If someone else said that by soaking first and then drying up, the city wall of Taiyuan could collapse on its own while preserving the people in the city, then the Taiyuan army might not believe it, but since the words came from the mouth of the famous magician Yuan Tiangang, Even if the Taiyuan army is only half-doubtful, they still have to weigh the consequences. — After all, during the Yanmen War, Li Yuan led the Taiyuan Army because he didn't believe Yuan Tiangang's forecast of weather changes, and the people died in vain and fought for nothing, so that the friendly army robbed them of everything. Not far away, the Taiyuan Army naturally did not dare to take it lightly.
Because of this, as soon as Chen Sangliang led Yuan Tiangang and others away, Yin Kaishan, Feng Li, Xie Shufang and others immediately surrounded Li Jiancheng, and they scrambled to ask: "Zuo Dudu, what did Yuan Tiangang say? Let the city walls of Taiyuan collapse after soaking, is it true or not? Could that guy be talking nonsense and threatening?"
"I don't know if it's true or not, and I'm not proficient in water conservancy." Li Jiancheng shook his head and said, "However, judging from the intelligence obtained by our army, Yuan Tiangang is not a person who likes to talk big. It can be seen that Chen Yingliang was really surprised, his surprise was not faked."
"So, Commander Zuo, do you suspect that this may be true?" Xie Shufang asked, seeing Li Jiancheng nodding, Xie Shufang hurriedly asked again: "Then if the traitor Chen Yingliang really flooded the city, what should we do? The city wall of Taiyuan is ours. Without the protection of the city wall, the only thing we can rely on against Chen's army, the rest of our army is hopeless against Chen's main force?"
"We can only take one step at a time." Li Jiancheng said helplessly: "If the enemy really floods the city, then we will see whether Yuan Tiangang's words come true. If the city wall of Taiyuan collapses on its own as he said, we will break through. Go upstairs to the north, unite with Liu Wuzhou's remnants of Mayi, and continue to fight against the enemy by taking advantage of the desert wind and sand."
Feng Li, Xie Shufang and Li Jiancheng's confidants did not say a word, because they knew in their hearts that breaking through the encirclement was not easy, and even if the breakout was successful, the Taiyuan army would face objective problems such as lack of food and water, and soldiers homesick and fleeing when they arrived in Loufanmai, so they could save their lives. Maybe there is still a glimmer of hope, but it is more difficult than ascending to the sky if you want to make a comeback and make a comeback. However, Li Jiancheng is very good at knowing people. Even though he knew that Li Jiancheng's contingency strategy was not realistic at all, Feng Li, Xie Shufang and others still made promises and never wavered.
At this time, Li Er, who had been hiding from Li Jiancheng for the past few days, suddenly came up, bowed his hands to Li Jiancheng and said: "Brother, whether Yuan Tiangang's words just now are true or not, as long as they are spread, it will inevitably affect the morale of our army." Another blow. The younger brother thinks that my brother might as well arrange for some highly respected and well-educated people to come forward and declare to our soldiers that Yuan Tiangang's words are nothing but nonsense, and that the city of Taiyuan is as solid as gold, and no matter how flooded it is, it will never collapse. It can dispel the worries of many soldiers and stabilize the morale of the army."
Asking the brick family to call beasts to fool the ignorant people, this trick can achieve some results no matter what, so Li Jiancheng didn't think too much, and immediately nodded and said: "Erlang's plan is quite clever, you can adopt it, I will immediately arrange Mr. Shujie To deal with this matter, we must first stabilize the morale of the army before we talk about it.”
Probably seeing that his suggestion was adopted and gained some confidence, Li Er said respectfully again: "Thank you, brother, but my younger brother thinks that it is not enough to just stabilize the morale of the army. If we want to defend Taiyuan, we must also cheer up the morale." Get up, my younger brother suggested that our army might as well take advantage of the opportunity when the main force of the Chen bandits is not stable, and send a small number of elite soldiers to attack at night to sneak attack on the enemy's camps. We don't want to destroy the enemy, as long as we get a small amount of gains, it will greatly inspire us The morale of the army will be of great benefit to the next battle of defending the city."
"Sneak attack on the enemy camp at night?" Li Jiancheng hesitated a bit, and said hesitantly: "Chen Yingliang uses his troops well, and the enemy camp is well-defended. It is not only difficult to succeed in attacking the camp at night, but it may also be counterproductive, causing our soldiers..."
"Brother, you don't need to send out a large army. A single attack of more than a hundred people is enough." Li Er interrupted Li Jiancheng and said, "Let them put on the enemy's uniforms and attack at night. It is difficult to distinguish the enemy from us in the dark. Even if they are not good at night, they can attack." If you retreat calmly, you will not suffer too much loss, but if you succeed once, the gain will definitely not be too small."
Li Er's suggestion is equally reasonable, especially now that the main force of the Sui army has been stationed in Fenshui and Longshan. The distance between the battalions is too far, and it is difficult to respond to and communicate with each other. As long as the Taiyuan army is willing to spend money and take risks, it is not without fishing in troubled waters. A small chance to win a small advantage, so after careful consideration, Li Jiancheng nodded and said, "Well, I can also consider this point. We need a victory to boost our morale after losing consecutive battles. "
Thanking Li Jiancheng for his obedience, Li Er immediately resigned and retreated, and returned to Li Yuanji's side. Looking at the back of Li Er's leaving gracefully, Feng Li, Xie Shufang and other Li Jiancheng's confidants were inevitably a little confused and said How did Li Er become so kind-hearted that he was able to spit out two ivory in front of Li Jiancheng—this is a very rare thing. On the contrary, Yin Kaishan, a veteran of the Taiyuan Army, looked at the fire in his cave, and said with a sneer, "Can he not hurry up and give up his life? He and Chen Yingliang have a deep feud with Chen Yingliang. Once Chen's army enters the city, he will be the first to escape!"
"My second brother." Li Jiancheng also sighed, and said, "If he had done this earlier, how good would it be?"
Li Jiancheng and Yin Kaishan obviously underestimated Li Er, and so did Li Yuanji. Seeing Li Er running to Li Jiancheng to offer advice and suggestions, Li Yuanji, who had already regarded Li Er as his lackey, also had some tastes, so led Li Er After leaving the city wall, Li Yuanji just arrived at a place where there were no outsiders. Li Yuanji immediately asked why Li Er came to Li Jiancheng to flatter him. As a result, Li Er only used one sentence, and immediately turned Li Yuanji's anger into joy—Li Er replied with a smile Said: "Fourth brother, if brother Yu doesn't encourage elder brother to send troops to attack Tang Wang's camp at night, what chance do you have to arrange people to leave the city? Elder brother has publicly declared before that anyone who goes out of the city without his permission will be executed no matter who it is! "
"Brother's trick!" Li Yuanji suddenly realized, and quickly looked around, and then asked in a low voice with great surprise: "Brother, so you are also moved?"
Li Er smiled and said in a low voice: "This is not a place to talk, let's talk about it when we go back. Also, didn't your beloved concubine give birth to a son for you, brother? Why don't you give birth to your uncle and brother for such a big happy event? Cousin and the others invited you to your house for a feast to celebrate?"
Blinking and blinking his triangular eyes, Li Yuanji showed a satisfied smile again, nodded desperately and said: "What brother said is very true, such a happy event should be celebrated, my younger brother will set up a banquet at home tonight, and invite uncle and cousin to the house to celebrate. but… ."
Speaking of which, Li Yuanji, the most idiot among the Li family brothers, showed some embarrassment, and said in a low voice: "But what will you say then? Although the eldest brother has gone against the law and used a foreign name to alienate his flesh and blood, our Li family members all hate him to the bone. But people are so close to each other, no one knows what our uncles and cousins are thinking in their hearts. If I tell them my plan directly, in case someone not only refuses to follow me, but also takes the opportunity to tell my elder brother Whistleblower, then I...?"
"Fourth brother, don't worry." Li Er said with a smile: "I'll say these things for you. Safekeeping can let our clan relatives know your thoughts and plans, but also prevent them from getting any clues. There is no evidence to tell the truth."
Li Yuanji was overjoyed, and hurriedly said that all of this would be left to the second brother. Li Er smiled and nodded in his heart, but sneered in his heart: "Idiot! Things have come to this point, our clan relatives will only report if they are stupid. What good can it do? Now in the hands of Li Jiancheng, what capital can he have to bribe our clan relatives who are as wolfish as tigers? Who among our clan relatives is willing to bury Li Jiancheng with him?"
Li Yuanji is a person who does what he says. After returning home, Li Yuanji really asked his servants to prepare a banquet, and then invited a large group of relatives to the banquet in the name of celebrating the birth of his son. For the sake of caution, to avoid suspicion from Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji followed Li Er's suggestion and sent someone to send an invitation to Li Jiancheng. The result was not as Li Er expected. Li Jiancheng, who was busy with military affairs, had neither the time nor the mood to attend this banquet. The newborn nephew gave him an expensive gift, and he didn't feel much suspicion—of course, it can't be said that he didn't have it at all.
The samurai Xun who once served as the head of Li Yuan's guard once had a good relationship with Li Erfen. He offended Emperor Sui Yang because he helped Li Yuan prevent Jinzhong merchants from selling grain to Chen Sangliang, who led the army and king Qin, and was forced to flee. His family property was confiscated until Li Yuan made Lumian public again after he raised his troops, but because the warrior Xun relied on Li Jiancheng's cover to survive under the stubborn nose of Fan Lao until Li Yuan made a comeback, so after returning to Li Yuan's side, the warrior Xun got very close to his benefactor Li Jiancheng. After Li Jiancheng fled back to Taiyuan to take power, he directly became Li Jiancheng's confidant. The reason why Li Jiancheng sent him to Li Yuanji's family banquet was also because of some surveillance. Regarding this, Li Yuanji was also a little apprehensive, but Li Er sneered again and again, and just whispered a few words in Li Yuanji's ear, and immediately let Li Yuanji applaud again, without any worries.
Still as Li Er expected, after Li Yuanji's invitation was sent out, all his clever relatives with the same surname agreed to attend the banquet without exception, and they brought gifts to Li Yuanji's house early one after another, and then arrived In the evening, the Li family banquet, where only Li Jiancheng was absent, officially began. During the banquet, cups were exchanged, and the cups were exchanged. There were silk and bamboo dancers to add to the fun, orchestral bells, singing and dancing, and the excitement was as usual.
At the beginning of the banquet, it was naturally very normal, but after drinking for three rounds, Li Er and Li Yuanji began to concentrate their firepower on Samurai Xun, and kept toasting to Samurai Xun. The identity offered a toast to the samurai Xun, but the samurai Xun's drinking capacity was not very high, and he was soon drunk to the point of begging for mercy, showing signs of drunkenness. Then Li Yuanji also kindly asked the maid to bring the hangover soup, but it was fine if he didn't drink the hangover soup. No matter how much you scream, you can't wake up.
After repeated calls several times without waking the warrior Xun up, Li Er first exchanged glances with Li Yuanji proudly, and then Li Yuanji immediately waved the dancer to leave, and also ordered to the servants next to him: "You all go down too!" Well, I will call you if there is anything to do." The servants agreed, and obediently left the hall, then Li Er first went out to see that Li Yuanji's confidants were guarding the window, then carefully closed the hall door, and looked up carefully Fangliang, the fear is that someone is hiding on the beam and eavesdropping.
I have to say that the old Li family is indeed well-educated. Just seeing Li Er's careful look, everyone in the Li family immediately understood what Li Er and Li Yuanji were going to do. Sensual, pretending to be calm, waiting for Li Er and Li Yuanji to speak. And Li Er is indeed a master. After laughing, he pointed to the warrior Xun lying on the desk and said, "Uncles, cousins, do you know? I saw Uncle Wu fall down just now. Who did I suddenly think of?"
"Who does Nephew remember?" Li Shuliang pretended to be curious and asked, Li Fengci and others knew that Li Er must have something in his words, so they all asked curiously.
"I think of the ancient Murong Chui more than two hundred years ago." Li Er said with a smile: "Murong Chui's real name is Murong Ba, because he accidentally fell off a horse and knocked off his front teeth, so he changed his name to Murong Chui. The Chinese character name is Chui. Just now Uncle Wu fell forward and almost hit his front teeth. I was worried, and immediately thought of Murong Chui, an ancient man. I was afraid that Uncle Wu would fall down on the spot just like Murong Chui. front teeth."
Everyone in the Li family laughed, only Li Shentong smiled slightly, and reminded: "Nephew, be careful what you say, if your Uncle Wu is not asleep, if he hears what you say, he might be angry with you."
"Uncle, don't worry, Uncle Wu slept very deeply." Li Er picked up the hangover soup bowl that the warrior Xun had dropped on the ground before, showed it to a group of relatives, and said with a smile: "Uncle Wu must sleep at least until late at night before he can sleep well." Might wake up."
Seeing the hangover soup bowl, the eyes of everyone in the Li family lit up. Guessing that Li Er and Li Yuanji must have added special ingredients to the hangover soup, they were all overjoyed. Li Shentong also smiled and nodded, extremely satisfied Baby nephew's caution. And Li Er smiled again and said: "Speaking of this Murong Chui, I am really puzzled. He was originally the prince of the former Yan. Why did he abandon the court of the former Yan and go to the former Qin emperor Fu Jian? Qian Yan was captured by Fu Jian." After the death, how did he restore Yanji and ascend the throne under Fu Jian's eyes? How did he finally force Emperor Fu Jian to death? What's the story? I don't know which uncle or brother knows it. Teach me."
Li Er has already talked to this point, so the Li clan who knows Murong Chui's story, is there any reason why they don't understand it? But not everyone in the old Li family is a dragon and a phoenix, at least Li Yuanji and Li Boyi said very puzzled: "Is there such a thing? Be the emperor again?"
"There is such a thing." Li Shentong said calmly: "Murong Chui could not be tolerated by his elder brother Yan Jingzhao Emperor Murong Jun. He was almost in danger of his life, and was forced to flee west to Chang'an, which is now Daxing, and defected to Qin Emperor Fu Jian. In the Fu Jian dynasty, he endured humiliation, kept a low profile, endured what ordinary people could not bear, and gradually gained the trust of Fu Jian, and then took advantage of Fu Jian's Feishui fiasco to take advantage of the opportunity to raise troops, and finally forced Fu Jian to death, and restored the Yan Kingdom that was destroyed by Fu Jian , ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor."
"Also." Li Shuliang added: "Murong Chui also took advantage of his status in Fu Jian's army to save many Murong family members when the former Yan collapsed, and gradually helped the Murong family members gain positions of power in Qin. , In the end, these Murong clan relatives also became a powerful support for him to raise troops and restore Yan, and after the incident, everyone was ranked as a minister, and eleven of them were crowned kings."
The eyes of Li Yuanji, Li Boyi and the others lit up, and they finally understood why Li Er deliberately brought up Murong Chui. Li Er smiled and said: "So that's the case. Thank you two uncles, my nephew has been taught. Also, speaking of Former Qin emperor Fu Jian, my nephew really felt sorry for him. He conquered the east and the west, conquered the south and fought the north, unified the north of the Huaihe River, emphasized farming and neglected taxes, rested with the people, and recruited talented people to the Caomang market. He can be regarded as a famous monarch of the previous generation, but it is a pity that he was too soft-hearted and never killed those who surrendered, which gave Murong Chui a chance to make a comeback, but he ended up decapitated in a different place."
Speaking of this, Li Er smiled again, and said: "Not to mention, my nephew found that Fu Jian and that traitor Chen Yingliang really have a lot in common. If things go on like this, I'm afraid Chen Thief will repeat Fu Jian's mistakes sooner or later, and end up in the end of his life and the country's destruction at the peak of his prosperity."
"Is this possible?" Li Shentong asked with a smile.
"Yes, it's still very big." Li Er said with a smile: "Although Chen Yingliang's talents are not inferior to Fu Jian's, he is far inferior to Fu Jian in some aspects. First of all, he has no brothers, blood relatives, and blood relatives closest to him. People like Li Jing are all relatives who have graduated from Wufu, so as long as he has one foot in the air, he will end up worse than Fu Jian."
"Then, my nephew thinks, who will be Murong Chui under Chen Yingliang's command?" Li Shentong asked calmly, "Xue Renguo? Or Chai Shao?"
"They are all too unqualified." Li Er said with a smile: "Xue Renguo is a martial artist, how can he have the brains of Murong Chui to endure? Chai Shao has a bad temper and is not good at forbearance, and he was notorious because of his divorce. No one will follow him On the contrary, Pei Xingfang has some hopes, but unfortunately Pei Xingfang's qualifications and prestige are far from enough, and he lives in Bashu far away from the hinterland of the Central Plains, so he has no chance to become Murong Chui, so Chen Yingliang doesn't have Murong Chui yet."
"Not now, doesn't mean there won't be in the future." Li Shentong asked with a smile: "Why, nephew, do you want to become Murong Chui under Chen Thief's command?"
Everyone present held their breath, and the hall was so quiet that only the slight snoring of the warrior Xun remained. Li Er took the opportunity to observe the expressions of a group of relatives, and what made Li Er secretly happy was that all the dozen or so relatives were looking forward to it. They were all looking forward to his opening his mouth and agreeing to be Murong Chui under Chen Sangliang's command, but no one showed a look of fear, and Li Er probably had a bottom line in his heart, so he said with a smile: "Hehe, uncle was joking, my nephew Has Murong Chui's blessings and abilities? But..."
Speaking of this, Li Er lowered his voice, pouted his mouth at the master Li Yuanji who was sitting in the middle, and said in a low voice: "However, my nephew's fourth brother has such a chance, but I don't know how many uncles and brothers Would you like to be a member of the Murong Clan?"
Everyone's eyes focused on Li Yuanji's face again, and Li Yuanji was so nervous that he even stuttered, and said in a low voice: "Uncles, brothers, I have a chance to be Murong Chui, but I don't know if you want to To be a clan member of the Murong clan?"
They exchanged a few glances with each other. Although they all knew that Li Yuanji was not Murong Chui's material, everyone present knew that Li Er had the ability to be Murong Chui, so Li Shentong nodded without further hesitation. He said: "As long as my nephew is willing to be Murong Chui, uncle and we are naturally willing to be Murong's clan."
Li Shuliang, Li Fengci and others agreed one after another, and expressed their willingness to follow Li Yuanji in low voices. Li Yuanji was overjoyed when he heard that, and quickly took out a handwritten letter of surrender that Chen Sangliang had written to him before, and called everyone in the Li family to come. Come to see, Li Shentong and others did not hesitate, they all left the table and walked in front of Li Yuanji, and read the letter that Li Yuanji had hidden for more than a month. However, what no one in the Li family noticed was that a mysterious smile suddenly appeared on the corner of the mouth of the samurai Xun who was lying on the table and sleeping soundly...