Chapter 32 Fourteen, bloody storm

Shi Hu failed to live another ten years as he said, and died in disappointment and pain in the first year of Zhao Taining (AD 349).Four months before his death, he ascended to the throne of the emperor (he had always called himself the king of Zhao), but he could no longer reproduce the scene of reigning in the world in the Shile period. do. A band of exiles composed of Hercules set out to shake the pillars of this vast empire.These strong men are called "Gao Li". They were originally selected by the former prince Shi Xuan as the main members of his guard. After Shi Xuan was executed, the officials of the East Palace were either beheaded or exiled. Liangzhou (this Liangzhou is the Liangzhou established by Later Zhao, not the one occupied by the Zhang family).

Gao Li's team went to Yongzhou, and Zhang Mao, the governor, was ordered to see them off. He treated them very contemptuously, robbed their horses, and ordered them to walk with carts to transport grain to Liangzhou.Liang Du, the leader of Gao Lizhong, took advantage of the complaints from the crowd, and claimed to be the General of the Jin Kingdom (it can be seen that the Jin Dynasty had a profound influence on the people at that time), and led Gao Li to turn east and attack the Hou Zhao army.These Gaoli were originally born as warriors, and one person can be worth more than a dozen ordinary soldiers. Although they have neither armor nor weapons, they snatched the big axes of the common people on the spot, and went directly to the battle. Zhao's army met them It's not their opponent.Gaoli's army quickly swept across Chang'an, Luoyang and other places, from Guanzhong to Guandong, and approached Yecheng, the capital of Later Zhao.

Shihu, who was struggling on the sickbed, was shocked by the sudden change. He hurriedly mobilized the domestic military forces and appointed Yan Wang Shibin as the governor. Leading troops to conquer, the sons of these two families later established the former Qin and the later Qin respectively, which are now in a period of rapid rise.After all, Gao Li's army was outnumbered, and was wiped out in the battle between Xingyang and Hou Zhao's elite troops. With strong generals outside and powerful ministers inside, the signs of chaos are obvious.Before Shi Hu died, there were so-called "power ministers" ready to move.

Prince Shi Shi is a child who has never seen the world, but his mother, Liu Shi, is scheming and quite scheming.This Liu family is the daughter of the former Emperor Liu Yao of Zhao (really unhappy with retribution). When the former Zhao was destroyed, she was captured by Shi Hu's general Zhang Wei, and later dedicated to Shi Hu, and Zhang Hao was also promoted.The Liu family never forgets the old love. When Shi Hu was critically ill, he listened to Shi Hu and asked Shi Hu to appoint Zhang Jack as the general of the town guard, and he was the same assistant minister as Pengcheng Wang Shi Zun and Yan Wang Shi Bin.

Shi Zunyong was away, and Liu was unable to take care of him. However, Shi Bin was in Xiangguo, the old capital of Hou Zhao. Liu was worried that he would be disadvantageous to him. First, he falsely passed the imperial decree saying that Shi Bin was a drunkard, good at hunting, and had no king in his heart. Let go of his official position, and put him under house arrest in the mansion; then let Zhang Jack repeat his old tricks, and pass an imperial decree to kill Shi Bin in the mansion. The biggest obstacle has been removed, and Shihu is dying, so Liu appointed Zhang Jack as the Taibao under the guise of Shihu's name, in charge of internal and external military affairs.On the second day, Shihu finally kicked his legs and died. The little emperor ascended the throne, and the Liu family proclaimed himself as the queen mother.

Zhang Jie discussed with the Taiwei Zhang Ju to get rid of Li Nong, Sikong, and Zhang Ju told Li Nong the secret in private. confrontation.Empress Dowager Liu sent Zhang Ju to command the last military force in Yecheng, the Guards, to besiege, and the air around the capital was unprecedentedly tense. At this time, Shi Zuncong, who got the news of Shihu's death, rushed to Guanzhong to attend the funeral. In Licheng (near Handan, Hebei Province today), he met Yao Yizhong, Pu Hong and Ran Min who had just wiped out Gaoli and returned triumphantly.These people also knew the news that Zhang Jackal was in power in the court, and they jointly persuaded Shi Zun to take advantage of the emptiness of Yecheng's defenses, capture the capital in one fell swoop, and regain the throne.Shi Zun had this intention a long time ago, and getting the support of this army was exactly what he wished for, so he set up troops from Licheng to attack Yecheng.

Zhang Jack was so frightened that he was at a loss, and hurriedly called back Zhang Ju's army. Unexpectedly, the Hu people in the city thought that Shi Zun came to the funeral and should go to greet him, and they could not let Zhang Jue guard the city.Zhang Jack was unable to prevent the people from fleeing from the city, and even Zhang Li, the general of the town army whom he single-handedly promoted, opened the city gate to welcome Shi Zun. (Everyone pushes the wall down, not to mention Zhang Jack is not a thick wall, if something goes wrong, it will only fall down faster.) Zhang Hao was a completely uninitiated person, and he made a very ridiculous move at this time. He listened to the advice of Empress Dowager Liu and added a lot of official titles to Shi Zun. Shi Zun ignored them and drove his troops to the outside of Yecheng Zhang Jack tremblingly went out to meet him at the Anyang Pavilion, but was arrested by Shi Zun on the spot.

On the second day, Shi Zun entered Yecheng with a heavy army. After routinely crying over Shihu's spiritual tablet, he ordered Zhang Jackal to be beheaded and his three clans to be exterminated.Shi Zun abolished Shi Shi in the name of Queen Mother Liu and established himself as emperor.Of course, there is nothing to say about the ending of Shi Shi's mother and son, they were all killed by Shi Zun. Where did Shi Zun think that he would not be able to sit firmly on the throne, and the act of abolishing his heir and standing on his own caused strong dissatisfaction among the kings stationed in various places.Pei Wang Shi Chong of Jicheng spread his message to Youzhou, Jizhou and other places, and went south to crusade against Shi Zun.Shi Zun sent 100,000 elite soldiers to fight against him, and Shi Chong was killed, but this battle further perfected the leader of the army, Ran Min, and made him famous.

Ran Min was dissatisfied with Shi Zun for a long time. When Shi Zun marched into Yecheng, he made a promise to Ran Min: "Work hard. I will make you the crown prince after it is done." Bin's son Shi Yan.Relying on his high meritorious service, Ran Min showed strong dissatisfaction. He took advantage of the advantage of commanding military power inside and outside to promote all the soldiers in the palace to generals outside the palace and Marquis outside the Guan.Zhongshu ordered Meng Zhun and Zuowei General Wang Luan to persuade Shi Zun to take away the military power of Ran Min and get rid of him.

In November of that year, Shi Zun summoned Yiyang Wang Shijian, Dongping Wang Shibao, Ruyin Wang Shikun, Huainan Wang Shizhao and others to plot to kill Ran Min in the palace of Queen Mother Zheng (the queen mother had been replaced by Shi Zun's mother at this time). .Empress Dowager Zheng believed that Ran Min had contributed a lot to Licheng's rise of troops and could not be killed casually, so the meeting was aborted. On the surface, Shi Jian agreed to kill Ran Min, but immediately sent eunuchs to report the news to Ran Min after he came out.Ran Min acted first, hijacked Sikong, Li Nong and others, plotting to abolish the emperor, and dispatched soldiers Su Yan and Zhou Cheng to capture alive Shi Zun who was playing chess with the maids in the palace.

Shi Zun asked Zhou Cheng on the spot: "Who rebelled?" Zhou Cheng replied, "Shi Jian, the king of Yiyang, should be the emperor." Shi Zun sighed: "If I am like this, how many days can Shi Jian do?" Shi Zun, Meng Zhun, Wang Luan and others were killed, and Shi Jian became emperor logically. Shi Jian thanked Ran Min for his support, and named him King Wude, while Sikong and Li Nong were promoted to Da Sima, and the two of them were recorded as ministers.But Shi Jian was jealous of Ran Min and Li Nong, and soon ordered Dongping Wang Shibao, Zhongshu Ling Li Song and others to lead an army to attack Ran Min and Li Nong at night.The attack failed, Shi Jian was very panicked, pretended not to know, and killed Shi Bao, Li Song and others to finish the matter. Afterwards, Shi Cheng, the leader of the Central Committee, Shi Qi, the former governor of Hedong, and others also conspired to kill Ran Min and Li Nong, but they were killed by Ran Min.Long Xiang's generals Sun Fudu, Liu Zhu and others, supported by Shi Jian, led 2,000 Jie soldiers to ambush in secret. They also wanted to attack and kill Ran Min and Li Nong, but failed again. After attacking and killing Sun Fudu and others, Ran Min and Li Nong had seen through Shi Jian's intentions, so they imprisoned Shi Jian and ordered in the city: "Recently, Sun and Liu rebelled, and all the party members have been wiped out. No one participated. From now on, those who agree with the imperial court will stay, and those who disagree will be allowed to listen, and the city gate will no longer prohibit entry and exit.” As soon as the order came out, Han people with a radius of hundreds of miles entered Yecheng one after another, while Jie people and Huns in the city rushed out of the city.Ran Min knew that the Hu people were not for his own use, so he promulgated the "Decree to Kill the Hu People", and every Han who killed a Hu person would be promoted and added to the rank and title.He personally led the Han people to exterminate the Huns and Jie people, regardless of high or low, male or female, old or young, even those with high noses and beards who looked like Hu people would all die. This was a tragic "genocide" in Chinese history, and more than 200,000 Hu people were killed!Overnight, mountains of dead bodies piled up all around Yecheng, and the formerly prosperous capital of Hou Zhao Kingdom turned into a city of death.