Of course, Zhu Can was escorted back to Taiyuan City by the soldiers of the Sui Army, but he was quietly escorted to a hidden place outside the north gate of Taiyuan East City, and then he was untied from the rope and handed him a broken knife with blood on it. , Forced him to go to Taiyuan City with a hand crossbow. Zhu Can was so angry that he wanted to kill someone, but he didn't dare to fight with a dozen Sui soldiers with a broken knife with its blade curled up, so he could only scramble and crawl to the north gate of Taiyuan's east city, and loudly declared Identity requirements to enter the city.
Fortunately, Zhu Can, who is cruel and easy to kill, is also well-known in the Taiyuan Army. After reporting his identity, the defenders used a hanging basket to hang him on the top of the city. According to the rules in the army, he notified Li Er, Zhu Can's superior. The result was exactly as Zhu Can expected, although Li Er pretended to believe the explanation that he had fled back to Taiyuan after a bloody battle, he personally picked him up the next morning and brought him back to Li Er's home in Xicheng. However, when he arrived at a place where there were no outsiders, Li Er immediately showed his true colors, and immediately began to question Zhu Can carefully about his escape. At the same time, Zhu Can carefully noticed that Li Er's right hand was still pressed on the hilt of the sword.
According to Chen Sangliang's instructions, Zhu Can, who knew he couldn't hide it, took the initiative to confess, honestly admitted that he was captured by the Sui army, and fabricated a story of his capture that was pure nonsense, saying that he, Liang Jianfang and others had just fled into an open place. Surrounded by the Nationalist Army, Liang Jianfang and Wang Huaiwen refused to surrender and were killed one after another. Liu Xiaomou was also snatched by the lustful Chen Sangliang on the spot. In order to take the opportunity to return to Li Er's side, he just came back. Finally, with Li Er's nod and agreement, he took off his clothes and unwrapped the needle and thread, took out Chen Sangliang's letter and held it in front of Li Er with both hands.
If he was only half-doubtful about Zhu Can's capture, then Li Er couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the official defense appointment letter written by Chen Sangliang himself. Dumbfounded, he was so dazed that he forgot to beware of Zhu Can's sneak attack and assassination, and murmured, "Wei Guogong, General Youxiao Cavalry, Doctor Jin Ziguanglu, grant you a golden coupon to avoid death for life, except for treason...? I read that right Right? That traitor Chen Yingliang actually wanted to recruit me? He even offered such a condition?"
The conscience of heaven and earth, at this moment, Li Er was indeed a little moved. But this is not surprising, after all, given the current situation of the Taiyuan Army, even if they want to keep the city from being broken, it will be as difficult as the sky if Chen Sangliang is forced to retreat when Chen Sangliang is exhausted! And as long as there is something wrong, Li Er, who has a deep hatred with Chen Sangliang, will definitely be smashed to pieces and die without a place to bury him! Li Erzai, who knew this well for a long time, suddenly saw such a turning point, of course he would be pleasantly surprised and moved for a while.
Moreover, Li Er is very clear that even if the Taiyuan Army wins the Taiyuan Defense Battle, after the victory, it will be difficult for Li Er, who is struggling from inside and outside, to find a chance to make a comeback under Li Jiancheng's rule. If you are not careful, there is also the danger of the head falling to the ground!
"Why does this man seem to be really moved?" Zhu Can is also a person who is good at observing words and expressions. When he saw Li Er's expression was wrong, he couldn't help feeling a little fluke in his heart, and secretly said: "If Li Erlang really If he decides to surrender, that might be even better. This guy's martial arts skills are superior to mine, and his scheming is deep and vicious. It is not hopeless to kill Li Jiancheng with all his heart. He succeeds. Every man is wrong in many ways, but his reputation has always been very good, and what he says basically counts."
Sure enough, Li Er finally couldn't help but asked again under the excitement, "Tie Chen wants you to bring this letter to me, what else can I say?"
"Yes." Zhu Can replied truthfully: "Chen thief wants the right governor to persuade you to persuade the left governor to open the city to surrender. Take or remove Zuo Dudu, open the gate of Taiyuan and surrender, and he will write you these things in the same way."
"What?" Li Er suspected that he had heard it wrong again, and asked in surprise: "If I want to persuade my brother to surrender, why didn't he come forward to persuade him to surrender himself? Didn't he and my brother have to wear a pair of pants before? You come here and want me to persuade your brother to surrender, and you want me to get rid of him if he refuses to surrender? Are these really the words of the traitor Chen Yingliang?"
"It's absolutely true. The last general dare not lie to the right governor. These are indeed the original words of Chen thief." Zhu Can nodded, and it was rare to say a big truth.
Li Er was a little confused for a while, but after thinking about it carefully, he found that this possibility is not impossible. The first is the Taiyuan War. Li Jiancheng's determination to fight was beyond everyone's expectations. Neighbors pulled down the water and did not leave a way out to attack the main force of the Sui army with floods and put them into practice. It is so simple that there is no sign of asking Chen Sangliang for peace and surrender at the end of the road. It is a position of fighting to the end. It surprised the Li clan who had suspected that he might surrender to Chen Sangliang before.
The second is that Chen Sangliang may have secretly recruited Li Jiancheng, but was flatly rejected by Li Jiancheng. Therefore, it is not impossible for Chen Sangliang, who failed to recruit Li Jiancheng, to recruit Li Er and Li Yuanji instead!
Thinking of this, Li Er couldn't help being excited for a while, and he couldn't help being shaken a little bit, but the shaking was wavering, and the shaking wasn't strong enough to destroy Li Er's reason. After trying to calm himself down, Li Er first sneered, and then scolded: "Shameless traitor, he finally showed his despicable face, when he was humble, how much my brother cared for him, he even wanted to kill My elder brother? Still want me to kill my own elder brother? Dreaming! Despicable villain!"
After scolding, Li Er casually put the letter on the table in front of him, and then said to Zhu Can, "get up, for your own confession, I won't pursue this matter, go down to take a bath and change clothes , Let’s talk about other things slowly. Come and help General Zhu to take a bath and change clothes, and then prepare a table of good food and wine for him.”
Zhu Can thanked him respectfully, and obediently followed Li Er and asked the maid who entered the door to take a bath and change clothes. Li Er secretly ordered the soldiers borrowed from Li Yuanji to spy on Zhu Can, and then picked up the appointment letter written by Chen Sangliang. Thoughtful, he pondered in his mind, "What should I do? Although Traitor Chen is treacherous and despicable, he has a good reputation. Should he consider taking a gamble? Or use this opportunity to slander Chen Yingliang's traitor and regain the trust of that idiot Li Jiancheng? But Traitor Chen What if you don’t keep your promise? What if Li Jiancheng still refuses to hand over the military power to me? Li Jiancheng’s suspicion and guard against me are not so serious?”
"Let's wait and see." After thinking for a long time, Li Er finally decided to keep a wait-and-see attitude for the time being, while carefully transferring the letter of appointment into the envelope and hiding it in his arms, he secretly said: "Now, I First of all, two things need to be confirmed. First, is Mr. Li Jiancheng really determined to fight the traitor Chen Yingliang to the end? Second, can Taiyuan City be held?!"
The mountain rain was about to come and the wind filled the building. In the afternoon of the same day, the main force of the Sui army led by Chen Sangliang returned from Yuci to the foot of Taiyuan City, joined forces with the rear army led by Li Jing, and immediately moved northward together, and moved to the northeast of Taiyuan City. Camps were set up around Chongsheng Temple in Jiaojiao, and strong camps were built with deep ditches and high forts, and they assumed the posture of preparing for long-term stationing. At the same time, what frightened the Taiyuan army was that Chen Sangliang also brought nearly ten thousand Ding Yang army prisoners captured on the battlefield to the Taiyuan battlefield, and did not recruit or dismiss them on the spot. The appearance of the dam's husband.
When the main force of the Sui army passed through the east city of Taiyuan, Li Er accompanied Li Yuanji to the city wall of Taiyuan again, and checked the enemy's situation with his elder brother Li Jiancheng. The brothers of the Li family were all in extremely complicated moods. Seeing Liu Wuzhou dejectedly riding his horse under the escort of the soldiers of the Sui Army, Li Er and Li Yuanji felt a little gloating in their hearts, but Li Jiancheng burst into tears and choked up, "Brother Wu Zhou, it was me who killed you!" You."
At the same time, seeing people in Taiyuan City with heads like queen ants from afar, Feng Deyi, a famous sycophant, also ran up to Chen Sangliang, and suggested: "Your Highness, there are many civil and military generals in Taiyuan City. It is expected that Li Jiancheng will be there." Peeking at His Majesty's majesty from the city of Taiyuan, since that's the case, why don't His Highness come forward in person, or send another person to escort Liu Wuzhou to the city of Taiyuan to show the public, it will definitely hit the morale of Li Thief's army, and it will have infinite benefits for our army to attack the city or surrender. "
"No need, the news of our army's capture of Liu Wuzhou alive will be reported to Li's bandit army by our own scouts. There is no need to humiliate Liu Wuzhou like this anymore." Chen Sangliang shook his head and refused, and after thinking for a while, he simply said: "Go pass it on." I order that among the prisoners captured by our army, those whose families are in Taiyuan City, as long as they are willing, they will be released on the spot immediately, and let them return to the city to reunite with their families."
The flattery was patted on the horse's leg, and a completely opposite order was brought in. Feng Deyi was a little bit dumbfounded, but he didn't dare to disobey Chen Sangliang's order, so he could only rush to the rear army who escorted the prisoners to send an order It turned out that there were more than 300 prisoners of the Taiyuan Army in Taiyuan City at home who wanted to go home. Kan Leng, who escorted the prisoners of war, followed the order and immediately released them on the spot, letting them go back to the city to reunite with their families in front of everyone. More than 300 prisoners of war in Taiyuan pinched their thighs repeatedly to make sure that this was not a dream, and immediately left with cheers. Most of them knelt down to Chen Sangliang's handsome flag when they left, and kowtowed their heads to thank them.
The power of hypocrisy is infinite. Chen Sangliang released more than 300 prisoners of war in Taiyuan on the spot, which immediately caused a big problem for the Li family brothers. Let them be released into the city. These prisoners of war will definitely become Chen Sangliang's free advocates and shake the morale of the defenders. If it is a blow to morale, if it is not allowed to enter the city, it will definitely blow the morale and morale of the army even more, making it a dilemma. In the end, Li Jiancheng was forced to have no choice but to follow Yin Kaishan's suggestion and let people shout loudly to the prisoners to be safe and calm, and let them enter the city after the main force of the Sui army left.
Of course, Li Jiancheng did this for the sake of safety and interests, but it also aroused the dissatisfaction of those prisoners who were eager to go to the city to reunite with their families. I'll go home straight away, and if you force me to go to the battlefield, don't expect me to work hard!"
The main force of the Sui army finally went far away, and the captives also entered the city one by one under the strict surveillance of the Taiyuan garrison. Looking at the direction in which Commander Chen Sangliang's banner was going away, Li Jiancheng was in a very complicated mood, and said in his heart: "Brother Yingliang , why don't you come to meet me? Have you forgotten that we haven't seen each other for almost three years? However, it's fine if you don't come to see me. If we meet, you will definitely surrender I, I will definitely reject you, and our brotherhood will be completely severed."
Li Jiancheng's mood is complicated. In fact, the mood of most Taiyuan Army civil and military officials is even more complicated. Especially when they saw the Taiyuan Army prisoners released by Chen Sangliang on the spot, all the Taiyuan Army civil and military officers said in their hearts: "Chen Yingliang is not even Chai Shao. People who can forgive, Chai Shao forced him to hang himself and almost died, and he forgave Chai Shao several times, no matter how deep our enmity with him is, can it be as deep as that between Chai Shao and him?"
Attacks on the Taiyuan army happened one after another. At about the second watch of the same night, Li Shentong, the only member of the Li clan who held military power, suddenly rushed back to the west city of Taiyuan with blood all over his body and two soldiers who were also wounded. Under the south gate, just as he was on the stone bridge across the river, his horse fell down on the stone bridge and never stood up. He also injured Li Shentong, who was already wounded. After the soldiers carried Li Shentong, who could no longer stand up, into the city, they immediately cried and told the Taiyuan army south gate guard who came to greet him, "Xicheng was broken by Liu Heita, and two thousand defenders plus two thousand For the country soldiers, only the three of us escaped back, and the rest were either killed or surrendered."
The reason for the fall of Xicheng was not only Liu Heitai's fierce attack, but also Chen Sangliang's call to buy the hearts of the people in the five prefectures of Taiyuan. Not only did he not work hard, but he also continued to secretly provide various intelligence support to the Sui army. Liu Heitai finally broke Xicheng because the Xicheng and rural soldiers quietly informed Liu Heitai, saying that the chief general of Taiyuan officers and soldiers at the west gate of Xicheng died in battle. The soldiers suffered heavy losses, and Liu Heita succeeded in attacking from the weak point. As a result, Li Shentong's westward escape to Lishi was blocked, so he had to flee to Wenshui County in the northeast instead. He didn't even dare to enter Wenshui County, and fled all the way back to Taiyuan.
The unexpected return of Li Shentong not only brought Li Jiancheng the bad news that Xicheng and Lishi were hard to save, but also brought the backbone of the Li clan in Taiyuan City. However, no one from the Li clan left Li Shentong's bedside. Taking advantage of Li Jiancheng's departure, Li Er and Li Yuanji's brothers not coming to visit, and Li Shentong's sanity, they quickly held a clan meeting.
"Uncle Clan, since the death of the Patriarch, you have been the oldest and most prestigious in our Li Clan." Li Fengci, the cousin of Li Jiancheng and Li Er, was the first to speak, and whispered to Li Shentong: "Chen The army of thieves is overwhelmed, our army has been defeated in a row, and now only the isolated city of Taiyuan is left to defend, what should we do for the Li family, and I ask you, uncle, to give us an idea."
"What ideas can I have?" Li Shentong said with a weak expression, dying: "The matter has come to this point, let alone me, even if Brother Shude (Li Yuan) is reborn, he must be at a loss what to do. What other ideas can I have?" ?”
"Clan brother, haven't you considered..." Li Shuliang hesitated to speak, hesitatingly said: "At Daxing, we knew that Yang Guang would never give up and would not spare us, but now that Yang Guang is dead, the government They were all mastered by Chen Yingliang. Chen Yingliang's personality was far gentler than Yang Guang's, and he was famous for not caring about past suspicions. Even Chai Shao, Xiao Yu and Dou Jin didn't care about them. They were all appointed to official positions, and Chai Shao was reused. ... You said, we...?"
Li Shentong closed his eyes, and whispered in a hoarse voice: "Since you already have these thoughts, why don't you do it? No one stops you?"
"Brother, someone stopped me." Li Shuliang said with a wry smile: "Brother, you know that because of the matter of the left and right governors, nephew Jian Jian hated our clansmen to the bone, except for you, brother, who is highly respected, all the others Everyone has been gradually deprived of military power and real power by him, and now even if members of our Li clan want to go in and out of the city, they must first obtain his permission from Li Jiancheng. Even if we can find a way to sneak out by ourselves, the family members can't escape, right?"
"Uncle Clan, there is one more point." Li Daozong, who is far less backbone than his younger brother, added: "If we go to see the king of Tang empty-handed, I am afraid that at most we can barely survive. Don't even think about it."
Li Shentong refused to open his eyes, closed his eyes as if he had fallen asleep, and asked in a low voice after a while, "Commander Zuo, what's your attitude?"
"I don't seem to have that plan. Yesterday I shouted on the city wall the words of living and dying with Taiyuan." Li Shuliang replied in a low voice, and then said with a wry smile: "We really made a mistake before. We were afraid that he would take the lives of our whole family when we were in Daxing. In exchange for his life, he also helped Erlang, who had a deep hatred with Chen thief, to fight for power with him, but he was actually more determined and stubborn than Erlang, and insisted that even if he could not avenge the old Patriarch, he would never kill his father and enemy. Bend your knees... Alas, if we knew this, we shouldn't have caused trouble at that time."
"Uncle Clan, you have high morals and high prestige. You are the only one in our Li Clan who can hold military power under the Commander Zuo." Li Fengci said cautiously: "I don't know if Uncle Clan can..., can you persuade Brother Chengcheng? Back when Chen Yingliang was humble, He already has brotherhood with Chen Yingliang, and Chen Yingliang is a very moral person, if he..., if he takes the lead..., it will be beneficial to all members of our Li clan."
After being silent for a long time, Li Shentong said as if in a dream: "For the continuation of the blood of my Longxi Li family, I promise you, but you don't have to worry, Taiyuan may not be able to hold on. I have to figure out the attitude of Jiancheng. If If Taiyuan can be kept, we don't need that, but if Taiyuan really can't be kept, I will think for your sake."
…
Another night passed quickly, and in the early morning of the next day, when Chen Sangliang yawned and came to the Chinese army's tent in the new camp, Li Jing, Yuan Tiangang, Qu Tutong, Feng Deyi, and Sun Fujia waited for him. All the staff and staff have already arrived. After the meeting, Yuan Tiangang quickly offered Chen Sangliang a new sand table of Taiyuan terrain, and said with a smile, "Your Highness, this is a small gift made by my own hands to congratulate you on defeating Liu Wuzhou's bandit army. I hope you like it."
On the sand table, Taiyuan has already been blocked by a dam on the way to Fenshui. On Longshan, the birthplace of Jinshui in the southwest of Taiyuan, there is also a Sui army camp and a small dam. All forced into the Zhibo Canal in Taiyuan City.
Looking carefully at the situation on the sand table, Chen Sangliang smiled, and said with a smile: "Master Shangshu, how can I not like the gift you made with your own hands? But it's too early, right? When did I say that you must use water to attack Taiyuan?" Offensive tactics?"
"Your Highness, accept it." Li Jing said with a smile: "Yuan Shangshu spent countless efforts to make this by himself. Even if you feel sorry for the people and don't want to hurt the innocent, you should accept it. Don't let Yuan Shangshu down. kindness."
With a helpless smile, Chen Sangliang could only take the beautifully made sand table with both hands, and said with a smile: "Since this is Mr. Tiangang's hard work, then I will accept it, but I also have something to say first, the water attack tactics I can think about it, but unless it is absolutely necessary, I will never flood the city!"
"No! To attack Taiyuan, you must attack with water!" Yuan Tiangang, who is actually very gentle, contradicted Chen Sangliang once in a while, and said firmly, "Your Highness, I know that you sympathize with the people, but you want to take Taiyuan at the lowest price. The only way is to attack by water! The officer suggested that our army send troops today to seize the Fenshui Bridge, march into Longshan to seize the entrance of Zhibo Canal, and set up troops to guard it! Your Highness, please allow it!"
"There's no need to be in such a hurry, right?" Chen Sangliang asked with some doubts.
"It has to be so urgent!" Yuan Tiangang's attitude became more determined, and he knelt down to Chen Sangliang's head, cupped his fists and said, "Please send troops immediately to break through the Fenshui Bridge and take Longshan!"
Chen Sangliang was taken aback by Yuan Tiangang's rare attitude. Li Jing, Sun Fujia and others who had never seen Yuan Tiangang speak to Chen Sangliang in this tone also looked at each other in blank dismay, and then Qu Tutong hurriedly reminded: "Yuan Shangshu, Your Highness hasn't decided how to attack Taiyuan yet, why do you insist on controlling His Highness's military strategy?"
Blinking his eyes, Yuan Tiangang suddenly slowed down a little, and said with a smile: "Because by doing this, it is tantamount to telling the Taiyuan bandits that we are going to use water attack. There are also some well-educated people in the Taiyuan bandits. If you think about it, you must have heard about it." After hearing the story of Zhibo diverting water to irrigate Taiyuan, people’s hearts were shaken by fear, and people’s hearts were shaken, wouldn’t His Highness’s favorite methods be of great use?”
Yuan Tiangang's words reminded Chen Sangliang, and reminded Chen Sangliang that even if he didn't plan to use water attack tactics that would hurt innocent people too much, he could still pretend to be preparing to flood the city with water to intimidate the enemy, and bluff to scare the enemy's internal If it's messed up, it can be much easier to use tricks such as solicitation and bribery to sneak attacks and lure snakes out of holes. So after hesitating for a while, Chen Sangliang nodded and said, "Well, Yuan Shangshu's words are reasonable, so I will send troops immediately to capture Longshan Zhiboqu."
After all, Chen Sangliang added: "But it's still the same sentence, it's fine to capture Longshan to intimidate the enemy, but I have to seriously consider whether to divert water to flood the city."
Yuan Tiangang nodded with a smile, but did not speak, but when he lowered his head, a sinister smile appeared on the corner of Yuan Tiangang's mouth.