Control your ancestors and create an immortal family starting from the Eastern Han Dynasty

Chapter 58: One battle shakes the world, Liu Hong collapses
The outcome of this battle actually had an answer from the very beginning.

The strength that the Yellow Turban Army relied on.

When facing Gu Xi, all of them collapsed.

Moreover, the key to the core issues of the Yellow Turban Army will often be magnified at such times.

For someone like Gu Xi who has already gained profound understanding of human nature.

He just needs to amplify these problems.

It was enough to cause chaos in the Yellow Turban Army.

The result is self-evident.

Zhang Jue's personal appearance did indeed significantly boost the morale of the entire Yellow Turban Army.

But so what?

Gu Xi sent someone to plant a needle in the haystack to break the deadlock!

And the most crucial thing is that when the Han army charged, Gu Xi also left a path, allowing the Yellow Turban Army, which had already lost its mind, to flee in disarray.

In this state.

The departure of one person may not be enough to affect the morale of the army.

But what about ten or a hundred people?

What about thousands and tens of thousands of people?
The entire Yellow Turban Army's front line quickly collapsed, and countless people untied their Yellow Turbans and fled in panic.

This trend affected the entire army.

All problems with military appearance and discipline were exposed.

The ending is decided!

——The sixth year of Jianning, the end of June.

Zhang Jue and Gu Xi fought on the banks of the Zhang River.

The Yellow Turban Army was defeated and fled.

The Han army returned to Yecheng and completely broke through the Yellow Turban Army's defense line in Jizhou.

Gu Xi had obviously made plans long ago.

Faced with the surrendering Yellow Turban Army, he quickly formulated a strategy, recruited young and strong men into the army, and granted them land.

Previous policies were of great use at this time.

Why did Gu Xi want to confiscate the land of the big families?

There are many connections involved.

It's not just about taking advantage of this incident to completely tear apart the big families.

It is also intended to reduce casualties.

No matter what, he must give these people a way out.

If this chaos had not happened, the amount of bloodshed caused would have been far greater than ever before.

The people are the foundation of a strong country!
Gu Xi's focus is no longer just on suppressing the rebellion, but on actually changing everything in the current Han Dynasty!
With the power of one person, he once again extended the life of the Han Dynasty!
He quickly spread the news and sent almost all of his men out.

The purpose is to supervise all places and prevent generals from being greedy for merit and killing people!

Yingchuan, Yuzhou.

Gu Xi's strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao did help Huangfu Song a lot.

Now that the battle of Jizhou is over, the Yellow Turban Army is in panic. Huangfu Song will certainly not miss any opportunity and directly launches a counterattack!

--August.

Huangfu Song defeated Bo Cai at Changsha.

At the same time, Nanyang prefect Qin Jie killed the Yellow Turban leader Zhang Mancheng, and the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou continued to retreat.

Later he was besieged in Wancheng.

Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others came from all directions, publicizing the war in Jizhou in order to break the enemy's intentions.

Finally, the gates of Wancheng were opened.

Defeat the bandits in Wan.

Wars broke out in various places. The Han army, with its morale greatly shaken, continued to encircle and kill the Yellow Turbans, forcing them to retreat step by step.

This matter is really too fatal!

The news of Zhang Jiao's defeat in Jizhou was like a signal, once again proving Gu Xi's undefeated reputation!
Under such circumstances, how could the Yellow Turban Army not lose its morale?
And the most important thing is——

Gu Xi has always been restraining the murderous intentions of his soldiers, and his policies have greatly encouraged the ambitions of young men from poor families to achieve merit.

With all these policies, the blow to the entire Yellow Turbans was really too great!
The war situation in various places has been completely reversed!

This is destined to be an extremely long war.

In addition, Gu Xi's policy that allows people from poor families to obtain the qualification of filial piety and incorruptibility by "suppressing bandits" has led to the emergence of talented people from all over the country, and many of them have already made a name for themselves.

I won’t say much about Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and others.

It also includes many children from poor families.

Of course, there are also Gu family members. A general with Gu Tao's attributes has the greatest advantage in this situation.

The most important thing is that his identity as a descendant of the Gu family really gave him a great blessing.

Facing the Yellow Turban Army who had lost all fighting spirit.

He was able to take it down without any effort.

Now he has already made a name for himself in the world.

Luoyang.

Looking at the battle reports sent in from all directions, Liu Hong's face flushed and he laughed out loud.

"As expected of you, Grand Tutor!"

"One battle will completely change the fate of the world. How dare a mere rebel disrupt the Han Dynasty?"

He laughed very wantonly.

In fact, Liu Hong has been in a very tense mood during this period of time.

Zhang Jue's strength far exceeded his expectations.

Especially when the war situation in various states and counties was unclear and Zhang Jiao took Handan and threatened Henei, Liu Hong really felt the taste of national destruction.

But now, this feeling has finally dissipated!
"Quickly announce this to all the ministers. With the Grand Tutor here, I have nothing to worry about."

"Let everyone in the palace be ready."

"I'm going to the market!"

For Liu Hong.

He had been holding it in for a while, and now that he felt at ease, he naturally wanted to relax.

"I obey your command." Jian Shuo immediately took the order and left.

Not long after, the laughter that had stopped for many days rang out again in the palace.

But for this matter.

The ministers had different attitudes.

They had heard about Gu Xi's various actions and couldn't help but worry about their own land.

Gu Xi actually divided up these lands.

In this case, even if the chaos ends in the future, will the land still belong to them?

People have always been like this.

When one smells the crisis of destruction, no one will care so much.

But as this crisis recedes.

They will think about the land they gave.

In fact, Gu Xi didn't really take it seriously this time.

Although it is 30% of the land.

But how many years has it been since the Han Dynasty measured the land? The land held by the clans has increased many times over compared to the past.

For them, this piece of land is just a drop in the bucket!
But that's human nature.

These are all assets they have already swallowed up.

How could they spit it out so easily?

This is obviously not the idea of one person.

From this day on, people from all clans contacted each other, and an invisible network was spread out again.

Of course, they would not take action at this time.

They are just preparing.

No matter what, this matter must stop from the day the war is completely over.

Just drag this matter on.

For them, it is a hundred harms and no benefit!
Gu Xi didn't care about the changes in Luoyang.

He was just arranging everything step by step on the battlefield.

This great victory.

And let him speed up the attack.

Instead, he maintained the previous rhythm and continuously weakened the Yellow Turban Army with his momentum and reputation.

This is a pure conspiracy.

After the previous defeat, even Zhang Jue could not stabilize the morale of the Yellow Turban Army.

People are defecting every day.

The incidents of Taoist priests from all over the country kidnapping their leaders and forcing them to surrender were becoming more and more frequent.

It is under this situation.

——February, the seventh year of Jianning.

Gu Xi defeated Zhang Jiao again in Handan, and from then on the entire Yellow Turban defense line in Jizhou was completely torn apart by Gu Xi.

Zhang Jue could only gather the remaining troops and retreat to Guangzong, where he was besieged by Gu Xi.

The overall situation is decided!

Gu Xi did not rush to attack the city, but continued to arrange everything step by step, as if to force Zhang Jue and his men to surrender. But Zhang Jue had obviously made his decision.

He simply chose to let the Taoists leave, and then started a duel with Gu Xi again.

This is a battle without any suspense.

With such low morale and no military advantage, how could the Yellow Turban Army be able to defeat the Han Army led by Gu Xi?
The ending is self-evident.

Zhang Jue was defeated again, but this time he had nowhere to retreat.

The entire Yellow Turban front in Hebei had already fallen.

There are even many places where Gu Xi doesn't need to go there in person.

All the Yellow Turbans surrendered at the sight of this.

In fact, Zhang Jiao could retreat to Youzhou or Yanzhou and then plan for the future.

Although he would face attacks from various Han armies when he went to these places, compared to the battlefield where Gu Xi was personally, he would have opportunities when he went to these places.

However, Zhang Jue did not seem to have such an idea. He just led his dwindling number of Taoist followers to deal with the Han army in Jizhou.

——He seems to want to die in Jizhou!
Gu Yi was also quite surprised by this.

In the original history, there was a lot of controversy about Zhang Jiao.

Some people call it the cause of the chaotic times, because it was the Yellow Turban Rebellion he initiated that completely caused the beginning of the chaotic times in the late Eastern Han Dynasty;
Some also called him a man of great righteousness, who had 300,000 men under his command, but ended up dying childless.

His appearance seemed to teach the world at that time a lesson.

Gu Yi doesn't want to care about the original history now.

For Zhang Jiao today.

He is obviously a man of great righteousness. He understands the suffering of the people and makes all kinds of plans. Whether he succeeds or fails, it is all for the purpose of saving the world.

Zhang Jiao is indeed strong enough.

If Gu Xi had not been there, the Yellow Turban Army with such a strong force would definitely have dealt a fatal blow to the Han Dynasty!
However, this matter is destined to not be investigated in detail.

If Gu had not appeared, how could Zhang Jiao be so powerful?

There were signs of all the causes and effects already.

Under such circumstances, Zhang Jue could not hold on for long.

——October, the seventh year of Jianning.

Zhang Jue was defeated again at Ganling.

He committed suicide after the war.

His younger brothers Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang died in battle one after another.

Gu Xi ordered people to secretly collect the bodies of the three brothers and send them back to Julu for burial.

One battle will determine Jizhou!

When the news came out, the whole world was shocked!
Luoyang.

"Zhang Jue is dead?"

Upon hearing the news, Liu Hong was stunned at first, and then he immediately burst into laughter.

"Yeah!"

"Such a traitor should be treated like this."

"Where's his body? Has it been sent back to Luoyang? I'm going to chop him into pieces!"

Jian Shuo shook his head and sighed, "The bodies of the three Zhang Jiao brothers were trampled into pulp on the battlefield and cannot be found."

Hearing this, Liu Hong couldn't help but frowned and said with some disappointment: "What a pity."

"By the way, how is the Master's health?"

"He is already old. Now that Zhang Jiao has been dealt with, the others are no longer a concern. It's time for the Grand Tutor to return to the capital to spend his remaining years."

Liu Hong seemed to have thought of all this long ago. He waved his hand and said, "Send someone to take my edict to Jizhou."

"Let the Grand Tutor hand over the military power to Lu Zhi."

"You can return to the capital to recuperate and accept rewards, or you can rest in Julu."

Jian Shuo was naturally very happy about this.

Now that Liu Hong is still alive, the only person these eunuchs are afraid of is Gu Xi.

Now Liu Hong wants to remove Gu Xi's power again.

How could he not be excited?
The news spread very quickly in Luoyang.

This was completely different from what Liu Hong had expected. He had originally thought that the scholars and court officials would go to great lengths to deal with this matter.

But the scholars and court officials said almost nothing.

He just proposed that now that Zhang Jue was dead and the situation in the four states was gradually stabilizing, the wartime strategy formulated by Gu Xi should be cancelled.

Liu Hong regarded this matter as an exchange of interests and agreed to it without much hesitation.

He needs balance in the government.

In Liu Hong's opinion.

The court situation he created since then has reached a balanced trend.

At least the scholars could not directly threaten his imperial power.

As to whether this move would trigger another rebellion, Liu Hong had certainly considered it, but he didn't care.

The imperial court is now powerful, and Zhang Jue is dead. How could the refugees be so bold?

The envoy quickly left Luoyang and headed straight for Jizhou.

At the same time, the news spread like wildfire.

——Before Gu Xi received the news.

The news that the court planned to dismiss Gu Xi again and abolish the policies formulated by Gu Xi caused a huge uproar in the world!

Unrest breaks out again on all sides!

The most crucial thing is that some people in Liangzhou also launched a rebellion and headed straight for the Three Auxiliary Provinces.

The news spread instantly.

The generals and soldiers who were fighting against the Yellow Turbans in all directions mentioned Liu Hong one after another, and he should withdraw the edict and not provoke the people at this time.

When I heard the news.

Liu Hong was furious!
He blamed the whole thing entirely on Gu Xi.

Liu Hong really didn't understand why Gu Xi alone could cause such a huge wave?
Could it be that the people of the world only recognize him, Gu Xi, and not himself as the emperor?

Can this still be considered as a subject?
If this continues, will the world belong to Liu or Gu?
This incident was a huge blow to Liu Hong.

——The most important thing is that he vomited blood!
Years of enjoyment were destined to affect Liu Hong's lifespan.

Today's Liu Hong has never been restricted by his in-laws, and the enjoyment he enjoys far exceeds that of the original history.

The body cannot bear such consumption.

As soon as this incident happened, all the scholars and court officials quickly woke up and the situation suddenly changed.

However, Liu Hong was different from several generations of previous emperors.

Liu Hong has a son.

Up to now, Liu Hong already has two sons.

Liu Bian and Liu Xie.

This can indeed stabilize the morale of the troops to a certain extent.

But the difference is that they are still young and destined not to be able to take control of the power themselves.

Originally, the scholars and ministers just wanted to protect their own interests.

But now it is different. Both Emperors Liu Zhi and Liu Hong have maintained a repressive attitude towards them.

Among the scholars of today, who in the world does not miss the political situation when Gu Xi was regent?

At that moment, someone immediately wrote a letter requesting that Gu Xi be recalled to the court to prevent any accidents.

This memorial goes straight to the point.

Of course, the Twelve Eunuchs appointed by Liu Hong would not agree to this.

Although they have never done anything wrong to Gu Xi or the Gu family over the years.

But based on their understanding of Gu Xi.

Will Gu Xi let them go?

Obviously not!

As long as Gu Xi returns to the court and takes control of the situation, these people will be doomed to die without a burial place.

It is precisely because of this that these people have tried almost every possible means to stop this matter.

He also told all the stories about how powerless Liu Zhi was when he was the king and faced the scholars.

Sure enough, this move worked.

Liu Hong was very clear about the current situation and made a judgment immediately!
Let Gu Xi take on the task of suppressing the rebellion in the name of fighting against the enemy.

He followed the example of Liu Zhi of the past and divided power among eunuchs, scholars, and relatives of the emperor.

Let He Jin have the power to command the military.

This was done to curb Gu Xi, and then use scholars and eunuchs to restrain him.

And just after he settled all this.

June, the ninth year of Jianning.

——Liu Hong died in Luoyang.
------

“The sudden change in the political situation in the late Eastern Han Dynasty was caused by the institutional flaws of the feudal dynasty.

The successive deaths of several generations of emperors resulted in the loss of imperial power.

Although Gu Xi's existence stabilized the court, he could not fundamentally solve the imbalance of imperial power.

The rise of the scholar-official group was bound to threaten imperial power.

Since Emperor Huan, he used eunuchs to suppress scholars, carried out party-based persecution and abandoned Gu Xi. All these measures were attempts to restore imperial power.

But judging from the situation in later generations, this move can be said to be the root cause of the chaos in the late Han Dynasty."

——History of the Rise and Fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty

(End of this chapter)