Three Kingdoms: I, Yuan Shu, Loyal Officials of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 264 The crape myrtle is lush and bright, shining brightly under the sun, bathed in the same light!
"From ancient times to the present, throughout the vast history of China, there has never been such arrogance and depravity!"

Throughout the vast land of China, among countless millions of people, no one has ever seen such blatant deception of the emperor!
You traitor Yuan, how dare you rebel against the Heavenly Gang, denounce the imperial court as a false dynasty, establish your own temple, and usurp power for the country!
The crape myrtle is lush and vibrant, its beauty dazzling and magnificent.

If I do not kill this traitor, how can the souls of the twenty-four emperors return to the earth and smile in the afterlife?

The sun is shining brightly, and we are bathing in the same light!
"If I do not recover Huainan and restore our land in this lifetime, how can I save the world, bring peace to the people, and revive the Han Dynasty?"

After reading the edict, Liu Xie gritted his teeth and, with his sword, cut the "Edict of the King of Han to the World" in two, and reprimanded his ministers.

"All of you gentlemen, you should prioritize the campaign against Yuan Shikai, continue the ambitions of Emperor Guangwu, and accomplish the task of reviving the Han dynasty!"

"Any further infighting, disloyalty, power grabs, or personal gain will be dealt with according to this decree!"

Upon hearing this, Cao Cao clapped his hands and laughed.

“Yuan Shikai is laughable. His Majesty clearly acts independently and speaks from the heart. This is something all of you can see. So why is Cao Cao forcing him?”

Your Majesty's determination to punish the traitors resonates deeply with me.

The arrogant Yuan Shikai has even denounced Luoyang as a false dynasty. He has established his capital here today and will declare himself emperor tomorrow. Such a rebellious and treacherous traitor deserves to be punished by Heaven!

Cao Ren, do not hesitate. You shall immediately obey His Majesty's decree and rush to Wuguan to guard the pass and seize the opportunity to suppress the bandits.

When the summer solstice comes next year, Cao Cao will reorganize his troops, lead his fierce army, and march straight to Shouchun, behead them, and present their heads to Your Majesty!
only"

He changed the subject, his gaze sweeping over the assembled officials.

"As Your Majesty said, the cause of reviving the Han Dynasty requires concerted efforts."

As the Imperial Censor, if any petty people in the court form cliques to attack dissidents and cause trouble, they will be punished for colluding with Yuan Shikai.

Cao Cao had said beforehand that the current situation was difficult, the nation was on the verge of collapse, and foreign enemies posed a threat like tigers and wolves.

Tolerance is the foundation of the nation and the stability of the court. The first priority is to eliminate Yuan Shikai. We can discuss right and wrong, loyalty and treachery, on the day Yuan Shikai dies.

Anyone who dares to disobey, even if His Majesty spares you, Cao Cao will not tolerate it!

Upon seeing this, Liu Bei immediately expressed his opinion.

"Yun Chang, you should also leave the city immediately to lead troops to Huanyuan Pass to defend against the Yuan traitor."

"Prepare for the new army to train in the Western Garden. With well-trained troops and ample provisions, the day will come to quell the rebellion, restore the Han Dynasty, and endure hardship for the sake of the nation!"

"To uphold the Han Dynasty, we must endure hardship for the sake of the country!"

Seeing that both he and Cao Cao had expressed their opinions, the courtiers in the hall echoed in unison, their voices resounding throughout the nine-layered palace.

However, while they appear to be working together with one heart, it remains to be seen whether they harbor their own agendas in private.

In particular, after hearing Cao Anmin introduce the merit book system of Yuan's camp, it was clear that as long as one made ten outstanding contributions, one could obtain the position of prime minister.

Judging from this edict from the King of Han, if the head of the traitor Cao is presented, it would be worth nine enormous merits.

The courtiers: "."

With the officials and the people united as one, even Cao Anmin expressed his ambition to overthrow Yuan Shikai, and the whole scene looked like a place dedicated to the restoration of the Han dynasty.

After the court proceedings concluded, the court adjourned.

Not long after, outside Luoyang, the sun began to set.

The carriages rumbled and the horses neighed, all adorned with white banners. Young men bid farewell to their loved ones on the path, and all along the way were filled with sorrow.

"Young Master Kong need not be too sad. He sought benevolence and attained it, and his name will be remembered for eternity. This is not a sad thing, but a joyous one."

You are all orphans of loyal martyrs; your journey to escort the coffin back to Shandong will surely be smooth and safe.

"To be remembered for all time?"

Kong Rong's son smiled bitterly, "Young Master Yang is right. Mencius said: 'Fish is what I desire, and bear's paw is also what I desire. If I cannot have both, I will give up fish and take bear's paw.'"

My father has sacrificed his life for righteousness, which is what the ancient sages did. As his son, I should be happy for him.

He spoke with feigned joy and a forced smile, his eyes blurred with tears, as he helped the coffin away, only sobbing softly.

Those who seek fame will inevitably be burdened by it, and those who value fame more than their lives will also die because of it.

The trend of seeking fame in our time reached its peak after my father.

If things are going well, one should not waste time talking about fame; if things are going badly, one should die to repay the king.

Father, I do not understand. Is this world, for which you died, the very world you spoke of, the righteousness and benevolence of our most revered teacher?

As Yang Xiu watched the Kong family's hearse and horses gradually disappear into the distance, a sense of worry and unease lingered between his brows.

He set up this scheme with the intention of using the pretext of righteousness and the pressure of the ministers' desire to kill Cao Cao to force Cao Cao out of Luoyang.

To carry out this plan, one person is indispensable, and that person is Xun Yu.

When Cao Cao was away, he was the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, in charge of the court. Without his tacit approval, this plan could not have been carried out. Before the ministers could even coordinate, detailed intelligence from Luoyang had already been delivered to Cao Cao.

Cao Ren's butcher's knife will fall on each and every household. He cannot kill the emperor, nor can he storm the palace. So where can the officials and their families outside the palace escape?
Only if Xun Yu tacitly approves and pretends not to know can the sudden incident occur so hastily, catching Cao Cao's camp off guard. This is also why he wanted to test Xun Yu last time.

It was precisely because the test revealed that although Xun Yu held a different stance from himself, his loyalty to the Han dynasty had not wavered.

That's why we have the situation we have today!

From Xun Yu's perspective, was it better to have Cao Cao return to Luoyang and control the court, or to have Cao Cao go on a distant expedition and entrust all the important affairs of the court to him?
As long as Cao Cao was away on campaigns, Xun Yu was clearly better able to handle the relationship between the emperor and Cao Cao's group, and better able to maintain the balance between being a powerful minister and supporting the emperor.

As long as Cao Cao is on a distant expedition, he is needed to conquer Yuan Shu, attack Yuan Shao, destroy Lü Bu, take over Shu, and revive the Han dynasty. This is exactly what the Han general Cao Hou, who conquers east, west, south, and north, needs!

Therefore, the current situation is a result of the tacit understanding between him and Xun Yu. Xun Yu knew that he wanted to force Cao Cao, not kill him, so he acquiesced.

On the matter of sending Cao Hou out to conquer the east, west, south, and north, their interests were surprisingly aligned.

But who would have thought?

Thinking of this, Yang Xiu also sighed softly.

Just when there was hope for the restoration of the Han dynasty and the Han court was about to unite as one, Yuan Gong of Huainan suddenly appeared, diverting the attention of the ministers.

Yuan Shu conspiracy theory?
That's bullshit!
Do you think my Yang family doesn't know what the Yuan family did and didn't do?
The disaster of the Party Prohibitions?

This thing was clearly made by them together.

Confusing cause and effect!

It wasn't until the disaster of the Party Prohibitions that powerful families banded together, with the Yuan family taking the lead.

Rather, it was because powerful families banded together, with the Yuan family holding the reins, the Yang family assisting them, and other families following suit, seizing power over the world for their own use and feasting on the people of the land.

The late emperor was isolated and helpless, and could only rely on the eunuchs, thus inflicting the disaster of the partisan purge.

But what good is that? The late emperor imprisoned so many scholars, yet those who came to power were still his own people.

The so-called "disaster of the Party Prohibitions" was merely a way for His Majesty to vent his anger and prevent him from harming his health.

But what does this have to do with Yuan Shu?

As for the claim that he secretly supported Zhang Jiao as a substitute, while Yuan Shu was the true great and wise teacher, that's even more laughable.

During the Yellow Turban Rebellion, how many powerful families in the country perished, and how many powerful families in Runan perished? How many high-ranking officials were separated from their wives and children, and how many officials and nobles had their families destroyed?

Yuan Shu, a man from a family that had held high office for four generations, abandoned his position as the leader of these aristocratic families and instead went to undermine their foundations, becoming their public enemy.
As for the current peaceful and prosperous scene in Huainan, it is merely a means for him to mislead the people and seize power.

Could a nobleman from a family that had held high office for four generations really care about those commoners? Yang Xiu didn't believe it! To take that seriously would be as foolish as those ignorant people who were misled by Yuan Shu!
As for He Jin and Dong Zhuo, if he really had the ability, he could have used Dong Zhuo's status as a former official of the Yuan family to seize control of the court. Why go through all that trouble?
Only this last thing happened: the fake eighteen warlords attacked Dong Zhuo and massacred the Yuan family.

Sacrificing one's entire family to establish dominance over the world is a more respectable and dignified act, something Yuan Shu would be capable of.

Yang Xiu knew these inside stories, and Cao Cao certainly knew them too.

Demonizing Yuan Shu for no reason would not only absolve him of his repeated defeats, but also shift internal conflicts outwards. Why not do it?
As for the high-ranking officials in the court, they either don't understand or pretend not to understand.

After all, none of them were like Liu Yao, Liu Biao, or Liu Bei, who had repeatedly been defeated by Yuan Shu and were in dire need of proving themselves.

He was like his own father, Yang Biao, a powerful family head who conspired with the Yuan family to force the late emperor to imprison the party.

The inside story here is not something that can be openly told to His Majesty. Seeing someone stepping forward to take the blame, he is naturally happy to see it happen. Why would he jump out to defend Yuan Shu?

Even worse, some of Yuan Shu's former protégés and subordinates, whose positions in the court were already precarious, jumped out to defend and whitewash Yuan Shu, inevitably raising suspicions of collusion with Yuan.

If so, then the demon Yuan Shu is already the popular choice, and the opinions of the others, even those who are knowledgeable and know the truth, are like waves crashing against the tide, unable to stop the trend of the times.

Yang Xiu knew without guessing that in the future, whether it was military defeat, favoritism, perverting the law, or embezzlement, once the matter came to light, someone would jump out and say that they had been tricked by Yuan Shu, and then fabricate a seemingly reasonable explanation.

After all, Yuan Shu was like a demon, unpredictable and mysterious. It wouldn't be unreasonable for him to secretly steal silver from the national treasury, would it?
It wouldn't be unreasonable to deliberately change the building materials and use inferior materials, would it?
Is it too much to send bandits to plunder relief grain, leaving the disaster area littered with corpses of the starving?
Your Majesty, this is all Yuan's scheme! Yuan's tactics! His aim is to weaken us in order to seize the throne.

Even if they suffer a defeat in the future, they can still add: "The traitor Yuan is incredibly powerful, beyond human capability to defeat."

It can be said that establishing the image of Yuan Shikai as a demonic traitor is a win-win situation, and even His Majesty can use this to unite the hearts of the people of the Han Dynasty and unite against Yuan Shikai.

"How could Yuan Shikai be so wicked?"

Yang Xiu chuckled softly, but his eyes were filled with bitterness.

How can we possibly uphold the Han Dynasty if we rule the world together with these selfish and self-serving parasites?
Not to mention today, in the imperial court, a "Han King's Edict" was presented to the emperor, completely disrupting all his plans.

His original intention was to use the pretext of righteousness to force Cao Cao to leave, leaving him no choice but to comply.

As a result, Yuan Shu presented an even greater righteous cause, forcing everyone in the Luoyang court to follow his will!
Recalling every word of the "Edict of the King of Han to the World" that had been passed down, a proud figure involuntarily appeared before Yang Xiu's eyes.

He looked down on the court and the people, and presumptuously regarded the world as his superior!

He proclaimed to the world:
【Come!

I hereby proclaim myself King of Han, establish my capital at Shouchun, and set up a new imperial court to denounce your false dynasty!
come!

Those who are dedicated to restoring the Han dynasty, the emperor's officials, and those who are willing to die for their principles.

The White Horse Alliance—a pact to be broken by the whole world! I await you in Huainan!

Whenever he thought of these things, Yang Xiu would raise his hand to his forehead, his worries deepening.

What hope is there for a united front against them?

Whether Yuan Shao in the north was willing to fight or not, his geographical location made it impossible for him to reach Yuan Shu.

Liu Zhang of Shu was complacent and isolated, and the Shu Road separated him from Yuan Shu, making it difficult for Yuan Shu to attack him, and it was also difficult for Liu Zhang to attack Yuan Shu.

After counting them all, among all the warlords in the land, the only one who could unite against Yuan Shu was the fickle and untrustworthy Lü Bu.

As for the imperial court in Luoyang, having suffered successive defeats, it is currently able to maintain its position thanks to the natural defenses of the eight passes of Luoyang.

If we were to be swayed by Yuan Shu's righteous cause of the White Horse Alliance and willingly leave the pass to surrender, then we would be courting death.

Fortunately, Cao Cao was still alive, which had its advantages. He managed to stabilize the situation by raising the banner of opposing Yuan Shikai and sending troops to guard the two passes, thus preventing the worst-case scenario from happening.

"Among all these officials, mediocre and selfish, the only one who could accomplish anything was the traitor Cao Cao."

This undertaking to revive the Han dynasty is far too difficult.

On the other hand, Liu Yao, who had finally finished his many important tasks for the day and returned home, was resting with his concubine late at night when he suddenly heard a servant report.

"Sir, someone claiming to be an old friend has come to visit."

Liu Yao, who had just become interested, frowned slightly.

"It's late at night, I'm not here."

Tell him I've already gone to bed and that he can come again tomorrow.

A short while later, the servants arrived again.

"Sir, that man refuses to leave. He asked me to ask you something:"
Grand Tutor, do you still remember the old days when you escorted me a thousand miles to Chang'an?
Has he forgotten the friends he had when he was down on his luck, now that he has risen to such high rank and become a powerful figure?

Liu Yao was startled and his body immediately went weak. He hurriedly called out:
"Please invite our guest into the study for a chat!"

As he spoke, he quickly got out of bed, dressed, and went to the study.

The man was already waiting, and in the dim candlelight, a familiar face appeared.

It was Yuan San!

shock!
When he was defeated and captured, Yuan Shu sent eighteen of his retainers to escort him to Chang'an. However, the world was in turmoil along the way, and by the time they arrived, only the two of them remained.

One of them was Yuan San, who was standing before him. At that time, Li Guo caused great chaos in Chang'an, and the emperor's return to the east happened suddenly.

Liu Yao ordered him to take a letter and return urgently to Huainan, requesting Yuan Shu to send troops to aid the emperor and welcome him back. After that, they never met again.

As for the other person, Yuan Yi!

It was a nightmare for Liu Yao, causing him to have seizures in the middle of the night.

When Liu Yao saw Yuan San again at this moment, how could he not be surprised and suspicious?

"Yuan San, what's wrong with you?"

How did I get here?

Before Liu Yao could finish speaking, Yuan San interrupted him with a smile.

"It's very simple. Just like when I escorted Grand Tutor Liu to the capital, I was one of the guards who escorted Grand Tutor Liu to the capital."

Of course, since you, Grand Tutor, are experienced, I won't elaborate further.

As you know, a Yuan family assassin like myself who comes to Luoyang must bear a heavy responsibility from our patriarch, Lord Yuan, and is about to accomplish something earth-shattering.”

"How dare you! You're so insolent!"

A momentous event?

Thinking back to what Yuan Yi had done, Liu Yao became increasingly fierce on the outside but weak on the inside, filled with fear and unease.

"Get out of here right now, and pretend we've never met."

I have no connection with you anymore. Go back and tell your master not to send anyone to look for me again.

Don't think I don't know what he's done. If it really comes to that, I'll fight him to the death!

"Grand Tutor Liu is joking."

The fish will die, but the net will not break.

As the candlelight flickered, it illuminated his face, which was now glowing intermittently. Yuan San murmured and chuckled softly.

"Grand Tutor, you don't want people to know that you participated in the assassination attempt on His Majesty, do you?"

(End of this chapter)