Chen Yingshang and Chen Yingjue are of course the aliases of Yang Xuanting and Yang Jishan. Li Mi, whose alias is Liu Zhiyuan, wanted them to temporarily use the names Chen San and Chen Qi, but the Yang brothers thought these two names were rustic, and the second He hated Chen Yingliang deeply, so they each took a pseudonym with deep meaning. Li Mi, who is proficient in psychological warfare, was a little worried that these two names would attract Chen Yingliang's attention, and objected for a while, but the Yang brothers still didn't listen. Li Mi had no choice but to let them go. went.
The Yang family brothers disagreed with Li Mi on this small matter, but obeyed Li Mi's advice on other matters, and followed Li Mi's instructions, successfully attacked a team of officials escorting civilian husbands to the north, and rescued more than 200 detainees. The poor people who served in the Liaodong battlefield persuaded these people to obey the command and raised the banner of rebellion in Huaiyang County, where there is no large-scale rebel army. Goguryeo's opportunity, continued to recruit refugees and deserters to expand the team, and it only took a month or so to become the largest uprising team in Huaiyang County.
During this period, Li Mi's very cunning command team was dedicated to activities around Qiao County, constantly looting villages and ambushing government teams, robbing money, food and weapons to support themselves, but never stepping into Qiao County, and successfully confused the prefect of Qiao County who was close at hand. Xu Minlian and the others made them feel that the Yang brothers' troops were afraid of the officers and soldiers of Qiaojun and did not dare to harass Qiaojun. The Yang family brothers and Li Mi grew up under their noses, and the team quickly expanded to more than 3,000 people.
Gradually gaining the ability to protect himself, Li Mi, who was very clear-headed, did not intend to continue to operate under Chen Yingliang's nose, and began to plan to lead the army northward to Liang County, to the northwest of Liang County, and tried to attract and absorb the plethora of people in that area. Changed the civilian team, continued to grow the team, and also used his inside line in the Liang County government (friends who are familiar with history should know who the inside line is), to grasp the situation of Liang County's army mobilization, as well as the imperial court's water transportation situation, effective and accurate The attack must continue to transport food northward to supply the water transport fleet on the Liaodong battlefield, seize food for self-sufficiency, and rely on the advantage of food and grass to grow the team more quickly.
The plan is very good, and Li Mi, who is extremely capable, is also very sure to complete this plan, but there are also many thorny problems. How to avoid the interception of the Sui army and lead the army is certainly a problem. The bigger problem is food, because the troops The expansion was too fast, and also because the army was raised at the turn of spring and summer when there was no harvest, and there was very little food in the folk. Li Mi's team had never received enough supplies. They were often hungry and full, and there was no food to supply at all. The team went north to Liang County, but in desperation, Li Mi had no choice but to wait until the winter wheat was harvested before going north to Liang County, allowing the team to continue activities at the border of Qiao County for the time being.
Fortunately, the middle of April in the lunar calendar is already the time when the winter wheat is about to mature. When Li Mi and the Yang family brothers led a team to the Hugang area bordering Dan County and Luyi, the people in Dan County and Luyi had already started harvesting. Wheat, the fields are full of golden ears of wheat, and ordinary people who are wielding sickles to harvest wheat can be seen everywhere, but when these people see Li Mi's team appearing, they all drop their farm work and run away, fearing that they will be killed and robbed by Li Mi's team.
Li Mi very rationally asked the Yang brothers to order not to harm the wheat harvesters, and to avoid trampling the wheat fields as much as possible. The Yang brothers suggested that the army should cut the grain directly, but Li Mi objected. The Yang brothers were puzzled. When asked why, Li Mi explained Said: "We can't delay in one place for too long. The wheat must be sun-dried and husked after harvesting. It takes two or three days to get the food. Instead of taking the risk of cutting the grain, it is better to continue to go around in circles with the officers and soldiers. It’s not too late to pick up the grain after it’s harvested and put into the warehouse.”
"Afraid of a ball!" Yang Xuanting, whose alias is Chen Yingshang, cursed a curse, and said, "As for the soldiers from Zhao Tuo's five regiments, I could have killed them a long time ago if they wanted to. It would be better if they caught up. Get rid of them here, so that we don't have to follow our ass all day long to be annoying."
"It's easy to kill the local soldiers in Huaiyang, but what if we provoke the traitor Chen Yingliang? Can we beat him now?" Li Mi asked back, then smiled and said: "Be patient, don't worry, I have already seen it, Zhao Tuo He also didn’t want to fight us head-on. He didn’t care much about our team going south or east. Only when we went west to the hinterland of Huaiyin did he let the army stop him with all his strength. He made it clear that he wanted us to flee to Qiaojun or Ruyin. Going to the county, we must take advantage of his vicious thinking of beggar-thy-neighbor, quickly accumulate enough strength, and save up enough food and grass to go north, so that we can't use it for a moment to severely damage his team of rural soldiers, arouse the vigilance of Chen Yingliang, a traitor, and attract his attention. The Qiaojun army suppressed it."
Yang Xuanting nodded sullenly, while Yang Jishan, whose alias was Chen Yingjue, asked again: "Military Master, in your opinion, has the little thief Chen Yingliang noticed us now?"
"Of course not, otherwise his counter-insurgency army would have killed him long ago." Li Mi smiled, and said: "But it's hard to say any further. As the general guard of Qiao County, that little thief is of course most afraid of There is a large group of rebels around us. If we grow stronger, I am afraid that he will consider attacking us sooner or later, so after we have raised enough food, we have to go north immediately to the north of Liang County, where the rebels have the most troops. That is where we are. heaven."
"Then how about we grab Qiaojun before we leave?" Yang Zhiji suggested: "At that time, we will deliberately show our real name, grab it and go north. After hearing the news, the tyrant Yang Guang knows our It is under the watchful eyes of the little thief Chen Yingliang that the army was formed, and he will definitely be furious and punish the little thief Chen Yingliang severely, let him be dismissed from office, and also make him lose face, let us first vent our anger on our brother!"
Li Mi smiled without saying a word, and said in his heart: "Do you think that I lead the team around the border of Qiao County all day long, just for fun? What I want is to let the officers and soldiers of Qiao County get used to our activities and lose their vigilance! And I want Thoroughly enraged Chen Yingliang, the little thief, led him to the north of the new army of Qiaojun who had not yet fully trained, let him go to the northern part of Liangjun where there are many rebels, and use the rebels there to consume him alive!"
Just as he was snorting coldly in his heart, a few ragged soldiers suddenly escorted a man who looked like a commoner from the north, and shouted in a far-off manner: "Big leader, second leader, military advisor, I caught a man!" The spy from Qiaojun, he himself said that he was sent by Xu Minlian, the prefect of Qiaojun, and he must see you, saying that he has important matters to discuss with you."
"The person sent by Xu Minlian?" Li Mi and the Yang family brothers looked at each other, and at the same time they were very curious, and hurriedly ordered the man to be brought in front of them, and the man just got in front of Li Mi and the others, and immediately nodded and said: "Three great kings!" , it can be considered that I have found you, I have been wandering around this area for almost two days just to find you."
"Who are you? Why are you looking for us?" Li Mi asked, introducing the aliases of himself and the brothers of the Yang family. At the same time, he carefully observed the person who came, and found that his expression was very humble, and his eyes were full of fear. He didn't seem to have courage. people.
"The little Wang Youfang is a small staff member under the command of Governor Xu of Qiao County." The man hurriedly introduced himself, and then said: "The villain was ordered by Governor Xu to come to contact the three kings and send letters, and I want to inquire about it for Governor Xu. I don’t know if the three kings are interested in turning to the light and serving the court? This is a letter written by our prefect Xu, please read it.”
As he said that, Wang Youfang actually took out a letter and presented it to Li Mi and the others with both hands. Li Mi took it but didn't open it immediately, but asked in surprise: "From your tone, is Xu Minlian planning to recruit us?"
"It's about the same." Wang Youfang said cautiously: "It can't be said that it is a surrender. Our prefect Xu heard that the three kings had never invaded Qiao County, and felt that the three kings were loyal and knew how to advance and retreat. It is not without medicine..., It's not impossible to save, so let's send a villain to find out what the three kings mean."
Li Mi suddenly laughed, knowing that his low-key tactics had achieved unexpected results. He wandered around the border of Qiao County for a month but never set foot in Qiao County. Xu Minlian mistakenly believed that his army was afraid of the Qiao County army, so he came here Tried to surrender. When he opened Xu Minlian's letter and looked at the content carefully, Li Mi smiled even more happily. It turned out that Xu Minlian not only showed off in the letter, but also directly proposed to surrender, persuading Chen Yingshang and Chen Yingjue brothers to put down their arms , led the team under his command to accept the reorganization of the Qiaojun army, made meritorious service and atonement to regain the status of a good citizen, and in the future he will confer his wife, Yinzi, and official titles.
Yang Xuanting and Yang Zhiji also came over to read the letter together. After reading the letter, they both showed sneering smiles. Wang Youfang, sent by Xu Minlian, nodded and bowed again and said, "You two Chen Dawangs, we Taishou Xu would like to inquire about your ancestral home. But in Yiyang County in Henan County?"
"Why are you asking this?" Yang Jishan asked in confusion.
"If it is, then you two Chen Dawangs may be related to our Chen Tongshou." Wang Youfang hurriedly said: "Our Tongshou of Qiao County, Chen Yingliang, is of the same generation as you from the name, his ancestral home It is in Yiyang, Henan Province. If the ancestral home of the two great kings is also in Yiyang, then ninety-nine percent of them should be brothers of the same clan of our Chen Tongshou. The reason why our prefect Xu is determined to recruit you is because of you and Chen Tongshou. For the sake of the Tongshou clan relationship."
Both Yang Xuanting and Yang Zhiji smiled coldly and said nothing, while Li Mi smiled and said: "Master Wang, you guessed it right, yes, the ancestral home of our big leader and second leader is indeed in Yiyang, Henan, and I can tell Let me tell you, Chen Xin, the great-grandfather of Chen Yingliang and Chen Tongshou, almost brought the great-grandfathers of our two great kings into the army when he rebelled against Wei."
"Really?!" Wang Youfang opened his mouth wide, and after a while he said pleasantly: "You two kings, since you are related to our Chen Tongshou, why don't you go to him directly? Why do you want to build..., why do you want to do green forests? "
"It's hard to explain in one word." Li Mi answered very vaguely, and then asked: "Master Wang, Governor Xu sent you to send a letter to recruit us, so what does Chen Tongshou mean?"
"Chen Tongshou?" Wang Youfang froze for a moment before answering: "Maybe Chen Tongshou doesn't know about this matter, this matter was decided by Xu Taishou alone three days ago, and he probably didn't discuss it with Chen Tongshou. "
Li Mi carefully observed Wang Youfang's expression, and seeing that his expression did not seem to be fake, he nodded slightly, knowing that this Wang Youfang was either telling the truth, or he was unaware. Then, Li Mi suddenly asked again: "Then what is your Chen Tongshou doing now?"
"Preparing for the Eastern Expedition to Pengcheng County." Wang Youfang replied without thinking: "Chen Tongshou has formally notified Xu Taishou in an official document, saying that he is going to accept the invitation of Pengcheng Dong Liushou, and asked Xu Taishou to allow him to personally lead the army to the east. Enter Pengcheng, suppress the thieves there, and also prevent Du Fuwei and Zhao Pozhen and other thieves from advancing westward to ensure the safety of the Tongji Canal. In order to ensure the smooth water transportation of the Tongji Canal, we Taishou Xu has also agreed with Chen Tongshou The request—the official document was drafted by Xiao Xiao himself."
Li Mi didn't say a word, but just looked at Wang Youfang carefully. Wang Youfang was a little scared by Li Mi's sharp eyes, and then said tremblingly: "King Liu, our prefect Xu is very sincere. He asked me to tell you that he persuaded you to surrender. , I am not afraid of you raiding Qiao County. In fact, our Qiao County team has even killed more than 30,000 thieves from Du Fuwei, so there is no need to be afraid... No need to worry about your king going east. Moreover, as long as the eunuch guards his old man Yes, one order, asking Chen Tongshou to dispatch half of his troops, is enough to take... that of you."
Yang Xuanting and Yang Jishan sneered loudly. Although they knew what Wang Youfang said was true, they couldn't help but sneer at Qiaojun's arrogance and confidence. Li Mi remained calm, and asked again: "Since your military strength in Qiao County is so strong, why does your prefect Xu still want to recruit us? Why don't you just destroy us?"
"Liu Dawang, how about the villain directly repeat what Xu Taishou said?" Wang Youfang asked carefully first, and after getting Li Mi's permission, Wang Youfang said: "I also asked Xu Taishou about this question. The old man Xu Taishou said, we Although Qiao County's army is elite, its numbers are too small after all. It may be more than enough to protect itself, but it is not enough to wipe out the surrounding thieves. That's why Xu Taishou thought of trying to recruit you to see if he can make you change from evil to righteousness. It is used by the imperial court. If it works, it will be a good thing for you, for our Qiao County, and for the surrounding counties.”
After finishing speaking, Wang Youfang quickly added: "Three great kings, don't worry, if you are willing to be used by our Qiao County, our prefect Xu will not treat you badly. I think you also know that among the surrounding counties, we are counted as Qiao County." The money and food situation in the county is the best, much better than in Huaiyang County, at least you don’t have to worry about not having enough food or clothing.”
Li Mi thought about it for a while, and then he asked someone to take Wang Youfang down temporarily under the pretext of negotiating. Wang Youfang bowed his hands again and again, and said in a pleading tone: "You three kings, you don't have to agree, but the two countries are fighting each other. If you don't kill the envoys, I heard that you often negotiate with other kings' teams, if you set a precedent for beheading envoys, it will not do you any good."
Li Mi laughed and comforted Wang Youfang, saying that he would never kill the envoy, and then sent Wang Youfang away. It was only after Wang Youfang was taken away that Yang Zhiji asked Li Mi: "Military teacher, how is it? Is Xu Minlian's letter sincere or false?"
"Xu Minlian's surrender, it doesn't matter if it's true or not. Anyway, we can't really accept it. It doesn't matter if it's true or not." Li Mi shook his head and said, "The key is, is this a trap by Chen Yingliang?"
"Trap? What kind of trap?" Yang Xuanting asked quickly.
"Of course it's to lure us to our door to die." Li Mi replied without thinking: "Chen Yingliang likes to use troops to make surprises. He likes to plan before making a move and kill with one blow! If he really wants to attack us, then he definitely doesn't want to follow us." Behind our ass, the time-consuming and labor-intensive pursuit will only find a way to lure us out of the hole, gather and annihilate them, let Xu Minlian come forward to recruit us, lure our team into the reserved battlefield, and break it in one battle. Like his usual method."
"So, this must be a trap by Chen Xiaozei?" Yang Jishan gasped.
Li Mi didn't answer, but still looked contemplative, until Yang Jishan asked again, Li Mi said hesitantly: "This matter seems to be a trap by Chen Yingliang, but I think it is very unlikely that it is a trap, on the contrary. This is more likely that Xu Minlian sincerely wants to recruit us."
"Why?" Yang Zhiji asked quickly.
"Because the little thief Chen Yingliang didn't need to put so much effort on us." Li Mi replied with a dazed expression, "There are rebel troops that are stronger than us and more threatening to Qiao County everywhere around Qiao County. The team has also kept restraint and deliberately did not harass the land of Qiaojun. According to the principles of military strategists, it is unlikely that Chen Xiaothief will ignore the threatening rebels and deliberately attack us. Moreover, the troops we sent to Qiaojun The eyeliner has not reported any signs of abnormal mobilization of the Qiaojun army so far, so I am not sure whether this is a trap for Chen Yingliang's little thief."
"Since you're not sure, forget it!" Yang Xuan said impatiently: "Don't bother with that brain, cut down the envoy of Qiaojun with one knife, just ignore Xu Minlian. Come here, let..."
"Wait!" Li Mi hurriedly interrupted Yang Xuanting's impulsiveness, and said in a low voice: "Third General, Xu Minlian's emissary cannot be killed. First, after killing him, Xu Minlian will be completely enraged, and it is very likely that the Qiaojun army will retaliate across the border. Second But if this is not a trap, it is a heaven-sent opportunity for us to avenge Duke Chu!"
"What does the military master mean by this?" Yang Xuanting, who dreamed of avenging his eldest brother, asked quickly.
"Third general, you can think about it." Li Mi asked with a smile: "If we form an army under the nose of the little thief Chen Yingliang, and take advantage of the negligence of the little thief Chen Yingliang to suddenly break through the county seat of Qiao County, the county seat of Qiao County, What kind of sensation will the world cause when Xu Minlian, the prefect of Qiaojun, is beheaded? How will the tyrant Yang Guang reward the little thief Chen Yingliang?"