Ancestor Bless: I built a thousand-year-old family

Chapter 836 Er Zhurong, the change in Jicheng!

The rebellion in the Yan army was not a rebellion.

Except for Murong Chui of Guanzhong, whose sudden rise had little to do with the Yan State, there were mainly several military forces in the Yan State.

One of them is naturally the emperor's imperial guards. This army is the most elite. It was this army that defeated the Han Dynasty with the Liang Kingdom, and it is also the army that is confronting Murong Chui now.

This army was the most loyal to the emperor, and there was a mix of Hu and Han among them. The Yan State had the practice of using Hu people as commanders of the imperial guards. In the imperial guards, there were usually three pillars: clan relatives, foreign relatives, and Hu people. Naturally, there was no need for more of the first two. It is said that the latter has no foundation in the country and can only rely on the emperor. It is the easiest to control and has the same purpose as the eunuchs.

In addition to the imperial guards, there are various local armies, such as Murong Ke's Taiyuan army. However, most of these armies rely on the monarch. For example, after the death of Murong Ke, after the Taiyuan Kingdom abolished its establishment, the kingdom's army was also disbanded, and The kingdom's army is mostly composed of private soldiers in the hands of powerful noble families, and the combined total cannot be underestimated.

In addition, there is another army in Yan State that is easily overlooked, and that is the army guarding the border in the northern border of Yan State. These armies are somewhat similar to garrison soldiers.

These armies were born before the Murong Yan Kingdom. When the Yan Kingdom had just moved back to the Central Plains, they were military strongholds established to resist the Hu people.

Later, the barbarians in the grassland were pacified. Murong Chengguang moved these military strongholds north to the Monan grassland, from west to east, all the way to the old land of Liaodong, the former land of Yan State, which was later known as Liaoning. Going further north was too remote. , As for the Winter City where the Luo family is located, it is still thousands of miles away from the Liaodong City of Yan State.

Having said that, the problem must be very clear. These people were sent to guard the border, and except for Luo, they have always been unwilling to guard the border.

The person who leads all this is called Er Zhurong!

……

This dissatisfaction reached its peak over time. When the Yan State captured cities and territories in the south, these old friends in the north had long been forgotten. After the War of the Two Emperors broke out, the soldiers and civilians in the important towns in the north finally found an opportunity and broke out. A massive uprising.

Regarding the sudden death of the Emperor of Yan Kingdom, Murong Chui's expression was very complicated, but he knew that now was not the time to think about this. Er Zhurong had already endangered Murong's throne. He must defeat Er Zhurong as soon as possible and purge the Yan Kingdom. Just come down.

So after a riot, some of these people surrendered to Er Zhurong and some to Murong Chui.

But now Murong Chui is not in Shuzhong, and it is difficult to survive in terms of food, but Er Zhurong has more food than Zhao.

Not to mention the other courtiers, this mass killing completely made everyone realize that Er Zhurong was not Dong Zhuo, but a crazier person than Dong Zhuo.

Murong Chui's advance was blocked by Er Zhu Rong. He was certainly not Murong Chui's opponent, but there were many outstanding generals under Er Zhu Rong. Although Murong Chui never suffered defeat, he did not achieve decisive results.

Er Zhurong took control of the government and took the land of Jizhou to the south, and blocked the road for the imperial army to return to Jizhou. The imperial army was trapped in the basin of Bingzhou, with Murongchui to the west and Erzhu Rong to the east.

Er Zhurong used a butcher's knife to obtain temporary peace. Wang Meng and others advised Murong Chui that the army should not attack for the time being. They believed that Er Zhurong's rule was quite fragile. Now they continued to attack, but they gave Er Zhurong Waiting for the opportunity to come together.

For sieges, the most common method is to declare war on the entire city, artificially turning all civilians into enemies.

And although they were very vicious before the war, after successfully conquering the city, basically no large-scale killings occurred. They usually only robbed things and women, but did not kill anyone.

When the soldiers gradually stopped, Jicheng had turned into a purgatory on earth. People were naturally not dead. There were sounds of corpses being burned in fires everywhere in Jicheng.

Then a fantastic scene appeared.

As the capital of the Yan Kingdom, although Jicheng was not too prosperous due to its location, it still had the largest population in Youzhou, and more than 100,000 people died directly under the butcher's knife.

What happened in Jicheng was simply dazzling, but one thing shocked everyone, and that was the massacre of Jicheng.

What Er Zhurong saw was the angry glares from those dignitaries and the emperor who had survived the disaster. Faced with this look, Er Zhurong knew that it was impossible for him to cooperate with these people.

After this happened, Er Zhurong didn't even dare to fart, and could only let the soldiers loot and kill in Jicheng.

This kind of problem actually exists in the Liang Kingdom. The Lingnan and southwest areas of the Liang Kingdom have always been ignored. However, the problem is that the southern part of the Liang Kingdom is very weak in combat effectiveness and cannot pose a threat to the Liang Kingdom.

While Murong Chui was still confronting the imperial guards, the soldiers and civilians of these military towns had already roared across the passes and captured Jicheng, which was relatively empty in defense.

Just as he was marching towards the Taihang Mountains, another major event happened that shocked the world.

After the Zhaocheng Treaty, the princes would cover up and use various means. For example, the rule of surrender without killing was changed to no prisoners.

But what happened this time in Jicheng was a naked massacre.

Who knows if those ferocious Er Zhurong will do anything, and some of them choose to surrender to Er Zhurong, because many of their family members are still in Jicheng.

Er Zhurong asked his generals to surrender the remaining counties, while he prevented Murong Chui from taking over those imperial troops.

In other words, civilians are not allowed to maintain their harvest despite droughts and floods, but they must choose a side to fight, otherwise they will face the outcome after the city is broken. Of course, women and children are not included in this system.

But what is very frustrating is that his killings have little impact on his rule in a short period of time, because his base is the military town, and these people have made huge profits from these killings, and the dignitaries of the Yan Kingdom More than a hundred years of wealth accumulation have become the assets of Er Zhurong and the others.

It is inevitable to grab things. Soldiers need these things. We cannot expect all armies to love their people like their own children.

After all, the Yan Kingdom returned all the way south just to leave the cold north, but the emperor sent them back again. From here on, these people became somewhat dissatisfied with the nobles in the south.

He secretly ordered people to kill the emperor, and then supported the prince to succeed him.

Er Zhurong massacred the Murong royal family and those dignitaries who were unwilling to surrender to him. Nearly a thousand people were killed, not including their family members. Although the Murong family had only been on the throne for three generations, the royal family was very powerful. It is huge, after all, the Murong family has been developing for hundreds of years.

The Imperial Guards had never encountered such a situation before. The only way now was to surrender to Murong Chui. Although they were loyal to Emperor Daxing, the imperial court was now in the hands of Er Zhurong.

This sudden change left no one with time to react.

The current situation is quite similar to the Changping Battle between Qin and Zhao, but the difference is that it was easier for Qin to transport grain than Zhao, so in the end Qin was able to defeat Zhao.

In Er Zhurong's killings, almost all members of the royal family within five generations were killed. Murong Chui not only had no parents now, but all his uncles, brothers, cousins, nephews, etc. were all dead.

For these soldiers and civilians, and for the generals under Er Zhurong's command, it was really a great fortune. In this way, Er Zhurong won the hearts and minds of the people who belonged to him.

Moreover, many people look down on Er Zhurong from the bottom of their hearts, thinking that he is just a country bumpkin. Even if he controls the government, he is just Dong Zhuo. People like them have troops in their hands. Even Er Zhurong can only be obedient. treat them as honored guests.

In this case, between the defending side and the attacking side, one side will definitely increase the difficulty. Usually it is the defending side, which will be sold by the people from the city.

But these northern towns of the Yan State were extremely powerful in combat. These soldiers and civilians, who had been fighting in difficult environments all year round, had abilities that surpassed the emperor's.

As for how the food came from, it's very simple. He captured the granary of Yan State, and then attacked those counties. The nobles who were willing to provide food and grass stayed, and those who were unwilling, he even killed the emperor. , so many powerful people have been killed, are you still afraid of these people?

Most of the nobles in Jizhou were dissatisfied with the Murong royal family and naturally would not be loyal to him, so they turned to Erzhurong one after another. However, these people naturally did not sincerely seek refuge with Erzhurong. They just had no choice but to survive. Once they have the chance, they will let Er Zhurong know what justice means.

The most terrifying thing is that this massacre was not ordered by Er Zhurong, or no one ordered it. Er Zhurong also wanted to see the emperor, but he was unable to control the soldiers, and even one of his sons only stopped him. He was immediately hacked to death.

The main reason was that the road for Murong Chui's march was too long, and Bingzhou could not provide so much food. He needed to transport food from Guanzhong, which naturally stretched the front line.

Murong Chui accepted this suggestion. He also needed time to digest the large areas of land in Hedong and Bingzhou. He was waiting for Er Zhurong to self-destruct directly.

……

What happened in the Yan Kingdom was spread to the Liang Kingdom, making the entire Liang Kingdom feel dumbfounded. It was completely beyond the imagination of these people, and they even felt like they were not under the blue sky.

It seems that the Liang Kingdom was still in the era of etiquette and law, while the Northern Dynasties had begun a pattern of random killings.

The chaos in the Yan Kingdom, especially the massacre of the royal family, made Xiao Yan feel terrified. He said to Luo Xianzhi: "Lingxiu, in the history that I know, there has never been such a tragedy, and I, Daliang, have never seen such a tragedy. Will something like this happen?”

Luo Xianzhi was also in a daze. The slaughter of the royal family dates back to the Qin Dynasty, but it was Qin II's own doing and had nothing to do with outsiders.

This is the first time that such a large-scale royal family has been massacred, and the bottom line of politics has once again been destroyed.

What makes Luo Xianzhi feel the most aggrieved is that Er Zhurong is a martial artist. The so-called scholar encounters soldiers, and there is no reason to explain. People like Er Zhurong who only know how to use a knife will not care about your politics. Bottom line, their logic is, let me feel good first and then worry about the flood after I die.

Rules are formed from generation to generation, but the rules are broken easily by these people who come out of the wilderness.

Facing Xiao Yan's inquiry, Luo Xianzhi was thinking about what he should say.

After pondering for a while, he said: "Your Majesty, I will not answer your question for now. I want to ask you a question, that is, do you know why King Su talks about etiquette, benevolence and righteousness, and talks about all kinds of truth, goodness and beauty.

But when facing the barbarians, there was only one kill.

Faced with those who trample Zhou Li, there is only one to kill.

When facing people who don’t understand Zhou etiquette, shouldn’t they be allowed to participate in all political activities? "

Xiao Yan shook his head, and Luo Xianzhi said slowly: "Because rules are set for those who tell them. Rules protect everyone. The reason why humans are different from beasts is because we have rules. These rules can make the law, It may be etiquette, but in essence it is something that restrains our animal nature.

Those barbarians who do not understand the culture of Zhu Xia, those barbarians who are uncivilized, are the same as wild beasts. If we talk about etiquette to these things, we are reasoning with wild beasts, which will only lead to death. That is called pedantry. Therefore, King Su accepted those who were willing to accept the etiquette and laws into human society, and killed all the barbarians who were unwilling to accept the etiquette and laws, just like killing wild beasts.

So King Su killed all those who trampled on the Zhou rites. Even though he was a king, when he did not obey the Zhou rites, he was no longer a human but a beast.

Regarding those slaves, King Su also had the same view. Only those who learned etiquette and agreed with these rules would have a chance to stand up and enter politics.

And now Er Zhurong of Yan State is the one who has abandoned these things. If Your Majesty and such a person are under the same sky, then the final outcome may not be lucky.

After all, those who have a bottom line will always find it difficult to defeat those who have no bottom line. Er Zhurong is the one who has no bottom line. Stifling him in the cradle and nailing him to the pillar of shame is what your Majesty should do. "

Xiao Yan understood. Only by letting everyone know that those who trample on the bottom line will have a bad end can this evil trend be stopped.

If it were other things, forget it, but Xiao Yan couldn't bear the massacre of the royal family. He divided his sons into various places. It can be imagined how much he valued his sons. When he thought of one day his own He was already shuddering that his son or grandson would die under the butcher's knife.

"Lingxiu, what do you think I should do?"

Xiao Yan asked impatiently. He wanted Er Zhurong to die as soon as possible. Thinking of this person, he already felt a little uncomfortable.

Luo Xianzhi said softly: "I, Daliang, have already occupied Qingzhou. Just go north from Qingzhou and cross the Yellow River to attack Jizhou. Narzhurong's rule is extremely fragile. The results achieved by relying on killing are like dancing on eggs. , a little carelessness is the result of beating the odds.

In addition, they mobilized the entire Jiangzuo scholars to criticize Er Zhurong verbally and in writing, portraying him as a worse image than Dong Zhuo. If used well, this is a weapon sharper than a sword. "

……

Luo Xianzhi walked out of the palace, and while setting up the stairs, he suddenly thought of one thing, that is, who would Liang Guo send to the expedition?

If the emperor does not go to war, who else can be used now?

It seems that only Xie Xuan is left. After all, Xie An is already very old and can only wait for death and cannot go out again.

But can Xie Xuan cope with those people under Er Zhurong?

Xie Xuan's war experience was still somewhat lacking, especially since the wars in the Southern Dynasties were completely different from those in the Northern Dynasties.

No matter how good the general situation analysis is, if the person executing the tactics cannot win, it will be in vain.

Luo Xianzhi walked slowly in the palace. He began to recall all the policies he had made since taking office, his judgment on the general trend of the world, and the final results.

He carefully examined himself. Ever since he started serving as Shangshu Ling, he had not made any mistakes regarding the general trend of the countries. There were indeed accidents. For example, when he wanted to take over Shuzhong for the first time, he failed in the end. , but that's because the situation suddenly changed.

Another time, Murong Chui raided Chang'an of the Wei State, which led to the demise of the Wei State in an extremely short period of time. This was somewhat beyond his expectations, but the overall trend was not wrong.

Internally, his achievements over the years were also very remarkable. In almost all of Xiao Yan's wars, he was able to ensure that the army never had a shortage of food and grass. The power of Liang Guozhong's court was now much stronger than when he first took office.

The conflicts in Liang Guozhong have been reduced a lot. The power of the gentry has been suppressed but not defeated. The poor families have more channels for advancement. The power of Buddhism has been attacked. They have become somewhat reclusive. Almost all the tentacles reaching out to politics are All were cut off.

It is already extraordinary that the country can still prosper despite constant foreign wars. Luo Xianzhi is still very satisfied with himself.

But every time at this time, he had a cold intuition, always feeling that he had overlooked something, but after careful calculation, he found that most things were not a big problem, and most of them could not be pushed forward because of the emperor's reasons.

Such as the problems of the royal family, such as the problems of Buddhism, but he believes that there is no need to worry about these. It is impossible for reforms to be completely successful at once, and it is also impossible for reforms to solve all problems at once.

For a politician, he is still very young and has enough time to solve these problems. Where does this uneasiness come from?

Luo Xianzhi was puzzled!

……

Liang Guo, or Xiao Yan, reacted violently to Er Zhurong's massacre, which was beyond Er Zhurong and Murong Chui's expectations.

Under the instructions of Xiao Yan and Luo Xianzhi, almost the entire Liang Dynasty literati criticized Er Zhurong verbally and writtenly. As for those articles and history books recorded by the people such as "The Death in Jicheng" and "The Prayer for Yan". There are endless records, and these words are spreading towards Hebei.

Many places that had no idea what happened in Jicheng began to spread rumors about Er Zhurong's cruelty.

After the massacre in Jicheng, it was certainly impossible for Er Zhurong to stay in Jicheng. He moved to Yecheng, so he was naturally the first to know about it. He never expected that Xiao Yan's reaction would be even worse than that of Murong Chui. big.

Murong Chui's scolding was naturally unpleasant, and he kept scolding him, but unlike Xiao Yan, he did not directly mobilize all the literati in Jiangzuo to scold him together, and even set up a stone tablet in Jiangzuo to record the things he had done.

Xiao Yan's verbal criticism of Er Zhurong inspired Murong Chui, who also began to ask his scholars to write these articles. Although he could not kill Er Zhurong for the time being, he would at least verbally kill Er Zhurong.

Luo Xianzhi proposed this idea to Xiao Yan, which was naturally very effective, especially for a character like Er Zhurong who had no real advantage in the first place.

After Er Zhurong annexed many armies in Jizhou, he was quite tyrannical in terms of military strength. However, he did not have an advantage against either Murong Chui or Xiao Yan. His only advantage was to stick to his homeland without the pressure of food and grass. , and they are relatively united internally. After all, they are a group of people who have returned from the north. They are unfamiliar with the place in the Central Plains, so they can only unite around him.

This is the same as Dong Zhuo at the beginning. The generals of Xiliang all rallied around him. Even if Dong Zhuo did so many things, those people still followed him.

This kind of unity within the ruling group is very significant for improving the combat effectiveness of a group.

Moreover, Er Zhurong's political skills were not as low as imagined. At least he was much stronger than Dong Zhuo. He killed all the royal family and dignitaries of the Yan Kingdom and controlled the entire Jicheng, but he did not stay in Jicheng. Letting his confidants take control of Jicheng is a wonderful move.

The so-called punishment is unpredictable, and the power is unpredictable.

The same is true for the army. If he had stayed in Jicheng, how much strength he had would be known, and some people would have some inappropriate thoughts. But he left Jicheng and went to Yecheng, which is very safe. , then the people of Jicheng should think about whether they are going to launch a rebellion, and whether they can withstand the counterattack from Yecheng after launching it.

Yecheng's army was like a sword, always hanging over the heads of all the people of Jicheng. Those who had some evil intentions in their hearts did not dare to move at will.

But Luo Xianzhi's plan was to directly attack Er Zhurong from a non-physical level, which was very scary, especially for the people under Er Zhurong.

What was the final outcome of Dong Zhuo's Xiliang generals?

Naturally, those unlearned people like them don’t know, but who among those nobles doesn’t know?

Once Er Zhurong really carries such a reputation, no one will be willing to stand with Er Zhurong again. This is a reality. The key is whether Er Zhurong has the ability to fight back?

No!

Now all the pens in the world are in the hands of Liang Guo and Murong Chui. All the famous people in Jizhou are hiding and are not willing to help Er Zhurong, because Er Zhurong is really cruel, who would be willing to help him?

Is it possible for Er Zhurong to defeat Liang Guo and Murong Chui with a sword?

After all, the weapon of criticism is still no match for the criticism of the weapon. If Er Zhurong can defeat Murong Chui and Xiao Yan, then there will definitely be people who will praise him, but unfortunately, the same cannot be done!

To put it bluntly, the reason why Er Zhurong is alive and showing off his power now is because Murong Chui wanted to win Guandong without any bloodshed. Otherwise, with Murong Chui's current strength, as long as he is willing to pay the price of sacrifice, he will not be able to defeat Er Zhu Rong. Big question.

Er Zhurong naturally felt the malice that permeated the entire Jizhou. He felt a little afraid, and even had the idea of ​​retreating to the north, where he believed that he could guarantee his own safety.

But they were stopped by their men, and they finally left there. Now they have to go back. Isn't this a joke? They have not enjoyed this colorful world, and they are not willing to leave.

Faced with this trend of thought, Er Zhurong naturally did not dare to go against everyone's wishes, so he could only stay in Yecheng and began to try to consolidate his rule. He sent out all his generals and asked them to recruit and lead armies to guard their respective areas. office, and then began to try to continuously improve his momentum in the court.

His purpose is very simple, that is, to use the shortest possible time to complete the construction of his own power, not relying on the Yan Kingdom's court like now, but his own court.

In other words, he wanted to be emperor.

Only when he becomes the emperor can his rule be deeper and his control over his subordinates deeper.

Naturally, everyone under his command was well aware of his thoughts. Er Zhurong thought that everyone under his command would definitely agree with him proclaiming himself emperor, but it turned out not to be the case.

Many people advised him that now was not the time, and even used superstitious methods to persuade Zhu Rong.

The reasons for this are naturally quite complicated, but there is one thing that cannot be ignored, that is, Luo Xianzhi's methods made Er Zhurong's people have strange thoughts.

A considerable number of people are not willing to stay on the ship Er Zhurong, especially those who are far-sighted. The more they look at it, the more they feel that Er Zhurong is unreliable.

……

It is said that those who win the hearts and minds of the people win the world. People's hearts and minds represent different things at different stages, but fundamentally, people's hearts and minds are those people who can bring strength.

And these people are called nobles in this era. Most of these nobles care very much about the evaluation of Qingshi, and these people are also the ones who can be included in Qingshi.

Even if they can't go to Qingshi, and don't think about things so long ago, these nobles still care about their reputation in the world. They were unwilling to stay with Dong Zhuo at the beginning, and they are naturally unwilling to stay with Er Zhurong now.

Luo Xianzhi's move hit these people, and these people would deal a fatal blow to Er Zhurong, especially after Liang Guo and Murong Chui decided to attack Er Zhurong.

This kind of lack of support from the nobles will make Er Zhurong very uncomfortable, and may even put him in a situation of failure invisibly.

Er Zhurong came from the far north and had never seen the war situation in the Central Plains. It was another kind of cruelty!

----

Rong not only killed many nobles, but also came to the court, added Taiwei, generals, prime ministers, and recorded ministers. He supervised all military affairs at home and abroad. He called himself a king, seemed to be self-reliant, and established a new court in vain. Arrogance and indulgence flourished. King Yong advanced, and the Liang Kingdom was in full swing. After advancing, the soldiers and the people were depressed, and Rong was very frightened. Three hundred days later, Rong wanted to take the emperor away, but the emperor stabbed him in the court, and Rong died. ——"Northern History·Yan Benji"

(End of this chapter)