We all know that Chen Sangliang has never had the habit of killing envoys for the convenience of bluffing and deceiving. This time, Li Mi felt relieved to send Xu Shiyu, a subordinate who was canonized by the Sui court of the Eastern Capital as Shangshu Youcheng, as an envoy. He also used the same name as Li Jiancheng. Congratulations to Chen Sangliang for being awarded the banner visit, and also sent Chen Sangliang a generous gift, which made the stingy and stingy Chen Sangliang secretly happy.
Reciprocity, for the sake of Li Mi's kindness to his envoy, Chen Sangliang personally met the busy Xu Shiyu, and congratulated Chen Sangliang on being crowned Queen of Tang with humble words. Xu Shiyu took out a stack of letters, but did not rush After handing it over to Chen Sangliang, he still hesitated to speak, as if it was inconvenient to speak. Chen Sangliang was a little strange, so he took the initiative to say: "Mr. Shiyu, if you have anything to say, just say it directly. Although Mr. Fazhu and I are enemies, we never make things difficult for each other. You can speak bluntly, don't be shy, say It’s okay to be wrong.”
"Thank you, Your Highness, King Tang." Xu Shiyu apologized first, and then hesitated a bit before saying: "Your Highness, both your army and ours value morality and never make things difficult for the other party's envoys, even when fighting on the battlefield, They all entertained each other with the courtesy of a superior guest, but no matter what, your army and ours are still enemies, so I came to meet you today as an envoy of the enemy. Although I was invited by you, I still wanted to say something offensive Your words. Regarding this point, please forgive me, Your Highness."
"Of course." Chen Sangliang said with a smile: "My emissary, Zhang Yongtong, used to always contradict Mr. Fazhu, and Mr. Fazhu never cared about it. Mr. Fazhu can be so magnanimous. How can this king be so magnanimous?" Narrower than him?"
"Thank you, King Tang." Xu Shiyu hurriedly thanked Chen Sangliang again, and then said frankly: "That young envoy offended you, and to tell you the truth, during the Battle of Heyang, Ren Yu of the Li family in Taiyuan took the initiative to flee into the We are seeking protection from our army, and we are trying to seek an alliance with our army. In order to attack your army, we, Duke Wei, have already sent people to escort Ren Yu to the north to Taiyuan, and have taken the initiative to ask Li Yuan's eldest son, Li Jiancheng, for an alliance. We want to jointly attack your army and crusade against you His Royal Highness Tang."
"Haha, Mr. Shi Yu's words are indeed straightforward." Chen Sangliang laughed, and asked with a relaxed expression: "So, today, Shi Yu is representing Li Mi and Li Jiancheng's allied forces with the Li surname to declare war on the king. ?”
"The Prime Minister misunderstood, the roads are blocked, the traffic is difficult, and our army has not yet received a reply from Mr. Jiancheng, and we have not actually reached an alliance." Xu Shiyu shook his head and said the truth, and then wrote the document in his hand, Respectfully said: "This letter is from General Meng Haigong, the general of our army. Because he didn't know that Wei Gong had decided to seek alliance with Li Jiancheng, he accidentally got it from a passer-by when he was in Hanoi. Wei Gong knew that His Royal Highness, you are too wise. People, I will definitely suspect that our army forged it, but the emissary still brought it along, please His Royal Highness Tang Wang."
Chen Sangliang pursed his mouth, and the guard beside him stepped forward to take the letter and held it in front of Chen Sangliang with both hands. When Chen Sangliang took the letter and opened it again, he found that the letter was written by Li Jiancheng to Wang Shichong. But Chen Sangliang was surprised—Li Jiancheng didn’t know where he knew the details of Emperor Sui Yang’s last edict. He also knew that Emperor Sui Yang’s final will was to pass on the throne to King Yang Yu of Yue, and he told him the details of the will in letters. Wang Shichong, suggested that Wang Shichong make the last decree of Emperor Sui Yang public to the public, establish the legitimacy of Yang Tong's succession, and then use the reputation of the legal court of the Eastern Capital to command all the heroes in the world to join hands to crusade against those who violated the decree of Emperor Sui Yang and established a puppet government. Chen Sangliang, the thief of the chaotic country, and Li Jiancheng will be the first to respond to Wang Shichong's call!
Not to mention, the letter brought by Xu Shiyu really made Chen Sangliang a little confused as to whether it was true or not. He was planning to pass the letter to Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui and others for reading. Xu Shiyu observed his words and took the opportunity to say : "Your Highness, we Duke Wei didn't know whether the late emperor really had this edict, and we didn't think about letting Your Highness know the existence of this letter at the beginning, but something happened later, which made Duke Wei furious and unbearable. , and also extremely contemptuous of the Li family brothers, that's why I made up my mind to send a small envoy to Daxing to present this letter to His Royal Highness Tang Wang."
"What's the matter?" Chen Sanghao asked curiously.
"Brothers of the Li family secretly bought Zu Junyan, the counselor of our army, and asked him to offer a divorce plan to Duke Wei." Xu Shiyu bowed his head and said, "It is recommended that Duke Wei personally act as a matchmaker and marry Miss Pei Cuiyun, the daughter of our general Pei Renji, to Li Shimin and Li Shimin. The son is a wife, establish an in-law relationship, and join hands with your highness to fight to the death."
Chen Sangliang was unable to tell the truth from the fake again this time, because Chen Sangliang learned through Wang Xuance's channels that Zu Junyan had indeed been bought by Li Er to become an insider of the Li family, and Li Mi had also noticed this, but because of All kinds of considerations were not publicized or exposed, but Zu Junyan was transferred away from the shogunate and secretly monitored, so after listening to Xu Shiyu's introduction, Chen Sangliang's forehead rarely had some blood vessels beating, and he couldn't bear it, so he couldn't help but blurted out and asked : "Is this really the case?"
"Your Highness may not believe it, but His Highness is in our army, and there must be insiders to snoop on the news." Xu Shiyu calmly replied: "Wei Gong has already arrested Zu Junyan for questioning, and Zu Junyan also admitted his crime of being bribed by the Li family brothers. This matter must not be hidden from Your Highness's eyeliner, and His Highness will check to find out if it is true or not."
Chen Sangliang nodded, knowing that Wang Xuance is currently Li Mi's confidential secretary, he must know the truth of this matter, so Chen Sangliang simply came down the slope, punched the case in front of him heavily, and scolded him. Said: "Mrs. Li family! If you don't kill all of you, this king will not give up!"
Seeing that Chen Sangliang was angry, Xu Shiyu was overjoyed and hurriedly said in a sincere tone: "Your Highness, we Wei Gong knows about the matter between you and Miss Pei, and knows that Miss Pei not only saved your life, but also has an affair with you." Xiangyue, it's just because of all kinds of mistakes, that no good things come together. In the case of General Shan Xiongxin's younger sister, Wei Gong owes your Highness your favor in this regard, and he is very clear that this is the trouble of the Li family brothers. The plan, the purpose is nothing more than to provoke Your Highness, you sent troops to the east, and questioned our army. We, Duke Wei, neither disdain it nor want to be their shield, so the small envoy came here to explain it, please Your Highness check it out. "
"Mr. Trouble, please return to Mr. Fazhu, thank you very much." Chen Sangliang cupped his hands, and asked with some doubts: "But as far as I know, Cuiyun is still in the Eastern Capital?"
"That's right, Miss Pei is indeed still in the Eastern Capital." Xu Shiyu nodded, and then said respectfully: "Your Highness is so handsome, do you still want to take the exam for a junior envoy? With His Highness's wisdom, it is possible that you can't figure out the pros and cons of the joints." If my lord Wei Gong is tricked into asking Zheng Gong and Wang Shichong to ask for Miss Pei, once Zheng Gong knows the reason and purpose of my lord Wei Gong asking for Pei girl, can he not seize this opportunity to make a move? If Zheng Gong insists on meeting with the prime minister you As an enemy, of course, we will definitely do our best to facilitate this marriage, if Zheng Gong also takes the opportunity to sow discord and stir up trouble, wouldn't our army be about to face your Highness's all-out crusade?"
Chen Sangliang's face was a little ugly, not because Li Er wanted to hit Pei Cuiyun's idea, but also because Chen Sangliang found that if he couldn't get the news from Wang Xuance this time, he really couldn't tell what the matter was. The fact that it exists is Li Mi's trick to blame Taiyuan. Over there, Xu Shiyu peeked at Chen Sangliang's face, and added cautiously, "Forgive me, Your Highness, the Li family brothers borrowed Zu Junyan's mouth to make an even more shameless suggestion, saying that it is my lord. If Duke Wei can urge Duke Zheng to remarry his daughter, then our army will never have to worry about Duke Zheng joining forces with you, Your Highness."
With a bang, Chen Sangliang overturned the case in front of him for a rare time. He jumped up and his face was ashen. After gritting his teeth for a while, Chen Sangliang said to Master Xu: "Thank you, Mr. Shiyu, for passing on the message. You go down to have a rest and have a banquet first." Come on, don't worry, if I find out that this matter is true, it will be considered that I owe you a big favor! If I find out that this matter is fabricated by you... "
"Our army is willing to take full responsibility!" Xu Shiyu replied frankly.
Chen Sangliang nodded, waved for the guards to lead Xu Shiyu down to have a rest and have a banquet, and ordered good students to entertain him. As a result, after Xu Shiyu left, Fang Xuanling smiled at Chen Sangliang and said, "Your Highness, it's rare to see you really angry .”
"Such a thing, if it were you, would you be able to bear it?" Chen Sangliang asked sullenly.
Fang Xuanling smiled and said: "Don't worry, let alone that it is very likely that Li Mi fabricated this to anger you. Even if the second son of the Li family wanted to retaliate because he had a feud with you for taking his wife, Wang Shichong would absolutely I won’t agree, Wang Shichong is not a fool, he doesn’t know how much you will be irritated by doing this, and besides, it’s his own daughter, no matter how wolfish he is, he won’t force her to die.”
Chen Sangliang snorted heavily, and said bitterly: "It is still necessary to bring Xue Ji's mother and son and Cuiyun back as soon as possible, lest they be used as hostages by Wang Shi in the future to blackmail me."
"Then how about going with the plan?" Du Ruhui suggested: "You have decided to send troops to Taiyuan first, and not to send troops to the East for the time being, so your Highness might as well make a favor and openly conclude a peace agreement with Wang Shichong, promising not to invade each other. Take the opportunity to go back to Concubine Wang and Miss Pei, and give Wang Shichong a reassurance, let him let go and fight Li Mi, so that we can have no worries when we send troops to Taiyuan."
"Yes, this is the best way." Fang Xuanling echoed: "Although Wang Shichong still has the option of joining forces with Li Mi to enter Weihan Dao, both he and Li Mi are already seriously injured, and even if they join forces, it may not be possible. He is sure that he can win the Changping position of Xiaohan Dao, and at the same time, he has to prevent Li Mi from stabbing him in the back suddenly. Taking advantage of our temporary lack of time to look around, he can eliminate Li Mi and regain Luokou Cang and Hulao Pass. The best choice. With Wang Shichong's ingenuity, he can't fail to see this."
"The same is true for Li Mi." Fang Xuanling added: "Li Mi is also very clear that he and Wang Shichong will have a decisive battle sooner or later, and he will definitely worry that we will support Wang Shichong to attack him. He will do everything possible to lure us first. Sending troops to Taiyuan, in addition to gaining respite time, is also the best chance to defeat Wang Shichong, so that our army cannot provide great assistance to Wang Shichong, so we only need to conclude a peace treaty with Wang Shichong and Li Mi, and when our main force goes north to Taiyuan, They will definitely launch a decisive battle, or it will be a full-scale decisive battle between you and me!"
Chen Sangliang nodded again and again, and after thinking for a while, Chen Sangliang suddenly said: "If you don't do anything, besides signing a peace treaty with them, you can simply disclose the news that we are going to march into Taiyuan directly! Write A call-to-action document enumerates all kinds of crimes of the Li family in Taiyuan, such as treason, treason, and killing the king, and offers a reward for the heads of the Li family brothers, and discloses our decision to march into Taiyuan! Then post the call-to-action at the gates of various counties and counties, so that the whole world Everyone in the world knows that we are about to send troops to Taiyuan, and my king's reputation has always been good, and the proclamation has spread all over the world, no matter how suspicious Wang Shichong and Li Mi are, they can understand that I am coming for real this time!"
"It's wonderful, but if we do this, we will lose a lot of opportunities." Fang Xuanling said hesitantly: "The spring plowing has not been completely finished yet, so we can't start preparing for the war immediately. After the spring plowing is over, we will start preparing food, grass and military supplies." It will take a considerable amount of time to mobilize the soldiers and mobilize the army. Now that the plan to send troops to Taiyuan is announced to the world, it will inevitably give the Li brothers too much preparation and response time. Then they will strengthen their defenses in the Queshu Valley area. , or seek reinforcements from the surrounding thieves, if we want to take Taiyuan again, I'm afraid it will take time and effort."
"Also." Fang Xuanling added with a smile again: "As soon as the proclamation came out, Your Highness, you and the Li brothers have completely torn skins, and if you want to use your best and favorite estrangement, I'm afraid there will be no chance. "
"It doesn't matter." Chen Sangliang waved his hand and said: "The proclamation only mentions the names of Li Da and Li Er, and names them as the chief culprits. As long as they have their heads, the rest of the people will not be held accountable as long as they surrender. It's just a divorce plan, enough to make that boy Li Yuanji have a different heart!"
"As for the too long time for the Li family brothers to prepare for the war, in fact, it won't be much longer." Chen Sangliang snorted again: "Taiyuan is thousands of miles away from Daxing, and the food can only be transported by land along the way, and the army is moving slowly. , Li Erlang has suffered from our blitzkrieg, and will definitely learn a lesson. When he finds that we are preparing for war, we will immediately strengthen our defenses. When our army crosses the Yellow River and sets foot on the East River, the Li brothers will immediately understand that we are coming for them. When the time comes They will still prepare for the battle with all their strength, and because we hit the Rat Valley as soon as we are ready, we have the morale and the advantage of the first opportunity. Give them an early warning to let them prepare for the battle in advance, but it will make their army because of the long-term spirit Tension, and slack and fatigue."
After all, Chen Sangliang added another sentence in his stomach, and secretly said: "It was like this when Emperor Taizong attacked Yue Monkey. The attack time was estimated to be more than three months later than Yue Monkey. Yue Monkey was too nervous to prepare for the battle every day, and he dragged himself down. When Taizong actually fought over, Yue Houzi was caught off guard."
"What Your Highness said is indeed reasonable." Fang Xuanling nodded, and then said: "Then what should we do about the fact that the brothers of the Li family are asking for help? Shall we also send envoys to contact the bandits around Taiyuan and try our best to lure them to On our side, help us besiege the Li family brothers?"
"Of course we have to do this." Chen Sangliang nodded, and said with a sneer: "The Li brothers will definitely ask for help from the thieves around Dou Jiande, Liu Wuzhou, Liang Shidu, and Luo Yi. The Li family brothers can understand this truth, but these traitors may not be able to understand, even if they insist on coming to help, it doesn't matter, we are dispatching the main force to fight these guest troops away, and it is much more convenient to destroy them than to directly hit their door! "
Seeing that Chen Sangliang's determination had been made, and his attitude was still extremely firm, Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui didn't say anything more, they all agreed, and then Du Ruhui suggested: "Your Highness, the Li family brothers are powerful and have the strength of mountains and rivers. Dangerous, the scale of our troops in the Northern Expedition to Taiyuan this time will definitely far exceed any previous wars. This is a big matter. The officials think that it is best for His Highness to call Wei Shangshu, Li Shangshu and Yuan Shangshu to discuss and prepare a perfect plan. It will not be too late to promulgate the proclamation."
Chen Sangliang nodded in agreement, and on the second day, he called six ministers and a group of relatives and cronies to discuss the plan for the Northern Expedition, but the results were not very unified. Yi was a little puzzled, and they all felt that they should first send troops to fight Wang Shichong and Li Mi, who were already seriously injured, and win the two to establish orthodoxy, and then do big things.
Fortunately, both Qu Tutong and Li Jing firmly supported Chen Sangliang's plan for the Northern Expedition. Qu Tutong's support for the Northern Expedition was of course to take the opportunity to avenge his shame, but Li Jing pointed out: "Since ancient times, it has always been the best strategy to attack the East from the West and attack the South from the North. It is easy, but vice versa is the most difficult. Wang Shichong and Li Mi check each other. Although there is a certain danger, they are not to be feared. The Li family in Taiyuan is a real threat to us. After a while, the Taiyuan Li family will immediately have the opportunity to attack our grain-producing land in the east of the river, and then threaten Xiaohandao, and the main force of our army must return to rescue Guanzhong urgently. It may lead to unforeseen consequences. Therefore, if our army wants to fight for hegemony in the Central Plains, we must first eliminate the hidden danger of Taiyuan, and not give the Li brothers a chance to become a big player in Taiyuan!"
With the help of Li Jing, Chen Sangliang persuaded everyone to agree to launch the Northern Expedition without spending much time. When Chen Sangliang ordered everyone to prepare a plan for dispatching troops and draft an appeal, Yuan Tiangang, who had been silent before, suddenly spoke. , said: "Your Highness, I believe that our Northern Expedition plan is best arranged around one point."
"That point?" Chen Sanghao asked curiously.
"Do our best to defeat the foreign enemies and encircle Taiyuan City before the end of July. It is best to defeat the external enemies and encircle Taiyuan City before the middle of July." Yuan Tiangang said calmly: "If our army can do this, then don't blame him. The Li family brothers have been in Taiyuan for five years with food and grass, and if they have ten years of food and grass, our army can also destroy it in one fell swoop!"
"Why?" Chen Sangliang asked in surprise.
Yuan Tiangang hesitated and didn't answer immediately, but Li Jing over there said: "Your Highness, Yuan Shangshu is indeed a talented person. If our army can do this, we can indeed take Taiyuan City with ease."
Speaking of this, Li Jing paused, then smiled and said: "It's just that, with your personality, I'm afraid you don't want to use this siege tactic."