Establishing a thousand-year family from the nobles of the Western Han Dynasty

Chapter 168

If you take a God's perspective, you can see that the entire Xin Dynasty was in turmoil. Ever since Zheng An led the Red Eyebrow Army into rebellion, its momentum has been extremely powerful.

All places could no longer hold back and began to prepare for a response. By the time other rebel forces appeared, Wang Mang's army was no longer enough.

After all, the garrisons at the border cannot be withdrawn, otherwise the country will really be destroyed!
In fact, if Xiang Han did nothing but watch, the Xin Dynasty would perish on its own. It was only a matter of time. But Xu Hua was obviously not satisfied and wanted to add fuel to the fire!
Wang Mang is the number one traitor to the Han Dynasty. If he can be killed, the significance will be very great. We can directly take back the imperial seal and revive the Han Dynasty!

Of course, it may not be possible to return to the old capital. Guanzhong will definitely be the world of the rebels by then. We have just formed an alliance, and it is not a good idea to tear up the alliance now. There are pros and cons.

However, joining forces with the Xin Dynasty's rebels will definitely bring more benefits than disadvantages. It can minimize consumption, and directly destroying the Xin Dynasty can win the hearts of the people in Guanzhong.

Wang Mang is now deserted by his friends and relatives!
"I am here to help the general solve this problem. Although the Red Eyebrow Army has hundreds of thousands of soldiers, how does it compare to the 200,000 imperial guards in Chang'an?"

Zheng An shook his head and said truthfully: "Not even close."

"In addition, the Xinmang general Wang Yi once defeated our Han general Li Yang in Ruyin. This victory was not very glorious, but the war is all about deception. Winning is winning, losing is losing. No matter what, we lost Runan County."

"May I ask, General, do you think your military ability is better than Wang Yi's?"

Zheng An was silent for a moment, but still responded: "I am not as good as him either."

"So this is why you have formed an alliance with our Han Dynasty." The Han envoy planned to strike while the iron was hot.

He didn't know whether the other party was deliberately submitting to him, it didn't matter, as long as the other party was willing to continue the conversation.

As long as I can achieve my goal, what's wrong with being a fool for once?

"I can form an alliance with your country." Zheng An weighed the pros and cons again and chose to agree.

"But the alliance cannot be a waste of my troops. Wang Mang is a recognized traitor to the Han Dynasty! He stole the throne and ruled the country recklessly, causing the people of Guanzhong to suffer!"

"Everyone in the world should actively fight against it, and it is not just the mission of the Red Eyebrow Army."

The Han envoy could understand this point. After all, the strength of the two sides was seriously unequal. The Han Dynasty had a million-strong army, controlled eight states, and was rich and powerful.

However, Zheng An only has half of the Sili Army. Although his military force is nominally 100,000, most of them do not have much combat effectiveness. The gap is so huge that it is inevitable that Xiang Han will use him as a pawn.

The kind of chess piece that is thrown away after use! Fighting on the front line, but getting nothing, and even being taken advantage of!

If this is true, Zheng An will turn against them without hesitation!

He did hate Wang Mang, but he hated treacherous villains even more. Although Xu Hua had a good reputation, he did not seem like that kind of person.

But money can move people's hearts. Who wouldn't want to eat up such a big piece of fat meat as the old land of the new dynasty?
"The Prime Minister has considered this." The Han envoy smiled and said, "General Zheng, don't worry. We will also send more than 200,000 troops to Xin to fight side by side, but we still need the general to send troops to attack the border guards."

"That's natural." Zheng An replied.

"Our prime minister also said that Guanzhong can be promised to the general, and we only want part of Yuzhou and Yanzhou and the imperial seal." said the Han envoy.

Zheng An was surprised by these words. He didn't expect that the big man would give up such a huge benefit!
He didn't even understand why.

The Han envoy did not figure it out. Even if Chang'an was out of reach, it should not be difficult to take Luoyang.

In the end, the prime minister didn't want it either.

In fact, Xu Hua did it on purpose. He wanted to create a chaotic situation. If he wanted, the court could certainly strive for Luoyang, and it would not be impossible to even negotiate for Chang'an.

But there is no need. Returning Chang'an is what we should do after the world is at peace. But in the current situation, even if the Xin Dynasty is overthrown, the world will not be at peace.

The local governors have their own troops and are too powerful to be eliminated in a short period of time. After all, they also respect the Nanyang court and obey its orders to a certain extent.

If we find reasons to weaken them at this time, we will be forcing them to rebel.

Xu Hua's plan was to wait for Liu Xiang to pass away, then he would not express his opinion and let the local areas elect an emperor, but this would certainly not convince the people.

After all, these local forces also have their own ideas. Liu Xiang was recommended by the Xu family and has a good reputation, so they can be convinced, but it is hard to say about the others.

Especially since the Xu family hasn't made any statement yet.

"I can agree to this." Of course Zheng An didn't. He was taking advantage of the situation, so what was he waiting for?

In this negotiation, he was absolutely in an absolutely weak position, and his strength was insignificant in comparison, but he won because he was a local force of the New Dynasty!
The army under his command is not elite, but it is located in an important position in Sili, so he can cooperate with the Han army outside to catch the enemy by surprise!
But the disadvantage is that it may lead to a lack of manpower. You know, Wang Yi's 50,000 troops are still on the way. Once the elite troops are withdrawn, they will be unable to defend.

However, if it succeeds, the new army stationed on the border will be defeated and the Han army will be lured into the pass, then Wang Yi will be insignificant!

After years of chaos and the escape of a large number of people, the Xinmang Dynasty's hard power was far from comparable to that of the Han Dynasty, which had been developing for many years. Many of the so-called 600,000 troops were false reports, and in fact only more than 300,000 were capable of fighting.

Moreover, the military preparations were in disrepair and the generals were unwilling to work for Wang Mang.

After all, the reform also harmed the interests of many military officers. This could be said to be a bad move as it pleased neither side. It failed to fill the treasury, win the hearts of the people, and also lost the powerful class that had originally supported it unconditionally.

Without their support, the Chimei uprising would never have been possible! What's so scary about a group of ragged peasants?
But if the army is armed with iron tools provided by powerful people, the situation will be completely different.

"Well, I hope the general will keep his promise." The Han envoy bowed and then stood up.

This is what Xu Hua wants to achieve, to overthrow Wang Mang, the orthodox regime! Nowadays, the trend in all parts of the world is to restore the Han Dynasty, and reviving the Han Dynasty is the trend!

After learning from the experience of the Xin Dynasty, everyone agreed that the Han Dynasty was better.

"Goodbye, sir." Zheng An stood up and saw him off.

At this time, his trusted generals also came over, and the Han envoy continued to walk away.

"My lord, aren't you afraid that they will go back on their word?" the general reminded, thinking that it is better to be safe than sorry.

"Of course I'm afraid. It's so easy to give up Guanzhong. Neither Luoyang nor Chang'an is wanted. This pie falling from the sky is too big."

Zheng An shook his head, and the silly look on his face disappeared.

"Then why did you agree to it? It is not a wise move to stab the Xu family in the back." Because it was private, the general did not hide anything.

Although the Nanyang court was nominally the Han Dynasty and Liu Xiang was nominally the emperor respected by the world, even a fool could see who was in charge.

The Xu family respected Liu Xiang as the emperor of the Han Dynasty, but if the Xu family did not want him to do so, he would be deposed! All political orders were passed through Xu Hua, and all military orders were passed through Xu Zhong. How could he have any autonomy? He had never seen a founding emperor who had no team of his own and was simply pushed to the throne.

Emperor Xiaowen was also supported by meritorious officials, but it was not a time of chaos at that time!

Therefore, whether Liu Xiang agrees or not this time is completely unimportant and meaningless. What matters most is the Xu family's thoughts.

Zheng An said calmly: "I believe that this powerful Han prime minister has no need to deceive a rebel general like me. Judging from the past, Xu Hua always keeps his word. He has never broken his promise."

Although he was not sure, he could still guarantee it. Although Guanzhong was important, it was not to the point of being desperate.

Xu Hua represents not only himself, but also the identity of the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty. He is second only to the emperor and above everyone else. If he goes back on his word, he will certainly be criticized.

What's more, the Red Eyebrow Army was native to Guanzhong and could gain more support and love from the local powerful people.

So I should keep my promise.

.........

In the second year of the Dihuang reign of the Xinmang Dynasty, Liu Xiang formally issued an edict to fully support the rebel army of the Xin Dynasty, appointing Grand Tutor Xu Yuan as the commander-in-chief of the Left Army, Grand Tutor Xu Min as the commander-in-chief of the Right Army, and General Xu Zhong to command all the armies and station them in Nanyang.

Students from the Military Academy were also drafted into service in advance, and the number of grassroots officers was still very tight.

Among them was Liu Xiu! His original official position was centurion, which was already the largest group.

However, the future Emperor Guangwu of Han would not remain silent, and the former left general Li Yang was reused again! He was previously dismissed because of his defeat to Wang Yi.

But Xu Hua, the real ruler of the Han Dynasty, did not give up on him. He promoted him to the rank of General of Suppressing Rebellion, allocated an army of 8,000 men as the vanguard, and even had the right to recommend officers directly under his command!
Li Yang immediately appointed Liu Xiu and Deng Yu as colonels, commanding two thousand soldiers. This was undoubtedly a great use of resources for a student of the Military Academy who had just been recruited.

This means he has a chance to make a contribution! And with his boss's promotion, his career will be smoother.

Yecheng, Hebei.

Xu Yuan was ordered to lead part of the Northwestern Army to Hebei to supervise the army. His large army would also take the opportunity to move south and invade Guanzhong. It can be said that he was fully prepared.

As long as the line was breached, the Xin Mang would lose everything and would have no choice but to tear down the east wall to repair the west wall.

He had limited troops, and they had to deal with the Red Eyebrow Army and the Han Army in the direction of Luoyang, the Liangzhou Army in the northwest, and the internal uprising forces that were eager to take action.

He was so exhausted that even if Han Xin were alive again, he would be powerless to save the situation.

After all, he couldn't conjure an army out of thin air.

"Great! Finally, I have waited for this day in my lifetime." Inside the Situ Mansion, Xu Yuan was very excited and in high spirits.

Before he started his rebellion against Mang, he made a vow that sooner or later he would chop off the traitor's head with his own hands!

Originally, as the situation in Yanzhou stabilized, Xu Yuan felt that he had no hope. However, he did not expect that the other party would mess up the country, causing him to be deserted by his friends and relatives!

As a result, the whole country was in rebellion, and in addition to the Red Eyebrow Army, other rebel armies were also preparing.

But this time the peasant army was still a motley crowd and could not amount to anything, mainly because they lacked practical experience and armor.

The Xin Dynasty was similar to the Han Dynasty in that it was very lenient regarding weapons, but armor was very strict!

Xu Min was calm after all, and he looked down on Wang Mang more and more. He originally thought that he was a hero, but now it seemed that he was just a man who was seeking fame and reputation.

His reforms are nothing but pipe dreams!

"Brother Min, I have drawn out 30,000 elite troops from the Northwest Army this time, which should be enough."

The Northwest Army was still the most elite army of the Han Dynasty. It fought against the Huns and the Xinmang Army all year round and was relied upon by Liu Xiang.

The structure of the Han Dynasty was one of local separatism, but all of them were headed by the Xu family, which was also the most powerful. Whether in terms of military force, status, or political influence, they were the strongest in the world.

It mainly relies on these three powerful armies, the 100,000-strong Northwest Army, the 80,000-strong Youzhou Army, and the 60,000-strong Jingzhou Army, all of which are direct descendants.

The others were only under the command of the Xu family. In fact, there were many factions within the family, and each general had his own subordinates. Except for Liangzhou, the prefect also had a high degree of autonomy.

Yongliang was mainly a military governor's office, with power concentrated in the hands of the Grand Governor Xu Yuan.

Xu Min smiled and said, "That's enough. This time the imperial court has mobilized 200,000 troops to attack together with the 100,000 Red Eyebrows troops from Sili. The Xinmang imperial court cannot afford to support too many troops with its current finances."

“We are more than enough.”

Originally, the standing armies of the Xin and Han dynasties were similar, but with the large-scale exodus of the Xinmang population, the finances became tight and even conscription became difficult.

According to the intelligence currently available, the two thousand volunteer troops in Bashu have also risen up, and are continuing to grow like a snowball.

The crisis in Yizhou directly affected the grain and fodder supply of the entire Xin Dynasty.

Bashu is a land of abundance with fertile land and dense population. Its only drawback is that it is too close to Hanzhong.

Once Hanzhong was in hand, one could attack or defend. In those days, Emperor Gaodi relied on the population and food here to conquer the Three Qins and used it as a foundation to seize the world.

Wang Mang also attached great importance to this place. The governor of Yizhou and the prefect of Hanzhong were both surnamed Wang.

But now a peasant uprising has also been launched in Hanzhong, and its scale is still growing. It is conservatively estimated that there are now 30,000 people.

At that time, they could take advantage of the fact that the court in Chang'an was too busy to take care of other things and control Bashu in one fell swoop. Without this large granary, the Xin Mang Dynasty would be in name only and it would be useless even if it could repel the Han army.

If they fail to capture Hanzhong, it will just be a separatist force in Guanzhong and will be destroyed sooner or later.

Xu Min looked at Xu Yuan and said, "Brother, go and get ready. The army will set out tomorrow. If we calculate the time, the vanguard has already engaged the Xinmang defenders."

Xu Yuan nodded and said with a smile: "I understand. Don't worry, the Northwest Army of Liangzhou will also launch an attack on Guanzhong soon after. I want to see how Wang Mang will resist with so many fronts advancing at the same time!"

The opportunity to restore the Han Dynasty has come! Xu Zhong, who was in full charge of the battle, did not intend to delay the progress any further, so he ordered the Northwest Army of Yongliang to set off together.

In the past, the Northwest Army was always a treasure, and they would not move if they could. This was enough to show their determination.

(End of this chapter)