When Chen Chong came to Luoyang City again, he felt strange yet a little familiar.
When Guan Yu was the governor of Henan Province a few years ago, he had already repaired many buildings in Luoyang. However, most of them were the surrounding passes, such as Hulao, Zhenyuan, Heyang and other dangerous passes. In addition, he also restored buildings such as Baima Temple, Pingguangwang, Shanglin Garden, as well as the tombs of past emperors. But for the main body of Luoyang City, he thought that the population was too small and the waste was huge, so he never started. However, in order to store food for the garrison, a small city was built in the northwest corner of Luoyang City and adjacent to Zhai Quan, named Xuanwu City.
And when Zhuge Liang rebuilds Luoyang, it will be a major project to restore the entire city of Luoyang. In order to save time and demonstrate orthodoxy, Zhuge Liang's idea was generally to rebuild on the original ruins. Therefore, after the city walls were built and the city was planned, the layout of the city did not change significantly. The main change was the layout of the palaces.
In the past, there were two palaces in the north and south of Luoyang City. They were restored over hundreds of years during the Zhou, Qin and Han dynasties. They were majestic in scale and beautiful, occupying nearly half of Luoyang. But it is a pity that they were all destroyed in Dong Zhuo's Rebellion. Now it is tantamount to wishful thinking to restore them all. So Zhuge Liang reduced the size of the palace after getting Liu Bei's permission. For example, the South Palace was almost completely renovated into the official residence of Qi Gong, while the North Palace was only half of the original structure, and important buildings such as Chongde Hall, Deyang Hall, Lantai, Dongguan, Yuntai, and Zhangtai were rebuilt. The rest of the places were opened to the public market. This was enough to demonstrate the generosity of the new dynasty and the emperor's kindness to the people.
However, after Liu Xie entered Luo, he thought that the palace was too simple to show the power of the emperor, so in the third year of Zhangwu, he built a hundred-foot tower in Xuanwu City. As the saying goes, the building is eight stories and a hundred feet high, and with its three-foot-high foundation, if one stands on the top floor, one can overlook the surroundings of Luoyang. When Chen Chong rode up to the west gate, he could see this tall building from a distance. Among the tall buildings in Luoyang, it really stood out like a flock of chickens.
Chen Chong's mansion has also been repaired a long time ago. It is located about half a mile south of Baichi Tower, and is only a few hundred steps away from the palace. This mansion was built by Liu Xie himself and spent a lot of money on it. Its area is three times the size of the Prime Minister's Mansion in Chang'an, not to mention the pond, stone pavilion, small building and high platform, withered cypress railings, clear spring and secluded pavilion. Small palace.
When Chen Chong led the crowd to the gate of the mansion, the people passing by pointed at him, obviously recognizing his identity. Chen Chong looked up at the plaque on the door of the mansion and was speechless for a moment. Although there was no emotion on his face, he couldn't help but think in his heart that Gong Lin was planning to roast himself on the fire! What is his intention? Chen Chong thought for a while and vaguely understood Liu Xie's thinking, but he couldn't help but smile bitterly.
Sure enough, not long after Chen Chong entered the house, he had just met his family, and before he could sit in the study for a while, a messenger came to convey his orders. He said that the emperor had important matters to discuss with the prime minister and asked the prime minister to enter the palace immediately. Chen Chong didn't refuse, changed into winter clothes and went out.
Unexpectedly, when he was about to lead the horse, his wife Dong Bai came over, grabbed Chen Chong by the corner of his clothes, and whispered to him: "A few days ago, Yuan Chang heard that you were coming back, so he brought his children to visit the mansion. He said that the old minister has recently I had quite a disagreement with His Majesty and the conversation was not pleasant. This time someone from the palace is coming to discuss this matter, I am afraid it has a lot to do with this matter. You should be careful, and if you are in trouble, just shirk it and don't get involved in too much right and wrong."
Chen Chong whispered that he knew, and patted his wife's hand to reassure her. He and Liu Bei had expected this incident, but they didn't expect it to happen so quickly. On the way, Chen Chong planned to take a look at the appearance of the newly built palace, but unexpectedly, the palace attendant did not lead him to the palace, but to the Baichi Tower in the north. Yuanyuan saw the guards downstairs becoming Lin, and the guard leading the way introduced to Chen Chong: "After this building was built, His Majesty loved to drink in this building and look into the distance, and he would take a nap in Xuanwu City at night."
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Chong's deerskin boots stepped on the wooden stairs, making a crunching sound all the way. When they arrived in front of the leather rug on the top floor, someone from the palace wanted to come forward to serve Chen Chong and asked him to take off his boots and sword. But after announcing his name, he remembered that Chen Chong had the privilege of going to the palace with swords and shoes, so he retreated in embarrassment.
A charcoal fire was lit on the ground in the building for warmth, and Liu Xie was dressed in a brocade robe and fox fur, with a tired look on his face, as if he had just undergone a hard training. The weather was sunny and windless, and the windows were all open, allowing one to look out into the clear blue sky. Chen Chong noticed that there were two people sitting next to Liu Xie. One of them he knew was Shaofu Pan Jun. Although he didn't know the other one, judging from his age and appearance, he should be an ordinary person like Liu Fang. He has the style of a martial artist, but his eyes are as sharp as those of a scribe.
The three of them seemed to have just had a long and in-depth conversation, so much so that Liu Xie seemed to have forgotten to have a confidential conversation with Chen Chong. He seemed to have just remembered when he saw Chen rushing in. When he saw Pan Jun standing up and preparing to leave, he said to them: "Chengming and Zhongda, please go to the first floor to rest first. After I finish talking with the Prime Minister, I will call you up."
Hearing what the emperor said, the two of them agreed repeatedly, bowed to Chen Chong, and then walked towards going downstairs.
It turned out that the other unknown person was Hanoi Sima Yi, and Chen Chong took a deep look at him. Sima Yi's skin was no different from that of ordinary literati. He had the vigor of a military general, a rosy complexion, and a delicate beard. He noticed that Chen Chong was looking at him, so he smiled slightly and said politely: "I've heard about the Prime Minister for a long time! It's a pity that we haven't had the opportunity to meet him. Since the Prime Minister is in Beijing today, I will come to see him someday."
Pan Jun's attitude on the side was rather indifferent. He just gave a slight salute to Chen Chong and then went downstairs without looking back. Chen Chong knew this well. He had advised Liu Bei to be wary of Pan Jun in the past, so he probably had heard the news.
At this time, only Chen Chong and Liu Xie were left in the attic. Liu Xie also saluted Chen Chong as a disciple, and Chen Chong returned the salute, and then the two sat down next to the brazier. Only then did the two of them look at each other carefully. We haven't seen each other for three years, probably because he has lived in the palace for a long time. Liu Xie's body seems to be a little worse, at least his face is paler, but the light in his eyes is like a blazing fire. Under Chen Chong's gaze, he did not flinch at all.
Liu Xie spoke first. He said, "How is your uncle's health? The year before last, my uncle got such a serious illness, and I still feel sorry for my father for letting you run around like this."
Chen Chong sighed: "I feel sorry for not seeing Xuande for the last time. Tomorrow morning, I will go to pay homage to Xuande and see my old friend again." At this point, he patted his knees and sighed: " When people grow old, it is easy to be sad about spring and autumn, but things in the world are often like this. Many old people don't even have time to see each other, and they are separated forever. "
But Liu Xie's face was not good-looking. He couldn't help but said: "In this case, many old ministers should live their remaining years, so why stay here?"
Chen Chong couldn't help but smile when he heard him express his dissatisfaction. He thought that the child's palace was not deep enough, so he waved his hand and said: "Gong Lin, now you have the power of life and death. One word can determine the life and death of all people. You should be cautious in doing things." , Discuss the matter. There is right and wrong in everything, and people are divided into good and bad, but there is no need to distinguish between old ministers and new ministers. I first came to Dongdu and I don’t know the situation of the government, but what happened? "
Liu Xie calmed down after hearing these words. He sat upright and explained the whole story to Chen Chong: "I invited my uncle here just for this reason. I have been planning to change the military system since Hebei was pacified, but... I wonder what uncle thinks?"
It turned out that Liu Xie thought that the five-prefecture governorship system was just Chen Chong's contingency plan, but it was actually a helpless move to deal with the current situation. Although the Wufu Army made many contributions to the quelling of the Eastern Dynasty, the Five Governors were out of the town all the year round and had the power to open the government and manage the festival. They could replace the captain and other generals with a price of less than 2,000 shi at will. In essence, they were the same as the Fang Bo in the feudal town. No different. Moreover, among the five governors, except for Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, Yuan Tan, Ma Chao, and Wei Yan were all the same as Liu Xie. Liu Xie felt like a thorn in his back every day when he thought about it.
In addition, there are many veterans of the court, such as Xun You, Fazheng, Zhong Yao and others. They could not help but enjoy a long-standing reputation in the military, and at the same time they also married each other in private, so they were spread all over the government and the public. There were even people like Xun You whose reputation reached as far away as Hebei due to his family ties. Even though Xun You was blameless in his behavior, Liu Xie couldn't tolerate it.
Therefore, he had only been on the throne for two months, and he was already secretly thinking about ways to seize power. Just a few days ago, in
Under his instruction, Pan Jun and Yang Dan were ordered to submit letters to the minister's desk at the same time.
Pan Jun's letter was for disarmament, saying that the country was now in a state of unrest and the people were in dire straits. It was a time for the country to recuperate. The late emperor also had many edicts on this during his lifetime. However, the country supports nearly 500,000 soldiers in the five provinces, and the annual expenditure often exceeds 10 billion. The so-called waste of people and money is nothing more than this. Therefore, it is proposed that the three prefectures in the East, West and North among the five prefectures should be screened to eliminate redundant troops. Soldiers who are over fifty years old, or soldiers who are disabled due to injuries, should all be sent back to their hometowns.
Yang Dan's letter was about merit, claiming that although the late emperor annihilated the puppet dynasty, although he died due to an accident, since the country was unified, it was the time for the court to discuss merit and reward him, otherwise he would be disappointed. Therefore, he suggested that Liu Xie summon generals and veterans from all over the country to the court, first to mourn the late emperor, and then to discuss rewards, so as to show that the new emperor was fair and upright. But in fact, Liu Xie planned to promote and demote senior ministers openly and covertly, so as to transfer them away from the center of power.
Zhong Yao, Xun You and others knew this very well, so they took a negative attitude towards these two letters. First, he claimed that it was not appropriate to discuss merits during a great funeral. He also postponed the matter to next year on the grounds that the border was not peaceful and the strike would be complicated.
Chen Chong listened silently on the sidelines, already quite aware of the situation in the DPRK, and also knew that Liu Xie was waiting for his statement at this moment. As Dong Bai said before, this is indeed a trivial matter that is difficult to distinguish right from wrong, but if he wants to stay out of it as his wife said, I am afraid it is impossible.
