Chapter 4 4. Joint decision to win

It was Xiajiang Bing who brought hope and nectar to Liu, and the leader of Xiajiang Bing was named Wang Chang. Wang Chang had wanted to help his brother a long time ago, but the Xiajiang soldiers were far away from the Liu army, and they had more energy than energy.Because when Liu and Xinshi soldiers were fighting with government arms at the front line, Wang Chang was also being chased and killed by government troops.It was a help from heaven. When Liu retreated to defend Jiyang, Wang Chang finally ran to Yiqiuju (now southeast of Tanghe County, Henan Province) with five thousand brothers.

To the north of Tanghe County is Zhenfu's government army.Therefore, Wang Chang did not come here to watch the fun, but came to help the battle. Liu decided to meet Wang Chang.He took two people out.One is Liu Xiu and the other is Li Tong. Li Tong, courtesy name Jiyuan, was born in Wan County, Nanyang County.Li Tong has been in business for generations and made his fortune very early. He is a big family in Wan County.His father, Li Shou, was Wang Mang Zongqing's teacher at that time, and he studied astrology with the national teacher Liu Xin in his early years, so he came up with the evil saying "Liu's family should be revived, and Li's assistant".After Li Tong's plan to rebel was leaked, Wang Mang sent someone to kill Li Shou, so Li Tong had to go to Liu Lai with his cousin Li Yi.

Wang Chang, courtesy name Yanqing, was born in Wuyang, Yingchuan.In his early years, he avenged his younger brother and fled to the rivers and lakes. Later, he participated in the Green Forest Uprising.Later, the Green Forest Brothers disbanded, and he brought a group of brothers with him to find another way out.Among all the Green Forest Brothers, Wang Chang is the most difficult one.Wang Mang's government army was the first to chase and kill him. He was chased all over the world, and then he turned around and took a few shots from the government army, and finally advanced to the vicinity of Jiyang by victory.

Liu and others came to Wang Chang's office and stated their views straight to the point.He told Wang Chang that the current enemy is strong and we are weak, so we must fight together.If everyone only cares about their own interests and fights their own guerrillas, it will be difficult to achieve great things in the end. Wang Changruo said enlightenedly: "Wang Mang usurped the Han, and the people and gods were all angry. Now that the Liu family is leading the rebels, it is right for us with different surnames to help you get back your own things." Liu laughed and said, "Please don't be suspicious. I'll just say something first. Since everyone grabs things together, everyone will share them together in the future. I will definitely not enjoy the fruits of everyone's labor alone."

Wang Chang nodded and said, "What you're telling is the truth. But in this case, you go back first, and I have to discuss it with my brothers." After Wang Chang sent Liu and others away, he immediately called a meeting.Unexpectedly, the generals had great opinions.What they mean is that they were the first to rebel, and they were also the ones who suffered the most. The brothers lived and slept in the open, for the purpose of making their company bigger and stronger.Now, based on Liu's words, they will be merged into his banner. This tone is really hard to swallow. Wang Chang smiled.He understood the mood of the generals very well. From the Green Forest Group back then to the Xiajiang Bing today, it was not easy to walk all the way.Rebellion is like starting a company. Everyone wants to make the company bigger and stronger.The problem is, not all companies that try to get bigger and stronger succeed.

The conditions for this success must be combined with the right time, location, and harmony. Therefore, Wang Chang gave them a serious analysis and said: Coolies can't accomplish great things if they work recklessly.Those who want to accomplish great things must obey God's will.What is the will of God is the will of the people.Wang Mang usurped the Han, causing the world to hang upside down, and the people's thoughts about the Han were like a flood.If those of us who came from the grassroots were used to respond to the uprising in the world, we would definitely not have as much influence as Liu's troops.

It's very simple, the door of Liu's store was smashed, but his sign is still there.The Liu brothers are descendants of the Han Dynasty. If we raise their banner, unite weak and weak, and strengthen our forces, the probability of success is far greater than our own rebellion. After Wang Chang flickered like this, the soldiers who went down the river seemed to recognize that Yinmao was ugly.Although the gang of desperadoes were basically illiterate and had no foresight, they were all real people.Using someone else's brand to make your own cake bigger is a good deal.Therefore, Xiajiang soldiers decided to defect to Liu.

With Wang Chang's arrival, Xinshi Bing and Ping Lin Bing were emotional. They decided not to run away and stayed to continue fighting.Liu Xin was ecstatic and decided to reward the army for three days.Three days later, Liu was ready to divide his troops and set off. How to divide the troops and where to attack?Liu thought of it this way: Judging from the formation of Zhen Fu, the prefect of Nanyang County, the last stand is to strive for a decisive battle.If he wants to fight head-on on the battlefield, he is obviously not an opponent of the government army.There are few others, but there are many government soldiers, and they are all jealous.Therefore, the most urgent task is to crack the formation of the government army.And to decipher the opponent's key technique, there is a trick that is quite effective.

This is - sneak attack.Liu already knew where to sneak attack. As mentioned earlier, after Zhen Fu led 100,000 elite soldiers to cross the Huangchun River, he left all his luggage in Lanxiang (now south of Nanyang City, Henan Province).What Liu focused on was the government army's luggage at Lanxiang.As long as the government army's supplies are settled, they will inevitably panic when they have no rice in the pot.Then attacking from the front can disrupt their position and eliminate them. AD 22, December 30th.One of Liu's troops set out secretly to Lanxiang. They attacked the government army at night and robbed all the luggage of the government army.

23 AD, spring, January 1st.According to the rules of the Han Dynasty, spring is the time when all things recover, and there is no need for punishment to treat the creatures on the earth kindly.However, Liu wanted to end the life of Zhen Fu, the prefect of Nanyang County, on this day. Later generations Cao Cao said that the art of war is strange and impermanent, and those who are taught the art of war are nerds.Obviously, Zhen Fu, the prefect of Nanyang County, is such a bookworm.The formation put up by the government army is really good-looking, but it is not resistant to fighting at all.Liu and Wang Chang attacked them together, disrupting their position at once.

Under Liu's swift offensive, Zhen Fu, the prefect of Nanyang County, and Liang Qiuci, the commander of the militia, were beheaded together, and more than 20,000 government troops were buried with them. Little did they know, if Zhen Fu could persevere a little longer, he might have been rescued.Because, when he and Liu were fighting happily, Wang Mang sent a large army to Wan County. This is a veritable army.There are two generals leading the army, one is General Yan You, and the other is General Chen Mao. Chen Mao is an unfamiliar name, but Yan You is familiar with it.Back then, Wang Mang led an army of hundreds of thousands to go north to attack the Huns. Among the many generals, Yan You was the one who urged Wang Mang to save costs.Later, during the Green Forest Uprising, people spread across the country like swarms of bees, and Yan You was the one who advised Wang Mang to be prepared for danger in times of peace. However, Wang Mang never listened to Yan You's words.The so-called loyal words are harsh to the ears, Wang Mang seems to have no ears, and he didn't listen to them.As a result, it was very disadvantageous not to listen to the words of good people, and there were more and more rioters, which made Wang Mang finally unable to sit still.In desperation, he had no choice but to send Yan You to send troops across the country to put out the fire. At this time, after Liu Lianjun wiped out the government army of Nanyang County, the assembled troops had reached hundreds of thousands.In fact, the world has become a mess at this time, hundreds of thousands of troops have gone, Yan You did not go to others, but to Liu, there is a reason. In terms of the number of rebel soldiers alone, Liu can't keep up with Qingzhou and Xuzhou rioters groups.Those two groups of suffering brothers, known as the Red Eyebrow Army, numbered hundreds of thousands.But Yan You believes that the two major groups are just mobs, and only Liu Jun is the heavy hitter to destroy the new dynasty. In Yan You's view, since ancient times, rebellion is not terrible, what is terrible is organized, planned and purposeful rebellion.This is like a person, once he has ideals and direction, he has strength.If you don't have these two things, even if you have all your strength, you don't know where to use it. There is no doubt that Liu's army is an organized, planned, and purposeful rebel army. Yan You didn't overestimate Liu, but he didn't know how much Liu paid for the interests of the group.First of all, the election of the leader of the rebel army is a big problem.Many people, including Liu, believed that Liu should be the leader of the coalition forces.Brother Liu Junli thinks so, and the leader of Xiajiang soldiers, Wang Chang, also thinks so. But some people said, why let Liu Lai take the top spot? Those who opposed Liu's leadership were the two black bosses.One is Wang Feng, the leader of Xinshi Bing, and the other is Chen Mu, the leader of Pinglin Bing.They agreed that Liu was too strong. If he was elected as the leader of the alliance, once the coalition forces became stronger, they would not be able to control them. In the end, the right to speak might be left behind, and their fate might also be marginalized. So in order to plan for the future, they must prepare early.And their method is to support a reliable and controllable person. Don't think that Xinshi Bing and Ping Lin Bing are fighting for the leader, just say they want to be the leader.In fact, they also know that they are not that material.Anyone with a bit of rebellious common sense knows that the leader of the alliance should not be chosen by someone surnamed Wang or Chen, but must be surnamed Liu. These are not Liu's words, but Wang Chang's theory. Wang Chang believes that the surname of Liu in the Western Han Dynasty has been recognized by the common people for a store that has been open for 215 years.As a result, Wang Mang smashed the signboard of Liu's big shop without firing a single shot, and replaced it with his own signboard, and the common people refused to accept it.Therefore, only by holding the banner of Liu's surname to fight against Wang Mang, which is recognized by the common people, will it be popular, powerful, and effective. In this case, it can only be selected from among those surnamed Liu.So who should we choose?In fact, Wang Feng and Chen Mu thought of someone, a very obedient stranger.His name is Liu Xuan. Liu Xuan, whose name is Shenggong, is the elder brother of Liu and Liu Xiu.In the early years, because his brother was killed by his enemies, Liu Xuan became a guest for revenge.As a result, the guest violated the law and had an accident before revenge, so he fled and joined the Pinglin soldiers and Chen Mu in one fell swoop to carry out the revolution. Liu Xuan was also well-known among the Pinglin soldiers, known as General Gengshi.However, what Pinglin Bing Chen Mu and Xinshi Bing Wang Feng were interested in was not Liu Xuan's title, but his character.If Liu is a tiger, then Liu Xuan is a sick cat.Liu Jun has strict discipline and fierce methods; Liu Xuan is weak, cowardly and incompetent, so he can just be manipulated in the palm of his hand. Of course, it is not up to Wang Feng and Chen Mu to decide who will be the leader of the alliance.If there is a meeting and election, they obviously have no advantage.Wang Chang has become Liu's die-hard follower, and Liu's name has become famous again. If he wants to fight, he will definitely not be able to get him. Therefore, pushing Liu Xuan to the position of leader of the coalition forces can only be achieved by outsmarting, not recklessly.How to do it, Wang Feng and Chen Mu decided to act first, and sent people to spread the news that Liu Xuan was going to be emperor, creating a fait accompli, and then put pressure on Liu Xuan. really.They thought so, and they did, and the news quickly spread.This is a big trouble. If there are no mistakes, there will be internal strife and fights among the coalition forces.However, a miracle happened.Instead of an earthquake within the rebel army, it became more united and united. Liu Xiu has already said before that they are here to do big things, not small businesses, so don't be greedy for small things.Liu has already deeply realized that if he joins forces with Wang Chang and fights with Wang Feng and the others, no one will end well. Everyone has experienced the virtues of Wang Feng and his group.Since uniting with them, their two teams have not come for the ideal of world peace, but for the separation of power and meat.Now these people are looking at a big piece of cake, if they don't cut a big piece, they will not be reconciled. The revolution has not yet succeeded, and it would be unwise to cause internal strife.The so-called anti-foreigners must first secure the interior, so Liu had to make concessions to Xinshi Bing and Ping Lin Bing. Of course, if he wanted to make a concession, Liu would also make a conditional concession. Liu told Xinshi Bing and Ping Lin Bing this way: It is no problem to support Liu Xuan as the leader of the coalition.However, it is best not to use the title of emperor for the title of leader.Because, apart from our group, there are also the Red Eyebrow Army entrenched in Qingzhou and Xuzhou among the chaos group in the world. If the Red Eyebrow Army hears that our army has named the emperor, with their hundreds of thousands of troops, they will definitely not be willing to be under our army, and they will also push out an emperor of the Liu family.In this case, before Wang Mang was eliminated, the rebel army would fight inside, and only Wang Mang would benefit in the end. Also, places like Chongling and Wanxian, if they dared to call themselves emperor, would easily become the target of attack from the world.Therefore, my opinion is to proclaim the emperor slowly and become the king first.The advantage of this is that if one day the Red Eyebrow Army grows bigger, we can go to them; if the Red Eyebrow Army does not take action to seal the emperor, we will join hands to eliminate Wang Mang first, and it will not be too late to conquer the Red Eyebrow Army and then become the emperor. Liu's high-minded remarks sound beautiful, but they are not practical at all.Because Wang Feng didn't follow your example at all, they still decided to push Liu Xuan to be the emperor.And not temporarily, but immediately.Liu thought everything was under his control.In fact, everything was getting further and further away from him. On February 1, the allied forces held a ceremony for Liu Xuan's enthronement on the banks of the Baihe River.Wang Feng, a soldier in Xinshi, was appointed Shanggong of Chengguo; Liu was named Da Situ; Chen Mu of Pinglin soldier was named Da Sikong; A sloppy stage was set up in such a hurry.