Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 475: Difficulties in Hanzhong
Before the third year of the Chuli period arrived, at the end of the second year of the Chuli period, an obituary came from Liaodong - Gongsun Du died of illness in September.
The second year of Chuli was also the second year of Xingshun, which was equivalent to the eighth year of Jian'an without the white rabbit effect...
Ordinarily, Gongsun Du should have died in the ninth year of Jian'an, but... at this point, the white rabbit is different from the butterfly. It not only flaps its wings, but also kicks its legs. The impact it has on the surroundings is countless. It is not surprising that Gongsun Du died a few months earlier.
If we really have to speculate, Bai Tu estimates... It is very likely because of the stability of Jing and Yang states. Not only do the locals have no intention of moving away, but the attraction to war-torn immigrants from the Central Plains is also greater than in history.
As a place to avoid chaos, Liaodong mainly benefited from the influx of talents during troubled times, which enabled it to develop every time. Now with the example of Jingyang, Liaodong naturally has fewer talents than in history.
Maybe some doctors who were supposed to go to Liaodong went to Chu State and went to medical school, which indirectly affected Gongsun Du's life span...
However, the power transition of the Gongsun family was very smooth. After all, Gongsun Kang had already gradually taken over during Gongsun Du's lifetime. Moreover, his younger brother Gongsun Gong had no competitiveness in the right of inheritance because he had been cut off from the roots for medical treatment since childhood. Therefore, there was no controversy about the power transition in Liaodong.
Taking advantage of the announcement of Gongsun Du's death, Gongsun Kang once again asked the Chu and Wei states to seek a title of nobility for him.
Neither the State of Chu nor the State of Wei refused this, and they jointly wrote a letter to the Han Dynasty, stating that Gongsun Du had worked hard for the country and defended Liaodong, and that his descendants should be granted the title of marquis - and not an ordinary marquis, but a vassal who should be granted the Nine Gifts!
In addition to Gongsun Kang, another person who was also requested by Chu and Wei to be granted the Nine Gifts and be granted the title of nobility was Zhang Lu, Marquis of Hanzhong.
Of course, they only supported Zhang Lu's title of nobility. As for titles like Heavenly Master and King of Hanzhong, Bai Tu and Cao Cao didn't want to bother with them at all.
Zhang Lu, who felt threatened day by day, stopped being arrogant and accepted the advice of Chu and Wei, and moved closer to the two major feudal states of Chu and Wei...
Therefore, at the New Year, Bai Tu and Cao Cao gave Liu Xie the best gifts - two letters of commendation for being "loyal ministers of the Han Dynasty", praising Gongsun Du and Zhang Lu to the skies, as if they would be letting down the whole world if they did not enfeoff them or their descendants as princes.
In addition to appeasing Gongsun Kang and Zhang Lu, the Chu and Wei states may not have been without the intention of "further undermining the reputation of the Han Dynasty."
Before Bai Tu, the last time the Han Dynasty granted the Nine Gifts was during the reign of Wang Mang's chaotic rule.
However, from Bai Tu to Cao Cao, and a number of marquises who assisted the Han Dynasty, how many of the Nine Gifts have been granted by the Han Dynasty?
Not to mention, now they are forced to continue "teaching".
Although he knew that Chu and Wei were talking nonsense, and that Gongsun Du and Zhang Lu were all "traitors", Liu Xie also knew that if he told the truth, there would definitely be more embarrassing results, such as Hanzhong and the northeastern part of Youzhou secretly enfeoffed themselves as states, or Chu and Wei privately recognized the status of Gongsun Kang and Zhang Lu as states...
There was also considerable controversy within the court regarding this matter.
Liu Xie wanted to reject all of them, but everyone knew that the Han Dynasty did not have the confidence to do so now.
The more controversial one is mainly directed at Zhang Lu's title of Hanzhong Marquis!
Gongsun Kang was far away in Liaodong. In the eyes of the Han Dynasty, even if they wanted to attack Gongsun Kang, only the Wei State, which bordered it by land, could do it. Since the Wei State also supported Gongsun Kang in being conferred a title of nobility, there was no need for the court to care too much.
Even if he wanted to settle scores with the Gongsun clan in the future, it would be after he recovered the Wei Kingdom. Besides, Cao Cao and Gongsun Kang were neighbors after all. Could they really get along happily all the time?
Perhaps in the future when fighting against Wei, they could seek cooperation - making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby ones, which is a "good method" that Qin has already proven.
However, the situation in Hanzhong is completely different. Theoretically, Hanzhong and the State of Chu cannot be considered connected. After all, the road from Hanzhong to Jingzhou along the Han River is not only inconvenient, but also completely one-way. It is impossible to cross the Wushan Mountains and reach Hanzhong from the State of Chu!
If it is difficult to march on a large scale from Jingzhou to Yizhou, then marching from Jingzhou to Hanzhong is just a pipe dream.
The north and south sides of Hanzhong were Yizhou of Liu Zhang, Marquis of Shu, and Guanxi of Ma Teng, Marquis of Yong, and Han Sui, Marquis of Sai.
It seemed that as long as Yong Hou and Sai Hou could sweep Guanxi and subdue the remnants of Dong Zhuo who were separatist in Guanxi, they could attack Zhang Lu from both sides...
What's more, Zhang Lu occupied Hanzhong, which was not only related to the connection between Yizhou and other forces supporting the Han Dynasty, but also the place where Emperor Gaozu of Han was born.
Moreover, the feud between Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu could not be resolved by just one imperial edict.
If we rashly confer a title on Zhang Lu, it might make Liu Zhang dissatisfied with the court and create more uncertainties!
Not to mention that Dong Cheng and others also played a great role in opposing this matter...
According to Dong Cheng's logic, Zhang Yan, Yang Feng, Liu Bei, these princes from the east of the Guanzhong area, are all unruly people who want to harm His Majesty, while Ma Han from the west of the Guanzhong area is obviously a loyal and capable general, especially Ma Teng. After all, with Han Sui deliberately keeping a low profile, Dong Cheng can feel the IQ suppression from the princes from Xiliang!
In contrast, Liu Bei and Zhang Yan both made Dong Cheng feel threatened because they had advice from experts.
Therefore, Dong Cheng's faction in the court must have put the interests of Guanxi first and opposed allowing Guanxi to attack Hanzhong and be granted the title of marquis!
At this time, the court officials were roughly divided into three factions. One faction was headed by Dong Cheng, who made protecting the emperor... or licking the emperor their top priority . They claimed to be absolutely loyal to Liu Xie and were Liu Xie's favorite faction emotionally. The other faction was headed by Liu Ai, the chief of the imperial clan, who focused on supporting the Han Dynasty. To use Dong Cheng's private words when he was provoking Liu Xie - people like Liu Ai don't care who is the emperor, as long as it is the emperor of the Han Dynasty!
As for the third group, it is “others”…
There is no absolute representative figure. If I have to say one, it would be Yang Biao.
If we must talk about the common demands of the "other factions", it is that each of them has their own calculations, whether it is clan interests or factions represented behind the scenes, Hua Xin and Zhong Yao are also among them.
Everyone knows that behind Hua Xin is the State of Chu and behind Zhong Yao is the State of Wei.
When Li Jue and Guo Si held Liu Xie hostage, Zhong Yao served as the "Ting Wei Zheng" in Chang'an. When Liu Xie fled from Guanzhong, Zhong Yao was also one of the main planners!
Originally, Liu Xie also trusted Zhong Yao very much. However... after going to Xu Du, Liu Xie gradually discovered that this guy was of the same mind as Cao Cao.
In fact, Zhong Yao had indeed contacted Cao Cao through Xun Yu before returning to the east. When he was in Chang'an, he repeatedly persuaded Li Jue and Guo Si to coordinate the relationship between the court and Cao Cao.
After all, Zhong Yao and Xun Yu were both from Yingchuan, and both families were great aristocratic families. Zhong Yao was optimistic about Cao Cao, and Cao Cao also needed someone in Chang'an to promote him. With Xun Yu's matchmaking, the two sides quickly reached a tacit understanding!
Historically, after Emperor Xian returned to the east and before the Battle of Chibi, Zhong Yao had been stationed in Guanyou and governing Guanzhong for Cao Cao.
At that time, Guanzhong was in chaos after the death of Li Jue and Guo Si. Cao Cao was actively preparing to fight against Yuan Shao in the north and Sun Quan in the south. He had no intention of getting involved in this mess. Zhong Yao, with the support of Cao Cao's power, was able to maneuver around Guanzhong and get along with everyone...
Before the rebellion of Xiliang, no matter whether it was Ma Teng or other Xiliang generals, as long as they arrived in Guanzhong, they were all led by Zhong Yao. When Yuan persuaded the Southern Xiongnu to attack Pingyang, all the warlords in Guanzhong and Guanxi, including Ma Teng, obeyed Zhong Yao's orders and fought against the Southern Xiongnu.
Later, when Ma Chao rebelled against Cao, in order to persuade Han Sui, he also falsely said, "Zhong Sili asked me to come and capture the general."
It was obvious that Cao Cao did not place many troops in Sili, he just gave Zhong Yao a "tiger skin". However, Zhong Yao relied on the "tiger skin" to become the "great leader" of Sili and stabilized Sili for Cao Cao.
This shows the "evil nature" or "cunningness" of Zhong Yao!
The ministers who had discussed with Zhong Yao about returning east to rescue the Han emperor might have had some genuine intentions for the Han Dynasty and the emperor, but... what Zhong Yao was best at was to expand his "pirate ship" and keep all the people on board!
More than two years ago, when the Han Emperor returned west and re-integrated Sili, Zhong Yao, who had originally helped Cao Cao stabilize Sili, also returned to the court again and advocated for the State of Wei in the court.
Because Hua Xin had the merit and fame of returning the imperial seal, and Zhong Yao had the merit of saving the emperor ten years ago, and both of them were famous scholars in the world, their positions in the court were stable. On the one hand, they were granted official positions and titles by the Chu and Wei countries, and on the other hand, they served as Han ministers in the court.
Even the two of them were not fighting alone in the court, but had a group of supporters!
Because Chu and Wei were on good terms, and Wei had various ambiguous relationships with the Yang family, and because they had to face suppression from Dong Cheng and Liu Ai, the "other" factions often united.
However, this time, not only did Dong Cheng strongly advocate the rejection of Zhang Lu's title of nobility for the sake of Guanxi's interests, but Liu Ai and other relatives also resisted Zhang Lu because of Liu Zhang...
Although Liu Yan's plan to depose Shi and establish Mu was a strategy to disrupt the Han Dynasty, Liu Zhang was still surnamed Liu after all, and the clan members no longer wanted the Liu family to be weakened any further!
Even Yang Biao agreed with Dong Cheng's opposition on this matter.
Therefore, Hua Xin and Zhong Yao were busy in the court, but they were unable to achieve complete success...
Finally, the Han Dynasty court decided to confer the title of Marquis of Yan on Gongsun Kang. At the same time, they reprimanded Zhang Lu, accusing him of not thinking about defending the territory and rashly going to war with Yizhou. They ordered Zhang Lu to immediately stop fighting and return to Chang'an to report on his work.
Of course, no one expected Zhang Lu to really return to Chang'an obediently after seeing the imperial edict, he just wanted to make his attitude clear.
Jinling learned about this on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, and Bai Tu probably didn't even know about it yet...
Bai Tu also deliberately began to "leak" the matter in Jinling, but the version circulated among the people was that the Marquis of Shu was cunning and treacherous, and bewitched the Han court, wanting to join forces with the Marquis of Yong to first take Hanzhong and eliminate the worries, and then go down the river to attack Jingzhou and destroy the State of Chu...
