Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 118 Troops Arrive at the Old Capital
  After Huan Xi entered the city, at night, those people who pretended to claim Yang Zhen, the Taiwei of the Eastern Han Dynasty, as their ancestors came over again.

They persisted because they hoped to raise their status and seek official positions.

Huan Xi came forward to meet them and said to everyone:

"Huan cannot tell the authenticity of your identities, nor can I confirm it for you, but Yang Liang and his son are under my father's account. I will write a book to ask him."

Hearing what Huan Xi said, everyone retreated.

The Yang clan of Hongnong was annihilated during the Western Jin Dynasty. Now the population is very thin. How could Yang Liang, as the great-great-grandson of Yang Zhen, not know whether they were impostors or not?

When Huan Xi saw everyone shrinking back, he sighed:
  "It is not a shame to come from a humble background. Deng Ai also worked as a herdsman when he was young, but he was able to achieve immortal fame. If you are really talented, no matter whether you are a member of a famous family or not, Huan will put him to good use."

No one doubts the authenticity of Huan Xi's words. After all, his military advisor general Wang Meng is the best proof.

Huan Xi sent these people away and called Yang An back, saying displeasedly:

"When I look at the impostor, he doesn't look like he's working hard. Why is that?"

It turned out that Yang An didn't know whether Huan Xi would confirm their identity for them, so he didn't drive them out of the city to work. Now that Huan Xi talked about it, his face showed displeasure. Yang An didn't defend himself and only said:

"The general will finally be convicted."

Huan Xi nodded slightly. He was still satisfied with Yang An's attitude and said:

"Tell me to go down and arrange for these people to work and eat together with the people from tomorrow on."

In fact, Huan Xi didn't have much ill feelings towards those who pretended to be nobles. After all, they were not pretending to be his relatives.

If there is really a great talent among them, he will naturally be willing to vouch for it and confirm his identity.

The next day, Huan Xi left 5,000 infantry for Yang An. While driving the people to collect grain and raise military rations, Yang An also led the army to attack Yiyang, Hu County, Lianchi and other counties in Hongnong County, just like in Hongnong County. What the farmers and counties did was to drive the people to collect grain.

Afterwards, the old, weak, women and children would be sent to Kansai to be divided into fields and given houses, while the young and strong would be left behind as civilian husbands.

Of course, because the grain was confiscated by Huan Xi as military ration, Huan Xi would naturally raise them until next autumn's harvest as he said before.

Huan Xi led the rest of the cavalry to continue eastward, traveling 30 miles eastward, and arrived at Hangu Pass of Cao Wei at noon.

The Hangu Pass in front of us is not as majestic as imagined, and even looks a little desolate.

In the final analysis, it is because while Cao Cao was building Hangu Pass, in order to prevent the rebellion in Kansai, he built another Tongguan Pass on Linzhi Plateau in the first year of Jian'an (196).

The emergence of Tongguan reduced the military status of Hangu Pass and was soon abandoned.

This is also one of the reasons why Deng Xia was able to capture the city in night battles despite the lack of siege equipment.

To the east of Hangu Pass in Cao Wei is Shaanxian County, the eastern gateway of Hongnong County.

Deng Xia set out early in the morning, captured Shaanxi County in advance, and waited for Huan Xi in the city.

Huan Xi did not stop at this Guancheng and continued eastward to meet Deng Xia in Shaanxi County.

At the same time, news of the Jin army's eastward march also reached Luoyang from Hongnong's defeated army.

"What did you say!"

Zhang Yu opened his eyes wide and stared at the Shaanxi County guard who had escaped.

The guard general of Shaanxi County gasped and said:
  "I dare not deceive my lord. The Jin army came out from Tongguan with overwhelming force. Now I am afraid that the entire Hongnong will be owned by the Jin people."

Zhang Yu clenched his fists. The Shaanxi County guard thought he would be furious, but he never thought that Zhang Yu laughed and said:
  "Okay! Okay! If Thief Huan is hiding in Guanxi, there is nothing I can do against him, but today he overestimates his capabilities and dares to invade my territory. I must take his head to wash away the shame!"

Zhang Yu hates Huan Xi deeply. After all, not everyone can accept this sudden father-son relationship calmly.

After this incident spread from Kansai, Zhang Yu became a complete laughing stock.

When he went out on patrol and saw people snickering, Zhang Yu felt that they were talking about Huan Xi and his father-son relationship behind his back, and people often died because of this.

From then on, no one dared to smile in front of Zhang Yu, lest he be too worried.

If Huan Xi had been staying in Guanxi, no matter how much he talked about it, Zhang Yu would have been helpless and furious with Tongguan blocking him. But now that Huan Xi came to his door automatically, how could Zhang Yu let him go.

On the one hand, Zhang Yu sent people to Jinyang to report the news to Fu Jian, and on the other hand, he assembled a large number of troops in Luoyang, preparing to wait for Huan Xi to leave in the east.

In Shaanxian County (now Shaanzhou District, Sanmenxia City, Henan Province), local people were also driven to collect grain in the fields. Huanxi came to the county seat and asked Deng Xia about the situation in Henan County.

Deng Xiahui reports:
  "General Xin'an has learned about our army's march eastward and is clearing the country."

Xin'an County (now Xin'an, Luoyang, Henan Province) is located in the west of Henan County and borders Shaanxi County.

Huan Xi nodded, he had expected this kind of thing. The opposing guard was not stupid. Seeing the Jin army marching eastward to grab grain, he couldn't keep the grain in the fields to help the enemy, so he simply set fire to it.

Fortunately, he plundered the grain from Hongnong County, which was enough to supply the needs of the war.

After Deng Xia left, Huan Xi summoned the prefect of Hongnong, who had been captured alive by Deng Xia before, and handed him a letter saying:
  "I will let you go back today. If you pass this letter to Zhang Yu for me, you will be able to turn conflicts into friendship."

The prefect of Hongnong did not expect that he would be released to Luoyang after he had become a prisoner. He was overjoyed and hurriedly agreed to the matter.

At the same time, in Xin'an County, people looked at the ashes in the fields and couldn't help crying.

It's simple to say "Jianbi Qingye", but these crops are the fruits of their hard work, and they are easily ruined by others. Not to mention their heartache, how will they survive the next autumn harvest without food rations.

Of course, these are not all considerations by Zhang Yu and others. In troubled times, if there is a slight mistake, he will be defeated and killed. Who will really care about the livelihood of the people.

When Huan Xi came from the east of Shaanxian County and arrived at Xin'an City, the guard general of Xin'an, who had built a strong wall and cleared the countryside, had already been ordered to withdraw to Luoyang. He also looted all the food rations left by the people in the city, leaving only more than 3,000 households of people crying for food. And a ghost town.

The people of Xin'an could no longer find any money and water, so Huan Xi reversed his behavior when he was in Hongnong County.

He distributed three days of military rations to the hungry people, and asked the old and weak women and children to go west to Guanzhong. Passing through various counties along the way, there would be guards and officials distributing rations for them for the next section of the journey, leaving the young and strong to serve as He transports grain.

Although it is difficult for the people of Xin'an to separate their flesh and blood, the situation has come to this and they can only go on the road together.

At the same time, Grand Administrator Hongnong and General Xin'an returned to Luoyang and presented Huan Xi's autographed letter.

Zhang Yu looked at every word in the letter and was so angry that he couldn't stop trembling all over. It turned out that Huan Xi's so-called turning conflicts into jade and silk was to explain to Zhang Yu that his trip had no other purpose than to recognize his relatives. By the way, Zhang Yu was invited to drink the full moon wine from his adopted brother Aman.

Huan Xi also stated in the letter that he knew there was a misunderstanding between Zhang Yu and the court. As a father, he would mediate the situation, even for Han Yan's sake. He hoped that Zhang Yu would not worry and return home as soon as possible.

After Zhang Yu read the letter, he was furious:
  "Zhuzi! An dare to bully me like this!"

When the prefect of Hongnong saw this, he didn't know that he had fallen into Huan Xi's trap, and he quickly knelt down to apologize.

Zhang Yu wanted to kill someone, but he still held back. After asking the two to retreat, Zhang Yu came to the courtyard with his knife and frantically chopped up a straw man covered in arrows to vent his anger.

There is a note on the back of the straw man with the two characters Huan Xi written on it.

Zhang Yu stopped moving for a long time, veins popped up on his forehead, and he swore:

"One day, I will tie Huan Xi here and make him be cut into pieces with a thousand knives!"

Because Zhang Yu reduced his troops, Huan Xi was able to march straight into Henan County without any hindrance.

Of course, this is also because the Hangu Pass in the Cao Wei Dynasty was desolate, and the Hangu Pass in the Han Dynasty had no practical role. Luoyang had eight passes, but the west side was like the north side, and there was no danger to defend.

At this time, Yang An, who was staying in Hongnong County, reported victory to Huan Xi, and the three counties of Yiyang, Huxian, and Lianchi sent envoys to join him. He had already sent generals to take over, and Hongnong County was in Huanxi's hands.

Things such as grabbing grain, relocating the old and the weak, organizing civilians to transport military grain, etc. are also being carried out in an orderly manner.

Huan Xi asked Yang An to wait for Du Yudong to come out, and after explaining these matters to him, he would lead his troops to join him as soon as possible.

Without five thousand elite infantry around him, it finally felt unsafe.

In early September of the seventh year of Yonghe (AD 351), Huanxi came to Luoyang and set up camp five miles west of the city.

He led Jingqi out of the camp and came outside the city to look at the old capital of the Western Jin Dynasty, filled with emotion.

At the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Huns Liu Yuan occupied Bingzhou. He first led his army across the river in 309 AD and went south to attack Luoyang, but was heroically repelled by the defenders.

After Liu Yuan died of illness, his son Liu Cong came back in 310 AD and besieged Luoyang three times in one year. Although the Luoyang defenders still repelled the Huns, they were frequently harassed by the Huns from the east of the river. The hundreds of miles around Luoyang were completely desolate and inhabited. Reduced to death.

In 311 AD, Liu Cong crossed the river again to attack Luoyang. This was the fifth time that Luoyang was besieged by Hedong forces in three years.

This time, no miracle happened, and Luoyang City was finally captured by the Xiongnu.

Now, after forty years, Huan Xi has returned to the old capital with an army of Jin and Huns, which is really disappointing.

And this is why Huanxi only wants the population of Luoyang, but not the land of Luoyang.

As the capital of the Western Jin Dynasty, Luoyang was actually besieged five times by the Huns who occupied Bingzhou in three years. If Huanxi could not solve the threat from Hedong, how could he run Luoyang with confidence.

After all, Luoyang is basically undefended for Hedong, especially during the dry season and freezing period of the Yellow River in autumn and winter. People can come and leave as they please.

Today's Luoyang City was actually rebuilt after Zhao Shile established the capital in Luoyang. The former capital was burned down and turned into ruins long after Zhao Liucong conquered the city.

Huan Xi stared at the towering city wall in front of him and made up his mind. If Zhang Yu made up his mind to hold on to the city, he would only take away the people around Luoyang and would not attack the city by force anyway.

　The next chapter will be at 6pm. Thank you for your concern. It is much better now and the number of updates will not be reduced.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)