Tiger Guards

Chapter 307 A Round of Transactions

Three days later, the imperial court issued an edict appointing Lü Bu as Grand General, Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and Supervisor of the Imperial Guards, concurrently serving as Governor of Yuzhou.

Zhao Ji was also appointed as Grand Marshal, Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and Commander of the Tiger-like Cavalry, concurrently serving as Governor of Bingzhou.

The Grand General and Grand Marshal, like the Chancellor, are all high-ranking officials above the Three Dukes.

It is perfectly legal to establish one's own government and recruit talented individuals from all over the country to serve as subordinates.

In addition, Zhao Ji's title of Marquis of Pingyang was increased by 10,000 households, and he was entitled to the five counties surrounding Pingyang; Lü Bu was also changed back to Marquis of Wen, with a fief of 12,000 households, and he was entitled to the six counties surrounding Wen County.

While Lü Bu was recruiting talented individuals in Xuchang to expand his Grand General's headquarters and the Governor's Office of Yuzhou, Zhao Ji had no intention of expanding or establishing the Grand Marshal's headquarters.

After bidding farewell to Luo Jun, he began to lead his troops north, accompanied by Bi Chen, the governor of Henan, half of the Six Ministries, and half of the Secretariat.

More intensive personnel transfers have also been negotiated. Zhao Yan, as Attendant-in-Ordinary and Commandant of the Capital Region, was transferred to Luoyang with imperial insignia. Attendant-in-Ordinary Liu Ai accompanied him. Attendant-in-Ordinary Tai Chong was transferred to Director of the Secretariat and also entered Luoyang.

Pei Mao, who served as a court attendant, was later transferred to the position of Prefect of Jingzhao. He entered the territory of Hongnong and began to recruit scholars from Jingzhao and establish the Prefectural Government of Jingzhao.

Zhong Ji, the Chamberlain, also moved to Luodu, but his vote was not important.

Lü Bu then appointed Xu Si and Wang Kai as Attendants-in-Ordinary, who followed the procession of officials back to Luodu, where they formed the Secretariat, a council for deliberating on state affairs, together with Zhao Yan, Liu Ai, and Zhong Ji.

Tai Chong, the deputy director of the Central Secretariat, would also remain in Luodu to serve as the garrison commander of the Central Secretariat and oversee its daily operations.

Fu Wan, the Assistant General of the State with the same rank as the Three Dukes, also suffered a severe blow. However, he was transferred to the position of Grand Secretary and remained by the emperor's side.

Dong Cheng's title of General of the Guards remained unchanged, but the garrison area changed from Luodu, Henan Province to Xu County. Xu County became the temporary capital and temporary residence, and could be referred to as Xudu in writing.

Yang Qi remained aloof from all worldly affairs, holding no official position, and continued to serve as the de facto leader of the Xudu officials.

After Zhang Xi, the former Minister of Works, was executed for colluding with Yuan Shao, the position of Minister of Works became vacant.

The ministers suggested that Zhao Yan be appointed to the position, and that he could also serve as a court attendant; faced with this ill-intentioned suggestion, Zhao Ji and Lü Bu jointly rejected it.

Therefore, the officials recommended Zhou Zhongqian, the Commandant of the Guards, to be appointed as Minister of Works.

Grand Commandant Yang Biao and Minister of Works Zhao Wen remained unchanged, forming the Three Dukes of the Han Dynasty together with Minister of Public Works Zhou Zhong.

Among the nine ministers below him, Zhao Qi, the Grand Master of Ceremonies, accompanied Zhao Ji to Bingzhou as the military advisor of the Tiger Step Army.

The vacant position of Commandant of the Guards, held by Zhou Zhong, was filled by Xiao Jian of Guangling; the long-vacant position of Grand Master of Ceremonies was filled by Chen Gong.

Other officials included Kong Rong, the Junior Treasurer; Xu Qiu, the Minister of Justice; Xun You, the Minister of Agriculture; Chen Ji, the Grand Herald; and Yang Zhong, the Grand Master of Works.

The position of Zongzheng (宗正) was vacant; it was actually reserved for Liu Biao.

Yang Zhong also stepped down as Vice Censor-in-Chief, and Dong Fen, whom Zhao Ji was more familiar with, was promoted.

After finishing these tasks, Zhao Ji's troops withdrew in an orderly manner, heading directly to Luodu along the imperial road, then crossing the river at Mengjin and passing through Zhiguan Pass to return to Hedong.

As he withdrew his troops, envoys from Sun Ce, Zang Ba, Liu Bei, Chen Deng, and others also arrived at the capital one after another.

If Sun Ce were willing to back down, Xu Province could be easily pacified.

Chen Deng's two younger brothers were handed over to Sun Ce, who then seized the families of Liu Bei's group. With Sun Ce withdrawing from Xiapi, Liu Bei was able to immediately regain his status as the governor of Xuzhou.

However, after this setback, Liu Bei also suffered a great setback.

It is estimated that when Yuan Shu brings a large army to attack again, Liu Bei will not dare to easily send his entire army to meet him.

As for Xuzhou, Lü Bu was generally reluctant to get involved, treating it as Zhao Ji's private territory in exchange for Zhao Ji not interfering with his control over Jingzhou, Yanzhou, Yuzhou, and Yangzhou.

Lü Bu is very interested in Zang Ba, who is currently conquering Qingzhou, Beihai, and Donglai.

For Zang Ba, Bingzhou was too far away, and cooperating with Lü Bu would provide him with more practical assistance.

Therefore, Lü Bu did not interfere with Zhao Ji's adjustments to Xuzhou.

Just as the troops were withdrawing, Zhao Ji also completed the follow-up adjustments in Xuzhou.

Chen Deng was from Xiapi. He continued to serve as the governor of Guangling Commandery and was also appointed General Fubo.

He appointed his fellow townsman Guan Yu as Chancellor of Donghai State and Mi Zhu, a native of Donghai, as Chancellor of Xiapi State; he also appointed Zhang Fei as Governor of Taishan Commandery, thus giving Liu Bei the pretext to attack Taishan and eliminate Cao Cao's flank defenses.

As for the Chancellor of Langya, Zhao Ji appointed Zhang Zan, a meritorious clerk in his own army, to the position.

Zhang Zan was from Hongnong, but he was actually Zhao Yan's man.

Lü Bu did not care about the ownership of Mount Tai. Zhao Ji appointed Zhang Fei as the governor of Mount Tai, which offended Zhang Yang, the governor of Yanzhou.

Zhang Yang, being located in western Yanzhou, was powerless to interfere with Mount Tai in the east and was happy to form a strategic alliance with Liu Bei and Zang Ba to attack Cao Cao from both sides. Mount Tai would only become a point of conflict between the two sides after Cao Cao's defeat or retreat to Hebei; as long as Cao Cao was still alive, Mount Tai was not a problem.

Thus, when Zhao Ji was adjusting his administration in Xuzhou, he placed one of his own people there.

If Zhao Ji hadn't adhered to the bottom line of his allies and promptly mobilized Xu Qiu, the Chancellor of Donghai, and Xiao Jian, the Chancellor of Langya, to aid Liu Bei, Liu Bei would have collapsed long ago.

Liu Bei is simply sending former officials to his hometown of Langya to do some work, so he naturally doesn't care.

Of all the states in Xuzhou, Liu Bei only truly controlled Donghai and Xiapi; due to the strength of the Chen family in Xiapi, he could only control half of the prefecture area near Xiapi city.

Only through a close alliance between Liu Bei and Chen Deng could they effectively control Donghai, Xiapi, and most of Guangling.

Chen Yu still controls a significant portion of Guangling, and now he has rejoined Yuan Shu, starting a power struggle with his cousin Chen Deng over Guangling.

This situation of the two Chen families fighting each other within Guangling... is actually just that, in the end, the powerful families outside the two Chen families will be the first to perish.

These forces can now be considered a coalition of the imperial court, which can also include Gongsun Zan, Liu Yan, Liu Biao, and Liu Yao.

The three forces outside the coalition – Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and Cao Cao – would also interact with the imperial court, exchanging official documents and constantly clarifying misunderstandings.

When fighting, you can point your finger at the enemy and call them a traitor. But now that the war is over, there's no need to escalate the conflict.

These people needed the name of the imperial court to check and balance their subordinates, and the imperial court was also afraid that these people would give up and directly declare themselves kings.

As a result of mutual compromise, Yuan Shao, the governor of Ji Province, remained the Right General of the Han Dynasty, while Yuan Shu became the governor of Jiujiang Commandery and the Left General.

Cao Cao still called himself the Governor of Yan Province and held the seal of General Jiande. There were few changes in the personnel in his Yan Province government office, which was still the same group of people led by the Chief Administrator Mao Jie.

Currently, the truly unregistered individuals are Li Jue and Guo Si, who are considered non-human entities whom the imperial court refuses to communicate with.

Even if the kings of the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Donghu, Goguryeo, and other Eastern Yi states, as well as various states in the Western Regions, sent envoys to the court, the court would treat them with great respect.

In addition, Ma Teng and Han Sui from Liangzhou were pardoned because they had been recruited by Li Jue and others when they were in power.

Ma Teng was also involved in the military coup that attacked Li Jue, so Ma Teng still had a lot of influence in the court, higher than Han Sui.

Given all the disasters Han Sui caused in his youth, if he were to lose his military power, there would be far too many people who wanted him dead.

Currently, even bandits have the opportunity to surrender and start anew within the entire political landscape of the Han Empire.

Li Jue and Guo Si's group did not, and this is the target Zhao Ji will deal with next.

Previously, Sun Ce almost fell to the level of Li Jue and Guo Si.

Therefore, he could only accept the positions of Chancellor of Pengcheng and General Who Destroys the Enemy, and start over from a single prefecture and state.

Even so, Zhao Ji and Lü Bu naturally wouldn't hold back.

Once things have settled down a bit here and the generals have adapted to the Central Plains environment, they will naturally make their move against Sun Ce, each of them drawing a card from Sun Ce's hand first.

Both Taishi Ci and Huang Gai had careers that surpassed Sun Ce's.

Who could tolerate the imperial court summoning these two men to court?
If one can tolerate this, then disobeying imperial orders and refusing to serve the country is no different from treason.

From the moment Sun Ce accepted the arrangement, it was destined that some things would be cut off.

Although Taishi Ci came from a humble background, he was a well-known righteous man in Qingzhou. With Kong Rong as his guarantor, it would have been no problem for him to rise to the position of prefect.

Huang Gai, on the other hand, came from an even higher social class. More than a hundred members of his family died from the plague, and Huang Gai, who was orphaned at a young age, was born into a noble family.

Among all of Sun Ce's subordinates, Huang Gai currently has the highest social standing.

It was only when Sun Jian launched his campaign against Dong Zhuo that Huang Gai joined as a local representative.

Given Huang Gai's qualifications, there is absolutely no problem in appointing him as a prefect of a prefecture.

As for the other former subordinates of Sun Jian, or the key military officers developed and cultivated by Sun Ce himself, these people were too firmly bound to the Sun family.

Even if they were willing to betray the Sun family, no one dared to trust them.

Only Taishi Ci and Huang Gai were different; they could be separated from Sun Ce without any damage.

But this will take time. If we act too quickly, Sun Ce will immediately lose his temper, and the newly stabilized Xuzhou will fall into chaos again.

We should wait until Sun Ce has dismantled and disbanded his excess troops, gradually losing the resources for violent resistance and confrontation, before removing Taishi Ci and Huang Gai.

After reasonably removing these two people, Zhao Ji could then ignore Sun Ce and hand him over to Lü Bu to play with.

(End of this chapter)