Gao Huan knew very well in his heart that the destruction of the Erzhu family did not mean that Gao Huan could control the entire Northern Wei Dynasty. There was still another biggest worry, He Bayue, waiting for him. Now that the Erzhu family has been destroyed, it is time to free up our hands to deal with He Bayue.
However, as smart as Gao Huan was, he kept calculating and calculating, but still missed an opponent - Emperor Xiaowu Yuanxiu.
Yuan Xiu is a man who is greedy for power and is ruthless. Now that he has ascended the throne, how can he be willing to be a puppet emperor?
In order to relieve his worries and so that no one could threaten his throne, he mercilessly killed Yuan Gong, Yuan Long, and Yuan Ye, the former emperors or candidates who had been emperors.
After these potential threats were eliminated, Yuan Xiu and his supporting ministers Nanyang Wang Yuanbaoju, Anton general Wang Sizheng and Hu Sichun, who was the minister at the time, formulated and implemented several plans to deal with Gao Huan.
Plan 1: To win over and divide Gao Huan, the minister in charge of the government in Luoyang and the leader of the wealthy Gao family in Hebei.
Gao Gan is a political ally of Gao Huan. He has a strong influence among the wealthy families in Hebei and plays a pivotal role in the Gao Huan Group. By recruiting him, he will also attract a large number of wealthy families in Hebei, which is enough to give Gao Huan a foothold. Chaos.
But the subsequent development of this matter was not as Yuan Xiu and Hu Sichun expected.
Gao Gan was caught between Gao Huan and Yuan Xiu, unable to advance or retreat. He didn't want to betray Gao Huan or offend Yuan Xiu. After careful consideration, he decided not to offend anyone and leave the political whirlpool of Luoyang as soon as possible.
Facing Yuan Xiu's overtures, Gao Gan was very obedient and agreed to make an oath with him to deal with Gao Huan. Secretly, he advised Gao Huan to proclaim himself emperor as soon as possible, help him leave Luoyang, and serve as an official. However, he did not tell Gao Huan about the oath of alliance with Yuan Xiu, which laid the foundation for his own death.
Gao Gan snitched Gao Huan and persuaded him to proclaim himself emperor, but Yuan Xiu found out about it. This made Yuan Xiu very angry, so he gave Gao Huan the oath and the letters he had exchanged with Gao Gan, hoping to borrow Gao Huan's help. hands remove high stem.
Gao Huan read the letter and was very angry. He was originally very afraid of these Hebei wealthy people, but now the rat heads of high-ranking officials made him even more angry. But Gao Huan was Gao Huan after all, and he did not lose his mind because of anger. Killing his allies will make him lose the hearts of a large number of Hebei's wealthy families. He gave Yuan Xiu a letter from Gao Gan reporting Yuan Xiu to him, and used Yuan Xiu's hand to kill him.
After Yuan Xiu killed Gao Gan, in order to avoid future troubles, he also wanted to get rid of Gao Aocao and Gao Zhongmi, Gao Gan's younger brothers, the two most influential people in the Gao family besides Gao Gan. It's a pity that Yuan Xiu failed, but instead pushed the entire Gao clan to Gao Huan, making the Gao clan wholeheartedly work for Gao Huan.
It can be said that this plan is really a waste of money, but a wedding dress for Gao Huan.
Plan two, if you want to compete with Gao Huan, the power of self-preservation is indispensable, and it is imperative to expand the imperial guards guarding the palace.
Plan 3: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Who else is Gao Huan's enemy? Naturally, it is He Bayue who is the least likely to deal with Gao Huan. Yuan Xiu sent an envoy to Chang'an to express his desire to join forces with He Bayue to deal with Gao Huan.
He Bayue was overjoyed and agreed immediately. Then he sent Yu Wentai as an envoy to Luoyang secretly, reached an alliance with Yuan Xiu, and formed the "Anti-Gao Huan Alliance".
Yuan Xiu was not stingy with He Dayue's proactive overtures, and gave He Dayue and Yu Wentai great rewards. Yu Wentai was named General Wuwei, while He Dayue was named Commander-in-Chief of Yongzhou, Huazhou, and The military and general governors of twenty states including Yizhou and Qizhou.
Plan 4: Jingzhou is located in the main battlefield between the Northern Wei Dynasty and Nanliang Dynasty. The situation is complicated and Gao Huan has not reached out there yet. Yuan Xiu sent Hu Sichun's friend General He Basheng, appointing him as General of Hussar, Kaifu Yitong Third Division, Jingzhou Governor, Nandao Daxingtai, Shangshu Zuopushe, to attack Jingzhou as another foreign aid. .
Of course, Yuan Xiu couldn't let He Ba Shengshi go to Jingzhou alone. He also sent a capable deputy to him - Dugu Xin. Duguxin is good at riding and shooting, and is both civil and military. He once served as a town general in Xinye, Jingzhou, and was very familiar with the situation in Jingzhou. It was perfect to send him as He Basheng's deputy.
"The focus is not out of focus, and the focus is not out of focus"! This sentence is very suitable for Yang Zhong and Duguxin at this stage. No matter where Duguxin is, Yang Zhong is always around. Going south to Jingzhou was such a great thing that Duguxin took Yang Zhong with him of course.
For Yang Zhong, who had lived in Nanliang for several years, going south to Jingzhou to fight against Nanliang was definitely a good opportunity for him to make contributions. What's more, his superiors are all fellow villagers and old comrades-in-arms from the Wuchuan Town days, which is more than enough for him to display his talents on the battlefield.
This is indeed the case. This time when he went south to Jingzhou, Yang Zhong followed Dugu Xin and made considerable military exploits. Yang Zhong's performance in conquering Xiaxi garrison (now Tangcheng Town, northwest of Suizhou City, Hubei Province) and pacifying Nanyang (now Nanyang City, Henan Province) was remarkable.
Not only that, during the period of passing through Jingzhou, the relationship between Yang Zhong and Dugu Xin also became more sublimated. They became a life-and-death acquaintance who could entrust their lives to each other, and became lifelong friends.
Perhaps it is precisely because of this foundation that the two of them will become in-laws in the future. His son Yang Jian and Dugu Xin's daughter Dugu Jialuo worked together to create the Sui Empire and ended hundreds of years of war. , unified China and became prosperous for a while.
strangeness! Yuan Baoju was from the clan, and could not write two characters of Yuan in one stroke, while Wang Sizheng was Yuan Xiu's best friend, and he also contributed a lot to Yuan Xiu becoming emperor. It was understandable that they helped Yuan Xiu, but didn't Hu Sichun try his best to please Gao Huan in the first place? Why is he trying to deal with him now?
It turned out that after annihilating the Erzhu family and welcoming Gao Huan into Luoyang, Hu Sichun believed that he had made the greatest contribution and would definitely be favored by Gao Huan. But who is Gao Huan? He is very aware of Hu Sichun's duplicitous character and has always been lukewarm towards him, which makes him very disappointed. Ever since, Hu Sichun joined Yuan Xiu's small group and helped Yuan Xiu deal with Gao Huan.
This makes sense. For a capricious person like Hu Sichun, who can't do anything in order to climb up, switching to a new owner is like a common occurrence for him.
During this period, the situation in the northwest has also changed greatly.
The actions of Emperor Xiaowu Yuanxiu, He Buyue and others were finally known to Gao Huan. For Gao Huan, the threat of Yuan Xiu is nothing. The worst result is just another puppet emperor. He Bayue holds a large number of troops and separates one side, which poses the greatest threat and is his first target to eradicate.
However, before Gao Huan could take action, He Buyue took action first.
He Bayue knew that Gao Huan would eventually attack him. Fortunately, he had a resourceful Yu Wentai under his command, who gave him a brilliant idea to fight back against Gao Huan: rather than being passively beaten, it was better to take the initiative. There are still many forces in Longyou in the northwest that have not yet surrendered. It is better to lead the army westward to regain those forces, strengthen their strength, and compete with Gao Huan.
Under Yu Wentai's plan, He Bayue led his army to the west and established the Metropolitan Governor's Office in Pingliang (now Pingliang, Gansu), the center of the northwest region, with great momentum. Many powerful figures from the northwest rushed to Pingliang and expressed their submission to He Bayue. He Bayue's power in the northwest expanded rapidly from this, to such an extent that even Gao Huan was a little afraid of it.
Faced with this situation, Gao Huan naturally wanted to take action to get rid of this He Bayue threat. But in name, both of them were ministers of the Northern Wei Dynasty, so it was naturally undesirable for them to fight each other on the battlefield. So, at the suggestion of his adviser Zhai Song, Gao Huan set his sights on He Bayue's old comrade-in-arms Hou Mo Chen Yue.
When they followed Er Zhu Tianguang as deputy commanders to quell the rebellion in Guanlong, Hou Mo Chen Yue and He Bayue were on equal terms; now He Bayue dominates the northwest, while Hou Mo Chen Yue is just a congratulator. There was a small governor under Ba Yue, which made him extremely unbalanced. Seizing this weakness, Zhai Song, as Gao Huan's envoy, went to contact Hou Mo Chen Yue with a lot of gold and silver treasures.
Under Zhai Song's attractive words and money offensive, Hou Mo Chen Yue completely fell in love with Gao Huan, launched the "Hequ Incident" and assassinated He Buyue.
After He Bayue's death, his subordinates returned to Pingliang one after another to pay homage to He Bayue and discuss the issue of his successor. The army cannot be left without a leader for a day. Even though He Bayue is dead, someone must continue to lead them! Otherwise, those of them who followed He Bayue and Gao Huan would be eaten alive by Gao Huan!
Kou Luo, Zhao Gui, Li Hu, Hou Mo, Chen Chong, and Da Xiwu were mostly from Wuchuan Town, so the candidates they recommended were naturally from Wuchuan Town.
Everyone first elected Kou Luo. Among the generals that He Bayue usually relied on, he was the oldest and most senior. But if Koro doesn't do it, everyone can only choose someone else;
The mature and prudent Zhao Gui suggested that Yuwentai, the governor of Xiazhou (now Jingbian County, Shaanxi Province) should be selected. Yuwentai was both civil and military and had always been regarded by He Bayue as his right-hand man. He was the most suitable candidate to succeed him;
Li Hu disagreed. He said that He Basheng should be elected. He is He Batayue's second brother and a well-known veteran. He should go to Jingzhou to find him to continue to lead everyone;
Others said that they should go to Luoyang to report to Emperor Xiaowu Yuanxiu and ask him to send someone to lead. Only then would it be justified.
For a time, everyone said that the public was right, and the mother-in-law said that the mother-in-law was right. The opinions could not be unified, and the situation suddenly reached a deadlock.
In the end, the governor Du Shuozhou stood up and rejected the recommendation of He Basheng and Emperor Xiaowu on the grounds that Jingzhou and Luoyang were too far away and the distant water could not quench the thirst of the nearby people. He supported the recommendation of Yu Wentai as the successor and continued to lead everyone. It makes the most sense now.
After his impassioned speech, many people agreed to recommend Yuwentai as his successor and urged him to go to Xiazhou to welcome Yuwentai to Pingliang. Du Shuozhou was unambiguous and immediately went to Pingliang.
The stubborn Li Hu was unwilling to give in. He refused to agree with everyone's opinions, so he went to Jingzhou alone to find He Basheng.
