Chapter 3: Showdown

Such a massacre, Luoyang was terrified. Emperor Yuanzi of Xiaozhuang was furious, and sent an envoy to ask: If you want to be the emperor, you will say bluntly, I didn't want to be the emperor, what do you want to do if you kill so many people? If you still have the Great Wei Sheji in your heart, then choose another Mingjun. Hello for yourself!

After calming down, Er Zhurong's back was cold for a while, and he was also a little afraid of the Heyin tragedy directed by himself.

It's too much. He welcomed Emperor Xiaozhuang back to the palace and tried his best to kowtow and apologize.

The Heyin Massacre caused psychological trauma to Emperor Xiaozhuang is self-evident. The country is in civil strife, and the rebels such as Ge Rong and Wan Qian Chounu are powerful, and the imperial capital Luoyang needs stability, stability, and overpower. The Sinicized aristocratic group has been basically destroyed, the Xianbei warrior group has gained power, and Er Zhurong is like an imperial rebuilder, what can he do?

At the moment, there is no choice but to admit this outcome.

Er Zhu Ying'e, the concubine of the previous emperor Xiaoming Emperor, didn't know what her appearance and talent were, and she didn't care about her first marriage and second marriage, Emperor Xiaozhuang always favored her as a real queen, and fed a reassuring pill to the restless Er Zhurong.

Er Zhurong finally led the army back to Jinyang with peace of mind, and Emperor Xiaozhuang's fluttering little heart also returned to normal heart rate.

Er Zhurong is just a rising warlord, and if he wants to ascend to the supreme position, he has to rely on war, which can destroy his opponent and build power.

Looking around the world, the hostile forces that need to be crusaded on behalf of the central government of the Northern Wei Dynasty are three forces: Ge Rong's Six Towns Rebel Army, the Wan Qi Chounu Rebel Army in the northwest, and the Southern Liang Army in the north.

Ge Rong, I'll fight it myself.

In July 528, Ge Rong led a rebel army to besiege Yecheng, an important town in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Er Zhurong led 7,000 elite cavalry to the rescue from Jinyang.

Each of Erzhurong's cavalry was equipped with a secondary horse, and the cunning and warlike Hou Jing was the forerunner, and they traveled day and night across the Taihang Mountains into the Hebei Plain.

Seven thousand? Ge Rong smiled and ordered his subordinates to prepare more ropes and prepare to tie people up when the time came.

The ancient army formations were generally divided into forward, middle and rear armies, with depth and echelon. That was the deployment of the forces of the two sides at that time, and in the face of only 7,000 people, they still used to deploy this kind of military formation? Ge Rong was very confident, and he lined up hundreds of thousands of troops from the north of Yecheng for dozens of miles, forming a scattered long snake formation.

This rebel army is claimed to be one million, but in fact, it can really be called soldiers, that is, the town soldiers and the young and strong border people, and most of the rest are the old, weak, sick, disabled and pregnant border people brought by the Six Towns Uprising, a group of rabble, at least Erzhurong's strong 7,000 cavalry, and the gap between Ge Rong's strength is not as big as it seems in terms of numbers.

In addition, Gao Huan, a fierce general under Er Zhurong, originally worked under Ge Rong, and he had many acquaintances in Ge Rong's army. Er Zhurong took advantage of this and sent Gao Huan to launch a political offensive and surrendered more than 10,000 Ge Rongjun.

There are few people, so you have to seize the opportunity, just like the Beifu soldiers who took the initiative to attack in the early days of the Weishui War.

Er Zhurong first sent troops to ambush in the valley, and at night, taking advantage of the weakness of Ge Rong's scattered arrangement, he quietly led his troops to bypass Ge Rong's long snake formation from the small road, and ambushed near Ge Rong's headquarters.

That's right, I just want to play a thief to capture the king first. No matter how many troops there are, hold their heads, and the others can only scatter as birds and beasts.

At the dawn of midsummer, before the scorching heat of the day had yet come to the earth, Er Zhurong wore a close-fitting coat, carried a jujube stick in one hand, and suddenly revealed a bronze knotted muscle, a faint beard set off a hard chin, more and more strong, a pair of strong and slender legs wandered in front of the troops, and carried out pre-war mobilization:

1. This battle is not rewarded for meritorious deeds at the first level, but only for victory. Er Zhurong thought about this very clearly, after all, Ge Rong has a lot of people, even if you put hundreds of thousands of pigs with their heads stretched out and let your seven thousand soldiers cut them, you have to cut them for a month, not to mention a group of people with weapons.

2. Prepare a big stick for each person, and the big stick can't cut the head to prevent the soldiers from being greedy for merit. In addition, Er Zhurong believed that in melee combat, against the peasant army with incomplete armor, the sword was not as good as a stick, and when the time came, he would rush into Ge Rong's army and just smash it, which would be better than the sword in creating chaos. Regarding the power of the stick, interested readers can check out the modern "Hong'an Eight Corpses Case".

It can be seen that Er Zhurong is preparing for a melee, first creating chaos, and then taking advantage of the chaos to win.

3. A battle group of three people, jumping in all directions, raising dust and noise, making Ge Rong not know how many soldiers and horses he suddenly rushed out, aggravating the chaos of Ge Rong's army.

Arrange it and execute it.

Seven thousand elite horsemen suddenly appeared in front of Ge Rong's headquarters, and Er Zhurong rushed into the enemy formation as a leader, rushing left and right. The sergeants who followed were wielding sticks and smashed people when they saw them. The frequency of the big stick dancing far exceeds that of bulky metal weapons, and the effect is excellent.

Seven thousand people rushed together, and the target was only one --- Ge Rong's headquarters.

Ge Rongqu was caught off guard and was captured by Er Zhu Rongsheng. The troops were leaderless, and the whole army collapsed and surrendered one after another.

There are too many troops, how to deal with it?

The method of Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, to deal with the large number of surrendered troops was to bury them alive, while Er Zhurong was to put them.

Er Zhurong ordered that Sergeant Ge Rong be dismissed on the spot, and his relatives could accompany him, regardless of the situation.

And such a good thing?! The rebel soldiers rubbed their hands together excitedly, dragging their families and mouths away.

When these stragglers came to some intersections in twos and threes, they found groups of cavalry waiting for them. It was the cavalry of Erzhurong.

The cavalry team collected the able-bodied fugitives and incorporated them into Erjurong's army.

Why put it first and set it later? The reason is very simple, there are too many troops to surrender, the danger is too great, let them go first, and when they can't get together, it will be much easier to collect them again. Look, how well the qualitative variable changes the law.

Er Zhurong loaded Ge Rong into a prisoner car and sent him to Luoyang to be executed by the Northern Wei court. At the same time, he also selected the fierce generals in Ge Rong's army to promote and utilize, and one of them had a profound impact on Chinese history in the future.

This person's name is Yu Wentai. Yuwentai, the word black otter, is a native of Wuchuan, Daijun (now Wuchuanxi, Inner Mongolia), and is of the Xianbei tribe.

There are Duanbu, Murong and Yuwen in East Xianbei, and Tuoba in North Xianbei. After Murong Xianbei unified the three Eastern Xianbei tribes, the Yuwen Department was dispersed, and many people surrendered to Murong Xianbei Yan State as officials. After Murong Xianbei's Yan State and Tuoba Xianbei's Northern Wei Dynasty participated in the Hepi War, Yuwentai's ancestors surrendered to the Northern Wei Dynasty, and since then they have lived in Wuchuan Town for generations, gradually becoming Wuchuan Haoqiang.

Yuwentai's father was a good friend of Er Zhurong's general He Bayue, so after Yuwentai surrendered to Er Zhurong, he was incorporated into He Batyue's subordinates.

Throughout the history of Xianbei, the Murong Department created several empires, and the Tuoba Department unified northern China, that is, the Duan Department, and also established several separatist regimes, in comparison, the Yuwen Department was the most unproductive. However, Yuwentai eventually fought for the Yuwen family and derived a powerful military aristocratic group, which will be discussed later.

Ge Rong was destroyed, and it was the turn of the next one to clean up the Wan Qi ugly slaves in the northwest. It's a long way to the northwest, so I won't go there myself. In 530, Er Zhurong sent a northwest crusade army, and the crusade army was mainly composed of Xianbei soldiers in Wuchuan Town.

Only a thousand people. A thousand people, how much can it be to crusade against the huge army of thousands of ugly slaves in Guanzhong?

It's a big deal. These 1,000 people eventually formed a well-known golden aristocratic group - the Guanlong military aristocratic group, the Great Sui and the Tang Dynasty, all of which were the products of the Guanlong military aristocratic group.

Now let's take a look at the composition of this Northwest Raiding Army.

The commander is Er Zhu Rong's nephew Er Zhu Tianguang, the left governor He Bayue, the right governor Hou Mo Chen Yue, and the generals are Yu Wentai, Hou Mo Chen Chong, Li Hu, Li Bi, Yu Jin, Zhao Gui, etc.

Yu Wentai, Hou Mo Chen Chong, Li Hu, Li Bi, Yu Jin, Zhao Gui, and six of the eight pillars of the Western Wei Dynasty were among them.

Li Hu has a grandson named Li Yuan, and Li Bi has a great-grandson named Li Mi.

The Northwest Raiding Army finally pacified the Northwest. He Bayue's general, Hou Mo Chen Chong, a 16-year-old general, captured Wan Qiu Chounu alive in the 10,000 army, and captured alive Xiao Baochun, the former commander of the Northern Wei Northwest Crusade Army, and surrendered to Wan Qian Chounu after killing Li Daoyuan.

After all, Xiao Baochun was the husband of Princess Nanyang, the son-in-law of Emperor Tuoba Hong of Wei Xiaowen, and the brother-in-law of Emperor Yuan Ke of Wei Xuanwu.

Er Zhurong extinguished the Gerong uprising and sent the Northwest Crusade Army to pacify Guanzhong. During this period, Er Zhurong also found time to do a big thing.

"Famous teachers and generals are not imprisoned, and thousands of troops avoid white robes." In 529, Chen Qingzhi, a legendary general of the Southern Liang Dynasty, led the white-robed Northern Expeditionary Army to escort the Northern Wei clan Yuanhao into Luoyang to claim the emperor. Er Zhurong, Yuan Tianmu and others led the army to drive Chen Qingzhi and Yuan Hao away, and Yuan Ziyou was able to return to Luoyang. Regarding this, it is specifically discussed in the next part of "Two Strange People in the North and South".

However, it can be seen from the headquarters that one of the most important factors for the amazing achievements of the divine Chen Qingzhi was the civil strife of the Northern Wei Dynasty itself.

So far, Er Zhurong has become the first commander of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and he has shocked the north and the south.

Although Er Zhurong does not work in Luoyang, the capital, he sits in Jinyang and controls the government remotely. On the basis of the general and the Shang Shu order, he was crowned as the general of the Zhu State and recorded the Shang Shu. Later, he was named the Great Prime Minister, Taishi, King of Taiyuan, and General of Tianzhu.

This series of official positions is dazzling to look at, and it hurts to read it, but no matter how it is sealed, it does not exceed the second-in-command of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the first-in-command has only one official name - the emperor.

Er Zhu Rong's eldest son, Er Zhu Bodhi, became the prince of Taiyuan and served as the general of the hussars and the three divisions of Kaifu Yitong;

The second son, Erzhu Yiluo, was named the king of Liang County;

his younger brother Zhu Zhongyuan sat in Xuzhou;

nephew Er Zhu Zhao served as the assassin of Fenzhou, was named Yingchuan County, and was the founding duke;

Yuan Tianmu, the former assassin of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the state, was named the king of the party, served as a servant, recorded the Shangshu, led the governor of Gyeonggi, led the general, and oversaw the military and political affairs of the court and Luoyang.

Confidant Fan Zige, named the founding prince of Nanyang County, served as the left Guanglu doctor, and the right servant of Shangshu.

Sang Gan, Zhu Rui and others were the Huangmen squires and Zhongshu Sheren, and they were directly by the emperor's side.

The ministers and chamberlains around Emperor Xiaozhuang are all the eyeliners planted by Er Zhurong. Even when Emperor Xiaozhuang was sleeping, grinding his teeth, farting and talking in his sleep, there was an Er Zhurong's eyeliner lying next to the pillow - Queen Er Zhu Ying'e was Er Zhurong's daughter. Emperor Xiaozhuang's Yuer Zhurong is a transparent person with no dead ends in 360 degrees.

Therefore, Er Zhurong eliminated the rebel forces of the Northern Wei Dynasty and reinvented the government with the merit of reconstruction. For Emperor Xiaozhuang, it is to go to the wolves and add a tiger.

One mountain does not tolerate two tigers, unless there is one male and one female.

Almost all the troops in the country who can fight well obey Yu Erzhu Rong, Yuan Tianmu and Erzhu Shilong are in charge of the court, and Guanzhong, Shandong, Hebei, and Shanxi are all in the hands of the Erzhu family and their henchmen, and they can only win over Luoyang and Henan. The careerists in the court and the central government all ran to Jinyang, and as soon as they ran to Jinyang, there were applications for recommending officials, and the places where they were recommended were all in Henan. Yuan Ziyou knew that Henan's bottom line had to be resolutely kept, so he repeatedly refused Er Zhurong's request to seek official positions for his henchmen. Yuan Tianmu, a sworn friend, directly and openly threatened Emperor Xiaozhuang: Tianzhu (Er Zhurong) has great merit, and you don't dare to hum if you want to replace you, why do you recommend a state official, and you still don't allow it?

24-year-old Yuan Ziyu Fang Gang: Er Zhurong should have a heart of disobedience, so come and replace me directly!

Er Zhurong hated the table and slapped the mountain, but the world was undecided at that time, and he didn't dare to act rashly. Then try it on the test. Soon, a letter was sent to Luoyang from Jinyang: Xu Zhou, who joined the army, advised the minister to take Jiuxi, but the minister was disgusted with his words and ordered him to stay away from me.

The gift of adding nine tin has always been a precursor to the usurpation of the throne by powerful ministers.

Yuan Ziyou replied: General Tianzhu, you have done a good job, you have a very courtier's festival, give you a thumbs up.

Er Zhurong received a reply, and 10,000 divine beasts roared through his heart. If it goes on like this, this little kid will rebel against the sky. He felt that he should go to Luoyang in person.

Jinyang and Luoyang, eight or nine hundred miles, are not far apart, but the local warlords cannot easily enter Beijing without the emperor's edict. If Er Zhurong wants to enter Beijing, he must have a good reason.

Finally, he found this reason, and it was a reason that Emperor Xiaozhuang could not refuse.

In 530, Empress Erzhu Ying'e was about to give birth. When a daughter gives birth to a child, and a father comes to see his daughter and grandson, it is difficult for anyone to say no.

The showdown time has come.

Knowing that Er Zhurong was going to enter Beijing, the Luoyang court was so nervous that it collapsed, and they made random suggestions. A part of the people, represented by the Yellow Gate squire Lieberthal, demanded that the army be immediately reorganized to fight. Some people, represented by Wang Yuanhui of Chengyang, advocated waiting for Er Zhurong to take the opportunity to kill him after entering Beijing. There is also a group of big smarts who ran away directly, represented by Xing Zicai, the Chinese scholar.

The puppet emperors in history are mostly content with the status quo. Emperor Xiaozhuang is an exception, which may be related to his experience as an officer of the Praetorian Guard, and he has a rare blood. "He was diligent in political affairs, tireless day and night, and personally read the case files many times to eliminate injustice." Knowing that Er Zhurong was going to Beijing, Emperor Xiaozhuang conspired with Yang Kan, Gao Daomu and other close ministers to take the opportunity to get rid of Er Zhurong.

One day, Er Zhurong, who was in Jinyang, was preparing to enter Luoyang, when his cousin Er Zhu Shilong sent an anonymous letter, saying that it was found at the gate of the palace.

Er Zhurong opened it and took a look, and the content was: The Son of Heaven conspired with Yang Kan and Gao Daomu to kill the King of Taiyuan!

This letter is rather strange.

If Luoyang is half of Er Zhurong's world, Jinyang is completely Er Zhurong's private territory. If someone in Jinyang wants to inform Er Zhurong, do they still need to use an anonymous letter? If someone from Luoyang comes to send it, it must be iron-hearted on the side of the stronger Er Zhurong, and it is too late to show loyalty, so use an anonymous letter?

Who wrote this letter? There is only one answer.

It was directed and acted by Er Zhu Shilong, he was in Luoyang, and he had already learned about Emperor Xiaozhuang's plan through eyeliner. Why do you want to direct and act without telling Er Zhurong directly? Because Erzhu Shilong was worried that Erzhurong knew that it was a letter sent by him, he didn't believe it. Why?

Because, Erzhu Shilong is notoriously timid in the Erzhu family. He once abandoned the tiger prison and fled dangerously, and his own brother Er Zhu Shicheng was captured by the Southern Liang army. Since then, Erzhu Shilong's reputation for being timid as a mouse has spread all over the world.

Erzhu Shilong's worries were not unnecessary. When Er Zhurong saw the letter, he immediately thought that it was sent by his cousin Er Zhu Shilong, and he tore up the anonymous post a few times, ridiculing his cousin Er Zhu Shilong: Shilong has no courage, who dares to have a heart!

He's confident.

In September 530, Er Zhurong led more than 4,000 cavalry into Luoyang to meet Emperor Xiaozhuang. After greeting the monarch and the son-in-law, Er Zhurong looked directly at Emperor Xiaozhuang, and said in a gloomy voice: There are rumors outside that you want to kill me, is it true?

The air froze for a moment. Emperor Xiaozhuang pondered for a moment, and then asked a rhetorical question--"People outside also say that you want to kill me, is it true?" ”

Attacking the shield of the son with the spear of the son, Er Zhurong was speechless. This Emperor Xiaozhuang is not a straw bag.

Erzhurong gradually relaxed his vigilance. In fact, he should not let his guard down, and for the sake of Emperor Xiaozhuang's wit and diligence, he should not give up his vigilance.

Subjectively speaking, Er Zhurong had the intention of usurping the throne, but he did not have a plan to kill the king, at most, he first forced Emperor Xiaozhuang to add him Jiuxi, and then forced Emperor Xiaozhuang to take the throne. After all, in Confucianism, the reputation of killing the monarch is really not good, even if it is to find an opportunity to secretly kill the previous emperor and announce his accidental death after usurping the throne, it is better than killing the monarch first and then seizing the throne.

And once the emperor characterizes the courtiers as rebellion, then the condemned can only be killed by the sword, and the king lets the ministers die and the ministers have to die, which is also in line with the Confucian righteousness.

Therefore, once the two sides have a showdown, Er Zhurong does not have to kill Emperor Xiaozhuang, but Emperor Xiaozhuang must kill Er Zhurong.

This is the dimensionality reduction attack from the perspective of the general unification of morality. From this point of view, Emperor Xiaozhuang took the initiative.

The supporters of Emperor Xiaozhuang were Er Zhurong's opponents, including part of the forbidden army, as well as the Sinicized officials who were not included in the list of slaughters during the Heyin Rebellion but still have lingering fears.

The Great Demon King, disappear one day earlier, and everyone will be at peace one day sooner, just like Beria after Stalin's death was to Khrushchev and others.

Yuan Ziyou, who made up his mind, summoned Wen Zisheng, a member of the Zhongshu House. Wen Zisheng, the word Pengju. has the same word as the martial saint Yue Fei, but he is a literati, a famous writer, and Xing Shao and Wei Shui are known as the "Three Talents of the North". Why do you find a literati to do murder? came to consult.

The question asked by Yuan Ziyou was: What did the Eastern Han Dynasty do when it removed Dong Zhuo? Old Wen, tell me about it.

Wen Zisheng immediately understood, and 1510 told the thrilling scenes of the year.

The eloquence of a writer is good, and even the 24-year-old hot-blooded young emperor slapped his thigh: Okay, just do it! It's a big deal, it's the same as a noble countryman.

The noble townsman, the same hot-blooded young emperor Cao Chao who was shot through by Qing Chengji in the first part of this article, was only 19 years old when he died, and Yuan Ziyou was 24 years old at this time, and he had lived 5 years longer than him. Yuan Ziyou felt that this plan was worth it, and agreed with Wen Zisheng, Chengyang Wang Yuanhui, Yang Kan and other close ministers to get rid of only Er Zhurong and Yuan Tianmu, and the rest of the henchmen such as Zhu Shilong and Sima Ziru would be pardoned, so as to avoid repeating the mistake of Wang Yun wanting to kill Dong Zhuoyu's party and being counterattacked.

The details of the assassination were also finalized in great detail: Er Zhurong and Yuan Tianmu were tricked into the palace, and the ambush soldiers rushed up and hacked to death. Once the troops were dispatched, Yuan Ziyou immediately left from the other gate and hid a sharp blade in case of accidents.

The plan has just been made. Er Zhurong and Yuan Tianmu came to meet the Son of Heaven. Yuan Ziyou arranged a banquet to entertain him, and at the same time passed the news to Yang Kan and others through his close attendants. After three rounds of drinking, Er Zhurong seemed to suddenly smell the smell of danger, and left in a hurry with Yuan Tianmu.

Now the situation is passive. Due to the fact that there were too many people involved in the conspiracy, the news immediately leaked, and rumors spread everywhere outside the palace, and Yuan Ziyou almost reached the point of exhaustion.

After three days, Er Zhurong didn't move. On the fourth day, that is, on the Wuxu day of September 530, Yuanhui, the king of Chengyang, went to Erzhurong's mansion to convey the news: Empress Erzhu had just given birth to a child, and asked General Tianzhu to visit him in the palace.

Yuan Hui, this kid, came to tell Emperor Xiaozhuang after sending a letter to Er Zhurong. Yuan Ziyou's face turned pale with fright: You, you, you......

Yuan Hui: Your Majesty, don't let you go, hurry up and draft the holy decree of eliminating demons. Rest assured, I've already laid an ambush in the Temple of Light.

Yuan Ziyou had just written the holy decree of eliminating demons and handed it to Wen Zisheng, so that he could tell the world after killing people. Er Zhurong rushed into the palace. The muscles on Yuan Ziyou's face, who was born as an officer of the forbidden army, couldn't help but twitch for a while, and the literary scholar Wen Zisheng was extremely calm, he rolled the holy decree in his hand, and reminded in a low voice: Your Majesty, pay attention to your emotions. (His Majesty is discolored).

Er Zhurong was surprised when he saw Wen Zisheng holding the holy decree in his hand: What document are you holding in your hand?

At the last moment, once Er Zhurong sees the flaw, the royalists and demon exterminators will be wiped out.

Wen Zisheng's face did not change: pardon.

Er Zhurong looked at his grandson with a heart, but he didn't continue to ask, and walked straight to the palace with Yuan Tianmu.

As soon as I entered the hall, I saw Emperor Xiaozhuang, and before I could speak, I suddenly saw Lu An, an officer of the forbidden army, and Li Kanxi, a member of the Zhongshu House, leading a team of guards to carry knives and run in from the east gate of the palace.

Careless! Er Zhurong was shocked, and when he entered the palace, the sword had been untied outside the palace, and he had no choice, so he went straight to Emperor Xiaozhuang, who was sitting on the throne.

If you hold the emperor hostage, you will be able to live.

Er Zhurong forgot that he, the emperor's son-in-law, was born as an officer in the forbidden army, and he also played with knives. Emperor Xiaozhuang had already prepared a knife to put on his knees, and when Er Zhurong approached, a knife stabbed him in the stomach, blood splashed all over the dragon chair and dragon robe, and also splashed Emperor Xiaozhuang's face full of flowers.

A generation of heroes died in response.

Then, the ambush soldiers rushed out, raised their knives and slashed, chopping the more than thirty followers who followed into the palace into meat sauce, including Yuan Tianmu, Er Zhurong's sworn friend.

Also killed at the same time was Er Zhurong's 14-year-old son Er Zhu Bodhi, who came to visit his sister and newborn nephew, but he did not expect to be robbed of his young life by the emperor's brother-in-law. What is the fate of Erzhu Ying'e? This is described later.

Er Zhurong was executed, the second person of the group, Yuan Tianmu, was also killed, and the third person was Er Zhurong's younger brother, Shang Shufu Er Zhu Shilong. That's right, it's Erzhu Shilong, who is famous for his timidity.