Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 338 Fire merger
Gao Huan, who was being remembered by Hou Jing, had just finished the second year of Xiaochang, which was not a happy one for him.

Gao Huan rebelled against Du Luozhou and defected to Ge Rong, but Ge Rong already had the closer Wuchuan Yuwen family around him, and Gao Huan clearly felt excluded from the core circle.

This is easy to feel. Although Ge Rong rewarded Gao Huan and gave him a house in order to buy a horse with a huge sum of gold, Gao Huan was actually not qualified to participate in Ge Rong's confidential affairs.

All this made Gao Huan angry. If he had known this would happen, he would have continued to stay with Du Luozhou!
Gao Huan spent the second year of Xiaochang feeling that his talent was not appreciated.

This year's winter was pleasant with good weather. It snowed when it should snow and was warm when it should be warm. Both the court and the rebel army breathed a sigh of relief.

Wars all require food. This year's good winter means that spring ploughing can proceed normally, which means that livestock herds can reproduce and graze.

At this point in the war, both sides had already prepared for a long-term confrontation. Xianyu Xiuli and Ge Rong organized some troops into tribes and allocated livestock to them for grazing.

As the fierce fighting continued over the past year, some local powerful families in the Hedong region began to wait and see. The court was unable to quickly pacify Xianyu Xiuli, but their families were still under the control of the rebels, so there was no point in resisting any further.

Many towns began to surrender one after another, and the well-defended forts were also opened. Xianyu Xiuli finally gained some local support.

But all this had nothing to do with Gao Huan. Ge Rong gave him some Huaishuo people to herd, and he had not been sent to the front line to fight. Seeing him sighing at home every day, Lou Zhaojun drove him out of the house and scolded him:
"Liu Xuande didn't start his career until he was 40. Before that, he didn't stay at home and sigh every day. I, a woman, don't understand men's affairs. Instead of staying at home doing nothing, why don't you go out and hang out with the brothers more!"

After being driven out of the house by Lou Zhaojun, Gao Huan finally put away his decadent look and rode to Sima Ziru's residence.

The Chinese New Year had just passed and Sima Ziru was sitting idly at home. When he heard that Gao Huan had arrived, he immediately asked his wife to prepare wine and food.

"Good wine!"

When the strong liquor passed through his throat, Gao Huan felt as if his throat was scraped by a knife, but then he started to get drunk. This was sweeter than any other liquor he had ever drunk.

"This is Yuhu Shao. I heard that it was a strong liquor brewed by General Su Ze of Pingxi himself. It was brought to Hedong by a merchant group from the northwest."

Gao Huan smacked his lips. Hearing the familiar name Su Ze, both of them fell silent.

Gao Huan used to be very close to Su Ze. Su Ze had tried to recruit the two of them, but Gao Huan was obsessed with making achievements in the Six Towns at that time. He was unwilling to be inferior to Su Ze and insisted on staying in the Six Towns.

Sima Ziru also stayed in the Six Garrisons for Gao Huan. Now Su Ze was already a famous general in charge of a region, but he himself was still just a small military leader in the rebel army, and was getting worse and worse.

Gao Huan knew that even if he surrendered to the government troops now, he would definitely not be treated well. Moreover, the future of Yuan Shen's government troops was uncertain. If they continued to defect everywhere, they would probably lose their last bit of reputation.

This is just like job hunting in later generations. If someone changes jobs three times in a year, HR will think that this person has no perseverance and is not loyal to the company, and will not be willing to hire such an employee.

And go to the northwest to find Su Ze?
Regardless of the fact that Gao Huan is now in Hedong, how can he get to Guanxi? What good position can he get if he goes to find Su Ze now?

Gao Huan is now a leader, and he certainly knows that the most important thing for a leader is to maintain balance.

If Su Ze came to him, and he gave him a high position right away, what would Sima Ziru, Dou Tai and other brothers think?
Moreover, Gao Huan subconsciously was unwilling to join Su Ze.

It’s not that he has any dissatisfaction with Su Ze, but he is too embarrassed to see Su Ze because he is not doing well after his brother became successful.

After drinking another glass of wine, Sima Ziru skipped the topic and said:

"I heard that Yuwen Gong defeated Yang Yu in Wulu, and Prince Wei (Ge Rong) has already reported his achievement to Prince Zhen (Xianyu Xiuli)."

Upon hearing this news, Gao Huan's mood became even lower. Both Yuwen and his son were brave generals. Now that the people of Wuchuan have made new contributions, he was afraid that he, the people of Huaishuo, would be looked down upon even more.

There is no way, where there are people, there are rivers and lakes. When you are out there making a living, people from the same hometown will naturally stick together.

What's more, the people of Wuchuan and Huaishuo have always had a grudge against each other.

Sima Ziru also fell silent, and the two of them drank alone. At this moment, Dou Tai suddenly rushed in.

"He Liuhun! Ziru!"

Gao Huan turned around and looked at Dou Tai, who said anxiously:
"I went to He Liuhun's house and heard from my sister-in-law that you were out to relax, and sure enough you are here!"

Seeing Dou Tai's noisy appearance, Gao Huan even envied his heartlessness.

"Is there something urgent, Tai?"

Dou Tai sat down and picked up the wine bowl on the table and started drinking. However, he didn't expect that the Yuhu Shao was so strong that it made him cough violently.

After a long while he said:
"Is this wine? How can there be such clear wine?"

Sima Ziru asked:

"Why are you coming here in such a hurry? What happened?"

Dou Tai just remembered it, and he said quickly:
"Yuwen Gong is dead!"

"what!"

Gao Huan and Sima Ziru both stood up. They had just heard that Yuwen Gong had won a great victory, so how could he die all of a sudden?
"really?"

Dou Tai nodded quickly and said:

"There was an old subordinate of my grandfather who was on duty beside Prince Wei. I heard that it was Yang Yu who devised a strategy, pretending to be defeated and then luring Yuwen Gong into an ambush. Half of the people Yuwen Gong brought with him were killed in the battle, and his second son Yuwen Lian was also killed!" Gao Huan almost lost his voice when he heard this explosive news.

Sima Ziru calmed down and said:

"How true is it?"

Dou Tai touched his head and said:

"How much? It should be true, right? My grandfather's old subordinate risked his life to pass on the news. The King of Wei has blocked the news and even set up a secret camp outside the city to accommodate the Wuchuan defeated soldiers."

After hearing this, Gao Huan and Sima Ziru were also sure that the news was true!
Gao Huan stood up and paced back and forth, saying:

"The people of Wuchuan are all led by the Yuwen father and son. Yuwen Gong died in battle, and his eldest son is also dead. Now there are only the third son Yuwen Luosheng and the underage Yuwen Tai left in the family. This is our chance as Huaishuo people!"

Sima Ziru and Dou Tai nodded repeatedly. When the three were about to continue discussing, Gao Huan's brother-in-law Wei Jing rushed in.

"He Liuhun! You are really here!"

Wei Jing was Gao Huan's brother-in-law. He was originally a prison guard, and later fled here with Gao Huan.

"Something happened! King Zhen believed Mao Puxian's slander and wanted to kill King Wei!"

The three people in the room screamed again.

Mao Puxian was originally an old subordinate of Yuan Shen and Yang Yu. Like Yuan Hongye, who surrendered while defending Yecheng, he was also a surrendered general of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Both of them were legitimate generals, and Xianyu Xiuli had always valued them in order to exclude Ge Rong.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see the conflict between King Zhen and King Wei, but no one expected that they would openly fall out just after the New Year.

Gao Huan suddenly said:

"No! If King Wei falls, we will have no place to stay!"

Sima Ziru also nodded. They had no friendship with Xianyu Xiuli, and they had defected from Du Luozhou to join Ge Rong. They were definitely regarded as Xianyu Xiuli's trusted confidants. If Ge Rong fell, they would definitely be implicated.

Gao Huan said:

"Gather the troops. We must raise an army to support King Wei and kill the treacherous villains who are trying to sow discord around King Zhen!"

Gao Huan's mind raced, and he immediately came up with a reason:

"Mao Puxian must be a spy sent by the Pseudo-Wei to drive a wedge between the True King and the Wei King!"

Sima Ziru and others applauded. Gao Huan's reason could be said to be quite reasonable. Mao Puxian was labeled a dead spy and he had no way to defend himself.

Gao Huan and others quickly organized troops and came to the camp of King Wei Ge Rong. Soon Gao Huan and others saw Ge Rong in full armor.

Seeing that Ge Rong was well prepared, Gao Huan felt relieved.

Gao Huan was soon horrified again. Could it be that Mao Puxian's plan to alienate the true king was actually planned by King Wei?

Or perhaps Prince Wei had already placed undercover agents in the closest circle around the True King, so that preparations could be made at the first opportunity.

That must be the case!
As a natural conspirator, Gao Huan completed his speculation quickly and his heart was completely relieved.

If all this was set up by Prince Wei, then Xianyu Xiuli would really have no chance of winning.

Because although Xianyu Xiuli had a great reputation and many subordinates, his troops were far inferior to those of Ge Rong, the former deputy governor of Dingzhou.

However, Gao Huan felt lost for a while. He was still excluded from the core circle and had to rely on reasoning to get the information.

He looked around carefully and saw Yuwen Luosheng and Yuwen Tai standing behind Ge Rong.

Both of them put on mourning clothes, and it turned out that Yuwen Gong had really died in the battle.

But judging from the fact that they were standing behind Ge Rong, the Yuwen family should be deeply involved in this conspiracy.

Several more of Ge Rong's generals led their own troops to the camp. When most of them had arrived, Ge Rong noted down the order in which they arrived, and then began to speak:
"I was wholeheartedly assisting the True King, but I didn't expect to be alienated and slandered by a villain."

"Originally, the True King wanted to kill me with just a warrant, but if I die, what will happen to the brothers who follow me?"

"I am ready to meet the True King, express my loyalty to him in person, and ask for his forgiveness before returning to the countryside!"

After this performance, Ge Rong led everyone and headed towards the camp of the True King Xianyu Xiuli.

More people from various groups joined Ge Rong's team. Gao Huan secretly rejoiced, because the teams that joined later would definitely be squeezed out of the core circle.

Ge Rong did not walk fast, but Xianyu Xiuli's troops along the way did not resist. Just before he was about to reach Xianyu Xiuli's camp, fire broke out in the camp and the soldiers fled in all directions!

(End of this chapter)