Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 4: Broken Dragon (4.4k)
Liu Chan couldn't help but be angry.

It is conceivable that if this Northern Expedition fails, there will be many more people in Shu who will jump out to lead the way.

The so-called "The two dynasties hated Qiao and Zhou."

Liu Chan was well aware of the power of those great Confucian scholars like "Qiao Zhou" who controlled public opinion and were almost impeccable in their personal morality.

Once they find an opportunity to manipulate right and wrong and spread ideas of capitulationism and defeatism, even the emperor Adou will lose his faith.

Not to mention those powerful people in Bashu and the two Sichuan provinces who said, "I don't care who is the county magistrate, I just want to be the county magistrate's wife"?
Hence the feeling of "Your Majesty, we are ready to fight to the death, why did you surrender first?", filled with grief and indignation with nowhere to vent, and feeling that our lofty ambitions were betrayed.

And now, he had just crossed over and caused such a big news, tearing another hole in the already battered man.

The "Qiao Zhou"s sniffed the blood and rushed forward, clinging to the bleeding body of the big man like flies, sniffing and buzzing, and even claimed to be the immortal voice pleading for the people!
However, no matter how much Liu Chan despised these flies, as long as the Northern Expedition ended in failure, their buzzing would drown out everything else, and the difficulty of the Han Dynasty's united front would be directly hellish.

In the future, let alone regaining the Central Plains, even the possibility of "Six Expeditions to Qishan" may no longer exist.

Wan and Yun looked at each other in confusion.

The two of them watched the emperor grow up and served him for nearly ten years, but today was the first time they saw the emperor really angry. It was inevitable that their minds were confused and they were unable to respond.

Seeing that the two remained silent again, Liu Chan spoke slowly:

"Even if you two don't say it, I understand. If they dare to say it, they must have something to rely on.

"What they relied on was that the law did not punish the masses, and since the Prime Minister was away, no one dared to touch them in the slightest.

“Or even if the Prime Minister were here, he would not touch them for the sake of the overall situation.

"After all, even the late emperor could only take action against Zhang Yu after completely conquering Hanzhong."

At this point, Liu Chan suddenly became angry:
"But do I have to take over Longyou and then punish them?
"What if we can't take Longyou?!
"Should I kill them all?!

"Or should we follow the example of the late emperor who made Zhou Qun a great talent, a man who brought disaster to the people but whose prophecy came true, and make all these insects great talents and give them titles of nobility?!

"is that useful?

"Can we still fight?!

"I'm afraid it won't be long before I issue an edict of repentance, baring my body, leading a sheep, and handing over my seal and talisman to Wei, right?"

Liu Chan stood up, waved his sleeves, and turned his back.

Suddenly, a map that was originally hung on the large screen blocked his view, swallowing up his gaze without any intention.

On the other side, Wan Yun and the other two were already gaping in astonishment.

This emperor, who has always been mediocre, actually showed today his keen insight into the most terrible consequences that could be caused by the prophecy of chaos.

This emperor, who had always been cowardly, was angry and then calm, and then calm and then angry again. As for the shocking words "presenting the naked body to Wei", he had restrained his voice again, but the anger that could not be hidden made the two of them see some shadow of the late emperor in his expression.

Even though the image of the late emperor has become somewhat vague in their memory over time.

"These crazy students and corrupt scholars are indeed hateful, but Your Majesty should be careful with what you say and do, and not say things like naked and leading sheep out of anger!" Dong Yun said solemnly with a serious face, and bowed to the emperor's back.

As a Shizhong (Minister of the Interior), Dong Yun's duty was to give honest advice and correct the emperor's mistakes. History says, "The responsibility of making recommendations and admonishing the emperor was solely in Yun's hands."

At this moment, the emperor spoke out of turn, and he instantly recovered from his shock and doubt and resumed his usual attitude of advising and arguing.

However, he swallowed back the words "Don't say anything nonsense" that he was about to blurt out subconsciously, and his tone became much gentler.

Liu Chan stopped in front of the screen, saying nothing.

On the map hanging on the screen, the word "Chang'an" was clearly visible, and it seemed to be only a hand's distance away from him.

I reached out to touch it, but couldn't.

He clenched his fists and put his hands away, then silently turned sideways, his eyes fixed on Dong Yun through the twelve jade tassels.

In fact, Liu Chan also noticed the subtle changes in Dong Yun's wording and tone.

This kind of restraint and loyal advice made Liu Chan certain that he was not living in the absurd era of "beating the emperor with three punches", and also confirmed that his choice of anger was useful.

In fact, this emperor who had been trying hard to act from the very beginning had thought about performing the template of an emperor who was majestic without anger and whose majesty was unpredictable, and cultivating the so-called mystery of the emperor.

But, this is Adou...

What mystery is there about him?

To quote a sentence Napoleon wrote in his commentary on The Prince:

If a monarch does not demonstrate greatness, nobility, bravery and fearlessness from the beginning, no matter how hard he tries later, it will be of no avail.

Although Liu Chan was unwilling to agree, he really had no examples in his mind to support his disagreement.

Is there any emperor in history who, from being cowardly and easily bullied, not like a ruler, suddenly became a wise and holy ruler respected and feared by everyone?
For a long time, the civil and military officials in the court had formed the impression that the emperor was cowardly and incompetent. It was impossible to change this impression in a short period of time, and it was even more impossible to change this impression without making some achievements.

At present, the scholars are in rebellion and the Northern Expedition is imminent. There is no time allowed to perform the drama of the unpredictable power of heaven and the awe-inspiring power without anger, and it would also seem ridiculous on Adou.

It’s better to be angry.

Might as well go crazy.

It would be better to make a clumsy attempt and then suddenly collapse after forcing oneself to remain calm.

This is Adou.

Every problem has its own solution.

Adou was not a powerless emperor.

Adou took the initiative to undermine the emperor's power.

If the emperor goes crazy and insists on doing something absolutely politically correct, what can people like Dong Yun and Jiang Wan do?
They can't stop it.

Before deciding not to continue pretending to hide his anger, Liu Chan had already thought it through:

No matter how serious the consequences of these current rumors of chaos and confusion may be, as long as the Northern Expedition is successful, all of them will be silenced.

As for the fact that yesterday's earthquake only smashed the statue of the late emperor, if he had returned victorious, it would mean that the late emperor sacrificed his life for the people of Chengdu and warded off disaster.

As the three of them remained silent, the complex and turbulent emotions in the emperor's eyes seemed to have really spread to the two ministers.

Their gazes, filled with the same complex emotions, passed past the emperor and fell on the map.

Finally, it penetrated the word Chang'an on the map, which seemed within reach but out of reach, and floated to the mysterious and sacred place that existed in legends, in letters, in imagination, in the descriptions of the old people and merchants of Chang'an, whether happy or sad, but never existed in their memories.

Their eye sockets, ears, necks, and every inch of skin visible to the naked eye were all red to varying degrees, and their beards trembled slightly.

This kind of outward display of grief has rarely appeared in them.

The last time was to see off Prime Minister Zu Dao.

The last time was when the late emperor suddenly passed away. Perhaps it was the influence of Adou's memories, or the influence of Wanyun and the others' emotions, or perhaps it was simply superb acting skills, but Liu Chan effortlessly squeezed out a few tears and choked out his voice:

"I dreamed of the late emperor."

Wan Yun and the other person returned to this palace called Xuanshi from the distant and ethereal Chang'an. Their eyes then shifted from the word Chang'an on the map, from the map on the screen, and finally looked over the emperor's shoulder and met his gaze.

"The late emperor told me that the Northern Expedition will fail."

"The late emperor told me that the Han Dynasty will fall."

The entire Xuanshi Hall fell silent again.

With a "plop", the tears dripping down the emperor's chin splashed onto the ground.

Wan Yun and the other two had already been struck by lightning, and now they finally understood.

Jiang Wan took the lead and stepped forward, comforting him as if comforting a child having a nightmare:
"Your Majesty, there is an old saying:

“If one dreams of drinking, he will cry in the morning; if one dreams of crying, he will go hunting in the morning.”

"If you dream of yourself drinking and having fun, you will encounter sad things after dawn.

“Those who dream of sad things will unexpectedly enjoy the pleasure of hunting after dawn.

"Your Majesty, you had an ominous dream today, but perhaps it is a sign of good things to come to the country!
“Not to mention that the Prime Minister has been sending out troops for a month and has received frequent reports of victory.

"Then he said that yesterday, the Prime Minister sent another letter with good news!
"Because Your Majesty is ill, I have not been able to present it to Your Majesty yet."

Jiang Wan paused deliberately at this point, wanting to see how the emperor would react.

However, to his surprise, the emperor did not wait to ask him to forward or relay the letter as he usually did when he received a letter from the prime minister. Instead, he looked awe-inspiring.

He could only continue speaking:
"The letter said that when the officials and people of Nangan, Tianshui, and Anding heard that the Prime Minister was coming with his army, they all prepared food and drink to welcome the king's army.

"The people of each county voluntarily donated over 60,000 dan of grain and fodder, and over 400 large and small grain-transporting vessels.

"Han and Qiang heroes have raised an army of over 12,000 men to follow our Han army to attack Wei. Among them are over a thousand elite Qiang cavalry and over 2,000 war horses!
"In the entire Longyou area, the only ones still holding their ground in Gucheng were You Chu of Longxi, who was in Xiangwu, and Guo Huai of Tianshui, who was in Shanggui.

"Even Longxi Governor You Chu has already announced that if the Prime Minister can block Longdao for a month, he will surrender the entire city!"

"Isolated from the road?" Liu Chan listened to the good news brought by Jiang Wan. Instead of being encouraged, he became more depressed and worried.

Such a great situation!
How could I lose?

After the Prime Minister's Northern Expedition failed, many people who surrendered to Cao Wei or even remained neutral were liquidated by Cao Wei, some died and some escaped.

From then on, the scene of the young men from Longyou vying to return to Han and following the royal army with food and drink never happened again.

No one dared to believe that the Han army could win anymore.

Jiang Wan thought Liu Chan didn't know what "isolating the way" meant, so he explained:

"Your Majesty, you may not know that there are four major routes from Guanzhong to Longyou that are suitable for large-scale marches.

"From south to north, the first is Longdi, the second is Jitou, the third is Fanxu, and the fourth is Wating.

"The three northern roads of Jitou, Fanxu, and Wating, after crossing Longshan Mountain, finally converge at the Longdi Road in the south, which is the shortest, flattest, and widest.

"Therefore, our army only needs to defend the Longdi Road and block the enemy's food supply route, so that the pseudo-Wei reinforcements cannot advance an inch, and the entire Longyou area will be completely cut off from Guanzhong. This is called "isolating the Longdi Road."

"During the restoration of Emperor Taizu, Wei Xiao seized control of Longyou.

"Zongqin Lai Xi led 2,000 men, bypassing the four heavily guarded Longdi Roads, traversing mountains and valleys, clearing forests and carving a path, and penetrated directly into the enemy's heartland, capturing Lueyang City at the end of the Longdi Road."

"I know about this battle." Liu Chan interrupted Jiang Wan.

"After receiving the news, Wei Xiang immediately led tens of thousands of troops to besiege Lueyang, which had only 2,000 defenders, but he was unable to capture it.

"So they dug into the mountain and built a dam, driving the water up to flood the city.

"When the water came in Laishe, they covered the area with earth and fought hard to hold their ground. When their arrows ran out, they tore down houses and destroyed buildings to make arrows.

"From spring to autumn, this battle exhausted Weixiao's soldiers, so Emperor Taizu mobilized the troops from Guandong and led the expedition in person. The Han Dynasty finally took control of Longyou."

Jiang Wan and Dong Yun were dumbfounded, surprised that the emperor, who was not good at studying, knew so much about this battle.

"Your Majesty, this important place of Lueyang is now under the control of our Han army!"

The mature and steady Jiang Wan could hardly suppress his inner excitement.

As history has shown, now that Lueyang has been captured, controlling Longyou can be said to be almost foolproof!
The Prime Minister’s hard work over the years has finally paid off.

"I know." Liu Chan said surprisingly.

Jiang Wan and Dong Yun were all stunned.

The Emperor knew? They had just received the news, how could the Emperor know?

"The late emperor told me in a dream." Liu Chan was ready to promote feudal superstitions and make the late emperor's dream more convincing.

"The late emperor also told me that the Lueyang City is the Jiequanting in Lueyang County today, also known as Jieting."

Wan and Yun did not take the emperor's words in his dream seriously.

However, Luoyang City is today's Jieting. This was confirmed after the Prime Minister personally visited Jieting a few days ago.

Even he and Jiang Wan had never heard of the three words "Jiequanting" before receiving the letter from the Prime Minister.

How does the emperor know?

Is this really a dream from the late emperor???

Liu Chan could see the surprise from the expressions of Wan Yun and the other man.

So he bent down, picked up the folded silk book from the desk and handed it forward.

Jiang Wan stepped forward, took it, and opened it.

Dong Yun came forward.

Liu Chan let the two of them lower their heads to read the letter and said:
"The late emperor also told me that the Prime Minister had stationed the military officer Ma Su at Jieting, tasked with breaking up the enemy lines, with the deputy general Wang Ping as his assistant.

"But Ma Su, who was eager for glory and success, disobeyed the Prime Minister's order to take over the military governorship and stayed in the southern mountains instead of descending to the city. The enemy cut off the water supply, leading to a great defeat.

"Thus the Northern Expedition was on the verge of failure, and there was no hope for the Han Dynasty to revive."

The young emperor's voice suddenly stopped.

(End of this chapter)