Chapter 21 Fourth, the Eastern Expedition

At this time, Geng Yan did not attack Peng Chong, but he was not idle either.Then, I saw Liu Xiu pointing in a direction, and said to Geng Yan, you go over there and help me get rid of him. The direction Liu Xiu pointed was to the east; the person he was talking about was Zhang Bu, king of Qi. Zhang Bu, a native of Langye County, was born in a disorderly society.At first, Zhang Bu rebelled in this county and became the leader of the rebel faction.Later, Liu Xuan sent people to persuade him to surrender, but the two sides failed to reach an agreement, so they fought.When Liu Xuan died, he didn't win Zhang Bu.However, after Liu Xuan's death, he quickly voted for another Liu Yong who claimed to be the emperor.

Living in troubled times, as long as he is a rebel soldier, he dreams of becoming an emperor.This Liu Yong is also of the same ancestor as Liu Xuan. When Liu Xuan was in power, he was named King of Liang.As soon as Liu Xuan died, he immediately promoted himself to be the emperor.Liu Yong promised Zhang Bu that if you defected to me, I would make you General Fu Han.Without even thinking about it, Zhang Bu bumped into Liu Yong's arms. After Liu Yong became emperor, Liu Xiu sent an army to greet his family.The person in charge of attacking Liu Yong was Huya General Gai Yan.Gai Yan, courtesy name Juqing, was born in Yaoyang, Yuyang.It is eight feet long and has great strength. It is said that it can bend a bow of three hundred catties.Like Wu Han, Gai Yan was originally a subordinate of Peng Chong, the prefect of Yuyang County. Later, he admired Liu Xiu and joined Wu Han under Liu Xiu's banner.

Gai Yan is powerful, and he is also known as a desperate Saburo, famous for his courage.Anyone who wants to meet him is considered unlucky. Unfortunately, Liu Yong was met by him. Gai Yan led several armies, beat Liu Yong out of Suiyang (now Shangqiu County, Henan Province), the capital of the emperor, and chased him all the way.So Liu Yong fled all the way to Huling (now southeast of Yutai County, Shandong Province). Then, Liu Xiu sent envoys to persuade Zhang Bu to surrender.Liu Yong saw that it was broken, and hurriedly sent envoys to negotiate with Zhang Bu, saying that if Zhang Bu was willing to follow Liu Yong, he would be named King of Qi.

If you want to seal Zhang Bu as the king of Qi, Liu Xiu will never pay such a big price.Therefore, without even thinking about it, Zhang Bu decided to accept Liu Yong's title of king.In addition to making Zhang Bu the king of Qi, Liu Yong also made a man named Dong Xian the king of Haixi. Liu Xiu became angry when he saw it. He told Gai Yan, help me to fight Haixi King Dong Xian, and then gave Geng Yan the task of attacking Qi King Zhang Bu. However, when Geng Yan led his troops to attack, Liu Xiu received a message that almost made him vomit blood.There are rebels who eat inside and out every year, but this year there are especially many.The bad news is that someone betrayed Liu Xiu again.

This is not the most important thing, what surprised Liu Xiu the most was that the person who turned his back on him turned out to be the person he trusted the most. The person who stabbed Liu Xiu from behind was named Chong Meng.At first, he was in exile among the Xiajiang soldiers.Later, Liu Xuan proclaimed himself emperor and worshiped him as the governor of Jizhou.After Liu Xuan's death, Liu Xiu ascended the throne, so he voted for Liu Xiu. It is said that hooligans are not scary, but they are afraid of being educated.However, in Liu Xiu's view, educated hooligans are not scary, the most terrifying thing is disguise.Chong Meng has a characteristic, he is more modest and obedient, so Liu Xiu took a fancy to him and appointed him as a servant.Later, Liu Xiu became more and more trusted, and Liu Xiu even publicly praised Chong Meng in front of people, saying: "The one who can entrust a six-foot orphan and send a hundred miles of life is Chong Meng."

What made Liu Xiu most uncomfortable was that he was always accurate in judging people, but this time he was wrong, and he went so seriously, it was really embarrassing.But Chong Meng is so trusted by Liu Xiu, he should have a bright future, why did he turn against him, could it be that Chong Meng's brain was trampled by a donkey? When Liu Xiu inquired, the problem turned out to be her own. The matter was broken by an imperial edict.At that time, Liu Xiu worshiped Chongmeng as General Pingdi, and together with General Gai Yan of Huya, he went to attack Haixi King Dong Xian.But Chong Meng found out that Liu Xiu's order was only issued to Gai Yan, but he did not.

So, Chong Meng couldn't help asking a question mark in her heart: As Liu Xiu's favorite, why did Gai Yan only issue the edict but not herself? Could it be that Gai Yan said something bad about Liu Xiu, making Liu Xiu think Is he unreliable? After thinking about it, Chong Meng finally came to a conclusion: Gai Yan must have given Liu Xiu his small report.Otherwise, it is impossible for Liu Xiu not to issue an edict to him. Only the ghosts will know whether Gai Yan gave Liu Xiu a small report on Chongmeng; only the ghosts will know whether Chongmeng has been arrested by someone. People in the world often say that being a thief has a guilty conscience. From this theorem, another definition is derived. If you don’t be a thief, you will not be guilty.But the more Chongmeng thinks about it, the more empty-hearted he becomes, and he can't help being afraid to rebel. From this, it can be seen that he must have a ghost in his heart.

So, Chongmeng, who wanted to give birth to a dark ghost, suddenly raised troops to attack Gaiyan.This battle of revenge was very exhausting.Chongmeng defeated Gaiyan's army, and then joined forces with Dong Xian, king of Haixi, and claimed to be king of Dongping. After doing it for a long time, it turned out that Chongmeng wanted to be king too.It was widely rumored in the world that Gai Yan rebelled only after making a small report on him. It turned out to be a big conspiracy that had been brewing for a long time. Back then, even Li Yi, an old man, could not escape Liu Xiu's eyes.But Liu Xiu never thought that Chong Meng, an ambitious guy who had been lurking by his side for many years, would be fooled.The embarrassing Liu Xiu, in addition to vomiting blood, was so angry that his lungs would explode.So he immediately issued an order:

The old thief is immortal, and neither is my heart.I want to lead the army to go out and kill Chong Meng myself! At this time, Dongping Wang Chongmeng, with the cooperation of Haixi Wang Dong Xian, was besieging Taocheng (now east of Jining City, Shandong Province).Liu Xiu inquired about the direction of Chongmeng's activities. Without saying a word, he didn't even need luggage. He personally led the cavalry and galloped day and night to kill Chongmeng. When Liu Xiu arrived at Kangfu (25 kilometers south of Jining City, Shandong Province today), the troops were exhausted, and all the military officials said to Liu Xiu: We have run so far, we are very tired, why don't we stop and rest first Let's go.Liu Xiu said, no, keep going.

Liu Xiu went ten miles further and arrived at Rencheng (now southeast of Jining City, Shandong Province).Rencheng is only sixty miles away from Taocheng, which Chongmeng wants to attack.At this time, Liu Xiu waved his hand and said, everyone is tired, so stop and have a rest. The troops had a night's rest, and everyone felt very refreshed.Early the next morning, the generals said to Liu Xiu, we are not far from Taocheng, and we have rested, so let's give the order to move forward. Seeing the anxious expressions of the generals, Liu Xiu smiled lightly and said, "Don't worry, since it's stopped, everyone should take a full rest."

The generals all looked at Liu Xiu strangely.At this time Liu Xiu smiled again: "Chongmeng saw us galloping so far, so he would definitely give up attacking Taocheng and come to challenge us. Everyone should rest first, and don't come out to fight without my order." Liu Xiuzhen was right.Soon, Chong Meng sent troops to Rencheng to fight.However, Liu Xiu stood still, like an old snake, unmoved by external noise. Liu Xiu's approach made the generals very puzzled.After running so far, do you want to shrink up like a big turtle and be laughed at by Chong Meng? Liu Xiu also seemed to see what the generals were thinking, and said again: "Comrades, calm down, let him shout if he likes to shout, and return to the city naturally when he is tired of shouting. I just want to dampen their spirit." Hearing Liu Xiu's words, all the generals were dissatisfied.It is said that impulsiveness is the devil, but this person who was attacked by anger, under the burning of anger, still maintains such a calm and calm expression, it is really terrifying. Liu Xiu was indeed terrifying.No matter how the Chongmeng troops shouted, he drank tea in the camp and resolutely did not fight.Chong Meng saw that a slap couldn't make a sound, so she had to retreat back to Taocheng.After the withdrawal, they studied Liu Xiulai just like modern people study Qixingcai. Chong Meng thought to himself, Liu Xiu is running day and night, and according to his mood, he must fight as soon as he arrives.But the fat is right in front of him, but he stands still sixty miles away, what on earth is he trying to do? After guessing and guessing, Chongmeng still can't figure out what to do.Since you can't guess it, then don't guess it.If I don't even challenge, then I have to do it myself first. So Chong Meng ordered to attack Taocheng.However, he continued to attack for more than 20 days, but Taocheng was still not captured. In fact, there is a reason why Chongmeng can't handle Taocheng.The people of Taocheng heard that Liu Xiu was only sixty miles away from Taocheng, and he would definitely not leave him dead, so everyone worked hard to defend the city. Chong Meng was dragged on for more than twenty days, and the troops were exhausted.At this moment, the old snake Liu Xiu came out of the cave. Chong Meng didn't know that he had already fallen into Liu Xiu's trap.Chong Meng said that he couldn't figure out the reason why Liu Xiu stood still, and now Liu Xiu can tell him.It turned out that there were two main reasons why Liu Xiu was not in a hurry to attack Chong Meng: one was to let the Taocheng defenders consume Chong Meng's combat power; the other was to wait for reinforcements to arrive and wipe out Chong Meng in one fell swoop. Chong Meng didn't know that when he sent troops to challenge Liu Xiu, Liu Xiu had already sent someone to call for him.Although war is not equal to gang fights, it is often easier to do things with more people.This time Liu Xiu went to call people not just one person, but several generals, they were Wu Han, Xiajiang Bing Wang Chang, Gai Yan, Wang Ba and others. After Wu Han and other armies joined forces, Liu Xiu issued a general order to attack. Liu Xiu beat the drums himself, the soldiers saw the situation, they killed people very hard, and defeated Chong Meng's besieging army in one go.Chong Meng couldn't stand it anymore, so she ran away and went to Dong Xian, the king of Haixi in Tan County. Liu Xiu led his troops in pursuit. When the army was only a hundred miles away from Dong Xian, he suddenly stopped the army and stopped advancing. Last time, Liu Xiu was waiting for Wu Han's reinforcements to arrive.But this time, the fighting spirit of the army is high, and it is absolutely possible to attack Dong Xian, so why stop the march? As a result, Liu Xiu's generals couldn't figure it out, and asked to march one after another. Liu Xiu calmly said to the generals: "Don't worry, gentlemen. Meals need to be eaten bite by bite, and battles need to be fought one bite at a time. It is impossible to become a fat man with one bite and wipe out the enemy all at once. You guys Just wait, you will hear the order to attack soon." The generals didn't know what kind of medicine Liu Xiu was going to sell in the gourd this time.But soon, the generals understood.It turned out that the reason why Liu Xiu was not in a hurry to attack was not for anything else, but to save the cost of the war. The thing is like this, at this time Haixi Wang Dong Xian also pulled a group of people to build momentum.But this group of people is a group of rioters who can eat today and don't know where they will be tomorrow.Liu Xiu thought that these people would not be able to help Dong Xian for long, because they were short of food, and Dong Xian couldn't afford them.As long as it doesn't last long, these people will naturally collapse.As long as they dispersed, it would be much easier to deal with Dong Xian. Sure enough, before long, the gang of mob brothers called by Dong Xian went to find their own way of life because they had no food to eat. At this time, Liu Xiu didn't wait any longer. He personally went into battle and attacked King Haixi.The battle lasted only three days, and Haixi Wang Dong Xian and Chong Meng couldn't hold on anymore, and continued to flee to Qu County (now Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province).In 30 A.D., Da Sima Wu Han finally captured Qu County and beheaded Chong Meng and Dong Xian. At this point, Liu Xiu finally liberated the Yangtze River, Huaihe River, Shandong and other areas. The sky in the liberated areas is clear sky; the air in the liberated areas is fresh air.After Liu Xiu heard the news that Wu Han had beheaded Chong Meng, she felt as if a huge rock had been lifted from her heart, and finally breathed out a long breath of bad luck comfortably.