Just like what Chen Yingliang and Fan Zigai worried about, after the surprise attack on Luoyang failed miserably, Li Mi, the military adviser of the rebel army, really came up with the idea of persuading Yang Xuangan to move to Guanzhong. It is Li Mi who believes that under the current situation, it is difficult for the rebels to capture Luoyang, the eastern capital where the defenders have become more confident.
In order to persuade Yang Xuangan, who likes to get his head wet when making strategic decisions, Li Mi, the fox of Wagang, who has not yet reached his peak, actually naively proposed the idea of Li Zixiong, Yang Su's former subordinate, and wanted to use the former Youwuhou general Li Zixiong's identity and fame, together with Li Zixiong, persuaded Yang Xuangan to give up the siege of Luoyang, and went west to attack Guanzhong Daxing, which was in a state of emptiness. At the same time, because of precious time, on the way back to Jinyong City from Luoyang, Li Mi took the opportunity to tell Li Zixiong about this matter alone.
There is a price to be paid for being naive on the battlefield, and the price to be paid for being naive in politics will only be even greater. After Li Mi explained the situation to Li Zixiong in private, Li Zixiong, who had already been up and down in the political arena of the Sui Dynasty, immediately knew that his opportunity had come. He agreed to Li Mi's request, and then offered separate advice, first asking Li Mi to persuade Yang Xuangan to give up attacking Luoyang, and then himself to persuade Yang Xuangan to raise troops to attack Guanzhong, step by step, first laying the groundwork, and finally jointly persuade Yang Xuangan to adopt the correct strategy. Li Mi was overjoyed when he heard the words, and immediately agreed to persuade each other.
Sure enough, after Yang Xuangan led the rebels back to the Jinyong City camp in disgrace, the first thing he did was to order Li Mi to urge the civilians to make every effort to build siege weapons, and asked for as many siege weapons as possible. ! Li Mi seized this opportunity and said cautiously to Yang Xuangan: "Duke Chu, the city of Luoyang is high and deep, and the officers and soldiers are also well-guarded. If our army attacks from the front, the losses will be huge, and I don't know how long it will take. Yang Guang has personally led the main force back from Liaodong, and it is not only unwise to continue to attack Dongdu, but it is also very dangerous, so please ask Duke Chu to make another plan earlier."
"Another plan? What other plan?!" Yang Xuangan, who has not yet found his second brother Yang Xuanzong, roared: "The lackeys of the tyrant in Luoyang killed so many of our rebels, and made my second brother disappear on the battlefield. If I don't beat Fan Zi to death with this old dog and that little thief named Chen, I will not give up!"
"But Duke Chu, if we can't take Luoyang before the main force of the official army returns to help, then we will be in big trouble." Li Mi reminded: "At that time, let's not talk about avenging the second general, even if we want to get out Instead of taking the risk of storming Luoyang City, it is better to move to Guanzhong as soon as possible. The main force of the officials and troops in Guanzhong has been disabled by us. It is far easier to take Guanzhong than to break Luoyang. As the saying goes, ten years is not too late for a gentleman to take revenge. When our army occupies Guanzhong, Hold Tongguan and defend Sanfu, then it will not be too late to seek revenge."
Yang Xuangan is not a person who does not listen to advice at all, and what Li Mi said is indeed very reasonable, even if Yang Xuangan is angry, he has to carefully consider Li Mi's proposal. After suppressing his anger and calculating for a while, Yang Xuangan ordered: "You go first Urge the auxiliary soldiers to build siege weapons, and let me carefully consider whether to attack Luoyang City with all my strength."
Seeing that Yang Xuangan was no good at all, Li Mi breathed a sigh of relief, hurriedly bowed and left, and went to supervise the auxiliary soldiers and civilians to build siege weapons according to Yang Xuangan's request. Li Zixiong winked, his expression was full of pleading, Li Zixiong nodded calmly, expressing that he understood what Li Mi meant, and Li Mi left happily.
Li Mi went out of the tent with secret joy in his heart, but Yang Xuangan was still worried about his second brother Yang Xuanzong, whose life and death were unknown. He was looking forward to his second brother's sudden return, but also afraid of confirming the news of his death, and even more afraid that Yang Xuanzong would accidentally fall into the hands of the Sui army. He was nervous Uneasy, Yang Xuangan suddenly caught sight of Li Zixiong still sitting in the tent, patted his forehead hurriedly, and pleaded guilty to Li Zixiong who was nearly sixty years old: "Don't blame the old general, he was so busy worrying about the second brother, forgetting that you are tired from a long distance away." , I haven’t rested until now, I’m rude and rude. Come, quickly arrange a sleeping tent next to my sleeping tent, so that the old general can rest well, and then arrange ten hard-working soldiers to serve the old general.”
Yang Xuangan's captain sang Nuo, and quickly made the arrangement. Li Zixiong smiled and cupped his hands and said, "Don't be polite, Duke Chu. I have been leading the army for many years, and I have long been used to staying up for days and nights. Oh, by the way, just now Li Junshi Persuading Duke Chu to give up attacking Luoyang and move to attack Guanzhong, I have a little opinion on this matter, I wonder if Duke Chu is willing to listen?"
"Even my father is full of praise for the old general's talent. I am not talented, so I just want to ask the old general for advice." Yang Xuangan, who has an excellent tutor, said respectfully: "I hope the old general will not hesitate to teach you, I will listen to you."
"Then the old man is not polite." Li Zixiong was indeed not polite, and said straight to the point: "The old man believes that the Duke of Chu must never accept Li Junshi's suggestion, otherwise our army will be in danger!"
"Why?" Yang Xuan was startled.
"The reason is very simple. Our army just attacked the city and was defeated." Li Zixiong said convincingly: "Because Chu Gong adopted Li Mi's clever plan to attack Luoyang, the enemy easily saw through it. It is a time when the morale of the army is depressed and morale is low. If we give up attacking Luoyang and move to Guanzhong at this time, our soldiers will definitely think that Chu Gong fled the battle and is afraid of the Luoyang army. Further shaking our army's morale will be very detrimental to the war!"
"The old general is right, that's the reason." Yang Xuangan, who didn't really want to give up attacking Luoyang, nodded vigorously. He naturally felt that Li Zixiong's words of speculation were more than Li Mi's harsh words, and then Yang Xuangan asked again: "Mr. General, in your opinion, we should continue to attack Luoyang City?"
"Not only should we continue to attack, but we should also attack head-on and break through Luoyang, the eastern capital!" Li Zixiong replied firmly, and then said: "Sun Ziyun: The method of using troops is to encircle them in ten and attack them in five. There are 100,000 people, but the defenders in Luoyang City are only more than 20,000, which is the right way to attack according to the Five Principles of Soldiers, and there is no need for opportunistic tactics such as sneak attack and ambush to lure the enemy, just attack Luoyang head-on!"
"Besides, Fan Zigai is cruel and ungrateful. He is notoriously mean and harsh to soldiers and generals!" Li Zixiong waved his hand heavily again, and said viciously: "Officers and soldiers are afraid of his despotic power, and may be loyal to their duties for a while. If the situation in Luoyang is critical, However, it will inevitably abandon Fan Zigai, so as long as our army is to attack Luoyang head-on and attack the Luoyang defenders with the momentum of Mount Tai, then within a few battles, the Luoyang defenders who are defending because of fear will inevitably collapse because of fear. In turn, help our army kill the cruel and ruthless Fan Zigai, who is stubborn!"
"Wonderful!" Yang Xuangan slapped his thigh and said happily, "Listening to the old general's words is better than reading ten years of books. Our army's disastrous defeat this time, the mistake is that I shouldn't listen to Li Fazhu's bad idea and use some opportunistic means to attack Luoyang. It's a frontal attack, and we might all be sitting in the Eastern Capital Imperial City celebrating our victory."
"That's exactly the reason." Li Zixiong nodded vigorously, and then took the opportunity to cup his hands and said: "Chu Gong, I followed Wei Xiaokuan and your father in the early years. During the Daogong's Southern and Northern Wars, I have sent troops to attack the city many times. I have a little bit of experience, if the Duke of Chu trusts me, I would like to command the siege for the Duke of Chu, and compete head-on with that old man Fan Zigai."
"Since that's the case, I will leave everything to the old general. Next time I attack the city, I will ask the old general to command the army." Yang Xuan felt overjoyed, and hurriedly bowed his hands to thank Li Zixiong. , to help the boy conquer the tyrant, the boy has nothing to repay, I want to ask the old general to take up the post of military adviser for the time being, and when the boy achieves great things, he will definitely repay him!"
"Army?" Li Zixiong was startled, and hurriedly said, "Chu Gong, what about Li Junshi? I don't dare to be an old man, I really don't dare to be."
"Li Mi?" Yang Xuangan snorted, and said: "Let him be the deputy military adviser, and let him assist you in making plans for me and commanding the siege. He is a junior, so it is also necessary for him to assist you."
Li Zixiong continued to pretend to decline with hypocrisy and humility, but Yang Xuangan firmly refused. Li Zixiong had no choice but to accept the position of military adviser as the second leader of the rebel army "reluctantly" after joining the rebel army for less than a day. He said politely: "Duke Chu, since we want to attack Luoyang City head-on, we must first solve the moat in Luoyang. The old man suggested that our army should build at least a hundred toad carts, first fill up a section of the moat, and then our large The siege weapons can go straight to the bottom of the city."
"Come here!" Yang Xuangan didn't even blink his eyelids, and immediately shouted orders: "Go and send an order to Li Mi, let him immediately build a toad car with all his strength, three days... no, within two days, at least build it for me." Send out a hundred toad carts! Not one less, the more the better!"
The toad cart is a kind of siege weapon invented by Emperor Wudi Shihu of the later Zhao Dynasty. Its main function is to carry earth and rocks to fill the trenches and moats. Quite a few of these siege weapons have been built for use. With the current manpower and material resources of the rebel army, it is not difficult for Li Mi to build a hundred toad chariots in two days, but after receiving this order, Li Mi immediately understood that Yang Xuangan was determined to attack Luoyang Jiancheng. Shocked, Li Mi hurriedly returned to the central army tent, asked Yang Xuangan about the situation, and tried his best to correct Yang Xuangan's strategic mistakes.
It was also Li Mi who nodded. When he returned to Luoyang City from the rear military construction site, it happened that Fan Zigai sent a rebel prisoner of war to deliver a letter to Yang Xuangan. Chen Yingliang cut off his nose to demonstrate to the rebels, which somehow added fuel to the flames. He saw his own soldiers come back crying with blood on their faces, and saw Fan Zigai yelling at his ancestors for eighteen generations. He also threatened to write a letter written by his second younger brother Yang Xuan Zong, who whipped the corpse every day. Yang Xuan, who was already very bad-tempered, suddenly felt blood rushing to his head, beating his chest and yelling in tears: "Fan Zigai, old man, don't treat me like that!" You will be hacked into pieces, I swear I will not be human!"
"Grand Chu, what happened? Why did you lose your composure?" Li Mi only saw Yang Xuangan go crazy, but he didn't have the letter in Yang Xuangan's hand. Of course, he didn't know why Yang Xuangan had a sudden convulsion. At the same time, Li Mi faintly had an extremely ominous premonition—at such a sensitive moment, Yang Xuangan suddenly scolded the opponent's boss Fan Zigai so severely, that was not a good signal.
"Come on, call Yang Xuanting, Yang Wanshuo, and Yang Jishan!"
Yang Xuangan didn't pay attention to Li Mi, who was getting more and more disliked. He just shouted and ordered. It wasn't until Li Mi asked again that Yang Xuangan threw the letter in front of Li Mi, and shouted: "Why are you here? You're not in the rear camp. Building a toad car, what are you doing here?"
Li Mi is a person who has been greatly favored by Yang Su, so naturally he doesn't care about Yang Xuangan's rude words in anger, but picks up Fan Zigai's personal letter and reads it carefully, first he saw Fan Zigai tell Yang Xuangan that the Luoyang defenders cleaned up the battlefield When Yang Xuanzong's body was found, Li Mi's heart sank, but he was not too surprised - after Yang Xuanzong disappeared in the rebellion, Li Mi knew that there must be more than good luck. But when he saw Fan Zigai threatening to hang Yang Xuanzong at the Shangchun Gate to flog his corpse every day, Li Mi became furious immediately, and blurted out: "Little thief Chen Yingliang, you have such a vicious heart!"
After blurting out curses, Li Mi quickly raised his head and said to Yang Xuangan quickly: "Duke Chu, don't be fooled, Fan Zigai is deliberately provoking you, trying to lure our army to besiege Luoyang Jiancheng with all its strength, and there is no way out." Attacking Kongxu Pass. And I can also be sure that this shameless poisonous plan must have come from the hands of that little thief named Chen Yingliang, who hung the body of the second general at the Shangchun Gate where Duke Chu was humiliated. Old man Fan Zigai is not so delicate thoughts!"
Yang Xuangan didn't pay attention to Li Mi's words at all, and just continued to scold Fan Zigai hysterically. Li Mi didn't understand, and said: "Chu Gong, the more Fan Zigai deliberately provokes you, the more he is afraid of our army's change. The goal is to attack Guanzhong, I think that as long as we raise our troops to the west, we will be able to take Guanzhong easily, maybe the old man Fan Zigai will be forced to send troops to fight in the field, trying to restrain our advancing speed... "
"Shut up!" Yang Xuangan couldn't bear to interrupt Li Mi, and roared: "Have you said enough? If you have said enough, go back to the back camp to supervise the construction of siege equipment. I gave you a military order to build a hundred frog chariots within two days." , if there is one missing, come and see me!"
Li Mi was stunned, staring blankly at Yang Xuangan, he never thought that Yang Xuangan, whom he had tried his best to help, would say such a thing to him.
"Also." The ashen-faced Yang Xuangan simply said again: "By the way, I have already worshiped the old general Li Zixiong as a military advisor, and you will be the old general's deputy, and will be responsible for making food and siege equipment for our army full-time. , formulating military strategy and tactics will not bother you, and there will be no orders in the future, so you don’t have to come to the central military tent to discuss matters.”
Li Mi's black face turned pale, and then a little blood red appeared, and he said with a slightly trembling tone: "Chugong, Old General Li has been in the field for a long time and has rich experience. It is absolutely fine for me to be his deputy, but why not?" I will participate in the formulation of military strategy and tactics again? Is it because of the slogan Chen Yingliang arranged for the white-robed soldiers to shout in unison this morning?"
"Yes, how is it?" Yang Xuangan asked back, and then said with a sneer: "If the master feels that the deputy military commander is too wronged, you can find another job. As a reward for your hard work during this period, I will subsidize your travel expenses."
Yang Xuangan had no other words that could hurt Li Mi so much. As soon as he received the letter from Yang Xuangan, Li Mi immediately abandoned his family business in Daxing and rushed to Liyang to assist Yang Xuangan in the rebellion against the Sui Dynasty. In the end, in exchange for Yang Xuangan's words, the pain in Li Mi's heart at this moment can hardly be described in words.
After standing in a daze for a while with extremely complicated emotions, Li Mi bowed his hands to Yang Xuangan weakly, and said, "Thank you, Duke Chu, for your kindness. Li Mi complies with your orders. I'm going to urge the rear army to build siege equipment. Please take care, Duke Chu."
After saying that, Li Mi immediately turned his head, and staggered out of the Chinese military camp, looking as if he had aged ten years all of a sudden. Seeing Li Mi's desolate back, Yang Xuangan, whose conscience hadn't been eaten up by dogs like Captain Chen, felt a little guilty, and almost wanted to call Li Mi to stop, but when he thought of Li Mi's insistence on opposing him to attack Luoyang for revenge, Yang Xuangan felt a little guilty. Dispelling this idea, he secretly said: "Take down Luoyang first."
Slowly walking out of Yang Xuangan's tent of the Chinese army, Li Mi glanced at the direction of Luoyang in the distance, and sighed in his heart, "Chen Yingliang boy, you are lucky, Yang Xuangan, a brave and foolish man, seems to be destined to It's a stepping stone for you."
In the afternoon of the same day, despite the persuasion of many civil and military officials in the eastern capital, Fan Zigai insisted on ordering Yang Xuanzong's body to be hung on the Shangchun Gate, and flogged Yang Xuanzong's body in public. The rebel scouts brought the news back to the rebel camp. The brothers of the family cried loudly together, and vowed through gritted teeth that they would break through Luoyang City and kill Fan Zigai's family to avenge their siblings.
Two days later, under the personal command of Li Zixiong, the new military adviser of the rebel army, and under the cover of the elite rebel army led by Yang Xuanting, the rebel army dispatched hundreds of toad carts in one go, loaded with earth and rocks, and started the river reclamation operation. Dongdu, whom Yang Xuan hated deeply, went to Chunmen. Pei Hongce and Xie Zichong commanded the defenders to fight back with all their bows and arrows, and shot arrows desperately to suppress the rebel troops filling the river. The rebel troops with sufficient strength followed suit, always transporting soil to fill the river. Like locusts, human voices are boiling upside down.
Relying on the advantage of sufficient manpower, the rebel team's river filling work was carried out quite quickly. In less than a day, the section of the moat with a width of more than 20 feet had been filled and leveled, and the road leading to the Shangchun Gate was opened. the way. But after seeing this, Fan Zigai and Huangfu Wuyi, the civil and military leaders of Luoyang, the eastern capital, were not worried but turned happy, because Fan Zigai and Huangfu Wuyi had already received the news that Yang Guang had personally led the main force of the Sui army. Returning aid from Liaodong quickly, and at the same time confirming the news that Lai Huer returned to Luoyang before asking for an order, so the Luoyang defenders only need to use the city defense advantage to hold back the main force of the rebel army for a period of time, Yang Guang and the elite Sui army led by Lai Huer The main force can easily wipe out the rebel team in one fell swoop.
Chen Yingliang was also snickering, because Chen Yingliang knew very well that although the siege tactics adopted by the rebels were correct and effective and could indeed pose a huge threat to the eastern capital Luoyang, they also had an equally huge weakness, that is, they could not use the number of troops and the ability to fight in the field. The advantage, that is to say, in the future, Chen Yingliang only needs to lead the Baoguo army to hide on the high part of the city wall and smash stones and trees for a period of time, and he can easily wait until the main force of the Sui army returns to help. The national army went out of the city to take risks and fight recklessly with the main force of the rebel army, which numbered more than 100,000.