Shandu County.

These people were rewarded handsomely, which was obviously a political deal between Empress Jia and Prince of Runan, and the Empress's party was able to gain some power as a result.

As for the rest, there were certainly quite a few who received honors and rewards, but the logic was generally the same: apart from the hundreds of people who received titles, only a few actually gained power. Furthermore, how many of them actually had military merit was still a question mark.

Overall, rather than saying that the King of Runan was rewarding people based on their merits, it would be better to say that this was a straightforward attempt to win people's hearts. This was more respectable than Yang Jun's previous rewarding of merits after the death of the previous emperor. However, how respectable it was was another difficult question to say.

However, after all these efforts, Sima Liang finally managed to overcome the difficulties in public opinion.

On the Jiachen day of April, Lu Ji, the newly appointed Secretary of the Secretariat, went to Anle Mansion to visit Liu Xian and brought him the rewards given to him by the palace.

After nearly a month of recuperation, Liu Xian's other injuries were almost healed. Of course, his fractured right arm was still recovering, but at least he could move around independently. When Lu Ji arrived, Liu Xian was practicing calligraphy in his room, using his left hand.

Liu Xian copied Ni Heng's "Ode to the Parrot". Since he was not used to writing with his left hand, the calligraphy on the copybook was crooked, as if crows had fallen to the ground.

Seeing Lu Ji coming in, Liu Xian couldn't help but laugh and said, "Come on, Shi Heng, come and see, I have learned a new kind of calligraphy."

Lu Ji was very pleased to see that Liu Xian was in good spirits. He asked with a smile, "What kind of calligraphy?"

"Writing with the left hand, as if one is drunk without drinking, can be called Drunken Crow Writing." When they said this, both of them laughed.

After a few casual pleasantries, Lu Ji got back to business. He opened the lacquer box he had been holding and took out two seals and ribbons. He smiled at Liu Xian and said, "Huai Chong, congratulations! These are the seals of the Crown Prince's Guard Commander and the Marquis of Luxiang."

"I have also handed over the reward given by the court to Madam Ling."

"From today on, you will be an important figure in the court."

This statement was not an exaggeration. Liu Xian was only nineteen years old, but he held the fifth-rank official position of Crown Prince's Guard Commander, and was in charge of more than a thousand guards of the Eastern Palace. Even in the city of Luoyang, where nobles were everywhere, he was considered to be of great importance.

In comparison, although Lu Ji had served as an advisor in the coup, he was not Jia's confidant after all. He had only just been appointed as a writer in the Secretariat, and the gap between the two was quite large.

Seeing the dejected look on Lu Ji's face, Liu Xian felt sorry for him and advised him, "Jia Mi is not a royal family member after all, so he doesn't have much say in the court. Shi Heng, why don't you come with me to the King of Chu? With your talent and reputation, I'm sure the King of Chu will make use of you."

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Lu Ji shook his head slightly and said to Liu Xian sternly, "Huai Chong, I came to you today not only to obey the imperial edict, but also to give you some private advice."

"Sincerely?"

"You'd better stay away from the King of Chu. A large net has been laid against him."

Lu Ji's expression was so serious that Liu Xian immediately raised his alert to the highest level. He repeatedly pondered this sentence, thinking about the latest political changes. His face suddenly became extremely cold. He asked:

"Can you be more specific?"

"I'm afraid not." Lu Ji shook his head and said, "I can only remind you that if the news leaks out, I won't end up well either."

Although Lu Ji's explanation was vague, the hint was clear: the Jia family had recently been making some moves. Up to this point, although Empress Jia had always held a relatively important position in the court, she had not yet demonstrated much political power, which was undoubtedly abnormal.

When a politician has the ability to attack but never does so, it does not mean that she will not attack, but it just means that the time has not come for her to do so yet.

No, in fact, she had already been upset once. Liu Xian closed his eyes and immediately thought of the sound of metal in the East Palace that night. He now had to find Lu Ji to confirm this matter.

"Shi Heng, the Yang Ji incident, is it related to..." Liu Xian pointed in the direction of the palace and asked, "Is there any connection?"

Lu Ji nodded slightly and said, "I don't know how many people are involved, but they must be related. It's just that the matter was urgent at the time, and I didn't have time to tell you, so it turned out like this..."

"You don't have to say more, I understand. Thank you for your reminder."

After Lu Ji left, Liu Xian reached out and took the seal of the Prince's Guard. He stroked the words under the seal, but he did not feel the joy of promotion in his heart:
The coup against Yang is over, but the political turmoil is not over yet. What decision should I make next?

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(End of this chapter)