Chapter 25 7. Former Yan Jianguo

Let's go back to the internal strife of the Murong family in Chapter Four. The Murong Xianbei brothers fought each other, and each occupied one side, but it gave another Liaodong clan (strictly speaking, it should be in the west of Liaoning) the Duan family an opportunity to take advantage of.Duan Liao formed an alliance with Murong Ren to destroy Murong Xin's heir, Murong Hao. In the second year after the division of Murong, Duan Liao decided to send troops to attack Murong Hao's territory.He first sent an army to attack Tuhe tentatively, but failed to gain anything.Then he sent his younger brothers Duan Lan and Murong Han to lead troops to attack Murong Hao's border city Liucheng (in today's Chaoyang area of ​​Liaoning).

Duan Lan took the soldiers who failed to attack the city back to meet Duan Liao, which made Duan Liao very annoyed. He scolded Duan Lan angrily, gave him 20 days of training time, and strictly ordered Liucheng to be captured. The two armies met again and fought extremely hard.Duan Lan really paid a lot of money this time, and asked the siege soldiers to put on heavy armor, put on big shields, set up ladders, and march in all directions, day and night, trying to capture Liucheng at all costs.Shi Cong and others defended the city desperately. The offensive and defensive battle lasted for nearly a month, and both sides suffered heavy losses.

Fearing that something might happen to Liucheng, Murong Hao sent Murong Khan and counselor Feng Yi to reinforce them.Before leaving, Murong Hao told Murong Khan again and again: "The enemy's army is very powerful, so don't fight against it." To touch an egg against a rock, lead troops to approach the main force of Duan Lan's army.The two armies met in the Niuwei Valley near Liucheng. Murong Khan's army was under-prepared and was defeated by the opponent. Fortunately, Feng Yi was not chaotic in the face of danger, he regrouped the remnants and fought and retreated, so the entire army was not wiped out.

Duan Lan's army took advantage of the victory to pursue, and the situation of Murong's troops was in jeopardy. He didn't want someone to come out to protect him at the critical moment. This person was Murong Han who accompanied Duan Lan to the expedition.Although Murong Han took refuge in the Duan family, he still missed the Murong family from time to time. He was afraid that Duan Lan would destroy the Murong family, so he urged Duan Lan: "Although we have defeated the enemy's army, we have not yet won the victory. Murong Hao is cunning and likes to ambush. If he concentrates all the troops of the whole country to resist us, and our army goes deep alone, I am afraid that we will be outnumbered, and it will be dangerous! Besides, we have sent troops this time, and victory is enough. Why bother to take risks? If you miss it, wouldn’t your reputation be ruined?”

Duan Lan disagreed, saying: "Our army has become a certain victory. There is no reason to retreat. You are afraid that this will destroy your country. Now that Murong Ren is still in the east, if our army wins, I will fight against you." Let him be the heir." Of course Murong Han didn't dare to admit his true thoughts, and swore that he was completely thinking about Duan Guo's interests, not for personal fame, and he was about to retreat with his troops, but Duan Lan had no choice but to retreat. (Looking at this matter alone, it seems that Murong Han was able to prevent his country from being destroyed by himself. Murong Han's performance is quite remarkable. But after thinking about it, what Murong Han said is that it is difficult to destroy the Murong family. The reason is actually not unreasonable. The army led by Duan Lan is actually the entire main force of the Duan country, and Murong Hao's own army did not suffer any losses at the time. If there is a real battle, it may turn into a decisive battle between the two countries. , no one is sure of winning, and no one can afford such a battle. However, Murong Khan's mistakes in command did not cause too much loss to Murong's troops. Get a good respite.)

In the second year of the defeat of Niuwei Valley, after reorganizing the army, Murong Hao sent troops to conquer Murong Ren and captured Xiangping in one fell swoop.Two years later, in the spring of the second year of Xiankang, Emperor Cheng of the Jin Dynasty (AD 336), Murong Hao took advantage of the freezing sea water and ventured to march on the ice. A few days later, he suddenly appeared seven miles away from Pingguo City, Murongren's old nest.Murong Ren hastily went into battle, thinking that Murong Hao just sent a small army, and said to the left and right: "This time they will come and go!" , Murong Hao was in the enemy's formation, so Murong Ren's soldiers became ambitious.Before the confrontation between the two armies, the general Murong Jun led his headquarters to surrender to Murong Hao. The morale of Murong Hao's army was greatly boosted, and they marched to defeat Murong Ren.

Murong Ren fled with the remnants of the defeated general, and was betrayed by his subordinates. He was forced to sacrifice to Murong Hao. Murong Hao first killed the traitorous general under Murong Ren, and then gave Murong Ren his death. The dispute between the Murong family brothers ended in Murong Ren's failure . Duan Liao was greatly shocked when Murong Hao unified the Murong Department, and Duan Lan also began to regret not chasing the poor bandits back then, causing endless troubles.So Duan Liao once again sent Duan Lan to lead an army of tens of thousands to attack Murong Hao's Liucheng. Yuwen Yidougui, the last leader of the Yuwen Department, also joined in the fun and attacked Murong Hao's Anjin.Murong Hao no longer had any worries about Murong Ren, so he personally led the army to meet the enemy, and the two armies fled. (This battle is very strange. It is said in the history books that the armies of the two armies "flee without fighting". The battle of preparation", it can be seen that only in terms of talent, these two opponents of Murong Hao in Liaodong are really too weak.)

After this battle, Duan Liao was completely at a disadvantage in the confrontation with Murong Hao. Duan Lan's repeated attacks were all repulsed by Murong Hao, and the Duan family gradually changed from offensive to defensive. In the third year of Xiankang Emperor Cheng of Jin Dynasty (337 A.D.), Murong Hao sat on the throne of King Yan with peace of mind under the persuasion of his counselor Feng Yi and others. With the first own country - Qianyan.From the beginning, this country has been imprinted with a lot of imprints of Han culture. Compared with other five Hu countries, it seems to lack some kind of wildness unique to Hu people, although the Murong family has never accepted the real Sinicization.Perhaps it was this small cultural difference (or characteristic) that determined the final fate of the former Yan and the subsequent Yan states.