Black clouds crush the city.

In the sky above Luoyang City, a large area of dark clouds mixed with rumbling thunder rolled in, like ten thousand horses galloping, covering the sky and the sun in an instant.

In the Jiade Hall of the South Palace, it seems to reflect the late Tang Dynasty poet Xu Hun's "mountain rain is about to come and the wind is full of buildings", a gust of wind blows into the main hall, blowing the candlesticks and bookcases to the side.

The palace people in the Jiade Palace, the Huangmen, hurriedly under the command of Guo Yi, the regular attendant, helped up the bookcase, candlesticks and other utensils that fell to the ground.

In the midst of the panic in the hall, two people were unmoved. Empress Dowager He knelt on the main seat in the hall, staring at Liu Wei with a pale face and despair, and the piece of music she was holding in her hand was wrinkled together because of her exertion. And Liu Wei stood in the center of the hall with his hands hanging down without humility or arrogance, letting the palace man Huangmen be busy by his side, with an expression of not reaching his goal.

The hurried palace people in the hall couldn't take into account the tense atmosphere of the two of them at all, only Guo Yi glanced at the two people facing each other in the hall from time to time while commanding the palace people, and the sweat on his forehead flowed down like a gurgling stream.

A copy of "Zuo Biography" on the desk was blown to the ground, and the pages were blown over by the strong wind, and a palace maid carefully picked up the book, glanced at the pages, and couldn't help but light up. This "Zuo Chuan" not only has beautiful white pages, bound into a book, and the handwriting on it is also neat, exactly the same, even if it is written by one person, it is impossible to write to this extent, and the words on it do not seem to be the popular hand-copying, but, but, ......

When the little emperor Liu Wei just came in with this book, he said that it was printed and a gift to the Empress Dowager He. Although this palace maid didn't understand what printing was, she felt that this kind of printed books had an indescribable wonder, perhaps just like what the little emperor just said, the power of printing was a grand event for the world and all generations of descendants.

Originally, she was still waiting for Liu Wei to further explain the benefits of printing, but before Liu Wei finished speaking, Empress Dowager He rudely interrupted his words and asked angrily: "Bian'er, why do you want to protect that slut's evil seed?" ”

The slut that Empress Dowager He said naturally refers to Wang Meiren's son, Chen Liuwang Liu Xie. Since poisoning Wang Meiren, Empress Dowager He has been deliberately trying to cut down the grass and eradicate the roots. It's just that due to the protection of Emperor Liu Hong of the Han Dynasty and Empress Dowager Dong, he has not been able to start. Now that he is in power, he thought that he could get rid of Liu Xie, but who knew that he was stopped by Liu Wei, and he was naturally angry in his heart.

In the face of Empress Dowager He's anger, Liu Wei was not arrogant or impatient, and replied calmly: "Queen Mother, there is nothing wrong with my brother, and I am afraid that public opinion in the world will be difficult to calm if I rashly give death." Besides, the son and the co-brother are both the heirs of the first emperor, how can it be contrary to human ethics and kill the killer? ”

Empress Dowager He didn't listen to Liu Wei's persuasion at all, and said impatiently: "Bian'er is still young and doesn't understand the truth at all. Don't easily listen to the words of others and be deceived by others. You don't care about this matter, let your mother take care of it. ”

Seeing that the Empress Dowager He still regarded herself as a child and was arrogant and unreasonable, Liu Wei stood up angrily, walked to the center of the main hall, bowed deeply to the Empress Dowager He, and retorted: "It's not that the child is not filial, but the queen mother's words, the child dare not agree." The throne of the child, if the child is virtuous and the people are in their hearts, no one can take it away. But if it is perverse and immoral to the people, I am afraid that everyone in the world will come to grab this throne. Therefore, if a child wants to sit on this throne, the key is the child, not others. ”

Seeing that Empress Dowager He was speechless for a while, Liu Wei paused, and made up his mind to continue: "Although the child has young teeth, he is not completely ignorant. National affairs are also measured in their hearts. If there is chaos today, the society will fall, and the children want to do the things of Emperor Guangwu, set things right, and prosper the Han. However, although the queen mother was sympathetic to the child and ruled on behalf of the child, she did not know that this move also tied the child's hands and feet. There are many politicians in the court, and hundreds of officials are suspicious, which is really not the blessing of the society. Therefore, the child asked the queen mother to return to the court and retreat to the North Palace. ”

When Liu Wei said this, Empress Dowager He realized that the purpose of his coming today was to let herself hand over power, and the whole person was stunned on the spot, looking at Liu Wei with an unbelievable gaze.

Liu Wei met the gaze of the Empress Dowager He, bowed down with a firm will, and said, "I hope that the queen mother will be fulfilled." ”

Mrs. Ho turned pale and muttered, "What do the ministers say?" ”

"Lu Zhi and other ministers all mean this, this is their recital."

Liu Wei took out a piece of music from his body, which he instructed Lu Zhi to contact other ministers to jointly submit the table, intending to use the power of the court to force Empress Dowager He to hand over power.

Guo Yi stepped forward to take the piece and handed it to the Empress Dowager He, who took a cursory look at it, her face turned even paler, and she said to herself with a desperate expression: "I can't imagine that Zigan is ......."

At this time, there was a sudden thunderstorm outside the hall, and a strong wind blew into the hall, as if it had blown away all the strength of the Empress Dowager He, and she could no longer support it, and the Empress Dowager He was slumped in her seat.

Liu Wei was surprised that Lu Zhi's recital would bring such a blow to the Empress Dowager He, and he didn't know what to say for a while, and the two of them froze in place.

The palace man of the Jiade Palace, Huang Men, hurriedly straightened the items that were blown crooked by the wind, and Guo Yi, the middle attendant who commanded them, secretly glanced at Liu Wei and Empress Dowager He who were facing each other in the hall, and the sweat of the bean was flowing down from his forehead like a spring. Although the cold wind poured into the main hall, he still felt as hard as a fire.

Guo Yi was originally the Empress Dowager He's queen when she was the queen, and was later promoted by the Empress Dowager He to become a permanent servant, and he was well versed in the cruelty of the palace struggle, so he naturally knew that the heavenly family was fighting a dragon and tiger, and they would inevitably be affected by these little people.

The current Guo Yi does not have the ambition and courage of his predecessors, and the preservation of himself is his most urgent idea. Faced with the tense atmosphere between Empress Dowager He and Liu Wei, he just secretly prayed in his heart that the political storm that was about to blow would not trap him in it.

But the confrontation between Liu Wei and Empress Dowager He was about to erupt. Guo Yi, who was sweating profusely in a hurry, suddenly saw a palace maid holding the book brought by Liu Wei in a daze, and a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, Guo Yi stepped forward and angrily reprimanded the palace maid: "What are you doing here, don't return this thing to Your Majesty." ”

Guo Yi's scolding woke up the palace maid, blushing, and hurriedly held the book in front of Liu Wei. The two of them, who were originally in a tense atmosphere, were suddenly interrupted by this palace maid, and their attitudes eased a little. Liu Wei also knew that it was not appropriate to make his relationship with the Empress Dowager He very stiff, so he took the book held by the palace maid and said lightly: "The child's words are heartfelt, and I hope that the mother will consider it." This "Zuo Biography" is dedicated by the child to the queen mother, if the queen mother has a heart, you can open it and take a look. ”

Liu Biao opened the book, buckled it upside down on a case, and then gave a deep salute, ignoring the pouring rain outside, and walked straight away.

Guo Yi saw Liu Wei leave, and he breathed a long sigh of relief in his heart. To his surprise, he came up with a clever plan just now, asking the palace maid to step forward to interrupt the confrontation between Liu Wei and Empress Dowager He, even if Liu Wei or Empress Dowager He got angry, it would not hurt him. Unexpectedly, the anger he imagined did not appear, which surprised him.

But the matter is over, and he doesn't want to dig into it. Seeing that the Empress Dowager He was slumped in her position, and was about to step forward to comfort her, the Empress Dowager He said weakly: "Bring that book." ”

Guo Yi was stunned for a moment, walked to the front of the case, picked up the book left by Liu Wei, and respectfully presented it to the Empress Dowager He.

Empress Dowager He knew that Liu Wei had a deep meaning when he deliberately mentioned this book before leaving, so she stretched out her hand and opened the book she was holding and saw that the content was the story of Zheng Zhuang's prisoner and mother, who vowed not to see each other in Huangquan.

Empress Dowager He's heart tightened. Could it be that Wei'er is implying that we mother and son will also go that far?

Empress Dowager He put down the book weakly and fell into contemplation.

At this moment, there was a noise outside. Guo Yi felt strange, so he ran out to take a look, and found that it was the palace guards who changed guards. Originally, the guards around Empress Dowager He were gone, replaced by a group of unfamiliar faces. Guo Yi felt that these should be the people of the little emperor.

Guo Yi ran back and told the Empress Dowager He what happened outside. Empress Dowager He didn't believe it at first, so she left her seat and walked out to see that the guards outside had really changed into new faces. Although these guards were still respectful to her on the surface, Empress Dowager He knew in her heart that these were all people sent by Liu Wei to spy on and even put her under house arrest.

"Do you want to announce that Mrs. Yuan will come to see you?" Guo Yi suggested on the side.

Empress Dowager He looked at the guards who were not moving in the rain for a while, and finally took a long breath and said faintly: "Forget it." Child, grow up. ”

After speaking, he shook his head and walked back to the main hall.

In 189 AD, in September of the first year of Guangxi of the Han Dynasty, Empress Dowager He returned to the government on the grounds of illness, left the Jiade Hall of the South Palace, and moved to the Yongle Palace of the North Palace.

At the same time, with the support of Lu Zhi and others, Liu Wei suddenly issued an emergency order, from now on, Luoyang City to the hundred officials, down to the grass people, not to discuss the government in vain, not to assemble illegally, and those who violate the prohibition will be punished for rebellion.

The people who have just experienced the rebellion of the Ten Standing Servants will naturally be in danger for a while.

Liu Wei took the opportunity to issue an edict to change the six-person auxiliary government to a six-person counselor, although it was a difference of one word, but the meaning was much worse. In the case of auxiliary government, Yuan Kui and others have decision-making power over the government affairs, but the advisory government only provides opinions and ideas to the government affairs, and it is up to the emperor to decide whether to implement them.

As soon as this edict was issued, the original six auxiliary ministers reacted differently. Yuan Kui immediately entered the palace and asked to see the Empress Dowager He, but he was closed; Yang Biao and Huang Wan remained silent, and they should have a wait-and-see attitude. Ma Riyan seemed to be very dissatisfied with Liu's mother's seizure of power, so he simply resigned and returned to his hometown; And Liu Yu, a clan far away in Youzhou, behaved very well, and wrote that he was not virtuous enough, and was not suitable for consulting the government, and asked to continue to do local work on Youzhou; The last auxiliary minister, Lu Zhi, was a staunch supporter of Liu Bian, so he naturally openly supported this edict. As a powerful faction in Luoyang City, and a well-known person in the Shi clan, with his support, the courtiers did not dare to say much.

In the end, the dust settled, and Liu Wei officially became pro-government. After many hardships, he finally achieved the supreme power of the Han Empire.

However, this does not mean that Liu Wei's fate will be a smooth road in the future, on the contrary, he will face more responsibilities and difficulties.

When he sat on the throne of power and began to examine the entire empire, Liu Wei sadly found that his previous Emperor Liu Hong of the Han Dynasty left him a country full of holes, the impact of the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Qiangyi Rebellion over the years, the country's finances have reached a situation where they cannot make ends meet, not to mention the absurdity of the two emperors of Huan Ling, and the centrifugation of scholars caused by rampant expropriation and extortion, and the world is against each other. A national crisis is on the verge of breaking out, and the Han Empire is still in danger of collapsing. What worries Liu Wei the most is that the prestige of the central government continues to decline, and the governors and assassins in various places have begun to make moves, and they have divided one side after another, and disobeyed the imperial court's decrees, which has become the biggest hidden danger of the Han Empire.

Liu Wei, who had just become pro-government, still had nothing to do with these quasi-princes for the time being, and even in order to eliminate the influence of the two brothers Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu on the Jingshi court, he had to levy Yuan Shao as the Bohai Taishou and Yuan Shu as the Nanyang Taishou as a political transaction in exchange for their military power in the capital.

Although he also understood that putting the Yuan brothers in the local area was to raise tigers, he had just become pro-government, and the country was in ruins, and he urgently needed a stable situation to recover. Therefore, he still adopted a forbearant attitude towards the issue of the Yuan clan, and solved the problem of military unification in Luoyang City through political exchange rather than force.

The unification of the army made Liu Bian no longer feel constrained in Luoyang City, and he also happened to show his strength in the political arena.

Although the empire is facing many problems now, his predecessor, Liu Hong, the Emperor of Han Ling, did not completely leave him with a mess.

In the West Garden built by Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty and his former residence in the river, a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry were left, all of which were obtained by him from selling his official beard and expropriating money, plus the property of the ten permanent servants confiscated by Jiang Qi, the total value was as high as 1 billion yuan.

Seeing such a pile of money in the West Garden, Liu Wei had to be surprised by Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty's ability to loot the people's fat and ointment, you must know that the garden palace during the Emperor Ling period was not less built, and when the Yellow Turban Uprising, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty took out the property of the West Garden to reward the soldiers of the army, and he didn't expect that there would be so much money left in the end.

Liu Wei remembered that Xun Yu, who had just been promoted to the rank of Grand Si Nongcheng, reported to him that the treasury was about to be exhausted, and compared the two, he couldn't help but feel extremely angry at Emperor Han Ling's selfish behavior of looting people's wealth and enriching his own pockets regardless of the safety of the country.

Originally, this property in history should have fallen into the hands of Dong Zhuo, but since the current winner of Luoyang is Liu Wei, he naturally accepted this money while angrily scolding Emperor Han Ling for being greedy and contemptuous.

After all, it is easy to do things with money, and now that Liu Wei has just started, with this money, it naturally gives him a good starting point.

Liu Wei began to be high-spirited, determined to overcome obstacles and create his own Guangxi empire.

****************

Zuo Fengyi, Yunyang.

The soldiers of the Li Dao Division, who had just been stationed here, received the order to continue the march before they could catch their breath.

Although the soldiers complained about this, they did not dare to mention it in front of Li Dao. Their general has not been in a very good temper in recent days. Even many of his cronies advised him to take a break, but he was severely beaten.

The team in front of the horse to report that Guo Yan had already walked to Qi County and was about to enter the territory of Liangzhou. Li Dao, Guo Yan, Zhang Ji and Fan Chou are all generals, if according to the imperial edict, those who enter Liangzhou first are respected, Guo Yan has become the pastor of Liangzhou, and naturally has the name of righteousness of the imperial court, and has the right to control the other three. Among the four, Li Dao is the strongest and the most capable, Dong Zhuo has always regarded himself as the new leader of the Xiliang Army since he stepped down, so how could he swallow his anger and watch Guo Yan ride on his neck.

For several days, he had been urging the army to march quickly despite the fatigue of the soldiers, and now when he heard the news that Guo Yan was about to enter Liangzhou, he was furious and scolded Guo Yan for being ungrateful, and at the same time ordered the whole army to immediately withdraw from the camp and chase Guo Yan's army overnight.

It was already evening, and the soldiers who had been on the road for a day were exhausted, although they were dissatisfied with this order in their hearts, but after all, the military order was like a mountain, and no one dared to slack off, so they quickly packed up and prepared to go on the road.

However, unlike the busyness of other soldiers, in a tent in the camp, a scribe in a long shirt had no sense of urgency, and slowly packed his luggage.

The light of the fire in the tent reflected his majestic back on the tent, and if you looked at his broad shoulders from the outside of the tent, some people might mistake it for a general, but he lacked the heroic spirit of a military general in his burly figure, and some had a dark vulture gaze under his eyebrows.

The scribe twisted his beard lightly, recalled the words in the imperial edict, and smiled with some scorn. In his opinion, Liu Wei's boiled frog in warm water and sowing discord against a vulgar martial artist like Li Dao and Guo Yan may be effective, but it is too pediatric for him.

If it is about marching and fighting, Li Dao and Guo Yan are all qualified generals, but if it is about court battles, Li Dao Guo Yan's little political wisdom will even turn them around with the petty officials of 300 stones in Luoyang City.

Liu Wei's strategy can bluff Li Wei, Guo Yan and others, but it can't hide from his eyes. Although he didn't think that Li Wei was a person who could be assisted, but there were no eggs under the nest, in order to protect himself, he had to expose Liu Wei's plan and counterattack Luoyang in order to survive.

Thinking of this, the scribe of the long shirt put down the half-packed luggage in his hand and walked out of the tent.

Outside the tent, night fell, and the camp was in chaos about to be opened.

The long-robed scribe ignored the panicked soldiers beside him, and instead cast a deep gaze into the dark night sky.

A word from a poisoner can mess up the world. The Han Empire, which has just had a little hope of revival, is about to face a bloody crisis.