Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 340 Constraints
After repeated performances, Ge Rong finally did not agree to Yuwen Tai's persuasion.

He said loudly:
"The death of the True King is the fault of the thief Wei. How can I have the face to advance without avenging the True King? The most urgent task is to reorganize the army and fight a decisive battle with Yuan Shen and Yang Yu to avenge the True King!"

Everyone followed Ge Rong and shouted:

"Revenge! Revenge!"

But after he said this, everyone understood what Ge Rong meant.

It's not that he is unwilling to ascend the throne and become emperor, but now is not the right time. He will become emperor after defeating the government troops that are besieging the Northern Wei Dynasty.

After understanding this, everyone became more motivated and immediately began to annex Xianyu Xiuli's tribe.

Among them, the Yuwen family benefited the most. Ge Rong handed over the 3,000 Wuchuan households under Xianyu Xiuli to Yuwen Luosheng as a reward for the contributions of his father and brother. Together with the old subordinates of the Yuwen family, the Yuwen family became a powerful force under Ge Rong.

Gao Huan and other Huaishuo people also took the opportunity to win over and annex many of Huaishuo's old subordinates, but unfortunately their numbers and quality were far inferior to those obtained by the Yuwen family.

However, Gao Huan also benefited from his decisive surrender.

Ge Rong finally pulled him into his circle. After the death of Yuwen Gong and Yuwen Lian, father and son, he began to consult Gao Huan about some matters related to the war.

The status of Huaishuo people in the Six Garrisons Army also began to gradually improve.

Unrest broke out within the Six Garrisons rebel army. Yang Yu, who had defeated Yuwen Gong in Wulu, got wind of the news and immediately sent someone to report to Yuan Shen in Lingqiu, asking him to send troops immediately to attack Ge Rong in the chaos.

However, after receiving the military intelligence from Yang Yu, Yuan Shen hesitated.

Pei Yan, the staff officer beside him, was a little confused. Commander-in-chief Yuan was always good at seizing opportunities in battles.

After the first pacification of the Six Garrisons, Yuan Shen seized the opportunity, led the Rouran troops to attack and break through Liu Han Baling, and then he himself defended Baidao and won the war.

In Pei Yan's opinion, Yuan Shen's grasp of combat opportunities is top-notch in the world.

However, such a top general who is good at seizing opportunities in battle is now reluctant to make a decision.

Pei Yan looked at Yuan Shen pacing back and forth, and finally couldn't help but ask:
"Grand Commander, why are you still hesitating at such a good opportunity? The rebel army is in turmoil right now, so it's a good time to send troops!"

Yuan Shen walked for a while longer, then sighed and said:
"Of course I know this is a good opportunity to send troops, but what about the military supervisor?"

It turned out that since the beginning of the New Year, Empress Dowager Hu's dissatisfaction with Yuan Shen had reached its peak, and after the New Year she sent a military supervisor to the army.

Of course, Empress Dowager Hu did not risk the disapproval of the world by sending a eunuch, but the military supervisor she sent was a young secretary of the Central Secretariat, who was said to be Empress Dowager Hu's newly favored lover. After arriving at Yuan Shen's army, he had been very domineering.

This military supervisor not only openly demanded bribes from Yuan Shen, but also expressed doubts about Yuan Shen's military orders.

When Yuan Shen stationed his troops in Lingqiu, the military supervisor wrote a letter to the court, saying that Yuan Shen "used the bandits to gain power and had ulterior motives."

When Yuan Shen was about to mobilize his troops, the military supervisor accused Yuan Shen of being "greedy for merit and reckless" and was seeking his own death.

This made Yuan Shen unable to deal with it. From then on, he had to report everything to the court and did not dare to act on his own.

Pei Yan said quickly:

"Grand Commander! Opportunities cannot be missed! If we don't attack while the rebel army is in turmoil and Ge Rong is not yet firmly established, it will be even more difficult to deal with Ge Rong once he has incorporated the remnants of Xianyu Xiuli's army!"

Yuan Shen sighed deeply. He knew this truth very well.

However, if such a large-scale military operation was launched without seeking permission from the court, it would be fine if they won, but if they lost, the young military supervisor would not know how to impeach Yuan Shen.

Pei Yan said:

"I'll go talk to that prisoner! If he misses the chance to fight, can he bear the responsibility?"

Yuan Shen looked at his old partner walking out of the tent and sighed heavily again. After such a long period of torture, his fighting spirit had long been exhausted.

If this was not the last military force of the Northern Wei court, as a member of the royal family, he could not bear to die here, and he would have resigned and returned to Luoyang long ago.

Do I really want to be Sima Yue, the King of Donghai of Wei?
However, Pei Yan's efforts were doomed to be in vain. The military supervisor sent by Empress Dowager Hu refused to give in and demanded that Yuan Shen find out the internal situation of the rebels before taking action.

The result was a rebellion at the end of January in the third year of Xiaochang. Until mid-February, Lingqiu still showed no sign of sending troops.

But Yuan Shen did not send troops, and the Yanzhou governor Yuan Yanming could not bear it any longer.

Yanzhou is located in the southern part of Hedong. Since Xianyu Xiuli and Ge Rong started their rebellion, Yuan Yanming immediately raised troops to protect the border of Yanzhou.

With the lesson of Hedong before them, the Yanzhou nobles, seeing the Hedong nobles and powerful people fleeing to Yanzhou, burst out with a strong will to resist, and as a result, Yuan Yanming received strong support from the Yanzhou nobles.

On the border of Yanzhou, Yuan Yanming defeated the generals sent by Xianyu Xiuli many times.

Yuan Shen had been using the army for half a year without any progress, Yang Yu was defeated and the government troops in the five states of Hedong were defeated repeatedly, so Yuan Yanming's record was considered outstanding. In order to criticize Yuan Shen for his inaction, Hejian Wang Yuanchen, who often attacked Yuan Shen in the court, often praised Yuan Yanming's achievements in front of Empress Dowager Hu.

When Empress Dowager Hu heard that there was still an outstanding royal general like Yuan Yanming in the decaying Hedong, she was generous in rewarding Yuan Yanming. Not only did she increase his royal title and fiefdom, she also appointed his eldest son as a prince and gave him a large house in Luoyang.

After the New Year, Empress Dowager Hu thought of Yuan Yanming again and sent envoys to Yanzhou again, asking Yuan Yanming to launch an attack from the south and recover the lost territory.

At the same time, he also sent an envoy to hint to Yuan Yanming that if he could achieve victory, the title of Grand Commander-in-Chief of the Expedition could be awarded to him.

After receiving the hint from the envoy, Yuan Yanming was overjoyed. He first bribed the envoy with a large sum of money, and then began to gather his generals to discuss the matter of sending troops to counterattack.

What puzzled Yuan Yanming was that all his subordinates strongly opposed his idea of ​​sending troops.

Bi Zuhui, the head of the Dongping Bi family and the vanguard of Yuan Yanming, opposed it most fiercely.

The Bi family of Dongping was a second-class aristocratic family appointed by Emperor Xiaowen himself. They moved to Dongping in the early days of the Northern Wei Dynasty. When Liu Yu occupied Yanzhou during the Northern Expedition, the Bi family served as a high-ranking official in the Liu Song Dynasty. Later, when the Liu Song Dynasty lost Yanzhou, the Bi family served in the Northern Wei Dynasty again and also became a high-ranking official in the court.

As a representative of the Yanzhou gentry, Bi Zuhui made an analysis to Yuan Yanming:
"The reason why the enemy army was defeated by the king several times when they attacked Yanzhou was because Yanzhou had the natural barrier of the Yellow River."

"The enemy army is incapable of building warships. The boats they use to cross the river are old and broken, and they don't have any capable boatmen. Therefore, Your Majesty can hold the river by simply guarding the crossing."

"If we want to attack the enemy army, we also have to cross the Yellow River. Once we cross the river, logistics will be difficult, which is a taboo in military strategy!"

Yuan Yanming was very disdainful after hearing this. He said:
"You and I both know the fighting power of the bandit army. They are just a mob. They just relied on their numbers to scare Guangyang King Yuan Shen away from advancing."

"The court has high hopes for our Yanzhou now, so how can we say that this is a difficult matter?"

After saying this, Yuan Yanming continued:
"Who else but me can quell the rebellion?"

Seeing Yuan Yanming's angry look, Bi Zuhui tried to persuade him again, but in the end he could not persuade Yuan Yanming. He requisitioned 100,000 hu of grain from all over Yanzhou and prepared to send troops north to attack Ge Rong in February.

In fact, although 100,000 hu may seem like a lot, it is actually very little when used with Yuan Yanming's 10,000-strong army.

One hu in the Northern Dynasties was roughly equal to two to three hu in the Western Jin Dynasty, and approximately equal to one hu in the Eastern Han Dynasty, which is one shi, or one hundred and twenty jin.

An ordinary soldier would eat about one hu of food per month during combat.

From this perspective, 100,000 hu of grain should be more than enough for an army of 10,000 people.

This is not actually the case.

These 100,000 hu of grain were the amount of grain requisitioned from Yanzhou, not the amount of grain distributed to the soldiers.

Not to mention the problems of collecting grain, when transporting the grain across the Yellow River to the front line, seven out of ten hu of grain would be lost on the way.

This is because transporting food requires the use of laborers, and the laborers also need to eat while transporting food.

In addition, transporting grain by cart would result in vehicle wear and tear, various unexpected events, and the risk of crossing the Yellow River. The fact that only three hu of grain could be transported to the other side of the Yellow River was considered an efficient logistics system.

However, when the food was transported to the front line, one dou of food weighed 120 kilograms, and the soldiers could not carry so much food to fight.

At this time, civilians are also needed to transport the grain in the granary to the front line, which is another huge loss.

These 100,000 hu of grain can support 10,000 people fighting for a month, which is already a very ideal situation.

Therefore, the nobles in Yanzhou all knew that these 100,000 hu were actually just the first batch of grain collected by Yuan Yanming.

Yanzhou now has 300,000 hu of grain in reserve on paper. I won’t talk about how much water is in it. In time of war, both the government and the wealthy families will have to pay out the water to make up for it.

But these food supplies are only enough for Yuan Yanming to fight for three months, provided that Yuan Yanming cannot pursue the enemy too far. If his battle line is too long, it will only be enough for two months.

Without food supplies, the government troops would collapse in an instant.

If a war really breaks out, in the end we will still have to collect grain from the nobles and powerful families, which is why the Yanzhou nobles oppose it.

But now Yuan Yanming holds the righteous cause and has prestige, the Yanzhou nobles dare not resist and can only begin preparing for war according to his orders.
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Like Yanzhou, the Northwest is also preparing for war.

Su Chao took the account book and reported to Su Ze the final results of last year's examinations.

Su Ze has sent inspectors to inspect all officials, including the Ningshu County magistrate, who have inflated land and exploited local officials. Once verified, they will be immediately dismissed.

It is impossible to return the extra grain collected as the loss during grain transportation is too great. This amount of grain cannot be returned to the people as it will be lost on the way.

Therefore, Su Ze ordered that the people who had been taxed more should be exempted from tax for one year, and asked the Inspector General to publicize it thoroughly and have the three chiefs inform the people and tell them the tax exemption policy.

The Government Affairs Hall completed the statistical work of last year's taxes, and Su Ze finally saw the wealth he had saved after a year of rest and recuperation.

(End of this chapter)