Wei and Jin cooks

In this era, power recognizes people. It is said that to capture the thief first, capture the king. This is the truth.

And Wang Jun was the king of Youzhou, so Shi Le carried Wang Jun and not only quickly captured the Youzhou army in the city, but also carried him and knocked on the gates of many cities, allowing Shi's army to take over directly.

After receiving the news, Zu Ti and Zhao Hanzhang divided their troops into two groups and attacked Youzhou from the east. They tied up Wang Jun's two sons and prevented them from turning around to gather their troops;

Along the way, they attacked from west to northeast, first taking back Jizhou, and then entering Youzhou.

Tuoba Xianbei sent out 50,000 soldiers and horses, and his cavalry was fierce in training, and they conquered twelve cities in three days.

The three armies attacked the depths of Youzhou at the same time, and then formed an encirclement with the Zhao army of Bei Gongchun, Zhao Ju and others to encircle the Xiongnu.

If you have a map, you can see that six thick red lines are gradually approaching Lu County where the Huns were stationed at this time.

At this time, Lu County was not peaceful either.

Liu Cong led the Xiongnu army to retreat to Lu County, and took advantage of the danger to resist Zhao Ju.

Of course, they not only occupied Lu County, but also occupied several neighboring counties, accounting for almost half of Yan State, and then one-third of Fan Yang State next door.

He didn't want to face Wang Jun at this time. For him, there was not much benefit except making one more enemy.

But he really had no choice. Zhao Hanzhang pressed forward step by step, Bei Gongchun and Zhao Ju's offensive was too fierce, and the new Zu Ti who appeared in Jizhou was also very powerful, and he suffered losses in several encounters.

And that man was quite ruthless. His surprise attack might not be as good as Bei Gongchun's, but his strategy and tactics were superior to Bei Gongchun's. Wherever he went, many places were blocked by strong walls. Some places were too late, but he could quickly attack them. Most of the people and food were hidden so that they could not find them.

They always sent out troops with only a small amount of food and grass, and then plundered the food and grass on the spot. This time they were struggling and could not plunder enough food at all.

Coupled with Liu Yuan's death, the imperial court was forced to leave Bingzhou without any support from food and grass.

Liu Cong couldn't defeat him again and again, and the defender didn't have enough food and grass, so he had no choice but to retreat.

After picking up the soft persimmons and squeezing them, after thinking about it, the only one that could provide them with food and grass at this time and allow them to stay temporarily was Youzhou.

Of course, the people in Youzhou don't have much food. They are experiencing drought and locust plagues that are rare in decades. I heard that the victims have eaten each other, and they can't get food from them.

But Wang Jun does.

Legend has it that Wang Jun collected a large amount of grain and hid it in various granaries, so Liu Cong chose to attack Wang Jun directly and wanted to take over Youzhou from him.

Youzhou has a dangerous location and is easy to defend but difficult to attack. As long as he captures Youzhou, he can use the danger to stop Zhao's army.

As for Wang Jun's threat to stop him, Liu Cong snorted coldly. He couldn't defeat Zhao Hanzhang, but he was very confident in defeating Wang Jun.

But he didn't expect Liu Yi to come back suddenly.

He did not come back alone. He also brought back Jin ministers, one of whom was named Wei Jie. Even Liu Cong had heard of his name.

Liu Yi came back to persuade him to surrender.

He and Liu Cong said: "Fourth brother, we are at the end now. You cannot lead the whole clan to death. As long as we surrender, Zhao Hanzhang will give us a piece of land to live in, just like when our ancestors migrated to Bingzhou."

Liu Cong was angry, "And then there will be people watching you when you come in and out, and you will live like a slave for the rest of your life, like a slave?"

Liu Yidao: "No, Zhao Hanzhang promised me that she treats us like Han people."

“How can you believe what the Han people say?”

Liu Yi asked: "She can't be trusted. Can my brother guarantee that he can capture Youzhou?"

He said: "When you fought against Zhao Hanzhang alone, you were defeated steadily. Now with Wang Jun behind you, under attack from the north and the south, how can you be confident that you can capture Youzhou and still protect the Han Dynasty?"

"You are young and have never been on the battlefield. Don't let others' ambitions grow here and destroy your own prestige."

Liu Yi said: "Although I have never been on the battlefield, I will listen to my uncles discussing politics. This is not the opinion of my family."

He advised: "Since Zhao Hanzhang was born, she has never broken her promise. Why doesn't my brother give it a try?"

Liu Cong didn't want to listen and drove Liu Yi out directly. If he hadn't tried his best to stop him, Liu Cong would have wanted to cut Wei Jie off as a sacrificial flag.

Liu Yi was also frustrated. He knew that it was useless to persuade Liu Cong, so he could only contact Liu Huanhuan and other ministers.

Wei Jie came forward in place of Zhao Hanzhang and made a promise on the side after Liu Yi's persuasion. Many ministers favored Liu Yi.

It's not that they look down on Liu Cong, but that they are not very confident about the current situation.

Liu Yi was right about one thing. They couldn't beat Zhao Jiajun in a single fight, so how could they remain undefeated after provoking Wang Jun?

The reason why they were able to capture these dozen cities was not because they were too powerful, but because the Zhao army did not attack from the beginning. When they retreated into Youzhou, a large-scale peasant rebellion broke out in Youzhou, and the victims were scattered. Wang Jun Too busy to take care of themselves, Zhao Jiajun did not continue to approach for some reason, but surrounded the border of Youzhou and watched them conquer more than a dozen cities.

Now Wang Jun has assembled a large army to fight against them. As long as the Zhao family's army advances into Youzhou, they will be attacked from the north and the south, and they may be in danger of annihilation.

So now there is another way to go, and many people are considering it.

According to Liu Yi, the worst outcome is to return to the time when he first moved to Bingzhou decades ago.

But that's better than being exterminated directly, or being driven out of the Great Wall, right?

So everyone secretly planned to change the leader.

Liu Cong was not Liu Yuan's intended successor. His rise to power by regicide was not orthodox in the first place.

All in all, regardless of status or favor, Liu Yi should be the emperor after Liu He.

So the ministers headed by Liu Huanxi got together and wanted to change the emperor.

However, they have never discussed what they should do.

Liu Cong seemed to sense the danger, and acted more and more impatiently. He wanted to kill Wei Jie, but Liu Huanhua and other ministers persuaded him to stop him based on the rule that "two countries are at war without killing each other."

Liu Cong was about to drive Wei Jie and others out, so Liu Huanhua and others tried their best to persuade Liu Cong to consider surrendering, but Liu Cong almost killed him with a sword.

After that, no one mentioned the matter in front of Liu Cong, and Wei Jie also left Lu County, but before leaving, he had already discussed the surrender with Liu Huanxi and others.

When Wei Jie left, news came that Wang Jun had been captured, and Youzhou had fallen into the hands of Zhao Hanzhang.

When Liu Huanxi and others heard this, they originally wanted to delay it for a while, but they couldn't help it anymore. They went to the palace that day and said to Liu Cong, "After careful consideration, I feel that your Majesty's consideration is correct. We and the Kingdom of Jin We have been fighting for many years, and we have long been a mortal enemy of Zhao Hanzhang. Surrendering at this time means tying up our hands, so we cannot surrender."

When Liu Cong heard this, he praised it, "That's exactly what it is."

"The king of Beihai is deceiving the public with his evil words. Leaving him outside will inevitably affect the morale of the people and the army. It is better to temporarily detain him in the palace and release him after we all capture the Yan Kingdom."

Liu Cong thought for a while and agreed, so he sent people to invite Liu Yi into the palace. He was afraid that he would not come, so he found an excuse, saying that it was to celebrate the birthday of Empress Dowager Shan in advance.

See you tomorrow