When Yang An led five hundred cavalry to attack Qiuchi City, the rebels gathered in front of the palace gate and waited for Yang Jun to distribute the reward.
The deafening roar of horse hooves sounded from behind. Looking back, it was the ferocious-looking Yang An with the fury of revenge, taking the lead and raising his spear to kill.
The crowd was immediately in chaos. On the palace gate tower, Yang Jun looked at the fluttering Jin flag and jumped in frustration:
"I never thought that the Jin army would come!"
If he had known this, why would he turn against his relatives?
It's just that when the Jin army went south, why didn't they give warnings at the passes along the way?
As everyone knows, it was the Jin army who was going south under the guise of protecting Qiu Chi Gong Yang Chu. Yang Chu came forward to call the door and was able to pass unimpeded.
The rebels gathered in front of the palace gate had been killed. Yang An broke into the palace city, captured Yang Jun, Yang Songnu and others alive, and found the bodies of his family members.
After he escaped, all the other brothers were killed. Yang An glared at Yang Jun, gritted his teeth and said:
"Since you have already tried to seize my family's inheritance, why do you want to kill them all?"
Yang Jun replied with a trembling voice:
"This is all Yang Songnu's instigation and persecution. It is not my intention."
Yang Songnu on the side was not afraid. Although he failed to kill Yang Chu, he had now avenged his father. He sneered:
"Uncle, at this point, even if you beg for mercy, you can still survive. It's better to save your energy and die with dignity."
Yang Jun woke up from a dream and no longer expected Yang An to spare his life.
Yang An cut off the heads of the two men with his own hands to pay homage to the souls of his parents and brothers. Deng Qiang led the infantry and followed. From then on, Qiuchi declared its country subjugated, and the land was occupied by the Huan family.
Yang Chu was sent to Guanzhong to take care of his old age, while Yang An was left by Deng Qiang. Deng Qiang liked Yang An's bravery and recommended him to Huan Xi after preparing to teach him.
When the Jin army captured the city in Longyou, the situation in Guandong also changed.
In the first month of the sixth year of Yonghe (AD 350), after Shi Min called for the death of Hu, he changed his surname to Li due to the prophecy of "Following Zhao Li", and changed the post-Zhao title to Wei.
Everyone knows about his arrogance.
Shi Kun, the governor-general who was ordered to lead the army to fight on the front line, heard that Shi Min had killed Hu and occupied Xindu and rebelled. He led an army of 70,000 to attack Yecheng. Shi Min personally led more than a thousand cavalry and fought with Shi Kun in the north of the city, beheading 3,000 people. Shi Kun Retreat in great defeat.
Shi Min returned to the city with the power of victory, and the civil and military forces in the imperial court persuaded him to move in. However, Shi Min was still acting coyly, pretending to elect Li Nong as emperor.
How could Li Nong dare to agree? He tried his best to refuse, even risking his life to refuse.
Shi Min is still saying:
"I am from the Jin Dynasty, and the Jin Dynasty still exists. How can I claim to be the emperor in vain? I should divide the prefectures and counties with the princes, serve as a representative to the east of the Yangtze River, welcome the emperor of the Jin Dynasty back to the north, and return it to the old capital of Luoyang."
Shangshu Hu Mu advised Jin:
"The Sima family abandoned their country and went south, settled on the left side of the Yangtze River, and were forced by the Huan family. How could such a cowardly monarch be able to shoulder the important task of restoring the Central Plains and conquering the world? Your Majesty is a hero of the world and should be the leader of all ministers. Please, I will respond to the hope of all people, how can I refuse!"
Shi Min was overjoyed when he heard this:
"As Hu Shangshu said, know your destiny and know your destiny. Heaven will entrust me with a great responsibility. How can I back down!"
In the second month of the leap month, Shi Min deposed Shi Jian and became emperor in Yecheng. He changed the country's name to Wei, restored the surname Ran, and was known as Ran Wei in history.
Ma Qiu, who had previously attacked Wang Lang and was about to lead his troops to join Ran Min, was attacked by Fu Xiong, the son of Fu Hong, on his way to Ye City, and was defeated and captured.
Fu Hong treated Ma Qiu as an honored guest and regarded him as a military advisor and general, just as Huan Xi treated Wang Meng.
However, Ma Qiu's ambition did not stop there. Soon, he took the opportunity of a banquet to poison Fu Hong, hoping to take the opportunity to annex Fu Hong's tribe.
Although the conspiracy was discovered by Fu Hong's son Fu Jian and Ma Qiu was killed, Fu Hong had already drunk the poisoned wine.
On his deathbed, Fu Hong left his last words to his sons Fu Jian and Fu Xiong:
"The reason why I didn't enter Guanzhong was because I thought I could take advantage of it by staying in the Central Plains. I never thought that I would be harmed by a villain like Ma Qiu, and my life would be in vain.
"The current situation in Guandong is in chaos and cannot be settled by your brothers, and Guanzhong is already occupied by the Huan clan, so it cannot be easily conquered.
"I believe that Lao Qiang (Yao Yizhong) has long been enterprising in Guanzhong. After my death, you brothers should lead the people across the river, attack Bingzhou, and open the road so that Lao Qiang and the Huan family can fight.
"Zhang Ping of Bingzhou is no match for your brothers. Once we capture Bingzhou, we can sit back and watch the success or failure of Lao Qiang and the Huan clan, and wait for the opportunity to send troops to seize Guanlong. If we can capture Guanlong and Hedong, it will be a big deal!"
After all, Fu Hong, who had previously thought that he had no rivals in the north, passed away at the age of sixty-six.
His eldest son Fu Jian took over the leadership of the tribe and obeyed his father's orders. He led an army of more than 100,000 people across the river and went north to attack Bingzhou.
Just as Fu Hong said, Yao Yizhong had been spying on Guanzhong for a long time and learned that the Di people had opened the way. Yao Yizhong immediately sent his son Yao Xiang to lead an army of fifty thousand to march westward, preparing to take advantage of the opportunity when Huan Xi's main force was still in Longyou. Capture Guanzhong.
At this time, Huan Xi was in a stalemate with the Liang army heading east at Didao (now Lintao County, Gansu).
Didao was inhabited by Di people during the pre-Qin period, so it was named.
The armies of Jin and Liang set up camps on the east and west banks of the Tao River and faced each other across the river.
Huan Xi couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief when he learned that the head coach of the Liang Army in this battle was not Xie Ai, but Zhang Chonghua himself.
However, like a lion fighting a rabbit, and with all his strength, he still recalled all the generals who had been assigned to occupy the city and brought them to the front line.
Deng Xia, Deng Qiang, Yang An, Shi Yue and others all obeyed his orders. Even Huan Yi, who had previously stayed at Longguan, led two thousand soldiers to Didao to help in the battle.
Zhang Chonghua had 30,000 Liang troops under his command, while Huan Xi had 20,000 Jin troops.
The Jin army is naturally elite, and the Liang army is also an elite soldier who has followed Xie Ai and repeatedly defeated many with less, and is not a ragtag group under Wang Zou's command.
The enemy is numerous and we are few, we cannot defeat them with strength, we can only outwit them.
For the time being, Huan Xi had no good strategy to defeat the enemy, and Zhang Chonghua did not dare to cross the river rashly for fear of being ambushed, so the two settled into a stalemate.
The main forces of both sides never fought a decisive battle, but the battle between the scouts never stopped, with both sides winning or losing.
As the sun set, another small-scale battle between scouts ended on the banks of the Taoshui River. This time, it was the Jin army that had the last laugh.
While cleaning the battlefield, two Jin soldiers clashed over a piece of loot.
"I saw it first! This should be mine!"
A Jin soldier held the jade pendant he touched from Liang Ren and said.
Another insisted:
"I killed this person, and this jade should be mine!"
Because the battle between the scouts was too dangerous, Huan Xi allowed the scouts to privately collect loot in order to encourage them to fight.
Just like in a decisive battle between two armies, the soldiers standing at the front of the team will always receive the most generous rewards.
The two of them each had their own reasons and couldn't argue.
During the quarrel, the words became more intense, and eventually they were overwhelmed by anger, and then they drew their swords at each other.
This scene was accidentally bumped into by Deng Xia. He was furious, stepped forward to snatch the jade pendant, and angrily said:
"At the moment of the war, they are actually killing each other over this thing! Come here! Take these two down quickly and escort them back to the camp. I will report them to the lord and deal with them according to military law!"
After that, he smashed the jade pendant on the ground and broke it into pieces.
The two of them were terrified. If they were dealt with according to military law, they would not be alive. They quickly knelt down and begged for mercy:
"Please forgive me, General, I will never dare to do it again!"
Deng Xia ignored it and insisted on bringing the two of them to Huan Xi, explaining the situation to Huan Xi and requesting:
"My lord, these two people deserve to be punished for their crimes. Please order my lord to kill them to prove military law!"
Unexpectedly, Huan Xi's attention was not on how to deal with the two, but on being inspired by the two's rebellion.
He grabbed Deng Xia's arms with joy and said with a smile:
"Ying Yuan! I finally figured out a way to defeat the enemy!"
Deng Xia didn't know why, but Huan Xi had ordered a meeting of the generals to be convened. As for the two people who had been fighting among themselves, Huan Xi saw their pleading and said:
"According to military law, you two will undoubtedly die. But now that the war is going on, I am willing to keep your lives temporarily so that you can atone for your sins."
The two hurriedly kowtowed and thanked each other, and Huan Xi asked them their names.
The older man replied:
"Report to General, young Zhang Shisheng."
Another person also replied:
"Reporting back to the general, little Guo flaps his wings."
Huan Xi also asked about their addresses and family circumstances, and learned that they both had children. Huan Xi immediately said:
"I have something that requires your help, but it's dangerous, so I won't force you."
Zhang Shisheng and Guo Zhenyi were worried that Huan Xi was just saying that he would not force him. Once they refused, they would immediately pursue their previous crimes, so they hurriedly responded:
"The general has given me the grace to live, and I will not hesitate to die to repay the general's kindness."
Huan Xi was overjoyed when he heard this and said:
"Don't worry, you two. As long as you serve me wholeheartedly, I will definitely reward you greatly. If you don't survive, your wives and children will be raised by me. When they grow up, they will have a bright future!"
If they had agreed before because they were afraid of punishment, now that they heard Huan Xi's promise, Zhang Shisheng and Guo Zhenyi would be happy to do so even if they had to go through mountains of swords and seas of fire.
Huan Xi immediately told the two of them how to act. At this time, Zhang and Guo finally knew why Huan Xi said this was dangerous.
On the same day, Huan Xi ordered all the soldiers in the army to declare Zhang Shisheng and Guo Zhenyi's crimes and prepare to execute them tomorrow.
At night, Zhang and Guo escaped from the camp while the guards were unprepared. They swam across the river at night and arrived at the west bank of Tao River. They were soon discovered by Liang army scouts.
Zhang Shisheng saw the Liang army scouts holding their bows and arrows, and he quickly shouted:
"Don't kill me! I'm here to seek refuge with King Liang, and I have important military information to report!"
The Liang Army scouts then put away their arrows and stepped forward to tie up the two men and take them back to the camp.
Zhang Chonghua was also racking his brains on how to defeat the enemy at this time. When he learned that the Jin army was crossing the river to surrender, he immediately ordered people to bring Zhang and Guo.
But just for the first time, Zhang Chonghua said angrily:
"These two are spies! Someone, pull them out and kill them!"
Zhang and Guo were shocked. Guo fluttered his wings and said angrily:
"The two of us took the risk and came to seek refuge with the king. Why did the king want to put us to death without any explanation?"
Zhang Shisheng was also indignant:
"I just hate that we don't know people well, but I hope you die quickly!"
"Wait!"
Zhang Chonghua was just trying to deceive them. Seeing that it had no effect, it was naturally impossible for him to kill them without asking why they came to seek refuge.
