Great Han Empire

Chapter 487
Li Hong silently looked at the imperial decree spread out on the table, thinking of the emperor who had passed away, he couldn't help feeling sad.

There is only one character on the yellow silk, a big "Han" character.

When the emperor was dying, he personally wrote this edict to Li Hong, the general who conquered Peking University. What is the purpose of writing this "Han" character?What does he want to say to himself?What is he trying to tell himself?
Li Wei carefully rolled up the imperial decree, and said softly: "General Xu sent someone here, do you want to see me?"

Li Hong didn't make a sound. He looked at the imperial decree in Li Wei's hand, and suddenly asked: "Now, who should inherit the imperial line of the Great Han Kingdom?"

Li Wei said: "According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, it should be the eldest prince."

Li Hong smiled wryly, pointed at the imperial decree and said, "Your Majesty has exhausted all his scheming, and in the end it was nothing. Do you think there will be chaos in Luoyang? What is the purpose of His Majesty sending me such an imperial decree? What does His Majesty want me to do?"

Li Wei sighed lightly, bowed his head and remained silent.Li Hong looked at Zhu Mu who was standing next to him.

Zhu Mu bowed and said, "My lord, we don't know anything about Luoyang. If it weren't for the secret letter sent by Mr. Xianyu a few days ago, we wouldn't even know that the emperor has passed away. Your Majesty's secret decree must be consistent with The current situation in Luoyang is related. As for what His Majesty wants you to do, we have no way of guessing, but one thing is for sure. Your Majesty hopes that Your Majesty will recover the border county as soon as possible. He did not hesitate to throw his head and blood. His Majesty pinned all the hopes of revitalizing the big man on the Lord, and I believe the Lord knows this better than anyone else."

Li Hong thought of the emperor's respect and favor for him, and his heart was agitated.This matter will never be as simple as Zhu Mu said.There must be something behind this secret decree, but why didn't the emperor say it?Is it for the emperor's order, for the little Donghou?At present, the recovery of Border County is imminent, and the army is about to end the war. Do you want to lead the army south to Beijing?But what am I going south to Beijing for?Relying on powerful force to abolish the little emperor, and then make little Donghou the king?Am I not a disaster for the country?
Li Hong looked up at Li Wei, hesitant to speak.What is the difference between leading an army south to Beijing and raising troops to rebel?Even if I have a thousand reasons to go to Beijing, and the righteousness of the Qing emperor to eliminate traitors, can I persuade dozens of generals under my command?After I enter Beijing, I will definitely start a massacre, eradicate the traitor and general He Jin, and use force to force the gentry ministers to re-establish a new monarch, but will I really be able to revitalize the Han Dynasty by doing this?

Li Hong shook his head.He had no intention of leading his troops south.Who is the emperor of the Han Dynasty is actually not important to me. The stability of northern Xinjiang is the survival of more than 300 million people in Bingzhou.I have limited skills, and I can't go to Beijing to interfere with the emperor's government and government affairs, and I can't help the new monarch to govern the country. It's better to stay in the northern border with my brothers and guard the frontier.

The emperor is gone, and there is no one in the court of the Han Dynasty who is willing to tolerate and protect himself.From now on, I will fight for survival as I did when I first set foot in my homeland six years ago.Six years ago, I was only fighting for one life, but now, I want to fight for the lives of 10,000+ soldiers and more than 300 million people in Bingzhou.From this moment on, I can no longer make any mistakes.Without the protection of the emperor, one's own life may disappear at any time like a mustard.When I die, it is just a life and it is insignificant, but if tens of thousands of people lose their lives because of my own death, I will not be able to absolve myself of guilt even if I die.

"Don't say anything about this matter, we should encircle and wipe out Baimatong as soon as possible, and regain the border county as soon as possible." Li Hong said firmly, "If Luoyang is in chaos, we will make a decision."

===

Xu Rong meant to attack immediately.

At present, although the army's food and military supplies have not been interrupted, this does not mean that there is no chaos in Luoyang, and the army's supply of military supplies will continue.From the perspective of the security of the army, he proposed to end the fighting before the end of this month.But Li Hong's thoughts have changed. He did not agree with Xu Rong's suggestion, but ordered the army to surround the Hu nationality coalition regiment on the Daqing Plain, and not to make any attacks for the time being.

Xu Rong, Qu Yi, Yang Feng, and Zhao Yun arrived at the Xingyuan of General Zhengbei on the afternoon of the second day after Li Hong arrived in Daqingyuan.Li Hong took Yan Rou, Yushi, Yan Liang, Li Wei and others out of the camp to welcome them.The two parties were very happy after meeting, and Qu Yi even kept joking with Li Hong, pestering Li Hong to make him a wedding banquet.

Big account military discussion.From the beginning of the battle in mid-April to the present, Li Hong's army on the east route has lost 5000 soldiers, and there are still about 6000 soldiers left. Xu Rong's army on the west route has lost 1000 soldiers, and there are still [-] soldiers left. .At the cost of [-] people, the Northern Expedition Army moved nearly a thousand miles, and finally encircled the Hu nationality coalition forces at the southern foot of Daqing Mountain in May.

Li Wei said that we currently have 13 troops, while the Hu coalition forces are estimated to be around 8.Surrounding the 13 Hu coalition forces with [-] people is very difficult, and it is even more difficult to wipe them out completely, so the adults mean to encircle them first, and trap Baimatong, Tuobawei, Xukui and others on the Daqingyuan.

When the Hu people were cut off, there were only two ways to go, either to break through desperately, or to raise the flag and surrender.Surrounded by our 13-strong army, it is very difficult for the Hu people to break through, and even if they break through, they will not be able to cross the Yinshan pass. The biggest possibility is to escape into Daqingshan, but that is a dead end.

"When will the siege last?" Qu Yi asked, "Although siege and no attack can temporarily reduce the casualties of the army, we don't have time to wait. Now the situation in Luoyang is unknown, and the rainy season on the prairie will come soon, so we should immediately Offensive is better."

"Your Excellency has asked Yu Fuluo, the great Shan, to immediately go to Daqingyuan to recruit the tribes of the Huns." Li Wei said, "At the same time, Your Excellency has also sent someone to contact Xu Kui from the Eastern Qiang. If some tribes of the Huns and the Eastern Qiang If the people surrender, the Hu coalition forces will split up and disintegrate, and then as long as we launch the final blow, we can wipe out Baimatong and Tuobawei."

"Hu people are very tough. They still have troops and food in the short term. It will take a while to get them to surrender." Yan Rou asked, "If there is a change in Luoyang and the army's supply is cut off, should we start attacking immediately? ?”

"Attack immediately." Li Wei waved his hand and said, "If there is a problem with the supply of food and grass, Mr. Xianyu will let us know in advance. Please rest assured, my lords."

"Is the rainy season coming?"

"The coming of the rainy season is bad news for us, but why not for the enemy?" Li Wei smiled, "They will make wise choices when there is no possibility of breaking through."

"The rainy season is here, and we will fight as well." Li Hong looked at the generals and said solemnly, "I only have one request, that is, never let a Hu soldier escape from our encirclement. Reduce casualties and preserve strength."

===

At the end of May, the imperial edict was delivered to Xingyuan, General Zhengbei.

The new emperor first expressed his condolences to General Li Hong and the generals of the Beizheng Army, and then asked the Zhengbei Army to put down the Xiongnu rebels as soon as possible, defeat the Xianbei Hukou, and recover the four northern counties.

At the same time, a letter from Grand Tutor Yuan Kai was also delivered to Daying.In the letter, he described the death of the late emperor, the succession of the eldest prince, the changes in court personnel, and the recent situation in Luoyang and the Great Han Kingdom to Li Hong. Do your best not to break your old promises.

Old promise?Li Hong understood a lot when he saw this sentence.Although the emperor passed away, he used various arrangements to subtly continue the dispute over the imperial lineage.Isn't the emperor afraid that the Han Kingdom will fall into defeat because of this protracted imperial dispute?It was difficult for Li Hong to understand the Son of Heaven, since he had already given up the struggle for imperial lineage before he died, why did he have to set up a lot of schemes in Luoyang in order to make another wave?

Li Hong showed this letter to Li Wei, and the two discussed it for a long time, both of them felt that there was still a possibility of chaos in Luoyang.Li Wei sighed helplessly: "Sooner or later, all the forces in the court will break out internal strife in order to compete for imperial power, and His Majesty just gave a slight push before he died. In fact, the imperial dispute is not inevitable. The internal strife in the court It is inevitable, but once the internal strife is decided, it will inevitably affect the imperial line. Your Majesty has long anticipated the internal strife in Luoyang in the future, so he gave you the secret decree."

"I suspect that the real purpose of His Majesty's secret decree is not to let you go south to Beijing to do something, but to use your force to warn He Jin not to kill recklessly, to remind all parties in Luoyang that you are still a huge power in northern Xinjiang. Therefore..." Li Wei whispered, "If something unexpected happens in Luoyang, it will definitely be before the end of the Northern Xinjiang War. At this time, you have no threat to Luoyang, which is their best chance."

Li Hong smiled bitterly, "If I want to survive, I can only keep this threat. I'm not like Dong Zhuo, I'm outside the Great Wall, far away from Luoyang, and Dong Zhuo is right next to Chang'an, threatening the court too much. So this time he bears the brunt and the late emperor took the opportunity to remove his military power. As long as I don't enter the Great Wall, I won't dare to touch me today."

Li Wei looked at him and said with a slight smile: "I'm very happy that my lord thinks so. I hate what your lord says when I die and I'm afraid of nothing. You can tell me about it and complain, it's totally fine. But don't talk like that in front of other people. You are the commander-in-chief of the army, the hope of Beijiang. If you die, what should we do? What about Beijiang? You will disappoint everyone by saying that."

Li Hong smiled and said, "Zhong Yuan, do you still remember what happened that day?"

"Of course." Li Wei said, "The emperor is no longer the emperor of the past, and you are no longer Lulongsai's scout. You are now the general who conquers the North. You have to guard the northern border. You have to serve 10,000+ soldiers and more than 300 soldiers. You are responsible for the lives of thousands of people, and you are responsible for the future of the Han Kingdom, so you must change yourself, and everything can no longer be as simple as it used to be.”

Li Hong patted Li Wei's shoulder affectionately, and said gratefully, "Thank you."

"This time you besiege and not attack, I agree very much. On the one hand, we can preserve our strength, and on the other hand, we can recruit a large number of Huns to prepare for moving the Huns to the north and south of Yinshan Mountain in the future. Put the Huns in the north and south of Yinshan Mountain , It can not only free up the land in Henan for us to resettle the refugees, but also provide us with sufficient sources of cavalry to help us resist the invasion of the Xianbei people in the desert. As for the third thing, my lord naturally wants to delay the end of the war." Li Wei said, "My lord defeated the Hu allied forces so quickly and regained the border county. The impression given to today's emperor and court ministers is not that you are outstanding in force, but that your threat is getting bigger and bigger. One mistake may kill you." Invite death."

Li Hong smiled without saying a word.

"How long will my lord delay?"

"As long as there is no chaos in Luoyang and there is no shortage of food, salaries, ordnance, I will drag it down until August, so that I can get enough military supplies." Li Hong said worriedly. , Bingzhou's refugees and villages will lose the support of the imperial court, then, what should we do?"

===

In May, Luoyang.

He Jin found out about the fact that the middle officials gathered in the Ming Hall late at night to secretly discuss matters.

He Jin then asked Xun You, the servant of Huangmen, to present his secret memorial to Queen Mother He.Empress Dowager He was skeptical, so she sent someone to find Guo Sheng, the Zhongchang servant.Guo Sheng is from Nanyang, and it was because of his help that Empress Dowager He was able to enter the palace as a concubine.Empress Dowager He is very grateful to him for this, and has always regarded him as her confidant, and she must discuss with him first about everything big or small.Under the tearful questioning of Empress Dowager He, Guo Sheng had no choice but to speak hesitantly.Guo Sheng said that this was the idea of ​​Empress Dowager Dong and Jian Shuo, who wanted to kill He Jin.

Empress Dowager He said angrily: "After killing the general, will we kill our mother and son?"

Guo Sheng was so frightened that his face paled, and he knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly, "The Queen Mother has misunderstood. The Queen Mother Dong has a feud with us for killing her brother. How could we help her? How could we seek our own death? We did this for the sake of the Queen Mother and us. Your Majesty the Emperor. In the future, if the General..."

"Forget it, forget it, I don't blame you. You call Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang, and think of an idea to kill Jian Shuo immediately."

The queen mother knew that Zhao Zhong, Guo Sheng and others had good intentions, but He Jin was her elder brother after all, and the emperor had just succeeded to the throne, and the garrison of Luoyang and many things in the outer court depended on He Jin, so he could not be killed anyway.

Guo Sheng's face changed drastically, and he hurriedly said: "Queen Mother, kill Jian Shuo, and the Xiyuan Army will be commanded by the General. In this way, he will have [-] troops in hand, so who can restrain him? Queen Mother, the General will Those who kill us will harm the Queen Mother and His Majesty the Emperor."

The queen mother said unhappily: "With my palace protecting you, how dare he do? Does he dare to enter the palace and kill you?"

Guo Sheng said in panic, "Queen Dowager, I don't regret waiting for my ministers to die, but I'm afraid that the Queen Mother and His Majesty the Emperor will be ruled by him, and it will repeat the situation that the great general Liang Yi dominated the court and harmed the country."

The Empress Dowager suddenly came to her senses, and hurriedly asked: "This Palace will let you command the West Garden Army, what do you think?"

"The minister died faster." Guo Sheng waved his hand and said, "Queen Mother, let General Cheqi command the Xiyuan Army. After General Cheqi controlled the [-] Xiyuan Army, he and the general formed a rivalry. Your Majesty The general is under the influence, so he must not be able to monopolize the government and do whatever he wants."

"He..." Queen Mother He asked incredulously, "Can he do it?"

"It's not about leading troops to fight, why not?" Guo Sheng asked strangely, "General Cheqi can't fight, can't he defend Luoyang City?"

===

Since the death of the emperor, Jian Shuo stayed in Yongle Palace to serve Empress Dowager Dong and Bohai King Liu Xie, and rarely left the palace.He was worried that he would be killed by He Jin, so he brought a dozen or so Zhonghuangmen with him wherever he went, even in the palace.

On Gengwu Day (May 25), Zhao Zhong sent someone to invite him to Xuande Hall to discuss matters.Jian Shuo rushed there, and just entered the gate of Xuande Hall when he was knocked down and tied up by the Zhonghuang Gate standing on both sides of the hall.

Jian Shuo knew that the secret had been leaked, and he must have been betrayed by Zhao Zhong and others. In desperation, he yelled at the palace gate: "Go and ask the Queen Mother to save me..." The Zhonghuangmen who were waiting outside the palace gate turned to Yongle. Gong ran away.

Yuan She, the order of the Huangmen, walked out slowly from the hall.

"Why arrest me?" Jian Shuo shouted angrily in shock and fear, "Why arrest me?"

Yuan She sneered, took out the imperial decree from his pocket, and recited it aloud, saying that Jian Shuo had conspired to kill the ministers of the court.

Jian Shuo was scared out of his wits, and just about to shout a few words, he saw a flash of cold light, and his huge head had already left his neck.

===

When He Jin heard that Jian Shuo was dead, he couldn't help but let out a long breath.He happily said to Sima Hejin that the person who most wanted to kill me in Luoyang City was finally dead, now it's all over, the Xiyuan Army is mine now.

He Jin hadn't been happy for a while, when a news came from the palace that made him very angry. The Empress Dowager did not hand over the military power of the West Garden Army to him, but to He Miao, the chariot general.

"Damn traitor." He Jin gritted his teeth and cursed bitterly, "Order Zhang Liao, Zhang Yang, and Wu Qiuyi to lead five hundred troops each to surround Hussar General Dong Zhong's mansion."

He Jin asked, "General, what's the excuse?"

"They're all plotting to kill me, what excuse do you need?" He Jin asked, "Let's say that Dong Zhong and the little Huangmen Jian Shuo are plotting against each other, and ask Zhang Liao and the others to surround me and don't want Dong Zhong to leave."

"General, please be careful." He Jin hastily dissuaded, "General, Empress Dowager He did not intend to involve Empress Dowager Dong and General Hussars. If you do so, you will anger Empress Dowager Dong and the ministers in the court, and the consequences will be disastrous. "

He Jin sneered and remained silent.

"General, the late emperor has not yet buried Wenling. At this time, the people of the world will criticize and lose the hearts of the people of the world if they attack the Empress Dowager Dong and General Hushi." He Jin said, "General, please wait a little longer." Wait."

He Jin frowned, waved his hand and said, "Who said I wanted to kill them? I have my own intentions. Go and pass the order."

===

(End of this chapter)