Chapter 244 King Tang
At the beginning of February in the third year of Guangping, the battle lines of confrontation between various forces in the world had not changed much, but people had changed a lot.

At the same time, a series of major events took place.

First, Liu Xuanji, the commander of the cavalry in Youzhou, the general Huwei, and the prefect of Yuyang, led more than 10,000 cavalry troops to defeat the coalition force of tens of thousands of troops led by Wang Xuba, the leader of the Shanggu bandits, and Liu Huzhi, who was named "Khan of Youzhou" by the Turks, at Juyongguan.

In this battle, Liu Xuanji pretended to abandon Juyongguan, luring Wang Xuba and Liu Huzhi to lead their troops into the pass. He then threw valuables and cloth along the pass all the way south, scattering them all over the ground.

The rebel army was disorganized and profit-seeking, so they launched a direct pursuit upon seeing this. Wang Xuba and Liu Huzhi were unable to control their subordinates, and could only watch the army enter the ambush area that Liu Xuanji had already prepared.

Afterwards, ambushes suddenly emerged from all directions, and the cavalry came like a torrent. The bandits who were scrambling to pick up the spoils were defeated and fled in all directions.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Wang Xuba and Liu Huzhi led a group of trusted followers and defeated soldiers to flee to the outside of the Great Wall.

His army of more than 100,000 was immediately dispersed.

In this battle, Liu Xuanji personally led 3,000 cavalrymen to the battle formation. He was extremely brave and charged into the enemy's formation with a large spear in hand like a tiger into a flock of sheep, killing the enemy troops so badly that their blood flowed like a river.

Seeing their commander being so brave, all the soldiers in the army rose up and moved forward, their momentum growing and they were unstoppable.

This war also saved Youzhou from having to face the threat of bandits outside the Great Wall for a short period of time. Although Wang Xuba and Liu Huzhi escaped, most of the bandits they led were defeated and could not recover in a short period of time.

In this battle, the Youzhou army seized more than 10,000 war horses, beheaded more than 10,000 people, and captured tens of thousands of prisoners.

Faced with so many captives, Liu Xuanji directly chose to copy Li Yuanhui's method of dealing with them in Jianghuai.

Those who committed the most serious crimes were killed, and the rest were pardoned. The young and strong were selected to serve as soldiers, and the old and weak were stored with food.

Among the tens of thousands of prisoners, there were Han people from Youzhou and various Hu people from inside and outside the border. There were also a large number of war horses, all of whom were excellent soldiers.

Such a victory is worthy of being called a great victory.

Although the Battle of Juyong brought Liu Xuanji great reputation, it could not save Dayan from its decline.

Emperor Guangping Murong Chao passed away.

As the eldest son of Emperor Zhaowu Murong Ying, Murong Chao was actually only emperor for less than three years. He personally witnessed the Great Yan Dynasty suddenly fall apart and become a war-torn country.

But it is not objective to say that Murong Chao was a tyrant.

Because all the scandals that occurred during his tenure were caused by his father.

However, because he had not been trained as an heir since childhood, Murong Chao's talents and decisiveness were not enough to quell these situations, and he could not even control the situation in the court.

Therefore, it is not wrong to say that he is a mediocre and weak king.

If it was a peaceful and prosperous era, he would most likely be a good emperor, a benevolent ruler. But in such a chaotic era, he was doomed to get no good results.

Before his death, Murong Chao passed the throne to his third brother Murong Yang, and then died suddenly with guilt towards his father Murong Ying and great-uncle Murong Ding, reluctance to leave his wife and children, and relief at finally leaving this position.

Murong Yang succeeded to the throne in front of the coffin, and he also felt mixed emotions.

There was excitement, the pleasure of getting what he wanted, worry about the current situation, and guilt towards his brother Murong Chao.

No one in the court knew how Murong Chao died, but he, his mother, Wei, knew it very well.

But none of this matters now, he is the emperor.

Although only half of the country is left, it is even smaller.

But he believed that with his abilities, he would be able to overcome the chaos, pacify the four directions, and recover Dayan!

The news of Emperor Guangping's death quickly spread far and wide.

Guanzhong, Jianghuai, Youzhou, Qingzhou.
The reactions in different places are different.

Perhaps in order to prevent his brother from traveling alone on the road, the news of Murong Chao's death reached Chang'an only three days later.

The false emperor Murong Zan died suddenly.

The cause of death is unknown.

Afterwards, Yuwen Chengye, Yuwen She, Pei Hongde and others opened the gates of Chang'an and formally surrendered to Duke of Tang Li Yuan.

And the person Li Yuan had been waiting for also came.

Murong Chang, the Prince of Shu and the legitimate son of Emperor Zhaowu Murong Ying, who had once been the crown prince, was brought from Yizhou to Chang'an by Li Sanlang.

"General Li, will I be like my second brother?"

Sitting in the carriage, Murong Chang looked out the window at the Suzaku Street in Chang'an City. The broad avenue was extremely magnificent. The buildings in the city were also grand and elegant, slightly different from the beauty of Shuzhong.

Li Sanlang did not answer immediately, but said after a while: "King Shu, perhaps you can be the Duke of Shanyang."

Murong Chang smiled when he heard this.

His second brother died suddenly, either from a pot of poisoned wine or from a three-foot white silk.

So his worries seemed to be justified.

He knew why he was asked to come. If possible, he didn't want to get involved in all this.

He knew too well how big a hole his father had left behind. But now many things were beyond his control.

Li Sanlang brought him to Chang'an because the Li family needed a puppet. And he was only fifteen years old, the legitimate son of the previous emperor, and seemed to be the most suitable candidate.

But he certainly didn't want to end up like his second brother.

However, Li San's words made him feel a little sad.

Duke Shanyang, before he abdicated, should have been called Emperor Xian of Han.

As the king of a fallen country, he was treated very well and followed the Han dynasty in his fiefdom. But for the ancestors of the Han Dynasty, they would probably prefer the descendant with big ears, right?
Li Yuan acted quickly. After entering Chang'an City, he directly announced that Emperor Guangping in Luoyang had died of illness and was poisoned by the King of Wu.

Prince of Shu Murong Chang was the legitimate son of Emperor Zhaowu. He was once the Crown Prince and was known for his virtue. However, he was deposed by Emperor Zhaowu because the country relied on the eldest son.
King Murong Yang of Wu murdered his brother and was not eligible to inherit the throne.

Therefore, the King of Shu should inherit the throne.

Currently in Chang'an, Li Yuan is basically saying, "I've finished speaking, who's in favor, who's against?"

However, those who opposed Zhou Chaoxian would be slapped in the face, but if they opposed Li Yuan, they might have to take their entire family with them.

And many people actually believed what Li Yuan said.

After all, Emperor Guangping was very young. How could he die suddenly? And when he had a son, why did he pass the throne to his brother? This is unreasonable.

Could it be that he was really poisoned to death by the King of Wu?
If this is the case, then there seems to be nothing wrong in enthroning Murong Ying's legitimate son as King of Shu.

As for those who understand, who doesn't know that Murong Chang was brought up here just to be a puppet?

After three refusal and refusal, Murong Chang was crowned emperor by the officials in Chang'an, less than a month after his second brother's death.

After Murong Chang ascended the throne, he announced to the world that he had mourned for his brother.

Later, Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang, suppressed the rebellion of Liang common people and recovered Chang'an. Due to his great merits and virtues, he was promoted to the title of King of Tang.

He was given the title of "Grand Prime Minister", "General of the State", "Chief of the Hundred Ministers", "Recorder of the Secretariat", "Commander-in-Chief of the Military Affairs at Home and Abroad", "Co-Prime Minister of the Secretariat", "Grand Marshal", "Gaifu Yitong Sansi", and "Governor of Yongzhou". The most important thing was to "be in charge of the government".

In addition, just a few days later, the first three of the four sets were also collected, namely "wearing sword and shoes into the palace", "not bowing when entering the court", and "praising and bowing without naming". The only thing missing was "adding the nine gifts".

After taking control of the government, Li Yuan first fulfilled his promise and announced in the name of the new emperor Murong Chang that the Yuwen family would be pardoned for their treason.

However, death penalty can be avoided, but living crime cannot be avoided.

Both Yuwen She and Yuwen Chengye were demoted, but they both retained some of their military power.

This also made the two of them and the Yuwen family feel at ease, because only in this way would Li Yuan want to use them.

If they want to get rid of them after they have done their job, they will be given high positions and generous salaries, but their military power will be deprived, and they will be set up on a high pedestal and waited to be killed once the limelight has passed.

Li Yuan then ordered his men to recall his two sons, preparing to reorganize and mix the troops that had surrendered in Chang'an, as well as the troops in Yizhou, Liangzhou, and Longyou.

Who knew that the second brother would come back from Tongguan and bring the eldest brother back with him.

This surprised Li Yuan very much.

It turned out that Li Dalang had fled westward from Luoyang, and finally met Li Erlang's cavalry in Hongnong. He then returned to Chang'an with his brothers.

After seeing his eldest son, Li Yuan was extremely excited and surprised.

Li Xiaoyan knelt down, kowtowed and wept, and Li Yuan also shed tears.

"My son is miserable."

(End of this chapter)