Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 721 Return to the old capital
After Quan Cong's troops captured Dingtao, they used the power of slaughtering the soldiers and generals defending the city to successively capture the counties of Chenliu and arrived in Xingyang in early July. Cao Zhi, the Prince of Yongqiu, came out of the city to surrender, and Quan Cong was taken into the army and handed over to Huo Jun for punishment.

When Gao Xiang conquered Chengfu and passed through Qiao County, he saw that the Cao clan temple was larger than the Zhongzu Temple, so he ordered the destruction of the Cao clan temple and the excavation of Cao clan tombs. However, at the reminder of his subordinates, he deliberately spared Cao Shen.

After capturing Qiao County, Gao Xiang conquered various counties in Chen County along the way. In July, he arrived in Chenliu and joined forces with Quan Cong's troops.

In mid-July, with Quan Cong leading the way, Huo Jun led his army to advance smoothly westward by boat. Along the way, they divided their troops to occupy Huatai, Shimen, Puyang, Baima and other places to ensure the safety of the Jishui River.

At the same time, Zhuge Liang besieged Xuchang for more than a month. When the soldiers in the city learned that Cao Rui had moved the capital to Yecheng, they mutinied and took Yingchuan Prefect Changsun Yang hostage and surrendered to the Han.

Yingchuan County was a gathering place for high-ranking officials of the old Cao Wei Dynasty. Zhuge Liang took into account that Zhangsun Yang was popular among the people, so he appointed him as the chief clerk of the Prime Minister's Office and ordered him to assist Ma Su in governing Yingchuan County.

After Xuchang was occupied by the Han army, Pang Tong and Zhuge Ke also conquered the counties along the Ru and Ying rivers, and headed north to Xuchang to join Zhuge Liang's army.

In the Guanxi region, during the confrontation between Lu Xun and Cao Zhen, Wen Pin was ordered to leave Wuguan, attack Lantian, and go straight to Chang'an.

Cao Zhen had to divide his troops to fight against Wen Pin, but the reinforcements were defeated by Wen Pin in Lantian. The defeated army had to retreat to Chang'an, and Wen Pin led his troops to besiege the city of Chang'an.

Cao Zhen was worried about the situation in Chang'an, and with pressure from Wei Yan and Lu Xun, Cao Zhen considered withdrawing his troops.

When Lu Xun received the letter from Zhuge Liang and saw that Cao Zhen's troops were wavering, he realized that the opportunity for battle had come and decisively led his troops to attack the enemy camp at night.

Cao Zhen's troops were already tense from continuous fighting, and when they encountered a night attack led by Lu Xun, the troops in the army started to cry out, and the army was defeated by Lu Xun. Fortunately, Hao Zhao bluffed and forced Lu Xun's troops to retreat, preventing Cao Zhen from being defeated.

In this battle, the Han army killed or captured 3,000 people. Cao Zhen had to lead his troops to retreat to Yong County to reorganize the scattered soldiers, leaving Hao Zhao to defend Chencang.

In order to achieve greater victory, Lu Xun adopted Huang Quan's suggestion and ordered Huang Quan to lead his troops to besiege Chencang, while he led his troops westward to seek an opportunity to fight with Cao Zhen's main force.

Seeing that Lu Xun wanted to fight him in the field, Cao Zhen led his troops to fight him in the field. The two armies fought from morning to afternoon, and both sides suffered losses. But in the afternoon, it suddenly rained heavily, and the two armies had to withdraw their troops.

At this time, the war in Chang'an was urgent, so Wen Pin sent an urgent letter to Cao Zhen for help. Cao Zhen was worried that Wen Pin would break into the city and cut off his retreat to Hedong.

At night, Cao Zhen pretended to attack the Han army, but actually led his troops to withdraw from the battlefield and retreated to Zuo Fengyi overnight.

At dawn, Lu Xun learned that Cao Zhen had withdrawn his troops. Although he wanted to pursue him, he was afraid that he would not have enough troops and food, so he decided to advance steadily. He conquered the counties of Youfufeng and sent people north to Anding and Xinping counties to support Wei Yan in the Jingshui River basin.

Huang Quan sent his fellow townsmen to persuade Hao Zhao to surrender, but Hao Zhao had no intention of surrendering and insisted on defending Chencang City.

Seeing that Hao Zhao was so stubborn, Lu and Huang discussed with Zhao Ang and the three decided to abandon the siege of Chencang. The army would go down along the Wei River and push the front line to Zuo Fengyi as soon as possible.

Chen Shi led his troops to guard Weikou to ensure the safety of the Weishui grain route. Yang Ang led 5,000 troops to guard the northern plains of Weibei to prevent Cao Zhen from returning to counterattack. Huang Quan and Lu Xun advanced eastward from Weinan, hoping to meet up with Wen Pin.

Wen Pin, who besieged Chang'an, was defeated by Cao Zhen who suddenly returned, and led his troops back to Bailuyuan.

Cao Zhen heard that Lu Xun and Huang Quan led troops to pursue him and rescued the defenders in Chu'an City. Considering the current situation, seeing that most of Henan except Luoyang had been lost, Cao Zhen divided his troops to guard Tongguan in order to preserve his strength as much as possible, and withdrew the army to Hedong.

In late July, the armies of Lu Xun, Huang Quan and Wen Pin joined forces and took the lead in recovering the western capital Chang'an.

In the Guandong region, the Northern Expedition army arrived in Xingyang, and Zhuge Liang rushed to Xingyang to meet with Huo Jun to discuss the matter of conquering Luoyang.

August, Xingyang.

Huo Jun sat on the couch, eating and reading the letter sent by Cao Rui with an extremely serious expression.

"Cao Rui has wild ideas!"

Huo Jun pointed at the towel with his chopsticks and said with a smile: "To this day, Cao Rui is still asking for a separate rule across the Yellow River, giving up his imperial title, asking to be the King of Wei, paying tribute, and being a vassal forever!"

Jiang Ji sat at the bottom, shook his head and laughed, saying: "The Yellow River is not the Yangtze River, and it is not a natural barrier. Now Wen Pin is besieging Chang'an, and Lu Huqi is marching east to Guanzhong. How can Cao Rui talk about dividing the river and governing, and giving up the title of emperor?"

"If Cao Rui had made this request on the eve of the Northern Expedition, I might have agreed. But judging from the current situation, once Luoyang is recovered, Hebei can be easily conquered."

Huo Jun put down his chopsticks and said with a smile: "That's why I say Cao Rui is a whim!"

From April to August, Guanzhong and Henan fell like dominoes, and most of the counties and prefectures of Yan, Yu and Si were occupied by the Han army, which marched towards Luoyang with overwhelming force.

After Cao Rui fled from Luoyang to Yecheng, he saw that the war situation was deteriorating so quickly. Under the advice of Sun Zi, he sent someone to send a letter to Huo Jun, expressing his hope to negotiate with the Han Dynasty.

Cao Rui expressed his willingness to cede the land south of the Yellow River to the Han Dynasty, and he would give up the title of emperor. Wei would become a vassal state of the Han Dynasty and would never betray it.

How could Huo Jun agree to the conditions proposed by Cao Rui? Instead, he treated it as a side dish for entertainment.

"What makes Huo Du so happy?"

A loud voice came from outside the hall. Huo Jun looked up and saw Zhuge Liang coming with a fan. He looked radiant, his face full of smiles, and his every move was full of elegance.

"Kong Ming!"

Seeing that the visitor was Zhuge Liang, Huo Jun was very surprised. He stood up to greet him and said with a smile: "Kong Ming came all the way from Xuchang, why didn't you inform me in advance so that I could send someone to greet him."

"No need!"

Zhuge Liang stroked his fan and smiled, saying, "Brother, you are busy with many things every day. All the prefectures and counties in Henan obey your orders. I dare not disturb you."

As he spoke, Zhuge Liang joked to the civil and military officials present, saying, "The governor is famous throughout China, and everyone in the world knows him. How dare I trouble the governor?"

"How dare you, Zhuge Kongming, tease me like this? I will punish you for your contempt for your superiors."

Huo Jun grabbed Zhuge Liang's arm and said in an angry tone, "Please punish me, Governor!"

"Ha ha!"

Seeing Zhuge Liang, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, Huo Jun was in a particularly good mood. He took Zhuge Liang's arm and sat on the couch, saying, "In this case, Kong Ming should drink three cups of wine as punishment!"

"Easy to say!"

Zhuge Liang saw the table was full of dishes and asked, "Am I disturbing you while you are eating?"

"It's finished!"

Huo Jun asked the attendants to remove the dishes and replace them with tea to entertain Zhuge Liang, and asked, "Did Kongming's trip go smoothly?"

"With soldiers guarding us, there will be no trouble!"

Zhuge Liang sighed slightly and said, "I just saw the fields along the way were deserted and the people were suffering from famine. Liang felt sorry for them. The war has been going on for years and the Han has been unkind to the people. Liang feels deeply ashamed."

Huo Jun handed Zhuge Liang a scarf and said to him in a comforting tone: "The world will soon be unified. By then, those who till the land will have their own fields, those who live in the house will have their own houses, and the people will live in peace."

"hope so!"

Zhuge Liang sighed with melancholy, but when he looked down at the contents on the scarf, his expression changed slightly and he asked in surprise, "Cao Rui wants to surrender?"

"What do you think, Kong Ming?" Huo Jun asked with a smile.

"Ok!"

Zhuge Liang frowned slightly and said, "There is no two suns in the sky, and no country has two rulers. Cao Rui's request to occupy Hebei and become the king must not be granted!"

"The reason Cao Rui asked for surrender was simply because the situation was extremely bad. If we grant his request, he will do what Gou Jian did to restore his country, which will cause endless disasters!"

"Unless Cao Rui surrenders Hebei, I may agree to it. Otherwise, I will not agree to any request!"

Huo Jun's tone deepened as he said, "Under the current situation, Cao Rui cannot afford to make any unreasonable demands!"

"correct!"

Zhuge Liang thought of Cao Zhi and asked, "I heard that Cao Zhi has surrendered from Yongqiu. I wonder how you will treat him?"

Huo Jun shook his head and said, "We haven't considered Cao Zhi yet, but does Kong Ming have another brilliant idea?"

Zhuge Liang stroked his fan and smiled, saying, "The surrendered soldiers in my army heard that Cao Zhi had surrendered and were afraid that the governor would kill him, so they came to me and asked me to pardon Cao Zhi. I thought that Cao Rui had occupied Hebei and had not surrendered. If we could treat Cao Zhi well, we might be able to avoid a deadly fight."

Huo Jun hesitated for a moment and said, "When Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty and established himself as emperor, Emperor Taizu returned to the throne and collected Wang Mang's head in the treasury. Now that Cao Zhi has been pardoned, what are we going to do with Cao Rui?"

“Today is different from the past!”

Zhuge Liang stroked his feather fan and said, "There is no need to worry about Cao Rui alone. Only Cao Zhen and Cao Hong are still alive. If we kill them all now, not only will it make the surrendered people uneasy, but it will also make the three Caos afraid of death and fight each other. Politics should be changed according to the situation, and orders should be changed according to the time."

Then, Zhuge Liang covered his mouth with his fan, lowered his voice, and said: "The situation is different now. If Cao surrenders and refuses to obey, a mere county governor can kill him!"

Huo Jun understood what Zhuge Liang meant and said with a smile: "Kong Ming is really changeable!"

After a pause, Huo Jun stroked his mustache and said, "Han and Wei cannot coexist. Pardoning Cao Zhi may not establish prestige. It is better to follow the strategy of Emperor Gaozu to treat Xiang family and ask Your Majesty to grant him the surname Liu. If Liu Zhi is not happy, it is not that the Han Dynasty has no gratitude."

"This is a temporary solution, as Lord Huo intended!"

Zhuge Liang said: "Pardon Liu Zhi's crime and order him to write a letter to the Han Dynasty, urging Man Chong to surrender Luoyang."

"Persuade Man Chong to surrender in Luoyang?"

Huo Jun frowned and asked, "Did Kong Ming know that Man Chong wanted to surrender?"

"No!"

Zhuge Liang bowed to Huo Jun, apologized and said, "Report to Lord Huo, it was not my own decision, but I do not want to see more people suffer. If we can take Luoyang without bloodshed, we can not only preserve the ancestral temples of the two Han dynasties and the palaces in Luoyang, but also avoid casualties."

Hearing this, Huo Jun was filled with emotion and said, "Since the Northern Expedition, the people have been displaced, the fields have been abandoned, and many soldiers have been killed or wounded. If we can take Luoyang without bloodshed, we can avoid the casualties of soldiers and the destruction of temples, and it can also severely undermine Cao Rui's determination to resist."

However, Huo Jun's tone suddenly became serious, and he said: "But if Man Chong has no intention of surrendering, or the surrender conditions are harsh, then don't blame me for the rudeness of the twenty armies under my command!"

"You can send someone to contact Man Chong first to see what he is willing to do!"

Zhuge Liang thought for a moment and said, "If Man Chong is willing to surrender, we can talk to him. If not, we can order the generals to send troops to attack Luoyang."

"Ok!"

Huo Jun nodded and said, "Now that the army has arrived in Luoyang, you and I can jointly submit a petition to His Majesty, asking His Majesty to lead the ministers to move the capital to Luoyang."

"good!"

Zhuge Liang looked excited and said, "Your Majesty and the others need time to prepare, and it will also take time to make Man Chong surrender. If everything goes well, Your Majesty will be able to move the capital to Luoyang by the end of the year."

(End of this chapter)