The advantage of having Yuan Tiangang by his side is that besides being able to accurately grasp the timing of the weather that is conducive to the self-army's operations, there is also a greater advantage that he can prepare for climate change in advance. However, the soldiers of the Sui army, who had already prepared enough firewood, cold clothes and military tents, hardly suffered from the winter cold and could easily deal with heavy snow. Individuals huddled in a tent to rest overnight, cut firewood and made a fire to keep warm, at least they didn't have to worry about being frozen to death.
Of course, the so-called climate is so cold that the moats are frozen into ice and can be passed directly. That is Yuan Tiangang’s nonsense. In fact, the climate in northern China has already begun to pick up in the 690s. It was much warmer in Huluanhua and Southern and Northern Dynasties. It was recorded in Xi’an in the seventh century that there was no ice and snow for three years. Kapok could bloom directly north of Qinling Mountains. Chen Sangliang and the Sui Army in the eastern capital faced climate problems when they caught up with the good times. The pressure is naturally much less.
Fang Xuanling's crow's mouth was also very effective. On the night of the end of the Daxing Battle, even though the snow suddenly fell and the weather turned cold, many representatives of powerful families eagerly came to see Chen Sangliang with generous gifts, even if they failed to get Chen Sangliang Sangliang was not angry when he met Chen Sangliang even at night, and even begged Fang Xuanling to arrange for him to meet Chen Sangliang as soon as possible. Many children from aristocratic families secretly stuffed gold into Fang Xuanling's hands in order to jump in the queue to see Chen Sangliang early For the money, Fang Xuanling is not happy if they don't accept it.
Of course, the representatives of the descendants of these aristocratic families are not guilty of lowliness. They offer bribes and gifts just to meet a poor boy who was still picking vegetables and leaves to cook porridge in Daxing City four years ago. The rebels were miserable in front of Chen Sangliang. I saw with my own eyes that Li Yuan's 70,000 troops were beaten by Chen Sangliang and ran back in less than an hour. I knew that Li Yuan's rebels were on the battlefield in Guanzhong. , The comeback of the Great Sui Dynasty is a foregone conclusion. At this time, if you don't please the Sui Army coach Chen Sangliang, who will you please? At this time, if you don't rush to stand in front of Chen Sangliang and hug your thighs, how long will you delay? And since you want to stand in line and hug your thighs, the sooner the better? Or the later the better
It's a pity that Chen Sangliang, who has become a villain, is no longer in a hurry to meet them. He sleeps beautifully until dawn, gets up lazily and eats a full meal, and then swaggers to the big tent of the Chinese army. After meeting with the generals on duty, Chen Sangliang first asked about the situation in the army, and gave the highest instruction to speed up the recruitment of rebel prisoners. Then he was first concerned about Li Yuan's current specific situation, and asked Fang Xuanling and other staff : "In Daxing City, is there any movement? Has there been a funeral for the old thief Li Yuan?"
After getting a negative answer, Chen Sangliang was not surprised, and nodded and said: "It is a good thing that there is no funeral. If the old thief Li Yuan is really dead, the bandit army will not dare to give him a funeral with great fanfare anyway. Instead, there will be no movement." It proves that the old thief Li Yuan is likely to have died of serious injuries, at least the injuries are extremely serious. If the bandit army really mourns the old thief, we must be careful."
"Last night, a few representatives from the powerful families came out from the city to ask for an interview, and I also asked about the situation." Fang Xuanling said: "After the bandit army was defeated and returned to the city yesterday, the old thief Li Yuan has never appeared in public again. At the same time, there are no rumors that the old thief Li Yuan is dead or seriously injured in the city or inside the bandit army, and it seems that the bandit army has tightly sealed the news."
The size of the outer city of Daxing is twenty-five miles wide from east to west, and twenty miles long from north to south. It is difficult to achieve a tight seal with a circumference of ninety miles. In addition, there are a large number of descendants of Guanzhong clansmen serving as middlemen among the rebels. Generals and officials at the grassroots level, and representatives of powerful families in the city can easily leave the city quietly. Chen Sangliang is very aware of this, and he is not surprised to receive news from the city. He also asked: "How about the mobilization of the bandit army? Signs of shrinking to the inner city?"
"No." Fang Xuanling shook his head and said, "I have also paid attention to this matter. Yuan Kao, the second son of Gong Ya in Shunyang County, introduced to me that several of his fellow clansmen who served in the bandit army are still on duty in the outer city. The rebel army has not shown any sign of abandoning the outer city and retreating to the imperial city and Miyagi."
Chen Sangliang, who doesn't like attacking tough battles, frowned, and then said comfortingly: "It's okay, the bandit army has just been defeated, and immediately abandoning the outer city will only hurt morale. It takes a few days before we can consider abandoning the outer city, we wait, the bandit army will definitely give up the outer city on their own, we can't waste our strength in the battle of the outer city."
"My dear brother, I think it's best not to wait passively." Fang Xuanling suggested: "Li Yuan is about to die from serious injuries, or has already died from serious injuries. We are only guessing at the moment and cannot confirm it. If we wait passively, if the bandit army If we insist on keeping secrets and not giving up on the outer city, or if the old thief Li Yuan survived and didn't kick his legs, wouldn't we be wasting a lot of time in vain, leading to unintended consequences? In Brother Yu's opinion, we'd better do it well In preparation for attacking the outer city of Daxing, taking the outer city by force can not only eliminate the source of supply for the bandit army, but also allow our army to have houses for the winter, this is the safest strategy."
When Chen Sangliang nodded, Yuan Tiangang over there also suggested: "Stay behind, since the news of the old thief Li Yuan's serious injury and dying is strictly sealed by the bandit army, then we don't have to be polite, and we can help them disclose the news. It is recommended to send some troops to Daxing City to shout, tell the bandit army that the old thief Li Yuan has been seriously injured by our artillery, and further damage the morale of the bandit army. Even if we are forced to give up the siege, the resistance we face will not Much smaller."
Of course, Chen Sangliang, who hated the consumption of the battle the most, immediately agreed to Yuan Tiangang's suggestion, and immediately arranged for the general Liu Shishan to take charge of the matter, and then he squeezed his chin and muttered: "It's not an option to blindly guess the injury, life and death of the old thief Li Yuan." , we have to think of a way to find out what the situation of the old thief Li Yuan is now. If the old thief Li Yuan dies, what adjustments will be made within the thief army, and who will succeed the general. We must find a way to find out, so that Only by knowing ourselves and our enemies can we minimize our losses in tough battles.”
"I'm afraid it's very difficult at the moment." Fang Xuanling said: "At present, the only ones who can know the specific situation of the old thief Li Yuan are his two precious sons and his most trusted henchmen. The possibility of taking the initiative to join us is very small. Although the ordinary generals of the bandit army may be shaken, it is very unlikely that they will know the real situation of Li Yuan."
Chen Sangliang thought about it for a long time, and then said: "It's time to contact Zhu Can. He is half of Li Erlang's confidant. Even if he doesn't know the specific situation of Li Yuan, he still has the opportunity to spy on him."
"Stay behind, haven't you always disliked Zhu Can?" Yuan Tiangang was a little strange, and said again: "Besides, Zhu Can is a man who watches over tigers, specializes in killing, and has a volatile personality that is even more unreliable than Yun Dingxing. Maybe betray us, instead of persuading him anyway, it is better to recruit Miao Haichao, Miao Haichao has a deeper relationship with staying behind you, he is simple and honest, as long as he accepts the invitation, he will definitely spare no effort to do things for us."
"Miao Haichao is a hundred times better than Zhu Can, but his ability is not as good as Zhu Can's, and he is not very trusted by the bandits. It is difficult to get access to such important secrets." Chen Sangliang shook his head, then smiled and said: "As for Zhu Can Well, I don't like him, and his character and morality are indeed extremely bad, but the situation of Li Yuan's bandit army is here. He has to weigh the consequences no matter how he wants to betray us. The possibility of providing us with false information is not great. .”
"And the most important point." Chen Sangliang added with a smile: "I contacted Zhu Can not to appease him, nor to persuade him. Anyway, I used this chess piece that I had hidden and idled for four full years."
Fang Xuanling, Yuan Tiangang and others were surprised and asked the reason, but Chen Sangliang smiled and said: "You will know in the future, I remember that Zhu Can served in the Third Army of the Right Wing of the Bandit Army, and arranged for someone to go to Find me a few prisoners from the third army of the bandit army in the prisoner-of-war camp, if not, as long as they are prisoners of war from the right wing of the bandit army, but it is best to be a brigade commander or something, who has a little status in the bandit army."
Yuan Tiangang and the others agreed, and immediately went down to make arrangements. Fang Xuanling, who was actually Chen Sangliang's secretary over there, drew a pen and asked, "My dear brother, are you going to write a letter to Zhu Can now? What is it about?"
Chen Sangliang originally wanted to explain the specific content of the letter casually, but changed his mind when the words came to his lips, and said, "Let me write it. There are too many past events involved in this matter. Brother, you don't know that it is inconvenient to write."
After Fang Xuanling agreed, Chen Sangliang, who usually likes to be lazy and let his staff write for him, actually sat down at the desk. It was rare for him to write a book by himself. However, after picking up the brush, Chen Sangliang didn't know how to write— Because Chen Sangliang was really not kind enough to Zhu Can before, Zhu Can offered to be Chen Sangliang's accomplice and running dog many times, but Chen Sangliang has always been lukewarm towards him, and only took some gold and silver to lead him. , never gave Zhu Can any chance, and now he suddenly asked Zhu Can to tie his head on his trouser belt and take the risk of spying on important military information. Chen Sangliang was really embarrassed.
Fortunately, Chen Sangliang's face and conscience have never been difficult for him. After a little hesitation, Chen Sangliang still wrote a letter, brazenly praising Zhu Can's loyalty to him, saying that he let Zhu Can hide for many years It was not for nothing, and finally waited for the opportunity for Zhu Can to make great achievements for himself and the Sui court, promised Zhu Can a bunch of official rewards, and then asked Zhu Can to spy on Li Yuan's current specific situation for himself. But as he was writing, Chen Sangliang changed his mind again, and thought to himself: "Zhu Can is only so useful? Since I want to take advantage of his capriciousness, cunning and viciousness, why don't I let him do more things for me?" ? Do something more critical?"
After thinking about it for a long time, Chen Sangliang made up his mind. He tore up more than half of the letter and then told Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng who were looking at him strangely: "Brother Qiao Song, I I changed my mind, please write this letter for me, I will dictate the general content, and you will edit and write the book. Mr. Xuan Cheng, please prepare an official defense for me, write Zhu Can’s name on it, and designate him as Youwu General Wei Huya Lang."
After Chen Sangliang rearranged everything, the generals of the Sui Army also brought Chen Sangliang a few prisoners of war from the bandit army who had been carefully screened. As a result, the luck was not bad. Among the prisoners of war, there happened to be a rebel Third Army The team leader was Chen Gang, a native of Daxing. Chen Sangliang was overjoyed when he found out his identity, and immediately entertained his fellow villager and family with good wine and meat, gave him some rewards, and promised him an official position. Arrange for him to carry the letter back to the city to deliver it.
…
On the first day of the battle outside the city, the rebels were seriously broken. Many rebel soldiers fled to other directions before returning to the rebel army. This was a good cover for Chen Sangliang's messenger to send Chen Gang back to the city. Chen Gang was originally a local in Daxing City, and it was more logical to be reluctant to let his family return to the city and return to the team. In the afternoon, Chen Gang, who was still wearing a rebel uniform, ran to the Guanghua Gate in the northwest corner of Daxing and asked to enter the city, explaining that he was with the army The battle was broken up by the Sui army, and they fled to Longshou Mountain to hide for a night. They will return to the team, and they entered the city quite smoothly, and the letters sewn inside the clothes were not found.
After successfully returning to the city, the rebel general who urgently needed cannon fodder to defend the city arranged for Chen Gang to return to the team immediately. Chen Gang continued to return to Yirenfang, the camp of the rebel right-wing army, but he failed to see Zhu Can immediately. When I got the chance, I met Zhu Can, who is currently the leader of the rebel army, and asked him to retreat to the left and right, and then presented Chen Sangliang's secret letter to Zhu Can.
Zhu Can is a very smart person—not smart enough to do so many sins. In fact, as early as Chen Gang asked Zhu Can to retreat, Zhu Can already guessed that he was probably the messenger sent by Chen Sangliang Although he was very dissatisfied with Chen Sangliang who had been belittling him all the time, Zhu Can's heart was still beating a little when Chen Sangliang finally remembered himself at this point, secretly excited, and subconsciously agreed to dismiss his followers. However, after taking a closer look at the letter presented by Chen Gang with both hands, Zhu Can was stunned.
The reason why Zhu Can was stunned was, of course, the content of Chen Sangliang's letter. In Fang Xuanling's ghostwritten letter signed by Chen Sangliang, Chen Sangliang didn't mention anything about his previous agreements with Zhu Can. After getting old, he persuaded Zhu Can to surrender anyway in a very orthodox manner, saying that he knew that Zhu Can surrendered to the rebels in Taiyuan because the food and grass ran out, and it was understandable that he had to surrender. The defeat of the rebel army is now determined. As long as Zhu Can is willing to surrender and return anyway, and find out the specific situation of Li Yuan for the Sui army, he will reward Zhu Can with gold and silver. Attached to the letter was a formal official defense commission—it was all about buying Zhu Can with money and position.
It is conceivable that Zhu Can was puzzled after reading this letter. As early as four years ago, Chen Sangliang had confessed that Zhu Can deliberately approached Li Yuan and his son, waiting for an opportunity to lurk under Li Yuan and his son's tent. Chen Sangliang gave Zhu Can a few more bones to express that he still regarded Zhu Can as a trusted subordinate. In fact, Zhu Can could be regarded as Chen Sangliang's accomplice and lackey. How about persuading Zhu Can to surrender anyway and bribe him
"Is this Chen Gang the bait sent by Li Yuan's family to test me?"
Looking at the messenger Chen Gang in front of him, Zhu Can had such an idea for a while, but Chen Gang misunderstood Zhu Can's meaning, and hurriedly said: "Zhu Juntou, the villain is just here to deliver the letter, Mr. Chen said that you and him are old friends, don't you?" You will embarrass me, I don’t know what the villain said in the letter, if you have nothing else, the villain will leave.”
Seeing Chen Gang's obedient appearance, Zhu Can, a smart man, suddenly understood something. Under the secret joy in his heart, Zhu Can immediately jumped up, kicked Chen Gang upside down with a flying kick, and then shouted: "Come here!" , Take down this spy!"
"Zhu Juntou, spare your life, Zhu Juntou, spare your life!" Chen Gang, who was frightened out of his wits, hurriedly begged for mercy, but Zhu Can ignored him, grabbed his collar himself, threw him to his subordinates to tie him up, and immediately put Chen Gang under custody. After leaving the house, he went to find his immediate superior, Tongjun Yangtun.
Li Er, who valued military power and safety, was of course in the right-wing army at the moment, and Zhu Can, who was introduced by Yangtun, soon saw Li Er, who was planning how to completely control the rebel army. After meeting, Zhu Can knelt down to Li Er Jishou, He presented the letter and letter of commission that Chen Sangliang had bought him with both hands, voluntarily confessed everything that happened tonight, and handed over Chen Gang, the messenger sent by Chen Sangliang.
His subordinates were able to refuse Chen Sangliang's bribe so faithfully, of course Li Er was overjoyed to personally help Zhu Can, comforted him with kind words, and offered him a big reward on the spot, but Zhu Can refused to accept his resignation, and said righteously: "You Dudu, the general received the great kindness from the general and you, even if he was smashed to pieces, it would be hard to repay him. That thief Chen Yingliang discriminated against the general in every possible way when he was in Qiaojun, and made things difficult for him. The general hated him to the bone, and How can I be bought by him again? I will do this all for revenge, I really dare not accept any more rewards!"
Knowing that Chen Sangliang was really unkind to Zhu Can, Li Er laughed and insisted on giving the reward to Zhu Can. Zhu Can refused but had to accept it, and then Zhu Can took the initiative to say: "You Dudu, Chen Yingliang, the little thief, was once in Yan Yan. In the battle of the door, he commanded all kinds of soldiers and horses. In our army, there are many old acquaintances. If he can bribe the last general, there is no guarantee that he will not bribe others. Please be careful with the right commander, and don't give it to others. chance."
"This is also what I am most worried about now." Li Er nodded gloomyly, and after a little calculation, Li Er said: "Zhu Juntou, I will now appoint you as the deputy commander of the Third Army of the Right Wing Army Judge, keep an eye on the right-wing third army for me, and if there is any movement, you can come and report to me at any time."
"Thank you, Commander-in-Chief." Zhu Can hurriedly bowed his head to express his thanks, with a sinister smile appearing on the corner of his mouth.
"Also, keep an eye on Miao Haichao for me." Li Er said darkly again: "You can use any excuse to approach him and test his true thoughts. If there is any change, I promise you to kill him first and then play!"