Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 349: Aftermath
The entire April of the third year of Xiaochang can be said to be a month of turbulent changes.

Ge Rong defeated Yuan Shen, and then Yuan Shen surrendered to Yang Yu, the governor of Dingzhou who had his troops stationed in Wulu. Yang Yu was already dissatisfied with Yuan Shen, and was instigated by the military supervisor. He believed that Yuan Shen was deliberately destroying the elite troops of the court, so he attacked Yuan Shen's camp at night and beheaded Yuan Shen.

When Ge Rong got the news of the internal strife among the government troops, he rushed to Wulu again, regardless of the fact that his own soldiers were also exhausted, and joined forces with Yuwen Luosheng to defeat Yang Yu.

After Yang Yu was killed in the battle, Ge Rong's army became more morale-boosted, and his followers even advised Ge Rong to attack Luoyang directly.

But Ge Rong refused.

He is different from Xianyu Xiuli. As a legitimate military general, he certainly knows what kind of team he is leading.

He had just fought with Xianyu Xiuli, and the rebel army was in disarray. This was a victory. If they lost, the defeat would be a matter of moments.

In addition to the fact that the rebels need to flatten the mountains within their own army, there are several other forces that they also need to be vigilant about.

The first was Du Luozhou who started an uprising in Shanggu.

After Gao Huan defected from Du Luozhou, he said a lot of bad things about Du Luozhou. The general idea was that Du Luozhou was dissatisfied with the true king and wanted to be independent.

The rebel army in Yanzhou was indeed not on the same side as the rebel army led by Ge Rong.

Du Luozhou gathered refugees from the Six Garrisons, while the Six Garrisons people under Ge Rong were slaves from the Six Garrisons who were captured by government troops after the first Six Garrisons Rebellion and relocated to the Three Prefectures.

Although they were also from the Six Garrisons, Du Luozhou's subordinates were mainly from the Six Garrisons in the three eastern towns. They were not the main force in the first Six Garrisons Rebellion, nor were they the targets of attack by the court and the Rouran at that time, and they were not sold by the court to the Hedong clans as slaves.

Therefore, after Du Luozhou occupied Yanzhou, he often disobeyed Xianyu Xiuli's orders.

But he didn't have much ambition. He probably just wanted to establish his own independent regime in Yanzhou.

Before the battle with Xianyu Xiuli, Ge Rong had tried to win over Du Luozhou on many occasions, even promising to make him a king.

Now that Xianyu Xiuli is dead, Ge Rong naturally cannot tolerate the existence of independent forces like Du Luozhou. You must know that Xianyu Xiuli, the "true king", was killed by him, the "King of Wei".

In addition to Ge Rong, there was also Han Lou who raised an army in Youzhou, but this man respected Ge Rong very much.

In addition, Ge Rong was also thinking about one big thing - ascending the throne.

The last time Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai persuaded him to ascend the throne, Ge Rong had actually already been tempted.

What's the point of being a lousy king? I just want to be the emperor!

Isn't the purpose of rebellion to become emperor?

If the uprising of Po Liu and Han Baling had a hint of idealistic religious color, then the second uprising of the Six Garrisons was purely for survival and profit.

Now that the survival problem has been solved, it’s time to live a good life!

At this time, Gao Huan's envoy brought news that Gao Huan had defeated the Yanzhou governor Yuan Yanming, who had led an isolated army deep in the territory of Yecheng, and completely defeated the Yanzhou army.

After receiving the news, Ge Rong was overjoyed. He immediately ordered a reward for Gao Huan, and then ordered people to search for scholars who understood etiquette and system in the three states.

As soon as he gave the order, even the rough people in the Six Garrisons understood his intention, and they all worked hard to recruit people. Even some local gods who presided over local funerals were stuffed into the team of Confucian scholars. Everyone was waiting for Ge Rong to make progress so that they could make progress themselves!
The Hedong rebel army was filled with joy, while the Luoyang court was shrouded in sorrow.

The news of this defeat is still affecting the entire Central Plains. In addition to affecting the Luoyang court and those ambitious people and speculators lurking in the Northern Wei Dynasty, it also produced some butterfly effects.

The first was the newly appointed governor of Xuzhou in the Northern Wei Dynasty, King of Beihai Yuan Hao.

The King of Beihai was also an old friend of Su Ze. He had led his troops into Huazhou in the past, but was beaten up by Hu Chen in Shayuan. Later, when Su Ze sent troops to welcome the bride, he took over Huazhou.

Yuan Hao, who had lost his territory, was unwilling to return to Luoyang and become an idle prince. He bribed the confidants of Empress Dowager Hu and was appointed as the governor of Xuzhou.

However, not long after Beihai King Yuan Hao took office as the Governor of Xuzhou, he heard the news that the Governor of neighboring Yanzhou, Yuan Yanming, had been defeated and the Yanzhou army was completely wiped out.

This news was even more shocking than Yuan Shen's defeat to Yuan Hao.

There is no way. Yan, Qing and Xu are all in the south of the rebel territory, and Yanzhou and Xuzhou are interdependent.

That is why Cao Cao of the Three Kingdoms period cared so much about Xuzhou. When he heard that Liu Bei was going to take over Xuzhou, he would go to fight Liu Bei first even if he risked being attacked from both sides.

Among the states of Yan, Qing and Xu, Yanzhou is the most powerful in fighting. But now that Yuan Yanming has been defeated, are these states in the south still safe?

You should know that Yuan Yanming was quite good at fighting and did not have any major problems with his personal character, while Yuan Hao, the King of Beihai, took office as the governor of Xuzhou just to make money. He did whatever he could while in office, which aroused resentment among officials and people throughout Xuzhou.

If Xuzhou also rebelled like the three states of Hedong, wouldn't I be dead without a burial place?
Under such fear, King Yuan Hao of Beihai could be said to be uneasy all day long. Finally, he came up with a brilliant idea.

I can go and join Southern Liang!

Didn't Yuan Faseng, the former governor of Xuzhou in the Northern Wei Dynasty and also a member of the royal family, also defect to the Southern Liang Dynasty? It is said that Yuan Faseng and his son were highly valued in the Southern Liang Dynasty. Xiao Yan appointed them as Shizhong and Sikong, and conferred them the title of Duke of Shi'an County. Yuan Faseng's son was also given the title of general.

At the same time that Yuan Faseng defected to Southern Liang, Xiao Yan's sons could defect to Northern Wei. Then wasn't it natural for Yuan Hao, a prince of the Northern Dynasty, to defect to Southern Liang?
Jiankang is much more prosperous than Pengcheng. If I take Xuzhou to join Southern Liang, I can go to Jiankang and become a rich and idle person.

This is much better than guarding Xuzhou in fear!
After making the decision, Yuan Hao immediately sent an envoy to Jiankang to reveal his intention to defect to Southern Liang, hoping that Xiao Yan could offer a higher price to "buy" Xuzhou.

However, Yuan Hao was a little surprised. Because the people of Southern Liang had suffered such a devastating defeat in the last battle of Xuzhou, they were doubtful about whether Yuan Hao would really surrender, and they did not agree to his surrender immediately.

This even made Yuan Hao feel that the world was crazy? He, a great prince of the Wei Dynasty, surrendered with an entire state, but Emperor Xiao Yan, the Bodhisattva, refused to accept it? —
The aftermath of the Hedong battle also reached Pingcheng.

After the previous defeat in Lingqiu, Prince Yuan Gong of Guangling was removed from his post and returned to Pingcheng.

Yuan Gong was still the governor of Hengzhou in name, but in reality the defense of Pingcheng was the responsibility of the three Heba brothers.

When the news of defeat at the front came, the three Heba brothers were also dumbfounded.

At this time, rumors had spread in Pingcheng that the Heba brothers were also from the Six Garrisons and were going to take Pingcheng to join the rebels.

Yuan Shen died, and Dingzhou governor Yang Yu died in battle. The next two pieces of news completely stunned the three Heba brothers.

They knew that they did not have enough prestige and official position, so they could only find Yuan Gong, the Prince of Guangling, who had been sidelined by them, and ask him to come up with a solution.

This is when personal prestige comes into play.

Although the Heba brothers were both talented in literature and martial arts, they were unpopular in the Wei Dynasty. Their family background was too low, and they could not offer anything that could win people's hearts.

So even though they clearly controlled Pingcheng, they still nominated the defeated Prince of Guangling Yuan Gong to be the big brother and asked him to make the decision.

This is the importance of cultivating reputation. From the very beginning, the Heba brothers were defined as military generals and thugs, and were not leaders of a force at all.

Prince Yuan Gong of Guangling had fought against the rebels before and was defeated by them. When he heard about Yuan Shen's defeat, he was even more frightened.

Hengzhou itself is the closest prefecture to the Six Garrisons. Before and after the Six Garrisons Rebellion, many people from the Six Garrisons fled to Hengzhou.

These people from the Six Garrisons also had conflicts with the local people of Hengzhou. In addition, the people from the Six Garrisons hated the Northern Wei Dynasty. After hearing the news of Yuan Shen's defeat, the whole Hengzhou was in turmoil. The Heba brothers had already left the city to quell several rebellions.

Therefore, the topic of this military meeting was whether or not to defend Pingcheng.

During the military meeting, Guangling Prince Yuan Gong, who was elected as the leader, took the lead and said:
“Although Pingcheng is large, it is not easy to defend. Besides, the ancestral tombs are all outside the city. It would be bad if we disturb the spirits of our ancestors by attacking the city. We should withdraw from Pingcheng.”

The three Heba brothers were also speechless. What a bullshit reason.

Was it because they were afraid of disturbing the ancestral tombs that they gave up the old capital of Pingcheng?

However, the words of Prince Guangling made the other generals nod their heads. The Heba brothers also saw the situation clearly. The news of Yuan Shen's defeat had made the defenders of Pingcheng lose their fighting spirit. Since no one was willing to defend the city, the final result of forcibly staying in Pingcheng would be a traitor in the city and the city would be opened to surrender.

This is what the people of Wuchuan did in Huaishuo City back then.

The three Heba brothers also expressed their agreement, and everyone reached a consensus, which was to abandon Pingcheng, or even the entire Hengzhou, and escape.

Since you are running away, where to run to is also a problem.

There was no doubt about this, and everyone almost reached a unanimous agreement to join Erzhu Rong in Xiurongchuan.

There is no way. Looking around, only the Bingzhou group of Erzhu Rong and Yuan Tianmu is left. The overall strength is intact, and Erzhu Rong is good at fighting. Now Bingzhou is the only one in the whole north that has no rebellion.

After determining the direction of refuge, Prince Yuan Gong of Guangling collected treasures and people, and under the protection of the three Heba brothers, he directly abandoned Pingcheng and headed south to Xiurong.

And Erzhu Rong, whom they wanted to surrender to, also took action. As soon as the news of Yuan Shen's defeat reached Xiurong, Erzhu Rong immediately led his troops himself and entered the newly established Sizhou of the court on the pretext of suppressing bandits.

Sizhou itself was established by the court in order to contain Erzhu Rong. The southern region of Sizhou was originally the territory run by the Erzhu family for generations. Even in Jiuyuan City, the capital of Sizhou, most of the nobles and powerful people were relatives and old friends of the Erzhu family.

Yao He, the deputy governor of Sizhou, had been a close confidant of Erzhu Rong even earlier.

Although Wei Qingbin had fought in wars, he had no soldiers, the local people of Sizhou did not support him, and he could not even take control of Jiuyuan City.

Erzhu Rong led his troops to suppress bandits and "on the way" came to the city of Jiuyuan and asked to enter the city for "supplies".

Wei Qingbin spent all his family wealth, recruited bad people in Jiuyuan City to form an army, and closed the city gates to refuse Erzhu Rong entry.

Unfortunately, Wei Qingbin only held out for one day. At night, the wealthy families in Jiuyuan City, led by Yao He, the deputy governor of Sizhou, surrounded the governor's mansion with their own servants, defeated the bad guys recruited by Wei Qingbin, and opened the city to let Erzhu Rong enter.

(End of this chapter)