The great man will live forever

Chapter 255 Boring Supervisor

In the spring of the seventh year of Jianwu (31st year), Gongsun Shu established Kaixiao as King Shuoning and sent troops to aid Long.In autumn, Wei Xiao personally led [-] infantry and cavalry to attack Anding County (the county was governed by Gaoping, now Guyuan, Ningxia), and advanced to Yinjia (now east of Jingchuan, Gansu).

Another army was sent to attack Gan County in an attempt to capture Guanzhong, but Feng Yi and Ji Zun were defeated.

Zang Gong led his army southward to Pingliang County (the current seat of Shangqiu, Henan Province) and Jiyin County (the current seat of Dingtao County, Shandong Province).

In the spring of the eighth year of Jianwu (32nd year), Lai She led an army of two thousand, secretly followed Fanxu and returned to Zhong, attacked Lueyang, and defeated the Hebei County of Kaixiao.Wei Xiao gathered his elite troops to counterattack Lueyang, but failed to defeat them in several months.

In the fourth month of the leap month, Liu Xiu personally went to war, Prince Liu Qiang supervised the country, and Deng Yu and Yin Shi assisted in handling government affairs.

"Why did you go to prison? Why did you take the initiative to say such things? Who taught you?"

After going down to court, Guo Shengtong pulled Liu Han to ask in the palace, which interrupted her plan. She didn't want Liu Xiu to go to the imperial army in person, let alone Liu Xiu to take Yin Lihua with him.

"No, Queen Mother, I just want to share my father's worries."

Guo Shengtong was helpless, "You are still young, what can you do for your father? Now, Yin Lihua will follow."

"I'll just sit here and be a mascot. With the prince here, the officials' hearts will be stable. Aren't they General Deng and the others?"

"Don't trust that Deng Yu too much. He is from Nanyang. You should trust your uncle, Wu Han, Geng Yan, Kou Xun, Jing Dan, Gai Yan, Wang Liang, Geng Chun, Ren Guang, Li Zhong, People like Pi Tong, Wan Xiu, and Liu Zhi."

In fact, there are currently three major political forces under Liu Xiu.

The first to bear the brunt is naturally the Hebei faction. They have a large number of people and strong soldiers and horses. They are mainly soldiers from Hebei. They are Liu Xiu's main force in fighting for the world.

The representative figure Wu Han was originally from Nanyang, but he was an official in Hebei and commanded soldiers and horses from Yuyang, so he should be classified as the Hebei faction.Of course, his Nanyang native place is one of the conditions for Liu Xiu to trust him more.

When a fellow villager meets a fellow villager, tears well up in his eyes. Meeting an old friend in a foreign land has become one of the four great joyous events in life.

The ancients attached great importance to the feelings of fellow villagers, which was based on the combined effect of strong clan concepts and local sentiments, backward transportation and communication methods and military systems, as well as frequent wars and other reasons.

Since the establishment of the patriarchal system in the Western Zhou Dynasty, through the development of successive dynasties, strong clan concepts and local sentiments have gradually accumulated in people's hearts.

This concept and complex made the ancients have a deep feeling for the friendship between fellow countrymen, and believed that fellow countrymen were a relationship that could be relied on and trusted. Therefore, Wu Han was almost the most relied upon by Liu Xiu among the generals in Hebei.

Secondly, people like Geng Yan, Kou Xun, Jing Dan, Gai Yan, and Wang Liang were all from Hebei. They were also close to the Guo family and supported Prince Liu Qiang, because the Guo family used to be a powerful family in Hebei, and they were closely connected. There is a marriage.

Then there is the Nanyang faction. They are Liu Xiu's hometown and county. Everyone knows everything about them. They are dominated by the powerful Nanyang faction. This is Liu Xiu's actual core team.

After the unification of the world, especially after the 17th year of Jianwu, Liu Xiu made the Nanyang faction the final winner through a series of tricks.

The most obvious thing is that in July of the 17th year of Jianwu (AD 41), Queen Guo Shengtong was deposed for no reason and her original wife Yin Lihua was appointed as the queen.

Their main figures are Deng Yu, Zhu Hu, Cen Peng, Liu Long, Jia Fu, Du Mao, Chen Jun, Ma Wu, and Ma Cheng.

There is also the Yingchuan faction, mainly Feng Yi, Ji Zun, Yao Qi, Zang Gong, Jian Dan, Wang Ba and Fu Jun.

The Yingchuan faction started well and ended well, and never gave up. They were mainly Yingchuan officials and were important helpers to Liu Xiuchu when he arrived in Hebei.

However, due to the premature death of its representative Feng Yi, the Yingchuan Group became marginalized and its influence in the court gradually declined.However, Wang Chang, Dou Rong and others are not enough to form an independent faction.

The Yingchuan faction was okay and rarely involved in battles, but the battle between the Nanyang faction and the Hebei faction never stopped. The rebellion of Zhending Wang Liu Yang, Nanyang Deng Feng's rebellion, and Yuyang Peng Chong's proclaimed king all More or less because of the fighting between these two factions.

Not only that, Jia Fu of the Nanyang faction and Kou Xun of the Hebei faction almost came to blows.

At that time, Deng Feng rebelled. After Jia Fu, Yin Shi and others led the army to conquer Yingchuan, they transferred their troops to Runan. Liu Xiu appointed Kou Xun as the prefect of Yingchuan and took charge of government affairs.

Jia Fu's generals killed people in Yingchuan. Kou Xun enforced the law like a mountain and beheaded him in public.

During the war, laws and disciplines were not strict, and usually they would turn a blind eye to these things. Wu Han's army had poor discipline and allowed his men to loot, and Liu Xiu only scolded and warned him.

Coupled with the inherent contradiction between the two groups, Jia Fu was very angry, and the consequences were serious.

Jia Fu had a long-standing temper. When he first returned to Liu Xiu, he had some unpleasant encounters with his colleagues.At that time, he was an official under the name of General Polu. At a meeting, he sat side by side with Duan Xiao, an official under the name of Da Sima.

Duan Xiao reminded him: "You are the General Governor and I am the Grand Sima Governor. We cannot sit together."

Jia Fu said angrily: "Da Sima and General Polu are both Duke Liu, why can't they sit down?"

Everyone thought he was domineering and wanted to push him away, but Liu Xiu suppressed him.

Although Jia Fu was a Confucian scholar, he was very powerful in martial arts. When Jia Fu returned to Yingchuan, he said harshly: "I have the same official position as Kou Xun, but now I am humiliated by him. I am not a gentleman if I don't retaliate against you. I will definitely kill Kou Xun with my own hands when I see him." kill him!"

Fortunately, Kou Xun was a sensible man and deliberately avoided Jia Fu. His subordinates were not angry and said they were willing to protect him with swords in case of unexpected events.

Kou Xun said: "Back then, Lin Xiangru was not afraid of the King of Qin, but he hid from Lian Po because of state affairs. The ancients were like this, how could I forget it?"

He ordered all counties to welcome Jia Fu along the way, with double portions of wine and meat, and plenty of food and drink, but he claimed that he was not sick.Jia Fuyu was still angry and wanted to settle accounts with Kou Xun. As a result, the soldiers were all drunk and had to give up.

Kou Xun was worried that Jia Fu would not give up, so he reported it to Liu Xiu. Liu Xiu was still worried about Deng Feng's incident. Deng Feng decided to mediate personally because of Wu Han's trouble.

He first summoned Jia Fu, who showed great righteousness, and then summoned Kou Xun.Kou Xun entered the palace and found Jia Fu already there. He was about to turn around and leave, but Liu Xiu stopped him: "Now that the world is uncertain, how can two tigers fight privately? I am here to persuade him."

So the two of them sat down side by side, smiling at each other and letting go of their grudges.Finally, there is no danger, the dust has settled, and I can breathe a sigh of relief.

This is only a small part. The conflict between the Nanyang faction and the Hebei faction goes beyond that. The disintegration of the Gengshi regime was largely due to constant internal fighting and killing each other.

Liu Xiu learned this lesson and paid special attention to balance. Strong fortresses are often the easiest to break from the inside. Don't think Liu Xiu's opponents are too weak. The process of unifying the world will go smoothly.

Just coordinating internal conflicts and maintaining a balance between interest groups takes up a lot of energy.Since the fourth year of Jianwu, Liu Xiu has been patrolling various battlefields in the east, west, north and south. One is to supervise the battles, and the other is to coordinate the generals. He has achieved very good results.

Only Liu Xiu, with his wisdom, prestige, force, and military exploits, could balance the struggle between the two major factions, and he even tolerated it sometimes.

Supervising the country was a good opportunity, Guo Shengtong also thought. Liu Xiu thought about it and gave her this face, but gave Deng Yu special instructions.

So Guo Shengtong made a curtain, held Liu Han generously on the dragon chair, and went to court to supervise the country.

Going to court was actually an extremely boring thing, and Liu Han was only seven or eight years old. He listened casually and soon fell asleep in Guo Shengtong's arms.

He originally wanted to develop the three provinces and six ministries system, as well as the imperial examination system, but thinking that he was so young and creating these, it was a bit weird, so he thought of waiting a few years before doing so, and the paper had not yet been released.

He got it out back then, but never gave it to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. He originally wanted to give it to Liu Zhi, but before he could, the Lanling Marquis Mansion became a sea of ​​fire.

Therefore, he actually doesn't have much meaning as a prisoner of the country. He is really regarded as a mascot.

Guo Shengtong woke him up with a smile, "Qiang'er, it's time to go to court."

"Ah, it's time to go to court?" Liu Han wiped his saliva and looked around blankly.

"How is it? Are you tired?"

"Why are you tired? I've been sleeping." Looking at the hundreds of officials who were about to resign, Liu Han didn't feel embarrassed at all. "My dear friends, try to sleep as little as possible from now on. You are young and sleepy. Please understand. Thank you Guo for your love." My dear, dear sir, you have worked really hard for the country, and I will be honored by you."

Liu Han looked at the officials and saluted uprightly.

"Your Highness should not be like this, I should do what I should do."

All the officials saluted, and they all thought highly of Liu Han. He was well-behaved and polite. He was only 7 or 8 years old and could do this. He would definitely be a great talent in the future.

"Be loyal to the great man, and we will die in service."

"His Royal Highness, you are smart, filial and thoughtful. You will be a wise king in the future."

"The Queen and Your Majesty taught you well!"

……

The officials began to praise him, and if ordinary people would be stunned, Guo Shengtong smiled and said, "I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it, dear friends, please don't praise him anymore..."

When he said this, he smiled crookedly. It is the wish of almost all parents to hope that their children will become dragons. If nothing unexpected happens, Liu Han will definitely become a dragon in the future, and the emperor will naturally be a true dragon emperor.

Here, Liu Xiu worked hard and waited patiently, and finally got the opportunity to attack.

Taking advantage of the situation where Wei Xiao was holding on to the city and his soldiers were exhausted, Liu Xiu took the opportunity to attack Gaoping City and joined forces with the prefects of the five counties of Hexi, the Qiang people, and the Xiaoyue clan led by Liangzhou Mu Dou Rong, who were tens of thousands of cavalrymen.

It can be said that the addition of Dou Rong directly gave Liu Xiu an absolute advantage over Kai Xiao's troops.

As early as two years ago, in the summer of the fifth year of Jianwu (29th year), Dou Rong sent Chief Shi Liu Jun to present a letter to the Eastern Han Dynasty, and Liang Tong and others sent people to accompany him.

At this time, Liu Xiu also sent an envoy to Hexi to enlist Dou Rong and others to jointly deal with Wei Xiao and Gongsun Shu.The envoys from both sides met on the way and returned to Luoyang together.

Liu Xiu was very happy to see Liu Jun and others. He gave Dou Rong a book, praising Dou Rong for his foresight in settling Hexi. He also gave him [-] kilograms of gold and appointed him as the shepherd of Liangzhou.

Dou Rong received Liu Xiu's letter and sent Liu Jun back to write a letter stating his intention to surrender.At the same time, he sent his brother Dou You to Luoyang to express his feelings.

When Dou You arrived at Gaoping, it happened that Kai Xiao rebelled against the Han and the road was blocked, so he returned to Hexi.Dou Rong sent a banquet to carry the book along the eastward route.Liu Xiu also gave brother Dou Rong a letter to comfort him.

After Dou Rong surrendered to the Han, he wrote to Kai Xiao, criticizing him for going back on his word, being ignorant of world affairs, and not caring about people's livelihood. He asked him to think deeply about the way to be disobedient, but Wei Xiao ignored him. Dou Rong instead prepared for the war together with the prefects of the five counties. Submit a letter to ask for a fight.

Liu Xiu greatly admired Dou Rong's attitude and performance, and established a relationship with his maternal relatives, saying that Dou Rong was a descendant of Emperor Wen's Empress Dou's family, and that she was Queen Ding, the son of Emperor Jing, born to Empress Dou.

Good guy, this is a proper relationship. It's just a kinship.

Not only that, Liu Xiu also said that Han soldiers were about to advance westward, and hoped that Dou Rong would "response to the expected meeting."After Dou Rong received the edict, he immediately led his troops to Jincheng with the governors of the counties, attacked the Xianling Qiang Feng He people who had surrendered to Wei Xiao, and defeated them greatly.

Because the Han soldiers did not advance, Dou Rong led them back.At this time, Liang Tong also severed ties with Kai Xiao.

In the autumn of the seventh year of Jianwu (31st year), Wei Xiao attacked Anding.Liu Xiu personally sent his troops to the west, and ordered Dou Rong and others to meet regularly.Due to heavy rain, the road was blocked, and Wei Xiao had already retreated, so the army was stopped.

Dou Rong had arrived in Guzang and returned home after receiving the imperial edict.Dou Rong was afraid that Liu Xiu would not send troops for a long time, so he wrote to Liu Xiu and suggested that he seize the opportunity and attack Wei Xiao from the east and the west. If it lasted for a long time, things would easily happen.

Liu Xiu accepted Dou Rong's request and sent troops to conquer Weixiao in the spring and summer of the eighth year of Jianwu (32 AD).Dou Rong led the five prefects and the Qiang and Xiaoyue clan, tens of thousands of people on foot and horse, and more than [-] vehicles of baggage, and met with Liu Xiu in Gaoping (county) No. [-] (name of the city).

Liu Xiu immediately held a grand banquet to treat Dou Rong with special gifts.He appointed his younger brother Dou You as the captain of Fengche, and his younger brother Dou Shi as the doctor of Taizhong.

After the banquet, Liu Xiu immediately divided his troops to attack Longshan, and recruited 13 generals including Niu Han, the guard of Wating, who belonged to the [-]th county. More than [-] troops surrendered, and Lueyang was surrounded.

Liu Xiu sent Ma Yuan to call for surrender and opened a road to the west of the river. The Han army divided its troops and advanced to Longshan to launch a full-scale offensive.

However, Wei Xiao led the remaining troops and fled to Xicheng, while Cen Peng occupied Tianshui County.

Soon, Zhang Bu fled to Linhuai, and discussed with his younger brothers Zhang Hong and Zhang Lan to recruit his old troops and sail into the sea.However, his whereabouts were discovered by Chen Jun, the governor of Langya County, who pursued him and eventually killed Zhang Bu.

Wu Han and Cen Peng besieged Kaixiao in Xicheng, and soldiers from various counties in Guanzhong also participated in the siege.

At the same time, Geng Yan also attacked Longyou. Gongsun Shu's general Li Yu came to support Kuaixiao, and he and Huya General Gai Yan's troops besieged Shanggui.

At this time, Liu Xiu made a suggestion: "The soldiers in the counties are useless, but they consume a lot of food. If they flee, they will defeat the people and lose their courage. They should all be dismissed."

However, the Han Dynasty and its generals did not listen to Liu Xiu's suggestion and insisted not to cancel military service in the counties.

Eventually, due to lack of food and grass, the soldiers fled, the remaining civilian army revolted, and riots broke out in the capital, Liu Xiu returned to Luoyang.

Before returning, Liu Xiu made Dou Rong the Marquis of Anfeng due to his meritorious service, and granted him the title of Anfeng, Yangquan, Liao and Anfeng counties.His younger brother Dou You was granted the title of Xianqinhou.

The generals also received awards.After the reward was completed, Liu Xiu led his troops back to the east, while Dou Rong and others returned to their hometown in the west.

Luoyang, in the West Palace, Liu Xiu looked at Liu Han, "I heard that you don't make any noise in the court, sit upright, behave politely, advance and retreat in a measured manner, and all the officials praise you?"

Liu Han pretended to smile shyly and scratched his head, "No, I sound too sleepy. Sometimes I even fall asleep."

Liu Xiu smiled, "That's pretty good. My father was still very playful when he was eight years old. He caught loaches in the river, climbed trees, and played in the mud. You did a good job this time. I'm very happy. Tell me, what do you want? Reward? I will satisfy you."

"I hope to go to the court more often and sit next to my father. I can see my father all the time and share my worries."

"This won't work. In a few days, I will find a teacher for you. You study hard. Deng Yu is good. He was a child prodigy when he was in Imperial College. Your brother Yang'er should also go to school. You and him Let’s go together, and only after we have learned well can we solve our father’s problems.”

"Father, you big liar, I told you but you won't let me. Then after I finish reading, I can go in and out of the court at will and meet my father. Is that okay?"

"Yes, but you must study hard. I will find some teachers for you, and I will check your studies from time to time."

"Okay, as ordered!" Liu Han did this mainly to show off his face and become more familiar with the court officials.

In November, Cen Peng used water to irrigate the west city. The Shu army led by Wei Xiao's generals Wang Yuan, Xing Xun and Zhou Zong came to assist and launched a fierce counterattack from high places, catching the Han army by surprise.

Due to the shortage of food and grass, Cen Peng and others could only give up their arrogance. Kuai Xiao picked up the remaining soldiers and occupied several counties in Longxi again.

At the same time, bandits in Dongjun and Jiyin areas revolted one after another. Liu Xiu sent General Li Tong, General Hengye, and Taizhong doctor Geng Chun to Dongjun to help pacify the bandits. More than [-] bandits were surrendered, and the entire operation was A huge victory.

In this way, eight years of Jianwu passed smoothly.

Luoyang, in Ayimei's mansion, "Are you awake? I haven't found you after searching for so long, but there are traces of those people."

During the Kunyang War that year, meteorites fell from the sky. How could it be such a coincidence?Also, the Huituo River was frozen. As soon as Liu Xiu passed by, the ice melted and the pursuers could not catch up. How could it be such a coincidence? "

Ayimei has used her own power over the years to find out something. She is now the queen of the Han Dynasty.

"Xindu, outside Luoyang City, Fatty Liu, Taoist priest, Wang Mang, corpse... What is the connection between these? Is it the black jade unicorn? Wang Mang is dead? It seems that we have to go to the alchemy pharmacy of Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum."

Her eyes were long and old, looking into the distance.

(End of this chapter)