Chapter 349 Loyalty to What

Chapter 349 Loyalty to What

"Pei Kuo and Li Yun are incompetent. They cannot keep the enemy out of the country. They have failed me. What use are they?" The situation in the world was deteriorating day by day. Every time the emperor read the memorials, he was furious. So he simply stopped attending court and went to Hualin Garden to relax for a few days.

However, he was still worried about the affairs of state, so he asked the palace servants to bring the memorials to him, and he would review a few when he felt better.

Sometimes important officials would be summoned here for questioning. Today, those called here were Xun Fan, who was recently promoted to Sikong, Shangshu Ling Liu Tun, and Zhonghujun Xun Song.

It was already April, the beginning of summer, and all civil and military officials had changed their green official uniforms and put on scarlet official clothes. When they gathered together, they did not speak, but only made eye contact.

The emperor put down his imperial brush and walked to a hung map. After looking at it for a long time, he suddenly asked, "If we move the capital to Shouchun, how should we go?"

Xun Fan's eyelids jumped, and he said, "Your Majesty, we can't leave now."

The Huns invaded Guanzhong on a large scale. Zhao Ran was defending Pubanjin. He fought quite well at the beginning, but then, for some reason, he became too proud and actually asked Sima Mo, the King of Nanyang, for the position of prefect of Fengyi.

Sima Mo certainly could not agree to such a bad behavior of asking for reward before the battle.

Zhao Ran was furious and led his army to surrender to the Huns, which shocked everyone.

Upon hearing the news, Emperor Liu Cong of the Han Dynasty was overjoyed and appointed Ran as General Pingxi, ordering him to lead his troops south to cut off the food supply of the troops defending Tongguan.

It was unexpected that the war in Guanzhong would turn out like this.

Almost at the same time, Liu Cong sent Hu Yanyan to lead 20,000 to 30,000 infantry and cavalry to the south to contain the Luoyang court and prevent it from rescuing Chang'an.

This is what made the emperor angry.

There were less than 30,000 Xiongnu soldiers, and among them were a mixed bag of good and bad people, and there might not be many real Xiongnu soldiers. They marched south to Luoyang in a mighty manner, and regarded the entire Jin court as nothing. The generals of the imperial army said that there were not enough soldiers, and asked to transfer the Liangzhou soldiers to attack. The Liangzhou soldiers also asked for some rewards on the grounds that they had traveled a long distance and fought hard for four years and three months.

No one is willing to fight for the court happily!
Sima Chi knew that this was what really made him angry. Or rather, this was also what he was afraid of.

In the past, the soldiers from Liangzhou would charge forward and attack without saying a word, and only collect their rewards after defeating the enemy - whether there was any reward or not is another matter.

It has only been four years, and the Liangzhou soldiers have only come to Luoyang three times. Are they tired? Are they resentful?

"Ten thousand pieces of silk, give them to Beigong Chun." After getting angry, Sima Chi felt powerless and said, "Tell them to camp outside the Daxia Gate. If any Xiongnu bandits come, attack them immediately."

"Your Majesty, I think it is advisable to transfer Shao Xun to the west and have him join forces with Beigong Chun to attack the Huns together," Xun Fan suggested.

Five thousand soldiers from Liang Province are a little too few. If the Silver Spear Army is also transferred here, the chances of success will be greatly increased. We will definitely be able to beat Hu Yanyan back, so that they can prevent him from destroying the crops in Henan counties again.

"Shao Xun?" Sima Chi sneered when he heard it.

He turned around suddenly, walked to the imperial desk, searched for a while, took out a few memorials, threw them on the desk, and said, "Xun Qing, you might as well take a look. These things are closely related to Shao Xun."

Xun Fan took a glance and understood.

Although he has already stepped down as Shangshu Ling, he still has old connections in the Shangshu Tai system and is very well-informed.

Among these memorials, one was a petition from the military and civilians of Yanzhou requesting that Yang Mao be appointed governor.

Xun Fan was also very angry about this, because he was the one who recommended Li Shu. As a result, he was first stopped at Hulao Pass for more than ten days, on the grounds that there were Xiongnu cavalry heading south, which was not safe. When he arrived in Chenliu, he encountered bandits on the road and was so scared that he fled to Xingyang.

A few days ago, Li Shu wrote him a letter, his words were sincere and his tone was pleading, saying that he no longer wanted to be the governor of Yanzhou.

Xun Fan was silent for a long time, and finally just sighed.

Shao Xun finally made this move.

It is true that Shao Xun was not the first to set such a bad precedent. But he started to do this, which undoubtedly aggravated this bad atmosphere, which was actually bad for him, but the benefits seemed to be greater. After weighing the pros and cons, he finally embarked on this path.

After Xun Fan pretended to read the memorial, he picked up another one.

This is a memorial requesting General Sima Pi to be the commander-in-chief of the military affairs of Yanzhou.

In Xun Fan's opinion, this was complete nonsense.

The governor is a public tool of the state, how can the son inherit the position after the father dies? Besides, Sima Pi is too young to be suitable.

After reading this one, there were two or three more, but they were all minor matters, such as the request to establish Jiyang County, and Pei Dun of Xuzhou recommending Mi Huang as the Internal History of Donghai.

After Xun Fan put down the last memorial, he said, "Your Majesty, we still have to rely on Mr. Chen to maintain the grain transport. He has made great contributions in this matter..."

Well, it would have been better if he hadn't said this. Once he said this, it was like adding fuel to the fire, making Sima Chi even more furious. He only heard him say, "Shao Xun has made some minor achievements, but he is still using his troops to rely on his favor, and he refuses to accept official notices and obey the court. I value purity and don't want to pursue him, but he has gone even further, asking for an official position for Sima Yue's remnants and seeking prestigious items for Donghai's evil followers. He even tried to stop me from demoting Donghai to a county king. What he has done is not like a minister at all."

Xun Fan was speechless.

In terms of hatred towards Shao Xun, he has more than the emperor. When his eldest son Daoxuan was in the court of Changsha Wang Yi, he was killed by Shao Xun. Do you think I don't hate him? But people can't just act on emotion. The world is like this. Some grievances can only be buried deep in the heart. Making choices and weighing the pros and cons is the most important thing.

"Your Majesty, I heard that Shao Xun trained troops in Chen County, led the Ti cavalry to patrol the canal, and built banners to resist bandits. He worked hard day and night and did not dare to slack off." Liu Tun stepped forward and said, "Last time in Jingzhou, he defeated Hou Tuo in Duyang, and later in Sizhou, he defeated Wang Sang in Xinzheng. Shi Le attacked Xingyang, and Shi Chao attacked Chenliu. They were all vicious plots to cut off the canal transportation, but Shao Xun resolved them. From this point of view, Mr. Chen is indeed a great screen for the country and a claw soldier for your majesty."

"You——" Sima Chi looked at Xun Fan, then at Liu Tun, feeling extremely disappointed. Even when Sima Yue was in power, they did not defect to him, but remained loyal to the country and their hearts were with the imperial family. In this case, he did not understand why he could not follow my wishes in the matter of Shao Xun and Sima Yue's remnants, refute these shameless people like Shao Xun and Sima Pi, and destroy their treacherous plot?

Am I wrong?

Sima Chi couldn't accept this fact. His face turned red and white. Finally, he looked at Xun Song and asked, "Jingyou, what do you think?"

"I think that Yu and Yan are adjacent to the borders of the state of Xiao, and the war is fierce and dangerous." Xun Song sighed secretly. The emperor still did not let him go. After sorting out his thoughts, he said: "Since your majesty ascended the throne, the bandits have repeatedly gone south, and no one can stop them. It was not until the state of Chen Hou that the bandits were slightly stopped. Last year, Wang Sangkan sent him to Luojing. When the people heard about it, they were all excited and said that the Great Jin Dynasty had hope for revival. Henan has such a great general, which can help the court resist the smoke of war in Hebei and prepare for the bandits in the Black Mountains. If it were someone else, I am worried that Shi Le would be able to enter the uninhabited area and suddenly go to Xiangyang and Jiangxia, and join the bandits of Wang Ru and Du Tao, and then the situation would be gone."

Sima Chi's body swayed and his face looked very unhappy.

As if a flash of inspiration had come to his mind, he suddenly realized one thing: whether it was Wang Yan or Xun Fan, they would not definitely stand on his side.

They may be loyal, but what they are loyal to is quite interesting.

For him, being loyal to the emperor or being loyal to the court made a fundamental difference.

If they were to replace themselves with the late emperor, they would be just as loyal.

Haha, okay, that’s great.

After realizing this, Sima Chi felt very upset.

As the common ruler of the world, he is unable to win the complete loyalty of his loyal ministers, and to achieve the good relationship between the ruler and his ministers and the unity of the country.

It seems that there is no need to move the capital.

Is Zhou Fu any different from Xun Fan?

"I am tired. You can take care of some things." Sima Chi was disheartened. He waved his hand and said, "Appoint Gou Xi as the general and commander-in-chief to supervise the military affairs of Qing, Xu, Yan, Yu, Jing, and Yang."

After saying this, he left in the carriage without waiting for his ministers' reactions.

Xun Fan and Liu Tun looked at each other and nodded slightly.

The six states of Qing, Xu, Yan, Yu, Jing and Yang already have their own governors. Now a grand governor is appointed and Gou Xi is given the title of controlling the military affairs of the six states. Is this trying to fight poison with poison?

Xun and Liu did not intend to refuse because this imperial edict was actually useless.

Will Sima Rui listen to Gou Xi?

Will Shan Jian listen to Gou Xi?
Will Shao Xun listen to Gou Xi?
Only Wang Long of Xuzhou might be a little afraid, because he was the "supervisor of Xuzhou's military affairs", which was relatively weak among the governors. But considering the existence of the Wang family of Donghai, Gou Xi might not be able to interfere in Xuzhou's military affairs.

The emperor was simply venting his anger.

While several people here were discussing how to deal with the memorial, the emperor had already returned to his bedroom in Zhaoyang Palace.

Queen Liang Lanbi looked at the emperor with surprise.

The weather was a little warmer, and the queen was wearing thin clothes, with her chest puffy, her waist thin, and her face rosy. Sima Chi felt his mouth dry when he saw her.

The queen felt the emperor's gaze and her face turned red as if blood was about to drip out.

She walked forward with light steps and looked at the emperor with eyes filled with surprise and love.

The emperor's breathing gradually became heavier, but suddenly his face turned pale - he had just woken up a little, but fell asleep again.

The queen lowered her head, not daring to look at him. Her face was filled with an expression of uncontrollable shame and she was extremely beautiful.

But after waiting for a long time, the emperor did not make any move, so she immediately understood, sighed, gently took Sima Chi's hand, and said: "Your Majesty, I made some snacks--"

Sima Chi shook it off in a hurry as if he had something poisonous in his hand and took a half step back.

Under the astonished gaze of the Queen, he turned his head and said, "I heard that General Wei has many contacts with the leader of the refugees in Xizhou, and is even a brother of Liang Zong, the prefect of Jingzhao. Queen, please write a letter and ask General Wei if he is willing to serve as the governor of Wancheng."

"Yeah." Liang Lanbi was a little disappointed, but still responded obediently.

"Speak more seriously and tell General Wei not to refuse." Sima Chi said, "If he doesn't agree, I will come to your house in person."

Liang Lanbi responded again.

My father had always been reluctant to get involved in these matters, but the emperor had lost his patience. He desperately wanted his father to come out and help, and he didn't know what had stimulated him.

There are many loyal ministers in the court, why should we use relatives by marriage?

"Remember, do it as soon as possible." The emperor emphasized again, then hurried away.

Looking at his figure, he actually looked a bit embarrassed.

(End of this chapter)