The imperial cause at the end of the Han Dynasty was not one of partial peace.

Chapter 99 The Dream of the Han Dynasty's Revival and Demise - This is a Chaotic Decree, Changsha Refuses to Obey!

The sixth year of the Zhongping era was destined to be a year that will be recorded in history.

When future generations open the yellowed bamboo slips and look back on this year, they will be surprised to find that the scene at the beginning of this year is like a dream of a prosperous era restarting.

Those momentous events that will be repeatedly pondered in later history books and lamented by countless people have not yet occurred.

People living in the present day see a magnificent picture of the revival of the Han Dynasty.

The New Year's Day celebrations had just ended, the festive peachwood charms still hung above the doorways, and the smoke from firecrackers had not yet dissipated. Then, a swift horse came from the west, its hooves thundering, shattering the morning bells of Luoyang—the great victory at Liangzhou!

Since the Yellow Turban Rebellion began in the first year of the Zhongping era, Liangzhou had been in ruins. The rebel leaders—Beigong Boyu, Bian Zhang, Han Sui, and Wang Guo—changed one after another, and the imperial army changed hands repeatedly. Zhang Wen, Zhou Shen, Dong Zhuo, and Sun Jian either suffered defeats or retreated; none of them were able to achieve complete victory.

This rebellion, which lasted for several years, nearly depleted the imperial treasury and exhausted the emperor's patience.

Last winter, the Emperor appointed Huangfu Song as Left General, to supervise General Dong Zhuo, and together they led 40,000 troops to attack Wang Guo in the west. When Song arrived at Chencang, Wang Guo led 100,000 troops to besiege the city. From winter to spring, the city remained impregnable.

The rebel army was exhausted and lifted the siege. Song wanted to take advantage of the situation and pursue them, but Dong Zhuo strongly advised against it, saying, "Do not pursue a desperate enemy."

Song refused to comply and led his elite cavalry day and night, fighting and winning battle after battle, beheading more than 10,000 enemies, and the kingdom presented him with his head.

When the good news reached Luoyang, the emperor was overjoyed and immediately issued an edict: bestowing upon Huangfu Song 10,000 catties of gold, 30 million coins, and increasing his fiefdom by 3,000 households.

This was just the beginning. With the kingdom dead, the rebel army was leaderless, and the various tribal leaders fought each other for power. Yan Zhong was first put in charge, but he died suddenly from an illness less than a month later.

Immediately afterwards, Han Sui, Ma Teng, Song Jian, and others became suspicious of each other, and each led their troops to go their separate ways. The 100,000-strong rebel army that had once swept through Liangzhou and dominated Guanzhong collapsed on its own after losing its leader.

Taking advantage of the situation, the imperial court offered pacification, and this long-standing problem that had plagued the court for five years finally saw the dawn of complete pacification under Huangfu Song's iron fist.

The imperial court had even begun to remove Dong Zhuo's military power, ordering him to relinquish his command and hand over his troops to Huangfu Song for command.

Dong Zhuo submitted a memorial strongly arguing that his troops were reluctant to relinquish their military power.

However, he also feared the powerful generals of the Han Dynasty and dared not be too forceful. After all, if he were to rebel at this moment, the court would definitely send Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun, Gongsun Zan, Sun Jian, Liu Bei and others to suppress him.

His best outcome would be the same as Han Sui's; if fortune were to turn against him, the fate of Bei Gong Boyu, Wang Guo, and others who were beheaded would serve as a warning to him.

So after a period of negotiation, both sides compromised. He handed over most of his troops, keeping only 5,000, and took office as the governor of Bingzhou.

Immediately afterward, news of victory arrived from Youzhou.

Liu Yu, the governor of Youzhou, was recognized by the court and the public as the most virtuous gentleman among the imperial clan. In just one year after taking office, he used virtue to govern the people and employed both suppression and appeasement to quell the rebellion of Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju, which was hailed as the "contemporary Han dynasty".

Zhang Ju proclaimed himself emperor, and Zhang Chun proclaimed himself General Mitian, gathering over 100,000 followers. They colluded with Qiuliju, the chieftain of the Wuhuan, to raid Qing and other places.

The power and influence of the four provinces of Xu, You, and Ji once shocked the court and the public.

However, after Liu Yu took office, he first pacified the people with benevolent policies, opened the Hu market in Shanggu, and exchanged salt and iron for cattle and horses from the Wuhuan, thus dividing and disintegrating the alliance between the rebels and the Wuhuan.

Seeing the potential for profit, Qiu Liju and other Wuhuan leaders scattered, leaving the rebel army isolated and without support. Liu Yu then sent envoys to inform the people of Youzhou that a reward was offered for Zhang Chun's head.

General Mitian and Prince Anding, Zhang Chun, ultimately died at the hands of his own retainer, Wang Zheng. His head was sent to Ji City, where Liu Yu rewarded Wang Zheng with the title of Marquis, and Youzhou was thus pacified.

Liangzhou and Youzhou, two festering sores on the Han Dynasty's body, were both ripped away in the same year. Court officials and nobles spread the news, and students of the Imperial Academy cheered—the Han Dynasty was truly about to be restored!

However, these two major military victories alone are not enough to convince people that the Han Dynasty could be restored from the dead.

What truly excited the court, the public, and scholars was another matter—the emperor's new policies had actually been implemented.

Last year, the emperor overruled objections and forcefully implemented the new policies that Liu Bei had piloted in Mount Tai and Changsha, including levying taxes based on land area and investigating hidden assets.

The monopoly on fields, salt, and iron, and the supervision of commercial taxes.

When this new policy was first implemented, opposition from the court was overwhelming.

Minister of Works Cui Lie, Minister of Public Works Xu Xiang, and General-in-Chief He Jin all believed that this policy would offend powerful clans and inevitably lead to unrest and banditry. Some even shouted in court, "The one who will destroy the Han Dynasty will surely be Liu Bei."

However, the emperor insisted on his own way and, under the pretext of "where can we find brave warriors to guard the four directions," dispatched a group of capable and skilled generals, including Liu Bei, Gongsun Zan, and Sun Jian, to various regions to govern major prefectures and forcibly implement the new policies.

A year has passed, and now it is time to see the results.

The major prefectures where the new policies were implemented did indeed experience "restlessness and rampant banditry," just as the officials had predicted.

But just as the emperor had hoped, it was quickly suppressed by the capable and valiant governors.

The Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out again in Yuzhou, gathering tens of thousands of followers and attacking and capturing counties. Chen Chancellor Sun Jian led elite troops from the Huai and Si Rivers to suppress the rebellion, and fought against the rebels at Gebei in Runan.

Jian personally braved arrows and stones, leading the charge into battle and inflicting a great defeat on the rebels, beheading thousands. The rebel leader, He Yi, the Yellow Turban chieftain of Gebei, was beheaded, and Yuzhou was thus pacified.

Sun Jian's name thus became renowned throughout the Central Plains.

The powerful clans of Youzhou colluded with the remnants of the Wuhuan and seized the opportunity to rebel. Gongsun Zan, the governor of Yuyang, led his White Horse Cavalry beyond the Great Wall and fought the Wuhuan at Guan.

Below the inner city.

Zan, with two thousand cavalry, defeated over ten thousand Wuhuan cavalry, pursued them for over two hundred li, and beheaded three thousand. The Wuhuan leaders, seeing the White Horse Cavalry, were terrified and warned their troops: "A thousand armies and ten thousand horses must avoid the White Horse!"

Gongsun Zan's name thus became renowned beyond the Great Wall.

Taking advantage of the floods in the Central Plains, the rebels in Jingzhou were plotting something.

Liu Bei, the governor of Changsha, was stationed in Linxiang. Although he did not personally go out, his generals Zhao Yun, Zhang Fei and others led iron cavalry to patrol the border of the prefecture. When the bandits saw the red flag, they would retreat three steps.

Zhang Ya, a member of the Yellow Turban rebels in Yuzhang, gathered 20,000 men and besieged Yichun. Liu Bei dispatched troops by land and water, and within ten days the city was pacified. He then took advantage of the situation to penetrate deep into the mountains and forests, and persuaded more than 5,000 households of the Yue tribes to surrender. Yuzhang was shaken.

Liu Bei's name thus became renowned throughout Jing and Yang provinces.

Under the iron-fisted suppression of these valiant generals, the new policies were not destroyed by the rebellion. Instead, they quickly took root and sprouted after the chaos, showing remarkable results.

Take the State of Chen as an example. Sun Jian had only been in office for a year when the State of Chen uncovered more than 3,000 hectares of hidden land by powerful families, re-registered more than 10,000 households of commoners, and increased the population to more than 1.1 million.

This year, the Chen state alone contributed taxes to the court equivalent to 600,000 bushels of grain and 120 million coins, equaling the revenue of the previous three years.

The same was true in Yuyang. Gongsun Zan implemented his new policies with an iron fist, investigating hidden land, expelling powerful clans, and distributing all the unclaimed wasteland to displaced people.

Within a year, the number of registered households in Yuyang increased by more than 8,000, the amount of farmland increased by more than 1,000 hectares, and the tax revenue nearly doubled compared to previous years.

What shocked the imperial court the most was Changsha.

The total amount of taxes reported by Liu Bei, the governor of Changsha, this year reached over 1.8 million bushels of grain and 160 million coins.

This figure is almost the entire annual income of Jingnan during peaceful times!

This series of good news and reports was like a shot of adrenaline, injecting into the crumbling palace city of Luoyang.

While Emperor Liu Hong was reviewing the accounts of the four regions in the Yuntai Hall, he clapped his hands and laughed loudly, saying to his attendants, "I have long said that Liu Bei, Sun Quan, and Gongsun Zhi are all valiant warriors! Now, seeing them, they have indeed lived up to my expectations! With such men guarding the four regions for me, what worries do I have about the peace of the world, or about the treasury being empty?"

Minister Lu Zhi also praised, "In the past, powerful and wealthy families hoarded land, and taxes were unevenly distributed. The rich owned vast tracts of land yet received no additional taxes, while the poor had nowhere to stand yet were subjected to double the corvée labor. Now, Liu Bei, Sun Quan, and others govern the prefectures with an iron fist, unafraid of powerful rulers, clearing land ownership to equalize taxes, ensuring that farmers own their land and taxpayers receive fair compensation. If this is implemented in one prefecture, that prefecture will prosper; if it is implemented throughout the land, the land will be at peace. These are truly virtuous officials!"

The Imperial Clan Minister Liu He also praised him in court: "During the court discussion last year, a minister once said that in this chaotic world, no one but Liu Xuande could save the great edifice from collapse and rescue the common people from dire straits."

"Looking back today, there is still much to be said by the court officials. Not only Liu Bei, but also Sun Quan and Gongsun Bogui were all excellent generals."

If these individuals could be appointed as regional governors or even provincial leaders, and assigned to govern the four directions to implement new policies, within ten years, the Han Dynasty would surely be restored from its slumber and its imperial lineage would be revived!

Even the usually reserved and discerning scholars changed their tune.

In his "Monthly Appraisal of Runan," Xu Shao commented on Liu Bei, Sun Jian, and Gongsun Zan: "When Liu Xuande governed Changsha, the population increased by 190,000 in one year, and the tax revenue exceeded 100 million coins. This is not only due to his talent as a capable official, but also to his demeanor as a wise and virtuous man of ancient times."

"Sun Wentai was stationed in Chen State. He was a formidable warrior who could quell the rebellion in a month and his taxes were the highest in Yu Province. This is the mark of a hegemon."

"Gongsun Bogui defended Yuyang, crushing the barbarians with his iron cavalry and enriching the border regions with his new policies. This is the demeanor of a flying general. These three men are all heroes of their time. The revival of the Han Dynasty depends on such men!"

The court officials and scholars reached a rare consensus: the Han dynasty was truly about to be revived.

Taking advantage of the situation, the Emperor announced: In this year's assessment, Chen Xiang Sun Jian was ranked first in Yuzhou, Yuyang Prefect Gongsun Zan was ranked first in Youzhou, and Changsha Prefect Liu Bei was ranked first in the entire country.

The imperial edict ordered all prefectures and kingdoms in the empire to take Changsha, Chen, and Yuyang as models and implement the new policies.

In Luoyang that year, some students even spoke passionately on Tongtuo Street, saying, "Emperor Guangwu's restoration was nothing more than this."

However, beneath the fleeting glimpses of that magnificent dream, not everyone is truly immersed in it.

Some clear-headed eyes have already pierced through that dazzling facade and seen the cracks spreading beneath the imperial robes.

Sewing.

That crack represents the various regions that have amassed their own armies and become independent.

When the emperor first implemented his new policies, he used the drastic measure of "where can we find brave warriors to guard the four directions?" He appointed capable and skilled generals to govern the major prefectures in the four directions, and used an iron fist to implement the new policies and suppress all dissent.

While this potent medicine was remarkably effective, it also left a fatal hidden danger: those fierce generals who were stationed in different regions each held considerable military power.

Liu Yan, the governor of Yizhou, entered Shu alone by carriage last year, and within a year, he severed ties with the imperial court on the grounds that "rice bandits blocked the road".

Yizhou, a land of abundance, has a population of several million. Liu Yan recruited soldiers there and already commanded tens of thousands of troops.

Although Dong Zhuo, the governor of Bing Province, surrendered most of his troops, he left behind 5,000 Xiliang cavalry, the most elite cavalry in the entire Han Dynasty, veteran soldiers who had followed him in his campaigns against the Qiang and Hu tribes for over a decade. These men had no eyes for the emperor, only for Dong Zhuo.

Although Liu Yu, the governor of Youzhou, was benevolent, he also commanded tens of thousands of Wuhuan cavalry. Liu Yu himself may not have harbored any rebellious intentions, but which of his Wuhuan chieftains and powerful figures in Youzhou didn't have their own agendas?

The emperor's generals were all formidable commanders. Gongsun Zan, the governor of Yuyang, commanded over ten thousand infantry and cavalry, with the White Horse Cavalry alone numbering over five thousand.

These five thousand elite cavalrymen all rode white horses, were skilled in archery and horsemanship, and roamed freely beyond the Great Wall. Even the Wuhuan people were terrified of them and called them "Flying Generals".

After defeating the Wuhuan rebels this year, Gongsun Zan also received the surrender of several thousand Wuhuan soldiers, making his power even stronger.

Sun Jian, the Chancellor of Chen, was stationed in the state of Chen and commanded nearly 20,000 elite troops from the Huai and Si rivers. These elite troops were among the most powerful in the land, and had been the most elite source of soldiers in the Central Plains since ancient times.

He was a fierce and courageous man, skilled in boating and infantry combat, proficient in both land and water warfare. Furthermore, Prince Liu Chong of Chen was skilled in archery, and thousands of powerful crossbowmen in the kingdom were under Sun Jian's command.

This year, the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out again in Yuzhou. Sun Jian relied on these thousands of crossbowmen to defeat the rebels in the Battle of Gebei. Their arrows flew like locusts, blotting out the sky and terrifying the rebels.

Compared to these two, the troops under Liu Bei, the governor of Changsha, seemed insignificant—only a little over a thousand cavalry and two thousand armored soldiers.

Back in Mount Tai, he was criticized by court officials for keeping 3,000 soldiers, accused of "secretly amassing assassins and harboring rebellious intentions." Now, in this situation where everyone is holding their own armies and acting with self-importance, he seems exceptionally well-behaved.

Therefore, what had always worried Liu Bei—that someone in the court would attack him for holding military power and becoming too powerful—was now insignificant.

When the annual tax collection was conducted last year, some officials in the Ministry of Personnel even praised him for "governing the prefecture effectively, maintaining the army with restraint, and not levying excessive taxes to exhaust the people's strength."

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei couldn't help but smile—in this world, it is indeed true that the law does not punish the masses.

Ultimately, the emperor needs valiant generals to guard the four directions. Compared to the escalating rebellions throughout the land, this kind of self-importance through military force is merely a minor ailment.

The real threats are the Yellow Turbans of Yuzhou, the Wuhuan of Youzhou, the Rice Thieves of Yizhou, the Qiang and Hu tribes of Bingzhou, and the remaining bandits of Liangzhou.

Treating a stubborn disease with strong medicine always requires enduring some of the toxicity. Even though the emperor was a foolish ruler, he still understood this basic principle.

Thus, amidst the illusion of a renewed golden age, the sixth year of Zhongping passed through spring peacefully.

Good news from Liangzhou, the pacification of Youzhou, reports of victory from all directions, the remarkable achievements of the new policies, the emperor's great joy, and the high officials celebrating with joy.

The students of the Imperial Academy in Luoyang were passionately discussing "the restoration of the Ming Dynasty by Emperor Guangwu is happening again today" on Tongtuo Street. In restaurants and mansions, people were drinking and chatting, and everyone's face was filled with a long-lost sense of excitement.

Later generations can't help but imagine that if the emperor could live another ten years or even just one more year, the court might be able to take advantage of this momentum to greatly increase taxes, fill the treasury, relieve the famine, alleviate the poverty of the people, and make the country rich and the army strong.

At least, this momentum won't dissipate so quickly, and this crumbling empire might be able to hold on for another twenty or thirty years.

However, fate never goes as planned.

On the day of Bingchen in the fourth month of the sixth year of Zhongping, a heart-wrenching cry rang out in Luoyang City. The cry originated from Jiade Hall and, like a thunderclap, shattered the entire Weiyang Palace, signaling the emperor's passing.

When the news reached Changsha, it was already early summer in May.

Cicadas chirped noisily along both banks of the Xiangjiang River, while the late-season rice seedlings in the fields were lush and green.

In Linxiang City, the flag stands in the east and west markets still raise and lower flags every day, and merchants come and go like shuttles.

Everything seemed the same as yesterday, but everyone knew that the sky had fallen.

When Liu Bei received the official report, he was discussing matters with Ju Shou and Tian Feng in the main hall of the prefectural government.

He unfolded the scroll, his gaze sweeping over the few lines of text, and remained silent for a long time.

Then he handed the silk scroll to Ju Shou, stood up, walked to the front of the hall with his hands behind his back, and looked at the merchant ships shuttling back and forth on the Xiang River without saying a word.

What could he say? What was bound to happen, finally happened.

The emperor's death was just the beginning. Immediately afterwards, all sorts of chaotic news came from Luoyang like snowflakes, each official report like a bucket of boiling oil poured into a raging fire.

Empress He usurped the power of Empress Dowager Dong, the mother of the emperor, and ruled as regent in her name. General He Jin executed all the Eight Colonels of the Western Garden who disobeyed him and took over all the troops in the country to his own general's mansion.

General Dong Zhong was imprisoned and executed by He Jin on charges of "treason." Jian Shuo, one of the Eight Colonels of the Western Garden and a eunuch, was beheaded by He Jin in the palace, and the eunuch power in the Imperial Guard was wiped out.

The news that came one after another was more alarming than the last. Some said that He Jin had altered the emperor's will, and that the original candidates to assist in governing were Empress Dowager Dong and General Dong Zhong.

Some say that the Ten Attendants kept the emperor's death a secret, and it was He Jin who led troops to storm the palace and retrieve the emperor's body; others say that the emperor left a secret edict before his death, summoning fierce generals from all directions to come to the capital to defend the emperor, kill He Jin, and support Liu Xie, the Prince of Bohai, to ascend the throne.

It's hard to tell what's true and what's false.

Liu Bei sat behind a vermilion-lacquered desk in the main hall of the prefectural government. All the official reports he had received in the past few days were spread out on the desk, with silk books and bamboo slips scattered haphazardly across it.

He read it several times before finally putting it down and turning to Ju Shou, saying, "General He Jin is indeed quite capable. In just a few months, he has seized all the military power in Luoyang, killed the General of the Cavalry, and executed the Commandant of the Western Garden—his methods are undeniably ruthless."

Ju Shou put down the official gazette in his hand, stroked his beard, and said, "The General's actions are not due to his own efforts alone, but rather to his alliance with the aristocratic families."

"Since the restoration of the Han dynasty by Emperor Guangwu, the aristocratic families of Ru and Ying have held sway over public opinion. Now, under the command of the Grand General, the Yuan brothers are his henchmen. Yuan Shao is the Commandant of the Capital Region, and Yuan Shu is the General of the Tiger Guard. The Yuan family of Runan has produced three high-ranking officials for four generations, and their disciples and former officials are all over the country."

"Furthermore, Xun You is appointed as the Gentleman Attendant at the Palace Gate, Zheng Tai as the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, and He Yong as the Commander of the Northern Army; all are outstanding talents of their time. Feng Ji and Xu You are his chief strategists, and Wang Yun and Wu Qiong are his trusted advisors. With the Yuan family as his external support and the men of Ru and Ying as his confidants, it is only a matter of turning one's hand to kill a few Colonels of the Western Garden."

Then he changed the subject and said decisively, "However, what is strong will decline, and what is rigid will break easily. He Jin thinks that he holds the military power of the whole country and that all the officials in the court are his protégés. No one dares to challenge his power. He will surely become arrogant. I believe that he is ambitious but incompetent. In his arrogance, he will definitely do something stupid. I'm afraid that it won't be long before Luoyang is in great chaos."

Liu Bei agreed wholeheartedly. Gazing at the waves surging on the Xiang River in the distance, he nodded heavily and said, "The son of a butcher has suddenly risen to the rank of minister. Once he has power in his hands, he thinks he is the ruler of the world. Such arrogance and domineering behavior will surely cause trouble."

Things unfolded even faster than Ju Shou had anticipated.

In August of the sixth year of the Zhongping era, General He entered the palace.

He went in alone. Perhaps the success of the past few months had made him too arrogant, or perhaps he felt that the eunuchs were already trapped and dared not make any rash moves, or perhaps the plans of Yuan Shao and others made him feel that everything was foolproof.

In short, he rejected his subordinates' advice to lead troops to protect him and strode alone into the palace he thought he had already taken control of.

Then, he never came out again.

In front of the Jiade Hall, dozens of eunuchs, including the Grand Eunuch Zhang Rang and Duan Gui, came out with swords and surrounded He Jin in front of the hall.

He Jin shouted angrily, saying that he was the Grand General of the court and no one dared to touch him.

Zhang Rang and the others, terrified and desperate, rebuked him, listing his numerous crimes: "The world is in chaos, and it is not solely our fault. The late Emperor once had a falling out with the Empress Dowager, which nearly led to the downfall of the dynasty. If it weren't for our tearful intervention, would your family be so powerful today? Now you wish to exterminate our entire clan; is that not going too far?!"

Shangfang Supervisor Qu Mu drew his sword and beheaded He Jin with a single stroke.

The news caused an uproar in Luoyang.

Upon hearing the news, Yuan Shu, the Tiger-Ben General, immediately led 5,000 Tiger-Ben soldiers to attack the palace gates. The vermilion gates of the Southern Palace were smashed open under the heavy hammers, and the clanging sound of iron armor reverberated throughout the palace.

Yuan Shu, clad in gleaming armor, stood before the steps with his hand on his sword, gazing at the majestic palace and the plaque above the gate that read "Jiade Hall," the place where the Han emperor held court and conducted state affairs, a place of imperial majesty.

Throughout the four hundred years of the Han Dynasty, except for the time when Wang Mang usurped the throne, no foreign minister ever dared to raise troops to attack this gate.

But Yuan Shu only laughed arrogantly, pointed his long sword, and uttered four words through his teeth: "Kill them all without mercy."

On that day, blood flowed like a river within the Southern Palace of Luoyang. The Tiger Guards killed anyone without a beard, from high-ranking eunuchs to lowly sweepers; none escaped. In the chaos, some tore off their trousers to prove their identity, while others cried out, "I am not a eunuch!" only to be hacked to death.

Corpses lay strewn across the jade steps, their blood soaking the red steps in front of the Jiade Hall.

The emperor's majesty and the prestige of the Han Dynasty were shattered in that instant by Yuan Shu's five thousand elite soldiers.

This is not enough.

Yuan Shu then ordered the Southern Palace to be burned down.

The Tiger Warriors raised torches and set fire to the curtains of the Jiade Hall, the windows of the Yuntai Hall, and the very hall where the emperor once sat and reviewed the accounts of the four directions.

Flames shot into the sky, and thick smoke obscured the entire city of Luoyang.

The majestic palaces, the vermilion pillars, and the carved beams and painted rafters crackled and popped in the flames, as if the fate of the Han Dynasty was crumbling in this great fire.

Just a few months ago, this palace was the heart of the Han Empire.

The emperor sat upright in the Yuntai Palace, reviewing the accounts of the four directions. He clapped his hands and laughed, saying to those around him, "With such people guarding the four directions for me, what need is there to worry about the world being unsettled?"

The high-ranking officials, adorned in their fine hats and belts, celebrated their newfound power on Bronze Camel Street. The students of the Imperial Academy spoke passionately, declaring, "Even the restoration of the Han dynasty under Emperor Guangwu was nothing more than this."

In the blink of an eye, the emperor died. The general was killed. The elite troops stormed the palace gates. Yuan Shu set fire to the Southern Palace.

The heart of the empire was trampled underfoot by a scion of a family that had held high office for four generations, with the hooves and torches of five thousand elite warriors.

The emperor's majesty and the prestige of the Han Dynasty were reduced to ashes in that great fire.

Changsha is located in southern Jingzhou, a thousand miles away from Luoyang.

When the official gazette was sent from Luoyang, passed through Wancheng, crossed the Han River, passed Jiangling, and then went upstream along the Xiang River, it finally reached Liu Bei's hands after ten days.

Before the official gazette could even be properly placed on the desk, new urgent reports arrived one after another. In those days, the sound of messengers' hooves almost never stopped, as if the entire Central Plains were collapsing at a dizzying speed. One official gazette after another flew in like snowflakes, each one more alarming than the last.

Zhang Rang, Duan Gui, and other eunuchs kidnapped the young Emperor Liu Bian and Prince Liu Xie of Chenliu and fled Luoyang, taking refuge at Xiaopingjin under the cover of night.

Minister Lu Zhi and Min Gong, an official from central Henan, pursued the eunuchs through the night and intercepted them on the banks of the Yellow River. Zhang Rang and Duan Gui, knowing they could not escape, threw themselves into the river and died.

The young emperor and the Prince of Chenliu were rescued and spent the night in a farmer's house in Mangshan. They slept on straw mats and ate simple porridge made by a peasant woman. The mighty emperor of the Han Dynasty had fallen into such a sorry state.

But that's not the most shocking thing.

Dong Zhuo, the governor of Bingzhou, a border warrior who had surrendered most of his troops and retained only 5,000 Xiliang cavalry, immediately led his army south overnight after hearing of the chaos in Luoyang.

He met the young emperor and the Prince of Chenliu at the foot of Mount Beiman. His iron cavalry were arrayed in formation, their armor gleaming in the sun. Upon seeing their military might, the young emperor turned ashen-faced and burst into tears; but the Prince of Chenliu, Liu Xie, remained calm and composed, answering questions fluently.

Dong Zhuo entered the capital.

The first thing he did after entering the capital was to incorporate the former troops of the He Jin and He Miao brothers. Although He Jin was dead, his troops were still there. In the absence of a leader, they were all swiftly absorbed by Dong Zhuo.

Following this, under the guise of "serving the emperor," he also seized the Bingzhou army, which originally belonged to Ding Yuan. Ding Yuan was thus emboldened by his righteousness.

He was killed by Lü Bu, who then led the Bingzhou army to surrender to Dong Zhuo.

Within a month, Dong Zhuo's forces swelled from five thousand to tens of thousands, and he seized control of all military power in Luoyang.

However, even at this point, the people of the world only thought that this was another power struggle between the empress's relatives and eunuchs, between the outer troops and the imperial guards. At worst, they would just replace the general and the regent, and the Han Dynasty would still be the Han Dynasty, and the emperor would still be the emperor.

Until that official gazette reached Linxiang.

"On the day of Jiaxu in the ninth month, Dong Zhuo held a grand assembly of his officials in the front hall of Chongde Palace, deposed the young emperor and made him the Prince of Hongnong. He then installed Liu Xie, the Prince of Chenliu, as emperor and changed the era name to Zhaoning. Dong Zhuo himself was appointed Grand Commandant, in charge of the military affairs of the Vanguard General, and was granted the authority to carry the imperial insignia, axes, and tiger guards. He was also enfeoffed as the Marquis of Mei."

Depose and install the emperor!

A warrior who emerged from the remote border region of Liangzhou, a border general who was just the governor of Bingzhou a few months ago and had only five thousand troops under his command, actually deposed the emperor of the Han Dynasty within a month!

Just like changing a prefect or a magistrate, they changed the emperor.

Liu Bei slammed the silk scroll onto the table, stood up abruptly, and roared in fury: "Dong Zhuo! A mere border barbarian warrior, who has accomplished nothing and has not demonstrated any power, dares to depose and install emperors! In just a few months, he has deposed the emperor as easily as he would a county magistrate—is there any order or discipline left in this world?"

Does this Han dynasty even have a ruler and his subjects?!

It's no wonder Liu Bei was so furious. For four hundred years, the Han dynasty had nurtured scholars, and in their hearts, the emperor was a sovereign, a father, and the pinnacle of social order and ethics.

While Dong Zhuo's ability to kill He Jin, seize military power, and even hold the emperor hostage to command the feudal lords was despicable, it was at least within the rules of the power game.

But he went and deposed the emperor.

This is not a power struggle; it is a fundamental trampling of the four-hundred-year-old dignity of the Han Dynasty and the bottom line in the hearts of scholars throughout the land.

If Yuan Shu's burning of the Southern Palace was a trampling of the emperor's dignity, then Dong Zhuo's deposition and installation of the emperor was an uprooting of the four-hundred-year-old ethical and moral code of the Han Dynasty, which was then thrown into flames.

"How dare this scoundrel!" Zhang Fei's roar almost lifted the roof. His leopard eyes were wide open, his beard bristled, and he slammed his fist on the lacquered table in front of him, cracking the thick surface.

"We brothers have fought and bled for so many years, all for what? To restore the Han Dynasty! That barbarian from Xiliang, who has accomplished nothing, dares to depose the emperor! Brother, I, Old Zhang, beg for your permission—give me three thousand iron cavalry, and I'll march day and night into Luoyang, twist Dong Zhuo's head off, and use it as a football!"

Liu Bei immediately drew his sword and declared sternly, "This is a chaotic order! Changsha will not obey the decree and will surely purge the court of corrupt officials!"

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