Luoyang, the Imperial Palace.
When Emperor Ling received the two letters delivered by Zhang Rang, he opened his eyes, read them for a moment, and couldn't help but chuckle.
"The Empress is really persistent! Fortunately, I have Anmin!"
The letters were two in total. One was from Lu Ming, delivered to Luoyang by express courier.
It concerned Empress He's invitation to a banquet at the palace, and her attempt to instigate him to side with Liu Bian. Even after the position of Crown Prince was secured, she still tried to win him over, which he refused.
She even wrote a letter specifically to prove her innocence.
The second letter was sent back by a Han dynasty spy. Basically, it described how Empress He had a conversation with Lu Ming, after which Empress He flew into a rage, Lu Ming left, and the two parted on bad terms.
Meanwhile, the Right Prince of Fufeng was also transferred out of the military camp.
He began spending his days listening to music and watching plays, completely forgetting his homeland, acting like a carefree feudal lord.
Lu Ming seemed completely uninterested in getting involved in these messy affairs. The letter even mentioned that within a year, the Three Auxiliary Regions could once again become a major granary.
At that time, Emperor Ling would possess a large army and a stable territory. Lu Ming also mentioned wanting to resign as Governor of Liangzhou and become the Protectorate General of the Western Regions, returning Liangzhou and the Three Auxiliary Regions to Emperor Ling.
This was undoubtedly a gesture of loyalty, making the move to establish contact with the Western Regions seem perfectly reasonable. Whether it was true or not, at least this statement left no room for criticism.
"Excellent, excellent. Alas, my days are numbered," Emperor Ling sighed. He couldn't possibly remove Lu Ming.
Because no one could replace Lu Ming in governing Liangzhou.
As long as his son Liu Xie had a strong backer, the revival of the Han Dynasty would no longer be just a pipe dream.
In just a few short months, the situation changed dramatically; life is unpredictable.
First, Lu Ming became the Governor of Liangzhou, then he took control of the Three Auxiliary Regions.
Liu Yan, the Governor of Yizhou, was delayed in assuming office. His entire family was ransacked, even the women were abducted.
One can imagine what they suffered—probably being raped!
The perpetrators were also delayed in their capture, refusing to leave Chang'an.
Yuan Shao was recommended as the Governor of Bohai, and Cao Cao became the Governor of Chenliu.
Sun Jian was appointed Governor of Changsha, and Yuan Shu became Governor of Huainan.
The wheels of history shifted slightly, but continued to turn.
On this day, Chang'an remained prosperous.
The powerful nobles behind it all had been bloodily wiped out.
Those who remained were mostly Lu Ming's allies; those who were neutral or uncooperative were all arrested and imprisoned.
Among them were the descendants of Marquis Zan and Marquis Liu, the descendants of meritorious officials of the Western Han Dynasty such as Xiao He and Cao Can. Zhang Tang entered Chang'an and emptied the most chaotic Nine Markets.
This involved the interests of many noble families, which Lu Ming eradicated completely.
The situation was fraught with danger; the homes and shops of the nobles even possessed armor and large crossbows—military equipment.
These large crossbows, capable of piercing heavy armor at 300 paces, were considered heavy weapons, and private possession was forbidden, considered treason.
How powerful were the nobles of Chang'an?
During the Western Han Dynasty, after the Wu-Chu Rebellion began, Zhou Yafu led his army to quell the rebellion. Because of insufficient funds, he had to borrow 3,000 gold coins from usurious merchants in Chang'an at exorbitant interest rates.
And these merchants, instead of refusing, lent the money!
They even dared to lend to the imperial court!
And ultimately, they successfully recovered the principal and interest!
This alone demonstrates just how powerful the backing of those usurious merchants was! Standing behind them were mostly regional princes and nobles.
Sweeping through Chang'an was no easy task, so the simplest method was to start a massacre!
However, this massacre couldn't be indiscriminate; it needed a legitimate reason.
If it were a reckless killing spree, it would only lead to an early ambush like Sun Ce's, and their unstable foundation would easily result in the downfall of the Sun family. In this respect, Sun Ce should thank his brother Sun Quan.
The solution was to cleverly create a pretext, lure them out, and then annihilate them in one fell swoop! They wouldn't hesitate to step forward, because none of these nobles' actions were legitimate or justifiable.
During this time, an interesting thing happened. Prince Teng was still the Commandant of Chang'an, still commanding a 20,000-strong army.
While Lu Ming was dealing with the nobles, many people urged him to take a gamble and kill Lu Ming, then they would elect him as the Prefect of Chang'an!
Many sweet words and grand promises once tempted Wang Ziteng, almost causing him to succumb to temptation.
Even one of his sons couldn't resist secretly getting involved. The next day, Zhang Tang arrested the son and presented him with the charges against him. There was no mention of punishment or attempts to win him over; it was simply said that he was conveying the governor's message.
After that, no one knew where the unfortunate son went. Perhaps he went to a Buddhist monastery, or perhaps he was sent away.
In any case, Wang Ziteng remained inactive, neither joining the rebellion nor continuing to submit.
The reason was simple: none of the conditions he had agreed upon with Liu Qi had been met!
On the contrary, Lu Ming's army had at least 30,000 troops stationed in the city, making it difficult for him to take action.
Some wounded veterans were separated from the army to form a patrol and garrison. Although Chang'an was not Luoyang, it had been a capital city, and all its systems and institutions had been preserved.
Military power, especially in the crucial capital region, was highly valued by every dynasty and would never be entrusted to a single person.
Within the capital, the military power to independently mobilize troops and maintain stability was divided into three parts. First, there was the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, the only prefect among all the prefects in the empire with the authority to mobilize troops. This official held a rank of 2,000 men and governed 24 counties in the capital region, commanding approximately 6,000 soldiers and constables—a position of great power and influence.
Second, there was the Commandant of the Nine Gates, who controlled the nine gates of the imperial city and commanded five patrol battalions, totaling 30,000 men.
This was the position held by Prince Teng. While his power wasn't vast, his role in protecting the old capital, and later expanding to assisting and even taking over city defenses, meant the Wang family's strength was not insignificant.
Having military power did not equate to unbridled behavior or arbitrary oppression. Therefore, while the Wang family was considered upper-middle class, not top-tier, they represented the level of powerful clans. Thirdly, there are the troops of the Five Cities Garrison.