The Maojin knife from the late Jin Dynasty

Chapter 44 like a duck in water
Liu Cong looked up and down at the tied Yuan Yan. He originally planned to laugh at him, then drag him down and cut him into pieces.

But suddenly he discovered that the wrists of his tied hands had been briefly bandaged, and his hands were hanging down abnormally.

This made Liu Cong look at Liu Tai curiously and said, "Did you break his hands?"

"He wanted to kidnap me and escape, and then his hands were dislocated!" Liu Taiyun said the result calmly.

When Liu Cong heard this, he couldn't help but touch his wrist. It was obvious that his hand had healed long ago, but now after hearing Liu Tai's words, he still felt a slight pain for some reason.

Liu Cong looked at Yuan Yan who was tied up again, and unconsciously felt some empathy, and sneered:
"Prefect Yuan, you pretended to surrender that day and attacked our army at night. Did you ever think that you would fall into my hands today!"

"I have thought about it!" Yuan Yan faced Liu Cong and said calmly, "That day and night we attacked the Han army, but I was driven to the gate of Yiyang City. I had already thought that if the Han army came again, I might die. hour!"

"Hmph!" Liu Cong looked at Yuan Yan's admission, and couldn't help but feel a little proud in his heart. "Now that I know it, you continue to resist Master Wang. You really don't know the fate, and you deserve to die!"

"I am the governor of Yiyang. Since I accept the appointment and dismissal from the imperial court, I should fulfill my duties. If I can't even do this basic duty, then I have been receiving the salary of the Jin court for more than ten years in vain!" Yuan Yan was very calm. said.

"The prefect is loyal to the Jin court!" Liu Cong snorted coldly when he heard Yuan Yan's words, pulled out his sword from his waist, and walked towards Yuan Yan step by step.

Liu Tai saw this scene and had no intention of stopping it.

After all, he caught Yuan Yan alive in front of Liu Cong, allowing Liu Cong to decide whether Yuan Yan would live or die.

Although I also feel that Yuan Yan is somewhat of a talent, after all, whether it is the calmness with which he walked among the troops during the night attack, or his desire to hijack his own desire to survive even in desperate situations, it shows that the more adversity he faces, the more likely he will be. A special talent for calmness.

But this guy pretended to surrender to Liu Cong, and his behavior was extremely bad. Under such circumstances, Liu Tai could understand even if Liu Cong wanted to tear him into pieces.

After all, the most important thing between people is trust, but there is no such basis of trust between Yuan Yan and Liu Cong!
So naturally no one would jump out and say they want to let Yuan Yan go.

At this moment, Liu Cong came behind Yuan Yan, and most of the people present watched curiously as Liu Cong would chop off Yuan Yan's head with his own hands.

As for Yuan Yan himself, Liu Tai also saw huge beads of sweat appearing on his forehead at this moment.

Liu Cong suddenly raised the sword in his hand, and at this moment Yuan Yan suddenly said, "Wait a minute!"

"Oh?" Liu Cong stood behind Yuan Yan and said jokingly, "Oh, does Governor Yuan have anything to say?"

Yuan Yan said calmly: "I am worthy of the Jin court in this life. Now that Yiyang has been destroyed, it is God's will that I be bound.

It’s just that I feel ashamed of my wife and children, leaving my wife a widow and my youngest son orphaned. I still ask the King of Chu to let me die facing the east. May my heart and soul return to my hometown to be with my wife and children! "

"Yes!" Liu Cong smiled calmly when he heard Yuan Yan's words and agreed decisively.

Yuan Yan didn't say much. He adjusted his tied body slightly, turned towards the direction of the rising sun, and closed his eyes.

Yuan Yan has also made it clear what should be said or can be said. Whether he can survive or not depends on Liu Cong's will!
At this moment, Liu Cong raised his sharp sword and chopped it down directly.

In an instant, the rope binding Yuan Yan was cut directly by Liu Cong, but there were no scratches on Yuan Yan's clothes.

At this time, Liu Cong came to Yuan Yan and said proudly, "Yuan Yan, who received the salary of the Jin Dynasty, has been beheaded by my sword.

Now do you want to eat my big man's salary? "

Yuan Yan looked at Liu Cong, but his heart was filled with emotion. He hesitated a little, and as if after a heartfelt struggle, he saluted Liu Cong seriously and said:

"The King of Chu is magnanimous and generous. How can Yan remain indifferent if he is not despicable? Yan is willing to be the master of King Chu!"

"Haha! I'm the guardian, so I'm like a fish in water!" Liu Cong heard Yuan Yan's words and decisively went over to hold Yuan Yan with both hands.

At least how his father Liu Yuan treats talents, then Liu Cong will treat talents the same way.

Liu Tai watched silently on the side and couldn't help but admire Yuan Yan's ability to stay calm the more crisis he faced.

Come to think of it, as long as someone is not stared at by some reckless man and beheaded when they meet, I think such a person can survive for a long time in troubled times!
And whether Yuan Yan really surrendered or pretended to surrender, at least he really worked hard after surrendering this time.

He immediately joined his wife into the army, and then the counties and counties north of the Yellow River, under Yuan Yan's persuasion, also chose to surrender to Liu Cong.

Liu Cong was still very sober at this time, or in other words, when Liu Yuan was alive, many of Liu Cong's performances were impeccable.

He forgave Yuan Yan, naturally not because he was moved, but because he discovered from Yuan Yan's words that Yuan Yan had weaknesses that could be exploited, instead of purely relying on his own morality to maintain his loyalty to him.

After having the prerequisites for forgiving Yuan Yan, the next step is the actual value brought by forgiving Yuan Yan.

First of all, Yuan Yan defeated him, so he had considerable influence in the states and counties north of the Yellow River.

Now that he has accepted his surrender, the counties north of the Yellow River have almost surrendered.

After all, Yuan Yandu, who had offended Liu Cong so badly, was getting a good treatment. If he just voted in, wouldn't the treatment be even better?

In addition, Yuan Yan is willing to work and actively lobby the counties and counties north of the Yellow River. It can be said that the counties and counties north of the Yellow River do not say that they will surrender, but as long as the Han army is driven over, it will basically be a waste of food. Welcome Master Wang.

Again, the Jin Dynasty itself had an unfair foundation and did not dare to be loyal.

They usually trade with the aristocratic families based on interests, so the aristocratic families are extravagant. They are collaborators with Da Jin.

This model naturally did not matter when the Jin Dynasty was the dominant family. After all, maintaining the rule of the Jin Dynasty was to safeguard the interests of these aristocratic families.

But when there is an interest that can threaten their lives, these children of aristocratic families will not have any loyalty to the Jin court at all. In other words, as a son of a noble family and you are loyal to the Jin court, what are you trying to do?
Under such circumstances, with Yuan Yan's personal testimony, almost all the prefects or county magistrates on the north bank of the Yellow River no longer had any resistance to the Huns and Han.

Liu Cong crossed the Yellow River and truly entered the power of Luoyang.

This time is completely different from the last time when someone reported the city defenses around Luoyang and directly broke into the surrounding areas of Luoyang.

At this time, the Huns and Han Kingdom had completely controlled the power on the north bank of the Yellow River in their own hands.

The Xiongnu and Han Dynasty entered Luoyang, which naturally had a considerable impact on the entire Jin court.

Neither Sima Yue nor Wang Yan expected that the Xiongnu-Han Congress would gain momentum so quickly. In the blink of an eye, they had seized the north bank of the Yellow River, and now they had landed in Luoyang's sphere of influence.If the upper echelons of the Jin court let them fight for power, they would definitely be a good player, but if they were to send troops to conquer the Huns and Han, to be honest, even Wang Yan, who defeated Wang Mi, would not dare to stand up and say that he could defeat Liu Cong of the Huns and Han.

Just when the upper echelons of the Jin court were trying to pass each other off and couldn't come up with an idea, Bei Gongchun, who belonged to Zhang Gui of Xiliang, stood up.

Bei Gongchun said, "The hypocrites are nothing more than a group of traitors, so I will lead my Xiliang cavalry to capture them easily!"

Bei Gongchun and his Xiliang cavalry came here to deliver this year's tributes and taxes to Xiliang.

Although the Jin court is still the nominal master of the world on the surface, in reality, only Zhang Gui of Xiliang is still deferential to the Jin court, such as taxes and tributes, and so on.

As for the other princes, Wang Jun is playing by himself in Youzhou, Gou Xi is having a temper in Qingzhou, and Sima Rui is still solving the successive rebellions in Jiangnan. In short, the Jin court looks strong, but in fact it is a mess inside, and there is no The method is to coordinate the strength of the entire country through organization.

And Xiliang has Zhanggui, which can only be said to be the luck of the Jin court.

Sima Yue immediately became energetic after hearing this and said, "I wonder how many manpower the general needs?"

Beigong Chun patted his chest and said, "The Xiliang Iron Cavalry is invincible. With a thousand troops, it can defeat ten thousand troops!"

Sima Yue looked at Bei Gongchun's posture and felt that he wanted to die, but he did not stop him.

At least in Sima Yue's opinion, as long as Bei Gongchun could stop Liu Cong's advance a little, it would be good, and he immediately said:

"I will pour the wine myself to support the general!"

Naturally, Sima Yue would not count on Bei Gongchun. Instead, he calculated the reinforcements around Luoyang and decisively wrote a letter to Li Hun, Bo Sheng and others from the Begging Army, asking them to come for rescue.

Tian Zhen, Li Hun, Bo Sheng and others were originally working together in the begging army.

However, when the beggar army defeated Jisang and wanted to be the governor of Wei County, Sima Yue did not allow it and sent an army to attack him, driving Tian Tian directly to the south of the Yellow River.

But Li Hun, Bo Sheng and others chose to surrender to Sima Yue, so Sima Yue naturally accepted it with open arms, and were now regarded as his subordinates.

After all, the people under the Beggar Army were both nobles and common people. The more Sima wanted to control them, the more he wanted to control them. He couldn't destroy them even if he wanted to.

Especially in terms of combat effectiveness, the Beggar Army is even stronger than the current Jin Army itself.

It's just that the combat effectiveness of the beggar army is quite unstable, rising and falling. Basically, their combat effectiveness is directly proportional to the hunger of the soldiers under their command. But if they really starve to death, then there is really nothing to hope for. Fighting ability.

But it is undeniable that as long as they are willing to provide food at this time, the beggar army is still willing to work for him!
Therefore, Sima Yue decisively formulated the strategy of holding on to Luoyang and waiting for King Qin's army to come and attack the Huns and Han together.

To be honest, this kind of thing is okay once, because every time it consumes the prestige of the central court in exchange for it.

But Sima Yue didn't care about Jin Ting's prestige. Anyway, as long as he lived well, Jin Ting was just a tool.

Naturally, Bei Gongchun didn't know that in Sima Yue's eyes, he was just going to die to delay time.

Liu Cong's choice to accept Yuan Yan's surrender not only made the wealthy families on the north bank of the Yellow River choose to surrender, but even on the south bank of the Yellow River, Yuan Yan still played his role as the governor of Yiyang.

After all, Yiyang is the northern gate of Luoyang. It has dealings with various local forces in the north of Luoyang. What kind of people should be found to win over, which aristocratic family should be approached for food, and where should auxiliary soldiers be found. Yuan Yan has completely become an unparalleled lubricant. agent.

It can be said that after Yuan Yan chose to join Liu Cong, he really worked hard and Liu Cong felt more or less like a fish in water for Yuan Yan.

Of course, such behavior is more or less offensive to Liu Yao, Liu Jing, Hu Yanyi, and even Wang Mi.

After all, as generals, they need to be able to fight. Only by fighting can they have merit, and by attacking cities can they plunder. But now that Yuan Yan has come over, all the surrounding forces have surrendered. Naturally, they cannot rob these forces who surrendered. plunder.

For the four people at the top, it would naturally be a lack of merit, while for the soldiers at the bottom, it would be a lack of wealth.

Although some soldiers think that it is a good thing that they can survive without fighting, there are also some who feel that they cannot fight and they cannot take advantage of the opportunity to plunder, so they will complain somewhat, and this information will inevitably converge towards the top.

Of course, this kind of resentment has not yet become a thing, because there is still the city of Luoyang in front of the soldiers.

All the soldiers believed that no matter how powerful Yuan Yan was, he could not persuade Luoyang to surrender.

As long as Luoyang is captured, it will bring military merit to the upper-level generals and wealth to the lower-level soldiers. It can be said that the soldiers of the Huns and Han Kingdom are very jealous at this moment and have a very active will to fight.

While the entire military camp was a bit unspeakably impetuous, Liu Tai'an was steadily training soldiers in his military camp.

He captured Yuan Yan alive and gave it to Liu Cong instead of giving Yuan Yan's head directly to Liu Cong. With Yuan Yan's wonderful performance these days, the rewards brought by Liu Tai's decision became considerable. of abundance.

Liu Cong also made a veiled statement to Wang Mi whether to allow Liu Tai's army to be under Liu Cong's command, but Wang Mi refused.

Liu Cong is not annoyed either, but these days, rewards are given to Liu Tai from time to time to bring Liu Tai closer to each other.

When Liu Tai saw the gold, silver and jewels gifted by Liu Cong, he accepted them without any courtesy. Such a cheerful attitude made Liu Cong even more satisfied.

Of course, because of Liu Cong's attitude, the gap between him and Liu Yao became even deeper.

Because in Liu Yao's view, these rewards should have been his, but now they have been taken away by Liu Tai, a guy who steals the credit.

And under the influence of Liu Yao, at least the forces on the Xiongnu side would naturally not have a good look towards Liu Tai.

Although they would not participate in the siege of Liu Tai, they would more or less isolate Liu Tai and let everyone see that Liu Tai was squeezed out by the Huns.

As for the Xiongnu Han Kingdom, after all, it was a country created by the Huns. The attitude they showed at this moment not only affected the Huns and other ethnic minorities who followed the Huns, but most importantly, even the Han generals did not dare to fight against Liu. Very close.

The reason is simple. Now that the Xiongnu and Han kingdoms are at their peak, racial conflicts have been overshadowed by the booming national destiny.

Although Liu Tai was favored by Liu Cong, Liu Cong was not Liu Yuan after all, and he was not the emperor of the Huns and Han Dynasty.

Therefore, when Liu Tai was vaguely boycotted by the entire Xiongnu class, although the Han people would not add insult to injury, they would not take the initiative to get close to Liu Tai.

"You may not be as comfortable as I am!" Yuan Yan came to Liu Tai's military camp and said with a little sigh.

(End of this chapter)