Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 200: Regret and give up

Huan Wen was very satisfied with the middle strategy presented by Wang Meng. As Wang Meng said, they did not really need to send people to secretly contact Zhou Cheng and Lu Hu.

Given their capricious personalities, Huan Wen would not be able to trust them even if they agreed to defect in battle.

Wang Meng advocated spreading rumors to sow discord between them and Murong Ke. Even if Murong Ke, Zhou Cheng and Lu Hu would not have a direct conflict, it would eventually plant a thorn in the hearts of both parties.

Of course, if Zhou Cheng and Lu Hu were really loyal and righteous people, it would be a different matter.

However, both of them had bad records and had betrayed their masters, and they were not Murong Xianbei's own people.

Even if Murong Ke knew that it was Huan Wen who spread the rumors, it was enough to make him, Zhou Cheng, and Lu Hu wary and suspicious of each other.

Huan Wen sat up straight and asked Wang Meng what to do next.

Wang Meng replied:

“Not long after the Yan Kingdom occupied Jizhou, the favor and trust had not yet been established.

"The Duke of Chu can invite Xun Xian, the governor of Yanzhou, and Dai Shi, the governor of Puyang, and order them to cross the river to attack Jizhou.

"When the Jin army arrives in Hebei, the local nobles will definitely respond. If there is chaos in Jizhou, how can Murong Ke continue to stay in Luoyang.

"Once the Yan army regroups, Chu Gong can follow behind and advance into Hebei!"

Yao Xiang and Xun Xian will change jurisdictions after the autumn harvest. Therefore, Xun Xian is still stationed in Yanzhou today.

When Huan Wen heard this, he sighed.

In fact, this approach should really be the best policy, but there is a problem. Huan Wen and Xun Xian are not in a superior-subordinate relationship.

And Xun Xian was the sixth generation grandson of Xun Yu, a famous official of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Other Xun descendants might have attached themselves to powerful officials, but Xun Xian always encouraged himself with the deeds of his ancestors.

Even when Yin Hao was in power, he always advocated easing relations with Huan Wen and living in harmony with the Western Fan.

But Xun Xian's starting point was to consider the country, not to flatter Huan Wen.

Therefore, it is impossible for Huan Wen to mobilize Xun Xian.

It was precisely because he knew that Xun Xian was unlikely to send troops that Wang Meng said this was a bad idea.

"That's all, just follow Sir's advice."

Huan Wen said helplessly.

The reason why he wanted to seize Luoyang was that after stabilizing Luoyang, he planned to force the court to return to the old capital and integrate all the forces of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

It will never be like this again. Even though Xun Xian was stationed in Yanzhou, which is only separated from Hebei by a river, he was watching from the sidelines.

Yanzhou, Puyang County, Linqiu County (now east of Juancheng County, Heze, Shandong)

Although Yanzhou was governed in Puyang County, it was not located in Puyang, but in Linqiu.

Linqiu and Luoyang are six hundred miles apart, but Xun Xian already knew that Murong Ke and Huan Wen were fighting for Luoyang.

When Murong Ke led 100,000 cavalry and was stationed in Yecheng, he made Xun Xian nervous for a while, worrying that he was coming towards Yanzhou.

In fact, since Murong Ke went south, Xun Xian has received two groups of envoys.

The first group was sent by Murong Ke, who was interested in Xun Xianxiao and let him know the consequences of Huan Wen's occupation of Luoyang.

The second batch of envoys were from Jiankang. After receiving the report of Huan Wen's Northern Expedition, King Sima Yu of Kuaiji strictly ordered Xun Xian to stick to Yanzhou and not send troops.

Xun Xian struggled with this, but he finally acquiesced to the matter. If Huan Wen really sent an envoy to invite him to send troops, he would refuse on the pretext that he would change jurisdiction with Yao Xiang.

Recovering the Central Plains and Hebei was certainly a major event, but in the eyes of Xun Xian and others, it was not as important as maintaining the Sima family's empire.

And if Huan Wen really takes control of Luoyang, it will be a matter of time before the dynasty changes.

Xun Xian climbed up to the Linqiu Tower and looked west, feeling particularly complicated.

He didn't know if he hoped that Huan Wen's Northern Expedition would succeed and regain his old capital, or if he hoped that he would be repulsed by Murong Ke and stop at taking over Xiangcheng and Yingchuan counties.

At the same time, when Huan Wen arranged for people to spread the news about Zhou Cheng and Lu Hu's rebellion, Huan Xi also conducted an open recruitment outside Guzang City to select elites. Young men from all departments signed up enthusiastically. There were too many people, so Huan Xi set high standards for selection. Among them, the first one was a five-kilometer cross-country run with weights.

Whether marching or fighting, soldiers need to have excellent physical fitness.

Otherwise, no matter how excellent your fighting skills are, you will not have the strength to take a few blows even if you are wearing armor that weighs dozens of kilograms, and you will have no choice but to be slaughtered.

Of course, the reason why the physical fitness test is placed as the first item is also to eliminate a group of people.

Because the rewards given by Huan Xi and the treatment standards for soldiers were too attractive, even though a large number of registration points were set up, from early morning counting to dusk, there were still long queues in front of each registration point.

Huan Xi looked at the long dragons and sighed with Xie Ai:

"I'm afraid it will take two days just to register."

Xie Ai smiled and said:

"Because of Liang Gong's reputation, he was admired by all the ethnic groups in Hexi. When he climbed high and called, people who responded gathered in large numbers.

"If we let the ministers recruit troops here, it will take not just two days, but two hours to register them one by one."

Huan Xi couldn't help laughing when he heard this.

In fact, he also knew that these barbarians came here for the preferential treatment, but this did not diminish Huan Xi's inner joy.

With a wider selection of materials, the selected soldiers will only be better.

Huan Xi changed the topic and said:

"Previously, Chang'an sent an urgent message. Jinglue (Wang Meng) and Pohu (Deng Qiang) had already led their troops eastward, leaving only Ziliang (Quan Yi) in Guanzhong.

"Ziliang has a reputation of being resourceful and loyal, so I am naturally relieved.

"But Jinglue and Pohu have been traveling to Guandong for a while, and they haven't returned yet, so they are inevitably a little worried.

"I hope Zixiu (Xie Ai) can return to Chang'an first. If the Northern Expedition fails, Zixiu can lead the troops from Guanzhong to Hongnong to respond."

Although Wang Meng took away 30,000 soldiers and 10,000 state and county soldiers, there were still tens of thousands of state and county soldiers in Guanzhong that could be recruited.

What Huan Xi is most worried about now is the outcome of the Battle of Luoyang. If he had another opponent, Huan Wen would be able to capture him with Wang Meng and Deng Qiang as his assistants, as well as so many elite soldiers and generals.

But on the opposite side were Murong Ke and Murong Chui.

A person's name, a tree's shadow, Huan Xi is still worried that Huan Wen will suffer defeat.

Now it was obviously too late for Xie Ai to lead his elite cavalry eastward, and Huan Xi needed to leave enough cavalry to intimidate the various ministries.

After all, hundreds of thousands of young men from various tribes gathered outside Guzang City.

Xie Ai did not hesitate and immediately bowed to accept the order. He said:

"Without further delay, please leave immediately."

Seeing that it was getting late, Huan Xi originally wanted Xie Ai to leave tomorrow, but Xie Ai insisted, so Huan Xi had no choice but to agree.

Huan Xi had already planned to set up a post road between Dunhuang and Chang'an, but it was temporarily interrupted due to the rebellion in Wuwei County and Xi County.

However, the post road had been built to Jincheng County long ago. After that, the rebellion in Wuwei County was put down. While waiting for the alliance of various ministries, the post road between Wuwei County and Jincheng County had also been built long ago.

After all, building a post station is not a troublesome matter. The troublesome thing is maintenance and management.

That night, Xie Ai left Guzang in a four-wheeled carriage, changing post horses and driving post soldiers along the way. He would travel under the stars and night to go to Chang'an as quickly as possible.

Of course, this was just a precaution taken by Huan Xi.

Rather than letting Xie Ai stay in Liangzhou and act as a transparent person, it would be better to let him and Quan Yi sit in Chang'an together.

If something really happened, with Quan Yi and Xie Ai here, Huan Xi wouldn't have to rush back.

　There are only 8,000 today, good night everyone.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)