In the thirteenth year of Daye in the Sui Dynasty, on the tenth day of October, Xiaoxue, Daxing City, the capital of the Sui Kingdom, was in Liren City.
The snow is very small, and only a thin layer has accumulated on the roof tiles. However, due to the double impact of war and climate, the price of vegetables in Liren City has soared several times, and white cabbage (cabbage) with yellowed leaves can be sold. It costs more than a hundred dollars a piece, and there are very few types, only some radishes, sunflowers, onions and garlic, and occasionally some vines and chives appear, and they are quickly sold by the cooks of the rich and powerful. Disaster.
In the afternoon, the business is relatively light. Vegetable vendors and butchers either take a nap around the fire, or brag about the mountains. One of the vegetable vendors is the most lively behind the stone case, surrounded by more than 20 people, listening to the boast of the owner of the stone case. Well, the owner of the stone case with the eyebrows and mouse eyes is also crazy. The more people listen to his bragging, the more energetic he is, pointing at his stone case piled with vegetables and talking endlessly.
"Did you see it? Did you see it? At the beginning, Mr. Chen was squatting under my Laoguan case to pick vegetables and leaves! I still remember his appearance, his face was yellow with hunger, his clothes were patched with patches, even those He also wants the vegetable leaves that have been trampled on. I asked him how many days he hadn’t eaten. He said that he used the vegetable leaves to make porridge almost every day all year round. , Pick the good ones, just come to me to pick them from now on, he bowed and bowed to my Laoguan, and took the initiative to help me carry the vegetables. Under the case, when he saw someone picking off the leaves, he immediately picked them to avoid being trampled dirty, and once his hand was stepped on, and he cried in pain, alas, I still feel pitiful when I think about it."
"Brother Guan, Mr. Chen was so pitiful at the time, why didn't you help him?" A listener asked curiously.
"Why didn't you give me a lot of money?" Lao Guan rolled his eyes and said very proudly: "Not only did I let him pick vegetables and leaves here, but I also asked him to come to my place often when the market was scattered. I'll give him the vegetables that don't drop! Chen Sanbo of his family always remembers me. Later, Chen Gongye became famous. Chen Sanbo also specially told his servants to come to my place to buy vegetables. Once, Chen Sanbo came in person When I bought vegetables, I also brought me a jar of wine, saying that it was to thank me for taking care of him and Mr. Chen."
"Blow it?" Another listener didn't believe it, and questioned: "What is the identity of Chen Gongye after he becomes famous? What is Chen Sanbo's identity? When he came back from beating Yang Xuangan, Chen Gongye personally led Chen Sanbo back to the city. , thank him for his many years of nurturing, everyone in Daxing knows about it, can Chen Sanbo bring you wine?"
Hearing this, the wretched face of Vegetable Vendor Lao Guan flushed with anger, and he patted his chest and said, "If I, Guan Yun, tell a lie, I'll be struck with a thunderbolt! The wine that Chen Sanbo gave me, I still don't know." I'm not willing to drink! Do you dare to bet with me? You can bet on anything, and I can bring that jar of wine right away!"
"It's true, we saw it with our own eyes." Several vegetable vendors in the neighborhood testified one after another, saying: "When Chen Sanbo delivered wine to Lao Guan, we were all present and saw it with our own eyes. The treasures of Lao Liushou's house, Wei Lao stayed behind and gave it to Chen Gongye, and Chen Sanbo took Xie Laoguan for Chen Gongye."
Many audience members were in an uproar, praising that there was such a miracle, and Lao Guan's wretched face became even more proud, but soon, some audience couldn't help but regret for Lao Guan: "Brother Guan , you were really a good person back then and didn’t do enough, if you had given more money to Mr. Chen, would you still need to sell vegetables here now?”
Mentioning this sad incident, the pride on Lao Guan's face immediately disappeared, he shook his head and sighed: "You can tell? I'm not a living god? If I knew that Mr. Chen could have the status he has now, I would have given him Please go home and be an ancestor at home! Then my family will have enough food and clothing for the rest of their lives."
As he said that, Lao Guan shook his head again and again, feeling regretful to the core, and he said with a smirk beside him: "Old Guan, please be content, compared with the Chai family, you are lucky, you don't even look at it, the Chai family bullies you." Mr. Chen forced him to divorce, what happened? Compared with the Chai family, you can burn incense."
"That's right, that's right. Compared with the Chai family, I have a better life." Lao Guan nodded repeatedly, deeply convinced, and mentioned the well-known grievances between Chai Shao and Chen Sangliang at the beginning, and everyone present became interested. , talking about the old things back then, all laughing at Chai Shao's family for being blind, dog-eyed and inferior, and they deserved retribution when they became worse than Chen Sangliang when they were poor. Not far away, a man in brocade clothes standing with a sword in his hand was silently listening to their discussion, with an extremely lonely and melancholy expression.
It's not that there are no good things about Chai Shao. At least one commoner said: "Mr. Chai is extremely prosperous now, and he has become rich again. At the beginning, he went bankrupt and helped the general to atone for his sins. Now that the general has entered Daxing, he immediately put Mr. Chen in All Daxing’s property was confiscated and rewarded to Lord Chai, who was also appointed as the chief of the Imperial Forest Army, so powerful.”
"It's a rabbit's tail, it can't grow." A listener pointed out contemptuously, and then said in a low voice: "Do you know? Mr. Chen's army has already attacked Xinfeng, and the general sent troops to rescue Xinfeng. The night before yesterday We set off, and were beaten by Grandpa Chen yesterday and fled back with heavy casualties, and in a few days, Grandpa Chen will fight back to Daxing again."
"How come we don't know about this?" The people chatting were all shocked.
"It's the tortoise who lied to you." The well-informed commoner swore, and said in a low voice: "The general dare not disclose this news at all. Those defeated soldiers fled back and lived in the barracks directly, and were not allowed to go out. But some of us The local soldiers in Daxing were terrified of being beaten, so they fled back home and hid, so this matter was leaked."
When everyone was astonished and unbelievable, the man in brocade who was listening on the side slowly stepped forward, and walked to the stone table of the vegetable vendor Lao Guan with his hands behind his back. The brocade-clothed man didn't make a sound, just bent his waist and leaned over to look under the stone case, his expression was very complicated, when Lao Guan asked him what was the matter in doubt, the brocade-clothed man straightened up without a word, bowed his head and walked away, Finally, he said, "You are not allowed to talk about the war and spread rumors, or I will send someone to arrest you."
"What a big tone, who are you?" Lao Guan asked unconvinced.
"Chief of the Imperial Forest Army, Chai Shao." The man in brocade clothes replied casually, and walked away without looking back, leaving a group of vegetable vendors behind the stone table where Chen Sangliang had picked vegetable leaves, looking at each other in surprise.
Chai Shao, who was out of the palace to relax, went straight back to the palace city. As soon as he arrived at the gate, a messenger greeted him, saying that Li Yuan was holding a meeting in the Wude Hall, and he wanted Chai Shao to go there immediately. Chai Shao promised to change into an official uniform first. When I hurried to the Hall of Wude, which had been changed by Li Yuan to the General's Mansion, I saw that most of the civil and military generals of the rebel army were already present, and Li Jiancheng, Wang Changxie, Dou Cong and others who also fled back to Daxing yesterday were also in the hall , sat upright and listened to Li Yuan's high-spirited speech.
Seeing that Chai Shao was late, Li Yuan glared at his son-in-law dissatisfied, first motioned for his son-in-law to sit down, and then continued: "Given that Chen Yingliang is so powerful and his troops are rampant, I think it is pointless to continue to send troops to reinforce Xinfeng. Instead of wasting our troops in vain, give Chen Xiaothieve a chance to defeat each of us, it is better to concentrate all our forces on Daxing, relying on the strong city of Daxing, and fight to the death with Chen Yingliang, little thief!"
"Father, what about Duan Lun?" Li Jiancheng, who has a good relationship with Duan Lun, asked, "Should he abandon the city to break through and withdraw to Daxing?"
"No! Let him continue to stick to Xinfeng!" Li Yuan said viciously: "We need time, Duan Lun can't abandon the city, he can only stick to it, even if the whole army is wiped out, as long as we can buy us a few days, it is worth it Send an order to Duan Lun, ordering him to defend the city for ten days, and only after ten days can he abandon the city and break through!"
Li Jiancheng kept silent, knowing that Duan Lun would not be able to hold on for ten days no matter what, and he did not dare to say anything superfluous. The rebels, Wenwu and Chai Shao also knew that Li Yuan did not intend to care about Duan Lun's life or death, but they did not speak, because The rebels really need time to consolidate the defense of Daxing City. Relying on the strong city to compete against the sharp-edged Chen Sangliang, sacrificing Duan Lun is a pity, but it is also a necessary and helpless choice.
Next, Li Yuan arranged for the defense of the outer city. Although the walls of the outer city of Daxing are not as strong and thick as those of later generations, they are not strong enough and difficult to defend. The Sui army in Daxing also directly abandoned the outer city. It is also possible to set up a camp with the back of the Wei River and directly attack Miyagi, but in order to consume the Sui army's strength and protect the source of soldiers, Li Yuan decided not to give up the outer city for the time being, and arranged for all the generals under his command to guard the gates of Daxing one by one. However, at this moment, Dou Wei, who was in charge of confidential affairs for Li Yuan, hurried into the Hall of Martial Virtue and whispered in Li Yuan's ear.
I don't know what Dou Wei said to Li Yuan. In short, Li Yuan's complexion quickly became ugly, and he turned his attention to Yu Zhining, the representative of Yu clan, one of the eight great clans in Guanlong, who was present at the scene. Some flustered but didn't understand the reason, so they could only tentatively ask: "General, what happened?"
Yu Shiqian, the patriarch of the Yu family, helped Li Yuan deal with Chen Sangliang before. Li Yuan didn't want to offend his important supporters too much, so he hesitated for a while before saying: "Zhi Ning, our army officers and soldiers discovered that there is a man who seems to be secretly working in Dongdu. Man, entered the house of your brother Yu Qinming, and led him in after Yu Qinming's door informed him."
"Is there such a thing?" Yu Zhining was shocked on the surface, but he was not surprised at all in his heart - this is the virtue of a powerful family, no one would hang himself on a tree.
"When I first entered Guanzhong, Zhining, you took the initiative to join me in the Changchun Palace. I have to give you this face." Li Yuan, who also understood the strangeness, suppressed his anger and said calmly: "You go to see Yu Qinming now. , Within an hour, if you take the initiative to hand over the person and explain the reason, the old man will never pursue it."
Yu Zhining agreed, and hastily said goodbye and left. The other representatives of the Guanlongmen Clan who were present also exchanged glances, and all of them cursed inwardly, "Fuck you! Is there your eyeliner watching in front of the gate of my house?"
Of course, Li Yuan also knew that these Guanlong clans were not absolutely reliable, and there must be other clans secretly colluding with Chen Sangliang in private, but Li Yuan really had no choice. The common people blocked it, but they couldn't hide it from these big and deep-rooted families. For the benefit of the family, these powerful families would definitely not dare to go all the way to the dark. If the rebels don't fight a quick victory to boost morale, such things will only become more and more serious. There are many, and it is certain that sooner or later the whole family will defect to Chen Sangliang.
Annoyed, after arranging the defense of the outer city, Li Yuan ordered the meeting to end, leaving Pei Ji, Liu Wenjing, Li Jiancheng and Dou Cong as companions. Chai Shao, who was in charge of the defense of the palace city, was also left behind. After they were all gone, Li Yuan immediately vented his anger at Chai Shao, and scolded, "Where did you go just now? As the chief of the Imperial Forest Army, why did you leave Miyagi without authorization?"
"Father-in-law, my father-in-law's condition is getting worse, and my son-in-law is going back to visit." Chai Shao respectfully replied: "I also took a walk on the street to understand the people's conditions in Daxing, so I am late. Please forgive my father-in-law. In addition, my son-in-law also visited An important situation has arrived."
"What's important?" Li Yuan asked quickly.
"The news of Erlang's defeat in Xinfeng has spread to the people." Chai Shao replied truthfully: "Some soldiers from Daxing escaped from the battlefield and did not return to the army camp, but returned home directly, so the news has spread to the people. .”
Li Yuan's face became even uglier, and he sighed dejectedly after a long time: "Fire can't be contained in paper."
The resourceful Pei Ji, Dou Cong and others were also dejected and had no choice, because the current situation of the rebel army was too passive. Li Er led the army to reinforce Xinfeng, and was defeated by Chen Sangliang without even touching the city wall. Li Er himself disappeared, and there was no news of his life or death; Li Jiancheng and Dou Cong's troops crossed Jingshui smoothly, but Zheng Yuanshou, who was supporting them across the river, was severely beaten by Li Jing and Qu Tutong in the battle behind the palace. The defeat was not a small loss, and then Li Jing and Qu Tutong immediately went south to Xinfeng, a small city of Xinfeng, to be besieged by the three armies of Chen Sangliang, Li Jing and Qu Tutong at the same time, let alone ten days , even being able to survive five days is considered a miracle.
After complaining about himself for a while, Li Yuan shook his head, tried to cheer himself up, and said to Chai Shao: "It's good that you can listen to the news with your heart, but you are the chief of the Imperial Forest Army, and you are responsible for guarding the palace city, so you must not leave the palace city at will in the future. How about this, take all your family members to live in Miyagi, it will be convenient for you to take care of them, and without my order, you are not allowed to go out of the city at will."
Chai Shao agreed, and Li Yuan ordered again: "By the way, by the way, organize all the government offices, large and small, in the palace city, so that it will be convenient for soldiers and family members of hundreds of officials to live in in the future."
"Families of officials?" Chai Shao was taken aback.
"Yes." Li Yuan nodded, and said darkly: "The little thief Chen Yingliang is indeed sharp, but his rear is not stable, and the weather is getting colder. His food, grass and horses must be supplied from the rear, and it is difficult to transfer. We As long as we rely on Daxing Jiancheng to block his footsteps and persist for a period of time, his rear will inevitably change, and we will also have the opportunity to turn defeat into victory. Therefore, for the sake of caution, we must be prepared to abandon the outer city and defend Miyagi. Arranging the residences of the family members of the officials in advance is also to plan ahead and be prepared."
Chai Shao agreed, but he was a little suspicious in his heart, and secretly said: "Could it be that father-in-law wants to take the families of all officials as hostages and force the whole army to defend the palace to the death?"
After discussing the military situation, Yu Zhining led his younger brother Yu Qinming to visit Li Yuan. Yu Qinming, whose life was on the line, honestly handed over the letter and messenger written by Chen Sangliang to him. He explained that he didn't know that the messenger was sent by Chen Sangliang, and he thought it was someone sent by his relatives, so he met him. Li Yuan didn't read the letter either, but just praised Yu Qinming for his loyalty to the country. The military spy did not mention the same party.
It was only after the brothers of the Yu family left that Li Yuan opened Chen Sangliang's letter to check the content, but what made Li Yuan angry and afraid was that Chen Sangliang did not mention a single word in the letter to recruit Yu Qinming for his use. I just used sweet words to praise Yu Qinming's father Yu Zhongwen's great achievements, praised Guan Long's Yu family for producing a large number of talents, and said that there is a shortage of talents under his command, and implored Yu Qinming to recommend some Yu family children to Chen Sangliang , guaranteed to be reused.
Chen Sangliang's letter is more hateful than direct surrender. It is completely aimed at the insurance psychology of aristocratic families who want to disperse their investments. Even if he didn't fall to Chen Sangliang immediately, he would definitely not use all his strength to support Li Yuan's rebels. It would directly weaken the foundation of Li Yuan's rebels, which would be a hundred times more vicious than direct alienation and bribery. While Li Yuan scolded Chen Sangliang for being shameless and vicious, he couldn't help admiring him: "What a little thief, he is really powerful, and he is omnipotent in military and political affairs. I really underestimated him in this respect before."
"It's a pity that we made a mistake. Not only did we miss out on a great talent like Brother Yingliang, but we also forged too many unresolvable feuds with Brother Yingliang." Li Jiancheng also said with emotion: "Otherwise, Brother Yingliang will inevitably die. If it is used by our army, how can our army have what it is today?"
Li Jiancheng's emotions were stopped by Dou Cong and Pei Ji's winks. Chai Shao lowered his head and said nothing, but he was no longer as angry and aggrieved as usual. Without today, I regret it, I really regret it.”
While the main force of the rebel army was racing against time to strengthen the inner and outer city defenses of Daxing, Li Yuan was still dreaming of using the city defenses of Daxing to block Chen Sangliang's sharp offensive. In the city, an extremely astonishing news was brought to the rebels—just this morning, the partial division of the Sui army led by Li Jing and Qu Tutong's army went south to join forces with the main force of the Sui army. Then, less than an hour later, the Sui army The main force immediately set off to the west, and under the leadership of Chen Sangliang, they came to Daxing! The troops of Li Jing and Qu Tutong entered the camp left by the main force of the Sui army and continued to confront the Xinfeng defenders of the rebels!
"Chen Yingliang, the little thief, is he crazy?" Li Yuan exclaimed, "Does he think that with the 50,000 troops in his hands, he can defeat the hundreds of thousands of Daxing defenders and capture the inner and outer cities of Daxing?"
No one could answer Li Yuan's question, but the scout who came to report the letter said again: "General, there is one more thing. The entire army is suddenly mourning. It seems that there is some major funeral."
"The whole army is mourning?" Li Yuan was stunned for a moment, and then an extremely ominous premonition came to his heart.