"The minister has neither far-reaching strategy nor great ability. It's just because of His Majesty's trust in the minister that the minister took ten years of soldiers. The relationship between these soldiers and the minister is too good, and they are willing to die for the minister, so the minister begged His Majesty for permission to let me take these soldiers to the state and serve the frontier. ”

Emperor Ling's face turned red, his muscles flared up, and he directly crumpled the music in his hand into a ball and threw it away: "This Dong Zhongying, full of prevarication, clearly wants to resist the order, and sends someone to warn Dong Zhuo, let him put down the army and take office immediately, otherwise he will be punished for rebellion!" ”

The envoy sent the edict to Dong Zhuo and reprimanded him severely. Even if Dong Zhuo didn't want to hand over the army to Huangfu Song, he had no choice but to do it.

"The emperor is deaf, I obviously made a great contribution, and immediately wanted to take away my military power, why didn't he take someone else's?" Dong Zhuo complained very dissatisfied.

At this time, a subordinate gave him an idea: "General, it is better to really follow what you said in the last book, and let the soldiers intercept your car when you leave." In this way, you will be able to show the love of the soldiers, and perhaps your majesty will change his mind. ”

When Dong Zhuo heard this, he felt that this idea was good, "Good way, I'll leave this matter to you." ”

As a result, as soon as Dong Zhuo left the barracks the next day, a large group of soldiers surrounded him and stopped his car. The soldiers shouted.

"General, don't go! You're gone, what are you going to do, brothers? ”

"General, if you want to go, why don't you take us with you."

"Anyway, we are all guarding the border passes, and the anti-Huns and anti-Qiang people are not all the same."

"Yes, General, take us with you."

Dong Zhuo was in a dilemma, agreeing or not, the carriage stopped in place. It wasn't until it was almost dark that Dong Zhuo couldn't leave, and everyone dispersed.

In this way, for several days, Dong Zhuo was blocked at the gate of the camp by the soldiers who "loved" him. And all this was seen by Huangfu Song.

In the past few days, Huangfu Song has come to watch Dong Zhuo's farce every day, his face is expressionless, and he can't see his emotions.

A young general next to him watched the monkey show for a few days, and finally couldn't help it, and said to Huangfu Song: "Uncle, that Dong Zhuo is disobedient and disobedient, he hasn't set off for a few days, and he has been grinding here, his uncle is his boss, it is better to take him down directly and ask for the crime." ”

This young man is Huangfu Song's nephew, Huangfu Li.

Huangfu Song shook his head and rejected Huangfu Li's proposal: "Dong Zhuo is indeed guilty of not listening to the edict, but if I don't have the right to directly ask him for guilt, I'd better submit a letter to Your Majesty for decision." ”

After Emperor Ling received Huangfu Song's letter, he was helpless against Dong Zhuo's behavior. It is normal for a general and a soldier to have a deep brotherly relationship. If Dong Zhuo is convicted in this way, I am afraid it will hurt the hearts of other generals.

"Issued an edict to allow Dong Zhuo to lead 5,000 troops to Bingzhou to take up his post." This can be regarded as a grace, if Dong Zhuo still doesn't know what to do, then he will be punished for several crimes, so that others will not have complaints.

After receiving the edict, Dong Zhuo also understood that if he dared to continue to use this as a threat, he would really die. So he finally followed the edict and went to Bingzhou with 5,000 cavalry.

……

Although the Liangzhou rebels' plan to attack Chencang and enter the hinterland of Guanzhong failed, they had already occupied Liangzhou and were too strong to contain.

Even a famous general like Huangfu Song can't do anything about them. Therefore, in the name of autonomy of various parts of Liangzhou, the imperial court has actually given up this territory.

Although this kind of behavior chills all people with lofty ideals, from the perspective of the psychology of Emperor Ling and the courtiers, it may be more beneficial to give up Liangzhou.

There will be Qiang rebellion in Liangzhou every year, so that the imperial court will invest a lot of manpower and material resources to quell the rebellion every year, and the successive years of conquest not only make the people miserable, but even the imperial court is exhausted.

Giving up Liangzhou is equivalent to giving up a burden, which will suddenly make the imperial court's finances a lot easier.

Of course, these Spirit Emperors don't think about it, he only thinks about enjoying himself comfortably every day, and naturally he doesn't care about a place that costs him one-tenth of his money every year.

Really speaking, it is better for Emperor Ling to let Huangfu Song guard the border between Guanzhong and Liangzhou and cut off contacts. In this way, he has a tenth of his money, and he can put aside his worries and do what he wants.

"Huh~" Emperor Ling climbed down from a concubine unsatisfied, this is the fifth concubine he was fortunate to have tonight.

Then a little eunuch brought a bowl of ginseng soup, and Emperor Ling couldn't wait to drink it, and suddenly felt that the fatigue on his body disappeared, and the whole person was full of energy again.

"Hey, hey, this Zhang Hao is really a loyal minister, he actually found such a good thing for me, I haven't been so comfortable for a long time. It's a pity that there is only one such good thing, and it will be gone when it runs out, so it would be nice to have a few more. ”

The Spirit Emperor, who was only thirty years old this year, had already been hollowed out by wine for the pleasure of the whole day. Coupled with the constant annoyance of things in the past few years, it has been a long time since he has indulged in his desires like this.

After putting on his clothes, Emperor Ling, who felt energetic again, instructed the little eunuch: "Go, take me to the next one." ”

"No."

It's late at night, and even though it's summer, it's still cool at night.

The Spirit Emperor, who had just come out of the room, was blown by the cool breeze in the middle of the night, and suddenly felt a little dizzy, and his body swayed.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong with you?" The little eunuch asked with concern, and took the initiative to come over to help.

Emperor Ling stood firm, feeling that he could see things clearly again, so he said, "I'm not so old, I don't need someone to help me, continue to lead the way." ”

As soon as he pushed the little eunuch away and took a step forward, he suddenly felt weak under his feet, and he didn't stand firmly, and fell directly to the ground.

Everyone was frightened by this sudden accident and surrounded them with exclamations: "Your Majesty! ”

In the firelight, the Spirit Emperor who fell to the ground was already bleeding from his seven orifices at this moment, and died violently.

……

In the middle of the night, the general He Jin was asleep at home, but was suddenly woken up.

"In the middle of the night, what's the noise?" He Jin was full of resentment and shouted dissatisfiedly.

"General, Your Majesty, Your Majesty, he died."

"What!"

The same scene happened in the city of Luoyang, in the homes of all the ministers. After learning that Emperor Ling had died, everyone hurried to the palace.

"Isn't Your Majesty fine when you were in the morning today, no illness or disaster, how can you ......?"

"I heard it when I came, and Your Majesty seems to be overindulgent......"

"What are you two talking about!" A loud shout rang out from behind the two courtiers.

The two of them were shocked, and as soon as they turned around, they saw the general He Jin standing behind them, staring at the two of them with a pair of bull's eyes. The two of them instantly turned bloodless and trembled.

"Dare to criticize the king behind his back! Come, pull me out of the court staff for forty. As soon as He Jin beckoned, several guards took the two courtiers out violently.

Emperor Ling died, and He Jin, who was a general and a relative, began to take power impatiently. If it weren't for the fact that the new emperor hadn't been established yet, he wouldn't have been a court staff just now, but wanted to kill those two people directly.

When it comes to the new emperor, who else can there be besides his nephew Liu Wei. The first emperor did not establish the position of crown prince before his death, and according to the patriarchal law, Liu Wei, as the eldest son, was the most suitable heir.

As for the other prince Liu Xie, even if he has the support of the Empress Dowager Dong, it is cool to stay.

He Jin saw that the ministers in the main hall had come, so he immediately announced: "The first emperor collapsed unexpectedly, as a courtier, all of them are sad, but the sky cannot be without the sun, and the country cannot be without an owner, so the new monarch should be immediately asked to take the throne to calm the society and the people." ”

Emperor Ling never thought that he would die due to excessive indulgence, so he did not have to determine the heir because of a serious illness as in history, and wanted to abolish the right to abolish the elder and the young.

He Jin now has more power than he did three years later.

At this time, a courtier stood up and said: "General, the lower officials think that the country depends on the monarch, and the prince Liu Wei is old and intelligent, and he can succeed to the throne of the Son of Heaven." Then more than half of the courtiers stood up and supported the succession of the prince Liu Wei.

Of course, because Empress Dowager Dong and Emperor Ling before her death both liked the prince Liu Xie, there were also ministers who supported Liu Xie.

"The lower officials objected, and the new monarch ascended the throne, which has always been designated by the first imperial system, and can only be established with the consent of the queen mother. Now that the first emperor has collapsed, and the position of the prince is undecided, it should naturally be decided by the queen mother. ”

He Jin saw that someone dared to oppose him, and he was immediately furious: "Since ancient times, the position of the prince has been the chief, and the prince Liu Wei is the eldest son of the first emperor, such a clear and clear thing, you still dare to question it, don't you want to rebel!" ”

"The general doesn't want to frame him, the lower officials don't have this intention." The minister was a little flustered.

"Come on, tell me about this traitor who plots rebellion!"

Two more guards of the forbidden army walked in outside the hall, saying that the minister who stood up against He Jin was taken away.

At the same time, in a room in the harem, the ten permanent attendants, who were the leaders of the eunuchs, were discussing the future with great concern.

The reason why eunuchs can dictate and monopolize power is mainly because of the blessing of the emperor, which is commonly known as dog fighting human power. And now the sudden death of the Spirit Emperor, who trusted them so much, was a blow to the ten permanent servants and all the eunuchs.

"The first emperor died, and without protection, we will definitely be driven out by those ministers who claim to be loyal ministers." When Zhao Zhong spoke, his face was full of despair.

Zhang Rang said: "Because of the previous disaster of the party, not only the courtiers, but also those scholars hated us to the core. If you want to survive, the attitude of the new monarch is particularly crucial.

The princes who are now eligible to succeed to the throne are one is the prince of debate, and one is the prince of Xie. And of the two of them, although the prince is older, he is cowardly.

Although Prince Xie's young age, he is smart and clever. The point is that he is so young, he is very disgusted with us, and if the prince succeeds to the throne, I am afraid that the first thing will be to kill us.

Therefore, I will support the succession of the prince, so that we can not only buy the favor of the general He Jin, but also save our lives and glory, and wait until the future to slowly control the new monarch. ”

"That's a good idea." Everyone nodded in agreement.