Chapter 252 Flattery
Outside the Zhujin Ferry, ships kept coming and going, ferrying horses and sergeants across the river.
Shao Xun only saw a few rains in Luoyang and Yiyang, but at this time in Guanzhong, it was already raining continuously.
The river that was so dry that it was almost smoking gradually began to accumulate water, and then resumed flowing within a few days.
On both sides of the two major ferries at Zhujin and Maojin in the Hongnong section of the Yellow River, the untied ferries even drifted into the middle of the river, causing the boatmen to stamp their feet and sigh.
The construction of temporary floating bridges has begun, and there are more than one.
The masters who were recruited from Hedong and Hongnong counties were busy transporting grain and grass, building bridges and paving roads, but they still didn't have enough to eat, and they all wanted to cry without tears.
Outside Hongnong County, the camp has been built.
Prefect Yuan Yan endured the contempt of the local people, scholars, and powerful men, and used the tiger skins of the Huns to levy a lot of food, wine and meat, and sent them to the Huns army, which made Liu Cong very satisfied.
Liu Cong, courtesy name Xuanming, was the fourth son of Liu Yuan.
When he was young, he traveled to Luoyang. He was diligent and studious, familiar with classics and military books, and spoke well. He was good at cursive script and official script and had profound literary attainments.
And he has amazing arm strength, can draw a strong bow, and has excellent archery skills. He has gained a great reputation in Luoyang, and he can be said to be a man of both civility and martial arts.
After becoming famous, he was appointed as the chief official by the prefect of the county. He gradually entered officialdom and became familiar with the routines of the Jin Dynasty.
When the king of Chengdu was in Ye, he appointed Liu Cong as General Jinu. He had participated in the Eight Kings Rebellion and had military experience.
This year's Battle of Changping is Liu Cong's famous work.
The Tu Ge clan, a famous clan with the "Lu surname", defeated the Langya Wang clan, a famous clan with the "Han surname", in one fell swoop, beheaded more than 19,000 people, and forced the Shangdang prefect Pang Chun to land. Then he sent his troops northward, forcing Liu Kun to retreat into the city and not dare to fight. Then he arrogantly forced several tribes that relied on Liu Kun to surrender and move away, which made him famous for a while.
It is certain that the Huns will attack Luoyang southward, but the recruitment and mobilization of the army cannot be completed in a short time.
The number of soldiers and horses going south this time is only more than ten thousand, and their sources are very mixed. They include the Huns themselves, the surrendered Tiefu clan, the Xianbei, Di Qiang and others, and even the Han army. There are cavalry.
In a hurry, Liu Cong could only recruit so many people.
But these few people still defeated Cao Wu, the northern general of Jinping, beheading thousands of people and capturing tens of thousands of people.
Subsequently, the army crossed the river from Maojin, attacked the empty Shaanxi County in one fell swoop, and then rushed to the county town of Hongnong (today's Lingbao North), hoping to catch them by surprise.
However, the prefect Yuan Yan had already discovered that the city gate was closed, which disappointed Liu Cong. After all, the cavalry was not good at attacking the city.
But who could have imagined that Yuan Yan actually surrendered! It's true that joy falls from the sky and accidents happen frequently.
At this point, even though Liu Cong was calm and calm, he couldn't help but laugh.
Since being defeated by the Liangzhou soldiers returning home last year, they have fought more than ten battles without losing a single defeat. More than 100,000 people and hundreds of thousands of cattle, sheep and miscellaneous livestock have been captured and killed.
What a great achievement is this?
Not to mention Liu Cong, even Liu Yuan was very surprised and issued three edicts to encourage him.
If we continue to win, we can't even hope for the position of Prince of the Han Dynasty.
Wonderful!
"Mr. Yuanfu, I didn't have time to ask you in detail yesterday, but I have to ask you something today..." Liu Cong pushed away the beauty next to him and said with a smile.
Although this woman is graceful and graceful, she is still a little less interesting than her concubine Shan.
There is a custom of step marriage in the grassland, but Liu Cong has not been affected by this custom despite his many years of studying and serving as an official in the Central Plains. He coveted Shan, firstly because of his appearance, and secondly because Shan's identity always brought him a different kind of excitement.
When playing with women, who doesn’t want to play with their status? What's the point of just playing with that skin?
"Your Highness, please speak." Yuan Yan bowed with a flattering look.
“Why did you surrender to me?”
Yuan is a rare surname.
But in Lueyang, Hanzhong, the Huan Daoyuan family was a serious noble family.
After the ancestor Yuan Yan claimed to be the Qin general Huan Jue (yǐ), he later changed the name Huan to Yuan - Yuan Yan did not know whether it was true or false, and could not verify it, but he has always been proud of it, although some prominent families in Luoyang laughed at it. His family is from Di people.
The development of the Yuan family has been relatively difficult. There was a prefect in the Han Dynasty, and then he became unknown.
In the past hundred years, there has been gradual improvement. The family was rated as the seventh-grade family by the Zhongzheng of this county, and the family gradually prospered.
The Yuan clan has always been adept at martial arts, and their people generally have outstanding skills. This is related to the local situation.
Yuan Yan was also talented in both civil and military affairs. After becoming the prefect of Hongnong, he never relaxed in training soldiers, repairing cities, and accumulating armor.
The Huns also studied this Hongnong prefect. Liu Cong never thought that he would surrender, so he asked this question.
"I'll tell you the truth." Yuan Yan sighed and said: "My family is from the Di people in the Western Frontier and has always been despised by the scholars in the Central Plains. As for this prefect, I gave it to Yu Zhi and Guo, the aides of the King of East China Sea. It's like stuffing money. However, the ruler of Jin is weak and weak, the powerful officials are arrogant, the authority of the central government is declining, and the local nobles are powerful and unruly. I can't do my job anymore."
Liu Cong played with the wine glass. Nod slightly.
This is not a lie.
Based on his understanding of the Jin court, this is indeed the case. If a person like Yuan Yan wants to be a prefect, can he do it without giving him money?
With a small surname like Lueyangyuan, the family background is quite average, so it is normal for people to despise them.
Yuan Yan said that the prefect was not comfortable with his job and could not continue to do so. He believed him 60-70%.
"Your Highness won several battles in Bingzhou, captured and killed countless people, and the world was shocked." Yuan Yan stood up, filled Liu Cong's glass of wine, and continued: "As soon as the heavenly soldiers of the Han Dynasty arrived, I climbed up to the city to look out, and I was frightened by them. Alas "How?" Liu Cong drank and asked with a smile.
"These are all tigers and wolves. Compared with them, the Luoyang army is like a chicken with a dog's ears. Who can stop His Highness from leading this army?" After Yuan Yan said this, he filled Liu Cong's glass of wine again.
Liu Cong laughed loudly and said: "It's passed, it's passed!"
"Your Highness is so humble." Yuan Yan continued to pour Liu Cong wine and said with a serious face: "How famous is the Wang family of Langya? The battle of Changping was also defeated by His Highness. After thinking about it, I really can't find anyone who can compare with Your Highness."
When Liu Cong heard this, he felt relieved. Cool.
The Battle of Changping is indeed his proud work. Moreover, Wang Kuang, who stood up to the Langya Wang family, trampled on the face of the first-class wealthy family in the North, not to mention how happy it was.
This Yuan Yan can talk and can be taken with him in the future to relieve boredom.
Thinking of this, I drank a full glass of wine and was already tipsy.
Suddenly, he thought of someone and asked: "Shao Xun of the East China Sea is quite capable of using soldiers. How does Gu compare with him?"
Yuan Yan silently filled Liu Cong's wine and said : "Shao Xun is arrogant and arrogant in his military use. He will have to learn a lesson sooner or later. Moreover, this person has bad conduct and will not be able to go far."
"Oh? What's wrong?" Liu Cong asked with interest.
"King Fan Yang was a relative of Sima Yue. After his violent death, he left his widow Lu." Yuan Yan said: "My servant heard that Shao Xun coveted the Lu family's beauty, so he entered the house many times to humiliate her. There are also Princess Leshi of Chengdu was the daughter of Shangshu Ling Yue Guang. When Shao Xun saw her, she took her into his palace and attacked her day and night, regardless of military affairs. This is what happened!" Liu Cong raised his neck and drank the wine, laughing loudly.
Yuan Yan also smiled and filled up the wine again.
“I didn’t expect Shao Xun to be this kind of person.” Liu Cong shook his head and sighed: “My father admires this person quite a lot, I didn’t expect that.”
“In fact, Shao Xun also Not that bad. He is somewhat brave and can lead troops, but he is nothing compared to His Majesty. "Yuan Yan said: "How many wise warriors are there like His Majesty?"
"Yuan Jun's words are too much praise." Liu Cong said "over praise", but his face became brighter and he drank the wine in the glass quickly.
Yuan Yan has quick eyes and quick hands, and he steps forward to pour the wine like a dogleg.
Liu Cong stopped him and said: "I have had enough fun today, enough, enough."
"It is truly a blessing for me to meet His Highness." Yuan Yan said flatteringly : "Now that I am a minister of the Han Dynasty, I hope that your highness will help me speak kindly to the court in the future."
Liu Cong pointed at him and laughed.
Yuan Yan became more and more flattering, poured himself a glass, poured another glass for Liu Cong, and said: "From now on, I would like to respect His Highness's orders, and do it first as a token of respect."
After that, drink it all in one gulp.
Liu Cong was so happy that he picked up the wine glass and drank it in one gulp.
At this time, he was really a little drunk.
After saying a few words casually, he sent Yuan Yan away, returned to his tent, and fell asleep.
After Yuan Yan left Liu Cong's tent, he left the military camp. I scanned without leaving any trace along the way and found that the Huns were drinking wine from large bowls and eating large pieces of meat, and I was secretly happy.
The county city has been controlled by the Huns. The soldiers of Hongnong County have been moved outside the city and camped, preparing to follow the Huns army south to Yiyang.
After returning to the camp, Yuan Yan immediately found two close servants brought from his hometown and whispered to them.
The two understood each other and quietly left the camp at nightfall. Relying on their familiarity with the terrain, they dodged left and right and arrived at a small village. After picking up the horses in the village, they ran south to Yiyang and disappeared into the dark night.
Yuan Yan sat behind the desk, ate something calmly, and then slept with his clothes on.
At the third watch, the housekeeper gently shook him awake.
Yuan Yan jumped up, looking a little excited, and asked: "Are you guys ready?"
"Everyone is ready, just wait for the order from the Lord. "The general replied.
"Okay!" Yuan Yan slapped the table and said, "Go and pass the order and follow the original strategy and take action."
"No." The general left in response.
Yuan Yan called two more soldiers, and with their help, he dressed neatly, then took off his rifle bow and long spear, and walked out of the camp with his head held high.
The weather is bad tonight, and the moonlight is often blocked by dark clouds.
Yuan Yan looked up and praised: "God is really helping me!"
After that, he took the lead with his own soldiers.
Behind him, three thousand soldiers were fully armed and followed silently.
Yes, they are nervous and worried.
In the past year, Wang Shi has suffered repeated defeats, which has made the Xiongnu famous. It would be a lie to say that he is not afraid.
But the Lord of the Mansion has taken the lead with his soldiers and generals, what else is there to say? Just fight!
After the three thousand people came out of the camp gate, they organized the team for a while, then unsheathed their swords, strung their bows, and headed straight for the Huns camp.
(End of this chapter)