p

For Hou Yan, Murong Chui's death was tantamount to the collapse of Mount Tai, and the pillars fell to the ground.

It also allowed this empire, which was supported by continuous military victories, to gradually come to an end.

The Wei tribe who had surrendered to Houyan heard that Murong Trai was dead, and turned to the Northern Wei again.

These people abandoned Yan and returned to Wei, which not only made Houyan's situation worse, but also transmitted the news of Murong Chui's death back to Shengle.

Upon learning that Murong Trai was dead, Tuoba Jue was overjoyed and immediately integrated the three armies and went south to capture the Central Plains.

Although the victory of Shenhepi made the Northern Wei Dynasty see the hope of entering the Central Plains, it was afraid of Murong Chui and never dared to act rashly.

Now that Murong Chui is finally dead, the stumbling block that stood in front of Wei no longer exists.

In Shengle City, in the palace of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Tuoba Jue was enthusiastic to discuss the southern expedition with the Xianbei and Han ministers.

The Han Wenchen, the lords of various departments and the Xianbei generals were all very excited, and they all suggested that the army should be immediately marched south.

Tuoba Lie shouted excitedly: "Brother Wang is not only the supreme master of the grassland desert, but also the master of the Central Plains!" ”

Tuoba Jue bowed his head slightly, hammered the case with his hand, and said to the ministers: "The widow swears to the towering Xianbei Mountain that he will lead everyone to conquer the world." ”

"When I set foot on the land of the Central Plains with the iron hooves of Tuoba Xianbei, it will be the moment when my Tuoba people will reign in the world."

Under the instigation of Tuoba, the leaders of the Tuoba Department at the scene rushed to shout: "Southern Expedition!" Expedition to the South! ”

……

In November 395 AD, Tuoba Jue did not have time to heal the wounds left by the war, and personally led an army of more than 100,000 to the south.

Since the annexed state was already part of Hexi, Tuoba could no longer enter the annexed state from the south of Daidi as it had done in history.

Therefore, he could only learn like Murong Chui and lead the army to raid Youzhou along the army capital, Puyin, and Flying Fox.

At the end of November, the Wei army marched mightily, carrying a dust drum that covered the sky and the sun.

More than 100,000 Wei soldiers were divided into three routes, waving flags along the way, traveling hundreds of miles.

The left general Li Li led 50,000 cavalry as the vanguard, and the front of the troops pointed directly at Jicheng.

When the Wei army approached Youzhou, the evil consequences of Murong Chui's death were undoubtedly revealed, and the guards and families from all over the country surrendered one after another.

So much so that at the beginning of the war, the Wei army was like a bamboo, and the Houyan defenders either abandoned the city and fled, or surrendered to the wind.

When the Northern Wei Dynasty seized Youzhou again, it was no longer as overwhelmed as it was when it first entered the traditional farming area.

The young King of Wei, Tuoba Jue, was surprisingly mature, he behaved well, coped with ease, and acted decently.

With the assistance of Zhang Yan, Xu Qian, Yan Feng and other Han talents, Tuoba Jue abandoned the tradition of burning, killing and plundering when the nomads entered the Central Plains.

not only appeased the people everywhere, but also promoted Han talents in an eclectic manner.

As long as they are talented, they can be officials regardless of their age, and a large number of Han scholars began to serve as officials of the Wei State.

The Han people served as the commanders of the counties, or appeased the scattered, or persuaded the peasants.

In a short period of time, Youzhou is Da'an.

As a result, no one was killed, not a single house was burned, and the Northern Wei Dynasty successfully won Youzhou and entered the Central Plains to get off to a nearly perfect start.

However, after capturing Youzhou, Tuoba Jue was not in a hurry to go south to Hebei.

Because at this time, he learned the news of the Jin army's Northern Expedition, in order to prevent the Jin army from reaping the benefits, he could only suppress his inner impulse

As a result, no one expected that under the mutual containment of the Wei and Jin dynasties, Hebei would rarely maintain a balanced situation.

……

The Wei army suspended its southward movement, giving Yan a respite.

However, this did not allow Hou Yan to unite against the enemy, but gave the careerists the opportunity to carry out the conspiracy.

The Wei army was shocked by the capture of Youzhou, which greatly shocked Murong Bao, and immediately summoned his subordinates to discuss countermeasures.

In the face of the aggressive trend of the Wei army, the civil and military forces of the Later Yan and Manchu dynasties offered advice to hold on, but no one proposed to take the initiative to attack.

It is not difficult to understand that after the Battle of Hepi, the military strength of Houyan was far inferior to that of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Only Zhongshan Yin Fumo advocated taking the initiative to meet the attack, he believed that the Wei army was numerous and cavalry, and it was invincible to advance by victory.

If the Wei army is allowed to enter the plain, Hou Yan may have no way to resist, so it is better to gather heavy troops to keep the enemy out of the country.

Zhongshu Ling Wei advocated avoiding war with the Wei army and advocated fortifying the walls and clearing the wilderness.

"The Wei army is mostly cavalry, and they gallop back and forth quickly, but they don't carry much grain and grass."

"Your Majesty should follow the previous strategy of the Wei State and build high barriers, so that Tuoba Xianbei cannot find food and grass supplies in the wild."

"In this way, in no more than a month, the enemy will retreat on its own because of the lack of food."

Murong Lin, the king of Zhao, also agreed with Wei Di and opposed Fu Mo's proposal to fight the enemy.

"Now the Wei army has more than 100,000 horses, and all of them are cavalry with strong combat effectiveness."

"Even if our army has the city to rely on, it does not have the confidence to defeat the Wei army."

"The Wei army came with great momentum, and the frontal edge could not be stopped no matter what."

"I think that for now, we should comprehensively defend Zhongshan, Yecheng and other cities, and then look for opportunities to counterattack when the Wei army makes mistakes."

Soon, Houyan formed two plans to resist the enemy, one was to take the initiative to attack and keep the enemy out of the country; The other is to clear the wilderness and fight a protracted war.

In the end, Murong Bao adopted the second suggestion and ordered to hold the big city, repair the city and accumulate millet, fortify the walls and clear the wilderness, and fight a protracted battle with the Wei army.

And because Murong De and Murong Nong had already guarded Yecheng and Liaodong respectively, he had no choice but to hand over the military power to Murong Lin, Murong Long, Murong Sheng and others who knew the soldiers.

It should be said that the plan proposed by Murong Lin, the king of Zhao, is currently the most suitable for the Yan State, and a head-to-head confrontation with the morale of the Northern Wei army is bound to fail.

With the current situation of the Yan Kingdom, unless Murong Chui is resurrected, he can only adopt the tactics of fortifying the wall and clearing the wilderness.

If Youzhou is not lost, Yan State may be able to use the Taihang Heavenly Insurance to defend with various fortresses to defend against the enemy outside the border.

It's a pity that now Youzhou has been lost, and the door of Jizhou is open, if you attack again, it is very likely to be raided and annihilated by the Wei cavalry.

And the Wei army is still a grassland nomad, not good at attacking fortified cities, Murong Lin's stubborn defense of Zhongshan, strong walls and clear fields is really the best policy.

However, Murong Bao gave all his power to Murong Lin, which also laid a hidden danger for the next mutiny.

When Murong Bao ascended the throne, he did three stupid things that exacerbated the internal strife in Houyan.

First, Murong Bao's body was not cold, so Murong Bao instructed Murong Lin to kill his mother, Concubine Duan Yuan.

Second, instigated by Murong Sheng, the Duke of Changle, and Murong Lin, the King of Zhao, against Murong Chui's last wishes, he gave up the second son Murong Hui, who was "multi-talented and eloquent", and set up Murong Ce, the "beautiful and weak" son-in-law, as the crown prince.

Third, in order to deal with the attack of the Northern Wei Dynasty and solve the shortage of troops caused by the battle of Shenhepi, Murong Bao continued to "determine the old nationality of the Shi clan, distinguish the turbidity, check the household registration, and remove the households in the barracks and seal the shade on the grounds of the 'policy of retreating from the emperor's policy'." ”

Killing his mother and changing the choice of the crown prince designated by Murong Chui before his death stimulated internal contradictions within the Murong Xianbei royal family.

The policy of "distinguishing the turbidity and striking the shade" was strongly resisted by the Han people and the Xianbei aristocracy.

In this way, Murong Bao, who had just ascended to the throne, suddenly stood on the opposite side of most people.

Murong Lin, the king of Zhao, proposed the strategy of fortifying the wall and clearing the wilderness, although it was out of the need to deal with the Wei army, but also his selfishness.

He saw very clearly that if he wanted to realize the strategic vision of clearing the wilderness, he would inevitably select important ministers and generals from all over the country.

Murong Lin took the opportunity to suggest to Murong Bao that Murong Long, Murong Sheng, Murong Shen and other clans should be sent to guard Zhangwu, Bohai and other counties.

When Murong Long, Murong Sheng and others left with their people, only Murong Lin's descendants were left in the entire Zhongshan.

At this time, Murong Lin finally revealed Lushan's true face, completely tore off his disguise, and went into battle shirtless.

He first sent troops to kidnap Murong Jing, the general of the Praetorian Guard, and asked him to lead the forbidden army to kill Murong Bao, but Murong Jing refused on the spot.

Murong Lin was furious, killed Murong Jing, led his cronies Mu Yuhao out of the horse, broke into the palace and killed Murong Bao, and got rid of the new monarch of Houyan who had just ascended the throne for less than two months.

Murong Bao's death meant that Hou Yan's rule completely collapsed, sounding the death knell for Hou Yan's demise in the future.

At present, the great enemy, Houyan does not think about resisting the enemy, but instead has civil strife.

In the winter of 395 AD, Murong Lin, the king of Zhao, conspired to kill the new monarch Murong Bao and established himself as emperor.

This move was fiercely opposed by Hou Yan, and Murong Lin also knew that he was unpopular, so he ruled Zhongshan with killing, and hundreds of clan officials were killed before and after.

In the face of Murong Lindi's reign of terror, all the Houyan people hoped to welcome back Murong De, the king of Fanyang, or Murong Long, the king of Gaoyang, and Murong Sheng, the prince of Changle.

However, at present, Murong De, Murong Long, and Murong Sheng are guarding Yecheng, Xindu, Nanpi and other places respectively, and they will not be able to go back for a while.

It didn't take long for news of Murong Bao's murder and King Zhao's rebellion to spread all over Hebei.