Luoyang, Imperial Palace.

It was a court meeting that day, but the things discussed at the court meeting made Liu Hong not comfortable at all. In the past month, none of the news from the Kanto states has made him happy, and even since this month, dozens of palace maids and eunuchs have been executed in the palace because of some small mistakes.

"Your Majesty is still worried about the affairs of those traitors?" The eunuch Zhang Rang walked behind Liu Hong from a distance and asked softly.

"These scholars are usually very powerful in fighting for power and profit, but now there is something in the world, but they shirk each other one by one." Liu Hong said angrily, and began to cough after speaking.

"Your Majesty's dragon body is important, the so-called Taiping Dao is just some clay legs for breakfast, as long as the army sent by His Majesty arrives, they will definitely be captured." Zhang Rang gently patted Liu Hong's back and said.

"Hmph, if that's the case, it won't make me so angry. Thinking that Zhu Jun, he is also known for being good at fighting, but he was defeated by a few thieves in Yingchuan, and now he is trapped in the long society, and he has to send troops to support the imperial court. ”

Liu Hong received the news today that Zhu Jun had failed in the battle with the Yellow Turban Army's Bocai Division, and the discussion at the court meeting was whether or not to send troops to support. However, the generals and colonels of the DPRK and the Central Committee shirked each other, and finally asked Lang Cao Cao to be the captain of the cavalry, and led 3,000 troops to support.

While Liu Hong was talking to Zhang Rang, a little yellow door suddenly came over, knelt in front of him and said to Liu Hong: "Your Majesty, there is a report on the battle of Shangdang County, and the slaves dare not delay, please check it out Your Majesty." ”

Seeing this, Zhang Rang stepped forward to take the battle report from Xiao Huangmen, opened it and presented it to Liu Hong.

Liu Hong now sees the battle report almost every day, but it is the news of the defeat, and the battle report handed over by Zhang Rang is also with a kind of mind that he doesn't want to read but has to read it. But when he saw the content of the battle report, his face turned cloudy and clear, and gradually even a happy color appeared on his face.

Zhang Rang, who was standing next to him, also glanced at the battle report and found some words such as "capturing the thief alive" and "escorting him to the capital", and he was also curious for a while, not knowing where the good news came from.

"Okay, this is a good courtier of my Han Dynasty, much better than those scholars who can only talk." After reading the battle report, Liu Hong said with a smile.

"There are still many courtiers in the world who are loyal to Your Majesty, and the minions are relieved to see Your Majesty happy." Zhang Rang said in line with the side of him, with a happy expression on his face, it made people feel that he was really happy because Liu Hong was happy.

"Yes, you can take a look at this battle report, about Zeng Yu, you go and check it out to see if he belongs to the children of the family." Liu Hong handed the battle report to Zhang Rang, and then commanded.

Zhang Rang saw Zeng Yu's name in the battle report, and mentioned in the war report that after the county guard of Shangdang County was killed by the Yellow Turban Army, Zeng Yu led his troops to defeat the invading Yellow Turban thief Kou headquarters, and captured the thief head alive, and is now on the way to escort the thief leader Zuo Zhangba to Beijing.

He vaguely had some impressions of the name Zeng Yu, after all, over the past year, Zeng Yu has sent people to send him millions of dollars one after another. This is also the result of Zeng Yu's operation, he did not send a lot of money at one time, but divided it into several times, so that Zhang Rang could always remember that there was such a person as him.

"For Zeng Yu, the slave has some impressions, speaking of which, he can be regarded as a protégé of the Son of Heaven." Zhang Rang said.

"Oh, what's going on?"

"Back to Your Majesty, this person is the person who went out of our Hongdu Gate, and the Hongdu Gate School was personally set up by His Majesty in order to select the world's talents, so the person who came out here is naturally your protégé." Zhang Rang replied.

In other words, this Hongdu Gate School was originally set up by Liu Hong for fun and enjoyment, but in Zhang Rang's mouth, it became for the purpose of selecting talents. However, when he said this, Liu Hong was naturally very happy to hear it, and now the people who have Hongdu Gate School have defeated all the way to the thief, and they can prove to the scholars of the world that they are correct in setting up Hongdu Gate School, so that the people of the world can realize the prestige of their emperor.

"So, he has nothing to do with those families?" Liu Hong asked.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, the slave guarantees that this person is not from a family, and he also has a conflict with the Cui family in Qinghe, and when he was raised as an official, he also hoped that the servants and others would help resist the Cui family's suppression of him." Zhang Rang replied affirmatively.

"Yes, after he arrives in Beijing, I will arrange for him to enter the palace once, and I will reward him again this time. Also, spread the contents of this battle report and show it to the scholars, without them, I also have someone to use. Liu Hong ordered.

In fact, there was no need for Zhang Rang to arrange it, when they learned the news in the palace, the generals outside the palace, He Jin, the imperial lieutenant Deng Sheng, and even some well-informed families also knew the news.

Originally, the previous lieutenant was Yang Ci, but because Yang Ci had an argument with Liu Hong, Liu Hong dismissed Yang Ci and promoted the veteran Deng Sheng to lieutenant for the reason of the war. originally hoped that through Deng Sheng's prestige in the army, he could divide a part of the military power from He Jin, but Deng Sheng was old and did not have the intention of fighting for power and profit, so now the court is still headed by He Jin, and the major families are attached to him, and the eunuchs in the palace are fighting for power, in the final analysis, it is to compete for power with him, the son of the Han Dynasty.

In the general's mansion, the five commanders of the Northern Army, Guangluxun, Zhijinwu and the captain of the city gate are now there, these are all the powerful people who are now in charge of the military power in Luoyang City, but now they are all concentrated in the general's mansion.

This is also what Liu Hong is afraid of, and it is also the real drawback of the Han Dynasty after the revival of Guangwu. Because of the help of the family, Emperor Guangwu agreed to rule the world with scholars. Nowadays, the court is filled with almost all people from families, or they are attracted by various families, such as the Yuan family, the Yang family, etc., the four generations have been favored by the world, and I don't know how many people have received their favors. And these people are outside or the head of a county, and in the court, they are also people who speak for various families.

Therefore, the emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty began to support their relatives, and almost all the positions of generals were held by relatives. But they underestimated the power of the scholars, and the relatives who were supposed to be on the side of the royal family, but under the influence of the family, they gradually favored the side of the family, so the emperor played the card of eunuchs again, so that they could balance with the scholars.

It's just that in the general's mansion today, the atmosphere is not particularly harmonious. Because they all know the battle report of Shangdang County, but for the protagonist in the battle report, it has nothing to do with them, and the three people they sent, Lu Zhi, Huangfu Song, and Zhu Jun, have not received good news for a long time.

"I invite you to come here today because I received news that a county commander from Shangdang County actually led his troops to exterminate one side of the Yellow Turban thieves and captured the other party's Qu Shuai alive. Now that this person is on his way to Beijing, what should we think of this matter? He Jin was originally a butcher, and he didn't know the way the Shi clan was beating around the bush, so he said straight to the point.

"I heard that this person donated money to make the county order of Anping County, and he was not born in a scholar clan, so his battle report does not seem to be good news for us and others." A city gate captain said.

"Having said that, but he has made a great contribution, and at this time he must also be known to His Majesty, and there is a eunuch beside him, this person has already entered the eyes of His Majesty." Guanglu Xun Xi said thoughtfully.

"You say you can bring this person over?" He Jin asked everyone.

Although the scholars now have the right to speak, the Han family's genes of advocating military merit for hundreds of years are still there. And a person like Zeng Yu who made great contributions at the right time and hooked up with eunuchs, after entering Beijing this time, either became a feudal official, or became a person in power in the court, increasing the power of eunuchs.

"Speaking of wooing, when this person entered Beijing last year, Shao had some friendship with this person, so I might as well leave this matter to me to deal with." At this time, Yuan Shao, the lieutenant of the Chinese Military Academy, stood up and said.

When Zeng Yu entered Beijing last year, Yuan Shao had a friendship with him, and Yuan Shao was different from Yuan Shu, although he was equally arrogant, but now he does not reject the poor scholars. In addition, his impression of Zeng Yu is not bad, and if he wins over Zeng Yu, it can also make his position in the Yuan family more stable.

There are three main people in the Yuan family in their generation, the eldest son Yuan Ji has become one of the servants of Jiuqing, as for him and Yuan Shu, they have not made great achievements in the officialdom, and now they are mainly close to the general He Jin as a representative of the Yuan family.

"Since you have the intention to make friends with this person, it is no better, you must win this person over." The reason why He Jin didn't want to give the eunuch a chance was because he knew that Liu Hong was not in good health and was often in a coma, although he woke up quickly, he was still worried.

He Jin's sister in the palace, Empress He, told him that it seems that the emperor does not want his eldest son Liu Ban to inherit the throne, but prefers the second prince Liu Xie. But Liu Bian has his He Jin, who is a general, as a backer, and if the emperor really intends to let Liu Xie succeed to the throne, he must support a force that can compete with him.

He Jin sheltered the scholars, and now what can compete with him is naturally the eunuch force supported by Liu Hong himself, so suppressing the eunuch power is related to whether his nephew can inherit the unification and whether his authority can continue to be maintained after today's great line, so he will not give up any opportunity to suppress the eunuchs.

Yuan Shao got He Jin's consent, and he was also thinking about how to win him over. The last time Zeng Yu came to Beijing to donate officials, he didn't pay much attention to him, he just thought that this person was very good at talking, but he didn't see much ability. But now it seems that this person was clumsy at the beginning, but this is fine, he believes that with his identity as a scholar of the Yuan family, it will naturally be easy to win over this person.

Now in Yuan Shao's view, what he needs to consider is not how to win over Zeng Yu, but how to operate and arrange Zeng Yu's new position, whether to keep him in the court, or to release him to a county and become the support of the Yuan family outside.