Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 437: The Fall of the Yu State (Part )

Shen Chiqian selected ten prisoners and escorted Fu Jian's body northward. At the same time, he also asked them to deliver a letter of persuasion to Huan Xi.

In the letter, Huan Xi gave them a month to weigh the pros and cons and threatened to send troops to Jinyang in a month.

By allowing Fu Jian to be buried with imperial rites, Huan Xi had already shown goodwill to the Fu family. If they persisted in their delusion, they would have no choice but to take it by force.

Huan Xi was not worried that the State of Yu would be able to regroup within this month.

Last night, he raided the camp and captured and killed 50,000 Yu soldiers, most of whom were generals who surrendered voluntarily with their soldiers.

Although nearly 40,000 Yu troops escaped, in this battle, Huan Xi basically dealt a fatal blow to the main military force of the Yu State.

The demise of the State of Yu was irreversible.

Yue Wan led 10,000 light cavalry and took advantage of the time when Baibao Xianbei were slaughtering the infantry to gallop south. After running for a whole day and night, covering 300 miles a day, he finally arrived to report to Murong Jun.

Out of 30,000 infantry and cavalry, only 10,000 cavalry returned in the end. Murong Jun was very angry, but he didn't know who to vent it on.

Yue Wan?
Or yourself?

At this moment, Murong Jun was filled with regret. He thought to himself:
"If the King of Wu was here, we would not have suffered such a great defeat on the northern front."

The King of Wu was Murong Chui.

Murong Jun knew that the failure on the northern front was ultimately due to the fact that he removed Murong Chui because of Huan Xi's strategy of sowing discord.

It’s not just because Yue Wan is not as good as Murong Chui.

Changing generals before a battle was also a heavy blow to the morale of the Yan army's detachment. Therefore, in the Battle of Wenxi, the Yan army's 30,000 infantry and cavalry were almost of no use.

After the Battle of Wenxi, on the issue of whether to withdraw or stay, he was the one who ultimately rejected Yue Wan's proposal to withdraw his troops and allowed him to continue leading his troops in Wenxi County.

No one could have imagined that the collapse of the Yu army would come so suddenly. In that situation, it wouldn't have made much difference no matter who was in charge.

Murong Jun resisted the dizziness, took a deep breath, and said to Yue Wan:

"The defeat at Wenxi was the fault of Fu Jian, not the old general."

For Murong Jun, at least Yue Wan brought back 10,000 cavalrymen, which was a blessing in disguise.

When Yue Wan saw Murong Jun defending her, she was so moved that she burst into tears and kowtowed repeatedly to express her gratitude.

After Yue Wan left, Murong Ke, who had been frowning and silent, immediately spoke up:
"Your Majesty, I request that you withdraw your troops immediately!"

Murong Jun, who always obeyed his orders, did not agree immediately. He asked:

"Does Xuan Gong want me to sit back and watch Huan Xi annex Hedong?"

How could Murong Ke be willing to accept this? However, the current situation did not allow for any delay. He explained:

"A major defeat on the northern front will certainly damage our army's morale. Now that the Yu army has been routed and Fu Jian's life or death is unknown, we no longer have the strength to contain Huan Xi. If Huan Xi goes south, our army will be in danger!"

Murong Jun was even more dissatisfied, veins popped out on his forehead, and he shouted:
"I still have 100,000 infantry and cavalry! I haven't lost yet! The land of Hedong may not belong to the Huan family!"

Murong Jun was of course well aware of the consequences of allowing Huan Xi to occupy Hedong. From then on, Huan Xi had no worries when going east, and he could also use the Eight Passes of Taihang to directly threaten the hinterland of Hebei.

Therefore, he did not want to admit defeat and wanted to continue staying in Hedong to compete with Huan Xi for Bingzhou.

Murong Ke smiled bitterly and said:

"Your Majesty certainly did not lose, but once Huan Wen learned that Fu Jian had been defeated, the Yu Kingdom was about to perish, and we were held in Hedong by Huan Xi, how could he remain indifferent?"

Murong Jun was stunned when he heard this, and soon he became visibly depressed.

Yes, there is also Huan Wen.

If Huan Wen really knew about the development of the situation in Hedong, in order to force the Yan army back and allow Huan Xi to successfully annex the State of Yu, I would have to lead my troops to the north again, even if it means selling everything I have.

By then, Murong Jun, who had been held back by Huan Xi, would not be able to leave whenever he wanted. "Xuan Gong, please leave first and let me be quiet."

Murong Jun said dejectedly.

Murong Ke sighed secretly, bowed and left.

Murong Jun sat alone in the king's tent and did not allow outsiders to disturb him.

In the dimly lit tent, Murong Jun reached out and stroked the map of the Yu State, and said with emotion:
"Hedong has such a beautiful land, but today it has to be given to the Huan family."

At this moment, Murong Jun couldn't help but wonder, if he had not used Yu State as a barrier to resist Liang State's eastward expansion, but instead took advantage of Huan Xi and Fu Jian's war to attack Yu State, would the outcome be different?

Of course, the reason why Murong Jun did not do so at the beginning was that he was worried that Fu Jian, who was leading troops outside, would go all out. So he simply led his troops to join Liang State and attack Hedong together with Huan Xi.

Such rage and irrational behavior have occurred in history. For example, Liu Bei ignored the Han traitor Cao Cao and took all his wealth to attack the Eastern Wu because the Eastern Wu attacked Jingzhou.

Murong Jun weighed the pros and cons and finally insisted on the strategy of Lian Yu resisting Liang.

Who would have thought that the State of Yu was a hopeless Liu Adou.

Murong Jun is now full of regret.

But he was a founding father after all, and although he felt regretful, he did not completely indulge in it.

Affordable, put it down.

Temporarily evacuating Hedong today does not mean that we will not fight back in the future.

Once Huan plotted to take over the Central Plains and Hebei and suffered a crushing defeat, it would be time for him to pursue the victory and return to Hedong.

After realizing this, Murong Jun burned the map of the State of Yu. He knew that it would not be long before the country of Yu ceased to exist.

Murong Jun ordered his men to call Murong Ke back and discuss the withdrawal of troops with him again.

The next day, the Yan army broke camp and attempted to return east.

Huan Xi also led his imperial guards and the Xianbei to march south, leaving behind his cavalry and archers in Wenxi County to guard the surrendered soldiers.

When he reached Anyi, Huan Xi also learned the news of Murong Jun's return, but he was not in a hurry to turn back.

If he did not witness with his own eyes the complete withdrawal of the Yan army from Hedong, he would not feel at ease to march north to Jinyang, for fear that Murong Jun would launch a surprise attack on him.

Huan Xi successively joined up with Shen Jin, Xie Ai, and Yang An. Although they said they were expelling the Yan army, they actually escorted the Yan army out of the country and reoccupied some of the passes on the west side of the southern end of the Taihang Mountains.

At the beginning, it was really not easy for Murong Jun to break through these passes, but now it is easy for him.

At the same time, the news of Fu Jian's defeat and death finally reached Jinyang.

For a moment, Empress Dowager Gou felt like the sky was falling and she fainted on the spot.

The ministers were all terrified, as if they had lost their backbone.

They argued endlessly over whether to establish a new king, continue the struggle, or surrender the country.

Where there are surrenderists, there are naturally loyal ministers.

Empress Dowager Gou has woken up. Li Wei came to the harem to ask for her advice, but what ideas could she have?

"The situation is difficult, I can only rely on Lord Jianning."

The current Empress Dowager Gou no longer has the decisiveness she had when she unjustly killed Fu Fa.

Li Wei could only sigh:
"For now, let's hold a funeral for the king first."

(End of this chapter)