The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 548 The Trouble Brought By Xiao Mi

Chapter 548 The Trouble Brought By Xiao Mi

Soon, the news of Xiao Mian's surrender to the Sui Dynasty reached the hands of various princes, which immediately caused a huge storm. More importantly, Xiao Mian not only surrendered in name, but actually entered the Sui army. South County.The terrible power of the Sui Dynasty, the vast land, and tens of millions of people were all trembling by these princes.Since then, no matter whether it is Li Yuan, Li Mi, or Lin Shihong, they have all bordered on Tai Sui, and anyone may become Tai Sui's next target.

The fact that Xiao Mian surrendered made Li Yuan feel dizzy. Although he knew that it was impossible to eliminate Xiao Mian after retreating to Xiangyang, with a strong enemy at his side, he still approved the plan of his second son Li Shimin. They are going to seize Nanjun, extend the Hanshui defense line to the east, and then move south to occupy Xiao Xian's territory inch by inch, so that Jingxiang and Bashu can be integrated. In this way, their game of chess in the south will come to life.However, with Xiao Xian's surrender, Li Shimin's plan to raid Nanjun is no longer realistic. Because of Wen Yanbo's report, Du Ruhui has seen through their plan to attack Nanjun along Jingshan Mountain and Zhang River (not the one in Yecheng). plan.Li Yuan's heart began to lift. He knew that Yang Tong would not just sit back and watch Tang's army expand eastward, and would definitely take action. Sure enough, he soon received an urgent report from Babaili.It is said that the First Sui Army headed by Qin Qiong entered Nanjun, and the general Zuo Tiancheng led [-] Sui troops and [-] Yuan Liang troops to garrison Changlin. As a result, Li Yuan's plan to raid Nanjun was aborted.

Wude Palace Imperial Study Room.

Li Jiancheng, Shimin and several important officials were summoned urgently by Li Yuan, and he passed the express to everyone for circulation. For a while, there was no sound in the imperial study.

"Xiao Xian would rather be a minister than a master. It's my high opinion of him." Seeing that everyone was silent, Li Yuan, who was sitting in the master's seat, shook his head and sighed.

Dou Gui, who was 'recovering from illness', said with an ugly face: "This Xiao Xianning is really worthless. He actually dropped everything and went to Luoyang to be an idle person under surveillance instead of joining us to fight against the Sui Dynasty. This is too embarrassing. People were surprised."

"There's nothing surprising. Xiao Mian's territories are unexpected desserts brought about by the powerful deterrence of the Sui Dynasty. Yang Yu is too strong, so powerful that Xiao Mian dare not be an enemy."

Li Jiancheng saw it more thoroughly. He knew that once Yang Tong completely digested Xiao Mian's territory, there would be more places bordering the Tang Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty. Although most of these places were not allowed to march, small groups of Sui troops could still enter.Compared with the Sui Dynasty, which had strict household registration, the Tang Dynasty, where there were a large number of family servants who were not registered, even if a stranger entered the country, the local officials of the Tang Dynasty would have no way of recognizing or investigating them. If the heartland destroys, the trouble will be big. As for whether Yang Tong will do this, Li Jiancheng has no doubts at all, because the Eastern Turks were destroyed in this way.

"My lord, can't we do something? Could it be that we just watched Xiao Mi's territory being eaten away by Yang Tong?" Dugu Huai'en, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, asked anxiously.

"Compared with the Sui Dynasty, it's okay if our army is not as good at fighting as others, but now it's even worse than the number of troops. Even if we want to do something, we can't do anything." Li Shimin glanced at Dugu Huai'en lightly, and said: "These In the past few days, urgent reports came from Tongchang, Dangchang, Wudu, Yicheng and other counties, saying that a small group of Sui troops entered the country to sabotage and intend to seize the city. In my opinion, the eastern region should be coming soon, and I am worried What’s more, there are almost no soldiers in the east, if the Sui army finds the mountain trails, the flames of war will soon sweep through Bashu.”

The two brothers were worried about getting together, and Li Jiancheng quickly responded, "Father, the words of the second brother are exactly what my son is worried about."

Xiao Yu suggested: "Your Majesty, it is a fact that Xiao Xian surrendered to the Sui Dynasty, and it is difficult to change anything. The most important thing now is to contact Li Mi and Lin Shihong as soon as possible, so that they can annihilate Du Fuwei as soon as possible, occupy the Jianghuai land as soon as possible, and lure away some of the Sui people. Army, in order to lighten Datang’s burden and give us an opportunity to send troops.”

"Send someone to contact again immediately. Li Mi and Lin Shihong should have received the news."

"Here!"

Li Yuan nodded, and then asked the crowd: "Everyone talk about it! What should we do with the current situation?"

Everyone was silent.

Xiao Xian surrendered to Sui Tai suddenly, no one dared to say that their own methods could cope with the current changing situation.

After a long while, Liu Wenjing cupped her hands and said, "My lord, my minister is willing to throw bricks to attract jade, so let me say a few words first."

Li Yuan has always disliked Liu Wenjing's bad temper, but Liu Wenjing has become a little more 'quiet' during this time. He is no longer like before, saying ugly things that make him unable to get off the stage. Seeing that everyone has nothing to do, he takes the initiative to speak out. Li Yuan nodded in relief, "Liu Xiangguo, but it's okay to say!"

Liu Wenjing said calmly: "First of all, we need to understand that Xiao Mian's regime is the same as the Turkic tribal system. His regime is composed of many small forces; Subduing the leaders of these small powers, so Xiao Xian surrendered, does not mean that these people also surrendered to the Sui Dynasty. Moreover, Yang Yu is famous for his strength. These people know that their interests will be taken away by Yang Yu, so when Yang Yu When Tong takes back these benefits, there will definitely be some turmoil. Moreover, Yang Tong has acquired too many territories in the past half a year since he went south, and there are dozens of counties in total, which need to be digested one by one. A military department was set up to suppress bandits and local tyrants. The tyrants under Xiao Mian's name were not ordinary bandits, each had a regular army, and Yang Tong had to deal with all of these, that is to say, except for those actually controlled by Xiao Mian Several counties and other places have to be fought by the Sui army."

"Liu Xiangguo is right. Xiao Xian's land has already belonged to the Sui Dynasty in name. Yang Tong's usual style is to conquer, rule and stabilize a place. Yang Tong should focus on digesting it next. I don't know Liu Xiangguo. What do you think we should do next?"

It was Chen Shuda who spoke, and since Pei Ji went to Xiyang, Liu Wenjing's speech lacked a natural enemy to refute, so that his train of thought could be postponed.

Liu Wenjing smiled slightly: "North of Chongling is Yang Shanhui, which made our army unable to move. If Yang Tong really wanted to attack Datang, then he should let Qin Qiong attack Chongling from the east of Han. I believe Yang Tong is also very aware of this point, but he didn’t, and instead sent Qin Qiong into Nanjun, the message to Weichen is: I don’t move your Chongling, and you don’t want to touch my Nanjun.”

Liu Wenjing's analysis made everyone feel like the clouds were dissipating. After thinking about it carefully, there was indeed such a meaning.

Li Yuan thought for a while, then frowned and said, "It's also possible that we simply don't want our army to infect Nanjun."

Liu Wenjing shook her head: "If Xiao Mian is the leader, King Jin's raid strategy will naturally succeed, but if the enemy is replaced by the Sui army, these tens of thousands of people are in danger of being wiped out, and the division of troops to raid Nanjun is in line with Yang Tong's plan. Asked. Du Ruhui said in advance that the Sui army does not want to fight now."

Xiao Yu also said at this time: "Liu Xiangguo is very correct. There is news from Chongling that Yang Shanhui will divide [-] troops into Handong County, and the leader will be Li Zhengbao. These two troops are more than enough to protect themselves, but not aggressive enough. This is also true. It shows that Yang Tong will not attack Chongling County for the time being, and sending troops to Nanjun is just a warning to us, and we are not allowed to attack, so once we attack Nanjun, or any place that originally belonged to Xiao Mi, there will be conflicts with the Sui army. The situation will become more complicated, and by then, the war will not be limited to Jingxiang."

"Then according to the opinion of the three prime ministers, we can only give up all offensive plans and passively defend?" Li Shimin said displeased.

"Otherwise!" Liu Wenjing said: "I have always disapproved of raiding Nanjun. First of all, our army is not as strong and as numerous as the Sui army. It doesn't mean much! Weichen thinks that it is more important to train the army hard. We should maintain the current state of confrontation and seize the time when Yang Tong digests the results of the battle. The Iron Army is here."

Liu Wenjing's attitude is clear, strengthening the army is the top priority, Li Tang can't afford to provoke the Sui Dynasty, so don't take chances to provoke Yang Tong.Xiao Yu also meant the same thing, don't cause an all-out war to break out because of impossible fantasies.

Li Yuan sighed and said: "My dear friends, since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there have been endless wars, and the imperial court is on the verge of collapse. I don't want to fight any more. It is reasonable to put down the flags and drums, and rest the people's livelihood."

Chen Shuda agreed and said: "I visited the market, the people are war-weary, and now the morale of the army is also low. The Holy Majesty advocates that the truce is a move that conforms to the hearts of the people and the army, and I agree with it."

Li Yuan nodded, and then asked Xiao Yu, "What's Xiao Xiangguo's opinion?"

Xiao Yu knew that what Li Yuan said was just an excuse, he was frightened by Yang Tong's beating, but he knew that the war would be too heavy a burden on the imperial court, so he was somewhat opposed to rashly starting a war.

"Your Majesty, all the grain we collected before was transported to the front line. The Eastern Expedition failed, and all fell to the enemy. This year's grain harvest is poor, and taxes can no longer meet the daily expenditure of the imperial court. There is still surplus grain to support Lumi at the end of the year, but too many soldiers who died in battle need it. Timely compensation, according to Weichen's estimation, is at least one million shi, and we only have 40 shi left in the official warehouse, which cannot pay the death compensation at all, let alone the Lumi expenditure of hundreds of officials at the end of the year. The problem now is what should we do? How to provide compensation, if it is not in place in time, the soldiers in the army will definitely be dissatisfied, and the morale that is not high at all may be..."

afraid of what?
I'm afraid the army's morale will be slackened and it will collapse without a fight.

everybody knows.

"How about peace talks?"

Dugu Huai'en's words caused a lot of blank stares.No money, no food, what can I use to negotiate peace with Yang Tong.Ceded the land?

Dugu Huai'en said: "Yang Tong has experienced countless wars since he went south, and he is also exhausted. Moreover, the Central Plains has been in chaos for more than ten years and suffered serious damage. Next, he will invest countless manpower and material resources to govern these places. Just now, the prime ministers also thought that they don’t want to continue the fight. As long as both sides treat each other with sincerity, we don’t need to pay any compensation. Not to mention anything else, we should at least check out the news, right? If he doesn’t fight, but we keep fighting Waiting, isn't it a waste of countless money and food?"

Liu Wenjing asked back: "If we negotiate peace with Yang Tong, what will Li Mi, Lin Shihong, and Meng Hai think? Will they still trust us?"

"This……"

Li Yuan was a little tempted at first, but when he heard Liu Wenjing say this, he waved his hand and said, "The Sui and Tang Dynasties are enemies of life and death, and the peace talks are meaningless. We will train a strong army with all our strength. As for the issue of money and food, we should use the internal money first. , we must not let the soldiers lose their minds."

"Here!" Xiao Yu heaved a sigh of relief.

The emperor can legally obtain part of the state's fiscal and taxation. Different taxes have different proportions, and the luxury accessories are relatively high.When he arrived in Xiangyang, Li Yuan was clean and tidy, and he was more ruthless in begging than before. No matter how poor or miserable he was, he was not willing to use internal funds to supplement the state's expenses, so his private wealth was a lot, and there would be a lot left to fill the gap.Now, Xiao Yu doesn't have to worry about money anymore.

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

On the other side, Yang Tong was also talking to the minister.Yang Tong said with a smile: "Keming wrote again, saying that it belonged to Xiao Mian's confidant, under Xiao Mian's persuasion, he has given up his military and political power, decided to surrender to the Sui Dynasty, and will take his family to go north with Xiao Mian. "

"Your Majesty, with the return of Xiao Xian, we have gained another important area of ​​grain production." Yang Shidao, who is in charge of people's livelihood, said with a smile.

He was talking about the Jianghan Plain, where the river network is densely covered, the land is fertile, and the population is large. It has always been a major grain-producing area in the south. Xiao Mi chose to build the country in Xunli because of the rich grain production, which led to rapid development.

"Yang Shangshu is wrong! There are more than one!" Yang Tong said with a smile.

"Oh?" Yang Shidao cupped his hands and said, "Please tell me clearly, Your Majesty."

"In the Sui Dynasty, there were several important grain-producing areas, namely the Liaodong Plain, the plain land south of Yanshan Mountain and north of the Yellow River, the eastern region between the Yellow River and the Huai River, the Jianghuai region, the Jianghan Plain, the Taihu Plain, the Poyang Lake Plain, Dongting Lake Plain, Chengdu Plain. Everyone knows about these. With the surrender of Xiao Xian, both Jianghan Plain and Dongting Lake Plain belonged to the Sui Dynasty. At present, there are only a few areas that are not under the jurisdiction of the Sui Dynasty. In addition to these, there is another The place is forgotten by everyone. That is the area near the sea in the southern part of Lingnan, which is probably called the Pearl River Delta. There are unique conditions there. Because of the climate, the rice matures very quickly, and often there are three harvests in a year. As long as the population With more fields and more fields, its explosive production capacity is stronger than any major grain-producing area. In the future, the population will increase, and the Jiangnan and Dongting Lake areas with two crops a year, and the Pearl River system with three crops a year will be "

"The current Jiangnan has not been developed, especially the area around Lianghu and Lingnan in people's minds, is a primitive area where smog is raging and wild animals are rampant. If Jiangnan, Lianghu, and Lingnan are fully developed, there will be basically no food in the Sui Dynasty. Worry. I can tell you one thing with certainty, that is, 'Huguang is cooked, the world is full'..."

Everyone is moved
What does a country rely on to develop?
population!

What does the population depend on to feed?
food!

Therefore, population has been an important indicator to measure the strength of a country in all dynasties.According to what Yang Tong said, the potential of these places is much higher than that of the Central Plains, and they are worth developing one by one.

"According to this, sending criminals to Lingnan will allow them to live a better life?" Liu Zhenghui said depressingly.

"You can't say that. The potential there is endless, but it hasn't been developed yet. It's really a poor land, and what's the result of this development? It's a poor land and evil waters that make troublesome people." Yang Tong raised the letter in his hand, and said: "According to Xiao Mian said that there are people in Lingnan now."

"Your Majesty, the Liao people in Lingnan have existed since ancient times. Although there are many of them, they are low-educated and poorly equipped. They are kings, just like the tribes living in groups in the north. Without a unified command, they cannot threaten the south at all." Kong Yingda said.

"Kong Shangshu knows why the Liao people are so weak?" Yang Tong turned to look at Kong Yingda and asked.

"The Liao people don't know the art of war, they only know how to plunder. Whether it's equipment or tactics, they are far behind. And all of them are rebellious, and no one obeys the other, so they can't form a unified and powerful force." Kong Yingda laughed. road.

"The art of war can be learned, and the equipment can be refined, but the real reason is that the Central Plains dynasty has always restricted their development." Yang Tong shook his head and said: "Food and salt can only be used for daily maintenance, and weapons and armor can only resist Ordinary beasts, these basic resources are stuck in the hands of the imperial court, so every time they dare to resist, they will be suppressed. After a long time, they will naturally fear me like a tiger in the Central Plains. Their lifeline is controlled by the imperial court, so it is not that they are weak, but My court has been weakening them in various ways. However, since ancient times, those sent to Lingnan by the court are all highly intelligent people. Such people hate the court deeply, so they also taught some advanced things to the Liao people. Some even reproduced from generation to generation, forming tribal leaders, and they also contributed to the enlightenment of the Liao people in Lingnan, so we must not look at the Liao people of today with the eyes of the past. Otherwise, we will suffer losses.”

"Here!"

Fang Xuanling asked: "Your Majesty, is there someone trying to win over the big and small forces in Lingnan?"

"There is indeed such a person!" Yang Tong nodded and said, "This person's name is Feng An."

"My lord, I know this person, and I have a lot of connections with him." Yang Shidao cupped his hands and said.

"Tell me."

"Speaking of which, Feng An also has an extraordinary background. He is a descendant of Feng Hong, the king of the Northern Yan Kingdom during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. After the fall of the Northern Yan, Feng Hong's son Feng Ye stayed in Gaozhou. Feng Ye's grandson Feng Rong served as the head of the Southern Liang Luozhou Governor. Feng Bao, the son of Feng Rong, married Mrs. Xian, the daughter of the Xian family in Gaoliang, Lingnan, and became the leader of the Yue tribe in Gaoliang. Mrs. Xian is a thousand times better, she is a great heroine, Feng's allegiance to the Chen Kingdom, after the fall of the Chen Kingdom, the Lingnan area did not depend on the Sui Dynasty, and several prefectures enshrined their wives as their masters, with the name of the Holy Mother, to protect the environment and the people. Emperor Wu, who was the king of Jin, took out the letter left by Queen Chen to Mrs. Xian, telling her that the Kingdom of Chen had perished and asked them to submit to him. Then she led her people to submit to the Sui Dynasty, and was named Mrs. Qiao by Emperor Wen. And this Feng Ang It's her grandson."

"Feng An's character is well-known, and he was awarded Songkang county magistrate at the beginning. At that time, Wang Zhongxuan rebelled. Feng An obeyed the order of his grandmother, Mrs. Xian, and put down Wang Zhongxuan's rebellion. Emperor Wen appointed Gaozhou governor. After that, he successively pacified Chaozhou, Chengzhou and other five states. The Liao people rebelled, and awarded Jin Ziguanglu doctor and Hanyang prefect. He went to Liaodong with Emperor Wu and moved to General Zuo Wuwei." Yang Shidao said here, but he got stuck.

Yang Tong smiled, and continued: "After Yu Wenhuaji's rebellion, Feng An returned to his hometown in Lingnan and gathered 30 to [-] soldiers. He has his own resources, he is attached to both Xiao Xian and Lin Shihong, but in fact, he is a separatist force. No matter whether it is Xiao Xian or Lin Shihong, he can't command. He now occupies the eight counties of Cangwu, Yongping, Xin'an, Yongxi, Gaoliang, Hepu, Ningyue, and Zhuya, and he is in charge of Lingnan. That is to say , Xiao Xian contributed more than [-] counties in name, but Feng An's eight counties cannot be counted, and if we want to truly recover Lingnan in the Sui Dynasty, the Feng family headed by Feng An is the roadblock."

Yang Shidao asked: "What does the Holy One mean?"

"Yang Shangshu, do you think anyone in this world has the strength to destroy the Sui Dynasty?" Yang Tong asked back.

Yang Shidao said: "Of course not. The Holy Majesty only needs to give an order, and our Great Sui can gather millions of soldiers with combat experience. You don't have to worry about money and food. There is no other prince in this world who can compete against Great Sui. They can protect themselves." It was good enough. But now the problem is different."

"Yang Shangshu is right! Then I will not allow the existence of a country within a country."

Yang Tong understood what Yang Shidao meant. The Great Sui had already occupied three-fifths of the territory, with a strong foundation. Even a big defeat for one or two games would not damage the foundation. Before that, if one focused on defense, no one would be able to get in. .However, with the surrender of Xiao Xian, the land of the Sui Dynasty became a long "lollipop". The east of the "stick" is Lin Shihong, the south is Lingnan Feng An, and the west is Li Yuan. The zone is easy to be penetrated by the enemy, and it is hard to defend.

What is distressing is that the enemies of the three parties are all in danger of mountains and rivers, either mountains or water.In a sense, the main battle divisions of the Sui Dynasty were not very good at fighting on this type of terrain; if you want to fight the water thief Lin Shihong, the role of the navy must be greater.

(End of this chapter)

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