Chapter 87: Old Friend in Shangyuan
April, the twelfth year of Tiansheng.

After returning to Chang'an, Murong Ying first suspended court for three days to mourn his uncle, Prince Wei.

He then personally decided on the posthumous title, "Zhongwu".

Since Wu Hou, this posthumous title has become the highest honor pursued by officials.

He was buried next to the previous emperor's mausoleum, with Prince of Qi Murong Ju carrying the coffin.

The troops that went to Guangwu to support the king all returned to their respective prefectures and counties, and because of the unforeseen circumstances, the emperor never mentioned the rewards he had promised to give them when they were defending the city again.

If the emperor didn't mention it, no one would dare to ask for it.

Only Zhao Yi was rewarded and given a title of Marquis of Xuchang County. However, he was still ordered to return to the area of ​​Xingyang in Chenliu Liangjun to continue to suppress the Wagang Army.

The Wagang Army, which had been badly beaten, quickly captured many cities and received a lot of reinforcements during the time when Zhao Yi went to support the king.

Yang Sui also made contacts on behalf of Wagang and persuaded many surrounding rebel forces to join Wagang.

During this period, the strength of the Wagang Army expanded to more than 60,000 people.

And with the addition of the remnants of Yang Xun's rebellion, the combat effectiveness of the Wagang Army also increased rapidly.

At that time, Yang Xun asked Yang Sui to take away thousands of people, including Yang family members, relatives, friends and old subordinates, as well as more than a thousand veterans.

In an army, veterans play a very important role, especially those who have fought in many battles. With them as the backbone, an army of tens of thousands or even more people can be expanded in a short period of time and combat effectiveness can be quickly formed.

Zhai Rang also generously let Yang Xun's younger brother Yang Kan lead an army alone, but of course he had to recruit his own troops.

The Yang family, who have rich military and political experience, are naturally more than capable of managing an army of 10,000 people.

From setting up camp, to routine training, to the deployment of troops in battle, all of these opened the eyes of the Wagang friendly forces.

If what Zhao Yi got when he returned to the battlefield in the Central Plains after being away for nearly two months could be called a "surprise", then what Qingzhou Governor Gao Huang got on his return journey could be described as a "shock".

After Gao Huang's 18,000 Qingzhou troops finished their battle at Guangwu, they immediately led their troops back.

Among them, 10,000 people went to the battlefield of Qingzhou Navy on white horses, and the remaining 8,000 people returned by land under the personal supervision of Gao Huang.

When they were traveling between Gaoyuan County and Qingcheng County in Le'an Prefecture, they were suddenly ambushed.

From south to north, the two counties are crossed by the Jinling, Yinling and Tieling gentle hills, with slightly sloping plains and shallow depressions between the gentle hills, as well as breach fan-shaped land and river beach highlands.

The ambush troops took advantage of the visual obstruction of the Jinyintie Sandao Ridge to carry out the ambush.

The person who ambushed him was Murong Xuan, the prefect of Qi County who had just been named King of Chengyang.

The Qingzhou army was caught off guard. Gao Huang was a veteran on the battlefield. Although the army was divided into two parts, north and south, and each was fighting on its own, he still quickly organized his troops to form a battle formation to resist.

However, Qi County originally had the advantage in military strength, and their advantage was naturally expanded as they were acting without intention.

The Qin brothers and Yang Xianguo each led a heavy cavalry of more than 100 people. Relying on their own tyrannical force and heavy cavalry assault capabilities, they constantly looked for opportunities to penetrate the infantry formation of the Qingzhou Army. In cooperation with the light cavalry and infantry, they encircled and harvested. It took them half a day to complete the battle against the northern Qingzhou Army, which was still under the situation that the northern Qingzhou Army was all infantry and had no commander. Gao Huang had no choice but to lead the elite cavalry to break through. He had a 15-year-old young general under his command. He was extremely brave and waved a long spear left and right. He led the way and led the way.

Relying on the bravery of this young general and the desperate fighting of his elite troops, Gao Huang finally succeeded in breaking through. However, of his army of 8,000, only about a thousand cavalrymen were left to flee westward.

After Gao Huang fled to Jinan County, he immediately reported to the court the fact that Qi County Governor Murong Xuan had rebelled.

He tried to return to Donglai by water, but Le'an County had been occupied by Murong Xuan and the mouth of the Yellow River had been blocked.

While the imperial court was still not able to react, Murong Xuan, after successfully ambushing, immediately moved eastward and seized Beihai, Donglai and other counties. He also joined forces with the Qingzhou thief Wang Bozhong to launch a surprise attack on Donglai and seized the Qingzhou navy.

Except for Jinan County where Gao Huang retreated, almost the entire Qingzhou fell into the hands of Murong Xuan.

Murong Xuan's sudden rebellion at this time horrified Murong Ying, who had just recovered from his shock. Less than two months after the collapse of the Pillar of Dayan, the pillar of support in his heart, the royal family had already rebelled?
"How dare you, thief? How dare you, thief!"

After reading the military report, the furious Murong Ying cried out in shock, and then immediately summoned important civil and military officials to discuss how to quell the rebellion.

At Li's residence, Li Yuanhui and Liu Xuanji were sitting in the hall of the courtyard drinking wine, and they were talking with a sigh: "Brother Liu, I was thinking that if I could stay in Chang'an for a while longer, I could find a woman for you, but now it seems that it's too late."

Liu Xuanji shook his head and smiled, "I didn't expect that we would have to go on another expedition so soon. I'm afraid we will have to meet those brothers from Qi County on the battlefield this time. Man proposes, God disposes."

After the murder and arson on Lantern Festival night, the five people from Qi County immediately left Chang'an for fear of more trouble. No one expected that in just three months, the governor of Qi County, Murong Xuan, would rebel.

Murong Xuan was very kind to all the people in Qi County. There was no doubt that these people were Murong Xuan's capable generals.

The Xiaoguo Army where Li Yuanhui was located was the elite of the central army. Even though the other units of the central army suffered heavy losses in the Yanmen battlefield, they still maintained a relatively intact structure. They would definitely participate in suppressing the rebellion as the main force, and a meeting on the battlefield was inevitable.

"By the way, is there any news about Monk Rujing and Brother Zhang?" Liu Xuanji took a sip of the Jiannan Shaochun brewed by the Li family's cellar and found it extremely spicy, comparable to the Shaodaozi popular in Youzhou.

"Brother Zhang sent a letter yesterday. He brought those people back to Yangzhou. Monk Rujing went with them, but they parted ways in Huainan and returned to Huangjue Temple." Li Yuanhui usually liked milder rice wine and was not very fond of trying this kind of strong liquor. Seeing Lao Liu's expression, he couldn't help but find it a little funny.

Liu Xuanji looked at the wine in the bowl, still hesitating whether to take another sip, and suddenly raised his head, as if remembering something: "By the way, how is Erlangjun now?"

Li Yuanhui said, "My second brother sent a letter home. He is now serving as the commander of the Longyou Commandery, commanding 500 cavalrymen stationed in Lintao. It is the poem by Emperor Xuan of Wei, 'The Big Dipper is high in the sky, Ma Long carries a knife at night. Until now, he has watched the horses grazing, and dared not go to Lintao."

This was originally a song of Geshu in the Tang Dynasty, but in this time and space it became a song of Ma Long. It was a poem given by Emperor Xuan of Wei to General Ma Long.
Thinking of this, Li Yuanhui felt like there was an asterisk in his mind that he didn't know what to say.

After hearing this, Liu Xuanji immediately said, "I know this, Ma Long, General Ma was a famous general in the former Wei Dynasty, and he was feared by the western frontier. I have heard this poem before. Erlang Jun is in Lintao, which is the right place to make achievements. With his ability, his future achievements will naturally not be inferior to General Ma's."

Li Yuanhui laughed when he heard this, and thought to himself, Old Liu, you are really too conservative. Even if there are people who are more powerful than my second brother thousands of years later, there will only be a few.

The two were drinking and chatting when suddenly the Li family's doorman came over and handed Li Yuanhui a letter.

The few big words on the envelope sobered Li Yuanhui up a bit.

"My old friend from Shangyuan respectfully invites you to write this letter personally from Li Yehou."

(End of this chapter)