When what happened in Huaicheng was urgently sent to Lu Bu in Anyi City by Chen Gong, several parties were arguing in the emperor's court.
The next step for the Emperor’s motorcade.
Cao Cao proposed to welcome the emperor to Xu County.
Lu Bu and Ju Shu proposed to welcome the emperor to Huaicheng.
Many ministers on both sides supported it, and of course some ministers insisted on returning to Luoyang. After all, it was the old capital of the Han Dynasty.
The two sides argued for several days, but Liu Xie was still undecided. After all, in order to revive the Han Dynasty, he had to consider the opinions of all parties. Now it seems that the number of people supporting Cao Cao is obviously the largest.
Although Liu Xie regained Lu Bu's allegiance, he was still somewhat wary of Jushou Zhao Yun, who belonged to Yuan Xi's influence. Although Zhao Yun defeated Li Jue and Guo Si, in Liu Xie's view, Yuan Xi belonged to the Yuan family's children, and he himself It's hard to trust completely.
He privately summoned Lu Bu, as well as Cao Cao's counselor Xun You and Yuan Xi's counselor Ju Shou, and listened to their thoughts respectively.
Of course, Lu Bu thought it would be best for Liu Xie to go to Huaicheng. Xun You agreed to go to Xuchang. Jushou was on Lu Bu's side, but he also suggested that if Liu Xie felt that Huaicheng was unsafe, he could enter Jizhou to seek asylum from Yuan Shao.
Liu Xie was actually more inclined to Cao Cao in his heart. After all, Cao Cao had privately sent letters to the Han court a few years ago, and he had an ancestral lineage and a relationship with the Han Dynasty, which made Liu Xie more at ease.
More importantly, Cao Cao's power is relatively weak, which is most suitable for Liu Xie, so that he can have more autonomy.
Yuan Xi relied on Yuan Shao, which in itself was a great threat to Liu Xie, especially taking refuge in Jizhou, which would affect his governance as emperor.
Liu Xie's real idea is to rely on Lu Bu to check and balance Cao Cao, and to use the power of Jizhou as much as possible, but to stay away from him. Now that he has a lot of autonomy in dealing with all parties, he is naturally not like the previous one who was chased and had no choice but to turn to him. The whole world is crying for help.
Therefore, he already had a preference in how to arrange the three forces in Youzhou, Cao Cao, Lu Bu, and Youzhou. As expected, the Youzhou army was the one to be eliminated early.
But how to appease the Youzhou Army who have made meritorious service is also a problem. Rewards must be given, and they cannot be driven away. Otherwise, who in the world will still believe in themselves?
However, Liu Xie found that even if it was a false official position, he could not get it!
All the generals in the four directions were occupied by the Baibo Army, and hundreds of official positions were also divided up by the soldier leaders of the Baibo Army. These high-ranking official positions that only the children of aristocratic families could hold more than a decade ago are now being divided like cabbage by illiterate bandits. Occupation is a great irony for the Han Dynasty.
If Liu Xie wants to continue to use false officials to win people's hearts, he must make these official positions vacant.
Therefore, Bai Bojun, who acted unscrupulously and left no escape route for others, became a thorn in the side of all other forces, even higher than Li Jue and Guo Si.
With the secret promotion of several parties, a plan against the Baibo Army began to brew.
At this time, Zhong Yao in the hall said impassionedly: "No matter where the emperor's chariot goes, we must eliminate the rebels who threaten the emperor in front of us!"
"After Li Jue and Guo Si were defeated, they never left. Instead, they were still spying on the Emperor's carriage outside the city!"
"Now that all parties are coming to help, our strength has surpassed that of the Liangzhou Army. This is a great time to eliminate them!"
To be fair, this statement is not wrong. Last time, Zhao Yun and Lu Bu's coalition forces were able to hold off the Liangzhou Army. If Cao's Army and Bai Bo's Army came out in full force, they might not be able to destroy them!
The key question is, who will lead this counterattack, and who will be the vanguard?
Lu Bu and Zhao Yun have already sent troops before. Anyone who proposes to use the two as the main force this time will obviously be questioned. Therefore, the forwards this time will most likely come from Cao Jun and Bai Bo Jun.
No one on either side was stupid. Not to mention Cao Cao, the Baibo Army knew that the Liangzhou soldiers were powerful and found various excuses to shirk it. However, Zhong Yao on the field grabbed the Baibo Army's handle and encouraged it with all his strength.
He spoke out: "The generals from all directions are still here. This post was originally established to counter rebellion. Now that the rebels are on the side, those who get the official position should defeat the rebels, clean up the bandits, and protect the emperor!"
His words contained a gun and a stick, and he couldn't help but allude to the top brass of the Baibo Army, and also alluded to the Baibo bandit soldiers who occupied hundreds of official positions. After taking all the benefits, it was time to contribute!
The generals of the Baibo Army cursed in their hearts, but now it was difficult to get off the tiger. After a few secret discussions, Yang Feng came out and said: "Although we are not talented, we are sincerely loyal to the Han Dynasty, but our strength is not as good as that of Li Jue and Guo Guo." There is still a gap, so I can only help with all my strength, but I am unable to take charge of the overall situation."
They think very clearly that they can go into battle on their own, but they are not good enough and can only serve as a partial army!
Everyone turned their attention to Cao Cao and Lu Bu at the same time, only to find that Lu Bu was in a daze, seemingly unaware of everyone's argument.
Lu Bu had just received a letter from Huaicheng, but it was from Zhang Yang, which made him confused.
During the first rebellion in Huaicheng, when Zhang Yang learned that Yang Chou was the one causing the rebellion, he hurried back and wanted to explain it to Lu Bu. However, Lu Bu and the Youzhou Army joined forces to rush to Anyi, and the two sides took different paths. There was no encounter.
On the way back, Zhang Yang heard that Yuan Shu's army was attacking the city. He was shocked and confused. After waiting for two days near Huaicheng, the news came that Yuan Shu's army had been defeated!
Zhang Yang heard this and hurriedly entered the city secretly to avoid Yuan Shu's army. After Yuan Xi learned about it, he asked Zhang Yang to take charge of the overall situation of Huaicheng. After all, Zhang Yang's title was still the governor of Hanoi.
Zhang Yang carefully investigated what happened in the city and was even more shocked. He did not expect that after Yang Chou, Lu Bu's men also rebelled!
He didn't dare to neglect, so he immediately wrote an urgent letter and handed it to Lu Bu. After receiving the letter, Lu Bu almost smashed the table. Even Wei Xu, Song Xianhou and Chengdu rebelled?
Do you have any good people under you?
Is this really not Yuan Xi colluding with Chen Gong and Gao Shun to clean up his own power?
But Lu Bu then thought about it and realized that doing such a thing would not be beneficial to Chen Gong and Gao Shun. Moreover, after Zhang Yang returned, Yuan Xi asked Zhang Yang to regain military power in the city. If he had any ulterior motives, he would never do this.
Moreover, Zhang Yang swore in the letter that he had interrogated Wei Xu, and the other party confessed, saying that Yuan Shu had promised a high official a generous salary, so he was confused for a while, and hoped that Lu Bu would spare his life for the sake of his family.
This family is very important. Lu Bu naturally understood that Wei Xu was not referring to Lu Bu's mother family as he said, but Wei Xu's wife.
Lu Bu felt guilty about having an affair with his subordinates' wives and concubines, and subconsciously wanted to reply to the letter and agree, but then he thought about Wei Xu's stupid affair with Yuan Shu. If Huaicheng was really breached, what would happen to his wife and daughter?
So Lu Bu was upset now. He just wanted to rush back to Huaicheng with the Emperor's convoy. The situation of the base camp really made him uneasy.
But now, in order to deal with Li Jue and Guo Si, there was a quarrel in the hall. Seeing Lu Bu's lack of interest, everyone looked at Cao Cao again.
When Cao Cao saw this, he knew the time had come.
Whether it is to welcome the emperor or to reorganize the court, an excuse is needed to reshuffle power.
The elimination of Li Jue and Guo Si now is an opportunity. Only by making great achievements can the emperor reward him and redistribute official positions, so that he can insert his direct lineage.
He stood up and said: "The Liangzhou Army intends to hold the Emperor hostage and poison the world. It has reached the point where it must be eliminated!"
"Although Cao Cao is not talented, I am willing to be a pioneer and be at your disposal!"
As soon as he said this, several officials immediately came out to praise him, and at the same time, they secretly mocked Bai Bojun for not coming forward.
In addition to Yang Feng, the Baibo Army, Han Siam and Hu Cai were all thieves all year round. They were immediately fooled and jumped out and shouted that we would kill the thieves together.
Yang Feng was unable to stop him, and watched helplessly as Han Siam and Hu Cai won the guarantee. At this time, Li Le stood up and said: "The general has received news that the southern Huns have sent troops with evil intentions. He is willing to lead an army to stop it in the north. Resist the enemy army and prevent the southern Huns from colluding with the Liangzhou army."
All the officials present did not believe it. Can you think of such an excuse?
Unexpectedly, Cao Cao looked at Zhong Yao and said to Liu Xie: "The general's concerns are very reasonable. The Southern Huns have ulterior motives and must be guarded against."
After Liu Xie heard this, he said to Li Le: "In this case, the general can lead an army and do things cheaply."
Li Le quickly accepted the order.
Cao Cao turned to Lu Bu and said, "Cao Cao wants to invite Marquis Wen to command the central army this time. How about that?"
After hearing this, Lu Bu subconsciously felt that Cao Cao was treating himself as a commander with equal status. He nodded and said, "Yes."
After hearing this, Jushou was about to say something to stop him, but Lu Bu had already agreed, and his face froze immediately.
He could naturally guess that the next battle was the key battle to truly divide the fruits. Lu Bu was sitting in the middle army, which was equivalent to losing the opportunity to make meritorious deeds!
When the time comes, rewards will be based on merit. If Cao Jun's side squeezes out too many key official positions, his own right to speak will become very low!
At present, Lu Bu is restricted and can only rely on Zhao Yun, but if Zhao Yun fails to make any achievements, I am afraid that the rumor of going to Xu County to welcome the emperor will overwhelm the voice of going to Huaicheng.
And Jushu can be sure that when Cao Cao attacks the Liangzhou Army, he will most likely take the opportunity to attack the Baibo Army. That's fine, but Cao Cao will not only target the Baibo Army, but also probably Lu Bu and the Youzhou Army!
At this time, Lu Bu was in charge of the central army, which was equivalent to being ignored. How could he know what was happening on the periphery?
Looking at the confused Lu Bu, Jushou suddenly realized that he felt very tired. With a master like Lu Bu, no wonder his subordinates had all kinds of thoughts!
Jushou was now anxious. Although he and Liu Xie expressed their kinship with Jujun, and Liu Xie also expressed condolences for Jujun's death, he obviously did not trust Jushou as much as Cao Cao.
Jushou guessed that Yuan Shao supported Liu Yu as emperor, which cast a shadow in Liu Xie's heart, so he could not fully trust the Yuan family. Yuan Xi had foreseen this before Jushou came, and only told Jushou not to have any worries and to do it with confidence. That’s it.
But now Ju Shou was a little helpless. He didn't expect that Cao Cao had such a powerful influence around the emperor. In addition to Dong Cheng, Zhong Yao and others, there were also a large number of people who supported Cao Cao!
He was looking around all the officials, wondering if there was anyone planted by Yuan Xi?
(End of chapter)
