Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 465 Youzhou Grand Stage

The Northern Dynasties never figured out the origin of the Khitan, because by the time the Northern Wei Dynasty rose, the Khitan had already been destroyed by the Former Yan.

It was only after the Northern Wei Dynasty destroyed the Murong clan of the Former Yan that the Northern Dynasties heard of the existence of such a tribe in the north.

Therefore, there are basically not many records about the Khitan in the official documents of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

By letting Murong Shaozong, a descendant of the Murong clan of Former Yan, go to Youzhou, Su Ze also hoped that he could have a deeper understanding of the situation in Youzhou.

But Su Ze's plan obviously failed, Murong Shaozong said honestly:
"My Lord, my family moved to Bingzhou several generations ago, so I'm not familiar with Youzhou."

Come to think of it, the Murong clan of the Former Yan was such a long time ago. In reality, there is no Murong descendant who is determined to restore the country like Murong Fu. There were so many regimes during the Two Jin and Sixteen Kingdoms period that many surnames can be traced back to a royal family.

Among this group of people in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Liu Gui was of the royal bloodline of the Liu family of Han Zhao, and Sima Ziru was of the bloodline of the Sima family of the Jin Dynasty.

Who doesn’t have a relative who is an emperor?

Su Ze could only say:
"I'm letting you go, Shaozong, because I value your maturity and prudence. The situation in Youzhou is complicated, and only a reliable person can be appointed."

Murong Shaozong said with emotion:
"My Lord, as long as Murong Shaozong is still alive, he will never allow Youzhou to be stable!"

After bidding farewell to Su Ze, Murong Shaozong went to Ji County, the capital of Youzhou.

At the same time, Su Ze also received news from his entourage in Luoyang that Erzhu Rong appointed Gao Huan as the governor of Youzhou and led troops to Youzhou to help the Khitans fight.

Su Ze could only sigh at the magic of fate. Yuwen Tai and Gao Huan, the two old enemies, were going to compete in Youzhou again.
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In Luoyang City.

After the New Year, Erzhu Rong finally made up his mind and decided on the grand strategy of first dealing with Chen Qianzhi and then dealing with Su Ze.

In order to contain Su Ze and prevent Su Ze from attacking from behind when Erzhu Rong took action against Chen Qingzhi, Erzhu Rong decided to send an army to Liaodong to assist the Khitans in attacking Youzhou.

When they heard that people were going to be sent to Youzhou, the group of "Erzhus" all claimed to be sick.

After Liu Gui's recommendation, Gao Huan finally took on this job that everyone avoided.

Gao Huan led his own 1,000 soldiers and horses, plus 2,000 soldiers and horses from the Six Garrisons who were personally recruited and trained by Erzhu Rong during the battle in Hebei, totaling 3,000 soldiers to support the Khitan.

In order to compensate Gao Huan, Erzhu Rong ordered the states and counties along the route to meet all of Gao Huan's needs.

After Gao Huan received the order, he completed the ceremony of ancestral recognition for the descendants of the Bohai Gao family under the auspices of Gao Aocao.

After completing all preparations, Gao Huan left Luoyang, the troubled place, without stopping.

But just as he set out, Gao Huan was faced with an important question:

How can we lead these three thousand soldiers to Liaodong, which is controlled by the Khitans?

Gao Huan certainly knew that it was nothing short of a pipe dream to try to force his way through Youzhou controlled by Su Ze with just these three thousand soldiers.

In the end, it was Sima Ziru who came up with a solution, which was to transport the soldiers from Qingzhou to Liaodong by ship.

However, when they arrived in Qingzhou, they found that the ice at the northern port had not melted yet. So they could only stay in Qingzhou and sigh in despair, and had to wait until the spring to set off.
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Yuwen Tai rode a horse in the team, and the journey to Ji County was very smooth, but Yuwen Tai was not idle either.

He would go to Chen Chong's army from time to time, but he did not try to establish a relationship with Chen Chong. Instead, he talked with veteran soldiers among Youzhou's elite cavalry such as Peng Le, and learned about Youzhou's situation from them.

The area of ​​Youyan is a general term. Youzhou is probably the territory around the capital today. What is truly considered to be the northeast are Anzhou, Pingzhou and Yingzhou further north.

Anzhou was located in the north of Youzhou, probably the present-day Chengde area of ​​Hebei.

Pingzhou is the area around Qinhuangdao today, the coastal part of Hebei Province.

Anzhou and Pingzhou were actually frontier states, and had been areas of tributary rule during the Northern Wei Dynasty. These two states often did not appoint governors, and were instead managed by the Governor of Youzhou.

Therefore, Youzhou in a narrow sense refers to the present-day North China Plain, which is the area around Jixian County.

Youzhou in a broad sense refers to Youzhou, Anzhou, Pingzhou, and Yingzhou further north.

The important town on the northern border was Yingzhou, which is now the Liaoning region.

Through conversations with these veterans, Yuwen Tai gradually gained a clearer idea of ​​the situation in Youyan.

The current complicated situation in Youyan is still the aftermath of the Six Garrisons Rebellion.

The Rebellion of the Six Garrisons was not limited to the Six Garrisons. The entire north gradually lost control in this unprecedented rebellion.

First, Anzhou was gradually occupied by the grassland. It was not until Su Ze issued an order that the larger tribes withdrew from Anzhou. However, Anzhou itself had already been almost devastated by the war.

The situation in Pingzhou was equally bad. When the Mahayana sect in Jizhou rebelled, a large number of rebels poured into Pingzhou. Obscene worship was rampant locally, and local officials had to issue government decrees through the theory of ghosts and gods. Grassroots governance was almost dysfunctional.

The worst hit was Yingzhou. Ever since the turmoil in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Khitans had gradually moved southward. Now there were already Khitan tribes grazing near Mount Yanshan. The Northern Wei court had long lost control of Yingzhou.

When Han Lou controlled Youzhou, he was unable to maintain order in Youzhou, let alone manage the four states.

In Yuwen Tai's view, managing Youzhou is a difficult task. However, facing such a complicated situation, Yuwen Tai's heart, which had gradually cooled down due to the death of his father and brother, gradually warmed up.

A real man still needs to pursue a career.

Yuwen Tai had no psychological burden in working for Su Ze.

On the way to Ji County, the Erzhu cavalry led by Yuwen Tai quickly became acquainted with the Youzhou elite cavalry led by Chen Chong.

The Erzhu cavalry under Yuwen Tai and the elite cavalry of Youzhou led by Peng Le had a fierce battle in Jixian City.

In the past, everyone fought to the death, each for his own master.

Now they all work for Su Ze, and the army has always respected the strong, so now they respect each other.

Moreover, Chen Chong and Yuwen Tai were old friends. Both the Houmochen family and the Yuwen family were military leaders of Wuchuan.

Both of them were the youngest sons in their families. Faced with this superior who was younger than themselves, Yuwen Tai quickly adjusted his mindset and actively helped Chen Chong deal with military affairs.

Chen Chong was still a teenager when he left the Six Garrisons, and he had never interacted with Yuwen Tai when he was in Wuchuan.

However, when the two talked about the situation in Youzhou, they also felt that they had met too late.

For some reason, Chen Chong trusted his subordinate Yuwen Tai very much and often asked him for his opinions, and Yuwen Tai was always able to give satisfactory answers.

As soon as everyone entered Ji County, Murong Shaozong immediately summoned Chen Chong and Yuwen Tai to discuss the matter.

Unexpectedly, during the first meeting of the new Youzhou team, the three of them had a disagreement.

Murong Shaozong was a cautious person, or to put it bluntly, he lacked ambition.

He began by saying:
"Before this trip, the county lord replaced me as the governor and assigned me the task of defending Youzhou and stopping the Khitans from going south. What do you two think?"

Chen Chong frowned and said:

"Governor Murong, the Great Wall is within the borders of Anzhou and Pingzhou. Youzhou alone has no strategic location to defend. If we don't seize these two states as a barrier, the Khitans will be able to wear us down."

Yuwen Tai nodded repeatedly. Chen Chong had studied in Chongwen Pavilion. Throughout the dynasties, the focus of the northern border defense has been only one, and that is the Great Wall.

In fact, the Great Wall was not entirely built by the First Emperor. During the Warring States Period, almost all the states of Zhao and Yan in the north built the Great Wall. The First Emperor actually connected the Great Walls of Yan, Zhao and Qin.

Without controlling the Great Wall, Youzhou has no strategic location to defend. The simplest example is the battle of founding the country when the Northeastern Army marched southward in a crushing manner.

The same was true in the era of cold weapons. The Ming Dynasty relied on the Great Wall to set up a nine-border system to maintain the security of the capital. But even so, it was repeatedly beaten to the outskirts of the capital by nomadic peoples, and even the emperor went to study in Wala.

Murong Shaozong frowned. It was already difficult to just defend Youzhou, and Chen Chong actually wanted to control Anzhou and Pingzhou?
Yuwen Tai was more specific:
"Governor Murong, I think the most important part of the northern border defense is in Pingzhou Linyu, and we should build a city again."

Murong Shaozong waved his hand, and his subordinates immediately spread out a map, and he quickly found the location of Linyu.

Seeing this place, Murong Shaozong also nodded. What Yuwen Tai said was indeed right. Linyu was indeed a dangerous place.

To the north of Linyu is the western section of the Liaoxi Corridor, which has dangerous terrain and is the location of the ancient Jieshi, known as the "Jieshi Road".

If a fortress was built here, with Yanshan Mountain in the north and Bohai Sea in the south, it would be the only way for the Khitans to move south.

Although Murong Shaozong was cautious, he also had a strategic vision. He readily said:
"In that case, I will transfer 2,000 infantrymen from Youzhou. Yuwen Tai, you will lead the troops to escort the craftsmen and build the fortress in Linyu."

"This place is connected to the mountains and the sea, so let's call it Shanhaiguan."

Yuwen Tai took the order and left. Murong Shaozong looked at Chen Chong and said:

"Anzhou will be handed over to General Chen."

"promise!"

This meeting set the tone. Yingzhou was now in the hands of the Khitan, but Anzhou and Pingzhou were related to the Great Wall. In order to revitalize the Youzhou defense system, they could not be handed over to others. They had to control these two states as soon as possible before the Khitan's power expanded to these two states.

However, Murong Shaozong and the other two had not yet calculated that there was another force in Youzhou.

Pingzhou, Leting County.

A high platform was being built in front of the county government office, and a man in colorful silk clothes was performing diligently on the platform.

Under the high platform, everyone, including the county magistrate, knelt on the ground, waiting for the man's divination results.

"The snowstorm will stop tomorrow."

When they heard that the snow was about to stop, everyone cheered. Several consecutive heavy snowfalls during the New Year had already caused great damage to Leting. Today, they finally invited Liu Lingzhu, a famous alchemist in Youji, and they finally got the good news that the snowstorm was about to stop.

The local county magistrate was named Wang Ji, an official officially appointed by the Northern Wei court.

(End of this chapter)