Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 153 Heading South to Xiping

In the first ten days of the first month of the tenth year of Yonghe (AD 354), Xiping County and Xidu County (now Xining, Qinghai).

While Huan Xi was still reorganizing his troops in Guzang, Zhang Guan was in chaos because the envoy to surrender was still late.

It is true that Zhang Guan was ambitious, but he was not confused.

After Zhang Zuo's defeat, Liangzhou no longer had the military power to resist Huan Xi.

Huanxi also had Xie Ai, Suo Xia and other important ministers from the former Liang Dynasty working for him. If they resisted stubbornly, they would only bring about their own destruction.

Zhang Guan was not Zhang Zuo's party member. If Huan Xi had not sent troops to attack Liangzhou, Zhang Zuo would have found a way to deal with Zhang Guan after getting rid of Xie Ai and becoming the lord of Liangzhou.

But now that Zhang Zuo has been defeated, there is no longer any saying that Zhang Zuo's enemies are friends.

Huan Xi's indifferent attitude towards Xiping County also made Zhang Guan anxious, unsure of what the other party's intentions were.

In desperation, Zhang Guan said to his son Zhang Song:

"Since no one has come to Guzang, I will send an envoy to pay him a visit."

You have to figure out Huan Xi's attitude, otherwise life like this will be really difficult.

Xiping County is surrounded by enemies on all sides, including Wuwei County to the north, Jincheng County to the east, Qinzhou to the south, and Tuyuhun to the west.

However, Zhang Guan only had thousands of troops under his command, so how could he dare to compete with Huan Xi without overestimating his capabilities.

Zhang Song deeply agreed with his father's statement. He volunteered and said:

"The child is willing to go to Gu Zang as an envoy to test his father's intentions."

Zhang Guan talked about this matter with Zhang Song and originally wanted to let him serve as the envoy.

After all, Zhang Guan was also worried that outsiders would come to Guzang and try to sell himself at a good price when he returned to his hometown.

Zhang Guan patted his son on the shoulder and said seriously:

"That's fine. Time waits for no one. You can set off today."

Thinking about it, he and Huan Xi had no grudges in the past, and they had no grudges recently, so the other party wouldn't have to put him to death.

Zhang Song obeyed the order and led dozens of followers on the same day and rode northward.

At the same time, after resting and recuperating, Xie Ai will also lead 3,000 cavalry to the westward expedition.

At the west gate of Guzang, Huan Xi held hands with Xie Ai and said goodbye. He reluctantly said:

"After taking control of Xiping County, I will return to Chang'an, and I will look forward to hearing about Zixiu day and night. When you are done, I will have a banquet in Chang'an to celebrate your success."

After the Western Expedition, Xie Ai naturally had to go to Guanzhong to listen. If he was left in Liangzhou, it would not be a good thing for himself or for him.

Xie Ai also knew this, and he said with confidence:

"I will collect all the counties in Hexi for your lord, please wait and see!"

Although he only brought 3,000 cavalry for the western expedition, it was obviously enough for Xie Ai.

After sending Xie Ai away, Huan Xi was also ready to force Zhang Guan to surrender.

After the initial reorganization was completed, the rest of the surrendered soldiers were sent home. Huan Xi left Yang An to command 4,000 Liangzhou infantry to guard Wuwei County, and personally led 30,000 Jin-Hun infantry and 8,000 Liangzhou cavalry to go south.

All Zhang Gui's descendants will join the army and will be moved to Guanzhong to settle after Huan Xi forces Zhang Guan to surrender.

Among them were Zhang Tianxi, Zhang Yaoling, Zhang Xuanliang and their families.

The foundation of Qianliang was established by Zhang Gui, and Zhang Guan, the prefect of Xiping, was also his descendant.

Huan Xi moved all Zhang Gui's descendants away, naturally to weaken or even eliminate the influence of the Zhang family in Liangzhou.

Zhang Yaoling will still be the governor of Liangzhou, but he can only hold this position in Chang'an.

Of course, if the army and people of Liangzhou no longer miss Zhang's rule, and Zhang Tianxi, Zhang Yaoling, and Zhang Xuanliang behave docile enough, Huan Xi would not mind appointing them outside Liangzhou.

After all, Zhang Tianxi is his step-son without title, Zhang Yaoling is his brother-in-law, and Zhang Xuanliang is both his step-son without title and his brother-in-law. They are all members of his own family.

Huan Xi's affairs with Liu Meiren and Guo Jiang were carried out in a very secretive manner. Even if they had private meetings in Liang Palace before, it was always in the dead of night, and they would be secretly received by his personal followers.

The guards guarding Yongxun Palace and Yongshou Palace were all Huan Xi's confidants, so naturally no outsiders knew about this matter.

Before Huan Xi left, the side chambers of Zhang Jun, Zhang Chonghua, and Zhang Zuo had been awarded to meritorious generals, but only Liu Meiren and Guo Jiang were still with them.

The obvious explanation is that since both women have children, it is not appropriate to reward the generals, which makes sense.

But Huan Xi still felt a little regretful as to why there was no Jingxiang by his side.

Jingxiang was Zhu Wen's mastermind. After Zhu Wen defeated Shi Pu, he got Shi Pu's wife Liu, whom Zhu Wen loved.

But because he was worried about being scolded by his wife Zhang Hui, he did not dare to bring him into the house.

It happened that Jingxiang had lost his wife not long ago, so Zhu Wen rewarded Mrs. Liu to Jingxiang for a continuation of his marriage. However, Mrs. Liu would still be picked up by Zhu Wen from time to time to have sex with him.

Jingxiang pretended not to see this, but still planned strategies for Zhu Wen. He tried his best. When the Later Liang was destroyed, Jingxiang refused to surrender to the Later Tang Dynasty and committed suicide.

Of course, if Huan Xi really had Jing Xiang by his side, he would not treat him like this.

Thinking like this, Huan Xi looked at his own power-seeking wing.

It was already very difficult for Quan Yi. He had to pimp him and occasionally had to get punched. Huan Xi couldn't bear to let him suffer any more.

"My lord, is there something on your mind?"

Quan Yi and Huan Xi were in the four-wheeled carriage together. Seeing him looking at him, he couldn't help but wonder. Huan Xi came back to his senses and randomly found a topic:

"The battle to defeat Liang went much smoother than expected."

Quan Yi smiled and said:

"Since Xie Ai was guarding Jincheng County, my lord has been trying to take him into his own hands. It seems that Zhang Chonghua only sent troops when he was seriously ill, but in fact he has been preparing for several years and spent a lot of thought.

"And there was a witch in Liangzhou who brought harm to the country and destroyed the Great Wall with Zhang Zuo. Xie Ai had no choice but to surrender to his lord.

"My lord, the progress in cutting down the cold has been rapid, and this is as it should be."

Huan Xi nodded slightly when he heard this.

Therefore, when it comes to marrying a virtuous wife, Zhang Chonghua married the wrong wife Pei, and Zhang Jun also married the wrong wife Yan.

As Zhang Chonghua's aunt and Zhang Yaoling's aunt, Yan was qualified to stand up and take charge of the situation when Zhang Chonghua was seriously ill.

After all, in ancient etiquette, the political status of the aunt's mother was much higher than that of the biological mother.

If the Yan family had not been pure-hearted and had few desires, ignoring secular affairs and only caring about burning incense and worshiping the Buddha, it would not have been the Ma family's turn to come forward and give orders.

Thinking of this, Huan Xi couldn't help but secretly rejoice that his wife Xie Daoyun was worthy enough to be called a virtuous person.

Xie Daoyun is soft on the outside and strong on the inside. In the original time and space, her husband Wang Ningzhi was superstitious in Taoism. When the rebels approached, he did not actively prepare for war. Instead, he prayed behind closed doors to the Taoist ancestors to use ghosts and gods to defend him against powerful enemies.

On the contrary, after persuading her husband to no avail, Xie Daoyun recruited hundreds of servants and trained them all day long. However, she was still outnumbered and the rebels captured the city.

Wang Ningzhi and his children were killed. Xie Daoyun witnessed this and led the female family members to resist, killing several thieves with his own hands.

After being captured, the bandit leader was afraid of the Xie family in Chen County and admired Xie Daoyun's courage. He did not dare to be rude and sent her away together with her three-year-old grandson.

If Huan Xi and Xie Daoyun were to fight with real swords and guns, little Huan Gong would not necessarily be his wife's opponent.

The reason why Huan Xi refused to marry Xie Daoyun back then was that he would rather wait for her for several years. In addition to fancying all the handsome men from the Xie family in Chen County, he also wanted to marry a virtuous wife.

Huan Xi can predict the life span of others, but he cannot know it himself. Especially since he is often away fighting, there is no guarantee that an accident will happen one day. Therefore, he must pay special attention to the choice of his wife.

If you marry a careless person like the Yan family, or a foolish woman like the Ma family or the Pei family, let alone worry about it, if Huan Xi passes away early, the family fortune will be lost in their hands.

Thinking like this, Huan Xi thought of his wife who was far away in Chang'an. Now that there were still two months left before Xie Daoyun's due date, he should be able to make it back to Chang'an.

At the same time, Zhang Song, who had been sent as an envoy to Guzang on the order of his father Zhang Guan, also heard about Huan Xi heading south with 50,000 cavalry and was horrified.

Huan Xi actually did not carry so many troops and horses, but with 38,000 troops, it was reasonable to claim that he had 50,000 infantry and cavalry.

Zhang Song originally wanted to turn back halfway, but now that Huan Xi was leading his troops south, he needed to know his purpose even more. Zhang Song sent his followers back to Xidu County to report the news, while he went straight to where Huan Xi's army was.

Wuwei County and Xiping County were bounded by Tonghe River. At this time, the Jin army was digging through the ice of Tonghe River and erecting pontoon bridges.

It is now the middle of the first month, and the climate has warmed up, but due to geographical location, there is still a thin layer of ice on the river.

It was too dangerous for men and horses to cross the river on thin ice, so they had to cut ice to build bridges.

In order to show his sincerity, Zhang Song took the initiative to find the Jin army's sentry cavalry, left his entourage on the south bank, and rode alone with them to cross the Tonghe River north via the pontoon bridge.

The Jin army set up two camps, both located five miles away from the north bank of the Tonghe River.

Zhang Song was brought to the main camp and received by Huan Xi in the commander's tent.

Huan Xi listened to him introducing his identity, nodded slightly, and asked:

"Prefect Zhang sent you here to reject me, or to welcome me?"

Zhang Song smiled bitterly and said:

"There is no reason to ride alone to resist thousands of troops. On my father's orders, I made a special trip to pay homage to Duke Huan."

Huan Xi hummed and said:

"Now that I have paid my respects, there is no need to say more. You go back and tell your father that I am here to take over Xiping County and will station a heavy army here, so I cannot let him stay in Xiping.

"If he is willing to leave Liangzhou, I have several places for him to choose from.

"The first is to stay in the north and become an official, the second is to go to Jiangnan to take up a post, and the third is to be rewarded with a lot of money by me and become a rich man.

"I can give him time to think about it, but before I come to the city, I must give an answer. No time to wait!"

Based on the strength comparison between Huan Xi and Zhang Guan, he is qualified to say these words and make such a gesture.

Zhang Song felt relieved, at least his father still had the power to choose.

And Huan Xi didn't want to kill his entire family.

After Zhang Song agreed, he immediately resigned to Huan Xi. Regardless of how late it was, he crossed the Tonghe River and rode south, intent on reporting the news to his father as soon as possible.

When he was at the Huanxi camp, he witnessed the prosperity of the Jin army with his own eyes. With thousands of defenders in Xiping County, Zhang Song could not afford to resist at all.

　There is another chapter before three o'clock in the morning, which is an update for the New Year's Eve. I still owe 3,000 words.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)