Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 6 Zhang Rang is often ill, you should encourage him
Seeing the expression on Liu Bian's face flickering, Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong, and Guo Sheng also felt a little apprehensive.
Ever since Liu Bian forced the emperor to hand over power yesterday, he has gradually developed the aura of a superior. This silence really made the three of them feel uncomfortable.

After a while, Liu Bian also noticed the inner uneasiness of the three people in front of him, and turned to reveal a gentle smile.

"Actually, I don't really care about the money you embezzled."

Even his confidant Gao Wang secretly rolled his eyes at this statement. When the prince heard the number 3.7 billion coins, his eyes lit up.

But these are the prince's words, you have to believe them!

He said it was duck neck, so it was duck neck. You had to clap your hands, look grateful, endure the nausea and eat it, saying it was delicious. You knelt down and kowtowed nine times to thank the prince for the duck neck banquet!

"I'm just standing up for you." Liu Bian swallowed the last piece of soup noodle, took another sip of the soup in the bowl, put down his chopsticks and said seriously.

Hearing this, everyone was stunned, but they saw that Liu Bian did not seem to be joking.

Liu Bian put down his chopsticks and crossed his index fingers: "The scholars of the world all say that you are greedy and bring disaster to the country and the people, but are you clean yourself?"

"For a full twenty years, including the rewards from His Majesty, the wealth of the twelve of you is only this amount, but what about those scholars?"

"What about the Runan Yuan family and the Hongnong Yang family, who have three dukes in four generations? How much money have they made with so many officials in the court?"

"Selling official positions and titles is certainly not good governance, but the fact that they can actually afford to pay such a large sum of money doesn't speak volumes."

"How ridiculous that all the officials in the court are trying to deceive themselves and others by covering their ears and stealing the bell!"

Liu Bian became more and more excited as he spoke, and his young face turned red, as if he was really speaking up for Zhang Rang and others.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince knows me!"

Incited by Liu Bian's words, Zhang Rang waved his sleeves and burst into tears. Zhao Zhong, Guo Sheng and even Gao Wang who was standing beside him also had red eyes.

Selling official positions and titles, saying that these eunuchs are extremely greedy, but in fact, aren't they just collecting money for Liu Hong?
They were just acting as intermediaries to earn a commission, and the scholars were not in a position to directly criticize the emperor for being incompetent, so they pointed the finger at the eunuchs.

But in the final analysis, even if they did not sell official positions and titles, wouldn't these scholars still have to give money to those above them if they wanted to become officials?

Of course, the name is not bribery, it is called "using your money to do your thing."

Otherwise, how could the Yuan and Yang families, with three generations of officials, have so many disciples and former officials all over the world?
However, they intercepted the money that was intended for the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers and diverted it into the emperor's treasury, and the scholars began to complain.

“Since they impeached you for corruption, you can also impeach them for corruption!”

"I'm giving you a chance to fight back. It's not just about corruption, but also about other illegal activities. As long as there's solid evidence, you can fight back!"

"You know, for these scholars, death isn't the thing they fear the most. They can even boast about it and the impact it will have on their clan and descendants. But if their reputation is ruined, that would be worse than death!"

Liu Bian's words also made Zhang Rang and others' eyes light up. They had never thought about this before. When they wanted to deal with someone, they would just fabricate a crime.

"I understand your Highness's intention. I will check it out right away!"

The three of them gritted their teeth, a cruel smile on their faces.

Liu Bian was very pleased and ordered Gao Wang to see Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong and Guo Sheng off.

The few people who left the palace stretched out their right sleeves to wipe the tears from their faces, and there was no trace of the sadness, emotion and indignation they had just felt.

"The prince really has good tactics."

Zhang Rang couldn't help but sigh, Zhao Zhong and Guo Sheng beside him nodded in unison, while Gao Wang looked at the three of them in silence.

Having stayed in the palace, a cannibalistic place, for decades, they were not the young people who would get excited by a few words from Liu Bian. They just smeared the juice of "Hucong" (onion) on their left sleeves, and naturally burst into tears when they wiped their eyes with their sleeves.

"Cherish it. His Royal Highness has been very kind to people like us. He has given us a chance to survive, given us dignity and respect, and even given us the opportunity to be a knife."

Gao Wang said something indifferently. Although his words were not pleasant to the ear, they told the truth.

"We are originally the servants of the palace. We are the swords that the emperor puts out to fight against the scholars. If the swords become dull or disobedient, just replace them." Zhao Zhong is also an old man in the palace, and he sees it very clearly.

Guo Sheng thought he was familiar with the prince and was from the same hometown as Queen He, so he spoke up for Liu Bian.

"If you ask me, this assignment given by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince actually makes me feel a lot more at ease."

"It is precisely because we can still play a role that the Crown Prince will definitely not break his promise and dispose of us, right?"

The other three remained silent, though they had doubts in their hearts before today about whether the Crown Prince could fulfill his promise to protect their families. Even if he really killed them all, there were still many eunuchs in the palace who would be willing to serve as the Crown Prince's scapegoats.

"That's all right. Just do your job well. It's a good way to vent some anger." Zhang Rang took a deep breath, the vicissitudes of life in his eyes gradually turning into an icy cold light as he exhaled. "They don't want us to live, and we can't let them have an easy time either. His Royal Highness is right. Scholars don't fear death, but they fear a life worse than death after their reputation is tarnished!"

"Brother, we have no way out. We might as well have a fierce fight with them."

"Hey, if we don't have a good death, they won't have an easy life either!"

A bloodthirsty look flashed across Zhang Rang's eyes. His descendants were already cut off anyway. If they died, the clan would also perish with them.

"Especially the Yuan family of Runan. Didn't they also make their fortune by relying on eunuchs? Humph, what a scoundrel! They're eating other people's food and smashing their cauldrons!"

Zhao Zhong snorted coldly. The Yuan family of Runan was now the leader of the aristocratic families. They were always shouting for war against the eunuch group, as if they had forgotten that it was the eunuch named Yuan She in their family who supported the Yuan family of Runan, which led to their current reputation of having three officials in four generations.

After a while, when Gao Wang returned to the side hall of Yong'an Palace to report to Liu Bian that Zhang Rang and the other two had left, Liu Bian was reviewing the memorial in his hand, without even raising his head, and asked a question as if he was possessed by a strange feeling.

"Did they see through it?"

"Your Highness, they are all very experienced and cunning. If they didn't have this ability, Your Highness wouldn't have given them this opportunity." Gao Wang bowed and continued with a smile, "But they have no way out. They will be loyal to whoever gives them a chance to survive."

"Your Highness is their only chance of survival. Even if the scholars promise them a chance of survival, the conditions cannot be better than what Your Highness offers. Even if the conditions are better than what Your Highness offers, they dare not believe it."

"I congratulate Your Highness on receiving three sharp blades."

Liu Bian nodded, then kicked a wooden box under the table. Inside were rolls of bamboo slips, which were memorials submitted by officials.

"Take it to the kitchen and have the eunuch chop it up and use it as firewood."

Liu Bian rubbed his brows. All those who submitted memorials were just bored. There were only a few volumes of memorials concerning practical matters. The rest were all from officials requesting Liu Bian to kill the eunuchs and inquiring about the emperor's health.

Watching Gao Wang bending down to lift the wooden box, Liu Bian tapped his shoulder with his pen and whispered, "Awang, don't dirty your hands. Let them do more of the dirty work."

"You are still young, and you are my confidant. You and I are both people of the new era, but they are different."

"They are knives, and you..."

The moment Gao Wang turned around, he met Liu Bian's gaze and saw the sincerity in Liu Bian's eyes.

"you are human!"

"I hope that a hundred years from now, you will have a place beside my mausoleum."

"Your Highness!" Gao Wang's eyes were really red.

Buried in the imperial tomb!

What an honor and gift this is!
Even if the prince only said some nice words to him, maybe he would regret it in the future, or the ministers and officials would firmly oppose it, but the respect contained in the prince's words at this moment was real.

And respect is what these physically disabled people lack the most.

After all, aren't eunuchs greedy for money and power just to gain respect from others?
Liu Bian waved his hand, indicating Gao Wang to leave with some disgust.

"You and I, the king and his subject, should stop playing these games. Why should a man shed tears?"

However, just as Gao Wang walked to the door of the hall, he heard a bland voice behind him.

"Zhang Rang is often ill. You should encourage him."

Gao Wang paused for a moment, and then his eyes lit up.

Is Zhang Rang often ill?
In fact, Zhang Rang was still in good health and had not been ill much. So what did the prince mean?

Zhang Rang was born in the second year of Yangjia (133 AD) and is now over years old.

At the age of thirty, when he calls himself an old man, Zhang Rang might not have many years left to live.

The prince really values ​​me!
Your Highness's kindness is something I will never be able to repay in this lifetime!

(End of this chapter)