Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 560: Internal Fighting
Faced with the two forces of Luoyang and Southern Liang, Su Ze did not go south immediately this time.

After being on the battlefield for more than a year, the soldiers generally missed home.

Spring plowing season is coming soon. The advantage of the military service system is that soldiers can serve outside and then return home to farm, but the disadvantage is that long-term military service will cause great damage to agricultural production.

Moreover, facing the situation in Luoyang, Yu Jin also gave Su Ze some advice:

"Among the people in Luoyang, Yuan Ziyou has power but no real action, Xi Yi has no power and no ability, Gao Aocao has courage but no strategy, and only Yang Zhong can fight."

"But Yang Zhong is a general of the southern army. If Yuan Ziyou uses him to lead the army, it will inevitably cause others to be dissatisfied."

"If our army attacks, it will only unite Luoyang. It is better to wait until the spring plowing is over and the enemy will be in chaos."

Yu Jin also said about the situation in Southern Liang:
"The situation in the Southern Dynasty is the same. If we raise a large army now, all parties will unite to fight. If we let them mess around for a while, they will fight each other instead."

"However, the Southern Dynasty Xuzhou Governor Xiao Lun is not as ambitious as his brothers, and he knows his own abilities. He did not take sides in this civil strife. The county lord can send his men to persuade them to surrender, and maybe he can occupy Xuzhou without losing a single soldier."

Su Ze nodded. Yu Jin's advice was also what he thought, so he ordered the Guanzhong soldiers he led to return to Yongle City with him. After the shogunate calculated the honorary officials and generals, they would each lead their generals back to their hometowns.

As soon as this military order was issued, it was supported by the entire army.

The war has been going on for nearly a year, and it is time to return home in glory.

Immediately afterwards, Su Ze wrote another letter to Murong Shaozong, asking him to send an envoy to contact Xiao Lun, the governor of Xuzhou in Southern Liang.
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When Yuan Ziyou in Luoyang heard the news that Su Ze led his troops back to Yongle City, he was overjoyed, because this also meant that he could stay alive again.

Yuan Ziyou continued to appoint Yang Zhong to guard Beizhong City, and sent Xi Yi to Henan to recruit soldiers, but Gao Aocao was left behind.

It was not that Yuan Ziyou deliberately neglected Gao Aocao, but that there were only so many soldiers and horses in Luoyang and the territory was so large. Yuan Ziyou took care of the political affairs himself and was confident in leaving the military affairs to Yang Zhong. There was indeed no other task for Gao Aocao.

Gao Aocao was arrogant by nature and he disdained to ask Yuan Ziyou for an official position, so he just lived in the mansion idle.

In a blink of an eye, it was March. Yuan Ziyou left Luoyang City to pay homage to his ancestors' tombs and pray for their blessings. This time, no one knew whether it was intentional or accidental, but he only asked Yang Zhong to lead the troops to accompany him, and left Gao Aocao in Luoyang.

Gao Aocao felt even more dissatisfied.

Gao Aocao was dissatisfied, and so were his subordinates.

These were the soldiers of Gao Aocao's Bohai Gao family. During the coup, they also assassinated Yuan Tianmu together with Gao Aocao.

One of the servants said to Gao Aocao:
"General! When you assassinated Yuan Tianmu, His Majesty recognized you as the first meritorious person. In the future, you will be ranked higher than that Zahu Yangzhong. But now the emperor is close to that Zahu and is alienating you. In the future, won't Zahu be ranked higher than you?"

Hearing this, Gao Aocao also felt angry.

He was impulsive, and he drew his sword and said:

"What talent does this bastard Yang Zhong have? He is just a guard dog! The emperor asked him to guard the gate, but he dared to climb over my head!"

But Gao Aocao put down his sword and said:

"But the emperor trusts that mixed-race Hu, what should I do?"

When the confidants saw that Gao Aocao had been persuaded, they immediately said:

"General, the emperor relies on that barbarian only because he can guard the gate. If you can go north and occupy Hanoi, you won't need this guard dog." "Henei is in chaos now, it's a good opportunity for you to show your ambitions!"

The Hanoi region is the narrow and long area north of the Yellow River and south of the Taihang Mountains.

When Chen Qianzhi was fighting in the north, he wanted to capture Hanoi, but failed due to the lack of prestige of the false emperor and the pressure from Erzhu Rong.

Today, the Hanoi area has become a buffer zone between Yuan Ziyou and Su Ze's forces.

A part of the Yuan clan, who were unwilling to surrender to Su Ze but also unwilling to recognize Yuan Ziyou, occupied the cities in the Henei area. The most powerful one was Prince of Pei Yuan Xin, who once joined Yuan Tianmu to resist Chen Qingzhi and was later appointed as the governor of Qinyang County.

After Erzhu Rong's fall, Prince of Pei Yuan Xin was in a semi-independent state.

Now Yu Jin was left in Bingzhou by Su Ze to settle the remnant forces of Erzhu Rong in Bingzhou. The remaining troops only occupied the exit of Chenguanxing and did not continue to attack the Henei area.

After listening to his subordinates' words, Gao Aocao also felt that this was a good opportunity, so he immediately wrote a letter to Yuan Ziyou, requesting to lead his troops north to attack Hanoi.

After hearing Gao Aocao's letter, Yuan Ziyou was also very happy.

Although he is good at political strategies, he does not understand military affairs.

Gao Aocao discussed in detail the military situation in Hanoi. On paper, Luoyang could completely move north to control the Hanoi area.

Although this area is not prosperous, it is a new territory after all, and it also makes Luoyang feel more secure.

Yuan Ziyou immediately handed over a part of the newly recruited Henan troops to Gao Aocao, and also gave him the most valuable armor and weapons in the Luoyang arsenal, and ordered him to march north to attack Qinyang County in Henei.

On March 15th, Gao Aocao swore an oath in Luoyang, headed north through Beizhong City, and under the watchful eyes of Yang Zhong, plunged into the Hanoi area.

Yang Zhong once expressed his opposition to Gao Aocao's decision to send troops in front of Yuan Ziyou, but after his persuasion failed, Yang Zhong could only remain silent.

Yang Zhong's reason was very simple. Luoyang was short of food and soldiers. It was spring now. Even if the Hanoi area was occupied, order had to be restored for agricultural production in order to obtain a harvest in the fall.

It is even possible that this season's spring ploughing will be delayed because of the war.

So what is the point of occupying the Hanoi area?

Luoyang also had to spend money and food to support the army that went to Henei, and also to support the officials in the occupied areas.

Moreover, Hanoi had not surrendered to Su Ze, so when Su Ze attacked, it could serve as a barrier to resist.

If we rashly send out troops to attack now, Hanoi may completely side with Su Ze, giving Su Ze a reason to send troops to occupy it, which would be counterproductive.

Yang Zhong's advice could be said to be mature and prudent, but Yuan Ziyou had already fallen into the pie that Gao Aocao had drawn. In addition, Xi Yi also spoke for Gao Aocao, believing that Yang Zhong was jealous of Gao Aocao's ability to lead troops to war, so he advised to stop him.

At this point, Yang Zhong could no longer persuade Gao Aocao and could only let him lead his troops north.

Upon hearing the news that Gao Aocao had sent troops to Henei, Yu Jin, who was stationed in Jinyang, was overjoyed. He immediately transferred his deputy Wang Sizheng to Jinyang and returned to Hedong to reorganize the troops.

In April, Emperor Yuan Xu of the Wei Dynasty announced the relocation of the capital to Chang'an and promoted Su Ze to King of Tang.

(End of this chapter)