Gao Huan, a native of Bohai County (present-day Hebei and parts of Shandong), served as a soldier in Huaishuo Town, one of the six towns in the north.
Gao Huan's family was very poor, and he could not afford to buy a horse when he was a soldier, and it was not until after marriage that he had his own horse with the help of his wife's family.
Later, Gao Huan became a messenger (an official position responsible for transmitting information between the military town and the capital), and often went to Luoyang to deliver letters.
Luoyang was the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and many high-ranking officials and nobles lived here, and Gao Huan heard about an incident here that had a great influence on him.
At that time, there was an official in Luoyang named Zhang Yi, whose home was set on fire by the soldiers of the forbidden army, and this happened, and the imperial court should immediately arrest the perpetrator.
However, what was unexpected was that the imperial court did not ask as if it had never happened. It turned out that the situation in the Northern Wei Dynasty was chaotic, the military discipline of the Wei army was not strict, and the imperial court was afraid that going to the army to arrest people would lead to a mutiny, so it was treated as if nothing had happened and could not be solved.
Gao Huan thus believed that the rule of the Northern Wei Dynasty was already chaotic, and the world was likely to fall into turmoil. Therefore, after returning to Huaishuo Town, Gao Huan scattered his family wealth and vigorously befriended various heroes Haojie to prepare for the coming chaotic world.
Years later, unrest really began.
In 525, due to the deepening of social contradictions in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the six northern towns launched an uprising, and Gao Huan joined the rebel army led by Duluo Zhou.
After spending some time with DuLuozhou, Gao Huan found that Duluo Zhou had no talent, and was jealous of Xian's ability, so Gao Huan planned to kill DuLuozhou. As a result, the operation failed, and Gao Huan was instead pursued and killed by Du Luozhou's men, and Gao Huan was forced to defect to Erzhu Rong.
Erzhu Rong heard that Gao Huan had some skills, so he asked him to talk about his views on the current situation.
Gao Huan said: "Now that the emperor is weak and Empress Dowager Hu is in disarray, you have both strength and strategy, and you can find opportunities to achieve something." "
After saying that Erzhu Rong was very happy, after that, Erzhu Rong often consulted with Gao Huan about things. Gao Huan has courage and strategy, and his management ability is very strong, which has left a deep impression on Erzhu Rong. It is said that Erzhu Rong once asked his subordinates, "If one day I die, who do you think can replace me?"
Erzhu Rong's nephew Erzhu Zhao fought bravely, and everyone thought he could take over.
Erzhu Rong smiled slightly: "Erzhu Zhao can only lead a force of three thousand people at most, and the only person who can command my army is Gao Huan!"
This is Erzhu Rong's full affirmation of Gao Huan, but this is only talk, and later Erzhu Rong was suddenly killed by Emperor Yuan Ziyou, the Erzhu family would never hand over the army to Gao Huan, and most of Erzhu Rong's power was inherited by his nephew Erzhu Zhao.
After Erzhu Zhao inherited Erzhu Rong's power, in order to avenge Erzhu Rong, Erzhu Zhao led his troops south, defeated the forces of the Northern Wei emperor Yuan Ziyou, and killed Yuan Ziyou.
At this time, his hometown was attacked by The Foot Ofu Ling, but Erzhu Zhao led his troops back to help but was repeatedly defeated, and in desperation, Erzhu Zhao was ready to allocate some of Gao Huan's men and horses to let him fight the enemy with himself.
At this time, Murong Shaozong, an aide of Erzhu Zhao, objected.
Murong Shaozong said, "Now that the situation is unstable, many people have ideas about the throne, and Gao Huan is superior in strategizing, so how can we help him develop his power?"
Murong Shaozong thought long-term, Gao Huan's talent was above Erzhu Zhao, if gao Huan was given a chance, he was likely to be stronger than Zhu Zhao in the future.
However, Erzhu Zhao, a simple-minded man, did not seriously consider Murong Shaozong's words, but instead thought that he was stirring up dissension. Erzhu Zhao imprisoned Murong Shaozong and then gave Gao Huan some troops.
Gao Huan did not disappoint Erzhu Zhao, and quickly defeated the enemy with him.
Erzhu Zhao was very grateful for Gao Huan's timely attack and became a brother with Gao Huan, but Erzhu Zhao still faced difficulties.
At that time, the prefectures and prefectures were ruled by the Erzhu family, and their soldiers often oppressed the people of the six towns who had been displaced in the local area, and the people of the six towns revolted many times and went to war with the Erzhu family.
This made Erzhu Zhao worried, so he asked Gao Huan, "What method will be used to deal with the people of the six towns?"
Gao Huan immediately realized that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
There were not many troops under his command, and there were more than 200,000 people in the six towns who fled to the local area, and most of them had experienced hundreds of battles, and if they could be taken for their own use, Gao Huan's strength could be greatly enhanced.
He suppressed his inner ecstasy and calmly said to Erzhu Zhao: "Killing is not the solution, you can let your cronies manage them, and if something happens, let the manager be responsible, so that you can reduce the number of troublemakers they make." "
Erzhu Zhao felt that this method was good, so he asked, "Who can take on this heavy responsibility?" At this time, the general on the side, He Bayun, jumped out and asked to do the work for himself.
Of course, Gao Huan couldn't let others rob this fat difference, he punched He Bayun a few times, and said with a serious face: "This kind of big thing must be arranged by the Great King (ZhiErzhu Zhao)!"
Erzhu Zhao was very happy to see that Gao Huan respected himself so much, and thought that Gao Huan was very loyal to him, so he said that he would give this errand to Gao Huan.
This is a decision that Erzhu Zhao will regret terribly in the future.
Gao Huan was overjoyed, at that time Erzhu Zhao was already drunk, Gao Huan was afraid that he would repent after he woke up drunk, and immediately announced Erzhu Zhao's appointment.
The people of the six towns originally had no good feelings for the rude Erzhu Zhao, and after hearing this news, they gathered under Gao Huan's men, and Gao Huan's troops increased greatly.
Although there were a lot of people in his hands, if he couldn't get out of Erzhu Zhao's control, Gao Huan would still have a hard time doing anything, so he thought of an idea again.
Citing the ongoing famine in Hezhou, he asked Erzhu Zhao to allow him to lead his people to live east of the Taihang Mountains to solve the problem of food shortage.
Murong Shaozong, an aide, once again reminded Erzhu Zhao: "Gao Huan's ability is not small, and if he lets him control the army himself, it will be difficult to control." "
However, Erzhu Zhao did not listen, he thought that Gao Huan was his brother-in-law, and there was no need to doubt. Most of Erzhu Zhao's cronies were bribed by Gao Huan, and they tried hard to help Gao Huan say good things, so Erzhu Zhao finally agreed to Gao Huan's request.
Gao Huan's walk is that the sea is wide and the fish leaps, and the sky is high and the birds fly! On the way, Gao Huan and his party met Erzhu Rong's widow, the eldest princess.
The eldest princess brought hundreds of good horses with her, which were important war resources at that time, and Gao Huan did not say a word and snatched all these horses.
When the news reached Erzhu Zhao, Erzhu Zhao, furious, knew that he had believed the wrong person, and immediately led his troops to pursue Gao Huan, and caught up with Gao Huan's troops at Xiangyuan (襄垣, in present-day Changzhi, Shanxi).
At this time, the water level of Zhangshui was very high, and the bridge was washed away by the water, so the two sides confronted each other across Zhangshui. Gao Huan knew that his men and horses had not yet formed a strong fighting force and were not opponents of Erzhu Zhao's troops, so he decided to carry out the deception to the end.
He said to Erzhu Zhao, "I just borrowed the eldest princess's horse and formed a cavalry unit to deal with the bandits." "
Erzhu Zhao was an impulsive person, and in order to make things clear, he actually crossed the Zhangshui River alone to talk to Gao Huan face to face.
Gao Huan's tongue was like a spring, and after three words and two words, he actually let Erzhu Zhao believe him again, and Erzhu Zhao even lived in Gao Huan's military camp that night.
This was a rare opportunity, and Gao Huan's subordinates suggested taking the opportunity to kill Erzhu Zhao. Yes, the great enemy is in his own hands, and wouldn't it be painful to kill him at this time?
But if Erzhu Zhao was killed now, his army would immediately pounce frantically, and in the current state of Gao Huan's troops, it was likely to suffer losses.
Therefore, Gao Huan did not do that, he told his subordinates: "Now that the Fang people are sleepy and tired, they are not the opponents of Erzhu Zhao's army, so let Erzhu Zhao's army go for the time being." "
Stay in the green mountains, not afraid of no firewood.
So after dawn the next day, Erzhu Zhao returned safely to the other side of the river, and he invited Gao Huan to cross the river again.
Erzhu Zhao was a reckless and unscrupulous man, and he could take risks and go to the enemy camp alone, but Gao Huan was different.
Gao Huan was very rational and did not want to risk his life, so he refused to cross the river, and he was so angry that Erzhu Zhao jumped to his feet and scolded.
However, there was a big water in front of him, and Erzhu Zhao did not have any good way, so he had to return to Jinyang with his troops.
Gao Huan took the people of the six towns to the area east of the Taihang Mountains and slowly developed and grew.
Although he left Erzhu Zhao, Gao Huan was still nominally a subordinate of Erzhu Zhao, and if Gao Huan wanted to establish himself, he had to draw a clear line with Erzhu Zhao. In order to achieve this goal, Gao Huan thought of an idea.
He wrote a letter to himself in the name of Erzhu Zhao, saying that Erzhu Zhao requested that the people of the six towns be distributed to the army as slaves. After the news spread, the people of the six towns were shocked and hated Erzhu Zhao to the bone.
Then Gao Huan deliberately delayed this plan many times to stimulate the emotions of the people in the six towns.
When the play was almost done, Gao Huan said to the people of the six towns: "We are all people who have left our hometowns, but unexpectedly, the great king (referring to Erzhu Zhao) suddenly had such an order, we are going to die, and if we don't go, we are also dead, what should we do?"
The people of the six towns shouted: "The opposite!"
From that day on, Gao Huan, based on the people of the six towns, officially raised an army against the Erzhu family.