During the years when Yang Zhong was in Nanliang, the situation in the Northern Wei Dynasty became even more chaotic.
In Hebei, after Du Luo Zhou raised his troops, Xian Yu Xiuli, a citizen of Huaishuo Town, rebelled in Zuoren City, Dingzhou, and changed the name to "Lu Xing". After raising his troops, Xianyu Xiuli successively defeated the local troops of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the rebels organized by local powerful forces.
Some of these defeated local tycoons had devoted their loyalty to the Northern Wei Dynasty and fought against Xian Yu Xiuli's rebels until they died on the battlefield, such as Yang Zhong's father Yang Zhen; some had the mentality of joining if they couldn't defeat them, and surrendered to Xian Yu Xiu Li, such as Yuwen Gong and his son and Dugu Xin.
Seeing that the situation was critical, the Northern Wei Dynasty appointed General Chang Sun Zhi as the Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and ordered him and Wang Yuanchen of Hejian to lead an army to attack Xianyu Xiuli.
These two people have never gotten along, and they always like to fight against each other on weekdays. On the battlefield, they are still like this, without any change. The result can be imagined. Under their command without any tacit understanding, the Northern Wei army was completely defeated by Xian Yu Xiuli, and almost the entire army was wiped out.
There was no other way, Empress Dowager Hu could only let Wang Yuanyuan of Guangyang take command again and go out to fight, replacing Changsun Zhi as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Campaign, and Wang Yuanrong of Zhangwu and General Pei Yan as deputy commanders to lead the troops to quell the rebellion.
Although Yuan Yuan was very talented in military affairs, he was after all a prince and aristocrat of the Northern Wei Dynasty. After staying in this decadent court for a long time, he also contracted the same bad habit as Queen Mother Hu - promiscuous relations between men and women.
He had an improper relationship with Yu, the wife of Yuan Hui, who was the minister at the time, and made Yuan Hui a cuckold. What's terrible is that it didn't take long for this matter to come to light, and Yuan Hui found out about it.
Yuan Yuan knew very well that as long as he led his army onto the battlefield, no matter whether he won or not, Yuan Hui would always do something behind his back and kill him. If you win, you will have great achievements and you will not be able to escape death; if you lose, you will be guilty of an unforgivable crime and you will not be able to escape death.
With his future uncertain, Yuan Yuan was in a dilemma for a while and had no intention of fighting, so he kept stationing troops in Dingzhou and stood still.
At this time, there was also a fight within the rebel army. Xianyu Xiuli was killed by his subordinate Yuan Hongye. The rebel general Ge Rong killed Yuan Hongye and took over Xianyu Xiuli's team to lead the rebel army and continue the rebellion. .
Ge Rong is a powerful character. He led his army to attack and kill Zhangwu King Yuanrong, and with the power of victory, he took advantage of the situation and proclaimed himself emperor, and established the country as "Qi".
At this time, Yuan Yuan still stood still, which allowed Yuan Hui to find an opportunity. He reported to Empress Dowager Hu about Yuan Yuan, saying that Yuan Yuan supported his own troops and had evil intentions.
Empress Dowager Hu was angry at Yuan Yuan for standing still. After hearing Yuan Hui's words, she felt that it made sense. So she instructed Yang Jin, the governor of Dingzhou, to secretly arrest Yuan Yuan and send him to Luoyang for justice.
Yang Jin received the order from Empress Dowager Hu and sent people to arrest Yuan Yuan.
Yuan Yuan was caught off guard when he saw the person who came to arrest him. He didn't expect Yuan Hui to attack him so quickly. In a hurry, he had no choice but to escape from Dingzhou with a few personal guards.
Unfortunately, Yuan Yuan ran into Ge Rong's rebel army before escaping far and was captured by the rebel army.
As a famous general who put down the Baling Rebellion of Liuhan, Yuan Yuan had a high prestige among the six towns. This made Ge Rong very afraid, and he immediately ordered Yuan Yuan to be killed.
Poor Yuan Yuan died in such a muddle. He failed to die vigorously on the battlefield, but died under the conspiracy of his own people.
After capturing Yuan Yuan, Ge Rong became famous. He then led his army to capture Yinzhou (now Longyao County, Hebei Province) and Jizhou, and then defeated the Northern Wei army that came to conquer, and killed Yuanyuan's successor, the new Northern Governor Yuanzi Yong and deputy commander Pei Yan.
After defeating the Northern Wei army, Ge Rong aimed his next attack at Du Luozhou, led his army to attack and kill him, and annexed his troops.
Today, Ge Rong is ambitious and high-spirited, with hundreds of thousands of troops under his command. Looking across the land of Hebei, no one is his opponent.
On the northwest border, the situation is even more unpredictable and dizzying.
After defeating Xiao Baoyin's Northern Wei army, the rebels began to rebel.
Lu Bodu, a general under Mo Zhe Niansheng, defected to Hu Chen. He was appointed as the governor by Hu Chen and led his army to attack Mo Zhe Niansheng. Lu Bodu was very familiar with the internal situation of Mo Zhe Niansheng's army, so he defeated Mo Zhe Niansheng's troops several times.
Mo Zhe Niansheng couldn't defeat Hu Chen in the frontal battlefield, so he resorted to underhanded tactics and sent assassins to use a "decapitation tactic" to kill Hu Chen.
Some history books say that Hu Chen and Mo Zhe Niansheng later joined forces to deal with Po Liuhan Baling, and Po Liuhan Baling was angry and sent people to kill Hu Chen.
Come on, this is all nonsense! Hu Chen died in 526 AD, and Po Liuhan Baling was killed by Yuan Yuan and the Rouran people as early as June 525 AD. How could they send someone to kill him!
Two dogs fight, play off.
After the two men died, Hu Chen's general Wanqi Chounu inherited the political legacy of the two men, incorporated their armies, and became the biggest winner.
Xiao Baoyin, who had been standing still after the defeat, was afraid that he would end up like Yuan Yuan, so he actually rebelled. Unfortunately, he overestimated his abilities and was defeated by the general Zhang Sunzhi who was re-activated by the Northern Wei Dynasty. In desperation, he had to lead the remaining troops to seek refuge with his old rival Wanqi Chounu.
Now, Wanqi Chounu's power has expanded even more. As a result, he led his army to capture the Guanlong area (parts of today's Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia) and expanded his territory a lot. As the territory expanded, Wanqi Chounu's ambitions also continued to expand. Finally, he established himself as emperor in Gaoping (now Guyuan, Ningxia), and gave him a "nice" reign title - "Sacred Beast".
One wave after another broke out, and when rebellions broke out frequently in the northwest and Hebei regions, another rebellion broke out in Bingzhou.
The people of Xiurong (now Xinzhou, Shanxi) begged for help and killed the local prefect and started a rebellion. Wan Yu Qizhen, a herdsman from Nan Xiurong, also gathered a crowd to kill Lu Yan, the imperial servant of the Northern Wei Dynasty. In response to Qi Fu Mo Yu, he launched an army to rebel.
If one person rebels today, another person will rebel tomorrow; if the suppression fails today, he will be beheaded, and if the suppression fails tomorrow, he will be beheaded. Whether it is the princes and nobles, or the traffickers and pawns; whether it is the rebels in the uprising, or the Northern Wei government troops. In troubled times, everyone has no control over his or her own destiny. Living one more day is considered a gift from God.
Today we don’t know tomorrow. This situation is simply a huge disaster for ordinary people. However, for ambitious people, it is a golden opportunity.
Er Zhurong, the chief of the Qihu tribe who lives in Beixiurong, has been ambitious since he was a child, hoping to achieve something great one day.
Qifu Moyu and Wanyu Qizhen rebelled, making Er Zhurong feel that the time had come to do something big. So he dispersed his family property, recruited volunteers, and soon established a Qihu cavalry force of more than 4,000 people.
With all the troops and horses ready, Er Zhurong immediately sent out his troops to attack Qifu Moyu and Wanyu Qizhen. How could the two of them be opponents of Er Zhurong, a military genius? They were defeated by Er Zhurong in just a few clicks.
After taking care of these two people, Er Zhurong did not stop. When other rebellions occurred in Shanxi, Er Zhurong immediately sent his army to attack the rebels and capture the city.
While crusading against the rebels, Er Zhurong also continued to recruit talents and expand his strength. People such as Yuan Tianmu, Murong Shaozong, Gao Huan, He Batayue, He Basheng, Hou Jing and others were all taken under his command. , for its effectiveness. In just a few years, Er Zhurong had many talents and famous generals under his command.
So how did these famous generals come together under Er Zhurong?
After He Basheng went to Shuozhou to ask for help, Fei Mu, who was the governor of Shuozhou at the time, kept him with a generous gift and sent him to serve in Yuanyuan's army. Later, He Basheng was ordered to assist in guarding Hengzhou and met the two brothers He Bayun and He Bayue.
Soon after Hengzhou fell, brothers He Bayun and He Bayue went to Xiurongchuan to defect to Er Zhurong, while He Basheng fled to Sizhou (today's Xinzhou, Shanxi).
In August 526 AD, Er Zhurong led his army through Sizhou. Because the governor of Sizhou refused to enter the city, Er Zhurong was angry and sent troops to capture Sizhou, and got the general He Basheng.
At this point, the three brothers gathered under Er Zhurong and served for him.
Gao Huan was born in Huaishuo Town, one of the six towns, and was a Han Chinese from Xianbei. The so-called transformation of Xianbei into Han people means the skin of Han people and the soul of Xianbei people. In order to blend in with the Xianbei people, he also gave him a Xianbei name, He Liuhun.
Unlike the Yang Zhong family, which has been officials for generations, Gao Huan was an exiled sinner, and his family conditions were not good and he lived in poverty.
His father was an idle vagrant who spent all his time gambling or avoiding debts. He didn't care about his family at all. His mother died when he was in labor. Therefore, Gao Huan was brought up by his sister and brother-in-law since he was a child.
His brother-in-law is Wei Jing, a jailer. Probably because of her brother-in-law's work, the young Gao Huan came into contact with many people, including people from all walks of life.
Growing up in such an environment, Gao Huan not only did not become a little gangster, but also developed the ability to observe people's emotions and figure out people's hearts. This made Gao Huan have great ambitions since he was a child, determined to "clarify the world and sweep away the world", and achieved great success. A big undertaking.
As an adult, Gao Huan was very handsome. History books describe his handsome appearance like this: clear eyes, long head, high cheekbones, and teeth as white as jade.
What's the use of being handsome? It's really useless for other people, but for Gao Huan, being handsome is really useful.
In order to make a living, Gao Huan joined the army and became a soldier in Huaishuo Town. For this reason, while on guard duty, he was attracted by Lou Zhaojun, the daughter of Xianbei nobleman Lou Neigan.
Gao Huan was not a fool and did not miss such an excellent opportunity to change his destiny.
He married Lou Zhaojun, and with the help of his father-in-law Lou Neiqian, he was promoted to team leader. Soon, he was appreciated by Duan Chang, the then general of Huaishuo Town, and was promoted to messenger.
After becoming a messenger, Gao Huan's horizons were broadened. He was keenly aware that the decadent Northern Wei Dynasty was about to perish. What followed was a chaotic world where heroes competed for power. Whoever had a strong gun in his hand could dominate this chaotic world.
While Gao Huan made friends and won people's hearts, he quietly waited for the opportunity to rise. Sima Ziru, Liu Gui, Jia Xianzhi, Sun Teng, Hou Jing, Cai Jun, and Wei Jing (brother-in-law) were all friends he made with all his heart at this time, and they will also be his arms in the future.
Finally, with Du Luozhou's rebellion, the opportunity came.
He took several relatives and friends to join Du Luozhou and became a partial general. Of course, with Gao Huan's ambition, he would not look down on Du Luozhou. The reason why he took refuge in Du Luo Zhou was that he wanted to replace him one day.
Unfortunately, his ambition was discovered by Du Luozhou, and he had to escape hastily and seek refuge with Ge Rong. But after a period of time, he discovered that Ge Rong was not a person who did big things. Therefore, he abandoned Ge Rong and joined Er Zhurong's command on the recommendation of his old friend Liu Gui, who had already served as a cavalryman and joined the army under Er Zhurong.
After coming to Er Zhurong's command, Gao Huan relied on his excellent communication and military abilities to quickly gain Er Zhurong's trust, gain a firm foothold under Er Zhurong, and become one of his confidants.
Of course, Gao Huan never forgot his ideal of becoming "clarifying the world and sweeping away the world". While working for Er Zhurong, he also established a small group of his own, including his old friends Liu Gui, Hou Jing and others. Winning people under his command, the "Huaishuo Gang" was established.
However, the ones Er Zhurong trusted the most were not Gao Huan or He Ba brothers, but Yuan Tianmu and Murong Shaozong.
Yuan Tianmu was a distant relative of the royal family of the Northern Wei Dynasty and served as the governor of Bingzhou at that time. Er Zhurong was as close to him as a brother and obeyed his advice. In Erzhu's group, Yuan Tianmu is truly the second in command.
Murong Shaozong came from a famous family and was a descendant of Murong Ke, a famous former Yan general during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. He also had another identity, that is, he was Er Zhurong's cousin. Although Murong Shaozong was young, he was resourceful and his judgment of the current situation was very accurate. He was Er Zhurong's indispensable "chief of staff".
Due to his achievements in suppressing rebellions many times, Er Zhurong was successively awarded the title of General of the Eastern Expedition, General of the Right Guard, General of the Fake Chariots and Cavalry, and Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The governor, Doctor Jin Ziguanglu.
Under Er Zhurong's intimidation, no one in the six states including Sifen Guangyun dared to rebel. However, Er Zhurong was not satisfied with this. His goal was the entire world.
How to achieve this goal? Er Zhurong and his cronies Yuan Tianmu, Gao Huan, He Bayue and others had already discussed the plan to march to Luoyang, control Emperor Xiaoming, and hold the emperor hostage to order the princes. Later, he sent troops to quell rebellions in various places, and then dominated the world.
What troubled them was how to march into Luoyang and control Emperor Xiaoming.
Just when they were distressed, a secret edict from Emperor Xiaoming came to Er Zhurong. Emperor Xiaoming asked him to send troops to Luoyang to help him eliminate Empress Dowager Hu's party, so that he could take control of the government and become a true emperor.
Of course, generous returns are indispensable.
It turned out that after Empress Dowager Hu came to power, she still treated Emperor Xiaoming as a puppet emperor and a mascot. She did not let Emperor Xiaoming have any contact with any government affairs, did not let Emperor Xiaoming have any confidants, and completely controlled Emperor Xiaoming in her hands.
The 18-year-old Emperor Xiaoming hated Empress Dowager Hu more and more for treating him as a "caged bird", and the conflict between mother and son became more and more serious. But Emperor Xiaoming had no one available around him, so how could he get rid of the control of Empress Dowager Hu!
After thinking about it, he thought of Er Zhurong and issued a secret edict to him, asking him to lead his army into King Qin of Luoyang.
Er Zhurong, who received the secret edict from Emperor Xiaoming, was so happy that he even woke up from his dream with laughter. Emperor Xiaoming would give him whatever he lacked. His luck was so good!
In 528 AD, Er Zhurong led his army towards Luoyang with Gao Huan as the vanguard.
The troops marched to Shangdang (today's Changzhi, Shanxi), and Er Zhurong received a secret edict from Emperor Xiaoming, asking him to stop the march. While he was hesitating, the agent he arranged in Luoyang sent him a shocking news - Emperor Xiaoming was dead.
Paper could not contain the fire. Emperor Xiaoming was surrounded by Empress Dowager Hu's people. The fact that he issued a secret edict to Er Zhurong to enter King Qin of Luoyang was soon known by Empress Dowager Hu.
Seeing that Emperor Xiaoming was becoming more and more disobedient, Empress Dowager Hu poisoned Emperor Xiaoming to death in a rage. Then, Emperor Xiaoming's several-month-old daughter was made emperor. (In history, she is generally called "Miss Yuan" or "Emperor Shang of the Northern Wei Dynasty". She is the first female emperor in Chinese history.)
Of course, no matter how open the folk customs of the Northern Wei Dynasty were, Empress Dowager Hu would not risk the disapproval of the world to make a girl who was only a few months old the emperor.
In fact, she had already planned it.
As soon as the girl was born, Queen Mother Hu announced that she was giving birth to a boy. As a baby in infancy, Queen Mother Hu thought it would be easy to get through.
But she forgot one thing. There were many people in the palace talking, and she did not kill all the insiders at the birth site of Miss Yuan in time. This farce-like incident was known to the ministers only one day later.
The ministers were excited and discussed, which put a lot of pressure on Queen Mother Hu. She had no choice but to appoint Yuan Zhao, the son of Lintao King Yuan Baohui, as the emperor. This calmed the anger of the ministers.
After Er Zhurong got the news, he was furious. He immediately continued to lead his army to Luoyang in the name of Qing Junzi.
When Er Zhurong's army arrived at Luoyang City, the ministers Zheng Xianhu and Fei Mu in Luoyang City, who had long wanted to join Er Zhurong, rushed to open the city gate and let Er Zhurong's army enter the city.
Er Zhurong easily captured Luoyang City without spending a single soldier.
Er Zhurong, who entered Luoyang, made a prompt decision and sent people to capture the fleeing Empress Dowager Hu and the young emperor Yuan Zhao, sink them into the Yellow River, and drown them alive. Then, he established Yuan Ziyou as the puppet emperor, known as Emperor Xiaozhuang in history.
The cruelest thing happened.
Er Zhurong was afraid that the troops he brought to Luoyang this time were not enough. He had a weak foundation in the court and low prestige, so he would not be able to fully control the court. So in the name of worshiping heaven, he launched the bloodiest coup in Chinese history - the "Heyin Incident". In front of Yuan Ziyou, he raised a butcher knife and massacred more than 2,000 members of the Northern Wei royal family and ministers, almost destroying the entire family. The court killed everyone.
Er Zhurong is really a military genius and a political fool! There are many ways to control the court, and he chose the most inappropriate one. He didn't know how much disaster his move would bring to himself and the Erzhu family.
Seeing so many people being killed in front of him, including many of his own relatives, this cruel scene frightened Yuan Ziyou to the point where he no longer wanted to be emperor. He quickly found Er Zhurong and asked him to find another talented person, or let Er Zhurong become the emperor himself. The emperor could not do it by himself.
Er Zhurong originally wanted to be the emperor. Seeing that Yuan Ziyou knew how to do things, he summoned his subordinates to inquire about the feasibility of the matter.
Regarding this earth-shattering event, Gao Huan was the first to express his opinion. He strongly supported Er Zhurong's proclaiming the emperor, and praised Er Zhurong, praising him as being greater than Liu Bang and Cao Cao. Er Zhurong should not be emperor. Who else is qualified?
It's easy to understand Gao Huan's thoughts. The day when he wore Zhurong's yellow robe and ascended the throne was the day when he, Gao Huan, the first person to persuade people to be promoted to the throne. At that time, his Gao Huan's splendor and wealth could not be compared to others.
However, He Bayue held objections. He strongly opposed Er Zhurong's proclaimed emperor. He believed that Er Zhurong's title of emperor at this time was unjust and unreasonable. He was so eager to proclaim himself emperor that he would not only fail to convince the public, but would also cause disaster.
He Bayue sounded like he was thinking about Er Zhurong, but in fact he also had his own little thoughts. Under Er Zhurong's command, he and Gao Huan were like the two poles of a magnet, natural opposites. If Gao Huan approves, he will definitely oppose; if Gao Huan opposes, he will definitely approve. If Gao Huan approves of Er Zhurong proclaiming himself emperor, he must oppose it.
The two of them had different opinions, but Er Zhurong thought it made sense and began to hesitate.
There was no other way, Er Zhurong could only leave his fate to God, and use the fortune-telling method of cast statues to determine whether he could become emperor. The results were disappointing. Four attempts were made to cast the image, but none was successful.
After all, Er Zhurong was Er Zhurong. Even God didn't help him, but he still didn't give up. He found the famous fortune teller at that time, Liu Lingshu, a meritorious officer in the army, to tell his fortune.
Naturally, Liu Lingzhu didn't want Er Zhurong to be the emperor, so he told Er Zhurong that neither the right time nor the right place was on Er Zhurong's side, and he was not suitable to be the emperor. Only Yuan Ziyou is the true emperor who is destined by destiny.
Liu Lingzhu's words were like a basin of cold water, completely waking up Er Zhurong who was immersed in the emperor's dream. He immediately entered the palace, apologized to Yuan Ziyou, and asked Yuan Ziyou to be emperor in peace. Er Zhurong was a loyal minister and had no intention of becoming emperor.
Only a fool would believe this, but what if Yuan Ziyou didn't believe it? His life was in Er Zhurong's hands, so he could only agree and continue to be emperor.
In order to calm people's hearts, Er Zhurong pursued the officials who died in the "Heyin Incident" and promoted a group of officials. His cronies also took advantage of this large-scale official enfeoffment to be promoted to nobility.
In order to further control Yuan Ziyou, Er Zhurong married his daughter who was once the concubine of Emperor Xiaoming to him to control and monitor him.
After arranging all this, Er Zhurong should have stayed in Luoyang to enjoy the fruits of victory, but because there were too many people killed in Heyin, Er Zhurong felt a little uneasy, so he left his good brother Yuan Tianmu, cousin Er Zhu Shilong and other close friends behind. Luoyang controlled the government, and he himself led the army back to his base camp Jinyang (today's Taiyuan, Shanxi) with the titles of "King of Taiyuan" and "General of the Zhu Kingdom".
