Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 425: New Record Birth

On the chessboard, some players fight for the corners, while others fight for the center of the board.

Chen Qingzhi escorted Yuan Hao to the city of Luoyang.

Chen Qianzhi was not in a hurry to attack Luoyang City, but sent people to contact the city.

Sure enough, Chen Qingzhi's judgment was correct. The people in Luoyang City quickly reached a consensus and opened the city to surrender to Yuan Hao.

Chen Qingzhi's 47 white-robed troops attacked from Zhi County to Luoyang, fought 32 times, captured cities, and were invincible.

In any case, this is a miracle in military history.

When Yang Zhong rode on a white horse and entered Luoyang City from Tongtuo Street, he felt like he was dreaming.

Chen Qianzhi completed a miracle in his military career and became a famous general in history. Yang Zhong also successfully changed his destiny through this Northern Expedition.

Just before entering the city, Yuan Hao learned that Yang Zhong was originally from Liugari and joined Chen Qianzhi's army after fleeing to Jiankang. Yuan Hao tried to win him over even more and personally asked Yang Zhong to come over from Chen Qianzhi to serve as his own General of the Direct Guard.

The Zhige General was the commander of the imperial guards and the military officer closest to the emperor.

Although the position was not high, it was very important, and Yang Zhong could be said to have risen to the top overnight.

Yuan Hao also dismissed officials who were not interested in their lives, and appointed Chen Qingzhi as Shizhong, General of Chariots and Cavalry, and Zuo Guanglu Dafu, and increased his fiefdom by 10,000 households.

The person in charge of opening the city gate was also an old acquaintance of Su Ze, the former governor of Liangzhou and King Linhuai of Wei, Yuan Yu.

In order to return to Luoyang, Yuan Yu bribed Empress Dowager Hu with a large sum of money, and was finally transferred back to Luoyang.

Soon after being transferred back to Luoyang, he encountered continuous turmoil. During the Heyin Incident, Erzhu Rong originally wanted to kill Yuan Yu, but when he heard that Yuan Yu got along well with Su Ze when he was in Liang Province and governed Liang Province well, he thought he was a talent, so he did not kill him. Instead, he appointed him as the Shangshu Pushe.

The thing Yuan Yu regretted most was returning to the hellhole of Luoyang from Guanzhong. He would have been willing to serve Erzhu Rong as an official, but now Chen Qianzhi had invaded Luoyang again!
Xi Yi took the new emperor Yuan Ziyou and Empress Dowager Hu to Hanoi, and Yuan Yu suddenly realized that he had become the highest official left in Luoyang.

Yuan Yu was so sad that he could not even cry. Under the eager anticipation of the ministers and officials in Luoyang, Yuan Yu surrendered to Chen Qianzhi on behalf of Luoyang, which led to the scene of the white horse entering Luoyang.

The new emperor Yuan Hao was also very generous. He promoted Yuan Yu on the spot, appointing him as the Palace Attendant and in charge of the Menxia Province, making him the prime minister of the new dynasty.

Yuan Yu refused on the grounds of old age, but Yuan Hao was adamant and insisted that Yuan Yu come out to work. He also asked him to recommend talented people to the Menxia Province to form a prime minister's team.

Yuan Yu had no choice but to take over the affairs of the Menxia Province. When he took the decree of the Menxia Province to recruit ministers, he was shocked to find that the position of the Menxia Province, which was once envied by everyone, had become a hot potato. There was not even a minister in the whole Luoyang who could be the prime minister!
Yuan Yu felt as if he was in another world. When he thought of his peaceful life in Liangzhou, he couldn't help but burst into tears.

Yuan Hao held another coronation ceremony in the Luoyang Palace. At the following court meeting, Chen Qingzhi immediately made a memorial requesting to lead troops across the Yellow River to pursue Xi Yi and his entourage who were fleeing with the young emperor.

Although it was a matter of course, Yuan Hao hesitated.

Yuan Hao's hesitation was very simple: his legitimacy as the Northern Wei emperor was simply insufficient.

In terms of closeness, he is a distant relative of the royal family and has no prestige within the clan.

In terms of ability, his reputation was very bad. The fact that the scholars in Luoyang would rather hide than serve as an official for him was quite telling.

In contrast, Yuan Ziyou had a good reputation in Luoyang.

Emperor Yuan Hao was originally a puppet established by Xiao Yan during the Northern Expedition. What he was worried about was that once Chen Qingzhi brought back Empress Dowager Hu and Yuan Ziyou, would Southern Liang support them and depose him?
Just when Yuan Hao was trying to find a reason to stop Chen Qianzhi from continuing to move north, Yuan Yu stepped forward to rescue him.

Yuan Yu said:

"Your Majesty, when the false emperor fled Luoyang, he ordered General Yang Yu to collect boats on the Yellow River. Now Yang Yu has taken all the boats away from Luoyang and burned the floating bridge. Our army cannot go north."

All the officials agreed, and then one of Yuan Hao's confidants said:

"Why do we need General Chen to march to Hanoi? As long as Your Majesty sends an edict to Hanoi, those prefectures and counties will naturally surrender. At that time, the false emperor and the evil queen will naturally be sent to Luoyang, and there will be no need to resort to war!"

All the ministers agreed, and Chen Qingzhi was speechless.

Chen Qingzhi added:

"Our army has come all the way to Luoyang, and the surrounding forces are all unwilling to submit to our army. If they know our strengths and weaknesses and all besiege Luoyang together, how can we resist them?"

"We should immediately submit a petition to the emperor and send more elite troops to Luoyang. It would be best if we could organize the northerners who are unable to escape into an army and send them to Luoyang."

The emperor that Chen Qingzhi was referring to was naturally Xiao Yan. When Yuan Hao heard Chen Qingzhi's suggestion to request reinforcements from Southern Liang, he subconsciously objected.

Having finally arrived in Luoyang, Yuan Hao naturally did not want to continue being Xiao Yan's puppet emperor. He tried to win over Chen Qingzhi and Yang Zhong in the hope of winning them over to his side.

But Chen Qingzhi was, after all, a close minister of Xiao Yan, and Yuan Hao could not bribe him with high positions, generous salaries, gold, silver, and jewelry.

If more soldiers from Southern Liang arrived, he would really have no autonomy at all.

However, Yuan Hao did not oppose Chen Qingzhi in person, but agreed and said:
"I will personally write to Emperor Bodhisattva and ask for support."

However, after the court was dismissed, Yuan Hao wrote to Xiao Yan, but he did not say this. In the letter, he said:

"Henan has been conquered now. Only Erzhu Rong is still arrogant. General Chen Qingzhi and I can capture him. The prefectures and counties have just surrendered and need to be pacified. It is not appropriate to send more troops to disturb the people."

He then ordered his confidant to deliver the letter to Jiankang, and asked the envoy to bribe Zhu Yi to stop Xiao Yan from sending reinforcements to Luoyang.

Yuan Hao then personally wrote a letter to Yuan Xin, the Prince of Pei who governed Hanoi, asking him to surrender to him.

After dealing with these government affairs, Yuan Hao finally indulged himself completely. He began to drink day and night, and did not care about military and national affairs.

As Yuan Hao's Southern Liang army, although restrained by Chen Qingzhi, became increasingly arrogant due to their merits, and robbed and harassed the people, needless to say, Luoyang once again suffered a military disaster.
-
The first year of Wude, the first year of Wutai, the sixth year of Common Era, April.

Today, the entire north is in chaos.

As agreed, Erzhu Rong led his troops out of Bingzhou from Fukou Pass, and Ge Rong also led his troops to Fukou, preparing for a decisive battle with Erzhu Rong.

Su Ze built a new city at Yanmen Pass and appointed Murong Shaozong as the governor of Hengzhou, blocking the Erzhu family's route to the north.

Yuan Tianmu had just repelled Xing Gao's attack on Ji County when he was shocked to hear that Chen Qingzhi had invaded Luoyang. Xi Yi, Yuan Ziyou and Empress Dowager Hu were fleeing to his side.

Yuan Tianmu immediately led his army to meet Xi Yi. After meeting the emperor and Empress Dowager Hu, Yuan Tianmu gathered troops in Hanoi to prepare for the attack on Luoyang.

The situation was unpredictable. The Erzhu family, once the number one warlord in Bingzhou, was suddenly surrounded by enemies.

In Yongle City, Su Ze's ministers were rejoicing.

Erzhu Rong has always been Su Ze's number one enemy, so Yongle City is also very concerned about the situation of the Erzhu family.

The expansion to the north was blocked by Su Ze, and Erzhu Rong's newly established emperor Yuan Ziyou was also driven out of Luoyang. The most important thing was that the expansion to the east would face Ge Rong's army. In the eyes of the officials in Yongle City, Erzhu Rong had been trapped to death.

April 28th.

Su Cho came to his brother Su Liang's residence today. Ever since the two brothers took up high positions, they seldom had private contact. Today is the day Su Liang gave birth to a son, so Su Cho had to come and visit him no matter how hard he tried to avoid suspicion.

Su Liang has always been low-key in Su Ze's system and rarely makes friends with outsiders.

According to current customs, in order to prevent children from dying young, banquets are usually held after the child is one month old, so those who came to visit today were all Su Liang's relatives.

The mother and child were safe, so the women naturally gathered in the inner house, and the two grown men were the only ones who were fine.

It was a rare occasion for the two brothers to get together, and today was a pleasant day. Su Liang had the yard simply decorated, and the two brothers talked about current affairs while drinking.

Su Cho had always been in the government system and did not know much about military affairs, so he asked his brother for advice:

"Why does the Duke of the County attach so much importance to Erzhu Rong? Although he is brave, he is just a common man. Now Bingzhou and Sizhou have been trapped to death. On the contrary, Chen Qingzhi is heading north, and the Southern Dynasty is showing signs of revival. They will be a great enemy in the future."

Su Liang has a different opinion. He said:

"Chen Qingzhi is indeed a fierce general, but Luoyang is a place surrounded by wars. If the Southern Liang does not replenish its troops, it will definitely not be able to occupy it."

"Given the situation in Southern Liang, it is no longer possible to mobilize a large army to march north. Instead, it is not a cause for concern."

Su Chao thought about the information from the Xuan Jingsi on the desk, and felt that what his brother said made some sense.

Just to support Chen Qianzhi's Northern Expedition with 7,000 troops, the price of grain in Jiankang doubled. If the entire country were to be mobilized again like in the Battle of Zhongli, the economy of Southern Liang would go bankrupt immediately.

Moreover, as Xiao Yan became increasingly obsessed with Buddhism, the Southern Liang Dynasty began a Buddhist temple construction movement on a larger scale than the Northern Dynasties, and a large amount of money was used in this regard.

Su Liang said: "On the contrary, if Erzhu Rong can defeat Ge Rong in one fell swoop, the whole chess game will be alive."

"Defeat Ge Rong in one fell swoop? No way?"

Su Liang still found his brother's opinion a little unbelievable.

Although Ge Rong's fighting ability was not good, according to the opinions of most military generals in the shogunate, Erzhu Rong might achieve a breakthrough locally, but it was impossible to defeat Ge Rong all at once.

Once the war of attrition began, Ge Rong would use the refugee army to consume Erzhu Rong's elite troops, and Erzhu Rong would definitely not be able to hold on in the end.

Just as the two brothers were chatting, a group of people suddenly rushed into Su Liang's house.

Among them were clerks from the Government Affairs Hall and attendants from the shogunate.

They reported one thing to the Su brothers -

On April 10th, Erzhu Rong defeated Ge Rong in Fukou, and Ge Rong was captured and executed!

(End of this chapter)