Chapter 026 Rebellion
Perhaps it was Han Xin's instructions before leaving, or perhaps it was King Han Xin who gave him great courage.
In short, under the influence of the two Han Xins, Chen Xi rebelled in September of the tenth year of the Han Dynasty, just two months after the death of the retired emperor.
The Dai Kingdom originally had a king, Liu Bang's brother Liu Xi. However, during the Xiongnu attack, the King of Dai actually abandoned his country and fled alone. Liu Bang was furious and demoted him to a marquis. Although the Dai Kingdom no longer had a king, the Dai Kingdom still existed, and its leader was Chen Xi, who was nominally the Prime Minister of Zhao but actually the Prime Minister of Dai.
On this day, Chen Xi summoned the ministers of Dai State to the palace.
These vassal states in the early Han Dynasty were also "fully equipped", like a country within a country. They also had all the official positions of the Han Dynasty, including prime minister, imperial tutor, and censor. As vassal kings, they had two very important powers.
The first was that they could appoint and dismiss officials below the rank of two thousand stones at their own discretion, while officials above two thousand stones had to be appointed and dismissed by the Han Dynasty.
The second is "to collect taxes", which means that taxes can be collected from the subjects of the kingdom and distributed freely.
Chen Xi had only been in Dai for a short time, but he had already begun to exercise his power. Most of the officials below the rank of 2,000 stone in the country were appointed by his retainers, and most of the other ministers were also close to him.
But on this day, when the ministers entered the palace, they were extremely terrified.
Because Chen Xi was actually sitting on the throne waiting for them. On weekdays, they also held court meetings in the palace, but Chen Xi wanted to sit next to the upper throne. Sitting on the upper throne was like rebelling. A lot of people had already gathered in the palace. These people were not wearing official uniforms. Most of them were Chen Xi's retainers. They sat on both sides of him, occupying the positions of the ministers.
These ministers may not necessarily look down on the guests composed of these knight-errant groups, and the guests may not necessarily look down on these "carnivores".
As soon as he entered the palace, Taifu Dai's face changed drastically. He stretched out his hand , pointed at Chen Xi who was sitting on the upper seat and cursed: "What virtue and ability do you have to be able to sit on the throne? Why don't you get off!"
Chen Xi was scolded, but he was not angry. He smiled and said, "Things have changed. Please sit down and listen to me."
Obviously, the Grand Tutor was unwilling to listen. He turned around and was about to leave, but was stopped by several retainers. These retainers held sharp swords in their hands and had ferocious eyes. "You come to humiliate the king in front of the guests. Do you know what the consequences will be?"
"Do you know what will happen if you enjoy the king's salary but do something disloyal to the king?"
The Grand Tutor was not afraid and continued to curse.
The retainers swarmed forward and chopped the Grand Tutor into several pieces. The Grand Tutor never stopped and continued to insult him until he died.
With the lesson learned from the Grand Tutor, the other ministers trembled in fear and dared not to resist anymore. They sat at the last seat trembling.
Chen Xi smiled and said, "I have admired Lord Xinling since I was young, and I only regret that I have never had the opportunity to follow him in person. If I could meet Lord Xinling, I would even be willing to lead his horse and serve as his servant... After I grew up, I began to imitate Lord Xinling, treating my guests sincerely, without any disrespectful behavior, treating guests as my own friends, being humble and respectful, and condescending to others."
"My Lord is right!"
The guests responded one after another.
Chen Xi added: "At the beginning, Lord Xinling was frustrated because of his brother's suspicion, but he was determined to fight against the tyrannical Qin in order to protect his country."
"I heard from others that Liu Bang was a dishonest villain. He was originally the King of Han, but he annexed other countries. The King of Chu, the King of Han, the King of Zhao and others had all made great contributions to him, but he imprisoned the King of Chu, expelled the King of Han, and eliminated the King of Zhao."
"The reason why he is in his current position is entirely due to the help of these princes, but after the success, he wants to get rid of these people one by one."
"I have decided to get rid of Liu Bang for the sake of the world, recover the states of the princes, and use the righteousness of Zhou to help the world. What do you think?"
The guests were immediately excited, and they shouted: "We are willing to follow the master!!"
Amid their roars, the ministers trembled, lowered their heads in fear, and said nothing.
"I am not talented, but I am willing to temporarily take over the throne and get rid of Liu Bang!!"
In this way, Chen Xi proclaimed himself King of Dai and hastily arranged a series of positions. He placed his followers in all important departments, and then he issued his first order.
"If Liu Bang knew about the situation in Dai, he would definitely lead a large army to attack. I have many soldiers in Dai, but not enough food. Please gather enough food for me in Zhao and Dai so that I can confront Liu Bang!"
The guests should obey.
…
"What are you doing? Spare my life~~"
"Please don't take it away. I have four children at home. Please forgive me~~"
"I beg you, generals. My mother is seriously ill and this is all the food we have left. Please~~"
"Let her go! Beast!!!"
"Fight them!!"
“Father!!”
"Wow~~ Mother~~"
The way for the army to prepare food was simple. Since there was no food in the national treasury, they would rob it from the people. The people, who had just experienced many wars and were recovering from suffering, had experienced an unspeakable nightmare.
The King of Dai wore bright and colorful clothes and hosted a banquet for his ministers and guests, hoping to further win them over. It was also a simple coronation ceremony. Before the rebellion, he destroyed the roads between Zhao and Dai. It would take at least three or four months for Liu Bang and others to attack.
The King of Dai laughed drunkenly, raised his exquisite wine cup, and told a not-so-funny joke. The guests below laughed loudly and toasted to celebrate. The King of Dai raised his wine cup and drank the wine in big gulps, with the wine dripping from his beard...
“Tick, tick, tick, tick.”
Blood dripped onto the ground. The old man's eyes were dazed as he lay on the grindstone at home. His hands were chopped off and blood was dripping from his cut throat, drop by drop, as if it would never stop dripping. Beside him, several young children lay in a pool of blood. Dai Jun hurriedly jumped past them carrying grain from the barn.
The musicians of the King of Dai began to play for him. Listening to this music that only the princes could hear, the King of Dai enjoyed it very much. He ate the cooked beef in front of him. All the guests had delicious dishes in front of them. Just like Lord Xinling, he divided the meat equally among all the guests, leaving no one behind. The King of Dai's courteous attitude naturally won the applause of the guests. They congratulated him loudly, and everyone laughed at once...
“Hahahaha~~~~”
The crazy, naked woman laughed shrilly, holding the body of a mutilated child. Her hair was disheveled, her head tilted back, and she looked like a madman.
Perhaps Chen Xi's original purpose was just to prepare food as quickly as possible and be prepared for a confrontation with Liu Bang, but his generals obviously did not think so. With the permission of their master, they acted arbitrarily in the Zhaodai area, looting food, killing civilians, and raping women. Once human bestiality is released, the consequences are very terrible.
The entire Zhao, Dai and other regions suddenly became a living hell.
All of this is recorded in the history books as follows: "In September, he rebelled with Wang Huang and others, proclaimed himself King of Dai, and plundered Zhao and Dai."
…
The news that Chen Xi rebelled and declared himself king soon spread. Even Liu Bang, who had anticipated this, was speechless at this moment. Chen Xi was one of the first people to follow him, and Liu Bang was very close to him. Even though he was not as favored as the King of Yan, he believed that he had never treated him unfairly.
Liu Bang realized something was wrong when he sent people to investigate his followers, but when Chen Xi really started to rebel, Liu Bang still felt a dull pain in his heart.
why?
Why do you do that?
Liu Chang did not hear the news, but the changes in the palace still caught his attention. Once there was any disturbance outside, the atmosphere in the palace was completely different. The eunuchs became more cautious than before, and their heads could not be seen when they walked. The adults disappeared for a while, and Liu Chang could not see them.
Both his father and his mother suddenly disappeared. The Pepper Room was empty, with only Liu Chang left.
Seeing this situation, Liu Chang quickly realized that this must be Chen Xi's rebellion.
And everything that happened in the Pepper Room afterwards further proved his guess.
This was the first time that the good boy Liu Ying talked back to his mother. Liu Chang opened his eyes wide and looked at Liu Ying's face full of grievance and unwillingness as he returned to the Pepper Room with Empress Lu. Empress Lu's face was cold, as if there was ice on her body.
"Who do you think you are? Do you know what war is like ?"
"Father trusts me, why don't you believe me?"
"Oh, go back, don't mention this matter again!"
"Why?!"
"go back!!"
