Volume 5: Overlord of the Sea Chapter 604: Chang'an Situation
"What do you think of these two pieces of news?" Bai Tu had already shared the secret report from Wancheng directly to Jinling with other university scholars in the palace.
"The popular rumor is that Liu Xie set up a Hongmen Banquet to trick Liu Bei, the Marquis of Qi, into killing him, and that the Marquis of Zheng and the Marquis of Sai came to his rescue, so he attacked Chang'an? Well... although I know that this possibility is very small, I must note that the reason why the 'popular rumor' is like this is because the Zongzheng Mansion, including the Zongzheng, has now accused Liu Xie."
Lu Su didn't believe any rumors, but he cared about the reasons why the rumors appeared!
This is not an attempt to cover up one's own faults, but many clan members in the court, including the current Zong Zheng, "support" the news released by Duke Zheng - but the strength of their support is not clear.
Previously, Liu Ai was the Zong Zheng in the court. However, as Liu Ai's power was expanded and he was trusted by Liu Xie, he held multiple positions in the court and the Yulin Army. He resigned as the Zong Zheng and was replaced by another "reliable" uncle.
Of course, "reliable" refers to Liu Xie's perception. In fact, this reliable uncle had previously expressed to Liu Bei his support for his "succession to the throne"!
Was he forced into a coercion? Or had he been secretly paying money to Duke Zheng for a long time?
Moreover, what was the basis for the cooperation between these clans and Marquis Zheng? Were they bewitched by him, or were they using the power of Marquis Zheng to eliminate their political enemies, or were they forced by Marquis Zheng?
Unfortunately, Bai Tu did not know the secret that the clan members secretly supported Liu Bei's succession to the throne. After all, Liu Bei did not publicize it everywhere, and especially in order to reassure these clan members, he vowed not to leak it.
Otherwise, one might be able to guess that this was the basis for the cooperation between these royal family members and Marquis Zheng... or in other words, the cooperation with Sima Yi!
When you are planning to depose or enthrone someone, but the parties involved don't agree, can you feel at ease as long as you promise them not to disclose it?
Obviously these people were still worried, and just when they were worried every day, Sima Yi gave them another choice...
The reason he was able to easily break into the city wall was because Zhong Yao introduced him to the city gate order, and the reason he was able to blow up the palace gate and easily break into the Chang'an Palace was because a part of the royal family turned against him!
"The second piece of news is obviously not entirely credible. Regardless of whether Liu Xie is dead or not, if Liu Bei was really detained by Marquis Zheng, whether it was to contain Qingxu and Longyou or to make a fake play into reality, there was no need to announce to the people that the rescue had failed." Yu Fan frowned as he looked at the information.
Indeed, if the two news channels were exchanged, if "Liu Bei's death" was the palace news, it might be true...
After all, if Liu Bei really died, although Qingxu State and Longyou would be greatly shaken, the Marquis of Zheng, or Sima Yi, would face fierce revenge from the Marquis of Qi's troops.
At this time, announcing to the outside world that Liu Bei was still detained could serve as a "delaying tactic".
However, on the other hand, if Liu Bei was really captured alive, why was he announced to the public as dead?
Of course, this does not mean that there is a problem with the Fengwei. After all, the latter is just "news from an insider in the palace."
The people who were in the palace at that time might not necessarily know the actual situation. All they spread was the information that they could obtain at the level they were at!
However, considering the two factors combined, Liu Xie is not out of luck, and the odds are still around fifty-fifty.
As for Liu Bei, it is possible that he was really dead, but it is more likely that he escaped for some reason. In addition, most of the court officials were detained in the palace and were still deceived by "false news", so it was necessary to spread false news to deceive the detained people and to discredit Liu Xie as much as possible to the people!
The reason why the news of Liu Xie's death was spread among the officials in the palace was, after all, to have the effect of screening and testing. The channel through which the news came from the State of Chu was not the core of the court, but just a few insignificant officials who could barely enter the palace during the New Year.
"It seems that everyone has the same idea. Then... from now on, members of the Enlightenment Department will give this matter a Class B priority. Even if there is a risk of exposing their identities and needing to evacuate, they will report the news! In addition, send a message to Hanzhong immediately, and be ready to... send troops out of Ziwu Valley at any time!" Bai Tu made the decision.
Ziwu Valley was where Wei Yan wanted to send his troops in history. According to Wei Yan's imagination, he could quietly pass through Ziwu Valley and go straight to Chang'an...
That’s right, the northern end of Ziwu Valley is very close to Chang’an, only thirty miles away, which is closer than Wancheng to Xucheng.
Therefore, the biggest obstacle for troops to leave Ziwu Valley is whether they can avoid being discovered.
Gao Yingxiang's uprising in the late Ming Dynasty was based on the idea of leading his troops out of Ziwu Valley. However, he was ambushed and killed in Ziwu Valley by Sun Chuanting, the then Shaanxi Governor and an important official in the late Ming Dynasty.
It can be seen that the Ziwu Valley is not conducive to attack, but it is easy to be ambushed.
And Zhuge Liang in history obviously did not think that Cao Wei would be unprepared.
Not to mention now, Chang'an is the seat of the Han Dynasty's imperial court. If Ziwu Valley is not defended, Bai Tu will eat the tungsten steel seal!
In fact, the Chu State had already set up barbed wire and dug trenches in the Ziwu Valley, and the Chu and Han scouts had fought each other more than once or twice - without the effect of a surprise attack, the Ziwu Valley would not have been a very good place for a battle.
Especially now that it is the New Year period, the weather still has a hint of winter!
However, Chang'an is in chaos now. Bai Tu thinks that instead of doing nothing, it would be better to put some pressure on the other party. What if he can force the other party to do something stupid?
In fact, there is another piece of bad news - the Fengbuwei who was responsible for picking up Hua Xin failed to send any news!
At a time like this, obviously no news is bad news…
However, Bai Tu was just worried in his heart and did not report it to the palace. After all, there was no point in them being anxious. It all depended on the performance of the Wind Capture Guards and the local Enlightenment Department.
Forcing troops out of Ziwu Valley also meant to help Hua Xin who might be in trouble.
Bai Tu and several people in the palace also held a hasty meeting during lunch. Afterwards, in order to reassure people's hearts, there was no need to join the Han Dynasty in chaos, so they hurriedly continued the New Year's Day ceremony and speeches in the afternoon.
At the same time, in the basement of the woodshed in the residence of a wealthy businessman with a Yang family background in Chang'an City, two people were playing chess in an awkward manner.
It was Hua Xin who "disappeared" at the beginning of the New Year's Banquet, and... Liu Bei who is still being searched by Zheng army in the imperial city!
Hua Xin originally wanted to take advantage of the fact that there was no curfew on the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month and secretly leave Chang'an with the cooperation of some Han officials instigated by the Bufeng Guard and the Enlightenment Department.
Unexpectedly, he encountered the Zhenghou Rebellion and was unable to leave the city. He was even almost killed by the Han army who was on high alert at the time!
Fortunately, at the critical moment, the Major of the Fengwei Guard who was in charge of this matter urgently contacted the Enlightenment Department. The mission level of rescuing Hua Xin was already very high, and the Enlightenment Department also took the risk of being exposed, so they hid Hua Xin in the home of a wealthy businessman from another family who was related to the Yang family and who also handled many business dealings for the Yang family.
Although Yang Xiu surrendered to Wei, the Yang family had nominally expelled him from the family tree. From Dong Zhuo to Cao Cao, Yang Biao had always been diligent and meritorious in protecting the emperor, so he was barely still on the list of Liu Xie's confidants, and in terms of moral character and prestige, he was even a pillar of the court today.
Even when Zheng's army entered the city, they did not search the families related to the Yang family thoroughly.
Firstly, Sima Yi didn't want to have any major conflicts with Yang, and secondly... Yang had no motive to shield Liu Bei!
As a "rising star", Sima Yi also wanted to take the biggest piece of the pie in the troubled times. Naturally, his ideas were completely different from those of other princes.
Just like the Sima family in history... rather than saying "Sima usurped Cao's place", it would be better to say "the aristocratic family usurped the place of the warlords"!
The rise of the Sima family, in addition to the planning of Sima Yi and three generations, the rise of the aristocratic power itself, this "big background" also played a crucial role.
It is precisely because the Sima family represents the aristocratic family that naturally the emperors of the Sima family can be said to be the least powerful among all the unified dynasties from the Qin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty.
Sima Yi is now in a mentality of giving it a try, and at this moment he has set his sights on the "family"!
Naturally, the Yang family, a family of high moral character and not completely loyal to the Han Dynasty, was his potential ally.
During the chaos in the palace last night, Liu Bei successfully escaped from the palace under the cover of the clan guards controlled by Liu Ai. Afterwards... he happened to meet members of the Enlightenment Department and was also sent here.
If it was the Fengbu Guard, they would definitely not do such a thing - they were only responsible for completing the mission. Since the mission was to send Hua Xin back, why would they make it more difficult for themselves? The main search target of the Zheng army now was Liu Bei...
However, the Enlightenment Department is different. Their highest mission is to "promote Chu learning" and they will be more subjective when taking action. When they judge that rescuing Liu Bei, or... sending Liu Bei back to Jinling, will be more beneficial, they will take action immediately!
When Liu Bei first saw Hua Xin, he even wondered whether the State of Chu was also involved - after all, if you go through the Ziwu Valley, Hanzhong is not far from Chang'an.
However, when Liu Bei saw the layout of the secret room and Hua Xin's casual clothes, he dispelled his doubts...
Later, the two of them even played chess because they had nothing to do.
Of course, Liu Bei was always guarded by the Wind-Buying Guards!
Liu Bei was not known for his military prowess, and his military token had been confiscated before he entered the palace. Now the two gilded generals of the Wind-Catching Guard were enough to serve as "guards".
"Ah, it turns out that Mr. Hua is more skilled." Liu Bei was not good at hand talk.
"My humble deeds are not worthy of the Duke of Qi's attention." Hua Xin said modestly.
"This is already the sixth round, right? Mr. Hua, have you ever thought about what to do if we can't leave?" Liu Bei didn't know whether he was really anxious or deliberately testing.
"If there is no hope of escape, you will have no choice but to serve the Duke of Qi... and die here for your country." Hua Xin looked at Liu Bei very seriously and said.
This is actually Liu Bei’s “guarding” mission!
Liu Bei was different from Hua Xin . Hua Xin could be "captured" alive by the Marquis of Zheng, but Liu Bei could not...
Even if Sima Yi captured Hua Xin, he would only treat him with courtesy for the time being, and there would be no loss for the State of Chu.
As for Liu Bei... perhaps Sima Yi also hoped to capture Liu Bei alive, but for the State of Chu, the first choice was to send Liu Bei back to Nanjing, but the second choice was to turn Liu Bei's fake death into a real death.
In this way, even if the State of Chu could not use Liu Bei to "interfere" with Qingxu and Longyou, at least the Qi army led by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei would regard Marquis Zheng as the biggest enemy, and would even likely send troops immediately to avenge Liu Bei, thus giving the State of Chu an opportunity!
"Hahaha, Mr. Hua is indeed a sincere gentleman and he doesn't deceive me." Liu Bei didn't seem angry. Instead, he felt touched that Hua Xin didn't deceive him.
Hua Xin said this openly at this time, in fact, he was also warning Liu Bei not to try to escape from the State of Chu.
At this time in the palace, Sima Yi was also having a headache - his best scenario was to capture Liu Bei.
However, Sima Yi never thought of deposing Liu Xie and enthroning Liu Bei as he had said when he was deceiving the Han royal family. Otherwise, wouldn’t that make things more difficult for himself?
The reason why he wanted to control Liu Bei was simply to contain the Qi army.
Of course, this is just the "best case scenario". Sima Yi admitted that there was a gambling element in his decision, but he was not so superficial as to go all in. He had anticipated the possibility that Liu Bei would die in battle or even escape.
"Zhongda, the little emperor is so weak that I'm afraid he can't be saved. Liu Bei hasn't been found yet. What should we do next?" Zhang Yan asked the depressed Sima Yi.
"Don't worry, my lord... Please check the defense of Chang'an first, and make sure that our people are stationed in every important place." Sima Yi ordered.
"Okay!" Zhang Yan agreed quickly.
Well, although Zhang Yan was called lord, it seemed that Sima Yi was "ordering" him!
After telling his lord to leave, Sima Yi looked at the map again, especially at the "upper left corner"...
Qingzhou and Xuzhou are far away after all, but Longyou... Let’s not talk about what Ma Chao, who just mutinied, would think. If Liu Bei really "disappeared", Guan Yu, who is still in Longyou, would definitely be the first to be unable to sit still.
Sima Yi's backup plan was the senior officials of Bingzhou and the Hetao Huns who had accepted Yuan Tan. They had already made a secret alliance with Sima Yi. As long as there was chaos in Longyou, the Huns would also send troops to Liangzhou!
There is no need to worry about the Huns breaking the contract, because... once Liangzhou is in chaos, the Huns in Hetao will take action even if there is no alliance!
Sima Yi just made sure their news was more timely.
Sima Yi was even ready to send envoys to the State of Chu (my lord) to invite the State of Chu to join in the expedition to Longyou - of course, what the State of Chu cared more about was definitely Xichuan, which was already in front of it but it had not yet made time to eat it.
As for Guanzhong and Qingxu, they were "gifts" from Sima Yi to Cao Wei...
Not only was it to muddy the waters, but also because Sima Yi, just like in history, wanted to "bet" on the family again!
Unlike other famous generals and good counselors, Sima Yi's bet is no longer on a particular country.
On the other hand, Sima Yi had also seen clearly that the State of Chu... could no longer be countered by "lianheng" or in other words, by uniting the weaker states.
"Allying with the weak" may be able to protect oneself temporarily, but there is no way to "win" at all. The only way to break the deadlock is to get ahead of the State of Chu, so that you can "eat up" more supplies from other countries and not lose too much when you "face to face" with the State of Chu.
This is probably what Liu Bei thought when he just conquered Hanzhong and the pre-Qin Qi State just started to move eastwards when the Qin State...
If the outcome of the Battle of Yiling had been rewritten, Shu Han would have been able to enter Jiangdong, or Qi would have been able to swallow up several surrounding vassal states like Qin did, and there would have been a fight to be had.
Of course, if Sima Yi had been in Wei before, he might have had different ideas. After all... as the military advisor of the Marquis of Zheng, although he was very convenient for the lord to use, he was still a little weak. His intelligence sources were limited, and he didn't know enough about the intelligence of Chu...
