Chapter 31 Section 5 Confidence

Once Xie Gong died, the tens of thousands of elite soldiers under his command were controlled by the deputy general Ma Wu.Ma Wu, Zizhang, a native of Huyang, Nanyang, was born in the Green Forest Army. He once fought side by side with Liu Xiu in Kunyang. He is one of the famous Kunyang Thirteen Cavalry.Liu Xiu had long wanted to kill Xie Gong, so he kept trying to win over Ma Wu, and Ma Wu also secretly returned his heart.It was also because of Ma Wuzhi's defection that Liu Xiu dared to kill Xie Gong.Just after Xie Gong died, Ma Wu led the crowd to surrender, and tens of thousands of elite soldiers were all in Liu Xiu's pocket.

Wu Han killed Mu Miaozeng of Youzhou, Geng Yan captured Wei Shun, the prefect of Shanggu, and Cai Chong, the prefect of Yuyang. For a while, Youzhou was shocked.For the chiefs of the counties and counties in Youzhou, this is a strong signal that the time to stand in line has come, and they can no longer sit on the fence, and they can no longer wait and see. The surname of Youzhou is Liu, but is it Liu Xuan's Liu or Liu? Xiu Liu, they must immediately come up with a clear attitude.Continuing to work for Liu Xuan, the fate can be imagined, with the heads of Miao Zeng, Wei Shun, and Cai Chong as evidence, so they all bowed their heads and obeyed, consciously offering food and sending troops, pouring out their loyalty to Liu Xiu .

As Miao Zeng, Wei Shun, and Cai Chong were killed and their official positions became vacant, Liu Xiu ordered Geng Kuang and Peng Chong to return to their original posts. Zhu Fu, courtesy name Shuyuan, was born in Xiao County, Peiguo. He and Liu Xiu had a half-citizen friendship. He was young and talented, and Liu Xiu appreciated him. Therefore, he was promoted from a partial general to a general in Youzhou. . In one day, Liu Xiu killed four high-ranking ministers with two thousand shi in a row, and wiped out all the forces that the imperial court had placed around him.However, for Liu Xiu's blatant confrontation with the imperial court, the imperial court could only respond with silence, let alone questioning and punishing, not even a minimum protest.There is no other reason. At this time, the imperial court, under the threat of the Red Eyebrow Army, is too busy to take care of itself.

It has been six years since the Red Eyebrow Army raised its troops. This is the six years of living in turmoil and wandering without a fixed place. This is the six years of living without knowing the next meal. I am tired of fighting, weep day and night, and want to return to the east, to return to the hometown of Qing and Xu.The leader Fan Chong and others thought together that if they returned to Qingxu from the east, the troops would be disbanded and they would go back to their homes and find their own mothers. Instead of this, it would be better to attack Chang'an westward. Willing to hold together.Therefore, after raging Jingzhou, the Red Eyebrow Army divided into two groups, passing through Wuguan Pass and Luhun Pass, and marched towards Chang'an.After receiving the report, the imperial court raised a large army and stationed them in Hedong and Hongnong, waiting in full force.

Seeing that the decisive battle between the Red Eyebrow Army and the imperial court was imminent, and no one had time to spare, Liu Xiu could finally settle down and wipe out the refugee armed forces in Hebei. The first target of Liu Xiuqing's suppression was the Bronze Horse, which was the closest to Handan and also the most powerful.In September, Liu Xiu sent troops to Qingyang, and Wu Han and Geng Yan also brought the newly recruited Youzhou Tuqi to join the army. In view of Wang Mang's failure in suppressing bandits, which led to the subjugation of the country, Liu Xiu, despite his generals' eagerness to fight, always adhered to the eight-character policy: "Stick to the camp and defend yourself, surround and do not fight." Hit it and break its food path.After a month of siege, the Bronze Horse ran out of food and fled overnight.

Liu Xiuzong pursued him closely, and he chased him to Guantao, where he was defeated.The Bronze Horse asked to surrender, Liu Xiuxuzhi, and when he was accepting the surrender, two other groups of refugees armed Gaohu and Chonglian came from the southeast, so the Bronze Horse refused to surrender again, joined Gaohu and Chonglian, and then fled to the southeast .Liu Xiu chased all the way, fought in Puyang, and was defeated again.The Bronze Horse asked to surrender again, Liu Xiu ignored the previous suspicions, and still agreed, and named its leader a lieutenant. Although the leader of the Bronze Horse had surrendered, he was unavoidably apprehensive, fearing that Liu Xiu would be angry that they had surrendered and rebelled first, and would kill them and liquidate them.Liu Xiu saw the concerns of the leaders, so he ordered the leaders to go back to their camps and wait for them. He will personally enter the camp to comfort them.

When the generals heard that Liu Xiu was going to visit the Bronze Horse camp, they were all panicked, and tried to persuade them: "The Bronze Horse thief is capricious and cannot be trusted. Minggong's going here is like throwing himself into a tiger's den. If the Bronze Horse wants to harm Minggong, Duke Ming must surely die." Liu Xiu said with a smile: "I'm afraid, and the bronze horse is more afraid than I am. The bronze horse has just landed, and its shock is still unresolved. It's not enough to calm its mind." They are people, what they want is very simple, that is respect. The Red Eyebrow Army had already surrendered to Liu Xuan, why did they rebel later? It is precisely because Liu Xuan did not give the Red Eyebrow Army enough respect, and now he is suffering the fruit of his own pain and regretting it. Don't be afraid of the mistakes of the past and the lessons of the future!"

The generals persuaded him to die, but Liu Xiu insisted on not listening, saying: "If God wanted me to die, I would have died long ago. Why wait for today!" After speaking, he led more than ten cavalry soldiers and went straight into the bronze horse camp. Seeing that Liu Xiu came here as promised, the Bronze Horse was all moved and encouraged. Liu Xiu dared to come here, it was tantamount to handing over his life to them. This was the greatest respect for them and the greatest sincerity to them.From the bronze horse to the leader and down to the soldiers, they all sighed: "King Xiao put his heart in people's stomachs, and he will die if he is safe!"

Looking back at Liu Xiu's compilation of the Battle of the Bronze Horse, he not only contributed an idiom for later generations - heart-to-heart, but also raised Liu Xiu's strength to a higher level. There are hundreds of thousands of people under his command. In the western counties, the people at that time were honored as "Bronze Horse Emperor". Besides, Qingdu, Shangjiang, Datong, Tieshan, Wufan and other refugee armed forces, seeing Liu Xiu broke the bronze horse, suddenly felt that Hebei could not stay for long, so they joined forces with each other, more than 100,000 people, escaped from Hebei, and entered the jurisdiction of the Sili Department Hanoi County, entrenched in Shegou area.

For these refugee armed forces who escaped from Hebei, should they pursue or not?All the generals could not help but hesitate.With Liu Xiu's current official position, his authority is only in the Hebei area. Once he chases into Hanoi County, he will not only cross the border, but also exceed his authority. Liu Xiu said angrily, "where the thieves go, that is, where my troops go, why bother to ask about the boundaries?" He personally led the army out of Hebei, entered Hanoi, went straight to Shegou, and defeated the Qingdu coalition army.Qingdu was defeated in a row and his heart was broken. He escaped all the way across the Yellow River and joined the Red Eyebrow Army.

Liu Xiu's army had already entered Hanoi County, so naturally there was no reason to return, and the army was approaching Huaicheng, the capital of Hanoi County.After being persuaded by Cen Peng, Han Xin, the prefect of Hanoi, had no choice but to leave the city and surrender, and Hanoi County was merged into Liu Xiu's territory.Liu Xiu appointed Cen Peng as the general who assassinated and raped, and envoys inspected the camps, and Han Xin was appointed as Deng Yu's army advisor. Following the successive surrenders of Ma Wu and Cen Peng, the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai, who will go down to future generations, have officially gathered here. Among the more than 100 counties in China at that time, Hanoi County was one of the few counties that did not suffer from military disasters. The city was intact, the household registration was rich, and it was surrounded by mountains and rivers. When offering advice to Liu Xiu, he compared Hanoi County to Guanzhong, which helped Liu Bang win the world. Now that Liu Xiu had acquired Hanoi County, he wanted to choose a good general to guard it. He called Deng Yu and said, "You said that I have Hanoi, which is like the Guanzhong of Gaozu. Xiao He governed Guanzhong, and Gaozu didn't have to worry about going west! Wu Han's ability, Qing's move, and I will return to me. Take Xiao He." Deng Yudao: "Kou Xun is talented both in civil and military affairs. He has the talent of shepherd and guarding the crowd. He is the only one who cannot be used." Liu Xiu then appointed Kou Xun as the prefect of Hanoi, increased his rank as a general, and said to Kou Xun: "Hanoi is full of wealth, and I will rise because of it. In the past, the emperor left Xiaohe to guard Guanzhong, and now I entrust Hanoi to guard the transshipment and provide enough food for the army. Lead the soldiers and horses, prevent other soldiers, and don't let them go north." Liu Xiu worshiped Feng Yi again as General Mengjin, and commanded Weijun and Hanoi soldiers on the river to resist Luoyang.Feng Yi was a humble man who never retreated, and when all the generals gathered together, they would always fight for merit, but Feng Yi often sat alone under the tree without saying a word, and his military title was General Dashu.Feng Yi was originally Liu Xiu's earliest direct descendant, but unfortunately he has never been reused. This time Liu Xiu entrusted Feng Yi with a heavy responsibility, which can be regarded as compensation for Feng Yi's lateness. Looking at the combination of Kou Xun and Feng Yi, we can actually see Liu Xiu's painstaking efforts.Kou Xun is a native of Shanggu, representing the Hebei local forces that have newly joined Liu Xiu's camp; Feng Yi represents the Nanyang forces that have always followed Liu Xiu.And these two forces are also the two most important factions under Liu Xiu. To put it mildly, Liu Xiu wants to win over both sides. To put it bluntly, Liu Xiu dares not offend both sides.Therefore, Kou Xun is in charge of the government and Feng Yi is in charge of the army, which not only restricts each other, but also balances each other. The deployment in Hanoi is completed, and the southern battlefield is not worrying for the time being.According to Liu Xiu's judgment of the current situation, the Red Eyebrow Army will break through Chang'an, but they are unable to manage Chang'an, so they decided to open up the western front battlefield and take the opportunity to enter Guanzhong. As the coach of the western front, Deng Yu is naturally the best candidate.Liu Xiu worshiped Deng Yu as a former general, held the festival, awarded 20,000 elite soldiers, and entered the pass in the west.Liu Xiu himself led his troops to the north to continue to eliminate the remaining refugee armed forces remaining in Hebei. All Liu Xiu's plans are set, and it is the end of the second year of Gengshi.If you want to know what happened next, you will find out in the coming year.