Chapter 187: The Fierceness of the Court Controversy
It was the clan that took the lead in attacking the early dynasty, and as for the reason, there were more than a dozen of them, but the focus of the controversy and the spearhead were all directed at Zhang Hua and Pei Zan without exception. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. biqUgE。 info accused Zhang Hua of being the initiator, violating the common practice of the first emperor, and making such a ridiculous recital, gathering all the vassal kings in Kyoto, and holding a sacrifice ceremony, wasting national funds, and rejoicing in great success. Then he accused Pei Zhan, who was in charge of the forbidden army in Kyoto, for lax care, which led to the murder of the two kings, aroused the suspicion of the vassal kings, and plunged the entire imperial family into an unprecedented crisis of trust.
These opinions were opposed by clan opposition, with many officials from humble backgrounds arguing that the arrogance of the vassal kings should not be tolerated or even encouraged, citing Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty's "Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms" as an example. In the twelfth year of Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bangli's brother Liu Zhong's son Liu Bi was the king of Wu. Liu Bi, the king of Wu, opened a copper mine, minted "half a tael" of money, boiled sea salt, set up an official city, and was exempt from taxes, so the economy of Wu developed rapidly, and Liu Bi's political ambitions began to breed.
During the reign of Emperor Wen, Prince Wu entered the court and played with the crown prince Liu Qi (i.e., Emperor Jing), and there was a dispute over the chess road, and the crown prince grabbed the chessboard and stoned Prince Wu to death. Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty sent someone to transport the body back to Wu, and Liu Bi, the king of Wu, said angrily: "There is a sect in the world, and if you die in Chang'an, you will be buried in Chang'an, so why bother to bury it?" The coffin was transported back to Chang'an for burial. Since then, Liu Bi has been in trouble. Emperor Wen of Han simply gave him a few sticks (coffee tables, walking sticks, symbols of respect and preferential treatment for the elderly), allowing him not to be invited to court. But Liu Bi, the king of Wu, not only did not repent, but became even more arrogant.
After Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, Liu Bi, the king of Wu, became more and more arrogant, and the reverses became more and more obvious. The Imperial Historian Chao Cuo suggested that the fiefs of the princes and kings should be cut off and returned to the direct rule of the Han court. He gave Emperor Jing the "Cutting Domain" policy, advocating "cutting the domain", pointing out: "Today's cutting is also the opposite, and not cutting is also the opposite." Cutting it, its counter-urgency (rapid), small disaster. If you don't cut it, it's too late, and it's a big disaster. Emperor Jing adopted Chao Cuo's suggestion of "cutting the feudal domain", and in the first three years of Emperor Jing, he successively cut off the Donghai County of Chu Wangwu, the Changshan County of Zhao Wangsui and the six counties of Jiaoxi Wang on various charges.
In the first month of the first three years of Emperor Jing, the edict of the Han court to cut the land was sent to the state of Wu. Wu Wangbi immediately executed officials below 2,000 stone (county level) sent by the imperial court. In the name of "Qing Jun's side, punish Chao wrong", he told all the vassal states. When the news came, Liu Ang, the king of Jiaoxi, Liu Xiongqu, the king of Jiaodong, Liu Xian, the king of Suchuan, Liu Piguang, the king of Jinan, Liu Wu, the king of Chu, and Liu Sui, the king of Zhao, also raised troops to cooperate. The "Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms" led by Wu and Chu finally broke out.
After Liu Bi attacked, he led an army of 200,000 to cross the Huaishui River to the west, and after joining with the Chu army, he formed the Wu-Chu coalition army. Immediately swung westward, killing tens of thousands of Han troops, quite a military might. Liu Wu, the king of Liang, sent troops to meet the attack, but the Liang army was defeated.
After the news of the rebellion reached Chang'an, Emperor Jing immediately sent Lieutenant Zhou Yafu (the second son of Zhou Bo, Marquis of Jiang) as a lieutenant, led 36 generals to meet the Wu Chu rebels, sent Qu Zhou Hou Li to attack Zhao, and the general Luan Bu led his troops to relieve the siege of Qi, and ordered Dou Ying (the son of the cousin of the Empress Dowager Dou) to be the general and stationed in Xingyang to supervise the battle.
While Emperor Jing sent Zhou Yafu and others to meet the rebels, his heart wavered, which gave Yuan Ang an opportunity. Yuan Ang was originally Wu Xiang and had a close relationship with Liu Bi. Yuan Ang said to Emperor Jing: "Fang Jin's plan is to make mistakes, send an envoy to pardon Wu and Chu, and restore their hometowns, so that the soldiers can stop without blood." In exchange for the boycott of the Seven Kingdoms, Emperor Jing really believed Yuan An's words and said that he "didn't love anyone to thank the world", so he beheaded Chao in Dongshi and brutally punished him. It's a pity that Chao is loyal, so he was victimized by the villain's slander.
Needless to say, the final result is already known to the world, the Seven Kingdoms did not quit their troops because the imperial court killed Chao Cuo, but felt the weakness of the imperial court and continued to use troops. Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty has become the laughing stock of the world, and he regrets it.
Zhang Hua and Pei Zhan's arguments are different from the above two, and they point out very directly that this matter is a conspiracy through and through. One of the suspicious points is that many vassal kings came to Kyoto, and the imperial court had clearly stipulated that only they were allowed to bring their own escorts, but in fact they brought more than just escorting the pro-army, and the more than 100,000 troops gathered outside Luoyang City were the soldiers of these vassal kings. The second suspicion is that the deaths of the two kings are all caused by man-made, of course the person who murdered them is not the imperial court, since it is not the imperial court, who will it be? And the unprecedented unity of the vassal kings this time, gathering together to make up their minds to confront the imperial court, isn't it because of the death of the two kings and the suspicion that the imperial court wants to attack the feudal king? Therefore, if it is not the vassal king's own ulterior motives, or someone wants to separate the court and the vassal king, apart from a conspiracy, what else can it be?
Seeing the ministers arguing in front of the palace, and then looking at the long-lived son of heaven dozing off routinely on the throne, Yang Zhi's heart gradually began to sink to the bottom. In all fairness, when Zhang Hua offered her sacrificial strategy, she was still too optimistic, hoping to take this opportunity to demonstrate the authority of the imperial court, and then cut the power of the vassal king, and complete the concentration of power without bloodshed. Even if the worst outcome, there was a strong backlash and confrontation among the vassal kings, they were unknown, and they did not dare to openly confront the imperial court, and since the defeat of the second king, she also thought that the remaining vassal kings had no strength and could not make any waves. If there is no agreement between the vassal king and the imperial court, at least the vassal king can be detained in Kyoto by the opportunity of the sacrifice. The ploy seemed seamless. So she agreed to Zhang Hua's appeal to the Son of Heaven, after all, it was more justifiable for the Son of Heaven to issue this order in the name of the Son of Heaven.
As a result, what Yang Zhi didn't expect was that the sudden murder of the two kings made a plate of scattered vassal kings inexplicably united, and it was menacing, but overnight, the wind and clouds changed abruptly, and she already faintly felt that there was an invisible hand behind her back marching and arranging, and she was playing a big game of chess with her own side, but who was this invisible hand? Is it the Son of Heaven or his staff? Or was it one of the feudal kings? She didn't know.
Yang Zhi fell into an unprecedented anxiety, the arguments of the ministers were different, inconsistent, time was passing little by little, Yang Zhi knew that the vassal king who was sharpening his sword outside Kyoto had begun to show his fangs, and it was impossible for her to get out of this hall without making a decision today.
"Queen Mother, long live, the minister has something to say。。。。。" The people in the hall were shocked by this high-pitched voice, and they all looked at the person who spoke.........