stonecrandall Chapter 744 Wu Rui’s son is great!
Chapter 744 Wu Rui’s son is great!
Although Han Xin, as a general, had the power to control the troops of the whole country, in reality, the situation was not that simple. In the hierarchy of power, there was Cao Shen above Han Xin, and above Cao Shen was Gao Yao. Han Xin knew very well that he could not really hold absolute power, and Gao Yao's control over the soldiers was far beyond anyone else, which even Xiao He did not understand very well.
As long as they were soldiers under Gao Yao's command, basically all of their families were taken care of under Gao Yao's policies. Rewards and punishments were clear, and treatment was generous. Even soldiers who were killed or wounded in combat could receive adequate pensions, so loyalty did not need to be considered.
It would be the best if they could capture Dongjiao County without bloodshed. Although Han Xin was not sure what conditions had been met, it was the best result under the current circumstances.
Meanwhile, in Nanjun, the mansion of King Hengshan was in chaos. The news of Wu Rui's arrest was like a bombshell, causing a great uproar in the mansion. King Hengshan's people were already worried about Wu Rui's safety, and now that they knew he was captured, they were even more panicked and at a loss.
In addition, Ying Bu seemed to be ready to make a move, which undoubtedly made the already unstable situation worse. For a time, the entire Hengshan King's army fell into panic, and everyone was in danger.
At such a critical moment, everyone's eyes were focused on Wu Can. After all, he was Wu Rui's eldest son, and in Wu Rui's absence, he should take on the responsibility of making decisions. However, what Wu Can had learned over the years was mostly just some superficial skills, and his actual ability was quite limited.
When Wu Can heard the news that Wu Rui was captured, his heart was instantly in turmoil. However, unexpectedly, his first reaction was not worry about his father's safety, but an uncontrollable excitement.
In fact, before this, Wu Rui had issued a strict house arrest order to Wu Can because of Wu Yan's unfortunate death. This order made Wu Can feel his father's anger, and he was always worried, fearing that Wu Rui would appoint another son because of this incident and completely exclude him from the core of family power.
Now that Wu Rui was captured, Wu Can finally felt relieved. He could not help but secretly rejoice, thinking that this was a great opportunity given to him by God. Faced with the suggestions of his subordinates to rescue Wu Rui, Wu Can was completely indifferent and even ignored them.
On the contrary, Wu Can stressed that the enemy should be concentrated to resist the enemy's attack, citing the current situation as a critical situation. He decisively deployed troops and sent Dou Yong and others who had just withdrawn from Jiujiang directly to Hanzhong to strengthen the defense there.
Wu Can not only did not have the slightest intention of punishing Dou Yong for failing to protect Wu Rui, but instead lavishly rewarded him. This unusual behavior made people speculate about Wu Can's true intentions.
But everyone was helpless. Wu Rui was not there, so according to common sense, Wu Can should have taken over the power. Moreover, since Wu Rui had concealed the matter of Wu Yan, naturally no one would question what Wu Can did. In this way, Wu Rui inadvertently helped Wu Can.
Then, Wu Can launched a series of actions. He not only increased taxes significantly, but also forcibly conscripted civilians into the army to expand his own strength. However, he completely ignored Wu Rui's life and death, as if Wu Rui's existence had nothing to do with him.
This series of actions not only failed to reassure the subordinates of Wu Rui, the King of Hengshan, but made them even more panicked. Many people began to doubt and be dissatisfied with Wu Can's rule, and many of them even secretly prepared to defect to Wei Bao or Gao Yao. What's more, some people have begun to contact both sides privately, ready to abandon Wu Can.
Wu Can's arrogance, pride and self-righteousness, the most fatal flaws of a monarch, were fully revealed in him. And those ministers who followed Wu Rui were not stupid. They naturally understood that they had to plan for their own future, so they began to look for a way out.
Wu Rui took Nanjun as its core, connected to Nanyang in the north, and added Huaiyang, Hengshan, and part of the northern bank of Jiujiang and Sichuan, all of which were very fertile. It was for this reason that Wu Rui was able to support an army of 100,000.
However, Wu Rui's battle just happened to hand over Jiujiang completely to Gao Yao. More importantly, the news of Wu Rui's capture brought a huge blow to the Hengshan King's subordinates. This is the crux of the problem.
If Wu Can could actively defend and communicate with Gao Yao at the same time, and release Wu Rui first, then perhaps he could stabilize the mentality of his subordinates. But Wu Can went too far in order to monopolize power. He actually turned a blind eye to this proposal, which was undoubtedly his biggest failure.
After all, who would be willing to fight for a monarch who was unwilling to rescue his own father? If he was captured and eventually died in the battle between the two armies, it could be said that it was understandable. But if there was still room for negotiation, it was understandable to make some sacrifices.
Gao Yao was obviously waiting for the negotiation. However, Wu Can just refused to talk. This behavior was really too much! Wu Can thought to himself, if he really went to talk, what if Wu Rui really came back? You know, Wu Rui's role for Gao Yao is nothing more than to keep Wu Jun in a state of honesty. As for other aspects, it is definitely an unrealistic fantasy to expect that Wu Jun can surrender all by relying on Wu Rui alone.
What Gao Yao could never have imagined was that Wu Can was so cruel that he could even ignore his own father! At the same time,
On the other side, in Xianyang, because the Xianyang Palace was severely damaged by the coalition forces of the princes at that time, Xiang Yu did not stage the farce of burning the Xianyang Palace again this time. After all, times have changed and the situation is very different.
In history, when Xiang Yu attacked Xianyang, Xianyang actually fell into the hands of Liu Bang first, and then into the hands of Xiang Yu. At that time, Xiang Yu was the most powerful among the warlords in terms of the size of the army, the quality of the personnel, and in all aspects, and naturally had absolute say. The purpose of burning the Xianyang Palace was to maximize his own reputation.
This time the attack on Xianyang was completely different from the previous ones. The Chu army adopted a strategy of strong attack, which caused them to suffer considerable losses. Not only that, but also with the presence of Wei Bao and others, Xiang Yu could not do the same thing. Because doing so would not only destroy the Xianyang Palace, but more importantly, it would make the other princes lose face. Although the princes cooperated with each other, they also maintained a high degree of vigilance and guard against each other while cooperating.