Chapter 182 He Jin and his sister fight for power
Luoyang North Palace.

Empress Dowager He had only been in power for a few months when she encountered the unpleasant incident of He Jin's plan to kill the eunuchs.

How could Empress Dowager He, who had just begun to develop ambitions, accept this?

She wanted to become a legendary woman like Empress Lu and Empress Dowager Dou. How could she fail before she even started?

Therefore, Empress Dowager He decided that this time she must give He Jin a good beating.

"The general has arrived!"

Empress Dowager He cheered up and sent Emperor Shao Liu Bian to play with women.

"I pay my respects to the Queen Mother." He Jin bowed and saluted.

Queen Mother He showed dissatisfaction: "Why didn't the general bow to me when he saw me?"

He Jin looked up in surprise, and met Empress Dowager He's jewel-like eyes, feeling extremely unfamiliar.

After hesitating for a moment, He Jin did as he was told.

Empress Dowager He nodded with satisfaction: "Someone come!"

"Give the general a seat!"

Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, had no other special abilities, but he did introduce the Huchuang, or stool, so that people in the palace did not have to kneel but could sit on stools.

In order to make sitting more comfortable, Emperor Ling of Han ordered people to improve the stool, adding a backrest and calling it a chair.

Seeing the eunuch bringing a chair, He Jin sat on it awkwardly.

In recent years, He Jin has long regarded himself as a member of the gentry and is not used to sitting on a chair.

Although the chairs were extremely valuable and could only be used in the imperial palace, it was not that the nobles were unable to make them, but that they simply disdained to use them.

Empress Dowager He saw it all and said even more dissatisfiedly: "General, don't forget that you and I are from humble backgrounds, not from the aristocracy!"

"Now you call yourself a scholar, how do you know that those scholars are not laughing at you?"

Seeing that He Jin seemed to be in deep thought, Empress Dowager He struck while the iron was hot and played the emotional card.

"You are my elder brother, how can I harm you?"

"We two brothers and sisters should work together to govern this country!"

"But..." He Jin hesitated and said, "The world is in the hands of the aristocracy, and they hate eunuchs so much."

"If we don't eradicate some of them, I'm afraid it will be difficult to calm the people's hearts."

Empress Dowager He said angrily, "The nobles! The nobles!"

"Can't you have some ideas of your own?"

"Do we have to listen to the nobles in everything?"

He Jin sighed and said, "I also want to, but I just blame myself for my limited ability."

Suddenly, Empress Dowager He collapsed and covered her face and cried like a little girl.

"Is there no one available in the world?"

He Jin retreated to advance, and gritted his teeth and said: "If we don't comply with the wishes of the scholars, they will turn to Jin Mao's son."

"When the young emperor is overthrown and Liu Xie ascends the throne, you and I will really have a bad ending."

Empress Dowager He stopped crying instantly, and there was no trace of tears on her face.

Seeing that she couldn't play the emotional card, she straightened up and said coldly: "If I don't listen to your advice, will you also join Liu Xie and get a share of the glory?"

"I dare not!"

He Jin was so frightened that he fell off his chair and bowed, "I am the emperor's uncle. What other glory can compare to this moment!"

"It's good that you know." Empress Dowager He held her forehead and said, "I'm tired, you can leave."

"Here!"

He Jin wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and calmed down only after he left the palace.

"It seems that this matter still needs to be considered in the long run."

The next day.

Yuan Shao discussed with everyone and worked hard for an entire night before finally coming up with a detailed plan.

Without time to rest, Yuan Shao rushed to the general's mansion.

As soon as they met and finished the greetings, Yuan Shao couldn't wait to start explaining his specific plan.

After he finished speaking, Yuan Shao asked expectantly, "What do you think, General?"

"Ah?" He Jin suddenly came back to his senses, "Oh, it's good."

Perhaps staying up late made him tired, Yuan Shao did not notice anything unusual about He Jin, and said, "Then I will start executing according to the plan."

"Please lend me your seal, General!"

"No, no, no!" He Jin said, "Yuan Zhongjun's plan is not perfect yet. Please come back to me after you have made it detailed enough."

If Yuan Shao hasn't realized it at this time, he would not be called Yuan Shao!

"Please tell me, General, where is the lack of detail?"

"Uh... this."

He Jin knows nothing!
He is just a butcher, how could he know so much?

The next moment, Yuan Shao pressed, "If the general has no objection, please seal it!"

"How dare you!" He Jin was annoyed. He was the general, so what was Yuan Shao's attitude?

But who is Yuan Shao? How could the things he decided be stopped for some ridiculous reasons?

Remembering that He Jin had gone to the palace to meet the Queen Mother yesterday, Yuan Shao knew what had happened.

"General, don't be blinded." Yuan Shao threatened: "If you no longer want to kill the eunuchs, then just pretend I have never been here."

"If you have any problems in the future, don't come to me for help!"

"When the day comes that you are killed by the eunuchs, you will not only be laughed at by the eunuchs, but also spurned by the scholars!"

"What will the history books say about you then?"

Yuan Shao laughed contemptuously and said, "Weak and incompetent! Let a woman control your fate."

"To be honest, if I didn't want to save your reputation after death, why would I waste my breath on this!"

Yuan Shao stood up and clasped his fists, saying: "Since you no longer need our services, I will take my leave now!"

After saying this, Yuan Shao turned and left.

"Yuan Zhongjun!"

"Original!"

"Isn't it okay that I was wrong?"

He Jin hurriedly stopped Yuan Shao. As long as the latter stepped out of the general's mansion, He Jin's reputation among the scholars would be completely ruined.

The fact that the Yuan family has had three highest officials in four generations is no joke. In every generation, there are people who have become three highest officials, and their students and former officials are spread all over the world.

As long as Yuan Shao made a loud call, saying that He Jin was useless and could no longer be relied upon, the General's Mansion would probably be in an awkward situation of having no one to serve it.

Therefore, He Jin really did not dare to offend Yuan Shao too much.

"General, please make a decision soon!"

Yuan Shao pushed forward his plan relentlessly.

He Jin took the paper and looked at the full plan on it. He wanted to find some loopholes and struggle a little more.

Unfortunately, He Jin, who was not well-educated, looked at it for a long time but couldn't figure out anything.

Yuan Shao was not in a hurry. He sat back in his seat and waited for He Jin to make a decision.

An hour passed.

He Jin was sweating profusely and realized that he could not wait any longer, so he had to order someone to bring the seal and stamp it on.

Yuan Shao took it with satisfaction, bowed and said apologetically: "General, please rest assured. Yuan Shao will live up to your trust!"

Looking at Yuan Shao's tall back, He Jin could only hope that it would be true as Yuan Shao said.

July fifteenth.

Yuan Shao began to act in the name of He Jin.

When Attendant Censor Zheng Tai, Minister Lu Zhi and others heard the news, they came together to persuade He Jin not to summon foreign troops into the capital.

They all believed that since He Jin held an important position and controlled a large number of troops, he only needed to act decisively to kill the eunuchs without having to recruit foreign troops. Moreover, Dong Zhuo's entry into the capital would surely cause chaos.

He Jin immediately betrayed Yuan Shao: "I did not want to do this, but I did it because of the advice of the captain of the Central Army, Yuan Shao."

"If you could have come to help me earlier, why would it have come to this?" After hearing the first sentence, Lu Zhi and others wanted to argue a bit, but after hearing the second sentence, they all fell silent.

In the past, which one of them had He Jin not invited?
As a result, one by one they found various reasons to decline.

It’s because He Jin was born in a humble family, and these people think of themselves as the masters of Confucian classics and look down on him.

Now, when something happens, I finally remember the great General He Jin.

What have you been doing so far?

Seeing that everyone was speechless, He Jin took the opportunity to say, "From today on, if you are willing to help me with some advice, I am willing to listen to your opinions."

Faced with He Jin's second attempt to recruit them, they all retreated again.

Zheng Tai said righteously: "How can you take back the order you issued? Changing your orders every day will undermine your dignity."

Then Lu Zhi said, "I still have a sutra at home that I haven't finished annotating, so I'll take my leave first."

Led by Lu Zhi, everyone retreated quickly.

Are you kidding? Now serving He Jin, isn't that equivalent to declaring war on Yuan Shao?

As a great scholar of the older generation, how could he slap someone in the face in public, and especially slap the face of the Yuan family, which has been a family of three generations.

The Yuan family is not someone you can easily mess with.

Seeing that everyone was running away faster than rabbits, He Jin became more determined to cooperate with Yuan Shao.

There is no way around it.

On July 16, Yuan Shao used the Yuan family's network of connections to send out four groups of troops and issued orders in the name of He Jin.

He sent people to Liangzhou in the west to summon Dong Zhuo, the governor of Bingzhou, to station 30,000 infantry and cavalry at Shanglinyuan in Guanzhong.

Because Dong Zhuo had discovered the eunuchs' forged imperial edict with the help of the Yuan family, he did not move his troops and stayed in Liang Province.

This made Huangfu Li's plan to persuade his uncle Huangfu Song to take the opportunity to get rid of Dong Zhuo fail.

However, Huangfu Song still reported to the court that Dong Zhuo was unwilling to hand over his military power.

Dong Zhuo learned about this from the imperial edict written by the eunuch pretending to be Emperor Ling to rebuke him, and he became even more jealous of Huangfu Song.

However, due to Huangfu Song's status and strength, Dong Zhuo did not attack.

Yuan Shao then dispatched a second envoy, an official from the General's Office, to order Wang Kuang of Taishan to mobilize the crossbowmen in his county.

The third route was to summon the governor of Dongjun, Qiao Mao, to recruit soldiers from his own county and station them in Chenggao.

The fourth route sent an envoy to order Ding Yuan, the former Bingzhou governor and current Wumeng Commander, to send thousands of soldiers to cause chaos in Henei.

He called himself "Black Mountain Lord" and burned Mengjin and the houses of the shogunate in Pingyin and Hejin. The flames illuminated the whole city red.

All of these people obeyed the call and submitted petitions calling for the execution of the eunuchs.

Empress Dowager He was extremely annoyed, but still disagreed.

He Jin became more suspicious because Yuan Shao's plan did not seem to be working.

So Yuan Shao's power was taken back.

The tenth day of August.

Yuan Shao came to He Jin angrily.

"Why did the general regret it?!"

He Jin said dissatisfiedly: "Yuan Benchu, watch your attitude!"

"I have done what you said, but it didn't work at all!"

This time Yuan Shao did not get angry, but patiently explained: "This is just the beginning of the plan. You should understand me after reading the sequel."

"Humph!"

He Jin was satisfied with Yuan Shao's attitude this time, but he couldn't help but say, "Before, that was just your backup plan."

"What did you say in your plan?"

"As long as this part is completed, the Queen Mother will submit. What about now?"

Yuan Shao said helplessly: "Victory and defeat are common in the military."

"What's more, we are using the strategy of attacking with superior force, which makes it even more difficult."

"Even Sun Wu didn't succeed many times."

He Jin naturally knew this truth, but it was absolutely impossible for him to take the risk again.

"Let's end this matter here."

He Jin sighed and said, "Let's think of another way."

Easy to say!

In order to achieve this point today, Yuan Shao has paid so much sunk costs. Now that he is about to reap the rewards, how can he retreat at this point in time?

"No!" Yuan Shao thought to himself: "He Jin is indecisive, I must force him to make a decision!"

Yuan Shao first paid homage to He Jin, then stood up and said, "General, you still have a way out, but I have no way out. This is the only way to go!"

"Please give me another chance. I will not let you down this time."

Yuan Shao was still soft-hearted and wanted to play the emotional card to see if the issue could be resolved peacefully.

But He Jin had been fooled by Empress Dowager He's emotional trick last time and he was not going to fall for it.

"Benchu, it's not that I don't give you a chance, I just can't do anything about it."

If you don't eat the toast, you will be punished with a drink!
"Humph!" Yuan Shao snorted coldly and threatened He Jin, "The Queen Mother has learned of my collusion with you. If we don't do this, something bad will happen."

"General, do you want to wait for me to fall first, and then be dealt with by the Queen Mother?"

"Are you really sure that the Queen Mother will spare your life for the sake of brotherhood?"

Yuan Shao sneered: "Stop dreaming!"

"The imperial family is the most ruthless. Even if I die, do you think you can escape?"

Of course, Yuan Shao said this purely to scare He Jin. Even if He Jin's entire family died, Yuan Shao would not die.

This is the confidence brought by three generations of officials!

But He Jin didn't know all this. When he heard Yuan Shao say this, he thought of the scene where his own sister asked him to bow down to her for power.

What Yuan Shao said is not just something that might happen, but something that will definitely happen!

Power is dazzling.

Therefore, He Jin appointed Yuan Shao as the Inspector of the Imperial Guards, holding a seal and a staff, and ordered him to strike back; and appointed Wang Yun, an attendant to the Imperial Secretariat, as the Governor of Henan.

"Thank you, General. I will never let you down again!" Yuan Shao got what he wanted and his speech became gentler.

August fifteen.

Yuan Shao sent military officials from Luoyang to monitor the eunuchs, and ordered Dong Zhuo and others to rush to the post station to prepare to march to Pingleguan.

Empress Dowager He finally became frightened and urgently summoned General He Jin to meet her.

When He Jin entered the North Palace, Empress Dowager He dismissed her attendants, leaving only the brother and sister in the hall.

"Brother, I know I was wrong." Empress Dowager He, like a younger sister, pulled He Jin's clothes and said with tears in her eyes, "Just tell me what to do."

At this moment, He Jin wanted to shout to the sky, Yuan Shao really did not lie to him!

It had been many years since the high and mighty Empress Dowager He had been able to admit her mistakes to him!
He Jin looked a little dazed, as if he had returned to the time when Empress Dowager He was a child.

At that time, he was 15 years old and Empress Dowager He was 5 years old, just like a father with a daughter. Just like today, Empress Dowager He pinched the corner of his clothes and begged for candy.

He Jin risked having his legs broken by his father He Zhen and stole money to buy it for his younger sister.

Thinking about that time, it was so wonderful and precious.

You can never go back!
After coming to his senses, He Jin did not make excessive demands. He just asked Empress Dowager He to dismiss all the eunuchs and send them back to their homes, leaving only those who were close to He Jin to guard the province.

Empress Dowager He did as she was told.

Before leaving.

Empress Dowager He sat in the main hall, He Jin stood in the lower hall, with the Ten Attendants crying on both sides.

Zhang Rang cried, "General, please don't let those jackals blind your eyes."

"We servants are your and the Queen Mother's most loyal supporters."

"One day, those noble jackals will force you to do something you don't want to do!"

He Jin didn't believe it and left in anger.

(End of this chapter)