Liu Xiu and Lai She are still a little related, Lai She's father Lai Zhong is the husband of Liu Xiu's grandmother, and in terms of it, Lai She is still Liu Xiu's cousin.

Lai She's ability has been shown in the Western Expedition, Deng Yu recommended Lai She to be the chief general of the Western Expeditionary Army, and Liu Xiu accepted it after only a little consideration.

On the same day, Liu Xiu issued an edict.

In the edict, Feng Yi's life achievements were first commended, and the Western Expeditionary Army was ordered to transport Feng Yi's body back to Luoyang and bury it with the rites of the Tai Prison.

The name Feng Yi may not be very famous in modern times, and it is not as good as those well-known famous generals in the Three Kingdoms period, but it is definitely not an exaggeration to say that Feng Yi is a famous general through the ages.

After Liu Yang (Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty) succeeded to the throne, the portraits of the 28 founding heroes of the Eastern Han Dynasty were hung on Yuntai, and Feng Yi was among them; Tang Dezong posthumously awarded sixty-four famous generals in ancient times, and Feng Yi was among them; Huizong of the Song Dynasty built a temple for the ancient famous generals, a total of seventy-two famous generals, and Feng Yi was among them; Ming Taizu took thirty-seven ancient generals to enjoy the imperial temple, and Feng Yi was among them.

After the Han Dynasty, the emperors of the Tang, Song and Ming dynasties were able to respect Feng Yi and list him as a famous general in ancient times, which shows that Feng Yi's influence was far-reaching.

Feng Yi died of illness in 34 AD, and when Zhu Yuanzhang invited him to the Imperial Temple, it was already 1388 AD, more than 1,300 years later, how could Feng Yi not be worthy of the reputation of a famous general through the ages?

Due to Feng Yi's sudden death, this was too much of a blow to the morale of the Western Expeditionary Army, and the battle of Luomenju was about to come to an end, and the Western Expeditionary Army wanted to break through the city defense of Luomenju, but Feng Yi's death made the war immediately reversed.

The morale of the Western Expeditionary Army was low, but the morale of the Shu Army and the Long Army in Luomenju soared, and people even thought that the Han Army could not support it for long and would soon retire.

The Shu army and the Long army, which were already about to despair, at this time, actually counterattacked out of Luomenju and challenged the western expeditionary army outside the city.

The Western Expeditionary Army shrank in the big camp, and the whole army was in mourning, whether it was the generals above or the ordinary soldiers below, they were all dressed in linen and filial piety, and avoided the enemy's active challenge without fighting.

The sharp turn in the battle situation also directly affected the Jicheng battlefield.

Kui Chun, who was trapped in Jicheng, heard the news of Feng Yi's illness and death, and was so excited that he almost jumped so high, and sighed 'God help me'.

The Han army besieging Jicheng, whether it was Geng Yi, Gai Yan, or ordinary soldiers, was full of grief.

The morale of the Han army on the battlefield of Hanyang took a sharp turn for the worse, and the whole army was in extreme depression and grief.

It was at this time that Liu Xiu's holy decree was transmitted to Hanyang, ordering Laishe, who was on the battlefield of Jicheng, to go to Luomen to take office and take over the Western Expeditionary Army.

Lai She is old, but he has little experience in the army, and the Western Expeditionary Army, which is invincible on the battlefield, has a sense of arrogance in his bones, and he came to take over the post of chief general, and the soldiers below are not very convinced.

They believed that Lai's ability to take over the Western Expeditionary Army mainly depended on his kinship with His Majesty.

When they arrived at the camp of the Western Expeditionary Army, the officers and men of the Western Expeditionary Army behaved very coldly towards the newly appointed commander-in-chief, and there was no greeting ceremony, and only a few generals and officers in the army were greeted when they came out of the camp.

For such treatment, Lai Xi is not surprised at all.

Now that Feng Yi has just passed away, he is a newcomer in the army who has come to take over, and it is easy to understand that the soldiers have transformed the grief in their hearts into resentment against themselves.

On the third day of his tenure, a Shu army went out to gather at Luomen and came to the camp of the Western Expeditionary Army again, provoking and seeking war.

The soldiers of the Han army in the camp were demoralized and had no fighting spirit at all, and they also turned a blind eye to the enemy troops outside.

When he heard the news, he was furious and immediately ordered to gather all the generals and prepare for battle.

The order of the generals who came to the country was conveyed, and the generals who came to see the military tent in China were less than ten people together.

In the huge Chinese military tent, except for the people who sat in the center, there were six or seven generals standing scattered below.

Among the six or seven generals, there were several who did not come voluntarily, but were entrusted by their comrades to ask for leave.

Looking at the people below, Lai Shu was almost angry, and he asked, "The general died of illness, are you willing to follow the general?" ”

This sentence frightened all the generals present and followed the general?

Do you want to kill them?

One of the grumpy generals shouted: "The general has the grace of knowing and meeting us, and the grace is recreated, and now, the general's ambition is not rewarded, and he dies with hatred, so why can't we follow the general?" ”

"Well said! He is worthy of being a general valued by a general! ”

Lai She stood up and said, "You wait with me to fight against the enemy!" If we are lucky enough not to die, we will take the head of the enemy to pay tribute to the spirit of the general in heaven; If we are unfortunate enough to die in battle, we will go to the general under the nine springs to drink and talk! ”

As soon as they heard this, all the generals looked at each other, and the general who had just spoken was full of blood and energy, and said loudly: "Go, go!" Who's afraid of whom! ”

Lai Xi smiled, then his face became gloomy, and he said in a condensed voice: "Order the soldiers, all the soldiers will fight with me!" ”

This was the first battle after Lai She's took over as the chief general of the Western Expeditionary Army, and the Western Expeditionary Army also gave him 'face', and there were six generals who were willing to follow Lai She's to fight, and there were five thousand soldiers who were willing to follow Lai She's to fight.

There were nearly 100,000 soldiers in the Western Expeditionary Army, including captains, partial generals, and generals, and there were only a few who finally followed the battalion to fight.

The other officers and men of the Western Expeditionary Army all had the mentality of watching the excitement.

Didn't you come here to make meritorious contributions?

Then you should go and make meritorious contributions, but you have to see how you have made this meritorious service.

As an old man, he did not force other soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army to go to battle with him, but only rushed out of the camp of the Western Expeditionary Army with these 5,000 people.

The number of Shu troops who came to fight outside was not large, only about 10,000 people, not so much to fight as to come to Qixi to conquer the army.

Originally, after Feng Yi's death, he had been avoiding the Western Expeditionary Army, but suddenly soldiers and horses came out of the camp, and the Shu army outside was taken aback.

The people were about to flee back to Huimen to gather, but when they looked closely, they saw that there were only about 5,000 soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army who came out of the camp, less than half of their own soldiers and horses.

Seeing this, the Shu army immediately calmed down, and the people stopped running, and opened the posture to fight to the death with the 5,000 Western Expeditionary Army.

Lai She led 5,000 soldiers and horses, looked at the enemy army opposite, and shouted loudly: "I still say the same thing, in this battle, either kill the enemy and pay tribute to the general, or be killed, go to Jiuquan, and go to gather with the general's army!" There are brothers who are not afraid of death, come with me! ”

Up and down the Western Expeditionary Army, when they arrived on the battlefield, there were no people who were greedy for life and afraid of death.

Listening to Lai She's shout, people's morale soared, and they shouted in unison: "Kill-" Lai She also risked his life, and the old man took the lead, with 5,000 soldiers under his command, to launch an active attack on the Shu army array.

The strength of the two sides was doubled, but when the soldiers on both sides came into contact and fought against Maimang, the Shu army, which was outnumbered and powerful, could not see the advantage at all, and the general western expeditionary army with insufficient soldiers and horses could not see the disadvantage at all.

In the confrontation between the two sides, the officers and men of the Western Expeditionary Army showed strong combat effectiveness.

Five thousand people, including Laixi, played with the enemy's life.

You must know that Lai She is a civil official, not a military general, and he can rush to the front first, which is really risking his life.

Lai Shu understands that in the army, especially an army like the Western Expeditionary Army, you don't talk about any feelings, don't rely on any relationships, it's useless, people only believe in the strong, Feng Yi's position in the Western Expeditionary Army was also laid down in the battles of the pioneers again and again.

If he wants to gain a foothold in the Western Expeditionary Army, he must convince the soldiers, how to convince the soldiers, he must first have the same spirit as the soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army, who are not afraid of death! The pioneers who came to the country greatly boosted the morale of the 5,000 Western Expeditionary Army, and people vented all the anger and resentment that had accumulated over the past few days and vented it to the Shu army.

When the soldiers were fighting, they saw the Shu army on the opposite side slashing and stabbing a spear, and they didn't even dodge, and pierced the opponent's body with a spear.

Even if he was stabbed and stabbed with a spear, he continued to rush forward and slaughter the enemy as if he didn't feel anything.

In the face of such a group of madmen who did not want to die, the Shu army of tens of thousands of people was defeated by their 5,000 people, and they could not form an army, and fled back to Huimen Ju in a hurry, and they did not dare to go out of the city to fight.

Lai Hui took the soldiers under his command and pursued them until he was close to the gate, and then he died down, led the soldiers under his command, and withdrew to the camp of the Western Expeditionary Army.

Seeing that Lai Xi led his troops back to the camp, the soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army who did not go to war stood on both sides, looking at the comrades and brothers who were covered in blood, and looking at the Lai She who was also covered in blood on a war horse, and he didn't know who it was, and took the lead in shouting: "General! ”

Then, first, a general knelt on one knee and intervened to give a salute, and then countless soldiers present shouted in unison: "General! ”

People stuck their spears and halberds on the ground, knelt on one knee, and bowed.

The will of the Son of Heaven, they did not dare to disobey, but they were not convinced, and they used a battle to take the lead, with a great victory of 5,000 people against 10,000 enemies, and convinced the hearts of the soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army.

At this point, in the minds of the officers and men of the Western Expeditionary Army, he could be regarded as initially establishing his prestige.

Feng Yi died of illness in July, and he took over the Western Expeditionary Army in August, governed the army in September, and at the end of September, he led the Western Expeditionary Army to attack and settle down.

After less than half a month of fighting, that is, at the beginning of October, the Shu army and the Long army in Luomenju began to be unable to withstand it again.

Laishu did not give the enemy a chance to breathe at all, commanded the Western Expeditionary Army, continued to attack the city, and when it was almost mid-October, the defenders in Luomen Ju could no longer support it, the city defense was breached, and the Western Expeditionary Army attacked Luomen Jucheng in a big way.

The Western Expeditionary Army entered the city, and the next battle was completely one-sided, a large number of Shu Army and Long Army disarmed and surrendered, and the Shu Army and Long Army who resisted to the end were also in the city, and were all annihilated by the Western Expeditionary Army.

The Battle of Luomenju ended with a complete victory for the Western Expeditionary Army, which made Laixi's position in the Western Expeditionary Army more and more consolidated, and at the same time dealt a fatal blow to Kui Chun's forces.

Zhou Zong, Xingxun, Gou Yu, and Zhao Hui, who assisted Kui Chun, were all afraid of the strength of the Han army and persuaded Kui Chun to surrender to the Han army.

There was only one person who strongly opposed surrender, Wang Yuan.

No matter what Wang Yuan's character is, he is really loyal to Kui Huan.

When Kui Huan was alive, Wang Yuan was loyal to Kui Huan, and after Kui Huan died, he assisted Kui Chun wholeheartedly.

For Zhou Zong, Xingxun and others who were greedy for life and afraid of death, Wang Yuan was resentful.

After the loss of Luomenju, in the city of Jicheng, the army's morale was turbulent, and the talk of surrender had spread to the whole city.

Wang Yuan begged to see Kui Chun, and told Kui Chun about the stakes, everyone else can surrender, and Luoyang will not be difficult for them, but the king you can't surrender, if you surrender, Luoyang can't tolerate you, red eyebrows, Zhang Bu, that's a lesson from the past.

Kui Chun is not a fool, he has been around Kui Huan for so many years, what does he not know?

Who is sincere to himself and who is false to himself, how can he not tell the difference?

With tears in his eyes, he choked up on Wang Yuan and said, "All the generals are going to surrender to Han, what can this king do?"

If this king insists on not surrendering, he is afraid ...... Mutiny in the city, there is no place to bury the dead! ”

In the end, the young master of Xilong cried silently.

Wang Yuan also cried, and the two of his monarchs and ministers, one sitting and one kneeling, cried to each other.