Right! Play a trick to make Lao Peng jump up so that he can clean him up!

For such means and actions, the technical content is not high, and Liu Xiu thinks that he can play with ease.

So, Liu Xiu deliberately leaked to Lao Peng what someone had told Lao Peng, in fact, to put pressure on him and make him feel afraid.

(Leakage makes the favor heard, in order to threaten it.) ）

However, Liu Xiu's trick did not work at first, and when Lao Peng heard it, he hated Zhu Fu even more.

The contradiction between Zhu and Peng is on the verge of breaking out.

At this time, Liu Xiu felt that he had to pay attention: not only to get rid of Peng Pet, but also not to cause local turmoil.

In this way, the best way is to turn the tiger away from the mountain.

In the early spring of 26 AD, when Wanmu had just begun to recover, Liu Xiu issued an edict asking Peng Pet to go to Beijing to report on his work.

Liu Xiu's summoning of Peng Pet into Beijing was just a tentative move.

The king of Dafan tested the feudal officials under his command and used this trick more. Especially when there is mutual suspicion, the king uses this to probe the loyalty of his subordinates. The officials of the feudal territory hurriedly made a choice, either confessed themselves one after another, ran away immediately, and made their wives and children hostages, or simply did not do anything, and tore their faces apart!

To be honest, Peng Pet still has illusions about Liu Xiu at this time, to see if Liu Xiu can promote himself when he has the opportunity.

After all, in this troubled world, it is very hard for anyone to develop independently, and if you want to develop a personal dog and dominate one side, it is not only hard, but also a great danger factor.

In troubled times, rushing to be a brother is like drug trafficking, there are huge profits, but you have to risk killing your head.

Regarding Liu Xiu's call, Peng Pet was uneasy, thinking that Zhu Fu had betrayed him.

He immediately wrote a letter and asked to go to Beijing with Zhu Fu, confront the emperor in front of him, and return his innocence.

At the same time, he also went around to do work, wrote letters to Wu Han, Gai Yan and others, and said impassionedly that Zhu Fu had wronged him, and he would drag Zhu Fu to the court to confront him no matter what.

(Favor sells himself, and the book is willing to go with the float.) and Wu Han, Gai Yan and other books, full of vain words, stubbornly seeking the same sign. ）

Of course, Wu Han and Gai Yan didn't react, maybe they didn't want to help the old leader, because the buddies really couldn't intervene in this matter.

Speaking of which, we can only say that Lao Peng is too chatty, no, he lacks the vision of a contestant competing for the first brother.

He didn't know why Liu Xiu didn't promote him, he didn't know why Liu Xiu summoned him at the moment, and he didn't even know to what extent Liu Xiu trusted Zhu Fu.

Regarding Lao Peng's street quarrel-style request, Liu Xiu categorically refused: If you want to come by yourself, what are you doing with others!

(The emperor is not allowed.) ）

At any time, it is by no means a smart move to force a superior leader to go to a higher level to evaluate the reasoning.

However, Lao Peng's request to go with Zhu Fu was not his temptation to Liu Xiu. When he saw Liu Xiu's refusal, he was even more suspicious.

At this critical time, Lao Peng's wife spoke.

There are not too many records of Lao Peng's wife in history, but she is more unruly than her husband, and we say that she is a typical tragic character.

For Liu Xiu and Zhu Fu, she must have the same grudge as her husband. Seeing that her husband was embarrassed, she felt that she couldn't bear it anymore, so she firmly persuaded him not to go to Luoyang, saying:

"The world is still unstable, and there are people in all directions. Our Yuyang is a big county, strong soldiers, and the strongest in the world, why do we give up lightly once someone frames us? ”

Her attitude couldn't be clearer: go it alone!

Lao Peng knows that as a prefectural and department-level cadre, it is not as simple as doing a single business to develop independently in this troubled era.

No matter how profitable a single business is, there is a chance to come again, this land is a road of no return, throughout the ages, the winner is the king, the loser is the villain, no, failure is only for the ghost.

For the sake of prudence, Lao Peng asked a few cronies and cadres to discuss.

Everyone was usually angry with Governor Zhu, and they all looked at the problem from Lao Peng's standpoint, and no one persuaded him to enter Beijing.

(They all have grievances and floats, and there is no one who persuades them.) ）

Here, Lao Peng's ambition quietly swelled: it seems that the buddies have to be the opposite!

At this moment, Liu Xiu saw Lao Peng hesitating and knew that he was engaged in a fierce ideological struggle, so he sent his son Empress Lan Qing to Yuyang to persuade him to make the trip as soon as possible.

The queen Lanqing is Lao Peng's cousin and lives in Luoyang, and Liu Xiu sent him on a business trip, hoping that he would persuade Lao Peng to come to Beijing soon.

At this time, the Red Eyebrow Army had already killed Liu Xuan, the first emperor, and set fire to Chang'an, and Liu Xiu sent Deng Yuxi to the west; The dragons in the Hexi Corridor are leaderless, and Dou Rong leads Wuwei and other 5 counties to protect themselves; The east is not very peaceful, Liu Yong has been the emperor for several months, and Liu Xiu is transferring troops and generals to plan the eastward expedition; The dynasty was founded, and all kinds of ruins were waiting to be raised, and the system of the previous dynasty had been ruined by Wang Mang, and Liu Xiu urgently needed to clean up the source; At the same time, there are a lot of housework, Liu Xiu's wife and children are all there, and who will be the queen and who will be the prince must be determined as soon as possible, so as to facilitate family harmony and political stability.

In short, Liu Xiu is very busy and feels that it is necessary to take down Lao Peng, but he must think calmly.

However, Lao Peng has been brewing for many days, and he doesn't plan to calmly plan anymore, and wants to rebel immediately.

Then let's fight!

Liu Xiu was too far away, so he hit Zhu Fu first.

Lao Peng immediately detained his son Empress Lanqing, appointed generals, set up a working team, mobilized troops and horses, and attacked Guangyang, Shanggu and other places by several routes. He personally led more than 20,000 people to directly attack Jicheng to find Zhu Fu.

(Favored because of the son of Lan Qing, then sent troops to rebel, pay tribute to the general, since the general will attack Zhu Fu in Ji, divided the troops to Guangyang, Shanggu, and Beiping.) ）

Lao Peng resolutely believes that he has made great contributions but the leader is not promoted, and the fault lies with Liu Xiu; The culprit who sowed discord between himself and the leader and caused the relationship to be very stiff is Zhu Fu!

You must hit Zhu Fu and let out this evil breath!

I don't know if he was unintentionally negligent, whether he did it on purpose, or if he didn't expect that Lao Peng would pull the flag alone like this, and there was no word written on the flag: he didn't issue any declarations, proclamations, etc., to explain his political views.

In this way, at a time when heroes and bears are in turmoil, beating their superiors without saying a word is a bit like venting their personal anger.

Lao Peng Guang didn't speak, but Zhu Fu had something to say.

Governor Zhu wrote a letter to Mayor Peng, criticizing and persuading him for his rebellious behavior.

In this letter, Governor Zhu fully affirmed Lao Peng's work and achievements, expounded the legitimacy of Liu Xiu's regime in founding the country and the correctness of his major policies, and at the same time, he also quoted scriptures and classics to reprimand Lao Peng's rebellion for not looking at the situation, not knowing the reason, and not measuring his own strength, and doing stupid things that were painful and hateful, and the result would inevitably be self-destruction.

The letter is a good article with a strong theme, a clear point of view, a strong argument, a clear structure, a brilliant style, and a fluent language.

It should be said that although Governor Zhu has problems in communicating the relationship between Lao Peng and Liu Xiu, and has been unable to escape the blame for provoking Lao Peng and causing Lao Peng to rebel, the main reason why Lao Peng has taken this step today is himself. And Governor Zhu's letter, on the whole, is still good.

Due to the length of this letter, we will not record it in the original text, and if you are interested, you can read the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty - Zhu Fu Biography".

However, Governor Zhu has always been arrogant and arrogant, smiling at the heroes, and gave an example to Lao Peng in the letter.

If it is only from a technical point of view, this story is still very exciting, but it is difficult for the parties to accept.

Governor Zhu said that once upon a time, there was a sow in Liaodong who gave birth to a piglet, and the piglet had white hair on its head, which was obviously different from the color of the hair in other places on the body. The owner felt that his little pig was very different, and wanted to present it to the emperor. The owner took the piglets into Beijing, and when he walked to Hedong, he found that many local pigs had white hair. He was ashamed, and went back.

Next, Governor Zhu said in connection with the actual situation, if you take the so-called credit of your old Peng to the court and compare it with others, it will be just like that Liaodong pig, there is nothing unusual!

Bitter! Governor Zhu's analogy is apt, but the intention is really scathing.

In this way, the effect of this letter is self-evident.

Sure enough, when Lao Peng received the letter, he was even more annoyed and immediately intensified his attack on Zhu Fu.

(The more angry the book becomes, the more urgent the attack becomes.) ）

Lao Peng relied on his own strong soldiers and horses, and while attacking Zhufu, he also divided his troops into multiple ways to attack the city and conquer the territory, with the intention of trying to expand the sphere of influence.

However, we are still not optimistic about him.

He overestimated his work, and the example of the little white pig cited by Zhu Fu was both apt and vivid; He had too high expectations that Liu Xiu should reuse himself, neither considering the unspoken rules of officialdom, nor did he expect that Liu Xiu's city government had always been unfathomable; He overestimated the prospect of his younger brother being the king and the younger brother after the success of the uprising.

In short, Lao Peng overestimated himself and underestimated others.

No, he actively searched for allies and received a blow to the head.

Lao Peng believes that his acquaintance, neighbor, and Shanggu Taishou Geng have also made great contributions to Liu Xiu's regime, and he has not been promoted and reused, and he must be dissatisfied with Liu Xiu, and he must want to rebel.

So, he sent an envoy to Shanggu and graciously invited Geng Taishou to stand up and vote for it!

However, Geng Guo simply ignored his invitation.

Not only that, in order to express his firm determination to Lao Peng to "be different from him and not conspire", Geng Guo also cut Yuyang casually.

Lao Peng really doesn't understand, you Lao Geng and I have the same great credit and no promotion, why don't you be annoyed and don't make trouble?

He thinks that maybe Lao Geng doesn't want to make trouble, but considering that the rebellion is too big, he doesn't dare to express his position at will, for fear that he will come to test himself, so he will cut it and express his innocence.

It's okay, it's negotiable.

So he sent messengers to the upper valley.

Geng Guo saw that Lao Peng was indeed too ignorant, so he immediately cut Yuyang to make it.

In this way, Lao Peng sent several groups of envoys again and again, but they all went and did not return, but they could not say anything about the situation.

(Thinking that both the self and the Geng situation have heavy merits, and the reward is thin, and the number of envoys wants to induce the situation.) If you don't accept it, you will be beheaded. ）

For the envoys sent by Lao Peng, Geng Guan basically cut them one by one, and at most let him finish his words.

At the same time, Geng Guo immediately made military arrangements to resist Lao Peng's possible attack at any time.

Lao Peng has been wandering around the officialdom for many years, and he is not divided between friend or foe.

A great man of our time has said that the question of who is our friend and who is our enemy is the first question of the revolution.

Lao Peng didn't know that Liu Xiu was disgusted with him in his heart, he didn't know that Zhu Fu was originally Liu Xiu's hardcore confidant, and he didn't even know that Geng Guo and Geng Yi's father and son had long tied the life and death of themselves and their families to the chariot of Liu Xiu's regime.

Liu Xiu has absolute trust in the father and son of the old Geng family, and Geng Guo and Geng Yi father and son are loyal to Liu Xiu, and this relationship is based on the difficult years of Liu Xiu's development in Hebei, and it has deepened day by day after Liu Xiu ascended the throne.

Unlike Lao Peng, who only knows how to lie on the thin merit book and bargain.

A few years ago, the 2 counties of Shanggu and Yuyang sent troops south to support Liu Xiu, and Liu Xiu immediately rewarded him for his meritorious deeds, and at the same time named Geng Kuang as the general and the Marquis of Xingyi, and Peng Chong as the general and the Marquis of meritorious service.

However, Geng Kuang's support for Liu Xiu was almost desperate, unhesitating, and unreserved; And Lao Peng hesitated again and again, he first attached himself to Wang Lang, and only under the repeated persuasion of his subordinates Wu Han and others did he send troops to support Liu Xiu.

Of course, at first, Liu Xiu didn't care too much about Lao Peng, and he gave him everything he could.

Geng Guo also has an extremely good son, Geng Yi, who has been serving desperately under Liu Xiu since then.

For Geng Yi, he has brought us a lot of wonderful performances and is an acquaintance of everyone.

Just when Lao Peng muttered and asked for promotion, Geng Yi used his absolute loyalty to Liu Xiu and conscientious work attitude to rush to various battlefields and fight bloodily for Liu Xiu's emerging dynasty. And Liu Xiu also trusts Xiao Geng, and he is afraid that he will not be able to pamper and reuse him.

Xiao Geng has both moral integrity and political integrity, both civil and military, not only for Liu Xiu's governance of the country and security, but also desperately serve in all aspects of the battlefield, and Liu Xiu's promotion and reuse of him is also eclectic, basically one step a year.

In 24 AD, Xiao Geng gave up the life of a noble son and a wealthy life, and defected to Liu Xiu, who was still in turmoil, and was only 21 years old when Liu Xiu was appointed as a partial general.

In July of the following year, when Liu Xiu appointed the first batch of cadres after his accession to the throne, Xiao Geng, who was only 22 years old, was among them, as the general of Jianwei, the youngest general in Liu Xiu's regime.

Among the generals, Xiao Geng's status is very high, that is to say, his status in the army is second only to that of the Great Sima Wu Han. When he was ordered to lead several generals to pursue the former Xinmang general Liu Mao, the hussar general Jing Dan and the crossbow general Chen Jun all listened to orders in front of his tent.

In 26 A.D., the 23-year-old Xiao Geng was crowned as the Marquis of Haoqi, and took the two counties of Haoqi (now the east of Qianxian County, Shaanxi) and Meiyang (now the northwest of Wugong, Shaanxi) as the food town.

That is, for the old Geng family, Liu Xiu wanted to support him when he was in danger, and now there is such an excellent and promising child growing up next to Liu Xiu, there is really no reason to be dissatisfied with Liu Xiu, and there is really no reason to coax you Lao Peng.

In fact, the current development of the old Geng family in Liu Xiu's regime, Lao Peng, you don't know.

Why are you still confused when you know it?

In China's political environment, it is very difficult for cadres who cannot find personnel to find other things.

In this way, we believe that whether he asks Liu Xiu to be promoted, whether he asks to confront Zhu Fu, or asks Geng Guo to rebel with him, it is a fool's dream to say that it is light, and he is seeking skin with the tiger to say that he is serious.

Peng Pet rebelled, and Zhu Fu deployed to suppress it.

Because Yuyang County is indeed strong and strong, and although Zhu Fu is the head of Youzhou, there are many local lines to be deployed, so his suppression became a defense against the Yuyang Army at the beginning.

This was only a local war, and the battle between the two sides was fought on the territory of several of the 11 counties in Youzhou.

While resisting Lao Peng's attack, Zhu Fu quickly reported the situation, hoping that Liu Xiu would be able to take charge of the expedition in person, and the monarchs and ministers would join forces to clean up Lao Peng.

However, Liu Xiu was indeed too busy during this time, not only to use troops in all directions, but also to take care of the government, not only to arrange and deploy state affairs, but also to deal with royal affairs, including the rebellion of people within the family (Liu Yang, the king of Zhending), to squeeze out time to personally recruit a hand, but also to target the urgent.

In other words, Liu Xiu couldn't take care of the war in the north.

It was not until half a year later, in August, that Liu Xiu sent the guerrilla general Deng Long to lead his army north to rescue Zhu Fu.

At this time, Zhufu garrisoned Yongnu (southwest of today's Jinbaodi), and Deng Long led troops to be stationed in Luxian (now east of Tongzhou, Beijing).

Zhu Fu didn't look forward to Liu Xiu, he saw that General Deng who came was not famous, and he didn't have many soldiers and horses.

He hurriedly sent a special person to Beijing urgently to report the military situation to Liu Xiu.

After reading the report and listening to the introduction, Liu Xiu was very dissatisfied and annoyed with the military deployment of Youzhou, and said to the envoy from Youzhou:

"The camps of these two teams are hundreds of miles apart, how can they help each other in the event of an emergency? Before you can go back, Zhu and Deng's army has already suffered defeat! ”

(The camp is a hundred miles apart, how can it be matched?) If it is even better, the northern army is more defeated. ）

The development of the war situation in Youzhou was indeed as Liu Xiu expected.

Seeing that the two teams of Zhu Fu and Deng Long were 100 miles apart, Peng Chong decided to concentrate on fighting first.

Among the two enemies in front of him, Zhu Fu is the leader and leads the local team, and Deng Long is tired from a long distance, so he will fight him first.

So, Lao Peng put Zhu Fu aside and concentrated all the people around him to attack Deng Long.

He first deployed a large group of men and horses near the river to resist Deng Long's attack, which also attracted Deng Long's attention.

Almost at the same time, he mobilized 3,000 light cavalry and took Dunlong by surprise and attacked the back.

Deng Long was caught off guard and was beaten to the ground.

(Favor Guosheng's army near the river to resist Long, and don't send 3,000 light cavalry to attack it, and break the Long army.) ）

Among the information we have at hand, Deng Long should be a relatively rare stupid general under Liu Xiu.

Although Deng Long himself escaped with his life, most of his subordinates died at the hands of Lao Peng.

(Long walked away in a hurry, and many of his subordinates died.) ）

He was ordered to go north, and there were originally many cards to play, but the way he is now is largely caused by his personal limitations and improper command.

In fact, Lao Peng's actions just now were not complicated, and as long as he General Deng received the right moves, he could completely resolve them.

When General Deng came to the long-distance raid for reinforcements, he should first pay attention to his own safety at all times; Second, it was a low-level mistake for him to camp hundreds of miles away from Zhu Fu, as a commander, as long as he noticed this danger, he could adjust the layout in one or two hours; Thirdly, he led the troops to fight and looked forward and could not look backward, and even had no ability to parry the punches behind him, and his movements were clumsy, which was indeed amateurish.

Of course, at present, Comrade Zhu Fu has also shown with his own practical deeds that military affairs are not his forte.

Deng Long lost, and Zhu Fu was a little far away and didn't dare to rush to help, so he simply slipped away.

(Floating far away, he could not be saved, and was led away.) ）

In this way, as soon as Lao Peng came up, he won the military advantage and gained the upper hand.

He happily thought that Liu Xiu was too busy and had too many enemies to deal with, and this was the time for him to show his skills.

Indeed, Liu Xiu couldn't care about it, Zhu Fu was defeated repeatedly, and Deng Long was beaten away as soon as he came up, and the situation was very favorable to Lao Peng.

In the spring of the following year (27 AD), Peng Chong continued to intensify his military offensive and successively captured Youbeiping (now the junction of Hebei, Liaoning, and Inner Mongolia) and Shanggu (the junction of present-day northwest Beijing and Hebei).

However, after fighting, Lao Peng used his brain again. He believes that the reason why he has developed smoothly in the past six months is not only that Zhu Fu is not good at military affairs, but also because Liu Xiu is too busy to take care of the formal use of troops here.

He also knew that once Liu Xiu freed his hands, with his own strength, he would not be able to withstand Liu Xiu's three punches and two kicks.

Therefore, he can't be carried away by victory, he must make friends, expand the front, and enhance his strength, otherwise Liu Xiu will be a dead end.

However, making friends cannot only rely on doing ideological work, but also being willing to spend money. In troubled times, people will inevitably be vigilant and materialistic; Empty words are inevitably suspicious and often cut down.

Not long ago, the old Geng of Shanggu chopped a few envoys from Yuyang, and the lesson was very profound!

The Xiongnu are not far to the north, and Lao Peng intends to make friends.

So, he learned from the successful experience of the former Han Dynasty and the lesson of the Yuyang envoy being chopped up in Shanggu, and asked the envoy to send a large number of beauties and wealth to ask for peace.

As long as you marry the Huns, it will definitely be no problem to invite them to help you fight.

Sure enough, just to get the benefits, the Xiongnu specially sent a general from Zuonan, with seven or eight thousand cavalry, to run around the border area, not only as a demonstration, but also as a response to Lao Peng.

At the same time, Lao Peng has also made certain achievements in other aspects of the work that attracts people's hearts. He also established relations with Zhang Bu, who had seized Qidi, and some peasant rebel troops in Hebei, and they jointly expressed that they would communicate and support each other more in future fights.

Lao Peng feels that his career development momentum is very good, and he should seize the opportunity to do a few more votes while Liu Xiu has not yet made a move.

He mobilized heavy troops and concentrated on attacking Jicheng, the provincial capital where Zhu Fu was stationed.