The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 671
Huaiyang was called Wanqiu, Chen, and Chenzhou in ancient times. It was one of the birthplaces of Chinese civilization. The founder of the humanities, Taihao Fuxi, led all the tribes to Wanqiu, and Yandi Shennong also took it as their capital.After the Shang Dynasty in the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Wu of Zhou conferred the title of Chen Hugong Guiman on the land of Chen and established the Kingdom of Chen.Chen Hugong moved the capital from Wanqiu City to Huaiyang and began to build the city.In 241 B.C., Lord Chunshen organized the Kanto states to attack Qin, but was defeated by the Qin army.In this case, Chu State faced a huge risk of Qin State's revenge.Although Huaiyang City is strong, it lacks sufficient buffers, and it is surrounded by flat plains. It may not be enough to resist the Qin army.King Chu Kaolie had to move his capital eastward again to Shouchun, which was farther away from Qin, because Shouchun had a better geographical location than Huaiyang, and with the Huaihe River and Bagong Mountain as barriers, it was easier to defend.

It belongs to the North China Plain, which is the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain. The terrain is inclined from northwest to southeast, and it is easy to attack and difficult to defend. However, because of the mild climate, abundant rainfall, four distinct seasons, and fertile land, in the middle of the great cause, there are 15 counties in the ten counties of the county. There are more than [-] households and a population of nearly one million.

Li Mi still has a county in Huainan in name, but the only place he can control now is Wanqiu County, which is established in the west of Yingchuan.Fule and Taikang counties in the north were occupied by Pei Xingyan, Luyi in the east was occupied by Yang Gongren, Dan County in the southeast was where Yuchi Gong and Du Fuwei garrisoned, and Xiyang in the south had been conquered by Luo Shixin. Xiangcheng to the north of Yangyang and Lushui County to the southwest were Li Jing's frontline command centers. Nandun County in the front fell without a fight. Xie Yingdeng marched from Yingchuan and occupied Xihua County.

The main generals of all parties took Wanqiu as the center, and approached it in unanimous agreement. The army was about to approach the city, and as the Sui army came over the city, deserters from all over the city brought news to Wanqiu city, which made the government and the people of Wei state panic.

On the top of Wanqiu City, Wei Jun soldiers looked at the scene outside the city with shock in their eyes.

I saw the cavalry of the Sui Army escorting the numerous prisoners of the Wei Army passing under the city. The soldiers of the Wei Army walked around the city slowly under the surveillance of the Sui Army in a row of five. At dusk, there were more than [-] people.

This scene deeply shocked the soldiers of the Wei Army on the city. Their morale, which was not high at first, suffered another major setback after the news of the fall of Liang Commanderies, Pengcheng Commanderies, and Qiao Commanderies.

The generals and soldiers of the Wei army in the city were depressed. They gathered together in groups of three or five to discuss in low voices. A large part of these remaining soldiers were Jianghuai people. They began to miss their hometown and relatives, and they were afraid that after their death, There was no one to take care of the family, and suddenly, war weariness and fear of war began to spread in the city.

At this moment, someone pointed to the outside of the city and shouted: "Look, everyone!"

The soldiers looked out of the city one after another, and saw four catapults appearing two hundred steps away from the south of the city. With a loud shout, the clay pot flew towards the city in an arc, and the soldiers on the city squatted down one after another.

'boom! '

The black round object fell on the city and broke apart, and many pieces of paper were blown by the wind and floated into the city.

The soldiers snatched it one after another, and there was only a short sentence on it. Hundreds of people surrounded a literate soldier, and the man read aloud: "When the city is broken, all those who do not resist will be given fields, and your family will be given land." reunion."

These words made the surroundings fall into a strange silence. Everyone knew that Li Mi was going to be finished, and since this day, more than [-] soldiers who surrendered and walked around the city were deeply engraved in the hearts of the soldiers of the Wei army. 'When the city is broken, all those who do not resist will be given fields to reunite your family. 'These words were read out, and the soldiers suddenly ignited the hope of life.

Moreover, the Sui army did not need them to take the risk of killing Li Mi, Fang Xuanzao and other Wei monarchs and ministers. The conditions were not harsh at all, and they were completely within their capabilities, as long as they did not resist.

"Brothers, what should we do?" a brigade commander whispered.

"How to do?"

"When the Sui army was attacking the city, we should send out our people and do nothing."

"It makes sense."

The soldiers in the city were talking about it. At this time, someone reminded loudly, "General Wang is here."

Everyone quickly shut their mouths.

I saw Wang Bodang walking up the city with hundreds of soldiers, after a moment of silence, someone boldly asked: "General Wang, the Sui army has surrounded Wanqiu, what should we do now?"

Wang Bodang said to the crowd with a gloomy face: "This is a plan of the Sui army to disturb the morale of the army. Don't believe it. If you don't resist, you will inevitably have to serve hard labor for a lifetime."

The soldiers of the Wei army listened, but they didn't take it seriously.

They also know the reform-through-labor system of the Sui Dynasty. Although some captives have to serve their entire lives, their families have been given land, just like ordinary people, and their sentences can be commuted if they perform well. It's better to be alive than to be dead.

"There is an order from the Holy Spirit, those who dare to spread rumors and shake the morale of the army will be killed without mercy!" Wang Bodang looked at the leaflets scattered all over the ground, and said coldly: "All the papers will be confiscated. guilty punishment."

The soldiers bowed their heads in silence after hearing the words, thinking about their own small ideas.

…………

Wanqiu County Government.

Li Mi sat on his seat with a dull gaze, never expecting that not long ago, he, who had an army of hundreds of thousands, would lose so quickly and so badly.After finally escaping to Huaiyang, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief, but how long he could hold on, he didn't have the slightest confidence in his heart, and he had even followed Fang Xuanzao's advice and made a decision to go to the mountains for a while.

However, before he could recover, news of Chen Zhilue's death came, followed by Xu Shiji's defeat and surrender. The defenders surrendered without a fight, and the Sui army formed a complete siege on Li Mi's only remaining Wanqiu, leaving Li Mi with nowhere to retreat or go.Now there is only one lonely Wanqiu left, how can he guard?How to fight the Sui army?
Under Li Mi's seat, Fang Xuanzao and a group of civil and military officials remained silent. Although Li Mi was not as angry as before, everyone knew that Li Mi at this moment was more terrifying than ever before. The one who lost his head was himself.

"Who can tell me why I lost so quickly?" After an unknown amount of time, Li Mi's eyes slowly fell on the crowd. His voice was hoarse, like a ghost from hell, and his whole body was filled with excitement at this moment. The hostility, those bloodshot eyes, made people shudder.

"Your Majesty, in fact, the defeat of our army was due to the fact that we had been fighting for years and had no rest, and it was also because the hostile forces spies on the dead continued to infiltrate our army. Before the battle started, some middle-level generals who had made achievements and a county The county magistrate and a county guard were assassinated by them one after another, so that our army was overwhelmed, and the more the army fought, the less cohesive it was."

Fang Xuanzao frowned and analyzed the current situation, but in terms of the current situation, it is almost impossible to grow stronger again, so at the end, Fang Xuanzao sighed unconsciously, "Of course, the humble minister's The idea of ​​going south to the south of the Yangtze River is also the main reason for the big defeat, my minister..."

"That's not the case..." Li Mi interrupted Fang Xuanzao with a wave of his hand, looked at the few civil and military officials left after several wars, and suddenly smiled bitterly: "Mr. Nine counties, this is enough to prove that Mr. is right. It is because I did not listen to Mr. Xiongxin’s good strategy, and did not really achieve governance by planning the river. If we abandon Huaibei, abandon the north of the Yangtze River, and focus on operating the south of the Yangtze River, with hundreds of thousands of us The army, as well as the rich land, can definitely hold its ground and can fight Yang Tong for several years or decades."

Fang Xuanzao was silent when he heard the words, what's the point of saying this now?
"Your Majesty." At this time, a general cupped his hands and said, "In the opinion of the last general, the Sui army in the city must guard against careful operations."

"Careful work?"

Li Mi's hostility became heavier, he looked at these people with serious eyes, and suddenly laughed, he felt that everyone became very suspicious.Senran roared. "Check it out! I'm going to find out all the minions in Wanqiu City!"

"Your Majesty must not." Fang Xuanzao said anxiously, "Nowadays people are in panic, the morale of the army and the people are on the verge of collapse, the reason why there is no trouble is because they are afraid of the imperial court, if we investigate one by one, the whole city will be completely chaotic In desperation, many people will take advantage of the Sui army's attack and attack the court."

One person said coldly: "Sir, what you said is wrong. If you are fine on weekdays, you can investigate slowly, but now we are about to start a war with the Sui army. If we don't pay attention to the fine work in the city, these people will definitely agitate the soldiers and civilians, and they will only stir up trouble." into a greater disaster."

"This..." Fang Xuanzao also hesitated, his words were not without reason.

"My lord, as long as there is an opportunity for these fine works, they will inevitably make enemies. Rather than letting them go, it is better to miss them than to let them go."

The meaning of this person is very obvious, that is to do one thing and not stop. Instead of worrying about future problems, it is better to kill all suspicious people. The forced Sui army can only talk about the future if they defend Wanqiu, so this is a beneficial and harmless move.

"You..." Fang Xuanzao looked horrified. If this is really done, Wanqiu City will be devastated and blood will flow like rivers. Without the Sui army to attack, many people will take risks.Seeing Li Mi's emotional expression, Fang Xuanzao quickly said: "Your Majesty, if this is the case, then everyone in the army will be in danger. Before the Sui army comes to attack, there will be a civil turmoil!"

"This..." Li Mi frowned, obviously hesitating.

"My lord, those who achieve great things don't care about small things!"

Fang Xuanzao could only put it another way: "If the Sui army invades when the city is in chaos, what will happen to the soldiers?"

Everyone stopped talking.

How else?
The soldiers naturally voluntarily cooperated with the Sui army both inside and outside.

"That's all, that's all." Li Mi looked at everyone's different gazes, and suddenly burst into laughter, "At this point, defeat is inevitable, what else is there to say, why do we need to investigate carefully? To die with dignity is better than to have a quick battle. Tomorrow, I will lead the internal army out of the city and fight to the death with the Sui army. Even if I die in battle, I will not live up to my heroic name, Li Mi I. Lords, please decide yourself."

Having made a decision, Li Mi suddenly felt that he was no longer afraid, and his whole person became more open-minded, showing a calm look that he never had before.

This calmness made Fang Xuanzao secretly heartbroken, and sighed in his heart: It's a pity, it's a pity, the Holy Majesty is definitely a hero who is not inferior to anyone, but it's a pity that the Holy Majesty took over Wagang too late, and he was exhausted with Wang Shichong. Too much time and energy, otherwise, Jiangnan would have belonged to the Great Wei Dynasty long ago... Alas, His Majesty was born at a bad time!
Li Mi looked at Sun Changle and other generals, and said with a serious attitude never before: "Pass down my military order to make all the internal troops prepare for battle, and I will compete with the Xiaoguo army."

Seeing Xiao Sha on Li Mi's face, all the generals felt terrified, and at the same time said in response: "Here!"

"Sir." Li Mi looked at Li Mi and said, "Write the last memorial for me."

Fang Xuanzao nodded silently, and did not persuade him any more. As Li Mi himself said, he is now in a desperate situation, no matter how hard he struggles, he will inevitably die, so why shamelessly wave the butcher knife at his own people?Die vigorously on the battlefield, at least you can still leave a heroic name.

(End of this chapter)