In Luoyang, the eastern capital, the first snow in the 14th year of Daye came earlier than usual. It was the morning of the first day of the first lunar month, and the sky was full of snow, which soon turned Luoyang, the large-scale eastern capital, into A silvery white world.
In the new year, auspicious snow heralds a good year, but there is no festive atmosphere in the eastern capital. Both the palace city and the people are shrouded in an atmosphere of tension and worry. Even Yang Tong, who is already fifteen years old, declined Yuan Wen's invitation. The suggestion of Duan Da and others to hold a banquet to celebrate the New Year is just to reward every official who comes to congratulate him with a bowl of noodle soup, which is a little bit meaningful, so as to save the increasingly scarce food.
The food situation in Dongdu is getting more and more tense. If it wasn’t for the fact that Yang Tong sent soldiers to rush back a batch of grain before the coalition of Zhai and Li joined forces to encircle Shangluocang, Dongdu would have run out of food before the Chinese New Year. Now Shangluocang Although still under the control of Wang Shichong, the grain road has been cut off by the Zhai Li coalition forces. Wang Shichong and the Dongdu garrison tried to transport grain to the city several times, but were snatched or burned by the increasing number of Zhai Li coalition forces. Failed once.
The price of food in the city skyrocketed, and ordinary people and soldiers defending the city suffered from food shortages. Yuan Wen, a deputy left behind who had a bad relationship with Chen Yingliang but was loyal to the Sui court, had to suggest to Yang Tong to give food to the defenders. The merchants who donated grain were given the title of second-rank scattered officials. Although the wealthy merchants in the city donated grain to help the army enthusiastically, it caused the merchants to crowd the palace every day with wat boards in their hands. Yang Tong can still be considered a competent grandson of the emperor, so he naturally has to consider whether he wants to face or face in the current situation.
The war situation was even worse than the food situation. Even though Wang Shichong was still holding on to Shangluocang, the more than 20,000 troops in his hands were at an absolute disadvantage in front of the Zhai Li coalition army, and he was extremely exhausted from successive battles. He could barely keep Shangluocang without losing it. There is no longer any power to fight back. Although there are still more than 100,000 Dongdu garrison that has been expanded again, they have no command of good generals, lack of experience and training, and low combat effectiveness.
In addition, the conflict between Wang Shichong and Yuan Wendu also weakened the overall combat effectiveness of the Sui Army in the eastern capital. Wang Shichong asked Yang Tong several times to supplement his army and expand his military power, but Yuan Wendu felt that Wang Shichong was ambitious and favored profit over righteousness. Worried that there would be accidents if he gave him too much military power in the Eastern Capital, he came forward to oppose and dissuade him several times. The result was that Wang Shichong, who was really not a good thing, failed to grasp more military power, and the Sui Army in the Eastern Capital also lost Wang Shichong. An excellent commander can't quickly knead into a ball to form a combat force.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, bad news continued. First, I heard that Xingyang prefect Yang Qing and Liangcheng general guard Yang Wang both surrendered to Li Mi, and then Huangtaoshu, who guarded Heyang, fled back to Dongdu in embarrassment with less than a hundred soldiers. The reason for the sudden defeat was that on New Year's Eve, he only cared about eating a full meal and neglected his defense. Pei Renji succeeded in a sneak attack and defeated his former colleague Huangtaoshu again. Arriving at Shangluocang on the evening of the same day to celebrate the New Year, Zhai and Li's coalition forces became more powerful, and Wang Shichong, who was weak in strength, was even more embarrassed. The Dongdu court was as desperate as Wang Shichong, but equally helpless.
The unfavorable situation of the battle only made the court of the Eastern Capital want to cry without tears, but what happened on the second day of the Lunar New Year surprised the imperial court of the Eastern Capital. A proclamation, a proclamation promulgated in the honor of Xu Changgong Chen Yingliang, the great general of Youwuwei, declared that Emperor Sui Yang had no morals and no morals. Abolish Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, a sinful and tyrant, and support Yang Xingji, a member of the royal family in Daxing City, as the emperor, and rebuild the land of the Sui Dynasty!
The eleven proclamations were quickly removed and sent to Miyagi. The Dongdu Hall, which was crowded with Baohu scattered officials, was shocked. Yang Yu, Duan Da and others were all shocked. They had once formed a close political alliance with Chen Sangliang. After Duan Da read the proclamation, he blurted out: "If this is true, the Great Sui Dynasty will be over!"
Lu Yao knows the horsepower, and at the critical moment, he stood up to speak for Chen Sangliang, but Yuan Wendu, who had fought with Chen Sangliang many times before for power, Yuan Wendu said confidently: "Your Highness, don't worry, everyone Don't worry, Chen Xiongqu has always been loyal to the Great Sui court, and it is absolutely impossible to do such a thing! Besides, Li Yuan's rebel was killed by Chen Xiongqu himself, how could he join hands with the remnants of the Li family's rebels to rebel? I dare to assert that this must have been done by the bandit army, with the purpose of alienating His Highness from Chen Xiongqu's master and servant, so that His Highness will cut off his arms and destroy the Great Wall himself."
Lu Chu, Huangfu Wuyi and others also stood up to support Yuan Wendu, pointing out that this must be a separation between the enemy, Chen Sangliang would never do this—at least it is really impossible to do so now, Yang Yu and Duan Only then did Da and the others feel relieved. But the most disgusting thing about alienation schemes is that you know it is a scheme, and you will definitely have pimples in your heart, so soon another courtier came in and said: "Your Highness, it is better to be cautious. After defeating Li Yuan's rebels, they used the excuse that the powerful enemies in Guanzhong were on the lookout, the bandits in the territory were not cleared, and the soldiers did not return, this matter is quite suspicious, Your Highness, please investigate carefully."
Chen Sangliang did very dishonestly in this matter. He took Dongdu elites to occupy a good territory in Guanzhong. Not to mention, Dongdu was in emergency one after another, but he still refused to return to the rescue. The purpose was indeed a bit suspicious. So Yang Tong was unavoidably shaken, and Duan Da said again: "Your Highness, in my opinion, it is better to send reliable people to Daxing in the name of urging Chen Liushou to return to his teacher to rescue Dongdu, and to find out if there is such a thing." If Chen Xiongqu has no doubts, he will tell you clearly about the call to action, indicating that Your Highness, you have no doubts about him, and ask him to return to his teacher as soon as possible to solve the crisis in the Eastern Capital. If there is anything else, His Highness can also deal with it as soon as possible."
When Yang Tong heard that he was overjoyed, he immediately nodded and said, "This plan is great, my lords, who is willing to go to Daxing to find out the truth for this king?"
The hall suddenly became silent, and Duan Da also suddenly realized that he had come up with a bad idea - if Chen Sangliang really wanted to rebel and rebel, would the emissary who went there come back? But fortunately, there are still a few loyal officials in the Eastern Capital court who were able to kill Li Mi in the end. Yuan Wendu came out and handed over after a little thought, and said in a clear voice: "If your highness intends to do this, I recommend the crown prince Sheren Yuan Ji to be the leader. job."
"Yuan Taifu, do you recommend your eldest son?" Yang Tong asked in surprise.
"Your Highness, this is the court temple. There is no son of a minister, only the crown prince, Yuan Ji." Yuan Wendu replied respectfully, and then repeated: "The minister recommended Yuan Ji as an envoy to go to Guanzhong to find out the truth, and to urge Xiong Xiong for His Royal Highness. General Qu returned to the East Capital, please allow His Highness."
Yuan Wendu foolishly took the eldest son and the first son to take risks, tied his head to the waistband of his trousers to find out if Chen Sangliang, who was acting suspiciously, really had any objections, of course there was no more foolish person in the court who jumped out to snatch him, Yang Tong was moved by his Loyal, and naturally there was no objection, and now Yuan Wendu personally took up the pen and prepared an order for Chen Sangliang to urge him to return to the Eastern Capital in the name of Yang Tong, and arranged for Yuan Wendu's eldest son Yuan Ji to be sent to Daxing. carry.
The Eastern Capital court headed by Yang Tong seems to have turned around suddenly. On the second day when Yuan Ji went to Guanzhong with his book, which was also the fourth day of the first lunar month in the 14th year of Daye, a news that surprised the Eastern Capital court so much that it was unbelievable came suddenly. It was reported that the main force of the Zhai-Li Allied Forces, who had besieged Huiluocang for more than two months, unbelievably lifted the siege of Huiluocang, pulled out their camp and returned to Luokoucang!
From top to bottom, the imperial court of the Eastern Capital suspected that this was the trick of Li Mi, the fox of Wagang. Yang Tong, Yuan Wendu, Duan Da and others who were eager to transport grain in the eastern capital were also afraid that the last granary would be lost—although the smaller Huiluo granary was also running out of grain, and Wang Shichong was strictly ordered not to open it at will. At the gate of Cangcheng, beware of a sneak attack by Zhai Li's coalition forces.
It wasn't until two days later that it was repeatedly confirmed that there were no ambushes in the surrounding area and that the main force of the Zhai-Li coalition army was indeed gone forever. Yang Yu and others happily organized the soldiers and civilians to rush to the city to rush to the Luocang for grain and grass. Only then did he get a chance to rest and catch his breath, and with Yang Tong's consent, he planned to retreat back to the Eastern Capital City to rest immediately after moving the grain. At the same time, the Eastern Capital court and Wang Shichong were inevitably extremely puzzled, "Why did Zhai Rang and Li Mi, the gang of rebels, suddenly lift the siege on Huiluocang and withdraw to Luokoucang?"
If the Dongdu imperial court, Wang Shichong and others knew the answer to this question, they would definitely be taken aback and even more puzzled—the Zhai Li Lianjun suddenly lifted the siege of Huiluocang and retreated, it turned out to be the suggestion of the cheating professional householder Pei Renji!
Of course, Pei Renji's actions were not aimless. Li Mi accepted Pei Renji's astonishing suggestion, and it wasn't because of Pei Renji's aura of cheating that he suddenly became dizzy. The reason is that when Pei Renji broke through the Heyang Bridge and went south to join forces with the main force of the Zhai-Li coalition forces, he brought Zhai Rang and Li Mi an important prisoner—Cui Shanfu, Hongluqing who Yang Tong sent from Dongdu to Heyang to condolence to the Huangtaoshu Army a few days ago. In order to survive, Cui Shanfu explained to his former colleague Pei Renji a lot of internal information in the eastern capital, and also explained the important inside story that Wang Shichong asked Yang Tong to replenish his troops several times, but Yuan Wendu stopped him.
The conflict between Wang Shichong and Yuan Wendu was suddenly placed in front of Pei Renji. Pei Renji, who is very good at this aspect, immediately smelled the opportunity. Immediately after the meeting, he suggested that Li Mi and Zhai Rang lift the siege on Wang Shichong and temporarily withdraw to the Luokou warehouse. Waiting for a better opportunity to appear, and pointing out sharply that Wang Shichong is good at using troops but is greedy for profit and despise justice, and Yuan Wen is loyal but straightforward. When faced with threats, the two can put down their grievances and join hands to fight against the enemy. Once the crisis is resolved, they will definitely bite dogs. .
Therefore, Pei Renji believes that, since this is the case, instead of attacking Jiancheng so hard, it is better for the Zhai and Li coalition forces to take a step back and let Yuan Wendu and Wang Shichong let go to bite each other. Victory means that the East will lose the Great Wall against the enemy, and the Zhai-Li coalition forces will take advantage of it anyway, which will help the Zhai-Li coalition forces to regroup and make a comeback in the future.
After thinking for a long time, Li Mi decided to accept Pei Renji's suggestion, and urged Zhai Rang to retreat with him. Although Zhai Rang didn't understand the deep meaning of Pei Renji's suggestion, he was tired of the endless entanglement with Wang Shichong in Huiluocang. If he wanted to return to the Luokou Warehouse where the grain piled up like a mountain to enjoy the blessings, he agreed to Pei Renji's suggestion, and that's why the Zhai Li coalition army suddenly broke the siege and retreated.
Of course, Zhai Rang's brains never expected that the reason why Li Mi agreed with Pei Renji's suggestion was not only to feel that Pei Renji's words were indeed reasonable, but also to avoid one thing, to avoid a sudden civil turmoil in the Zhai-Li coalition army just before the battle. In vain, Wang Shichong, who is also treacherous and cunning...
…
It's time to take a look at the situation on Chen Sangliang's side. Unlike his father-in-law Wang Shichong and his boss Yang Tong who are in dire straits, Chen Sangliang's days in Daxing can definitely be regarded as a happy paradise, and he is everywhere in and out of the city One person has the final say, to the north there is Qu Tutong foolishly fighting with Li Er, to the east is a good brother Liu Changgong who wears a pair of trousers and his capable cousin Pei Xingfang, and his cousin Li Jing is also cleaning up Bai Yu in the west Po and Li Hongzhi and other rebels don't need Chen Sangliang to worry about it. In addition to handling official duties and rectifying internal affairs, Chen Sangliang, as long as he has a little time, he can free up his hands to drink and chat with his old and new subordinates, and do some things that the masses love to see, and do his filial piety for the incense of the old Chen family .
Chen Sangliang is also a good courtier who is very courteous. Even though Daxing Miyagi has no master now, Chen Sangliang is still not as rebellious as Li Yuan's traitor. He moved his office into the palace city, and he still lives in Daxing Emperor every day. The General Youwuwei of the city works in the mansion, and he would never step into Miyagi when he had nothing to do. After a few months, except when he had just entered Daxing, Chen Sangliang entered Miyagi once on the first day of the first lunar month. The concubines and concubines of Emperor Sui Yang, headed by Yang Yuer's mother Jiang Cairen, paid New Year's greetings. They stayed for less than half an hour and then left without any suspicion of messing up the harem.
Of course, just because Chen Sangliang didn't go into the palace to find someone, doesn't mean that no one in the palace came out to look for Chen Sangliang. For example, Emperor Sui Yang had an unmarried daughter who would dress up as a civilian girl every few days and quietly. He ran out of Miyagi and went to the backyard of General Youwuwei to meet Chen Sangliang, and he stayed there for a long time. But it doesn't matter, now the chief of the Imperial Forest Army in Miyagi is called San Gouzi, and Yuchi Jingde is in charge of the defense of the imperial city, both of whom are Chen Sangliang's caring people. .
If you go up the mountain too much, you will encounter ghosts, and if you do a lot of evil, you will always be punished. No, at noon on the fifteenth day of the Lantern Festival, the retribution has come. When Chen Sangliang, who is diligent in state affairs, has finished handling many official duties and returns to the backyard for a lunch break after noon as usual, in the lunch break bedroom where a maidservant waits for him, Chen Sangliang can't hurt enough. Miss Er was already waiting in the room, and she sat obediently on the side of the bed, with her head down, wondering what was on her mind. Seeing Daxi, Chen Sangliang went up lightly, hugged Miss Yu'er, and said with a lewd smile: "Baby, can't wait?"
The one who answered Chen Sangliang was Yang Yu'er who slapped her head with her willow eyebrows upside down, and directly left a few bloodstains on Chen Sangliang's little face. Then Yang Yu'er didn't seem to feel relieved, and scratched and bit Chen Sangliang's body. Pinching again, Chen Sangliang, who was abused by Yang Yu'er for the first time, was confused, and hurriedly asked, "Yu'er, what happened? Did I offend you?"
"You have provoked me so much!"
Yang Yuer's pretty face looked very wrong, and when she was about to pull Chen Sangliang's ears again, her expression suddenly changed, she bent down quickly, covered her small mouth and retched. Seeing this scene, Chen Sangliang was dumbfounded immediately, and blurted out, "Yu'er, do you have it?"
Retching and looking at Chen Sangliang angrily, Yang Yuer said even more angrily: "It's all your fault! From the second day back to Daxing, you insisted on bullying me every day. You didn't listen to me saying it was dangerous that day. Now Well, what do you think? Not only has my mother started to suspect, but she won't be able to hide it in a few days, so let me see what you do!"
"This..." Chen Sangliang really didn't know what to do. It is not a small crime to have an adulterous pregnancy with a princess. Now that Emperor Sui Yang is dead or whether the Jiangdu Mutiny will happen or not, Chen Sangliang doesn't know. Once the story is publicized, not only will there be an uproar in the court, but both Chen Sangliang and Yang Yu'er are in danger of losing their heads.
Seeing Chen Sangliang's bewildered appearance, Yang Yu'er, who was already in a state of confusion, was inevitably aggrieved and sad. She threw herself into Chen Sangliang's arms, pinched and beat her, and cried, "You said you wanted to marry me!" Yes, what do you do now? How do you marry me? I don’t care if you have a regular wife, and I’m willing to be a side room, but do you dare to marry me? If you have the guts to accept me as a side room, I’ll go and tell my mother today, what? You can get married at any time, but do you dare? Do you dare?"
Chen Sangliang really didn't dare, because Chen Sangliang had always been bluffing and cheating under the banner of being loyal to Yang Guangai and the Great Sui Dynasty. Now if Chen Sangliang dared to take Yang Yu'er as a partial house without the consent of Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty, it would be fine if he didn't fry the pot below. Strange! But if you want to get Emperor Sui Yang's consent to formally accept Yang Yu'er as a partial house, don't say that you can't do it in terms of time and distance, even if you can make it in time, the distance is not a problem. How could Emperor Sui Yang agree to let his daughter be given to Chen Sangliang? Do side room? If Chen Sangliang really dared to participate in this memorial, it must be performed on that day, and that day would be the day when Chen Sangliang's head fell to the ground!
"There are only two choices. One is to bet that the Jiangdu mutiny will happen as usual, and it will happen in the near future." Chen Sangliang quickly made up his mind, "The second choice is not to have this child."
Not wanting the child in Yang Yu'er's womb may be just a matter of one sentence for the conscienceless Chen Sangliang, but for Yang Yu'er, it is definitely not an easy choice. After thinking about it for a long time, Chen Sangliang finally thought up his words, and said to the weeping Yang Yu'er in a low voice: "Yu'er, I thought about it..."
"Brother Yingliang, get out! Get out!"
The rude roar suddenly interrupted Chen Sangliang's whispering to Yang Yu'er. Hearing Liu Changgong's familiar voice, Chen Sangliang was startled for a while, and then immediately remembered that in order to comfort Liu Changgong, Pei Xingfang and others who had been staying at Yongfeng warehouse in Tongguan, I had given them an order a few days ago, asking Liu Changgong and Pei Xingfang to temporarily hand over the army to He Yanyu, and let them return to Daxing to spend the Lantern Festival with me.
Then, Chen Sangliang immediately began to complain, because Chen Sangliang immediately guessed what Liu Changgong was going to do next, and the result was as expected, Liu Changgong, who was always the same as Chen Sangliang, ignored the soldiers in front of the door He kicked open the door and rushed in with a stride, "Brother Yingliang, you miss me so much!"
"Brother, I miss you too!" Pei Xingfang, who also hadn't seen Chen Sangliang for a long time, also rushed in, and after Pei Xingfang, he was followed by an acquaintance of Chen Sangliang who once lived in Luoyang, the eastern capital. Chen Sangliang was the accomplice of the prince Sheren Yuanji.
Chen Sangliang was surprised why Yuan Ji appeared at this time. Liu Changgong and Pei Xingfang also saw Yang Yuer who was being held in Chen Sangliang's arms. Although Liu Changgong and Pei Xingfang had never met Yang Yuer, they didn't know her identity. She also put on the clothes of ordinary women without revealing any flaws, but seeing the intimate appearance of Chen Sangliang and Yang Yuer hugging tightly, Liu Changgong and Pei Xingfang immediately burst into laughter, Liu Changgong also said with a smile: "No wonder the people outside People even dare to stop me, so that's how it is. Fortunately, I didn't take off my clothes, I didn't take off my clothes."
Chen Sangliang was embarrassed, and Yang Yu'er was even more ashamed. When she hurriedly broke away from Chen Sangliang's embrace, Yang Yu'er suddenly felt a turbulent stomach, and couldn't help but bend over and retch again. Then, Liu Changgong also laughed again, "Okay, good thing, I will have more little nephews soon!"
"Congratulations, brother, congratulations to my brother's addition of a baby, and the lush branches and leaves of the Chen family." Pei Xingfang also smiled and congratulated Chen Sangliang, smiling very sincerely.
Yuan Ji didn't smile, and nervously observed Yang Yu'er's appearance. Yuan Ji was still full of suspicion, and thought to himself: "Why are they so similar? Could it be her? How is it possible?"