—189 A.D.——

Youzhou.

Two years have passed since the Four Elephants were born.

Liu Hong, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, was successfully welcomed back to Jixian County by Liu Bei, the "royal brother", after the incident.

At that time, Liu Yu, the assassin of Youzhou, immediately made a decision and announced that Guangyang County, the seat of Liu Bei and Gongsun Zhan, would be the new capital of the Han Dynasty, and asked the emperor to inform the world and move the capital to Youzhou.

After this edict was issued, except for Youzhou, Jizhou and the northern part of Bingzhou, all states and counties did not follow the edict, and each issued a letter, saying that Liu Xuande controlled the emperor's life and death with evil magic pills.

However, these texts are just words.

Liu Bei's brother-in-law Zhang Fei has an in-law relationship with the Xiahou clan, the relative of Cao Cao, the assassin of Qingzhou, and Liu Bei himself has won the favor of the daughter of the Sun family in Jiangdong.

Even the local residents of Luoyang only know the scenes that can be seen intuitively, such as "the palace is destroyed", "the sky is dark", "the golden light reaches the sky", and "the four elephants are coming".

However, its "consequences" are now known to the whole world, that is, the original inner city of the palace was completely sealed by golden light, and the outer city was divided into three by impassable "holy miracles".

The "White Tiger Wall", which is completely composed of water flows, separates the northeast, transparent and blue, like a dragon's spine brick wall and the transparent "Green Dragon Wall" blocks the northwest, and a pitch black, unknown "Xuanwu Shell" shrouds the southeast.

Of course, these directions are not rigorous, they each have their own extensions and expansions, completely dividing the outer city of Luoyang, leaving no gaps for the "southwest".

They are connected to the sky and the earth, and the scope of influence includes the entire division, so if Liu Bei and Cao Cao, or Cao Cao and Sun Jian, there is a possibility of direct combat, but if Dong Zhuo in Guanzhong wants to send troops, he will either bypass and merge with the state from the north, or pass through Bashu from the south, and the original route of "passing through Tongguan, passing through Hangu, and passing through Luoyang" has been completely cut off.

As for the origin of this "holy miracle" and what happened when the four elephants came into the world, all the forces are secretive, but there are rumors among the people that because of the strength of all parties in Luoyang at that time, they fought with each other, and it was very likely that a shocking tragedy would occur, so the "immortals" of all parties joined forces to separate the parties.

And after the [Four Elephants Came to the World], those "immortals" and "transcendents" who had deeds that could not be seen by the dragon but could not see the end, such as Mei Lin, Zuo Ci, Yu Ji, as well as Ge Xuan, Tong Yuan, Wang Yue and others, all stopped appearing for unknown reasons, which can be said to be an indirect proof of this.

However, even if others don't know, the existence of Ge Tianshi can still be determined, because he has been taking care of the emperor who is in a strange state, as well as ...... Bombed the Dan room many times.

Liu Bei thought as he walked towards the palace.

————

"Royal brother, I'm dead."

After the emperor saw Liu Bei, he came to his head with such a sentence, so that Liu Bei didn't know how to react at all.

"Take care, Your Majesty!" On the contrary, it was Liu Yu, the former assassin of Youzhou, Lu Zhi, and Wang Yun, the three current three princes, who spoke in unison first, and the courtiers under the steps immediately bowed down.

After the Luoyang incident, those courtiers were divided into three factions due to their interests, tendencies, and beliefs, and each followed the emperor, the empress and the eldest prince, and the concubine and the second prince, and went their separate ways.

The basic people who came to Youzhou were orthodox pure ministers, although they were a little suspicious that Liu Bei was "coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes" and looked at him unpleasantly, but Liu Bei did not take power at all, and he did not even fight for the position of the three dukes, under the noses of Liu Yu, Lu Zhi, and Wang Yun, there was no evidence and it was not easy to say anything.

At this time, these people probably thought that the emperor was saying "I am going to die", but Liu Bei knew very well that it was indeed "dead" in the literal sense, that is, his original lifespan had been exhausted, and from now on he was completely relying on Xiahou Ji's "immortal medicine" in the hard top, although he had a surplus amount to eat, and as long as there was no shortage of supplies, he would not die, but he always had to take precautions, after all, the other two princes who were qualified to succeed to the throne were under the control of other forces.

"All the emperors are flat," the emperor waved his hand and said, "I will take care, but what if I can't take care?" ”

I always felt that after the emperor left Luoyang and left the protection of the queen and the sword saint, he seemed to be a lot more open-minded, but it was too late, Liu Bei shook his head secretly.

According to the third brother and sister who has grown, but the words are even more incomprehensible, the emperor has collected the world's gold and silver treasures to play with every day, and has taken all kinds of strange pills, has been "heavy metal poisoning", terminally ill, there is no medicine to treat, after the original life is consumed, only by borrowing "immortal medicine" can continue to live, and as long as there are any accidents in the drug process......

"Spread the edict," Seeing that the ministers were discussing in a low voice but didn't know how to respond, the emperor beckoned behind him: "Seal the imperial brother Liu Bei as the [King of Yan]." ”

Now the court is completely fried, and a series of "ministers have their own music", but the three three princes were thoughtful and did not speak.

"I have made up my mind, and I will hold a ceremony to seal the king on a certain day." The emperor ignored them completely and waved his hand to signal Liu Bei to take the order.

Liu Bei was still a little excited, but when he saw the rhubarb and atractylodes coming out of the back with the edict in his trembling hands, he only wanted to laugh.

After receiving the edict, Liu Bei has already figured out the ins and outs, and his current advantage is really not ordinary, because the Han Dynasty has a rule of "no king with a different surname", no matter how meritorious a courtier is, as long as he is not surnamed Liu, he cannot be crowned a king, such as Cao Cao, at most he can only proclaim himself a "duke".

If the emperor dies and abdicates, although the prince should succeed to the throne, if the prince is unable to succeed to the throne for some reason, and there is a "king" with sufficient status, he can also replace him.

After the emperor was received from Youzhou, other forces may have been intimidated by the matter of Luoyang, and did not dare to directly nominate the prince or princess to succeed to the throne, but just looked at the situation on the side of Youzhou, although there was friction but no conflict between the territorial boundaries of the parties, but as soon as this matter came out, they must have been unable to help it.

In the end, Liu Bei took the edict of the king and retired from the complicated eyes of the ministers.

————

Jixian County, the county guard's house.

"Oh? Yan? Zhang Fei was rather surprised and asked, "Can this position be divided by the emperor?" ”

"Of course not," Xiahou Ji, who had grown up a little but still had a immature appearance, replied with a rabbit in her arms: "The Ten Halls of Yama must be appointed by Hou Tu Niangniang, Jizo Bodhisattva and Jade Emperor in consultation, and must be appointed by sufficient merit. ”

“…… It is 'Yan', which occupied Youzhou and Jizhou during the Warring States Period, and was one of the 'Yan' of the Seven Heroes. Liu Bei was already very accustomed to the difference in the thinking of these two people, and explained casually.

"It turns out that what I said all day long 'Yanren Zhang Yide' means this?" Zhang Fei looked very happy, "I thought it was 'as light as a swallow'." ”

"......" These two are really a perfect match, but the third brother didn't seem to be so stupid before, right?

"Congratulations, Lord Wang." Jian Yong made a more modest response in order to play a round.

"After the old man learned about the 'edict', he guessed that His Majesty might have high hopes for King Yan, and now it seems that this is indeed the case." Sima Fang also responded.

"But...... Other parties may take action and need to be on the lookout for. Sima Lang echoed.

"In this way, some things that can't be interfered with by the eldest brother can be interfered with?" Guan Yu raised a new question.

"Exactly." Liu Bei nodded.

The various parts of Youzhou had already developed according to his expectations, but because of the flattery of the emperor, some old ministers of Luoyang were naturally brought, and they still used the old-style governance methods, which made many people in Youzhou quite dissatisfied, and even sued Guan Yu - in Youzhou, everyone knew that Guan Yun was anxious and righteous.

Before today, Guan Yu could only use his own identity to suppress those corrupt officials, and the initiator who really caused public resentment was even higher than Liu Bei's official position.

Since those old ministers from Luoyang were originally quite suspicious of Liu Bei's motives, if they dealt with those old ministers just after welcoming the Son of Heaven, they were afraid that it would cause an uproar in the court, although the emperor himself should be towards Liu Bei, but it was impossible for him to support Liu Bei's "insignificant" order in the case of the courtiers' unanimous opposition - yes, in the eyes of those courtiers, corruption and dereliction of duty were just minor issues, and maintaining their status and the right to speak in front of the emperor was the important thing.

From now on, as the "King of Yan" under one person and above ten thousand people, Liu Bei will not have to care about those Luoyang courtiers who only have a sharp mouth, because the "king" is not within the scope of their questioning and criticism at any time, if Zhang Fei hears someone slandering Liu Bei, he can directly tie up the other party and whip him.

"Hmph...... In this way, presumably Zhang He Gaolan and Yan Liangwen have to call you the lord. Sima Yi, the little boy behind Sima Fang, interjected.

Well, this is true, Liu Bei thought, these four people who call themselves the "Four Pillars of Hebei" only recognize the current management and do not recognize the county officials, a county guard who may be replaced at any time, even if they have fought side by side in Luoyang, they are not qualified to be called the lord, but after they become the "King of Yan", they will be their "county officials" and "current managers" at the same time.

"Then ......" "Husband~I'm looking for you~" "Phew, it's not your husband!" ”

Liu Bei was halfway through his words, when he was suddenly interrupted by a woman's voice from outside, and he couldn't help but reach out to support his forehead, while the other subordinates present left with a snicker.

"Luoshen" and Sun Shangxiang, the daughter of the Wu Di Sun family, they are obviously the same person's childhood and adult posture, but somehow they are on the same page.

In Xiahou Ji's words, they are called "Zhang Yunhua" and "Ao Cunxin" respectively, and they should be the relationship between "Wushuang" and "Buddha", but I don't know why the fusion failed, and until Sun Shangxiang and Lu left, they will remain like this.

"Big brother, don't worry." Zhang Fei said: "Your interpersonal relationships are messy enough now, and they won't continue to be messy." ”

Lend you good words...... Liu Bei rubbed his face and prepared to greet the two girls.

Abruptly, he hung around his neck, and the "wood carving", which had not moved since two years ago, emitted a strong warmth.

Bodhisattva?

Liu Bei was half pleasantly surprised, and suddenly felt an emptiness in his neck, and the "warmth" was separated, turning into a ball of green light floating to the ground in front of him, and began to distort and transform.

At the same time as "Luoshen" and Sun Shangxiang stepped into the house, this green light was also transformed, it was a little girl about seven or eight years old, wearing a light green skirt armor, a shield in her left hand, a knife in her right hand, short hair and ears, cute eyebrows and eyes, but a serious face.

"Father, mother," the girl saluted Zhang Fei and Xiahou Ji, and then turned to Liu Bei, "Luoshen" and Sun Shangxiang: "Father-in-law, mother-in-law." ”

"......" Listening to the screams of the girl for unknown reasons that suddenly sounded in the house, Liu Bei silently covered his ears.