Whether or not Qu Tutong handed over his military power doesn't really matter to the current Chen Sangliang. Qu Tutong has more than 20,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, but his record is not good and his morale is not high. Even if Qu Tutong refused to hand over his military power and led the army to fight with Chen Sangliang, Chen Sangliang didn't need to go out in person, only relying on the power of guarding the court. Liu Heitai and Qin Qiong, who guards Yongfengcang, can strangle him to death!
But then again, it is true that Chen Sangliang is not afraid to turn against Qu Tutong, but if there is a fight, the biggest beneficiary will definitely be Li Er who is crawling on the border of the river like a hungry wolf. Qu Tutong completely forced him to Li Er's side. With Li Erzhi's ability and the Hedong Jiancheng under Qu Tutong's control, it would cause some troubles for Chen Sangliang, so Chen Sangliang spent some effort to challenge Qu Tutong. Tutong Huairou showed his favor, and the layout tried to pull Qu Tutong to his side.
Fortunately, although there were a lot of mistakes during the operation, Qu Tutong still made up his mind to accept Chen Sangliang's kind invitation, and left the powerful and loving general Wang Xingben to stick to Fenyin City, led the main force to retreat to Hedong, and then led his family Returning to Daxing and joining hands with Chen Sangliang to support the new monarch—it is also a disguised surrender of military power and surrender to Chen Sangliang.
Li Er refused to give up, and some wanted to take advantage of Qu Tutong's opportunity to retreat before the battle to launch an attack to make a profit, but after Li Er sent Duan Zhixuan to lead the army to catch up with Qu Tutong's rear army, Duan Zhixuan soon found out that this was not cheap. It’s so easy to choose—the Guanzhong warriors under Qu Tutong’s command are not incapable of fighting, but their morale is not high because they are tired and homesick after a long battle. These Guanzhong Qiubas went home to reunite with their families. These Guanzhong Qiubas naturally had red eyes, and Duan Zhixuan learned what it means to be a high-spirited Qin Opera. There is no need for Qu Tutong to lead the main force to turn around to rescue them. Duan Zhixuan was so frightened that he had to give up the pursuit and fled northward in desperation. Qu Tutong took the opportunity to speed up and go southward, quickly got rid of Li Er's entanglement and retreated to the city of Hedong.
In order to express a cooperative attitude to Chen Sangliang, Qu Tutong also showed some sincerity. As soon as he withdrew to Hedong, he handed over the army to the command of Liu Heita on the other side of the Yellow River, and he immediately led his family back to Daxing. Chen Sangliang was overjoyed when he heard the news, and immediately ordered Qu Tutong's army to be rewarded favorably. He promised these soldiers a three-month vacation to go home and reunite with their families, and gave them money, food and travel expenses; The task was to order Liu Heitai to replace Qu Tutong and lead the military affairs of Hedong, and to expand the army on the spot. He also ordered Huo Shiju, who was guarding Puban, and Wang Xingben, who was guarding Fenyin, to accept Liu Heitai's command, so that Liu Heitai would provoke the forces in the Hedong theater. important task.
When Qu Tutong returned to Daxing, Chen Sangliang personally led all the civil and military officials out of the city to meet him. Seeing the majestic appearance of the general and all the officials, more than four years ago, he wanted to send Chen Sangliang to Qu Tutong. Liang got Qu Tutong, who was acting like a cow and a horse under his tent, sighed very much, but he still greeted Chen Sangliang in public as a gift to see the superior. It was to praise Qu Tutong for his profound sense of righteousness, public loyalty to the country, and finally entered the city hand in hand with Qu Tutong, and held a banquet in the imperial city to celebrate.
The next step is of course the choice of the puppet emperor, although Chen Sangliang has made it clear that he wants to support the five-year-old Yang Xingji as emperor. Although Qu Tutong did not expressly object, he still raised an objection to Chen Sangliang very tactfully, saying that Yang Xingji's blood was too far from Emperor Sui Yang's, and that it would be hard for the world to convince him to support him as emperor. He also suggested that Chen Sangliang might as well consider Yang Daoxuan as a candidate, because among the Daxing clan, Yang Daoxuan was not only the closest blood relative to Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty, but Yang Daoxuan's father, Yang Zhiji, was also a prince with a good reputation among the people. Supporting Yang Daoxuan could convince the public , and can justifiably compete with Yang Tong.
Chen Sangliang didn't argue with Qu Tutong, but just asked Qu Tutong to discuss this matter with Yang Daoxuan himself. After Qu Tutong had a secret talk with Yang Daoxuan, he had to lament that Yang Zhiji was indeed far-sighted, and agreed. Support Yang Xingji. Then Chen Sangliang, who had already prepared everything, immediately put Yang Xingji on the throne in front of Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty. Yining, posthumously posthumously Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty as Emperor Ming.
On the same day, Yang Tong also sent envoys to Daxing, issued an edict declaring himself the legal heir to the throne, and appointed Chen Sangliang as a general. Mourn good. As a result, Chen Sangliang politely ordered Yang Yu's emissary to be expelled from the country, and in turn demanded that the Eastern Capital surrender to Yang Xingji and naturalize, baring his fangs and revealing his ambition to seize power.
Even Qu Tutong handed over his military power, and Chen Sangliang, who was no longer restrained by anyone, acted even more recklessly. On the second day after he supported Yang Xingji to succeed him, Chen Sangliang issued an imperial edict in Yang Xingji's honor, sealing himself The great prime minister, the great general, the order of ministers, the governor of various military affairs inside and outside, etc., held a lot of official positions in the military and politics of Guanzhong, and in the name of Yang Xingji, he rewarded himself with two powers, a fake yellow axe and envoy festival, so that he could represent the The emperor arbitrarily killed and seized civil and military officials, soldiers and civilians, promoted rewards and dismissed officials, and followed Li Yuan's example to live in Wude Hall, where he handled all military and political affairs.
After the release of the Great Sui version of Chen Mengde, Chen Sangliang naturally played with power to collect power, vigorously promoted his confidants and rewarded the old ministry, named Wei Zheng as Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Fang Xuanling as Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Li Jing as Minister of the Ministry of War, and Yuan Tiangang as Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Du Ruhui's seniority was only appointed Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, while Gao Shilian, who was still in Hongnong, led the Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment. At the same time, Chen Sangliang asked these five important subordinates and Gao Shilian to hold positions in the three provinces, and imprisoned the six ministries in the three provinces. It's firmly in my hands.
Qu Tutong was appointed by Chen Sangliang as the prince, grand teacher and minister of rites. He neither gave him military power, but also showed enough respect. Ding Xing served as the Minister of Rites and served as Qu Tutong's deputy. Qu Tutong also knew that Chen Sangliang didn't fully trust him, so he didn't refuse, and accepted these appointments honestly.
The most important aspect of the army, of course, the generals of the Sixteenth Guards Mansion are Chen Sangliang's accomplices and lackeys. Liu Changgong, who has a good relationship with Chen Sangliang and has a good relationship with Chen Sangliang, picked a big deal and was named General Youyiwei. When the position of General Zuo Yiwei was temporarily vacant, he became the de facto second person in the military; Li Jing was named General Zuo Wuwei, Ma Sanbao was appointed General Zuo Yiwei, and Kan Leng and Yuchi Jingde served as Zuo Yiwei. The left and right generals, Liu Heitai served as the general of Zuo Wuhou, and Cheng Yaojin, Niu Jinda and Luo Shixin also served as the other generals of the Weifu. When the generals of the Sixteen Weifu have basically not yet appointed anyone, they actually control the power of the Weifu. At the same time, those vacant general positions naturally became bait for Chen Sangliang to continue to drive his accomplices and lackeys to work for him.
The National Defense Army was completely separated from Youwuwei's independent organization, and it was under the direct control of Chen Sangliang. Guo Feng and Chen Ci took the rank of generals of the third rank Fuguo, and Zhao Yu and Yu Le took the ranks of generals of the fourth rank of Xiaoqi. The officers and men of the army are all awarded the official rank of six ranks, and the franchise is hereditary for three generations, and plans to expand the army to eight schools with 1,600 people.
The ninth-rank titles abolished by Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty were also picked up by Chen Sangliang to buy people's hearts. Space buys people's hearts and rewards meritorious officials. At the same time, Chen Sangliang also adopted Fang Xuanling's suggestion and established a system of virtual and real food towns. There are two layers of motivation to work hard.
In terms of personnel, Chen Sangliang used Yang Xingji's reputation to order all the counties and counties in the world to submit to him. At the same time, he couldn't wait to send Liu Changgong to lead 20,000 troops to Bashu to grab the rich and empty Sichuan territory. Uncle Guo is troublesome, and Liu Changgong's deputy is Pei Xingfang, who was granted the title of Youyi Wei Changshi, and Miao Haichao, who has shown enough loyalty in the Battle of Daxing.
The western front was still entrusted by Chen Sangliang to his cousin Li Jing. Li Jing also fought for Chen Sangliang's face. He had already completely dealt with Bai Yupo, recruited a large number of surrendered troops, and forced Li Hongzhi to lead the troops to surrender. Tang Bi, who tried to rebel again, unknowingly pulled Chen Sangliang over 50,000 troops in the Fufeng area, completely reversing the situation on the western front. Xue Ju once sent Xue Renguo to invade the east again, but Xue Renguo was beaten badly by Li Jing just after he left the Great Earthquake Pass, and fled back to Tianshui with heavy losses.
There is Liu Heita on the Hedong side, even if he can't win Li Er, he won't take advantage of him, so Chen Sangliang doesn't have to worry too much. The same is true on the Eastern Front. Chen Sangliang sent the old fox Liu Jingye to Hongnong to serve as the prefect, and exchanged Gao Shilian for him to guard his lair. Zanzhi, let them guard the east gate for themselves, watch the melee in the Central Plains from the danger of Xiaohan, and wait for the opportunity to appear before sending troops outside the pass.
The direction of Shangluo County in the southeast is more difficult for Chen Sangliang. Although Shangluo County is a poor county, it borders Guanzhong after all. Liang also wanted to send an army into Shangluo to suppress the rebellion, and at the same time seize Zheyang and Nanyang to the south. However, what annoyed Chen Sangliang was that he could not find a suitable candidate to lead this partial division, and he could not transfer the main generals under his command too much to go south, weakening the main force used to deal with powerful enemies such as Li Er, Yang Tong and Li Mi. The army, so Chen Sangliang thought about it for a long time, but couldn't make up his mind who to send to take on this important task.
After this question was raised at a court meeting, both Qu Tutong and Pang Yu were eager to lead this partisan division to fight for a territory, but Chen Sangliang still could not trust them for the time being, and did not dare to give them this military power. It is still necessary for these old officials to continue to decline. As a result, what Chen Sangliang didn't expect was that after the dynasty was over, Chai Shao ran to Chen Sangliang and volunteered to lead the partial division.
First, he regretted forgetting the talent of a general under his command, but Chen Sangliang still hesitated, and said to Chai Shao: "Brother Sichang, it's not that I can't trust you, I also know that you are a talent of a general, but your My wife and my sister-in-law, Li Xiuning, have just been pardoned and released from prison by His Majesty (Yang Xingji), you and your husband have just been reunited, how can I have the heart to separate you immediately?"
"She has become a nun." Chai Shao replied with his head bowed: "I never told you that when she was in prison, I visited her several times, but she ignored me. Later, His Majesty pardoned her, and I I went to pick her up, and she said a few words to me, saying that our Li family has something to do with me, and she doesn't blame me for surrendering to you, but after all, you and her have revenge for killing your father, and she can't avenge her father. But she didn't want to deal with worldly affairs anymore, so she went straight to the temple to lose her hair, and broke up with me in the world."
Chen Sangliang was silent, and after a while he said: "It was I who harmed your husband and wife."
"No, I did it on my own, I hurt her." Chai Shao shook his head, and begged again: "Brother Yingliang, let me go to Nanyang, I also want to leave Daxing temporarily, let me calm down, don't worry, Don’t give me too many troops, five thousand troops are enough, I promise to take Shangluo and Nanyang for you, if you are not victorious, I am willing to lead the army.”
After thinking about it, Chen Sangliang said: "I will make you General Hu Benlang of Youwuwei, and I will give you 8,000 troops. The money and food in Shangluo, Zheyang and Nanyang are not good, the roads are rough and difficult, and the transportation of food and grass is difficult. Eight thousand troops is the limit, and besides, I will assign Li Shicai as your deputy."
"Thank you, brother." Chai Shao quickly thanked him, and then said, "brother, if you don't mind, can you send Dugu Wynn to me as my deputy?"
"What do you want him to do?" Chen Sangliang froze, and said, "That dude, what else can you do if you remove it and increase the trouble?"
"Brother Yu of course knows that he is a dandy, and it is useless." Chai Shao nodded, and said in a low voice: "But after all, he has made contributions to you during the Daxing War, and he is frivolous and cruel. You must keep him in Daxing, brother, and use him again." It's a scourge, if you don't reuse him, you will be dissatisfied, why don't Brother Yu take him out and let him go to the battlefield to experience actual combat, if he can really change his temperament and develop his skills, you can use him at ease in the future, brother, but if he is still muddled, you can't help him On the wall, there are no eyes on this battlefield, no one can blame you, brother."
Chen Sangliang was moved and stretched out his hand, took Chai Shao's hand, shook it firmly, nodded and said, "Brother Sichang, you are my good brother and uncle."
Chai Shao smiled, and said modestly: "The virtuous brother is too rewarding, but the foolish brother is just atonement."
In this way, the partial division of the southeast road was finalized, and Chai Shao, surrendered generals Li Shicai and Dugu Huai'en soon led 8,000 troops to Shangluo, and at the same time, the counties around Daxing were also scrambling Official documents and letters were sent, acknowledging that Yang Xingji, supported by Chen Sangliang, was the emperor of the Sui Dynasty, and he accepted Chen Sangliang's orders. Many county magistrates even sent their sons to deliver letters, asking them to stay in Daxing as hostages , to show loyalty. Uncle Da Xiao, who had sent one son before, sent all the remaining sons as hostages at one go, and sent a letter to Chen Sangliang in his personal honor, expressing his desire to return to Daxing to apologize to Chen Sangliang face to face , and asked Chen Sangliang to send officials to take over as the prefect of Hechi—as for the reason, of course, Liu Changgong's army was already marching towards Hechi.
Chen Sangliang happily accepted Uncle Da Xiao's kindness, and without hesitation arranged for Yuan Qi's elder brother to take over as the prefect of Hechi, and promoted Uncle Da Xiao to be the young secretary of Dali Temple. He was transferred back to Daxing to serve—in all fairness, Da Xiao Guoshu is actually a capable minister, as long as he is obedient and obedient, Chen Sangliang would never mind reusing him to decorate his golden signs of repaying grievances with virtue and being magnanimous.
In the midst of busy work, time has already entered June. On the fifth day of June, when Chen Sangliang was discussing with Fang Xuanling and others to formulate an ethnic policy for the Qiang tribes and the chiefs of the Di people, a soldier suddenly rushed Entering the room, he presented a military report to Chen Sangliang. The chicken feathers on the report represented urgency. Chen Sangliang hurriedly opened it to read it, only to find that the report was sent by He Yanyu, and the content was from the He Yanyu school. Going to the East Capital to find out the news, Yang Tong has issued an edict to surrender Li Mi, and Li Mi also accepted the surrender, and was named Wei Guogong, Taiwei, Shang Shuling and Grand Marshal of the Southeast Road Army by Yang Tong.
After reading this pond report, the traverser Chen Sangliang of course sneered, but Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng, who were not traversers and could not obtain information from the Central Plains, were taken aback. They said together in amazement: "How is it possible? Li Mi's military strength is far away. Victorious over Dongdu, why did he accept the surrender from the King of Yue instead?"
"How is it impossible?" Chen Sangliang said with a sneer, "Have you forgotten about Yu Wenhuaji? The reason why Yu Wenhuaji was able to launch a mutiny in Jiangdu to kill the former emperor was because the Guanzhong soldiers of Xiaoguowei wanted to return to their hometown. And now that Jiangdu army is in control, if he doesn’t bring these Guanzhong soldiers back to his hometown, how could his army agree? Yu Wenhuaji brought the army back to Guanzhong, first of all he had to go through Li Mi’s control area, Li Mi refused to accept Yang Tong’s surrender , when he and Yu Wenhua are fighting head-on, if Wang Shichong also takes the opportunity to send troops to flank him, what will he do?"
Fang Xuanling and the others suddenly realized, and quickly praised Chen Sangliang for his knowledge and foresight, and then Wei Zheng said: "If Li Mi and Yu Wenhuaji really launch a decisive battle, the battle will be extremely tragic. Li Mi's soldiers have enough food, Yu Wenhuaji's soldiers are brave and elite, and they are homesick. No matter who wins or loses, the losses will definitely not be less than that. Oh, by the way, Prime Minister, you are an expert in military use. Who do you think Li Mi and Yu Wenhuaji went to war? Can we have a greater chance of winning?"
Wei Zheng asked Chen Sangliang this question. Although Chen Sangliang knew that Li Mi won in history, the current Li Mi is not as strong as in history. Especially in terms of brave generals, the most important ones were dug out by himself. Yes, but Yu Wenhuaji is the same pig head as in history, and the hundreds of thousands of Guanzhong elites under his command who are eager to go home are not vegetarians. If they are a little careless, the reality may be completely opposite to history. So after thinking about it for a long time, Chen Sangliang could only shake his head and said, "I can't predict it either. Li Mi is resourceful and resourceful, but Yu Wenhua and his troops are too strong. Whoever wins or loses is possible."
"It doesn't matter who wins or loses." Yuan Tiangang said with a smile: "No matter who wins, the loss will definitely not be too small. If Li Mi wins, we don't have to be afraid of him. If Yu Wenhuaji wins, the hope of going to Guanzhong is even smaller. , it will be easier for us to deal with it. Let them fight, as long as they don't join forces to fight us."
"That's the truth." Chen Sangliang, who was in a favorable position, nodded proudly, but just halfway through the nodding, Chen Sangliang suddenly froze, and blurted out: "Wait! We can't be optimistic, we must guard against Li Mi He Yuwenhua and join forces are coming towards us!"
"How is this possible?" Yuan Tiangang said in amazement: "Li Mi and Yu Wenhuaji join forces, and Yu Huaji must borrow food and roads from Li Mi. Li Mi dares to let Yu Wenhuaji enter Hulao Pass? Dare to let Yu Wenhuaji approach Luokou Cangcheng?"
"It's not impossible!" Chen Sangliang shook his head resolutely, and said in a deep voice: "Li Mi is not short of food, as long as he can use it to drive away Yu Wenhua and this god of plague, it is by no means impossible for him to discuss it, even if he dare not let Yu Wenhua and Jin Hu If he imprisoned and exploded his chrysanthemums, he could also lend the Hanoi road to Yuhuaji, and exchange food for Yuhuaji to take the road on the north bank of the Yellow River to enter Guanzhong. If I were Li Mi, I would definitely do this.”
"Also, don't forget the shit-stirring stick in Jinnan." Chen Sangliang pouted his mouth to the northeast again, and said darkly: "That shit-stirring stick will never miss this opportunity to take revenge on us. If I were him, I will definitely use the alliance relationship to persuade Li Mi and Yu Wenhuaji to join forces to make things difficult for us, and it will definitely be more beneficial for him to let Yu Wenhuaji take the road of Hanoi to go directly to Hedong, at least it can make him countless An opportunity to fish in troubled waters."
Considering that Jin Nan's shit-stirring stick was extremely clever, Fang Xuanling, Yuan Tiangang and the others all nodded, admitting that it was indeed possible. Then Yuan Tiangang hurriedly asked again: "Prime Minister, is there any way for you to avoid this situation?"
Chen Sangliang didn't answer, but after thinking for a while, Chen Sangliang said in a deep voice: "Call Zhang Yongtong, I'm going to send someone to contact Li Mi."