Northern Prefecture Rivers and Mountains

Chapter 167 Potential

Slide.

The continuous reports of defeats made Murong Chui extremely angry, especially the death of Murong Hui, which almost made him lose his mind.

But in the end I managed to hold it in.

At his age, he no longer gets angry easily.

Although Murong Hui was deeply favored by him, there were many other children and grandchildren who were also favored by him. The fact that Murong Hui was defeated by a mere thousand people had already proved his incompetence and unsuitability.

This is actually a good thing for the State of Yan.

"Northern Palace Army, Pengcheng Liu Family!" Murong Chui sat on the soft couch, his tiger eyes faintly flashing with coldness.

Liu Laozhi can be considered his old rival. In the Battle of Linzhang that year, there were actually many coincidences and a thrilling victory. However, so many years have passed, Murong Chui has become very old, but Liu Laozhi is still young and strong.

He succeeded Wang Gong and took charge of the Northern Palace, becoming a new force in the rise of the Jin Dynasty.

"A mere 3,000 Jin bandits dared to invade my land and kill my brothers. This hatred is irreconcilable and intolerable! Your grandson is willing to lead an army of 100,000 to annihilate Pengcheng and seize Jianghuai!"

When everyone was holding their breath, Murong Sheng stood up.

He was the eldest son of Crown Prince Murong Bao. He was only twenty-one years old, talented in both civil and military affairs, calm and wise.

After the Battle of Feishui, he defected to Murong Chong of Western Yan. Seeing that Murong Chong was ambitious but lacked talent and would not be able to accomplish anything, he secretly fled to Hebei with his uncle Murong Rou and Murong Hui and defected to Murong Chui.

Because of this experience, he has a close relationship with Murong Hui and strongly advocates revenge.

Of course, revenge is only one aspect. His real intention is to take advantage of this opportunity to gain military power and try to show off in front of Murong Chui.

The royal family of Yan State all had their own followers and old friends, and they were only able to be brought together by relying on Murong Chui's prestige.

Once Murong Chui is gone, it is hard to say who will rule the Yan Kingdom.

Murong Chui is already sixty-seven this year, and no one knows how many years he can live.

The people below have long been fighting openly and secretly for power and profit.

Murong Lin retorted, "Daoyun, don't be so arrogant. Even Fu Jian was defeated at the Battle of Feishui. We are far inferior in strength. How can we possibly capture Jianghuai?"

Murong Sheng said, "The present is different from the past. The Jin Dynasty is in turmoil. The elite troops of the Northern Prefecture are all in Xinting, facing off against the Western Prefecture of Jingzhou. The Tianshi Dao is ready to make a move, and chaos is imminent. This is a godsend opportunity. If we can seize the opportunity to capture Jianghuai, the Central Plains will be unable to hold on alone."

These words made Murong Chui's eyes light up.

He originally doted on this eldest grandson of a concubine and compared him to Cao Rui. Later, just because Murong Hui had an outstanding appearance and looked like himself when he was young, he became closer to Murong Hui.

Now that Murong Hui is dead, Murong Sheng is once again valued by Murong Chui.

But then someone stood up and objected, "I think this is not possible. Once our army marches south, the Jin Dynasty will be pressured and the noble families will reunite and unite against the enemy. The Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers are rich in water, Pengcheng is fortified, and our army is composed of northerners, not skilled in naval warfare. If we fail to capture the city after a long siege, we will repeat the same mistakes. The country's greatest enemies are Murong Yong and Tuoba Gui. If we pacify the north, we can easily conquer the south. How can we abandon the fundamental goal for the sake of the trivial?"

When everyone looked over, it was Murong Nong, the King of Liaoxi.

He was also Murong Chui's most capable son. Murong Nong, Murong Lin and Murong Long made great contributions to the pacification of Hebei.

There were frequent internal struggles within the Jin Dynasty, but once faced with external threats, they would unite.

After Huan Wen's death, the Xie family and the Huan family had become irreconcilable. When Fu Jian went south to fight, the two families quickly put aside their prejudices and joined forces to resist the Di Qin, achieving a great victory at the Battle of Feishui.

The lesson of the Battle of Feishui was fresh in his mind, and Murong Chui did not have the strength to annex the Jin Dynasty.

The State of Yan did not even have complete control over the north, and its strength was far inferior to that of the Jie Zhao of the past, let alone the Di Qin.

Murong Yong posed too great a threat to him, and behind Murong Yong, Tuoba Gui was eyeing him covetously.

Murong Chui was only slightly tempted, but was persuaded back by Murong Nong. At this moment, Murong Kai hurried in, "Your Majesty, the Bingzhou spies just reported back that Murong Yong and Tuoba Gui have formed an alliance!"

The intention of the alliance between Western Yan and Wei was obvious.

At this moment, Murong Chui could no longer afford to hesitate. "No matter how much land we have in the south, it's useless. The people of Jin like to fight among themselves, so let them fight. First, we must deal with Murong Yong and defeat Tuoba Gui!"

"Leader!"

Pingyang.

The rain started again.

This wet weather is really uncomfortable, and the wounds of many wounded soldiers have become red and swollen.

Murong Long withdrew his troops, and Ping You also wisely gave up Pingyang City and retreated to Puyang.

Liu Daogui led his soldiers to Pingyang and Pingyou in a hurry, leaving behind more than 4,000 stones of grain and fodder, more than 2,000 heads of livestock, various military equipment filling the treasury, and more than 4,000 young and strong men who did not have time to evacuate.

During the period of confrontation, Pingyang became their place of supply of food and fodder.

When it rains during the plum rain season, the waste cannot be burned or taken away, so it can only be abandoned.

Liu Daogui was overjoyed. He had been worrying about food for some time, and suddenly someone came to his rescue. He immediately ordered people to slaughter livestock and hold a feast for the soldiers to reward them for their hard work over the past month.

Liu Yu led Mao Dezu back to Lucheng.

Just as he expected, Murong Chui did not raise an army for revenge and remained stationed in Huatai.

Even Murong Long, who was stationed in Gaoping, remained silent.

Liu Daogui breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he didn't come now, he could breathe a sigh of relief. As for what would happen in the future, they could talk about it later.

The world situation is not static, and strength and weakness can change in the blink of an eye.

Murong Chui seems to be at the peak of his career, but in fact he has many internal and external troubles. To this day, there are still people causing rebellion in Youzhou and Pingzhou. Even if the rebellion is quelled, Tuoba Gui and Murong Yong will still be watching covetously...

Although Yao Chang of Guanzhong died of illness, the newly appointed Yao Xing showed the potential of a powerful ruler. He promoted Confucianism, worked diligently to govern the country, built water conservancy projects, cared about farming, and showed sympathy for the orphans and widows. The national strength of the Yao Qin Dynasty continued to grow...

It rained for three days, the dark clouds retreated, the weather gradually cleared up, and the plum rain season was finally over.

Merchants heading south bring the latest news.

Murong Yong was unexpectedly defeated by Xue Qiang, a noble from Hedong, in Chenchuan, and more than 10,000 of his men were killed in battle.

The Western Yan army originally had only 60,000 to 70,000 troops, and now it has been defeated by Chen Chuan and has suffered heavy losses.

It is truly unimaginable that the emperor of a country was defeated by local tyrants.

After Murong Yong seized Bingzhou, he caused hundreds of thousands of Bingzhou people to be displaced. He had no ability to govern the country, but he liked to fight wars everywhere. However, he was defeated repeatedly and had never won a single battle in all these years. It was a miracle that he could still sit on the throne.

Xue Qiang, who defeated him, was no ordinary man. He came from the Xue family, a wealthy family in Hedong, and was famous in the three prefectures. He was once a close friend of the famous prime minister Wang Meng.

Huan Wen stationed his troops at Bashang, and Wang Meng and Xue Qiang joined him. Xue Qiang saw at a glance that Huan Wen was not a man who could accomplish anything, so he advised Wang Meng to leave.

Murong Yong came to power and killed Wang Yong, the son of Wang Meng and the prefect of Hedong, causing the Wang family to be separated from their wives and children. Wang Yao led some of the Wang family's nephews and nephews south to Jingzhou and defected to the Jin Dynasty. Xue Qiang endured for many years and finally avenged his old friend.

The defeat of Chen Chuan revealed that Murong Yong had reached the end of his rope.

Once you become weak in the north, the wolves will pounce on you.

Two days later, news came again from the northwest that Murong Chui had mobilized the armies of Si, Ji, Qing and Yan states to attack Western Yan.

(End of this chapter)