Now it's time to look at the situation on Chen Sangliang's side. Guanzhong and Shanxi are fighting in full swing. Apart from sending a small number of troops to join the battle in Luoyang, the eastern capital, the main force basically stays put. It wasn't that Li Yuan's rebel army or Zhai Li's bandit army successfully contained the main force of the eastern capital, but the internal problems of the eastern capital Luoyang and the system problems of the Great Sui court severely tied Chen Sangliang's hands and feet, making Chen Sangliang Unable to dispatch troops quickly.
In fact, even if the connection between Daxing and the eastern capital Luoyang is completely cut off, and there is no way to send a request for help to the eastern capital, the eastern capital can still send troops to enter the customs to participate in the war at any time as long as it is willing. In the future, it will basically be impossible for Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty To pursue the responsibility of the Eastern Capital - the premise is that Emperor Sui Yang can return to the Central Plains. In addition, issues such as food and grass, military supplies, and military strength are not a problem for the Eastern Capital Luoyang. Basically, as long as Yang Yu and Chen Sangliang nod, the Eastern Capital Army can send troops westward at any time to fight Li Yuan's rebels in Guanzhong. .
The most troublesome thing is Chen Sangliang's identity. As the Eastern Capital, Chen Sangliang has no problem leading the army to fight in Henan County. Liang must at least obtain the consent of either Yang Tong or Emperor Sui Yang, otherwise, if he acts without authorization, the consequences will be the most serious, and Chen Sangliang may even be charged with treason. — Not to mention the last time when Wei Xuan led an army to reinforce the Eastern Capital, that time Wei Xuan at least sought the consent of the acting king Yang You in terms of reputation, and Daxing at that time was not like the current Eastern Capital, with bandits everywhere threaten.
Don't ask why Chen Sangliang didn't send others to command the army, and led the main force of the Eastern Capital to conquer Li Yuan's rebels. In the morning, the court publicly declared arrogantly that in Henan County, only one person could ensure the defeat of Li Yuan's rebels, and no one else could be sure of this, and it was very likely that they would be defeated by Li Yuan's rebels in turn, even if they were currently stationed. Wang Shichong of Hulaoguan was not sure about defeating Li Yuan's rebels!
Fortunately, Li Yuan's rebels frightened Yang Tong and other officials of the Eastern Capital headed by Yuan Wendu and Duan Da, so they didn't bring up the issue of sending other generals to lead the army for the time being. Chen Sangliang. At the same time, as early as when he received the news that the Daxing Sui Army had suffered a disastrous defeat in Huoyi, Chen Sangliang had already sent two groups of messengers to deliver the memorial via the water and land routes at the same time, to report the incident to Emperor Sui Yang, and also to invite Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty. He approved himself to personally lead the army to conquer Li Yuan.
The plethora of civil uprisings made it more and more difficult for Dongdu to communicate with Jiangdu. The memorial was delivered in early August, and Emperor Yang of Sui did not receive a reply until early September. Either Emperor Sui Yang did not agree, or the emissary sent by Emperor Sui Yang was killed on the road. As of the Double Ninth Festival on the ninth day of September, there was still no news from Jiangdu. On the contrary, the rescue messenger from Daxing detoured to Shangluo and Hongnong, and sent a request for help to Dongdu on this day, imploring Dongdu to send troops to rescue Daxing as soon as possible.
At this point in the matter, it was meaningless to continue to wait for Emperor Sui Yang's edict. Chen Sangliang immediately decided to enter the palace to meet Yang Tong, and asked Yang Tong to send troops. Yuan Wendu and Duan Da assisted Yang Tong in presiding over government affairs and controlling the capital, and Wang Shichong was in charge of the military outside the city to resist the resurgence of Zhai and Li's rebel army and the disturbance of surrounding thieves. However, after Chen Sangliang told Fang Xuanling about his plan, Fang Xuanling said: "My dear brother, your plan is indeed thorough, and Wang Shichong is also capable of stopping the surrounding thieves, but have you ever thought about it, my dear brother?" What if His Royal Highness Yue does not agree?"
"His Royal Highness Yue didn't agree, why? What's wrong with my arrangement?" Chen Sangliang was a little puzzled.
"My dear brother's arrangement is not wrong, but you have ignored His Royal Highness Yue's own thoughts." Fang Xuanling pointed out: "His Royal Highness is already fourteen years old this year. You are so talented and courageous that you even dared to issue a Jun decree to open warehouses and release grain without asking for an order. No matter how careful and secure your arrangement is, if His Royal Highness the King of Yue disagrees, it will always be empty talk. If you insist on His Highness the King of Yue obeying I'm afraid that your arrangement will backfire, arouse His Highness King Yue's rebellious heart, and create conflicts with you."
Recalling Yang Tong's recent independence in many matters, Chen Sangliang nodded, and began to worry that Yang Tong would not agree to send him to the expedition, while Fang Xuanling said, "My dear brother, if you want to ensure that His Highness the King of Yue Agreeing to your proposal, the best way is to get closer to him and let him feel that you are absolutely loyal and reliable, so that he will not reject your arrangement."
"How to get closer to him?" Chen Sangliang asked quickly.
"His Highness King Yue's mother, Liu Liangdi, is currently in the Dongdu Imperial Palace." Fang Xuanling said with a smile: "If my virtuous brother goes to visit her, tell her something about her son's future relationship, and then ask to be her adopted son, If you become brothers with different surnames with His Royal Highness Yue Wang, then His Royal Highness Yue King will definitely regard you as his future minister who will protect the sky, and he will not refuse all your current proposals."
Chen Sangliang smiled, thanked Fang Xuanling, and then ordered his servants to prepare a gift to meet Liu Liangdi, while shaking his head and said: "The Eastern Capital stays behind, and the more you become more and more useless, you have to listen to the imperial edict of Jiangdu's emperor, and you have to Be careful with His Royal Highness, who is getting bigger and bigger, if it weren't for the chaos in the world, I really want to resign and go into seclusion and become a farmer."
"This is a minister. As a minister, you have to endure this." Fang Xuanling smiled, and said: "So, if you have the opportunity, brother, you can be released as an official and go to the local area to be a frontier Senior official, you must seize the opportunity, life at that time was easier than it is now.”
Chen Sangliang smiled, and said in his heart: "Brother Qiao Song, if I hadn't thought this way, I wouldn't have let Gao Shilian pretend to be sick and trick Wugou and her two children into Hongnong."
On that day, Chen Sangliang went to the palace to meet Yang Tong's mother Liu Liangdi. Liu Liangdi, who knew Chen Sangliang's status, met him immediately. After the meeting, Chen Sangliang first presented a beautiful gift, and then carefully talked about it in words. Regarding Yang Tong's future, he expressed that he was willing to follow Yang Tong for life, assist Yang Tong to achieve the ultimate goal of being a member of the royal family, and took the opportunity to ask Liu Liangdi to be his adoptive mother. Liu Liangdi understood and knew that the world is in chaos now. Although her son is only the second grandson of Emperor Sui Yang, he has a great chance to become emperor. For the sake of her son's future, Liu Liangdi immediately recognized Chen Sangliang as his adoptive son without hesitation. To win over a reliable and loyal lackey for his son.
At the same time, Yang Tong, who was very surprised to learn that Chen Sangliang had entered the palace to visit his mother, naturally came to find out the situation in person. Liu Liangdi immediately ordered Yang Tong and Chen Sangliang to become brothers, and asked Yang Tong to respect Chen Sangliang as his son. Brother, Yang Tong, who has gradually developed his own thoughts, is also very willing to further consolidate his relationship with Chen Sangliang, his powerful accomplice. Sworn and vowed to assist Yang Tong for the rest of his life, if he had two intentions, heaven and earth would not tolerate it—Of course, if Yang Tong died at someone else's hands, it would have nothing to do with Chen Sangliang.
It was also a coincidence that the next day when Chen Sangliang was preparing to invite the army to go out, Feng Ciming, the current Jiangdu County Prime Minister, finally came to Dongdu with the imperial edict of Sui Yang Emperor, and the edict read by the court made Chen Sangliang overjoyed. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty not only agreed that Chen Sangliang would lead the Eastern Capital to conquer Li Yuan's rebels, but also appointed Chen Sangliang as the Guanzhong counter-insurgency ambassador, and gave Chen Sangliang the honor of holding the chastity, allowing Chen Sangliang to control all people in Guanzhong except Daxing. All the soldiers and horses, the governor of Guanzhong military, presided over the extermination of all rebels in Guanzhong—that is, handed over the military power of Guanzhong except for the Daxing defenders to Chen Sangliang.
Where there is joy, there is sorrow. Just when Yuan Wendu, Duan Da and others were wondering why the Sui Yang Emperor, who had always been suspicious, assured Chen Sangliang of so much military power, Feng Ciming took out another edict and announced an even more shocking news— Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty decided to move the capital to Danyang (Nanjing), and designated Danyang as the new capital! The news was so shocking that all the civil and military officers in the eastern capital screamed before they could stand up. The always prudent Yuan Wendu directly screamed and asked, "Feng Juncheng, are you joking? Your Majesty moved the capital to Danyang, why?"
"Your Majesty doesn't like the bitter cold in the north, but likes the warmth in the south of the Yangtze River, so he wants to stay in the south of the Yangtze River forever." Feng Ciming replied with a wry smile: "Among all the officials accompanying him, only Li Tongke, the recorder under the door, objected, and was dismissed as a citizen by His Majesty on the spot. All the officials believe that His Majesty's decision is correct, and the holy candle is shining, so the matter of moving the capital to Danyang will be settled at the court."
All the officials in the Eastern Capital looked at each other and thought, "No wonder your majesty wants Chen Liushou to take charge of the military power in Guanzhong. It turns out that your majesty doesn't want to go back to the north anymore, so he just threw all the mess to his ministers."
Chen Sangliang was also a little dazed, and a thought suddenly came to his mind, secretly said: "The Jiangdu mutiny, shouldn't it break out early? I remember that the Jiangdu mutiny in history was because Emperor Yang of Sui refused to go home. Those who wanted to go home The Guanzhong soldiers killed him! Now that Emperor Yang of Sui directly issued an edict to move the capital, those Guanzhong soldiers know that they will never return home, and there is a high possibility that a mutiny will break out in advance!"
It is useless to be surprised and worried. Emperor Sui Yang hid in Jiangdu and decided to move the capital. The officials of the Eastern Capital just wanted to be Hai Rui and Bao Longtu opposed this decision in advance. Accepting Emperor Sui Yang's astonishing decision, many civil and military officials still shook their heads and lamented in their hearts, "The great Sui Dynasty is over, and even His Majesty the Emperor doesn't want to go back to the north to clean up the mess, let alone expect Chen Liushou and the others to completely quell the war in the north." gone."
The army was on fire, and with the will of Emperor Sui Yang, Chen Sangliang had no scruples, and immediately asked Yang Tong for his expedition arrangements, suggesting that Yuan Wendu and Duan Da should join hands to assist Yang Tong in governing and control the defense of the eastern capital. , and recommended Wang Shichong to be in charge of the counter-insurgency war outside the eastern capital, and to resist the threat of rebels from all directions. Chen Sangliang personally led an army of 60,000 to assist Daxing. Including Li Jing and Ma Sanbao's army who had rushed to Tongguan before, Chen Sangliang's total strength in this western expedition actually reached more than 70,000.
Finally made the decision to personally lead the army into the customs. The first thing Chen Sangliang did was to write a letter to Yin Shishi himself, telling him about his reinforcements, and reminding Yin Shishi to pay attention to protecting Yang You's safety and to do it in advance. He had prepared well for the rainy day. Once Daxing was unable to support his own reinforcements, he would try to cover Yang You from Daxing to prevent Yang You from falling into the hands of the rebels and becoming a hostage of the rebels.
Immediately afterwards, Chen Sangliang immediately dispatched troops and generals, arranged for the expedition generals and troops, and brought all the confidantes he could bring with him, and ordered Liu Changgong's army to be recalled, so that Liu Changgong, Pei Xingfang, and Liu Heitai also went with him. Guanzhong—Although it is more convenient to send troops westward from Zhiguan, the few cities along the way have already been controlled by the rebels, and the rebels have already distributed food and grass to the people. It is too inconvenient to transport food and supplies from the eastern capital, so Chen Sangliang simply recalled this army to prevent Liu Changgong from going deep alone and encountering danger. At the same time, only half of the army was stationed in Heyang to serve as the backup of Huangtaoshu who was confronting Pei Renji.
During this period, Wang Shichong, who had already been named the General of Zuo Tunwei, was also ordered to visit Yang Tong in the Eastern Capital, and stationed in Jinyong City, the guard city of the Eastern Capital, to accept Yang Tong's arrangements at any time. Chen Sangliang also took the opportunity to entrust Wang Xueji's mother and son, as well as the son he had planted on a beautiful maid, together with Pei Cuiyun who was still imprisoned in the prison, to Wang Shichong's care.
At the same time, Tongguan also sent news one after another by express horses at the post station, reporting that Li Yuan had led the main force to march westward on September 12th, and went straight to Daxing via Xinfeng. Qu Tutong had tried to cross the river to return to aid Daxing was stopped by Dou Cong, Li Yuan's wife and younger brother, and the main force failed to cross the Yellow River. Chen Sangliang heard that while speeding up the preparations for the expedition, he sent orders to Qu Tutong in the honor of the Guanzhong counter-insurgency ambassador, ordering Qu Tutong to go as soon as possible. Return to aid Daxing and strengthen Daxing's defense.
"My dear brother, it's too dangerous to do this. Be careful that Qu Tutong will suffer another defeat." Fang Xuanling hurriedly reminded: "Qu Tutong has lost consecutive battles, his morale has been depressed, and the morale of the army is low. Forcing him to cross the river again to return to the rescue must be fierce." Duoji Shao. We are about to send troops to the left and right, so it is better to let him continue to stick to the east of the river and contain the rear of the bandit army."
"Brother, do you want to hear the truth or lies about this matter?" Chen Sangliang asked.
Fang Xuanling was startled for a moment, then came to his senses, smiled and said, "I want to hear it all."
"The lie is that I am worried about the safety of Daxing, and I am afraid that Daxing will fall." Chen Sangliang lowered his voice and said in a low voice: "The truth is that the old general Qu Tutong is highly respected, and his age and seniority are enough to be my grandfather and my grandson." The older generation was afraid that he would not be able to command him, so let him suffer another hardship first, extinguish his arrogance, and then understand his specific difficulties, order him to stick to the east of the river, sell him a favor, and then give him an order, not justified too much?"
"My virtuous brother is brilliant." Fang Xuanling laughed sinisterly in a low voice.
After intensive and careful preparations, on September 15th, Chen Sangliang led an army of 50,000 troops to officially march westward with Yang Tong personally leading all the officials of the Eastern Capital to see him off, traveling 70 miles a day to Tongguan to join the war. The grain and grass are provided by Changping warehouse on the way. When the news spread, the area around Dongdu was bound to be full of chaos. After receiving the news, Li Mi was so happy that he jumped up and laughed loudly, saying: "Finally gone, finally gone, Luokou Cang , I finally have a chance to get it back!"
Some people laugh and some people worry. In fact, long before Chen Sangliang set off, the inside line arranged by the rebels in the eastern capital city had already written Chen Sangliang's expedition date and troop size in a letter, and sent it to Guanzhong through special channels. It was passed by a fast horse and delivered to Li Yuan on September 17th. Upon receiving the news, Li Yuan, who was commanding the army to demolish Emperor Sui Yang's palace and dismiss the court ladies, had a gloomy expression on the spot.
"Order the whole army to step up and make sure to arrive at Daxing City before sunset tomorrow." Li Yuan ordered, and then arranged: "Send someone to Li Jiancheng to try everything for me, even if it is to use his past and Chen Yingliang is good at friendship, you must slow down Chen Yingliang's advance! The left-wing army is only allowed to guard the camp Cangcheng, and is not allowed to take risks!"
When the book office agreed and hurriedly picked up the pen to write the order, Li Yuan ordered again: "Besides, before September 30, we must send 200,000 shi of grain to our army for the main force of our army!"
Changes in the Guanzhong battlefield were dizzying. On the same day, Xuan Yin, the left guard of Daxing who was seriously ill, heard that the rebels had crossed Xinfeng, and his condition worsened due to anxiety. He died in the evening. He didn't even have time to mourn for him. All night, he just seized the time to strengthen the city defense, and decided to make preparations to abandon the outer city, defend the palace city with all his strength, and wait for the reinforcements from Dongdu and Qu Tutong.
That night, after receiving Chen Sangliang's order, Qu Tutong dispatched elite soldiers to smuggle across the Yellow River in an attempt to recapture Zhongdan City and rebuild the Pujin Bridge so that the main force could go west and return to aid Daxing. The fishermen who monitored the government fleet day and night informed the rebels. Dou Cong quickly sent his troops to fight. After hearing the report, Qu Tutong had no choice but to continue to stick to Hedong and send envoys to plead guilty to Chen Sangliang.
In the morning of the next day, Li Yuan ordered to be sent to the battlefield of Tongguan. Li Jiancheng sighed when he heard the order. Gou Gaoba sharpened his swords and guns and waited for Chen Sangliang's arrival. At the same time, he began to prepare the siege food and grass requested by Li Yuan, and arranged for He Panren to lead the army to escort him.
Li Jiancheng's order posed a big problem for He Panren, because according to the calculation of the distance, Chen Sangliang would not arrive in Tongguan until around September 22, but Li Jiancheng asked He Panren to deliver the grain to Daxing City before September 30. The transportation of grain and grass was slow, and He Panren's army had to set off on September 20 at the latest, so there was no chance to meet and contact Chen Sangliang. However, regarding this situation, He Panren's long history Li Gang laughed loudly, and whispered to He Panren: "General, as long as you are willing, this time you not only have the hope of giving Yongfeng warehouse to Chen Liushou, but also have the opportunity to become Chen Liushou Great hero who broke the main force of the thief army!"