Chapter 59 5. Hidden dangers of Hou Yan

In the two battles against Ding Ling and Xiyan, Murong Chui brought his art of war to the extreme, and his Houyan Empire also came to the end of its heyday. Murong Chui left behind two hidden dangers, one internal and one external, during the process of conquering the South and the North.The hidden danger inside is the Murong family's old problem of internal fighting.In the two generations of Murong Chui and his nephew, Murong Xianbei can be said to be full of talents. Among them are his younger brother Fanyang Wang Murongde who has always been close to him, and his sons Prince Murongbao, Zhao Wang Muronglin, Liaoxi Wang Murongnong, Gaoyang Wang Muronglong, nephews Taiyuan Wang Murongkai, and Chenliu Wang Murongshao, these people were all powerful when Houyan pacified the north, and when they made meritorious deeds and became kings, they refused to accept each other.

The territory of Houyan is quite large, with Murong Nong in the northeast, Murong De in the southeast, Murong Lin in the northwest, and Murong Long, Murong Shao, and Murong Kai in the east, south, and west respectively. The centrifugal force in the middle is actually quite large. What's worse is that Murong Chui is getting old and has handed over state affairs to the crown prince, Murong Bao. The suffering Yan State made a mess of domestic and foreign affairs. When it comes to diplomacy, it is necessary to talk about hidden dangers outside Houyan.One year before Hou Yan eliminated Ding Ling, Murong Chui sent troops again to help Tuobagui who had bowed to him in order to pacify the north.Relying on Houyan's reinforcements, Tuoba Gui launched a decisive battle with his world enemy Liu Weichen, defeated him in one fell swoop, and took advantage of the victory to pursue and occupy the territory of the Tiefu tribe.Liu Weichen was killed in the rebellion, and Tuoba Gui ordered all the clans of more than 5,000 people to be beheaded and thrown into the Yellow River. (The Tiefu Huns almost wiped out their clan. Liu Weichen’s youngest son, Liu Bobo, fled to the Later Qin State alone, and later became Helian Bobo, who made the Kansai area change. This will be discussed when the Later Qin Dynasty declines and the Great Xia rises.)

Tuobagui got millions of cattle, sheep and horses from Tiefu people, strengthened his strength, and gradually stopped listening to Murongchui obediently like before.Tuoba Gui specially sent his cousin Tuoba Yi to Zhongshan to find out the facts. Murong Chui received Tuoba Yi and questioned him, "Why doesn't King Wei come by himself?" Tuobayi replied: "Our Tuoba family has lived in the north since our ancestors, and it is still the case today. Back then, the ancestor king was named the acting king by the emperor of Jin Dynasty, and he worked with your ancestors for a time. They are brothers to each other. Now I was ordered to go on a mission, and there is no disrespect."

Murong Chui felt that this envoy was very unusual, and asked him again: "My army is strong and powerful, and your master dares not come to see me. How can you say that there is no disrespect?" Tuoba Yi shook his head and said: "If the Yan Kingdom does not cultivate culture and morality, and thinks that it can dominate the world with a strong military, then you have to ask the generals of our country. It is not my turn to speak as an envoy." What Tuoba Yi said was reasonable, forceful and restrained, Murong Chui had nothing to do with him, so he let him go back to Wei State.

As soon as Tuobayi came back, she said to Tuobagui: "The emperor of Yan is old, the crown prince is weak, and King Fan Yang (Murongde) is very conceited. I'm afraid he won't feel at ease as the young master's servant. As long as Murong dies, Yan will die." There must be civil strife, and when the time comes, it will naturally be our world, and now is not the time to act." Encouraged by this, Tuobagui secretly accumulated strength and prepared to turn against Houyan. The fuse of the incident began when Tuobagui sent his younger brother Tuobagu to the Yan Kingdom, and Murongchui no longer cared about state affairs. A group of Murong's children showed the arrogance of a big country, forcibly detained Tuobagu, and asked the Northern Wei Dynasty to send them a BMW. Tuobagui refused to give, and cut off diplomacy with Houyan.

Two years later, Houyan attacked Xiyan, and Tuoba Gui actively sent troops to aid Murong Yong. Although it didn't help, in Murongchui's view, this was the most hateful thing about not thinking about Yan and Wei's alliance for many years.After the destruction of Xiyan, Murong Chui was seriously ill and didn't want to use troops, but he couldn't resist the instigation of Murong Bao and others. Ten thousand defeated Wei and asked Murong De and Murong Shao to lead another 18,000 infantry and cavalry as successors. Gao Hu's bitter remonstrance did not work, and he was dismissed from office. It seems that this posture is going to wipe out the Northern Wei Dynasty in one fell swoop.

Tuobagui had dealt with Houyan for more than ten years, so he knew this opponent almost like the back of his hand.Murong Bao's army marched to the north bank of the Yellow River in Wuyuan (northwest of Baotou, Inner Mongolia today). Tuobagui on the south bank first sent people to intercept Houyan's messenger on the way from Zhongshan to Wuyuan. They couldn't reach Houyan's army camp, and Brother Murongbao was in a state of panic. Tuobagui pulled the captured Houyan envoy to the bank of the Yellow River and shouted: "Your father is dead, you should go back soon!" How important is the position in history?Murong Bao and others who didn't know the truth were worried and afraid at this time, and the soldiers of Houyan were even more shaken and terrified.

Murong Yan's army was in a difficult situation, but Tuoba Gui made arrangements here. He sent Tuoba Qian and Tuoba Yi each to lead tens of thousands of cavalry to station in Hedong and Hebei, and let Tuoba Zun lead 70,000 cavalry (Tuoba Gui After ten years of fighting, there are still so many cavalry units, which makes people doubt the correctness of this number, but it should be reasonable to have tens of thousands of elite cavalry.) quietly went around to the southeast of the Yan army, that is, Yan The army's retreat. Beginning in September, the Yan army and the Wei army held each other in the Wuyuan area for nearly a month. Murong Bao's army changed from a proud soldier to a weak one. Although Murong Bao felt guilty, he had no intention of retreating.One of Murong Lin's subordinates named Mu Yusong felt that Murong Chui was really dead, so he rallied his subordinates to cause chaos and supported Murong Lin as emperor.When the matter came to light, Murong Bao killed Mu Yusong and the others. Although he still couldn't catch Murong Lin and couldn't deal with him, he already had doubts about this brother in his heart.

Under such circumstances, Yan's army barely survived until the end of October. At this time, the Wuyuan area was already icy and windy. As winter came, Murong Bao ordered the ferry to be burned and the troops withdrawn.At that time, the Yellow River had not yet frozen. Murong Bao believed that the Wei army did not have enough boats to cross the river to pursue them, and there was no need to take any precautions. The Yan army retreated all the way east. Tuobagui did not act immediately on the south bank. On the eighth day after the Yan army retreated, the weather changed suddenly, a storm blew up, and the river froze quickly.Tuobagui was overjoyed, he hurriedly left all his belongings behind, mobilized 20,000 elite cavalry overnight, rushed across the Yellow River at the fastest speed, and chased in the direction where the Yan army was retreating.