On the day when the main force of Yang Xuangan's rebel army arrived in Dongdu, a major event happened in the afternoon. Yang Xuangan sent a messenger into the city and sent a letter in his own handwriting to Fan Zigai, the content of which was, of course, After talking nonsense about Emperor Sui Yang's stupidity, cruelty, lewdness and immorality, he asked Fan Zigai to open the city and surrender.
It is conceivable that the old stubborn Fan Zigai saw the result of this persuading letter, not only immediately ordered the envoy to be beheaded, but also ordered the soldiers of the Imperial City Imperial Army to escort the envoy to the top of Shangchun Gate, and behead him in front of the main force of the rebel army below the city!
When Chen Yingliang, who was assisting Pei Hongce to act as an official document in the city tower, heard the news, he wanted to persuade Pei Hongce to stop it, but unfortunately, the soldiers of the Imperial City Guards who were not under Pei Hongce's command acted too quickly. It had already landed, and the bloody head was hung on the city wall by the soldiers of the Imperial Army to demonstrate to the rebels outside the city, and issued a warning of incompatibility. Chen Yingliang had no choice but to smile wryly and said: "Fan Liushou, Fan Liushou, you are really willing to give up. You missed such a good opportunity for nothing."
"What did my nephew say? What good opportunity did Fan Liushou miss?" Pei Hongce who was next to him asked curiously.
"Uncle, have you ever interrogated a prisoner?" Chen Yingliang, a former criminal police chief, asked back. Seeing Pei Hongce honestly shaking his head in denial, Chen Yingliang replied: "Since ancient times, when interrogating a prisoner, the most effective way to make the prisoner bow his head and confess his guilt is to torture him. In addition, another way is to let the prisoner see the hope of being forgiven and being forgiven. The prisoner bows his head and confesses his crime obediently in order to survive and to receive a lighter punishment. The most stupid way is to blindly intimidate. The prisoner felt that if he pleaded guilty, he would die, so he had to fight to the end in order to survive, and at the same time, in order not to be betrayed by his accomplices, he even intentionally covered up his accomplices who had not been exposed."
"Fan Liushou used the most stupid method." Chen Yingliang spread his hands and said with a wry smile: "It doesn't matter whether a small messenger is killed or not. If he is let go, let him go back to the rebel army to spread the news by the way. He said that as long as he surrendered, he would be pardoned and forgiven anyway, which would have the effect of shaking the enemy's morale. However, Fan Liushou pushed him up to the city wall to beheaded in public, and even hung his head on the city wall for public display. Tell the rebel team that they have no other way to survive except to follow Yang Xuangan's rebellion to the end?"
Pei Hongce is also a smart person. After hearing Chen Yingliang's analysis, he immediately stomped his feet and yelled, "That's right, my nephew is right. This is a good opportunity. Bandit Yang rebelled, and there must be many in the team who were forced to follow him." People, if you let them know that surrendering will save their lives, many people may come anyway! Fan Liushou is so impatient, why didn't he think of this?!"
The heads had already been chopped off, and it was useless for Chen Yingliang and Pei Hongce to regret it. As Chen Yingliang expected, after Fan Zigai spread the news of the envoy's beheading to the rebel army, the rebel leader Yang Xuangan and his brothers Not only did Wang Zhongbo and the others not jump into a rage, they applauded and laughed together, and then Yang Xuangan praised the military advisor Li Mi and said: "Xuan Sui really has a good plan, and the old man Fan Zigai really couldn't hold back and killed people. There is no need to worry about instability in the military.”
"Thanks to Chu Gong's praise, I am ashamed and dare not take it." Li Mi said modestly, and then quickly said: "Chu Gong, it is not too late, we should immediately spread the news of Fan Zigai's beheading to the three armies, and then spread rumors, saying that the tyrant The imperial court has ordered that anyone who has joined our army, no matter who they are, no matter how high or low they are, will kill the three clans, strike while the iron is hot to stabilize the morale of the army and boost morale."
Yang Xuangan didn't listen to Li Mi except in terms of strategy, but he obeyed Li Mi's words in terms of tactical details. He immediately acted according to the plan and asked his younger brothers Yang Xuanting and Yang Su to leave it to Yang Xuangan's old confidant, Wang Zhongbo, to carry out the plan. Then Yang Xuangan asked Li Mi again "Xuan Sui, can you shoot two eagles with one arrow, can the other eagle be shot down? Will that old bastard Fan Zigai send the main force of the defenders out of the city for a decisive battle because of our anger?"
"It's hard to say." The resourceful Li Mi seldom hesitated, and said hesitantly: "If Fan Zigai wants to go out to the city for a decisive battle, today is the best opportunity to seize the opportunity by taking advantage of our army's weakness of being tired from afar and not having a stable foothold. A battle to the death, but it's already afternoon, and the defenders of the Eastern Capital have no sign of leaving the city for a decisive battle. This makes it difficult for me to judge. Logically speaking, with the violent temper of that old man Fan Zigai, it is impossible to be willing to defend the city what?"
"It doesn't matter if the old stuff doesn't come out of the city, it's just a matter of attacking the city." Yang Xuangan said relaxedly, "I'll send an order to the rear army to make every effort to build siege weapons, and launch the siege the day after tomorrow!"
"This idiot, why is he always thinking of attacking the Eastern Capital City? Is this city so easy to attack?" Li Mi muttered inwardly, but said: "Grand Chu, I think we should be prepared with both hands. To capture the outside of the Eastern Capital, we should try to lure the Eastern Capital defenders out of the city for a decisive battle."
"What's the master plan?" Yang Xuangan asked quickly.
"Use the acropolis of the eastern capital, Jinyong City, to make a fuss." Li Mi replied with a smile: "Then use the surrendered officers and soldiers to make a fuss, that old thing Fan Zigai is about to leave the city for a decisive battle!"
…
In the early morning of the second day after arriving in Luoyang, the main force of the rebel army stationed outside Donghua Gate made its first big move, sending tens of thousands of troops northward, aiming at Jinyong City, the Acropolis of the Eastern Capital and the seat of Luoyang County. The main general Luoyang ordered Daxi Shanyi to be missing on the battlefield. Fan Zigai later sent Luoyang acting county magistrate Liu Ziyi, who was in charge of the imperial censor, not to dare to fight. .
Liu Ziyi's messenger sent the request for help to Luoyang City. Fan Zigai, Huangfu Wuyi and other important officials in the Eastern Capital were in a dilemma. They wanted to send troops to rescue Jinyong City, but they suspected that this was Yang Xuangan's plan to siege the city and fight for help. Lure out of the city to ambush, if you don't save it, you are afraid that Jinyong City will fall, the enemy will become stronger, and Luoyang City will be more isolated. Undecided, Fan Zigai simply took the opportunity of patrolling the enemy's situation and went straight to the main battlefield, Chunmen, to consult Pei Hongce, who has often expressed excellent opinions in the past two days, to understand Pei Hongce's views on this matter.
Pei Hongce had already lived and boarded in the tower of Shangchun Gate according to the order. Of course, Fan Zigai met Pei Hongce smoothly, but when Fan Zigai told Pei Hongce about the situation of Jinyong City's request for help, Pei Hongce did not express his opinion immediately. Looking at Chen Yingliang, the nephew and new secretary next to him, Chen Yingliang nodded slightly to Pei Hongce, and pouted slightly outside the door. Pei Hongce heaved a sigh of relief, and hurriedly said to Fan Zigai: "Fan stay behind, please wait a moment, I have something urgent to do. For military affairs, I will go to do it for a while before I come back, and I will also consider the military situation in Jinyong City by the way, and then I will give Fan Liushou an answer immediately."
Fan Zigai didn't doubt that he was there, so he allowed Pei Hongce to leave the tower temporarily to do military affairs. After Pei Hongce led his nephew out of the tower, he really returned to the tower after a while, and said to Fan Zigai, "Fan stays behind you!" In my humble opinion, there is no need to save Jinyong City at all. Jinyong City is just a small acropolis. It will not help you if you gain it, and it will not hurt you if you lose it. Just order Liu Yushi to stick to it. If the army arranges an ambush, the consequences will be unpredictable."
"What if Jinyong City can't be defended?" Fan Zigai was still a little worried, and said, "There are more than 3,000 defenders in Jinyong City, so we can't just watch their entire army wiped out?"
"If Jinyong City can't be defended, so what if Yang Ni wins it?" Pei Hongce said with a startling smile, and said with a smile: "If Yang Ni wins Jinyong City, his confidence will be greatly increased, and he will be more determined to seize the Eastern Capital, so If Yong Jin City falls, it may not be a bad thing for our army's containment plan."
Seeing that the old stubborn Fan Zigai didn't lose his temper, but still showed a contemplative look, Pei Hongce quickly added another sentence, saying: "If Fan Liushou cherishes the guards of Jinyong City, he can also give them an order to allow them to break through and return in case of emergency. The Eastern Capital is enough. Anyway, even the Luokou Warehouse, which stocked nearly ten million stones of military supplies, is lost, so why care about the gains and losses of a small acropolis? Since ancient times, those who are good at using soldiers have never been limited to the gains and losses of one city or one place. "
After thinking about it for a long time, the old stubborn Fan Zigai nodded and said: "It makes sense, Liu Ziyi can be allowed to hold on to the city, but the order to allow him to break out cannot be given. Dao order, Yong Jin City might not be able to defend it for three days."
"My lord is wise, that's the reason." Pei Hongce nodded quickly, and then said, "Master Fan, I still have a little stupid opinion about the defense of Luoyang. I wonder if my lord would like to hear it?"
"It doesn't matter if Li Guogong speaks bluntly, I'm all ears." Fan Zigai changed the name of Pei Hongce intentionally or unintentionally.
"Then I will speak up boldly." Pei Hongce was not polite, and immediately said: "The official believes that our army should try to provoke Yang Xuangan's rebels and prompt them to attack the city immediately. The sooner the better!"
"Why?" Fan Zigai Daqi asked.
"It's very simple. The rebels are attacking the city now, and they have no chance of winning." Pei Hongce analyzed: "Yang Ni marched six hundred miles in eleven days, which is enough to prove that his army did not carry heavy siege weapons. Some siege equipment was seized, but they did not have any siege weapons that could be used to attack the city. They rushed to make siege weapons, such as cloud carts, ladders, hook carts, winch crossbows (bed crossbows) and trebuchets and other large siege weapons. , it can’t be built successfully in ten days and half a month, the most is to build some light weapons such as flying ladders and trench vehicles. In front of the four feet eight feet high city wall of the Eastern Capital, such siege weapons are absolutely impossible to receive any effect , so as long as our army can anger Yang Xuangan and prompt him to attack the city as soon as possible, then it will be easy to win the defense of the city, and this will also boost morale, cheer up the morale of the army, and drag Yang Ni into the quagmire of attack."
"That's right! We now need a victory to boost morale and cheer up the army! It can also have the effect of indirectly reinforcing Jinyong City!" Fan Zigai waved excitedly, very satisfied with Pei Hongce's suggestion, and then Fan Zigai quickly He asked: "Then how can we anger Yang Ni and prompt him to attack the city and seek death as soon as possible? Does Li Guogong have a good opinion on this?"
"It's very simple, one word, curse." Pei Hongce replied with a smile.
"Call?" Fan Zigai was taken aback.
"Yes, scold!" Pei Hongce nodded, and said with a smile: "Yang Xuangan was born in a famous family, relying on his father's shadow to make his official career smooth, and has never encountered setbacks in his life, he must have developed an arrogant character. I can't bear the humiliation, so my lord only needs to write a letter to Yang Ni. The book is full of humiliating words, scolding Yang Xuangan as a traitor, it is unbearable, then Yang Ni will definitely attack the city regardless of the consequences! "
"Brilliant plan!" Fan Zigai laughed loudly, and said, "It is unexpected that Li Guogong, who has never been on the battlefield, can come up with such a clever plan! Yes, I have dealt with Yang Ni before, and this traitor is indeed a proud one." Man, a great plan! This old man is going to revise the book now, and scold Yang Ni like a bloody dog! Inspire him to attack Luoyang Jiancheng immediately!"
"Your honor." Pei Hongce was modest, and took a peek at Chen Yingliang, who was standing beside him, and thought to himself, "I never thought that my seventeen-year-old nephew would have so much bad water in his stomach."
"Yang Zhiji, I'm sorry, I copied your trick some time in advance, but I'm protecting the country of your Yang family. You are also a relative of the emperor, so I don't think you mind?" Chen Yingliang also muttered in his heart calmly, and then He continued to mutter in his heart: "I asked Fan Zigai, a stubborn old man, to write a letter to scold Yang Xuangan, am I not thinking about it? This old stubborn who is stupid in reading, wouldn't he get a bunch of people to scold Yang Xuangan, right? This is useless. None!"
Seeing that Fan Zigai couldn't wait to pick up a pen to write a book, Chen Yingliang was still a little worried, and he inherited the ancient calligraphy memory of the dead ghost Chen Yingliang. Just as Chen Yingliang wanted to ask for a ghostwriter, soldiers flew outside the gate of the tower to report: "Report to Fan to stay behind, report Lord Pei, there are a large number of enemy troops coming from the east, and the goal seems to be Shangchunmen!"
Before the messenger could finish speaking, Fan Zigai and Pei Hongce had just turned their heads when Chen Yingliang rushed out of the city tower like a rabbit and rushed to the city wall to check the enemy's situation. Naturally, Pei Hongce's confidants did not stop him, but Fan Zigai frowned, and said to Pei Hongce: "Master Pei, is your nephew not calm enough? How dare you be so presumptuous in front of you and me?"
"Stay here to make amends, and the lower officials will teach him a lesson." Pei Hongce apologized respectfully, and then snorted coldly in his heart, "Old man, a nephew who is more stable than my talented nephew, you find me one!"
"You don't need to scold. It is also your blessing to be so anxious about state affairs. I think I will be able to share a lot of errands for you in the future." Fan Zigai added with a smile, and then ordered: "Go, go out and see what's going on. Yang Ni is here to attack the city, so it saves the old man from being a villain and writing letters and cursing."
Fan Zigai and Pei Hongce were very surprised by what happened outside the city. A large rebel army had arrived outside the city, frightening the demoralized Dongdu defenders to panic, running and shouting, which also made Fan Zigai furious. Because of his temper, he slapped a panicked general of the Sui army Yingjilang on the spot. But when the rebel team approached the city wall, Fan Zigai and Pei Hongce were surprised to find that the vanguard of the rebel team was carrying the banner of the Sui Army's Youwuwei, and the captains of the various regiments who were marching on horseback were wearing It's still the costume of a Sui army general!
"What is Yang Ni planning to do?"
When Fan Zigai and Pei Hongce were confused, Chen Yingliang suddenly ran over, saluted Pei Hongce and asked, "Uncle, please confirm, is the forward team of the rebels the same team that was brought to Bai Simaban?"
After being reminded by his eldest nephew, Pei Hongce came to his senses. After observing carefully for a while, he immediately roared, "That's right, there are many Youwu guards who rebelled in front of the battle. The Yingyanglang general Yuan Jinwei who walked in the front , is the first general Ying Yanglang who led an army to rebel in Bai Sima Ban!"
"Well, Yang Xuangan, I really underestimated you. I never thought you, an idiot, would use heart attack tactics." Chen Yingliang sneered.
"What tactics does Yang Ni use to attack the heart?" someone asked next to him.
"Send our soldiers to surrender." Chen Yingliang replied smoothly: "These soldiers are old soldiers of Youwuwei, and those guarding the Eastern Capital are also soldiers of Youwuwei. They are very familiar with each other. The former soldiers of the military guards came forward to recruit the defenders of the Eastern Capital, and then publicized the appeasement policy of the traitor Yang Xuangan, hitting our morale and determination to defend the city, and we can get twice the result with half the effort... "
Having said that, Chen Yingliang suddenly noticed that Pei Hongce was quietly tugging on his sleeve, and when he came back to take a closer look, Chen Yingliang suddenly realized that the person who spoke to him was Fan Zigai, the current leader of Luoyang, the eastern capital. . Unprepared, Chen Yingliang had no choice but to salute quickly and plead guilty, "The boy is arrogant, talking nonsense in front of the left-behind adults, please forgive me."
Fan Zigai remained calm, first glanced at Pei Hongce who looked a little embarrassed, and then said: "You are right, if Yang Ni does this, it will have a great impact on our army's morale, since you can guess Yang Ni's intention, so is there a way to decipher it?"
"This..." Chen Yingliang peeked at Pei Hongce in embarrassment, but Pei Hongce was more embarrassed than Chen Yingliang, and didn't dare to wink at his eldest nephew in front of Fan Zigai.
"You don't need to ask your uncle to pass it on to me, just tell me directly." Fan Zigai, who already understood the strangeness in his heart, said with a sneer.
Chen Yingliang still didn't dare to say anything, and continued to peek at Pei Hongce. Pei Hongce smiled awkwardly, pushed Chen Yingliang, and said, "Nephew, if you have something to say, just say it. Time is urgent, so don't waste your time."
"Then the villain will be outspoken." Chen Yingliang opened his mouth now, and said cautiously: "The villain has read a few overseas books when he was young, and knows a strategy that can make Yang Ni's scheming useless, and even reverse it. The harm is that this strategy is a bit vicious, I'm afraid it's too much..."
"What are you afraid of being vicious?!" Fan Zigai, who was loyal to Emperor Sui Yang, waved his hand and said viciously, "No amount of viciousness can be overstated when dealing with these traitors and traitors!"
Note: Insulting Yang Xuan and thanking him for attacking the city is not a fiction. It was invented by Yang Zhiji, the cousin of Emperor Sui Yang, and was used in Hongnong to deal with Yang Xuangan.