Chapter 42 Praying Mantis Catches Cicadas

In September 355 AD, Li Yan, the general of Longxi, saw the infighting of the Zhang family, so he killed the local clan, established himself as the main one in Longxi, and won the support of the people. When the news reached Guzang, Zhang Qiang, who was in charge, sent his subordinate general Niu Ba to lead the army to crusade, but Niu Ba's army did not reach Longxi, and the Xiping guard general Wei Qi rebelled according to the county. Niu Ba led his troops to Longxi as soon as he arrived, Li Yan waited for work and defeated him, and Niu Ba fled back to Guzang alone.

Seeing this, Zhang Qian decided to personally lead the army to conquer Wei Qi first, but because his brother Zhang Qi served in the Wei Qi army and was worried about marching into the army, Wei Qi was also unwilling to take the initiative because his brother was serving in Zhang Qi's army, so the two sides confronted each other for more than a year.

Wei Qi was afraid that things would change over time, so he asked the local celebrity Guo Xun with a heavy courtesy, and Guo Xun said to him: "The Zhang family will decline, and the Wei family will prosper, how can you destroy the major affairs of the world because of brotherhood?" Now it is time to attack Zhang Qian quickly. ”

Wei Qi listened to his suggestion and sent his subordinate Tian Xuan to Jiuquan to persuade the guard general Ma Ji to raise troops to attack Zhang Qian, and he waited for news in the camp. However, Zhang Qian had already discovered Wei Qi's intentions and sent his brother Zhang Ju to lead a large army to defeat Wei Qi while he was unprepared.

At this time, Tian Xuan had just persuaded Ma Ji and agreed to betray Zhang Qian to respond to Wei Qi, and Ma Ji had not yet sent troops. Zhang Qian also ordered Zhang Yao and Wang Guo to lead an army of 2,000 into Jiuquan, Ma Ji and Tian Xuan were in a hurry, and the army was defeated and killed.

Because of the first contribution to quelling the rebellion, the Zhang Qian brothers were arrogant and abnormal in the former Liang Dynasty, constantly squeezing out and suppressing the Song and Song Cheng brothers.

In June 359 AD, the former Liang minister Song Chao and his younger brother Song Cheng saw that Zhang Xuanliang's brothers had monopolized power, and constantly attacked and framed them in the court, knowing that they could not protect them, they took advantage of the unpreparedness of the Zhang brothers to persuade Zhang Xuanliang, the king of Liang, to send troops to surround Zhang Qian and Zhang Ju's mansions, and annihilate all their brothers. Since then, the Song Cheng brothers have succeeded the Zhang Qian brothers in charge of the Qianliang State Administration.

In April 361, Song Chao died, and Song Cheng was in charge of the former Liang State Administration. Zhang Yong of the Zhang clan hated Song Cheng's arbitrariness and had the idea of usurping power, so he followed the example of the Song brothers and secretly persuaded Zhang Xuanliang, the king of Liang, to issue an edict to kill Song Cheng and exterminate the Guzang Song clan. Zhang Xuanliang was already a little sensible at this time, so he ordered Zhang Yong and his uncle Zhang Tianxi to assist the government together, intending to put an end to civil strife.

However, Zhang Yong relied on his great achievements, was arrogant and tyrannical, made friends, excluded Zhang Tianxi, was good at court politics, and did not show favors, and abused punishment, so that the Manchu civil and military generals all looked at him sideways.

Zhang Tianxi knew that Zhang Yong had the intention of usurping the throne, so he often secretly plotted with his cronies to protect Liu Su, Zhao Baiju and others to eradicate Zhang Yong.

One day in November 361 AD, Zhang Tianxi and Zhang Yong entered the court together, Zhang Tianxi took Liu Su and Zhao Baiju to discuss the killing of Zhang Yong in a low voice while walking, coincidentally, met Zhang Yong at the gate of the palace, Liu Su saw that Zhang Yong did not bring a guard, knew that the heavens gave the opportunity, pulled out the knife and cut Zhang Yong, did not cut in the panic, Zhao Baiju saw this, also pulled out the knife and cut again, Zhang Yong dodged in time, and did not cut in, Zhang Yong knew that he was outnumbered, and he was in a hurry, and he ran to the nearby military camp, Zhang Tianxi and the other three saw Zhang Yong fleeing, and knew that the incident was leaked, He went into the palace to discuss countermeasures.

Soon, Zhang Yong led more than 300 soldiers into the palace to search for Zhang Tianxi and others. Zhang Tianxi knew that he was invincible, so he had to fight the trapped beast, so he climbed to the roof and shouted: "Zhang Yong is vicious and rebellious, without morality, he has killed Song Cheng, and he wants to subvert my family." All the soldiers have been subordinates of my Zhang clan for generations. How can I bear to help the abuse, now the person I want to kill, only Zhang Yong, others, etc., will not be investigated! ”

After that, Zhang Yong's soldiers looked at each other and silently returned to the camp, Zhang Yong couldn't stop him, seeing that the general trend had gone, he drew his sword and killed himself, Zhang Tianxi immediately asked Zhang Xuanliang, the king of Liang, to order Zhang Yong's entire clan and his henchmen to be killed.

Afterwards, Zhang Xuanliang had to appoint Zhang Tianxi to assist the government. Zhang Tianxi has been in charge of the government since then.

In August 363, Zhang Xuanliang's grandmother Ma died, and Zhang Xuanliang made his concubine Guo a concubine. Because of Zhang Tianxi's autocratic power, Guo discussed with the minister Zhang Qin and others to kill him. However, the matter was not confidential, and Zhang Tianxi led his troops to arrest and kill Zhang Qin and others.

After Zhang Xuanliang knew about this, he was very afraid in his heart, and invited Zhang Tianxi, who wanted to be in it, Zhang Tianxi was afraid that he would be suspected of usurping the throne, so he was furious and refused to accept it. However, his cronies Liu Su and others, after learning about this, also persuaded Zhang Tianxi to establish himself as king.

Soon, Zhang Tianxi saw that the time was ripe, so he ordered Liu Su and others to lead troops to break into the palace at night, kill Zhang Xuanliang, and announce to the public that he died of a violent illness, and Zhang Zuo immediately inherited the throne of Liang.

After a series of infighting, Qianliang was weak like a terminally ill old man, and he had entered the countdown to life. If you know how Qianliang under Zhang Tianxi's rule perished, look at the next chapter.