Jinting Han people

Chapter 117 Persuasion (4k)

The imperial guards of the Western Jin Dynasty actually originated from the northern and southern imperial guards of the Han Dynasty.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Southern Army was abolished, leaving only the five schools of the Northern Army. To monitor Emperor Xian of Han and strengthen his own defenses, Cao Cao, the Emperor Wu of Wei, focused on adding private soldiers to the Imperial Guards, hoping to achieve his goal of usurping the Han Dynasty. This led to the flourishing of the Imperial Guards during the Wei and Jin Dynasties.

After the Gaopingling Incident, Sima Yi, Sima Shi, and Sima Zhao, father and son, followed suit and continued to strengthen the Luoyang Imperial Guards. By the time Sima Wei became the Marquis of the Northern Army, the Imperial Guards system had evolved into a behemoth with 36 divisions and nearly 100,000 people under its jurisdiction.

The 36 armies of the Western Jin Dynasty's imperial guards can be roughly divided into six parts: "six armies", "four armies", "six schools", "three generals", "five guards", and "scattered troops".
The six armies refer to the six battalions of the Leading Army, the Guarding Army, the Left Guard, the Right Guard, the Cavalry, and the Guerrilla Army.

The four armies refer to the four battalions of the Left Army, the Right Army, the Front Army, and the Rear Army;

The six schools refer to the six school lieutenants of Tunqi, Infantry, Yueqi, Changshui, Shesheng, and Yijun.

The three generals refer to the General of the Tiger Guards, the General of the Central Army, the General of the Rong Cong Pushe, and the General of the Yulin Army;

The Five Guards refer to the Crown Prince's front, back, left, right, and center guards.
The above is the permanent organization of the Imperial Guards, totaling twenty-four armies. In addition, there are twelve non-permanent armies, such as the Wuwei Army, the Zhonglei Army, the Zhongjian Army, etc., collectively known as the scattered army.

A small number of these imperial guards were stationed in Luoyang City, such as the "Three Generals" and "Five Guards" who were responsible for guarding and maintaining martial law. Most of them were stationed outside Luoyang City, such as the "Six Schools" and "Scattered Army". They were responsible for guarding important checkpoints such as river bridges and Hulao Pass.

The imperial army camp outside the city was located north of Mang Mountain and south of the river bridge.

Liu Xian set out at noon in the morning and arrived at the Imperial Guards' camp at noon. Just as a passerby had said, the road was smooth and unobstructed, with no checkpoints. This made Liu Xian sigh with admiration: Sima Wei was truly decisive and swift.

When he arrived at the military camp, Liu Xian immediately noticed something strange before he even got off the car.

Logically, this was lunchtime, the most relaxing time of the day for the soldiers, and also the busiest time in the camp. But Liu Xian looked out the window and saw smoke rising from the camp like clouds, flags forming a forest. Apart from the sound of the wind and the chirping of birds in the woods, there wasn't much noise. A handful of soldiers on duty patrolled the camp gates, their appearance unusually neat, as if they were in wartime.

The soldiers at the camp gate saw an oxcart approaching from a distance and immediately shouted at Zhu Fu to stop. Then they stepped forward and said, "Who are you? This is a military camp. No outsiders are allowed to enter!"

Their voices were very stern, a tone not usually heard in the imperial guards. In the past, most of them were slick and only regarded military life as a kind of fun, but now all of that was gone.

It seems that Sima Wei's military reorganization during this period was very effective.

Liu Xian got out of the carriage, handed his name card to the leading officer, and said, "I am the newly appointed Commander of the Crown Prince's Left Guard. I wish to see His Royal Highness the King of Chu. Please inform him."

Seeing Liu Xian's arm in a sling, the officer suddenly realized what was happening. The young man before him was the rumored direct descendant of the King of Chu, the Prince of Anle, who had made great contributions during the coup. He didn't dare delay, but he also didn't dare to violate the rules by bringing Liu Xian into the camp. He asked Liu Xian to wait at the gate while he went in to report.

While waiting, Liu Xian looked around and found that Sima Wei was indeed attentive. Not only did he maintain military discipline in the barracks, but he also kept the dust in front of the camp gate clean and removed the weeds. This showed that he was not doing this on a whim, but really wanted to persist for a long time.

But when Liu Xian looked up, he unexpectedly discovered some horrifying things - human heads.

On the horizontal beam of the camp gate, there was a hollow wooden cage similar to a prison cart. The space was three feet square and stuffed with a dozen disheveled human heads. Perhaps because they were dried by the wind, Liu Xian did not smell much of a stench, but he could vaguely see the horrified expressions on the faces of these heads. It was obvious that the deceased was not in a peaceful mood before dying.

"This is……"

Liu Xian pointed at the heads and asked the soldiers in front of him.

"These are the military officers who violated military discipline half a month ago." The soldiers' faces lit up with fear at the mention of these heads. One of them stammered, "Your Highness has been reorganizing the army these days and has issued a strict order prohibiting prostitutes. But these officers disobeyed and continued their promiscuous activities as usual. As a result, they were caught red-handed by His Highness the Prince of Chu. He wanted to punish them, but they cursed in public. As a result, they and their personal guards were beheaded and left here for public display."

So that's how it is. Liu Xian looked up at the head in the cage and asked, "These people who dare to go against His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu must have some connections."

"They died because of this situation." Another soldier sighed, "One was Guo from the Taiyuan Guo family, one was Chen from the Yingchuan Chen family, one was Pei from the Wenxi Pei family, and there were three others who were slightly worse, but they were also from the Runan He family, Runan Yang family, and Jingzhao Du family. They relied on their family's power and dared to offend His Highness, and ended up hitting a wall..."

Before he finished speaking, the people beside him kept winking at him, fearing that he might say something wrong. The soldier also braked in time and stopped here.

Seeing this, Liu Xian couldn't help but find it a little funny, but then he was also awestruck in his heart. Sima Wei's military reorganization efforts were so great that they repeatedly exceeded his imagination. Although his starting point was good, could he really afford the negative political impact it brought?
Although the aristocracy now advocated for clean official positions and often tried to place their children in the three provinces, the number of positions in the three provinces was limited. Even the most powerful families could only place a few of their disciples there. Therefore, despite their admiration, the children of the aristocratic families actually served the most in the imperial guards. For example, Shi Chao served as a cavalry lieutenant and military commander, and the rest of the less powerful families were even less so.

It could be said that the Imperial Guards today comprised nearly every noble family in the land. Precisely because of this, the Imperial Guards were deeply intertwined, making it difficult to accomplish anything, but incredibly easy to botch one. And regarding last month's Imperial Guards' rebellion against Yang, whether they succeeded or failed was a difficult question.

Now Sima Wei is using an iron fist to rectify the military affairs of the imperial guards, and the results can be said to be immediate, but looking at what kind of response it will cause in the future, it is probably not optimistic.

Liu Xian thought so, looking at the dead heads above him, trying to discern something from their closed eyes. While he was lost in thought, the officer who had gone to report came back. He smiled and said to Liu Xian, "Your Highness, His Highness is dining in the camp. He was very happy to hear that you were coming, and told you to hurry over!"

After hearing this, Liu Xian also felt relieved. He ordered Zhu Fu to rest in the pine forest in front of the camp, and then hurriedly asked the officer to help lead the way.

Sima Wei's tent was right in the middle of the camp, but when Liu Xian approached, he didn't notice any difference except that the tent was a little bigger. When he walked to the door of the tent, he could see that the inside was simple, with only two couches. He saw Sima Wei in military uniform, frowning, flipping through something with one hand and holding a bowl of meat soup in the other, which was hot and steaming.

When Liu Xian came in, he blocked the sunlight from behind him, which made His Royal Highness the King of Chu feel a little uncomfortable. He raised his head and saw Liu Xian's smiling face, so he smiled happily and naturally:
"Haha, Huai Chong, I didn't even know when you became a one-armed knight!"

Liu Xian replied with a smile, "One hand or two hands won't hinder me from serving Your Highness..."

Sima Wei laughed out loud again when he heard this. He said, "Every time you say such flattering words, your expression is always too stiff. It's inappropriate! Inappropriate! You should say less in the future!"

"You haven't had lunch yet, have you? I ordered you a bowl of mutton soup. Come on, come on, if you have anything to say, you can talk after you eat."

This was Liu Xian's first meeting with Sima Wei since he arrived in Beijing. In other words, their last meeting was a year ago, when Sima Wei was attending a funeral. But Sima Wei didn't seem to have changed much. He dressed modestly, spoke freely, and was approachable.

Liu Xian felt very happy. If Sima Wei still had the same attitude as before, it would be easier to talk about many things. So after he sat down, he picked up the mutton soup, looked at Sima Wei, and thought in his heart where to start the conversation.

But before he could open his mouth, Sima Wei spoke first. He continued to flip through the papers in his hand and asked Liu Xian nonchalantly, "Huai Chong, what's going on with Shamen recently?"

This was a sensitive question, which made Liu Xian feel uneasy. Sima Wei was probably testing him to see whether he was on the side of the Crown Prince or the King of Chu.

Liu Xian replied, "The Crown Prince is still the same as always, either instigating the selling of meat in the East Palace or collecting those four-foot-tall ponies everywhere."

Sima Wei looked up at Liu Xian and said nothing, because Liu Xian was pretending to be confused. What he wanted to ask was Sima Yi's political stance after the coup, and Liu Xian's answer undoubtedly did not reveal any useful information.

But Liu Xian didn't stop and continued, "But recently, I heard that the princess often comes to the East Palace."

"Oh?" Without a doubt, in front of Sima Wei, when the word "princess" was mentioned, it would only refer to Sima Xiuhua. Sima Wei asked, "Isn't she married? Why does she go to the Eastern Palace every day?"

"The princess said that none of the highnesses wanted to see her. She has nowhere else to go except the Eastern Palace." "That's what she would say." Sima Wei's initial dissatisfaction immediately dissipated upon hearing this, and then he sighed, "But I have no choice. Right now, the state affairs are so complicated, how can I take care of her?"

"She is the daughter of the Sima family. She can't always grow up."

Even though he said this, Sima Wei still showed some tenderness. After a brief pause, he added, "However, when I have some free time, I will go see her in person."

After successfully changing the subject, Liu Xian asked, "Your Highness, are you feeling troubled lately?"

Sima Wei snorted, then laughed, "Don't ask me questions when you already know the answer. That old man, the Prince of Runan, and that old fellow, Wei Guan, two men about to be buried, suddenly intervened and cut off my chance to govern. How could I possibly feel at ease?"

"But I'm mad right now, not just because of this, but also because these two old guys don't know what's good for them. Not only did they take advantage of me, but they also acted so arrogantly towards me!"

At this point, Sima Wei sneered and raised the letter in his hand, saying to Liu Xian, "This is a letter from Wei Guan sent an hour ago, saying that I am too harsh in rectifying military affairs and that my harsh laws are comparable to those of Jie and Zhou. Would you like to take a look?"

Liu Xian quickly took the letter, unfolded it and read it carefully. As he read, he heard Sima Wei scolding:
"Let's not even talk about them exceeding their authority in discussing politics. Just look at what they said. Every word would make a ghost shake his head."

"You said earlier that my removal of the checkpoints was harming the people and fostering unrest."

"Then it said that I was patrolling and suppressing bandits, and that I was disturbing Ansai Road."

"What's written below is even more hilarious. It criticizes me for favoritism and favoring Qi Sheng, Gongsun Hong, and others, which is detrimental to the holy virtue of the Heavenly Family! Hahahaha..."

At this point, Sima Wei's eyes lit up, and he stomped his feet on the ground, making a loud thumping sound. "What bullshit! Am I appointing people based on personal connections? Do you want me to kick out my own people and replace them with theirs?! Why don't they be more righteous and kick out their own people and replace them with mine?!"

"You simply don't take me seriously!" Sima Wei could almost see the bodies of Wei Guan and Sima Liang before him as he spoke. After the heaving of his chest subsided, Sima Wei turned back to Liu Xian and said calmly, "I must kill these two old thieves."

Liu Xian put down the letter, looked up at the King of Chu, and asked, "Then under what pretext do you intend to kill him?"

"The Prince of Runan was a minister chosen by the previous emperor, and Wei Taibao is a renowned general who has conquered nations. Even if they speak disrespectfully to you, the people will simply accept it as due. Are you planning another mutiny by saying you want to kill them?"

Seeing Sima Wei's face livid and silent, Liu Xian continued, "Then, Your Highness, the reputation you've built up in the anti-Yang movement will probably be destroyed in an instant."

After he finished speaking, Sima Wei stood up and walked to the front of the tent, looking up at the summer sun. The sun was strong, but he opened his eyes wide without fear, as if he wanted to see the true nature of the sun.

But he finally couldn't hold back the tears in his eyes and closed his eyes.

Sitting back in the tent, Sima Wei opened his eyes and said slowly, "So, you came all this way, injured, to persuade me to be tolerant?"

Liu Xian said sincerely, "It's not about tolerance, it's about waiting."

"wait?"

"Your Highness now holds military power, is the General of the Guards, and serves as the Crown Prince's Junior Tutor. You are highly regarded throughout the country, and can be said to have leapt from a fish into a dragon. You are no longer the same as you were before. Sima Liang's unfair rewards are now being criticized by both the court and the public. This has given Your Highness the upper hand. If you want to kill him, Your Highness can do it at any time, but I know that Your Highness's ambition is not to kill, but..."

Liu Xian paused and said solemnly, "When Duke Zhou spits out his food for his guests, the whole world will be at peace."

"If you want to do these eight words, Your Highness should not kill, but wait."

"Sima Liang and Wei Guan, one in his sixties and the other in his seventies, are already on the verge of extinction, their future uncertain. Your Highness, on the other hand, is only twenty years old, just like the rising sun, with a bright future ahead of him."

"Your Highness, why would you be angry with two people who are about to die? Just wait a while, until they pass away. Wouldn't the power of regent still belong to Your Highness?"

After saying this, Liu Xian lowered his head and waited for Sima Wei's reply.

The King of Chu was silent for a long time, and for a moment Liu Xian thought he had left. But he finally heard Sima Wei's reply. He sighed and said, "Huai Chong, I have been waiting for you for a long time."

"Ever since I was crowned king at the age of six, I've been waiting. Many people told me that my second brother was incapable of governing and that I might be replaced as the crown prince in the future."

“But it’s fake.”

"When I was fifteen years old and came of age, the late emperor urged me to study civil and military arts diligently. After my second brother ascends the throne, I will assist him well."

“But that’s also fake.”

"When I was eighteen, the late emperor was seriously ill and Yang Jun was in power. You told me to leave the capital and go to Xiangyang to wait. After Yang was overthrown, I would be the regent."

"Now I have done it, but unfortunately, it's still fake."

"It's happened time and time again, and I don't believe it anymore."

"Huai Chong, you said I'll listen to you now and continue to wait. Can you guarantee with your life that after Sima Liang dies, I will definitely be able to assist in the administration?"

Liu Xian was speechless. He realized Sima Wei was right. He truly couldn't make such a guarantee, because nothing in the world is absolute; nothing is certain to happen. And Liu Xian hadn't anticipated Empress Jia's move to transfer Sima Liang back to the capital.

Therefore, Sima Wei concluded: "Now I understand that nothing you say can be taken seriously. Only things that you can decide for yourself are real. Blindly waiting will only give things away to others."

This was Sima Wei's experience. The truths he had learned from his own life, the truths he had realized on his own, were often a thousand times more profound than those expressed by others. Therefore, after Sima Wei finished speaking, Liu Xian realized that his persuasion had probably failed.

Unexpectedly, Sima Wei said at this time: "But Huai Chong, you are right. If you embark on this path, you must have a sense of justice."

This unexpected turn of events made Liu Xian overjoyed. He quickly asked, "What does Your Highness mean?"

"Since you came to me, then you should go and talk to these two old men on my behalf. If they are willing to cooperate, I don't mind waiting a few more years, but if they are unwilling to repent, I will have no choice but to go my own way."

Hearing this, Liu Xian knew that this was the biggest concession Sima Wei could make.

　Please vote! Please subscribe! I hope everyone will support me! Your support is my motivation to update!

　　Thanks to the leader of Tiger Eye Stone, there will be an extra chapter in the evening~
　　Also thanks to 2501tm for the tip~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)