In the first year of the first peace of the Han Dynasty, on September.

The servant returned to Chang'an. He brought good news that Han Sui and Ma Teng had agreed to be appeased and had retreated to Longxi and Jincheng. Dong Zhuo was overjoyed and rewarded the series.

At the end of July, Shangshu Liu Ai stayed in Luoyang because of illness, and he went to Xiliang alone with the holy decree of appeasement. Dong Zhuo didn't have much hope, but he didn't expect the series to be successful.

The seed Ji said: "Han Sui and Ma Teng were stopped by Huang Fuhong's army in the area of Yicheng, and because of the lack of food, they had to retreat if they didn't retreat. ”

Dong Zhuo said to Chongji: "Don't play the Son of Heaven for the time being, don't go around, you go home and rest first." ”

Dong Zhuo immediately ordered Li Ru, who was stationed in Luoyang, to immediately take the three passes of Tiger Prison, Mengjin and Xiaopingjin and attack Hanoi. At the same time, he also ordered Duan Xuan and Niu Fu to raid Shangdang before the end of September.

Dong Zhuo told the three of them that the momentum must be loud and the attack must be fierce to cover the main force of the army to attack Yuan Shu.

Dong Zhuo ordered Dong Yue and Li Su to rush to Wuguan and attack Yuan Shu in Nanyang. Dong Zhuo said: "Yuan Shu is now confronting Liu Biao in Xiangyang, Wancheng is empty, and the army must strike down, occupy Nanyang, and drive Yuan Shu away." ”

Hu Zhen, Li Dao, Guo Yan, and Fan Chou of Hangu Pass received Dong Zhuo's order, and the army secretly assembled in the direction of Dagu Pass, Yuyuan Pass, and Yique Pass.

Zhang Xiu of Yique Pass, Xu Rong of Dagu Pass, and Song Xian of Yuyuan Pass also received Dong Zhuo's secret order and immediately sent scouts to investigate the situation in Nanyang, Yingchuan and other places, and prepare for the attack.

After Dong Zhuo finished deploying, he immediately played the Son of Heaven, saying that the Xiliang rebels had captured the Yicheng of Hanyang County, and there was no news about the appeasement, and he was going to lead the army to Xiliang to quell the rebellion.

The edict of the Son of Heaven approved.

………………

At the same time, Quanzhou in Yuyang County.

Li Yi, who had gone south to the Central Plains since the Chinese New Year, finally rushed back to Quanzhou. Li Yi was on a naval ship after quelling the rebellion in Xuzhou. Those who returned to northern Xinjiang by land and sea.

Along with Li Yi was Mi Zhu's family, who was appointed by Li Yi as the newly established director of the Commercial Department of the Hussar General's Mansion, responsible for all commercial affairs in northern Xinjiang.

The officials of the northern Xinjiang who stayed in Quanzhou, as well as Zhang Wen and several other old ministers, went to Piaoyujin to greet Li Yi.

Seeing Li Yi, the seven of them were very happy, especially Zhang Wen, who was very emotional when he held Li Yi's hand. Although he and Li Hong have some grievances with each other, they are all smoke clouds from the past, and they are not worth mentioning.

Li Yi said: "At the beginning of this year, I went south due to time constraints. I didn't go to visit Zhang Gong, which was rude. I haven't seen Zhang Gong for many years, and Zhang Gong's hair is much grayer. ”

Zhang Wen shook his head and sighed: "Seeing that Sheji is in danger, I live alone in the courtroom, and I can't serve the Son of Heaven, so I'm worried." But now, I can stand on the land of northern Xinjiang with Peng Fei, and I have confidence. Back then, the Xianbei people united with the Xiongnu to attack and annex the state. Threatening Gyeonggi, Peng Fei led the army to travel thousands of miles day and night to Bingzhou, and finally won successive battles, and finally won the sky alone. To make herculean efforts to save a critical situation. Today, who in the world can resist the sharpness of the general? The revitalization of Dahan is just around the corner. ”

Li Yi said: "Zhang Gong praised it, if there was no Zhang Gong's strategy in the imperial court, how could there be a victory in merging the state?" ”

Zhang Wen's old face flushed. When Li Yi was fighting with the Xianbei people in Bingzhou, he did not drag Li Yi back in Luoyang. Now that Li Yi is saying this, Rao is cheeky. I still feel the heat on my face.

Li Yi pretended not to see Zhang Wen's embarrassment, and greeted Cui Lie and the others.

Finally, Li Yi asked: "When you come to Northern Xinjiang, are you still comfortable in life?" ”

Everyone nodded their heads. After they came to Quanzhou, their life was better than when they were in Chang'an, I don't know how many times, and where was there anything they didn't adapt to?

After Zhang Wen and other seven old ministers arrived in Quanzhou, they immediately fell in love with the beauty and tranquility here. When Kou Zhun moved the eldest princess's mansion to Jixian County, none of the seven old ministers expressed their opinions. The eldest princess was in awe of these seven elders, and did not dare to speak casually, let alone say that she insisted on staying, but the expression on her face revealed the true will in her heart. The eldest princess pouted and glared at Kou Zhun angrily, very unhappy.

Zhang Wen and the others exchanged glances, and then smiled happily: "If the Eldest Princess's Mansion is moved to Jixian County, it will be necessary to build a very large mansion, but this will cost a lot of money, and everyone knows the current situation in Northern Xinjiang very well, so I think it's better to forget it." Quanzhou is good here, the eldest princess's mansion will stay here, don't move. Your Highness, look at ......"

"Okay, okay......" The eldest princess suddenly smiled and said happily, "In the future, where is the Hussar General's Mansion, the eldest princess's mansion is there." ”

Zhang Wen and the others looked at each other meaningfully, smiled and nodded.

Chen Ji arched his hand and said: "When Sheji is stable and Your Majesty returns to Luoyang, His Royal Highness will return to Beijing, so we should try to save a little bit and not be too extravagant." Along the way, we saw many people living in a hut with several families, living in a tent, with no clothes and food, very poor and poor. At this time, if we build a large number of buildings and palaces in Jicheng, we will be unanimously criticized by the whole of northern Xinjiang, which is not good for the eldest princess and northern Xinjiang, and will affect the great cause of social revitalization. His Royal Highness's suggestion was very much agreed by the ministers. ”

The Eldest Princess's Mansion not only remained in Quanzhou, but also remained with the Hussar General's Mansion in the future, which greatly surprised Li Yi and the officials of the Hussar General's Mansion. But Li Yi and the officials in the palace have no intention of investigating this matter, and now they are troubled by the huge financial vacancies in northern Xinjiang. From the Hussar General's Mansion to Li Yi and Cao Peng's subordinates, they were all racking their brains and thinking about countermeasures, and the heated discussion had lasted for more than ten days.

During this period of time, Zhang Wen, Cui Lie, Ma Riyan and others, accompanied by Cai Yong and Zheng Xuan, paid homage to the Martyrs' Hall in Jicheng, participated in two debates in the Jicheng University Hall, and chatted with the officials of various prefectures.

In the past few days in Quanzhou, Zhang Wen and other old ministers have a very good understanding of the situation in northern Xinjiang through contacts with all parties.

Cai Yong once explained to them that there were many reasons why Li Yi did not attack King Qin of Chang'an, such as Li Yi did not have the holy decree of the Son of Heaven. All the holy orders Li Yi has received so far are asking him to attack Yuan Shao, what can he do? Openly begging Dong like Yuan Shao? You must know that there are nine generals and more than ten lieutenant generals in northern Xinjiang, and there is no holy decree of the Son of Heaven, so you rely on Li Yi to ask for Dong, and you will ask for Dong when you say it, is this realistic?

The main reason for Li Yi's reluctance to send troops was because of the deep crisis in northern Xinjiang, and the root cause was the financial crisis in northern Xinjiang. Northern Xinjiang can't even get together enough money to raise soldiers, where is there money to fight?

Some people think that northern Xinjiang should abandon the desert and the border counties, so that all the troops can be concentrated to save Sheji. Actually, it's a joke. There is no war in the desert and the border counties, and it is very quiet. Last year, we spent about 100 million yuan on relief in the desert. At this time of year, the desert is so fertile that we hardly need to give them any more relief. In fact, the more than 2 billion yuan of relief money in northern Xinjiang was given to the millions of disaster victims stranded in various counties, and the displaced people and their husbands were eaten up, and had nothing to do with the desert and border counties.

If we give up the desert, abandon the border counties, and requisition all the troops north of the Great Wall, the force will indeed be strong, but the next question is, what money do we use to attack Chang'an? Even if we have money, what about food? The food consumed by the more than 200,000 troops during the war was several times more than the food consumed by the soldiers when they stayed in the barracks and basked in the sun. Coupled with the food consumption of hundreds of thousands of people who transported grain and grass to the army, how much grain will hundreds of thousands of people eat at the end of this day?

The 60,000 or 70,000 troops in Youzhou and Bingzhou alone could not defeat Chang'an, and Dong Zhuo had more than 100,000 troops, and our troops were not enough. If you want to fight Chang'an, at least the number of troops is almost the same as Dong Zhuo's, otherwise there will be no return. Therefore, checks and balances are necessary, and northern Xinjiang needs enough time to accumulate strength.

This check and balance strategy in Northern Xinjiang is not Li Yi's idea alone, but the result of the collegial discussion of the officials in Northern Xinjiang. The eldest princess also participated in the collegiate meeting, and she also agreed to temporarily stabilize the situation in Gyeonggi with checks and balances.

Cai Yong said: "If the Son of Heaven and the imperial court force the hussar general to save Sheji at the cost of abandoning the northern frontier for their own selfish interests, the consequences will be unimaginable. This is not just a matter of the chaos in Northern Xinjiang, but a matter of whether our Han Society can be saved because of the abandonment of Northern Xinjiang. If Northern Xinjiang is also lost, and Sheji is also lost, then it will be all over. Why can't we just wait for the strength of northern Xinjiang to recover, and then strike another blow? Why don't you do anything that is sure of you, and you have to take risks with social security? ”

Zhang Wen, Cui Lie and others were moved, and they and Kou Zhun, Zhong Xuan, Chen Qun, and many other officials in northern Xinjiang privately discussed the current situation and the crisis in northern Xinjiang many times, but because they had different starting points and different angles of looking at the problem, they also had very different ways and strategies for dealing with the problem.

However, Zhang Wen and others have not expressed any opinions, nor have they said the true purpose of the Son of Heaven and the imperial court to set up the eldest princess's mansion in northern Xinjiang and appoint seven important ministers to assist the eldest princess.

The Son of Heaven and the imperial court set up the eldest princess's mansion in northern Xinjiang, and violated the ancestral system by openly changing the law to give the eldest princess the power to deal with state affairs, which was the first time in this dynasty. Although it is customary for the queen mother to be in charge of state affairs in this dynasty, the eldest princess also intervenes in the authority of the state, is this a good thing or a bad thing for the Han Sheji?

Cai Yong asked Zhang Wen and others about this matter, but they kept silent and didn't say a word.

However, there is one thing they have a very resolute attitude, they think that Yuan Shao and the officials who participated in the fight against Dong Dajun are all rebellious Han people, and it is okay if the northern Xinjiang does not kill them, but they should not participate in it, and even Li Yi himself led an army of 6,000 to the south. This is a blatant disobedience to the Son of Heaven's decree and a betrayal of the Son of Heaven and the imperial court. (To be continued.) )