A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 199: Cutting down the vassals and causing chaos in the Seven Kingdoms

The first to be cut off from their vassals were the King of Chu, Liu Wu, and the King of Jiaoxi, Liu Xin.

June
The princes and kings from all over the country came to court according to the etiquette of the princes, except for the King of Wu who was exempted from coming to court. Chao Cuo sent someone to secretly send several beauties to the King of Chu. After the King of Chu took over, Chao Cuo, the imperial censor, took the opportunity to write to the King of Chu: Liu Wu secretly committed adultery while Empress Dowager Bo was in mourning and requested that he be killed.

The Emperor of the Han Dynasty issued an edict to pardon his death penalty on the grounds that he was a brother of the same clan, and instead reduced Donghai County as punishment.

At the same time, because King Liu Sui of Zhao was guilty two years ago, his Hejian County was cut off; King Liu Ang of Jiaoxi was cut off from six counties because of fraud in the sale of titles. This caused shock among the princes.

Later, the Han emperor discussed with his officials the matter of depriving Wu King Liu Bi of his fiefdom, and decided to first deprive him of Kuaiji and Yuzhang counties.

Wu obtained information about his detailed operation in Chang'an and passed it to the King of Wu. Liu Bi was afraid that the reduction of seals would be endless, so he decided to rebel. He was also concerned about the past affairs of Liu Xingju, the king of Jibei, so he decided to contact other princes and kings to rebel together.

Hearing that King Liu Ang of Jiaoxi, King Zhao, and King Chu had all been deprived of their land, they sent envoys to contact them. Also hearing that King Liu Ang of Jiaoxi was brave, he sent Lieutenant Ying Gao to lobby.

After Ying Gao arrived in Jiaoxi Kingdom, he said to Liu Ang: "The King of Wu is not talented and does not dare to leave the country because of old grudges. Therefore, he sent me to tell you what is on his mind."

Liu Ang had some doubts in his heart. It's none of my business if you don't dare to go out of town, but he said, "What advice does uncle have?"

Ying Gao said: "The emperor appointed treacherous ministers, listened to slanders, changed laws and regulations, and invaded the lands of the princes. The number of solicitations gradually increased, and the execution and punishment of good people became more and more severe day by day.

As the saying goes: 'After eating the rice bran, you will eat the rice grains. 'Wu and Jiaoxi are both well-known vassal states. If they are inspected at the same time, I am afraid there will be no peace. The King of Wu suffered from internal illness and could not go to court to see the emperor for more than 20 years. He was often worried about being suspected and could not explain the truth to himself.

Even if I fold my arms, tie my feet, and kneel down to apologize to the court, I'm afraid I won't be forgiven. I heard privately that the king was convicted of selling his title. Nowadays, the princes are all deprived of their land. The crime is not as serious as selling the title. I think this matter of the king can be solved simply by not just depriving the land. "

Liu Ang sighed: "There is such a thing, what do you think we should do?"

"People who hate the same thing help each other, people with the same interests stay away from each other, people with the same emotions complete each other, people with the same desires tend to each other, people with the same interests kill each other. The king of Wu thought that he had the same worries as the king, and he hoped to use them to help each other. At this time, it is in accordance with the laws of nature to sacrifice oneself to eliminate disasters for the world. What do you think?"

Liu Ang was afraid that the emperor had sent someone to test him, so he looked very frightened and said: "How dare I do this? Although your Majesty is pressing hard and leaving me with only one way to die, how can I not support him?" "

Ying Gao added: "Chao Cuo, the imperial censor, deceived the emperor, invaded the princes, and blocked the loyal and worthy people. All the officials in the court hated him, the princes also wanted to rebel, and the personnel situation has reached an extremely difficult situation.

The appearance of meteors and the swarming of locusts indicate that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Because the time of sorrow and labor is the time when saints are born. Therefore, the King of Wu wanted to use the name of crusade against Chao Cuo internally and follow the king's chariot to travel all over the world. You must surrender wherever you go. Who dares to disobey in the land you occupy?

If the king can really agree with one sentence, then the King of Wu will lead the King of Chu to capture Hangu Pass, guard the rice and grain in Aocang of Xingyang to resist the Han soldiers, and repair the army's buildings to wait for the arrival of the king. If the king can really come, then the world can be unified. Isn't it also possible for two monarchs to divide the world equally? "

Liu Ang understood that this was a real teammate, so he readily agreed, saying that he would definitely respond to King Wu's move. So Ying Gao returned to Wu and reported to Liu Bi.

However, Liu Bi was still worried that Liu Ang would not keep his promise, so he went to Jiaoxi Kingdom in person and made an alliance with Liu Ang.

Someone in the Jiaoxi Kingdom heard about Liu Ang's rebellion and advised him: "The land of the princes is less than two-tenths of the imperial court, and it is not a good idea to do something rebellious that will worry the Queen Mother. Now I am serving an emperor. It is still not easy to say, but if you and King Wu succeed in rebelling against the Han Dynasty, there will be disputes between the two masters over the division of land, and there will be even more disasters in the future."

Liu Ang refused to listen and still sent envoys to contact the King of Qi, the King of Zichuan, the King of Jiaodong, the King of Jinan, and the King of Jibei, and they all agreed.

The King of Zichuan, King of Jiaodong, King of Jinan, King of Jibei and King of Jiaoxi are all from the line of Qi kings, and are the sons of the late Qi King Liu Fei.

October
As soon as the documents to eliminate Wu Guoji and Yuzhang counties arrived, Jiaoxi King Liu Ang took the lead in revolting against the Han Dynasty, killed all Han Dynasty officials whose salary was less than 2,000 shi, and imprisoned all the rest.

This is true for Jiaodong, Jinan, Chu, Zhao and other countries. They are all preparing to gather under the banner of King Jiaoxi and send troops westward to fight against the Han.

However, the King of Qi regretted it and violated the original covenant. He did not send troops and instead focused on strengthening the defense of the city.

As for the King of Jibei, Liu Zhi, the King of Jibei at this time, was the son of King Qi. After Jibei was expelled, Emperor Wen gave it to Liu Zhi and named him King of Jibei. Due to the severe damage to the capital city wall during Liu Xingju's rebellion, at that time When the vanguard general Zhou Yafu left, he burned it with fire.

Therefore, the city defense of the capital of Jibei at this time was almost zero, and the new city wall had not yet been completed. When the king of Jibei all rebelled against the Han, he was directly hijacked by his doctor, so that he could not send troops to rebel against the Han. Later, the two kings of Jiaoxi and Jiaodong proclaimed themselves the commander-in-chief, and together with the kings of Zichuan and Jinan, they attacked Linzi, a large city in Qi.

And King Zhao is also ready to make a move in the north.

The King of Wu was even faster. He directly recruited people from Wu State between the ages of fourteen and sixty-two, and mobilized more than 200,000 people. He also sent people to Fujian and Dongyue to mobilize, so that Fujian and Dongyue also sent troops to follow, with a total force of 300,000.

The Wu army set out from Guangling and then crossed the Huai River to the west to join the Chu army. Prepare to enter Guanzhong directly from Hangu Pass. He also sent out a message to all the princes in the world to punish the thieves of the Qing Dynasty.

The Emperor of the Han Dynasty soon got the news of the rebellion of the seven kingdoms, and immediately sent the Taiwei Zhou Yafu as the chief general and Bai Qi as the deputy general to lead thirty-six generals and the Central Army to attack Wu Chu, sent General Luan Bu to attack Qi, and sent General Dou Ying first stationed troops in Xingyang to monitor the armies of Qi and Zhao, and asked Bai Duke to command the surrounding counties to attack Zhao.

The Han Emperor summoned Yuan Ang, who had always been opposed to him reducing the vassal state, and asked Yuan Ang for advice on Wu Chu's rebellion. Yuan Ang said: "The letters exchanged between Wu and Chu all said: 'The treacherous minister Chao Cuo punished the princes without authorization and deprived them of their land.'

It can be seen that the reason why they wanted to rebel was to join forces to the west to kill Chao Cuo and restore the deprived land. When the goal is achieved, the troops will stop. Therefore, there is only one plan for now, which is to kill Chao Cuo, and then send envoys to pardon the seven kingdoms of Wu and Chu for their rebellion, and restore their original lands that were deprived of them. In this way, the mutiny could be put down without bloodshed. "

The Han Emperor was hesitant, but thinking that the rebels had arrived in Liang and the central army had not yet assembled, he was ready to accept his suggestion, not to compromise, but to delay them and buy time for the imperial army to assemble.

So the Emperor of the Han Dynasty ordered Chao Cuo to be killed to quell the anger of the seven kings, and appointed Yuan An as the imperial censor. Liu Bi's son Dehou, who was also a disciple of the same clan, was appointed as Zongzheng to assist Yuan An on his mission to the state of Wu.

When Yuan Ang came to the state of Wu, Wu Chu's army had already attacked the fortress of Liang, but encountered fierce resistance from the king of Liang Liu Wu. Because Zongzheng was a relative of Liu Bi, he went to see Liu Bi first and told Liu Bi to kneel down and accept the edict of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bi heard that Yuan An was coming and knew that he would persuade him. He smiled and replied: "I am already the Eastern Emperor, who do I still have to kneel to?"

Liu Bi refused to meet Yuan An and forced him to stay in the army, hoping to force him to become his general. Yuan An refused, so Liu Bi sent people to guard him and wanted to kill him. Yuan Ang used the cover of night to escape and fled to Liangdi on foot. Only then was he able to return and report to the Han Emperor.

On the other hand, Bai Gongjun received an order from the court and immediately mobilized the remaining 5,000 cavalry in the country, and a total of 50,000 infantry from Hanoi County, Handan County, Julu County, etc., with the governor of Hanoi County Gaopinghou Wang as the main general, and Guangwuhou Yuan Song was the deputy general, and Bai Su, a descendant of the clan, was the vanguard to attack Zhao.

The first to fight was Wu Chu and the Liang Kingdom. The Liang King Liu Wu was the younger brother of the Han Emperor, so he resisted very resolutely. Although he conquered many cities, he was still held back by the Liang Army and was not allowed to advance westward, and the Liang King continued to fight. Request reinforcements from the court.

Zhou Yafu believed that the combined forces of Wu and Chu were too powerful to win in a frontal decisive battle, so he suggested using the Liang army to hold back the main forces of Wu and Chu, looking for opportunities to cut off each other's supplies, and then wait for opportunities to defeat the rebels. Emperor Han agreed to Zhou Yafu's plan. So Zhou Yafu marched in a detour, took Lantian, left Wuguan, and quickly reached Luoyang.

The Liang Kingdom was attacked by rebels in turn, and the King of Liang asked Zhou Yafu for help. But Zhou Yafu sent his army eastward and stationed troops in Changyi, north of Liang State, and could not hold out. King Liang sent for help again, but Zhou Yafu still did not send reinforcements. The King of Liang was so angry that he cursed loudly, and finally had to write to the Han Emperor. The Han Emperor issued an edict to ask Zhou Yafu to support the King of Liang. Zhou Yafu was still unmoved. There was no other way. The King of Liang had no choice but to appoint Han Anguo and Zhang Yu as generals to lead the soldiers and civilians of Liang to fight to the death. , and had a stalemate with the Wu-Chu coalition for many months.

On the other side, the Wu-Chu coalition forces could not retreat for many days under the tight defense of Liang State. King Wu appointed his retainer Zhou Qiu as general and marched to Xiapi to open up a second battlefield. He then led the army to attack Zhou Yafu's fortress.

Zhou Yafu held on to the fortress and refused to fight with him, but secretly sent his deputy Bai Qi to take the opportunity to go south with a light force and seize the mouth of the Si River into the Huaihe River, cutting off the food route of the Wu-Chu coalition.

When the incident just started, Huan Shao, a young general of the Wu State, advised the King of Wu: "Most of the Wu people are infantry, and infantry is more suitable for fighting in dangerous places. Most of the Han people are chariots, and chariots and cavalry are better for fighting on flat ground.

I hope that the king will not have to capture all the cities he passes through, but march straight in, quickly move west to occupy the arsenal of Luoyang, take possession of the rice and grain in Aocang, and rely on the dangers of the mountains and rivers to command the princes. In this way, although the pass has not yet been entered, the world has been peaceful. .

If the king advances slowly and leaves troops to capture the cities he passes through one by one, then as soon as the Han army's chariots and cavalry arrive and gallop into the flat countryside of Liang Chu, the matter will fail. "

Liu Bi asked the veteran generals for advice, and they all said: "This is just a young man's strategy to show off his talents. How does he know the general trend of the world?" So Liu Bi did not adopt his strategy.

At this time, King Wu felt a little regretful, but now that the matter was over, he had no choice but to hold on. A general proposed a night attack, and King Wu agreed, so he sent people to attack Zhou Yafu's camp at night. He first pretended to attack the southeast, but Zhou Yafu saw through Wu's plan and ordered the army to defend the northwest.

Sure enough, the Wu soldiers attacked from the northwest, but failed to break through. There was insufficient light at night, and the soldiers could not find the generals, nor the generals. The Wu army was defeated. Most of the soldiers starved to death or surrendered and dispersed. Upon seeing this, Zhou Yafu immediately led his army to pursue him. Bai Qi led the cavalry from Huaisi. Under attack from both front and rear, he defeated the Wu and Chu coalition forces.

The King of Wu and thousands of his warriors fled at night, crossed the Huaihe River and fled to Dantu. They retreated to East Vietnam and sent people to recruit the remaining soldiers with the intention of making a comeback. The Han Dynasty sent people to lure Dongyue.

So the King of Dongyue deceived the King of Wu to go out to comfort the army, stabbed the King of Wu to death with a spear and a halberd, put his head on his head, and sent a chariot to quickly deliver it to the Han Emperor. After the Wu army collapsed, King Liu Wu of Chu committed suicide.

(End of this chapter)