It's time to go back to the twelfth lunar month of the thirteenth year of Daye, and I don't know which snowfall it was in 617. In the snow all over the sky, Zhai Hong's division of the Wagang Army who attacked Changpingcang from the west suffered a disastrous defeat.
The disastrous defeat of Zhai Hong and his son was taken for granted. They rushed into Xiaohan's dangerous road without knowing the enemy's situation and the terrain. Fighting, firmly guarding the dangerous Hangu Pass, then Gao Shilian's brother-in-law Xian Yuzhi also rushed to Shan County with Hongnong soldiers and horses to help in the battle, and then the Wagang Army's partial division had just arrived at Dizhu Mountain, Liu Changgong, Pei Xingfang and He Yanyu also They have already rushed to Changpingcang with Tongguan soldiers and horses, and the combined army of more than 20,000 is waiting in full force, just waiting for Zhai Hong and his son to come to die. At the same time, the reinforcements that Li Er promised to send out did not even know where they were.
Under such circumstances, it is only a miracle that Zhai Hong and his son can take Changpingcang again. However, because of the continuous change of people from the mountainous areas who came to attach themselves, the number of troops in the Wagang Division quickly approached 20,000, and they were very satisfied. The father and son of Zhai Hong felt that the odds were in their hands, so they foolishly hit the Hangu Pass and launched an attack on the city of Hangu Pass that had been repaired many times.
The result of the attack was purely to gain credit for the experience of the new Sui army such as Pei Xingfang and Xian Yuzhi. Without the help of the elite Sui army under He Yanyu's command, the Hongnong army brought by Xian Yuzhi alone was able to firmly defend Hangu Pass. Zhai Hong and his son, who initiated the attack, were so pumped that they could not find their teeth all over the floor. Then Yao Yi proposed to take the trail and attack the back of the Wagang Army's partial division to wipe out the enemy. Commander-in-chief Liu Changgong gave up this sure tactical plan and changed annihilation into a counterattack. He succeeded in robbing the camp under the cover of night and defeated Zhai Hong and his son in one fell swoop, forcing them to abandon the camp and flee for their lives.
When Zhai Hong and his son escaped from Xiaohan Road, some stories happened of course. A group of cavalry who claimed to be Li Mi's subordinates stopped the defeated soldiers of Zhai Hong and his son on the road, claiming that they had come to meet Zhai Hong and his son on the order of Duke Wei, and demanded to meet Zhai Hong and his son. When Hong and his son met, Di Hong and his son didn't know there was any fraud. When they first appeared, the cavalry suddenly shot a few cold arrows and almost hit Di Hong and his son. Then they ran away and quickly disappeared without a trace. Zhai Hong and his son were still in shock, and they were shocked to see that the soldier beside them who had been shot by the arrow had already bled to death from seven orifices, and the blood from the wound was still blue and black.
It is conceivable that Zhai Hong and his son were angry about this matter. They had just escaped from Weihan Road and returned to the main camp of the Wagang Army, and immediately dragged Zhai Rang to the door to question the crime. Li Mi was also furious, but it was not Chen Sang who was angry. Liang was sinister and vicious, but Zhai Hong and his son were angry because of their stupidity. They roared: "Are you idiots? Can't you see such a simple divorce? If I send someone to assassinate you, the assassin will kill you." Am I acting under my banner? Am I that stupid?"
The other generals of the Zhai-Li coalition army also felt that Li Mi could not be so stupid, but Zhai Hong and his son quickly pointed out that this was Li Mi's cleverness, "Wei Gong, of course you are not stupid, you deliberately let your people hit you directly. Acting under your banner, you can just create the illusion that the officers and soldiers framed you, this is your brilliance! Otherwise, why didn't you tell us that Changpingcang has so many defenders?"
No one can tell the result of the dispute. Li Mi really wanted to kill Zhai Hong and his son with a knife, but he did not send someone to shoot them in the back. Zhai Hong and his son suspected that Li Mi wanted to kill them, but there was no evidence. Maybe they parted on bad terms, but the conflicts between Li Mi and Zhai Rang's family that had already emerged gradually became more prominent. Zhai Rang's family began to worry that Li Mi would kill them and monopolize the Wagang Army. Make trouble and kill him.
Just like in history, after the conflict between Li Mi and Zhai Rang gradually became difficult to reconcile, the voice of preemptive attack began to appear around Li Mi. Not long after Zhai Rang's family left angrily, Zuo Sima and Zheng Yu proposed to Li Mi. He warned, and said: "Duke Wei, although the matter of Wei Handao is a plan to separate the government and the army, but Zhai Rang's family is ignorant and greedy, and they will probably believe that the assassin was sent by you. If you don't make a decision sooner, I'm afraid they will sooner or later." It will give birth to the intention of harming you, rather than letting them act first, it is better for us to do big things first."
Li Mi was silent, and then sighed after a while, and said: "The enemy is at hand, Wang Shichong is sticking to the Luokou warehouse and will not give an inch, and Chen Yingliang's traitor is watching the tiger in Guanzhong. At this time, killing each other is not only making people laugh and cheapening the enemy for nothing. , there is no gain."
"Of course what Wei Gong said makes sense." Zheng Ting nodded, and then said: "But Zhai Rang's family definitely doesn't understand such a truth. As long as they have the opportunity, they will definitely not be so scruples. A poisonous snake bites the wrist, and a strong man dies." Arm, Wei Gong, you must make a decision early and seize the opportunity."
Li Mi was silent again. At this time, a soldier from outside the tent suddenly reported that Li Er had sent Dr. Ren Yu, Yin Qing Guanglu, as an envoy to come to see him. Li Mi couldn't help hearing the name of Ren Yu (pronounced the same as Rose). Frowning, he said doubtfully, "Ren Yu as an envoy? Sending this famous tongue discerner to see me, what tricks is Li Erlang trying to play again?"
Seeing that Li Mi feared Ren Yu so much, they hurriedly asked why, and Li Mi replied casually: "Ren Yu is the adopted son of Ren Mannu, the former general of Chen Zhendong. Surrendered more than ten cities including Hancheng and Feng Yi for Li Yuan. I heard that Sun Hua, the biggest rebel leader in Guanzhong, was also persuaded by him to surrender to Li Yuan. Well, Li Erlang sent him to visit me, he must be negotiating with me about something."
"Teacher, then don't see him at all, we don't need Li Erlang to do anything for us anyway." Wang Bodang suggested.
"It doesn't matter, I just want to see how good this Ren Yu's eloquence is." Li Mi smiled confidently, and said: "Besides, Li Erlang is still useful to us, at least he can contain some of the troops in Guanzhong. An enemy's enemy is a friend, so don't neglect him too much. See you, please come in Doctor Ren."
The soldiers agreed, and in no time, Ren Yu, who had made great contributions to Li Yuan's rebels entering the Guanzhong, was invited into Li Mi's tent. It gives people a feeling of trust. After the meeting, Ren Yu also bowed to Li Mi obediently, and said respectfully: "Ren Yu, the consolation envoy under Li Shimin's account, has met Duke Wei."
"Comfort envoy?" Li Mi wanted to test Ren Yu, but he didn't invite Ren Yu to sit down. He pretended to be surprised and asked, "Could it be that Doctor Ren came to appease me on behalf of the Right Commander? He wanted me to take the initiative to join the Right Commander's tent." ?”
"No." Ren Yan shook his head, ignoring Li Mi's fault, and said with a smile: "The little envoy came to visit Wei Gong today, not to appease him, but to overthrow the great cause of the tyrant Yang Guang, and also to remove Wei Gong. A serious trouble comes."
"Get rid of that serious worry for me?" Li Mi sneered, and then asked arrogantly: "Who else is worthy to be my serious worry?"
Ren Yu smiled more easily, and said: "There is a person who helped the tyrant to abuse the tyrant, worked as a minion for the tiger, and killed tens of thousands of righteous men in Wei Gong's tent for Yang Guang, causing millions of soldiers and civilians in Luoyang, the eastern capital, to be in dire straits. The army under his command has many horses and strong soldiers, and their armor is sharp. Several times they fought against Duke Wei bitterly on the battlefield. Duke Wei occupied Hulao and occupied Luokou, and stationed troops outside the eastern capital city. However, because of his scruples, the piece of armor could not go west. Isn't he worthy? Known as Duke Wei's serious worry?"
The sneer on Li Mi's face finally disappeared, replaced by surprise and curiosity, he asked in surprise, "Can your envoy get rid of this thief?"
"I wonder if Duke Wei has heard the story of Yang Yichen?"
Ren Yu didn't answer the rhetorical question, but asked and answered by himself, and introduced with a smile: "Yang Yichen's surname is Yuchi, because the first emperor made many meritorious deeds and made many military exploits, he was given the surname Yang, and included the royal genealogy. Then Yang Yichen also gave the emperor the two emperors of the Sui Dynasty Loyal and loyal, he rejected the Turks in the north, settled Yangliang in the south, conquered Tuyuhun in the west, and fought against Goguryeo in the east. Dou Jiande, the king of Changle in Hebei today, was once beaten to death by him with only a hundred riders left. However, at this moment, the tyrant Yang Guang suddenly summoned him to Jiangdu and named him Minister of Rites. I couldn't get sick, and passed away while in office. I wonder if Duke Wei knows the story behind the scenes?"
Ren Yun’s question can be regarded as asking Li Mi. When Yang Yichen suddenly fell from power, Li Mi had already fallen into the bandits. The sources of news in the officialdom were all provided by his brother-in-law Qiu Junming, and later Li Yuan’s family secretly helped him. Naturally, it is impossible to know the reason behind Yang Yichen’s sudden downfall. After hesitating for a while, Li Mi put away his arrogance, first asked Ren Yu to sit down, and then bowed his hands to Ren Yu and said: "I really don't know about this, please teach me the doctor."
"Don't dare to do it." Ren Yi bowed his hand to return the salute, and then said: "Reporting to Mi Gong, Yang Yichen was suddenly recalled to Jiangdu and changed to a civil position, all because of a slander from Yu Shiji, the minister of internal history. After Yang Yichen sent the memorial to Jiangdu, he only Because he and Yu Shiji had always had a rift, Yu Shiji was jealous of his high achievements, so he advanced a slander in front of Yang Guang, saying that Yang Yichen had a large army outside and had to guard against it. Yang Guang became suspicious, so he ordered Yang Yichen to disband the army and return to the court to serve , Yang Yichen became ill because of this, and died in office not long after."
Everyone knows how bad Li Mi is. After hearing what Ren Yun said, how can he not understand what he and Li Er mean? With his heart racing, Li Mi made some calculations and asked, "What are you going to do?"
"It's very simple, just ask Wei Gong to put in a little effort and post this call to action in the counties and cities that have already belonged to you." Ren Yu smiled and took out a call to arms, held it up with both hands, and said: "Of course, It would be best to invite the soldiers under Duke Wei to take the risk and post this call to action on the gates of the eleven gates of the eastern capital."
Li Mi accepted the call to action calmly, and when he unfolded it, he saw that the general content of the call to arms was as follows: "General of Youwuwei Xu Changgong Chen Yingliang, I would like to proclaim to the world with faith: Yang Guang has no way, presumptuously respects himself, and has exhausted the bamboos of Nanshan , The sin of the book is not exhausted, the waves of the East China Sea, the evil is endless, it is right to let the virtuous, and live in seclusion behind the scenes. The royal family Yang Xingji, radiant and virtuous, fraternal and universal, long-term Qianlong, should be the new king. Today I am obedient to people In order to comfort the hope of all the people, the day will be revived, and everyone should return to the new king. If it doesn’t go well, the nine clans will be wiped out! Let me know first, so I think it’s better to know.”
Looking at Chen Sangliang's forged letter repeatedly, Li Mi pondered and asked, "Who is Yang Xingji?"
"The distant nephew of His Royal Highness Dai Wang." Ren Yu replied truthfully: "In Daxing City, he is the closest blood relationship to His Royal Highness Dai Wang. After His Highness Dai Wang was unfortunately killed by Chen Yingliang's rebels, my general wanted to support him. He is the Son of Heaven, but before he could act, the general was killed by Chen Yingliang."
Li Mi stopped talking again, and thought about it for a while, Li Mi suddenly laughed, and said with a smile: "I didn't expect that the governor of the right is so young, and his scheming is so deep. It's a plan to blame Jiangdong. If I fall into the trap, Chen Yingliang You little thief, you're about to bring Daxing soldiers and horses to fight me hard."
"Why did Duke Wei say that?" Ren Yu asked knowingly.
"Isn't that simple?" Li Mi sneered and said, "If I help you plant Chen Yingliang as a traitor and try to emulate your great general to depose Yang Guang and establish a new emperor, then once Yang Guang and Yang You in the Eastern Capital fall into the trick, they must question Chen Yingliang Is this really the case? In order to prove his innocence, the little thief Chen Yingliang has no choice but to return to the Eastern Capital of the army immediately? He came down with his elite troops, Guanzhong is empty, and I am facing a strong enemy. coming?"
Hearing Li Mi's words, Li Mi's subordinates next to him immediately glared at Ren Yu, but Ren Yu remained calm, smiled and cupped his hands and said, "Wei Gong, our right governor knew that you would think so, so we specially sent a small envoy to come forward." Come here for your inquiries at any time. Yes, we really hope that the little thief Chen Yingliang will return to the East Capital of the Master and make Guanzhong empty again, but why don’t you think about it, Wei Gong, with the treachery of the little thief Chen Yingliang, how dare you let him go Daxing, who is surrounded by the enemy, doesn't care, and personally leads the main force back to the East Capital? Isn't he afraid that just as soon as he leaves, our right commander, Tianshui Xue Ju, and Hexi Li Gui will rush into Daxing Guanzhong?"
Li Mi closed his mouth and said in his heart: "There is a possibility. The little thief Chen Yingliang dare not return to the army at this time. He has just left before Xue Ju, Li Gui and Li Erlang. Daxing."
Seeing Li Mi's sarcasm disappeared, Ren Yu took the opportunity to say: "Wei Gong, please think about it, given the current situation in Guanzhong, Chen Yingliang's dog thief would never dare to return to his teacher and leave Guanzhong easily. But once Yang Guang and Yang You If the plan calls him back to the teacher, he will be caught in a dilemma. If he does not return to the teacher, he will attract the jealousy of the monarch and the suspicion of his subordinates. Repeating Yang Yichen's mistakes, or just leading a small army back to the Eastern Capital, isn't it the best chance for Wei Gong to get rid of the big trouble in your heart?"
Li Mi began to waver, and secretly said that it was good. With Yang Guang's unruly temper, once he became suspicious of the little thief Chen Yingliang, he would definitely remove his military power just in case. He will be criticized by thousands of people, questioned by his subordinates, and may even be accused of rebellion, and be captured and killed by the old man Yang Guang. Unless he is willing to leave Guanzhong Daxing alone, he can only lead a few elites back to Dongdu to show his loyalty. Without those brave generals and soldiers who are good at fighting in front of us, I can strangle him with one hand!
"Wei Gong, the scary thing about Chen Yingliang is not that he is scheming and undefeated in all battles, but that the tyrant Yang Guang loves and trusts him." Ren Yu continued to instigate: "Chen Yingliang was able to rise up quickly in four years, relying on The most important thing is that Yang Guang, Fan Zigai, Wei Xuan and others appreciated him and promoted him. They wanted soldiers to give soldiers, power to power, money and food, money and food, and weapons. It is because of these supports that we have made it to today. Now that Fan Zigai and Wei Xuan are dead, if Yang Guang becomes suspicious of him again, what do you think he can hope for?"
"As for Mr. Wei, you said just now that our Right Commander wanted to blame Jiangdu, but the envoy has not finished talking just now." Ren Yu said in a persuasive tone: "If our Right Commander really has this plan, why doesn't he directly Acting? Is it difficult to send a few brave warriors who are not afraid of death to sneak into the Eastern Capital to post these proclamations? Since we can do it directly, why should we ask you to act on our behalf? Isn’t it for the sake of Letting you know about this and making preparations in advance, the original intention is to join hands to overthrow the tyrant Yang Guang’s anti-Sui cause, didn’t Duke Wei think of this?”
Ren Yu's eloquence is really good, treacherous as Li Mi can't help agreeing in his heart, thinking that his words are very reasonable, after a little calculation, Li Mi nodded and said: "Okay, I promise you, I will immediately order someone to make a speech Post it all over the place, and then order people to post it at the eleventh gate of the eastern capital at night. But... "
Speaking of this, Li Mi smiled slightly, and said to Ren Yu: "However, you, the right governor, don't have any tricks, and come up with some sinister tricks to force the little thief Chen Yingliang to lead the main force out of the customs, then I will be killed by you!" It's been miserable."
Ren Yu was startled, he didn't even dare to say anything, but he sneered in his heart and said, "Sure enough, it's treacherous! But it's a pity, you've already been tricked, and you don't even think about it. If it wasn't for the blocked roads, our secret envoys wouldn't be able to go south, let alone Power posted the call to action in counties and counties outside the pass, and let Mr. Yang Guang know the existence of this call to action, so we still need to ask you to help spread the call to action?"
Ren Yu also underestimated Li Mi a little, and after sending him to the camp to rest, Li Mi threw the call to action to Zu Junyan, who is famous for his literary talent, and said with a smile: "Change this call to action, and Chen Yingliang Xiao The thief and Li Yuan's family teamed up to abolish Yang Guang and support Yang Xingji, so that people like Yang Guang and Yang You could know that the little thief Chen Yingliang had secretly colluded with Li Yuan's two precious sons, and the Pingling Dou family behind Li Yuan, and planned to overthrow them. The court is gone."
"Wonderful!" Zu Junyan's eyes lit up, and he said pleasantly, "Wei Gong has a great plan. In this way, once the tyrant and Yang Yu become suspicious, the little thief Chen Yingliang will return to Guanzhong and enter the army in order to prove his innocence." Hedong has two choices. Our army is strong and the Li family is weak. The little thief Chen Yingliang will definitely attack Hedong first, and will not go back and forth to help Dongdu first, so that we can free up our hands and concentrate on dealing with Wang Shichong in front of us and Yang Tong in Dongdu. "
"We are free to deal with not only Wang Shichong and Yang Tong, but also an enemy." Li Mi said lightly.