Then, Liu Xiu left Cen Peng and asked him to lead more than 30,000 soldiers such as Fu Jun, Zang Gong, and Liu Hong to continue to clean up the mess and expand the results in Nanyang and its surrounding areas, and he returned to Luoyang.

These days on a business trip, he has too much government to deal with.

He planned to deal with the urgent matter as soon as possible, personally expedition to Peng Pet, and rescue Zhu Fu.

However, as soon as he was about to start preparations, Da Situ and Yangdu Hou Fuzhan immediately wrote to dissuade him from driving the expedition in person.

Lao Fu is a famous Confucian, with outstanding political achievements, and he is also loyal to Liu Xiu. In the previous book, he commented on the past and the present, and quoted from the time of the prince Wen of the Western Zhou Dynasty to Liu Xiu's accession to the throne, and from the country's major policies to the situation in Yuyang, and strongly advised Liu Xiu not to go on this trip.

He concludes:

"Now, Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Qingzhou, and Jizhou were originally the territory of our dynasty and the important places of the country, but at present, thieves and bandits are still rampant, and the government has not had time to conquer and educate them. And Yuyang and other counties originally belonged to the desolate land of the border fortress, the land was bordered by barbarians, and the tribute tax was meager, in the peaceful years, they could still be useful to the mainland, but they are now in chaos and food shortage, how can it be worth Your Majesty's consideration first? If Your Majesty is willing to seek the near and far, and it is difficult to abandon the easy, the cadres and masses all over the world will be suspicious and afraid, and the ministers will also be puzzled. ”

He was very resolute and asked Liu Xiu to "take Middle-earth as his concern", focus on the Central Plains, and not on the Northern Expedition.

Liu Xiu was indeed too busy, and when he saw Lao Fu say this, he had to put down Yuyang's affairs again.

(The emperor watched his performance, but he didn't go to the expedition.) ）

However, the situation in the Youzhou area quickly deteriorated during Zhu Fu's hard work and Peng Chong's onslaught.

In March 23 AD, not long after Deng Feng surrendered, Zhu Fu's defense in Jicheng was like a rope about to break, and it was already in danger.

In Jicheng City, the food of the Han army has long been eaten, and people have begun to eat human flesh!

(The floating city is full of food, and people cannibalize each other.) ）

It is clear that if the defenders of the city eat themselves, then the city will be destroyed in a few days.

There was really no way, Zhu Fu had no choice but to break through.

How to break through? People are so hungry that they can't walk, how can they run?

At this time, the always arrogant Governor Zhufu was imposing and had no image at all.

At the critical juncture, Shanggu Taishou sent two or three thousand light cavalry to rescue.

Shanggu's light cavalry broke through a corner of Peng's encirclement and met outside the city, and Governor Zhu had this opportunity to abandon the city and flee south.

As soon as he saw that Governor Zhu had run away, Shanggu hurriedly rode back to the county.

They did not receive an order from the imperial court to send troops, but the superior leaders were in trouble and could not ignore them, and now that the leaders had run away, they also hurried home: they also had to prevent themselves from being beaten.

Governor Zhu took his wife and his entourage all the way south to Liangxiang (now southeast of Fangshan, Beijing).

At this time, the officers who followed him felt that he could not run anymore.

Lao Peng is rebellious, and it is a shame for him to be beaten; The discipline of the Han army is strict, and it will be difficult to explain if you run again; Now that there are friendly reinforcements from the upper valley, since they have broken through, they should hurry up and prepare to turn back and counterattack.

Anyway, a provincial governor was beaten by a mayor, and even the people who followed him felt too embarrassed.

However, Governor Zhu felt that his life was still important now, and he had to continue to run.

The entourage officer had no choice but to block the road and resolutely asked Governor Zhu not to run and lead everyone to resist Peng.

Governor Zhu felt that it was necessary to race against time to escape, and he was afraid that he would not be able to run away if his movements were slow, so he struggled desperately, got off the horse and stabbed his wife to death in a hurry, and escaped by himself.

(To the south of Liangxiang, the commander of the army covered it, and he was afraid that he could not get off, so he dismounted and assassinated his wife, only to be spared.) ）

Governor Zhu's escape was so ugly that even his colleagues felt blushing.

One day, Shangshu ordered Hou Ba to play and demanded that the imperial court hold Zhu Fu accountable.

He said:

"Zhu Fu neglected his duties and defeated Youzhou, which directly led to Peng Chong's rebellion; He harmed the country and wasted its military strength, labored the people and lost money; He also abandoned the city and fled, unable to protect the courtiers and swore to fight the enemy to the death, and the crime should be beheaded. ”

However, Liu Xiu treated Deng Feng differently this time, and did not adopt Hou Ba's suggestion.

He really couldn't bear to kill Zhu Fu, not only did he not hold Zhu Fu accountable, but he was further promoted and reused:

Zhu Fu was appointed as the ruling Jinwu, replacing Jia Fu in charge of the garrison of the Beijing Division, and moving his father to the city marquis.

Speaking of which, it is necessary for us to clarify the accusations of some historians against Liu Xiu in dealing with the issue of Zhu Fu's escape, saying that Liu Xiu was in collusion with Zhu Fu and deliberately forced Peng Pet to Liangshan.

This is very debatable.

We have already explained the reasons for Lao Peng's rebellion, he wants to be promoted too much; It is also true that Liu Xiu wants to exert pressure on him, and it is common for the emperor to suppress his subordinates; It is also understandable that Zhu Fu reported Lao Peng, and it was his duty to report the movements of his subordinates to the imperial court.

Besides, everyone has seen how busy Liu Xiu is.

In the case of busy government and frequent use of troops, why did Liu Xiu deliberately provoke Lao Peng?

When Lao Peng rebelled, Zhu Fu was in a hurry, and Liu Xiu didn't care about sending heavy troops to rescue, why did he deliberately provoke Lao Peng?

We can only say that Lao Peng's rebellion was his own rebellion; Zhu Fu is not very wrong, but he is not good at using soldiers, and he has leadership responsibility for losing the city and land, although he has defended the city until the grain and grass are exhausted and everyone cannibalism; Liu Xiu has a preference for Zhu Fu, and it is indeed a mistake to use it to guard one side.

Of course, this is just the word of one family, and everyone has their own opinions.

Speaking of Jicheng, Zhu Fu ran away, and there were no Han soldiers who had time to escape, or could not run, so they had to surrender to Peng Pet.

Lao Peng took Jicheng and immediately promoted himself and declared himself the king of Yan.

(Then he attacked Jicheng and established himself as the king of Yan.) ）

In this way, Lao Peng finally got over the addiction of being a "big official".

However, Lao Peng really did not have the vision, ability and courage to be a big official, and he said that the queen was afraid that she would not be able to speak for a long time, and she could not come up with policies and measures to govern one side and consolidate power, so he and his wife were also very tired.

After becoming king, he and his wife always had nightmares, and they felt strange about everything, as if disaster was coming.

(His wife has many nightmares, and many strange changes.) ）

It's just that Liu Xiu hasn't freed up his hands to deal with him during this period of time, and he has been the king of Yan in Youzhou for 2 years.

However, Liu Xiu had no intention of letting him go of Lao Peng at all, and many of Liu Xiu's subordinates, such as Geng Yi, had been paying close attention to his every move on the Youzhou side.

Geng Yi, the general of Jianwei, has always paid close attention to the situation in Youzhou, not only because of his sense of responsibility and mission, but also because his hometown is there.

In October 27 AD, he was ordered to accompany Liu Xiu back to his hometown of Chungling Province.

This is Liu Xiu's first return to his hometown after becoming a brother, and we will have the opportunity to introduce the details later.

At this time, Geng Yi watched Peng Pet in the north make trouble, and found an opportunity to take the initiative to ask Liu Xiu, saying that he was willing to return to his hometown Shanggu again to send troops, kill Peng Pet and Zhang Feng, and settle this land of Yan Zhao and Qilu.

Liu Xiu praised Xiao Geng's enthusiasm for his work and agreed to his request.

Of course, the court still has to make serious preparations for how to send troops.

(Yi Cong Xingling, because he saw that he had not sent the soldiers from the north to the north, he set Peng to favor Yuyang, take Zhang Feng in Zhuo County, and also collect Fuping and Di Suo, and attack Zhang Bu in the east to level the land.) The emperor's intention is to allow it. ）

Xiao Geng seems to have been born specifically for war, and has always liked to attack cities, and now that his hometown is not very peaceful, he is naturally very anxious.

In May 28 A.D., at the turn of spring and summer, people took off their winter clothes, which was a good time for war.

Liu Xiu was already able to free up his hands at this time, so he arranged for the generals and heavy soldiers, and planned to clean up the north in two ways:

One route was in charge of the capture of the general sacrifice and the Zhang Feng of Zhuo County; One route is in charge of Geng Yi, the general of Jianwei, to fight Peng Pet of Yuyang.