Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 194 Huangfu Song's Intention to Rebel?!

Feeling relaxed and at ease, Liu Bian wore a leisurely smile. His crimson robe swayed gently with his steps as he walked lightly through the corridor and into a side hall.

This side hall in Yong'an Palace has long since become the office space for the officials of the Crown Prince's residence.

Meanwhile, the side hall was already filled with officials from the Crown Prince's residence, many of them holding a bowl of meat soup (lean meat porridge), with pickled vegetables and other side dishes next to each person's bowl and plate.

Some people enjoy eating soup noodles, steamed buns, thin pancakes, fried dough twists, and baked flatbreads, while others are not yet used to eating regular meals for breakfast.

The Crown Prince's kitchen can prepare anything that is needed.

Since they were people from all over the country gathered together, Liu Bian would naturally not force anyone to change their eating habits. As long as they didn't eat anything extravagant, Liu Bian wouldn't deprive his retainers of their appetites in order to be frugal, since the country wasn't that poor yet.

There is only one thing that should not be wasted.

Liu Bian himself slowly sat down in his main seat, glancing at Cai Mao below, who was clearly somewhat reserved during the meal, his eyes flashing slightly.

Since you've taken in someone else's sister, you should also give this brother-in-law a promotion.

Ultimately, he was someone who could hold a high position in a chaotic world and become Cao Cao's friend. To think that he was just a useless fool with no skills would be to underestimate Cai Mao and the other outstanding figures of his time.

"De Gui," Liu Bian called softly.

The sound wasn't loud, yet it seemed to penetrate the noise inside the hall and reach the ears of specific people precisely.

Upon hearing the Crown Prince's call, Cai Mao hurriedly put down the flatbread in his hand, and somewhat flusteredly picked up a handkerchief from the side to carefully wipe the crumbs from his hands and mouth. He then bowed and greeted the Crown Prince before his table.

“Visit your elder sister more often in the future. She has devoted the first twenty years of her life to taking care of you and your younger sister.” Liu Bian took the bowl of meat soup that Gao Wang handed him, turned his wrist slightly, watched the meat soup sway gently in the bowl, then took a sip, looked at Cai Mao, a faint smile appeared on his lips, and said in a gentle tone, “People must learn to be grateful.”

"If a person is ungrateful, how is he different from a beast? Can De Gui understand what I mean?"

Although Cai Mao's temperament was not as good as Cai Yuan's, he was still raised by Zhang Wen from a young age and possessed political wisdom. He immediately prostrated himself on the ground, banging his head heavily on the ground, and said, "As your younger brother, I will never forget my elder sister's kindness in this lifetime. And Your Highness's kindness, I will never forget!"

Seeing that Cai Mao understood his words, Liu Bian nodded slightly, personally left his seat to help Cai Mao up, and gently patted him on the back.

Everyone knows that officials who come from the Crown Prince's office will at least have a career path of two thousand shi (a unit of grain), and as for the upper limit, their future is limitless.

Liu Bian appointed Cai Mao as the Crown Prince's tutor, which was both a way of cultivating him and a way of supporting him.

Cai Yuan was his woman, and Cai Mao was also his official. If the collateral branches of the Cai family dared to covet the property of the main branch of the Cai family under the names of these two siblings... ha.

Today, he was just giving Cai Mao a little warning. If Cai Mao wasn't grateful, he could either support Cai Mao or kick him down from his high position.

Shortly after breakfast, a postman burst into the side hall, panting, his clothes soaked with sweat, clutching an urgent report tightly in his hand.

Liu Bian took the memorial, and the moment he unfolded it, his brows furrowed tightly, and his eyes were filled with solemnity.

Luoyang is 900 li from Chang'an. The army led by Huangfu Song marched 40 li per day for 23 days, resting every nine days for a total of 25 days. On April 22, they arrived outside Chang'an and camped outside the city to avoid disturbing the people.

Afterwards, Huangfu Song annihilated several thousand scattered Qiang people from Beidi Commandery who had entered the Sanfu region. He also mobilized 10,000 troops from the Yong and Chang'an camps stationed in the Sanfu region, 9,000 troops from Youfufeng, Jingzhaoyin, and Zuofengyi commanderies, and 20,000 auxiliary troops, constructing a deep defensive line in the Sanfu region. Although Huangfu Song was confident in suppressing the Qiang and Hu rebellion in Liangzhou, he could not afford to take any risks.

The reason is simple: the Sanfu region contains the tombs of many emperors of the Former Han Dynasty, and even an ancestral temple.

If Huangfu Song were to be careless and allow the Qiang and Hu tribes to destroy even one of the imperial tombs of the Former Han Dynasty, thus disturbing the peace of his ancestors, he would be guilty of a crime deserving of death. Therefore, Huangfu Song had no choice but to stay in the Three Auxiliary Regions to set up defenses.

Even though he knew that some people in the court were impeaching him for being afraid to fight and even for holding his own army, he insisted on not sending troops until May 12th. It took him a full twenty days to finally complete the basic deployment of the defense line.

Perhaps it was the reports of successive victories in Bingzhou that made the court officials feel that quelling the Qiang rebellion in Liangzhou should not be too difficult. As a result, some people impeached Huangfu Song for staying outside Chang'an for too long and not advancing, which was considered cowardice and fear of the enemy. However, Liu Bian ordered these people to be reprimanded.

If the Qiang rebellion had been so easily resolved, it wouldn't have nearly drained the Later Han dynasty's national strength.

However, this urgent report from Chang'an made Liu Bian frown.

"Your Majesty, I, Zhang Shi, the Prefect of Jingzhao, respectfully report: General Huangfu Song of the Left has requested the transfer of military equipment from the Chang'an Armory, but the amount he is demanding is enormous, especially the siege equipment, which is too numerous to count. I am deeply concerned that he may be secretly colluding with the rebels in Liangzhou and harboring ulterior motives, intending to raise troops to march east and attack Luoyang. I humbly request Your Majesty to investigate this matter."

In short, Zhang Shi, the Prefect of Jingzhao, suspected Huangfu Song's intentions because Huangfu Song suddenly requested to borrow a large number of siege weapons. He reported Huangfu Song for plotting a rebellion and suspected that he might be preparing to launch an attack on Luoyang to the east.

The letter also details the events, which are roughly as follows: Huangfu Song sent his chief secretary Liang Yan into Chang'an to request the borrowing of military equipment from the Chang'an armory from Zhang Shi, the prefect of the capital.

Zhang Shi didn't think much of it. The imperial court had already issued a strict order that all prefectures and counties must cooperate with the imperial army in suppressing the rebellion. So he sent his friend, Du Ji, the chief clerk of the Prefect of Jingzhao, to assist Liang Yan in transferring weapons from the armory. He also planned to submit a memorial to the Ministry of Personnel afterward to report the matter.

Upon arriving at the armory, Liang Yan reviewed the armory's ledgers and stated the number of military weapons he needed to borrow, then asked Du Ji if he could send soldiers into the city to transport them.

Du Ji looked at Liang Yan with a subtle expression, then said that he needed to consult Zhang Shi, the Prefect of Jingzhao, and temporarily left Liang Yan and several officials from the Left General's Office in the armory.

Then... Du Ji, with the two hundred soldiers from the commanderies and kingdoms he had obtained from Zhang Shi, seized Liang Yan and several officials from the Left General's office in the armory without saying a word.

Zhang Shi, the Prefect of Jingzhao, immediately closed all the city gates of Chang'an, and his soldiers went up the city walls to stand ready and prepare to deal with Huangfu Song's attack.

However, Liu Bian was not nervous at all. Even though the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat Liu Tao, the Vice Minister of the Imperial Secretariat Yang Xu, and Lu Zhi, among other important officials, rushed to the Crown Prince's residence and had a heated discussion about whether Huangfu Song was loyal or rebellious, he was not in a hurry at all.

Most of the court officials did not really believe that Huangfu Song would rebel, but many still submitted memorials impeaching Huangfu Song for treason and suggested that the passes should be closed immediately, troops should be recruited, General Dong Zhuo should be ordered to return to Luoyang to defend it, and even troops from various states in Guandong should be summoned to the capital to defend the emperor.

Liu Bian thought to himself, "Good heavens! Dong Zhuo has led his troops into the capital, and troops from all the states east of the pass are coming to the emperor's aid?"
Then all my work these past two years has been for nothing?

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PS: The prototype of steamed buns originated during the reign of King Zhaoxiang of Qin. They were invented by the Qin people and were called "steamed cakes," which were flat or strip-shaped steamed buns made from unleavened dough.

During the Han Dynasty, there are clear records of soft steamed cakes made from fermented dough, also known as mantou.

However, the ancients liked to use "cake" to name all wheat-based foods, which led people to mistakenly believe that steamed buns were actually invented during Zhuge Liang's southern expedition or even later.

(End of this chapter)