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

Chapter 274: Conquering Guandong
November

Liang Wang Liu Yong ascended the throne in Suiyang and proclaimed himself emperor. Dong Xian, the general of the Yi Han Dynasty, was the king of Haixi, and Zhang Bu, the general of the auxiliary Han Dynasty, was the king of Qi.

Gai Yan and Geng Yan were originally asked to pacify Liu Yong and Zhang Bu, but because the Qi and Han troops were eager to attack, Liu Xiu's troops were stretched thin, so he had to let them stick to the border and transfer most of their troops to Guanzhong.

Now that Qi and Han are at peace, Liu Xiu already has enough troops in his hands, so the conquest plan that had been stalled can be restarted.

In the same month, King Zhending Liu Yang and Linyi Marquis Liu Rang rebelled. Liu Xiu sent former general Geng Chun with 60,000 troops to attack them.

December

The Zhending king Liu Yang rebelled and was put down by Geng Chun. Liu Yang was beheaded. However, at the request of Liu Xiu's concubine Guo Shengtong, Zhending was not eliminated. Instead, Liu De, Liu Yang's third son who did not participate in the rebellion, was appointed as the Zhending king.

Jianwu three years
New Year
Taizhong doctor Su Jin established the strategic policy for Liu Xiu of "Guandong first, Longshu later". Liu Xiushen agreed and decided to first pacify Liu Yong, who was closest to Luoyang, to remove the threat to the capital.

Liu Xiu appointed Huya General Gai Yan as the chief general, with Ma Wu, the consort commander, Liu Long, the cavalry commander, Ma Cheng, the guard commander, and Wang Ba, the partial general, as deputy generals. Liu, who led tens of thousands of troops in the eastward expedition to Suiyang, forever.

Gai Yan's army was divided into two groups, the west group captured Xiangyi, and the east group captured Maxiang.

The Han army had elite soldiers and brave generals, but Liu Yong was invincible. He was defeated in a row and led the remaining troops to flee into Suiyang and stayed behind closed doors.

March
Gai Yan led the army commander and drove straight in, tightly besieging Suiyang City.

At this time, Su Mao, the troubled general who came with Gai Yan's expedition to change his banner, suddenly raised his troops to rebel, occupied Guangle, and took the initiative to surrender to Liu Yong. Liu Yong was overjoyed and immediately appointed Su Mao as the Grand Sima and the King of Huaiyang.

Su Mao's rebellion greatly boosted the morale of Liu Yong's army. Gai Yan and others failed to capture Suiyang despite being besieged for several months.

August
Suiyang has been besieged for several months. Not only the soldiers defending the city are exhausted, but also Gai Yan and other troops attacking the city.

At night, Gai Yan selected elite men and quietly climbed to the top of Suiyang City. After months of fighting, the defenders were very exhausted. Inadvertently, Gai Yan's army occupied the city gate, and soon the city gate was opened wide. , Gai Yanjun entered the city.

In the chaos, Liu Yong and his family rushed out of the east gate under the protection of his subordinates. Gai Yan led his army to pursue him along the way. Due to the elite cavalry of Gai Yan's army, Liu Yong's troops suffered heavy losses. In order to escape smoothly, Liu Yong had to abandon The army asked them to cut off the queen for themselves, and he fled to Yu County with only a few cronies and Qingqi.

After Liu Yong abandoned his army and fled, Gai Yan attacked cities and territories everywhere. He first captured Xue County and killed the prefect of Lu County appointed by Liu Yong. Then Pengcheng, Fuyang, Zhuqiu, and Xiao County all surrendered, except for Pei, who was appointed by Liu Yong. The prefect of the county refused to surrender, but was defeated and killed by Gai Yan's army.

Seeing that Gai Yan's army was strong, the people of Yu County decided to attack Liu Yong and surrender to Gai Yan.

Due to the sudden incident, Liu Yong was unprepared. His mother, wife and children were captured and killed by the rebels. He only escaped with dozens of subordinates and fled to Qiao County.

After Liu Yong arrived in Qiao County, he received reinforcements. Su Mao, Jiao Qiang, and Zhou Jian formed a coalition of more than 30,000 people to rescue Liu Yong.

The coalition forces fought against Gai Yan in Peixi, but Liu Yong was defeated again. The troops broke up and fled, and more than half of the soldiers fell into the water and drowned.

But Liu Yong was really lucky. Under the protection of Zhou Jian and Jiao Qiang, he successfully escaped to Huling to defend himself. Su Mao, on the other hand, rushed back to Guangle.

Although Liu Yong ran away, Pei County, Chu County, Linhuai County and other places were all pacified by Gai Yan.

At this time, it was already November, and Gai Yan's army was very tired, so he had to stop the army to prepare, and Liu Yong could take a breather.

Jianwu four years
Most of Liu Yong's forces were defeated by Liu Xiu, and the threat from Luoyang was also lifted. In addition to letting Gai Yan lead the troops to continue to pursue Liu Yong, Liu Xiu set his sights on Qingzhou.

While Liu Xiu was attacking Liu Yong with all his strength, Zhang Bu took advantage of this opportunity to continuously capture cities and territories in Qingzhou. At this time, he had occupied twelve counties, including Taishan County.

As expected, it attracted Liu Xiu's attention.

March
Liu Xiu appointed Lu Hu as the prefect of Taishan, acting as a military general, and led 30,000 troops to capture Taishan County.

Lu Hu was one of the former leaders of the Qi and Han armies. He decisively turned his back on Liu Xiu during the Battle of Guodi.

Because Lu Hu was well-known in Qi, Liu Xiu asked him to move forward and occupy Taishan County as a vanguard for the army.

Zhang Bu heard that Liu Xiu was about to attack Taishan County, so he sent his generals to attack Lu Hu. The two sides fought in Yingxia. Lu Hu relied on his familiarity with the terrain to defeat his army, and relied on the local reputation to pursue him as far as Jinan County. Stop at the border.

April
The powerful locals in Suiyang rebelled and expelled the Han army, hoping to welcome Liu Yong's return.

When Liu Xiu got the news, he had no choice but to stop his preparations to attack Qingzhou and urgently ordered Wu Han, Gai Yan and other combined forces to surround Suiyang.

Liu Yong led his troops to defend here for a hundred days. Later, because the Han army collected all the wheat in the fields and the city was starved of food, they were forced to break through and rush to Fu County.

Gai Yan led his generals in hot pursuit, and all of Liu Yong's baggage was snatched away by the Han army. Because of Gai Yan's haste in pursuit, Liu Yong was killed by his general Qingwu and surrendered to the Han army.

After Liu Yong's death, his younger brother Liu Fang surrendered the city. However, Su Mao, Zhou Jian and others fled to Chuihui County and jointly established Liu Yong's son Liu Yu as King of Liang, hoping to continue to fight against Liu Xiu.

October
Liu Xiu sent the captured general Ma Wu and the cavalry captain Wang Ba to surround Liu Yu and Zhou Jian at Chuihui. Su Mao led soldiers from the five schools and counties to rescue them.

Seeing that Su Mao's reinforcements had arrived, Liu Yu and Zhou Jian decisively led the soldiers and horses from the city out of the city to attack the Han army with Su Mao. However, the Han army was elite and failed to break their formation in multiple attacks, so they had no choice but to retreat to the city.

But what they didn't expect was that Zhou Song, the son of Zhou Jian's brother, was instigated by Liu Xiu to rebel. He closed the city gate and refused to let them enter the city.

Liu Yu, Zhou Jian, and Su Mao had no choice but to escape. In the end, Zhou Jian was caught up by the Han army and died on the roadside. Su Mao successfully ran to Xiapi to meet Dong Xian, while Liu Yu ran towards Jiaoqiang.

Jianwu five years
March
Liu Yong's remaining strength was finally wiped out, and Liu Xiuteng could take action to deal with Zhang Bu. So he ordered Geng Yan, the general of Jianwei, to lead tens of thousands of troops, lead Lu Hu, the prefect of Taishan, and Liu Xin, the cavalry captain, to attack Zhang Bu.

Zhang Bu hurriedly appointed General Fei Yi as the king of Jinan and ordered him to station troops. He also divided his troops to defend Zhu'a, forming a horn-like posture. They also stationed a large army in Zhongcheng as backup.

However, after Geng Yan led the Han army to Zhu'a city, he captured Zhu'a in one day and deliberately allowed Zhang Bu's defeated troops to escape back to Zhongcheng to shake Zhang Bu's military morale.

The soldiers and civilians in Zhongcheng were extremely shocked when they heard this. The whole city abandoned the city and fled eastward. As a result, Geng Yan took Zhongcheng without any blood.

After Fei Yi received his reward, he quickly assigned his troops to his younger brother Fei Gan and ordered him to guard Juli. Geng Yan adopted the strategy of encirclement and reinforcements, besieged Juli, and lured Fei Yi to lead his army to rescue him. He ambushed Fei Yi halfway and killed Fei Yi, but all his troops were destroyed.

Geng Yan's offensive was very fierce. Zhang Bu was defeated one after another and continued to retreat, even losing the capital Linzi.

In the end, they gathered more than 100,000 people and wanted to have a showdown with Geng Yan at the western shore of Jixian County. They fought for a whole day, but no one could do anything to the other.

But after hearing the news that Liu Xiu had arrived with his troops, and then thinking about his achievements in the battles of Kunyang, Rongcheng, and Handan, I felt frightened.

He also thought that the Han army must have fallen asleep after fighting for a whole day, so he ordered the entire army to retreat, taking the remaining troops and baggage with them to evacuate at night.

Unexpectedly, on the way, the Han army ambush ambush, Zhang Bujun was in chaos, and they ran away. Geng Yan took the opportunity to use his troops to cover up the attack. Zhang Bu was defeated and fled towards Juxian.

The Han army pursued them until they reached the Chenmei River, and there was another massacre. For eighty or ninety miles from Linzi to the Chenmei River, there were dead bodies everywhere.

After the Battle of Linzi, Zhang Bu's army suffered no casualties, so he had to order his generals to divide their troops in various places and defend the city in order to take a breather.

But Geng Yan didn't give him any chance, and continued to march eastward, directly taking Zhang Bu's home base-Juxian County.

Zhang Bu's main elite force was completely lost and he was unable to fight anymore. He had to abandon Ju County and led the remaining troops to flee south. Liu Xiu led his army into the city and ordered Geng Yan to lead his army in pursuit. Zhang Bu fled to Pingshou in embarrassment.

Seeing that he was about to be defeated, Su Mao promptly led tens of thousands of elite troops to come to support. Only then did Liu Xiu pause for a moment, and Zhang Bu was also able to stop.

When Zhang Bu saw Su Mao, it was like seeing a relative. He was filled with tears and gratitude. However, Su Mao did not appreciate it and said:

"With Nan Yang's elite soldiers and Yan Cen's fighting skills, they were all defeated and fled by Geng Yan. Why did the king take the initiative to attack his camp? Since he asked me to help him, why did he march without waiting for me?"

Zhang Bu blushed and said awkwardly: "I'm really sorry. It's all my fault. I have nothing to say."

On the other side, Liu Xiu felt a little uncomfortable when he saw Zhang Bu and Su Mao joining forces. He also wanted to make a quick decision. After all, the main force of Liu Xiu's army was now on the ground. It had been delayed for a long time, and he was afraid of what the two people in Longxi and Shu had in mind. .

At this time, Taizhong doctor Su Jin proposed a plan to drive away wolves and swallow tigers.

So Liu Xiu sent an envoy to tell Zhang Bu and Su Mao: "Which of you can behead the other party and surrender, I will not only not pursue the old grudges, but I will also make him a marquis."

October
Zhang Bu, who got Liu Xiu's letter, thought that Liu Xiu could even forgive Zhu Kun, who framed his brother, and it was very feasible.

So at night, he broke into Su Mao's mansion with his personal guards, beheaded Su Mao, and sent an envoy to surrender with Su Mao's head. Geng Yan accepted Zhang Bu's surrender as expected.

Zhang Bu then took off his shirt and carried an axe, and went to the Han army gate to plead guilty. Geng Yan sent Zhang Bu to Liu Xiu's residence. Liu Xiu kept his promise and made Zhang Bu the Marquis of Anqiu. His relatives and generals were also there. The counties surrendered and put themselves in jail.

Liu Xiu spent a year and finally pacified Qi.

Jianwu six years
April
Liu Xiu led an army of more than 100,000, and took generals Wu Han, Wang Chang, Gai Yan, Wang Liang, Ma Wu, Wang Ba, etc. to personally conquer Haixi King Dong Xian who occupied various places around Donghai County.

This was the only battle in which Liu Xiu's military strength surpassed that of the enemy. The Han army continued to attack Haixi, the capital of Dong Xian, with overwhelming force.

June
General Pang Meng of the Han army rebelled and attacked the Gaiyan army. The Han army in the Gaiyan direction was defeated. He then contacted Dong Xian and wanted to open up the road between the two sides.

So Dong Xian gathered all his troops to capture Jianyang and assist Pang Meng.

When Liu Xiu heard about Pang Meng's rebellion, he urgently ordered his troops to kill him. The two sides met in Jianyang, and a war was imminent.

Liu Xiu originally had a superior force, and even if he lost Gai Yan, he would still be able to destroy Dong Xian.

So under the command of Liu Xiu and his generals, Pang Meng was beheaded, Dong Xian's army was defeated, and they fled eastward back to Haixi.

August
Dong Xian led the defeated army to retreat to Qu County. He and his wives and children were also captured by the Han army in the previous battle. Dong Xian felt that there was no point in resisting anymore and was ready to surrender to Liu Xiu.

But at this time, Liu Xiu saw that there was no point in staying here, so he had returned to Luoyang. The army was commanded by General Wu Han.

Dong Xian cried and said to the soldiers: "Now my wife and children have been captured by Wu Han. I have made you suffer for a long time."

After saying that, he led dozens of cavalry and left overnight, hoping to surrender through a small road. However, Wu Han's captain Han Zhan caught up with Dong Xian in Fangyu County and killed Dong Xian, and sent his head to Luoyang.

Liu Xiu then made Han Zhan a marquis.

September
After nearly six years of conquests from the east to the west, Liu Xiu has basically controlled the vast Central Plains except Longyou and Bashu, and has basically pacified Guandong. There are only some tiny rebels and insurgents. This is very important to Liu Xiu. As far as I'm concerned, there is no need to pay attention to it anymore, just leave it to the prefects and generals in various places.

(End of this chapter)