Chapter 152 The wolf is coming

After a long journey, tens of thousands of troops entering Shu finally crossed the vast Shu Road and entered the territory of Hanzhong.

Among them, the high officials were taken to Shuzhong by Li Yuan and settled in various places. About 10,000 civilians who fled with them, thousands of households, were all placed in Hanzhong.

Li Yuan also made it clear that if anyone insisted on going to Luoyang, they should stop in Hanzhong, follow the Han River, go through Xicheng to the border of Jingzhou, and then go to Yingchuan in Yuzhou via Jingzhou. Yingchuan is equivalent to the southern gate of Luoyang.

It's easy to say and the route is clear, but the road is not so easy to travel. Even if you take the water route, you need to travel a long distance and pass through Nanyang County.

But the Nanyang County is not peaceful now. The great thief Huang Niujiao took advantage of the Jingzhou army's northward march to defend the king and roamed from Jingchu to Wancheng, with tens of thousands of people, and no one could stop him. Even if they passed Nanyang safely, there were still many bandits and robbers in the Funiu Mountain area. Without the protection of the army, it would be impossible to pass.

Therefore, after careful consideration, no one among the dignitaries who came to Shu wanted to go to Luoyang.

Among the hundreds of officials’ relatives, most of them were actually Li’s in-laws, old friends and clansmen.

Among them were Li Yuan's aunt, Princess Wei, and her family, the uncles of several sons, Li Yuan's cousin Gudu's family, and his daughter and son-in-law's family.

In addition, there are the families of General Duan Yihong, Zuo Pushe Xue Chu and others.

As for Li’s brothers and clansmen, there are even more of them.

After settling everyone down, Li Yuan sighed, "Prince Gaoyang is really far-sighted."

After all, if the nobles were in Chang'an when the city was broken, half of the court in Luoyang would be uneasy and would be afraid to act rashly.

Now that the nobles in Luoyang have learned that their families were released by Murong He and have been settled in Shu, who wouldn't remember this favor?
Even if someone is gone, we still need to take care of his descendants.

Li Yuan was still very happy when he saw that other family members, including his daughter and son-in-law, had all arrived in Shu.

Especially a few brothers of the same generation and a group of younger generations, and a large number of old friends and their children. These people all came with their own troops.

It is entirely possible to use this as the basic backbone to form a new army.

Li Er's letter had already reached Shuzhong, proposing that Shuzhong send troops, and he would send troops from Longyou to cooperate.

Li Yuan's reply was to tell the second brother not to act rashly and wait and see how the situation develops. He also reminded him to beware of Liangzhou in the northwest.

He also told him to make friends with heroes in Longyou and wait for the right time.

Afterwards, he ordered his nephews Li Huaizhen, Li Xiaojie, nephew Wang Yi, and confidants Liu Wenhui, Liu Sixing, Xu Shikai and others to recruit soldiers.

Li Sanlang was also busy. He took dozens of Bandun barbarian warriors who were convinced by him to Nanzhong, saying that he wanted to recruit local barbarians in Shuzhong and form the "Wu Dang Flying Army" in imitation of Zhuge Wuhou.

In addition to replying to Li Er, Li Yuan naturally did not forget to write a letter to Li Si. The content was similar, both advising him not to act rashly and to act steadily.

Li Yuan may not be decisive and resolute enough, but his strategic judgment, including his judgment of people, is very accurate.

In July, soon after Li Yuan's letter arrived in Longxi, Xiao Juan, the governor of Liangzhou and Duke of Lanling, directly accepted the official position granted by the court in Chang'an.

He became the General of the Western Expedition, the Grand Commander of the Three Departments, the Commander-in-Chief of the Yongliang Military, and the Duke of Jing.

In addition, Murong Yanqing, the governor of Anding and the Prince of Yuzhang, who were isolated in Longdong, also announced their allegiance to the court in Chang'an.

The Chang'an court has also been busy, and has successively captured the strategic locations of Huaili, Chencang, and Sanguandeng. The entire Guanzhong region has fallen into its hands.

However, the sudden appearance of Wei Xiaoju's troops in Hedong County still made Murong Zan break out in a cold sweat.

This brave and capable army successively defeated the defenders of Anyi and Jieliang, and burned a lot of ferries, food, and supplies.

Murong Zan quickly sent the Turkic cavalry back to Hedong, intending to destroy Wei Xiaoju's troops north of Zhongtiao Mountain.

But Wei Xiaoju had a very keen strategic sense. After learning that Guanzhong had been lost and Murong Zhan had proclaimed himself emperor, he knew that Hedong was not a place to stay for long, so he immediately led his army to cross the Yellow River to the south and returned to Shan County.

Earlier, General Lou Jushi led his troops to attack Tongguan fiercely. Following Duan Wuchen's strategy, he captured all the sub-passes and garrisons except the main city of Tongguan, and the main city was also in danger.

The Western Army stationed at Tongguan was led by Murong Zan's cousin Yuwen Xiao, who was extremely brave, gifted with supernatural powers, and well versed in military strategy.

Moving forward, he led 3,000 elite troops to attack the main city of Tongguan from behind, and then immediately held the city to fight against the Eastern Army. When the city was about to collapse, Yuwen Xiao, wearing heavy armor, led his soldiers to fight bravely, holding a long-handled broadsword, slashing diagonally and vertically, and anyone who blocked his way was torn to pieces. Few bodies were left intact wherever he passed.

Relying on their own bravery, they held on to the main city of Tongguan. The Eastern Army rushed up the wall several times, but in the end it was in vain and suffered heavy casualties.

Duan Wuchen even asked for permission to lead the troops to climb the city wall himself, but was stopped by Lou Jushi.

Yuwen Xiao held out until his father Yuwen Chengye arrived with reinforcements.

When Mr. Lou saw Yuwen She leading reinforcements, he immediately withdrew his troops and retreated to Hongnong without hesitation.

After losing the initiative, the enemy still had the city in their hands, so the battle could not be fought.

Mr. Lou's choice was right. The fact that Yuwen She could lead his army to Guanzhong meant that the master had changed. The elite central army he led was one of the few troops that the Luoyang court could directly control. If something unexpected happened, the Luoyang court would be completely finished.

The deeper reason is that most of the elite troops in the central army are from Guanzhong.

Especially the brave and capable army, which was mainly composed of brave men from Guanzhong. If Guanzhong was lost, the morale of the army would definitely be unstable.

The result really developed in the direction that Master Lou had expected. Yuwen She, the veteran on the battlefield, was also able to manipulate people's hearts.

After Mr. Lou retreated, he immediately led the newly recruited soldiers from Guanzhong to catch up and widely publicize the situation in Guanzhong.

The result was that upon learning that their hometown had been occupied by the Western Army, the soldiers in Guanzhong fled in large numbers.

The central army that returned to Luoyang had only more than 30,000 soldiers, and the most combat-hardened and brave army had less than 10,000 soldiers left, and only one in ten soldiers from Guanzhong survived.

However, Mr. Lou's previous order to repair Hangu Pass worked. Although the Western Army occupied Guanzhong and caused the Eastern Army to disintegrate and collapse on its own, it also knew that it was somewhat risky to immediately break into the Qiaohan Road and drive straight to Luoyang.

A famous general like Mr. Lou who has fought in many battles is not so easy to catch.

However, after returning to Luoyang, General Lou Jushi became depressed and ill. He submitted a letter of apology as soon as he arrived in Luoyang, taking all the blame for the defeat in the war on himself.

Murong Chao had no intention of pursuing the matter against Mr. Lou, and even ordered the eunuch to deliver medicine and inquire about his illness.

The current situation is indeed bad enough.

However, the Chang'an court gained much more strength as a result and obtained 40,000 elite veterans.

After Yuwen She returned to his army, he was rewarded again. He was promoted to the title of Duke of Shenwu County, given the title of Kaifu Yitong Sansi, and was appointed as the commander-in-chief of military affairs in all the states in Guandong.

Murong Zan also reorganized the Guanzhong army and the more than 40,000 newly recruited elite surrendered soldiers.

The Bingzhou army of more than 40,000 people was still led by Yuwen She. In addition, he had more than 10,000 newly recruited troops from Guanzhong, totaling more than 50,000 people.

His cousin Yuwen Xiao, who made great contributions in the Battle of Tongguan, was appointed Marquis of Huaili and Central Guard General, the former King of Liang Sima Han Zhang was appointed as the Central Commander, and the Queen's uncle, Marquis of Xiling Tuoba Yuji, was appointed as the Central Protector. The three of them jointly controlled the Central Army.

The new central army was composed of more than 40,000 old soldiers who had "reformed", and more than 10,000 brave men from Guanzhong were recruited, as well as more than 10,000 surrendered soldiers from the Battle of Chang'an.

While Murong Zan was consolidating the territory of his kingdom in Guanzhong, Li Yuan and Li San in Shuzhong, Li Er in Longxi, and Li Si and his son in Jianghuai were recruiting soldiers, accumulating strength, and making friends with powerful people.

Zhai Rang of the Wagang Army was still hesitating whether to accept the surrender conditions brought by Li Da, because the conditions were very sincere.

The Wei emperor Cao Yuanjing of Jiangdong led an army of 180,000 soldiers and naval forces to besiege Shanyin for several months. The last few hundred defenders opened the city and surrendered. At this point, Yuzhang County was the only one of the four counties in Jiangdong that did not fall.

The officials in the Luoyang court were still formulating a new round of rebellion suppression plans, and issued an edict urging Zhao Da, who was stationed in Huai County, to defeat the Tuoba army stationed in Yewang as soon as possible.

Huang Niujiao of Jingchu, Zhang Mengjiang of Dongting, Huang Lian of Jiangxia, Yuan Baiming of Runan, Liu Huzhi and Zhang Bailong of Youzhou, Wang Bozhong of Qingzhou, these great thieves, bandits, bandits, rebels, kings, village masters, leaders, etc.
Some gathered in the mountains, some plundered the four directions, some crossed the rivers, some killed officials and gathered together, some attacked and killed each other, and some rose up in rebellion.
Everyone seemed to have forgotten the Turks behind Murong Zan.

However, the new grassland leader Shibi Khan will tell the heroes of the Central Plains: He is coming, he is coming slowly from the foot of Yinshan Mountain with his elite Fuli warriors.

In mid-July, a Turkic army of 300,000 soldiers entered Hebei in five routes.

The world was shocked.

(End of this chapter)