Chapter 10 8. Fall of Luoyang

The two disastrous defeats of the Han Dynasty in the three years of Yongjia were like two consecutive heavy punches by a heavyweight boxer. The shots were quite powerful, but due to lack of experience, they were hit hard by lightweight opponents.But Han Guo did not fall on the ring. It retracted its fist at this time, while accumulating its own strength, while looking for the opponent's flaws. Experts may understand that for a strong boxer, this move will is fatal. Liu He, who had just ascended the throne, was far less talented than his father, lacked sufficient leadership skills, and had a lot of suspicion. All subsequent developments showed that Liu Yuan failed in choosing a successor. (I think he can be said to be the first person to fail on this issue in the Sixteen Kingdoms era - of course, excluding the time of Sima Yan, when the chaos of the Sixteen Kingdoms had not yet begun - the neglect of the issue of establishing an heir should probably also be ignored. Count it as an important reason for the chaos in the Sixteen Kingdoms.)

After Liu He came to the throne, he immediately became dissatisfied with his father's entrustment of the sons. Because Liu Cong and others held military power, he believed that his brothers posed a serious threat to his throne.In response to the saying "Things of a feather flock together, people are divided into groups", Liu He also gathered around a bunch of bad people who were excluded by Liu Yuan in the previous dynasty and could not be reused, so they held grudges. Among them was the one who died in the Luoyang War The son of Huyanyi, Huyanyou who was Zongzheng at the time, Wei Wei Liu Rui, and servant Liu Cheng.They all privately urged Liu He to get rid of the "hidden danger" beside his couch as soon as possible-Liu Cong and others in the suburbs of Pingyang, the capital of the military supporter country.This Huyanyou was Liu He's uncle, and after hearing his words, Liu He became more determined-to act first and get rid of a few brothers.He summoned several generals of the guards overnight and expressed his plan to kill the kings. His younger brother Liu Sheng advised Liu He not to kill each other, but Liu He immediately killed him, and the other generals had to obey.

Liu He ordered Liu Rui, Hu Yanyou, Liu Cheng and others to arrest Chu Wang Liu Cong, Qi Wang Liu Yu, Lu Wang Liu Long, Beihai King Liu Yi and other clans.Liu Cong was shocked when he was informed by Tian Mi, Liu Sui and others who were ordered to arrest Liu Yi.Liu Cong had many conflicts with Liu He, so he decided to launch a mutiny.Liu Rui, who came to attack Liu Cong, found that Liu Cong was ready in the camp, and was confused for a while, so he ran back and joined forces with Hu Yanyou and Liu Cheng to attack King Qi, King Lu and others.The kings of Qi and Lu were killed, and Liu Cong's army rushed into Liu He's palace.It only took Liu Cong three days to kill Liu He, who seemed to have Sima gene, in the palace, and his accomplices Hu Yanyou, Liu Rui, and Liu Cheng were all beheaded for public display.

Liu Cong relied on his military power to eliminate the forces opposing him in the palace, and quickly controlled the situation in the Han Dynasty. Since he was the oldest of Liu Yuan's remaining sons, even though Liu Cong wanted to make his younger brother King Beihai Liu Yi succeeded to the throne, but after some refusals, he still sat on the throne of the emperor of the Han Dynasty and changed his name to Yuan Guangxing. This is Emperor Zhaowu of the Han Dynasty.Liu Cong recognized the importance of Shi Le and his cavalry, and appointed Shi Le as the governor of Bingzhou. Liu Cong's doting on Liu Yi, the younger brother of Liu Yuan's Empress Shan, really started with his absurd behavior.It turns out that although Empress Shan is the wife of Liu Cong's father, she is very young and beautiful. Liu Cong once had an affair with her, and since then she loves the house and loves her, so she loves Shan's son Liu Yi very much (I doubt whether Liu Yi is Liu Cong's son, this It seems that history books don’t say nonsense, but according to Liu Cong’s performance, this conjecture may not be untrue. Hehe, from this point of view, the mutilation of flesh and blood in the Jin Dynasty seems to be much better than the incest in the Han Dynasty Well. The demise of the Han Dynasty will not be far away!).Liu Ai didn't realize all this. He believed that Shan Shi was unfaithful to Liu Yuan, and often taunted her. Shan Shi died of depression in shame.This unknown Liu Yi didn't have a good end, and since then he lost his favor. It was only because of Mrs. Shan that Liu Cong didn't touch him easily.

After Liu Cong succeeded to the throne, the Han army adopted isolation and siege tactics against Luoyang, the capital of Jin.Shile's cavalry could be said to be invincible on the vast North China Plain, and soon crossed the Yellow River. Nanyang and Wancheng in the south of the Yellow River in the Jin Dynasty fell one after another.Shi Le hated the officials of the Jin Dynasty so much that he killed almost all Jin officials who captured more than 2,000 shi during the battle.Shi Le's cavalry quickly captured Xiangyang City, and more than 30 fortresses in the Jiang and Han areas fell into Shi Le's hands.Shile's cavalry dominated Jianghan, and wanted to use this as a base to compete with the world. Zhang Bin, who joined the army, immediately pointed out to him the current situation: the battle line has been stretched too long, and the Jianghan area is not suitable for the development of Shile's fine cavalry, so it is better to retreat north.

Shi Lebei also captured Jinjiangxia, Xincai, Xuchang and other cities successively.The Shile cavalry's north and south moves up and down, can be said to be awe-inspiring in the Central Plains.At this time, a huge occupied area appeared on the east line of Luoyang. Luoyang fell into an isolated and helpless position, and soon fell into a dilemma of hunger and poverty. Sima Yue sent envoys to meet Emperor Huai and asked him for a call to action to recruit soldiers from all over the world to support him.Poor Emperor Huai of Jin, lamented to the envoy with tears in his eyes: "Declare to the world in my name: It's too late to save me today, and I'm afraid I won't be saved in a few days!" It's a pity that a few reinforcements have not yet arrived in Luoyang. After losing the battle and retreating early, Luoyang City did not wait for any reinforcements after all. (The princes and ministers of the Jin Dynasty were too extravagant at the beginning, and they lost the hearts of the world, and finally tasted the consequences.)

In desperation, Sima Yue personally led more than 200,000 Jin troops to crusade against Shi Le. At this time, Emperor Huai of Jin was already dissatisfied with Sima Yue's monopoly, and ordered Gou Xi, who was stationed in Qingzhou, to crusade against Sima Yue. (There was another civil strife in the Jin Dynasty. Alas, there are famous generals who don’t use them, and they kill each other at the time of life and death. There is nothing to say.) Sima Yue temporarily organized an army to fight against Gou Xi, and was defeated again. The last beneficiary of the "Rebellion" and the only survivor of the "Eight Kings", finally became sick with grief and anger, and died of illness in the army.

Taiwei Wang Yandai Sima Yue led the crowd to the east, escorted Sima Yue's coffin back to the East China Sea, and traveled to Ningping City (now Luyi, Henan), where he was caught up and surrounded by Shi Le's light cavalry.Shi Le commanded the cavalry to shoot from all directions, and Wang Yan led more than 100,000 people without any escape.The captured princes, nobles, and ministers begged to be saved from death. Wang Yan even pushed the responsibility for the defeat of the Jin Dynasty completely, saying that the government was not doing its own business, and took the opportunity to flatter Shi Le, persuade Shi Le to become emperor, and use the Please live.Shi Le glanced at Wang Yan, and said contemptuously: "You were famous all over the world when you were young, and you came to court and shouldered important responsibilities, but now you say such words that are not spoken by an official. The chaos in the world today is all caused by you." It was caused by someone!" Li Ming pushed out left and right.That night, Shi Le sent people to line up the wall to kill all these dignitaries, and a generation of "clear talkers" Wang Yan died just like this.

Li Yun was originally Sima Yue who stayed in Luoyang to monitor Emperor Huai of Jin Dynasty. Because Sima Yue lost power, he fled Luoyang with a large number of princes and officials in the name of going to funeral.After Shi Le destroyed Wang Yan's army, he defeated Li Yun's army and killed the forty-eight kings and officials of the Jin clan who accompanied the army. In the summer of the fifth year of Yongjia, Liu Cong believed that the time was ripe to destroy the Jin Dynasty, and ordered General Hu Yanyan to lead 27,000 troops to attack Luoyang.The Jin army had no fighting spirit, and was defeated like a mountain, losing twelve battles in a row, and more than 30,000 soldiers were wiped out.Huyanyan took advantage of the victory to join forces with Liu Yao, Shi Le, and Wang Mi's army to besiege Luoyang.The Han army broke through the city gate of Luoyang at an extremely fast speed, and Emperor Huai of Jin was chased by the Han army on the way out of the city to escape to Chang'an.Liu Yao led the Han soldiers into the palace city, and killed a group of princes and ministers.As a result, the emperor of the Jin Dynasty became a prisoner of the Han Dynasty, the imperial tombs and temples of the Jin Dynasty were looted and burned, and Luoyang, the capital of Jin Dynasty, fell. ——This year is 311 AD, only 31 years since Sima Yan destroyed Wu.