The great man will live forever

Chapter 263 Twelve Years of Storms (Unification of the World)
  Just when Wu Han was victorious and was about to conquer Chengdu and be completely destroyed.

Gongsun Shu, who was trapped in the besieged city, had no idea what to do, so he asked his confidant General Yancen for advice on how to defeat the enemy.

Yancen was also a tycoon, named Shuya, and was from Zhuyang County, Nanyang County (now Gucheng County, Hubei Province). In the last years of his life, Wang Mang took advantage of the chaos and raised troops, but later surrendered to Liu Jia, the general of the Gengshi regime. After the collapse of the Gengshi regime, he established a separate regime.

He once occupied the three auxiliaries in Guanzhong and called himself King Wu'an. After being defeated by Liu Xiu's general Feng Yi, he successively attached himself to Qin Feng and Gongsun Shu to continue to fight against the Han army.

After he surrendered to Gongsun Shu, he was named King Ning.

"Prince Ning, what should be the current situation?" Gongsun Shu really had nothing to do. Once Chengdu was breached, he would be dead.

Yancen said: "Your Majesty, a man should survive in death, how can he sit and wait for death! Wealth is easy to accumulate, so we should not be stingy. If you take out all your gold and silver treasures, there will be brave men under the heavy reward. Recruit brave men. , fight Wu Han to the end."

"Okay, that's all we can do now."

Although Gongsun Shu cherished money, at this point, he could only use all the gold and silk to recruit more than [-] death squads to cooperate with Yancen at Shiqiao.

Not to mention, this trick is easy to use. Yancen also showed his special skills. He first set up a suspicious formation to attract the attention of Wu Han in front of him, and then sent a surprise soldier to sneak around behind Wu Han's army and stabbed Wu Han from behind.

The complacent Wu Han never thought that others would attack him from behind. This move of Thousand Years Kill was so timely and terrifying that the Han army, which was caught off guard and attacked from both sides, was defeated.

In this battle, Wu Han was in such a state of embarrassment that he almost lost all his previous efforts and failed.

When the army was defeated and fled in a hurry, Wu Han fell into the water in the chaos.

"Clap!"

Originally, Wu Han, who was wearing a full set of armor, should have sunk to the bottom like a weight after falling into the water.

"General!"

The soldiers around were shouting, but most of them were from Hebei and couldn't swim at all. Wu Han didn't know how to swim. Water kept pouring into his throat. He felt that death was approaching.

Just when he was about to die, in a hurry, he seemed to grab something, dark and long, and he grabbed it with all his strength.

For a brief moment, he was on shore again.

It turned out that Wu Han was lucky and his horse did not run away, so he was dragged ashore by its tail and was out of danger.

"Haha, the sky will never stop me, chasing the wind, well done."

Wu Han was covered with water and was extremely embarrassed. He got on his horse, patted the horse and laughed.

"Retreat, return to camp."

Wu Han, who was frightened by Gongsun Shu's beating with a sap, fled back to the military camp, and was shocked to find that the army only had enough food for seven days.

Wu Han, who had just been defeated, had low morale, and did not have much food in the army, was discouraged and had no fighting spirit. He secretly prepared warships and prepared to evacuate.

Leave this unfortunate place first, rest for a while, and then come back for revenge.

I have to say that Wu Han is not a vegetarian. He can be Liu Xiu's number one general. He has the qualities of a famous general, which is strength. This is the most important and final stage, and is a required course for a famous general.

The so-called victory and defeat are commonplace for military strategists, but they are just comforting themselves. After losing the battle and tens of thousands of people dying, can you bear the psychological pressure?
  How do you face the families of those soldiers, and how do you have the nerve to meet the boss who handed over the command to you?

That’s tens of thousands of lives, not tens of thousands of ants!

However, your choice can only be to be strong. Even if you fail repeatedly, you must fight again and again!
  It is conceivable that when you are defeated by the same person several times, you will be afraid of that person. This is the origin of the so-called phobia. Even if you have outstanding military talents and cannot overcome your own weakness, you still cannot become a famous general.

And those who are the best can get up from failure and challenge those who have defeated them many times. This is strong!
  Even an excellent and powerful Liu Xiu has been defeated, more than once. When Xiao Changan was reunited, he almost died. He could only watch his relatives die tragically in front of him, but he was powerless. How many people could do that kind of pain and struggle? know?

Moreover, when he attacked the county seat, he failed many times.

"Book of the Later Han·Biography of Wang Lang" says: "Next year, Guangwu got Langxi from Ji, went south to Xindu, sent troops to the neighboring counties, and then attacked the Bai people without losing."

"Zi Zhi Tong Jian Han Chronicle [-]": "Behead Li Yun, the general of Wang Lang. When we reached Bai people, we defeated Li Yu, the general of Lang. Yu returned to the city and defended the city; we could not attack it."

"Book of the Later Han Dynasty: The Benji of Guangwu": "Yu returned to Bao City, but could not attack it, so he led troops to Guang'a."

"The Book of the Later Han Dynasty: The Annals of Guangwu": "Guangwu had a great feast for his soldiers, so he surrounded Julu in the east. Wang Lang's guard, Wang Rao, held on for more than a month."

"Zi Zhi Tong Jian Han Ji [-]": "Genshi sent Shangshu to order Xie Gong to lead six generals to attack Wang Lang, but he could not go down. When Xiu arrived, he joined forces with him and surrounded the giant deer in the east. It was not over for more than a month."

"Book of the Later Han·Feng Yi Zhuan": "Guangwu took over Yingchuan, attacked his father's city, and stationed troops in Jinche Township."

"Book of the Later Han·Biography of Wang Liu Zhang Li Penglu": "Guangwu led his troops to the northeast to besiege Julu. Wang Rao, the prefect of Lang, occupied the city and could not conquer it for dozens of days."

Even his rash actions led to the annihilation of the entire army.

"Zi Zhi Tong Jian Han Ji [-]": "The King of Xiao attacked Yu Lai, Da Qian and Wu Ban from the north, pursued them as far as Beiping, and defeated them in succession;
  He also fought in the north along the river, taking advantage of the victory to advance lightly, but was defeated. The king threw himself into a high bank, but when he encountered a sudden cavalryman, Wang Feng dismounted from his horse and offered him the favor. The king was spared. The scattered soldiers returned to protect Fan Yang. The king is not seen in the army, or he may be dead, and the generals do not know what to do. "

He was not as good as Wang Lang in regular combat, and even Liu Xiu's subordinates were psychologically affected before they started fighting Wang Lang's army.

"Zizhi Tongjian·Han Ji [-]": "Wang Lang sent generals Ni Hong and Liu Feng to lead tens of thousands of people to rescue Julu. Xiu fought against Nanfan, but it was disadvantageous. Jing Dan and others rode suddenly to attack it, and Hong Waiting for a big defeat. Xiu said: 'I heard that Tuqi has the best soldiers in the world, and now that I see them fighting, can I say something wrong?'"

"Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Biography of Jing Dan": "I worshiped Dan as a partial general and was named Fengyihou. I followed Wang Lang's general Hao Hong and equaled Nanfan. Lang's soldiers fought against him, but the Han army retreated. Dan and others rode suddenly and defeated them. After chasing for more than ten miles, the dead and wounded followed."

Therefore, not being afraid of failure, not being afraid of starting all over again, and not being afraid of annihilation are the qualities of a famous general.

Liu Xiu had this quality, and so did Wu Han, which was one of the reasons why he reused Wu Han.

Originally, Wu and Han were planning to withdraw, but the worst possible outcome would be to start all over again and clean up the old mountains and rivers.

At this time, Zhang Kan, who was sent by Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu to serve as the future prefect of Shu County, heard about Wu Han's plan to withdraw his troops. He was extremely anxious and came overnight to dissuade Wu Han.

This is also a great man. Zhang Kan was born in a wealthy family in Nanyang and became an orphan at an early age. He gave away the millions of property left by his father to his cousin. He simply regarded money as dirt.

When Zhang Kan was sixteen years old, he came to Chang'an to study. Zhang Kan's conduct was outstanding, and all the Confucian scholars called him a "holy boy", and he was also a scholar-level being.

When Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu was a commoner, he often praised Zhang Kan when he saw his good conduct.

After Liu Xiu ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, the lieutenant-general recommended Zhang Kan to him, so Liu Xiu recruited Zhang Kan to serve as his lieutenant-in-chief. After three transfers, he was promoted to Yezhi.

This time when he was conquering Shu, Liu Xiu sent him to transport the accumulated cloth and led seven thousand cavalry to assist Wu Han in the expedition against Gongsun Shu. Probably because he was afraid that Wu Han would be unreliable, he appointed Zhang Kan as Shu Commandery halfway. Prefect.

He will also have a very impressive grandson in the future, that is Zhang Heng, a famous scientist and writer of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It seems that he is hereditary.

"Da Sima, you must not withdraw your troops at this time, otherwise all your previous efforts will be wasted. You should make an all-out effort to attack Chengdu and destroy Gongsun Shu, otherwise he will surely resurrect..."

Zhang Kanna was very eloquent. He made a quick analysis and made Wu Han nod his head. He tried his best to help him analyze the current situation. Finally, he hoped that Wu Han could boost morale, regain his strength, and fight Gongsun Shu head-on for the final decisive battle.

Zhang Kan assured Wu Han that Gongsun Shu would surely perish, and this time would never exceed seven days.

Looking at Zhang Kan's vow, Wu Han accepted his advice, recharging his energy, boosting morale, and boosting fighting spirit internally; externally, he deliberately showed weakness, did not dare to fight, and huddled in defense.

This time, Gongsun Shu fell into the trap. In November of that year, Zang Gong's army attacked Xianmen.

Gongsun Shu asked someone to divination.

Those so-called masters dance like masters, and their operations are as fierce as tigers.

"Pap, tap." Coins and turtle shells were scattered on the ground.

"How about it?"

The fortune-tellers didn't dare to speak and glared at each other.

"Everyone get lost, get lost, I will come in person."

So, he took action himself. He was very knowledgeable about hexagrams. He not only liked divination, but also believed in prophecies and was good at making use of them.

At that time, after Gongsun Shu proclaimed himself emperor, in order to express his break with the Han Dynasty, he abolished copper coins and replaced them with cast iron coins. The original currency in the hands of the people could not circulate, and there were many complaints.

A nursery rhyme circulated in Sichuan goes like this: "A yellow ox has a white belly, and five baht is worth it."

The good people secretly rumored that this nursery rhyme meant that the world should be returned to the Liu family. Gongsun Shu also understood the direction of public opinion. He ordered people to quote scriptures to build momentum for him to replace Han and Liu in the world. He also said that the lines on his hands were strange, and he was able to establish the auspiciousness of Longxing.

Gongsun Shu also widely spread the statement that he was ordered by heaven, and moved these things to the original book several times, hoping to confuse people's minds.

Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu was quite worried about this. But he did not want to conquer Shu by force, but wanted to persuade Gongsun Shu to cancel his imperial title and submit to the Han Dynasty.

He wrote a letter to Gongsun Shu, refuting the superstition in the prophecy and urging Gongsun Shu not to follow Wang Mang's example, so as not to make the same mistake again. He also sincerely told Gongsun: "At that time, the world was in great chaos, all heroes were rising up, and everyone wanted to be the emperor. Therefore, there is no need to blame you for standing on your own, and I will not regard you as a rebellious minister or traitor.

The days and months have passed for you now, but your wife and children are still young, so you should make up your mind early so that you can protect yourself without worries. The emperor's throne cannot be fought for, so you should think twice. "

Liu Xiu politely called Gongsun Shu "Emperor Gongsun" in his letter. After Gongsun finished reading, he smiled slightly, threw the letter aside, and ignored it.

This time, he divined again.

"My colleagues are very humble and follow me, and I come to watch and eat my bile. I peel off and restore the big beast, and I have passed the threshold for thirty preparations. I will remove the losses and losses, and I will rise to the trapped well and the leather tripod will shake. Gen gradually returns. My sister traveled to Xunda, and she arrived at Zhongfu on Duihuan Festival. Xiaoguo is both helpful and not helpful, which is the thirty-fourth chapter..."

"Haha, Daji, captured and killed in the city."

Looking at the hexagram, Gongsun Shu was overjoyed and laughed. He thought that Wu Han and others should be killed in the city. After all, Wu Han had been defeated not long ago and he almost died.

"If you come, I will go on a personal expedition. This time I will definitely take Wu Han's head."

In the early morning of November [-]th, Gongsun Shu mobilized all the troops in the city, assigned his troops to Yancen to attack Zang Palace, and led tens of thousands of elite troops out of the city to attack Wu Han.

Gongsun Shu had already been the county magistrate at the end of the Western Han Dynasty. Now he was already over sixty years old and had gray hair. He actually risked his own life and went into battle. The officers and soldiers of the Shu army were all inspired and willing to die.

This life-and-death battle shook Chengdu, and the beacon flames covered the sky and the sun.

Yancen rose up and won three out of three battles. Gongsun Shu also defeated Wu and Han. The entire army fought from early morning to noon without eating a single meal and was exhausted.
  Of course, all this is an illusion. Although the Shu army fought from morning to noon that day and won consecutive battles, Gongsun Shu and Yancen fought until they rose up. The soldiers were not allowed to rest at all, let alone have lunch. The disaster was already laid. Just waiting for Wu Han to make the final decision.

Wu Han was naturally not in a hurry and let the bullets fly for a while. He rested for a while and let the elite soldiers have a good meal. After eating, he ordered the guards Gao Wu and Tang Han to lead a new force of tens of thousands of cavalry to suddenly attack.

The Shu army was exhausted and unprepared, and chaos broke out. Gongsun Shu saw that the situation was not good, so he quickly withdrew his troops and returned to the city, but it was too late.

"Kill it."

"Gongsun Shu is right in front, all officers and men, follow me to kill."

Wu Han on horseback, holding a spear, was extremely fierce and took the lead in the charge.

"what!"

He just stabbed through a Shu soldier in an instant. Wu Han picked him up high and threw him forward, injuring several Shu soldiers.

"kill!"

He ran wildly, as if a god and demon were alive. The morale of his guards and men was greatly boosted, and they all followed him to kill.

General Gao Wu also took the lead, holding a spear and galloping up, invincible along the way, killing anyone who stood in his way, straight into the middle of Shu army.

Gongsun Shu was shocked and turned pale. He was about to shout: "Who is this god!" Before he could say anything, the big spear arrived and stabbed Gongsun Shu in the chest. The force penetrated the armor and disappeared. Blood splashed everywhere like a fountain. Gongsun Shu couldn't bear the pain, screamed loudly, fell from his horse while stroking his chest.

"His Majesty!"

"Help Your Majesty quickly."

The left and right people rushed forward desperately, helped him onto the carriage and rescued him into the city.

Gongsun expressed his grief and indignation, but he did not expect that the "captive" in "captured and killed under the city" was not Wu Han and others, but refers to himself.

That night, Gongsun Shu's wounds continued to bleed, so he handed over the military power to Yancen, who was seriously injured and died. A generation of heroes died of hatred.

The next morning, Yancen surrendered to Wu Han.

Zhang Kan, the prefect of Shu County, was in charge of the place, so he entered the city first. The first thing he did after entering the city was to go through the storehouses and collect the treasures. Qiu was not selfish. He sealed them all in detail, compiled a list, and quickly sent it to Luoyang for submission. Liu Xiu.

Then he made an announcement to comfort the officials and the people, and everyone in Shu was very happy.

However, such a good situation was completely destroyed by organized and undisciplined soldiers.

Three days later, on November [-], Wu Han led his troops into the city and launched a brutal retaliatory massacre, and the situation suddenly spiraled out of control.

In order to avenge his previous humiliation, Wu Han angrily killed Gongsun Shu's queen and exterminated all the Gongsun family. The Yancen family was also exterminated.

Immediately, Wu Han launched a massive plunder and burned Gongsun Shu's palace to the ground. The whole city of Chengdu was raging with fire, and wailing was everywhere. Thousands of Shu people were slaughtered before and after, turning Chengdu, a prosperous city in the sky, into a hell on earth in an instant.

A prosperous and beautiful Dacheng Kingdom came to an end within twelve years.

Of course, there were certain reasons why Wu Han did this. The battle for unification in which Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu destroyed Gongsun Shu lasted for nearly two years. During this period, there were many twists and turns. Wu Han, as the supreme commander of the extermination of Shu, started from the very beginning. They are under tremendous pressure and challenges.

First of all, two of his comrades in the army, the commanders of the Northern and Eastern Fronts, Lai Xi and Cen Peng, were assassinated by assassins sent by Gongsun Shu. This kind of comradeship made Wu Han's desire for revenge even stronger.

Secondly, Gongsun Shu, who stubbornly resisted and refused to surrender, was too difficult to deal with. Not only was "a hundred-footed insect dead but not stiff", he could not be defeated no matter what.

Moreover, he actually put himself in a dangerous situation where he was almost dead twice, and even suffered the humiliation of falling off his horse into a river and dragging his horse's tail to escape.

Finally, in this battle to destroy Shu, Wu Han did not receive support from Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu from the beginning.

Moreover, he was almost eliminated by Gongsun Shu because he disobeyed Liu Xiu's orders and attacked without authorization, and was severely reprimanded by Liu Xiu.

This kind of mistake made because of not listening to the leader and being severely criticized by the leader is the most uncomfortable feeling.

Of course, it was also because this battle was so difficult that the soldiers experienced several life-and-death disasters like a roller coaster, with too many casualties.

Therefore, they are all jealous, wanting to vent their anger and vent their suppressed emotions.

Of course, there are other reasons. For example, the Han army only had seven days of rations left at this time. Chengdu was besieged for more than a year and there was probably no surplus rations. Without killing and looting, the food crisis might not be relieved.

Secondly, the Gongsun family of the Cheng family ruled Yizhou for [-] years. During the troubled times, Bao border border recruited many refugees and dead soldiers.

Although Gongsun Shu is dead now, the anti-Han forces in Chengdu are still strong, intertwined, and stubborn. I am afraid it will not be so easy to eliminate. Otherwise, Gongsun Shu would not have defended the city to the death and resisted surrender several times over the past year.

If after the Han army retreats, the local powerful people who support and sympathize with the Gongsun family take the opportunity to cause trouble, then the two years of hard work and sacrifice of the Han army will be completely wasted...

All of this has caused the people of Chengdu to suffer a devastating disaster.

Since ancient times, when things prosper, people suffer; when things die, people suffer.

No matter what reason Wu Han had, it was extremely wrong to go on a killing spree, especially against the common people. Even though he was a powerful fighter and had outstanding military exploits, right was right and wrong was wrong.

In Luoyang, Liu Xiu was happy at first when he heard the news, and then became furious.

"This Wu Han, I repeatedly told him not to kill or plunder, why didn't he listen? Qiang'er is right."

"Here comes the decree. I will rebuke him."

The decree said: "Three days after the city surrenders, the officials will obey, the children, the mothers, and the mouths of tens of thousands. Once the troops are set on fire, it will make your nose sore! If the family has a bad broom, they will enjoy a lot of gold. The descendants of Liu Shang's clan will taste it." How can you bear to do this when you are changing your official position? Looking up at the sky and looking down at the earth, what you have done is a violation of the righteousness of punishing the people and punishing them!"

The idiom "the broomstick is precious" is derived from this.

Later, Liu Xiu gave instructions: "This indiscriminate killing incident by the Han army has had an extremely bad political impact. In order to save the situation and win people's hearts, our army should immediately stop all actions, float down the river, and return to Wancheng." While resting and recuperating, Zhang Kan continued his work of pacifying the people of Shu, treating surrendered ministers and generals with courtesy and preferential treatment, and recruiting virtuous people from Shu."

After the decree was issued, the whole country of Shu was happy, and the people all returned to their hearts.

In Chang'an, after hearing the news, Liu Han looked at the empty hall and suddenly felt a little cold. He had clearly told Liu Xiu not to use Wu Han for fear that he would rob him, but Liu Xiu didn't listen.

And by doing this, Wu Han wiped out the powerful people in Chengdu and the remaining forces of Gongsun Shu in one fell swoop. Was it because he had a bad temper, or did he do it intentionally, or was he secretly instructed by Liu Xiu?
  Liu Han didn't know all this.

It really looks like one is pretending to be white-faced, killing people with a knife, and the other is pretending to be red-faced, scolding Wu Han and appeasing the people of Shu.

Also, when Cen Peng was assassinated, did Liu Xiu really have no time to remind him, or was it intentional? After all, Xiao Changan had killed many of his relatives back then?
  Liu Han didn't dare to think deeply. This was just a possibility. Even if it was small, it was still possible. The word "imperial power" was very scary. Sometimes the emperor no longer looked like a human being. He had his own emotions, but he was more of himself. Will and power will corrode people.

In any case, the world is indeed unified.

From AD 25, Liu Xiu ascended the throne as emperor at Qianqiu Pavilion in Hacheng, Jianyuan and Jianwu, to the twelfth year of Jianwu (36 AD), it took Liu Xiu twelve years after he ascended the throne to finally bring peace to the world.

First conquer Guanzhong, then capture Guandong, pacify Longxi, and conquer Sichuan and Shu...

He successively destroyed the Gengshi regime, Chimei, and pacified Qin Feng and Tian Rong in the south, Liu Yong and Li Xian in the east, Wei Xiao, Dou Rong, and Lu Fang in the northwest, and finally Gongsun Shu of Shu...

This made China, which had been fragmented and war-torn since the late Xinmang years, reunited again.

After twelve years of ups and downs, he once again unified the world and achieved a great achievement. This was Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu, a man destined to go down in history forever!
  (End of this chapter)