Chapter 374: Saying One Word and Thinking Another

After Dong Zhuo's death, Wang Yun began to purge the forces in the court. In his view, those who colluded with Dong Zhuo were a threat to the Han court.

They are divided into two categories: one is the court officials, and the other is the Bingzhou military faction.

As for the former, Wang Yun adopted the strategy of killing the chicken to scare the monkey. After hearing the news of Dong Zhuo's death, Cai Yong just sighed and became a target for Wang Yun to establish his authority. Wang Yun directly imprisoned him. Even though many officials advised Wang Yun, it was of no avail. In the end, Cai Yong died in prison for unknown reasons.

After Cai Yong's death, officials and common people all over the world were dissatisfied and resentful. It was too late for Wang Yun to regret.

As for how Cai Yong died, the reason is unknown. It is possible that Wang Yun ordered the killing, or someone may have done it privately to curry favor with Wang Yun, or someone may have framed Wang Yun. Who knows?

However, the impact of Cai Yong's death was limited to Wang Yun's reputation in the court and the country, and the situation did not deteriorate to the point where it could not be saved.

But the second point is very fatal.

Cleanse the Liangzhou military faction.

To be fair, Wang Yun's worries were not without reason. The Bingliang troops were the most elite soldiers of the Han court, because they had been fighting against foreign tribes for many years. In order to ensure the strength of the Han court, they must be firmly controlled.

Wang Yun and Lu Bu are from Bingzhou themselves, so the loyalty of their Bingzhou soldiers can be guaranteed. The key still lies in the Liangzhou soldiers.

Dong Zhuo controlled the Liang Province soldiers during his lifetime. After his death, Wang Yun hesitated on how to treat his subordinates. Finally, he ignored Lu Bu's suggestion to pardon the Liang Province generals and decided to severely punish the Liang Province generals. He even secretly guarded against Huangfu Song who was from Liang Province.

The worst thing is that he was also afraid of Lu Bu, and refused Lu Bu's suggestion to distribute Dong Zhuo's private treasury to the soldiers of Bingliang in order to win people's hearts, which made Lu Bu dissatisfied, and the two of them drifted apart.

You know, the number of Bingzhou generals is far less than that of Liangzhou generals. The only ones who can hold up the overall situation are Wang Yun, Lu Bu, Zhang Yang, and Zhang Liao. Now they are suspicious of each other, which is tantamount to destroying their own Great Wall.

So Wang Yun made the biggest stupid move of his life. He took advantage of the emperor's decree to disband the Liangzhou soldiers, ordered the Liangzhou generals who were originally under Dong Zhuo to go to Chang'an to apologize, and then had the Guandong soldiers incorporate the Liangzhou soldiers.

It is no longer known how Wang Yun came up with this idea, but it undoubtedly triggered all the conflicts.

There were two major sources of soldiers in the Han Dynasty: the Bingliang soldiers were used to defend the country from the outside, and the Guandong soldiers were used to defend the country from the inside. It would be fine if the Guandong soldiers were strong, but after a hundred years of poor governance in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Guandong soldiers had become extremely weak, and their combat effectiveness could not be compared with that of the Bingliang soldiers.

In addition, with Cai Yong's death, the Liang Province generals were afraid that they would be executed by Wang Yun after arriving in Chang'an. Everyone was in danger, and finally Li Jue and Guo Si were forced into a panic. At the instigation of Jia Xu, they gathered all the Liang Province soldiers and attacked Chang'an directly, but the result was unexpectedly smooth.

The old soldiers from Shu in the city rebelled and opened the gates of Chang'an. The Bingzhou army poured into Chang'an. Lu Bu fled and Wang Yun was killed.

As for Emperor Liu Xie who remained in the city, he was held hostage again and his situation was far worse than when Dong Zhuo and Wang Yun were there.

Officials who had once served under Wang Yun also fled all over the world. Kong Rong was exiled to Beihai as prime minister because he contradicted Dong Zhuo. He was first defeated by the Yuan family, and then he defected to Liu Bei and returned to the Han court.

Now he is welcoming Lu Bu as an envoy. The two meet again after many years and are filled with emotion.

It is impossible to say that the two of them have no regrets in their hearts.

Wang Yun originally had a very good chance. He was just a little bit away from bringing peace to the world. But now he has slipped into an unpredictable abyss. No one can see the way forward for the uncertain future.

Kong Rong said to Lu Bu earnestly: "Although Wen Hou and Cao Cao have been at loggerheads, the emperor hopes that Wen Hou can temporarily put aside their prejudices and fight against foreign enemies together."

"Today, the emperor has Li Jue and Guo Si spying on him from outside, and the Baibo bandits usurping power from within. At least we should pacify them first and return power to the emperor, and then we can sit down and talk."

When Lü Bu heard this, his eyes widened and he angrily asked, "Why did you let me fight the tough Li Jue and Guo Si, while letting Cao Cao deal with the easy-to-fight Bai Bo bandits?"

"Are you trying to trick me?"

Kong Rong was helpless, "I know this is unfair, and in my opinion, Cao Cao is far less reliable than Wen Hou."

"But the ministers in the court are now leaning towards Cao Cao. This is the cause planted by Situ Wang back then, and now only Marquis Wen can bear the consequences."

The interpersonal relationships among Han court officials were extremely complicated. When doing one thing, they might make friends with some people while offending another group of people.

Although Wang Yun won over a group of people including Kong Rong and Lu Bu, after he came to power, he offended too many people, resulting in Lu Bu, who came from a humble background, being disliked by the officials.

Besides, Cao Cao also had the connections accumulated by his grandfather Cao Teng. In comparison, Lu Bu seemed particularly isolated and helpless.

Lu Bu wanted to say something, but Zhao Yun spoke up, "The young master ordered us to cooperate with Marquis Wen. I am willing to be the pioneer and lead a group of soldiers to meet Li Jue and Guo Si!"

Lü Bu had never seen Zhao Yun's martial arts, so he shook his head and said, "That's not right. Li Jue and Guo Si are both very skilled in martial arts, and you may not be able to get away with it."

Ju Su said, "It's okay. General Zilong knows how to advance and retreat. Let him lead his troops to camp west of Anyi City to resist Li Jue and Guo Si."

"Let's test the waters first. If things don't go well, we'll retreat back to the village."

After listening to this, Lu Bu thought for a while and thought to himself that since they were not his own soldiers, and if the Youzhou soldiers were willing to lead the charge, then just let them go. He would be more than happy to do so.

He nodded in agreement, but then he heard Ju Shou say, "I want to write a letter with Wen Hou."

Lu Bu asked, "To whom?"

Ju Su replied, "To Duan Wei who returned to Huayin."

"This man is loyal to the Han Dynasty. Marquis Wen has a history with him. My nephew Ju Jun, who was killed, was also on good terms with him."

"If Wenhou and Shu can persuade him to take over the retreat of Li Jue and Guo Si, great things can be accomplished."

After hearing this, Lu Bu said, "Yes."

When Kong Rong was welcoming Lu Bu, Dong Cheng had already arrived at Cao Cao's camp with a secret decree.

As soon as he entered the camp gate, he met a fat black boy of eight or nine years old, who was pulling the maid's clothes and putting his hands inside to touch her randomly, making the maid extremely embarrassed.

Seeing Dong Cheng looking at him, the fat black boy retracted his hand angrily and shouted, "What are you looking at!" Then he walked back to the tent behind.

Dong Cheng thought to himself, damn, where did this bastard come from? Why is he so arrogant?

He turned around and saw a gentle-looking young man hurried out to greet him. He bowed to Dong Cheng and said, "I am Cao Ang, and I am here to greet the general on the orders of my father."

Dong Cheng hurriedly returned the greeting, and the two exchanged a few pleasantries before walking inside. On the way, Dong Cheng mentioned the child he met at the door and asked casually. Cao Ang looked embarrassed and whispered, "That was my brother Cao Pi."

After hearing this, Dong Cheng was speechless and stopped talking.

The two men walked past dozens of tents and saw that the door of the largest tent in front of them was wide open. Dong Cheng looked from afar and saw Cao Cao sitting at the top, with counselors and generals standing in a row on both sides.

At the entrance of the tent stood a big man who looked like a black iron tower, holding a huge axe. The axe blade was over a foot long and flashed a sharp cold light. The big man raised the axe from time to time and glared at the people passing by. There was a fierce light in his eyes and no one dared to stay away.

Cao Ang saw Dong Cheng hesitated when he took a step, and said hurriedly: "This is my father's Tiger Guard Dian Wei, General, don't worry."

Dong Cheng followed Cao Ang into the tent in fear under Dian Wei's gaze. He stopped at a distance and said, "General Dong Cheng, I am here to see you by the order of the emperor."

Cao Cao quickly stood up and walked quickly to Dong Cheng. He took Dong Cheng's hand and said tearfully, "Cao, the general is here!"

Dong Cheng was also in deep sorrow. He managed to squeeze out some tears and lamented, "Lord Cao, Lord Cao, I have waited so long for you to come!"

"The emperor is now trapped in the hands of villains and needs Cao Gong to rescue him!"

Cao Cao lifted his sleeves and wiped his tears, saying, "I heard that the emperor was in danger, so I hurried all the way, staying up all day and night, and just arrived. How is the emperor doing now?"

Dong Cheng sighed, "Don't mention it, the emperor is surrounded by wolves!"

"Li Jue, Guo Si and others were watching closely and were chasing us all the way. The ministers and officials were killed without a plan. Only ten of the emperor's personal guards survived. The ministers fled east in panic, like defeated dogs!"

"There are Yang Feng and Han Xian who are abusing their power and bringing in the Baibo bandits Hu Cai and Li Le. These bandits have no manners and do not respect the emperor's prestige. They force the emperor to grant them official positions and wantonly beat and humiliate ministers. The Han court has lost face!"

"I now receive the Emperor's order and invite Lord Cao to enter the city to take charge of the situation and welcome the Emperor!"

Cao Cao was shocked and angry when he heard this: "This thief has no regard for the majesty of heaven. He deserves to be killed!"

When the generals under the tent heard this, they all shouted, "Kill!"

The sound was so loud that Dong Cheng was startled. He quickly whispered, "This matter is of great importance. Let Cao Gong enter the city first. The Baibo bandits are powerful and it is not easy to confront them openly. I hope Cao Gong will think twice."

Cao Cao sighed, "General, you are right. I was careless."

He sneered in his heart; he saw through Dong Cheng's plan at a glance.

If welcoming the emperor needs to be kept secret, then why do we have to shout loudly in public, fearing that no one outside can hear us?

I'm afraid that Dong Cheng's plan is to make him and the Baibo bandits turn against each other and fight each other to the death, so that both sides will suffer losses, and he can reap the benefits, right?

In fact, Cao Cao was not wrong in his guess. Dong Cheng's idea was to drive the tiger to swallow the wolf. After all, his own strength was the first priority. Who doesn't want to be Yi Yin or Huo Guang?

For someone like him who has already walked halfway on the road, there is actually no way to turn back. If he shows even the slightest sign of fear, he will be torn to pieces by the wolves lurking around.

Thinking of this, Dong Cheng hid his sorrowful expression, put on a smiling face, and said, "Since this is the case, Lord Cao, why don't you follow me into the city right now to meet the emperor?"

Cao Cao heard this and sighed, "That's what I'm thinking. I wonder if the Baibo bandits will stop me if I lead my troops there?"

Dong Cheng quickly replied: "Don't worry, Cao's army. I have the emperor's order. I will surely be able to open the city gates and enter the city smoothly!"

Cao Cao heard this and said, "Well, all the troops should break camp and follow me into the city to welcome the emperor!"

The generals of Cao's army filed out, organized their troops and led them to Anyi in a mighty force.

When they were seven or eight miles away from the south gate of Anyi, the vanguard of Cao's army gave a signal and the troops stopped.

Cao Ren ordered his spies to check, and then came to the central army and said to Cao Cao: "There is a troop of soldiers and horses in front of the city gate, blocking the road into the city!"