Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 359: The Power of the Queyue Formation

The first few times that Prince Changle Yuan Ziyou came to the court, he strongly advised the young emperor not to give birth to an heir.

Yuan Ziyou’s meaning was very clear. Empress Dowager Hu had long been dissatisfied with the little emperor. The reason she kept the little emperor was because the emperor was the source of her power. How could there be an empress dowager without an emperor?
Therefore, even though Empress Dowager Hu hated the little emperor, she still could not completely restrict him because the late emperor had only one son, Yuanxu.

But once Yuanxu gave birth to a prince, Empress Dowager Hu would have a new choice.

Pan Chonghua was the most beloved concubine of the young emperor Yuan Xu, and she had been pregnant once before.

But the last time it was because Pan Chonghua was too young and ended up not being able to take care of the royal heir and had a miscarriage.

But this time, Pan Chonghua had a miscarriage because the young emperor gave the order himself. He mixed abortion drugs into Pan Chonghua's food, which eventually led to Pan Chonghua's miscarriage.

Pan Chonghua cried every day, and the little emperor felt very guilty, but when he saw his mother's attitude, he became more convinced of Yuan Ziyou's judgment that his mother really wanted to depose the emperor!
After realizing this, the young emperor decided to follow Yuan Ziyou's advice and change his original plan.

The original plan was that as long as the little emperor grew up peacefully, he would then mobilize the princes to force the empress dowager to return power.

But the plan couldn't keep up with the changes.

If Empress Dowager Hu continues to cause chaos in the court, the Wei Dynasty will be destroyed.

After seeing his mother off, the young emperor made up his mind. He picked up a pen and wrote an edict, and asked his trusted palace maids to find a way to send it to the Yunting. The eunuch then had the palace maids who went out of the palace to buy the edict from the Yunting hand it to Yuan Ziyou.

The third year of Xiaochang, Luoyang, April 18th.

The head of the Northern Wei clan, Prince Gaoyang Yuan Yong, suddenly launched an attack at the court meeting, blaming the defeat on the front line and the chaos in the court on the three male favorites of Empress Dowager Hu.

This time, Prince Gaoyang's rebellion was supported by many princes and important officials in the court, catching Empress Dowager Hu off guard.

Empress Dowager Hu originally wanted to delay the matter until the court was adjourned, but Prince Gaoyang blocked the door of Taiji Hall and demanded that Empress Dowager Hu give an explanation to the ministers.

Facing the aggressiveness of the princes and ministers, Empress Dowager Hu used her feminine skills and said while wiping away her tears:

"My lords, are you going to force this woman like me?"

Prince Gaoyang Yuan Yong was also very tough this time, mainly because the three lovers of Empress Dowager Hu had threatened his interests as a prince.

Zhongshu Ling Zheng Yan and Zhongshu Sheren Xu He openly sold official positions and titles, and amassed a large amount of wealth in just one year.

Empress Dowager Hu even gave the mansion of the former Prince of Qinghe Yuan Yi to Zheng Yan. This was the largest mansion in Luoyang after the imperial palace, and even larger than the mansion of Prince Gaoyang!

Gaoyang King Yuanyong said:
"Your Majesty, I am also a minister appointed by the late emperor, and I am also the head of my clan. I cannot watch my Great Wei being ruined by these treacherous villains!"

King Gaoyang's righteous words aroused the response of ministers in the court.

Some ministers have even called for Empress Dowager Hu to return power.

Seeing that things were getting out of control, Empress Dowager Hu was also afraid. She pleaded:

"Is it okay to banish these two people from Luoyang?"

Yuan Yong said sternly:

"Eradicate all evil!"

Faced with the pressure from her ministers and the fear of losing power, Empress Dowager Hu finally made up her mind.

"Then follow King Gaoyang's suggestion and put these two people in prison and try their crimes."

Although he got a satisfactory result, Prince Gaoyang Yuan Yong did not force Queen Mother Hu to return power as planned.

For Yuan Yong and other princes and ministers, Empress Dowager Hu needed their support in order to maintain the legitimacy of her rule, and they were also very familiar with her.

But the young emperor is the only son of the late emperor and the most legitimate representative of imperial power. He does not need these princes to maintain legitimacy. They may even be suppressed because of the imperial power.

Moreover, the little emperor was raised in the deep palace and had little contact with the princes, so no one knew what his attitude was.

Therefore, Yuan Yong stopped at the right time and only asked Empress Dowager Hu to execute Zheng Yan and Xu He, and then let Empress Dowager Hu go.

The officials of the Secretariat were inner court officials and did not attend court meetings on weekdays.

After receiving the Queen Mother's order, Yuan Ziyou led his troops to the Secretariat. Zheng Yan and Xu He were unaware of the impending disaster and scolded Yuan Ziyou for breaking into the Secretariat.

Yuan Ziyou was not polite either, he directly took out the Queen Mother's edict and said:
"The Supreme Emperor has issued an order that the guilty ministers Zheng Yan and Xu He, who sold official positions and titles and disrupted the government, should be executed and handed over to the Ministry of Personnel for trial!"

When they heard that it was the Queen Mother's order, they finally panicked.

Xu He shouted directly:
"You must have forged the imperial edict! I want to see the Queen Mother!"

Yuan Ziyou naturally could not let him see Empress Dowager Hu again, so he ordered the imperial guards to stuff a rope around his mouth and drag him out.

The Minister of the Central Secretariat Zheng Yan was quite magnanimous. He said to Yuan Ziyou:
"Aren't you afraid of the Queen Mother's jealousy by doing this?"

Yuan Ziyou said frankly:
"For the sake of the country, I must eradicate traitors."

Hearing Yuan Ziyou say this, Zheng Yan sighed and said:
"Is it our fault that the state affairs are in this state?" Faced with Zheng Yan's questioning, Yuan Ziyou didn't know how to answer.

Zheng Yan asked Yuan Ziyou:
"Can you take off the crown?"

Yuan Ziyou waved his hand, and the imperial guards let go of Zheng Yan. He calmly took off his crown, let his hair down to cover his face, and then allowed the imperial guards to pull him out.

When Yuan Ziyou escorted the two men through the palace, the onlookers, the palace maids and the imperial guards on duty all spat in disgust. Zheng Yan covered his face with his hair, and Xu He lowered his head in fear and shame.

After the two men were sent to prison, the prime ministers of the Menxia Province quickly reached a resolution to execute them immediately and confiscate all their property in Luoyang. However, for the sake of Empress Dowager Hu, their families would no longer be implicated. They were simply dismissed from their official positions and their families were expelled from Luoyang.

Yuan Ziyou was not too excited about this victory.

Because after executing the two men, the little emperor became "sick" again.

Moreover, this time the illness was even more "serious", to the point where he was completely unable to meet with foreign officials.

The palace maids and palace servants in the little emperor's bedroom, as well as the imperial guards were all cleaned out and replaced. Even Yuan Ziyou, who had strong connections in the palace, was no longer able to enter the palace.

Holding the imperial edict written by the young emperor in his study, Yuan Ziyou knew very well that as long as the young emperor was still in the hands of Empress Dowager Hu, they, the princes and ministers, would never be able to turn the tables.

However, if the Wei Dynasty was in such a precarious state, the only person it would attract would be Dong Zhuo.

Su Shun (a eunuch who changes his attitude according to the situation) stood in the study with his head lowered and his eyes flickered as he watched Yuan Ziyou hide the imperial edict again.
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Su Ze was not eager for the secret decree.

In his opinion, Luoyang is a hot potato.

Even Cao Cao and Emperor Xian of Han had issued the Secret Edict, and even a rotten boat still has three pounds of nails. Didn't his own mentor Li Daoyuan prefer to return to Luoyang and wade through muddy waters rather than come to assist him?

Who knows what secrets are hidden beneath the palace walls of Luoyang.

Moreover, due to Luoyang's geographical location, it has lost Bingzhou in the north, Hedong is also in rebellion, and the states along the Yellow River and Huai River are all controlled by the princes of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Entering Luoyang now is like following Wang Shichong's script and becoming the target of attack by heroes all over the world.

In comparison, occupying Guanzhong and then developing slowly is the best option.

At the end of April, Hou Jing finally reorganized his army and finally marched out from Xincheng!

When Longxi attacked Qinzhou, Hou Jing had a huge strategic advantage. The Wei River connected the two places, and Qinzhou's capital, Tianshui City, was right on the bank of the Wei River. Hou Jing only needed to put the food on the boat and sail eastward along the Wei River to reach Tianshui City.

The Wei River cannot accommodate large ships, so Hou Jing built a large number of light boats, and there were endless ships on the Wei River.

As soon as Hou Jing entered Qinzhou, the rebels in Qinzhou surrendered upon hearing the news.

Mozhe Tiansheng still wanted to delay time, so he personally led the cavalry and tried to attack Hou Jing's grain ship from behind.

But unexpectedly, Hou Jing's ship was not only carrying grain, but also a large number of soldiers trained by the [Indomitable Master of the Queyue Formation]. They set up the Queyue Formation along the river and had been waiting for Mozhe Tiansheng for a long time.

The chariots were spread out along the river bank, hugging the river at both ends, with the river bank as a crescent. On the chariots were soldiers in full armor, holding long weapons and hiding behind the chariots.

There were crossbowmen on board the ships and longbowmen lined up on the shore.

Mo Zhe Tiansheng had never seen such a scene before. He led the cavalry to charge, but suddenly ran into an iron wall.

The cavalry could not break through the chariot's defense formation at all, and the infantry behind the chariot used halberds, spears and halberds to pierce and hook from the gaps. The war horses were injured by these weapons, and once the knights behind the horses were thrown off their horses, they would be shot at with a volley of arrows.

In addition, there are powerful crossbows on the ship, which can suppress the heavy armored cavalry that Mozhe Tiansheng has trained with great difficulty from a distance.

Mozhe Tiansheng's cavalry's archery tactics were also useless, as the leather covering the chariots could effectively block arrows.

And if he keeps wasting time, he won't be able to finish it.

He was leading a charge on light cavalry and did not carry much food.

However, the Queyue formation was set up around the grain transport ship, which was carrying grain. After losing hundreds of cavalrymen, Mo Zhe Tiansheng could only flee back to Gangu City in disgrace.

Gangu City, an ancient city from the pre-Qin period, was built in the Wei River Valley and controlled the throat of Qin and Long.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Ma Teng and Han Sui of Xiliang occupied Gangu City and established their own regime in Liangzhou.

Gangu City is the last fortified city before Tianshui City.

After Mo Zhetian's plan to force Hou Jing to retreat by using a surprise attack and cutting off his food supply failed, he could only gather 30,000 of his men to guard Gangu City and the nearby valley roads, preparing to fight Hou Jing to the death in Gangu City.

Yu Jin of Gaoping County had also dispatched his troops. He led them from Watingchuan all the way south to Lueyang, an important town north of Tianshui.

Su Qinmingda led 20,000 Qinzhou troops to set up a defense line in Lueyang.

Su Qinmingda handed over Lueyang City to his deputy, and surveyed the terrain everywhere. Finally, he led his troops to station on a high ground with high mountains and deep valleys, and built a camp to defend it.

When Yu Jin saw this place, he looked at the map again and burst into laughter.

(End of this chapter)