Yuan Tiangang's crow's mouth has always been effective. On the 14th day and night, the already very cold Daxing area was blown from the north, covered with cloudy clouds, and snowflakes were fluttering. Without stopping, the large-scale Daxing Kingdom was turned into a vast expanse of whiteness, as if mourning for the hero Li Yuan who had just passed away.
In accordance with Li Yuan's last order, the rebels did not dare to publicize the news of Li Yuan's death, let alone pay tribute to Li Yuan's funeral, but the Li Jiancheng brothers and the rebel generals knew very well that the news of Li Yuan's death could not be contained in paper. Sooner or later, the soldiers and civilians in Daxing City will know about it, and Chen Sangliang outside Daxing City will also know about this situation sooner or later.
How to deal with Chen Sangliang's taking advantage of the fire is a matter for the future. For the rebels, there is a more important thing to do now, and that is the issue of Li Yuan's heir. The questionable heir, Li Yuan also clearly wanted to hand over the position of rebel commander to Li Jiancheng when he was dying, but Li Yuan's second son Li Shimin had a different opinion and insisted that Li Yuan passed the position of commander to him when he was dying , he should succeed the post of rebel coach.
"Uncles, generals, and soldiers, you saw it with your own eyes. When my father was dying, he held my hand and asked me to inherit his will and lead the volunteers to continue the bloody battle against Chen Yingliang's traitors and avenge his old man. Revenge! My father’s words are still in my ears. Although I am not talented, I am still willing to take on this great burden, and work together with you to fight against the Chen bandits, avenge my father, and save your wealth and lives for you, official positions and titles!”
Li Er's words are of course pure nonsense, but Li Yuan failed to finish his last words when he was dying, but gave Li Er the opportunity to gossip and make trouble for no reason. No matter how much Li Jiancheng grows in grief, he can't completely refute it. The fallacies of the treacherous brother can only be condemned with tears in his eyes for being unfilial and vicious. He deliberately did not allow Li Yuan to finish his last words. Li Yuan ran out to fight for the heir apparent while his body was still alive. dangerous. Li Er yelled unceremoniously, "I'm going to kill the soldiers of the volunteers? If father really passed on the position of commander to you, I'm afraid that you will kill a hundred thousand soldiers of the volunteers, right?"
"Based on your virtue, if you are allowed to command the entire army, will you not have the idea of surrendering to the little thief Chen Yingliang? At that time, you will be able to enjoy the glory and wealth by betraying us. What about the volunteers and generals? How could the traitor Chen Yingliang spare us? How could the tyrant spare us?"
Li Er's words hit the heart of many civil and military rebels. It is true that Chen Sangliang is adopting a soft policy to try his best to appease the rebel soldiers, but Chen Sangliang is just a wage earner to the Sui court. The key is not in charge, and the rebel generals who accepted Chen Sangliang's consolation may still be settled by the court of the Sui Dynasty, and then think of Emperor Sui Yang's bear temper, Pei Ju, Dou Cong, Dou Wei, and Wang Chang are in harmony Zhan Jun and other rebels, civil and military, couldn't help but shudder, and they were inevitably worried about supporting Li Jiancheng to succeed him.
There are also members of the Li clan headed by Li Xiaogong, Li Shentong, Li Xiaoji, Li Baiju, and Li Shuliang, who were also moved by Li Er's words, and worried that Li Jiancheng, who had a good relationship with Chen Sangliang, would choose to surrender after succeeding to the throne. Li Jiancheng, who led the crowd to surrender, is likely to keep his head, but the heads of other members of the Li clan are all hanging in the air, especially Li Xiaogong, who shot the king Yang You to death with a loss, and Li Shentong, who had set up a rebellious flag before. Inwardly, they did not want Li Jiancheng to succeed to the throne, so even though they knew that Li Yuan wanted to pass the throne to Li Jiancheng at the end of his life, these Li clans all kept silent, covering up Li Er's unreasonable troubles and messing around with silence.
With Li Er's ingenuity, of course it can be seen that the core class of the rebel army wants to stand on his side. With his confidence greatly increased, Li Er pointed out: "Besides, what's the matter with your achievements and achievements, brother?" Are you qualified to inherit the position left by your father? Your father ordered you to guard the Yongfeng Warehouse to ensure the supply of food and grass for our army. You have only survived for a few days in front of Chen Yingliang, a thief? Your father asked you to lead the army to retreat to Xinfeng. You couldn’t even get in, and you were defeated by the officers and soldiers on the road, and you had to rely on your father to send troops north to meet you! There was also the Huoyi War. If I hadn’t led the cavalry to charge behind the officers and soldiers, your head would have been crushed by then. The official army has been cut down! How can you convince the crowd with such a record? Who dares to serve you as the master of our rebel army, and lose his life in vain under your incompetent command? "
"Your record is convincing?" Li Jiancheng retorted: "You went to reinforce Xinfeng, and you were defeated after less than a day!"
"I'm not strong enough, and it's an honor to lose." Li Er sneered and said, "I used more than ten thousand troops to fight against Chen Yingliang's 50,000 main force. An army of 60,000 troops, comparable in strength to Chen Yingliang's traitor, and with a strong city to defend, lost even worse than me, and have the face to blame me? Besides, I at least captured the youngest son of Master Yin in Xinfeng Yin Hongzhi, didn't let him fall into the hands of Chen Yingliang's thieves, let us be completely charged with killing His Royal Highness Dai Wang, compared with me, what did you gain in Yongfeng warehouse? You even lost your third sister! "
"Shut up!" Li Jiancheng became a little annoyed and said angrily, "I am the eldest son, so I should inherit the family business!"
"I didn't say I wouldn't let you inherit the family business!" Li Er took the opportunity to hit the snake with the stick and said loudly: "Father died, and you inherit the Li family business in Longxi as the head of the family. I have no objection, I still support it, and I will admit it immediately You are the head of the family! But the voluntary teacher left by my father is not our family property, and the post of voluntary teacher commander should be occupied by a virtuous person!"
"Erlang is right." Li Xiaogong, who was sure to die after surrendering, caught the opportunity and agreed, "Erlang is right, Dalang, you are the eldest son, and you should take over as the head of the Li family, but the righteous teachers and soldiers are not. You are not qualified to inherit the family property left by your uncle, the position of commander in chief of the volunteer army, you must be a virtuous person. Erlang is resourceful, resourceful, and able to command the army. I support him as the commander in chief."
Li Jiancheng was furious, and roared: "Li Xiaogong, are you blind or have a dark conscience? When my father passed away, it was obvious that I was to succeed him as the coach. Didn't you see that?"
"I didn't see it." Li Xiaogong replied very simply, and said: "I only know that there are people who are as close as brothers and sisters to the murderer and enemy. They even greeted each other on the battlefield of the two armies, and entrusted his wife and children to the care of the father and enemy. , I don’t trust such a person as the coach.”
"You two sons, stop arguing." Pei Ji, who donated Jinyang Palace and Taiyuan City to Li Yuan, stood up to smooth things over and said, "Second son is right, eldest son, you should inherit the Li family's head and want to succeed the righteous teacher. The post of commander can also be discussed, but you must first promise us that you will never surrender to the tyrant's running dog Chen Yingliang, and cut off all ties with him, and then we will discuss who will succeed the commander of the entire army."
"You still have to swear to avenge your cousin!" Li Shentong interjected, "Please swear in front of your cousin's spirit that you must avenge him, and fight Chen Yingliang's bastard to the end. Then we can consider you as the coach."
Li Jiancheng hesitated a little, and Li Er took the opportunity to say in a strange way: "Brother, the hatred of killing your father is irreconcilable. As a son of man, don't you even want to do the most basic filial piety?"
Li Jiancheng was even more hesitant. Although his character was relatively kind, he was not a fuel-efficient lamp, and he was unwilling to give up his own status and power—otherwise there would be no changes in the Xuanwu Gate in history. So after hesitating for a while, Li Jiancheng still knelt in front of Li Yuan's spirit, and made a loud oath, promising to avenge Li Yuan and never surrender to Chen Sangliang. —In fact, until the last moment, Li Jiancheng really didn't have this idea, and with Li Jiancheng's current power in the rebel army, it was even more difficult to do this.
"Since the eldest son has vowed revenge, we can rest assured." Pei Ji, who has a high status in the rebel army, nodded, and said: "How about this, since the general did not have time to establish the successor of our army's commander before his death People, then let's just ask the eldest son to be the commander-in-chief of the left, and the second son to be the commander-in-chief of the right, share the banner of the great general and hold the military power together, discuss and discuss things, I wonder what the two sons think?"
"Okay, I agree." Li Er agreed without hesitation, very confident that he would quickly and completely evade his brother, and pull all the civil and military rebels to his side. In order to ensure that he can fully control the power, Li Er also suggested: "The left and right commanders are in charge of the army together. If there are differences and disputes, it will inevitably delay the battle. In my opinion, it is better to add another person. Please Pei Jipei." Uncle is the Chief Commander and he is in charge of the military power together with my brother and me. If my brother and I have any disputes, the opinion of Uncle Pei shall prevail, and Uncle Pei will adopt the strategy proposed by whomever of us thinks the opinion is correct!"
The members of the Li clan who had nowhere to go back of course agreed with Li Er's proposal, and the sinful Dou Cong, Dou Wei, Wang Changxie, Tang Xian and other civil and military surnames also voted in favor. Li Jian wanted to oppose it, but everyone supported him Er's proposal could only be nodded in agreement with swallowing his anger, and said with great depression in his heart: "Brother Ying Liang is right, my younger brother is really not a good thing."
Chai Shao, who is also an important figure in the rebel army, was also at the scene, but he never spoke. He let the Li family brothers fight for power in front of Li Yuanling, and never got involved. Li Er, who has a very good relationship with him, is completely playing a rogue to seize power, forcibly taking away all the military power that should have belonged to Li Jiancheng. When the brothers of the Li family were discussing the next tactical plan, Chai Shao saw again that Pei Ji, who was just on the surface, had been secretly facing Li Er, forcing Li Jiancheng to agree to a series of personnel appointments, and let Li Er's subordinates serve as key officers. Li Jiancheng's people were sent to insignificant positions to supplement the leadership who had suffered heavy casualties under the artillery coverage of the Sui Army and held real power.
Chai Shao's position as the head of the Imperial Forest Army was not affected. He had a deep feud with Chen Sangliang, had a good relationship with Li Er, and actually controlled the defense of Wude Palace. Of course, Li Er would not overthrow Chai Shao and let Li Jiancheng's people take over Not only that, Li Er also proposed to increase the number of troops for Chai Shao, so that Chai Shao can control Miyagi more powerfully, and Li Shentong will continue to be in charge of the defense of the imperial city outside Miyagi. The Imperial City and Miyagi's army.
Li Er didn't seem to be very relieved of Chai Shao. After arranging various personnel adjustments and strengthening the rebel command who had suffered heavy casualties under the artillery of the Sui army, everyone temporarily dispersed to rest. Chai Shao called to the side alone, and asked curiously: "Brother-in-law, during the battle yesterday, I vaguely saw that you were beaten by the generals of Chen Yingliang's thief. How did you escape?"
"Not only was he beaten off his horse? He was also pressed against his chest by his lackeys." Chai Shao, who was already disheartened, replied casually: "It was the little thief Chen Yingliang who said that if he killed me, he would only dirty his body." Knife, keep me, let me live, it is more uncomfortable than let me die, so I let me go on purpose."
After carefully observing Chai Shao's expression that he didn't seem to be lying on purpose, and knowing that Chai Shao is indeed more uncomfortable alive than dead, Li Er was relieved, patted Chai Shao on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry brother-in-law, we will definitely get revenge You are my brother-in-law, and you have always been my brother-in-law. I will never let you be humiliated by Chen Yingliang's dog thief. We still have a chance to turn defeat into victory. The rear of Chen Yingliang's dog thief is full of dangers. The opportunity of the Eastern Capital, as long as we stick to the inner and outer cities of Daxing, we will definitely be able to wait until Chen Yingliang's dog thief is forced to retreat!"
Chai Shao nodded, but his expression was not excited. Li Er was a little worried, so he told him: "Brother-in-law, in addition to being careful about the defense of the palace city, you also have to be careful about the Xuanwu Gate. Although The section of the city at Xuanwumen has the strongest moats, and the Longshou Mountain to the north is narrow, which is not conducive to the deployment of troops. It is unlikely that Chen Yingliang's thieves will directly attack Xuanwumen, but it is still necessary to guard against him. If there is any accident there, the palace city and outer city of Daxing will be safe immediately, and there must be no accidents." (The Tang Dynasty palaces such as Daming Palace, Xi Neiyuan and Xiaoerfang did not exist in the Sui Dynasty, and Xuanwumen actually The above is directly facing the outside of Daxing City.)
"Of course I know." Chai Shao nodded, and said casually: "If Erlang is worried, he can send someone to guard the Xuanwu Gate, and I will just guard the palace."
"Brother-in-law, I don't believe who you trust?" Li Er smiled, and then said: "With you guarding Xuanwumen and Miyagi, I don't worry, there is no need to send other outsiders? Oh, yes, there is something brother-in-law You have to pay attention to me."
"What's the matter?" Chai Shao asked casually.
"Princess Yang Yu, you must watch me!" Li Er suddenly turned serious, and said in a low voice: "In the palace city, any palace person can have an accident, but Princess Yang Yu must not have any accidents. At the critical moment, she may be able to play a major role!"
Chai Shao asked the reason in doubt, but Li Er smiled and refused to explain, saying: "Don't ask too much, you will understand in the future. Anyway, if Princess Yang Yu makes good use of it, maybe my sister can be saved too."
Chai Shao was even more puzzled, and remembered a little thing before, so he nodded and said: "Okay, there will be nothing wrong with the left and right, I will go to see the situation now, and arrange double troops to garrison Princess Yu's residence." Li Er With a smile, he immediately nodded in agreement.
In this way, Chai Shao finally took a break from his busy schedule and came to the harem to visit Yang Yu'er in person, because Yang Yu'er's mother, Jiang Cairen, was not very favored, and the mother and daughter lived in a relatively remote place in the palace city, and the house was not big. Originally, there was no need to send special troops to guard, but because Yang Yuer was considered an empress and concubine, Chai Shao had only arranged for ten soldiers from the Royal Forest Army to take turns guarding them. There would be special instructions from Li Er, and Chai Shao would immediately send more soldiers when he arrived at the scene. He doubled the number of troops and asked the soldiers under his command to guard them closely. His subordinates agreed, and asked Chai Shao if he needed to send more servants and maids.
The answer is that there are only two eunuchs and two court ladies. When Chai Shao was considering whether to send more people, the courtyard door that had been closed until now was suddenly pushed open a small crack, revealing half of the wrinkled face of an old eunuch. Chai Shao At a glance, he recognized him as Xie Mudong who was often with Yang Yuer, so he called out, "Thank you servant."
"It turned out to be Chief Chai." Xie Mudong also recognized Chai Shao, and hurriedly saluted Chai Shao at the door, and said respectfully: "The chief, don't get me wrong, this old slave just heard some movement outside the courtyard, just take a look, there is no other meaning .”
After hesitating for a while, Chai Shao ordered: "Thank you servant, come out for a while, I want to ask you something."
Xie Mudong was a little stunned, but under Chai Shao's urging again, he carefully left the hospital and came to Chai Shao for questioning. Chai Shao first called him to a remote remote area, and drove away the people around him. Then he whispered to Xie Mudong: "Mr. Xie, it's like this. My sister told me that when I sold all my properties to raise the atonement money for my father-in-law, you accidentally discovered some special circumstances. What are the circumstances?"
Hearing this question, Xie Mudong's wrinkled old face turned pale all of a sudden, he quickly denied it, shook his head and said: "I don't know, I don't know anything."
"But my sister said that you know." Chai Shao saw that Xie Mudong's expression was wrong, so he whispered again: "Tell me, don't worry, no matter what it is, I will not tell others."
Xie Mudong still shook his head, resolutely refused to answer, and couldn't wait to find an excuse to ask to go back to serve Yang Yuer's mother and daughter, but the more Xie Mudong was like this, the more suspicious Chai Shao became, and he simply threatened: "Will you say it? If you don't say it, I will hand you over to the general and ask him to send someone to interrogate you himself."
"Don't, don't, don't." Xie Mudong was so frightened that he almost collapsed on the ground on the spot, he hurriedly supported the tree next to him, and begged with a pitiful face: "Mr. For the sake of delivering medicine to your father in the prison, don't hand over the old slave to the general, let alone let the general know about it."
A casual threat made Xie Mudong's reaction so intense, and Chai Shao was even more suspicious, so he said in a low voice: "If you say so, I won't tell my father-in-law, if not, I will take you to see him right away, and say You secretly hooked up with Chen Yingliang, trying to act as an internal agent for him! Don't think I don't know, you and Chen Yingliang have known each other for a long time!"
Being persecuted, Xie Mudong could only say with a pitiful face: "Boss Chai, this old slave can tell you, but you have to agree to two things, the first is that you must never let anyone know about it, and the second is that you Just keep calm and don't get angry."
"Be sure to hold your breath? Don't get angry?" Chai Shao had an ominous premonition, nodded, and said in a low voice, "Okay, I promise you."
"Boss Chai, in fact, you'd better not know." Xie Mudong first sighed, and then he clung to Chai Shao's ear, muttering in a low voice...
Chai Shao was indeed not angry. Hearing Xie Mudong's low-pitched introduction, Chai Shao just had veins on his forehead twitching unknowingly. He clenched his hands into fists until his knuckles turned white. His nails penetrated into his palms, almost bleeding from the skin. And when Xie Mudong finished speaking, Chai Shao remained silent for a long time, then gritted his teeth and asked word by word: "Did you lie to me?"
"Boss Chai, this old slave is so bold that he dare not lie to you." Xie Mudong said with a sad face: "After the old slave accidentally found out about that incident at the time, now his guts are green with regret, and he only hates himself for meddling in other people's business , I know what I shouldn't know."
Staring at Xie Mudong's expression and reaction, he saw that he had no fake expression except trembling with fear, and after a long time, Chai Shao said: "You go back, don't worry, I won't let others know."
Xie Mudong hurriedly bid farewell and left as if he had received an amnesty, but Chai Shao kept his head down and clenched his fists. He didn't know how long it had been before Chai Shao raised his head, looked into the distance and let out a long sigh. Looking back, Chai Shao Shao's eyes accidentally caught a glimpse of a majestic and towering building, and he was stunned again, his mind kept churning, and he didn't move for a long time.
That majestic building is called Xuanwu Gate.