Chapter 236 New Year’s greetings
Murong Yang's face suddenly became very interesting, with all kinds of complex expressions on his face, and his heart was filled with mixed feelings.

There was excitement, fear, confusion, and some regret and shame.

"No, no way. How can this be possible? It's absolutely impossible."

Liang Chongli bowed and said, "Your Majesty is of noble birth, and was well-respected when the late emperor was alive. Now Liang is rebelling. Among the late emperor's sons, Your Highness is the oldest, except for the present emperor. Since the beginning of winter, the present emperor has been bedridden, so he must be in poor health recently. The eldest son of the emperor is less than ten years old, young and ignorant. If something happens to the saint, only Your Majesty is old enough to calm people's hearts. This time, the order for Your Majesty to return to Luoyang must be to entrust him with future affairs."

Murong Yang frowned, still in disbelief, because there were some things that even the two people in front of him didn't know.

For example, Emperor Murong Chao was in his prime, almost thirty, but he had to stay in bed.
So he is very panicked now. He is afraid that his mother's arrangements in the palace will be exposed, and then he will be doomed if he returns to Luoyang.

But then he remembered that he had just asked the messenger about Jinyang, and the messenger said that Jinyang went to Jianghuai.
If his mother was exposed, Jinyang would certainly not be able to escape the connection and would definitely not be allowed to go to Li Yuanhui in Jianghuai.

So, it should be ok?
Murong Yang felt very nervous, but he was unwilling to miss such an opportunity, so he could only send his trusted men to Luoyang overnight to ask his mother.

Then, the next morning, after reporting to General Duan Yihong, he informed Murong Chao that he had been ordered to return to Luoyang for business.

After hearing this, Duan Yihong sent his youngest son Duan Wuda to lead 300 elite guards, together with hundreds of guards from Murong Yang's Prince of Wu's palace, back to Luoyang.

When Murong Yang rushed back to Luoyang, it was almost the end of the year and the Chinese New Year was just a few days away.

On the way, he also received a letter from his mother, telling him to return to Luoyang without worry. Only then did he feel relieved and quickened his pace.

As soon as Murong Yang returned to Luoyang, he was summoned by Murong Chao, along with three high-ranking officials, namely several prime ministers.

Also present were General Zheng Guo, Mr. Lou, and Wei Miao, who had just assumed the post of Right Prime Minister and was Concubine Wei's brother.

In front of everyone, Murong Chao looked at Murong Yang who had hurried to the bedroom, pointed at him and said: "My younger brother is the oldest, so he should be the regent. He will be the successor to my affairs. After I die, my third brother will be the oldest, so he should take over the throne."

When Murong Yang heard this, he was so excited that he couldn't speak.

"Royal brother. I."

Gao Shi objected directly, "Although the King of Wu is the brother of the sage, the sage already has a son, so why use the King of Wu as his successor? I think this is inappropriate."

Murong Chao said, "My son is still young and cannot handle anything. The country relies on the eldest ruler. How can a little boy like him handle the current situation? Lord Gao, you don't need to say more. I have made up my mind."

Gao Shizhe wanted to say something else, but when he heard Murong Chao's decisive tone this time, he just frowned and cupped his hands to show his agreement.

The rest of the people did not object. After all, everyone knew what this meant.

A group of people have even begun to think that if Murong Yang succeeds to the throne, it may not be a bad thing for them.

First of all, the situation in Luoyang was already uncertain. Gao Shize's saying "why use brothers when there is a prince" actually meant that he wanted to monopolize power.

After all, a ten-year-old child is very easy to control.

But in the current situation, Gao Shizhe also understood that if he tried to hold on, he would have to face a strong counterattack from Murong Chao and Murong Yang.

Moreover, Xue Chu and others might not be able to help him get what he wanted, so he chose to remain silent.

After all, the most important thing at the moment is to use military force in Jianghuai. At this time, Murong Yang's regent is actually beneficial to the stability of the court.

It was only after Murong Yang became regent that he learned about the current layout of Jianghuai.

He couldn't help but sigh in his heart, Li Silang was his brother-in-law, if he had taken power earlier, the situation might not have turned out like this.

But now the arrow is on the string and must be fired.

Because Li Yuanhui had formally rejected the imperial edict asking him to return to Luoyang, which was tantamount to defiance of the imperial edict, his next actions had a legitimate reason.

Mr. Lou, who had just returned to Luoyang a few days ago, was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the army and was given the imperial seal. He immediately set out to return to the front line in Yuzhou.

Li Yaoshi, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of War, participated in the military affairs of the Grand Commander-in-Chief and assisted Lou Jushi in conducting military operations.

At the same time, a secret letter from Luoyang was quickly delivered to the outside of Chang'an City.

Li Yuan looked at the contents of the letter with a worried look on his face.

Inside the big tent, Li Yuan, who was already about fifty years old, looked at the letter from his fourth son, Li Yuanhui, and sighed.

This letter detailed the court's arrangements for Jianghuai and the current situation in Luoyang.

Therefore, Li Yuan also felt very embarrassed about the current situation.

It is impossible to give up Li Si, his own son, and he must be rescued.

But how to rescue becomes a problem.

And Luoyang's eldest son must also be taken into consideration.
Thanks to the legacy of the late King Gaoyang Murong He, Li's family members and relatives were all moved to Shu in advance, including the eldest daughter-in-law Zheng and the eldest grandson Li Cheng'an.

In fact, the only things Li Yuan cared about were his two legitimate sons, Dalang and Silang.

Fortunately, although the situation Silang faced was somewhat tense, he had been managing the three counties of Jianghuai for several years and had established relatively close ties with local powerful families and wealthy people. Even the rapid progress of Guanzhong was inseparable from Li Silang's operations in Jianghuai, and his support was indispensable.

Afterwards, Li Yuan immediately wrote letters to his cousin Li Zhu and eldest daughter who were left behind in Shu, asking them to send troops from Yong'an. At the same time, he ordered his nephews Li Huaizhen and Li Xiaojie to lead an army of 20,000 to go through Wuguan and feint to attack the Nanyang area.

The purpose of the two armies was very clear, which was to involve the Western Wei.

In addition, Li Yuan also specially asked his son-in-law to go from Anding County to the north bank of the Weishui River to replace Sanlang.

As for Li Sanlang, Li Yuan ordered him to return to Shuzhong and bring the Shu King Murong Chang to Guanzhong.

Li Sanlang immediately understood his father's plan and immediately led his personal guards to Chengdu.

At the same time, Li Er, who was in Tongguan, also received news that his father wanted him to go out of the pass to launch a feint attack and to support the attack, as well as that Jianghuai was under siege.

At this time, there were 3,000 cavalrymen led by Li Er himself to seize Tongguan, as well as 2,000 elite troops transferred by Yuwen Xiao and 2,000 reinforcements sent by Li San.

Li Er brought 3,000 cavalry from his own army and 500 elite cavalry from Yuwen Xiao's army, a total of 3,500 cavalry. The accompanying generals included Li Xiaocha, Li Xiaoqin, Dou Cong, Xue Renmei, Hou Jun, Liu Zongxun, Zhang Jin, Murong Linde and others.

Three thousand five hundred cavalrymen left Tongguan and headed straight for Hongnong area. Their purpose was to contain Duan Yihong's army, make Luoyang feel the threat from the west, and thus reduce the pressure on Jianghuai.

All of the above were actually within Li Yuanhui's expectations.

His father and brothers in Guanzhong can at most help him delay the Western Wei, and Liu Yuanqing can temporarily help him stop the Wagang Army. As long as there is no shortage of food, there should be no pressure to defend Xiang County for three to five months.

Not to mention the strategic location of Zhongli behind.

Li Yuanhui's deployment was to have Zhu Deyu as the marching commander, leading two battalions of infantry to station in Zhongli, and to focus on defending Ruxuwu and Liyang along the river.

He led an army of more than 60,000 and all the cavalry north to Shouchun, took the initiative to attack, and first defeated Lou Jushi's troops.

The reason for this arrangement is not to underestimate Mr. Lou.

The old general was a veteran who had fought his way in since Emperor Wu entered the Central Plains. He had made great military achievements and was rich in combat experience.

But the composition of the troops he led was too complex.

Although Li Yuanhui's troops were composed of many people, at least 40,000 of them were his direct subordinates.

This avoids the situation of being looked down upon by foreign troops.

The 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month was a great day for Zhu. Two days later, Zhu led his army to Zhongli.

On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Yuanhui led his army to Shouchun and then ordered his soldiers to build a pontoon bridge.

On New Year's Eve, the last day of the second year of Guangping, Li Yuanhui personally led 6,000 cavalry troops across the river to the north.

On this New Year's Eve, we would like to wish a happy new year to our "friendly forces" in Yuzhou.

　I wish you all a prosperous Year of the Dragon, may the dragon soar like a tiger, may the dragon and the horse be full of vigor, may the descendants of the dragon and the dragon and the phoenix bring good luck.
　　Family fun.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)