In the court, Liu Xiu was furious at what Wu Han had done. He slapped the table and said angrily: "Who allowed him to do this? Who allowed him to massacre the city in Nanyang? This is unreasonable and audacious!"
Seeing Liu Xiu's face turned red and furious, the hall was completely silent. The ministers all lowered their heads, not even daring to take a breath. It is estimated that this is the most angry Liu Xiu has ever been since he proclaimed himself emperor.
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Unlike Wu Han, Liu Xiu had deep feelings for his hometown in Nanyang. If Wu Han massacred the city elsewhere, Liu Xiu might not be so angry. Even if he allowed his subordinates to loot in Nanyang, Liu Xiu would not
After losing such a temper, Wu Han actually massacred Xinye City. Tens of thousands of people were killed or injured in the city. This made Liu Xiu, who had always had a good temper, unable to help but explode in public.
Liu Xiu looked around and said to Guang Luxun Fu An: "Zhiwen, you... you go to Nanyang immediately to summon Wu Han back to the capital!"
"This..." Fu An first looked at Liu Xiu, then lowered his head and remained silent.
Liu Xiu said angrily: "Didn't you hear what I said?"
Fu Zhan looked at Fu An, bowed to Liu Xiu and saluted, and said: "Your Majesty, changing commanders before battle has always been a taboo in the army. Now I am calling the chief minister back to the capital, I am afraid... I am afraid that the war in Jingzhou will happen.
It’s extremely detrimental to our army!”
Song Hong then said: "Fu Situ's words are wrong! Da Sima indulged his subordinates and looted Nanyang, which was a big mistake. Now he has massacred the people of Xinye, which is even more unforgivable. Now, Da Sima should be summoned back to the capital for questioning.
responsibility!"
Fu Zhan frowned and said seriously: "No matter how big a mistake Da Sima makes, we should wait until this battle is over before discussing it!"
Song Hong argued with each other and said: "Da Sima has lost the support of the people in Nanyang. If we cannot change the commander in time to appease the people's resentment, our army will definitely lose the war in Jingzhou!"
Fu Zhan asked in reply: "Who do you think it would be better for Da Sikong to replace Da Sima?"
Song Hong didn't even think about it and said categorically: "No matter who your Majesty sends, they will be more qualified than Da Sima."
The two of them, one was the Acting Chief Situ and the other was Chief Sikong, they were arguing in the court about how to deal with the affairs of Wu and Han.
Wu Han's prestige in the military was still very high and he was quite popular.
Liu Zhi handed over to Liu Xiu and said: "Your Majesty, I think that, as Fu Situ said, it is really not appropriate to change the commander before the battle. Moreover, Da Sima has made great achievements in Jingzhou and won consecutive battles. If the commander is suddenly changed now,
I'm afraid it will destabilize the morale of our officers and soldiers and lower their morale."
Geng Yan then said: "Your Majesty, what General Liu said is absolutely true. There really shouldn't be a change of commanders now. I hope your Majesty will think again!"
"Wei Chen seconded the proposal!" "Wei Chen seconded the proposal!" "Wei Chen seconded the proposal..."
In the main hall, whether they were civil servants or military generals, more than half of the people supported Fu Zhan, Liu Zhi, and Geng Yan, and did not agree with the change of commanders before the battle. Song Hong looked around at the crowd, frowning, and remained silent.
In his opinion, Wu Han was no longer suitable to be the commander-in-chief of the army. However, Wu Han's prestige was too high, and most of the ministers in the court were on Wu Han's side.
He raised his head and looked at Liu Xiu. Liu Xiu's face was gloomy and he did not speak immediately. Liu Xiu himself was an emperor on horseback. He relied on the country he had won in the Southern and Northern Wars. How could he not know that changing commanders before the battle was a taboo in the army?
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But Wu Han made such a big mistake, and he had to make a statement. Now the ministers in the court were against him calling Wu Han back to the capital. Liu Xiu happened to borrow Po Xia's donkey and said quietly: "This account must be paid."
Wu Han made a note that he would be severely punished when he returns to the court as a teacher!"
After hearing this, the ministers who supported Wu Han kowtowed to Liu Xiu one after another and said in unison: "Your Majesty is wise!"
Liu Xiu was verbally very angry at what Wu Han had done and wanted to punish him severely, but in fact, he did not give Wu Han any substantial punishment.
It can also be seen from this incident that Liu Xiu really liked Wu Han, his beloved general.
If Wu Han was really recalled to Luoyang now, Liu Xiu wouldn't even know what to do with him. Liu Xiu was reluctant to remove him from his post as Grand Sima, and he couldn't find a suitable candidate to replace Wu Han.
Wu Han's army massacred the city of Xinye, and Liu Xiu came to the conclusion that he would be punished in the future. To put it bluntly, the matter would have to be settled.
As for Liu Xiu's shortcomings, protecting his shortcomings can be regarded as one. He can tolerate the courtiers he likes again and again.
Regarding this matter, Liu Xiu wanted to make it a big deal and turn it into a trivial matter. But some people didn't want to just let it go. Deng Feng.
Deng Feng was a native of Xinye, and his home was in Xinye. Although the Han army deliberately avoided Deng Feng's family when they massacred the city in Xinye, some of Deng Feng's relatives and friends still suffered disasters.
In addition, the most critical point is that the woman Deng Feng admired, Yuan Feier, also died in this massacre.
After Wu Han led his army to capture Xinye, after stationing for a period of time, he continued to move south to attack the city and seize territory. Not long after Wu Han's army left, Deng Feng also returned to Xinye. Deng Feng asked for leave from Liu Xiu and returned to Xinye to pick up his wife.
Deng Feng had taken refuge with Liu Xiu and was named General Polu. He also built a house in Luoyang and planned to bring his family to live in Luoyang.
As a result, when he returned to Xinye, he saw devastation, many houses burned into ruins, corpses on the roadside, everywhere, and the living people looked like zombies.
The entire Xinye City has become a dead city, a purgatory on earth.
This situation completely panicked Deng Feng. He rushed home immediately and felt a little relieved when he saw that his family members were all fine. Then he thought of one person, the woman he admired, Yuan Feier.
When Deng Feng wanted to go to the west of the city and go to the tavern owned by Yuan Feier's family, he was stopped by his younger brother Deng Zhong. Deng Zhong looked ugly, lowered his head and said nothing, but his hands were tightly holding Deng Feng's sleeves.
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"Ah Zhong, what are you doing? Let go. I have to go see how Feier and the others are doing!" Deng Feng said urgently.
"Brother...brother, don't go!" Deng Zhong whispered.
An ominous premonition suddenly occurred in Deng Feng's heart. He looked at Deng Zhong intently and asked, "Ah Zhong, what do you mean by this? Please explain it clearly to me!"
Deng Zhong was silent. Deng Feng became anxious, grabbed Deng Zhong's clothes and shouted loudly: "You are talking!"
"Yuan...Uncle Yuan...is dead! Yuan Feier is...also dead..." Deng Zhi is Deng Feng's younger brother. How could he not know what his eldest brother is thinking?
Although due to pressure from the family, the eldest brother married a well-matched daughter, but in his heart, the eldest brother had always been deeply in love with Yuan Fei'er.
It's just that Yuan Feier doesn't want to be a minor, so the matter between her eldest brother and her has been dragged on.
After listening to Deng Zhong's words, Deng Feng was stunned. He didn't know how long it took before his blank brain finally regained consciousness. He asked in a trembling voice: "Ah Zhong, you... do you really mean what you said?"
Deng Zhong lowered his head and said: "Yes...it is the descendants that I deal with for Yuan Abo and Yuan Feier."
When the Han army began to massacre the city, Deng finally wanted to go to the west of the city and take Yuan Fei'er and his daughter to the Deng family for refuge, but was stopped by his father. Deng Zhu's reasons were also very good.
Now there is a chaos of war outside, and the Han army is furious. If Deng Zhong goes out and encounters the Han army, he will be killed by the Han army without even a chance to explain. Deng Zhu did not agree to Deng Zhong's leaving home.
That night, the Han army's massacre of the city came to an end, and Deng finally convinced his father to leave Deng's mansion and go to a tavern in the west of the city.
As a result, when he arrived, he saw an unsightly tragedy. Yuan Abo was killed in the lobby of the tavern, his chest was stabbed, and there were two holes in the front and back.
Yuan Feier died naked and tragically in the inner room. Her body was bruised and purple, and her lower body was covered in blood. She was tortured to death.
Deng Zhong used to be a arrogant young man, and his character was not very good, but when he saw this scene, he couldn't help but kneel down and cry.
If he could have arrived earlier, if he could have been more courageous, wouldn't Yuan Feier and her daughter have died? Deng Zhong has been living a happy life and has never hated anyone too much. Now, he I really hate the Han army until my teeth itch with hatred.
Deng Zhong looked at his elder brother cautiously, feeling as if Deng Feng had been drained of his three souls and seven souls in an instant, leaving only a walking corpse.
He choked and pulled Deng Feng's sleeves, sobbed softly, and said: "Brother, this is all my fault. I didn't take good care of Yuan Fei'er and his daughter!" At this point, Deng finally burst into tears.
Deng Feng turned around and turned his back to Deng Zhong. He could no longer suppress the tears and burst into his eyes. He asked one word at a time: "How did they... die?"
"Yes... he was killed by the Han army!" "Where is Fei'er?" "He... was also killed by the Han army!" "That's it?" "Brother, don't ask!"
Deng Feng stopped asking, and Deng Zhong's answer explained everything.
His fingers slowly tightened, his nails dug deeply into the flesh of his palms, and his fists clenched loudly. He squeezed out a sentence through his teeth: "Wu Han and I are irreconcilable! If I, Deng Fengruo, don't kill Wu Han, I swear not to be a human being!"
Wu Han indulged his subordinates and massacred the people of Xinye, but Wu Han did not expect that among the people killed, there was Deng Feng's beloved woman.
If he could have known about this in advance, he would have saved Yuan Fei'er and his daughter without Deng Zhong having to protect them.
Don't look at the monk's face and look at the Buddha's face. We are all Han ministers. Wu Han will still give Deng Feng's face. Wu Han can order his subordinates to deliberately avoid Deng's house, which fully illustrates this point.
However, people are not as good as God, and things happened by mistake. The murder of Yuan Fei'er and her daughter directly resulted in Deng Feng's rebellion.
Deng Feng had a very high reputation in Nanyang.
When Emperor Gengshi Liu Xuan was still there, Yin Lihua was protected by Deng Feng, so no one dared to touch her easily.
Later, when Deng Feng was in Nanyang, he even raised an army of tens of thousands of people. At that time, even the arrogant Red Eyebrow Army was afraid of him.
Now the people of Nanyang are complaining and hating the Han army to the extreme. But at this time, Deng Feng, who has high prestige in Nanyang, rebels. It can be said that he is following the will of God and the people's will. The people of Nanyang respond one after another.
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There were thousands of people from Xinye County alone who came to seek refuge with him.
People in other towns in Nanyang also came to Deng Feng after hearing the news.
Within just a few days, Deng Feng once again raised an army of tens of thousands in Xinye County. This shows that in addition to his high prestige, Deng Feng also had extremely strong personal abilities.
However, if you want to rely on this miscellaneous army of more than 10,000 people to engage in a head-on confrontation with Wu Han's army of nearly 100,000 people, you will undoubtedly be asking for death.
Even if Deng Feng hated Wu Han no matter how much he hated him, he would not have made such a thoughtless move. Just when he was thinking about how to attack Wu Han's army, the people who came to seek refuge provided Wu Han with a very valuable clue.
information.
The Han army's baggage is currently in Yuyang. After learning about this, Deng Feng was overjoyed. He keenly sensed that his own opportunity to defeat the Wu Han army had come.
