During Wu Han and Geng's trip to Youzhou, they not only killed Youzhou Mu Miaozeng, but also killed the two prefects Wei Shun and Cai Chong. The counties in Youzhou were shocked and sent out their own Youzhou soldiers one after another.
The soldiers and horses of the state went to Jicheng to gather together.
For a time, the number of soldiers and horses gathered in Jicheng surged.wavv
Originally there were only 20,000 soldiers and horses under Miao Zeng's command here, but within just ten days, Jicheng gathered tens of thousands of Youzhou assault cavalry, and more than 10,000 Youzhou infantrymen. All the troops were added together.
Nearly 50,000 soldiers and horses.
So many soldiers and horses were commanded by Wu Han alone, and they also included tens of thousands of Youzhou cavalry. Such a military lineup was really terrifying. The generals and counselors in Handan came to Liu Xiu one after another to advise Liu Xiu.
Holding a heavy army, I'm just afraid that his mind will change.
Human nature is like this. When he has nothing, he may still be loyal to you and wholeheartedly, but once he has power and tastes the sweetness of power, he will want more, and at this time, you
Instead, it became a stumbling block for him, and he wanted to get rid of it quickly.
Liu Xiu smiled and ignored the advice of his subordinates. Being upset by his subordinates' advice, Liu Xiu shook his head and said, "I know what Ziyan is like."
Wu Han's temperament is quite like a wild horse. If he is not convinced by you, it will be useless no matter how you try to win him over. But if he is convinced by you, you don't have to deliberately try to please him. He will naturally be loyal to you.
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It must be said that Liu Xiu's ability to recognize people is very good. He gave Wu Han great trust.
In fact, Liu Xiu's understanding of Wu Han was correct at all. Wu Han spent most of his life on the battlefield, shaking hands with many soldiers and holding a high position of power.
There are countless enemies and innocent people who died in his hands. It can be said that he has made great achievements in battle, and his prestige in the army is unmatched by anyone.
But he never had any second thoughts about Liu Xiu. Even when Wu Han was in his later years and a year before his death, he was still fighting for Liu Xiu, commanding the army and massacring Liu Xiu's enemies!
Wu Han and Geng gathered soldiers and horses from Youzhou, and then led the army and set off southward, heading straight for Handan.
At this time, someone around Liu Xiu made a suggestion to change the commander quickly and let Deng Yu or Jia Fu, Liu Xiu's confidants, rush to Wu Han's army to replace Wu Han.
Who knows what Wu Han is thinking. Now he is leading Youzhou's elite soldiers and heading straight to Handan. If he has ulterior motives, something will be wrong. After hearing this, Liu Xiu replied with the same sentence: "Ziyan is a human being, I
The heart knows itself.”
When Wu Han and Geng led the army to Handan, Liu Xiu not only did not take any precautions, but even took the initiative to go out of the city to greet them.
Seeing Liu Xiu coming out of the city, Wu Han felt nothing but joy. However, Geng sighed in his heart. His lord really did not have the slightest doubt about himself and Wu Han.
The trust shown by Liu Xiu made Geng more determined to follow Liu Xiu. He urged his horse forward, and when he was in front of Liu Xiu, he dismounted, knelt on one knee, stepped in and saluted, and said: "General Geng, please pay homage to the king!"
Wu Han followed closely behind and came to Liu Xiu, knelt down and saluted, and said with a smile: "Our last general, Wu Han, fortunately fulfilled the mission of the king and recruited more than 40,000 soldiers and horses from Youzhou."
Liu Xiu pulled Wu Han and Geng up from the ground with excitement, then he held their hands tightly and said with emotion: "Zi Yan, Bo Zhao, you have worked hard all the way!"
Geng said seriously: "Working for your Majesty, you will never realize how hard it is."
Wu Han said cheerfully: "Your Majesty, Miao Zeng's son, how dare you disobey your Majesty's order, has been beheaded by the last general, and all the soldiers and horses under Miao Zeng's command have been taken over by the last general!"
In fact, Geng's previous analysis of Liu Xiu was correct. From the moment Liu Xiu decided to send Wu Han and Geng north to Youzhou, he had no intention of keeping Miao Zeng, Wei Shun, and Cai Chong alive.
Although killing the three of them may cause him and Liu Xuan to break up in advance, the existence of these three people is too great a threat to him, and it is already pulling out his roots and shaking his foundation.
If these three people are left alive, the consequences will be unimaginable, and even the entire Youzhou will be controlled by Liu Xuan.
Once this happens, if he makes a comeback in Hebei, he may be slapped down before he can even jump up.
Regarding Wu Han's killing of Miao Zeng and Geng's killing of Wei Shun and Cai Chong, Liu Xiu did not make a direct statement. He neither said that he had done well nor that he had done badly. However, Liu Xiu expressed his feelings towards Wu Han and
Geng's enthusiastic attitude has already shown his thoughts.
Liu Xiu smiled and said: "Zi Yan and Bo Zhao have worked hard. I have hosted a banquet in the palace. Come on, let's go back to the palace to have a drink!"
After speaking, Liu Xiu took Wu Han and Geng and rode in the same car back to the palace.
Wu Han and Geng brought back an army of nearly 50,000 people from Youzhou, including 10,000 Youzhou cavalry. This was no small matter. Basically, the main generals and officials under Liu Xiu attended the banquet.
Everyone drank happily in the main hall, and Liu Xiu even invited kabuki performers to entertain them.
After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Wu Han whispered a few words to one of his soldiers. The soldier agreed and ran out of the hall quickly.
Not long after, more than a dozen soldiers came from outside, and together they carried two large boxes and moved them into the main hall. Seeing this, Liu Xiu asked Wu Han and Geng in confusion: "Zi Yan, Bo Zhao, what is this?"
"
Wu Han raised his hand to Liu Xiu and said, "Your Majesty, this is the roster of soldiers and horses recruited by the last general. I present them all to your Majesty!"
Hearing this, the eyes of everyone present lit up. Wu Han presented the roster of Youzhou soldiers and horses, which was equivalent to handing over all the troops in his hands.
People who were worried that Wu Han would have second thoughts all breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts, while the generals in charge looked at the two large boxes with envy.
The reason why Youzhou soldiers are good at fighting is because Youzhou and the Xiongnu have been fighting for many years. Basically all Youzhou soldiers have been gradually honed in constant battles with the Huns. Even ordinary soldiers at the lowest level are very powerful in combat.
And Youzhou's assault cavalry is even more famous all over the world, making the Huns fearful. Not long ago, Geng Shu led the Youzhou assault cavalry to defeat the Huns in Daijun, which is a living example.
Now that we have such a large number of elite Youzhou soldiers and horses, which general would not want to get a share of the pie and bring some of them under his command. Of course, it would be best if he could get some of the Youzhou assault cavalry.
The old god Jia Fu said on the ground: "The Benming Army often suffers from insufficient manpower. This time Wu Jun has recruited more than 20,000 Youzhou elites. We have finally secured the manpower of the Benming Army."
People looked at Jia Fu with a strange expression and murmured in their hearts, this Jia Jun usually didn't talk much, but when he opened his mouth, he had to take away the most elite Youzhou soldiers, so he was very thick-skinned.
Ma Wu hurriedly bowed to Liu Xiu and said: "Your Majesty, there are many deficiencies in the general's command..."
Before he could finish his words, Wang Ba immediately interjected: "Your Majesty, the general's command also lacks troops!"
Ma Wu looked at Wang Ba and gritted his back molars. Seeing that the two of them were about to fight again, Liu Xiu looked up and laughed loudly and said: "Today's banquet is for Zi Yan and Bo Zhao to cleanse themselves from the dust and prepare troops.
, we’ll discuss it later!”
As he spoke, he picked up the wine glass, looked around at everyone, and said: "In order to quell the banditry in Hebei as soon as possible and return the people of Hebei to a peaceful and prosperous age, let's drink this!"
"Do it!" Everyone in the hall raised their wine glasses. When they saw Liu Xiu draining the wine in one gulp, people drank the wine in their glasses one after another.
Liu Xiu put down his cup and asked Wu Han and Geng what was the current situation in Youzhou and whether the banditry was serious.
Wu Han didn't say anything, and Geng Zhengse said: "Reporting to your Majesty, there are also bandits in Youzhou, but they are mostly side branches and their numbers are not large. They are far less rampant than in Jizhou."
Liu Xiu said: "The bandit troubles in Hebei are very harmful. We are like river embankments, and the thieves are like ants. A thousand-mile embankment can be destroyed in an ant nest. If the bandit troubles in Hebei can be quelled as soon as possible, great achievements can be made. If they cannot be quelled, we will
The general will not be able to protect himself!"
Wu Han's face darkened and he said loudly: "Your Majesty, I am willing to lead the army to destroy the traitor army!"
Liu Xiu was amused and asked with a smile: "Which bandit army does Ziyan want to destroy?"
"Uh, this..." Wu Han was speechless, hesitating and unable to speak.
It's not that he can't find objects to destroy, it's that there are too many objects to destroy.
At present, there are rebel armies everywhere in Hebei. There are dozens of insurrectionary armies, large and small, numbering in the millions. They are like crucian carp crossing the river. Even Wu Han's ability could not be used to annihilate the traitor army.
Take action.
Deng Yu said: "Your Majesty, the general thinks that we can first control the giant deer!"
The rebel army active in Julu County is mainly the Bronze Horse Army, and here in Hebei, not counting the small group of Red Eyebrow Army, the Bronze Horse Army has the largest number of troops and is the strongest.
In Deng Yu's view, if one's side wants to fight, it should fight the strongest and largest one. This can have the effect of knocking the mountain and shaking the tiger, and can make a large number of weaker bandit troops surrender without a fight.
Of course, the risk of doing so is also the highest. If you are not careful, not only will you not be able to wipe out the rebel army, but you will be in danger of being annihilated.
After listening to Deng Yu's suggestion, Liu Xiu fell into deep thought. Here in Hebei, how to destroy the bandit army and how to eliminate the banditry? Liu Xiu was not thinking about this matter for a day or two, but during this period, he was thinking about it every day.
Thinking.
The overall square formation is nothing more than two. One is as Deng Yu said, first attack the largest and strongest bronze horse army, eat the largest, and then gradually eat the smaller ones.
The other phalanx is to do the opposite, eating the smaller ones one by one first, leaving the largest one, and then concentrate all the energy on one's side to destroy it in one fell swoop.
Both policies have advantages and disadvantages. Liu Xiu spent a lot of time thinking about how to choose.
During the banquet, Liu Xiu did not make a statement, or in other words, Liu Xiu himself was indecisive and did not consider which policy was safe. However, Xie Gong helped Liu Xiu make the decision.
Miao Zeng, Wei Shun, and Cai Chong were killed, involving a state shepherd and two eunuchs. This was no small matter. The Gengshi court had not yet held Liu Xiu accountable, but Xie Gong came to Liu Xiu first.
Ask for Wu Han and Geng.
Xie Gong's meaning is very simple and direct. Since it is Miao Zeng, Wei Shun and Cai Chong who were killed by Wu Han and Geng, they should be escorted to Chang'an for your majesty to make a decision.
If Your Majesty says that they are not guilty, they can return to Hebei. If Your Majesty condemns them to death, then they deserve their misfortune and bring it upon themselves.
Wu Han and Geng were both Liu Xiu's confidants, how could Liu Xiu hand them over? Liu Xiu's position was that he had severely punished Wu Han and Geng, and the matter could be settled here, and there would be no need to do so in the future.
Investigate further.
When Xie Gong heard this, his nose was almost crooked with anger. Your subordinates killed a state shepherd and two prefects in Youzhou. Now, with your understatement, this matter is over? Xie Gong was also furious and accused Liu on the spot.
Xiu, indulged his subordinates, killed the imperial officials, had ulterior motives, and was against the imperial court.
Liu Xiu was furious and ordered people to expel Xie Gong from the palace. After this incident, Liu Xiu finally decided on the policy of annihilating the traitor army, which was to attack the small ones first and then the big ones.
These two things seem to be completely unrelated, but in fact they are not. There are many twists and turns!
