Chapter seven hundred and ninety third meeting outside the city
Liu Yong's death was tantamount to getting rid of the only opponent who could compete with Liu Xiu in terms of Han Dynasty orthodoxy.
As a local powerful man who existed at the same time as Liu Xiu, Liu Yong also controlled a large amount of resources.
After the Red Eyebrow Army marched westward and captured Chang'an, Liu Yong took over almost all the territory left by the Red Eyebrow Army and controlled Yuzhou, Qingzhou, Yanzhou, Xuzhou and nearly every state capital. At that time, Liu Xiu only controlled Youzhou.
Prefecture, Jizhou and Henan County centered on Luoyang.
Liu Yong only had Liu Xiu as his enemy. At that time, Liu Xiu had powerful Red Eyebrow forces outside, Liu Yong had Peng Chong inside, and Deng Feng rebelled. It can be said that compared with Liu Xiu, Liu Yong occupied the right time and location.
and a series of favorable factors.
But Liu Yong clearly had a good hand, but he was defeated. Liu Xiu's strength was only a secondary factor. The real reason for Liu Yong's failure was himself.
Liu Yong lacked the courage to kill and decisively attack like Liu Xiu. Regarding local separatist forces, such as Zhang Bu's forces and Dong Xian's forces, he did not think about conquering them. Instead, he adopted a soft policy of promising them to actively surrender to him.
After Zhang Bu and Dong Xian both agreed to be loyal to Liu Yong, Liu Yong left these two forces alone. As a result, the three forces of Liu Yong, Dong Xian, and Zhang Bu were never fully integrated.
It seems that Liu Yong is sitting in four state capitals, and his power is huge, but in fact, the only state that Liu Yong can really control is Yuzhou. When the Luoyang army led by Liu Xiu attacked Yuzhou in a large scale, the Han army marched straight in.
When they forced Suiyang, Liu Yong was the only one fighting alone, while Zhang Bu and Dong Xian both had an attitude of sitting on the sidelines and having nothing to do with themselves. This also became the direct reason for Liu Yong's defeat and death.
After reading the battle report from Wu Han, Liu Xiu couldn't hide the joy on his face. He rolled up the bamboo slips and said to Xuying: "Okay, go back and rest!"
"Yes! Your Majesty!"
Liu Xiu tiptoed back to the bed tent. As soon as he sat on the bed, Yin Lihua opened her eyes and asked in a hoarse voice: "Your Majesty, what happened?"
"It's okay, go to sleep!" Liu Xiu put the bamboo slip aside, patted Yin Lihua's jade arm, and said softly.
After hearing this, Yin Lihua closed her eyes again and fell asleep again.
Liu Xiu was lying on the bed, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised unconsciously. With Liu Yong dead, all the dragons in Yuzhou were leaderless, and the forces of Zhang Bu and Dong Xian had also lost their natural barrier. Next, their own army could take advantage of the victory to pursue and attack Zhang Bu and Dong Xian aggressively.
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Thinking of this, Liu Xiu looked at Yin Lihua beside him, turned over and sat up, raised his legs and walked out of the inner account. When he arrived at the outer account, he took out a piece of silk and scribbled an edict.
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In the first half of the edict, he focused on commending the achievements of Wu Han and Gai Yan. He also praised Qingwu who killed Liu Yong and turned his back on the dark side and made him a marquis.
In the second half of the edict, Liu Xiu ordered Wu Han to lead Wang Liang and Chen Jun to march into Dongjun to wipe out the enemy forces and enemy rebels in Dongjun. He also ordered Gai Yan to completely eliminate Liu Yong.
The remaining forces include Dong Xian and Zhang Bu.
He wrote two copies of the edict, one to Wu Han and the other to Gai Yan. In this eastern expedition of the Han army, Wu Han and Gai Yan were both commanders in the army, and Liu Xiu gave Wu Han and Gai Yan
The orders were also different, and it was not appropriate for the edict to be sent to any one of them, so Liu Xiu took the trouble to write two edicts.
Liu Xiu felt that he had thought carefully enough, but he still aroused dissatisfaction from one person, Pang Meng.
Pang Meng was from the Green Forest Army. He was originally a subordinate of Wang Chang and belonged to the Xiajiang Clan of the Green Forest Army. Liu Xiu had a particularly good relationship with Wang Chang, so naturally he got along well with the generals of the Green Forest Army of the Xiajiang Clan.
Later Liu Xuan sent Xie Gong to Jizhou to suppress Liu Xiu, and Pang Meng was one of Xie Gong's subordinates.
Later, Xie Gong was killed, and Pang Meng naturally surrendered to Liu Xiu. Although Pang Meng was a bit petty, he had a gentle temperament and was very loyal, and was highly appreciated by Liu Xiu.
Liu Xiu once said that if you can entrust a six-foot-long orphan, you can entrust a county with a land of hundreds of miles, it must be Pang Meng.
Through Liu Xiu's evaluation of Pang Meng, we can also see Liu Xiu's love for Pang Meng. Pang Meng was favored by the Holy Spirit, which made all the army officers jealous.
Pang Meng, who was originally gentle and loyal, gradually became more and more independent. He was gesticulating in the army and saying the same thing. Even the commander-in-chief Gai Yan was increasingly looked down upon.
This naturally aroused Gai Yan's strong dissatisfaction with Pang Meng. Liu Xiu's edict reached the camp, and Gai Yan summoned all the generals to read it, but Pang Meng was not alone.
And in Liu Xiu's edict, there is indeed no mention of Pang Meng. There are only a few sentences in the emperor's edict. Naturally, all the generals mentioned are the generals. It is impossible to mention and commend all the ordinary generals below.
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But when Pang Meng found out about this, she was very dissatisfied.
He was not angry with Liu Xiu, but with Gai Yan. He thought that Gai Yan must have reported his case to His Majesty in private and made slanderous remarks to the emperor, so the emperor would say nothing about him in the edict.
Not mentioned.
By capturing Suiyang and beheading Liu Yong, he had made great contributions. If Gai Yan had not said bad things about him, the emperor would not have praised him.
Liu Xiu's favor did not make Pang Meng conscientious, but instead made him swell.
Even Liu Xiu didn't mention him in the edict, which made him think that Gai Yan was putting his own shoes on, slandering the world and saying bad things about himself.
Under the influence of this mentality, he became more and more dissatisfied with Gai Yan, and the contradiction between the two became more and more serious.
I'm afraid Liu Xiu himself didn't expect that his edict would sow the seeds of a break between Gai Yan and Pang Meng.
The next day, the Han army's camp outside Liqiu City and the Chinese army's tent.
Liu Xiu summoned the generals and announced the good news that Liu Yong had been killed. After hearing this, the generals were all happy, but soon everyone's joy disappeared. Wu Han and Gai Yan's Eastern Expedition had achieved a great victory.
, captured Suiyang and killed Liu Yong, the leader of the thieves, but his southern expedition has still been dragged by Qin Feng in Liqiu until now. The gap between the two made the generals present somewhat embarrassed, including Cen Peng.
, including Zhu You and others.
Zhu Youteng stood up and said loudly: "Your Majesty, I think our army will attack Liqiu immediately and capture the old thief Qin Feng!"
As soon as he finished speaking, all the generals present stood up one after another, stepped in and saluted, and said: "Your Majesty, I am willing to take the lead!" "We are willing to take the lead!"
Looking around at the generals who volunteered, Liu Xiu smiled slightly and said, "Today, I am going to the city to meet Qin Feng!"
"Your Majesty, I think I have nothing more to say to Qin Feng, an old man, so I might as well just fight him!" Zhu You said impatiently and indignantly.
Liu Xiu said: "Although Liqiu is not a small city, the city walls are high and strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there are many enemy troops in the city. If we attack by force, our army's casualties will inevitably be considerable. If we can avoid fighting this battle, we should try our best not to fight it." beat."
Although Liu Xiu has been fighting since the Chongling uprising, Liu Xiu is not a warlike person. After fighting for so many years and seeing so many life and death situations, he has really fought enough. If he can Without fighting, it would be best to persuade Qin Feng to surrender with words.
Everyone could understand Liu Xiu's thoughts, looked at each other, and finally sat back, saying in unison: "Your Majesty is wise and your Majesty is kind!"
Liu Xiu, surrounded by generals Cen Peng and Zhu You, led thousands of soldiers and horses out of the Han army camp and headed straight for the west gate of Liqiu.
When they were about to enter within a hundred steps of Li Qiu, an arrow flew down from the top of the city and nailed to the ground with a snap. This was Qin Fengjun's arrow warning, warning Liu Xiu and others that before they continue to move forward, the city would be destroyed. He was about to shoot arrows at them.
Under Liu Xiu's instruction, a Han cavalry galloped out and rushed to the west gate of Liqiu. He shouted towards the city: "Your Majesty is visiting Liqiu in person and wants to meet Qin Feng. Let Qin Feng go out of the city to speak!"
At this time, Qin Feng had already climbed to the top of the city and was standing in the gate tower, looking down with his head.
Hearing the news that Liu Xiu had arrived at Liqiu, Qin Feng was shocked. He stuck out his head and asked loudly to the Han soldiers outside the city: "Where is Liu Xiu now?"
The Han soldier's expression suddenly changed. He raised his head and glared angrily at Qin Feng on the top of the city. He pointed back and said, "Your Majesty is here!"
Looking in the direction of his finger, Qin Feng couldn't see clearly because the distance was too far. Qin Feng pondered for a while and said: "I can go out of the city to meet Liu Xiu, but neither party can bring more than Three people!”
The Han soldier said nothing, only glanced at Qin Feng coldly, turned his horse's head, and ran back to report the news to Liu Xiu.
Soon, the Han army set up a small shed a hundred steps away from Liqiu City. The small shed was hollowed out on all sides and supported only by a few pillars. The ground inside was paved with a collapse, and a small wooden table was placed in the center. , a soft cushion is placed on each side of the wooden table.
There were teapots and teacups on the table. Liu Xiu came with Xu Ying, Xu Ting, and Xu Fei, and the others retreated a hundred steps away. Seeing this, Qin Feng nodded, turned around and was about to go down the city wall. , went out of the city to meet Liu Xiu. At this time, a general stepped forward quickly, saluted Qin Feng, and whispered: "Your Majesty, I have a sharpshooter under me who can draw a five-stone bow. Within a hundred steps, the arrows will be flawless." hair."
The small shed set up by the Han army was exactly a hundred steps away from Li Qiu. The implication was that our sharpshooter stood on the top of the city and could directly shoot Liu Xiu.
When Qin Feng heard this, his eyes flashed, and then he waved his hand and said, "You can't do this!"
Even though he was cruel to Liu Xiu, negotiations are negotiations. It is not the behavior of a gentleman to take advantage of the opportunity of negotiations to stab someone in the dark.
At that time, people valued morality more than anything else. People with high moral standards could be elected to the court as officials, even if they had no real talent or knowledge.
During the Han Dynasty, the famous "promoting filial piety and integrity" came from this. The so-called promotion of filial piety and integrity is to recommend filial sons or honest officials. Filial piety is the first among all virtues, and filial piety ranks first among virtues.
Although Qin Feng and Liu Xiu were mortal enemies, he disdained the idea of hurting people with hidden arrows. This kind of thing also exceeded his bottom line as a human being. Qin Feng did not accept the opinions of his subordinates and led three guards with high martial arts skills to the city wall.
Leading a group of soldiers and horses, they came out of Liqiu City.
He left the soldiers and horses who had left the city behind, took only three personal guards, and went straight to the small shed where Liu Xiu was.
Soon, Qin Feng arrived in front of the small shed. Liu Xiu was sitting in the small shed. Xu Ying, Xu Ting, and Xu Fei were standing outside. Qin Feng turned around and signaled the three guards to stay outside the shed. He turned over and dismounted, and took a step forward.
Go into the shed.
"Mr. Qin, please sit down." Liu Xiu smiled slightly at Qin Feng and waved his hand opposite him.
"Prince Xiao!" Qin Feng bowed his hand to Liu Xiu.
Hearing the word Xiao Wang, the expressions of Xu Ying, Xu Ting, and Xu Fei outside the tent all changed, and they raised their hands to hold the hilt of their swords.
Seeing this, the three personal guards brought by Qin Feng all held their swords and stared intently at the three Xu Ying opposite them.
Qin Feng called Liu Xiu King Xiao, which meant that he did not recognize Liu Xiu's proclaimed emperor, but only recognized Liu Xuan's canonization of Liu Xiu.
In the Gengshi court, Liu Xiu was the King of Xiao, and Qin Feng was the King of Chu and Li. They were all kings, and there was no distinction between who was superior and who was inferior.
Liu Xiu immediately understood what he was thinking, and was not angry. He smiled slightly and said again: "Mr. Qin, please sit down."
This time Qin Feng was not polite and sat down opposite Liu Xiu. Liu Xiu picked up the teapot, poured two cups of tea, and waved to Qin Feng opposite.
Qin Feng had no intention of picking up the cup and drinking tea. He had no intention of harming anyone, but who knew if Liu Xiu had any intention of harming him? If Liu Xiu poisoned the tea and he died, who would he ask to reason?
