Luoyang.

August in Luoyang was already difficult to endure due to the hot and dry weather, exacerbated by the locust plague.

Whether it was because the Taihang Mountains blocked the moisture, the swift rain that fell in Bingzhou did not extend to the neighboring regions.

As a result, the area remained dry, with vegetation withering.

Zhang Rang carefully observed Liu Hong’s expression.

After the fire at Nangong, Liu Hong agreed to his proposal to increase the land tax, seemingly restoring his favor towards them.

However, in Zhang Rang’s eyes, Liu Hong seemed more unpredictable.

The ingratitude and cruelty inherent in the rulers of the Han Dynasty, or perhaps the instinct of political beings, were fully manifested in Liu Hong.

For example, at this moment, as he listened to the reports of locust disasters from various places, he maintained an inexplicable calmness on his face, as if these disasters had not occurred on his land.

He casually placed his hand above the ice basin on the desk, dispersing the heat from his body.

Just as Zhang Rang was almost about to think that he was in a drowsy afternoon state, almost falling asleep, he suddenly asked, “Do you think it’s appropriate to use Zhang Wen to take the position of Huangfu Song?”

This kind of question…

This was not a question that could be answered casually!

But Zhang Rang couldn’t say that, at this crucial moment of dealing with the locust plague, suddenly bringing up the war in Liangzhou seemed somewhat untimely.

He also couldn’t say that Liu Hong was practically handing him a death sentence.

Kneeling on the ground that had just been cooled by water in the Jia De Hall, Zhang Rang carefully replied, “General Zhang has just arrived in Liangzhou and has assigned Dong Zhongying as the General Who Breaks the Enemy.

It will take some time for him to become familiar with the situation in Meiyang. It is not easy to march during the hot summer.

If Your Majesty wants to determine whether the change of generals is appropriate, it may not be discernible now.”

Liu Hong responded without expressing agreement or disagreement.

He was extremely eager to attack the bandits in Liangzhou.

Otherwise, he would not have replaced Huangfu Song during this locust plague.

Just as Zhang Rang said, he first approved the appointment of Dong Zhuo as the deputy general who breaks the enemy, then sent Sun Jian, who had left an impression on him during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and Yuan Pang from the Yuan family in Chenjun to the position of the Guard Commander.

He also arranged for Qiao Yan, who knew about going to Liangzhou, to go there.

This was the best card Liu Hong could play under the current situation.

He also knew that in the current situation, Zhang Wen would never make a rash move, and at least he would need to first understand the situation of Bian Zhang, Han Sui, and Beigong Boyu.

Plus, the weather was not good now, and it would be normal to delay until November.

However, the locust plague was very troublesome, and there were complaints even in Luoyang, the capital.

If progress could not be made in the border war, other disturbances might arise.

What troubled him the most was that at today’s court meeting, Cui Lie actually proposed abandoning Liangzhou due to the prolonged attack!

What kind of talk was this!

Who was Cui Lie? In March of this year, he dismissed Yuan Wei from the position of Minister of Personnel and replaced him with Cui Lie as a warning to the Yuan family.

However, the younger generations of the Yuan family, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, have risen to fame successively.

The former, seemingly absent from the court, actually relied on the Grand General He Jin, showing signs of plotting for the right time, while the latter was accumulating experience in the position of Henan Intendant.

Yuan Ji, the eldest son of the Yuan family, was already the Minister of Works, and the dismissal of a Minister of Personnel who had previously been reprimanded by the Emperor could not be considered a warning at all.

And Cui Lie completely failed to live up to Liu Hong’s expectations of him.

Just this decision to give up Liangzhou was enough to anger Liu Hong.

Fortunately, although Huangfu Song’s merits were too high for him to feel deeply wary, he failed to achieve a quick victory over Beigong Boyu.

The deputy general he taught, Fu Xie, was as straightforward and merciless as him, and he suggested to the court to behead Cui Lie.

It was truly a sharp blade that Liu Hong had not expected, but was extremely useful.

Fu Xie boldly stated that Liangzhou was the key to the world, the barrier of the country.

Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty pacified Longyou, and Emperor Xiaowu of Han Dynasty opened up the four counties of Liangzhou.

Was it meant for today’s prime minister to propose abandoning it? If so, the Xiongnu would surely take advantage of the situation to invade.

This is the “greatest concern of the world.”

Anyone with eyes could see this situation clearly.

If Cui Lie couldn’t see this, he was not wise. If he saw this and still dared to say so, he was disloyal.

Anyway, just choose one of the two charges yourself.

Liu Hong felt quite refreshed listening to these words that scolded Cui Lie’s nose.

But, doesn’t this also mean that his choice of Cui Lie as the Minister of Personnel, replacing Yuan Wei, was indeed a wrong decision?

At this moment, although Liu Hong was asking about replacing Huangfu Song with Zhang Wen, he was actually also asking about the matter of replacing Yuan Wei with Cui Lie.

And Zhang Rang’s answer was not wrong. Let’s wait and see for a while.

I wonder if the locust plague can pass during this time.

Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly heard a small eunuch outside the hall reporting an urgent report from Bingzhou.

“Bring it here!”

As soon as he heard the words “Bingzhou,” Liu Hong suddenly realized that he had not received any reports from Bingzhou in this month due to the interference of many worries.

He suddenly realized that this situation was really not right.

The spread of locusts in the Sanfu area could not possibly have missed Bingzhou, and there were often conflicts in the border areas of Bingzhou, which were no less frequent than in Liangzhou.

It was only now that he was suddenly shocked that this situation was really not right.

If Cui Lie claimed to give up Liangzhou in front, and Bingzhou quietly lost in the back, it would really be a sign of the collapse of the Han Dynasty.

With this thought in mind, Liu Hong hurriedly took the two reports from the small eunuch.

He first opened the one on top, which was stamped with the seal of the provincial governor, Zhang Yi, and it should be a report from Zhang Yi about the situation in Bingzhou.

However, when he opened it, he found that the handwriting on the cloth was somewhat familiar.

His memory was not bad, so he immediately pulled out the “Discussion on the Appointment of Provincial Governors” that he had kept under the desk for backup, and he found that the handwriting on these two documents was the same, apparently from the same person.

Liu Hong couldn’t help but furrow his brow.

However, considering that he hadn’t received any news from Bingzhou for a long time, even if he had some doubts in his heart, he had to read on first.

What surprised him was that this report, which was clearly stamped with Zhang Yi’s seal, was actually written by Qiao Yan and contained good news.

It stated that although Bingzhou had indeed been affected by the locust plague, the situation was now completely under control.

Although locusts were indeed extraordinary creatures, they had to give way in the face of this year’s harvest.

Therefore, Bingzhou had launched a locust-catching operation.

With the use of fishing nets in the air, burning grass huts at night, and filling ditches and ravines, the three methods of catching and exterminating locusts were all employed.

In addition, the state government exchanged grain for locusts and locust eggs.

Although there was some loss of grain in the state treasury, within a thousand miles, there were no locust eggs that could hide in the soil and spawn new pests.

“…”

This kind of approach was something that Qiao Yan, as Liu Hong knew her, could do.

She used to challenge the authority of the Zhang Jiao with her debating skills, and in the capital, she often refuted the proposal of the master to establish the system of provincial governors.

Now, she even dared to catch locusts, which were often used in the sacrifices of the ancestors!

But what was said in this report, this kind of decision that predecessors did not dare to make, undoubtedly had a very good effect.

Due to the intense locust-catching operation in Bingzhou, the locusts that migrated there did not dare to land.

Since the first batch of locusts entered Bingzhou until now, more than twenty days have passed, and there have been no large-scale locust larvae emerging from the soil, which is also the result of digging and planting.

Liu Hong couldn’t help but compare the situation in the capital region with the situation in this report, feeling that Bingzhou had done a good job in this matter.

However, the more he read on, the more he felt a sense of impending storm from Zhang Rang’s perspective, clearly indicating his dissatisfaction with someone.

Zhang Rang didn’t know what was written in that report, he could only guess that something had gone wrong in Bingzhou at this time, causing Liu Hong to be very angry.

But where did he know that Liu Hong was not angry because someone had done something wrong, on the contrary, it was because someone had done something too outstanding.

However, such a person, like Huangfu Song, he found it very difficult to completely suppress any trace of his jealousy.

Moreover, the person who wrote this report was only eleven years old now.

Liu Hong sighed inwardly.

Compared to her, his eldest son, Liu Bian, who was about the same age, was far from being as capable.

Under what circumstances would this report, which should have been written by the governor of the state, be written by Qiao Yan?

It obviously wasn’t because of Qiao Yan’s literary talent.

At least in Liu Hong’s view, this report inherited Qiao Yan’s usual plain style in writing, just reporting the situation in Bingzhou truthfully, which was something that Zhang Yi, as a civilian, could handle.

With this in mind, he opened the second report.

Three conspicuous characters caught his eye.

Letter of Apology.

Also written by Qiao Yan.

This overly straightforward expression made Liu Hong startled, but apparently, all his doubts could be answered in this letter of apology.

The draft prepared by Xi Zhicai for Qiao Yan’s eruption motive was quite ingenious in its description of Qiao Yan.

Liu Hong not only did not see that this was not written in Qiao Yan’s own handwriting, but also seemed to vividly see how the young marquis coped with being an orphan after arriving in Le Ping, and how she immediately reported to the state government when she discovered signs of locusts.

Finally, when the locust plague really arrived, due to the shortsightedness of the state government, in order to avoid missing the opportunity, she chose to take the initiative and detain the people first, and then deal with the locust plague.

Liu Hong almost blurted out “how bold,” but then he saw the next sentence written by Qiao Yan.

In essence, although she knew what she was doing was wrong, she would dare to do it again next time.

However, after thinking it over, she felt that she had let down the trust of the emperor too much, so she wrote a letter to apologize.

With the letter, she attached the proposal she had written to the state government earlier and a special letter found from Zhang Yi’s place to prove that her forced action was necessary.

Liu Hong pinched his brow when he saw this, feeling that the marquis he had appointed seemed to be quite a remarkable troublemaker.

But seeing Qiao Yan’s outburst, he felt a little less guarded against this overly precocious child.

After all, there was still some childlike behavior…

Just too good at offending people.

Such a person was destined to be only a lone minister, not a qualified power minister.

Liu Hong thought to himself that this didn’t seem like a bad thing for him.

He continued reading and saw Qiao Yan write—

Of course, if she was wrong, she was wrong, and if she didn’t follow the rules, she should accept punishment.

If the emperor wanted to use a prisoner cart to send her to Luoyang for questioning, she would not resist, but would allow the emperor to handle it according to the law.

However, Cheng Li, the magistrate of Le Ping, did not support her actions this time.

Even when she left Le Ping, he sent the county officer to stop her.

It was just that her sudden move was too unexpected, so they couldn’t catch up.

He should not be blamed for not stopping her earlier.

Moreover, all the instructions issued by the state government had official seals stamped on them.

In this situation, whether it was Cheng Li or other places like Shangdang and Yanmen, they had to obey her orders.

Therefore, she could bear all the responsibilities alone.

To show that she was now an “adult,” when she wrote this letter of apology, she thought for a long time and decided to give herself a courtesy name.

[“The disaster of locusts, buried in ditches and gullies, can also be set ablaze.”]

[“Those who have been idle in Bingzhou, can also be set ablaze.”]

[“Yan is the jade of fire and light, which is just right for this path, so I choose the character Ye; Shu has a graceful meaning, and dividing it in the middle means giving up, so I choose the courtesy name Shu…”]

“Ye Shu…”

Ye Shu!

Liu Hong looked at the two characters with vigorous strokes on the letter of apology.

The frown that had been gathering on his brow eased a lot, and he suddenly laughed out loud, “Well, well, Qiao Ye Shu!”

“And what a fire of giving up!”