In September of the fourth year of Yongjia, we were in Qingzhou, thousands of miles away from Luoyang.
Linzi City, inside the mansion of Qingzhou Governor.
Shortly after Sima Yue, the Grand Tutor of the Jin Dynasty and King of the East China Sea, announced that Liu Yu, the governor of Qingzhou, was a traitor and would personally lead an army to conquer the east. Before the official documents from Luoyang were sent to various prefectures and counties, this devastating news came. Like wings, it has spread all over the world.
Not surprisingly, Liu Yu in Qingzhou soon learned of this big news that concerned him.
Two days later, as the formal official document reached neighboring counties such as Yanzhou and Jizhou, the entire Qingzhou Province confirmed the accuracy of the news.
Suddenly, the entire Qingzhou territory was shrouded in a strange atmosphere.
As a person involved, Liu Yu was also clearly aware of this atmosphere.
Through this incident, Liu Yu clearly realized that in this era when the imperial power had supreme majesty, an edict issued in the name of the emperor had an influence that no one could match.
Even if the emperor is just a puppet, and even this edict is only issued in the name of the emperor, representing the authoritarian Taifu Sima Yue, the words on the thin silk book still have great influence.
This kind of influence even made Liu Yu discover that there was a lot of uneasiness and tension in Qingzhou, which he originally thought was under stable control.
After all, from the perspective of ordinary people, although there are rebellions and riots by the Huns, refugees, etc. in the world today, ten percent of the people in the world are still the subjects of the Emperor of Jin Dynasty. If Liu Yu of Qingzhou is beaten as a rebel, then what will happen to them? Those who follow Liu Yu will also become rebels.
Fortunately, the core Qingzhou military generals were all those who had followed Liu Bogen in raising the army, so they didn't care too much about this kind of thing.
"Liu Yu of Donglai came from a humble background. His nature was greedy and violent, and he liked chaos and evil. He was not really good. He was cruel, stupid and cunning. His first crime was that he did not think about the king's kindness and was rebellious and presumptuous. The seventh crime is killing officials and barbarians, and the crime is one hundred and thirty-two...
In the hall of Liu Yu's mansion in Linzi City, a clerk from the governor's office was reading with a trembling voice a document issued by the Jin court listing Liu Yu's crimes with his face covered in cold sweat.
This was written by a spy from Qingzhou in nearby Jizhou, and it can be regarded as an "official document" that completely confirmed Liu Yu's name for rebellion.
"Okay, don't read it anymore."
Before the little official with swords and pens had finished reading, Liu Yu asked him to stop.
Because the last few charges are already nonsense charges, which are boring charges such as "open defecation".
After all, the Jinting court in Luoyang knew very little about Liu Yu's situation, so trying to list more than 100 crimes would be an imaginative essay.
After hearing Liu Yu's order, the swordsman and pen official immediately shrank his neck and retreated downstairs as if he was being pardoned.
"Okay, now it seems that Sima Yue, the King of the East China Sea, is already on the same level as me. He even sent out this memorandum. He really thinks highly of me, hahaha."
Liu Yu was not angry at all about the slanderous words in the statement. The person who wrote this just wrote nonsense with a blind eye and did not catch any of Liu Yu's pain points.
What's more, even if he caught some of Liu Yu's pain points, it would be difficult for Liu Yu, who had witnessed various confrontations in later generations, to be truly angered.
Liu Yugan laughed twice, restrained himself, and asked everyone in the hall.
"Let's talk about it. Sima Yue is trying to knock on the door. What are your countermeasures?"
At this time, the people sitting around the hall were all Qingzhou army generals and officials who were close to Linzi. As long as the travel time allowed, almost all of them had arrived in Linzi.
"General, let me tell you, it is a good thing for us that Sima Yue is doing this. We will wait here for him to come. Now that we have strong soldiers and horses, we can discipline them. Ten thousand will kill ten thousand, and ten thousand will die." Ten thousand."
Zhao Kun, the general of the Yamen Army, was as straightforward as ever.
Zhao Kun's words did not receive any response.
"The King of Donghai has declared to the world in the name of the emperor that the general is now the target of public criticism. It can be said that he is the public enemy of the world. If you ask me, the general will immediately send a capable person with a self-defense memorial and a generous salary. Gift, rush to Luoyang as quickly as possible, and let the ministers who cooperate with us in the merchant affairs negotiate for the general. In this way, the emperor will definitely know the rights and wrongs involved, and he will definitely be able to restore the general's innocence."
Hearing this, Liu Yu almost laughed out loud, but after a closer look, the person who said this turned out to be Yan Yan, the powerful figure in Qi County.
Yan Zuo worked in Liu Yu's house, and he was usually well organized. Liu Yu almost felt that Yan Zuo was a confidant official who could entrust him with important responsibilities. However, Yan Zuo's inexplicable words were shocking. Liu Yu was disappointed.
"Yan Jun, this is wrong. In my opinion, the evil words concocted by Sima Yue's people are not all lies. I have indeed done this thing of invading counties. If we get to Luoyang, how can we prove our innocence, and how can we get the emperor to withdraw the edict that has been issued? If it is true as Yan Jun said, the person who is going to Luoyang as an envoy must have the words of Su Qin and Zhang Yi." Liu Yu showed an unabashed expression of ridicule, looked at Yan and continued.
"In that case, I think Yan Jun is probably the most suitable candidate. How about you go to Luoyang on behalf of me and prove my innocence in front of the emperor?"
After hearing this, Yan Zi's face was filled with embarrassment. Just now, Yan Zi was just thinking about how to prevent Liu Yu and Sima Yue from going to war, because in that case, the good days of Qi County's powerful people would no longer exist. In order to fight, Liu Yu They must be plotting against the qu, ding, and grain in the hands of these powerful men, so just now I was anxious and old and hurried, so I said this thesis.
"I am old and foolish. Not only do I not have the skills of Su Qin and Zhang Yi, but my old bones cannot withstand the bumps in the road. What I just said was nonsense. General, please don't take it to heart."
Liu Yu was too lazy to pay attention to him at this time, but he had secretly remembered in his heart that it would be difficult for Yan Yan to advance and retreat with Liu Yu with such a tame appearance, if not for the fact that the literate person in his hand was too Young Master, Liu Yu really wanted to drive all these powerful men back to their hometown.
"General, things have come to this. It is better for the general to raise the flag of righteousness and confront Sima Yue head-on in the name of clearing the emperor's side and punishing the powerful traitors." Dong Ping, who had just arrived from Jinan County, said.
Dong Ping's words immediately won the approval of a large number of generals who came from the Donglai rebels.
"That's right, Dong Ping is right. We are afraid of what Sima Yue will do. He calls our general a traitor. Let me tell you, Sima Yue is still a traitor. There is an emperor, so why should he be the emperor's distant relative? The power of the imperial court.”
"Yes, he, Sima Yue, can be the imperial tutor and the king of East China Sea. Why can't our general be the king? Our general can be the king of Qi and the general."
"Yes, yes, the general can definitely be king."
"The current emperor's surname is Sima, and our general is not surnamed Sima. How can he be called king?" A Qingzhou military general asked weakly.
"If your surname is not Sima, you can still be king. We have swords and nuggets in our hands. If you want to be king, you can be king. No matter what their rules are."
"Yes, and if the general doesn't want to be the king, there's nothing wrong with him even if he wants to be the emperor!" Zhao Kun saw the lively discussion and immediately made a more explosive statement.
"Yes, if the general becomes the emperor, then he will rule the world in the future, and we can become the top officials in the world like the twenty generals of Yuntai!"
"Yes, yes, our generals don't want to be called kings, we can just become emperors."
"Be the emperor, be the emperor."
"Be the emperor!"
When everyone saw Liu Yu, he didn't say a word, but just looked around with a faint smile. Many people thought that what Zhao Kun said just now was done under Liu Yu's instructions.
Suddenly, the already small hall was filled with noisy and excited sounds.
Different from these Qingzhou Army generals, some Qingzhou or scholars living in Qingzhou were full of horror when they saw these Qingzhou Army generals so hastily started clamoring for Liu Yu to be the emperor.
Although the emperor of the Sima family has been extremely weak in recent years, under the management of two generations of Sima Yi, his father and his son, and the dominance of Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty by Sima Yan, most scholars recognized this in their hearts. The Jin Dynasty of the Sima family.
Nowadays, these bumpkins from Qingzhou, or most of them from Donglai County, can so easily clamor and encourage Liu Yu to proclaim himself emperor, which is far beyond the expectations of these scholars.
However, everyone knows that the key point in this matter ultimately lies with Liu Yu.
Everyone looked at Liu Yu together, as if waiting for Liu Yu to make the final decision.
Seeing the behavior of these scholar subordinates, Liu Yu loudly stopped the increasingly outrageous discussions of the Qingzhou generals.
Moreover, Liu Yu used a very serious attitude to reprimand Zhao Kun, the general who was the first to utter arrogant words.
"Zhao Kun, you are talking nonsense. I have told you a long time ago that you are not allowed to drink while on duty. Now you are just talking drunken words. Such ridiculous and rebellious remarks can be said easily! What a sin it is, You know!"
Liu Yu's stern rebuke frightened Zhao Kun, who had indeed been drinking. Although this was not the first time he had reprimanded in front of everyone, it was the first time Zhao Kun had seen such a serious look. The slight residual drunkenness on his body was all frightened away.
Zhao Kun quickly bowed his head and apologized. Liu Yu glanced at him with an unchanged expression and said.
"As long as you admit your guilt, if you said it while you were drunk, I will punish you by not allowed to drink for a month!"
Hearing what Liu Yu said, Zhao Kun was confused because Liu Yu didn't give him any other punishment except not being allowed to drink for a month.
Zhao Kunxin said, "That's weird. Is this the end?" He just punished me by not allowed to drink for a month. As for causing such a big battle, I thought General Ji Xing looked like he was going to chop off my head.
Because Liu Yu's mastermind Hua Xiu suddenly had something urgent to do before the meeting started and did not arrive, the discussion between Qingzhou military and political generals and officials organized by Liu Yu was quickly abandoned.
Without Hua Xiu present, Liu Yu did not take any clear response measures.
However, after such a somewhat noisy discussion, Liu Yu had already seen the expressions and reactions of almost everyone, including who were hesitant, who were loyal confidants, and who were potential threats. , Liu Yu made observations one by one. Although this observation is not 100% accurate, Liu Yu certainly cannot let go of some obvious threats.
After dismissing everyone, Liu Yu hurried back to the study at the back, because his personal servant told him that Liu Yu's think tank Hua Xiu had just been waiting for him in the study.
As soon as Liu Yu entered the study, he saw Hua Xiu and a man in his thirties who was mostly the son of a high official.
"Is this the famous General Liu!?" As soon as the man saw Liu Yu coming in, he quickly called him warmly.
Although this study is an inner house, there are not many Yajun guards in it, so Liu Yu already knew that Hua Xiu brought someone into the study before he came.
Although Liu Yu was prepared, the way this man greeted him upon meeting was a bit beyond Liu Yu's expectations, which was not etiquette.
"This is Donglai Liu Jixing, may I ask you, brother?" Although Liu Yu said this, his eyes were directed at Hua Xiu.
Seeing this, Hua Xiu smiled slightly and said with a relaxed expression.
"This is Xun Kui of the Xun family in Yingchuan. He is the son of Xun Taizhang, the crown prince and Taibao of the current dynasty."
It turned out to be the famous Xun family of Yingchuan, which really surprised Liu Yu.
"It turns out that Brother Xun is from the Xun family in Yingchuan. He is indeed as talented as a dragon or a phoenix among people."
Liu Yu's words were not all compliments, because this Xun Kui was tall and handsome. According to modern standards, he was a handsome guy. Moreover, he had a temperament rich in poetry and calligraphy, but He also has a bit of a heroic spirit, and is not the kind of sick and rotten scholar.
"To start off, Ji Xing, you can call Xun Daojian your cousin." Hua Xiu said with a smile.
Upon hearing this, Liu Yu realized that Xun Kui's cousin should be Dao Jian, but where did the "cousin" Hua Xiu asked him to call him come from, leaving Liu Yu confused.
"My eldest sister Huatao is married to Xun Taizhang. Xun Kui is my eldest sister's daughter. My second sister is Wang Ze's mother. Therefore, Xun Kui is Wang Ze's cousin and naturally your cousin. Yes." Hua Xiu said.
When Liu Yu heard this, he was speechless for a while. The various kinship relationships among these noble families that have lasted for hundreds of years are really complicated.
He never expected that he would become a relative of the Xun family in Yingchuan.
