At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

After defeating all visible enemies, this invisible enemy finally surfaced.

Guo Peng leaned on his soft couch, frowning and thinking about every next step.

His subordinates have been tamed, he has a strong restraint and control over his subordinates, the army is loyal to him, the army absolutely supports him, and his confidants absolutely support him.

However, not everyone can ignore the power of the White Horse Alliance.

Thinking like this, when things come to an end, what should be done, or what should be done.

Compared with proclaiming the public and establishing a new emperor, perhaps this time is the biggest and final challenge.

Those who will not jump out this time will not jump out to oppose Guo Peng's proclaiming emperor in the future.

The person who jumped out this time must have made a decision to live and die with the Han Dynasty.

Come on, the final battle begins.

I would like to see if your fate is hard, or my steel knife is hard.

The White Horse Alliance will end in my hands!

Mr. Guo took a deep breath, and faced countless challenges with his supreme prestige and power.

The group of Wei officials is my most reliable assistant, and my power needs to be manifested by their existence and continuously expanded by their struggle.

The main force that destroyed the White Horse Alliance was not Guo himself, but the group of Wei officials and the powerful public opinion they represented.

They are all forces that must be united.

Guo Peng needs to rely on them to stabilize his status and power, and then launch a fierce public opinion war to completely tear up the amulet that Liu Bang left to future generations.

So Guo Peng immediately instructed the imperial literati group led by Chen Lin to start a public opinion war in Yecheng.

The battle to become king has begun.

Guo Peng instructed Chen Lin to focus on discussing Guo Peng's achievements, discussing Guo Peng's achievements and protection of the Han Dynasty in the 15 years since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and discussing whether Guo Peng has the conditions and qualifications to be king.

Chen Lin wrote seven consecutive articles to praise Guo Peng, trying to use various methods to prove that Guo Peng can be king, and trying to discuss whether the White Horse Alliance has existed for 400 years.

This set off a heated discussion in the public opinion field in Yecheng.

Discussions are going on up and down, and everyone is talking about which is more meaningful, the seemingly illusory White Horse Alliance or the 15 years of helping the Han Dynasty.

Everyone in the world knows these things.

Without Guo Peng's protection, the Han Dynasty would have come to an end many years ago, and Yuan Shu would have ruled the world long ago.

As for the White Horse Alliance, it was Guo Peng who personally protected it. It was Guo Peng who killed Yuan Shu, and it was Guo Peng who supported the Han Dynasty so far. With such a great contribution, can't he be called the king?

In fact, this kind of thing is well known to officials, at least to officials above the middle level.

This matter was led by Guo Peng himself. What imperial decree can the little emperor issue?

Isn't it Guo Peng's own idea?

Guo Peng wants to become king of Wei, he wants to challenge the 400-year-old social constitution of the Han Dynasty, he wants to challenge Liu Bang, and he wants to rise to the top of the court.

The group of Wei officials strongly supported it, and they all proposed to abandon the White Horse Alliance and let Guo Peng ascend to the top of the ministers, saying that Guo Peng deserved it.

The civil servants headed by Cheng Yu and the military generals headed by Cao Ren made a statement to Guo Peng, strongly suggesting that he follow the emperor's will to become the king of Wei. From this matter, it can be seen that Guo Peng's becoming the king of Wei is actually a certainty. something happened.

It was the same as when Guo Peng was going to be Duke Wei.

Someone tried to block it, but it was impossible.

So when the imperial edict of the little emperor came from Luoyang to Yecheng, the civil servants and military generals were as excited as if they had been beaten with chicken blood, and they collectively invited Guo Peng to be king of Wei.

But Guo Peng refused.

Chapter 682. 690 A Political Attack by Someone Guo Will Never Come Too Late

For the first time, of course Guo refused.

A certain Guo announced to the outside world that his morals were shallow and he could not be called a king, so he rejected the emperor's imperial edict.

Everyone is not discouraged, because this is routine operation.

Three words and three concessions, the fourth time is the time to see the truth.

And once such a thing happened, they would not stop discussing it, especially when it was such a sensitive matter, officials and scholars of all sizes in Yecheng talked about it all day and all night.

The public opinion war is in full swing.

Just in the first ten days of December of the first year of Jian'an, before Luo Yang came for the second time, a kind of talk about "whether the White Horse Alliance still exists until now" suddenly spread.

The children of officials and eunuchs who occupy the mainstream position in Ye City suddenly began to discuss this matter on a large scale.

They believe that 400 years have passed, and the White Horse Alliance that Liu Bang made at the beginning seems to be unnecessary, because the White Horse Alliance cannot contain the real rebels, but it prevents the true loyalty from getting the rewards they deserve.

The White Horse Alliance cannot contain Zhu Lu, Wang Mang, or Yuan Shu, but Guo Peng, who is really fighting for the great man, is it reasonable?

With Guo Peng's credit for rebuilding the Han Dynasty, can't he be called king?

In addition to being king, what else can reward Guo Peng for his contribution to the Han Dynasty?

In this regard, another opposing view also emerged.

They think that it is precisely because Guo Peng is loyal and good that they cannot accept such a reward and cannot destroy the White Horse Alliance, otherwise what is the difference between rebellion and rebellion?

Is this what Guo Peng wants to see?

A minister must have the duties and rules of a minister!

Proponents strongly criticize this view.

They said that this in itself was allowed by the emperor, and the previous ones were not allowed by the emperor without a righteous name, especially Yuan Shu and Wang Mang. It is unpopular to proclaim the emperor forcibly. Can it be compared with Guo Peng?

They strongly criticized those people and compared Guo Peng with Wang Mang and Yuan Shu. What is their intention?

In the field of public opinion in Yecheng, those who supported Guo Peng quickly confronted those who opposed it, and under Guo Peng's deliberate guidance, they quickly gained the upper hand.

But the dissenting rhetoric has not disappeared.

Probably the last group of officials with impure minds showed their feet.

They made remarks to guide public opinion, believing that the White Horse Alliance is inviolable, and Guo Peng should think about his own reputation.

It's really hard to say what will happen to the future once he goes the wrong way. Guo Peng doesn't think about himself, he also thinks about the Guo family.

People who have taken the wrong path, even if they are alive, who dares to say that their children and grandchildren will not suffer disasters?

This sentence, Mr. Guo returned it to those people, and Mr. Guo added one more sentence - you will suffer disaster before your death.

Therefore, it was a coincidence that Guo Peng launched a new wave of anti-corruption actions almost at the same time.

This is just a coincidence.

Someone Guo said so.

A certain Guo ordered his uncle, former Han Tingwei and current Wei State Yushi doctor Guo Hong, and the Wei State Yushitai led by Xiaoqiao's father, Yushi Zhongcheng Qiaorui, to conduct an anti-corruption investigation on the entire Wei State officialdom. Put forward the slogan of absolutely not letting corrupt officials continue to do whatever they want.

Both Guo Hong and Qiao Rui are very obedient to orders, as long as Guo Peng has orders, anyone can investigate.

So the two led the Yushitai investigation team to conduct a rapid investigation of corrupt officials, and arrested and demoted the illegal officials who were investigated, and the action was very effective.

After Guo Peng rejected the young emperor's imperial edict for the second time, Guo Hong and Qiao Rui had already arrested and held more than 20 central and local officials accountable.

Their positions were directly cut off, and their families were also implicated. Two officials who had a lot of corruption lost their heads. Not only that, the men in the family were exiled, and the women were sold into slavery.

However, although this action is indeed well-documented.

But if someone with a heart does a little investigation and investigation, they will know that there is something wrong with these criminal officials.

For example, their family members or someone deeply involved with them once made remarks against Guo, and even they themselves made similar remarks in private.

Then he was dragged out by the Linzi camp.

Of course, not many people know about it, and not many people think about it, but many people think it's a bit strange to carry out anti-corruption activities at this stall.

But Guo Peng has always been engaged in anti-corruption actions on a regular basis, and Guo Peng is still the number one person when anti-corruption actions are carried out so frequently.

It is never too late for someone Guo to strike politically.

After a period of anti-corruption efforts, on the eve of the third time the little emperor sent people to Yecheng, Guo Hong and Qiao Rui had dealt with a total of 36 corrupt officials, and also brought out seven mid-level officers in the army. The facts of corruption are dealt with together.

After dealing with these corrupt officials, the officialdom of Wei State was cleared up.

Not only that, but even the speeches against someone Guo being king are much less.

So when Guo Peng decided to resign the emperor's order for the third time, the officials of Yecheng, under the leadership of Cheng Yu, once again asked Guo Peng to obey the emperor's order and not continue to embarrass the emperor when he became king of Wei.

However, Guo Peng still refused, saying that his virtue was shallow and he was really not worthy to be king of Wei.

After that, the voices of opposition were hardly heard in the whole Yecheng, especially the voices proposing the White Horse Alliance had completely disappeared.

In Guo's stronghold, the voices of opponents almost disappeared, and a large number of officials and military generals continued to submit their petitions, competing to submit their petitions, hoping that Guo Peng would become king of Wei and conform to the popular will.

This is the situation in Yecheng, where Guo Peng has an overwhelming advantage, and public opinion is completely controlled.

As for Luoyang, another center of public opinion, the situation is different.

Although the little emperor has not been in power yet, every ten days, Xun You will still host a decent court meeting to discuss some recent events in the country and let the little emperor know.

Then the little emperor pretended to give orders and asked Xun You to do it, and Xun You naturally took orders.

Others wore court clothes as officials, but they didn't have to do anything but paddle. This situation made them gradually realize the fact that they were birds in a cage.

The court meeting is more of a sarcasm than a fact.

Under such treatment, some people began to regret, and some people began to seek reconciliation with Guo Peng.

Being left out for too long, or even being forgotten, made these people feel strong regret for resisting Guo Peng's will, as well as hatred for those leaders.

They kept looking for opportunities, trying to express their loyalty to Guo Peng, and trying to leave Luoyang's terrible cage.

And the opportunity really came.

The edict to make Guo Peng king was conveyed by Xun You personally to the little emperor before he came to court.

Xun You said that he hoped that the little emperor could speak out about this matter in court, and then he would preside over it.

The little emperor didn't quite understand what it meant and what it represented, but when he heard that it was a reward for Guo Peng, the little emperor nodded immediately.

For such a good person as Guo Peng, it is too late for him to be grateful for eating, drinking, having fun, a luxurious life and a happy childhood. How could he not even give him any rewards?

Especially comparing Guo Peng with other people around him.

Those guys, who don't even play mahjong seriously, actually ask the little emperor to read more from time to time, which makes the little emperor very annoyed.

Without comparison, there is no harm, and with contrast, there is harm.

No, there was an obvious change immediately after the comparison started.

So at the court meeting, the little emperor announced in court that because of Guo Peng's contribution in the Liangzhou war, he decided to reward Guo Peng. The content was to promote Guo Peng's title from Duke Wei to King Wei.

More than 100 officials who participated in the meeting were shocked.

Eyes widened and mouths opened, they all looked at the calm little emperor and Xun You who was in front of the officials.

Chapter 683 .690 The second little emperor doesn't like Xun Yu very much

Xun You served as Minister of the Book, one of the three independent seats under the regulation of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Right now, Guo Peng did not arrange for Sili Xiaowei and Yushi Zhongcheng, and only Xun You sat alone. The group of officials was also headed by Xun You, including his uncle, Xun Yu, who was seven years younger than him.

In fact, many times, people in the Luoyang court discussed in private whether it was Guo Peng's special arrangement for Xun You and Xun Yu to live together in one dynasty.

Others were still wondering, but to Xun You and Xun Yu, it seemed like this.

Xun You is the warden, while Xun Yu is the most famous political prisoner. The two have completely different political stances.

On weekdays in Luoyang, the two of them had no private contacts, not even official contacts——

Because Xun Yu's greatest official duty is to accompany the little emperor to play mahjong against his will, while Xun You's greatest official duty is to take care of this group of deadly political prisoners. Whenever Guo Peng needs it, he will use these political prisoners to operate.

The relationship between Xun You and Xun Yu seemed extremely indifferent, they didn't say hello to each other, even if they saw each other, they just saluted each other very routinely.