Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 404: Dispatching Troops to Hedong (Part )

Huan Xi's eyes swept across the familiar faces in the audience. Among them, there were also many unfamiliar faces, all of whom were soldiers who were recruited into the army at the end of last year.

Not only did the Imperial Guards recruit new people, but the Guanlong Cavalry, which had suffered a certain amount of casualties when guarding the Loess Plateau, had also made up for the shortfall.

It is impossible for Huan Xi to call out everyone's name, but he will still try his best to remember these unfamiliar faces in his mind.

"Although there are many new recruits among you, I don't think I need to introduce myself to you."

Huan Xi repeated it twice in Chinese and Xianbei, and laughter broke out from the audience at the right time.

However, the soldiers in the back row were completely confused and had no idea what the people in front were laughing at. It was not until the guards passed the message on that they realized what was going on.

Huan Xi shouted:
"That's right! That's it, everyone, relax a little and wipe away the tears when you say goodbye to your family. This is not a farewell of life and death. Don't forget who you are!"

The audience responded in unison:

"Daliang warriors!"

Huan Xi asked again:

"Who am I!"

The soldiers replied:
"Mr. Liang!"

"Great Chanyu!"

Those who shouted "Duke Liang" were the imperial guards and the Guanlong cavalry, while those who shouted "Great Chanyu" were the Baibao Xianbei.

Although at the beginning of its formation, the Kinwei Yicong consisted of only one thousand elite cavalry brought by Huan Xi from Hanzhong, the rest were surrendered soldiers of the Later Zhao Dynasty who were incorporated after the defeat of Shi Bao and Ma Qiu. It was a hodgepodge, with Jie, Di, Qiang, Xianbei, and Xiongnu included.

But these people have now basically completed sinicization. Except for their facial features, which still have Hu characteristics, the rest such as language and living habits are no different from those of the Han people.

Huan Xi continued to mobilize the soldiers' emotions:

"Since the fifth year of Yonghe (349 AD), when Huan launched the Northern Expedition to Guanzhong, in the past ten years, Shi Bao, Ma Qiu, Wang Zhuo, Zhang Chonghua, Fu Xiong, Zhang Yu, Zhang Zuo, Qifu Xianbei, Li Wei, Murong Ke and others have been defeated by us one after another. Our army has been invincible and victorious in every battle!
"Now I want to rest and recuperate, but Fu Jian and Murong Jun overestimate their own capabilities, and these clowns dare to invade my territory!

"Everyone, tell me, what should we do?"

Below the stage, a group of generals, led by Xie Ai, were the first to raise their arms and shout:
"Destroy the front and break through the enemy lines! Capture Fu Jian and Murong Jun alive!"

The rest of the crowd echoed loudly, with a roar that shook the heavens.

Although Huan Xi specifically told Sima Xingnan not to come to see him off, she still appeared on the city wall of Xuancheng Gate.

Her son was about to go on a long journey, and to the front line to fight. Which mother could sit at home? If conditions allowed, Sima Xingnan would have wanted to follow Huan Xi to Hedong and take care of him nearby.

Aman stood next to his grandmother. He was young and short, so he had to stand on tiptoe to see what was happening outside the city from the city wall.

"Grandpa is so majestic."

Aman couldn't hide his envy and said that this was not the first time he had watched his father shouting in front of the soldiers, but each time the shock he received was very strong.

Sima Xingnan heard this, looked down at his grandson and smiled:

"Little A-Man must grow up healthy, and this prestige will be yours sooner or later." A-Man retorted:

“When the Jin Dynasty was founded, it quickly conquered Wu and unified the country, but it was in danger because of the migration of the Hu people to the south. After the death of Emperor Shizu (Sima Yan), the country was not trusted by the right people, which led to the disintegration of the country.

"My grandfather and father worked hard to start their business. As a grandson, I must not only grow up healthily, but also study hard and achieve academic success. I must not ruin the family business."

A'man did not show much respect for Emperor Hui of Jin in her words, but Sima Xingnan was not angry. Strictly speaking, her blood relationship with Emperor Hui of Jin was actually quite distant.

Sima Xingnan's great-grandfather Sima Yi was the illegitimate son of Sima Yi and a half-brother of Sima Zhao, the grandfather of Emperor Hui of Jin.

In terms of seniority, Sima Xingnan should call Emperor Hui of Jin his uncle, but he was no longer a relative of the Five Barbarians.

Of course, Sima Xingnan was not angry, mainly because in that era, people generally put the blame for the Hu people's invasion of China on Sima Yan, who chose the wrong successor, as well as the cowardly and incompetent Emperor Hui of Jin, the chaotic Jia Nanfeng and others.

Sima Xingnan saw that Ah Man was having a hard time standing on tiptoe, so he bent down and picked him up, saying with a smile:

"Don't put so much pressure on yourself. They said starting a business was hard, but in fact it was smooth sailing all the way and they didn't encounter any setbacks."

What Sima Xingnan said was not wrong. In fact, the biggest difficulty the Huan family encountered in starting their business was the Battle of Danqiao when Huan Wen attacked Shu.

At that time, Huan Wen led 10,000 elite infantry and light soldiers and advanced quickly, relying on his own feet, from Jiangling all the way to Chengdu. Facing Cheng Han's superior military strength and his own tired soldiers, he finally withstood the pressure and recovered Shu in one fell swoop.

From then on, it seemed as if it was destiny that when Huan Xi was stationed in Liangzhou, he happened to encounter civil strife in the Later Zhao Dynasty. Various forces fought for Hebei, allowing him to easily capture Guanzhong.

Sima Xingnan continued:

"You don't have to target your father. He is not the Emperor Taizu and will not leave disasters for future generations. Aman, believe your grandmother. Before your father hands over power to you, he will definitely remove all the thorns for you.

"And you just need to be a good guardian of the status quo.

"Besides, when your father was young, I never saw him work as hard as you do. In short, you are still young, so you should know when to stop doing things and not exhaust yourself."

Sima Xingnan has been in Chang'an for a long time. She has seen how hard A'man works every day, so she specifically said these words to A'man today.

Aman knew that his grandmother was doing this for his own good, so even though he insisted on his own opinion in his heart, he did not argue.

The grandfather and grandson stood on the city wall, quietly watching Huan Xi's carriage, escorted by 30,000 elite cavalry, heading towards Baqiao. Only when the dust in the distance had settled and no trace of people and horses could be seen did Sima Xingnan put A'man down and lead him away.

Wang Meng followed Huan Xi's instructions, lit a fire at three o'clock in the morning, cooked food at five o'clock, and after the whole army had breakfast, he led his troops out of the camp and marched towards Baqiao.

It was almost noon, and Wang Meng had already led 100,000 Hu people to station at the northern end of Baqiao, waiting for Huan Xi's arrival.

Facts proved that Huan Xi and Wang Meng's worries were unnecessary. After the soldiers from Hexi and Hetao arrived in Chang'an, there was no disturbance in the army except for a very small number of people drinking and making trouble in the city.

The main reason was that Huan Xi was generous enough to these Hu people. At the same time, his continuous victories allowed him to accumulate high prestige in the army.

Both the Tiele Huns and the Xianbei people were willing to support him and obey his orders.

When Wang Meng saw the dust flying at the south end of Baqiao, he knew that Huan Xi was leading his troops to join them, and Wang Meng felt relieved.

Duke Liang gave him 100,000 Hu people, and today, he can finally return to Zhao with the jade intact.

(End of this chapter)