Chen Yuankang and his party did not stay long after returning to Beizhong City in Heyang. They warned Hulujin to still be careful and vigilant about the enemy's movements, but they did not inform them of the specific results of the negotiation. Then they left Heyang and went straight to Yecheng.
Working hard along the way, Chen Yuankang and his party returned to Yedu two days later. After entering the city, they went straight to the General's Mansion to resume their duties.
In the general's palace, the eldest son Gao Cheng was discussing government affairs with Cui Jishu and other confidants. When he learned that Chen Yuankang had returned, he immediately ushered him in. Before Chen Yuankang had finished the ceremony, he asked impatiently: "What will be the effect of this mission?" How about it? Will Mr. Li be willing to join us?"
Chen Yuankang lowered his head to avoid the prince's expectant eyes, and slowly shook his head with some embarrassment: "This Li Tai is very determined to serve the West. I have expressed my interests several times, but he still has not changed his ambition and has not returned eastward." meaning."
After hearing this, Gao Cheng's face suddenly darkened, he raised his fist and hit the case hard, and shouted angrily: "I was an evil thief who took advantage of my crisis to get his way. Now I will let go of the blame. The glory calls him, but the thief does not come, and he deceives me and cannot control him?"
As he spoke, he turned to glare at Cui Jishu who was sitting down at the table, pointed at him and scolded him: "If you come here to appease others, you will not send envoys to work and make people laugh at me! You want to make alliances with vassals and generals." To keep yourself in mind, you also need to see if the other person shares your interest!"
After Cui Jishu heard this, he hurriedly avoided the table and stood up to kowtow and apologize. He was indeed one of the masterminds of the plan to send Chen Yuankang to appease Li Tai, and the reason was exactly as Gao Cheng said. In addition to solving the crisis in Heyang In addition to the trouble, they want to win over Li Tai as a strong foreign aid for the Hebei aristocratic families.
The relationship between these family members is complicated. The Boling Cui family where Cui Jishu was born has many marriages with the Li family in Longxi. Not to mention, Cui Jishu himself married Li Tai's cousin Li Qianzhi a few years ago. In-laws, their daughter became Li's bride.
This year Hou Jing caused chaos in Henan, which had a great impact on the stability of the Eastern Wei Dynasty. In particular, the Jinyang nobles had a tacit understanding to put pressure on the crown prince Gao Cheng, which also made Cui Jishu and others feel a sudden sense of crisis. We are particularly afraid that the current situation will once again return to the state of martial men ruling the country like the Heyin Incident of the old year.
If you want to protect yourself in a crisis, the most important thing is to have reliable force. However, the Hebei clan has little chance in this regard. The Jinyang Bafu army is firmly in the hands of a group of nobles, and the Hebei prefectures and counties have little chance. Most of the Xiangyi armed forces were granted titles and controlled by powerful families, and the Liufang Forbidden Army in Yedu was often infiltrated and reorganized.
Although the crown prince Gao Cheng reused them, he only focused on their political ability to control the government, and rarely allowed them to organize and develop armed forces close to him. This made them highly dependent, but did not independently fight against political risks and risks. The ability to persecute.
Under such circumstances, Li Tai, who has become famous since last year and is now rising in Heluo, has made Hulujin, the elder of Beizhen, helpless. This is definitely a great surprise for the Hebei aristocrats like them.
If Li Tai can be recruited back, the Hebei noble families will be able to obtain a considerable armed force in an instant, thereby greatly strengthening their voice in the current situation, and they can continue to seek strength through the Hou Jing Rebellion.
From Gao Cheng's point of view, as long as it can help solve the current crisis, any method can be tried. Especially if he recruits the offensive forwards of the Western Wei Dynasty for his own use, he will defeat the opponent and strengthen himself. What's the point? Not for?
As for the thoughts of Cui Jishu and others, he can see them as clearly as reading palm prints, but this is also human nature. As long as their plans are not premised on harming the overall interests of the country, Gao Cheng can tolerate their attempts on himself.
Striving for interests.
After all, so far, these people are closer political forces to themselves than the noble elders of Jinyang. Strengthening their power is also improving their control.
That's why he offered Li Tai generous recruitment and surrender conditions. As long as the other party nodded and agreed, he would receive strong support from Hebei, and in an instant he would be able to achieve the position of power that Hou Jing could achieve after more than ten years of running Henan.
Because of this, when Gao Chengcai heard from Chen Yuankang that Li Tai actually refused this offer, Gao Chengcai felt twice as embarrassed and angry.
Seeing that the prince was so angry, Chen Yuankang hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, please calm down. Although my trip did not succeed in recruiting Li Tai, it was not completely in vain. Li Tai asked me to tell the prince to thank him for his favor and appreciation.
Although he is in the west, he grew up under the rule of the King of Hebei in the past, and now his relatives and disciples all look up to the prince's benevolence and kindness to make a living, and they dare not be greedy for merit and righteousness. Therefore, they are holding back troops in Zhongli City, Heyang, and do not dare to make any further progress.
…”
"Humph, what a joke! The thieves took advantage of the empty river and Luo, and the generals are incompetent. When I deploy heavy troops to resist the river defense, the thieves will die if they take any further steps!"
After Gao Cheng heard this, he snorted coldly and said with disdain.
Although the truth is such a truth, the problem is that the other generals Hu Lujin, Xue Guyan and others are already the top generals in the country. Who can be replaced to guard and supervise the war? There are also large army envoys to suppress the rebellion in Henan, and Jinyang dominates.
The government still needs elite troops to stay to stabilize the situation, so where can they recruit large troops to resist reinforcements?
Cui Jishu's eyes lit up after hearing this, and he hurriedly knelt: "Your Majesty, please be calm. There are many people who defected to the West in the past. Most of them are stubborn and have little repentance. However, Li Tai did not take the initiative.
Xitou, but was kidnapped by thieves.
Today, I may feel that the black otter knew the situation and was brave enough to use it, but when I saw the favor of Guandong again, I secretly felt unbearable. I reined in my horse before the battle and did not dare to go forward. This shows that my loyalty has not been lost. We, the people of Heyang, took advantage of this to relieve themselves.
With the opportunity to breathe, we can calmly prepare for war and then decide the outcome. Chen Youcheng's mission can not be said to be in vain."
Chen Yuankang also spoke in agreement: "Although I have only known Li Tai for a short period of time, judging from his words and demeanor, he is not a ruthless, greedy person. He is guilty of both loyalty and filial piety. He would rather sacrifice his achievements than achieve success."
If a person who is unrighteous is not deeply trapped in morality, he will not be in this dilemma.
Moreover, in the west, Dugu is his beloved son-in-law, and he is an old friend of the barbarians such as Black Otter. He has great ambitions and has been able to hold the power of Longyou for a long time. His position is so powerful that he is even more powerful than the princes of our country. How can there be no suspicion between each other? Although Li Taijin is determined to be in the west,
But if the father-in-law and his son-in-law are persecuted by black otters in the coming year, and their relatives and friends from Guandong are all there, and they feel that the prince is recruiting old favors, it is natural for them to lead the way back east."
When Gao Cheng heard this, his frown slightly relaxed, but he still snorted coldly: "The reason why this apprentice is important right now is simply because our country is in crisis and instability, so the Honorable Lord showed his position to lure him. But if you miss this
Whenever I want to join you, whether I accept it or not depends on my mood."
This is true. The reason why the crisis in Heyang came to the fore this time was because of this special opportunity. The tens of thousands of imperial troops who stayed in Yedu went south to suppress the rebellion and returned with a huge defeat. This left Yedu with unrest and empty guards.
Immediately afterwards, Han Gui led his army south to Yingchuan. The outcome is still pending and no news has been sent back.
Under such circumstances, Heyang Hulujin's troops are the only military force that can be relied on for Changhe River Defense. Once they are broken through, the entire Hebei will be in turmoil. If Hebei also falls into turmoil, the situation in Henan will be even more difficult to calm.
destroy.
Therefore, after missing this time period, if Li Tai wants to come over again, it is absolutely impossible to get this preferential treatment.
But it is useless to talk about this now. Although Li Tai stated that he would not attack Heyang Beicheng again, Gao Cheng certainly would not believe the enemy's words. In addition to ordering Hu Lujin to defend Beizhong City and not lose it,
It is to dispatch reinforcements from elsewhere. The most suitable route for reinforcements is naturally for the Han Rail troops to attack Heluo after quickly ending the war in Henan, and to attack the north and south with the troops on the north bank to recapture the second city.
A few days later, the battle report from Henan was quickly transmitted back to Yedu. Han Gui saw that Li Bi, Wang Sizheng and other soldiers from the Western Wei Dynasty had entered Yingzhou, echoing Hou Jing who was defending Yingchuan, so he led his troops back. The front troops were already near the river.
Will cross.
When Gao Cheng heard the news, he felt mixed emotions. He was happy that this new force was not trapped in the Henan battlefield and could not escape. The prompt return of his army also alleviated the shortage of troops in Yedu to a certain extent.
What is worrying is that Han Guaili's decision to leave without a fight was not fully communicated to him. Although this decision was considered correct at the moment, it also made Gao Cheng feel quite unhappy.
After Han Gui withdrew his troops, only Li Bi, Wang Sizheng, Hou Jing and other forces from the Western Wei Dynasty were left in Henan, as well as Nanliang Yang Yaren and others who went north to join Hou Jing.
It is obvious that these parties cannot coexist peacefully, and there will probably be troubles in establishing a foothold in Henan. However, as Hou Jing's former master, the Eastern Wei Dynasty stayed out of the matter during this period.
Since the Henan side was temporarily unavailable, Gao Cheng ordered Sikong Ke Zhu Hunyuan to be the governor of Luozhou and lead some of the troops to withdraw westward to occupy Hulao and wait for an opportunity to recapture the two cities of Heyang.
At the same time, Gao Cheng also planned to leave Yecheng and return to Jinyang to formally mourn his father Gao Huan. The news of King Gao Huan's death has been concealed for nearly half a year, and now more and more people are aware of it, but it has been kept secret.
There was no formal announcement of mourning.
Originally, Gao Cheng planned to resolve all the internal and external crises before mourning his father as a victor. However, seeing that the situation would not improve much in a short period of time, any further delay would only make people uneasy and increase his ethical concerns.
criticism suffered.
Therefore, this time was chosen to announce the death of his father, so that he could legitimately take over the powerful position of King Gao, which would serve as a mourning force for the subordinates, so that the officers and men would obey their orders, and the status of superiors and subordinates would be clarified above, so that the subordinates would not dare to violate the law again.
.
Just as the Eastern Wei Dynasty was adjusting its pace and preparing to regain Heyang City, Li Tai, the hero of the Western Wei Dynasty who had conquered the second city of Heyang, was also being ordered to evacuate Heyang quickly, leaving the defenses of the two cities to reinforcements from the rear.