Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 536 Two Heroes
"Erzhu Zhao thought the plan was excellent and asked who should be sent. Heba Yun, who was drinking with him, immediately suggested that Gao Huan be sent to command the surrendered troops of the Six Garrisons. Gao Huan was overjoyed, but pretended to be furious. He stood up and punched Heba Yun, making his mouth full of blood and knocking out his front teeth. Gao Huan cursed and said, 'The affairs of the world are all decided by the King. Who gave you the right to interfere?!' He then requested that Heba Yun be killed to demonstrate the King's authority."

"Erzhu Zhao was simple-minded to begin with, and after drinking, he couldn't see that Gao Huan was putting on a show with Heba Yun. On the contrary, he was very moved and thought that Gao Huan was loyal. So, in his drunken state, he announced Gao Huan as the commander of the surrendered troops of the Six Garrisons."

"Gao Huan feared that Erzhu Zhao would change his mind after sobering up, so after leaving the camp, he immediately sent someone to order the surrendered soldiers of the six garrisons to come to Fendong to receive orders. The surrendered soldiers of the six garrisons had always hated Erzhu, and they rushed to Gao Huan's place to assemble in a very short time."

"So he became the general in charge of the army, and then, on the pretext that the land in Shanxi was barren and could not support so many soldiers, he requested to move the army to Shandong for food. Many people saw that he just wanted to get away from Erzhu Zhao and get rid of his threat and control. But Erzhu Zhao, that fool, actually agreed, which resulted in letting the tiger return to the mountain and allowing Gao Huan to become completely powerful."

"After the destruction of the Erzhu clan, Gao Huan entered Luoyang, seized power, and arbitrarily deposed and installed emperors, becoming a second Erzhu Rong." Tao Hongjing continued, "The emperor he installed, Yuan Xiu, also wanted to emulate Yuan Ziyou and contact his ministers to get rid of Gao Huan. Unfortunately, Gao Huan was much more cunning than Erzhu Rong, and Yuan Xiu no longer had the support of the imperial lineage. After the conspiracy was exposed, he fled to Yuwen Tai in Chang'an, and thus the Northern Dynasties officially entered an era of confrontation between the east and the west."

"Who? Is it Black Otter?!" Yang Zhong exclaimed in surprise.

"What is a black otter?" Tao Hongjing asked, puzzled.

“It’s Yuwentai,” Ren Yuan said with a smile. “Your childhood friend has made it big now.”

"How did Black Otter rise to power?" Yang Zhong felt it was utterly absurd; the world had truly changed in the last twenty years.

"His rise to power was quite legendary," Tao Hongjing continued. "After Gao Huan seized power, he heavily relied on generals from the Six Garrisons. Heba Yue was appointed as the Grand General of Guanzhong, and he led expeditions in the east and west, pacifying Guanzhong. He also skillfully pacified the various ethnic groups, including the Han and non-Han, and developed production. For a time, his army was well-trained and his food supplies were plentiful, and his prestige rivaled that of Gao Huan. Emperor Yuan Xiu frequently showed him goodwill, intending to recruit him to his side to counter Gao Huan."

"This aroused Gao Huan's suspicion, and he instigated Houmochenyue, the second-in-command in Guanzhong, to murder Heba Yue. At that time, Heba Yue's army was leaderless and in a state of panic. Although Yuwen Tai was the least senior, he stepped forward in time, rushed to Liangzhou to take over the command of Heba Yue's army, gathered the generals to explain the advantages and disadvantages, inspected the camps, and stabilized the morale of the army. He then led his troops to defeat Houmochenyue and marched east to occupy Chang'an. In an instant, he established himself in Guanzhong and became a powerful force in the region."

"Yuwen Tai then strengthened his army and accumulated strength in Guanzhong. Later, the Northern Dynasty emperor Yuan Xiu was no match for Gao Huan, so he lightly cavalry into Guanzhong, moved the capital to Chang'an, and sought refuge with Yuwen Tai. He was appointed as Grand General, Governor of Yongzhou, and concurrently Minister of the Imperial Secretariat. In October of that year, Gao Huan installed Yuan Shanjian as emperor and moved the capital to Ye. The Northern Dynasty officially split into the Eastern and Western Wei."

After listening, Yang Zhong sighed and said, "Fortunately, Black Otter is loyal and righteous, otherwise the world would have fallen into Gao Huan's hands."

"Heh heh, loyalty and righteousness? All crows are black!" Tao Hongjing said with a smile, "Yuan Xiu moved the capital to Chang'an less than half a year ago, but was poisoned by Yuwen Tai, who then installed Yuan Baoju as emperor and completely seized power in Western Wei."

"Really..." Yang Zhong blushed and said, "Impressive."

“Indeed. Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai are two powerful figures, and they fight a major battle every two years. Neither of them can defeat the other.” Tao Hongjing sighed. “The two sides are irreconcilable enemies, and it is a fight to the death. The Southern Dynasty could have taken the opportunity to fight one against the other and easily swallow up both Wei.”

"But at that time, the Southern Dynasty was so busy building temples and recruiting people to become monks that they missed their best opportunity. When they finally had the chance to launch a northern expedition, Hou Jing crushed them." "Heh heh, serves them right!" Chen Baxian spat and asked, "You still haven't told me how Hou Jing took over the Heavenly Slaughter Army?"

“Oh. When Erzhu Rong was stabbed to death by Yuan Ziyou, the divine core did not explode, but was snatched by Hou Jing, who arrived first.” Tao Hongjing said, “He then immediately fled back to his fiefdom and tried to fuse with the divine core.”

"At the time, everyone thought that Erzhu's divine core had been destroyed, so no one asked him for it. After Gao Huan destroyed the Erzhu clan, he promoted him to Minister of Works and concurrently served as Governor of Dingzhou because he was also from one of the Six Garrisons."

"For several years afterward, Hou Jing remained unknown. It wasn't until the Southern Dynasty's Northern Expedition was about to breach Tongguan that he led his Heavenly Slaughter Army to attack, displaying his divine might and slaughtering 100,000 Dream God soldiers—he had actually fused with the divine core and become the new Heavenly Slaughter God Lord!" Tao Hongjing continued:
"After that, he became the bulwark of Eastern Wei against the Great Liang, commanding an army of 100,000 and ruling the Henan region. After becoming a god, he became extremely arrogant. Gao Huan was in need of capable people, so he had to tolerate him again and again. Before his death, Gao Huan specifically instructed his son Gao Cheng to be careful of Hou Jing. As a result, after Gao Cheng came to power, Hou Jing immediately rebelled."

"But at this time, the Eastern Wei was at its zenith, with many fierce generals, and Gao Cheng was a genius who defeated him decisively. Hou Jing initially wanted to defect to the Western Wei, but Yuwen Tai was wary of him. So he led his troops to surrender to our dynasty. Wu Yang and Xiao Yan were overjoyed when they heard the news, because they believed that the failure of the last Northern Expedition was all due to Hou Jing."

"Now that Hou Jing has come to surrender, the Northern Expedition will surely succeed," Tao Hongjing said. He then accepted Hou Jing's surrender and appointed him King of Henan, Grand General, Imperial Envoy, Commander-in-Chief of the Military Affairs of Henan (both north and south), and Grand Chancellor. Tao Hongjing continued:

"But things didn't go as planned. When the Southern Dynasty's reinforcements arrived in Henan in high spirits, they were met with a crushing blow from the Eastern Wei. It turned out that in addition to the Heavenly Slaughter Army, the Eastern Wei also had a Blood Fiend Army, which could also cause them harm."

"Where did the Blood Fiend Army come from?"

"Gao Huan witnessed firsthand Erzhu Rong's ritual of becoming a god through slaughter. After seizing power, he secretly prepared to emulate Erzhu Rong's path to godhood," Tao Hongjing replied.

"But he knew that becoming a god through such a bloody method would lead to madness, so he remained hesitant. In the end, he was shot by Wei Xiaokuan's crossbow at the foot of Jade Wall City and died."

"After his son Gao Cheng took over, facing internal and external troubles, he had no choice but to hold a ceremony regardless of the consequences, thus creating the 'Blood Fiend Heavenly Lord'. The army he created with the blood fiend power that corrupts everything is the Blood Fiend Army, which can also destroy all spiritual states."

"So the gods of the Northern Dynasty are the natural enemy of Wu Yang's methods?" Everyone couldn't help but sigh, truly, the wicked always have their match.

“No wonder Gao Cheng dared to turn against Hou Jing,” Ren Yuan said suddenly. “So he was fearless because he had something to rely on.”

(End of this chapter)