Han Zuo Gaomen

Chapter 360 The Prosperity of the Shen Family
In the last ten days of June, the king of Jiangzhou army crossed the north of the river to attack Liyang, and joined forces with Mao Bao to attack Zuyue from the south. Most of the Yuzhou army was defeated, and Zuyue fled north.

At the same time, Su Jun of the Liyang Army and the Jingzhou Army fought a decisive battle in Gushu. They fought for three days and beheaded Saijiang!In the end, Su Jun was defeated and led the remnants to flee to Xuancheng.

The Stone City rebel counterattack that Shen Zhezi used to threaten the Taiwan officials did not happen after all. He was stationed in the south of Dazheng for a few days.Although there is no real-time communication technology nowadays, Gushu is not far from Stone City. The corpses, boat wreckage and various damaged ordnance constantly floating in the upper reaches of the river all show the tragic situation of the upstream battle.

When the army under Shen Zhezi reached more than [-] people, Su Yi, who was trapped in the stone city, finally gave up his insistence, and a counterattack that was almost a farce took place. Hands up in surrender.When Shen Zhezi led his elite team to rush into Stone City, the city was already empty, and Su Yi led the remaining troops to flee south.

Next, Shen Zhezi welcomed a total of 5000 reinforcements from Jing and Jiang in Stone City. Since then, Jiankang City has finally stabilized.

With the arrival of reinforcements from all walks of life in Jiankang, although the rebel minister Su Jun has not been captured, and many rebels have not been wiped out, everyone knows that the result of this counter-insurgency has become clear, and there will be no more changes.The atmosphere in the capital, which had been silent for a long time, finally became active, and a large number of surviving people living around Yuancheng were moved out.Looking at the devastated and unrecognizable homes that have been devastated by the war, Jiankang City is filled with horrible crying from day to night.

Long before the reinforcements arrived at Stone City, Shen Zhezi gradually released the control over Taicheng. Part of his troops moved to Fuzhou Mountain, and the other part followed him to Stone City.In the entire Taiyuan, only King Qiao was left, leading a group of Suwei to defend the emperor.As for the recruited guards, they were also handed over to the Army Guard.

Although Yu Yi, the nominal chief of the Hujun Mansion, is still staying in Jingkou Xingtai, there are still many senior commanders in the Hujun Mansion in Taicheng. Shen Zhezi usurped their power earlier unreasonably.As soon as they took over the military power, these people began to prepare their troops to counterattack the rebel Zhang Jian's department closest to Jiankang. They made many battle plans all night long, but when they were about to send troops, they suddenly discovered that they didn't even have basic food and grass. !

With the deregulation of Taicheng, many ministers who wished to take root in Taicheng not long ago also seemed to have ended their hibernation, regained their vitality again, and left Taicheng one after another.From the day the city was broken, these people were driven into Taicheng and almost isolated from the world for almost half a year. At this time, they finally got their freedom, and more importantly, a large number of messages flooded in, which really made them feel as if they were separated from the world.

With the completion of the information, these people can more intuitively feel the rise and fall of the various forces in the current situation.Although the rebellion has not been completely suppressed until now, anyone who has a basic understanding can already realize that the turmoil brought about by this war is far greater than the Wang Dun Rebellion in the early years.

The most eye-catching thing among them is the sudden rise of East Yangzhou. Although they had heard the news earlier, but because they knew too little and lacked a lot of details, it was difficult for them to make an accurate judgment.But now, they clearly know the whole story of this incident, how the Kuaiji division of the state was discussed, how it works, how it is realized, and even the outstanding performance of the East Yangzhou army in this chaos!
During this process, the connotation and cohesion revealed by the Wuzhong scholar group headed by the Shen family is astonishing.Of course, they had already felt and recognized the rise of the Shen family, but they treated it more as a special case, and focused more on the father and son Shen Chong and Shen Zhezi.In their impression, the Shen family is still just a new family promoted by the wealthy Wuzong, and does not have the foundation to compete with the northern and southern high schools.

For a family to survive for a long time, in addition to its own strength and each generation having qualified heirs, what is more important is the sense of identity the family as a whole has gained in the current situation and cultural inheritance.For example, the ancestors of these families who fled to the south enjoyed a high reputation, even if they were penniless, but compared to those from poor families who made it to the top, people at that time were naturally more willing to believe in the children of this kind of family with blood and family inheritance.

It's true that the Shen family was famous for a while, but it's just the current status.But when it comes to that kind of sense of identity, even the children of the aristocratic family are ashamed to be subordinate to Tao Kan, let alone a mere Shen Chong!
Of course, in the eyes of the people at the time, the Shen family was stronger than the general new families. Apart from the family of the emperor's relatives, it was because Shen Chong had successors and had a good son who made people admire him, so he didn't have to worry about dying .But even so, when people at the time talked about Wuzhong's high school, they subconsciously thought of Gu Lu's family, and the Shen family was still not comparable to these old surnames.

Moreover, there is another point of criticism of the Shen family, that is, they are too keen on making money.Of course, collecting money is something that every household is doing nowadays, greedy for ink, occupying the land, stealing and plundering, it can be said that they will do everything they can.But few people are as powerful as the Shen family, which is well known to the world.Although people at the time were envious of his family's wealth, but in the final analysis, such behavior would be detrimental to his reputation.

However, such a big event as the division of Kuaiji can be said to be the foundation for Wu Qun to get a living in the current situation!The Shen family was able to occupy a dominant position in such a big matter, and was widely supported. With all their efforts, they seemed to have become the leaders of the new generation of Wu people!

This kind of performance, not to mention the surprise of those overseas Chinese, even many Wu people are very puzzled by this, why are they represented inexplicably?

Jiangdong has also established a tripod for decades, and people at that time had already summed up a set of rules for how to deal with the Wu people who were landlords, and they were very proficient in using methods of pulling or fighting.Although there are many contradictions within the Overseas Chinese Clan, they defend a righteous cause and have the pressure of living in a foreign land, which allows them to always reach a temporary alliance when the situation is critical.

But these advantages are not possessed by the Wu people. They are a group of subjugated people, and they do not have a righteous name that can be widely recognized.Like Gu Lu, there are high-ranking and powerful sects like Zhou and Shen, who are always gearing up to replace them.And those powerful sects with deep roots in the countryside also have deep hatred for each other, and there is no shortage of feuds. If they get the opportunity, they will put each other to death!
Therefore, in the past, the Overseas Chinesemen dealt with the Wu people by wooing one faction and suppressing the other faction. They didn't even have to bother themselves. The powerful Wu people would do their best to kill their local opponents.

For example, the Yixing Zhou family cut off their local enemies in the process of three settlements in the south of the Yangtze River, and the Wu Xingshen family took over the Zhou family's old nest in one fell swoop after gaining power.No need to do anything, the Wu people played themselves to death.Moreover, although the Wu Xingshen family was preserved after the Wang Dun Rebellion, they were almost buried by the villagers!

But now, Wu Xingshen's family has actually done something that even Gu Lu's family couldn't do. They have attracted a large number of villagers to separate General Ji from Wuzhong in one fell swoop and create a military state!Even if the Shen family had many bad deeds before, just for this feat, for the Wu people, the Shen family is enough to become a well-deserved leader family among the Wu people!
It wasn't until this time that those Taiwanese ministers who had been besieged for a long time understood why Shen Zhezi dared to be so stubborn after attacking Taicheng.The power he relied on was not because of his meritorious service in recovering Jiankang, nor because of his status as the emperor's son-in-law, but because he was the eldest son of the Shen family.The greatest contribution of the Shen family is to win the Wu people a foundation, a Fangzhen with its own standing army completely, so that the Wu people have the confidence and qualifications to compete with the overseas Chinese!
It can be predicted that for a long time to come, no one in the current situation would dare to blatantly deal with the Shen family or Shen Zhezi.If someone dares to do this, the opponent he will face will not only be the Shen family and the relatives and friends of the Shen family, but also a group surrounding the entire East Yangzhou, and they will face a strong counterattack!
How strong is the regional concept of Wu people?Although Gu Rong, who was the leader of the scholars in Wu and supported Jiangdong in the past, has passed away, but now there is a lot of criticism in the countryside of Wuzhong, and there are even many people who threaten to dig Gu Rong's tomb with broken monuments, split his coffin and expose his body to apologize to the villagers , The Gu family was so frightened that they had to place guards around Gu Rong's tomb all year round.

The arrival of overseas Chinese from the south will undoubtedly harm the Wu people, both politically and in terms of local capital.If this contradiction is not resolved, but becomes more and more serious, then the Shen family, which has made great contributions to the villagers, will become more and more important in the current situation!In other words, whoever wants to deal with the Shen family must resolve the conflict between the north and the south, or disintegrate the foundation of the Shen family's unity with the villagers, otherwise it is very likely that another military disaster will happen!
Once they understood this point, these ministers felt differently in their hearts, but no matter what their moods were, the fact that the Shen family was powerful had become an indisputable fact, and they could only accept it now.Thinking a little deeper, what kind of attitude should they face when such a variable has been added to the current situation.

Although Shen Zhezi left Taicheng to turn to Stone City and handed over the power of defense, he was not left out because of this. From time to time, ministers came to visit him, and there were many ministers who moved directly into Stone City. In order to express their support for the Shen family.

Of course, in such a complicated situation today, it is impossible for the Shen family's great power to make everyone cheer and give their best wishes.Although some Taiwanese ministers also came to Stone City, their purpose was not to visit and befriend Shen Zhezi, but to invite them to travel far away by boat.

Earlier, the boats near Jiankang were looted by the Liyang army and stored in Xiadu, and then they were burned by Xu Mao and the others. Now the only boats near Jiankang are near Fuzhou Mountain and Stone City.

Although these people had their own excuses for borrowing the boat, Shen Zhezi knew where they were going. They went west to see Tao Kan, and east to see Wang Shu and Xi Jian.Shen Zhezi didn't deliberately make it difficult for him, after all, his family is now considered a big boss, so it would be no fun to lower his figure to embarrass these little shrimps. The real contest in the future would still be arm wrestling with the candidates that these people went to meet.

(End of this chapter)