Chapter 039 Peng Yue
Some people always think that Peng Yue is the only fake among the three famous generals in the early Han Dynasty.
But anyone who has some knowledge of the history of world wars will know that he was the world's first regular and practical guerrilla warfare strategist. Perhaps he was not as good as he was not as good as Ying Bu in boosting the morale of the army and charging into battle.
However, he was the first to adopt the tactic of retreating when the enemy advances and pursuing when the enemy retreats in the Chu-Han War, which made Xiang Yu exhausted from fighting on two fronts and the Chu army's food and equipment could not be replenished... How could the man who was the first in the world to develop the essence of guerrilla warfare not be worthy of being one of the three famous generals?
However, this once famous general now looked thin, pale , and sickly.
Perhaps it was because he had suffered too many injuries during the battle, or perhaps it was because he was really old. In any case, Peng Yue's health was getting worse and worse, and he was gradually unable to do things.
Peng Yue respectfully escorted the Han envoy out of the palace to rest, and he held Liu Bang's edict in his hands, sighing helplessly.
"Your Majesty wants me to go to the battle personally...but my body has not recovered yet, what should I do?"
At this moment, General Hu Zhe, who was standing aside, suddenly burst into tears.
Peng Yue was startled and asked hurriedly, "Why are you crying?"
"I shed tears when I saw the great king who was once on equal footing with Liu Bang now kneeling down to listen to Liu Bang's edicts and worrying about his accountability!"
Hu Zhe said while crying.
Peng Yue shook his head and said, "I followed Your Majesty to defeat Xiang Yu and made a few contributions, so I was named King of Liang. This was a great gift. Now I am the king of Liang, and I am very satisfied. How dare I have other ideas?"
"Your Majesty, if you hadn't implicated Xiang Yu, how could Liu Bang have become emperor? You started the war at the same time as him, so why are you being inferior to him now? You are ill now, but Liu Bang has urged you to send troops several times. He wants to kill you!"
Huo Zhe said seriously: "Your Majesty, you did not go to the battle in person at first, and only led the troops after being rebuked by him. If you went, you would definitely be caught by Liu Bang!"
"I think it would be better to gather the soldiers you have dispersed to various places and lead them to start an uprising!"
"Those brothers are no longer young, but with you leading us, we are not afraid of anything!"
Peng Yue sat on the throne, his mind flashing back to the times when he and his generals had fought in mountains, rivers and lakes. At that time, he was still strong and healthy. He retreated calmly several times when facing the encirclement and suppression of Xiang Yu's army. He devoured small troops and fled when he encountered large troops. Xiang Yu's generals were all gnashing their teeth at him, and at one point considered killing him more important than killing Liu Bang.
"Do you still remember? When we took Suiyang and Waihuang, Xiang Yu, who was originally in a standoff with Your Majesty, could no longer sit still. He swore to his subordinates that he would kill me, and he led his army to abandon the standoff and come to capture me..."
"Of course I remember... When Xiang Yu came, we took the food and retreated. Xiang Yu kept chasing us, but he couldn't catch up... I was so angry that I almost vomited blood..."
"Hahaha, as soon as he chased me, I went north and took his Valley City."
"Yes, hahahaha, we took more than 100,000 bushels of grain from Xiang Yu at that time..."
When people get old, they like to reminisce about the past. The two of them sat opposite each other, talking to each other about their ordinary and unremarkable past.
After chatting for a long time, both of them had tears in their eyes, but Peng Yue's face was full of smiles. Although many people are no longer with us, the memories of them are still so clear.
"Zhe... When we were young, we were always fighting. Now, we are old... You still have the strength to fight, but I can no longer ride a horse or a chariot... Don't talk about rebellion anymore. The old brothers followed us and fought in the south and the north. Now they are finally able to settle down at home and have their children to serve them. We should not let them go back to the past..."
After hearing Peng Yue's words, Hu Zhe was silent for a long time, and finally nodded.
Since Liu Bang was holding him accountable, Peng Yue could not continue like this. He first wrote a letter to Liu Bang, in which he sincerely stated the reason: he was ill and that Liang State had just downsized its army not long ago and was short of troops. However, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I will recruit young men as soldiers in Liang State and then send my general Hu Zhe to lead them to support you."
He ordered Hu Ze to recruit soldiers in Liang and asked other ministers to make preparations.
…
"Your Majesty... Liang State simply doesn't have that many horses."
"what are you saying?!"
Peng Yue looked at the imperial servant in front of him angrily, "I know Liang State is short of horses, but it's impossible that they can't even gather a thousand cavalrymen, right?"
The Imperial Household Official's face turned red, he stammered and was unable to speak.
Peng Yue slammed the documents in front of him and said angrily, "Over the years, I have pretended not to know what you have done because you fought with me. But don't think that I am easy to fool because I am old... Liang State is so big, but you can't even gather a thousand cavalrymen? If you can't gather them within three days, don't blame me for ignoring our original friendship!"
The Imperial Household was so frightened that he trembled with fear and quickly agreed.
Seeing the Grand Coachman like this, Peng Yue couldn't bear it anymore. "Isn't what I rewarded you on weekdays enough? If it's not enough, you can just tell me why you do such despicable things? The soldiers I recruited this time, whether it's armor, weapons, flags, horses, are very different from what was recorded... Don't do such things again. This time, I want to send people to fight with Your Majesty, and the cavalry must be gathered no matter what!"
After the imperial servant left the palace, his face was very grim. Where could he go to make up for the loss? The imperial servant's family was also short of money, and there were no extra horses.
…
"what did you say?!"
The Han Dynasty envoy who was about to take a rest was so frightened that he almost jumped up. He stared with wide eyes at the Liang State's steward in front of him.
"Prince Liang...Hu Zhe...are they planning to rebel?"
"It is like this. Hu Zhe has denounced Your Majesty's injustice in front of others many times and persuaded Liang... Peng Yue to rebel... and Peng Yue agreed to his request. The two of them prepared to recruit soldiers and let Hu Zhe attack Your Majesty..."
The envoy could not sit still immediately, and was trembling with fear. This was a big deal. After thinking about it, the envoy calmed down again. If he could tell His Majesty about this matter, wouldn't it be a great achievement? He immediately took out a pen, asked the imperial servant to explain in detail, and personally wrote down these words.
The next day, Peng Yue personally saw off the Han envoy. He did not notice that the Han envoy's expression was different from the previous few days. He had become much more polite to him and had a smile on his face, but beneath the smile, there was a sharp blade hidden.
A few days later, the Grand Coachman of Liang State suddenly disappeared.
Peng Yue was furious, thinking that the emperor was absconding for fear of punishment. He reported the matter to Liu Bang and issued a warrant for the arrest of the imperial coachman throughout the country.
…
Liu Bang's face was gloomy. He looked at the silk book in his hand that recorded Peng Yue's rebellion, and his hands began to tremble uncontrollably.
"They rebelled... another one rebelled... they all rebelled... they all rebelled!"
Chen Ping was calm as always. He took the book and read it carefully. After reading it for a while, he frowned. He felt that the content of the book was a little unreliable. How could a rebel make the whole city know about it? How could a rebel be declared first and then recruit soldiers? Even if Peng Yue was old, he wouldn't be so stupid, right?
He looked at Liu Bang carefully. Liu Bang was very angry at the moment. He gritted his teeth and said, "I love him so much, but he wants to rebel against me! I wish I could eat his flesh!!"
Chen Ping didn't believe that this shrewd and scheming man couldn't see through what he could see through at a glance. Since he saw through it but didn't say it, there was no need for him to say it out loud.
"How do you think we can catch him?"
"He is not ready to rebel yet. The country is short of troops. We can send one man with thousands of people to rush directly into the palace, capture Peng Yue and Hu Zhe, and escort them out of Liang. In this way, Liang can be pacified."
"Okay! I'll do as you say!"
