"I will obey your orders and thank Your Majesty for your kindness on behalf of all the soldiers of Western Liang!”
Hwa Xiong bowed respectfully, his eyes filled with gratitude.
Liu Bian nodded his head in satisfaction and chuckled. His majestic eyes swept across the officials."Do you all have anything else to report?”
After pausing for a while, the officials all looked at Liu Bian respectfully. No one spoke again, presumably to listen to Liu Bian's decree.
"Alright, since all of you have no foundation, it's my turn!”
Liu Bian abruptly stood up from his cage chair. A proud cage might emanated from his body and enveloped the entire hall, causing all the officials to be in awe.
"Dong Zhuo's treachery has made the Great Han Empire unique since Wang Mang usurped the throne several hundred years ago. Thanks to the help of all my beloved ministers, I was able to turn the tide, kill Dong Zhuo, and take back control of the court.”Liu Bian said loudly.
"Your Majesty, you flatter me. Dong Zhuo was eliminated by Your Majesty alone.”All the officials said respectfully.
"There is no need to be so polite, my dear ministers. I only relied on the courage bestowed by the heavens to kill Dong Zhuo by surprise. However, the true stability of Luoyang's peace depended on the combined efforts of all of you.”
As he spoke, Liu Bian expressed his gratitude to the officials.
"Ah... Your Majesty must not do this, we are very afraid.”
All the officials were shocked by Liu Bian's actions and knelt down one after another. However, they were also deeply moved. Their loyalty to Liu Bian increased exponentially. With a monarch like this, what else could they ask for?
"Alright, all of you should accept this bow.”
"Now, I want to reward all of you for your meritorious deeds.”
Liu Bian slowly straightened his body and spat out the rewards for the officials,""Minister Ding Guan, you are not afraid of death and have done your best to be loyal to me. I have specially given you a death-exemption gold medal. As long as you do not rebel, you can be exempted from the death penalty with the gold medal and will be rewarded with a thousand gold!”
"Grand Commandant Yuan Kui, four generations of three dukes, incomparably loyal, and even tried his best to protect me during Dong Zhuo's rebellion.”
"Bingzhou Governor Ding Yuan, who traveled thousands of miles and led his troops to serve the king, is extremely loyal. He is rewarded with a death exemption medal and a thousand gold coins. He is also conferred the title of Minister of Jingdou and given the Minister's residence.”
"Situ Wang Yun, Lieutenant Wu Fu, great contribution. Reward of 1,000 gold, promotion of one rank…In addition, the meritorious ministers will each be rewarded with a hundred gold, and their salaries will be doubled in the future…All meritorious soldiers will be rewarded with ten gold coins…"
Liu Bian continued to reward the officials, and every time he did, the officials would shed tears of gratitude.
What was worth mentioning was that Ding Yuan had been transferred from the governor of Bingzhou to the official of Jingdou by Liu Bian. He had no complaints, only gratitude. Now that he was almost seventy years old, how could he want to stay in a border place like Bingzhou? He had long wanted to live in Luoyang and Jingdou.
"We thank Your Majesty for your generous reward and are willing to die for Your Majesty!”The ministers and officials knelt down.
"Yes!" Liu Bian nodded and sat back down on the cage chair. Then, he said in a dignified manner,"Next, we will officially begin discussing the future direction of the Great Han Dynasty!”
"What's the movement of Dong Zhuo's generals?”Liu Bian asked in a deep voice, his eyes cold.
"Your Majesty, according to the reports of the spies I sent out, Dong Zhuo's remaining generals are currently stationed in Chang 'an and Liangzhou. Among them, Li Jue has more than 20,000 troops, and he controls Chang' an and guards Hangu Pass.”
"In addition, Guo Si, Fan Chou, Zhang Ji, and Niu Fu will lead twenty thousand troops to Liangzhou, protecting Chang 'an and Hangu Pass.”
Grand Marshal Yuan Kui cupped his hands and respectfully replied. Five days ago, after Dong Zhuo was killed by Liu Bian, he had sent out spies to find out the situation of Dong Zhuo's remaining generals.
"En, do they know that Dong Zhuo is dead?”Liu Bian nodded and asked.
"Your Majesty, the news of Dong Zhuo's death has spread throughout the world five days ago.”Yuan Kui thought for a moment before replying.
"They are Dong Zhuo's trusted aides. Since they all know that their master is dead, they didn't take any action and didn't rashly come to take revenge. It seems that there must be some capable people among them.”
Liu Bian had killed Dong Zhuo, and his morale was high. He also had the Eighth Commandant of the West Garden, the Bingzhou Army, and the remnants of the Western Liang Army, totaling more than 170,000. If the remnants of Dong Zhuo came to seek revenge, they would not be able to return.
But now, they didn't do anything, not even caring about Dong Zhuo's death. They were using silence to stop him, which surprised Liu Bian.
"According to my understanding of the history of the Three Kingdoms, besides Li Ru, there is also Jia Xu, known as the number one poison of the Three Kingdoms. The reason why Li Jue did not move was because he received Jia Xu's advice?”
Liu Bian thought about it carefully. With a solemn expression, he remembered that the Western Liang remnants still had a strategist who was the most resourceful in the Great Han Dynasty. He was known as the Poison Warrior, Jia Xu!
"We have to deal with those remnants of Western Liang's army and control Liangzhou. Otherwise, it will be disadvantageous for me to unify the thirteen prefectures of the Great Han Dynasty in the future!”
"But Hangu Pass is the greatest pass in the world since ancient times. It is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Li Jue is here and there are other Western Liang generals behind him. If we attack forcefully, we will suffer countless losses!”
"Damn it, what should I do? It's too damaging to my brain cells. As Imperial Entertainment, why don't I have a strategist to come up with a plan for me?”Liu Bian shook his head and sighed, feeling very displeased.
Helpless, he could only turn his gaze to the ministers for help.
"Chang 'an is an important place of our Si Li and must be taken back. Dong Zhuo's remnants must also be eliminated. Liangzhou must also be controlled by the Imperial Court.”
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