Chapter 19 18. Gao Huanxin raised his troops

The Erzhu family came back to power, and felt that the Yuan Ye clan they had temporarily supported was too estranged, so they selected Guangling Wang Yuan Gong from the nephews of Emperor Xiaowen to force Yuan Ye to abdicate.Yuan Gong came to the throne for Emperor Jiemin.He is the third puppet emperor after Yuan Ziyou and Yuan Ye. In the territory of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the brothers, uncles and nephews of the Erzhu family each dominated one side: Erzhuzhao was in the north, and owned Bingzhou and Fenzhou; Erzhu Zhongyuan was in the southeast, guarding Xuzhou and Yanzhou; In the middle, control the government.However, these people are good at misbehavior, none of them are really successful, and they don't agree with each other.Mr. Lu Simian commented based on this: "If greed and violence are so great, even if they are with the world, how can they live in one dynasty? What's more, the day of the resentful is to wait for his side evil?"

The greedy and violent Erzhu family is a grasshopper after autumn, and it can't jump for a few days.The so-called "everyday waiter" is Gao Huan. Er Zhurong knew before his death that no one with the surname Er Zhu could be Gao Huan's opponent.He asked his subordinates: "One day I die, who will lead the army?" Everyone said: "Er Zhuzhao." Er Zhurong shook his head: "Er Zhuzhao also led 3,000 cavalry to fight a small battle, and the one who has the ability to lead the army on my behalf is He Liuhun (Gao Huan's Xianbei name)." He warned Er Zhuzhao: "If you can't beat Gao Huan, you will be controlled by him in the end."

Er Zhuzhao didn't take his uncle's warning to heart, and only regarded Gao Huan as one of his subordinates.Er Zhurong was killed, and Er Zhuzhao sent someone to invite Gao Huan, who was the governor of Jinzhou at the time, to send troops. Gao Huan temporarily took a wait-and-see stance on the grounds that there were too many sporadic rebellions nearby. Er Zhuzhao was very dissatisfied with Gao Huan.But not long after, Hedouling Bufan, a refugee from Hexi, led his troops south to attack Jinyang and defeated Er Zhuzhao's army.Gao Huan sent troops to rescue, and together with Er Zhuzhao killed Bufan, Er Zhuzhao forgot about the previous festival, thanked Gao Huan, sworn brothers with him, and celebrated with him.

Gao Huan's helping Er Zhuzhao was only a stopgap measure, and he knew that it was not time to turn his face.Relying only on the soldiers and horses at hand, and being in Shanxi, the base of the Erzhu family, it is a fool's way to hit a stone with a pebble.To create a career, one needs harmony with people, and the other needs a favorable location, and then you can expect luck (time) to come.During the banquet, Er Zhuzhao took the initiative to ask Gao Huan about a difficult matter. After Ge Rong's six townsmen were dismissed by Er Zhurong, more than 100,000 people fled to Bingzhou area to "live and eat".They had no food and clothing, and they had to be humiliated by Erzhu's Qihu. Small-scale rebellions continued, making it hard to guard against and hard to kill.Er Zhuzhao had a headache and couldn't think of an idea, so he discussed with Gao Huan, saying that he should kill all these people, but it was difficult to get rid of the roots, and he was afraid of trouble.

Gao Huan secretly rejoiced that this was a godsend opportunity, but he couldn't make it too obvious.He said with concern: "This trouble must not be caused. For the current plan, it is best to choose a confidant of the prince (Er Zhuzhao has been promoted to the king at this time) and let him be in charge of leading these people." Er Zhuzhao thought it was right, and then thought: "It's good, who can do it?" (Drilling himself into the trap) Sitting at the banquet was He Bayun, the eldest brother of the He Ba brothers.Among the three He Ba brothers, He Basheng and He Bayue both hated Gao Huan, but He Bayun had a good personal relationship with Gao Huan and had close contacts.Seeing Er Zhuzhao's question, he responded casually, "He Liuhun is the right candidate."

Upon hearing this, Gao Huan reached out and punched He Bayun, knocking He Bayun to the ground and losing a tooth.He said angrily: "When General Tianzhu was here, we were like eagles and dogs. Today's matter is entirely up to the prince's arrangement. How dare Ajuni (He Bayun's Xianbei name) bully the next one? Please the prince will strictly control him. Deal with it!" Er Zhuzhao thought that Gao Huan was really an honest person, so he said casually: "I have made up my mind, so I will hand it over to He Liuhun to take command, and my troubles will be settled!"

Gao Huan, Er Zhuzhao's expression changed as soon as he finished speaking.He was afraid that what Er Zhuzhao said was drunk, so he regretted it when he woke up, and immediately walked out of the big tent, announcing: "I, Gao Huan, was appointed by the prince to lead the town soldiers. Everyone go to the east of Fenshui to gather and listen to my orders." The soldiers of the six towns hated the Erzhu family to the core, and knew that Gao Huan was born as a town soldier and had joined the uprising army, so they were willing to follow Gao Huan. He Bayun's intentional or unintentional words made Gao Huan earn enough money to start a business. Regardless of whether the punch was wronged or not, and the tooth was worth it or not, he is a major contributor to the Gao Huan Group.Interestingly, Yu Wentai started his business in Guanzhong, relying on the Heba clan (He Bayue's army).As a result, Gao Huan could only win half of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Gao Huan won tens of thousands of town soldiers at once, and the problem came again.Bingzhou has suffered from frost and drought for years, and the soldiers have nothing to eat, and all of them look like dishes.Gao Huan sent Liu Gui to ask Er Zhuzhao to lead the soldiers to the border of Hebei to solve food and clothing. Chief Shi Murong Shaozong firmly disagreed. He said to Er Zhuzhao: "Nowadays, there are turmoil in all directions and people have different expectations. What's more, Gao Gongxiong is talented and has a heavy army. Letting him go east is like letting a tiger go back to the mountain!"

Er Zhuzhao didn't believe it: "I have kowtowed to him and begged him, what are we afraid of?" Murong Shaozong said: "It's hard to believe a brother, let alone a brother who worships!" Er Zhuzhao's cronies got Gao Huan's bribe, and they all spoke ill of Murong Shaozong. Er Zhuzhao thought that Murong Shaozong was provoking his relationship with Gao Huan, so he locked Murong Shaozong up and urged Gao Huan to leave early. Gao Huan left Jinyang with his army and was halfway there when Er Zhurong's wife, Princess Beixiang, came from Luoyang with more than 300 horses.Gao Huan ordered the horses to be seized, organized into cavalry, and continued eastward.

The eldest princess of Beixiang ran to Er Zhuzhao to complain, but Er Zhuzhao felt something was wrong, so she released Murong Shaozong and asked him what to do. Murong Shaozong counted the time and said, "Gao Huan is still under our control." Er Zhuzhao personally led his troops in pursuit, and caught up with Gao Huan's army who had just crossed the Zhang River on the outskirts of Xiangyuan. Gao Huan saw that the water in Zhang was rising, so he thanked Er Zhuzhao across the water: "Our army is short of horses, so I borrowed horses to guard against bandits in Hebei. The prince came to chase me personally. I am willing to cross the water and die. The tribe will rebel again in the future."

Er Zhuzhao didn't have Gao Huan's thoughtfulness, so he quickly argued that he had no intention of killing him, then crossed the Zhangshui alone, apologized to Gao Huan, and stretched out his head for Gao Huan to chop off to show his sincerity. (Er Zhuzhao can be a righteous man when he ventures into the rivers and lakes, and his political talk is obviously naive and ridiculous.) Gao Huan burst into tears on the spot and said: "He Liuhun relies on the lord, and is willing to live and die for the lord. Now that others are separating our feelings, how can the lord embarrass me so much!" At that moment, he made an alliance with Er Zhuzhao to kill the white horse and swore a lifetime As brothers, the two get drunk again. Wei Jing persuaded Gao Huan to take the opportunity to kill Er Zhuzhao, but Gao Huan thought that Erzhuzhao was a fool and was not in a hurry.The next morning Er Zhuzhao returned to the other side, met Murong Shaozong, regretted it in his heart, and asked Gao Huan to come over to talk again.Gao Huan was not willing to listen, so he led his men and horses out of the Taihang Mountains.Er Zhuzhao cursed across Zhangshui for a while, thinking that Gao Huan hadn't rebelled after all, so he withdrew his troops and returned to Jinyang. Gao Huan's military management is slightly stronger than Erzhu's, and the military discipline is strict along the way.He asked the soldiers to do no harm to the common people, dismounted from the horse and walked on foot after crossing the wheat, and set an example by himself.He is familiar with the habits of the soldiers and civilians of the six towns, and pays great attention to respecting the soldiers of the town in all aspects.When he arrived in Hebei, Gao Huan's subordinates were all people who really supported him. Most of the local forces in Hebei did not buy Gao Huan's account.The governor of Yinzhou Erzhu Yusheng, the governor of Xiangzhou Liu Dan, the governor of Dingzhou Hou Yuan and others were Erzhu's cronies.Gao Huan asked Liu Dan for food, but Liu Dan refused.He found out that there was a military camp for renting food nearby, and he personally led troops to rob it, only to obtain limited food. Brothers Gao Gan, Feng Longzhi and others, who were guarding the Xindu of Jizhou, extended a helping hand to Gao Huan when he was in trouble. Gao Gan and Gao Huan are of the same clan, and they are also from Bohai.The situation of his branch is better than that of Gao Huan. His father Gao Yi is a big family in Jizhou, and he has a lot of friends and is famous far and wide.Among the four Gaogan brothers, the most famous one is the third brother Gao Aocao.Gao Aocao's real name was Gao Ang. Because of his courage, his appearance, and his martial arts skills, people called him respectfully and compared him to Xiang Yu. Gao Gan heard that Gao Huan had arrived near Xindu, so he said to his younger brothers: "I heard that Gao Jinzhou is a great man with lofty aspirations. Erzhu has no way, and it is time for a hero to serve his purpose. I have made up my mind and welcome you." You don't need to worry about Gao Jinzhou entering the city." He went out of the city with a dozen entourages to greet him, and invited Gao Huan's army to Xindu.Gao Huan and Gao Gan had similar temperaments, and soon became good friends. The two slept on the same bed and became best friends.Xindu City with sufficient food and grass also made Gao Huan's town soldiers feel the happiness of having no worries about food and clothing for the first time. A few months later, Gao Huan saw that the time was right, so he forged Er Zhuzhao's document, saying that he would recruit 10,000 people back to Shanxi to serve as Qihu's subordinates and fight against Jihu.The soldiers did not want to go back to suffer again, wailing everywhere, crying loudly. Gao Huan pretended to be consoling and said: "I love the same family as you, and I don't want to have a military order. Now going to Shanxi is a dead end, and it is also a dead end if you miss the military term. What can I do?" The soldiers said in unison: "There is only rebellion!" Everyone unanimously elected Gao Huan as the leader. Gao Huan said again: "Didn't you see the end of Ge Rong's failure? Even if you have millions of soldiers, if there is no strict criminal law protection, you will still be wiped out in the end. If you want to elect me as the leader, it must be different from before: one must not violate Han people; second, do not violate military regulations and obey my orders. Can everyone do it?" The soldiers repeatedly shouted: "Absolutely obey!" They all bowed down in front of Gao Huan.Gao Huan ordered the slaughter of cattle to make rice, let everyone have a full meal, and then announced the crusade against Er Zhuzhao. In July of the second year of Jianming (AD 531), Gao Gan and another powerful Li Yuanzhong attacked Erzhu Yusheng and annexed Yinzhou (now East Longyao, Hebei).Gao Huan was greatly encouraged. According to Sun Teng's suggestion, he made Bohai prefect Yuen Long the emperor, appointed himself prime minister and general, changed Yuan Zhongxing, and formally set up troops in Xindu.