Chapter 836 Erzhu Rong, the Change of Jicheng!
The Yan army rebelled, and it was not just a single rebellion.
Apart from Murong Chui of Guanzhong who emerged as a rising star and had little to do with the State of Yan, there were mainly several military forces in the State of Yan.
The first one is naturally the emperor's royal guard. This army is the most elite. It is this army that destroyed the Han Kingdom together with the Liang Kingdom, and it is also this army that is confronting Murong Chui now.
This army is the most loyal to the emperor. It is a mixture of Hu and Han people. The State of Yan has the practice of using Hu people as commanders of the imperial guards. In the imperial guards, there are usually three forces: clan members, foreign relatives and Hu people. Needless to say, the former two have no roots in the country and can only depend on the emperor. They are the easiest to control and are similar to eunuchs.
In addition to the imperial guards, there are local armies, such as Murong Ke's Taiyuan Army. However, most of these armies depend on their lords. For example, after Murong Ke's death, the Taiyuan Kingdom was abolished and the kingdom's army was also disbanded. Similar to the kingdom's army are the private soldiers in the hands of the aristocratic families, which should not be underestimated when combined.
In addition, there is another army in Yan State that is easily overlooked, that is the army guarding the border in the north of Yan State. These troops are somewhat similar to the garrison soldiers.
These armies were born before the Murong Yan State. They were military strongholds established to resist the Hu people when the Yan State had just moved back to the Central Plains.
Later, the Hu people in the grassland were pacified, and Murong Chengguang moved these important military towns northward to the grassland south of the desert, from west to east, all the way to the former Liaodong area of the Yan State, which is the Liaoning area in later generations. Going further north was too remote. As for the Winter City where the Luo family was located, it was still a thousand miles away from the Liaodong City of the Yan State.
Having said that, I think the problem is very clear. These people were sent to guard the border, and except for the Luo family, no one has been willing to do so.
After all, the State of Yan returned all the way south just to leave the cold north, but the emperor sent them back. From then on, these people became somewhat dissatisfied with the nobles in the south.
This dissatisfaction accumulated over time and reached its peak. The State of Yan was conquering cities in the south, and these northern brothers had long been forgotten. After the War of the Two Emperors broke out, the military and civilians in the important cities in the north finally found an opportunity and launched a massive uprising.
This problem actually existed in Liang State as well. The Lingnan and Southwest regions of Liang State had always been neglected. However, the problem was that the southern region of Liang State had very weak combat power and could not pose a threat to Liang State.
However, the combat effectiveness of these northern towns of Yan State was extremely strong. These soldiers and civilians who had been fighting in difficult environments for many years possessed the ability to exalt the emperor.
Then a magical scene appeared.
While Murong Chui was still confronting the imperial guards, the soldiers and civilians of these military towns had already rushed across the passes and captured the relatively poorly defended Jicheng.
The person who led all this was called Erzhu Rong!
…
What happened in Jicheng was simply dazzling, but there was one thing that shocked everyone, and that was the massacre of Jicheng.
After the Zhaocheng Treaty, the princes would cover up and use various means. For example, the clause of not killing the surrendered was changed to not taking prisoners.
When it comes to sieges, the most common method is to declare war on the entire city and artificially turn all civilians into enemies.
In other words, civilians are not allowed to have a guaranteed income regardless of drought or flood, but must choose to fight on one side, otherwise they will face the fate of the city being captured. Of course, women and children are not included in this system.
In this situation, one of the defenders and the attackers will definitely increase the difficulty, and usually the defenders will be sold out by the people in the city.
Moreover, although they were very fierce before the war, there was basically no large-scale killing after successfully breaking through the city. Generally, they only robbed things and women, and did not kill people.
It is inevitable to steal things, the soldiers need these things, and we cannot expect all troops to love the people like their own children.
But what happened in Jicheng was a blatant massacre.
As the capital of Yan State, although Jicheng was not too prosperous due to its location, its population was still the largest in Youzhou, and more than 100,000 people died directly at the hands of the butcher.
The most terrifying thing is that this massacre was not ordered by Erzhu Rong, or no one gave the order. Erzhu Rong also wanted to see the emperor, but he could not control the soldiers. Even one of his sons was hacked to death for merely trying to stop him.
After this incident, Erzhu Rong didn't dare to say a word and could only allow his soldiers to loot and kill in Jicheng.
By the time the soldiers gradually stopped, Jicheng had turned into a hell on earth. Of course, not all people were dead, and the sounds of fires burning corpses could be heard everywhere in Jicheng.
What Erzhu Rong saw were the powerful and wealthy people who had survived the disaster and the emperor's angry look at him. Faced with such looks, Erzhu Rong knew that it was impossible for him to cooperate with these people.
He secretly ordered people to kill the emperor, and then supported the prince to succeed to the throne.
This sudden change left everyone no time to react.
Erzhu Rong controlled the government and took over the land of Jizhou in the south. He also blocked the way for the imperial guards to return to Jizhou. The imperial army was trapped in the basin of Bingzhou, with Murong Chui to the west and Erzhu Rong to the east.
Erzhu Rong also ordered his generals to go and capture the remaining counties, while he prevented Murong Chui from taking over the imperial army.
The imperial guards had never encountered a situation like this before. The only way now was to surrender to Murong Chui. Although they were loyal to the late emperor, the court was now controlled by Erzhu Rong.
Who knows what cruel people like Erzhu Rong might do? Some of them chose to surrender to Erzhu Rong because many of their families were still in Jicheng.
Moreover, many people looked down on Erzhu Rong from the bottom of their hearts, thinking that he was just a country bumpkin. Even if he controlled the government, he was just a Dong Zhuo. These people had armies in their hands, so even Erzhu Rong could only treat them as guests of honor.
After a riot, some of these people surrendered to Erzhu Rong, and some surrendered to Murong Chui.
Murong Chui had a complicated expression on his face regarding the sudden death of the Yan emperor, but he knew that now was not the time to think about these things. Erzhu Rong had already endangered the Murong throne. He had to defeat Erzhu Rong as soon as possible and bring Yan under control.
Just as he was marching towards Taihang Mountains, another major event occurred that shocked the world.
Erzhu Rong slaughtered the royal family of Murong and those dignitaries who were unwilling to submit to him. Nearly a thousand people were killed, not including their families. Although the Murong clan had only been on the throne for three generations, the royal family was very large. After all, the Murong clan had been developing for hundreds of years.
In Erzhu Rong's massacre, almost all the royal relatives within five generations were killed. Murong Chui now not only lost his parents, but all his uncles, brothers, cousins, nephews, etc. were dead.
As for other court officials, there is no need to mention them. This massacre made everyone realize Erzhu Rong's true colors. He was not Dong Zhuo. He was a man even crazier than Dong Zhuo.
But what is frustrating is that such killings had no impact on his rule in the short term, because his base was the military towns, and these people made a lot of money from these killings. The wealth accumulated by the Yan State's dignitaries for more than a hundred years became the food for Erzhu Rong and others.
For these soldiers and civilians, and for the generals under Erzhu Rong, this was truly a huge fortune. In this way, Erzhu Rong won the hearts of the people.
Murong Chui's advance was blocked by Erzhu Rong. Erzhu Rong was certainly no match for Murong Chui, but Erzhu Rong had many outstanding generals under his command. Although Murong Chui did not suffer a defeat, he did not achieve decisive results either.
The main reason was that Murong Chui's march was too long and Bingzhou could not provide so much food. He needed to transport food from Guanzhong, so naturally the battle line was lengthened.
The current situation is quite similar to the Battle of Changping between Qin and Zhao, but the difference is that it was easier for Qin to transport grain than Zhao, so in the end Qin was able to defeat Zhao.
But now Murong Chui did not have Shuzhong, and was already having difficulty in obtaining food, while Erzhu Rong had more food than Zhao.
As for where the food came from, it was very simple. He seized the granary of Yan State, and then attacked those counties. Those nobles who were willing to provide food and fodder stayed, and as for those who were unwilling, he even killed the emperor. After killing so many powerful people, was he still afraid of these people?
Most of the gentry in Jizhou were already dissatisfied with the Murong royal family and naturally would not be loyal to him, so they all defected to Erzhu Rong. However, these people naturally did not sincerely surrender to Erzhu Rong, they just had no choice but to do so in order to survive. Once they had the chance, they would let Erzhu Rong know what justice was.
Erzhu Rong used a butcher's knife to obtain temporary peace, so Wang Meng and others advised Murong Chui that the army could temporarily refrain from attacking. They believed that Erzhu Rong's rule was quite fragile, and that continuous attacks would instead give Erzhu Rong and others a chance to unite.
Murong Chui accepted this suggestion. He also needed time to digest the large tracts of land in Hedong and Bingzhou. He was waiting for Erzhu Rong to explode.
…
What happened in Yan State spread to Liang State, leaving the entire Liang State dumbfounded. It was completely beyond the imagination of these people, and they even felt as if they were not under the blue sky.
It seemed that the Liang State was still in the era of rites and laws, while the Northern Dynasties had already begun a killing mode.
The chaos in Yan State, especially the slaughter of the royal family, made Xiao Yan feel terrified. He said to Luo Xianzhi, "Lingxiu, in the history that I know of, there has never been such a tragedy. Will such a thing happen in Daliang?"
Luo Xianzhi was also a little dazed. The massacre of the royal family could be traced back to the Qin Dynasty, but that was done by Qin II himself and had nothing to do with outsiders.
This was the first time that such a large-scale massacre of the royal family occurred, and the political bottom line was once again broken.
What made Luo Xianzhi feel most aggrieved was that Erzhu Rong was just a military man. As the saying goes, when a scholar meets a soldier, it is difficult to explain his reason. People like Erzhu Rong who only know how to use knives will not care about your political bottom line. Their logic is, let me have fun first, and after I die, I don’t care about the flood.
Rules are formed from generation to generation, but they are easily broken by these people who come out of the wilderness.
Facing Xiao Yan's question, Luo Xianzhi was thinking about how he should answer.
After a moment of silence, he said, "Your Majesty, I will not answer your question first. I want to ask you a question. Do you know why King Su talks about etiquette, benevolence, righteousness, and all kinds of truth, goodness, and beauty?
But when facing barbarians, there is only one option: kill.
When faced with those who trample on Zhou rituals, there is only one way: kill them.
When faced with people who do not understand Zhou rituals, should we not allow them to participate in any political activities?"
Xiao Yan shook his head, and Luo Xianzhi said slowly: "Because rules are set for people who follow rules, rules are to protect everyone. The reason why humans are different from beasts is that we have rules. These rules can be laws or etiquette, but in essence they are a kind of thing that restrains our animal nature.
Those barbarians who do not understand the culture of the Xia Dynasty, those barbarians who have no civilization, are just like wild beasts. If we talk about etiquette to these things, it is like talking about reason to wild beasts, which will only bring death. That is called pedantry.
Therefore, King Su accepted those who were willing to accept rites and laws into human society, and killed all the barbarians who were unwilling to accept rites and laws, just like killing wild beasts.
Therefore, King Su killed all those who trampled on the Zhou rites. Even though he was a monarch, when he did not obey the Zhou rites, he was no longer a human being but a beast.
King Su had the same view on those slaves. Only those who learned etiquette and agreed with these rules would have a chance to turn things around and enter politics.
And now Erzhu Rong of Yan State is a person who betrayed these things. If Your Majesty is under the same sky with such a person, the final outcome will probably not be a lucky one.
After all, people with a bottom line will always find it difficult to defeat those without a bottom line. Erzhu Rong is the one without a bottom line. Your Majesty should strangle him in the cradle and nail him to the pillar of shame. "
Xiao Yan understood that only by letting everyone know that those who trample on the bottom line will have a bad end can this evil trend be stopped.
If it was something else, it would be fine, but Xiao Yan really could not tolerate the massacre of the royal family. He divided his sons into fiefdoms in various places. It can be imagined how much he valued his sons. He was already a little horrified when he thought that his sons or grandsons would die under the butcher's knife one day.
"Lingxiu, what do you think I should do?"
Xiao Yan asked impatiently. He wanted Erzhu Rong to die as soon as possible. The thought of this man made him feel unwell all over.
Luo Xianzhi said softly: "We Daliang have occupied Qingzhou. We can go directly north from Qingzhou, cross the Yellow River and attack Jizhou. Erzhu Rong's rule is extremely fragile. The results achieved by killing are like dancing on eggs. If we are not careful, the result will be that the chicken flies away and the eggs are broken.
The other is to mobilize the scholars of Jiangzuo to criticize Erzhu Rong verbally and in writing, and portray him as a worse person than Dong Zhuo. If used well, this can be a weapon sharper than swords. "
…
When Luo Xianzhi walked out of the hall and laid down the stairs, he suddenly thought of one thing, that is, who should Liang State send to fight?
If the emperor doesn't go to war, who else can be used now?
It seems that only Xie Xuan is left. After all, Xie An is already very old and can only wait for death. It is impossible for him to go out to fight again.
But can Xie Xuan deal with those people under Erzhu Rong?
Xie Xuan's war experience is still somewhat insufficient, especially the wars in the Southern Dynasty, which are completely different from the wars in the Northern Dynasty.
No matter how good the analysis of the overall situation is, it will be in vain if the people who execute the tactics cannot achieve victory.
Luo Xianzhi walked slowly in the palace. He began to recall all the policies he had implemented since he came to power, his judgment of the general situation in the world, and the final results achieved.
He examined himself carefully. Since he took office as the Minister of the Chancellery, he had never made a mistake in his understanding of the general situation among the nations. There had indeed been some unexpected events, such as the first time he wanted to take over Shu, he did not succeed in the end, but that was because the situation suddenly changed.
Another time was when Murong Chui raided Chang'an of Wei State, which led to the demise of Wei State in a very short period of time. This was somewhat beyond his expectations, but the overall trend was not wrong.
His achievements internally in recent years have also been very remarkable. In almost all of Xiao Yan's wars, he has ensured that the army has never run out of food and fodder. Now the power of the court in Liang State is much stronger than when he first took office.
The conflicts in Liang State were reduced a lot. The power of the gentry was suppressed but not overthrown. The poor had more channels for upward mobility. The power of Buddhism was hit and it began to retreat into seclusion. Almost all of its tentacles reaching out to politics were cut off.
Being able to make the country prosper while foreign wars continue is already quite remarkable. Luo Xianzhi is very satisfied with himself.
But every time this happened, he had a chilling feeling, always feeling that he had overlooked something, but when he thought carefully, most of the things were not a big problem, and most of them could not be moved forward because of the emperor.
For example, there are issues concerning the royal family and Buddhism, but he believes that these are not urgent. It is impossible for a reform to be completely successful at once, and it is also impossible for a reform to solve all problems at once.
For a politician, he is still very young and has enough time to solve these problems. Where does this uneasiness come from?
Luo Xianzhi was puzzled!
…
The reaction of Liang State, or Xiao Yan, to Erzhu Rong's massacre was so violent that it was beyond the expectations of Erzhu Rong and Murong Chui.
Almost all the literati in Liang State, under the instructions of Xiao Yan and Luo Xianzhi, criticized Erzhu Rong verbally and in writing. As for the articles and historical records such as "Records of the Deaths in Jicheng" and "Records of Prayers to the People of Yan" recorded by the folks, they emerged in endlessly, and these words spread to Hebei in a torrent.
Many places that had no idea what happened in Jicheng also began to spread news of Erzhu Rong's cruelty.
After the massacre in Jicheng, Erzhu Rong certainly could not stay in Jicheng. He moved to Yecheng and was naturally the first to know about this. He never expected that Xiao Yan's reaction would be even greater than Murong Chui's.
Murong Chui's curses were naturally unpleasant to hear, and he kept on cursing, but he was not like Xiao Yan who directly mobilized all the literati in Jiangzuo to curse together, and even erected a stone tablet in Jiangzuo to record what he had done.
Xiao Yan's verbal and written criticism of Erzhu Rong inspired Murong Chui, and he also began to let the scholars under his command write these articles. Although they could not kill Erzhu Rong for the time being, they could at least criticize Erzhu Rong to death verbally.
The idea that Luo Xianzhi proposed to Xiao Yan was naturally very effective, especially for a character like Erzhu Rong who had no real advantage.
After Erzhu Rong annexed many troops in Jizhou, he was quite powerful in terms of military strength alone. However, he had no advantage over either Murong Chui or Xiao Yan. His only advantage was that he was defending his homeland without the pressure of food and grass, and he was relatively united internally. After all, they were all a group of people returning from the northern border and were unfamiliar with the Central Plains, so they could only unite around him.
This is the same principle as what happened to Dong Zhuo back then. All the generals in Xiliang united around him, and even though Dong Zhuo did so many things, those people still followed him.
This kind of unity within the ruling group is very significant in improving the combat effectiveness of a group.
Moreover, Erzhu Rong's political skills were not as low as imagined. At least he was much stronger than Dong Zhuo. He killed all the royal family members and dignitaries of Yan State and controlled the entire Jicheng. However, he did not stay in Jicheng, but let his confidants control Jicheng. This was a brilliant move.
It is said that if the punishment is unknown, then the power is unpredictable.
The same is true for the army. If he had stayed in Jicheng, his true strength would have become known to others, and some people would have some inappropriate thoughts. But he left Jicheng and went to the very safe Yecheng. The people of Jicheng would have to think about whether to launch a rebellion, and after that, whether they could withstand the counterattack from Yecheng.
The army of Yecheng was like a sword hanging over the heads of all the people in Jicheng. Those who had evil intentions in their hearts did not dare to move.
But Luo Xianzhi's strategy was to attack Erzhu Rong directly from a non-physical level, which was very scary, especially for Erzhu Rong's subordinates.
What was the final fate of Dong Zhuo’s Xiliang generals?
Naturally, these uneducated people don’t know, but who among the nobles doesn’t know?
Once Erzhu Rong really gets such a reputation, no one will be willing to stand with him again. This is the reality. The key is whether Erzhu Rong has the ability to fight back?
No!
Now all the pens in the world are in the hands of Liang Guo and Murong Chui. All the famous scholars in Jizhou are hiding and are unwilling to help Erzhu Rong, because Erzhu Rong is really cruel. Who would be willing to help him?
Is it possible for Erzhu Rong to defeat Liang State and Murong Chui with the handle of a knife?
After all, the weapon of criticism is no match for the criticism of weapons. If Erzhu Rong could defeat Murong Chui and Xiao Yan, there would definitely be people who would sing his praises, but unfortunately, that doesn’t happen either!
To put it bluntly, the reason why Erzhu Rong can live and show off his power now is because Murong Chui wanted to take over Guandong without bloodshed. Otherwise, with Murong Chui's current strength, as long as he was willing to pay the price of sacrifice, it would not be a big problem to defeat Erzhu Rong.
Erzhu Rong naturally felt the malice that permeated the entire Jizhou. He felt a little frightened and even thought of retreating to the northern border. He believed that he could ensure his safety there.
But they were stopped by their subordinates. They had finally managed to leave there, and now they wanted to go back. Wasn't that a joke? They were unwilling to leave this colorful world before they had enjoyed it yet.
Faced with this trend of thought, Erzhu Rong naturally did not dare to go against everyone's wishes. He could only stay in Yecheng and began to try to consolidate his rule. He assigned all the generals under his command to lead their troops to garrison in various places, and then began to try to continuously increase his momentum in the court.
His purpose was very simple, which was to complete the construction of his own power in the shortest possible time. He would not rely on the Yan court as he did now, but would have his own court.
In other words, he wanted to be emperor.
Only when he becomes emperor can his rule be more profound and his control over his subordinates be deeper.
Naturally, everyone under his command knew what he was thinking. Erzhu Rong thought that everyone under his command would definitely agree with him becoming emperor, but the result was not the case.
Many people advised him that now was not the right time, and some even used superstitious means to persuade Erzhu Rong.
The reasons behind this are naturally quite complicated, but there is one that cannot be ignored, that is, Luo Xianzhi's methods made Erzhu Rong's subordinates have strange thoughts.
A considerable number of people were unwilling to stay on Erzhu Rong's ship, especially those who were quite far-sighted. The more they looked at him, the more they felt that Erzhu Rong was unreliable.
…
It is said that whoever wins the hearts of the people wins the world. The hearts of the people represent different things at different stages, but fundamentally, the hearts of the people are the people who can bring power.
These people in this era were called gentry. Most of them cared very much about their evaluation in history, and these people were the ones who could be recorded in history.
Even if they will not be recorded in history and we will not consider things that happened so long ago, these nobles care very much about their reputation in the present world. They were unwilling to stay with Dong Zhuo in the beginning, so naturally they are also unwilling to stay with Erzhu Rong now.
Luo Xianzhi's move was aimed at these people, and these people would deal a fatal blow to Erzhu Rong, especially after Liang State and Murong Chui decided to attack Erzhu Rong.
This lack of support from the gentry would make Erzhu Rong very uncomfortable, and might even put him in a position of failure invisibly.
Erzhu Rong came from the far north and had not seen the war situation in the Central Plains, which was a different kind of cruelty!
————
After Rong had killed all the nobles, he took over the imperial court, and was promoted to Grand Commandant, General, Prime Minister, and Recorder of the Secretariat. He was in charge of all military affairs inside and outside the country, and he called himself the king. He established a new court without thinking, and became arrogant and unruly. The King of Yong was advancing, the State of Liang was advancing day by day, and the people were depressed. Rong was quite frightened. After three hundred days, Rong wanted to take the emperor away, but the emperor stabbed him in the court, and Rong died. - "Northern History: Yan Benji"
(End of this chapter)
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