Tiger Guards

Chapter 239: Difficulty in Becoming a King's Master
South of Shangdang, Zhang Yang joined forces with the Henei troops heading north, with over 10,000 soldiers and horses, and besieged Gaodu, and divided his troops to plunder the land.

With the righteousness of the imperial court in hand, Zhao Ji in the north has already made a good start, and Zhang Yang will not be soft-handed here.

Outside the city of Gaodu, Yang Qi and other ministers came out of the camp to observe the battlefield.

The Hanoi soldiers were forming a defensive array, while the men and strong women captured from nearby were digging trenches or carrying wood to build antlers, as if they were preparing to besiege the city.

The defenders in the city only climbed up the city walls and looked around, without counterattacking or causing any damage.

Compared with the Yongliang armies, the Shangdang armies behaved very submissively.

If the people of Yongliang were surrounded, they would definitely find a way to go out and cause trouble, and would not sit idly by and wait for death.

Yang Qi walked with a cane, his expression relieved: "The court moved eastward, and loyal and righteous people were excited. Now they are joining forces to raise an army. It shows that the situation between Yuan and Cao is becoming increasingly critical."

The ministers and officials accompanying him all seemed to agree, indicating that the situation was developing in a positive direction.

Lü Bu's envoy Qin Yiluo had just left and had brought back battle reports from Yan and Yu states.

Yang Biao was also in a very good mood. If Zhao Ji could use official positions and imperial edicts to mobilize Gongsun Zan, Zhang Yang, Zang Ba, and King Chen, then they could do it too.

Gongsun Zan was a typical traitor, not much better than Yuan Shao.

Now they are just taking advantage of Gongsun Zan. These people cannot let go of their face and have a face burden to consider. They have to consider the face of the court.

But Zhao Ji didn't, and didn't care about the negative impact of pulling Gongsun Zan in.

In Zhao Ji's eyes, defeat in battle would only have negative consequences.

The winner does not need to worry about these trivial issues.

And Zang Ba was only a cavalry commander recommended by Tao Qian. In the eyes of the nobles and officials, he was just a bandit leader and refugee leader recruited by Tao Qian, and was even worse than the clan thieves.

No matter how bad a clan thief is, he comes from a well-off family.

You are not a local resident, you don't have any fixed property, and your father and grandfather have never been officials. How dare you call yourself the commander-in-chief?
Prince Chen Liu Chong was a person that all the officials in the court did not want to deal with. The world was so corrupt that the officials were ashamed to face a clan elder like Prince Chen.

After all, Prince Chen was a vassal king and could question the ministers and officials in the court.

This was a very embarrassing thing. The "Petition to Punish the Great Traitor of Han" issued by Zhao Ji was just a small matter and it didn't hurt much when it hit the ministers in the face.

But if Prince Chen were to question the performance of the ministers and officials in assisting the government on behalf of the vassal states and royal family members, it would be difficult to answer.

King Chen managed the country well and stably, and even allocated grain to help the disaster victims in Liang State. He also never sent troops to invade any territory outside of Chen State.

This resulted in Prince Chen being able to hold the imperial court accountable, but the imperial court being unable to hold Prince Chen accountable.

I am not afraid of doing things ugly, but I am afraid of being compared with others.

The imperial family and their ministers just didn't do it well, while the royal family and their ministers of the Chen Kingdom did it very well.

They did not want to deal with King Chen, and even hoped that King Chen would be destroyed as soon as possible; but Zhao Ji did not have such a burden, and he immediately gave King Chen a seal of a general, giving King Chen the power to participate in politics and discuss state affairs.

Since Zhao Ji has already started this, the ministers can no longer ignore King Chen and have to consider how to get along with King Chen next.

It is better to get along with King Chen than with Zhao Ji.

At least King Chen would not let them do rough work like managing stables and registering fields, but if King Chen wanted to kill them, he would not be as lenient as Zhao Ji.

In short, Zhao Ji has curbed the Yuan-Cao group, which was at its peak.

For the ministers, as long as they could welcome the emperor back from Zhao Ji, they would be able to occupy a high position in the temple, remotely control the world, gradually weaken the treacherous ministers, and expand the influence of the imperial family and the court.

To put it simply, in one sentence, ZTE has hope!
I even feel that Zhao Ji is too conservative!

He couldn't wait to pull Zhao Ji off the operating table...but now he had to see Zhang Yang's expression, so he could only restrain himself and endure for the time being.

While the ministers were staying in Gaodu, Yuan Shao's envoy Xu Xun arrived in Gaodu on horseback.

During the war, envoys like Xu Xun and Qin Yi were able to pass freely as long as they identified themselves.

Xu Xun had already met Zhang Yang, so Zhang Yang naturally would not let Xu Xun run around, so he sent more than a dozen knights to serve as guards and surveillance.

Xu Xun had entered the court several times, but his status had changed greatly.

Before, the ministers and officials begged Xu Xun to speak well of him, asking him to speak well of him to Yuan Shao and urge him to send troops to support the court as soon as possible. How could Xu Xun have such a high influence?

All the good words spoken by the ministers before were basically useless.

Now, meeting Xu Xun again, the nobles held high positions with dignity. Xu Xun also recognized his own status. He stepped over the threshold and bowed deeply: "By order of the Right General, I, an external official, greet you gentlemen."

Yang Qi, a man without any official title, sat in the middle and looked at Xu Xun. "You are here again, what brings you here this time?"

"I have come specially to deliver the Right General's letter."

Xu Xun bowed in the direction of Yecheng. Although he was kneeling on the ground, he still held his neck erect and looked proud. "This year, there is a severe drought and a locust plague. Minister Zhao's raising of troops in Shangdang is not in accordance with the ancients' morality."

The ministers looked at each other and laughed.

Xu Xun also handed Yuan Shao's handwritten letter to Yang Qi, who read it and passed it to Zhang Xi. Everyone read it and the laughter subsided.

Yuan Shao's terms of concession were very generous. He was required to immediately hand over all the cities and passes in Shangdang that he currently controlled, and even the troops within Shangdang were to be placed under the control of the court.

Not counting the population that could not be taken away, if the court agreed to Yuan Shao, it would immediately have more than 10,000 troops that could be controlled and mobilized!

Zhao Ji's confiscation of property from various households in the northern part of the county has already proven the prosperity of Shangdang.

The imperial court could also do this. The money and food obtained could immediately alleviate the court's own maintenance difficulties and allow the army to obtain supplies for several months.

When you return to Luodu in a few months, you can naturally eat the white rice from Jingzhou.

"Not enough. We must withdraw our troops from Yanzhou."

The ministers murmured to each other, and Zhao Wen proposed, "We should also withdraw from Qingzhou. Zang Ba is a bandit leader and cannot be trusted. Once Zang Hong is free, we can appoint him as the governor of Qingzhou and rely on Liu Bei. This way, the country will have no worries in the east."

Once the two states of Qing and Xu are stabilized, they can naturally cooperate with the court in Wanluo and Ruying areas to control the vast counties in the Central Plains.

Fu Wan nodded upon hearing this: "Other things can be compromised, but the siege of Dongjun must be lifted."

Rescuing Zang Hong would slap Yuan Shao in the face, but he could stab Cao Cao in the waist and abdomen.

By sending Zang Hong to Qingzhou, he could naturally send troops to the direction of Jinan to attack Dongping and Jibei where Cao Cao's Qingzhou troops were concentrated.

In front of Xu Xun, these people discussed the matter openly, since Yuan Shao needed their help after all.

This was just a preliminary negotiation, and they first told Yuan Shao their conditions.

Afterwards, they had to find a way to persuade Zhang Yang so that they could talk to Zhao Ji.

Only after reaching an agreement with Zhao Ji can the final result of peace talks and ceasefire with Yuan Shao be finalized.

As for leaving Zhao Ji behind and negotiating with Yuan Shao, what can he get except cheating a few cities?
The imperial court does not lack a few Shangdang cities, what it lacks is an army!
Even though this army was temporarily loaned to the court by Yuan Shao, it was enough to support the court to go to the gambling table and compete with Zhang Yang and Zhao Ji.

The court's difficult times ultimately stemmed from one reason: the complete loss of the royal army.

Now that we have the opportunity, we must naturally try our best to rebuild the royal army.

The troops in Dong Cheng's hands... Yang Qi, Fu Wan and others would not simply think that they were the royal army.

Only the army that obeys their orders is the king's army!
Even if Lu Bu leads troops to protect the emperor in the future, they will have to be vigilant to prevent another Zhao Ji from appearing.

He was deceived by He Jin, deceived by Dong Zhuo... and finally deceived by Zhao Ji, a tiger guard who came from the mountains.

How could the ministers trust Lu Bu when they had been repeatedly abused and humiliated?
Many things cannot stand up to scrutiny, nor can they withstand the "what if"... If the people of Liang Province had not rebelled back then, would Lu Bu have found a way to kill Wang Yun and repeat Dong Zhuo's past deeds?

From the perspective of the nobles, the world today is already full of tigers and wolves.

Only Zang Hong and Kong Rong seemed to be loyal ministers, while the others were not loyal ministers.

It is impossible for a loyal minister to have his own army and to invade territories and seize people across states and counties.

Therefore, Zhang Yang is more of a loyal minister than Lu Bu, but such a loyal minister also married into Zhao Ji, and they were about to have an affair with each other through flirting.

If Zhang Yang is like this, how much better can Lu Bu be?
It's not that the ministers are mean, but the general situation is like this, so they are eager to rebuild the "royal army".

Borrowing troops from Yuan Shao became a good idea.

(End of this chapter)