Chapter 165 Anyone who offends me must die

Chapter 165 Anyone who offends me must die

Chapter 165 Anyone who offends me must die
After Liang Lanbi left, Concubine Pei lost interest in continuing the tour and returned to her mansion.

In the study, more than ten aides surrounded Sima Yue.

Some people were silent and frowned.

Some people kept drinking tea to hide their inner nervousness.

Some people are quite dissatisfied, but there is nothing they can do about it.

Sima Yue's face flushed, and he looked very excited, yet a little frightened.

If the current leader collapses, let's replace him. After a few years, then...

Maybe there will be a chance then?
"Cough cough." Sima Yue became more and more excited as he thought about it to the end, and he actually started coughing.

Among powerful officials, who doesn’t want to be emperor?
The military and political affairs are all in your hands, and all matters are decided by your word, but there is someone above you, and everything ultimately has to get this person's approval, even if it's just a formality.

He knew that many of his trusted aides opposed his attempt to kill the king, but so what?

King Lun of Zhao usurped the throne, and the other kings raised an army to kill him.

But the times are different now. Who in the world can and will raise an army?

With Sizhou personally in charge, there will be no danger.

The only potential threat was Shao Xun, who was stationed in Liang County. He had only a few thousand soldiers at his disposal, while the imperial guards had ten times that number.

Even though many officers of the Imperial Guard had close relations with him, they were just sitting on the fence.

Shao Xun led them to several victories and gained many benefits, thus establishing a close relationship. However, if they led an army to Luoyang to oppose themselves, the imperial guards would not agree.

King Mo of Nanyang has already gone to Guanzhong to govern the military affairs of Yongliang. He is his fourth brother.

Gaomi Wang Lue was stationed in Qingzhou and was his third brother.

King Teng of Eastern Yan was stationed in Jizhou and was his second brother.

Liu Kun, the governor of Bingzhou, was Liu Yu's younger brother and his close confidant.

Langya Wang Rui was stationed in Xuzhou and was also dependent on him.

As for Yuzhou, he personally took charge of it and purged officials from top to bottom.

Wang Jun of Youzhou has had bad relations with me recently, but he will not raise an army against me.

Only Jingzhou and Yangzhou are somewhat dangerous.

Before his death, Liu Hong of Jingzhou expelled his cousin, Sima Shi, the governor of Wancheng and the king of Pengcheng. Fortunately, he was dead, and Jingzhou was leaderless, with only the governor (Liu Tao) still in office, but he could not do anything.

It is indeed troublesome for Zhou Fu to be in Yangzhou. But in such a situation, would he dare to go against the will of heaven?

We are all one family in this world, so why can’t we try to go one step further?
Thinking of this, Sima Yue started coughing excitedly again, and at the same time felt a little sad.

My physical strength and energy are getting worse every year. How long can I live?
Sometimes, he envied Sima Lun. At least he got to be an emperor before his death and enjoyed himself to the fullest.

The situation he faced was much better than Sima Lun's! At least there weren't so many unknown princes who rose up against him...

There were footsteps outside the door, and soon, Military Commander Wang Yan appeared.

He just waved his hand and asked all the staff in the study to leave.

Sima Yue didn't care and signaled them to leave.

"Taifu, it's really hard to sort out these things." There was no need to pretend when the two of them were face to face, so Wang Yan sat down and said, "The emperor is forty-nine, so it's reasonable for him to die. After the beginning and the end are sorted out, no one will talk nonsense, and no one will believe it if they tell others. There is only one thing, after the crown prince ascends the throne in front of the spirit, he can't mess around anymore, he is only twenty-four years old."

Sima Yue's face twitched. Wang Yan's words were a bit impolite, which made him a little annoyed.

But at the critical moment, he did not want to offend Wang Yan, who was in a very important position as prime minister. After all, many things still had to rely on his reputation to cover up.

How scholars all over the world would view the death of the emperor depended entirely on what Wang Yan said.

Therefore, he could only suppress his anger temporarily, put on a smile, and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Yi Fu."

"It's all for the sake of the Great Jin Empire." Wang Yan sighed, and then said, "Grandmaster, Jingzhou has no master, and it's time to make a decision."

Is this a condition? Sima Yue frowned and said, "Jingzhou is an important place, and the prince must go to Jingzhou. I think the prince of Gaomi should go to Jingzhou instead. What do you think?"

Wang Yan had expected this and immediately asked, "What about Qingzhou?"

"Your younger brother Chuzhong has talent in this area and may be able to be entrusted with this task," Sima Yue said.

Wang Yan nodded slightly, a smile on his face, and said: "Thank you for your kindness, Master. Chu Zhong can only do his best."

After receiving the benefits, Wang Yan's attitude improved a lot, and he began to seriously plan big things for Sima Yue. He only heard him say: "Zhou Zuxuan came to Shouchun and quelled the Chen Min Rebellion, but the main credit went to the scholars of Jiangdong."

"At first, the big families in Wuzhong were indecisive and seemed to want to support Chen Min. Gu Rong and others accepted Chen Min's official title, and the Gan family and the Chen family formed a marriage. Over time, they found that Chen Min was not a good leader, so they abandoned him."

"But this is not a solution. The scholars of Jiangdong don't mind the emergence of a second Sun Ce. Now that the four directions have been pacified, it's time to pay attention to Jiangdong."

"What brilliant idea does Yi Fu have?" Sima Yue asked.

Wang Yan is telling the truth.

During the Chen Min Rebellion, the wealthy families in Wu tried to take advantage of the situation, but they gave up halfway, which is worthy of caution.

"At this moment, we need to appease them." Wang Yan said, "Why not recruit Gu Rong as the Palace Attendant and Ji Zhan as the Secretary of State? Appoint Zhou Qi as the Military Assistant of the Shogunate and Lu Wan as the Assistant..."

Wang Yan mentioned a lot of people in one breath. Some of them were on good terms with him, while others had an average relationship with him. He really didn't have much selfish motives.

After hearing this, Sima Yue's annoyance subsided a little. He thought to himself that Wang Yifu was very insightful in calming people's hearts, so he nodded in agreement.

But Wang Yan's private goods soon came: "However, Jiangdong has no master, which is not a good thing. The prince has to go to the town."

"Wait a little longer. Zhou Fu can't move for a while." Sima Yue evaded.

Wang Yan didn't force it, but nodded in agreement: "We do need to find an opportunity."

He is not in a hurry at all.

When the emperor passed away, there would always be people who suspected that Sima Yue was responsible, even though there was no evidence.

It is inevitable that the prestige of the Grand Tutor will be damaged. In the future, he will rely more on me to do things for him in the court. There will be many opportunities. "After talking about Jiangdong, let's talk about Hebei." Wang Yan continued: "After the defeat of Gong Shifan, the remnants pushed Ji Sang as their leader, collected the horses of Chiping Pasture, gathered people to plunder, called themselves generals, and claimed to avenge the King of Chengdu. There were also Shi Chao and others who sneaked back to Weijun, recruited the dead, and claimed to have received a secret letter from the Queen of Chengdu that the King of Chengdu still had a posthumous son, so they gathered people to make trouble and captured cities."

Sima Yue sighed when he heard this.

He really didn't know how to deal with this rotten sore in Hebei.

He knew that his fourth brother was not talented enough to control Yecheng, so he sent his cousin Fanyang Wang Hu to govern Jizhou.

The soldiers of Yuzhou were indeed good at fighting and quickly pacified the situation in Hebei. However, with the sudden death of King Fanyang, the soldiers of Yuzhou wanted to return home after fighting for a long time, so they had no choice but to let them go.

But this release caused trouble, and the rebels in Hebei revived and prospered again.

My second brother doesn't seem to be able to calm down. What should I do?
Perhaps, I can only rely on Gou Xi.

At first, he served as a general under the King of Fanyang and made great contributions to the suppression of the rebellion of Gong Shifan. Later, he formed the new army of Yanzhou with the Xuchang soldiers as the backbone, and won many battles. Now, if he is allowed to enter Hebei again, he should be able to quell the chaos, right?
"General Gou Dao has ordered his troops to camp on the river. We can order them to be ready," said Sima Yue.

Wang Yan had an idea in mind.

The Grand Tutor doesn't want anyone to interfere in Jizhou, and he's counting on his younger brother, Prince Teng of East Yan, to turn the tide.

If Wang Yan were in his shoes, he wouldn't want to do that either.

Ji Sang, Shi Chao and others have not yet pressed towards Yecheng, so it seems they can wait and see before making a decision.

Once the Yanzhou troops enter Hebei, it will be hard to say who will be the ruler of Yecheng in the future.

"Does the King of Chengdu really have a posthumous child?" Sima Yue asked suddenly with a flicker in his eyes.

Wang Yan was stunned.

"I'm afraid it's fake." Wang Yan shook his head and said, "After the King of Chengdu was sentenced to death, the Queen Le has been imprisoned in the palace. If there really is a posthumous child, how could the court not know about it?"

Sima Yue felt a little relieved.

Sima Ying was executed in July of the second year of Yongxing (305).

Counting from that time, even if there was a posthumous child, it would have been born at the latest in April of the first year of Guangxi (306), but there was none.

In November, Princess Le was given to Shao Xun.

If she gave birth to a child, it could only be Shao Xun's, what would it have to do with King Chengdu?

But Sima Yue was still worried and asked again: "Is there any more outside?"

"Don't worry, Master." Seeing that Sima Yue was a little nervous, Wang Yan comforted him, "If it weren't for Princess Le's son, who would dare to say that this is the heir of the Prince of Chengdu?"

Sima Yue was relieved and said with a smile: "Even an important general like Gong Shifan from Ye Prefecture has been defeated. How can Jisang's motley crowd, who are even worse than Gong Shifan, accomplish anything?"

But when Sima Yue thought of Shao Xun, he felt unhappy again and asked, "Shao Xun stationed his troops in Liang County, will he do anything?"

"Master." Wang Yan smiled and asked, "How many soldiers does Shao Xun have?"

"More than five thousand."

The number of people and equipment of the Yamen Army must be counted and recorded. This is the basis for the distribution of money, food and equipment, and the court is of course aware of it.

"How many imperial guards are there?"

"More than fifty thousand."

"Most of the Imperial Guards are from aristocratic families. Will they listen to Shao Xun's words?"

"No." Sima Yue answered this with some hesitation, but it was almost the same. They had a good relationship with Shao Xun, but they would not oppose themselves for Shao Xun.

What's more, the imperial guards have undergone some reorganization in recent months.

The number of people increased by 20,000, the various tribes were disbanded and mixed, and a large number of officers from Qingxu, Yuzhou, and Hebei were promoted to officers at all levels. Shao Xun's influence has greatly declined.

Sima Yue even had an urge to summon Shao Xun into the shogunate.

He didn't dare to do this before, for fear that it would look too ugly.

But now, with the support of the Imperial Guards, we feel very confident.

If Shao Xun dared to come, he could barely forgive him and let him serve as a supervisor or join the army in the shogunate and give up his military power.

If they don't dare to come, then they have something to hide. Maybe we can send an army to conquer them?

"Master!" Wang Yan observed his expression and reminded him, "Don't act rashly at this time. You should stay calm. Even if you want to use some means, you have to wait for half a year."

The emperor passed away and the new emperor ascended the throne. At this sensitive moment, nothing should be done. Liang County is right next to Luoyang. If there is chaos, it will be too ugly.

"Well, let him enjoy himself for a few months." Sima Yue said helplessly.

Wang Yan nodded in agreement, but at the same time he was secretly worried: The Grand Tutor is narrow-minded, so I have to be careful when doing things with him in the future.

The two talked for a while, and then Wang Yan said goodbye and left.

Sima Yue sat in the study for a long time, then called an old servant and said, "Go to Xuzhou and tell Pei Dun that if Gu Rong and others hesitate to move forward after going north, they will be killed."

"Yes." The servant left quietly.

Sima Yue let out a long sigh.

Chen Min once played a trick on him, which always made him feel ashamed.

Gu Rong and his ilk actually attached themselves to Chen Min and aided him in his evil deeds, which made him very angry. He even transferred some of his hatred for Chen Min onto them.

If they dare to come to Luoyang, I can barely forgive them. When we meet in the future, I must ask them what they were thinking at the beginning. Sikong and Taifu did not vote, but Chen Min? Did they lose their minds?

If Gu Rong and others hesitate, it will be a good excuse to kill them.

No one who has offended you can be kept alive.

Sima Ying and Sima Yong’s entire families have died, and the emperor is also dead. Who will be next?

(End of this chapter)