Chapter 446 What Can You Rely On
Zhuge Jin was not the only one who was surprised by this.
Quan Cong's eyes widened, Hu Zong had an expression of disbelief, and Sun Quan leaned forward with his hands on the table.
Sun Quan, the King of Wu, who had been keeping a straight face in the palace, finally spoke up at this moment: "Shu Ping just said that Cao Pi declined the offer more than 20 times in the first year of Yan Kang. Can you elaborate on that?"
Yin Fan bowed calmly with a smile on his face, "I came here from an enemy country to seek justice, but I have not received any favor from the Supreme. I dare to ask the Supreme for a bottle of wine to moisten my throat, and it will not be too late to discuss it in detail."
After all, he was the son of Sun Jian and the brother of Sun Ce. Sun Quan had a heroic spirit in his bones. He laughed happily upon hearing this, and even his slightly purple beard was trembling:
"I see that it is getting dark. Today, I, Ziyu, Zihuang, and Weize will host a banquet for Gongyan and Shuping!"
"Come here, quickly prepare the banquet! Tonight, I and the others will not leave until we are drunk! Also, invite Zhu Zifan and Hao Zitai to come as well!"
The palace attendants quickly made arrangements.
The so-called Zhu Zifan and Hao Zita refer to Zhu Ju, the commander of Jianyi Army who is about to become Sun Quan's third son-in-law, and Hao Pu, who surrendered from Shu Han and is now the chief judge of Wu State.
Since Sun Quan became the King of Wu, he has been in such a high position and power that when he occasionally sees a young man like this who is talented, courageous and magnanimous, his first reaction is to admire him.
Of course you have to appreciate it!
This kind of top-level political issue, except for Yin Fan who claimed to be aware of it, no one in Dongwu had ever heard of it, and they couldn't even imagine it in their dreams.
After all, Dongwu was too far away from the eye of the political storm in Luoyang. Sun Quan himself was not of high birth, and the ministers he relied on did not have such family heritage.
In addition, Yin Fan defected to the State of Wu on his own initiative and was not a surrenderer.
Although we have to be cautious, does Sun Quan really think that he is without virtue and not worthy of people coming from afar to submit to him?
Jiang Wan watched Yin Fan chatting with the king and his ministers of Wu State. With his calm face, he had already defined Yin Fan.
Those who are good at speaking and have an ingratiating appearance are seldom kind!
Jiang Wan claimed to be a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty. Seeing Yin Fan and the king and ministers of Wu talking about the abdication of the last emperor of the Han Dynasty, how could he not have some thoughts? He just endured it temporarily as an envoy.
At night, in the palace.
Sun Quan first offered three bottles of wine, and after everyone in the hall toasted Sun Quan three times, the banquet officially began.
Zhuge Jin looked at Yin Fan, gently raised the copper wine jar with his right hand, and said with a smile:
"Shu Ping is a young and talented man. He just drank the wine given by the Supreme Master. I wonder if his throat feels better?"
Yin Fan smiled and took the wine bottle and drank it all, then turned to look at Sun Quan: "The king has ordered, the general has invited, I will tell the king about the abdication in detail."
"Please!" Sun Quan put down his ivory chopsticks and stretched out his hand to signal Yin Fan. The musician playing on the side of the hall also stopped playing tactfully.
Yin Fan gradually became serious: "The events of the ancient times before Yao and Shun are no longer traceable, and Wang Mang's attempt to usurp the Han Dynasty ultimately led to his downfall. That's why Cao Cao never dared to take the last step before his death, and it was not until Cao Pi that he abdicated."
Sun Quan sighed: "If Cao Pi had not become the emperor, how could Hua Xin and Wang Lang have become the Three Dukes? How could Huan Jie have become the Minister of the Chancellery?"
Jiang Wan sneered in his heart.
Sun Ce treated Hua Xin as a guest of honor and defeated and exiled Wang Lang, who were successively recruited by Cao Cao. Huan Jie was recommended by Sun Jian as a filial and honest official, and after Sun Jian died in battle, he obtained Sun Jian's body from Liu Biao and buried it.
As a result, Hua Xin and Wang Lang became two of the first three dukes of the Wei Dynasty, and Huan Jie became the first Shangshu Ling of the Wei Dynasty. Sun Quan always hated these three people deeply in his heart.
Yin Fan bowed and said, "Cao Pi declined the position more than twenty times, most of which were due to the persuasion of various ministers. I will not go into details about the flattering words. I will only talk about the four times Emperor Han issued an edict and Cao Pi declined the position three times."
Sun Quan nodded slightly without saying anything more. Everyone in the hall stared at Yin Fan's face.
Yin Fan said: "More than ten times, the ministers persuaded him to ascend the throne, which was interspersed between the four imperial edicts issued by the last emperor of the Han Dynasty. It took only sixteen days from the first edict to Cao Pi's acceptance of the abdication."
"Sixteen days?" Sun Quan repeated it subconsciously, and calculated that the Han Emperor issued an edict approximately every four days.
Quan Cong, who was standing by, said with emotion: "The Han dynasty lasted for 400 years, but it was destroyed in 16 days. It is really lamentable."
"Quan Zihuang, why are you saying such nonsense? Our great Han emperor is still in Chengdu!" Jiang Wan slammed the bamboo chopsticks in his hand on the table, stood up and pointed at Quan Cong and shouted angrily.
Quan Cong was first stunned by Jiang Wan's fierce attitude. After thinking about the fact that Wu and Han were allies, he subconsciously bowed and apologized, but after seeing Jiang Wan's disdainful expression, he also felt a little angry and reached out to touch his waist. There should have been a sword hanging on his waist, but it was confiscated when he entered the palace, so he found nothing.
After Lu Xun surrendered to Wei and Zhu Huan died, Quan Cong had already shown signs of becoming a leader in the Wu military. How could he be humiliated in front of the King of Wu?
Before Quan Cong could get angry, Jiang Wan immediately walked into the hall and bowed to Sun Quan, saying, "I am drunk. I hope the King of Wu will allow me to return to the inn to rest for a while."
Sun Quan saw what the two men did and said, "Okay, Wei will go and see Gong Yan off."
"As you command." Hu Zong agreed and walked out with Jiang Wan, leaving Quan Cong feeling uncomfortable and upset.
Jiang Wan was not a fool and would not do anything that would be detrimental to the overall situation. He was also unwilling to listen to these matters of abdication and just made an excuse to leave.
A king who wanted to be an emperor, together with his ministers, listened attentively to the details of the enemy's surrender by the enemy country. This scene was not at all decent! They just didn't know it.
It was just a small episode. Zhuge Jin continued to ask: "What are the meanings of the four edicts issued by the last emperor of the Han Dynasty?" Hao Pu also interrupted and said: "Mr. Zhuge is right. You can't say the same thing four times in a row, right?"
Yin Fan smiled calmly and said, "How could it be repeated four times?"
As he spoke, Yin Fan bowed to Sun Quan and said, "Your Majesty, I declined three times in four imperial edicts, and the contents were different."
"In the first edict, the Han emperor mentioned Cao Pi's merits and wanted to give up the throne. But Cao Pi did not mention his merits in his resignation, but only said that he had no virtue."
Zhuge Jin asked, "Does Cao Pi admit that he has made a contribution?"
"That's right." Yin Fan smiled and said, "In the second edict, the Han Emperor praised Cao Pi for his virtue, but Cao Pi said that he was humble and did not want to ascend the throne."
Now even the usually taciturn Zhu Ju started to laugh: "So, Cao Zihuan admits that he is virtuous again?"
Yin Fan nodded. "In the third edict, the Han Emperor said that those who build great undertakings are not particular about trivial matters, and those who know the will of heaven are not concerned with trivial matters. He told Cao Pi not to be modest and should be like Shun and Yu. Cao Pi replied that he was not as good as Shun and Yu."
After the three refusals and three declines were made, Sun Quan spoke up: "In the fourth edict of the Han Emperor, did he say that Cao Zihuan was comparable to Shun and Yu?"
Yin Fan bowed and said, "Your Majesty is right. On the sixteenth day, when Cao Pi received the throne, he said to all the ministers in public, 'I know about the affairs of Shun and Yu.'"
Sun Quan sighed, "I know it now. Are the wise rulers of the three dynasties like Emperor Han and Cao Zihuan? Although there are not so many Cui Zhus who killed the emperor, how many of the historical records are true?"
Yin Fan said, "The Han envoy Jiang Gongyan was here just now, so I can't explain it clearly. If Your Majesty wants to achieve his imperial career, he really needs to be like Liu Xuande."
Sun Quan frowned slightly.
Seeing this, Zhuge Jin asked, "What does Shuping mean by this?"
Yin Fan responded: "If you want to be emperor, then be emperor. Don't worry too much. I have never heard of Liu Bei refusing like this!"
Zhuge Jin asked hesitantly, "But Liu Xuande's last name is Liu after all..."
Yin Fan laughed and said, "There are countless people with the surname Liu in the world. Is the surname Liu valuable? Liu Xuande was able to become emperor because he occupied the land of Yizhou!"
"Your Majesty controls the three states of Jing, Yang, and Jiao, covering a vast territory of thousands of miles and hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Why would you need the surname Liu or abdication to be emperor? Your Majesty can do it yourself!"
Not only Sun Quan, but also Zhuge Jin, Quan Cong, Zhu Ju, Hao Pu and others were all silent, pondering carefully in their minds Yin Fan's shocking words.
To be an emperor, you don’t need to have the surname Liu or to abdicate. You can just rely on your strong army and horses. ? ?
Yin Fan didn't say much. He turned back to his seat and started to eat and drink, looking very relaxed.
After a long while, Sun Quan finally said, "I am deeply impressed by Shu Ping's talent and strategy, and I need to think about this matter slowly."
"Tingwei! I remember that there is still a vacancy in your position of Tingwei Supervisor?"
Hao Pu bowed and replied, "Your Excellency, that's right."
"Well, I will choose a post for Shu Ping." Sun Quan nodded and said, "Shu Ping will go to the Ministry of Justice and manage the prisons as the Chief Justice. We will have a long time to be together as a subject!"
Yin Fan stood up and bowed to express his gratitude, saying, "I thank you very much for your grace, Your Majesty. I will die for you, Your Majesty!"
"Stand up." Sun Quan waved his hand and said, "Come here, tell the musicians to continue playing. I want to drink with you all to your heart's content today!"
Three days later, the wedding of Zhu Ju and Sun Luyu was held. Zhu Ju and the Wujun Zhu family became more famous, surpassing the Lu and Zhang families, becoming the second most famous family after Prime Minister Gu Yong.
Sun Quan married his daughter, and the wedding was naturally held in Wuchang with great fanfare. However, Sun Luban, the Concubine Sun, who was far away in Luoyang, raising Prince Changle Cao Yan every day, was not notified of this matter.
Sun Quan did not send anyone to inform the State of Wei.
……
On the day Zhu Ju married Sun Luyu, the main battle in Liaodong began to come to an end as several Liaodong army officers from the Gongsun clan who had fled to the mountains east of Goguryeo were captured.
The general situation was set, and Cao Rui also wanted to train some young people. He appointed the remaining three palace guards as temporary imperial censors and sent them to inspect the four counties of Liaodong.
Xiahou Xuan led a thousand heavy cavalry and three thousand Xiongnu cavalry to inspect Xuantu County. The more remote Lelang and Daifang counties were led by Xiahou Hui and He Chuan, accompanied by Dai Ling with two thousand heavy cavalry and Ke Bineng with five thousand light cavalry.
When the three of them took over the assignment, Xiahou Xuan specifically asked Sima Yi how to conduct the inspection.
Sima Yi smiled and said, "The purpose of the inspection is to calm people's hearts. Gongsun clan has been separatist in Liaodong for fifty years, and their disciples and former officials are everywhere. We only need to search for Gongsun clan members and appease the officials of each county, and ignore others."
"Only hold the main culprit accountable?" Xiahou Xuan asked.
"That's right." Sima Yi nodded in response.
(End of this chapter)
