At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 209 Chaos breaks out in Guanzhong and Jia Xu leaves

That year, there was a severe drought in Guanzhong. There was no rain from April to autumn, and almost no crops were harvested.

The price of food in Chang'an has soared, and a handful of dendrobium is worth 50 yuan. Even if it is compared to Tian Feng's secretly driving up food prices in the past, it is still worse. People in Chang'an cannibalize each other.

Many people could not survive and turned into thieves, plundering everywhere day and night, causing chaos in Chang'an City.

Li Jue, Guo Si, and Fan Chou divided Chang'an City into three parts and each guarded their own boundaries, but they still could not stop the people who were going crazy because of hunger.

Xi County, which is close to Chang'an, was also affected.

Ma Teng garrisoned troops here, and there was no food in the army. He came from Longyou to pay tribute, led his troops to garrison Baqiao, and asked Li Jue and Guo Si to allocate some money and food.

There was still insufficient food in Chang'an, so how could Li Jue and Guo Si be willing to provide food to Ma Teng?
Ma Teng was furious when his request was not obtained, so he joined forces with his servant Ma Yu, You Zhonglang General Liu Fan, former Liangzhou governor Zhongshao, Zhonglang General Du Xun and others to attack Li Jue. They fought for several days but failed. Win or lose.

Han Sui heard about it and led his troops to come, intending to make peace with both sides.

Han Sui saw Ma Teng and asked, "We are all from Liangzhou. Why did Shoucheng lead his troops to attack Li Jue and Guo Si?"

Ma Teng said angrily: "When we saw that Dong Zhuo was powerful, we wanted to bring troops to join us. Before we could resist Chang'an, Dong Zhuo was killed by Lu Bu. Li Jue and Guo Si recruited Dong Zhuo's old troops and held the emperor hostage. Occupy Chang'an."

"I originally wanted to invade Chang'an to rescue the emperor, but Wen Yue persuaded me with the friendship of my fellow countrymen, so I led my troops back."

"Over the years, I have stationed troops in Yi County, guarding the west for Li Jue and Guo Si, and suppressing the rebellious Qiang people. Only in this way can we maintain the stability of Chang'an."

"There is a severe drought in Guanzhong and there is no food in the army. I wanted to ask you two to allocate some food and grass. I never thought that Li Jue and Guo Si would become ruthless. Instead of refusing to allocate food and grass, they held the emperor hostage and reprimanded me for not paying tribute!"

Ma Teng stared at Han Sui and asked, "If I don't lead the army to attack him, won't all the men in the army starve to death?"

Han Sui hurriedly comforted him and said, "Don't be impatient, Shoucheng. Let me write a letter to persuade Li Jue and Guo Si to allocate money and food to calm the war, so as not to damage the peace."

Ma Teng's army was extremely short of food and had no choice but to raise troops. When he heard that Han Sui was willing to ask for money and food for him, he immediately said, "If Li Jue and Guo Si are willing to support him with money and food, I will withdraw my troops."

Han Sui had been operating in Liangzhou for so many years and was now considered a big boss. He felt that Lie Li Jue and Guo Si should give him face, so he immediately wrote a letter and had it sent to the other party's camp.

After Li Jue read the letter, he immediately became furious and cursed: "There is still no food in a certain army, and countless people in Chang'an have starved to death. How can there be any food left for Ma Teng?"

Guo Si said: "Previously we made Han Sui the general of Zhenxi and Ma Teng the general of Zhengxi. They were so happy that they withdrew from Chang'an."

"Two years have passed and their strength has increased. Could it be that they think our army is short of food and want to capture Chang'an and kidnap the emperor?"

Li Jue thought for a while and felt that Guo Si's words were reasonable. He immediately sneered and said: "In the past two years, Ma Teng and Han Sui have grown in strength. If you and I hold the emperor hostage to command the princes, wouldn't we be stronger than them as our strength grows?"

"If you reply to Han Sui and refuse him, I will not be afraid if he insists on fighting!"

Guo Si immediately wrote a letter, telling Han Sui that there was a severe drought in Guanzhong and that there was not much food and grass left in Chang'an, so there was no way to allocate money and food to Ma Teng.

After Han Sui received the letter, he was furious and cursed: "How could Li Jue and Guo Si have established a firm foothold in Chang'an without my strong support?"

"They get all the benefits, but they are not willing to allocate some food and grass. It is simply too much to bully others!"

Ma Teng said: "Wen Yue, don't be impatient. I have contacted Liu Yan, the pastor of Yizhou. He occupies the kingdom of Bashu and is a clan member of the Han Dynasty. There are many party members in Chang'an City."

"In a few days, the food and grass supported by Yizhou will arrive."

"At that time, if we cooperate with Zhong Shao, Liu Fan and others in Chang'an City, we will be able to capture Chang'an."

"If Chang'an is destroyed, you and I can serve the emperor to punish the disloyal ministers. Isn't it better to live under someone else's fence and act based on the faces of Li Jue and Guo Si?"

Han Sui asked about the internal agents in Chang'an City. When he learned the details, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, so he joined forces with Ma Teng to attack Li Jue and Guo Si.

However, it was said that Ma Teng and Han Sui marched to Changpingguan, and Yizhou Shepherd Liu Yan asked his subordinate Sun Zhao to come with five thousand troops and bring food and grass to help the battle.

After Li Jue heard the news, he couldn't help being shocked and said to Guo Si: "Liu Yan also sent troops to join the battle, and his two sons are still in the city. If when Ma Teng and Han Sui attack the city, they should open the city gate together, but they will not What should we do?”

After Li Jue and Guo Si occupied Chang'an, they tried their best to win over the princes from all walks of life.

They learned that Liu Yan's three sons were all in Chang'an. In order to win over Liu Yan, they named Liu Yan's eldest son Liu Fan as Zuo Zhonglang General, his second son Liu Dan as the censor of the book, and his youngest son Liu Zhang as the captain of Fengche.

Li Jue and Guo Si treated Liu Yan's three sons very well. In addition to not letting them leave Chang'an, the three of them also held high positions and lived a very comfortable life.

Liu Yan also knew that his three sons were left as hostages in Chang'an, and he was very worried about their safety. He immediately wrote to the court on the grounds of serious illness, requesting the court to allow his three sons to come to Yizhou to visit him.

Li Jue and Guo Si were not stupid, so how could they let the hostages go?

The three brothers had no choice but to immediately come up with a plan, which was to ask Liu Zhang, the youngest son, to go to Yizhou to visit his seriously ill father.

Liu Fan and Liu Dan were both martial and literary, and were quite favored by Liu Yan. Only the youngest son Liu Zhang was weak in temperament and had no outstanding talents, so he was not liked by Liu Yan.

If Liu Fan and Liu Dan went to Yizhou to visit Liu Yan, Li Jue and Guo Si would definitely not agree.

As for Liu Zhang, his mediocrity made Li Jue and Guo Bang let down their guard and asked him to go to Yizhou to visit Liu Yan with the emperor's edict.

Although Liu Yan failed to get his favorite eldest son and second son back, since the youngest son came to Yizhou, he naturally detained them and did not let Liu Zhang return to Chang'an.

Liu Fan and Liu Dan secretly joined forces with Ma Teng, not only to destroy Li Jue and Guo Si and welcome their father Liu Yan to Guanzhong, but also for the sake of their own wealth and life.

Just because after Liu Zhang's incident, Li Jue and Guo Bang paid closer attention to them. It was very difficult to escape from Chang'an. Only by killing the two of them could they regain their freedom.

Zhong Shao had a spy in Li Jue's house. He learned that Li Jue had sent troops to capture Liu Fan and Liu Dan, and he hurriedly came to report the news.

"If the two young masters do not leave as soon as possible, they will be killed."

Liu Fan was shocked and said: "However, the two thieves Li Jue and Guo Si are closely guarding us. It may not be easy to leave Chang'an."

Zhong Shao said: "Don't worry, young masters. I have secretly contacted some servants and dead men before, and also bribed the guard of the west gate of Chang'an. I will leave from the west gate as soon as possible before the troops sent by Li Jue arrive."

"As long as they arrive at Ma Teng's camp, the two young masters will have nothing to worry about!"

After hearing the words, the two of them did not dare to neglect, followed Zhong Shao and galloped towards the west gate.

The spies who were watching the two men hurriedly reported to Li Jue, but met Li Jue's nephew Li Li on the road. Li Li learned that the Liu brothers had escaped and hurriedly reported to Li Jue.

Li Jue was furious, so he sent Li Li, Guo Si, and Fan Chou to Changpingguan to pursue and kill Zhong Shao, Liu Fan, Liu Dan and others, and also attacked Ma Teng and Han Sui.

But Zhong Shao, Liu Fan, Liu Dan and others escaped from Chang'an and went all the way to Changpingguan. Li Li and others led the cavalry in hot pursuit.

By the time they arrived at Changpingguan, almost all of Zhong Shao's soldiers and horses had been destroyed, and only three of them were able to escape with their fast horses.

"Open the door. I am Liu Fan, the eldest son of Yizhou Shepherd. Open the village gate quickly!"

Liu Fan looked at the entrenched camp and hurriedly shouted to the defenders inside.

The soldiers at the door did not dare to let people in at will, and hurriedly went to report to Ma Teng.

When Ma Teng learned that he was Liu Yan's son, he did not dare to neglect and brought people to greet him personally. After all, Liu Yan was now needed for food and grass supply.

never thought.

After only a short delay, Li Li, Fan Chou, Guo Si and others led a large group of cavalry to charge over.

Ma Teng was extremely conflicted at this time. He wanted to open the gate of the camp and let a few people in, but he was also worried that a large group of enemy cavalry would take the opportunity to rush into the camp.

At this moment, Sun Zhao, the captain sent by Liu Yan, had already received the news. Seeing that the two young masters were blocked from outside and the pursuers were behind them, he immediately shouted: "Open the door, open the door quickly! "

After speaking, Sun Zhao ignored Ma Teng and directly led his troops to forcefully open the camp.

"Fire arrows!"

The moment the camp was opened, Fan Chou and Guo Bang, who had been planning for a long time, asked their subordinates who were good at riding and shooting to charge on horseback and shoot the soldiers at the entrance of the camp.

In fact, they had been able to catch up with Liu Fan and others long ago, but they deliberately slowed down a little in order to take the opportunity to rush into Ma Teng's camp.

After a hail of arrows, Zhong Shao, Liu Fan, and Liu Dan were shot dead on the spot, and the soldiers at the gate of the camp also suffered heavy casualties.

Fan Chou and Guo Si took the opportunity to lead the cavalry into the camp. Only Li Li was worried about being injured and quietly hid behind.

Ma Teng was caught off guard, and the soldiers in the camp were in chaos. Fan Chou and Guo Si took the opportunity to kill Ma Teng and defeat Ma Teng.

Seeing that the situation was over, Ma Teng hurriedly withdrew the remaining defeated troops to Han Sui's camp.

Li Li, Fan Chou and Guo Si led their troops to pursue and kill him.

Han Sui learned the news and led his troops into formation to prepare for battle. However, Ma Teng's troops broke up and dispersed the formation. Fan Chou and Guo Si, with a great victory, defeated Han Sui again.

Ma Teng and Han Sui fled, but Fan Chou saw Li Li hiding far behind, quietly sweeping the battlefield to take the credit.

Fan Chou couldn't help being furious, and said to himself: "I'm working hard in front, but Li Li is hiding behind and stealing the credit."

He immediately rode up to Li Li, raised his weapon and pointed it at Li Li, shouting sternly: "Ma Teng and Han Sui want to take your uncle's head. How dare you do this? You can't kill Qing Xie by bullying me!"

Fan Chou had always been brave and had great prestige in the Xiliang army. At this time, he was furious. Even though Li Li was Li Jue's nephew, he did not dare to contradict him and just obeyed.

However, a stern look flashed in Li Li's eyes, and he obviously hated Fan Chou.

Seeing that Li Li had relented, Fan Chou did not stay too long and continued to lead his troops to chase Ma Teng and Han Sui all the way to Chencang, beheading more than [-] people.

But they said that Han Sui and Ma Teng were defeated and planned to flee back to Liangzhou.

However, Fan Chou led his army in hot pursuit, and saw that there were fewer and fewer soldiers under his command. If he continued like this, his life might be in danger.

Han Sui immediately sent out his confidants and asked the other party to bring a message to Fan Chou: "The world will go back and forth, it is unknown. You and I are from the same state. Although there is a small friction now, we may not be able to get back together in the future."

"I would like to speak to the general alone, please don't refuse."

Fan Chou heard the message from Han Sui's confidants and thought to himself: "Han Wen's words are not unreasonable. Even if I kill them all, there will be no benefit at all. It is better to leave a line in doing things and think about the future." Thinking of this , Fan Chou immediately agreed and stepped forward to talk to Han Sui alone.

The two were riding side by side, talking about emotional moments, and even holding hands, acting very intimately, and laughing from time to time.

Li Li stayed in the formation, looking at Fan Chou and Han Sui who were chatting happily, with a sinister look in his eyes.

Although Fan Chou let go of Han Sui and Ma Teng out of concern for his fellow countrymen, he led his troops to Huaili, climbed the city by ladder overnight, breached the city, and beheaded Ma Yu and Du Chen who had colluded with Ma Teng.

In this battle, Fan Chou, Guo Si, and Li Li killed Liu Fan and Liu Dan, the two sons of Yizhou Mu Liu Yan. They also killed Yi Lang Zhong Shao, Shi Zhong Ma Yu, and Zhong Lang General Du Xun. They killed more than ten thousand enemies. It can be said that It was a great victory.

After returning to Chang'an, Fan Chou won the hearts of the soldiers because he had the most merit and was the bravest in battle.

Due to the severe famine in Guanzhong, Li Jue and others continued to send troops to plunder in order to maintain the army's rations, making the lives of the people in Guanzhong more difficult and the famine becoming more serious.

As a result, people in Guanzhong eat each other, bones pile up, and the roads are filled with filth.

There were originally more than [-] households in the land of Sanfu. After Li Jue and Guo Si's looting, the people ate all of them. The originally prosperous land of Sanfu became almost deserted.

In fact, even many aristocratic families are not immune.

Those aristocratic families and people who were lucky enough to survive took the opportunity to flee to Yizhou and Jingzhou.

As the saying goes: blessings come without pairs, and misfortunes never come singly.

Without Ma Teng's troops stationed in Yi County to frighten the Qiang people, the Qiang people living in Zuofengyi's territory began to rebel again. Guo Si and Fan Chou led their troops to put down the rebellion and beheaded more than a thousand people.

Since the people in the Sanfu area were almost exhausted, there was no point in staying in Chang'an, so Fan Chou prepared to leave Hangu Pass in the east and go to Luoyang, so that he could eat in Henan Yin and Hanoi counties.

However, there were many warlords and bandits in the east, and Fan Chou didn't have many troops under his command, so he kept urging Li Jue to send more troops.

Since Fan Chou defeated Ma Teng and Han Sui, Li Jue began to be wary of Fan Chou's prestige in the army, and was naturally unwilling to continue to deploy troops and horses to increase Fan Chou's strength.

Li Li took the opportunity to say: "Fan Chou deliberately let Ma Teng and Han Sui go, and even held hands and talked with Han Sui in front of the battle. They were very close."

Li Jue narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "Do you know what the two of them said?"

Li Li shook his head and said, "I don't know."

But he then continued: "I think Fan Chou has two minds. What if he is allowed to occupy Luoyang, collude with Ma Teng and Han Sui in secret, and attack my uncle from both sides?"

Li Jue walked around the house with his hands behind his back. After a long time, he made up his mind and said, "I will hold a banquet tonight and invite Fan Chong to come over and ambush the swordsman and get rid of him!"

That night, Fan Chou suddenly received an invitation from Li Jue. The person who sent the invitation told Fan Chou: "General Zuo Cheqi invited the general to a banquet to discuss sending troops to capture Hangu Pass."

Fan Chou was overjoyed when he heard this and wanted to go, but also hesitated.

Just because there had been a gap between the generals of Xiliang in the past, Guo Bang and Fan Chou had the power to open the mansion due to their merit, and their strength increased greatly.

Together with the Third Duke of the imperial court and Li Jue, the two were known as the Six Prefectures. In order to expand their power, the three of them each recommended their own generals, almost removing all the rights of the court officials.

Previously, Li Jue's family was the dominant one, and the conflicts between the generals were not obvious. Now that the three of them are competing, there is also some friction among his subordinates.

Although Fan Chou wanted to ask Li Jue for troops, he was worried that Li Jue would harm him if he went there alone, so he hesitated.

He asked: "Has General Zuo Cheqi invited anyone else?"

The person who sent the message said: "In addition to the generals, there is also General Li Meng."

Fan Chou felt slightly relieved after hearing this.

Li Meng was also a general of the Xiliang Army. He had many soldiers and horses, and he was on good terms with Fan Chou.

Since Li Meng was also invited, it was expected to be no big deal.

Even so, Fan Chou still accompanied him with some personal soldiers.

When Li Jue saw Fan Chou and Li Meng coming to the banquet, he was very enthusiastic. He took Fan Chou's arm and said, "Tomorrow I will recruit troops and horses and ask you to go and attack Hangu Pass. You must not be drunk or come back tonight!"

Fan Chou was overjoyed and thought to himself: "If I can lead the troops to attack Hangu Pass, I won't have to continue to be subordinate to others."

Thinking of this, Fan Chou was happy, and he accepted the invitations of Li Jue, Li Li and others to drink.

The same is true for Li Meng.

After no matter how much wine they drank, Li Meng and Fan Chou finally couldn't bear it anymore and fell drunk on the table one after another.

"Good brother, good brother, good brother!"

Li Jue pushed the bodies of Fan Chou and Li Meng, but saw that the two of them had no reaction at all, and they were just snoring like thunder.

When Li Jue saw this, the smile on his face slowly faded. He turned to look at his nephew Hu Feng who was standing next to him and said, "You know what to do."

Hu Feng showed a ferocious smile on his face and said: "Uncle, don't worry, I will save you money!"

He pulled out his sword, walked up to Fan Chou, pulled the other man's hair, and cut Fan Chou's throat with his sword.

Fan Chou was in pain and suddenly opened his eyes and began to struggle desperately. However, Hu Feng used his hands to cut off his head.

Li Meng, who was drunk, seemed to be aware of the danger. He got up from the table and was stunned when he saw Fan Chou's body lying on the ground.

"Pfft!"

At this moment, Li Li had already arrived behind Li Meng, piercing the opponent's back with a sword.

"Uncle, I have fulfilled my mission!"

Hu Feng carried Fan Chou's head and walked to Li Jue, asking for credit.

Li Jue took a handkerchief, wiped the blood spattered on his face, nodded slightly, and said, "Well done."

"You two will each take your own troops and go to annex the subordinates of Fan Chou and Li Meng. Those who are willing to surrender will be well rewarded by high officials and I will not treat them unfairly."

"Those who are unwilling to surrender will be killed without mercy!"

The two men followed the order and annexed the subordinates of Fan Chou and Li Meng overnight. That night, there were countless corpses and rivers of blood in their camp.

Li Jue killed Fan Chou and Li Meng, which also caused Guo Si, Zhang Ji and others to panic, fearing that they would also be killed by Li Jue. The gap between the generals in Liangzhou became deeper and deeper. the point.

Li Jue asked Jia Xu to become General Xuanyi to help him, and discussed with Jia Xu to kidnap Emperor Xian and bring him to his camp.

Jia Xu advised: "No, it is unethical to threaten the emperor."

Li Jue refused, so he ordered his nephew Li Xian to lead thousands of troops to surround the palace and greet Emperor Xian with three chariots. Emperor Xian rode in one chariot, the noble Fu Shou rode in another chariot, Jia Xu and Zuo Ling rode in one chariot, and the rest followed on foot. .

Guo Si learned the news and led his troops to seize the emperor and fight with Li Jue.

The emperor sent more than a dozen people, including Taiwei Yang Biao and Sikong Zhang Xi, to Guo Si's camp to persuade them to make peace, but they were all detained by Guo Si.

Li Jue and Guo Si, one of them robbed the emperor, and the other robbed the ministers. In their eyes, the imperial court was like a child's play, and its majesty was simply ruined.

Jia Xu secretly sighed in his heart, knowing that Li Jue and Guo Bang were about to run out of energy.

Zhang Xiu always respected Jia Xu and asked Jia Xu privately: "We can't stay in Chang'an for a long time. Why don't you leave here, sir?"

When Jia Xu heard this, he sighed slightly.

Jia Xu first followed Dong Zhuo, and later persuaded Li Jue and Guo Si to attack Chang'an in order to protect themselves.

Although he had long expected that the imperial court would be ruined in the future, he did not expect that Li Jue, Guo Si and others would be so cruel, even worse than Dong Zhuo, so that there was no rooster crow for thousands of miles in the Sanfu area.

If Jia Xu leaves now, the crime of causing chaos in the world will definitely accompany him for the rest of his life, and the future will definitely be difficult.

Therefore, even though he knew that his future was worrying if he stayed, he still wanted to do something.

Jia Xu looked at Zhang Xiu and said sternly: "I have received the favor of the country, and I cannot deny it. You can do it yourself, I can't."

Zhang Xiu had no choice but to return to Shaanxi County and asked his uncle Zhang Ji to lead troops to persuade him to make peace.

Zhang Xiu came with his troops and saw that the two men were still attacking each other. The emperor and his ministers trembled, and they couldn't help but get angry and shouted: "I am here to mediate. If anyone refuses to truce, I will join forces with the other person to merge!"

Li Jue, Guo Si, and Zhang Ji first each sent their daughters as hostages. Later, they also used Li Jue's younger brothers Li Huan, Guo Si's younger brothers, and Zhang Ji's nephew Zhang Xiu as hostages. Only then did both parties give up.

Zhang Ji added: "Chang'an is in ruins, and it is difficult for the emperor and his ministers to feed themselves. How about the Holy Emperor moving eastward, first to eat in Hongnong County, and then to return to Luoyang?"

The two of them had no objections this time, so they planned to take the emperor and the ministers with them and move eastward.

However, the generals in Liangzhou were constantly at odds. Jia Xu kept dealing with Li Jue and Guo Si, trying his best to mediate the conflicts between the other Xiliang generals, and even tried his best to protect the ministers who had offended Li Jue and Guo Si.

It was Jia Xu's hard work that finally made the Xiliang generals who were in chaos make up their minds and lead the emperor to move eastward.

Jia Xu's various actions won the favor of the Manchu ministers and the emperor. The influence of previously persuading Li Jue and Guo Si to invade Chang'an was gradually reduced.

"call!"

Seeing that this was finally done, Jia Xu let out a long breath, with both guilt and relief in his eyes.

He handed over the seal of General Xuanyi awarded by Li Jue to show his clear line with him.

"If the Xiliang army is so crazy, it will be defeated sooner or later. It's time for me to leave."

Jia Xu looked at the emperor's emperor who was gradually retreating, bowed deeply, then stood up and murmured to himself: "The world is so big, where is my place?"

(End of this chapter)