Chapter 20: The Two Families' Enmity Ignites

  The next day's court discussion had nothing to do with Liu Xuan, but now in this imperial city, the news spread everywhere, and it was impossible to hide any information. Within half an hour, everything that happened on the court had reached Liu Xuan's ears.

  At first, there was no change, many officials were discussing and seizing power - yesterday's chaos, some people fled the capital, including some low- to mid-ranking officials in Beijing.

  Among them, the most were military personnel - after that big chaos, even fools knew that they would be held accountable afterwards. Generally, it was these underlings who were unlucky, so those who could run away early did so. There was another type who participated in the chaos and took advantage of the situation to loot, and just because they weren't caught afterwards didn't mean they were safe, so they also ran away.

  At this time, the various armies in the capital still had their original organization, but both soldiers and officers were missing in large numbers. The officials at court all wanted to take advantage of the situation to arrange for some close associates to go into the army.

  These things, Empress He had discussed with Liu Xuan earlier and knew that in order to win over these officials, suitable benefits still needed to be given. So as long as the Imperial Guard was not mentioned, all the memorials presented by the officials were approved. The various high-ranking officials were all astute individuals who understood the empress's intentions at a glance.

  Without needing to think carefully in her heart, she had already made up her mind with just a blink of an eye. Afterwards, she continued to probe and soon found out that the Empress's bottom line was the Imperial Guard.

  "Now among the various armies in the capital, only the Northern Army's five garrisons and the Feathered Forest and Tiger Chain Armies are crucial. The Tiger Chain Army is under Yuan Shao's control, not trusted by the Empress Dowager or the Emperor. It seems that the Feathered Forest Army will never be let go again!"

  Situ Wang Yun thought for a moment, and then understood the key point. However, Empress Dowager's refusal to let go was one thing, but who to hand it over to was another matter. If the Empress Dowager wanted to use eunuchs to control the imperial guards again, that would be absolutely unacceptable.

  They exchanged a glance with the people around them, and everyone reached a consensus in the blink of an eye - no matter what, this army cannot be taken away by eunuchs.

  Finally when Empress He proposed: Appointing Cao Cao, the Discerning and Brilliant General, as the Central Colonel of the Feathered Forest Guard, in command of both the Feathered Forest Army and the Feathered Forest Orphan Army! All the officials were also taken aback.

  Cao Cao?

  Everyone's thoughts were different, and those who had some understanding of Cao Cao pondered in their hearts whether he was beneficial or harmful to themselves. Those who didn't understand would secretly observe those who seemed to have a clue, carefully watching their expressions, hoping to get useful information for themselves.

  However, no one went to observe the young emperor except Dong Zhuo - as the governor of Liangzhou, he led his troops into the capital to escort the emperor, and there was no seat for him in the court, but at this time it was not an ordinary time, so a seat was arranged for him to discuss important matters. Who let Dong Zhuo control most of the soldiers and horses in the capital as soon as he entered the capital?

  Dong Zhuo had been observing the Emperor's behavior since entering the palace, and at this time he had already come to a conclusion: "He has been on the throne for half a year, but he has no majesty of the Son of Heaven. Except for a few people in the group of ministers, when discussing matters, they never ask the emperor's opinion - it is said that they report to the emperor, but in fact they are asking the empress dowager's meaning. Looking at it this way, deposing the emperor should be feasible!"

  With a decision in his mind, he no longer paid attention to the discussions of the officials. Only when the position of Colonel of the Feathered Forest was mentioned did Dong Zhuo glance at Empress He: "If we hesitate, changes will occur; we must make a quick decision!"

  After the officials left the Deyang Hall, Dong Zhuo immediately invited everyone to his place for a banquet. This matter was almost without any concealment. Although the officials were dissatisfied in their hearts, no one wanted to offend this powerful figure, so they all nodded and agreed. Therefore, this group of people finished discussing matters in the palace and then went to Dong Zhuo's place to drink and discuss - Liu Xuan also learned about the details this time, even though Dong Zhuo's mansion was heavily guarded like a water bucket, he still couldn't stop him from getting his hands on the white crane.

  When the moon is high and the stars are shining, the white crane returns with news that is exactly as Liu Xuan had expected: "Dong Zhuo indeed intends to carry out the abolition of the emperor, but unexpectedly, there is hardly anyone among the officials who opposes it!"

  Everything was just as Liu Xuan had thought, Dong Zhuo and the officials of the imperial court, along with many of the troops who had come to Luoyang to rescue the emperor, were all in the mansion drinking and feasting. This mansion was naturally one that had been seized in the chaos, originally the residence of General-in-Chief He Jin, but now directly occupied by Dong Zhuo, yet no one dared to speak out against it. Moreover, with He Jin already dead, his faction's power had become even more fragmented, and no one was willing to take the lead.

  After everyone had drunk for a while, Dong Zhuo straightforwardly brought up the matter of abolishing and establishing - Dong Zhuo was also from a military background, and similarly disliked those twists and turns, doing things directly and going straight to the point was more refreshing. Moreover, in the capital, he was considered the strongest, who dared say no?

  As expected, as soon as the matter of deposing the Emperor was mentioned, all the officials fell silent. They didn't actually agree with Dong Zhuo's suggestion, but given the current situation, who dared to be the first to speak out?

  Through the paper crane, what appeared in his mind was the scene at that time. Liu Xuan sneered: "There are only two or three loyal people in the court!"

  As expected, the ones who jumped out to oppose were those few people that Liu Xuan had thought of. However, the first one to jump out in opposition was Ding Yuan, the governor of Pingzhou, who had arrived in the capital just that morning and had an army at his disposal.

  As for what happened later, Liu Xuan just took a casual look. He knew that starting tomorrow would be the death struggle between Dong Zhuo and Ding Yuan, and it was likely that Ding Yuan would still end up being taken care of by Dong Zhuo as in history, and many of his troops would be absorbed by Dong Zhuo. However, he vaguely remembered that although some of Ding Yuan's troops were absorbed by Dong Zhuo, most of them dispersed. These soldiers were the elite of Bingzhou, who had been fighting against the Xiongnu for a long time, and it seemed a pity to abandon them like this.

  Apart from these soldiers and horses, what Liu Xuan was more concerned about was that nine-foot-tall, majestic and heroic general - just by looking at him, one could tell that he was a hero among men. Without asking, it was clear that this was Lü Bu, the so-called number one fierce general of the Three Kingdoms.

  As for Lü Bu, Liu Xuan had been thinking since he confirmed his own era: if he could bring Lü Bu under his command, he would no longer worry about having no great general to use!

  At that time, however, Lü Bu was too far away, so he focused his attention on the closer Cao Cao, until today when Lü Bu entered the capital, and the old idea began to emerge again.

  "Lü Bu's character is nothing more than seeking better treatment, and in the era he lived before, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary! The only thing that's really despicable is that every time Lü Bu jumps ship, he ends up killing his former employer, which is just too much to stomach."

  Rubbed his chin, took a sip of cool water to refresh himself and tidy up his thoughts.

  "However, whatever the people of the world can give to Lü Bu, I can also give! And what the gentlemen of the world cannot give, I can also give. In terms of treatment, who can surpass me, the Son of Heaven?"

  Although it is said that the heroes of the late Han Dynasty stood together, yet there was only one Son of Heaven. Before the Three Kingdoms emerged, the Han Emperor remained the supreme existence in name.

  Moreover, if Liu Xuan ascends to the throne as Emperor, he will definitely not just be a nominal emperor, but will grasp the great power in his own hands. In that case, who can compare with him in terms of authority?

  "In this way, it's not impossible to bring Lü Bu under control!"

  With this in mind, Liu Xuan fell asleep on the couch, but early the next morning he was refreshed and called Cao Cao.

  At this time, Cao Cao had been promoted to the position of Zhonglang General, according to the Han Dynasty's official system, under the control of one of the nine ministers, Guanglu Xun. However, yesterday in the imperial court discussion, Empress He directly promoted Lu Zhi to Guanglu Xun, which means that nominally, the central military system of the Han royal family was all close to Liu Xuan.

  Actually, Empress He initially wanted Huangfu Song to take the position, but Dong Zhuo had a grudge against Huangfu Song and strongly opposed it. In the end, Lu Zhi was appointed instead - Lu Zhi had a good reputation in the court, and everyone knew he was loyal to the Han dynasty, so his appointment made all the officials feel satisfied, and they all voiced their approval.

  Cao Cao arrived, and Liu Xuan immediately congratulated him: "Mengde is appointed as the Colonel of the Imperial Guard, from now on you can fully display your talents!"

  "Thank you, Your Highness!" He knew that he owed this position to Liu Xuan's efforts, although after careful consideration the day before, he had already figured out how Liu Xuan had managed it. However, he couldn't help but admit that even if others knew about it, they wouldn't be able to replicate what Liu Xuan did, after all, not everyone had the identity of a member of the imperial family and the emperor's brother.

  As soon as they sat down, Cao Cao said: "Your Highness knows that at dawn today, Ding Yuan, the governor of Bingzhou, is outside the city calling for a battle with Dong Zhuo. The two families are staring at each other and are about to start fighting!"

  "Oh?" Liu Xuan was not surprised that the two families would fight, but he was surprised that Ding Yuan was so anxious. What was his intention? Could it be that Ding Yuan had seen through the situation and knew that if Dong Zhuo were to take control of the troops in the capital, he would be even more unstoppable, so he wanted to make a move first?

  Cao Cao had been observing Liu Xuan's expression, and from his reaction, he knew that the King of Liang had already known about the news. Although Liu Xuan was surprised, it wasn't a major shock, more like hearing that someone next door had gone out, a trivial matter.

  "What does Meng De think, who will win and who will lose?"

  Cao Cao hesitated for a moment, but couldn't think of much else, and shook his head: "Both families' troops are elite border armies, each with fierce generals in command, victory or defeat is really hard to predict!"

  Liu Xuan knew that it wasn't Cao Cao's lack of vision, but rather that no one could have anticipated that Dong Zhuo would poach Ding Yuan's top general and even throw in Ding Yuan's head as a bonus, so Cao Cao thought that the outcome was hard to predict, which was normal.

  The two then stopped entangling in this matter and instead asked Cao Cao how he was going to reorganize the Imperial Guard.

  "Cao yesterday wrote several letters, calling on the brothers in the clan who are skilled in archery and horse riding to come over, but it will take some time before they can arrive!" Now that transportation is inconvenient, correspondence is also extremely slow. Even if Cao's brothers receive the letter immediately and rush over, it will still take at least a month.

  During this period, although the Feathered Forest Army was under Cao Cao's command, it was also impossible for them to do anything.

  Liu Xuan was also helpless about this, he knew many of the future's fierce generals in his heart, but how to find them first, they didn't live in Luoyang City, sending people to find them would take a long time, it's like distant water can't solve the immediate thirst.

  "In that case, there's no need to rush, let's just sit back and watch the great show between Dong Zhuo and Ding Yuan!"

  Cao Cao understood as soon as he heard this sentence. Neither Dong Zhuo nor Ding Yuan liked Liu Xun. But thinking about it, these two people, as the governor of a region on behalf of the imperial court, actually led their troops to fight outside the capital of the imperial court, where did they put the dignity of the imperial court and the royal family?

  This alone can be certain: whoever wins will not have a good ending, even if they are arrogant for the time being; later on, when Liu Xuan has time to deal with them, they will definitely not end well.