Chapter 500: Loyal Li Lang
Chen Yuankang and his party did not stay long after returning to Beizhong City in Heyang. They warned Hulu Jin 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: "The effect of this mission." How about that? Will Mr. Li 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 Gao Cheng heard this, his face suddenly darkened, he raised his fist and slammed it on the case, 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 doesn't come, and he can't control him even if he bullies me?"
As he spoke, he turned to glare at Cui Jishu, who was sitting down at the table. He pointed at him and scolded him: "If you come here to appease fools, you won't send envoys to work and make people laugh at me! You want to form alliances with vassals and generals." To keep yourself in mind, you also need to see if the other person is interested in you and so on!”
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, he also wanted to win over Li Tai as a member of the Hebei clan. strong foreign aid.
The relationship between these family members is complicated. The Cui family of Boling, where Cui Jishu was born, and the Li family of Longxi also had many marriages. Not to mention too far away, Cui Jishu himself married Li Tai's cousin Li Qianzhi a year ago, and his 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, their Hebei clan has little chance of doing this. The Jinyang Bafu army is firmly in the hands of a group of nobles. The rebel armed forces in Hebei prefectures, counties and villages are mostly controlled by feudal and powerful families. The Liufang Forbidden Army in Yedu Many of them were infiltrated and reorganized.
Although the crown prince Gao Cheng reused them, he only focused on their political ability to control the government, but 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. It is definitely a big surprise for the Hebei aristocrats like them.
If Li Tai can be recruited back, the Hebei clan 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 perspective, as long as it can help solve the current crisis, any method can be tried. Especially by recruiting the offensive forwards of the Western Wei Dynasty for his own use, he frustrated the opponent and strengthened himself. Why not?
As for the thoughts of Cui Jishu and others, he could see them as clearly as the lines on their palms, but this was also human nature. As long as their plans are not based on harming the overall interests of the country, Gao Cheng can tolerate their pursuit of their own interests.
After all, so far, these people are closer political forces to themselves than those noble elders in 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 invitation, Gao Chengcai felt twice as embarrassed and angry.
Seeing that the prince was so angry, Chen Yuankang quickly 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 held back troops in Zhongli City, Heyang, and did not dare to advance any further. …”
"Humph, what a joke! The thieves took advantage of the empty river and the incompetent generals. When I deploy heavy troops and return to resist the river defense, the thieves will die if they take any further steps!"
After hearing this, Gao Cheng snorted and said with disdain.
Although the truth is such a truth, the problem is that the other generals Hu Lujin and Xue Guyan are already the top generals in the country. Who else can be regarded as incompetent to guard and supervise the battle? There is also a large army sent to Henan to quell the rebellion. Jinyang Bafu still needs elite troops to station in to stabilize the situation. Where can they recruit a large army to refuse 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 remorse. However, Li Tai did not take the initiative." Xitou, but was kidnapped by thieves.
Today, you may feel that Black Otter knew the situation and was brave enough to use it, but when you see the people in Guandong again, you will secretly feel unbearable, rein in your horse in the face of battle, and dare not go forward. This shows that your loyalty has not been lost. Our troops in Heyang took advantage of this relief to have a chance to breathe, so that we could calmly prepare for war and decide the outcome. Chen Youcheng's mission was not 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 a man of shame, 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 loves his son-in-law as he wished. As expected, he is an old friend of the barbarians such as Black Otter. He has great ambitions and has held the power of Longyou for a long time. His power and position are even greater than that of our country's princes. How can we have no suspicions about each other? Although Li Taijin has his ambitions in the west, if his father-in-law and son-in-law are persecuted by black otters in the coming year, his relatives and friends in Guandong are all there, and he feels that his son is recruiting old favors, so it is natural for him to lead his forces back east. "
When Gao Cheng heard this, his frown slightly relaxed, but he still snorted coldly: "The reason why this disciple is important at the moment is simply because our country is in danger and unstable, 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 is 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, leaving Yedu with unrest and empty guards. Immediately afterwards, Han Gui led his army south to Yingchuan. The victory or defeat is still pending and no news has been sent back.
Under such circumstances, Heyang Hulujin's men and horses are the only military force that can be relied on for Changchang 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 quell.
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, Just dispatch reinforcements from elsewhere. The most suitable route for reinforcements is naturally for Han Gui's troops to counterattack Heluo after quickly ending the war in Henan, and to attack from north to 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, and 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 Gui'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 unhappy.
After Han Gui withdrew his troops, Henan was left with several forces such as Li Bi, Wang Sizheng and Hou Jing of the Western Wei Dynasty, as well as Nanliang Yang Yaren and others who went north to join Hou Jing.
It is obvious that these parties cannot coexist peacefully. It is estimated that there will still be troubles to establish a foothold in Henan. However, the Eastern Wei Dynasty, as Hou Jing's former master, 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 withdrawn troops to go west 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's death has been concealed for nearly half a year, and now more and more people are aware of it, but there has been no official announcement of the funeral.
Originally, Gao Cheng planned to resolve all the internal and external crises before mourning his father as a victor, but 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. suffered criticism.
Therefore, he chooses this time to announce his father's death. He can then legitimately take over the powerful position of King Gao. Below, he can have the effect of mourning the soldiers and make the officers and men serve their lives. Above, he can also clarify the status of superiors and subordinates, so that subordinates will 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. .