Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 428 Even the wisest are no more than their ancestors.
"Your Highness, let's ask the court for help again." The generals were naturally unwilling and advised, "As long as the reinforcements arrive quickly, we can hold on a little longer."

"There will be no more reinforcements." Xiao Baoyin said with a bitter smile, "Yuan Zhao brought the last of the imperial guards in the capital. Now they can't even guarantee the strength to guard the palace. Where will they send more troops to us?"

"Sigh..." The generals were dejected and discouraged. "Is there really no reinforcement?"

"Really." Xiao Baoyin nodded, and then said, "I've said what I needed to say and done what I needed to do. You'd better take care of yourselves."

"Where is Your Highness going?" everyone asked hurriedly.

"The Empress Dowager has urgently summoned me back to the capital, issuing several imperial edicts in succession." Xiao Baoyin sighed softly, "I have no choice but to obey."

After saying that, he stopped wasting words with the crowd and gracefully ascended into the air.

The city's defenders were dumbfounded. What the hell was going on? Did he just fly away when he saw the situation was bad?

They could actually fly, but they simply couldn't be as inhuman as Xiao Baoyin, abandoning the entire city's soldiers and civilians and running away...

However, with their commander gone, they were completely out of options and had no choice but to surrender, ending the more than six-month-long Battle of Woyang.

Soon, Emperor Xiao Yan issued an edict to establish Xixu Prefecture in the area of ​​Woyang. The Liang army then advanced victoriously to Chengfu, which had already seriously threatened the heartland of the Northern Dynasty.

After this battle, Chen Qingzhi finally established his prestige in the army, and no one would say anymore that he was a chess slave who rose to power through connections. He also began to be compared with famous generals of the Great Liang, such as Cao Jingzong, Pei Sui, and Chang Yizhi.

Many people believe that, apart from not being as good as Wei Rui, he is no worse than those famous generals. Of course, some people think it's too early to say and that we need to observe him further before drawing conclusions.

~~
In the first month of the second year of Datong, shocked by the fall of Woyang, Yuan Xianda, the governor of Yingzhou of the Northern Wei, surrendered the entire prefecture. Xiao Yan then established Beisizhou in Yiyang.

In addition, with the establishment of Beixuzhou in Pengcheng, the Great Liang Dynasty seized four prefectures from the Northern Wei Dynasty in just one year, all of which were important border towns.

Suddenly, the situation improved dramatically. Daliang completely reversed its decline from a year ago and presented a vibrant and thriving scene.

Meanwhile, the collapse of the Northern Wei Dynasty was intensifying.

Ge Rong, Du Luozhou, Mo Zhetiansheng, and Wanqi Chounu were still stirring up trouble, but the officials in the court couldn't care less about that for the time being; their attention was focused on the conflict between the emperor and the empress dowager...

The current emperor of the Northern Dynasty, Yuan Xu, is the grandson of Emperor Xiaowen and the only son of Emperor Xuanwu. His mother is the current Empress Dowager Hu.

Emperor Xuanwu had difficulty conceiving and never had a son. It wasn't that he had a problem with fertility, but rather that the Xianbei people had an old custom of "killing the mother and establishing the son" to prevent a woman from gaining power through her son and causing chaos in the court.

Therefore, none of the concubines wanted to have a son first, and they would secretly abort their pregnancies to avoid being killed. Only Lady Hu, after becoming pregnant, ignored everyone's advice and insisted on giving birth to the child. She said, "Even ordinary people have offspring, how can the emperor not have a son? I cannot let the royal family die out of fear of death."

Emperor Xuanwu was deeply moved upon hearing this. After Lady Hu gave birth to Yuan Xu, he not only spared her life but also promoted her to the rank of Consort, completely breaking with ancestral family rules.

Later, Yuan Xu ascended the throne at the age of five, and Lady Hu was honored as a Dowager Consort.

But this woman was ambitious and shrewd in political maneuvering. Unwilling to be subservient to others, she quickly allied with Yuan Yong, a member of the imperial clan, to eliminate Empress Dowager Gao and the powerful ministers Gao Zhao and his sister. She was then honored as Empress Dowager and ruled as regent. She and her son were referred to as the "Two Emperors" and "Two Saints".

Now Empress Dowager Hu no longer needed to suppress herself and began to unleash her true nature, displaying extremely strong desires. She had previously admired Yang Baihua, the son of the famous general Yang Daye, a renowned handsome man from the Northern Dynasty. Not long after becoming Empress Dowager, she sent someone to summon him to her bedchamber, which frightened Yang Baihua so much that he fled overnight to the Southern Dynasty.

When Empress Dowager Hu learned that her beloved had run away, she was heartbroken and even composed the "Song of Yang Baihua" in his memory. The lyrics are as follows:
In the second or third month of spring, the willows all burst into bloom.

A spring breeze swept into the boudoir overnight, and willow catkins drifted into the southern house. Heartbroken, she stepped out of the door, her legs weak, and picked up a willow catkin, tears wetting her breast.

Swallows come in spring and go in autumn, hoping to carry willow catkins into their nest...

She ordered palace maids to sing repeatedly by her bedside day and night, on a single loop, which was very poignant.

The song even reached the Southern Dynasties, forcing Yang Baihua to change his name to Yang Hua in order to distance himself from the original song.

After burying her own affections, Empress Dowager Hu began to keep male favorites, indulging in pleasure and creating chaos in the palace. She also helped her male favorites secure positions of power, using them to control the court.

This greatly displeased the royal family of the Great Wei, who wanted to treat her as a mere decoration, and the conflict between the two sides quickly escalated.

Therefore, Prince Yuancha of Jiangyang, together with the eunuch Liu Teng, launched the Xuanguang Coup in the name of "returning power to the emperor" and imprisoned Empress Dowager Hu.

The emperor was only eleven years old at the time and had no ability to govern, so Yuan Cha actually controlled the government.

However, during Yuan Cha's reign, the Six Garrisons Uprising and the Guanzhong Uprising broke out, and the Northern Wei Dynasty went from prosperity to decline, with its politics becoming extremely chaotic.

In the first year of Xiaochang, Empress Dowager Hu, who had been lying low for many years, conspired with the emperor to take advantage of Yuan Cha's unpreparedness to remove him from his military power, and then executed him on charges of treason, and once again ruled as regent.

After her comeback, Empress Dowager Hu completely lost trust in the imperial clan and instead appointed a group of male favorites, including Zheng Yan, Li Shengui, and Xu He, to control the government. These young men, who used their looks to please others, held important positions in the palace, sold official posts on a large scale, plunged the country into chaos, demoralized the people, and led to rebellions in various regions, ultimately causing the country to collapse.

On the other hand, the emperor had also grown up and naturally loathed Empress Dowager Hu and her male favorites. He was also deeply dissatisfied with his mother's reluctance to return power to him and often said some harsh words to those around him.

When this reached the ears of Zheng Yan and others, they were very worried that once the emperor took power, he would target them. So they desperately whispered in his ear that the emperor wanted to stage another Xuanguang coup and imprison Empress Dowager Hu.

Empress Dowager Hu was naturally furious. She held power over the entire country and had also experienced the pain of losing it. After regaining power, she valued power more than family ties, and thus the relationship between mother and son deteriorated rapidly.

Of course, the emperor was almost twenty years old, and it was only right and proper for her to relinquish power, so Empress Dowager Hu couldn't directly reprimand her son. Therefore, she frequently targeted those close to and favored by the emperor.

There was a Taoist priest named Miduo who could speak the language of the Hu people and often stayed by the emperor's side. The Empress Dowager Hu believed that he was colluding with the emperor and the imperial family to seize power, so she assassinated him outside the palace.

Just as the emperor was about to offer a reward for the capture of the murderer, his trusted palace guards, Gu Hui and Shao Da, were executed in the palace. Now he finally knew who had given the order.

The emperor was both shocked and furious, fearing that the empress dowager's male favorites would plot against him. In desperation, he secretly issued an edict to Erzhu Rong in Hebei, ordering him to lead troops into the capital to help him seize power.

~~
In Hebei province.

After the 'Royal Salute' incident, Gao Huan was worried that Ge Rong would hold him accountable, so he simply ran away and sought refuge with Erzhu Rong.

In order to gain Erzhu Rong's favor, he advised, "The current emperor is foolish and weak, the empress dowager is licentious, and favored concubines wield power, causing the government to be in disarray. With your martial prowess, Your Excellency, you should seize the opportunity to rise up, punish Zheng Yan and Xu He, and cleanse the emperor's inner circle. You can then achieve hegemony with a single stroke of the whip. This is exactly what I, He Liuhun, think!"

Erzhu Rong was ambitious, and these words were exactly what he wanted to hear. So he quickly made Gao Huan his confidant and often talked with him late into the night by candlelight, plotting fervently.

Just then, the emperor's secret edict arrived at Erzhu Rong's camp. It was like a godsend; Erzhu Rong was overjoyed and, ignoring Ge Rong, immediately ordered his army to withdraw from Hebei and prepare to march to the emperor's aid.

(End of this chapter)