Chapter 19 3. The Sorrow of a Famous General

In Huanwen's third Northern Expedition, the Jin army fought all the way from the Huaihe River to the Yellow River, which posed a huge threat to the turbulent Yan Kingdom, but it also gave a chance to one person, that person was Wu Wang Murongchui. The first half of Murong Chui's life can be described in terms of ups and downs: He was young and heroic, made many military exploits, and was highly regarded by his father Murong Hao; when he grew up, he was jealous of his brother Murong Jun and could not be reused; Once again proud; after Murong Ke's death, Murong Ping and Queen Mother Kezuhun were suspicious of him, and he was left out in the cold again.

At this moment, Huan Wen, the savior, appeared.In Yan State at that time, except for Murong Chui, no one else could defeat Huan Wen.Murong Ping and Kezuhun's family had no choice but to reactivate Murong Chui.In the battle of Fangtou, the Jin army suffered a disastrous defeat. Murong Chui led the Yan army cavalry to chase and kill him all the way, and drove Huan Wen back to his hometown. The third Northern Expedition failed, and the dream of being an emperor was also shattered. A few years later, Huan Wen also died of foot disease (probably a complication of diabetes now).After Huan Wen's death, his younger brother Huan Chong came to power, and with the support of general Huan Yi (the one who played plum blossom three lanes, also a strange person), Xie Xuan and others, the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Northern Expedition regime entered into a relatively stable period. peacetime.

Lao Tzu said, blessings come from misfortunes. Murong Chui thought that a victory would turn him around, but he didn't expect that what he waited for was deeper suspicion. There is a problem here: Murong Ping is jealous of Murong Chui, which is not difficult to understand, but why does the Empress Dowager Ke Zuhun also dislike Murong Chui?If it is worried that Murong Chui will become the second Murong Ke and become an obstacle to his own political affairs, then Murong Ping's taking power is also an obstacle.There is no record of this in the official history. I checked some unofficial history and finally found some clues.

After the Murong Department annexed the Duan Department, in order to strengthen the control of the Duan Department, it adopted the tradition of Prince Murong marrying a woman from the Duan Department.Murong Jun, Murong Chui, Murong Rong, and Murong De all married Duanbu women.In the country of Yan, the Duan family was the first-class nobleman after the Murong family, and the Kezuhun family was only the second-class nobleman. However, after Murong Jun's death, it was not Duan Zhaoyi who appeared as the Queen Mother, but the Kezuhun family. This is very problematic. After Murongchui returned to the country, Duan Zhaoyi was named queen and buried with Murong Jun.Murong Chui will not pursue Zhaoyi as queen for no reason, this Duan Zhaoyi is Murong Jun's original wife.An important reason why the Duan family was replaced by the Kezuhun family was that they had no sons.Without a son, and because she is not as beautiful as the Kezuhun family, Duan Zhaoyi gradually lost Murong Jun's love.Although Kezuhun's status was not as good as Duan Zhaoyi's, she was the most beautiful woman in the East Palace, and she gave birth to the eldest son Murong Ye for Murong Jun (later she gave birth to Murong Chong who was even more feminine than a woman).Murong Ye is smart and beautiful, and Murong Jun loves him very much.

When Murong Hao was alive, Murong Jun didn't dare to do anything to the Duan family, but when he became emperor, he would be able to make the Kezuhun family the empress and Murong Ye the crown prince, only one Zhaoyi gave it to Duan.There is such a record in the book: "In February, Gengzi, Lord Jun of Yan established his concubine Kezuhun as the queen, and Shizi Ye as the crown prince, and they all moved from Longcheng to Jigong." This means that the Kezuhun family was not a queen before becoming a queen, but a concubine, a concubine.Although the Murong family is from Xianbei, the degree of Sinicization in clan etiquette is very deep.Murong Jun considered that it would be unreasonable for the queen to be Zhaoyi instead of making his concubine the empress, so he hesitated for several months, and made the final decision after proclaiming himself emperor.

So far, the Kezuhun family has become the queen of Yan State by virtue of her beauty and son.As for Duan Zhaoyi, he had no son and was not as beautiful as others, so he could only swallow his anger and finally died in depression.But everyone, don't forget that Duan Zhaoyi still has her natal family, and her clan sisters are all married to Murong's brothers.What happened to Duan Zhaoyi caused the members of the Duan clan to secretly side with Murongchui who was also out of power.The most unjust among them was Murong Chui's wife, Concubine Daduan. Concubine Da Duan has a strong temperament, and even Murong Chui respects her three points. Seeing that Duan's family is overwhelmed by the second-rate Kezuhun's family, she is of course very upset. He showed some dissatisfaction and disdain for the Kezuhun family.Concubine Da Duan gave birth to two sons for Murong Chui, Murong Ling and Murong Bao.Murong Bao later became the emperor of Hou Yan, but his talent was not very good.Among Murong Chui's many sons, the most powerful is the eldest son Murong Ling who died young.

A once-favored person like Kezuhun can't bear others to criticize her origin.Concubine Daduan couldn't understand her, and she couldn't understand Concubine Daduan either, and the relationship between the two deteriorated accordingly.In order to deal with the Murong Chui couple and the Duan family behind them, the Ke Zuhun family came up with a way to kill two birds with one stone: She first instructed the eunuch to falsely accuse Murong Jun of concubine Daduan and Wu Guodian Shu Ling Gao Bi to Murong Jun on the charge of witchcraft, alluding to Murong Chui's attempt to rebel.Murong Jun was suspicious of Murong Chui from the beginning, and immediately ordered Concubine Da Duan and Gao Bi to be imprisoned and tortured severely.However, the two resolutely refused to recruit in prison, and they refused to implicate Murong Chui.In the end, Concubine Daduan was beaten to death in prison.

Concubine Da Duan exchanged her own death for Murong Chui's innocence.Murong Chui grieved over his wife's death, and soon married the younger sister of Concubine Duan, and his sister-in-law, Concubine Xiao Duan, became the new concubine. At this time, the Kezuhun family was not happy again, and to stabilize the family's position, with Murong Jun's pampering, she arranged two arranged marriages: first, she forced Murong Chui to abolish the little concubine Duan, and forced him to marry her younger sister, Chang'an. The king was the concubine of Wu; then he let Murong Wei marry his cousin, the daughter of Duke Yuzhang Kezu Hunyi, Xiao Kezu Hun, and made her the queen.

Murong Chui accepted the arranged marriage with great reluctance, and he adopted a method of non-violence and non-cooperation, always ignoring Chang'an's love.Although Mr. Chang'an gave birth to Murong Lin, but because he could not get the favor of his husband, he often went to his sister to sue Murong Chui for being black, saying that he still had no ties with Concubine Duan.In this way, the Kezuhun family hated Murongchui even more.Murong Chui also hated Chang'an Jun and Murong Lin's mother and son more and more. It is precisely because of this complicated marriage relationship that the Empress Dowager Ke Zuhun dislikes Murongchui.

After Murong Chui returned triumphantly with the army, it was only natural that he put up a table to ask for credit for the frontline soldiers.Murong Ping was not happy anymore, he felt that Murong Chui was already the king of Wu and the commander of the Yan army, if he was appointed an official again, wouldn't he be on his own head?Therefore, the upper form was suppressed and no report was made to the emperor.Murong Chui was very dissatisfied, so he went to Murong Chui to comment on the theory.As soon as Murong Ping and Queen Mother Kezuhun got together, they planned to find an excuse to execute Murong Chui.

What happened to Murong Chui once again proved one point: don't offend your sister-in-law... Murong Chui was still not cruel enough. With his prestige and ability, it was very possible to mobilize the army to kill Murong Ping and the Queen Mother Kezuhun.At that time, there were not a few people who had this idea (it can be seen how unpopular Murong Ping and Queen Mother Kezuhun were).After Murong Ke's son Murong Kai and Murong Chui's uncle Lan Jian got the news that Murong Ping and the Queen Mother were going to attack Murong Chui (not only was it unpopular, but they didn't know how to keep things secret), they immediately ran to inform Murong Chui and made a proposal Feasible suggestion - pre-emptively kill Murong Ping, the king of Shangyong, and the emperor's brother, Murong Zang, the king of Le'an. At the juncture of life and death, Murong Chui became indecisive. Like Murong Han back then, he couldn't bear to kill each other in order to fight for power.What's even more strange is that not only did he not take the initiative to attack, he didn't even respond at all, as if he was waiting for the opponent to make a move.From this point, it can be seen that Murong Chui's talents are all in doing things; intrigue and trickery are really not his specialty. Not long after, Murong Kai and Lan Jian came again and told Murong Chui clearly that Murong Ping and the Queen Mother were going to attack soon, so they had to make plans early.But Murong Chui's reply was that if the conflict between the two parties could not be remedied, I would rather leave the country of Yan to avoid disaster and let me go for a coup d'etat, that is absolutely impossible. At this moment, Murong Kai and Lan Jian must have looked at each other in blank dismay—how could King Wu, who was resourceful on the battlefield, be so politically naive?Where can I go after leaving the country of Yan?Former Qin?Eastern Jin Dynasty?Or the Tuoba Dai Kingdom in the north?It is estimated that Murong Kai will be very puzzled, how could Dad (Murong Ke) admire this fifth uncle who is always on the go? The two left disappointed.Murong Chui was also worried, and he didn't dare to tell his sons about this, for fear that his sons would act impulsively when they were young.However, someone still saw the clue, and this person was Murong Chui's eldest son, Murong Ling.History books commented on Murong Ling as "less sensitive, more resourceful, brave and resolute".Murong Ling is the son of King Wu, and also a leader among the younger generation of the Murong family. His mother is the concubine Daduan who was killed by the Kezuhun family. Murong Ling saw that Murong Chui's expression was different, so he tentatively asked: "Father, you look worried, is it because the emperor is young and the Tai Tuo is jealous of the virtuous and capable, the more outstanding the military exploits, the more suspicion you receive?" Murong Chui nodded and sighed: "Yes, I have devoted myself to the country and repelled powerful enemies. Who knows that I have made great achievements, but I have nowhere to stand. Since you guessed my thoughts, is there any solution? ?” Murong Ling was well aware of his father's concerns, he was not as radical as Murong Kai and Lan Jian, but suggested: "Now the emperor doesn't care, and the power in the court is in the hands of the Taifu. Once they do something wrong, we can think of countermeasures." It’s too late. If you want to protect your clan and don’t want to bear the stigma of civil strife, you might as well go to Dragon City to avoid disaster, and then plead guilty to the emperor. Murong and others cannot tolerate it. We can also use Longcheng as a base to defend Lulongsai, rely on Liaodong, control Youzhou, and subdue many tribes inside and outside the Great Wall. With strength, we have the capital to protect ourselves. Murong commented Waiting for others will throw a mouse, and dare not act rashly." Murong Chui had been sent by Murong Jun to guard the northern frontier. He was well aware of the local situation and felt that Liaodong was a place where he could attack and defend, so he decided to adopt Murong Ling's method. This was Murong Ling's first suggestion, and Murong Chui agreed. In the winter of this year, Murong Chui used hunting as an excuse to travel lightly with a group of clansmen and left Yecheng, preparing to rush back to the old capital Longcheng in the snow.However, an accident happened.When the group of them reached Handan, Murong Lin ran away.It turned out that Murong Chui did not bring that annoying Mr. Chang'an with him when he fled this time.Mr. Chang'an is Murong Lin's mother, and Murong Chui doesn't like him at ordinary times, so Murong Lin decided to kill his relatives righteously, and ran away halfway, and went to criticize Murong Chui. After Murong Ping found out, he slandered Murong Chui in front of the emperor.Murong Wei was also said to be suspicious, so he sent Xiping Gong Murong Qiang and his cavalry to chase after him.When they chased Fan Yang (now Beijing), Murong Qiang's men stopped because Murong Ling stood in front of him. I don't know how Murong Ling stopped the pursuers. In short, he completed the task very well and covered Murong Chui and his party well.One must know that when Murong Lin fled, more than half of Murong Chui's entourage had already dispersed, and there were probably only a few people who could be assigned to Murong Ling.It was Murong Ling who led this few people, so that Murong Qiang's large cavalry did not dare to take a step forward.Whether it's suspicious soldiers or persuasion, Murong Ling's prestige and intelligence can be seen from this small detail. In the evening, Murong Ling caught up with Murong Chui, and suggested again: "We planned to go to Dragon City to avoid disaster and protect ourselves, but now that things have been leaked, going to Dragon City might be a disaster. Right now King Qin Fu Jian is recruiting heroes from all over the world. , we might as well go and join him." Murong Chui thought for a while, and felt that there was only one way left to go, so he agreed. This was Murong Ling's second suggestion, and Murong Chui also agreed. Then, the group turned around and headed south, temporarily sheltering in the mountains on the outskirts of Yecheng. At this moment, Murong Ling suddenly made a third suggestion, which was also the most daring one: "The Tai Tuo is jealous of the virtuous and capable. Since he took power, people in the court have been panicked and complained endlessly. Now, the scholars and people in Yecheng, whether it is Hu People or Han people, although they don’t know where you are, they all hope that you can go back to take charge of the overall situation like a baby misses his mother. If we can follow the people’s will and catch them unawares, it will be easy to seize power. After this is done, my father can get rid of the bad government and appoint talented people , assisting the emperor to stabilize the country is the greatest achievement! Now that we are not far from Yecheng, it is the best time to act, and we must not miss it. As long as my father gives me a few cavalry, I can make this important event It's done!" With those words, Shi Shi was shocked and daring.But, this is what Murong Ling really wants to say, and this is Murong Ling's style of doing things!Before persuading Murong Chui to go to Longcheng, and halfway there, he persuaded him to go to Qin State, but it was all Murong Ling's entrustment to realize this bold plan-if Murong Chui persuaded Murong Chui to launch a coup like Murong Kai and Lan Jian, Murong Chui would no matter what. They would not agree; therefore, Murong Ling went around in a big circle, knowing that the escape would definitely leak, and suggested that Murong Chui go to Longcheng.His purpose is to let Murong Chui experience the feeling of being desperate: if you can't stay in Yecheng, you can go to Longcheng; if you can't go to Dragon City, you can only go to the former Qin; The former Qin of the Di tribe, regardless of whether others accept it or not, the crime of treason alone is unbearable for everyone. Murong Ling led his father Murong Chui by the nose, step by step along the route he designed, and finally returned to the original place - the outskirts of Yecheng.As long as Murong Chui can make up his mind, he can mobilize the forces in the city who are dissatisfied with Murong Ping and succeed in the coup in one fell swoop! Leaving aside the feasibility of this plan, it must be said that Murong Ling's courage and courage are far superior to Murong Chui's.However, Murong Ling had calculated thousands of times, but still missed one point - Murong Chui's determination. Murong Chui pondered for a moment, then said: "Your plan, if it comes to fruition, it's for everyone's satisfaction. If it fails, you will die without a place to bury your body. It's really too risky. Why not go west to the Qin State to keep everything safe." At that moment, I believe that Murong Ling must be very disappointed, just like Murong Kai and Lan Jian back then.However, it is up to man to plan, and it is up to God to make things happen. If Murong Chui is not willing, no matter how perfect his plan is, it is empty talk. At that moment, I believed that Murong Chui was because he couldn't bear to kill each other, so he would rather leave by himself.At that time, Murong Tuyuhun didn't want to compete with Murong Xin for the throne, so he took his clansmen to leave Murong tribe, went to Hexi, and finally came to Qinghai Lake; ;Now, Murong Chui also intends to take this path, hoping to leave in exchange for peace in Yan. But what he didn't expect was that his own departure was tantamount to evacuating the backbone of the Yan Kingdom, which eventually led to the demise of the Yan Kingdom. Alright, a great escape with a gathering of elites has begun: along with Murong Chui, there are his beloved Concubine Duan, brother-in-law Lan Jian, Gao Bi who was imprisoned with Concubine Duan, and several sons Murong Chui. Ling, Murong Bao, Murong Nong, Murong Long and Murong Ke's son Murong Kai.These people will become the backbone of Yan Guo's restoration in more than 20 years.As for the Chang'an Lord who didn't welcome him and Murong Lin who went to inform him, they were left in Yecheng.