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

Chapter 262: Change, Crisis

The fifteenth year of Xinmang (the fourth year of Emperor Dihuang)

The Red Eyebrow Army located in Qingzhou and Xuzhou was blocked by the Bai Xuan Department of Dongjun, so they had to march eastward to capture Qingzhou and Xuzhou. With the help of heroes from all over the country, the Red Eyebrow Army quickly swept across Qingzhou and Xuzhou, almost Occupying all the cities east of Dongjun.

Occupying a vast territory, the Red Eyebrow Army grew to a strength of two to three hundred thousand people. Seeing this, the new emperor listed the Red Eyebrow Army as a serious problem for him.

Continuously recruiting military service from various places and mobilizing heavy troops to gather in Dongjun. At this time, Taifu Bai Xuan's command has gathered 500,000 troops, ready to march eastward and annihilate the Red Eyebrow Army.

But at this time, a piece of news made Wang Mang in Chang'an City angry and frightened.

After two years of development, the Green Forest Army in Jingzhou now has a four-pronged rebel army with nearly 170,000 soldiers.

In addition to Wang Chang's "Xiajiang Soldiers" who attacked Nanjun, there were three groups of rebel armies belonging to the Green Forest Army attacking the city and territory in Nanyang County. One group was the "New City Soldiers" led by Wang Kuang brothers, veteran figures of the Green Forest Army.

Along the way is the "Ping Lin Bing" led by Chen Mu, who joined the group two years ago. The last group was only joined this year, and it was also the "Chung Ling Soldiers" led by the powerful Liu Yan brothers of Nanyang who joined the group.

At the beginning of this year, the Green Forest Army fought two battles with the new Jingzhou Shepherd King Huai on the banks of the Xianshui River and in Huaiyang. They both won, and the strength of the Jingzhou soldiers had dropped to the lowest level.

After defeating the main force in Jingzhou, the four rebel armies all met in Tuoyang, preparing to directly attack Wancheng, the stronghold and stronghold of Jingzhou Mu.

But at this time, there were four people, all of whom were quite bossy, and no one wanted to listen to others. So Liu Yan, a native of Nanyang, suggested that at this time, people all over the world were nostalgic for the Han Dynasty again, so it would be better to establish a descendant of the Han Dynasty royal family. Expressing that one's own army is a rebel army, not a rebel army, is conducive to the development of the rebel army.

After hearing this, the other three people had no choice but to agree to Liu Yan's proposal, so Liu Yan found Liu Xuan, a fallen nobleman, and proposed to elect him as the co-leader of the rebel army and put him on the throne.

Liu Xuan is a descendant of Emperor Jing and a brother of Liu Yan. After Wang Mang ascended the throne, the status of the Liu family plummeted and they were oppressed by county officials.

The chief of the Fu Pavilion in Cai Yang got drunk and scolded Liu Xuan's father, Liu Zizhang. Liu Zizhang killed the pavilion chief in a rage. More than ten years later, the pavilion chief's son killed Liu Xuan's younger brother Liu Qian to avenge his father.

Liu Xuan also began to make friends with guests, intending to avenge his brother. Later, because a guest broke the law, Liu Xuan fled from Chongling to Pinglin in order to avoid being arrested by the government.

When Chen Mu and others from Pinglin started to stir up trouble, he joined the "Pinglin Soldiers".

Therefore, Liu Yan and Chen Mu agreed to elect Liu Xuan as emperor, but Wang Chang and Wang Kuang believed that the choice of leader needed to be carefully considered and could not be so casual.

February
Liu Xuan first called himself "General Gengshi" and led the Green Forest Army to continue to advance towards Wancheng. Seeing that the new army did not respond, everyone became bolder.

The army marched to Jiyang, and the interests of all parties were exchanged. Wang Chang and Wang Kuang also agreed that Liu Xuan should be the emperor.

So everyone set up a mandala on the shore of Feishui River, displayed their troops, and held a general meeting.

They jointly elected Liu Xuan as emperor. Liu Xuan ascended the altar and stood facing the south to accept the worship of the ministers. But Liu Xuan has always been a coward. Seeing this scene, he was ashamed and sweating. He raised his hands and couldn't even speak. Fortunately, Liu Yan reminded me, so I didn't embarrass myself in public.

On the second day, everyone gathered in the meeting hall, Liu Xuan sat high, and first ordered a general amnesty for the whole country, and then established the reign name as Gengshi.

All the generals were appointed, with their father Liu Liang as the third elder of the country, Wang Kuang as the Grand Duke of Dingguo, Wang Feng as the Grand Duke of Chengguo, Wang Chang as the Great General, Zhu Kun as the Grand Sima, and Liu Yan as the Grand Situ. Chen Mu was the Great Sikong and the others were all worshiped as Jiuqing or General.

The generals returned to their positions, and everyone began to discuss where to go next. The conversation was very intense, and only Liu Xuan, who was sitting in a high position, was left to look at everyone, weak and afraid to speak.

In the end, everyone decided on the final strategy, and sent the main force north to besiege the strategically important Wancheng, and then marched into the Sichuan area.

At the same time, the main force of the new army gathered in the Dongjun area to deal with the Red Eyebrow Army. Therefore, in order to prevent the New Army's large forces from moving south and ensure the smooth operation of the main force of the Green Forest Army,

Chengguo's Duke Wang Feng, General Wang Chang, and Taichang's General Liu Xiu led part of the troops. Taking advantage of the enemy Yan You and Chen Mao's troops staying in Yingchuan County, they quickly captured Kunyang, Dingling, and Lin. County and other places formed a horn-like situation with the main force besieging Wancheng.

The new Han Emperor was proclaimed, and the rebel armies from all over the country changed their tactics and joined the Green Forest Army. By the time the Green Forest Army arrived at Wancheng, the main force had already reached 170,000 people.

Before the new army could react, Wang Chang's troops who quickly captured Kunyang also came with 30,000 troops.

Not to mention the main force that stormed Wancheng for the moment, Wang Feng and Wang Chang, who had captured Kunyang, decided to divide their forces. Wang Chang led 20,000 people to attack Dingling, Linxian and other places in Yingchuan County eastward.

Liu Xiu led 5,000 people northward to surprise Yangguan. Five thousand men from Wang Feng stayed in Kunyang to protect the army's retreat, and as Liu Xiujun's back-up, they covered the main force of the Green Forest Army in attacking Wancheng.

And Wang Mang, who was in Chang'an, heard that the Green Forest Army, which he had never paid attention to, actually supported the emperor surnamed Liu and wanted to capture the important town of Wancheng. Is this a big deal?

You must know that Wancheng is about to be conquered, and further west is Wuguan and other places leading to Guanzhong, which is not far from Guanzhong.

So Wang Mang immediately changed the strategic direction. He led the 200,000 elite troops from the East Commandery, led by Chief Situ Baixuan, and continued to guard the important areas of Dongjun. He led the 200,000 troops from East Commandery to Yingchuan with the Commander-in-Chief General Wang Yi. Situ Wangxun As deputy general, Qingqi went to Yingchuan and recruited 200,000 soldiers and horses from surrounding counties.

When Wang Yi arrived, he combined with Wang Xun's 200,000 troops and the 30,000 troops of Yan You and Chen Mao who had retreated from Jingzhou to Yingchuan, totaling 420,000, and declared a million-strong army to attack the Green Forest Army.

In an attempt to use superior force to fight a decisive battle with the peasant army and win at once, to secure Wancheng, stabilize Jingzhou, and ensure the safety of Chang'an and Luoyang.

In order to block the news, Wang Yi sent a large number of light cavalry scouts to wander at the junction of Yingchuan and Nanyang, leaving the Green Forest Army in Wancheng unprepared.

May
After all preparations were made for Wancheng, Wang Yi commanded "millions of elite troops" and went south through Kunyang, then westward to break the siege of Wancheng, and finally fought a decisive battle with the Green Forest Army and defeated them in one battle.

The guard general of Kunyang is Wang Feng. In order to protect Kunyang, an important town, he sent Liu Xiu as early as last month, preparing to attack and capture Yangguan in the north of Kunyang with superior force. Not only did he fail, but there were many mistakes. After the loss, Wang Feng sent another 5,000 people, and Liu Xiu took 7,000 people, and had to confront Yingchuan Yanyou and Chen Mao's troops under Yangguan.

Wang Chang and others who captured Lin County saw that Kunyang's troops were empty. In order to prevent Kunyang from being lost, they left most of their troops to garrison the captured county, and then led some elite troops back to Kunyang.

In this way, in Kunyang, the Green Forest Army has 7,000 people from Liu Xiu's tribe located under Yangguan, and 3,000 from Wang Feng and Wang Chang's tribe located in Kunyang. However, these people are all the elites of the Green Forest Army.

"General, there are scouts breaking through the northern defense line to report!"

A soldier helped another scout, who was covered in blood, into the military tent. When Yan You and Chen Mao blocked the north, Liu Xiu felt that something was wrong, so he sent a large number of scouts in the hope of breaking through the blockade and obtaining intelligence from the north.

However, the new army's blockade was too tight. In a month, not a single rebel scout was allowed to pass. Now, finally, a lucky person has passed.

"Quick, bring hot water!" Upon seeing this, Liu Xiu quickly ordered his guards.

The scout took a sip of hot water, and his parched throat was finally moistened.

Seeing Liu Xiu staring straight at him, the scout said with difficulty: "The army, the overwhelming army!"

"What kind of army? Where did this army come from?" Liu Xiu's heart skipped a beat and she quickly asked.

The scout rested for a while and tried his best to organize his speech: "The humble post broke through the blockade and captured a messenger who was carrying the message. After receiving the news, the new army assembled a million troops, headed by Da Sikong Wang Yi, and was rushing towards Kunyang. .”

"One million!" Liu Xiu exclaimed, feeling like he was sweating.

"Do you know where you are?"

"Three days ago, I was a hundred and fifty miles north, and I saw banners, densely packed, and countless soldiers."

"Three days?" Liu Xiu calculated carefully in his mind, "Wouldn't it mean that it is less than twenty miles away from here now?"

"Send my general's order to pull out all the troops and retreat to Kunyang!"

Liu Xiu, who was frightened by the millions of troops, hurriedly ran back to Kunyang with 5,000 people.

"Brother Xian, why did you come back without making any sound?"

Wang Chang watched Liu Xiu come back with the song.

"It's not a good place to talk, so please come to the general's house!"

Wang Jian saw Liu Xiu with a solemn face and followed him into the room. Then he called Wang Feng and the three of them took their seats.

"What? Millions of people?"

Wang Feng and Wang Chang were frightened by Liu Xiu's news.

"Then what are you waiting for? Why don't you retreat quickly?" Wang Feng's first thought was to retreat.

"Ding Guogong, no, our army's mission in Kunyang is to slow down the new army's large forces and create conditions for the main force to capture Wancheng. If we retreat like this, the main force of Wancheng will be attacked from both sides, and the entire army will definitely be defeated. Overturned.

By then, the main force will be lost. Even if we can escape, without the main force, we will not be able to escape the consequences of being annihilated by the new army. "

"What should we do?" Wang Feng was anxious.

"Why don't we gather all the generals together and brainstorm ideas?" Wang Chang suggested.

"That's fine." Liu Xiu agreed. Wang Feng had no idea and had no choice but to agree.

When the generals arrived, they heard that a million new troops were already not far from Kunyang and would arrive on the same day, and there was chaos.

"Run, what else will you do if you don't run?" a general blurted out.

"You can't run away. If you run away, the main force in Wancheng will be in trouble. Without a big tree to rely on, you won't be able to escape being wiped out by the court if you run away!" A wise general reminded.

"The new army has millions, and we only have eight or nine thousand people. How can we still defeat them? Even if everyone has the courage to overlord, if one person kills a hundred, it will only be 900,000. There is still a hundred thousand left. Who will kill you? Come to kill?"

"···"

The generals were in a quarrel, and no one could convince anyone.

Wang and Feng, who were above, also had a headache listening to the generals' noise and didn't know what to do.

But it can be heard that those who advocate retreat account for the majority.

Originally Wang Feng advocated retreat, but Wang saw that the generals had no fighting spirit and agreed to retreat. Only Liu Xiu firmly disagreed.

Just when Wang Feng was about to issue a forced retreat.

"Report..., report to the generals that 5,000 New Army cavalry have crossed the Nianshui River and arrived outside the city, and are setting up camp."

"this···"

Wang Feng was dumbfounded, could he still run away?
"Dong Guo, you can't run away now. How about this? I will immediately go east to Yancheng to gather reinforcements, and then send a team of troops to Wancheng to tell the army about the news here and ask them for reinforcements.

Kunyang is a fortified city, and the new army will not defeat it in a single battle. "

In the end, Wang Feng and Wang Chang agreed with Liu Xiu's opinion. Wang Feng and Wang Feng led the people to defend Wancheng. Liu Xiu led thirteen cavalry out of the city at night and rushed to Lin County and Dingling to mobilize reinforcements. He also sent an order flag to Wancheng to ask for help.

(End of this chapter)