My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 354 Useless Advice

Fan Zigai led a group of officials and walked quickly toward the temporary court where Su Wei was located.

After Yuwen Shu relaxed his control over the emperor, these loyal military officers and ministers were finally able to enter the city and make contact with the emperor.

Like Wei Xuan, Fan Zigai was known for his integrity and loyalty.

As an official, Fan Zigai had excellent personal morality and achieved great political success in governing the region, earning him the deep love and respect of the people. However, he was quite different from Wei Xuan and others; Fan Zigai would carry out all the emperor's orders.

If the emperor had ordered Wei Xuan to deal with Su Wei, Wei Xuan would probably have backed down and would not have done anything wrong, even at the risk of being punished. But Fan Zigai was different. He didn't care who the other party was; he only followed the imperial edict.

Historically, Fan Zigai, a man of decent moral character, obeyed the emperor's edict and massacred villages north of the Fen River, causing a large number of people to flee. He then captured and buried alive these fleeing people, regardless of age or morality. This extreme act of suppressing bandits not only failed to quell the rebellion but also caused it to escalate further, with the number of bandits increasing despite repeated suppression efforts.

He led many of the emperor's confidants into Liuhe City and had several armies wait at the city gate.

Fan Zigai was aware of the severity of the situation.

Before entering the city, many ministers felt that they should not rush in. They suggested that only a few people be sent in to find out the situation. They were worried that they would be subdued by Yuwen Shu after entering the city. They were worried that distant water could not quench the fire nearby. Their troops were all outside the city, or even at the city gate. If they were captured, their troops would be useless.

However, Fan Zigai disagreed. The emperor had ordered them to go; how could they refuse? They would go even if it meant their lives were shattered to pieces!
Under his orders, the group could only keep some contingency plans, the outcome of which was uncertain, before going in to pay their respects to the emperor.

Fortunately, the situation appears to have eased.

Among these people, you might even spot an old acquaintance.

That's right, it was Zhao Yuanshu.

Zhao Yuanshu followed closely behind Fan Zigai.

After Yang Guang went on the expedition, he ordered some ministers to take up military positions. Especially after the Liaodong City incident, he gathered many armies and put his confidants into those armies to avoid a repeat of the Liaodong City incident.

Zhao Yuanshu was also thrown out at this time, and he was assigned to a foreign army unit to be in charge of logistics.

Zhao Yuanshu has been terrified these days. When they were about to enter the city, he was the one who kept trying to persuade Fan Zigai not to go in.

Seeing the wide and peaceful road, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. He smiled and said to Fan Zigai, "Lord Fan, it seems Yuwen Shu has truly backed down. You have rendered meritorious service in saving the emperor this time, and you will surely be rewarded in the future."

General Guo Rong of the Left Guard frowned and interrupted the man's flattery, "Stop talking nonsense!"

Guo Rong was born into the Guo clan of Taiyuan. He was a close friend of Emperor Wen of Sui when he was young and later supported his brother. He was extremely loyal to the Yang family. He strongly opposed the emperor's personal command of the expedition and even advised the emperor to his face.

Because of Guo Rong's seniority, the emperor dared not be angry, but he still sent people to secretly investigate Guo Rong's crimes. He learned that Guo Rong was very brave in battle and did not take off his armor for many days. Despite his advanced age, he still led from the front. The emperor was moved and did not pursue his mistakes.

Guo Rong entered the city with Fan Zigai this time, making them two of the emperor's main forces.

The emperor's idea was simple: replace Su Wei with Fan Zigai, replace Yuan Shou with Guo Rong, and fill the vacant positions in the court with Zhao Yuanshu and others who had followed him, so as to restore the administrative capacity of the imperial court as soon as possible.

Guo Rong looked at Fan Zigai and said helplessly, "It is impossible for Lord Su to rebel."

"The Duke of Xu did these things because of some absurd orders."

"To resolve these issues, we should rely on Lord Su; we really shouldn't treat him as an enemy."

Although Guo Rong was on the emperor's side, he was not very willing to obey the emperor's edict.

The emperor summoned them into the city for a private meeting. He informed Guo Rong, Yuwen Shu, and others that they had rebelled, murdered ministers such as Pei Yun, and that Su Wei had seized power amidst the chaos, appointing himself Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, and harboring treacherous intentions.

Guo Rong was quite helpless about this, but he dared not say these things in front of His Majesty.

If we were to tell His Majesty these things, he might mistakenly think we are accomplices of Su Wei, and the situation would become even worse.

However, he still wanted to try to persuade Fan Zigai.

The emperor was in the wrong from the start, and this is not the way to resolve it. If Su Wei is taken away, who among them can keep those fierce generals in check?
Fan Zigai's expression was solemn. "I understand what Lord Guo means, but since His Majesty has issued the decree, we have no choice but to do it!" "I know of Lord Su's virtuous reputation, but how to deal with him is not something we can decide. It is His Majesty's decision. As his subjects, we only need to carry out His Majesty's decree."

Fan Zigai was extremely resolute.

Guo Rong hesitated for a moment, "I did not say that I would disobey His Majesty's edict. His Majesty's edict is for us to take over from Su Gong, govern the court, appease the army, and withdraw in an orderly manner. However, we should think about the specific implementation further and not be hasty."

"Oh?"

“For example, I think we need to be cautious about the matter of dismissing Lord Su. We’ve only just entered the city. If we go straight into the government office and read out the imperial edict to dismiss Lord Su, what will the officials who remain think? What will Lord Su think? What about the generals?”

"Removal is possible, but could we wait a while? We could temporarily let Lord Su take the lead, allowing him to remain in the government office while we assist him in completing the necessary transfers, and then proceed with the removal."

Guo Rong could only try his best to persuade him.

Fan Zigai continued to shake his head.

"His Majesty said that Su Gong harbors rebellious intentions and must be dismissed as soon as possible to prevent him from contacting foreign troops."

"Guo Gong, you just need to do your own job. Leave the affairs of the government office to me, and you can handle the exchange of training grounds between foreign troops."

Just like Yuwen Shu, Yang Guang also wanted a quick victory.

Yang Guang didn't know whether Yuwen Shu was genuinely retreating or feigning it, but he wanted to make full use of this opportunity and act as quickly as possible, giving Yuwen Shu no chance to react.

Yang Guang's plan was this: Fan Zigai would take control of the court and place Su Wei under house arrest, while Guo Rong would be ordered to forcibly lead the outer troops to relocate, forcing Yuwen Shu and others out of the city.

Mai Tiezhang has also received the imperial edict and is ready to attack and kill Duan Da at any time to retake the camp.

The three-step strategy had to be completed almost simultaneously. The emperor had only given them one day. Before tomorrow, Liuhe City had to return to the emperor's rule, and all foreign troops and generals had to leave. Then the army began to withdraw to Zhuojun.

Mai Tiezhang and Fan Zigai were both willing to obey the imperial edict, but Guo Rong felt that the matter was too risky.

But Guo Rong couldn't persuade the emperor at all, even though he was the late emperor's good brother and had watched Yang Guang grow up.

Reaching the fork in the road, Guo Rong reluctantly led his generals toward the city gate.

Fan Zigai went directly to the government office opposite.

Many officials quickly gathered around.

Such a thing happened in the court; some people were afraid, while others were delighted.

This expedition left many vacancies in the court. Officials at all levels who went on the expedition suffered heavy casualties. The emperor took more than 4,000 officials with him when he went out, forming an extremely large group of officials. By the time they reached Zhuojun, hundreds of them had died. Many more died of illness when they reached Liaodong. By the time they reached Liuhe City, even officials of the rank of Inner Secretary began to die of illness.
Many people see this as a good opportunity for promotion.

The old men have all died of illness, and the vacancies they left behind will naturally fall into my hands.

"Lord Fan! Su Wei has been in the court for many years, and he must have many confidants within the government. I'm afraid they might be secretly helping Su Wei. I know those people who are closest to Su Wei on a daily basis."

Some people quickly began to flatter, their aim being to bring down even more people so they could rise to the top.

Fan Zigai frowned. "Don't address Lord Su by his name directly. There are many people in the court who are on good terms with Lord Su. Are they all to be arrested? I am also quite close to him. Should I be punished as well?"

Hearing his words, the crowd dared not speak any further.

They arrived at the gate of the government office, where two soldiers stood guard and could hear a commotion coming from inside.

Fan Zigai looked at the two young generals and said, "You two take your men and guard this place. Do not allow anyone to enter or leave."

"Here!!"

(End of this chapter)