Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 339: If King Wei doesn’t make progress, how can everyone else make progress?

Gao Huan, who was following Ge Rong, saw this scene, but he was not as panicked as the generals around him.

All this just proves his own judgment that Ge Rong's conflict with Xianyu Xiuli was premeditated. Even the news that Mao Puxian instigated discord and asked Xianyu Xiuli to kill Ge Rong was part of Ge Rong's plan.

Even Ge Rong had planted a thorn next to Xianyu Xiuli, and the chaos in the camp was caused by Ge Rong's thorn.

who can that be?

Gao Huan had several guesses, but it didn't matter at this time because the answer was about to be revealed.

Soon, several familiar generals fled to Ge Rong's army in a panic. Gao Huan saw that these were the subordinates of the True King Xian Yu Xiu Li. They knelt in front of Ge Rong like dogs that had lost their homes. The leader cried and said:

"King Wei! The True King was killed by Yuan Hongye!"

Yuan Hongye!
Gao Huan connected everything together!
Yuan Hongye, the defender of Yecheng, was a relative of the Yuan family of the Northern Wei Dynasty. After swearing to defend Santai to the death, he was persuaded to surrender by Yuwen Lian under Ge Rong's command.

After surrendering, Yuan Hongye was poached by Xianyu Xiuli. Because of his excellent military skills, he was promoted and used by Xianyu Xiuli to counter Ge Rong.

It seems that Yuan Hongye’s surrender was a trap from the very beginning!

Gao Huan looked at Yuwen Luosheng behind Ge Rong. Yuwen Luosheng, who had just received the news of his father and brother's death, showed a relieved expression when he heard the news.

Yuwen Gong and his son were killed in battle after being sent to Wulu by Xianyu Xiuli. For Yuwen Luosheng, he and Xianyu Xiuli were enemies of his father.

Now that his father's revenge has been achieved, Yuwen Luosheng finally reveals his true colors.

But Gao Huan glanced at Yuwen Tai who was beside Yuwen Luosheng, who was also in mourning clothes. Yuwen Tai pulled his brother's hand, and Yuwen Luosheng immediately restrained his expression and lowered his head, and the two of them returned to their original state.

Gao Huan secretly made a judgment in his heart. It seemed that among the two remaining sons of the Yuwen family, although Yuwen Luosheng was older, he was not very cunning. On the contrary, the youngest son, Yuwen Tai, was meticulous in his work and inherited the style of his father and brother.

Gao Huan secretly took note of everyone's reactions. Those who were surprised were all, like himself, the periphery of Ge Rong's power core. These people were not worth making friends with in the future.

The few generals who did not show any surprise were either relatively calm or were members of Ge Rong's core circle, who had already known the plan. These people were the ones Gao Huan would focus on making friends with in the future.

When Ge Rong heard the news, he pretended to be "furious", drew his knife and said:

"Yuan Hongye is a traitor. The true king entrusted him with an important task despite past grudges! He actually killed his master! Come! Follow me into the camp to quell the rebellion! Whoever kills Yuan Hongye will be rewarded a hundred gold coins!"

Gao Huan was not surprised to hear this order.

Yuan Hongye killed Xianyu Xiuli in public, which meant he was determined to die. Even if he had conspired with Ge Rong, he would never be forgiven.

So, Yuan Hongye formed an alliance with Ge Rong just to kill Xianyu Xiuli. There are really loyal people in the Yuan clan.

Can the Wei Dynasty be saved just by killing Xianyu Xiuli?
Wouldn't it be adding fuel to the fire to let Ge Rong fight with Xianyu Xiuli?

Gao Huan was unable to find out Yuan Hongye's thoughts, but he became even more wary of Ge Rong.

A superior who does not value the lives of his subordinates is just pretending to be fond of and cherishing talents.

Ge Rong is an ambitious man who will do anything for his own benefit. Anyone can be used by him.

In order to paralyze Xianyu Xiuli, Ge Rong did not resist Xianyu Xiuli's orders and sent his most trusted men, Yuwen Gong and Yuwen Lian, to fight in Wulu, sending the two men to die.

A coup d'état made Gao Huan see many things clearly, and now it was time for him to take action.

Leading Huaishuo's brothers, Gao Huan rushed into the military camp. He did not search for Yuan Hongye like others to compete for the reward of one hundred gold.

Instead, he led his brothers and began to search for Xianyu Xiuli's men who were usually at odds with Ge Rong in Ge Rong's camp, and took advantage of the chaos to kill them.

By the evening, the chaos had gradually subsided, and in front of Ge Rong there were two human heads and a corpse.

The two human heads are those of Mao Puxian and Yuan Hongye, two surrendered generals of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

A corpse, that is, the corpse of the true king Xian Yu Xiu Li.

When Ge Rong saw Xianyu Xiuli's body, he immediately rushed over and knelt before the body, crying bitterly. If you didn't know better, you would think that his parents had died.

The other people in the tent also started crying. Ge Rong first cursed Yuan Hongye and Mao Puxian, and then explained his loyalty.

Gao Huan was the last one to return to the tent. After he dismounted his horse, he heard the crying and staggered in, bursting into tears.

After the performance was over, everyone began to report the results.

Xianyu Xiuli died, and his family also "died" in the turmoil, naturally they were all killed by Yuan Hongye.

After hearing this, Ge Rong scolded Yuan Hongye again.

Then an ordinary soldier stood up and it turned out that he was the one who killed Yuan Hongye.

Gao Huan listened to the soldier's statement and thought to himself that Yuan Hongye was quite a man.

After he killed Xianyu Xiuli's family, he sat in Xianyu Xiuli's central military camp, wearing armor and standing still.

In order to compete for the 100 gold coins, many people rushed forward to kill Yuan Hongye, but they were all killed by Yuan Hongye in the end. Later, a strong archer came forward to shoot arrows, and Yuan Hongye was hit by several arrows, but he still killed the three soldiers who wanted to take his head.

In the end, this soldier had the best luck. Yuan Hong fell to the ground due to exhaustion, and he was able to take advantage of him.

Ge Rong was overjoyed and ordered his men to take out the gold and give it to the soldier on the spot. Gao Huan secretly sighed, thinking that a nameless soldier with such a large amount of gold would be killed as soon as he walked out of the military camp gate.

Then someone else found the True King's token and seal, and they also received rewards from Ge Rong.

The brothers Yuwen Luosheng and Yuwen Tai came back empty-handed, but Gao Huan knew that their Yuwen family had made the greatest effort, and Ge Rong would probably fulfill their reward.

However, now that Yuwen and his son are dead, it is unknown whether Ge Rong will continue to use the Yuwen family in the future.

When it was Gao Huan's turn, he intervened and said:

"The camp was in chaos. I was ready to protect the True King's subordinates, but I didn't expect that they had already been murdered."

Gao Huan then said a few names, all of whom were people who usually did not get along with Ge Rong. Hearing these names, Ge Rong's brows relaxed slightly, but he still pretended to say:

"Yuan Hongye's rebellion caused heavy losses to our righteous army!"

Gao Huan watched Ge Rong finish his performance and immediately said:

"The True King has fallen, but the Righteous Army cannot be without a leader. The True King's great cause also needs someone to inherit it. King Wei is the most respected person in our army. Please succeed the True King and preside over the great cause of overthrowing the False Wei!"

Only then did everyone react and secretly cursed Gao Huan, an outsider, for having snatched away the greatest credit. They all knelt on the ground and persuaded him to ascend the throne.

Some people even cried even harder than Xianyu Xiuli did just now, as if they were going to cry themselves to death if Ge Rong was unwilling to succeed.

Ge Rong pretended to be panic-stricken and said:

"Since I started my army, I have been determined to assist the True King. As the King of Guards, I failed to protect the True King, which is a crime punishable by death. How can I become the True King?"

Soon Gao Huan said again:
"But the real king is dead, and there is no heir. Could King Wei bear to let the righteous army be leaderless and let the fake Wei take advantage of the situation?"

Ge Rong pretended to be hesitant, and in the midst of everyone's joy, a young and discordant voice suddenly emerged.

"I don't think it's appropriate to be called a king!"

When everyone looked over, they saw that it was Yuwen Tai in mourning clothes.

Yuwen Luosheng was also shocked. He did not expect that his brother would suddenly speak out, and against King Wei and King Jinzhen.

Although their Yuwen family was the great hero in this battle, their father and brother died in the war and the Yuwen family is now very weak. If they arouse Ge Rong's hostility, the Yuwen family will be in danger.

Gao Huan also looked at Yuwen Tai in confusion.

Ge Rong's face didn't look good either. He had refused the performance three times and there were actually people who opposed it!

For Yuwen Tai's sake, Ge Rong let him speak and said:
"I also think it's not possible. A-Tai, why don't you tell everyone about it?"

Who knew that Yuwen Tai would say directly:

"I think that Your Majesty should not be called the True King, but the Son of Heaven!"

After he said this, those who were overtaken by Gao Huan wanted to slap their thighs so hard that they turned blue!
Previously, Gao Huan had taken the credit for persuading him to ascend the throne, and now an underage Yuwen Tai has taken the credit for persuading him to become emperor!

Why didn’t I think of it!
Even Gao Huan was shocked. It was because he didn't have enough imagination!

Yuwen Tai said:
"The system used by the True King is the same system used by the old True King in the Six Towns. It is a relatively crude system."

"The old True King started his army in the Six Garrisons. The Six Garrisons were originally military and political, so there is naturally no problem with using this system. However, the Hedong area is the heartland of the Pseudo-Wei, so this system should no longer be used. Your Majesty should be called the Son of Heaven, appoint hundreds of officials, and stabilize the country!"

Now everyone's eyes lit up!
In fact, an important reason why people were dissatisfied with Xian Yu Xiuli was that there were too few officials in this system of Po Liu Han Baling!

In addition to the True King and the Guardian King, there are the various generals and various generals who are appointed at random.

Sometimes when we encounter this in the military, no one knows who has a higher position, and no one knows how to make progress.

Po Liu Han Baling's ideal at that time was to build an ideal society where everyone had their own job, so naturally there would not be so many positions in the army.

However, the second rebellion of the survivors of the Six Garrisons was different from the first rebellion, which had a strong religious flavor. Originally, everyone rebelled because they couldn't eat, but now they rebelled for their personal future.

You don’t even have enough official positions, so people can’t make progress. How can this be done?

Yup!

If you, Ge Rong, don't become the emperor, how can we, the people below, become kings?
If I don't call myself king, how can my subordinates call themselves dukes?
Everyone has seen the benefits of establishing a system of officials for all to benefit everyone. A new court is bound to have countless vacant positions, which can be filled by one's own family members and tribesmen!

Everyone looked at Yuwen Tai with jealousy again. How come this kid got there first for such a good thing?

(End of this chapter)