Chapter 511: Never Forget the Old Friends
Outside the city of Hefei, a group of generals and their personal guards came out to greet them.

The flags of generals with titles such as "General Pingdong", "General Longxiang", "General Huwei", "General Zhechou", "General Yokoye" and "General Annan" fluttered in the wind.

Zhang Gonglie, Zhou Qiu, Li Feng, Yu Pinghai, Xiahou Yuanhong and other generals stood by the road, watching the convoy slowly approaching in the distance.

When the carriage arrived at the city gate, Guo Fenghe, a man in his sixties with gray hair and beard, got off the carriage wearing an ordinary robe.

Zhang Gonglie and the others bowed in unison and said, "Greetings, Mr. Guo."

Guo Fenghe smiled and said, "I haven't seen General Zhang for a few years."

Zhang Gonglie laughed proudly and said, "Yes, it seems that the last time we met was in the sixth year of Wude. Now it's the first year of Zhenguan. Mr. Guo still looks healthy."

Guo Fenghe nodded repeatedly, "Hahaha, I'm old too."

The two of them reminisced about the past as if no one was around, and no one else thought there was anything wrong with it.

Guo Fenghe is currently the first in the sequence of civil officials in the Qi Wang's palace. He serves as the Qi Wang's chief secretary and the left servant of the executive office. His sister, who can be regarded as an adopted daughter, enters the Qi Wang's palace as a lady, and his son-in-law and son are both generals in the army.

As General Pingdong, Zhang Gonglie was not subordinate to the others, but this title was considered an important general. The Zhang family had a double marriage relationship with the Qi Wang Mansion. His niece was the Qi Wang's concubine, his daughter was the county lady of the Qi Wang Mansion, and his nephew Zhang Jian and son Zhang Zhen'e were both generals that Li Yuanhui relied on.

Therefore, the two men were equal in status, but Zhang Gonglie still respectfully called him "Mr. Guo". After all, Guo Fenghe was the acting prime minister and was carrying the imperial edict from the King of Qi.

In the Guandong provinces, the imperial edict from the King of Qi was equivalent to the emperor's decree.

After the greetings, Guo Fenghe greeted the other people, and Xiahou Yuanhong called him "Uncle" very respectfully.

Guo Fenghe didn't say anything to his nephew. He just nodded and entered the former Zhennan General's Mansion from the east gate.

This was originally the military headquarters of Li Yuanhui. After moving north, it became the seat of the governor's office. Later, it became the office of General Lu Qin, the General who guards the south. Now Lu Qin is in Jiangzhou. Because of the loss of Ruxukou, he cannot lead his troops back from the Yangtze River, so he is stranded in Poyang Lake in Yuzhang.

A group of generals are now discussing matters here.

Arriving at the main hall, Guo Fenghe began to read the imperial edict. Zhang Gonglie specifically pointed out that he did not need to perform the salute, but the others needed to bow.

The content of the imperial edict was very simple, which was to appease everyone and explain that Ruxukou and the East and West Passes had been lost, and now it was equivalent to controlling Chaohu Lake together with the enemy. But all this was not your fault. I know you fought hard, so I pardoned you for the loss of land.

After hearing the imperial edict, everyone was grateful and felt relieved. After all, according to military law, losing a city or territory could result in direct death.

In fact, everyone had already guessed why Guo Fenghe was sent here. It was obvious that the King of Qi did not want to be held accountable by letting such a big shot from the Jianghuai faction come here.

In addition, Li Yuanhui also made arrangements. General Yin Gong of Annan continued to be the governor of Hefei, with the battle of Hefei mainly under his command, and Zhang Gonglie continued to be the governor of Guangling.

Yin Gong also had a lot of experience, as he was one of the first batch of leaders of the Eighteenth Battalion. He had been staying in Hefei for the past few years.

The previous deployment in the Jianghuai area was that Xiahou Yuanhong guarded Ruxukou and served as the governor of Ruxu, and Yin Gongwei served as the governor of Hefei, and they were not under the same command.

But now Xiahou Yuanhong and the defenders of the East and West Passes have all retreated to Hefei. At the same time, there are also powerful troops such as Zhou Qiu and Li Feng in Hefei. Li Yuanhui's edict is to clarify the issue of who is the highest commander, so as to avoid any disputes over the issue of leadership during this period.

After the imperial edict was read, Guo Fenghe had a welcoming banquet with everyone else, drank a few glasses of wine, said some of the things Li Yuanhui asked him to say, and comforted and encouraged him.

After the meeting, Guo Fenghe took his nephew Xiahou Yuanhong to his own courtyard in Hefei and did not stay at the general's mansion as arranged.

The Guo family's courtyard was arranged by Li Yuanhui after they came down from Tianzhu Mountain. It was actually not very big, but the Guo family lived there for several years.

Therefore, when returning to his hometown, Guo Fenghe felt quite nostalgic.

"Knowing that my uncle would be living here when he returned, I hired someone to do the repairs and cleaning in advance." Xiahou Yuanhong followed behind.

Guo Fenghe said: "Yuan Hong is thoughtful, why do you have something to say?"

Xiahou Yuanhong said, "I want to ask my uncle, when will the king take over Jiangdong?" Guo Fenghe shook his head when he heard it. "Jiangdong is not Jingzhou, it is not the same thing. I know that you have stayed in Jianghuai for the past few years and watched others fighting the Han army in the north, or participated in taking Jingzhou. It's not just you, there are many people who are jealous. But the Han army in the north is not so easy to deal with. The king fell into danger several times in the battle with the Han army. You can imagine how tragic the war was. This time, Deyu won the first merit, but he will not be promoted."

Xiahou Yuanhong said, "Uncle is right."

Guo Fenghe saw that he was a little depressed and said, "You don't have to worry. The king is a man who cherishes the past. You have been guarding Ruxukou for ten years, and you have repeatedly rejected the high-ranking officials and generous salaries in Jiangdong. The king will not forget it. Sooner or later, he will give you a chance. I will also tell you the truth. Before leaving, the king told me, 'Xiahou has guarded Ruxu for more than ten years and has worked diligently. Although he lost the land this time, it was not his fault. Tell him not to worry, I remember it.'"

Xiahou Yuanhong asked happily, "Did the king really say so?"

Guo Fenghe shook his head and said, "Have I, your uncle, ever lied to you?"

"Of course not. I didn't expect that the king still remembered these things. It's worth my time in Ruxu for so many years."

"But although Your Majesty remembers it, you cannot rely on it and act recklessly. You must proceed with caution."

"Don't worry, uncle. I understand."

The uncle and nephew talked for a while before Xiahou Yuanhong left the Guo family courtyard and returned to his own courtyard in Hefei City.

He returned to the study and took out a letter. He stared at the letter in a daze for a long while.

This letter was written by Cao Yan, the emperor of the Eastern Wei Dynasty. It was sincere and touching. Moreover, he kept calling his brother "brother" and said that the past of the Cao and Xiahou families was nothing more than wanting Xiahou Yuanhong to cooperate with the Eastern Wei Dynasty to take Hefei, and promised him the title of general and duke.

Xiahou Yuanhong, who had been stationed at Ruxukou for ten years, was actually tempted. The former Eastern Wei emperor Cao Yuanjing had also tried to persuade them to surrender.

But he refused directly at that time.

The reason he was tempted now was because he was confused. He had been in charge of Ruxu for more than ten years, working diligently, but he was always far away from the center of power.

So his mentality naturally changed, and he began to doubt whether it was worth it to stick to it.

Especially after the fall of Ruxuwu last year, he was even more frightened. If the Tang army had not tried their best to rescue him, he would have been trapped to death in Ruxuwu. After arriving in Hefei, Cao Yan sent him several letters to persuade him to surrender.

I was moved for a while.

Because he felt that the King of Qi had forgotten about this place after leaving Jianghuai. It was just that he could not make up his mind because he saw his colleagues trying their best to rescue him.

But his uncle's words today rekindled his hope. He lit the letter with a tinderbox and threw it into the brazier.

"Go and call Dalang."

Not long after, a young man walked in from outside and said, "Hello, Aye."

Xiahou Yuanhong raised his head and saw that the person coming was his eldest son, Xiahou Qi, who was only sixteen years old.

"Your uncle is coming from Luoyang. You should prepare in the next few days and prepare to go to Luoyang with your uncle."

"Go to Luoyang?" Xiahou Qi asked excitedly, "What are you going to Luoyang for?"

Xiahou Yuanhong said with a straight face: "Of course I asked you to serve under the king. Do you think I asked you to go out and have fun?"

Xiahou Qi was still very interested after hearing this. For a young man like him, he naturally wanted to go to faraway places and liked bustling and prosperous places. Is there any place in the world more prosperous than the rumored Luoyang?

It was obvious that Xiahou Yuanhong asked his son to go to Luoyang as an act of loyalty.

It is an ancient tradition for a general to send his son to his master as a hostage, which is also a way to get his descendants closer to the core power circle in advance.

As for Li Yuanhui, he had no idea that Jianghuai had successfully avoided a possible crisis.

(End of this chapter)