Chapter 259: It's a pity that I don't see Er Feng

The Tuoba clan is considered an old and powerful family among the Xianbei.

They surrendered to the Former Wei Dynasty and were settled in Dai County. From then on, they took root in the northern part of Bingzhou for more than a hundred years.

When the Murong Xianbei from Liaodong came to rule the Central Plains, the Tuoba clan joined not too early but not too late either. They made many military achievements and finally got the right to live in Dai County for generations and the title of Duke of Dai.

From this point, it can also be seen that the losses suffered by the Tuoba clan must have been considerable, so much so that the Murong clan directly allowed the tribal system to be retained.

At the same time, many Xianbei tribes and other Hu tribes, such as Jie, Xiongnu, Wuhuan, etc., were also settled in Dai County and the northern part of Bingzhou.

Now, after decades of reproduction and intermarriage, a tribal alliance with the Tuoba clan as the main force has been formed.

Murong Ying's northern tour to Bingzhou to meet the Turkic Khan was actually just an excuse; his real purpose was more to disintegrate this tribal alliance.

The first step was to transfer Dai Guogong Tuoba Yuqing to the court, and then the tribes in Dai County and Yamen were divided and settled in Liaodong and Longxi to guard the border.

However, Murong Ying did not expect that his northern tour plan was very different from what he had expected, so that his prestige was greatly reduced, and his plan to directly represent the Northern Alliance was also stillborn.

When Murong Zhan usurped the throne, the Tuoba clan gave him great support and made a woman of the Tuoba clan his queen.

He even appointed Tuoba Yuqing as the governor of Bingzhou.

However, due to the unfavorable war situation in Guanzhong, Murong Zan gradually lost control of Bingzhou.

Tuoba Yuqing also made friends with Luoyang at the right time, which allowed Bingzhou and Youji states in Hebei to remain peaceful for many years.

In the past few years, whether it was Tuoba Yuqing of Bingzhou, Zhao Da of Jizhou, or Xue Shixiong of Youzhou, they have all been accumulating strength and preparing for war.

During this period, Tuoba Yuqing completed the integration of Bingzhou's resources, built a mixed Hu-Han army of nearly 100,000 people, and maintained a commanding position over all directions.

Zhao Da of Jizhou received strong support from Jizhou nobles because of his outstanding performance and extraordinary record in the fight against the Turks, including such giants as the Zhaojun Li family, the Bohai Gao family, and the Qinghe Cui family.

Xue Shixiong's situation in Youzhou was more complicated. On the one hand, he still had some illusions about Dayan and felt that the country could still be saved. On the other hand, he felt that as the governor of a state, he should make some achievements in this chaotic world.

But because of my age, I don’t think it’s too much of a hassle anymore.

His first general, Liu Xuanji, a native of Youzhou who was first supported by the Longxi Li family and then promoted by the great general Xue Shixiong, became the target of friendship for the Youzhou tyrants and aristocrats.

Originally, Liu Xuanji's family background was quite low and a bit pitiful. Although he said that he was a descendant of King Jing of Chengyang, the Han Dynasty had been destroyed for hundreds of years after all, and his ancestors had not produced any great figures. But Liu Xuanji himself was considered lucky.

He first came to prominence by killing Yang Xun with Li Yuanhui, and later made many military achievements. He was recruited as a son-in-law by the Longxi Li family.

In this way, the identity will naturally be different.

The Longxi Li family was one of the ten famous families, so his family status was also high. In addition, he was open-minded and generous, with a clear temperament and heroic ambitions, so all the benevolent and ambitious people in Youzhou joined him or made friends with him.

Therefore, when the southern forces were in a stalemate and fighting each other, although the north also formed a pattern of numerous vassal states, the few people in charge remained very restrained.

Waiting for their chance.

The Tuoba clan acted as if they were going to cross Puyang to the west and enter Guanzhong, simply because they wanted to negotiate with the Western Yan forces in Guanzhong.

So as soon as the world-famous Li Er raised his flag, the envoys of the Tuoba clan came.

The envoys were Tuoba Yuqing's son Tuoba Tianbao and nephew Tuoba Tianmu.

These two were considered rising stars of the younger generation of the Tuoba family, and Tuoba Yuqing had high hopes for them, believing that the prosperity of the Tuoba family must depend on them.

Li Er did not meet Tuoba Tianbao and Tuoba Tianmu.

This disappointed the two. "I wanted to see what the world-famous General Erfeng looked like, but I didn't get to see him in person. What a pity."

Tuoba Tianbao and Tuoba Tianmu were accompanied by dozens of cavalry guards, and a team of guards sent by Li Er followed far behind them. A group of hundreds of people rushed towards Chang'an.

Tuoba Tianbao was very interested in Li Erfeng, who had won seven battles in a row since joining the army, and all of them were won by using cavalry.

In his opinion, Li Er had mastered cavalry tactics to perfection.

Even in terms of cavalry combat alone, there may be no one better in the world.

However, Li Er did not meet them, but sent guards to send them to Chang'an.

After all, Li Er is currently only a general in command of troops. Even though he is the son of Tang King Li Yuan, it is not his turn to make the decisions on anything to be negotiated.

When Tuoba Tianbao and Tuoba Tianmu arrived in Chang'an, they were taken to the Prime Minister's Residence to meet King Li Yuan of Tang without even a symbolic audience with the emperor.

After the two young men bowed, they explained their purpose.

Generally speaking, it requires Emperor Murong Chang to recognize and grant the Tuoba family the position of commander-in-chief of Bingzhou's military, and the Bingzhou Tuoba family is also willing to regard Murong Chang as the legitimate heir.

At the same time, marriage.

The candidate is ready-made: Murong Zan’s queen, Tuoba, is in Chang’an.

As for which son your Li family will send, the Tuoba family doesn't care, but the prerequisite is that it must be one of the four legitimate sons, and they don't care about the main wife or concubine.

Li Yuan naturally agreed to this condition.

He understood what Duke Dai Tuoba Yuqing was planning.

Are you willing to accept Murong Chang as the legitimate ruler? Isn't that just an excuse to send troops to Hebei?

After all, Chang'an used the fact that Murong Yang poisoned Emperor Guangping Murong Chao as an excuse to remove Murong Chang from the throne.

Wagang also responded later.

However, the transfer of power in Luoyang occurred without any bloodshed, and apart from the emperor, there was no major change in the situation.

The areas that the Luoyang court can actually control are basically the Luoyang Basin and the Central Plains. The two states of You and Ji in Hebei are now basically in a semi-independent state where they only obey orders and not declarations.

Although they remain obedient in name, in reality their orders are no longer enforceable.

Therefore, Tuoba Yuqing wanted to get the name of Western Yan first, and then he could send troops to Youzhou, Jizhou, or go directly to Luoyang.

The key point is that Western Yan, led by the Li family, has just experienced a great battle in Jingzhou and now needs to recuperate. It will not mobilize large-scale troops for at least a year and a half.

This period of time is enough for Tuoba to do something.

But first, the two sides had to reach some consensus. At present, there was no fundamental contradiction between Guanzhong and Bingzhou, and because the short-term strategic focus of both sides was not on the other side, they reached an agreement very happily.

"It only takes five or six days for cavalry to reach Luoyang from Jinyang. If the Tuoba clan also wants to seize Luoyang, it will be much easier than us starting from Guanzhong and taking the Xiaohan Road."

Li Dalang spoke to his father Li Yuan with some concern, as if he was not optimistic about the alliance with the Tuoba clan.

Li Yuan said: "How can Luoyang be so easy to attack? If Tuoba Yuqing is really a powerful leader, he should not be thinking about Luoyang at this time. Luoyang is the center of the world, a place surrounded by wars, how can it be a base? With Bingzhou in hand, we should send troops to Hebei to take Youzhou and Jizhou into our pockets, and then march south."

"But the two states of You and Ji are two hard bones. Can Tuoba chew them?"

(End of this chapter)