Tiger Guards

Chapter 187 Coercion and inducement

At night, in the camp.

The emperor's Grand Historian Wang Li and several officials observed the stars together.

Wang Yun admired Wang Li very much during his lifetime and strongly recommended him, which is why Wang Li was able to enter the palace to explain the "Book of Filial Piety" to the emperor.

After Wang Yun was killed, Wang Li never entered the palace again.

No one knows how the situation in Taiyuan will change. In terms of military strength, from the perspective of the court, if Chanyu Huochequan is willing to risk his life to mobilize the troops, he will actually have the largest number of troops at present.

In terms of material resources, manpower and geographical location, people from Taiyuan have the greatest advantages.

If the people of Taiyuan and the Xiongnu had united deeply, they would have been able to drive out the coalition forces of Hedong and Henei.

Retreating is the most dangerous. A thousand-mile collapse and annihilation of the entire army can happen in the blink of an eye.

Tonight Wang Li carefully observed the changes in the stars, trying to gain some inspiration.

When the emperor moved east, he briefly served as a minister of the imperial court, responsible for lecturing in the palace; after arriving in Anyi, his position as minister of the imperial court was removed because some of his remarks did not conform to mainstream values.

For example, when the army was defeated in Hongnong and Caoyang and all the royal troops were killed, Wang Li said to the officials around him, "Last spring, Taibai offended the Zhenxing in Niudou and passed Tianjin. Mars also retrograded and guarded Beihe. We must not offend it."

At that time, someone in the court proposed crossing Hedong and heading straight to Taiyuan.

Because of Wang Li's remarks, and the fact that he soon received food transported by Zhang Yang of Henei, he settled in Anyi and gave up going north... Then the passage between the imperial court and Taiyuan was cut off by the Xiongnu.

As a result, he was dismissed from his position as Shizhong, leaving only his original job as Taishiling.

Even so, it's not over yet.

This spring, he even chatted with the Minister of the Interior Liu Ai, preaching something like, "Taibai is guarding the celestial gate and will meet with Mars; the conjunction of gold and fire is a sign of revolution. The Han dynasty is over, and the Jin and Wei dynasties will surely rise."

The atmosphere in the court and the public was open, and discussing who would replace the Han Dynasty was a long-lasting daily topic.

Even emperors of all dynasties were concerned about this issue. As long as the public opinion was not too rebellious, they basically took a laissez-faire attitude.

So when Zhao Ji raised the banner of "reform and suppression of rebels", all the officials and even the emperor were actually in a state of confusion.

By the way, this Wang Li was from Taiyuan, but not from the Wang family of Qixian or Jinyang.

He observed the stars tonight, but unfortunately they did not give him any warning.

So he could only look through the bamboo slips and search for records of abnormal astrological phenomena this year, trying to find some clues.

Anyway, the Grand Historian's comments on celestial phenomena are recorded and can be interpreted in any way.

When it comes to open-mindedness, these people who study astronomical phenomena are the most daring.

With a tiny human body, when we study the vast and boundless sky and universe and get a basic understanding of it, it is difficult to feel any instinctive awe when we look at the dignitaries, emperors, dynasties, etc. of the time.

The bell rang in the early morning to signal the end of the night curfew. As we approached the swamp, a slight fog filled the camp.

The camp prepared dishes and a banquet again. The imperial censor Dong Fen took the imperial edict and left the camp at sunrise and took a boat to invite Chanyu Huchuquan to the banquet.

As for whether Huochequan would also arrange warriors to assassinate him, this was not something the imperial court could control.

When the sky became bright and the fog dissipated, the leaders of the Tiger Guards from various counties came to see Zhao Ji with arrest lists.

What was delivered was just an arrest list; no torture or house searches were carried out.

It's only the investigation stage now, and we are not bandits, so how can we take action immediately?

While the Tiger Guards were having their meal, Zhao Ji began to tick off names from the roster. Wang Chen, ranked fourth, and Wen Hui, ranked sixth, were still not there.

Zhao Ji thought for a moment and said, "After careful questioning, we can consider releasing some of those with limited means and return home. In Qi County, flogging is permitted, but the limit is five or ten lashes. Afterward, their families can be allowed to provide bail for their release."

Wang Cheng, the Tiger Guards Minister in charge of Qi County, raised his hand while holding his chopsticks. "Minister, how exactly do I get bail?"

"For example, if you were arrested and wanted bail, your family would have to pay 200 dan of grain, 100 pieces of cloth, or gold or horses, with a total value of 200,000 yuan. You would also need a guarantee from the county magistrate before you could be released and return home, but you could only move around within your hometown. If you left your hometown, you would be considered a fugitive, and your bail would be confiscated and put into the treasury. The county magistrate would then hold you accountable."

Zhao Ji thought for a moment and added, "It's inevitable that someone will plead for mercy or offer bribes. If you accept them, you'll be giving them leverage and allowing them to coerce you. So, just accept them, record them, and report them to me daily. When I hand out rewards later, I'll deduct their merits. That way, you can take the money without worrying about losing sight of them, and you can also deceive them."

Another Tiger Guard raised his hand and asked with a smile: "Minister, what about that woman?"

"It also reduces merits. If you don't have enough merits, you can owe them first and reduce them later."

Glancing at the guy, Zhao Ji added, "We need to properly handle the various families in Taiyuan. I don't want to provoke a war. I want everyone to return home intact and be reunited with their families. So this time, I'm letting you take the reward first. It's like an advance. There won't be such an opportunity in the future."

Zhao Ji went to see Wang Cheng and said, "You have to hurry up here in Qi County. I don't care what method you use, you have to lure Wang Chen out."

Wang Cheng grinned and pointed to the armband with two bars and one star on his shoulder: "Minister, can you add another one?" "I want Wang Chen alive. If we can't catch Wang Chen and Wang Yanming, you, Wang Cheng, can replace him."

Zhao Ji said this with a serious expression. He rolled up the scroll and raised the wine bowl to indicate, "This is just one cup of light wine for today. After a good meal, we will immediately return to the counties and recruit young and strong men. The more people we get, the fewer they will have."

"Here!"

Everyone also grabbed the wine glasses and started drinking. They only took a sip and continued eating.

The people are essentially fence-sitters. When the disadvantaged party tries to win them over or incite them, the people will be less willing to follow.

After breakfast, these tiger guards changed their horses and led their cavalry out of the camp immediately.

Under Zhao Ji's strict control, he tried his best to avoid killing and torture to provoke others. As long as the Huben behaved gently enough, many people, even if they heard about Wang Rou's assassination plot and believed it, would not easily believe that the Huben would wipe out the Taiyuan officials who accompanied him.

This goes against common sense. The usual practice is to arrest them and extort them one by one.

Therefore, people in Taiyuan would only believe that these people were arrested and at most tortured.

If someone swore that these people were all killed, who would dare to believe it easily?
Information will be distorted and mutated during the process of dissemination. When obviously distorted and mutated information appears, people will always try to rationalize it to make it look more true.

After finishing these, Zhao Ji once again arranged 300 tiger guards to stand guard between the Yuanmen Gate and the Central Army Camp Gate, and set up the Jimen Gate.

Just like yesterday, he rode out of the gate in his chariot to meet the Chanyu.

On the wooden platform of the central army, Liu Xie had a windproof curtain behind him. He sat quietly facing south, inevitably feeling confused.

The remaining palace guards would come on stage from time to time to refill their drinks.

Soon, Fu Wan was drunk, his face flushed, and he asked Yang Qi beside him, "Mr. Ziqi, I've heard that Huchuquan is strong and powerful. Will he take advantage of this opportunity to cause trouble?"

Yang Qi sat upright, looking at Wang Rou's head hanging at the gate. After a moment's thought, he replied, "In my opinion, the Xiongnu are in instability, and the Chanyu will inevitably be forced to seek protection from the court."

Yang Biao, standing nearby, also said, "The Chanyu succeeded his brother. Although Wang Rou sent an envoy to present a petition, the court never received it, nor did it issue an imperial decree to grant his approval. Compared to his brother Yufuluo, what merits did Huchuquan have in the court?"

Zhao Wen also spoke up: "That's right. Without the imperial edict, Huochuquan is not stable."

Although the imperial court was afraid of being ambushed by Xiongnu bandits, it was not afraid of dealing with Huochequan.

Huochequan had to consider the political gains and losses, but the Xiongnu bandits would not consider so many things.

When it comes to politics, the more rational and thoughtful people are, the more they suffer.

The imperial court has spent a lot of money to educate the Xiongnu nobles over the years.

So this is not just a problem for Huochequan alone. Most of the Xiongnu nobles who have studied abroad, as well as the children of the other side, recognize this.

If Huochequan refuses to take the bait, it means the bait is not rich enough.

But judging from the opinions of the ministers, I don't think Huochequan can refuse.

In terms of cultural literacy, Hu Chuquan, who has a degree from the Imperial College, is much better than Zhao Ji.

Compared with the two, Zhao Ji was unrestrained and unscrupulous, and was more like a Hu person.

But you should just think about this kind of thing in your heart, how can you say it out loud?

In fact, Huochequan didn't want to come, but the envoy who was also studying at the Imperial Academy brought him the arrow shot by Zhao Ji.

Even if there was a slight tailwind, the maximum range of an arrow could be shot was over 180 steps, which was beyond Huochequan's ability to resist.

Therefore, the small fleet sailed slowly towards the east coast.

On the sampan, Huochuquan grabbed the arrow shot by Zhao Ji with his right hand. He was ready to return it to Zhao Ji personally to avoid being rude.

Otherwise, if Zhao Ji comes to shoot arrows again in the future, he may not be so friendly.

With his archery skill of hitting the target from a hundred paces away, it was not difficult for Zhao Ji to kill him.

Given the situation in the Xiongnu country, the other Xiongnu people would not rise up for revenge just because the Chanyu was killed.

He was killed, but no one avenged him or sought justice for him... What does this mean?
This means that if we successfully kill him, there will be no hidden dangers.

Huochequan was very clear about these things. Even if Zhao Ji brought his men closer and suddenly attacked and shot him to death... few of his noble followers would chase and kill Zhao Ji.

This is very sad and helpless.

He had to take the personal threats and intimidation from Zhao Ji seriously.

(End of this chapter)