Chaos of the Three Kingdoms Summons

Chapter 2334: The Injury of Yangzhou Aristocratic Family, Huan Wen is in a Dilemma

Although Zhu Yuanzhang's forces lacked people like Xu Da and Wu Zixu who were capable of supporting the sky with white jade pillars or shoring up the sea with purple gold beams, there were still many high-ranking commanders like Feng Sheng and Lu Kang under his command.

In Kuaiji County, which had been captured by Wu Qi, there was a figure like Hu Zongxian stationed there, and in Yuzhang County, there was also a figure like Huan Wen stationed there.

After all, he was a peerless commander. Under normal circumstances, he was only defending a county, so it would not be wrong to say that he was overqualified. However, at this time, facing a figure like Wu Qi, he seemed a little weak.

The Huan family, to which Huan Wen belonged, was originally a Longkang family from Qiao County. During the Yellow Turban rebellion, the family moved to Yangzhou. Soon after, they attracted the attention of Zhu Yuanzhang, the prefect of Wu County who was in power at the time.

At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang, as he gradually rose to power, was constrained by a number of aristocratic families, including the four major families in Jiangdong, including the Jiangdong Zhu family to which Zhu Yuanzhang himself belonged.

The four major families of Jiangdong, although they are unremarkable among the aristocratic families in the whole world, even in the eyes of the aristocratic families in the Central Plains and Hebei with profound roots, they are simply disdain to associate with them.

However, at least in Yangzhou, the power of the four major families in Jiangdong at that time could not be underestimated.

In particular, the reason why the Jiangdong families were looked down upon by other big families was because they had weak power in officialdom and instead relied on enclosing land and people, which happened to conflict with Zhu Yuanzhang as the ruler.

Therefore, in order to counter the aristocratic forces including the four major families in Jiangdong, Zhu Yuanzhang at that time not only divided and won over the local aristocratic forces, but also made great efforts to make friends with foreign forces.

This is true whether it is the Huan family like Huan Wen, or the Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong who came from Xuzhou, or the Bu Lu who have now turned from darkness to light.

The Huan family, to which Huan Wen belonged, was already full of talented people, including famous generals like Huan Wen and brave warriors like Huan Shiqian. In addition, there were a large number of core talents and the support of Zhu Yuanzhang. Therefore, although they were an external aristocratic family, they still developed rapidly in Yangzhou.

In Yangzhou, Huan Wen's Huan family has now grown into a giant second only to the four major families in Jiangdong. In fact, with the imbalance of power among the four major families in Jiangdong in recent years, some of them have shown signs of decline. It is not impossible for Huan Wen's Huan family to replace one of them and become one of the new four major families in Jiangdong in the future.

As the saying goes, there are no dynasties that last for a thousand years, only aristocratic families that last for a thousand years. However, how many aristocratic families are there in this world throughout the dynasties? How many families can survive for a thousand years? There is not even one family that can flourish for a thousand years.

Therefore, who stipulated that the four major families in Jiangdong must remain unchanged?

However, the start of the Central Plains War and the Southern War finally shattered Huan Wen's ambitions. Zhu Yuanzhang's previous policy of opening up the private army system for aristocratic families was no less than a fundamental indulgence for the Jiangdong aristocratic power group. Once this system was opened, it would be as difficult as climbing to the sky to take it back.

Now that the aristocratic families have gained power, if Zhu Yuanzhang wants to take it back, will the aristocratic families easily agree?
Perhaps, some people thought that Zhu Yuanzhang had a strong army at his disposal and had a ruthless character, so he was not afraid of not being able to get it back.

However, how can political matters be resolved as simply and crudely as issues on the battlefield?
Throughout the dynasties, which emperor did not have the qualifications and power to be simple and crude? Like Li Shimin, did he not have it? But did he choose this simple and crude method? There are always people who think that Li Shimin, an emperor of all ages, is not as good as him!
It is simple and crude. Let's not talk about whether it can really solve the problem. Even if it is solved, can we bear the consequences?

Use him when needed and discard him when not needed. How much recognition will the remaining subordinates have for such a monarch?

Furthermore, such a force could easily cause alienation from the majority of the civil and military officials under his command. In this era, the majority of people were from aristocratic families, and to kill the donkey after it had done its job, and with simple and crude means, was equivalent to putting himself in opposition to the majority of the civil and military officials under his command.

Moreover, even among the other civil and military officials, some of them served Zhu Yuanzhang with the goal of serving the country, but most of them did so for the sake of promotion? In order for them to develop into a large family one day!

Those founding heroes in every dynasty, even if they were born in lower classes, eventually developed into new aristocratic families, didn’t they?
Do these people also need to protect their invisible rights?

Therefore, after Zhu Yuanzhang opened this gap, it was nothing short of a carnival for the aristocratic families!
However, these soldiers from the aristocratic families suffered heavy losses on the battlefield, which in itself meant that the aristocratic families behind them also suffered heavy losses.

The entire Yangzhou aristocratic family forces were hit hard in this battle.

However, now, a more realistic problem for Huan Wen is that Wu Qi is about to attack. Although Yuzhang has more troops than Kuaiji, it is even twice as much as Kuaiji.

But twice ten thousand is only twenty thousand. Compared with the troops Wu Qi has under his control, it is still far from enough.

As for the troops from other places in Yangzhou, it was impossible for them to arrive at this time. Especially the troops from Wujun, there were 30,000 troops here, but it was impossible for them to transfer any of them.

Wu County not only faced threats from the Jianghuai region to the north, but also had Qin Qiong's 30,000 troops stationed in Kuaiji to the south. Wu Qi wanted to leave so many troops for Qin Qiong not just to keep them there, but also to force Wu County's troops not to move rashly.

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang also gave Huan Wen a death order, requiring him to persist for at least one month.

Zhu Yuanzhang is now surrounded by the Jin army's troops on all sides, including Bai Qi, Wu Qi, Yang Su, and Guo Ziyi's Jianghuai battlefield. He is under tremendous pressure from several directions. Under such circumstances, even he would find it difficult to come up with a way to break the impasse.

Even if we risk the collapse of various battlefields and further squeeze the military strength, this will take time.

The defense lines were already under pressure, so even if they were to squeeze out the troops, they still needed to make preparations in advance and make fine adjustments to the original defense lines. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang also needed time at this time.

However, after a month, Huan Wen himself did not have this confidence!