Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 365 Loyalty and Treachery

When the news of Mozhe Tiansheng's demise reached Jingzhou, Hu Chen could no longer hold on.

Last year, it was with the support of Mo Zhe Tiansheng's Qinzhou Army that he was able to recover from his repeated defeats to Su Ze and regain his foothold in Jingzhou.

But Mo Zhetian was destroyed as he said. Su Ze led three armies at the same time and broke into Tianshui City in less than a month.

Qinzhou and Jingzhou are interdependent, what can Hu Chen use to defend them?
It would be better to surrender.

When he thought of this, Hu Chen felt bitter again.

When Yu Jin took office as the prefect of Gaoping County, he was forced to surrender. If he had surrendered at that time and sincerely helped Yu Jin to gain a foothold in Gaoping County, he would have been in a good position now, right?

Now that he has surrendered as a rebel general, even if Su Ze really follows the instructions in the manifesto and does not kill the surrendered general, his future will be over.

But the future is the future, if you don’t surrender, you will lose your life.

Hu Chen finally left the city and surrendered to Murong Shaozong.

In this way, Murong Shaozong, who was originally a marginal figure who was used to contain Jingzhou on the flank of the entire war, also gained a large share of military merit out of thin air.

I wonder if Hou Jing will be so angry that he will die when his achievements are commended in the future.

Murong Shaozong had no time to think about these issues. After accepting Hu Chen's surrender, he immediately sent troops into Jingzhou to take over the prefecture and counties as quickly as possible, suppress the local forces that took the opportunity to cause chaos, and stabilize Jingzhou as soon as possible.

This is what Su Ze repeatedly reminded all the generals before they went out to war. They were government troops, not bandit troops. It was not enough to just conquer the territory, but the conquered territory also had to be managed well.

In Yongle City, everyone was in high spirits. Mozhe Tiansheng was destroyed and Hu Chen surrendered. Now, only Yongzhou in Guanzhong was still in the hands of Xiao Baoyin, the nominal commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition. All other territories had fallen into the hands of Su Ze.

The reason why Yongzhou was not taken was naturally because Xiao Baoyin was still the Grand Commander of the Western Expedition appointed by the court, and Su Ze had no idea of ​​openly challenging the court for the time being.

Politics is not a black-and-white thing.

What is a traitor and what is a loyal minister is a difficult thing to define.

Huo Guang arbitrarily deposed and enthroned emperors and controlled the court for more than ten years. So was he a traitor or a loyal minister?
It is true that Cao Cao never usurped the Han Dynasty until his death, and not everyone considered him a traitor to the Han Dynasty when he was alive.

The famous officials of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, including Zu Ti and Huan Wen, their independent legions did not obey the orders of the Jiankang court and often threatened the court and forced it to march north. Were they loyal officials or rebels?
As long as you don't tear off this veil, scholars can come to you and officials can be loyal to you, and everyone will regard you as a loyal minister of the Wei Dynasty. After all, I am also serving the court.

If Su Ze openly attacks Xiao Baoyin, it would be tantamount to direct rebellion. Then, if they continue to serve you at this time, they will feel pressured.

Between name and reality, Su Ze chose reality.

Anyway, from the perspective of actual control of territory, the strategic plan of "taking over Guanzhong and looking at the world" is almost completed.

Before that, Su Ze only needed to stay in Guanzhong to develop and wait quietly for others to break the authority of the court step by step.

By that time, even if everyone in the court knew that Su Ze was going to rebel, they could only lure him with high positions and generous salaries. At that time, Su Ze could ask directly from the court for any official position or status he needed.
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The troubled times are like a breeding ground for poisonous insects, which can always screen out the strongest poisonous insects.

The three Heba brothers went south from Yanmen Pass and soon heard that Erzhu Rong was reviewing the troops in Jiuyuan City, so they rushed to Jiuyuan City.

Erzhu Rong gave the three Heba brothers a very high welcome.

Xiurong was not far from the Six Garrisons, and Erzhu Rong was very familiar with all the famous figures in the Six Garrisons. Heba Duba's attack and killing of Wei Kegu was one of the few notable deeds of the Six Garrisons' official army during the Six Garrisons Rebellion. It was widely publicized by Yuan Shen, and Erzhu Rong had a very good impression of the three brothers.

Erzhu Rong's eyes lit up when he saw the troops of the Heba brothers.

When he saw the three brothers on horseback, each of them was a strong and brave warrior on the battlefield, Erzhu Rong's love for talent became even stronger.

He took the three brothers and said:
"If I had you and your brothers, the world would not be at peace."

The three brothers hurriedly saluted Erzhu Rong with their hands crossed, and Erzhu Rong said:

"With your talents, you should be generals! But the military has its own system for promotion. How about you first become a general in the shogun's office and then be promoted after you have made contributions?"

You should know that Erzhu Rong was very strict in disciplining his army. He knew that his nephew Erzhu Zhao would be punished by military law if he disobeyed military orders, and Erzhu Rong was the one who had the final say in the army. This time, when facing the three Heba brothers, he actually used a negotiating tone to appease them and could only give them positions as generals first. This was already quite rare.

The three Heba brothers were already generals of miscellaneous rank when they were in Pingcheng, but now that they had to change their rank, they could only start over as generals. Although the three brothers felt a little bitter, they still pretended to be happy as they were now living under someone else's roof, and said to Erzhu Rong:
"As a defeated general, it is a great fortune for us brothers to be taken in by General Erzhu. I would not dare to ask for an official position unless I have made meritorious deeds!"

"Good ambition!"

Erzhu Rong was even more satisfied. He said to the three people:

"The world is in chaos right now, so a man of honor should have no worries about not having the opportunity to make achievements!"

After saying this, Erzhu Rong took the three brothers' hands and walked into Jiuyuan City. He wanted to have a night talk with the three brothers to understand the situation in Hengzhou. Erzhu Rong did not even look at Guangling Prince Yuan Gong, who was escorted by the three brothers. He just asked someone to take him away and arrange for food and accommodation. He did not respect him at all.

Prince Guangling Yuan Gong was also furious, but he had just lost Hengzhou and was afraid of being punished by the court, so he finally chose to stay with Erzhu Rong.

In June of the third year of Xiaochang, just after Su Ze put down Mozhe Tiansheng's rebellion.

Erzhu Rong ordered Heba Yun to lead his troops north to Yanmen to assist Erzhu Zhao in guarding the northern gate.

He also ordered Heba Sheng to lead troops to station at Jingxing to stop the increasingly fierce rebellion in Hedong.

He also appointed Heba Yue as a special general of the shogunate, and Heba Yue would be included in every military meeting.

As the north became turbulent, many refugees who were unwilling to become rebels began to choose to join Erzhu Rong.

However, Erzhu Rong did not accept all of them. He only selected the elite among these refugees and returned the rest to civilians. Of the 50,000 refugees who surrendered to Erzhu Rong, Erzhu Rong finally selected only 5,000 elite soldiers. Then he took these elite soldiers to train in Jiuyuan City.
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In troubled times, some people turned from rebels to government troops, and some people turned from government troops to rebels.

Gao Aocao, the son of Gao Yi, the newly appointed governor of East Jizhou, led an army composed of his own troops to respond to Ge Rong's uprising.

Those aristocratic families that have been able to survive from the late Three Kingdoms period to the present day are all well aware of the principle of betting on both sides.

Gao Yi and his family fled from Jizhou to Dongjizhou. He organized an army with the fleeing gentry and powerful people in Jizhou. He was a leading figure in the fight against Ge Rong, and was therefore appointed as the governor of Dongjizhou by the court.

However, after Ge Rong defeated Yuan Shen and Gao Huan annihilated the army of Yuan Yanming, the governor of Yanzhou, the Gao family began to have other ideas.

Gao Yi's son Gao Aocao did not like studying since he was a child and often hung out with heroes in the countryside.

Gao Aocao was an expert in lance skills. After the chaos in Hedong, he gathered the heroes he interacted with and trained them into an army. All of his men were warriors who were capable of fighting a hundred men at a time. People at that time compared Gao Aocao to Xiang Yu.

The Gao family lived in East Jizhou. Gao Yi, a Jizhou native, was appointed as the governor of a state by the court. Naturally, the local nobles and powerful families were not convinced, so Gao Aocao became the Gao family's black glove, often robbing houses to intimidate those nobles who resisted the Gao family.

This time Gao Aocao was too ruthless and wiped out an entire local noble family in Dongjizhou. This caused collective dissatisfaction among the nobles and powerful people in Dongjizhou, and they jointly wrote a letter to impeach Gao's father and son.

As it was natural, Gao Aocao "rebelled" against the Gao family and led his troops to join the rebels.

While his father was still serving as the governor of East Jizhou, his son became a rebel. Gao Yi sent troops to search for Gao Aocao, who fled all the way to Yecheng and chose to join Gao Huan, the most friendly among the rebels towards the gentry.

Dou Tai heard the news that Gao Aocao had come to surrender, but Gao Huan seemed hesitant to accept Gao Aocao. Dou Tai broke into Gao Huan's tent and said:
"General! Gao Aocao is a famous warrior in Jizhou!"

Over the past few days, Dou Tai has learned to read people's faces. Seeing that Gao Huan's face was not so good, he looked at Sima Ziru beside Gao Huan and asked:
"Military Advisor, what happened to the General?"

Sima Ziru sighed secretly, at least this foolish man no longer calls him He Liuhun all the time.

They were all brothers who had been through thick and thin together. Sima Ziru said directly:

"This Gao Aocao is from the Bohai Gao family."

Now even the simple-minded Dou Tai understood.

In order to win the hearts of Jizhou's nobles, Gao Huan spread a rumor that he was a descendant of Gao's family in Bohai.

Gao Huan did not risk the world's condemnation by pretending to be the Gao family of Bohai, but his tacit attitude was equivalent to borrowing the name of the Gao family of Bohai. Now that the real owner came to him, even Gao Huan, who was so thick-skinned, did not dare to face Gao Aocao.

Dou Tai said:

"What's the big deal! Gao Aocao's surname is Gao, and your surname is also Gao, General. You didn't change your surname! Does anyone know if your ancestor is from the Bohai Gao family?"

"Besides, what's so great about the Bohai Gao family? The Bohai County is in our hands now!"

After hearing what Dou Tai said, Gao Huan let go of his psychological pressure and said to Sima Ziru:

"Atai is right, it was Gao Aocao who took the initiative to come and join us!"

After saying this, Gao Huan led everyone out of the city to personally welcome Gao Aocao's army.

Gao Aocao, who had always been rebellious, hit it off with Gao Huan at first sight, and they entered Yecheng arm in arm. This behavior further confirmed the rumor that Gao Huan was a descendant of the Gao family of Bohai. The Gao family of Bohai also remained silent and no one came out to refute the rumor.

Gao Huan appointed Gao Aocao as the commander of the cavalry and allocated him two thousand cavalrymen, allowing him to lead an army together with the troops he brought with him.

However, Gao Aocao only wanted Han knights, not Xianbei knights, which caused dissatisfaction among the Xianbei officers under Gao Huan.

Black Myth is so awesome!

I will draw one in the comment section in a few days!
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(End of this chapter)