Chapter 173 The value of united front work has increased dramatically
Chapter 173 The value of united front work has increased dramatically
After entering May, bad news kept coming to Sima Yue.
The worst news came from Yecheng.
Sima Teng had no foundation to begin with, and his extravagance had greatly lost the support of the people. Moreover, he was extremely stingy with his soldiers, and when the enemy troops arrived in large numbers, he only gave each soldier a few liters of rice and a few feet of silk.
The people of Hebei were already dissatisfied with him, so no one was willing to work for him anymore and many of them left that day.
Ji Sang invaded Wei County. The prefect Feng Song led his troops to fight. The soldiers fled in panic and were defeated by Ji Sang.
Sima Teng fled in panic but was chased and killed by Sang's general Li Feng.
When Shao Xun received this news, he realized that his united front value had increased dramatically. At the same time, it was time to fight for his life. He would probably have to go to Hebei to suppress the rebellion before returning home.
Everything in the world has its pros and cons.
If you take advantage of the system, you must take on responsibilities for the system, and that's what happened this time.
On the fifth day of May, before resigning from his post as the Northern Army Lieutenant, Grand Tutor Sima Yue issued one last order: the Yamen Army was to march north to Luoyang to receive equipment and provisions, and arrive within ten days.
After the military order arrived in Liang County, messengers rushed everywhere and troops began to gather.
In a village outside Yongxing Temple, Chang Can and his soldier named Li Si worked together to load armor and weapons onto horses and tied them up tightly.
His wife, Liu, was pregnant and was crying silently at this moment.
Chang Can first turned around and scolded: "I'm not even dead yet, and you're already crying. What bad luck!"
The wife quickly wiped away her tears.
Chang Can turned around, his face looking somewhat gloomy.
After silently stuffing a few biscuits into the saddle bag, he checked whether the equipment was usable.
After everything was settled, he stood still for a while and said, "General Shao has done me a favor, and I must repay him. If I die, you can find a good family to remarry."
After saying that, he led the horse out and never looked back.
Li Si was holding a package in his left hand and a spear in his right hand. After paying his respects to Liu, he hurriedly followed.
A total of 600 soldiers and troops from the three defense areas of Shiqiao, Yongxing and Nanshan gradually gathered together.
In the Yamen Army’s base, large carts were pulled out one after another.
Everyone checked the equipment and water silently.
Having been to the battlefield several times, they did not feel that scared, but war was dangerous and fierce, and every time they went out, there would be some people who would never come back.
The soldiers lined up to write letters home.
The three clerks were so busy that they could only leave a few brief words in the end.
"Mother, there's no need to send the autumn clothes over. We can talk about it after we return home."
"I am doing well in the army. If I return victorious, I will be rewarded. I can buy a few sheep then."
"Take good care of the children and return at the end of the year."
……
The clerk's pen moved quickly and he sighed secretly as he wrote.
Three thousand Yamen soldiers marched north, but no one knew how many of them would be able to return.
In the temporary base of the Silver Spear Army under Guangcheng Palace, the soldiers had just finished an exercise.
Jin San rode a horse and shouted, "Follow Master Shao, we will surely defeat the enemy army. In a word, whoever dares to hesitate on the battlefield will be killed by me."
"Think about the life you lead and the life of the people in the fort. If you are afraid of the enemy and don't fight, is that shameful?"
"Hebei is a wealthy country. After we defeat the bandits, we will surely seize a lot of spoils, and everyone can share the profits."
"The Silver Spear Army is ridiculed by those desperadoes every day. This time, let them see who is the real man."
"If I encounter a thief, I will kill him without mercy, leaving no one alive."
"set off!"
On the sixth day of May, Shao Xun bid farewell to Le in Green Willow Garden. Under her worried gaze, he mounted his horse and led his troops north.
After Lan Ji became pregnant, part of his mind seemed to remain here.
Having a child changes many things.
But the fate of warriors is to be in constant fighting, where either you die or I die, and there is no end.
After the army set out, the sadness of parting gradually dissipated and the morale gradually became high.
Looking down from the sky, one camp after another began to gather, following the banner of the golden-armored general, surging northward, stretching for several miles.
******
On May 12, Gao Yichuang, a vanguard of 500 Yamen soldiers, arrived at the Stone Bridge in Jingdong.
On the 13th, Shao Xun arrived with the main force.
On the 14th, the last batch of soldiers arrived at Shiqiao and settled in the camp.
Shao Xun rode his horse straight up the hill and looked at the dense crowd in the distance. It was the emperor seeing off Sima Yue who was leaving for Xuchang.
Also coming with them were a large number of Luoyang scholars and civilians, who were reluctant to say goodbye and crying - don't get me wrong, they were not seeing Sima Yue off, but the imperial guards who were accompanying the Taifu to Xuchang.
The crisp sound of horse hooves rang out, and Shi Zhonghua Hun and Taifu's Right Chief Clerk Fu Xuan rode side by side.
"General Shao, please go to see the emperor as soon as possible." Hua Hun bowed on his horse and said.
Fu Xuan looked at Shao Xun carefully.
This person's name is almost a taboo in the shogunate.
The eight words "greedy, lustful, arrogant and domineering" fit this person perfectly.
Grabbing land around Luoyang was out of greed for money.
He took the Princess of Chengdu as his concubine without considering the negative impact at all, which can be described as lustful.
They robbed the Xuchang armory with great arrogance.
Disobeying orders and killing Xianbei without authorization is domineering.
He even used his fame and prestige to build up the 5,000-strong Yamen Army into an iron barrel, like a private army.
In addition, he deliberately displayed an arrogant and domineering temperament, making people unsure whether he would turn against them, and making them feel caught in a dilemma.
There was an opportunity to deal with him, but the opportunity was fleeting due to the death of the late emperor.
By now, it was a foregone conclusion that the Grand Tutor would be sent to Xuchang, but it was difficult to find a good opportunity.
Many people sighed and lamented this.
Fu Xuan seemed to be thinking about something.
He was the Right Chief Clerk of the Taifu Shogunate and also a court official (Chief Censor).
The Grand Tutor trusted him and entrusted him with an important position, but he did not take it seriously and his heart was with the emperor. The more Shao Xun danced, the happier he was.
"I obey your order." Shao Xun dismounted and bowed, then mounted again, looking at the canopy in the distance, and said, "Let's go."
Tang Jian carried Shao Xun's general flag and followed closely behind.
More than a hundred of Shao's personal soldiers and three hundred palace soldiers rode up on horseback, raising clouds of dust and displaying an astonishing momentum.
As they got closer, Shao Xun reined in his horse and stopped, looking at the battalion of soldiers arrayed in the field, and asked, "Are they the men of the Left Guard Vanguard Battalion?"
Someone recognized Shao Xun and shouted, "General Shao is here."
"General Shao, do you want to go to Xuchang with us?"
"General Shao!"
An officer noticed the commotion and reprimanded the soldiers severely, and they stopped.
Shao Xun glanced at him, thinking he was a stranger, perhaps someone newly promoted by Sima Yue, and rode away.
When he reached the camps of the General of the Right Guard Palace and the Sima of the Three Departments, he was recognized again.
No one shouted, but there was a buzzing noise in the array.
Many soldiers in formation followed his gaze.
Shao Xun waved his hand and the noise suddenly became louder and the officers were unable to control it.
"Haha!" Shao Xun laughed three times, and hundreds of cavalry followed closely behind him, passing through one camp after another, until they stopped three hundred steps away from the emperor's canopy.
"Young Master." General Wang Bing of the Left Army looked at Shao Xun in embarrassment and said.
Shao Xun took off his ring-handled sword and threw it to Wang Bing casually, then looked at the armed soldiers of the left army who were guarding outside.
It seems that they are either from Hebei or Xuzhou, I don’t know them - the Left Army and the Right Army should be the troops Sima Yue trusts the most.
"Get out of the way!" Tang Jian stepped forward and glared at the guarding soldier.
Wang Bing breathed a sigh of relief and waved his hand, and the soldiers made way for him.
Shao Xun held his head high and walked forward, and Tang Jian followed closely.
Everyone looked at him with curiosity, not understanding why the emperor wanted to summon this person specially.
Also, this person seems to be very famous. There are soldiers in all the camps of the Imperial Guards who admire him. Even the General of the Left Army, Wang Bing, is polite to him.
Compared to the soldiers, the officers think more.
Some people even maliciously speculated that if the Grand Tutor wanted to intimidate Shao Xun, he would probably end up making things worse.
Wherever he went, people cheered. How could the Taifu back down from this shame?
After walking more than a hundred steps, Shao Xun glanced and met the eyes of a very young officer.
The man stood upright at the head of the team, his lips slightly parted, as if silently saying the words "Master Shao".
Shao Xun looked away as soon as his eyes met.
He remembered this person, a student soldier from the first batch of Donghai, who went home after the farewell dinner.
I didn’t expect that after a few years, he would return to Luoyang and become a captain of the Zuo Army?
Haha, my students are naturally excellent. It is a good time to expand the army. If he doesn't become the team leader, who will be the team leader?
After they walked more than 200 steps, a palace guard came forward to check and made sure that no weapons were hidden, and then let the two in.
Civil and military officers gradually appeared in front, and some people quietly squeezed forward, wanting to see who this powerful person was.
After hearing that it was Shao Xun, I lost interest.
This person was very famous in Luoyang, and people who had been there for a long time had seen him more or less. In particular, officials who had to go to court had seen him many times in the palace.
Shao Xun raised his head and walked more than ten steps away. Seeing the emperor kneeling behind the imperial desk, he did not dare to look at him any more and said loudly, "I am wearing armor and cannot perform the ritual properly. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."
After saying this, he bowed and said, "May Your Majesty be blessed with great fortune, put an end to war, bring peace to the world, and lay a solid foundation for the future generations."
There was silence for a moment.
Sima Yue, who was sitting below the emperor, glanced at Shao Xun and felt very uncomfortable, disgusted and even cruel.
Wang Yan, who had just been promoted to Sikong, looked at Shao Xun with interest.
This man kept his word. He requisitioned horses in Luoyang and later returned them, so it was difficult to criticize him too much.
He was also very good at fighting. He killed Li Yi, beheaded Meng Chao, attacked Daxia Gate, and secured Luoyang. He then rushed hundreds of miles to attack Liu Qiao, beheaded his son Liu You, and then surrounded and killed 5,000 Xianbei cavalry in Chang'an...
Once a person becomes famous, one thing after another will be dug up and studied repeatedly.
It is rumored that Shao Xun has five or six scars on his body, which shows how brave he is.
This man's current status was earned with every sword and spear he fought for, and the respect he received from the imperial guards is proof of that.
There was a rumor in the capital that Empress Hui, Yang, gave Shao Xun gold and silk to help him make his fortune.
Wang Yan scoffed at this.
Although he looked down on those who raised soldiers, thinking that they were vulgar and uncultured and could not get along with the scholars, he was unwilling to believe such outrageous rumors.
Yang may have given Shao Xun money and silk, but without these things, would Shao Xun be unable to rise? What about his brain?
Xun Fan, the Shangshu You Pushe, didn't even want to look at it.
As for winning over Shao Xun, he never expressed his opinion, which was actually his silent opposition.
When asked the reason, he would say that this person was unruly and difficult to control, and if he was allowed to gain power, it would not be a blessing for the country.
Unfortunately, many people do not take it seriously, always thinking that they are resourceful and can command these fierce warriors, but they do not know that they are not going to play any tricks with them and will just use force. This is like trying to get the skin of a tiger, which is extremely unwise.
Empress Liang Lanbi frowned at first, thinking that Shao Xun was somewhat overbearing and not cautious enough. But then she sat proudly again, saying that no matter how heroic you are, you still have to serve the royal family.
Emperor Sima Chi was secretly delighted as if he had discovered a treasure.
He remembered the news that his uncle Wang Yan had found out -
Shao Xun was a native of Qu, Donghai, and came from a family of soldiers serving under the governor of Xuzhou.
In the second year of Yongning (302), the Grand Tutor asked the Governor-General Sima Mao to recruit brave men from the Kingdom of Donghai. Shao Xun joined the recruitment and came to Luoyang to serve as a guard in the Palace of the Prince of Donghai.
In the following two years, he gradually made great achievements and was promoted to the position of leader.
In the first year of Yongxing (304), Sima Yi was captured in the palace, and Liu Zai, the internal historian of Donghai, recommended him as a filial and incorrupt official. Although Liu Zai, the internal historian of Donghai, was a court official responsible for monitoring Sima Yue, the King of Donghai, this incident itself should have been facilitated by Sima Yue's influence.
After the Battle of Dangyin, he gathered the defeated soldiers as the Lieutenant Sima of Donghai State, defended Luoyang, and forced Zhang Fang to retreat, becoming famous overnight.
What happened after that was very clear, and Sima Chi had heard about it even without having to look it up.
Such a general who has gradually developed a rift with the Grand Tutor is of great use and is worth winning over.
Thinking of this, he decided to say a few more words to encourage him.
(End of this chapter)