A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

Upon learning that Dou Jiande was leading his troops south, Wang Shichong and Li Mi quickly ceased hostilities and joined forces to ambush Dou Jiande at Hulao Pass, causing Dou Jiande to suffer a defeat in his first battle on his way to Luoyang.

The three parties were locked in fierce fighting in the area surrounding Luoyang.

Seeing that the three powerful warlords around him were unable to attend to him, Li Yuan left 5 veteran soldiers and 5 new soldiers to garrison Taiyuan, and entrusted Liu Zhenghui with the full authority to guard Taiyuan. At the same time, he left his fourth son, Li Yuanji, behind to show his determination to protect Taiyuan.

Then Li Yuan personally led 20 troops south to Hedong, and under Pei Ji's manipulation, the entire Hedong was directly handed over to Li Yuan.

Li Yuan consolidated his forces in Hedong and, taking advantage of the fact that the other warlords had not yet reacted, ignored Luoyang, which was not far away, and headed straight for Chang'an.

At this time, heroes rose up everywhere in Guanzhong, and warlords fought each other. Once Li Yuan entered Guanzhong, he was like a tiger released from its cage. In just three months, he unified the entire Guanzhong region.

Throughout the process of recovering Guanzhong, Li Shimin demonstrated astonishing command abilities. The three largest and toughest battles—the defeat of Xue Ju, the crushing of Liu Wuzhou, and the defeat of Song Jingang—were all won thanks to Li Shimin.

As a result, Li Shimin's fame grew and his reputation spread far and wide.

Many people who were not in power heard of Li Shimin's reputation and intended to come and join him.

At this time, Dou Jiande was still fighting with Wang Shichong and Li Mi within the Luoyang area. Upon learning the news, Dou Jiande was so angry that he killed everyone he could in his camp.

By this point, how could he not realize that he had been deceived by Li Yuan!

But now the three of them are really fighting, and it's impossible for them to give up easily. None of them can spare the resources to attack Guanzhong.

On the contrary, they all wanted to win over Li Yuan. Li Mi hoped to win over Li Yuan to take advantage of the opportunity to attack Dou Jiande's Hebei; Dou Jiande hoped to win over Li Yuan so that they could attack Li Mi in the Central Plains from both sides; Wang Shichong hoped to form an alliance with Li Yuan to jointly fight against Li Mi and Dou Jiande, who were in the middle of them.

Dou Jiande, Li Mi, and Wang Shichong fought in Luoyang for a long time until winter arrived, at which point Li Mi and Dou Jiande withdrew.

After returning to Wagang, Li Mi realized the biggest difference between him and Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong. Both Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong had their subordinates under their command.

However, there seemed to be a barrier between him and his Wagang Army.

After Dou Jiande raised his army, he controlled Hebei. He did not practice benevolent governance, but his army was strictly disciplined. The land under his control was basically won by him and his soldiers through battle. The cohesion of the entire Hebei region was also extremely strong.

Wang Shichong was a general of the Sui Dynasty. He was ordered by Emperor Yang of Sui to lead troops to garrison Luoyang. He commanded elite troops of the court who had been fighting for many years and had long been firmly under Wang Shichong's control.

Although he is now the leader of the Wagang forces, the Wagang forces were not founded by him.

Before him, the Wagang Army was led by Zhai Rang, and he was merely a strategist under Zhai Rang.

Later, Zhai Rang felt that he was incapable of leading the Wagang struggle for supremacy, and he recognized Li Mi's outstanding talent. He then voluntarily stepped down, which allowed Li Mi to become the leader of the Wagang forces.

Li Mi also transitioned from a strategist to the leader of a power, but his foundation was not deep. Even with Zhai Rang's support, his control over Wagang remained superficial.

This is why he was so determined to attack Luoyang, rather than Guanzhong.

He needed the great victory of attacking Luoyang to weaken the strength of his forces and consolidate his rule over the Wagang Army by gaining prestige from capturing the Sui capital.

Attacking Guanzhong would only allow his forces to grow stronger and become more uncontrollable.

His attack on Luoyang only achieved half of his objective: weakening part of the gang's strength. However, the gang was still too powerful to be controlled, especially Zhai Rang, whose influence was felt throughout the Wagang army.

Taking advantage of the fact that winter was not a suitable time for war, Li Mi decided to seize this opportunity to eliminate Zhai Rang and completely take control of Wagang.

He imitated Xiang Yu, the King of Chu, by setting up the Feast at Hongmen, where he killed Zhai Rang and his confidants, and quickly took over Zhai Rang's power.

His actions alienated the entire Wagang army, and even Zhai Rang, who had ceded the entire Wagang to him, was killed by him, let alone others.

In particular, the faction in Wagang led by Qin Qiong was almost the third largest group after Li Mi and Zhai Rang.

This group of people burned incense and swore an oath to live and die together. Among them, Wei Zheng, Qin Qiong, Xu Maogong, Cheng Yaojin, Shan Xiongxin, Wang Junke, You Junda, Wang Bodang, Luo Cheng, Hou Junji, and Chai Shao are famous to later generations.

On the very night Zhai Rang was killed, this group of people gathered together to discuss the matter.

"Do you believe that Lord Wei said Lord Zhai died suddenly after drinking?"

As the eldest of the many sworn brothers, Wei Zheng spoke first amidst the silence.

"fart!"

"So many people can die suddenly at the same time?!"

"It's nothing more than Li Mi being worried that Zhai Gong would threaten his position, so he ruthlessly killed him."

"It's a wonder that Lord Zhai was so loyal and devoted to him, entrusting the entire Wagang to him; what an ingrate!"

Cheng Yaojin cursed and swore, then took a sip and spat it on the ground.

"Brother Yaojin is right. His words may be rough, but they make sense. I thought Li Mi was a hero, but I never expected him to be an ungrateful wretch, not fit to be a ruler."

Shan Xiongxin valued loyalty above all else and couldn't stand Li Mi's ungrateful behavior.

"With Lord Zhai dead, we brothers have become the target of everyone's attacks. I'm afraid Li Mi will be targeting us next."

Xu Maogong shook his feather fan, frowned, and pondered.

"He dares!"

"We brothers are well prepared. If he dares to come, we'll make sure he doesn't leave alive!"

Wang Bodang slammed his hand on the table and said.

"In this way, we will have to break ties with Li Mi, and we will probably have no place to stand in the Central Plains."

Wei Zheng frowned.

"Brothers, are you still willing to serve under Li Mi?"

Xu Maogong glanced at his many brothers, memorized their expressions, and then asked.

"I don't want to."

"I'm not willing."

Many brothers spoke up. They were brothers who had sworn brotherhood for the sake of loyalty. If they did not express their opinions, wouldn't they be looked down upon? How could they survive among their brothers?

"Now that we have broken away from Li Mi, what should we do? Should we establish ourselves independently, or choose a wise ruler to serve?"

Xu Maogong continued to ask, his sharp eyes fixed on everyone. When they swore brotherhood, there were certainly heroes like Shan Xiongxin and Qin Qiong, but there were also quite a few charlatans. This was a good opportunity to distinguish between them.

Upon hearing the word "independence," many people's eyes gleamed, revealing a glint of ambition deep within them.

Qin Qiong also sensed Xu Maogong's thoughts and interrupted, "We brothers have gathered here in righteousness. If we were to establish ourselves independently, who would we serve as our lord? Wouldn't that violate the original intention of our sworn brotherhood? Shubao suggests that we choose a wise ruler to serve under.

Xu Maogong smiled, and since he had been interrupted by Qin Qiong, he said no more.

Of the many brothers in Wagang, few were worthy of his attention. Qin Qiong, Shan Xiongxin, and Cheng Yaojin were the best among them, and he had to give Qin Qiong face.