Great Han Empire

Chapter 303
February 187 AD.

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Zhang Yan, the leader of the Yellow Turban Army, led his army to capture Jinyang City.

After receiving the emergency document, the emperor was furious and immediately summoned General He Jin.

"I asked Aiqing to lead the army north to Bingzhou last month, but Aiqing used various excuses and evaded all kinds of excuses, and did not cross the river. Now that the ant thief Zhang Yan has captured Jinyang, and the situation in Bingzhou is becoming more and more critical, Aiqing still has What do you say? When will the Northern Army cross the river?"

General He Jin bowed calmly and said: "Your Majesty, the army can cross the river at any time."

"Then what are you waiting for, love?"

"Your Majesty, the minister is waiting for food, grass and weapons, and there are [-] civilians. If we cross the river now, the army will be hungry before reaching Taihang Mountain."

"It's been more than half a month, why haven't these things been done?" The emperor shouted angrily, "Who is doing these things? I want to let him go."

He Jin smiled, but didn't speak.

"Why didn't Aiqing say it? Is Aiqing's General's Mansion supervising this matter?"

"Your Majesty, these matters were originally supervised by Lord Taiwei and the Taiwei Mansion." He Jin said, "Since Your Majesty dismissed Taiwei Zhang, the affairs of the Taiwei Mansion have been in charge of the Shangshutai, so..."

The emperor's expression froze, and he was speechless immediately, his face very ugly.Shangshutai directly obeyed the emperor's orders, and if he wanted to punish himself, he would punish himself.The general gave the emperor a slap in the face, embarrassing the emperor.In the past, if something happened, the emperor could ask the Taiwei to take the blame, but now there is no Taiwei. If the emperor is at fault, he can't find a scapegoat.

The emperor looked at the ministers who were secretly laughing in the court hall with hatred, his lungs exploded.

"Cui Aiqing, from today onwards, you are the Taiwei." The Son of Heaven stood up abruptly, pointed at Cui Lie who was stunned, and said, "In five days, Aiqing will ensure that the Northern Army crosses the Yellow River."

===

The emperor angrily walked into the Shang study, scolded General He Jin in front of Huangfusong, Lu Zhi and others, then pointed to Huangfusong and asked, "Aiqing, why is the food and grass needed by the Northern Army The luggage has not been prepared yet? What about the money allocated to you by Da Si Nong?"

"Your Majesty, it will take quite a long time to raise food and supplies for an army of [-] and recruit [-] civilians." Huangfusong replied, "It will take at least a month of preparation time from His Majesty's decree to the departure of the Northern Army."

"A month?" the emperor said in surprise, "Jinyang will be lost after only half a month now. If it takes another half month, I think not only Taiyuan County, but even Shangdang County will be lost."

Lu Zhi persuaded: "Your Majesty, Bingzhou is thousands of miles away. The ant thief Zhang Yan has hundreds of thousands of people. No matter what, the army must be fully prepared with food, grass and weapons, otherwise..."

"What about Li Zhonglang? Didn't Li Zhonglang go straight north with an army of [-]?" The emperor interrupted Lu Zhi and retorted, "Li Zhonglang can go north to fight against the enemy, why can't the general?"

"Your Majesty, it is precisely because we rushed to the battle and lacked food, grass and weapons that we lost three passes." Huangfusong said sadly, "Your Majesty, this matter must not be rushed."

The emperor was furious at Huangfusong, he patted the table angrily, and said loudly: "You don't have to worry about this matter, let the Taiwei's mansion handle it, you just fight the war."

Huangfusong and Lu Zhi looked at each other, a trace of worry flashed in their eyes.The two of them made their own decisions and secretly sent all the food, salaries and a large amount of weapons allocated to the Northern Army to the battlefield in Western Xinjiang. If the military affairs were handed over to the Taiwei Mansion at this time, this matter would be exposed immediately. The assistant minister is about to lose his official position and be convicted. If it is more serious, he may lose his head.

"Your Majesty intends to ask Shang Shutai to hand over military power?" Lu Zhi asked tentatively, looking at the blushing emperor.

"No." The Son of Heaven shouted, "I will never hand it over."

"Then this matter..." Lu Zhi asked hesitantly, "Your Majesty asked the Taiwei's Mansion to supervise, isn't he planning to hand over military power? If the two sides want to hand over, I'm afraid there will be a delay of a day or two."

"I'm so mad at you, I made a mistake, I made a mistake." The emperor waved his hand and said, "You continue to do it. If you don't have enough manpower, you will be transferred from the General's Mansion."

"Your Majesty, if Lord Taiwei insists..." Huangfusong said cautiously, "According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, the military power is in the hands of Lord Taiwei and the Taiwei Mansion, and Shang Shutai cannot intervene. Now that the situation is special, Your Majesty can temporarily It may be flexible, but after the war is over, His Majesty still wants to return the military power..."

"I told you last time that I will not hand over the military power." The emperor looked at the two of them coldly and threatened, "You better not persuade me, I feel uncomfortable and upset. "

"As for Cui Aiqing, I will deal with it myself. At most, I will save him the official money."

The emperor ignored them and went out in a huff.When he got to the door, he suddenly remembered something, turned around and said to the two of them: "You guys have a private message to the general. If he doesn't come to Bingzhou, I won't worship Ding Gong as Sikong."

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As soon as Xu Gui received the news of Qingshi'an and Boluogu's defeat, Helian arrived at Fanting Mountain.

"My lord, are you alright?" Xu Gui was surprised and happy, and helped him into the big tent.

"How many people do you have?" He opened his mouth and asked without even a word of greeting.

"I still have more than 7000 people." Xu Gui replied, "What does Your Majesty want to do?"

He Lian sneered, "What else do you think I want to do?"

Xu Gui immediately understood what Helian meant.He knows everything about the Xianbei Kingdom.He Lian was unpopular in Xianbei, and there were as many people who wanted to kill him, and even more people who wanted to take his throne.Now that Helian was defeated, he was alone, Tuobafeng, Lv Riyan, and Yanliyou, the three Xianbei tycoons, could eat him in one bite and establish a new king.

Even if these three people don't kill Helian, the news of Helian's defeat will be sent back to Danhanshan immediately.Now that Helian is not in Danhan Mountain, and he has no troops, it is a miracle that Danhan Mountain is not in chaos.Who would miss such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?

Xu Gui hesitated and said nothing.

He is from the Eastern Qiang, and although he has always had a good relationship with Helian, Tuobafeng is the one who takes care of him the most.He, like the Tu Ge tribe of the Huns, was Tuoba Feng's neighbor, and was intimidated by Tuoba Feng both openly and secretly.Speaking of sending troops this time, nominally they accepted Helian's invitation, but secretly they were all threatened by Tuoba Feng and dared not not send troops.The leader of the Tu clan, Hu Wang, wanted to become the great Chanyu, so he took advantage of this incident to reach a secret agreement with Tuoba Feng, otherwise he would not have sent his own brother, King Jiuyuanqi, to go out in person.

Of course Xu Gui knew what Tuoba Feng was thinking, so he sat across from Helian, at a loss.

What does Helian want to do?Didn't he just want to use the power of the Eastern Qiang people to quickly return to Danhan Mountain, rush back to the royal court before the news of the failure has not spread back to Danhan Mountain, and call all the tribes loyal to him in Danhan Mountain to defend the kingship.

Xu Gui looked into Helian's cold eyes, and a chill passed through his heart.He knew how powerful Helian was. When it came to scheming and tricks, no one on the grassland was his match.Is this failure another trick by Helian?Although Tuoba Feng is a wolf, He Lian is the wolf king. Who knows what he is thinking?After He Lian's defeat, he ran directly to Fanting Mountain and into his big tent, looking like he would be devoured by others, did he have been prepared for it?
"Xu Gui, are you worried that Tuoba Feng will retaliate against you?" He Lian suddenly grinned and asked.

Seeing Helian's smiling face, Xu Gui's heart beat even harder.

"You know what Tuoba Feng is thinking, and I know it too." He Lian said calmly, "Since I know, why should I trust him?"

Xu Gui's heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and a hint of timidity appeared in his eyes involuntarily.

"You send me to Lingwu Valley, and I'll give you everything you want, even Tuoba Feng's head."

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After listening to Zheng Xin's report, Li Hong leaned over and looked at the map carefully, without saying a word.

"The Xianbei people are retreating rapidly. We should catch up and chase them all the way to Fanting Mountain, so as not to let the Xianbei people have any chance to breathe, and at the same time give the Xianbei people the illusion that my follow-up reinforcements are coming continuously." Xian Yufu said, " The Xianbei lost their troops and lost their generals, their morale was low, and when they saw my rank and file chasing after me, they might have retreated across the Yellow River."

"It doesn't make any sense for the Xianbei people to stick to Fanting Mountain at this time. Do they still want to regroup the army?" Qu Yi smiled disdainfully, "Although our soldiers are exhausted after repeated battles, so are the Xianbei people. With more than 1000 miles in the hinterland of Dahan, he should be more exhausted than us."

"My lord's concern is nothing more than the difficulty in supplying our food, grass and weapons." Li Wei said, "After the two wars, we captured a large amount of cattle, sheep and weapons from the Xianbei people, which can fully guarantee the needs of the army in the short term."

"My lord, give me an order. Thirty thousand cavalry can set off immediately." Kuang Fengsha shouted, "How long will my lord wait?"

Li Hong looked up at everyone, and said slowly, "If we want to wipe them all out, we can't rush to send troops now."

"To completely annihilate, we can only rely on General Dong Zhuo to occupy Lingzhou and cut off the retreat of the Xianbei people." Xu Rong pointed to Lingzhou on the map and said, "But General Dong Zhuo must have not arrived in Lingzhou, and this strategy of attacking back and forth is no longer possible. Use it again. If the Xianbei retreat quickly, we may lose the opportunity to chase and annihilate the enemy."

"I think Master Xu is right." Xie Ming said, "We defeated the Xianbei people so early, no one would have thought that General Dong Zhuo might still be thinking about when it would be more appropriate to attack Lingzhou? If I were Xianbei People, what they think about now is how to safely withdraw to the grassland, instead of staying in the south of the Yellow River hesitantly watching, do they have any hope?"

Li Hong looked at Lingzhou on the map for a long time, and said regretfully: "If General Dong Zhuo occupies Lingzhou at this time, the Xianbei people will be wiped out, and Helian will never escape the Yellow River."

"lets go."

===

"Yu Xing, I leave everything here to you."

Li Hong looked back at Li Wei who was all ready to go, and said with a smile, "Zhong Yuan, you stay here, don't leave with the army."

"No, I want to go with you." Li Wei said angrily, "I wiped out [-] enemies, and I didn't even kill a single Xianbei. I'm so useless. Tell Huding and Qichen to stay away from me, don't Always follow me, everyone is killed by them, what should I kill?"

People around laughed.

Hu Ding stretched out his hand and punched him, and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, that's what you said. Everyone heard clearly, if anything happened to Zhong Yuan in the future, if Xiao Lan wants to fight me desperately, you have to testify for me .”

Qi Chen patted him lightly, and persuaded him: "Zhong Yuan, you should stay, if Xiao Lan arrives in Boluo Valley, if he doesn't see you..."

Li Wei's heart trembled, he hesitated, and then he shook his head resolutely, flew on the horse, and beat the horse away.

"This bastard..." Li Hong opened his mouth and cursed, "I really shouldn't help him rob people."

===

"What about the prisoners?" Xian Yufu asked suddenly.

"Of course they were taken to Luoyang to present to His Majesty." Qu Yi smiled, "When General Duan Jiong put down the Eastern Qiang and Western Qiang rebellions, he took fifty thousand Qiang captives to Luoyang and presented them to His Majesty. Later, General Huangfusong quelled the Yellow Turban After the rebellion, they also sacrificed their captives to Luoyang Xiamen, and the two generals' feats are famous all over the world, and the world knows it, and adults should also follow the example of the two generals..."

"Yes, yes..." Everyone was very excited when they heard the words, and they all spoke in agreement.

General Hu generals such as Kuang Fengsha, Nie Xiao and Heng Ji looked coldly at the happy Han generals, with indifferent expressions and resentment hidden in their eyes.

Li Hong's face darkened, and he pointed to the new grave in Boluo Valley, and asked very dissatisfied: "Whose merit is this? Whose blood is on the ground?"

Everyone saw Li Hong's unkind expression, his smile faltered, and everyone quickly shut their mouths.

Li Hong wanted to say something, but after thinking for a long time, he couldn't say it.

Yes, the battle was fought by everyone, and the credit is also ours, but why did we shed blood and sweat?Is it really for living and for eating?The comrades-in-arms who died have been buried, and they returned to dust with their respective glory and hope, but what about the survivors?Shouldn't those who survived enjoy greater glory and merit?What right do I have to ask them to ask for nothing like the dead?What qualifications do you have to ask them to be the same as yourself, asking for nothing?I don't need this feat, but what about them?Why can't they enjoy their exploits?

I am just an ignorant Xianbei slave. Because of chance and luck, I have my current status. Because of my humble past, I always think that I am working hard to survive, but what about others?Why did they join the army?Why are they fighting?Is it just for the Han Kingdom?To live?No, they are also for glory, for being famous in the world, and for being like Duan Jiong and Huangfusong, their names will last forever.

Li Hong smiled wryly, and said to Xian Yufu: "You write another memorial to His Majesty, enumerating the achievements of your lords. For decades, our Han army has been fighting against the barbarians, but we wiped out [-] enemies in one battle." , should be regarded as a brilliant achievement, His Majesty should reward everyone heavily."

Xian Yufu bowed to accept the order.

Facing the crowd, Li Hong said slowly: "When I was in Xianbei, I knew an old man named Murong You. When he was young, he was captured by the Han Kingdom because of his defeat. The Son of Heaven of the Great Han Kingdom. He stayed in Luoyang for nearly 20 years and was a slave until he was about to die. He was rescued by Tan Shihuai and returned to his homeland by exchanging prisoners. He told me that he was very lucky to be with him Of the [-] Xianbei people who went to Luoyang, he was the only one who returned home, and the others all died in Luoyang, and they all died miserably."

"I don't mean anything else by saying that. I just don't want to send them to Luoyang. They are soldiers just like us. They should all die on the battlefield. They should die like a person, not an animal."

Li Hong suddenly shouted loudly: "I just hope they die like one person, even if they are beheaded, they are still one person."

Kuang Fengsha burst into tears and knelt down on the ground.

Nie Xiao, Heng Ji, Lou Lu and other generals of the Hu clan also knelt down excitedly and bowed to the ground.

Xian Yufu, Xu Rong, Qu Yi and the others looked thoughtfully at Li Hong, who had long hair and shawls, and remained silent.

"Sheyingtong, Shehu, you and the brothers from the Wuye tribe stay here. These Xianbei people are all captives of your Wuye tribe. Go and solve it."

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The news of Boluogu's great victory spread to Luoyang, and the whole city celebrated with joy.

The emperor issued three imperial edicts to reward the frontline soldiers.

Li Hong was promoted from the Qiang Zhonglang general to the captive general and Guanneihou.Xian Yufu, Xu Rong, and Qu Yi were promoted to Pinglu Zhonglang General.Yan Rou, Yan Liang, Xian Yuyin, Yu Shi, Hua Xiong, Zheng Xin, Tian Zhong, Kuang Fengsha, Nie Xiao, Heng Ji, and Lou Luqian were promoted to the ranks of school lieutenants; the rest of the generals were each promoted to a higher rank, and the soldiers were rewarded with more silk.

The emperor was very excited, and under the praise of all the ministers, he was a little bit flustered, and then he worshiped Xu Xiang as Situ and Guanglu Xunding Palace as Sikong.

===

The emperor drank a lot of wine, and sat in the Shang study, chatting with Huangfusong, Lu Zhi and others with a smile on his face.

"My loves, look, after the Boluogu victory, are the Xianbei people going to turn around and run away?"

"The Xianbei people lost nearly [-] troops, their livers and gallbladders are torn apart, and they probably have already escaped from the three passes." Huangfu Song laughed, "General Li is both wise and brave, and he uses soldiers like a god. He is the pillar of my great man."

"He's not bad." The Son of Heaven smiled, "After he leads the army to chase all the way to Beidi, I plan to let him go directly to Bingzhou to put down the Yellow Turban Ant Thief in Taiyuan County. What do you two lovers think?"

"I also plan to do so, and I am preparing to suggest to His Majesty." Lu Zhi said, "Now the Black Mountain Ant Thief is ready to move, intending to harass Hanoi and threaten Gyeonggi, so it is better for the Northern Army to stay in Luoyang. The funeral of Western Xinjiang can be left to General Dong Zhuo is in charge."

"General Li sent a large army to Bingzhou to suppress the rebellion, which can save a lot of military resources." Huangfusong added, "Besides, once the Xiliang rebels are appeased, we will have to spend a lot of money."

"Is there any news about He Yong?" the emperor asked.

"There will be news soon." Huangfusong said with a smile, "General Li wiped out [-] enemies in one battle, which probably frightened Wang Guo and Han Sui. At this time, they will agree to any conditions."

"After this battle, I will be stable for a few years." Lu Zhi happily said, "Congratulations to Your Majesty."

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(End of this chapter)