Tiger Guards

Chapter 600 Counterattack and Retribution
Xu Du, the headquarters of the General of Chariots and Cavalry.

Liu Bei sat at the head of the table, and his ministers passed around the blood-stained official documents brought by Shi Ren.

This is the official document from the General's Office, a memorial submitted to the Secretariat.

The memorial was simple: it stated that Bi Chen, the governor of Henan, colluded with Yuan Shao, deliberately spreading rumors and misleading General Wei Yue to trick Lü Bu into stationing himself in Luozhong. Therefore, General Lü Bu suspected that Yuan Shao and Bi Chen were accomplices in the court, and hoped that the Grand Secretary Fu Wan, General of Chariots and Cavalry Liu Bei, and General of the Flying Cavalry Dong Cheng would unite to support the emperor and prevent him from being taken advantage of by treacherous officials.

Upon seeing this report and well-intentioned warning from Lü Bu, everyone, whether they were aware of it beforehand or not, was speechless.

Lü Bu is blatantly lying, clearly intending to mislead the states and counties of the land, making it difficult for all sides to distinguish the truth from the falsehood.

However, Liu Bei was also anxious, and everyone in the mansion was just feeling annoyed.

Lü Bu turned around and wiped out the only foothold of the imperial court in Luozhong, then slandered the other party as a traitor.

In this day and age, how many truly loyal ministers are there?
The campaign against Dong Zhuo did not erupt immediately after Dong Zhuo gained control of Luoyang.

First, various parties lobbied and deceived Dong Zhuo, and under Dong Zhuo's appointment, they gained control of the major counties in Guandong. Only then did they launch a campaign to oppose Dong Zhuo.

In the early stages of the campaign against Dong Zhuo, less than a third of the many prefectures and kingdoms in the land participated in the campaign.

War requires mobilization step by step, and public opinion needs to be reshaped again and again.

Therefore, the fact that the war with the two traitors Lü and Zhao broke out in the autumn was already considered quite fast.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, it will break out between September and October, and a full-scale war will likely not occur until November at the earliest.

The imperial court needs to provide a unified account, and so do Lü and Zhao.

Everyone needs time to reach a consensus before they can gather their forces to fight each other. Whoever loses will be the rebels.

Therefore, Lü Bu's act of falsely accusing Bi Chen and then turning around and blaming him was not a major headache for Liu Bei.

What truly troubled them was that Lü Bu's decisive betrayal of the court and the emperor, and his swift action against Bi Chen, indicated that Lü Bu had been planning this all along and had most likely already reached a tacit agreement with Zhao Ji.

This means that during the process of assembling their forces, the various factions in the Guandong region will encounter a powerful surprise attack from Lü Bu!
Seeing that the crowd's morale was still high, Liu Bei said, "General, how are you any different from Dong Zhuo and Li Guo, who killed a high-ranking official without an imperial edict? I think we should submit a memorial to the Emperor and impeach the General. What do you all think?"

Chief Secretary Mi Zhu remained silent not because he wanted to be the last to speak, but because the General of Chariots and Cavalry's staff was full of talented people, and he was somewhat hesitant to speak.

The chief clerk, Yang Xiu, stood up and said solemnly, "Lü Bu is incompetent in governing the country and should be punished."

Everyone immediately responded. Lü Bu had secretly executed Yang Qi and Yang Zhong, so the Yang family naturally wanted to retaliate.

How could merely dismissing Lü Bu possibly appease Lady Yang?
It must be thoroughly tainted; after killing them, it must be trampled repeatedly and brutally!

Seeing the crowd's high spirits, Liu Bei turned to Yang Xiu and said, "Dezu (Liu Bei's courtesy name) will issue a document to be presented before the Emperor."

"Here."

Yang Xiu bowed deeply at a very respectful angle, cupping his hands in response.

Liu Bei glanced around and saw that no one else seemed to have anything to say. He wanted to say something, but felt it wouldn't be good to break the atmosphere.

He also wanted to send a formal letter to Lü Bu, urging him to change his stance and serve the court.

He genuinely didn't want to fight Lü Bu, but that didn't mean he was afraid of Lü Bu.

If the emperor issues an edict, no matter how good the relationship, Liu Bei will carry it out conscientiously.

Therefore, Liu Bei changed his words at the last minute, saying, "The country is in dire need of peace, and the Grand Marshal and the General have successively committed acts of treason. I feel very sorry for them, and together with the gentlemen of the court, I have been trying to persuade the Grand Marshal and the General. If the court can be restored and the people can live in peace and tranquility, we are willing to risk our lives to ask the Emperor to pardon the Grand Marshal and the General."

"Our lord is benevolent."

"Your Excellency is of noble character."

Whether the prayers will be answered is another matter. Those in power should adopt a more lenient attitude and not resort to violence in everything.

Providing Zhao Ji and Lü Bu with a way out is the magnanimity a court should possess. Upon hearing this, Liu Bei nodded, saying nothing more.

Not only do they need to persuade him themselves, but they also need to persuade various parties in China and North Korea together.

As for Fu Wan... Liu Bei had no choice. This was the palace's decision, and he could only ask Tian Yu to cooperate.

If Fu Wan doesn't run away, even though Xu Du isn't big, who would dare to lead troops to attack and destroy Fu Wan's Auxiliary General's Mansion?
At most, they would send troops to surround and kill them, and imprison Fu Wan and his entire family. If Fu Wan knew what was good for him, he should commit suicide to atone for his sins. If he didn't, the mansion was only so big, and sooner or later they would burn out all the fuel and eat all the food.

Now, Fu Wan, as the emperor's father-in-law, has taken the initiative to betray the emperor and intends to flee to Xizhou... Liu Bei has no interest in investigating whether there are any inside stories, but as far as Fu Wan's status is concerned, as long as he has the intention to retreat and betray the emperor, he deserves to die!

After handling these matters briefly, Liu Bei took the memorial written by Yang Xiu and went to the palace to see the emperor.

At this moment, Emperor Liu Xie was alone in the pavilion, with the Northern Palace Guard Ling Shang Hong holding a wooden tray and standing behind him with his body bent over.

The wooden tray was covered with a black cloth, and the inside was naturally cleaned, containing the head of Fu Wan after it had been initially dehumidified with lime.

Liu Xie stood there for a moment, but still couldn't bear to turn around and inspect it himself.

For him, Fu Wan was not only his father-in-law, but sometimes also played the role of a blood relative or elder.

At this moment, Liu Xie felt remorse. He coughed twice before saying, "Even when the country was in danger, Marquis Buqi did not abandon me. Now that he wants to leave, I should not be so heartless."

Shang Hong turned a deaf ear; he is not qualified to express his opinion.

Even though he knows a lot, there are some things he can say, and some he has to pretend not to hear.

Liu Xie was truly remorseful. While it was satisfying to chase down and execute Fu Wan's family and children so rashly, the anger was gone, but the feelings he had were hard to let go of.

Most importantly, Shang Hong was also a veteran official who moved the court eastward. What would old palace servants and guards like Shang Hong and Shi Qian think?
Liu Xie didn't even know whether he should personally examine the head.

If it really was Fu Wan, he feared he wouldn't be able to maintain his appearance and emotions; if it wasn't, he would be even less able to maintain his composure.

After taking a few deep breaths, Liu Xie turned to look.

Shang Hong bowed even more deeply, holding the wooden tray high in both hands.

From Liu Xie's perspective, it seemed as if the black cloth covering the wooden tray contained not some other head, but Shang Hong's head.

Shi Qian stepped forward and lifted the black cloth.

After confirming that it was Fu Wan's head, Liu Xie swayed violently and quickly reached out to grab the window frame.

Seeing this, Shi Qian gently waved to Shang Hong, who took five or six steps back. Then he heard Liu Xie say weakly, "You personally go and sew up the head, and gather the Fu clan members to be buried together."

"only."

Shang Hong felt a great weight lifted off his shoulders. His arms were sore, but after stepping back, he was able to lift the wooden tray normally, and he felt much better both physically and mentally.

He walked briskly down the palace corridor, the more he walked, the more he pondered, and his body trembled uncontrollably.

What he was holding was not only the head of Fu Wan, the Marquis of Buqi, former Grand Chancellor, and General of the State with the title of Grand Master of the Palace, but also the biological father of the Empress and the wife of the Grand Marshal!
Forcing himself to calm down, Shang Hong's anger upon receiving the imperial edict had long since dissipated.

Because they knew so little, they were even more afraid of being silenced.

"Let's go, let's go," Shang Hong said, his mind made up, and he felt much more relaxed.

In the attic of the palace granary, Liu Xie nearly collapsed, his emotions finally breaking down: "Why did my father-in-law abandon me? Did he think I would kill him?"

Shi Qian squatted to one side without saying a word, and he didn't want to offer any advice, as this matter was too sensitive.

Pretending to be confused is already dangerous enough, why would you try to persuade the emperor?
Shang Hong's concerns were also Shi Qian's concerns.

(End of this chapter)