Chapter 305: Transforming the Army
In the sixth year of Guanghe, the night of November 9th was so long.
Just when Zhang Chong led two thousand sudden cavalry to sing in the snowy night and killed Zhang Wen, the general of Zhendong, a great drama came to an end in the Han army camp far away in Qishui.
A heavy snow fell all night long.
The three hundred miles of wilderness surrounding both sides of the Qishui River are silvery white, covering up the hustle and bustle of the day.
The neighing of the war horses and the roar of the crowd disappeared, and everything was as clean as the original world.
But as long as you see the scene of the Han Army's Qishui Camp, you will not be confused by this kind of noise. Just because at this moment, no less than hundreds of soldiers fell in a pool of blood in the camp.
There were only about a dozen military generals with disheveled hair, holding iron halberds with broken blades in their hands, looking at the enemy outside with bloodshot eyes.
These enemies were still their lords before this night, but in just one night, everything changed.
The snow fell heavier and heavier, not only covering the armor and clothes of those present, but also gradually covering the corpses on the ground.
This scene was like a landscape painting that suddenly moved.
Among the soldiers who were trapped and still fighting, the leader had a deep cut on his face. Like a wild beast, he pointed his knife at a six-foot general in the periphery and roared:
"Cao Cao, you want to be a dog to those Qingliu? Have you forgotten why you got to this position?"
Yes, that six-foot general is Cao Cao. At this moment, he looked at the surrounded people with a complicated expression.
These people were all former members of the Han army in Henan who were placed by the eunuch party, and the leader among them was Cao Jie's son-in-law Feng Fang.
On this night, Cao Cao, Xun You and others finally started their plan.
They summoned the generals to the big tent on the grounds of military emergency. Then, Cao Cao and others made a fool of themselves and claimed that the decline of the Han Dynasty was entirely due to the corruption of the eunuchs.
They directly used the name of the Qing emperor to reform the government and suppress the emperor's way.
At that time, as soon as Cao Cao said that, the big tent was in chaos.
For example, Zhao Rong, Feng Fang and others immediately stood up to scold Cao Cao for his treason. But they soon discovered that something was wrong. Except for Sun Jian, who had already led troops to attack Yecheng, among the captains present, only three of them stood up.
He is Zhao Rong, Feng Fang and the other is Bao Hong. But Chun Yuqiong, who had been advancing and retreating with them, was drinking alone and ignored them.
All this made Zhao Rong's heart beat wildly.
Three people stood up and five people sat down. Except for the traitor Chun Yuqiong, Huangfu Li, Zheng Tai, and Zhang Chao also did not stand.
Zhao Rong was the cleverest, and he immediately realized that the matter was over. Among the nine lieutenants in the army, there are five who want to be on the side of the emperor. This must not be done by someone like Cao Cao.
Zhao Rong suddenly laughed, hugged Bao Hong who was stunned beside him, and laughed:
"How can such a grand event be without me? Ronghe Laobao has long seen that those eunuchs who are causing harm to the country are not in his way, and he can't wait to kill them. Now that Captain Cao is causing trouble, how can he not go crazy with joy?"
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After saying that, Zhao Rong took Bao Hong, who had not yet reacted, and sat down with him.
Seeing Zhao Rong being so obedient, everyone in the room focused their attention on Feng Fang's face.
At this time, Feng Fang was trembling with anger. He pointed at the rebellious people in the audience, suddenly kicked the table away, then took out a knife from his arms, cut open the tent, and ran out.
Cao Cao and others were in a panic. They never expected that Feng Fang actually carried a knife with him. These people had been disarmed before entering the account.
Feng Fang ran here and soon met his own guards.
This Feng Fang is a ruthless person and knows that his only way to survive is to immediately lead his troops to kill these gangsters. So Feng Fang led more than 200 soldiers and fought back to the tent.
However, Xun You had already deployed heavy troops in the Chinese army's tent, and Feng Fang and others were in vain.
In this way, after a random killing, Feng Fang and others were left with only a dozen people, and the other side had already surrounded them with water.
Feng Fang knew that he was dead, but in the end, he was still unwilling to accept it and asked:
"Cao Cao, what kind of ecstasy did you take? Don't you know that your father is also a member of the eunuch gang? You are not only disloyal to the country, but also unfilial to your father. You are such an unfaithful and unfilial person, Even if you stay in Qingliu for a while, will those people really regard you as one of their own? ”
These words made the eyes of many captains present flicker.
For example, Zheng Tai was clearly touched. He did have such thoughts about Cao Cao. How can you trust such an unfilial person who can betray his father?
And like Zhao Rong, who had been repeating himself before, he also kept a close eye on Cao Cao. Zhao Rong hoped that Cao Cao could jump ship in time so that he could take Bao Hong with him.
It's not that Zhao Rong is just a fool, but he sees clearly. That is, he has not been contacted by Xun You and others before, and is actually considered untrustworthy by them.
As for the mutiny, he jumped ship in time because he didn't want to lose face. But Zhao Rong knew that even if he didn't die this time, he would be deprived of his military power. In this era, without military power, what future is there? Therefore, he, Zhao Rong, still hoped that Cao Cao would rebel.
But unfortunately, Zhao Rong was lost in the end, just because Cao Cao was more decisive than he thought.
Over there, when Feng Fang yelled, Cao Cao smiled contemptuously. He pushed aside the crowd and walked forward:
"Yes, I, Cao Cao, was raised by my parents. If you say that I am an unfilial person, I, Cao Cao, can't say anything. But how can I abandon my family and my father? Is it because I, Cao Cao, am a beast? No, because I, Cao Cao, are not only The son of the Cao family was a minister of the Han Dynasty. . Now, the Han Dynasty has reached the stage of life and death, and thousands of people are crying for food. Basically, they are the eunuchs. I can love my father, but who loves the Han Dynasty? "
Finally, Cao Cao pointed at himself and said loudly:
"The so-called, "Know me, blame me, only the Spring and Autumn Annals". That is to say, the only people who can judge me, Cao Mengde, are history, only descendants. Not you fools."
After saying this, Cao Cao took off his bun and put down his shoulder-length hair.
He placed his turban on the ground and kowtowed to the west, which was the direction of Kyoto.
After knocking, he shouted loudly to the southwest:
"Since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety have been difficult to achieve in our country. I sacrifice filial piety to be loyal, not to be loyal to you alone. Rather, I am loyal to the glorious Han Dynasty, which is the order of the people in the world. Today, I, Cao Cao, sacrifice small loyalty to be loyal to the great."
Cao Cao knelt here, and Xu Chu, Xia Houyuan and others also knelt down there. Afterwards, all the generals knelt down one after another facing the southwest direction, and for a while they became their sworn oaths.
Over there, Feng Fang saw Cao Cao's behavior and laughed until tears came out of his eyes.
He wiped away his tears and mocked Cao Cao loudly:
"Cao Ah Man, Cao Ah Man. I thought you were a person. Now I know how naive you are. Do you think you can choose? Who you are was decided as early as you were born. You can't choose, just like me now You can't choose. Do you think being a dog to Qingliu means you are loyal? Do you think that the traitors in this world are all us? If you kill us all today, the Han Dynasty will be destroyed tomorrow. .”
Feng Fang was talking there, but Cao Cao pursed his lips and didn't say a word. At this moment, Feng Fang really gave up. He didn't know whether Cao Cao was really stupid or pretending to be stupid, but he was dead today.
Thinking of this, Feng Fang thrust the broken blade of his hand across his neck, and then faced Cao Cao in front of him with a fierce voice:
"Cao Amo, I'll take the first step. I'll watch how you die from below!"
After saying that, the blade cut through the windpipe and fell to the ground.
Now that Feng Fang was dead, the remaining dozen or so subordinates no longer wanted to live, so they all took up their knives and committed suicide.
Cao Cao was silent, looking at the snow where Feng Fang was lying, getting redder and redder.
At this time, a murmur came out:
"Oh, this Feng Fang is still a noble person. When Tian Heng died, there were guests who died in the tomb. I didn't expect that today, this eunuch boy could be like Tian Heng, and he could take several people with him after he died. Extraordinary, extraordinary. ”
The person who said this was another captain, Zheng Tai. He said something extraordinary, but everyone present knew the ridicule and disdain in his words.
But no one present blamed Zheng Tai. Feng Fang was dead anyway, so it didn't matter if he said a few words.
Cao Cao turned his back to Zheng Tai. When he heard Zheng Tai's words, especially the sentence of "eunuch", he knew that there was something in this man's words. He turned his back to Zheng Tai and said leisurely:
"A man is a good man if he can win the death of a strong man. On the contrary, some people can only bark at the dead man."
Zheng Tai was furious when he heard this and drew his sword to kill Cao Cao.
But Huangfu Li and Zhang Chao on the side stopped him and only advised him how to kill each other before the big thing was done.
But Cao Cao's behavior really made Zheng Tai angry.
He had already drawn his sword, but Cao Cao still dared to carry him on his back. He really despised him to the dust. Zheng Tai was a proud and arrogant man, but he got upset after being humiliated like this. This time he really took a knife to kill Cao Cao.
And over there, Cao Cao, who had his back to Zheng Tai, had already put his hand on his sword, waiting to see Zheng Tai's shadow, and was about to give him a back chop.
"Dong~dong~"
Suddenly, just when Zheng Tai and Cao Cao were about to fight to the death, a sound of golden drums came.
Then everyone saw a group of military officials coming with a banner, a staff and a canopy, carrying a chariot. And sitting on top was an old man. Although he was bent over the chariot, his aura was like that of a crouching tiger.
For example, when Cao Cao and other cadres saw this person, they immediately prostrated themselves in the heavy snow, and then shouted:
"Meet General Zuo Zhonglang."
General Zuo Zhonglang? That's right, on the chariot entering the camp was none other than Huangfu Song, the former Beizhonglang general.
The person is not dead!
What is going on?
It turned out that Cao Cao and others were only the executors of this military coup. The main people involved in the planning behind it were He Jin, Yuan Shao, and Huangfu Song.
Huangfu Song was shot in the forehead by Zhang Chong's arrow and was dying. But his life should not have been cut off. Hua Tuo, the doctor Cao Cao found from his hometown, turned out to be really capable, and he really cured Huangfu Song.
But even if Huangfu Song escaped from Guimen Pass, he would lose his military power. Because the newly deployed Zhang Wen was not only promoted to General Zhendong, but also a candidate trusted by the country and the eunuch party.
Therefore, Zhang Wen firmly held the Han soldiers in his hands, while Huangfu Song could only retreat behind the scenes.
He originally wanted to retreat, but suddenly Zhong Yao and his gang visited him and said that they wanted to ask Huangfu Song to come out and take charge of the situation. It turned out that these people had formed an alliance with the help of Yuan Shao and others.
They pulled General He Jin and said that the moth thieves should not be eliminated suddenly, but should be pursued slowly. You can abandon the land in Hebei and confront the bandits across the river.
They explained that although Hebei is a natural place with mountains on its left and sea on its right, it is also a natural prison. As long as the rebel army is trapped in Hebei, the Han Dynasty will work hard to govern and select wise men to take the throne. The Han Dynasty still occupies ten states in the world, with a population of tens of millions, and the moth thief cannot resist for long.
And if you want to work hard to govern and select wise men, you must naturally clear out the traitors in the court. So who are these traitors? Aren't they just those eunuchs who bring harm to the court?
Therefore, in order to eradicate the eunuchs around the country, we must first settle the internal affairs.
In fact, these Henan-born Gongqing family members said that He Jin did not have a strong motivation. Because the eunuchs can also be regarded as his sister Queen He's assistants in the palace. So He Jin didn't have much strong motivation to eradicate them.
But Yuan Shao had already figured out He Jin's thoughts.
In private with only two of them, Yuan Shao told He Jin how powerful it was to eradicate the traitors this time.
He pointed out that this time the noble families in Henan have united and formed their own opinions. They have people, money, and soldiers. Now they are still under the banner of the Han Dynasty, they just want to eliminate the eunuchs.
But if this proposition cannot be realized, then these people must be alienated from morality. They will not surrender to thieves, but they will definitely support a clan member who can represent their interests. You know, King Chen is still in Henan, and I heard that he gets along well with the aristocratic families in Henan.
And all the power of your general He Jin comes from Liu Hong. If an emperor is established over there in Henan, wouldn't you, He Jin, be blinded?
Therefore, instead of the two Han dynasties confronting each other, it would be better to enlist the great men of Henan under his command to lend a helping hand. At that time, once the Qing emperor succeeds, how can he advance as the leader of the alliance and the general of the Han Dynasty? Wouldn't it mean that he has power over the government?
In this way, after Yuan Shao's threats and inducements, He Jin agreed to the operation.
Then a long-premeditated military coup began.
The plan is this. First, Cao Cao and others in the Han army in Henan eliminated the influence of eunuchs in the army, and then invited the highly respected Huangfu Song to take charge of the army. Then he led the army to cross the river south and joined forces with Zhu Jun's powerful troops in Henan.
After that, He Jin, Yuan Shao and others stationed at Hulao Pass jointly opened and closed the gate to enlarge the army and entered the pass. Then he went directly to Kyoto and carried out a general purge of the eunuchs.
After killing the eunuchs, he established a shogunate headed by General He Jin and raised Liu Hongxu as king. After that, the general shogunate will become the new authority of the Han Dynasty, uniformly deploying the entire country's capital, and finally kill the Taishan Army for such treason.
This plan was a counterattack by the Henan aristocratic families who suffered from the Party's imprisonment. They wanted these eunuchs to pay with their blood. It is also the only feasible way to save the Han that these party elites think of.
By then, this big man will still belong to the big man.
But this big man no longer only belongs to the Liu family, he also belongs to dozens of officials from the Central Plains of Henan.
They will also be the masters of this Han Dynasty!
And now, this plan has succeeded in the first step. They mastered the extremely powerful force of the Han army in Henan and won the victory.
(End of chapter)