Chapter 82: Cruel Revenge

Zhou Yang and others led the cavalry commanded by Pang De and followed Xu Huang to leave Luoyang in the name of strengthening Chang'an defense.

This thunder cavalry, which was once brought back from Peiping by Xu Rong, later went to Luoyang to fight with Dong Zhuo, and then experienced various battles such as Guandu. It is an old army with extremely rich combat experience.

Only in the battle of Chibi, Zhou Yang did not allow him to participate.

When Xu Huang was in his hands, he was constantly replacing the old and weak soldiers and strengthening training, so his strength was no less than that of the tiger and leopard cavalry.

As for the one-third of the tiger and leopard cavalry left in the Luoyang Prime Minister's Mansion led by Zhao Qi and Hao Zhu, Sima Yi believed that on the one hand, he could become the guardian force of the Handing Money House, and on the other hand, Cao Rui would not attack this high-level army for the time being.

Because Zhou Yang still held power in Yong and Liang states at this time, there were definitely many troops stationed abroad.

If Cao Rui intends to cut off his power, he will definitely eliminate it completely with a thunderous momentum, or just wait and see what changes will happen.

Therefore, the Handing Money House is not only the economic guarantee of Cao Wei, but also the rights of Zhou Yang in the court. This tiger and leopard cavalry is the guard of the Handing Money House. Zhou Yang's residence abroad is the final guarantee of all this. It is so connected that it can temporarily ensure temporary safety.

Zhou Yang and others arrived in Mianchi, and the intelligence officers here reported to him about Chang'an.

In order to defend the Shu army's easy-to-invasion, Zhang He devoted almost all his energy to military defense, while Xiahou Wei provided all his support behind his back.

However, Cao Rui seemed to have long been invested in Luyang Duke Cao Yu, as a bargaining chip for Chang'an to manage politics, and this person is also one of Cao Cao's philosophers.

When Cao Cao chose the throne, Cao Yu did not participate.

Therefore, after Cao Pi ascended the throne, in addition to one of the centralized strategies to enthrone the king and reduce the vassals to the family brothers who were most likely to have an impact on the throne, he mainly regarded Cao Zhi as a great threat.

At that time, Cao Yu was named Duke of Luyang, but he did not refuse.

Until Cao Rui ascended the throne, Cao Pi continued his strategy of reducing the vassals and promoted every emperor's uncle to king, but only Cao Yu refused to be awarded the title and expressed his full support to Cao Rui.

Cao Yu not only has a very high reputation among the Cao clan, but also has a deep trust from Cao Rui. Cao Rui's purpose of putting him in Chang'an seems to be to take over the Zhou Yang Yongzhou regime and replace him.

Among the same clan, Xiahou Yan was supported by the army, and Zhang He was assisted by the full force.

"According to Chang'an's intelligence, although Duke Yang never participated in political affairs, he did not have any military power around him." Han Fei, a veteran who had always been in charge of Yongzhou intelligence, said with a heavy expression, "But he has a group of very powerful figures under him, all of whom were secretly selected from them when the emperor held a competition."

"I don't know about this." Zhou Yang said astonished.

"Don't underestimate Duke of Luyang. This person is usually very low-key, but our people have conducted in-depth investigations on him." Han Fei continued, "It can be confirmed that the emperor intends to rely on this person as the power of the vassal kings of various families to deal with Prime Minister Zhou."

"It seems that going to Chang'an is still a bad situation, and it is also what the emperor expected." Zhou Yang said.

"Then let's stay in Mianchi for the time being. Let's talk about the situation in Chang'an first." Ren Hao suggested as the personal thunder guard beside Zhou Yang.

So during this period, Zhou Yang had the only way to live in Mianchi for the time being.

However, Sima Yi suggested not to focus on Chang'an, but to focus more on the trends of the Shu army.

Zhou Yang was puzzled by this because Cao Rui was currently dealing with them, and they were either facing a confrontation with Cao Rui in Luoyang or temporarily avoiding Chang'an, and waiting for them was another enemy that was also a headache.

Sima Yi asked, "Now the emperor's purpose is very clear, but my brother seems to have made up his mind, but he never really knows what he is doing."

Zhou Yang murmured: "Don't I know what I'm doing?"

Sima Yi said: "I wonder if my brother started to deal with the emperor in order to protect himself, or for other reasons?"

Zhou Yang said: "Did Zhongda mean that I want me to follow the example of Cao Gong and take charge of the government affairs with the emperor?"

Sima Yi shook his head and said, "No matter what decision my brother makes, I will fully support you. It is impossible to do something like tying the emperor alone in this situation. So brother should still ask his heart, what do you really want? Should you protect your own rights or realize your dream of unifying the world?"

Zhou Yang suddenly felt that he was confused again and could not find a sense of direction for a moment because he really could not answer this question.

If it weren't for helping Empress Dowager Guo go to Xuchang and was caught by the emperor, I'm afraid I'd still be in the mansion all day, and then slowly be wiped out by Cao Rui step by step.

But until now, although Zhou Yang began to take action, as Sima Yi said, is it for self-protection or to realize his dream?

"My dream has died with the deaths of the two late emperors." Zhou Yang sighed, "The world of Cao Wei has become a young man today. The emperor cannot understand my painstaking efforts, just as we could not understand Dong Cheng, Wang Yun and the others in the past."

"It's rare that my brother is so open-minded." Sima Yi smiled bitterly, "That is to say, my brother has no intention of competing for power with the emperor, but he just avoided here temporarily in order to protect himself?"

"Maybe" Zhou Yang suddenly had a thought flash in his heart, he pondered for a while, and then said, "If it weren't for us, with the emperor's wisdom, he should be able to slowly eliminate Wu and Shu, and finally unify the world."

"In fact, if we weren't there, the emperor would have lost many obstacles." Sima Yi chuckled, "If my brother really plans to give up all this and take everyone to retreat to the world, I will definitely support you with all my strength. I just hope my brother can clarify first what he really wants."

"I don't know what I want," Zhou Yang sighed. "Sometimes I have never thought about this problem. I can do things without hesitation. However, when I really want to set a goal for myself, I hope to just rely on it and do nothing. It seems that once the goal is determined, I feel relieved. I wonder if Zhongda had the same idea when he was in Muye before?"

"No." Sima Yi said directly, "At that time, even if I was doing nothing all day, I still had Sister Yuzhu with me, and I could chat with her every day. Later, there was another Ling Yu, which made it even more lively. My life goal was only one, which was to hope to see you, my brother tomorrow. But every time I was always disappointed. Because of repeated disappointments, when my brother really appeared, it was the happiest time for me."

Zhou Yang couldn't help but take a breath, because Sima Yi, who was standing in front of him, except for his appearance in men's clothing, his personality, eyes, words and actions, etc. were all the same as ordinary women.

From beginning to end, Sima Yi has been helping him wholeheartedly.

However, in order not to let the Cao Wei regime fall into the hands of the Sima family in the future, he indirectly caused Xiaoyao's tragic death and even hid Sima Yi for more than 20 years.

It turns out that over the past twenty years, he has lived so hopelessly every day, and he is so ashamed of himself compared to him.

After Sima Yi's explanation, Zhou Yang thought about the same question almost every day during this period.

However, no matter how long it takes, I can never give myself a real answer.

More than half a month passed in a blink of an eye, until one day when winter and spring came, Dongfang Shuo finally brought news from Shouyang Mountain.

Since Zhou Yang and Empress Dowager Guo were hit by Cao Rui in the farmland of Xuchang, Empress Dowager Guo has been staying in Xuchang Palace. Not long ago, she finally committed suicide in the palace because she missed the late emperor.

Dongfang Shuo said, "But I don't believe that the Queen Mother committed suicide no matter what."

Zhou Yang also knew that this possibility was not great. After seeing Empress Dowager Guo’s method of forcing Concubine Zhen to commit suicide, he knew that this was obviously Cao Rui’s way of treating him, but he sighed and said, “No matter what, I have always worked with Empress Dowager Guo, and I also saw her true appearance before she died. We should go to Shouyang Mountain to worship for you in terms of emotion and reason.”

Dongfang Shuo said: "I think Prime Minister Zhou is better not to go."

Zhou Yang looked at Sima Yi for solicitation and asked, "Is there any problem if I just go over and worship?"

Sima Yi was also puzzled by this and said, "Please also ask Mr. Dongfang to explain it clearly."

Dongfang Shuo said: "This time, Empress Dowager Guo committed suicide in Xuchang Palace. The court said to the outside world that the empress dowager committed suicide for fear of crime. It was exactly the same as the reason why Concubine Zhen committed suicide back then. However, the empress dowager was not as lucky as Concubine Zhen. She had a son who later became the emperor."

Zhou Yangqi said: "Is there any difference?"

Dongfang Shuo paused for a while, and said with a heavy expression: "Actually, Empress Dowager Guo also knows that she can't escape the fate of death, but didn't she hope to be buried with the First Emperor after death? But as soon as Empress Dowager Guo died, the emperor immediately buried her in the west of Shouyang Mountain, while the First Emperor was buried in the south of Shouyang Mountain."

Zhou Yang sighed and said, "I didn't expect that Empress Dowager Guo's last wish could not be fulfilled."

Dongfang Shuo also said: "Not only that, Empress Dowager Guo's funeral is a ritual sacrifice under our Danding Sect. Only the alchemists in the sect have the opportunity to be buried."

Seeing that his expression was extremely unnatural, Zhou Yang couldn't help laughing and asked quickly: "What did you see when you were buried?"

Dongfang Shuo took a deep breath and said, "Except for a purple mark on the queen mother's neck, what I couldn't bear to witness was the queen mother's hair was spreading her face and her mouth was stuffed with chaff. Her death was simply disgusting."

After hearing this, Zhou Yang felt a chill, and pierced from the bottom of his feet into his spine. His whole body trembled, and he murmured to himself: "Your Majesty can be so cruel to a dead person."

Sima Yi said with a heavy expression: "It seems we have no choice."...

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