Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 271 The Hope of the Nation is No Ordinary Person
"Your subject Feng Yuantu greets the Empress Dowager."

Feng Ji is not tall and is slightly chubby. He always has a faint smile on his face, which makes him look quite approachable.

"You serve that wicked and treacherous Yuan Shao... Are you not afraid of death coming here?"

The Empress Dowager will still put pressure on people, but she is somewhat lacking in confidence.

"It is precisely because of the fear of death that we have come to discuss this with the Empress Dowager..."

Feng Ji spoke as if he were always smiling: "My words are of great importance and cannot be passed on to six ears. Please dismiss those around you, Your Majesty."

The Empress Dowager knew that if there were any deals going on, it was not appropriate for others to overhear them, so she waved for the palace servants and Fu Wan to leave, leaving only a few burly old women as guards: "What does Yuan Shao want to do?"

"General Yuan did not want to fight to the death in Luoyang; he wanted to make a deal with the Empress Dowager."

Seeing that there was no one else around, Feng Ji became much more direct in his speech.

"Buy or sell?"

The Empress Dowager frowned: "What kind of business?"

"I must first ask the Empress Dowager. Marquis Shi is the Empress Dowager's own grandson. Will the Empress Dowager consider kinship?"

Feng Ji first asked a question.

"...Why bother asking about this..."

The Empress Dowager did not answer directly, but it was clear that she could not simply order Liu Bian's death.

Although the Empress Dowager disliked Liu Bian and had little contact with him, so they didn't have much affection for each other, he was still her grandson.

Although there were many rumors about Liu Bian, for the Empress Dowager, these rumors would only cause Liu Bian to lose the support of the officials, which would be a good thing for her or Liu Xie.

Moreover, Liu Bian was actually safe because of this rumor, since no one needed to kill him and no one could kill him.

"General Yuan intends to send Marquis Shi back to the Empress Dowager's side... General Yuan has no intention of supporting Marquis Shi on his own. All his previous actions were to protect Marquis Shi's safety."

Feng Ji did not press further, and nodded, saying, "But if we want Marquis Shi to return to the capital, we need to ask the Empress Dowager to replace some of his people."

Who should we replace?

The Empress Dowager was still willing to do this kind of deal.

“Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong, Duan Gui…and all the eunuchs who served in the Yellow Gate Office.”

Empress Dowager Feng Ji smiled and said, "Exchanging a eunuch for a prince is the duty of eunuchs, and it is also their honor..."

"Just to eliminate the eunuchs?"

Upon hearing that the only offer was to exchange Liu Bian for the palace eunuchs, the Empress Dowager breathed a sigh of relief, but was still puzzled: "Yuan Shao is a traitor, and I have already exterminated all his clansmen in Luoyang... How could he possibly be negotiating such a deal with me? Are you trying to deceive me?!"

"Outrageous? What makes you even talk about that?"

Feng Ji shook his head and said, "Many officials in the court were recruited by General He, and I'm afraid half of them have acted on his orders. May I ask Your Majesty, are such officials, who act on orders, considered wicked and rebellious?"

"...That doesn't count..."

The Empress Dowager frowned, but still slowly shook her head.

When He Jin held great power, there were many officials who acted on his orders, and those officials certainly cannot be considered traitors.

Not only officials, but many of He Jin's subordinates were also recruited by Dong Zhuo. If they were all considered traitors, then probably half the people in Luoyang would be counted...

"Since that's the case, General Yuan and I are in the same boat..."

Feng Ji nodded and said, "General Yuan was originally a staff member of General He's staff. All his actions were carried out on the orders of the General. At that time, General He was fighting with the eunuchs and He Miao, and the capital was in chaos. Yuan was ordered by the army to protect Shi Hou when he went out. This was his duty and should not be considered a crime."

The Empress Dowager remained silent.

If He Jin truly gave the order, then Yuan Shao cannot be considered guilty—at least not the ringleader.

Feng Ji continued, "Upon learning of General He's treasonous plot, General Yuan immediately broke away from He Jin's forces, defeated He Jin's troops at Xiaopingjin, and led his troops to protect Marquis Shi. This can be considered timely service to the court to restore order... However, there are treacherous individuals in the court who prevent General Yuan from returning to the court, and they even control the court and arbitrarily kill General Yuan's family members... Who is the traitor is truly hard to say..."

"Feng Yuantu, what do you mean by that?"

The Empress Dowager's face was grim, after all, it was she who had given the order to kill the Yuan family members: "Yuan Shao attacked the palace, causing His Majesty's death, slaughtered all the eunuchs and courtiers in the Southern Palace, and kidnapped Marquis Shi as a hostage. Now he is using Marquis Shi to launch a raid on Luoyang... Do such a traitorous villain think he can absolve himself of his crimes?!"

"The attack on the Forbidden City was ordered by He Jin, and military orders must be obeyed. However, General Yuan did not aid He Jin, but instead protected Marquis Shi and helped him escape from the turmoil of Luoyang in time... This is a model of loyalty!"

Feng Ji maintained his faint smile: "General Yuan has stationed his troops in Luoyang because his clansmen were murdered, and General Yuan will surely avenge this... This is an act of filial piety and righteousness..."

"...Did you come here just to distort the truth and exonerate Yuan Shao? The entire Yuan family has been executed; they are mortal enemies. What use is it to defend them?!"

The Empress Dowager asked through gritted teeth.

To portray disloyalty and filial impiety as exemplary loyalty and virtue—Feng Ji is truly remarkable. "Your Majesty, if General Yuan is burdened with a grave crime and has no other choice, then of course he must fight to the death. Whether General Yuan lives or dies is uncertain… but he will certainly drag the entire city of Luoyang down with him…"

Feng Ji also laid it all out, saying, "But if General Yuan has a grudge to settle and a way out, then naturally there's no need for him to fight to the death with Luoyang... Your Majesty, I'm not defending General Yuan, but exonerating you..."

"To exonerate me? What crime have I committed?!"

The Empress Dowager looked displeased, but also somewhat nervous.

"The crime of killing the entire Yuan family..."

Feng Ji smiled slightly: "General Yuan will surely avenge the massacre of his entire clan, otherwise he would not have withdrawn his troops. That's why I've come to make a deal with the Empress Dowager to have the Yuan clan killed by the eunuchs..."

"..."

The Empress Dowager remained silent for a while, then she roughly understood Feng Ji's intention: "Feng Yuantu, what do you intend to do?"

"General Yuan came to eliminate the eunuchs. The Empress Dowager can publicly say that He Jin's struggle with the eunuchs has harmed the country. Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong and other eunuch villains should be bound and taken out of the city. Then you can bring back Marquis Shi."

Feng Ji said directly, "General Yuan has returned Marquis Shi, so he no longer intends to support him. At the same time, he no longer has a pretext to advance his troops, and his soldiers will no longer be able to attack Luoyang. The siege of Luoyang will be resolved on its own."

"Once all the eunuchs are eliminated, General Yuan will withdraw his troops, Luoyang will be safe, and General Yuan will be free of guilt... Wouldn't that be a win-win situation?"

The Empress Dowager frowned, thinking for a long time: "...Feng Ji, did Yuan Shao really intend this? His entire clan perished..."

The Empress Dowager still didn't quite believe it.

After all, she had just ordered the killing of the Yuan family members.

"Not only General Yuan has this idea, but his subordinates also have this idea, and all the officials in Luoyang have this idea... No one wants to die in Luoyang, right?"

Feng Ji spread his hands: "General Yuan has committed the crime of immorality. If we do not use this to ease the situation, then we can only fight to the death until we kill all the officials, slaughter Luoyang, and silence all the voices of the people... Your Majesty, first bind the eunuchs and bring them out of the city to exchange for the return of Marquis Shi. This will show you General Yuan's sincerity."

"...Come here!"

After pondering for a long time, the Empress Dowager finally got up and summoned Fu Wan, ordering him to arrest the eunuchs Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong, and Duan Gui.

After all... the Empress Dowager herself wanted to get rid of Zhang Rang and the others.

……

As dusk fell, bathed in the last rays of the setting sun, the Empress Dowager, accompanied by her officials and a dozen eunuchs including Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong, arrived at the Gumen city gate.

Feng Ji escorted the eunuchs out of the city and exchanged them for Liu Bian from Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao kept his word and did not attack the city, nor did he launch any more catapults.

After Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong, and the others were escorted to the moat, Yuan Shao came to Zhang Rang's side, pointed to the moat of Luoyang, and whispered in his ear, "Lord Zhang died to protect Luoyang, which can be considered as leaving a good name after death, so that his descendants will not lose their future."

"Your Majesty... Your subject has come to find you."

Zhang Rang knew this was the best option; at least he would have a complete corpse. He turned around and bowed deeply towards Luoyang City before jumping into the moat.

Zhao Zhong, Duan Gui, and others followed suit, and more than a dozen eunuchs jumped into the river and drowned themselves in front of all the officials and generals inside and outside the city.

They were all bound by ropes, and within moments they all drowned beneath the city walls.

Liu Bian was also sent back to the city.

Then, Yuan Shao faced the direction of Beiman and kowtowed, weeping bitterly. He then asked the Empress Dowager to return the bodies of his family members: "I was ordered by the General-in-Chief to exterminate the eunuchs and protect Marquis Shi, but I never expected to be misunderstood like this, which led to the death of my relatives... I dare not resent the court, I only ask to have my relatives' remains returned to their hometown for burial..."

Weeping is contagious, and the officials were all deeply moved by this, pleading for leniency.

As a result, Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu also ceased hostilities in Xiamen.

As night fell, Yuan Shao planted the banner of "Exterminate the Eunuchs" on the moat and led his troops to transport hundreds of corpses of the Yuan family members before retreating.

Lü Bu, Zhang Yang, Xia Mou, and others did not retreat with the troops... because they had nominally joined Liu Bian, and now that Liu Bian had returned to the capital, they naturally would not continue to follow Yuan Shao.

Only Chunyu Qiong and Wu Kuang traveled with Yuan Shao, reducing Yuan Shao's troops to seven thousand.

Yuan Shao led his troops from the north of the city to the east, heading towards Yanzhou; it was a genuine retreat.

Lu Bu panicked.

Shi Hou entered Luoyang, and Yuan Shao abandoned them there, and did so with a seemingly justifiable reason...

The current situation is that Yuan Shao was merely acting on He Jin's orders, but was subsequently "misunderstood" and "persecuted" by the court, resulting in his clansmen being "killed by eunuchs." Yuan Shao executed the eunuchs, disregarded his own gains and losses, returned the remains of his clansmen to Liu Bian, and then transported their bodies back to their hometown for burial...

This is clearly a tragic hero who embodies both loyalty and filial piety, yet the imperial court is playing the villainous role of a loyal minister who is accused of murdering his entire family… especially if it were further embellished with the style of writing from the Northeast…

(End of this chapter)