Liu Yong's death was tantamount to getting rid of the only opponent who could compete with Liu Xiu in terms of Han orthodoxy.

As a local tycoon who existed at the same time as Liu Xiu, Liu Yong also controlled a large number of resources in his hands. After the Red Mei Army marched west and captured Chang'an, Liu Yong took over almost all the territory left by the Red Mei Army, controlling Yuzhou, Qingzhou, Yanzhou, and Xuzhou close to the state capitals, while at that time, Liu Xiu only controlled Youzhou, Jizhou and Luoyang

Henan County as the center. Liu Yong only had Liu Xiu as an enemy, and at that time, Liu Xiu had a powerful Red Eyebrow force and Liu Yong's forces outside, and Peng Chong and Deng Feng's rebellion inside

Plain.

But obviously holding a good handful of cards, Liu Yong just collapsed. Liu Xiu's strength is only a secondary factor, and the real main reason for Liu Yong's failure is still in himself.

Liu Yong lacked Liu Xiu's courage to kill and decide, and he did not think about conquering local separatist forces, such as Zhang Bu and Dong Xian, but adopted a policy of making promises to let them take the initiative to belong to him.

After Zhang Bu and Dong Xian agreed to be loyal to Liu Yong, Liu Yong let go of these two forces, resulting in Liu Yong, Dong Xian, and Zhang Bu, the three forces, never fully integrated together. It seems that Liu Yong seems to be sitting on four state capitals, and his power is huge, but in fact, Liu Yong can only control one state, Yuzhou. When the Luoyang army led by Liu Xiu attacked Yuzhou on a large scale, the Han army drove straight into Yuzhou

When he was in Suiyang, only Liu Yong was fighting alone, and Zhang Bu and Dong Xian had an attitude of not caring about themselves and watching from the wall. This also became the direct reason why Liu Yong was defeated and killed.

After reading the battle report from Wu Han, Liu Xiu couldn't hide the joy on his face, rolled up the bamboo slips, and said to Xuying: "Okay, go back and rest!" ”

"Yes! Your Majesty! ”

Liu Xiu tiptoed back to the sleeping tent. As soon as he sat on the bed, Yin Lihua opened his 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, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously rose slightly. Liu Yong is dead, the dragons in Yuzhou are leaderless, and the forces of Zhang Bu and Dong Xian have also lost their natural barriers.

Thinking of this, Liu Xiu looked at Yin Lihua beside him, turned over and sat up again, raised his legs and walked out of the inner account lightly, and when he arrived at the outer account, he took out a silk edict and wrote down an edict in a hurry.

In the first half of the edict, he focused on commending the exploits of Wu Han and Gai Yan, and praised Qingwu, who killed Liu Yong and abandoned the darkness and surrendered to the Ming, and named him a marquis. In the second half of the edict, Liu Xiu ordered Wu Han to lead Wang Liang and Chen Jun generals to march into Dongjun to exterminate the enemy forces and enemy rebels in Dongjun, and also ordered Gai Yan to completely eliminate the remnants of Liu Yong's forces, including Dong Xian and Zhang Bu

Two thieves. His edict was written in two copies, one to Wu Han and one to Gai Yan. In this Eastern Expedition of the Han Army, Wu Han and Gai Yan were both the main generals in the army, and Liu Xiu's orders to Wu Han and Gai Yan were not the same, and the edict was not passed on to any of them

It was too suitable, so Liu Xiu took the trouble to write two edicts.

Liu Xiu felt that he had thought about it enough, but it still attracted the dissatisfaction of one person, Pang Meng.

Pang Meng was born in the Green Forest Army, originally a subordinate of Wang Chang, and belonged to the Xiajiang system in the Green Forest Army. Liu Xiu and Wang Chang had a very good relationship, and naturally got along well with the generals of the Green Forest Army in the Xiajiang system.

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 returned to Liu Xiu. Pang Meng, although he is a little cautious, has a relatively gentle temperament and is also very loyal, which is quite appreciated by Liu Xiu.

Liu Xiu once said that he can entrust a six-foot lonely, and he can entrust a county with a hundred miles of land, and it is none other than Pang Meng.

Through Liu Xiu's evaluation of Pang Meng, it can also be seen that Liu Xiu loves Pang Meng. Pang Meng was quite favored, which made the officers and soldiers in the army red-eyed.

Pang Meng, who was originally gentle and loyal, gradually floated up, pointing fingers in the army, saying everything, even the main general Gai Yan, he became less and less concerned.

This naturally caused Gai Yan's strong dissatisfaction with Pang Meng. Liu Xiu's edict was transmitted to the camp, and Gai Yan summoned all the generals to read it, but he did not look for Pang Meng.

In Liu Xiu's edict, there was indeed no mention of Pang Meng's words. The edict of the Son of Heaven, there are only a few sentences in total, and the ones mentioned are naturally the main generals, and it is impossible to mention and commend all the ordinary generals below one by one.

But after Pang Meng knew about this, he was very dissatisfied in his heart.

He was not angry with Liu Xiu, but angry with Gai Yan, thinking that Gai Yan must have complained to His Majesty in private and slandered the Son of Heaven, so the Son of Heaven did not mention a word to himself in the edict.

Defeated Suiyang and killed Liu Yong, he also made great contributions, if it weren't for Gai Yan who said bad things about himself, it would be impossible for the Son of Heaven not to praise himself.

Liu Xiu's favor did not make Pang Meng conscientious, but made his whole person swell.

Even Liu Xiu's failure to mention him in the edict made him think that Gai Yan was wearing small shoes for himself, slandering the world and saying bad things about himself.

Under the influence of this psychology, he looked down on Gai Yan more and more, and the contradiction between the two became bigger and bigger.

I'm afraid Liu Xiu himself didn't expect that his edict would plant the seeds of a rupture between Gai Yan and Pang Meng.

Following. The Han army camp outside Liqiu City, the Chinese military tent. Liu Xiu summoned the generals and announced the good news that Liu Yong had been killed. When the generals heard this, they were all overjoyed, but soon the joy of the people disappeared. The Eastern Expedition of Wu Han and Gai Yan has won a complete victory, conquering Suiyang and killing the thief leader Liu Yong

, but his own southern expedition, until now, has been dragged by Qin Feng in Liqiu, and the gap between the two has made the faces of the generals present somewhat unbearable, including Cen Peng, Zhu You and others.

Zhu Youteng stood up and said loudly: "Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that our army will immediately attack Liqiu and capture the old thief Qin Feng!" ”

As soon as he finished speaking, all the generals present got up one after another, intervened in the salute, and said, "Your Majesty, Weichen is willing to take the lead!" "Wechen is willing to take the lead!"

Looking around at the generals who took the initiative to invite Ying, Liu Xiu smiled slightly and said, "Today, I want to go to the front of the city and meet Qin Feng!" ”

"Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that there is nothing to say about Qin Feng, an old horseman, so just fight directly!" Zhu You said indignantly and impatiently.

Liu Xiu said: "Although Liqiu is not a small city, but the city is high and strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there are a large number of enemy troops in the city, if it is attacked, the casualties of our army will inevitably be not small. "Don't look at Liu Xiu, he has been fighting since the Chungling Incident, but Liu Xiu is not a belligerent person, he has fought for so many years, and has seen so many lives and deaths, he has really fought enough, if he can not fight, he can persuade Qin to surrender with words

Abundance, this is the best.

Everyone could comprehend Liu Xiu's thoughts, looked at each other, and finally sat back one after another, and said in unison: "Your Majesty is wise, Your Majesty is benevolent!" ”

Surrounded by Cen Peng and Zhu You, Liu Xiu came out of the Han army camp with thousands of soldiers and horses, and went straight to the west gate of Liqiu.

When he was about to enter within a hundred steps of Liqiu, an arrow flew down from the city, and it was nailed to the ground with a snap, which was Qin Fengjun's arrow warning, warning Liu Xiu and the others, and if they continued to move forward, the city head would release arrows to them.

At the behest of Liu Xiu, a Han cavalryman rode out on horseback, ran to the west gate of Liqiu with a whip, and shouted at the city: "Your Majesty is here in Liqiu, I want to meet Qin Feng, and let Qin Feng go out of the city to talk!" ”

At this time, Qin Feng had already ascended to the top of the city, and was standing in the city gate, poking his head out and looking down.

Hearing the news that Liu Xiu had arrived in Liqiu, Qin Feng's heart was shocked, he poked his head out and asked loudly at the Han soldiers outside the city, "Where is Liu Xiu now?" ”

The Han soldier's face changed suddenly, he raised his head and glared at Qin Feng at the head of the city, pointed back, and said, "Your Majesty is here!" ”

Looking in the direction of his finger, Qin Feng couldn't really see it 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 side can bring more than three retinues!" ”

The Han soldier didn't speak again, only glanced at Qin Feng coldly, turned his horse's head, and ran back to report 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, only a few pillars supported, the ground inside was paved with collapses, and a small wooden table was placed in the center, and the wooden table was placed on both sides

A cushion. On the table, teapots and teacups are arranged. Liu Xiu came with Xuying, Xuting, and Xufei, and the rest of the people retreated a hundred steps away. Seeing this, Qin Feng nodded, turned around and was about to go down the city wall, and went out of the city to meet Liu Xiu, at this time, a general

Quickly stepped forward, bowed to Qin Feng, and whispered: "King, there is a sharpshooter under Weichen, who can pull a five-stone bow, and within a hundred steps, there is no missing arrow." ”

The small shed set up by the Han army is exactly 100 steps away from Liqiu. The implication is that this sharpshooter of his own side stands on top of the city and can directly shoot Liu Xiu.

When Qin Feng heard this, his eyes flashed, and then he waved his hand and said, "Don't do this!" ”

Even if he viciously poisoned Liu Xiu, negotiation is negotiation, and taking advantage of the opportunity of negotiation to hurt people with secret arrows is not done by a gentleman.

At that time, people regarded morality more than anything else, and people with high morals, even if they had no real talents, could be elected to the court as officials.

During the Han Dynasty, this is how the famous 'filial piety' came about. The so-called promotion of filial piety and honesty is to promote filial piety or honest officials. Filial piety comes first, and filial piety ranks first among virtues. Although Qin Feng and Liu Xiu are mortal enemies, he disdains to hurt people with secret arrows, and this kind of thing also exceeds his bottom line as a person. Qin Feng did not accept the advice of his subordinates, and took three guards with strong martial arts, went down the city wall, and led a team of soldiers and horses from Liqiu City

Inside out.

He left the soldiers and horses out of the city, only took three personal guards, and went straight to the small shed where Liu Xiu was.

Soon, Qin Feng came to the front of the small shed. Liu Xiuduan sat in the small shed, Xu Ying, Xu Ting, and Xu Fei stood outside, Qin Feng turned around and motioned for the three guards to stay outside the shed, he turned over and dismounted, and walked into the small shed.

"Gong Qin, please take a seat." Liu Xiu smiled at Qin Feng and waved his hand to the opposite side.

"King Xiao!" Qin Feng arched his hand to Liu Xiu.

Hearing the word Xiao Wang, the faces of the three people outside the tent, Xu Ying, Xu Ting, and Xu Fei changed the same, and their hands were raised, holding the hilt of the sword.

Seeing this, the three personal guards brought by Qin Feng also held their swords in unison, staring intently at the three Xuying opposite.

Qin Feng called Liu Xiu Xiao Wang, which is equivalent to saying that he does not recognize Liu Xiu's title of emperor, he only recognizes Liu Xuan's canonization of Liu Xiu.

In the court of the beginning of the year, Liu Xiu was the king of Xiao, he Qin Feng was the king of Chuli, everyone was the king, and there was no distinction between high and low.

Liu Xiu immediately understood his thoughts, and he was not angry, smiled slightly, and said again: "Duke Qin, please take a seat." ”

This time, Qin Feng was not polite and sat down opposite Liu Xiu. Liu Xiu lifted the teapot, poured two cups of tea, and waved his hand to Qin Feng opposite. Qin Feng didn't mean to pick up the cup and drink tea, he didn't have the intention of harming others, but who knows if Liu Xiu had the intention of harming him, if Liu Xiu poisoned the tea, he would die, who would he talk to?