Li Ru watched the various high-ranking court officials with an unreadable expression. At this moment, he felt as if he had grown infinitely large, floating among the clouds, while the Wenming Garden was like a small chessboard. The court officials were like wooden chess pieces, and he could control them at will.
Li Ru noticed Yuan Wei and Wang Yun exchanging glances, both pretending to be nonchalant. He smiled inwardly, neither confirming nor denying anything.
Suddenly, a wave of cheers surged from outside the garden like a tide. Everyone quickly turned to look and saw that Dong Zhuo had arrived with his troops.
Amidst the guards' chants of "General's might," Dong Zhuo, clad in armor and a bright red cloak, with a sword at his waist, dismounted his horse and strode forward. Under the slanting rays of the setting sun, he appeared radiant.
From the moment Dong Zhuo dismounted, a number of military officers and a few civil officials stood up to greet him.
Dong Zhuo laughed heartily as he walked, exchanging a few words with one person and patting another on the shoulder. The garden quickly became lively.
Yuan Wei had felt something was off when he first took his seat. Although his plan was proceeding smoothly, and every step seemed correct, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss.
When Dong Zhuo made his grand entrance, Yuan Wei saw the bustling scene and suddenly realized a major flaw in his plan. His face turned pale.
Yuan Wei glanced at Wang Yun and noticed that Wang Yun was also looking at him. Both men had lost their earlier composure, replaced by a sudden sense of panic—when had this Xiliang warrior managed to win over so many military officers?
Yuan Wei's heart sank. No wonder he and Wang Yun had encountered no resistance in their plan to deal with Dong Zhuo. It turned out that their opponent hadn't been focusing on the civil officials at all. Only now did Yuan Wei realize that he and Dong Zhuo had been moving in completely different directions. What a miscalculation!
From Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu to Emperor Shao of Han, over 170 years had passed. The Eastern Han Dynasty had enjoyed a long period of peace. Although there had been conflicts, they were mostly confined to small regions. Even the recent Yellow Turban Rebellion was seen by the high-ranking officials and nobles in Luoyang, far from the battlefield, as a minor nuisance. Now that Zhang Jiao and his followers had been executed, many civil officials, including Yuan Wei and Wang Yun, thought they could return to peaceful times and began to look down on the military once again.
Thus, when Yuan Wei and Wang Yun joined forces to deal with Dong Zhuo, they followed the old court tactics of internal strife: tarnishing the opponent's reputation, collecting incriminating evidence, and winning over their subordinates. When the time was ripe, they would find a trigger to completely crush their opponent, ensuring they could never rise again.
This method had always been effective and practical. Yuan Wei had seen many people fall to this strategy, including the eunuchs who had used it against the reformist officials during the Partisan Prohibitions.
But this time, Yuan Wei felt as if he had thrown a powerful punch only to hit air. He had assumed that even if Dong Zhuo was a rough man, he would still care about his reputation. Yuan Wei thought that when Dong Zhuo learned of the Xiliang soldiers' misbehavior, he would surely stop them. But how could the lower-ranking soldiers, who had already tasted the benefits of lawlessness, stop for the sake of reputation? Especially since Dong Zhuo's forces included not only Xiliang soldiers but also Qiang and Hu tribesmen who knew nothing of etiquette and were easily tempted.
In Yuan Wei's estimation, this situation would inevitably lead to a conflict between Dong Zhuo and his lower-ranking soldiers, which would signal the beginning of Dong Zhuo's downfall.
But to his surprise, Dong Zhuo seemed completely unaware during this period, allowing his soldiers to plunder freely. Every day, groups of drunken Qiang tribesmen could be seen causing chaos, even nearly colliding with Dong Zhuo's own carriage on several occasions.
At the time, Yuan Wei thought his plan was working. But now it seemed that the one who had fallen into the trap was not Dong Zhuo, but himself. Yuan Wei glanced at Wang Yun and saw that his expression was equally grim. It seemed Wang Yun had also fallen into the trap, which gave Yuan Wei some small comfort.
Yuan Wei sighed inwardly. Who would have thought this Xiliang warrior could be so cunning?
Unlike Yuan Wei's traditional top-down approach to court intrigue, Li Ru played a different game—one that cut the ground from under his opponents.
Li Ru had grown the Xiliang army through blood and fire. For him, playing the game of court politics wasn't difficult, but he believed that force was more reliable. When the barrel of a gun is pressed against your neck, the pen loses its power.
So when Li Ru noticed Yuan Wei and Wang Yun making subtle moves, he chose a completely different path from these long-time wielders of the pen. He focused on seizing the power of the gun.
While Yuan Wei and Wang Yun were distracted by the chaos in the streets, Li Ru successfully absorbed the troops left behind after the death of General He Jin. The defection of He Jin's officers, Wu Kuang and Zhang Zhang, meant that Dong Zhuo's forces had officially become the largest military group in Luoyang.
While Yuan Wei and Wang Yun were still planning how to use their pens to condemn Dong Zhuo, Li Ru had already grasped the power of the gun. The banquet at Wenming Garden was a display of this power, a response to the moves Yuan Wei and Wang Yun had made.
It wasn't that Yuan Wei and Wang Yun weren't clever; it was just that they had been in peace for too long, their thinking constrained. They thought Dong Zhuo would compete with them within the traditional court framework, but Dong Zhuo had already stepped outside that circle, leaving them trapped within.
Yuan Wei remained silent, pondering. It wasn't too late to make amends. For now, he would have to endure and bide his time. How many troops in Luoyang could still be won over?
Perhaps Ding Yuan could be persuaded? Also, should he send his son Yuan Shu to Nanyang to raise an army? It seemed that without his own military power, he would always be at the mercy of others.
Yuan Wei scanned the room and noticed a military officer sitting in a prominent position who remained unmoved and did not cozy up to Dong Zhuo. His heart leapt with hope—this was someone he could win over. But upon closer inspection, his heart sank again—it was Lu Zhi, the former Northern General who was now a Minister.
If only he hadn't joined the eunuchs in slandering Lu Zhi back then! Yuan Wei regretted his past actions. At the time, for the sake of some small gain, he had helped the eunuchs imprison Lu Zhi. Now, Lu Zhi had just been reinstated as a Minister, but he had lost his position as Northern General and had no troops under his command. No wonder Dong Zhuo hadn't tried to win him over. What a mistake.