The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 752 Chasing All the Way

After figuring out Yuan Ziyan's purpose, Shen Guang asked her to take her to the guest room to rest, while he went to find Yang Guang, reported the situation to him, and came up with the idea of ​​attacking the fleet.

Yang Guang did not comment on Shen Guang's battle plan, but pondered.According to the information they received, Li Yuan's three sons were not good; if Li Yuan died, the Li brothers would surely clash over the throne.For Da Sui, this chaos was originally beneficial and harmless.

But he just got an eagle letter written by Yang Tong, saying that he is going to fight against Tibet.

Yang Guang did not doubt the strength of the Sui army, but he almost froze to death on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau back then, and now he has lingering fears about the weird weather. To avenge the shame and reshape the great Sui Dynasty, we must focus on the plateau.

Some people may say that Yang Tong is not doing his job properly, leaving aside his business of unifying the world and going to fight outside the territory, but this definitely does not include the former emperor Yang Guang.

As an emperor, Yang Tong should put Tubo at the top of his list, no matter whether it is to maintain the prestige of deterring the four fortresses or to restrain Tubo who is in full swing.Otherwise, Tubo Langri Zanpu will not only successfully annex Tuyuhun, but also step on the prestige of the Sui Dynasty, integrate the interior without a single soldier, and eventually turn a divided tribal country into a united Form the country.This has a profound impact on the future of the Sui Dynasty.Therefore, fighting Tubo was for the long-term development of the Sui Dynasty, and it was a wise decision.Now it can only be said that Langri Zanpu is too shrewd, and the timing of sending troops is too subtle and tricky.

And during this period of time, if Li Yuan died, the puppet Tang would be divided into three and the integration would be completed.This caused great trouble to the unification of the Sui Dynasty, so Li Yuan could not die before Yang Tong won a big victory.

Thinking of this, Yang Guang said: "If Li Yuan dies, the puppet Tang Dynasty will definitely fall into division."

"This is a great thing for me, Da Sui." Shen Guang said with a smile.

Yang Guang said in a deep voice, "But the time is wrong."

Shen Guang was very puzzled, "Why is it wrong?"

"Just got the eagle letter, Renjin went to fight Tubo..." Yang Guang said all the information he got and his worries.

"So that's how it is..." After listening to Yang Guang's statement, Yang Yichen, who also participated in the battle against Tuyuhun in the Sui Dynasty, nodded deeply, and said to Shen Guang: "General Shen, it is normal for the plateau to snow in August. and the Tuyuhun people are used to the weather there, but we are not."

"The final general thinks that Yuan Ziyan's plan is very good. If we really want to say that we have surrendered all the bureaucrats, maybe we can destroy the puppet Tang ourselves." Shen Guang said regretfully.

As the saying goes, the listener is interested, but the speaker is unintentional. Shen Guang's words made Yang Guang suddenly have a new idea, and said with a smile: "Your words have reminded me. Although our military strength is not large, if we say that we have surrendered Liao people, at least tens of thousands of soldiers, even hundreds of thousands. Moreover, the Sui army is not only on the road of Renjin, but now there are almost all large armies on the Sui and Tang borders. If the armies can contain Li Yuan's large number of troops, then we will It's much easier. If everything is victorious, we can occupy the southern part of Yizhou in one fell swoop and fight against Li Yuan. Even if we can't destroy the puppet Tang Dynasty, we can still attract the troops from Jingzhou to enter."

"The head of the family said that we don't have to worry about the outside world, but just beat Tang Jun?" Shen Guang understood Yang Guang's meaning, and he was very excited.

"That's right." Yang Guang nodded and said, "Just now I made a mistake in thinking, which always connected us with Sui Jun. Now after you wake up from this point, I realize that we can do a lot by ourselves. matter."

In fact, this is no wonder Yang Guang, it has something to do with his personal experience, so when thinking about problems, he often thinks from the overall situation and ignores the immediate issues.

He is not a self-made man. He used to have the backing of the powerful and rich Sui Dynasty, so he fought all big battles with dignity, and he was crushed by superior troops at every turn. This also makes him always like to start from the overall situation when thinking about tactics, thus ignoring his own strength and unexpected combat methods.

After enlightenment now, everything suddenly became clear. When he was the emperor before, even if he lost a game, it would be a huge blow to his reputation, and it was difficult to maintain the image of an emperor.But now, he is just a surprise soldier, even if he loses all, he will not lose the interests of the court, and will not affect the battle situation of the Sui Dynasty. If he loses all, he can start all over again.If you win, the gains will be unimaginable.

With Yang Guang's permission, Shen Guang went to Yuan Ziyan again and asked her to look for Yuan Tiangang with an imperial decree, saying that the descendants would accept Sui.On the other hand, he ordered [-] elite soldiers to leave Taihe Village, pretending to be a caravan and sailing eastward.

After a day and a night of driving, the group arrived at Luchuan, the prefecture of Luchuan. This is the place where the Dadu River and the Mian River meet. This is the place where Li Yuan's fleet must pass. In Chengdu, the county, Shen Guang found out that the fleet had not yet arrived, and Shen Guang traveled eastward one after another, but when he reached the border of Hejiang, he was stopped and they were not allowed to sail.

Shen Guang knew that Li Yuan's fleet was coming here, so local officials and county soldiers began to impose martial law.

After setting up the army and making some arrangements, he led more than a dozen soldiers along the official road eastward for more than ten miles, and finally saw small warships such as walking boats and boats appearing on the river.

Shen Guang guessed that this should be the vanguard of the fleet.But what makes him a little strange is that the official road is full of scholars with their families and families, all of them hurrying on their way with tired faces.

"Hi! Where are you scholars from?" Shen Guang asked.

Unexpectedly, these people just gave him a disgusted look and continued on their way.

"Boss, what's going on with these scholars, it's as if we provoked them." A personal guard said.

"Ignore them, find a place to rest." They rushed here, and they also needed to find a place to rest for a while, and inquire about news by the way.

"Proprietor, there is a tea shed ahead, you can rest for a while!"

"Go to the tea shed to rest!"

Everyone urged the mover to get off the donkey, and followed Shen Guang to the tea shed.

What is surprising is that although there are many pedestrians on the road, the inside of the tea shed is deserted. Although many scholars passing by the tea shed are sweating profusely and exhausted, no one stops to rest. The tea shed staff seem to be too lazy to greet them , Just sit and drink water and chat.

"You bastards!" The shopkeeper roared, "You still don't say hello to the guests?"

Only then did the man realize that more than a dozen guests had entered the tea shed, and they quickly stepped forward to lead the donkeys and beckoned them to sit down and drink tea.

Shen Guang drank a bowl of herbal tea in one breath, and suddenly felt the heat subsided. He took a cattail fan and fanned it vigorously, saying: "It seems to be hotter here than our Meishan."

The shopkeeper is obviously a talkative person, and said with a smile: "Guest officer, Meishan is on the mountain, as long as the sun is not shining, it will be cool. Our place is as hot as a steamer in summer."

"It's true, if you have any good wine and food, just bring it." Shen Guang said boldly.

The shopkeeper smiled wryly and said: "The imperial army swept away all our food and drinks, saying that they were for the emperor and the accompanying officials to eat. Basically, there is nothing left to eat. Now there are only some sauced mutton and pancakes."

Shen Guang took out a few golden beans and put them on the table: "Bring all the food here, we'll take it all, and I'll give you the rest."

When the shopkeeper saw the golden beans, he was overjoyed and yelled at the staff to cut the meat and bake pancakes.

Shen Guang waited for him to make arrangements, and called the shopkeeper over: "I have something to ask you!"

"Guest officer, please tell me!"

"I am a captain of Meishan County, and I was ordered to inquire about the news of the Holy Master, so that Meishan will not miss the reception schedule." After introducing himself, Shen Guang asked, "Let me ask you, where is the Holy Master now?"

"Return to General." Hearing that the other party was a military officer, the shopkeeper became even more polite, "Shengjia is still at the intersection of Berkshire and Luchuan. I heard that the riverside is full of fleets, but they are all escorted by the army. Except for the trackers, no one is allowed. An outsider approaches."

Looking at the sky, Shen Guang asked calmly: "Based on your experience, when do you think the fleet will reach Hejiang?"

"If the general is quick, I think we will see the fleet in the county tonight."

"What's the matter with the scholars outside? Why are they so embarrassed?" Shen Guang asked again.

The shopkeeper said disdainfully: "They are all from Jingzhou. After all, they are still a group of people who want to be officials and want to go crazy. Does the general know that I am going to start a course to obtain a scholar?"

"Of course I know, are they people who came to Yizhou for the exam?"

"It's these people." The shopkeeper sighed: "The emperor originally planned to follow the example of the Sui Dynasty to open courses to obtain scholars, but Jingzhou disappeared. So I plan to take the exam after arriving in Chengdu. These are scholars who are qualified for the exam. It's just that Yizhou University After the cleaning, although there are some vacancies, but Yizhou is so big, how can there be so many real vacancies that can be allocated? These people are really crazy."

"Are all Jingzhou scholars?" Shen Guang asked again.

"No." The shopkeeper said speechlessly: "There are also many Yizhou people. They first heard that Xiangyang opened a department to obtain scholars, so nearly [-] Yizhou people ran to Xiangyang. As a result, Jingzhou disappeared, and the emperor wanted to live in Chengdu. test, so they ran back again."

"Isn't this tossing around?" Shen Guang said with a smile.

"That's why I think they are crazy about becoming officials. They don't want to come in to rest, and it's not because they are reluctant to give up a little money. Instead, they hurry up and go to Chengdu to find a place to live and study. They want to study for a few days longer than others. I'm afraid I will be slow It’s like learning a little less in one step. I heard that there are still many scholars behind.” The shopkeeper sighed: “I also heard that many people died of heatstroke, and these people are really pathetic.”

"Does the imperial court ignore them?" Shen Guang's heart skipped a beat.

The shopkeeper said: "The imperial court must be in charge, but I don't know if the people below can implement it. Anyway, the emperor doesn't know."

Shen Guang laughed, in the final analysis, the supervision is still ineffective, but these have nothing to do with him, maybe this is a good opportunity.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

At dusk, Li Yuan's fleet finally arrived in the area of ​​Hejiang County, Luchuan. At this time, the sun had not yet set, and the vast mountains and rivers were shining brightly.

In the thin twilight, a fleet composed of more than a thousand ships anchored on the surface of the Yangtze River, covering the entire river surface. From a distance, it looks like a mountain stretching for tens of miles, with an extremely magnificent momentum.

At this time, the Yangtze River is turbulent, and the fleet does not have much power to go upstream, so it needs to be pulled by trackers. This time, there are too many ships and too many materials to carry, so there are more than [-] trackers alone.In addition, there are [-] elite guards headed by Yuan Cong's Forbidden Army.

Li Yuan's dragon boat is a five-toothed warship, three feet five feet high, about twenty feet long, with five floors above, and a load capacity of ten thousand stones. Incomparable.

At this time, Li Yuan was standing in front of the fifth deck with his hands behind his back, silently looking at the riverside, and he couldn't see the marginal camp at a glance.

Along the way, the Sui army he was worried about did not launch an attack from Nanjun. Obviously, he strictly abided by the truce agreement, but he did not dare to be careless in the slightest. So until here, Li Yuan's nervousness finally relaxed. After a night's rest, tomorrow you can go north from Mianshui to Chengdu, Shu County; and there are troops on this journey, and the surrounding fields are open, so you will no longer worry about the fleet being attacked.

However, although there is no Sui army in Yizhou, it does not mean that the territory will be peaceful. Among them, there are still three major anti-Tang forces.

First of all, the remnant forces of the Dugu Sect headed by Dugu Wudu led the soldiers of the Dugu Sect to rely on the danger of the mountain to create chaos in the Chengdu Plain. Not only could Li Yuanji not be wiped out, but because of Li Tang's sluggishness and other reasons, his power was threatening to start a prairie fire, and it seemed to be out of control.

Followed by the Taihe army, they ravaged in Meishan, Qianwei, and Yuexuan, blocking the connection between the southwest region and Chengdu. The Tang Dynasty contributed taxes, but because it was not controlled by the court for a long time, it gradually got out of control.

Another force is the various tribes of the Liao people with a population of up to one million.The Liao people were originally mountain people in the southeastern region. They moved to Yizhou one after another since the Han Dynasty. The last time they entered Shu on a large scale was at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty. At that time, natural and man-made disasters were rampant. Special led the refugees to rebel against the Jin Dynasty, attracted hundreds of thousands of Liao people from Zangzhang to Shu, enriched the deserted towns due to the war, and resettled them in [-] counties including Meishan, Qianwei, Yuexun, and Luchuan. It is no exaggeration to say that the Liao people ruled the world. They have always been a serious problem in Sichuan.Most of the pacification of Yizhou in the past dynasties was to appease the Liao people. Generally, they first showed their prestige and then showed them kindness. However, no generation of emperors has ever really convinced them.

Facing the chaotic Yizhou, Li Yuan realized that Yizhou was not a good place, and Li Yuanji's ineffective action to suppress the bandits also made him see the incompetence of the clan.It's just that most of the giants in his hands are inextricably linked to Li Shimin, a rebellious son. This also made Li Yuan worry that these generals would use the name of suppressing bandits to amplify themselves, and then attack Chengdu with Li Shimin from the south to the north, so he had to choose Those generals who had nothing to do with Li Shimin came to suppress the bandits.

It's just that the generals he trusted were all assigned to various governor's mansions. If they were withdrawn, would the other generals be able to withstand the invading Sui army?It is estimated that it will be difficult.This also means that he needs to make an exception to promote some talented generals with different surnames.

Compared with Dugu Wudu and the Taihe Army, it is easier to manage the large number of Liao people, because the most basic living resources these people care about, as long as they copy the ethnic policy of "Qiang people ruled by Qiang people on land" implemented by Yang Tong, let the Liao people If people become members of the Central Plains dynasty and enjoy the same treatment as Han people, then the Liao people will soon settle down, after all
When people go to high places, compared with the precariousness in the mountains, how can they compare with the comfort and stability of the towns?As for the Li Tang Dynasty, what is lacking now is the population and the source of soldiers. If these people can go down the mountain to fight, they will be a powerful force that cannot be ignored.

While thinking, an eunuch reported from outside the cabin: "Your Majesty, Xiao Xiangguo is asking to see you."

Li Yuan said: "Please come in."

After a while, Xiao Yu came in a hurry, saluted and said: "My minister sees the Holy One."

"Please sit down!"

Li Yuan asked his attendants to bring him a bowl of iced sour plum soup, and said with a smile: "The weather is sultry and hot, and Xiao Aiqing has to travel long distances with me. It's really hard work."

"Thank you Majesty for your concern. I don't think it's hard work, but I heard that Majesty handles official duties very late every day. I hope Majesty will put dragon body as the most important thing."

Li Yuan smiled: "I have my own measure, is Xiao Aiqing okay?"

Xiao Yu cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I am here for the students who are participating in the scientific examination."

"Why?" Li Yuan asked in a puzzled way. Due to the cleansing of Yizhou's officialdom, there were many vacancies. Therefore, he brought a group of accurate scribes from Xiangyang and prepared to let them fill the vacancies.

"Your Majesty, the imperial court originally decided to decide the outcome through scientific examination after they arrived in Chengdu, and then assign them jobs according to their ability. It's just that these people dragged their families along, and it was extremely inconvenient to travel, board and lodging. They traveled all the way. In Xilai, I heard that many people died of heatstroke." Xiao Yu said solemnly.

"There is such a thing, why don't I know." Li Yuan's expression turned ugly. These alternate officials are not only future officials, but also role models for recruiting poor people from Yizhou, but now Xiao Yu said that someone died on the way. If this is not handled properly , I am afraid that it will turn a good thing into a bad thing.

"Your Majesty takes care of everything every day, and everyone is on the water, so communication is very inconvenient. Naturally, Your Majesty cannot know about it at the first time." Speaking of this, Xiao Yu gave his own solution, "My Majesty, Yizhou has undergone a major cleansing. There are almost all vacancies in counties and counties, in my opinion, it is better to arrange some people nearby, this will not only satisfy the students, but also replenish local officials in time, and avoid the chaos of unofficial governance in various counties and counties."

"Xiao Aiqing also knows that we are about to start the first imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty. If we don't take the exam now, what will the Yizhou literati who are waiting for you think? What do you think of the court?" Li Yuan frowned: "The key is them I don’t even know how capable he is, so how can he be appointed indiscriminately? If something goes wrong, how will the imperial court explain it to the local people?”

"This minister also knows that what the Holy One said makes sense, but he can't sit idly by..." Xiao Yu said.

Li Yuan pondered for a moment, and finally shook his head: "It is precisely because official positions are hard to come by that these people know how to cherish them. Aiqing can send someone to tell them that when they arrive in Chengdu, the imperial court will open a course to recruit scholars. Let them hurry on their way now." Well, starving their bodies and working their muscles will do them no harm."

Xiao Yu's original intention was to say that the positions in Yizhou are limited, and he can first allocate a few counties and counties for these accompanying scribes to fight for. It only takes one day to take the exam, and those who fail the exam can be resettled for the people nearby. It can calm the grievances of the accompanying literati.But the emperor had made up his mind, so Xiao Yu could only take back the words that came to his mouth, and went back to appease the accompanying scholars.

(End of this chapter)