In this era, power was tied to individuals—the so-called “capture the king to capture the bandits” was exactly this principle.
And Wang Jun was the king of Youzhou. So Shi Le, carrying Wang Jun around, not only quickly subdued the Youzhou army in the city but also used him to knock open the gates of many cities, allowing the Shi Army to take over directly.
Zu Ti and Zhao Hanzhang, who received the news, divided their forces into two routes. One route attacked Youzhou from the east, engaging Wang Jun’s two sons to prevent them from regrouping their forces.
The other route attacked from west to northeast, first recovering Jizhou, then entering Youzhou.
The Tuoba Xianbei deployed fifty thousand troops. Their cavalry training was fierce and savage—in three days they captured twelve cities in succession.
Three armies simultaneously attacked deep into Youzhou, then formed an encirclement with the Zhao Family Army forces of Beigong Chun, Zhao Ju, and others against the Xiongnu.
If there were a map, one could see six thick red lines gradually approaching Lu County where the Xiongnu were currently stationed.
At this time, Lu County was not peaceful either.
Liu Cong led the Xiongnu main forces in retreat to Lu County, holding the strategic position to resist Zhao Ju.
Of course, they didn’t just occupy Lu County—they also occupied several neighboring county towns, taking nearly half of the Yan state, plus one-third of the neighboring Fanyang state.
He didn’t want to confront Wang Jun at this time. For him, besides creating another enemy, there wasn’t much benefit.
But he really had no choice. Zhao Hanzhang pressed forward step by step. Beigong Chun and Zhao Ju’s offensive was too fierce, and that new Zu Ti who had appeared in Jizhou was also very formidable. In several engagements, he had suffered losses.
Moreover, that man was quite ruthless. Though perhaps not matching Beigong Chun in surprise attacks, his strategic planning exceeded Beigong Chun’s. Wherever he passed, several places implemented scorched earth policies. In places where there wasn’t time, he could still quickly hide most of the people and grain, making them impossible to find.
When they sent out troops, they always brought only a small portion of provisions, then requisitioned provisions locally. This time they struggled at every step, unable to plunder enough grain at all.
Add to this Liu Yuan’s death and the court being forced to flee to Bingzhou, there was no grain support at all.
Liu Cong could neither win in battle nor had enough provisions to hold out, so he could only retreat.
Picking the soft persimmon—thinking it over, the only one who could provide them with grain and allow them to temporarily stop was Youzhou.
Of course, Youzhou’s common people had no grain either. They were experiencing a drought and locust plague rarely seen in decades. It was said disaster victims were already eating each other. No grain could be extracted from them.
But Wang Jun had it.
Legend had it that Wang Jun held large stores of grain, hidden separately in various granaries. So Liu Cong chose to directly attack Wang Jun, wanting to take Youzhou from his hands.
Youzhou had natural defenses and geographical advantages, easy to defend and hard to attack. As long as he took Youzhou, he could use the defenses to block the Zhao Family Army.
As for Wang Jun using the defenses to block him, Liu Cong snorted coldly. He might not be able to defeat Zhao Hanzhang, but he was still very confident about defeating Wang Jun.
But he hadn’t expected Liu Yi to suddenly return.
He didn’t return alone—he brought back Jin officials, including one named Wei Jie whose reputation even Liu Cong had heard of.
Liu Yi returned to negotiate surrender.
He said to Liu Cong, “Fourth Brother, we’ve reached the end of our road now. You can’t lead the entire clan to death. As long as we surrender, Zhao Hanzhang will give us a piece of land to settle on, just like when our ancestors migrated to Bingzhou.”
Liu Cong was furious. “Then be watched wherever we go, living our whole lives like slaves in miserable degradation?”
Liu Yi said, “It won’t be like that. Zhao Hanzhang promised me she would treat us the same as Han people.”
“How can you trust what Han people say?”
Liu Yi asked, “If she’s not trustworthy, can you guarantee you can seize Youzhou, Elder Brother?”
He said, “Even when you fought Zhao Hanzhang alone, you were retreating step by step. Now with Wang Jun behind you, in a pincer attack from north and south, how can you be confident you can seize Youzhou and preserve the Han state?”
“You’re young and have never been on a battlefield. Stop boosting others’ morale and destroying your own prestige here.”
Liu Yi said, “Though I’ve never been on a battlefield, I’ve listened to uncles discuss politics. This isn’t just my opinion alone.”
He urged, “Since Zhao Hanzhang came into the world, she has never broken a promise. Why won’t Elder Brother give it a try?”
Liu Cong was unwilling to listen. He directly drove Liu Yi out. If Liu Yi hadn’t desperately stopped him, Liu Cong would have really wanted to behead Wei Jie as a sacrifice to the flag.
Liu Yi was also disheartened. Knowing that further persuasion of Liu Cong was useless, he could only contact Liu Huanle and other ministers.
Wei Jie appeared on behalf of Zhao Hanzhang. After Liu Yi’s persuasion, he made promises on the side. Quite a few ministers leaned toward Liu Yi.
It wasn’t that they looked down on Liu Cong, but that they weren’t very confident about the current situation.
Liu Yi had one thing right—when fighting the Zhao Family Army alone, they couldn’t win. How could they possibly not lose after provoking Wang Jun?
The reason they could seize these dozen or so cities was not that they were so formidable, but because the Zhao Family Army hadn’t attacked at the start. When they retreated into Youzhou, a large-scale peasant rebellion was erupting in Youzhou. Disaster victims were scattered everywhere, Wang Jun was too busy to take care of himself, and the Zhao Family Army for some reason didn’t continue pressing forward but just surrounded the border of Youzhou, watching them capture these dozen cities in succession.
Now Wang Jun had already assembled his main forces to confront them. As long as the Zhao Family Army advanced into Youzhou, they would be caught in a north-south pincer. At that time, there would likely be the disaster of clan extermination.
So now that there was another path to take, quite a few people considered it.
According to Liu Yi, the worst outcome would be no worse than returning to decades ago, when they had just migrated into Bingzhou.
But that was still better than being directly exterminated or driven out beyond the frontier, right?
So everyone quietly plotted to change leaders.
Liu Cong wasn’t the heir Liu Yuan had intended anyway. He had committed regicide to usurp the throne—he wasn’t legitimate to begin with.
Counting it out, whether by status or favor received, after Liu He, it should be Liu Yi who became emperor.
So the ministers led by Liu Huanle gathered together, wanting to change emperors.
However, they never managed to agree on exactly how to do it.
Liu Cong seemed to sense the danger. His actions became increasingly rash. He wanted to kill Wei Jie but was dissuaded by Liu Huanle and other ministers using the rule of “when two states are at war, envoys are not killed.”
Liu Cong then wanted to drive Wei Jie and the others out. Liu Huanle and the others then made an effort, persuading Liu Cong to consider surrender. They nearly got killed by Liu Cong’s sword.
After that, no one mentioned this matter in front of Liu Cong again. Before leaving, Wei Jie had already discussed surrender arrangements with Liu Huanle and the others.
Wei Jie left with his front foot, and news of Wang Jun’s capture arrived with his back foot. Youzhou had fallen into Zhao Hanzhang’s hands.
Upon hearing this, Liu Huanle and the others had originally wanted to drag things out a bit longer, but now they couldn’t hold back. That very day they entered the palace to tell Liu Cong, “After careful consideration, we ministers feel Your Majesty’s concerns are correct. We have been at war with the Jin state for many years and have long been mortal enemies with that Zhao Hanzhang. To surrender now would be like binding our own hands and feet, so we cannot surrender.”
Liu Cong was greatly pleased upon hearing this. “Exactly so.”
“The Prince of Beihai is spreading bewitching words. Leaving him outside will inevitably affect the people’s hearts and military morale. Why not temporarily confine him in the palace until we’ve completely conquered the Yan state, then release him?”
Liu Cong thought briefly and agreed. So he had people go invite Liu Yi into the palace. Fearing he wouldn’t come, they even found a reason, saying it was to celebrate Consort Dowager Shan’s birthday in advance.