Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 567: Unification of the North and the South (Part of the Final Chapter)
The first to be attacked was Xiao Yi, who was entrenched in Shouchun.

In the past two years, Su Ze's attitude towards Xiao Yi has always been to win him over and use him.

In fact, if it weren't for Su Ze's enticement and support of food to Xiao Yi, he might have been defeated by Heba Sheng long ago.

Therefore, Xiao Yi's attitude towards the north was very submissive. He even sent envoys to Chang'an to pay tribute to the north, but was rejected by Su Ze.

Upon hearing the news that Murong Shaozong had sent troops, Xiao Yi's first reaction was disbelief.

Then he thought that Murong Shaozong had taken the initiative to attack him for the sake of his military merit.

So Xiao Yi sent an envoy with a large amount of treasures to Chang'an, trying to persuade Su Ze to order Murong Shaozong to withdraw his troops.

However, when the envoy left Shouchun, he soon heard the news that Su Ze had ascended the throne and personally led an expedition to Jiangling. He immediately rushed back to Shouchun to report to Xiao Yi. Only then did Emperor Xiao Yi and his ministers realize that Murong Shaozong did not go there alone for military merit, but was starting the great cause of unifying the north!
It was not until this time that Xiao Yi felt that the end was near, and he immediately ordered his general Wang Sengbian to go and resist.

But after Wang Sengbian left the city, Xiao Yi became cowardly again. He was worried that Wang Sengbian's entire army would be wiped out, and he would not even have the capital to bargain with. So he quickly recalled Wang Sengbian back to Shouchun.

As a result, the morale of Wang Sengbian's subordinates dropped even lower, and some generals also persuaded Wang Sengbian to abandon Xiao Yi and surrender to Murong Shaozong.

Wang Sengbian also fell into hesitation.

As a famous general, Wang Sengbian was good at commanding on the battlefield and military planning.

But he has a fatal flaw, which is that he is resourceful but not decisive.

He predicted that Hou Jing would attack Baidi City, but he did not insist on his idea of ​​strengthening the defense of Baidi City.

The same thing happened when we lost Jingmen and Kuimen later. We knew the enemy would do this, but we were unable to make up our minds to make changes because we did not dare to disobey orders or because of various constraints.

This time too.

Faced with a cowardly lord like Xiao Yi, a definite negative asset, Wang Sengbian could have easily abandoned him and surrendered to the north.

His former subordinate Chen Baxian is now a minor official under Hou Jing.

When Wang Sengbian was hesitating whether to disobey the order, Murong Shaozong seized the opportunity, quickly led his troops to attack, and defeated Wang Sengbian's troops.

When the news of Wang Sengbian's capture and the annihilation of his entire army reached Shouchun, Xiao Yi also knew that his end was near.

Xiao Yi sent envoys to ask for surrender to Murong Shaozong, but this time Murong Shaozong's attitude was very tough. He only accepted unconditional surrender of opening the city, and after the surrender, he wanted to send Xiao Yi to the emperor in a prison car to be punished.

The reason why Murong Shaozong hated Xiao Yi so much was that this guy's actions were truly despicable.

During the siege of Jiankang, Xiao Yi, who had a strong army under his command, did not actively support the king and watched Heba Sheng break through Taicheng.

He also sent Wei Fang to his death, occupied other people's base, and persecuted to death all of Wei Fang's generals who advocated a fight to the death with Heba Sheng at that time.

In order to seek peace with the north, he ceded states and counties, and also collected beauties in Shouchun to bribe the north.

Murong Shaozong recalled Su Ze's comment on the Southern Dynasty: "All of Xiao Yan's sons are like their father, well-read in the books of sages, but behave like beasts."

Xiao Yi had lost the support of the people. The commander of Shouchun had rebelled and opened the city gates to let Murong Shaozong enter. Xiao Yi was then besieged in his own palace.

Facing the army outside the palace, Xiao Yi sent people to bring his own compilations of "Jin Lou Zi", "Xiao De Zhuan", and the books he had collected over the years to his side. He said to his attendants:
"I have studied day and night, but ended up like this. The ways of literature and martial arts are over tonight!"

After saying this, Xiao Yi ordered his attendants to set fire to the books, but they refused to obey.

Xiao Yi picked up the torch himself and wanted to burn the books. Then an ordinary-looking middle-aged man stood out from the left and right.

Su Bai snatched the torch from Xiao Yi's hand, kicked him to the ground, and said disdainfully:
"You read the books of sages but don't behave like them. You deserve this fate!"

After saying this, Su Bai said to his left and right:

"Hurry up and capture this coward, and surrender to General Murong!" The men on both sides rushed forward, tied up Xiao Yi quickly, and surrendered to Murong Shaozong.
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The second one to be destroyed was Heba Sheng of Jiankang.

July, Jiankang.

In the past two years, Heba Sheng has gradually lost his original drive and ambition.

He lavishly rewarded his generals and indulged in sensual pleasures. The decadent music of Jiankang quickly corrupted Heba Sheng.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see the situation in the world clearly. Once the North rises up in arms, the scattered South will be absolutely unable to resist.

Since Heba Sheng was unable to defeat Xiao Yi and Xiao Xu, he was unable to integrate the power in the south.

Since this is the reality, Heba Sheng chose to appeal to gods and Buddhas like Xiao Yan.

He repaired the Tongtai Temple that was destroyed in the war, and carried the Buddha's tooth relic with him, praying and chanting day and night.

He donated more treasures to the temple than Xiao Yan, and even offered human sacrifices.

In addition to praying to gods and Buddhas, Heba Sheng also chose to numb himself with alcoholism.

By the time Su Ze started his rebellion, Heba Sheng had been drinking heavily for half a year and could no longer ride a horse.

When Murong Shaozong conquered the Jianghuai region and Su Ze led the navy down from Jiangling, the situation in Jiankang was already hopeless.

To defend the Yangtze River, one must also defend the Huai River.

If it weren't for the Jianghuai defense line with its dense water network, the Southern Dynasty would have been unable to stop the tiger from the north.

Not to mention that Su Ze also occupied Jiangling, an important town in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

In this war to unify the world, Su Ze did not give the loser any chance.

Heba Yue used his official position and merits to beg Su Ze to spare his brother Heba Sheng, but Su Ze said:
"Back then, you used our old friendship to ask for help, and I saved Heba Sheng's family in the north. I also wrote to him to surrender, but he killed my messenger and claimed that he had no relatives in the north."

"If I forgive him, how can the innocent souls he killed over the years forgive me?"

Heba Yue could only cover his face and leave.

The next day, Heba Sheng's subordinates cut off his head at night, opened the city of Jiankang and surrendered to Su Ze.

After clearing the city of Jiankang, Su Ze stayed in Jiankang and began to conquer other areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

In September, Chen Baxian, who was familiar with the affairs of the Li people, led envoys to Gaoliang in Lingnan and found the Li leader, Lady Xian.

The Li people in Gaozhou decided to surrender to Su Ze. Chen Baxian then sneaked into the Han towns and used his connections in Guangzhou to secretly connect with others. He also raised a Han volunteer army to attack Xiao Xu.

In November, Guangzhou was captured, and Xiao Xu surrendered wearing white linen and holding the official seal and land register.

This war to unify the north and the south began in May of the first year of Qianyuan. In November, the entire south surrendered, except for a few entrenched and separatist local forces. The entire China was unified again from north to south!
Since the Yongjia Rebellion in 311 AD, Su Ze succeeded the abdication and marched south to unify China in 528 AD. The -year chaos in China finally came to an end!

The world is unified! (The whole book is finished)

After finishing, I am so tired.

I will publish a new book tomorrow, but I haven’t decided on the title yet.

I will talk about my final thoughts tomorrow, and I plan to write a few extra chapters.

Thank you for your continued support.

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(End of this chapter)