[Collect Wei Bo again]
During the Spring Festival of the second year after Zhaozong ascended the throne, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, all civil and military officials presented Emperor Zhaozong with his title: Emperor Shengwen, Ruide, Guangwu, Hongxiao.
Don't remember it, it's all flattery.
Zhaozong was high-spirited and full of ambitions, so he changed his reign name to "Da Shun" in order to bring good luck to his next great achievements.
At that time, the "remnant of the thieves" Qin Zongquan had just been beheaded, and Tian Jian's party had just been liquidated. There were signs of a renaissance in the empire.
However, this was the "pump and dump" of history. The young and frivolous Zhaozong was severely cut off from a handful of leeks and almost lost everything.
The year of Dashun was an important turning point. After the low-level shock accumulation of "Li Yuan usurped the throne", it resolutely plummeted like a cliff.
The major vassals and towns took advantage of this sideways shock to complete their primitive accumulation, and one after another they unwound, took profits, and made a lot of money. Only the gold medal fund manager, Zhaozong, was buried at the bottom and became the laughing stock of the world.
We don’t need to sort out these profits one by one, because there are two Kanto bosses who almost dominate the overall situation, and the battle between the two bosses also dominates the future direction of the historical context, which can almost be generalized.
These two big guys from Guandong are Li Keyong and Zhu Wen.
Li Key used the remaining soldiers of his ancestors for several generations to gradually gain a foothold in Taiyuan Prefecture in Hedong, and successfully smashed the joint encirclement and suppression operation by the central and local governments, consolidated and defended the forces in Hedong, severely dampened the imperial court's enthusiasm, and forced the imperial court to change the cabinet.
After a short rest, Li Keyu took advantage of the remaining power of the victory and continued to attack Helianduo in Yunzhou. Unable to resist, Helianduo abandoned the city and fled to the Tuyuhun tribe. Then he fled to Youzhou and took refuge with Lulong Li Kuangwei.
Li Keyong cleared away the northern threat, successfully expanded the territory to the north, and began to threaten the towns in Hebei.
It was not only Li Keyong who coveted Hebei, but also his old friend Zhu Wen.
If the towns in Hebei are the fat on Li Keyong's lips, then in Zhu Wen's eyes, this piece of fat is a sharp knife hanging above his head.
For Zhu Wen, the towns in Hebei were not only Li Keyong's defensive barrier, but also Li Keyong's bridgehead heading south. If the towns in Hebei surrendered to Hedong, then Li Keyong could advance and attack and retreat and defend, thus firmly taking the initiative in the war; Whether Zhu Wen was conquering Xuzhou in the east or raiding Huainan in the south, there was always the danger of being attacked by Hebei.
The sharp blade hanging from the head is really not Zhu Wen's unfounded worry.
Two years ago, Wei Bo mutinied, Luo Hongxin came to power, and was forced to reconcile with Zhu Wen. Zhu Wen believed that he could use Wei Bo as a firewall and beachhead, and be in an active position when competing with Li Keyong for supremacy in the future. However, the reality is quite the opposite.
When Li Keyong annexed Dong Zhaoyi, Zhu Wen planned to use Wei Boch to aid Dong Zhaoyi, but Wei Boluo Hongxin refused, which ultimately led to Li Keyong successfully annexing Dong Zhaoyi; when Zhu Wen conquered Xuzhou and divided his troops in Huainan, Wei Boluo However, Hongxin opened his territory to Li Keyong and allowed 500 Shatuo cavalry to rush to Xuzhou.
The two incidents before and after are enough to prove Wei Boluo Hongxin's half-heartedness towards Zhu Wen and his sincerity towards Li Keyong. Therefore, as mentioned above, the appearance of five hundred Hedong reinforcements on the Xuzhou battlefield was an extremely dangerous signal for Zhu Wen.
Wei Bojun's attitude towards Li Keyong and Zhu Wen was typical of the towns in Hebei.
When Zhang Jun united with the vassal towns all over the world to attack Li Keyong, Zhu Wen, as the commander-in-chief of the Zhengdong Front, once again asked Wei Bo to borrow roads, borrow food, and recruit war horses. Not surprisingly, he was ruthlessly rejected by Luo Hongxin.
The Hebei vassals were not very interested in the affairs of the Central Plains. They did not want to intervene in the disputes in the Central Plains, let alone be annexed by the powerful vassals of the Central Plains. In one sentence, their appeal was to maintain the status quo and be gloriously isolated.
Zhu Wen had no contact with the vassals in Hebei, and had no grudges in the past or recent enmity. On the contrary, Li Keyong repeatedly intervened in Hebei affairs and interfered in the "internal affairs" of the Hebei region. Why do Hebei warlords ignore love and hate and are willing to tremble?
Because maintaining the status quo and allowing Li Keyong and Zhu Wen to form a strategic balance is the basic prerequisite for the prosperity and stability of the Hebei vassals. Their uncomplaining favoring of their “enemy” Li Keyong has deep-seated political considerations:
Now, Zhu Wen controls the Heyang area. Several important crossings on the Yellow River are under Zhu Wen's control. Luoyang, the eastern capital, serves as strategic depth. Therefore, crossing the Yellow River north to attack the Zhaoyi area and threaten Hedong is a good idea for Zhu Wen. It was easy to capture; and for Li Keyong, if he wanted to attack Zhu Wen, the best choice was to use Wei Bo.
If Li Keyong wants to annex Hebei, Zhu Wen will never sit idly by, otherwise he will face the dangerous dilemma of being surrounded by Li Keyong on three sides.
In other words, even if the vassals in Hebei offended Zhu Wen, Zhu Wen would help Hebei without hesitation out of consideration for his own safety. Helping Hebei is helping himself.
This is the political game theory of the Hebei vassals. Between Qi and Chu, trying to survive in the cracks.
Let us enlarge the map ruler again. Zhu Xuan of Yunzhou, Zhu Jin of Yanzhou, and Shi Pu of Xuzhou are in the east, and Sun Ru of Huainan and Yang Xingmi of Xuanzhou are in the south... The major vassal forces in the Central Plains are all well versed in this. If one party attacks the other, the attacked party can always unite with the third party behind the attacking party to encircle Wei and save Zhao; it can also always find the fourth party behind itself to seek support, and the situation is as cold as a stone's throw.
Understanding this truth, the chaos of the annexation of feudal towns in the late Tang Dynasty will instantly become clear. All seemingly chaotic warlord melees, with enemies and friends exchanging, follow this rule. This is the golden key to clearing up the melee in feudal towns in the late Tang Dynasty.
When the news came that Wei Boluo Hongxin once again refused Zhu Wen's permission to borrow roads, grain, and horses, Zhu Wen not only did not get angry, but instead laughed and said, "Luo Hongxin, you took the bait!"
After Zhu Wen realized the threat Wei Bo and Luo Hongxin posed to him, he planned a military operation against Wei Bo to eliminate this hidden danger, but he suffered from the lack of a legitimate excuse.
At a time when the imperial court was encircling Li Keyong from all sides, under the planning of counselor Jingxiang, Zhu Wen repeated his old tricks and once again fished for law enforcement. Not only must we borrow a passage from Wei Bo, but we must also collect his food, grass and baggage. In short, we must ensure that these requests are something that Luo Hongxin cannot agree to. Yes, Zhu Wen just wants Luo Hongxin to say "no".
As long as Luo Hongxin dared to say "no", it would be against the will of the imperial court, and Zhu Wen could legitimately eradicate the traitors for the imperial court.
In the twelfth lunar month of this year, Zhu Wen mobilized heavy troops and completed the assembly in Huazhou, then crossed the Yellow River and attacked Wei Bo.
Ding Hui and Ge Congzhou formed a vanguard column to clear the obstacles in the north and open the road to Weibo's headquarters - Weizhou; Pang Shigu and Huo Cun were responsible for clearing the strongholds in the west and ensuring the safety of the army's flanks; Zhu Wen personally led the backbone army Push north.
Within half a month, Zhu Wen won five battles and five victories and advanced to Yongding Bridge. The gate of Weizhou was suddenly opened and there was no danger to defend anymore.
Luo Hongxin was shocked. People said that Li Keyong was invincible, and Zhu Wen was no ordinary person. He hurriedly sent envoys carrying a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry to Zhu Wen to ask for peace.
Zhu Wen readily agreed to the peace request.
Luo Hongxin personally went to the Bianjun camp to plead guilty, and Zhu Wen went out of the camp several miles to greet him. The leaders of both sides had in-depth and friendly exchanges, exchanged greetings, and reached consensus on key issues.
Facing Wei Boluo Hongxin's betrayal, Comrade Zhu Wen personally led the army to convince Luo Hongxin with reason. When Luo Hongxin apologized, Zhu Wen did not kill everyone. Instead, he took the initiative to cease fire, returned prisoners of war and land, and used practical actions to prove to Luo Hongxin that Bianzhou declared war. The army has strong military strength and broad mind.
Luo Hongxin burst into tears of gratitude and said that he would definitely change his past mistakes. He also proposed that he and Zhu Wen would be sworn brothers with different surnames.
"No one is a sage, how can he have no faults? There is no greater good than correcting his faults." Zhu Wen immediately set up the incense table. The yellow sky is above and the thick soil is below. Luo Hongxin and Zhu Wen are willing to form a golden orchid friendship and become an alliance through blood.
Luo Hongxin was several years older than Zhu Wen and was the sixth eldest child in the family. Therefore, Zhu Wen treated him as an elder brother and called him "Sixth Brother".
Zhu Wen used both kindness and power to conquer Wei Boluo Hongxin.
Before Xuzhou Shipu, Yanyun Erzhu, and Huainan Sunru had not been resolved, Zhu Wen was unable to swallow up Wei Bo. The towns in Hebei will not sit back and watch this happen, let alone Li Keyong in Hedong.
Therefore, Zhu Wen's military action against Wei Bo was obviously different from his attitude towards Yan, Yun, and Xu. His strategic goal was to make Luo Hong surrender to Bianzhou with confidence and sincerity.
Zhu Wen kept his promise and withdrew his troops from Weibo in time. On the surface, he showed his generosity to Luo Hongxin, but in fact, he was to guard against Li Keyong in Hedong.
When the news of Li Keyong's attack on Yunzhou Helianduo came, Zhu Wen dared to breathe a sigh of relief and transferred this powerful force from the Heyang area to the east to continue completing his main mission-Xuzhou.
