There are many reasons for Zhang Yongtong to bring this sentence to Wang Xuance, Chen Sangliang, one of the most critical reasons is that the new emperor Yang Xingji launched by Chen Sangliang is far less orthodox than Yang Yu in terms of succession. As the name goes, Chen Sangliang was at a disadvantage politically, so not only could Chen Sangliang not prevent Wang Shichong's mutiny from being a major historical event, but he had to make the mutiny happen according to the historical process, preferably as soon as possible.
It's time to take a look at Wang Shichong's situation here. In fact, Wang Shichong is already extremely dissatisfied with Yang Tong, Yuan Wendu and others. How much political benefit Li Yang Tong gained from his ascension to the throne was only a title of Duke of Zheng, but the authority of his official position was not improved at all. At the same time, Yang Tong not only still obeyed Yuan Wen, who was at odds with Wang Shichong, but also vigorously promoted Lu Chu, Huangfu Wuyi, Guo Wenyi, and Zhao Changwen to participate in the auxiliary government, further dispersing the power in Wang Shichong's hands, and being arrogant Wang Shichong, who was also ambitious, was calm on the surface, but hated it in his heart.
The precious son-in-law Chen Sangliang also implicated Wang Shichong. Although there is no evidence to prove that Wang Shichong participated in Chen Sangliang's rebellious plan, Wang Shichong actually didn't know that his son-in-law went west to Guanzhong to become king, but the relationship between relatives was placed on the throne after all. There, Yang Tong, Yuan Wen and others said that they absolutely believed in Wang Shichong, but they were still full of jealousy towards Wang Shichong in their hearts, for fear that Wang Shichong would collude with his son-in-law and suddenly come to the court of the Eastern Capital, so Yang Tong and Yuan Wen Wang Shichong's army was not less forcibly placed, and Wang Shichong's side often had unidentified eyeliners. The old and treacherous Wang Shichong knew this well, and he gritted his teeth with hatred, but he was helpless.
In the matter of recruiting Li Mi, Wang Shichong, Yuan Wendu and others also had constant conflicts. The reason why Yang Tong did not dare to deprive Wang Shichong of his military power was because Wang Shichong was needed to defend him against Li Mi's attack. No matter how much suspicion Wang Shichong received, as long as Li Mi The army is still hostile to the Dongdu army for a day, and Wang Shichong can be as stable as Mount Tai for a day. However, Yuan Wendu actually proposed to surrender Li Mi and the surrender was successful. Wang Shichong immediately understood the danger. He knew that once the relationship between Li Mijun and Dongdu eased, his importance in the court of Dongdu would definitely plummet. Yang Tong, Yuan Wendu and others who are extremely suspicious may also have the idea of killing donkeys.
Therefore, at the banquet celebrating Li Mi's return, everyone was overjoyed, Yuan Wendu and Duan Da and other important court officials were so happy that they danced in person, but Wang Shichong never smiled, and he couldn't bear to complain to Cui Changwen, the living man He said, "Everyone is as stupid as a pig, and I don't even think about how much military power Li Mi's rebels have, and how much military power we have? Li Mi's army surrendered to us. It is clear that he is uneasy and well-intentioned. These stupid pigs are either stupid or I’m blind, I can’t even see this!”—Unfortunately, this complaint was heard by Yuan Wendu and others, and the conflict between Wang Shichong and them further deepened.
Facts have proved that Wang Shichong was right. After the news of Yu Wenhua and his northward journey along the Tongji Canal came, the Eastern Capital court finally understood why Li Mi was weaker than stronger. Wang Shichong sneered complacently, and immediately suggested to Yang Tong to force Li Mi to hand over his only son as a hostage, so as to control Li Mi's rebels more effectively. Yu Wenhuaji fell into the dilemma of fighting on both sides. It's a pity that Yang Tong rejected Wang Shichong's kind suggestion again, and continued to accept Yuan Wendu's proposal, and continued to maintain a friendly relationship with Li Mi, allowing Li Mi to deal with Yu Wenhuaji with all his heart.
It's hard to say who is right and who is wrong in both Wang Shichong's and Yuan Wen's proposals, but the fact that Yang Tong accepted Yuan Wen and rejected Wang Shichong undoubtedly deepened the resentment in Wang Shichong's heart by three points. After the incident, at the gathering of the Wang family, Wang Shichong, who drank a lot of alcohol, brought up the incident again, and shouted at the table with his drunkenness: "The bird is gone! The rabbit is dead! The old man worked so hard!" He was born and died, and managed to stabilize the situation in the eastern capital with great difficulty, and led the city guards to support him as the throne, but in the end he refused to listen to what he said, and this was the case when the world was in chaos. Is there a way to survive the door?!"
The few products of the old Wang's family were originally the best products that would rather die than suffer, and desperately took advantage of it. After hearing Wang Shichong's dissatisfaction, they naturally continued to scold them, and they were all full of resentment towards Yang Tong, Yuan Wendu and others. At the end, Wang Shiyun also said: "My dear brother, if we can't bear it any longer, why should we suffer from this bird's anger? Why don't we just take the army west to Guanzhong and go to your beloved son-in-law Chen Yingliang."
Everyone in the Wang family shut their mouths one after another. In fact, after receiving the news that Chen Sangliang became the emperor of Shangtu in Guanzhong, the demons and ghosts of the old Wang family had already come up with this idea. Now Wang Shiyun has spoken his mind. Everyone naturally had to look at Wang Shichong's reaction. But it's still a pity. After drinking another glass of wine, Wang Shichong shook his head sullenly and said, "No, not to mention that the bandits can't get in the way. Bingma, that unworthy son-in-law will definitely not give us any good treatment, at most he will be supported by some officials and titles, hoping to continue to command the army, dreaming!"
Wang Shiyun, who had suffered a lot from Chen Sangliang, kept his mouth shut, but Wang Renze said regretfully, "It would have been nice if my uncle led the troops into Guanzhong, but now it's our turn to dominate in Guanzhong. "
Wang Shichong turned the empty wine glass and said nothing, and he really regretted that he didn't have such a good opportunity as his unworthy son-in-law. At this time, there was a report from the soldiers outside the door, saying that the patrolling sentry had seized a Guanzhong spy outside the Houzai Gate, and found a letter written by Chen Sangliang to Wang Shichong from him. Everyone was overjoyed, but Wang Shichong turned pale with shock, and hurriedly asked, "Where is Guan Zhongxi Zuoren? Where is the letter?"
"Xizuo is currently being held at the Houzai Gate, and the letter has been brought." The soldiers hastily submitted the letter, and then reported: "The identity of Xizuo has been found out. He is a soldier in the Eastern Capital, and he went with Chen Yingliang. After Guanzhong, I wanted to go home, so I was sent back to deliver the letter..."
"Shut up!" Wang Shichong interrupted angrily, and then shouted even more furiously: "Who told you to bring the letter here? Why didn't you take the letter and the details to the imperial city immediately and dedicate it to His Majesty the Emperor?"
Roaring, Wang Shichong didn't go to pick up the letter, he just yelled: "Xuan Ying, take the letter with you and immediately follow me into the palace!"
Of course, Wang Shichong did this because he knew that someone was watching him in the dark. He refused to touch Chen Sangliang's letter in order to avoid the melon field Li Xia. A response was quickly received, and after entering the Jinluan Hall in Shangde, Wang Shichong's main political enemies, Yuan Wendu, Lu Chu and Zhao Changwen, were already guarding Yang Tong's side. Wang Shichong did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly saluted Yang Tong , While explaining what happened, he ordered his son to present to Yang Tong a letter from his son-in-law that he had never even touched.
As a result, Wang Shichong wanted to cry again, but when the eunuch delivered the letter to Yang Tong, Yang Tong took it and glanced at it, and immediately said in surprise, "Wang Aiqing, why was this letter opened?"
As if struck by lightning, Wang Shichong hurriedly raised his head to check the situation, only to find that the wax seal on the letter had indeed been broken, and it was obvious that it had already been opened. Fortunately, Wang Xuanying next to him immediately played and said: "Your Majesty, the sealant on this letter was already cracked when it was delivered to my father. It should be that our soldiers captured the secret agent to check his identity. The evidence was easily unraveled."
Dubiously glanced at Wang Shichong and his son, Yang Tong took out the letterhead to read the content. Fortunately, Chen Sangliang's handwritten letter to Wang Shichong didn't contain much sensitive content, except that he greeted Wang Shichong as his son-in-law and said a lot of New Year's greetings. Another thing is to claim that Yang Xingji, whom he supports, is the real emperor with virtue and blessings, implying that Wang Shichong will go to Daxing as soon as possible to join him and share the glory and wealth.
The content was not too much of a hindrance, and now Wang Shichong had to be used. Yang Tong naturally praised Wang Shichong for his loyalty, and gave Wang Shichong and his son a little jewelry as a reward before sending them away. But Wang Shichong and his son walked away, and Yang Tong immediately accepted Yuan Wendu's suggestion, and sent Zhao Changwen to interrogate the prisoner in person, and he also paid attention to whether Chen Sangliang's letter had been sent to Wang Shichong. It was opened earlier by someone else.
The result of the interrogation made Yang Tong, Yuan Wendu and others feel relieved a little. According to the confession of the man Daxing, he wanted to become a deserter because he missed his relatives in Luoyang City. After being discovered, Chen Sangliang not only did not punish him , and sent someone to send him through Hangu Pass, and rewarded him with dry food and travel expenses. The exchange was of course to send a letter to Wang Shichong-this is enough to prove that Chen Sangliang did not attach great importance to whether he could get in touch with Wang Shichong. At the same time, the secret agent also admitted that he found that the sealant on the envelope was broken when he was on the road, but he didn't know whether the sealant had broken when it was handed over to him, or he accidentally broke the sealant on the way.
While Yang Tong and others breathed a sigh of relief, the treacherous and suspicious Wang Shichong was worried, because he neither knew the contents of the letter, but also learned from the officers and soldiers who captured the spy that they did not open the letter to check the content, but just read the letter. When the names of Chen Sangliang and Wang Shichong were written on the envelope, it was immediately delivered to Wang Shichong. So Wang Shichong naturally began to worry that Yang Tong was already suspecting that he was secretly in touch with his unworthy son-in-law. As a result, the imperial court became even more turbulent and murderous.
On the tenth day of July, Yu Wenhua and his army, who were forced to go overland because of the silting of the canal, plundered grain all the way to the north and gradually approached Chenliu. Li Mi's defenders in Xingyang were in a hurry. The main force marched eastward to Hulaoguan to prepare for the battle. At the same time, Li Mi also used the excuse that Yu Wenhua and regicide had committed heinous crimes. If he joined forces with Yu Wenhua and he would definitely attract the scorn of the world, he categorically rejected Li Er's plan to divert the disaster to the west. Jun Yan persuaded him, but was scolded and scolded by Li Mi, and Li Mi took the opportunity to transfer him out of his shogunate and sent him to Luokou Cangcheng to assist Bing Yuanzhen in guarding food.
It was also at this time that Wang Xuance cautiously made a suggestion to Li Mi, persuading Li Mi to use tricks to drive a wedge between Wang Shichong and Yang Yu, Yuan Wendu and others, and urge Yang Tong to remove Wang Shichong's military power. As a result, before Wang Xuance finished speaking, Li Mi applauded the case and praised: "A great plan! In the eastern capital, only Wang Shichong can use troops and pose a threat to our army. If Yang Yu, Yuan Wendu and others can get rid of Wang Shichong Military power, no matter how much time the main force of our army spends on the Eastern Front, we can rest easy on the Western Front!"
After the compliment, Li Mi, who was more and more appreciative of Wang Xuance, quickly asked how to use the plan. Wang Xuance was not very good at this aspect, so he could only suggest that Li Mi should start from the relationship between Wang Shichong and Chen Sangliang, and could not come up with a specific plan. But this has nothing to do with it. After Li Mi, who is definitely the same as Chen Sangliang, had this idea, he only thought for a moment, and soon came up with a bad idea that was as wicked as Chen Sangliang, and immediately Get started.
So soon, on the evening of the second day after Li Mi led the main force to set off eastward, a corpse and a letter were sent to Luoyang, the eastern capital. They bypassed Wang Shichong through Longguangmen and sent them directly to Luoyang Palace. within the city. It was the envoy of Yang Defang, the general of Li Mi, who guarded Xin'an, who sent the corpse into the palace. The envoy also told Duan Da, who came forward to receive him, that Yang Defang's sentry team found the corpse on the mountain path that bypassed Xin'an and went straight to Hangu Pass. Suspicious person, the suspicious person ran for his life in a hurry when he stepped forward to interrogate him, accidentally fell off the cliff and died, and then found an important letter stained with blood on the dead body, Yang Defang did not dare to neglect, and immediately sent him to send the dead body and letter together Come and dedicate it to Yang Tong.
Of course, the important letter stained with blood was written by Wang Shichong to Chen Sangliang. The letter sent by the envoy of Li Mijun, who had seized a large number of Wang Shichong's official letters during the Blackstone War, was of course written in exactly the same handwriting as Wang Shichong's, and the content was even more surprising. Yang Tong, Yuan Wen and others were horrified—Wang Shichong first reported to Chen Sangliang that the main force of Li Mi's army had gone eastward in the letter, and then asked Chen Sangliang to send troops eastward as soon as possible, and take Luoyang City with him. , Capture and kill the false emperor Yang Tong and the traitor Yuan Wendu!
In addition, there was another incident that made Yang Tong, Yuan Wen and the others startled. At the end of the letter, there was a great cinnabar seal of King Zheng Wang Shichong of the Sui Dynasty! ——The title that Yang Tong bestowed on Wang Shichong was only Zheng Guogong, Wang Shichong now has a title of King Zheng, who granted it, of course Yang Tong, Yuan Wendu and others can guess with their toes.
It was a simple divorce plan, but the young and inexperienced Yang Tong and the fatuous loyal minister Yuan Wendu and others still fell into the trick. A plan to cut off the traitor Wang Shichong also came out quickly. When Wang Shichong went to court, he suddenly struck, took him down and beheaded him! Yang Tong, who had been suspicious of Wang Shichong for a long time, agreed to Yuan Wendu's proposal without much consideration, and then Yuan Wendu immediately recruited Duan Da, Lu Chu, Guo Wenyi, Huangfu Wuyi, Zhao Changwen and other court loyal officials to announce to them They agreed to Yang Tong's decision, and discussed the action plan with them, and quickly decided to get rid of Wang Shichong's scourge in the early court one day later!
Both Yang Tong and Yuan Wen had seriously underestimated Wang Shichong. In fact, Wang Shichong had already heard the news not long after Li Mijun's envoy sent the corpse to Miyagi, and then Yang Tong summoned Lu Chu, Duan Da and others overnight. , and was soon sent to Wang Shichong by the eyeliner who watched them. Yang Tong summoned the six major auxiliary ministers but only missed this point, which naturally made Wang Shichong suspicious. Therefore, Wang Shichong not only immediately sent a large number of people to find out the news, but also immediately strengthened the security work, so as not to give Yuan Wendu and others any chance to do something suddenly.
At the same time, Wang Shichong's luck was also quite good. Although he didn't find out the plan of Yuan Wendu and others, when Yuan Wendu and others set up an ambush in Miyagi one day later, Wang Shichong suddenly sprained his feet and suffered a little. Slightly injured, forced to take leave in order to rest, escaped the catastrophe unintentionally, and the painstaking arrangements of Yuan Wendu and others were in vain.
Wang Shichong's leave also caused an unexpected consequence, that is, he inadvertently frightened the assistant ministers such as Yuan Wendu and Duan Da. Without knowing whether Wang Shichong was really forced to take leave, Yuan Wendu and Duan Da Da and others all suspected that the news had leaked out, and Wang Shichong already knew that they were going to kill him. Among them, the cowardly Duan Da, in extreme fear, sent his son-in-law Zhang Zhi to report to Wang Shichong in order to save his life, and asked Zhang Zhi to tell Wang Shichong that he was in charge of the defense of the Sun Gate. If he is willing to enter Miyagi, he can open the Sun Gate to welcome Wang Shichong into the palace.
In this way, the eastern capital mutiny inevitably happened. In order to protect himself, Wang Shichong, who was furious, immediately summoned his generals to discuss the side of the Qing emperor. Fei Qingnu, who was loyal to Emperor Sui Yang, had died in battle before. The remaining generals in charge were either Wang Shichong's relatives or Wang Shichong's confidantes. They were also tortured by lack of food and full of complaints. One person objected, but all applauded and vowed to follow Wang Shichong.
Then, Wang Shichong immediately assembled 20,000 elites with the old Huainan Ministry as the backbone, announced to them that Yuan Wendu and others were planning to kill him unjustly, announced to the public that he would raise troops on the side of the Qing emperor, and promised to reward the soldiers after success. The food in the city was given priority to the lieutenant soldiers who suffered from food shortages. Under the leadership of the generals, 20,000 soldiers took orders in unison. Then, under the leadership of Wang Shichong, they marched towards the imperial city. Right Xuanhuimen suitable for large-scale operations. Wang Shiyun, Wang Shibian and others also immediately led the garrisons at other city gates to quickly block the roads in the city and the Tianjin Bridge and other vital points, prohibiting pedestrians from passing.
At the critical moment, Yang Tong, Yuan Wendu and others did another stupid thing. Instead of securing the city to protect themselves, they ordered Ba Yegang, the general guarding the imperial city, to lead the defenders of the imperial city to go out to fight back. He was forced to lead the army out of the city, and when he saw Wang Shichong's army rushing towards him, he knew that he was not Wang Shichong's opponent. , Wang Shichong's army drove straight in, quickly took over the imperial city and went straight to the Sun Gate.
As agreed, Duan Da kept his word and opened the Sun Gate to welcome Wang Shichong into the city. Yuan Wendu, who was urging the Imperial Army to guard the other palace gates, and Lu Chu and others were caught off guard, so they had to rush back to Qianyang Palace to beg Yang Tong. To save lives, Yang Tong was forced to have no choice but to walk out of the Qianyang Hall and sternly asked Wang Shichong what he was doing here. Wang Shichong got off his horse, endured the pain in his feet, bowed and kowtowed to Yang Yu, and said loudly, "Your Majesty, Yuan Wendu and Lu Chu and other treacherous ministers listened to the rumors and wanted to kill the humble officials for no reason. The humble officials should not lead the army to Qingjun! Your Majesty, please execute Yuan Wendu." With Lu Chu and other treacherous ministers who are swindlers, the humble ministers are willing to accept the crime!"
At the same time, General Fei Yao, who hastily led his army to reinforce, was easily defeated by Wang Renze. Wang Shichong's army quickly surrounded the Qianyang Palace. Tong couldn't be coerced, so he could only order the guards to take down Yuan Wendu, Lu Chu and others, and hand them over to Wang Shichong for punishment. And when the guard held down Yuan Wendu, Yuan Wendu shed tears and choked up and said, "Your Majesty, if the old minister dies today, I'm afraid it will be your turn tomorrow."
Hearing this, Yang Tong burst into tears, but he still didn't have the courage to stay in Yuan Wendu, and still waved his hand to let the guards push Yuan Wendu and others down the Qianyang Hall, and hand them over to Wang Shichong's army to hack to death.
Yuan Wendu, you are a loyal minister, you are the one who prevented Chen Yingliang from dominating Dongdu, and you are not mistaken about Wang Shichong, but you are an incompetent loyal minister, and you have no ability to stop the seventy yards of the wheel of history.
On July 21, the first year of Sui Yining and the first year of Huangtai, Wang Shichong had a mutiny in Jiangdu, killing five auxiliary ministers including Yuan Wendu, Huangfu Wuyi, Lu Chu, Guo Wenyi and Zhao Changwen, and executed their whole family. Yang Tong was forced to do nothing but canonize Wang Shichong as Zuo Servant, the governor of all internal and external military forces. From then on, the military and political power in the eastern capital was completely controlled by Wang Shichong. The surname of the eastern capital was Wang, and the surname of the western capital was Chen.