【Song of Seven Sons】
Du Hong of Ezhou, Zhong Chuan of Hongzhou, Ma Yin of Tanzhou, Zhao Kuangning of Xiangzhou, Chengru of Jingnan, Lei Yangong of Langzhou, plus the powerful "outsider" Yang Xingmi of Huainan in the east, will finally stage a story in this marginal land. Put on a good show.
Yang Xingmi frowned in front of the map, but then he smiled broadly.
Although most of them are attached to Zhu Wen, most of them are on the fence, unjust and capricious. As long as Huainan's advantages can be shown to them, they will change their doors without hesitation. But at this stage, it seems difficult to achieve absolute crushing of Zhu Wen on the frontal battlefield, and this road is blocked.
Looking at these six pieces of information, no one is a fuel-efficient lamp, and the relationship between them is not so harmonious. Although they are under the same roof, there are also hidden irreconcilable conflicts or unpleasant pasts. As long as they can stir up trouble and fan the flames, they will kill each other, and Huainan will reap the benefits. This is the essence of Yang Xingmi's plan to advance westward.
What do they have to say between them?
First of all, a direct conflict broke out between Zhongchuan of Hongzhou and Ma Yin of Tanzhou. In order to compete for territory, the two sides fought each other with swords;
Secondly, there is also a "feud" between Lei Yangong of Langzhou and Ma Yin of Tanzhou.
When Lei Man rebelled against Gao Pian and settled in Langzhou, his close comrade-in-arms Zhou Yue also betrayed him. The reason was that the two of them had an uneven distribution of meat while hunting (they fought over uneven hunting and killing of meat). Zhou Yue's attempt to kill Lei Man failed, but Lei Man occupied Langzhou and became powerful, so Zhou Yue led his troops to capture Hengzhou and became the governor. Later, another comrade of Lei Man competed with Min Xu for Tanzhou. Min Xu was betrayed by a traitor and died. Zhou Yue took advantage of the situation and occupied Tanzhou.
Min Xu's subordinate Deng Chune blamed Zhou Yue, and he fought hard and endured it for eight years. Eight years later, he joined forces with Lei Man to conquer Tanzhou and kill Zhou Yue. Described above.
Therefore, there was an alliance between Lei Man and Deng Chune, and Deng Chune was killed by Liu Jianfeng a year later. Liu Jianfeng's successor was Ma Yin.
Although there was no direct military conflict between Lei Man and Ma Yin, there were subtle conflicts of interest due to Deng Chune.
After Lei Man's death, his son Lei Yangong succeeded him, thus inheriting this contradiction.
Again, there was the conflict between Lei Yangong of Langzhou and Chengru of Jingnan. This contradiction is the most irreconcilable.
Langzhou and Lizhou occupied by Lei Man were originally subordinate states of Jingnan. From Cheng Rui's point of view, "Lang and Lizhou have been the territory of Jingnan since ancient times and are an inalienable part of Jingnan." Lei Man was of course a "Lang Du" and "Li Du" element.
From Lei Man's point of view, there is no fundamental difference between him and Cheng Ru. I am Zhanli and Lang, and you are occupying Jiangling Mansion. As for Lilang Prefecture, which is under the jurisdiction of Jingnan, and Jiangling Prefecture, which is the capital of Jingnan... Then Huang Chao once occupied Chang'an, who recognizes him as the emperor? Why should I, Lei Man, obey Cheng Ru's control?
Previously, Cheng Rui kept complaining to the court, accusing Lei Man of splitting Jingnan, but the court never responded directly. Later, Prime Minister Xu Yanruo was demoted and exiled. When he passed by Jiangling Mansion, he was warmly entertained by Cheng Ru. During the dinner, Cheng Ru complained to Xu Yanruo again, hoping that he could speak a word for him in the court to help him complete Jingnan's mission. The great cause of unification.
Xu Yanruo said sarcastically: "You live in troubled times, and you call yourself a hero and often compare yourself to Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin. Now, you can't even deal with a small barbarian thief, so you still have the nerve to turn around and complain about the injustice of the court?"
Cheng Rui's face was filled with shame and guilt, and he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl in.
Lei Yangong and Cheng Ru had a huge contradiction that "divided the land and divided the territory", which was like water and fire and irreconcilable.
Finally, there is the conflict between Jingnan Chengru and Tanzhou Ma Yin.
This clue is not rich, the relevant information is not sufficient, and there is basically no direct evidence. We can only find indirect records from other records. For example, when Jing Nan Chengru decided to send troops, a counselor under his command reminded him that Ma Yin and Lei Yangong They are all our enemies.
Chengru and Mayin were in Hubei and Hunan respectively. They had powerful contacts along the Yangtze River and around Dongting Lake. Friction and disputes were inevitable.
At this point, after some sorting, it is not difficult to see that Tanzhou Ma Yin, Jingnan Chengru, and Langzhou Lei Yangong all have conflicts between them. Either party can unite with the other to attack the third party, and can also be defeated by the other. The two parties' attacks form a strange triangle in the west of Huainan; among them, Tanzhou Ma Yin is relatively the strongest, and he also has the most enemies. In addition to Jingnan Chengru, Langzhou Lei Yangong, and Hongzhou Zhong It is said that existence is unpleasant;
In addition to the territorial disputes between Hongzhou Zhongchuan and the regional bully Tanzhou Ma Yin, there is also an internal instability factor - Fuzhou Wei Quanxi, like a time bomb;
As for Zhao Kuangning of Xiangzhou, he was in two different situations, sometimes joining Zhu Wen and sometimes joining Huainan. He was unjust and unjust for the sake of profit. It was impossible for him to go to war with Huainan just for an order from Zhu Wen.
After some weighing and comparison, Yang Xingmi concluded that these six towns were not of concern. Not only were they not a danger to Huainan, they could also be used by Huainan.
Now let’s sort out the current situation in this area: Ezhou Duhonggou relied on his human power and Zhu Wen’s backing to openly rob the emperor, and the imperial court ordered Yang Xingmi to attack;
Yang Xingmi followed the imperial edict, became famous, and surrounded Ezhou;
At that time, King Shifan of Qingzhou rebelled and Zhu Youning died in battle. Zhu Wen was busy suppressing the rebellion. The aiding Ebian Army and the Huainan Army reached a deadlock in Ezhou and failed to relieve the siege of Ezhou.
【Death of Cheng Ru】
The more powerful a person is, the more he knows how to preserve his strength and leverage his strength. For example, the bigger a company becomes, the more it pays attention to financing. Although Ma Yin, an old subordinate of Sun Ru, was always wary of Huainan Yang Xingmi, Huainan Yang Xingmi did not list Tanzhou Ma Yin as an imaginary enemy. On the contrary, Yang Xingmi positioned Ma Yin as a "comrade who could win over."
Ma Yin was relatively strong and surrounded by powerful enemies, so he could serve as a stepping stone and pawn for Huainan to expand its power westward. Once Tanzhou is used by Huainan, Yang Xingmi can move freely in the west of Huainan.
If you close it, you can fan the flames and make Ma Yin become the target of public criticism, and block the gun for Huainan; if you release it, you can join forces vertically and horizontally, allowing Ma Yin to get chestnuts from the fire, and Huainan will reap the benefits.
Therefore, while Yang Xingmi was attacking Ezhou, he took the initiative to extend an olive branch to Ma Yin, asked for an alliance with him, and offered to become brothers with different surnames.
After weighing the pros and cons, Ma Yin still believed that Zhu Wen's thighs were thicker and politely declined Yang Xingmi's kindness. However, Yang Xingmi did not give up his fight for Ma Yin because of this. This is a story for later.
Ezhou and Guangzhou asked Zhu Wen for help at the same time. Zhu Wen sent his general Han Qing to lead 10,000 reinforcements to Shekou, and ordered the "weird triangle" Jingnan Chengru, Tanzhou Ma Yin, and Langzhou Lei Yangong to jointly send troops to assist Ezhou Du. flood.
Jingnan Chengru happily accepted the order. He believed that this was a good opportunity to expand his power. He planned to seize the land in Huainan and expand his own territory in the name of aiding Hubei, so he mobilized 100,000 naval troops and headed eastward along the Yangtze River.
This surface force took Cheng Rui three years to build. It has countless giant ships, and its ships are so huge that they are rarely seen in the world. The flagship is named "Hezhouzai". As the name suggests, it can accommodate people from one state, comparable to today's aircraft carriers; the others such as "Qishan", "Jiehai", "Pilang"... just from the name of the ship Just imagine their size.
Cheng Ru almost came out in full force.
His counselor advised him not to do this, reminding him that those two "comrades" - Ma Yin from Tanzhou and Lei Yangong from Langzhou, were enemies of Jingnan, so he must be on guard against others! Moreover, this huge navy seems to be powerful and invincible, but in fact it has a fatal flaw, that is, the ships are too heavy and difficult to move. The Huainan Army has always been known for its agile movements, so it is difficult to compete with them! It is better to send an elite force to Baling (a strategic location at the intersection of the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake, the junction of Jingnan, E, Tan, and Lang towns) and park the main force on the other side. In this way, the northern control of Ezhou , to restrict the Huainan Army; to the south to hold Tan and Lang, to guard against stabbings in the back by "friendly forces". Within a month, the Huainan Army will be unable to supply food and grass, and will inevitably retreat without a fight, and the siege of Ezhou will also be lifted.
From a God's perspective, although the counselor's plan was perfect, what he didn't know was that Cheng Ru's goal was not to lift the siege of Ezhou, but to seize the land of Huainan. The counselor saw through the current situation, but failed to see through Cheng Rui's thoughts. Cheng Ru flatly rejected this safe proposal and went his own way, relying on his own invincible fleet and sailing eastward along the river.
As expected, Tanzhou Ma Yin and Langzhou Lei Yangong reached a secret agreement on sharing the spoils in private. The two armies met at the mouth of Jingjiang River where Dongting Lake empties into the Yangtze River, and then headed north to take advantage of the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Cheng Rui's home base, Jiangling Mansion.
The combined forces of Tan and Lang easily captured Jiangling Mansion and took away all the residents and property in the city.
When the frontline soldiers heard that their families had been destroyed, their morale immediately collapsed and they completely lost their combat effectiveness. Cheng Rui's invincible fleet was like a zombie.
At the same time, Huainan General Li Shenfu also tailored a set of tactics for this invincible fleet, combining geographical factors to launch a fire attack.
Cheng Rui's navy completely collapsed, and the situation was out of control.
His lair in the rear was taken away, and the entire army faced annihilation on the front line. Cheng Ru knew that the situation was over, he looked up to the sky and sighed, regretting that he had not listened to others, and then committed suicide by drowning.
Li Shenfu captured more than 200 remaining ships, further strengthening Huainan's strength. After receiving the news, Han Qing, the army aiding Hubei and Bian, hurriedly retreated.
On his way back to his army, General Xu Dexun of Tanzhou persuaded Deng Jinzhong, the governor of Yuezhou, to surrender. Deng Jinzhong moved his family to Tanzhou. Ma Yin then appointed Xu Dexun as the governor of Yuezhou and Deng Jinzhong as the governor of Hengzhou. Yuezhou is located to the east of the intersection of Dongting Lake and the Yangtze River, facing Langzhou across Dongting Lake to the west; to the south it is connected to Tanzhou by the Xiang River; to the northeast it is connected to Ezhou along the Yangtze River; to the northwest it is connected to Jiangling Prefecture upstream of the Yangtze River. It is an important strategic location and is now controlled by Tanzhou Mayin.
But Langzhou Lei Yangong does not have this talent and strategy. He is "savage, cunning, and has a fatherly style." He is the same as his father. What is his father like? Answer: "Gai non-human".
Lei Yangong's favorite entertainment activity was killing people and setting fires, leaving the Jingnan area "thousands of miles without a trace."
Cheng Rui, who committed suicide by drowning, can now be concluded. He has a legendary story. Like many heroes in troubled times in history, he liked to be a knight when he was young and "killed people while drunk". After that, he went into exile and became a monk to avoid being hunted. He has been a robber and a soldier, and has traces of Xiahou Dun and Lu Zhishen in him.
He has been wandering around the world all year round. He has a bold and irritable personality. He is also tainted with the habits of a warlord and is deeply despised by literati. And he was narrow-minded, and historical records also recorded a stain on him:
There was a counselor named Zheng Zhun beside him, who was good at writing and famous among the princes. One time when Cheng Rui celebrated his birthday, Yang Xingmi from Huainan sent envoys to celebrate his birthday, give him birthday gifts, and connect him with each other. Among these birthday gifts, there was actually a copy of "The Beginner's Notes". "Ji Xue Ji" is a comprehensive book compiled during the early Tang Dynasty. It includes single sentences from the early Tang Dynasty and previous life classics, histories, zis, and collections. To put it simply, it is a refined guide to famous sayings and aphorisms. It is available in paper version. mother.
When Zheng Zhun found out, he was very angry and told Cheng Rui that "Ji Xue Ji" is a "book for training children". We are in a state of hostility with Huainan. They sent this book to deliberately disgust you and scold you for being uneducated. , we should reply with a letter of condemnation to show our dignity!
I don’t know whether Cheng Rui was magnanimous or heartless. He did not adopt Zheng Zhun’s suggestion. He still accepted the "Ji Xue Ji" with a smile and asked the envoy to send back his cordial greetings to Yang Xingmi.
Zheng Zhun shook his head and sighed, "In this way, I will be ridiculed by the enemy. I have no one in Jingnan! It seems that Jingnan cannot last long." So Zheng Zhun submitted his resignation and quit.
Cheng Ru did not leave him tolerance, and secretly sent someone to assassinate Zheng Zhun.
The boss behind Ezhou, Zhu Wen, was fighting a fierce battle with Wang Shifan of Qingzhou on the Shandong Peninsula; serious internal strife broke out among the reinforcements, and Chengru of Jingnan died before he could leave the army.
Ezhou seemed to be within reach, but Yang Xingmi failed to expand the results as he wished. Because at this moment, a series of troublesome things happened inside Huainan that made Yang Xingmi difficult.
