The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 954 Killing envoys and seizing generals, crises everywhere
Beichuan County of Wenshan County is a county with a small area and a small population. It is located in the south of the upper reaches of Longquan River. This is the watershed between Wenshan Mountain and Yuntai Mountain. Jinshan County is divided into two halves, and Beichuan County is on the only area where this screen falls.The county seat is built between the remaining veins of the two mountains. The two sides are low and the middle is high. Both internally and externally, it is a small town comparable to a military fortress.

Here, there are [-] Tang Army soldiers headed by Yang Wenqian. If the counties in the county are included, it is estimated that there are about [-] soldiers.

It was not Qian Jie who annihilated the remnants of Li Xiaochang and Han Wei who first launched an "offensive" against it, but the one who went north from Mianzhu with one article and one military.

In the afternoon, Yi Wen and Wu rode their horses along the official road to the north. After walking along the city road for several miles, the two arrived in front of Beichuan City.These two are civil and military under Li Jiancheng, the scholar is his aide Xu Shimo, and the general is Li Junxian.

The tragic death of friends Wang Gui and Changsun Wuji, as well as what happened to Li Jiancheng, made the two of them, like Zhao Hongzhi, Wei Ting, and Xie Shufang, completely disappointed in the Li Tang Dynasty headed by Li Yuan. Innocent died tragically. I wanted to follow Li Jiancheng's arrangement and go to live in the Sui Dynasty, but Li Jiancheng, who was kind to them, was imprisoned in the East Palace. After the incident of Xuanwu Gate, they took advantage of the chaos to get in touch with Li Jiancheng. Although they wanted to rescue Li Jiancheng, they lost all their power after all. Hundreds of guards could not save Li Jiancheng's family, who were under strict surveillance. When Li Jiancheng was imprisoned in Mianzhu County, before they could act, the Sui army acted before them and took Li Jiancheng away. This made them very headache. They couldn't deal with Li Shimin's hundreds of Red Armored Army, how could they be the opponent of the Sui Army?
But at this time, Li Jiancheng himself found their hiding place in Mianzhu County, explained that he had no intention of official career, and persuaded these five talented civil and military men to work for the Sui Dynasty to realize their ideals and revenge.So they followed Li Jiancheng to meet Yang Tong, and transformed into a magnificent Sui Wenwu.

This time, Xu Shimo and Li Junxian came to Beichuan to say that Yang Wengan, the surrendered general, was the task Yang Tong gave them after receiving the news of the collapse of Li Xiaochang and Han Wei's army.

After all, the main forces of the Tang army in Tongchang County and Wenshan County are finished, and it has already played a deterrent effect in Wenshan. Yang Tong does not want to fight county by county. It can quickly gather the First Army and the Fifth Army to Luo County, and it is also of great benefit to the post-war reconstruction of the imperial court.

Xu Shimo glanced at the tall county seat, and said to Li Junxian beside him: "This city is not weak at all 'Luoyang Eight Passes', the north and south of the city are climbed by stone steps, and it is difficult for cavalry to get up; With an army of [-] armed with large siege weapons, thousands of people will be killed or wounded to take this city."

"The terrain in the Central Plains is relatively low, and the mountains are far less majestic and steep than Yizhou. Of course, the pass is not as majestic as Yizhou. If many cities and counties in Yizhou are in the Central Plains, they will be tall and majestic, easy to defend and difficult to attack." Li Jun Xian was in a good mood. At the beginning of the troubled times, he responded to the general trend of the world and defected to the Wagang Army, and was reused by Li Mi. Later, when Li Mi fought Wang Shichong, he was defeated in the Putian War. Li Junxian became Wang Shichong's He was captured and was appointed by Wang Shichong as a general of hussars, but he didn't want to be Wang Shichong's official. He was dismissed on the grounds of injury, and was later killed and recruited by Li Shimin in the city of Luoyang. Group, these people very much rejected the latecomers, which also made Li Junxian have no chance to stand out. Later, he and Zhang Liang defeated Lushi County and returned to Zhuyangguan. But now, even Li Jiancheng has surrendered to the mighty Sui, and the Sui Emperor has a very good impression of him, which makes Li Junxian, who has been stunned several times, feel that he has finally voted for the right person.

"Jun Xian's words are justified." Xu Shimo nodded in agreement, and walked forward slowly.

"Stop!" When the two were a hundred steps away from the city gate, several patrolling soldiers from outside the city rushed up, pointed their weapons at them, and the team stepped forward and asked, "Who are you? Where are you going?"

Xu Shimo cupped his hands and said, "Please general, go and report to General Yang Wengan, saying that an old friend is visiting!"

The soldiers became more relaxed when they heard the words. Although their chief general Yang Wenqian also knew that the Sui army was attacking aggressively, Beichuan was a county after all, and there were many ordinary people living in it. Naturally, he couldn't close the city gate all the time. Therefore, we had to spread scouts and light and dark sentries in the north and south of the city. Once the Sui army invaded, it would not be too late to close the city.

Hearing that he is an old friend of the chief general, the captain's tone softened a lot: "May I ask what your name is?"

"Just say that the old man Xu Shimo asked to see him!" Li Junxian didn't know Yang Wengan, so it was Xu Shimo who spoke.

"Please wait a moment, I will report to General Yang right away."

"It's troublesome."

The team leader nodded, and asked his subordinates to continue to look at Xu and Li, while he rushed into the city.

The nervous reaction of the soldiers indirectly revealed the anxiety of the general Yang Wengan, which gave Xu Shimo and Li Junxian a little more confidence in the mission.

Soon, the team was going back and forth, saluting: "The general invites you to enter the city to talk."

"Please lead the way." Xu Shimo said, and he and Li Junxian followed the team into the city and went directly to Yang Wengan's study.

Yang Wenqian is nearly forty years old, with a handsome appearance and a tall and burly figure. He is very powerful when looking at him. Now he is dressed in casual clothes, but it cannot conceal his extraordinary temperament.

When Li Junxian saw Yang Wenqian for the first time, he couldn't help admiring in his heart, "What a heroic man". He is from Wu'an, Jizhou, and he has seen many elegiac and generous men from the land of Yanzhao, but people like Yang Wengan can take a look. It is extremely rare to be in awe of a person.

As Li Junxian expected, Yang Wenqian is indeed a very capable person. He was originally Li Jiancheng's guard, but when Li Jiancheng discovered his talent, he reused him and let him go outside as a general.

Yang Wenqian asked the soldiers to retreat, and then said in a low voice, "Why did Mr. Xu come to Beichuan City? There are people here who know you."

Xu Shimo wondered, "Who?"

"Cai Yungong, this person is my army commander now." Yang Wengan said with a wry smile.

"It turned out to be him?" Xu Shimo laughed. Li Shimin used to follow the example of Yang Tong's "three halls and one pavilion" in order to win the heir, and set up a literature hall to recruit famous people from all over the world. He often got together with these people and talked about it. Cai Yungong is one of the current affairs politics and local governance and other knowledge.At the beginning, everyone was their own master, fighting wits and courage all the time.Xu Shimo, as a counselor under Li Jiancheng's command, has a lot of attention and research on Li Shimin's civil and martial arts. Conversely, Cai Yungong must also know Xu Shimo and his style of doing things.

Seeing Yang Wengan's worried look, Xu Shimo asked with a smile, "Did this Cai Yungong cause trouble for the general?"

Yang Wenqian sighed: "Cai Yungong asked me to attack Jinshan County many times, and the enemy must be saved when attacking, so as to reduce the pressure on Shu County."

Xu Shimo smiled and said: "He is the new prince's confidant, he thinks it is good, the new prince must listen to him, not you, the general."

"If that's the case, he has a very good idea, but it's not realistic." Yang Wenqian shook his head and said, "Because I only have [-] soldiers here. If fewer people go there, it won't be of much use. Go more. If the Sui army marched north from Mianzhu and occupied Beichuan City, the governor Han in Jiangyuan County would face a dilemma between the north and the south."

Xu Shimo knew that the news that Pei Xingyan defeated Li Xiaochang and Han Wei and went south had not yet reached here, so he asked casually, "Then what did he say?"

As soon as the words fell, a clear voice came from outside the door, "I have something urgent to discuss with General Yang, how can I have time to wait for you to report it?"

"Cai Yungong is here." Yang Wengan pointed to the back room, and Xu Shimo and Li Junxian walked in knowingly.

At this time, Cai Yungong had already barged in, looked at the three cups of tea on the table, and asked suspiciously, "Does General Yang have any guests?"

Yang Wenqian said: "When I was middle-aged, two generals came to me to discuss the military situation. Later we went to the military camp, and the tea cups were not collected in time."

The two soldiers who followed closely moved forward and took away the three teacups. Fortunately, Cai Yungong's thoughts were not here. Otherwise, if you look carefully, you will find that the teacups are still steaming, and you can deduce that Yang Wengan is lying .Seeing that there was no one in the room, he said, "The military situation is urgent. Has General Yang made a decision?"

Yang Wenqian said: "I made it clear and clear in the morning. Our mission is to prevent the Sui army in Mianzhu and ensure the safety of Beichuan City. It is not impossible for you to let me attack Jinshan County, but I need Governor Han Or the court order, otherwise, I can't make the decision."

Cai Yungong said coldly: "The benefits of capturing Jinshan are enormous, and the general will not be unaware of them. However, the general has repeatedly shirked the blame. I think the general wants to support himself and wait for the Sui Dynasty to surrender, so that he can find a good family background."

"Nonsense!" Yang Wenqian slapped the table heavily angrily: "When did I become self-respecting? Don't spout blood."

In order to achieve the goal of sending troops to Jinshan and reducing the pressure on Shu County, Cai Yungong pressed forward step by step: "General Yang thinks the prince will listen to me or you?"

Yang Wenqian in history, who dared to oppose the Tang Dynasty under the circumstances of Li and Tang Dading, how could he be a man who is easy to get along with?He said tit-for-tat: "These five thousand soldiers have only been in the army for half a year. They are weak in combat power and incompletely equipped. You forced me to send troops because you wanted to sacrifice these soldiers and buy time for the imperial capital to deploy. But let me tell you clearly, Without a transfer order, not a single soldier will leave Beichuan City."

"Since General Yang refuses to follow my advice, you can just wait for Xian." Cai Yungong hummed twice when he saw Yang Wengan speak out against his master, turned around and left.

"Okay!" Yang Wengan said loudly to Cai Yungong's back: "You can do whatever you like, I, Yang Wengan, will wait and see."

"General Yang, he is not only your army commander, but also the confidant of the new prince. He should have the secret order to seize the army and kill the general before the battle. Otherwise, how could he be so arrogant?" Xu Shimo who had already walked out with Li Junxian Said.

Yang Wenqian was taken aback, but still shook his head and said, "In Beichuan City, he can't seize power, and he can't kill me either. If he falsely accuses the prince, I will expose it to the Holy Majesty."

Xu Shimo smiled bitterly: "General Yang, let me ask you, who is in charge of the court now?"

After hearing this sentence, Yang Wenqian was dumbfounded.

Prince Li Shimin is the big winner of the Xuanwumen Incident, how could Li Yuan, who was imprisoned in the deep palace, be the master?

However, at this moment, Cai Yungong broke in again. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Xu Shimo and Li Junxian. His eyes widened suddenly, "Xu Shimo, Li Junxian? Why are you here?"

"General Li, kill him." Xu Shimo said decisively.

Hearing this, Li Junxian pulled out the saber at his waist, leaped forward with lightning, the sharp horizontal knife pierced Cai Yungong's heart in the chest, Cai Yungong screamed, his body bent violently for a while, and then died on the spot.

Yang Wengan was stunned, he never thought that Xu Shimo would instruct this warrior to kill Cai Yungong, when he came back to his senses, Li Junxian had returned the sword to its sheath.

Before Yang Wenqian could speak, Xu Shimo said, "Cai Yungong is dead. No matter how the general treats us, Li Shimin will not spare you. If General Yang is still willing to listen to Prince Cheng, then the general still has another chance."

Yang Wenqian's heart was in a mess, but after hearing the words "Prince Jiancheng", he hurriedly asked, "What opportunity?"

Xu Shimo took out a gold medal from his bosom and handed it to Yang Wenqian. In fact, the medal was only a token of the identity of the envoy of the Sui Dynasty, and had no specific real power. Generally, gold medals could only be issued by Yang Tong; If needed for combat, he also has the right to issue silver envoy medals during wartime. Xu Shimo's emissary gold medal was given by Yang Tong, which proves that he is the envoy of the Great Sui Dynasty.

Yang Wenqian first looked at the gold medal, only to see the word 'Sui' on it, and asked uncertainly: "Mr. Xu, are you from the Sui Dynasty?"

"Actually, it's not just me, even Prince Jiancheng also surrendered to the Sui Dynasty..." Xu Shimo glanced at Yang Wengan and continued, "The general doesn't know yet, right? The main force of Li Xiaochang and Han Wei has been defeated by the great general Pei Xingyan. Tens of thousands of soldiers from the first army are coming here, counting the time, the news will reach the general tomorrow."

Yang Wengan was shocked, the Sui army was about to approach the city, but the key point was that Li Jiancheng also surrendered to the Sui Dynasty?
Xu Shimo took out another letter and handed it to him, "This is a letter from Prince Jiancheng to the general. The general can tell the authenticity at a glance."

Yang Wenqian opened the letter with trembling hands and looked at it. The content on it was nothing more than saying that the Li and Tang Dynasty was gone, and there was no way to return to heaven.This made Yang Wengan have to believe Xu Shimo's words.

"The few prefectures in the Tang Dynasty have been cut by the Sui army into two unconnected north and south sections, and whether it is Liu Hongji in the north or Shu County in the south, they are all under heavy siege. The unification of the world is not far away. Yes. General Yang, please forgive me, today is the general’s last chance. As long as you donate Beichuan City, you have made contributions to the Great Sui Dynasty, and you can continue to be a general in the Great Sui Dynasty in the future, and win glory and wealth with your ability. "Xu Shimo said: "If today is missed, Pei Xingyan's army will come to the city tomorrow. With these thousands of soldiers, they can't stop the Baisheng army of the Sui Dynasty. Even if the general survives by luck, he can only become a prisoner with nothing. A military position means you have to serve a lifetime of imprisonment, even if the general doesn’t think about himself, he should think about his family, right?”

Yang Wenqian was very moved. The great army of the Sui Dynasty was about to approach the city. Even if he fought to the end, he would not be able to defend Beichuan City. Moreover, Li Jiancheng had surrendered and Cai Yungong was dead. Even if he fled to Chengdu City, Li Shimin would not forgive him, let alone The Li Tang dynasty was almost over, even if Li Shimin spared himself, he would still die at the hands of the Sui army.

He broke his heart, got up and saluted, "Thank you, Mr. Xu, for giving me this opportunity. I would like to dedicate the city to the Sui Dynasty, but I have one condition!"

"Please tell me, General!" Xu Shimo said with a smile.

Yang Wengan hesitated for a moment, and said: "My parents, wife and children live in Chengdu together with the lieutenant general. I hope that after we surrender, we will not be allowed to participate in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, lest our family be slaughtered."

"It's not a big problem, the general can rest assured." Having said that, Xu Shimo asked again: "Is there any problem with the lieutenant general?"

Yang Wengan smiled wryly and said, "The ruler of the Tang Dynasty is not the Holy One, but Li Shimin, who imprisoned his father and murdered his younger brother, and has a corrupt character. Who is willing to sacrifice his life for such a creature that is not as good as a beast?"

"Then it's easy to handle. According to the Holy Majesty's arrangement, General Qian Jie will come to take over Beichuan City." Xu Shimo said emphatically, "It should be there tomorrow."

But what Xu Shimo didn't expect was that he still underestimated the marching speed of the Great Sui Iron Cavalry. Qian Jie, who wiped out Li Xiaochang and Han Wei, had arrived outside Beichuan City more than two hours later. Xu Shimo asked Li Junxian to bring the gold medal to the front Go to visit Qian Jie and explain that Beichuan City has fallen.

In order to avoid Qian Jie's suspicion, Yang Wenqian followed Xu Shimo's suggestion and took all the Tang soldiers from Beichuan out of the city, and first piled up the weapons in one place. , and the weapons are lined up on the left and right, waiting for the Sui army to surrender.

Qian Jie sent two Ying Yanglang generals to lead troops into the city to occupy various important places, and the rest began to count weapons.

When Qian Jie and Li Junxian came to the front of the army with a group of soldiers, they looked at Xu Shimo and Yang Wengan who were unarmed.

Yang Wenqian stepped forward quickly, saluted Qian Jie and said, "The guilty general Yang Wengan, please refer to General Qian."

"This time, Beichuan can be defeated without a fight, thanks to the merits of General Yang, and I will report the truth to the Holy One." Qian Jie helped Yang Wengan up.

Seeing that Qian Jie was so easy to talk to, Yang Wenqian was relieved. The other party was a trusted general of Yang Tong, which Xu Shimo couldn't compare to. Qian Jie's behavior reflected Yang Tong's attitude to a certain extent.He hurriedly said: "If Mr. Xu and General Li hadn't ventured to present righteousness, the criminals would not have come to their senses."

"Mr. Xu and General Li are the envoys of the Holy Majesty, and the Holy Majesty will reward you according to your merits." Qian Jie nodded. This Yang Wengan's ability is irrelevant, but he is obviously very good at being a man. If you really want to study it carefully, this can be regarded as a kind of ability.

"Here." Yang Wenqian quickly bowed and welcomed Qian Jie into the city.

……

Not long after Qian Jie entered the city, Pei Xingyan's army also arrived at Wenshan City, the county government on the east and west banks of the Minjiang River. He is the son of Xu Shao, the prefect of Yiling County. When Li Xiaogong attacked Yiling, he was blocked by Xu Shao in Yiling. The prefect Zhang Junyi, who was bought by Li Yuan, killed Xu Shao. Xu Zhiren was first appointed by Li Yuan as the county magistrate of Badong Yun'an. He had an old relationship with Dugu Qingyun, and he had already contacted the Beizhen Army when he was in Badong Yun'an County.

Just because of his background, Li Yuan was afraid that he would descend to the Sui Dynasty, so he didn't dare to continue to let him serve in Badong County, which has a very important strategic position, so he transferred Xu Zhiren to Wenshan as the county magistrate in the name of promotion.

The soldiers were full of pessimism about the Li and Tang Dynasty. When Pei Xingyan's army arrived, the whole army panicked.

So far, in Wenshan, only Wenchuan, which is self-governed by the Qing and Qiang, still belonged to the Li and Tang dynasties. In the Sui Dynasty, because Beichuan and Wenshan were determined not to fight, the fifth army led by Yang Tong and the first army led by Pei Xingyan were able to move freely. As far as Tongchang in the north, Yu Chigong's Seventh Army can also go south to Shu County unimpeded.

. . . . . .

On the same night, under the same sky, the city of Chengdu, built in imitation of Daxing, lies quietly like a chessboard under the moonlight. Unlike Daxing, Luoyang, and Yecheng, this "chessboard" of Chengdu is full of desolation. Due to the war time, only three gates of this big city with twelve gates are open during the day, namely Zhengnan, Zhengdong and Zhengximen.At the turn of Shenyou, that is, at six o'clock in the afternoon, the three gates were closed at the same time, and no one was allowed to pass except officials, soldiers and those who were authorized to travel.

The gates of the squares in the city will be closed half an hour later. As long as the gates are locked, all the streets will become deserted. I can't see it, the lights of every house are lit up, like dots of stars.

Naturally, there are brightly lit places, such as the Tai Chi Palace, which symbolizes the peak of Li Tang's power, which is lit all night until dawn.

The people in the city know that the master of the palace is restless because of the unfavorable war, and he is always dealing with various military and political affairs.

That's true.However, only one of them.

The main reason is that after Li Shimin seized power, seeing the Sui army marching in a large scale, he knew that his army was not as good as the brave Sui army, so he stepped up his preparations, led his soldiers to practice in the palace every day and night, and tried his best to kill the three soldiers who had won Li Shentong. Thousands of troops are built into an army of hundreds of refinements.

This evening, a series of emergency military situations came one after another. Brazil fell, Tongchang was in an emergency, Wenshan was in an emergency, and Shunzheng was in an emergency... Zhang Zhen was defeated in Tongquan County, Xincheng, and the entire county of Xincheng fell. Xue Wanjun and Huang Junhan joined forces in Suining County to rule Fangyi County. , Su Dingfang in the south went north from Qingshi County and attacked Fangyi County where Zhang Shigui and his son were located.

The army deployed in the south of Yizhou in the Sui Dynasty also began to mobilize. Shen Guang went north from Tongyi County, Meishan, and went straight to Longshan County; Li Jing went north from Ziyang and Yi County, and forced Neijiang County to contain Neijiang for Xue Wanjun and Su Dingfang. Hou Junji in the county made it unable to support Zhang Shigui, and the other two cavalry, each commanded by Du Fuwei and Duan Decao, went northward from Anjushui in Chishui County in Fuling County, and attacked Anyue County and Longkang County in the middle of Ziyang County respectively. They made a detour to attack Hou Junji's rear area and cut off his supply road.In order to avoid being attacked on both sides, Hou Junji retreated to defend Pangu County, the prefecture, allowing Li Jing to occupy Neijiang County without bloodshed, and further coerced him.

What is even more frightening is that Yang Tong personally led the army, using the weird "Kong Ming Lantern" to suppress the archers of Luo County condescendingly and cover the soldiers on the ground to attack the city. Once Luo County fell, the Sui army would come to the city of Chengdu soon. up.

The beacon towers built in all directions lit up the beacons one after another, and sent signals to Chengdu that the army was coming down.

"Obviously, Yang Tong wants to cut our army into isolated pieces, and then gather heavy troops to wipe them out one by one." Dou Gui said to the crowd: "From the marching routes of Huang Junhan, Xue Wanjun, and Su Dingfang, we can see that, The current target of the Sui army is General Zhang Shigui, and Du Fuwei, who was heading to Anyue County in Ziyang, was responsible for breaking General Zhang's retreat. Duan Decao, who was going to Longkang County, Ziyang, and Li Jing, who was going northward along the Mian River to Neijiang, were obviously to contain General Hou Junji. General Hou can't move now, once Du Fuwei occupies Anyue County, General Zhang's westward retreat will be cut off."

Li Shimin pondered for a moment and asked, "What is Xiangguo's attitude?"

Dou Gui said: "The three counties of Suining have lost the second, and obviously they can't keep it. What I mean is to give it up and let General Zhang guard the three counties of Ziyang Anju, Puci, and Anyue to ensure that General Hou's rear is not lost. It is also to prevent the southern Sui army from entering Shu County."

Yin Kaishan interjected: "Your Highness, Dou Xiangguo said very clearly that our troops are seriously insufficient. Once General Zhang is surrounded and wiped out in Suining, General Hou will face 10,000+ troops surrounded and intercepted from three sides. The soldiers have no way to retreat, or surrender. , or wait for the entire army to be wiped out, we are running out of time, if His Highness does not order, the two armies will be finished, and hundreds of thousands of troops will enter Shu County by then."

"Give me an order to make Zhang Shigui withdraw westward quickly, and return to Ziyang County within two days." Li Shimin remained silent for a long time, and then ordered Zhai Changsun to lead [-] soldiers to the south to support the Tang army in Longshan to resist Shen Guang's attack.

However, what Li Shimin and the others didn't know was that there was a bigger crisis lurking in Shu County.

(End of this chapter)