Chapter 32 5. Hou Jing's Conspiracy

As soon as the news of Hou Jing's surrender reached Chang'an, Yu Wentai called all the generals to discuss.The opinions of several Zhu Guo-level generals were surprisingly unanimous: they opposed the acceptance of Hou Jing.They thought that this was a trap from the Eastern Wei Dynasty. If they sent troops easily, they might not be able to eat the mutton and cause a commotion, so it was best to ignore it. Yu Jin's attitude was more rational. He made a detailed analysis and thought: "Hou Jing has been familiar with the art of war since he was a child, and he offered land to surrender. It is hard to know whether it is true or not. You might as well hold back for a while and give him an official promotion. Let's watch the changes; even if we send troops, we can't use supplies to give him an opportunity."

Yu Wentai is really worried about Hou Jing's character, and then thinks of the defeat of Mangshan four years ago, he almost put his life on the line, Gao Zhongmi really surrendered.Now Hou Jing's details are still unclear, so he has to be careful. At this moment, a key figure played a role, and he was Wang Sizheng, the governor of Jingzhou (now Deng County, Henan).Wang Sizheng believes that Hou Jinglai's surrender is not only not a trap, but also a pie. "The general is outside, and the king's order is not accepted." The situation was urgent, and Wang Sizheng led his Jingzhou soldiers from Luyang Pass (now southwest of Lushan, Henan) to Yangdi (now Yuzhou, Henan) regardless of Yu Wentai's opinion. .

Wang Sizheng was a veteran of the Western Wei Dynasty. When the Northern Wei Dynasty split, he was one of the generals who followed Emperor Xiaowu to enter the pass.He has his own reasons for being so eager to send troops: if the Western Wei Dynasty can really occupy Henan, even if it is only a few states in it, it will benefit greatly. From a military point of view, with the possession of Henan, Yecheng, the capital of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, was placed directly in front of the Western Wei Dynasty, separated by the Yellow River.From a political point of view, once the Western Wei Dynasty possesses Luoyang, which is "the capital of the ancient times, within the king's territory", it will increase the political color of the regime, and it will have inestimable significance in calling on the hearts of the world.In addition, the income in land, population, economy and other aspects is not a problem.Therefore, Wang Sizheng, who was not fully sure, ignored the court's "discussion but not yet resolved", and couldn't wait to fight hard with his old books.

Wang Sizheng sent troops on his own, which was equivalent to cutting off Yuwentai's retreat. Anyway, it was a knife anyway, so he simply gambled.Yu Wentai ordered Li Bi and Zhao Gui to lead 10,000 soldiers and go straight to Yingzhou.Generals Li and Zhao took along a series of titles given to Hou Jing by the Western Wei Dynasty: Chijie, Taifu, General, Shangshuling, Henan Daxingtai, and Henan military forces. When Hou Jing heard that the Western Wei Dynasty had sent rescue troops, he was secretly happy, but fearing that Emperor Wu of Liang would be dissatisfied, he sent someone to report to Liang Guo: "The king's teacher has not yet arrived (referring to the army that Yang Yaren came to meet), and the situation is urgent, so I will send you a message." Guanzhong asked for help only for a momentary emergency. The minister was not comfortable under the Gao clan of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, how could he be accommodated by the Yuwen clan of the Western Wei Dynasty? The minister was just using the land of the four states as a bait, a stopgap measure. Yuzhou (now Runan, Henan) ) to the east and Qizhou (now Jinan, Shandong) to the west, still under the control of ministers, all dedicated to the Holy Dynasty. The bordering Henan, Beiyang (now Shenqiu, Henan), Xu, and Nanyan (now Boxian, Anhui) The four prefectures also hope to send troops to respond quickly, there will be no mistakes!"

"The minister is not under the Gao clan of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, how can he be tolerated under the Yuwen clan of the Western Wei Dynasty?" Sighing that Emperor Wu of Liang was so greedy for profit that he left such obvious subtext behind him, and firmly believed that Hou Jing was his fellow man.He replied that he "understands" and comforted Hou Jing, saying: "In ancient times, when a doctor went abroad, he still had special skills. What's more, the general created such a conspiracy? The general can take advantage of it, adapt to the situation, and don't need to report it for such a trivial matter."

After Hou Jing read the letter, he was so excited!But it's not emotional, but thoughtful: It turns out that old things are so easy to deceive, so we must make good use of them in the future. Guanzhong is close to Yingzhou, and the reinforcements from the Western Wei Dynasty arrived first, and Li Bi and Zhao Gui's troops came to Yingzhou.Han Gui, the main general of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, felt that he could not win, so he voluntarily withdrew to Hebei, and the siege of Yingzhou was resolved without a fight. As soon as the danger alert was lifted, Hou Jing felt quite good about himself.When he was doing well, he actually had an amazing plan: when he met Li and Zhao Erjiang, he suddenly took them down and seized control of the Western Wei army. (Hou Jing's thoughts are almost insane. I am afraid that he was overheated after being "encouraged" by Emperor Wu of Liang. Just think, is Yu Wentai easy to provoke? You have become his good general and eaten his troops. How can he fight with you? Is it okay to let it go? Just fighting the Eastern Wei Dynasty is so difficult, and adding the Western Wei Dynasty, you are facing enemies, Hou Jing is still dead?)

Hou Jing underestimated the opponent's strength too much. He only thought that he was a wolf. He never thought that the general of the Western Wei Dynasty was not a sheep, but more like a tiger.In fact, at the same time that Hou Jing wanted to eat the two generals Li and Zhao, Zhao Gui also proposed to lure Hou Jing to the military camp of the Western Wei Dynasty, play by ear, and eat Hou Jing's troops, but was persuaded by Li Bisheng up. (Li Bi is not contemptuous of the tricks of the next three bad ones, but his knowledge is slightly better than that of Zhao Gui: eating Hou Jing's troops did not help the Western Wei Dynasty to effectively occupy other states in Henan, but he obliged the Eastern Wei Dynasty to clean up the big trouble of Hou Jing , the gain outweighs the loss; it is more cost-effective to keep Hou Jing and continue to harm others. Li Bi is also non-toxic and not a husband! The Six Pillars of the Western Wei Dynasty, none of them are fuel-efficient lamps.)

The two families have their own calculations, and the vanguard of Yang Yaren's Liang army has arrived in Rushui.Li Bi was afraid that there would be a conflict with the Liang army, and he would be attacked on three sides, so he led his troops back to Chang'an.Because the Eastern Wei army withdrew from the siege only after seeing the Western Wei army, so up to this point, the Western Wei Dynasty gave Hou Jing a face. As soon as Li Bi and Zhao Gui's army withdrew, Wang Sizheng's Jingzhou soldiers came back.Hou Jing handed Yingzhou over to Wang Sizheng on the pretext of expanding his territory, and led his troops back to Xuanhu.Hou Jing's idea was to lure the armies of Western Wei and Liang into the country, and then detain them in search of opportunities.So he sent another letter to Chang'an, asking for troops for the second time.

Yu Wentai was about to send troops, Daxingtai Zuo Cheng Wang Yuejin said: "Hou Jing's relationship with Gao Huan was at first from the same hometown, and later the agreement between the monarch and his ministers was established. Hou Jing ranks as a general and has a heavy duty as a secretary. He is like a fish in water with Gao Huan Now that Gao Huan has just died, he started a rebellion, completely ignoring the principles of the monarch and ministers, and the etiquette of loyalty. This man has great ambitions. Since he can betray Gao, how can he be loyal to the court? If he can increase his power, help him Soldiers are not only difficult for Hou Jing to control, but I am afraid that the court will laugh at you generously."

Yu Wentai nodded in agreement, then dismissed the idea of ​​increasing troops, and called Hou Jing to Chang'an instead. Hou Jing couldn't fool Yu Wentai, so he made up his mind against Wang Sizheng's army.He took the initiative to get close to the generals of the Western Wei Dynasty who were stationed in Yingzhou, and gave them money and food; he often took only a few entourages, and went in and out of the Western Wei Army, making everyone act like a family; However, Hou Jing once again underestimated his opponent. Playing tricks is useless to those who are good at playing tricks.Wang Sizheng acted decisively and insisted on accepting Hou Jing's surrender, but decisiveness does not mean recklessness, and insisting on accepting surrender does not mean that he sincerely believes that he already knows Hou Jing's conspiracy.Without waiting for Hou Jing to show his performance, Wang Sizheng secretly summoned his generals, deployed them carefully, and acted suddenly, assigning various troops to occupy the seven states and twelve towns around Yingzhou.Hou Jing was murdered instead of killing others. After more than ten years of painstaking efforts, he made Yu Wentai's wedding clothes.

Embarrassed and angry, Hou Jing finally broke up with Yu Wentai, and replied to Yu Wentai: "I even look down on Gao Cheng, how can I work with you, big brother?" The most terrifying enemy is the so-called "friend". Hou Jing's true colors are revealed, but Yu Wentai is relieved.Most of Henan has belonged to the Western Wei Dynasty. Hou Jingai can make trouble wherever he goes. It may not be a good thing for the Western Wei Dynasty. This time the Western Wei Dynasty benefited greatly, and Wang Sizheng took the lead.Yu Wentai transferred all the official positions originally awarded to Hou Jing to Wang Sizheng. One month before Yuwentai sent troops into Henan, the Eastern Wei Dynasty sent Li Xi, who was also a regular servant of Sanqi, to Liang Guo.Gao Cheng still wanted to maintain a friendly state with Liang Guo, not only because he was afraid of losing the whole of Henan, but also because he was worried about being attacked by Liang Guo and the Western Wei Dynasty.The diplomatic efforts of the Li family failed, and Emperor Wu of Liang, facing the big meal delivered to his mouth, did not want to call the Eastern Wei emperor any more brothers and sisters.Liang Guo's army arrived at Xuanhu as planned and joined forces with Hou Jing.Of course, the big gift packages from Thirteen States were not enough, at least Yu Wentai took a big bite off first. Emperor Liang Wu didn't give Gao Cheng face, and the friendship between the two countries came to an end.In September of the first year of the Taiqing Dynasty (547 A.D.), the old Bodhisattva issued a letter of war to the "Xianbei Children" to formally crusade against the Eastern Wei Dynasty. Gao Cheng is well versed in the principle of etiquette before soldiers, and he still doesn't want to give up on peacefully resolving the Hou Jing issue.He wrote a letter to Hou Jing, hoping that Hou Jing would not forget the relationship between the monarch and his ministers with Gao Huan back then, and not to abandon his reputation and become an unfaithful and unrighteous person. He also mentioned Hou Jing's wife and children who stayed in Hebei, implying that Hou Jing, as long as he looks back, his flesh and blood relatives can be reunited; if not, the whole family will end badly. According to common sense, when it comes to this matter, most people are a little bit scrupulous, but this set is not valid for Hou Jing!Hou Jing has the persistence and cruelty of a jackal. He would rather be a wolf galloping on the battlefield than a dog at the beck and call of others.Faced with Gao Cheng's coercion and temptation, he ordered his adviser Wang Wei to write a letter in return. Wang Wei was a great talent around Hou Jing, and played a key role in the process of Hou Jing's rebellion.He was eloquent and eloquent, and he said to the effect: "I heard that the most precious thing in the world is life; to gain fame and establish yourself, what you seek is righteousness. A hero should sacrifice his life for righteousness. I, Hou Jing, have served in General Tianzhu (Er Zhurong) and Emperor Xiaozhuang successively, killing enemies for the country In the past twenty years, I have never avoided danger, so I have rich clothes, fine food, and wealth. Now I don’t hesitate to display the flags, beat the drums, and fight against the army. For plotting rebellion. Zhou has hundreds of millions of soldiers, and will eventually be destroyed; Restore the Central Plains and save the people. "Your letter said that my wife and children have been detained? When the royal mausoleum was attached to the Han Dynasty, the mother took hostage and did not change her original intention; Liu Taigong was imprisoned by Xiang Yu, and Emperor Han Gao remained calm and asked for a share. Let alone the wife and children, What's the big deal? If you think killing them is good for you, then I can't stop them, but killing them will only add to the crime, and you are the one who will be infamous, so what have I to do with it?" Although Gao Cheng's character is poor, he has a good reputation for loving talents. After reading the letter, his first reaction was not to be angry, let alone depressed, but to ask who wrote the letter. After learning that it was Wang Wei, he couldn't help sighing: "Wang Wei is so talented. , why didn't I know?" It was a bit like Cao Cao pity Chen Lin. Since negotiating and persuading capitulation could not solve substantive problems, there was only a battle between the Eastern Wei and the Lianghou coalition forces.