After Changsun Shunde and Hou Junji were brought before Chen Sangliang, after separate interrogation and face-to-face confrontation, Ambassador Li Yuan’s confession was finally confirmed. Shibi Khan did try to bribe Ambassador Li, but the reason was not Because Li Yuan's subjective malice was entirely caused by a misunderstanding, Li Yuan did indeed burn the letter afterwards in front of Changsun Shunde and Hou Junji. The behavior of the army - this is well confirmed. If Li Yuan really wanted to kill King Qin's army, it would have been impossible for King Qin's army to win three consecutive victories before.
Originally, Li Yuan was still a little worried about Chen Yingliang's investigation into why his grandson Shunde had betrayed too much Qin Wang's military intelligence to the Turkic army. Fortunately, his betrayal of military intelligence to the Turkic army was actually at the behest of Chen Yingliang, and Chen Yingliang was also involved in trying to use his eldest grandson Shunde to frame Li Yuan Chen Sangliang's buttocks were not clean in this matter, so Chen Yingliang chose to forget this doubtful point as a matter of course, and pointed the finger at Hou Junji who was trying to escape, and tortured Hou Junji's escape reason and Whereabouts, but also asked whether Hou Junji continued to maintain contact with the Turkic army in secret
Hou Junji, who lives on lip service, has few hard bones in his body. After being whipped a few times by the military law team under Yin Shishi's command, he honestly explained the reason for his escape, saying that he saw Li Yuan and his son being led by Chen Yingliang. He walked in a strange way, and saw the Baoguo army coming to welcome Chen Sangliang, felt that the situation was wrong and felt guilty, so he quietly prepared to escape, and when he saw Chen Yingliang sent to arrest the eldest grandson Shunde, Hou Junji, who had a dirty ass, hurried He ran away, and insisted that he didn't want to report to the Turkic army, but wanted to escape back to his hometown in Youzhou to hide, and he had never had any private contact with the Turkic army before.
Hou Junji's confession was just an isolated testimony, and the matter was of great importance. None of Chen Yingliang and Sui Junqin's generals dared to believe it. In addition, Chen Sangliang hated Hou Junji, a perverted man with milk control, even if he knew it. Even if he is in Lingyan Pavilion, he doesn't have much interest in him. Therefore, Chen Yingliang was not polite to Hou Junji, and accepted Yin Shishi's suggestion, and handed Hou Junji to the military law team under Yin Shishi's command, and asked them to use various tortures to clean up Hou Junji and continue to torture Hou Junji. The confession is true or false, and by the way, it is also the way to avenge in advance the two poor women in history who lived on human milk for the perverted torture of Hou Junji.
At this point, the investigation of Li Yuan's secret communication with the Turks came to an end for the time being. In the absence of Li Yuan's crime of treason and defection to the enemy, Chen Yingliang chose to let Li Yuan and his son save their lives for the time being, and waited for Emperor Sui Yang to punish him personally. He also dealt directly with Li Yuan and Li Yuan. The second said: "Ambassador Li, Mr. Li, you are lucky. I will not kill you for the time being, but in the future, it is not up to me to decide whether His Majesty the Emperor will kill you. If you are smart, then obediently give me If you make meritorious deeds and make more contributions, perhaps His Majesty the Emperor will spare you and let you survive. If you still want to play tricks, then I am afraid that even if His Majesty wants to spare your lives, there will be no reason to forgive you. "
Aware of Emperor Sui Yang's temper, Li Yuan and his son knew that Chen Yingliang's words were definitely not false threats, and knew that if he didn't hurry up and do a few things to satisfy Emperor Sui Yang, Emperor Sui Yang would never forgive him, so Li Yuan The father and son just kowtowed again and again to thank Chen Yingliang for his forgiveness, and swore that they would go up the mountain of swords and go down into the sea of fire for Chen Sangliang, even if they were smashed to pieces, they would have to atone for their sins. As a result, Qi Wang Yang Hao became a little unhappy again, and stood up and said, "Commander, even if Ambassador Li's treasonous behavior has not been discovered for the time being, it may not be appropriate for him to continue to hold military power, right?"
Glancing at the ill-intentioned Yang Hao, Chen Sangliang said loudly: "Pass down my commander-in-chief. Li Yuan, the consolation ambassador of Hedong, is unable to take charge of the army due to physical discomfort. Under the banner of Li Yuan, Li Jiancheng will act as Li Yuan's agent for all affairs in the army. Li Yuan, Ambassador Li, will stay in the Chinese army camp for treatment and support."
"Marshal, you..." Yang Hao was anxious when he heard this.
"Your Highness, please listen to what I have said." Chen Yingliang said calmly, "I have the courage to ask you to temporarily serve as the deputy commander of King Qin's army in Taiyuan, and help General Li Jiancheng lead the King Qin army in Taiyuan. If there is a dispute, and then the humble officials will come forward to coordinate and deal with it, I wonder if His Highness can lower your dignity and be wronged for a while?"
For the first time since he and Chen Yingliang worked hand in hand, Yang Hao smiled happily, and said with a smile: "King Qin is a matter of great importance. For the safety of the emperor, this king should do his best to assist the commander-in-chief King Qin to rescue him. Please rest assured, the king. He will serve as a good deputy to General Li Jiancheng."
Chen Yingliang nodded his thanks, and then announced his two personnel orders to the entire army, in order to stabilize the morale of the army, and the results were not bad. I heard that Li Jiancheng succeeded Li Yuan in the Taiyuan Sui Army, and the Taiyuan Sui Army, which was already in panic, quickly re-stabilized After coming down, Li Xiaogong, Xu Shixu and other Li Yuan's buddies also quietly breathed a sigh of relief, while Li Jiancheng was overwhelmed with gratitude and worked harder to appease the generals of the Sui Army in Taiyuan. Chen Yingliang was forced to change his generals, so there were no serious consequences. At the same time, because Li Jiancheng would never dare to compete with him for merit, Yang Hao was also very satisfied with Chen Yingliang's personnel arrangement, and did not make excessive demands. He was patient and just waited for the first achievement of entering Yanmen City Qin Wang Jianjia.
After dealing with the Sui army's affairs in Taiyuan, Li Yuan was temporarily placed under house arrest in the Chinese army camp. Then it was Li Er and Li Jing's turn. He was not polite to Li Er and Chen Yingliang, so he directly said to Yun Dingxing: "Old Yun General, General Li Shimin is under your command, but now my Chinese army needs him, so temporarily leave him in the Chinese army camp, is there any problem with you?"
"No problem, absolutely no problem." Yun Dingxing, who is good at standing in line, immediately agreed without blinking his eyelids, and then took the initiative to say: "Marshal, do you want to send Chai Shao to you at the end?"
"Forget about Chai Shao, let him continue to obey orders under your command." Chen Yingliang said with a smile: "I can accommodate Ambassador Li's group of confidantes, and still care about his little Chai Shao? Let him Continue to stay under your command, and if you have the opportunity, let him go to the battlefield and make some contributions, anyway, he and I used to be considered family friends."
Yun Dingxing quickly agreed again, and then flattered Chen Yingliang impatiently, praising Chen Yingliang for his generosity, for not thinking of old evil, for repaying good for bad, he is a model of morality, a model of a gentleman. Chen Yingliang smiled and said a few words modestly, and then turned his eyes to Li Jing, his eyes were also very complicated. After a long while, Chen Yingliang said to Li Jing: "Li Juncheng, you can tell me now, you and Ambassador Li are in the military tent. , What did you talk about alone?"
Li Yuan and Li Er began to worry again, for fear that Li Jing would betray them at this critical moment, and confessed that they had asked Li Jing about the Turkic traitor. The officer and Marshal Li didn't talk about anything, they just discussed the layout of the new camp of King Qin's army in Taiyuan. You know, Marshal, that although the officer is a civilian, he has a certain understanding of the military. He was full of praise, and Ambassador Li also knew that the lower official had some strengths in this area, so he discussed these matters with the lower official."
Li Yuan and Li Er quietly breathed a sigh of relief, while Chen Yingliang looked puzzled. He really didn't understand why Li Jing still refused to tell the truth. Li Yuan and his son have already been stripped of their powers, why didn't Li Jing change his family quickly? And the Yin Shishi who was always suspicious of Li Jing quit, and immediately stood up and said: "Commander, Li Juncheng and Ambassador Li have been too close in the past, and they have been in constant contact in private. It’s better to let Li Juncheng take care of the sick Ambassador Li, and don’t take charge of military affairs for the time being.”
All the generals of the Sui army agreed and suggested that Chen Yingliang should also deprive Li Jing of power and put him under house arrest. Li Jing remained silent, and Chen Sangliang was also hesitant. After weighing the pros and cons for a long time, Chen Yingliang said: "Well, since Li Juncheng and Ambassador Li are just discussing military affairs , We have not found any illegal actions by you, Li Juncheng, so you don't have to serve Ambassador Li's decoction, and you can stay in my Chinese army tent and listen to it."
"Marshal, why are you so negligent?" Yin Shishi became anxious when he heard this, and hurriedly reminded: "This Li Jing is very suspicious, you can't stay."
"Prefect Yin, when it comes to suspicion, who can be more suspicious than Ambassador Li's eldest son, General Li Jiancheng?" Chen Yingliang said calmly: "Also, compared with Li Juncheng, those generals and officials under Ambassador Li's command are more suspicious. These people and General Li Jiancheng can tolerate them, so why can't they tolerate Li Juncheng, who is less suspicious?"
Yin Shishi was at a loss for words, and it took him a long time to say: "Then at least he can't be allowed to participate in military aircraft."
"The melon field Li Xia, I don't dare to participate in military aircraft anymore." Li Jing took the initiative to accept Yin Shishi's request, and then cupped his hands to Chen Sangliang and said: "Commander, I know that you must need a messenger to contact the Turks. If the commander Don't give up, the next official is willing to take on this task to prove his innocence."
Chen Yingliang's eyes flickered again, and then he said: "Go down and rest first, let me think about it."
Li Jing agreed, and Chen Yingliang immediately ordered the soldiers to take Li Yuan and his son and Li Jing out of the tent and put them under house arrest. Then he asked the generals of the Sui army to keep the matter of Li Yuan and his son strictly confidential, so as not to be noticed by the Turks. After going back to rest, Chen Yingliang hurriedly led Yin Shishi and Yuan Tiangang and other cronies, under the strict protection of the army, went to the Taiyuan Sui army camp to check the situation, until it was confirmed that Li Jiancheng was able to appease the army, and there was no commotion in the Taiyuan Sui army camp. Only then did Chen Yingliang feel relieved, and ordered all the battalions to lift the martial law, and only arranged one army to take turns to be vigilant, just in case.
The order was conveyed, and the troops of the Qiaopeng Sui Army, Jiangdu Sui Army and Zuo Tunwei who bordered the Taiyuan Sui Army camp successively lifted martial law, although Chen Yingliang sent someone to declare that the martial law was because of Li Yuan's sudden illness, and it was forced to do so as a precaution. , but the morale of Qin Wang's coalition army was inevitably affected to a certain extent. In any case, there were some gossips circulating in private in the army. After discovering these situations, Chen Sangliang was inevitably worried. Yin Shishi, Yuan Tiangang and other confidants also reminded Chen Yingliang: "Commander, the impact of changing generals before the battle is still too great. If we don't quickly find a way to restore the morale of the army Cheer up, I'm afraid that the combat effectiveness will be greatly affected, and the morale of the army will be even more flustered."
Chen Sangliang nodded, and then asked suddenly: "About Li Yuan, tell me, how should I make good use of the relationship between Li Yuan and Shibi Bandit Chieftain?"
"Send someone under the banner of Li Yuan to meet Shibi Bandit Chieftain, and directly say that the Turkic traitor is Ashina Simo, inducing Shibi Bandit Chieftain to kill this Turkic general, and also destroy the morale of the Turkic army." Yin Yin Shishi suggested.
"It's a waste of such a good opportunity to kill a Turkic general." Chen Sangliang shook his head.
"Then I don't know about it." Yin Shishi replied helplessly: "I'm not very proficient in tactics, I really can't think of any good way to make good use of the relationship between Li Yuan and Turkic."
The yin master surnamed Yin couldn't think of any good way to kill the Turkic army, let alone the old-fashioned Wei Zheng and the great scientist Yuan Tiangang. They couldn't provide any useful reference for Chen Yingliang in terms of strategy. Because he didn't know enough about the Turkic situation, he racked his brains and couldn't think of any good way to make good use of Li Yuan's pawn to drain the oil from Li Yuan's body. Forced into desperation, Chen Sangliang had no choice but to take the opportunity of patrolling the camp to enter Wang Shichong's command account and ask his well-known cunning father-in-law Wang Shichong for advice to see if he could have a good way to kill the Turks. army.
Wang Shichong is indeed better at battlefield tricks than Yin Shishi and others, so he proposed a strategy for Chen Sangliang to invite the king into the urn, suggesting that Chen Yingliang send someone to pretend to be Li Yuan's messenger to contact Shibi Khan, pretending to be Shibi Khan to act as an internal agent, and lure Shibi Khan sent troops to attack the Sui army's camp again. The Sui army took the opportunity to lay out an ambush again, and fought another victory and defeated the Turks.
Although Wang Shichong's plan is feasible, and he can achieve greater results with a little modification, it still cannot satisfy the greedy Chen Sangliang. Chen Sangliang also directly said to the even more conscientious old man: "Yue Zhang, so It's too wasteful, although it is feasible, and there is a great hope to deceive the Turks, but you also know the terrain in this area. The two mountains are separated by more than 20 miles from east to west. We can't block such a wide open land anyway. Annihilating the invading enemy, even if we win another battle, what is the use? The Turkic army is still stronger than us, so we are not at a disadvantage?"
"My son-in-law, another victory is not enough, what do you want to use Li Yuan for?" Wang Shichong asked in surprise.
"Of course it is to wipe out the main force of the Turks and kill the Shibi bandit chieftain." Chen Sangliang replied frankly: "Of course it would be best to kill the Shibi bandit chieftain in one battle. strengths and weaknesses.”
Wang Shichong was dumbfounded, and then hurriedly tried to persuade the unworthy son-in-law not to be so greedy and insufficient, and to be careful that the bones he gnawed would break his teeth. It was a rare kindness to remind the son-in-law not to be too greedy to chew. It's a pity Chen Sangliang's ambition was really too great, and Wang Shichong, who was famous in history as nagging, was too nagging. Chen Sangliang simply found an excuse to leave, and finally got rid of the old man's nagging.
After leaving Wang Shichong's camp, Chen Yingliang didn't go to look for Liu Changgong and Yun Dingxing, who were even more useless, but went straight back to the Chinese army camp to make his own calculations. I've been around for more than two years, why don't I even have a decent think tank by my side? It would be great if Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui were here, at least they could give me advice and share my worries, and I don't have to rack my brains alone..., etc. , I have it by my side."
Whispering to this point in his heart, Chen Sangliang suddenly remembered a major event. He not only has a think tank by his side, but also three think tanks that are absolutely enough—Li Yuan, Li Er, and Li Jing. These three battlefield slickers can definitely help It's just that whether these three think tanks can be trusted is still a big problem. After careful consideration for a long time, Chen Sangliang gritted his teeth again, and then ordered: "Call Li Jing to my back tent, I want to see him."
…
After hastily returning to his back tent, Li Jing had already been half-invited and escorted into the tent first. After the meeting, Chen Sangliang was not polite. While having dinner prepared for himself and Li Jing, he asked Li Jing to sit down, and then sat down directly. When he came in front of Li Jing, he said even more bluntly: "Li Juncheng, I won't talk nonsense. You still refuse to explain your relationship with Ambassador Li. I know the reason. Old Li's family is one of the eight big families in Guanlong. Tongtian, the tree is big and the roots are deep, you dare not go against them, I know very well."
Li Jing remained silent, while Chen Yingliang said again: "Now I won't force you to confess what kind of relationship you have with the Li family. I just want to tell you that Ambassador Li did not secretly inform the Turks to defect to the enemy this time, and His Majesty the Emperor may not be sure. I will kill him, but since you are involved in this matter, you will be affected in the future. Even if Ambassador Li wants to save you, he will not dare to do it for a while. If you don’t want to be dismissed from office, behead him There is only one way to steal the house, and that is to save yourself."
Li Jing was still silent, and Chen Yingliang didn't force him to express his opinion immediately, until the soldiers brought the dinner and Chen Sangliang personally put a dinner in front of Li Jing, Li Jing asked: "Commander, how should I save myself? "
"Of course it is meritorious service, and it will be atonement." Chen Sangliang used a tone of earnest teaching, and pointed out: "As long as you make contributions in this war of King Qin and help me break through the Turkic army and successfully rescue me, I will send you back Your contribution to the Ming court also proves that you were not involved in Ambassador Li's alleged collusion with the enemy. No matter what punishment Ambassador Li receives, you will not be affected, and you will also be rewarded. Wouldn't it be far better than you? Are you going to be punished with Ambassador Li?"
There was a smile in Li Jing's eyes, and it seemed to be a mocking smile, and then he said calmly: "Of course I am willing to make meritorious service to atone for my crime, but I don't know how to perform meritorious deeds and atone for my crime, so I ask the commander-in-chief for advice."
"Li Juncheng, didn't you suggest that I seize the opportunity of the Turkic main force to go deep into the Jedi and fight for decades of peace in the north?" Chen Sangliang said directly: "Now the opportunity is in front of us. The opportunity to gain the trust of the Turks also appeared, in your opinion, how should I seize this opportunity to defeat the main force of the Turks in one fell swoop, and even kill Shibi Khan himself?"
"Marshal Chen, you seem to be seeking advice from the lower officials?" The sarcasm in Li Jing's eyes became more obvious, and he said with a smile: "Didn't the prefect Yin suggest that you not let the lower officials participate in the military plane? Why are you still asking the lower officials?" Plan to defeat the enemy? Commander, aren’t you afraid that the subordinate officials will take advantage of the opportunity to cheat and cause you to be defeated and die instead?”
"You won't." Chen Sangliang was extremely reassured about Li Jing, and said directly: "I can see that you are a loyal minister, you are loyal to the Sui court, and you are also loyal to the emperor, so I am only afraid of your help. Ambassador Li harmed me, but he was not worried that you would cause King Qin’s army to be defeated, and His Majesty the Emperor and the Sui court would lose their rescue.”
Speaking of this, Chen Sangliang added: "Besides, I also have the confidence that I can see through your plan. If your plan is slightly wrong, I will definitely notice it immediately."
Li Jing smiled, the smile was quite mysterious, and then suddenly said: "Marshal, I feel that you are too impatient. The matter of Ambassador Li is indeed an opportunity, but you just want to seize this opportunity, but you have ignored it. It's not enough for you to break through the Turkic main force in one fell swoop, let alone help you capture and kill the Shibi bandit chief."
"What do you mean by that?" Chen Sangliang was taken aback.
"Commander, haven't you noticed that the Turks still don't have absolute trust in Ambassador Li?" Li Jing said with a smile, "Last night, our army set up an ambush and defeated the Turks. The number of beheaded and captured alive was almost 20,000. It’s not bad, but Ambassador Li didn’t warn the Turks in a single word before, and sat back and watched the Turks’ fiasco. Let me ask the commander, if you were the Turkic chieftain, under such circumstances, would you dare to trust Ambassador Li’s letter messenger? , take the main force of the Turkic army to fight, or even take risks in person, to give our army a chance to defeat your main force of the Turkic army? Even give our army a chance to capture and kill you?"
Chen Sangliang's complexion changed a little, and then he suddenly realized that he was taking things for granted, seriously ignoring the degree of trust the Turkic army had in Li Yuan, and forgetting that the main force of the Turkic army could not risk annihilation because of a letter or a messenger from Li Yuan. Danger.
Glancing at Chen Sangliang, Li Jing said again: "Also, the Yanmen battlefield is indeed the place where the Turks died, but the terrain is still a little wider. With our army's current strength, it is still difficult to defeat the Turks in one battle. The main force, so the lower official believes that you must continue to weaken the Turks, and wait patiently for a better opportunity to appear, and then try to wipe out the Turks. Don’t be overjoyed and eager for success, that can only be your own disaster. Win or lose."
"Listening to your words is better than studying for ten years. In this matter, I am really a little eager for success." Chen Sangliang nodded slowly, admitted his mistake, and then asked habitually: "Li Juncheng , then according to your opinion, how should I act."
"Step by step." Li Jing replied: "While helping Ambassador Li gain the trust of the Turks, at the same time use the opportunity of Ambassador Li to further weaken the strength of the Turks. Once the strength is weakened to a certain extent, it will not be too late to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop."
"This, seems to be contradictory?" Chen Sangliang said suspiciously: "While helping Ambassador Li gain the trust of the Turks? At the same time use him to further weaken the Turks' strength? To help Ambassador Li gain the trust of the Turks, we have to make some sacrifices." If we use Ambassador Li to weaken the Turks, we must use him to set up traps, and the Turks will understand that Ambassador Li is a traitor if they are fooled, isn't it contradictory?"
"It's really contradictory." Li Jing nodded and said with a smile: "However, after leaving the Chinese military camp just now, the lower officials have already figured out a plan. They can use Ambassador Li to severely weaken the Turks' strength, and at the same time help Ambassador Li. To further gain the trust of the Turks, let Shibi Zeitou completely trust Ambassador Li to join forces with him."
"There is such a clever plan?" Chen Sangliang was overjoyed, and hurriedly asked: "What is Li Juncheng's clever plan? Please tell me quickly."
Li Jing smiled, and said suddenly: "The lower official is hungry, please let the lower official finish eating."
"Please, Li Juncheng, please hold your chopsticks. Is the food suitable? If not, I will ask someone to cook again."
"There's no need to re-cook the dishes, but handsome, you can eat quickly, we all finish the meal, and then talk slowly."
"It's okay, I'm not hungry, Li Juncheng, come, I'll bring some food."
"You still say you're not hungry? Marshal, you haven't eaten at noon, can you not be hungry? If you don't finish your meal, I won't say anything."
"Okay, I'll eat, I'll eat."