Chapter 174: Conquering Yuzhou
The offensive of the Han army on the front line became increasingly fierce and unstoppable, blocking more than 100,000 Xinmang troops in Chenliu. Wang Xun did not dare to confront them and had to rely on the natural barrier of the city for defense, which was in great danger.

Guanzhong was also full of rebel armies. In addition to the Red Eyebrow Army in Henan, rebel armies of all sizes also emerged in other counties and prefectures.

This seriously hindered the financial resources of the Xinmang court. In order to quell the rebellion, a considerable portion of the already limited military force was withdrawn, which undoubtedly made the situation worse.

The Liangzhou Army in the northwest raised tens of thousands of troops, launched frequent harassment, and tied down most of the imperial guards.

There were undercurrents in Chang’an. From court officials to ordinary people, everyone knew that the Xin Dynasty was about to perish, so they all sought ways to survive.

The new ancestor Wang Mang, who was originally full of vigor and vitality, also lost his edge and became decadent in his own bedroom.

He once had considerable confidence. After all, he was still partly without any available troops. As long as he could repel the main force of Xu Yuan and Xu Min, he would not have to worry about the threat of foreign enemies for the time being.

This allows them to focus on quelling domestic rebellions of all sizes.

But now it is different. He can’t even deal with the peasant army in Guanzhong. The rebels in Hanzhong have already attacked the prefectural government and killed the prefect of Hanzhong, and he has also lost contact with Bashu.

The ministers in Chang’an intended to rebel and support the Han army one by one as a token of their surrender.

This regime is already hated by everyone, and important officials like Zhen Feng really have no choice, otherwise they would not continue to work for a king who has lost his country.

Wang Mang lost his last bit of confidence, hid in his bedroom, drank to drown his sorrows, did not attend court, and did not receive guests. He seemed to have accepted his fate, even though he still had hundreds of thousands of troops.

But this is not enough, and they can only tear down the east wall to repair the west wall. In the end, fires broke out everywhere and the country was destroyed!

“Your Majesty… The General and Zhen Taibao and others request to see you.”

The eunuch hesitated outside the door for a moment, then made up his mind, walked in and bowed.

His Majesty has a bad temper these days, and he will be scolded almost every time he interrupts him! If the matter is not so important, they will be sentenced to death if they don’t go. They know that the emperor is venting his anger on small people.

But there is nothing we can do. If a small person can resist, can he still be called a small person?
He couldn’t afford to offend the general. If he delayed important military information, he would die a more miserable death.

Are you kidding? If I can’t deal with the Han army, shouldn’t it be easy to deal with you, a small minion?
So we can only take risks.

“Please come in.” The drunk Wang Mang did not refuse as he did before, perhaps because he knew that escape was not a solution.

These are the few people who are loyal to him, and he must not let these loyal ministers feel discouraged, otherwise there will be no point in fighting the war.

“Yes, sir.” The eunuch breathed a sigh of relief, as it meant he had escaped.

After a moment, light footsteps were heard, and Zhen Feng and Wang Yi walked in with heavy faces.

“Your Majesty, we pay our respects to you.” The two men bowed.

Wang Mang put down the wine, the wine dripped slowly, he sobered up a little, waved his hand and said: “No need to be polite, both of you.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“I wonder if you two have something important to discuss with me?” He thought for a moment and finally spoke out.

In fact, it is not difficult to guess the purpose of Zhen Feng Wang Yi’s visit. It is nothing more than to advise. These days are indeed too decadent. The Han army’s offensive is still continuing, and internal rebellion continues.

But the hope of the entire new dynasty has begun to rot. What’s the point of fighting this war? It would be better to give up the title of emperor and surrender to the Han Dynasty.

If he says no, he can still keep his life, and Liu Xiang may not be lenient. But in order to consider the impact, Xu Hua may give him a leisurely title. Of course, it is hard to say whether he will punish him later.

Wang Yi didn’t say anything, but his ugly expression already represented his mood. Zhen Feng was quite bold.

He said shockingly: “I think your majesty is very similar to King Zhou of Shang.”

In ancient times, saying that an emperor was like King Zhou was almost like pointing at his nose and scolding him. Wang Yi next to him was obviously stunned for a moment.

As expected, Wang Mang became gloomy and sobered up immediately, but he tried hard not to get angry: “Why do you say that?”

Fortunately, this was his trusted and loyal minister, otherwise he would have sentenced him to death without saying a word.

“Your Majesty is indulging in wine and women, ignoring state affairs. Wang Xun and the soldiers loyal to Daxin are still fighting bloody battles on the front lines, but you are so decadent that you allow the rebels to wreak havoc in Guanzhong and the Han army to capture cities and plunder land.”

“Isn’t this like King Zhou of Shang?”

Zhen Feng paused, and his tone became calm again, “But your majesty is different from those pure tyrants.”

“King Zhou of Shang was a self-depraved man who ruined the Shang Empire that had lasted for hundreds of years. Your Majesty only wanted to back down for a moment. There is still hope for a turnaround.”

“Although the situation is deteriorating, internal strife continues, and external enemies are pressing forward, can Your Majesty just give up? Your Majesty is not just yourself, there are thousands of Daxin loyalists behind you!”

Although Zhen Feng himself was unsure and didn’t know how to win, as an important official of the Xin Mang Dynasty, he couldn’t just give a bad name, right?

What’s more, His Majesty is ready to give up his fate, and what he needs now is encouragement! He sees clearly that he has no way out, and the others are not deeply bound to the new dynasty, so they can switch to the Han Dynasty at any time.

He himself was not like that. Before Wang Mang became the prime minister, he was Wang Mang’s confidant and did many things that Liu Xiang could not tolerate no matter what.

“You are right. I was wrong. I am not like an emperor who would retreat after encountering a few setbacks. Such a cowardly person, even if he defeats the Han court by chance, will never achieve anything great.”

Wang Mang took this obvious spiritual chicken soup to heart. He still had ambitions! He still had the ambition to defeat the Han Dynasty and the Xu family, although it was unlikely.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty, for regaining your confidence. The Han army has won many victories on the front lines. Xu Yuan and Xu Min have long looked down upon us. Arrogant soldiers will surely be defeated! As long as we can seize the opportunity, we may be able to defeat the enemy with fewer troops.”

“When Emperor Gao conquered the Chu capital Pengcheng, he had an army of 560,000 princes. Xiang Yu was powerless to turn the tide.”

“But what was the truth? Xiang Yu led 20,000 light cavalrymen to attack day and night. He took advantage of the enemy’s unpreparedness and attacked the camp fiercely, eventually creating the miraculous Battle of Pengcheng.”

“What a similar situation we are facing.”

In order to prevent His Majesty from becoming decadent, Zhen Feng continued to make amends and brought up the Battle of Pengcheng at the end of the Qin Dynasty.

In fact, the two do have similarities. The army of Xu Yuan and Xu Min is essentially a coalition of local warlords. Although they all obey the imperial court’s deployment, they are much stronger than Liu Bei’s situation back then.

But after all, this is a mutual battle, and coupled with the fact that we underestimated the enemy, this battle is not impossible to win!
“…Come here, hand over all the commanders of the Imperial Guards. I have something to tell you.”

After being persuaded, Wang Mang immediately cheered up and planned to mobilize all the generals he could trust and make one final desperate move!
If this battle could successfully repel the main force of the Han army, then he could at least survive for a few more years.

By then, the mistakes made in domestic reforms can be gradually made up.

At this point, it was impossible for the new ancestor to insist on his own reforms. Facts proved that he was wrong. This retro reform directly dragged the Xinmang regime, which was originally thriving and quite stable, into the abyss!
………

In Yuzhou, Li Yang’s offensive became more and more fierce, and the defenders found it difficult to cope. In order to preserve their strength, they had to give up a considerable number of counties and prefectures, and the power was retained in Runan.

Runan was the second largest county in the country, extremely wealthy, with a full treasury, and no shortage of food, grass, and water. Even if there was an attack from Nanyang, it would be able to handle it with ease. Seeing that it could not win, the Xinmang began to defend with all its might. Just like Wang Xun retreated to Chenliu, the Yuzhou garrison also retreated to Runan.

Exchange space for time!

Li Yang did not stop them, but began to digest the land that had been acquired, arrange garrisons, collect food and grass, and replenish troops. After a series of great victories, the morale of everyone from generals to soldiers was high!
They were eager to try and avenge their previous defeat! After all, they had failed in Runan last time.

Isn’t it just right now? Just won back the last defeat, but it was not easy. Wang Yi mainly took advantage of the enemy’s underestimation.

Lure the main force out of the city and then ambush them.

The Han army responded hastily and suffered a great defeat.

Handsome tent.

All the Han army generals were in high spirits because he had made great achievements on the battlefield! The court restarted the military merit system, which means that these will be fulfilled when the merits are awarded.

In this feudal era, military merit is always the best way to cross classes.

What’s more, the world is in chaos now. The local governments respect the imperial court on the surface, but in reality, warlords are in power and monopolize financial power. The prefects and governors are all local tyrants.

Of course, the happiest person was the commander Li Yang. The achievement this time was enough for him to be proud of. Once Runan was captured, he would be able to resume his post.

That is to say, he was the Left General and the Governor of Yuzhou, both of whom were considered important figures in the Han Dynasty.

General Zuo is a general with a high title. There are only a few generals of this rank in the entire court who can be counted on two hands.

The value of the Yuzhou governor is even more incredible, this is the governor of a state! Moreover, it was just taken back from the Xinmang. The local independence is not strong. As a governor holding the imperial seal, he can actually exercise the power of the governor of the state!

By then, no one in the court would dare to look down on him anymore. With tens of thousands of troops under his command and as the governor of a frontier province, even the prime minister Xu Hua would have to try his best to win him over.

Power is from the bottom up. Without the support of so many generals, prefects and governors below, he, the prime minister, would be just a commander without troops.

The reason why the Xu family was able to dominate the court was mainly because they were the most powerful factions in the three places.

Xu Yuan, who commanded 100,000 Northwestern troops, Xu Min, who ruled Hebei, and Xu Zhong, who was in charge of Jingzhou, were all people Xu Hua relied on.

He himself has very few soldiers and limited control over the local area, and Nanyang is also Xu Zhong’s territory.

“Congratulations, my lord. From now on, you will return to the position of Left General.”

“Yes, with this military achievement, your place in the Prime Minister’s heart will surely be even more important in the future. You have a bright future ahead of you.”

Everyone congratulated him, as everyone had seen Xu Hua’s previous investment.

This is also the reason why no one dares to make things difficult.

He has successfully demonstrated his worth this time, and his place in the prime minister’s heart will certainly be more important. Who was the person who was valued and fully supported by the Xu family before?

The Grand Chancellor of the current dynasty, one of the Three Dukes, was a big man in charge of Huainan and Jiangdong.

Zhu Chun was just a captain back then. He followed Xu Zhong to suppress the rebellion and made great contributions. He was favored by Xu Zhong because he was tactful and had no ambition.

Soon, he became the prefect of Danyang with the support of the Xu family.

Afterwards, he went to Chang’an in person and proposed to Emperor Ai Liu Xin that “abolishing the historian and establishing the governor would bring stability to the area”. The suggestion was adopted by the emperor, and he also benefited from it.

As the governor of Yangzhou, he became a frontier official and everyone in the court wanted to win him over.

Zhu Chun himself was also very sensible. He knew who he relied on to climb to this position, and he did not just turn to the other side and continued to be Xu Zhong’s pawn. As a result, his position as governor became increasingly stable.

Later, when Xu Yuan raised an army in Nanyang, he responded actively. Soon he naturally took the throne of Grand Marshal, one of the Three Dukes, completing a gorgeous transformation.

This example is right in front of us!
Li Yang was very pleased, but he still said: “It’s nothing, we are all serving the court. As long as we are loyal to the Han Dynasty, we can be favored by the prime minister!”

Of course, this is just nice talk. Over the years, Xu Hua has been the only one who personally came forward to protect him.

Even Li Yang himself couldn’t understand why the prime minister valued him so much.

He is indeed a leader among the younger generation of the Han people, but that is all.

“The next thing we need to do is to capture Runan as soon as possible. The general gave us two months, but I think two months is too slow.”

After a moment, Li Yang put away his smile, his expression became serious, and he started talking about business.

As for being reinstated and Xu Hua’s attention, that was all later talk. The prerequisite was to capture Yuzhou first and smooth out the final twists and turns for the army on the front line. If this was not accomplished, nothing else could be expected.

If they were delayed, not only would they not be able to avenge their previous humiliation, I’m afraid even the officials of Wancheng would be disappointed.

Therefore, this battle is of utmost importance!
“I will do my best.” Everyone’s enthusiasm was not very high. The city of Runan was strong. Wang Yi had deliberately built it after conquering it, probably to deal with this situation.

The army suffered heavy casualties and only managed to achieve very minor results.

It is very difficult to break the city in a short period of time with minimal casualties, at least there is no clue yet.

Li Yang took a quick glance and cast his gaze on Liu Xiu, the junior he was most optimistic about, and found that the other party had a calm look and showed no enthusiasm.

He basically figured it out. No one wanted to send his soldiers to serve in vain.

We must provide enough incentives.

“This Runan County is very important. It is the only county in Yuzhou that has not yet been infused with the temperament of the Han army. It is also the place where I failed.”

“How about this, whoever can lead the troops to attack Ruyin first, I will recommend him as the governor of Runan!”

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone’s breathing became noticeably faster.

Even the calm Liu Xiu was obviously tempted. The stakes were too big to resist.

Runan is the second largest county in the country! It is also the seat of Yuzhou. If he takes this position, he will undoubtedly be the second person under Li Yang! He is also a frontier official.

I have to say, he is very good at controlling people’s hearts.

Seeing that it had a sufficient effect, Li Yang nodded with satisfaction, “I keep my word.”

“Whoever leads the army to Ruyin first, I will write a memorial to the court.”

(End of this chapter)