Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 239 Taking advantage of the opportunity

Linqiu (now east of Juancheng County, Heze, Shandong) was the administrative seat of Yanzhou, belonging to Puyang County, and is where Yao Xiang is now.

At the beginning, Yao Xiang had no choice but to exchange Yanzhou with the Jin Dynasty.

He knew that after the Yan State captured Hebei, it would go south to fight for the Central Plains. If it could not truly reconcile with the Jin Dynasty, he would be in the dilemma of resisting the Yan State while also dividing troops to defend against the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

After all, when the Yan army invaded south and the main force of the Qiang people gathered in Huaibei, the Eastern Jin Dynasty would definitely take the opportunity to regain Huainan.

Since ancient times, to defend the Yangtze River, one must defend the Huaihe River. The Jiangnan and Huaihe Rivers are closely interdependent. Once Huainan is lost, the Jiangnan regime will not be able to last long due to the lack of strategic depth.

How could the Jin Dynasty let Yao Xiang continue to occupy Huainan.

Therefore, the ownership of Huainan determined the attitude of the Jin Dynasty towards Yao Xiang.

Before Yao Xiang exchanged Huainan for Yanzhou, although he forced the court to issue an edict of clemency by drinking horses from the Yangtze River, it was only a temporary truce, not a long-term peace.

Now that Yao Xiang simply gave up Huainan in exchange for Yanzhou, the two parties have reached reconciliation, and there is no immediate conflict of interest. The Jin Dynasty will be happy to see Yao Xiang stay in Huaibei to defend them against the Yan State.

Yao Xiang can also reduce the number of troops along the Huaihe River and mobilize heavy troops to Yanzhou to focus on preventing Yan from invading south and competing with it for the Central Plains.

"As long as we sit on the three states of Xu, Yan, and Ji, and then wait for the opportunity to seize Qingzhou, we can become the foundation of the emperor."

Yao Xiang smiled and said:

"Of all the generals of Yan State, the only one I fear is Murong Ke.

In the original time and space, Yao Xiang was severely beaten by the Fu family many times.

But because of the appearance of Huan Xi, Yao Xiang's fate has also undergone earth-shaking changes.

Yao Chang thought about it carefully and did not think that Murong Chui would be his brother's opponent.

After the Fu family occupied Guanzhong, Yao Xiang was defeated by the former Qin generals in Matian (now east of Luoyang, Henan). Fortunately, Yao Chang rescued him desperately, and then he joined the Jin Dynasty.

As for supporting the Jin Dynasty and fighting against Huan Wen, it was only a secondary reason for Yao Xiang's reconciliation with the Jin Dynasty.

"Although Duan Gong never asked me for help, how could I remain indifferent and sit back and watch his demise.

"Now Murong Ke wants to invade Qingzhou. When he crosses the river and fights Duanggong, I can send troops to attack Jizhou and implement the strategy of encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao.

Now that Yan State was about to conquer Qi State, everyone knew about it. Yao Xiang naturally heard about it. He said to his most respected brother Yao Chang:

"When Murong Ke hears the news, he will definitely rush back to help. I will set up an ambush halfway to annihilate the enemy in the wild. I may take the opportunity to sweep through all the counties in Jizhou.

"Qingzhou is adjacent to Xu and Yanzhou. Once it is lost, the lips will die and the teeth will be cold.

After that, he tried to occupy Luoyang, but was expelled by Huan Wen. Yao Xiang was defeated and died in the battle again.

There is no doubt that Yao Xiang's record in the original time and space is really impressive.

Yao Chang heard this and reminded:

"Murong Chui is guarding Yecheng. This man started fighting with his father and brother when he was thirteen years old. He has been on the battlefield for many years and is a veteran in the army. How can he be easy to deal with? My brother should not take it lightly."

First, they fought with Fu Hong for Guanzhong, and the 50,000 Qiang army lost 30,000.

Since Huan Xi occupied Guanzhong and the Fu clan captured Hedong, Yao Xiang did not fight with the Fu clan.

"It's just Murong Chui, not worth mentioning!"

The only thing worthy of praise is that he joined forces with Yan State and Shi Zhao to defeat Ran Min in Xiang State, forcing Ran Min to flee alone.

When Yao Xiang followed his father's orders and attacked Guanzhong, he also took the initiative to withdraw his troops after Wang Meng led his army to rescue Tongguan.

Over the years, Yao Xiang has not only never suffered a defeat, but has also achieved brilliant results, except for joining forces with others to defeat Ran Min in the battle to rescue Xiangguo.

Such as expelling Zhou Cheng and capturing Xuzhou; ambushing Yin Hao and drinking horses from the Yangtze River. At the same time, Murong Chui still lived in the shadow of his brother Murong Ke. Although he had made many achievements, he was not the most famous war god in the Sixteen Kingdoms in later generations.

It is easy to understand Yao Xiang's contempt for Murong Chui.

As for Yao Xiang's current embarrassing situation, it is not due to military reasons, but it was already doomed when Shihu resettled the Qiang and Di tribes.

At the beginning, Shi Hu placed Fu Hong in Fangtou (now Junxian County, Henan Province). Fu's family could attack key areas to the west and Hedong to the north.

Because Yao Yizhong was more trusted by Shi Hu, he was placed in Yutou, Qinghe County (now Zaoqiang County, Hebei Province) in the hinterland of Hebei Province.

When Huanxi occupied Guanlong and the Fu clan captured Hedong, Yao Xiang could only choose to struggle for survival in the Central Plains.

However, Yao Xiang did not know that the reason why Murong Ke dared to ignore his threat and send troops to attack Duan Kong was precisely because Murong Chui was in charge of Yecheng.

Others didn't know Murong Chui's ability, but Murong Ke, who had a close relationship with him, knew it well.

When it comes to marching and fighting alone, this fifth brother's talents are not inferior to his own.

With Murong Chui guarding Jizhou, Murong Ke could attack Qingzhou with confidence.

If Duan Gong adopts Duan Zhu's suggestion and defends along the river, Yan and Qi will decide the winner along the Yellow River, and Yao Xiang will definitely not have any ambitions towards Jizhou.

However, Duan Gong acted on his own initiative and let go of the Yellow River defense line, allowing the Yan State to advance straight in. This gave Yao Xiang the opportunity to seize Jizhou.

After all, the Yan army fought deep into the Qi border. Once they knew that Jizhou was attacked, they had to abandon their baggage and advance with light troops if they wanted to return reinforcements. Otherwise, how could they escape the pursuers behind them.

After a secret discussion with Yao Chang, Yao Xiang decided to build a plank road openly and secretly visit Chen Cang.

Duan Gong did not send an envoy, so Yao Xiang took the initiative to send people to Qingzhou to discuss the joint resistance to the Yan State.

On the surface, they were making a big show of rescuing Qingzhou, but in reality they were preparing for the Northern Expedition across the river.

The excitement in Guandong has nothing to do with Huan Xi for the time being.

In the eleventh year of Yonghe (AD 355), in early May, Huanxi's chariot passed through Gaopingchuan under the escort of Yi Cong.

Gaopingchuan is located south of Yinchuan. After Huanxi put down the rebellion in Liangzhou, he settled more than 40,000 tents of the Qifu tribe here.

After experiencing Huan Xi's plunder, the Qifu tribe was destitute. Fortunately, Yinchuan Shanyutai rented livestock to herdsmen so that they could breed lambs and calves.

Today, it has only been less than a year since the more than 40,000 begging tribes moved in, but Gaopingchuan is already full of people and animals.

The road from Anding County to Yinchuan had been repaired long after Huan Xi took control of the Xitao Plain.

When the herdsmen along the way saw the ceremonial guard, they all cheered for the Great Chanyu and worshiped beside the road.

Huan Xi lowered the car curtain and said to Murong Ying:

"seeing is believing.

"When I was in Chang'an, I often heard about the great rule of Xitao, but I didn't dare to believe it, for fear that local officials would report the good news but not the bad news.

“Today I know that this statement is true.

"As the saying goes, if you are not sincerely convinced, the herdsmen of the Qifu tribe will spontaneously come to greet you at the roadside. This is all the credit of Suo Xia and Che Yin."

As soon as he finished speaking, a goshawk flew over the carriage and hovered in the sky. Not long after, there was the deafening sound of horse hooves.

Huan Xi knew that this was Deng Xia coming.

(End of this chapter)