The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 973 Two Windows of Heaven and Hell

In the dead of night, a bright moon hangs high above Luoxian County, wisps of moonlight shine through the treetops, casting mottled leaf shadows all over the place!As soon as Yin Mingyue left the barracks, she and Yihuo Shurawei rushed to the backyard of the government office. As their footsteps approached and distanced, the insects in the grass and bushes also sang anxiously and stopped.

In the past few days, Yin Mingyue, Li Xiuning, Yang Qinfang, and Lan Xueer have not had an easy time, because Lan Xueer's brother and Yang Tong's brother-in-law Qin Zhan brought a group of young men and women from the bureaucracy, and they came here tirelessly Luo County served as a soldier.

These people live in the mountains, and climbing over mountains and cliffs is almost an instinct; fighting poisonous insects and beasts from time to time is also a part of their lives.

The cruel jungle life ruthlessly eliminated those who could not adapt to this harsh environment, and most of the men and women who won were capable.

Although the vast mountains also have inexhaustible living resources, their crisis does not come from the lack of food, but from the poisonous insects and beasts in the mountains.In order to let their people live a good life, they imitated the Han people everywhere and learned farming civilization, and the three tribes like Liao Wang even opened up their own farmland, which is very close to the living habits of the Han people.

It’s just that during the hundreds or thousands of years of exchanges between the two sides, the Liao people were always in a position of being oppressed. Even if they belonged to the Han regime, they were forced to turn back by local officials and local garrisons from time to time, realizing that they “set fire to save themselves” and “rescue themselves”. The illegitimate goals of "supporting bandits for self-respect" and "suppressing bandits for promotion" have suffered a lot. These bureaucrats naturally have a very strong hostility and vigilance towards the Han regime.But at the same time, due to their harsh environment, they yearned for a farming life where men farmed and women weaved, and lived and worked in peace.

Therefore, when Yuan Tiangang, who was very famous among the Liao people, lobbied and said various favorable policies, Liao Wang Qin Wang and many leaders were tempted. In this way, the Liao people and the supreme ruler of the Sui Dynasty have the relationship of "the same family". People came up with a scene of "setting fire to save themselves", which completely forced those Liao people who were worried about gain and loss into the arms of Tai Sui. First, they helped Shen Guang burn Li Yuan's fleet in the Yangtze River, and then sent people out in various battles. Contributed to the mission of surprise attack, sneak attack, and spying on the military situation, and made great contributions to the recovery of southern Yizhou in the Sui Dynasty.

Faced with such an ethnic group that was so devoted to the Sui Dynasty, Yang Tong naturally would not backtrack on what he said. In order to avoid sudden changes, when officials at all levels in southern Yizhou were in place, they began to move them into some sparsely populated counties. , Let craftsmen help them build their homes, let old farmers teach them farming skills, and quickly set up rural schools and county towns, and at the same time send people to send them food and other scarce daily necessities.And this generous return has also won the wholehearted help of the Liao people. It can be seen that the concept of "a scholar should die for his confidant" is not limited to Han people.

During this period of time, Liao Wang Qin Wang and the prestigious tribal leaders have been running around in the mountains and forests. In just one month, Qin Wang and the others successfully persuaded more than 30 large and small villages to vote, so that Yang Tong did not need to spend a single soldier. As soon as he died, more than [-] people were included in the bag, and Qin Wang and others did not stop because of this, they continued to persuade other villages he knew.

As for Qin Zhan, he was ordered by his father to bring a group of young men and women who had made great contributions to Luo County, not only to accept the imperial court's reward, but also to formally come to join the army.

There are so many elite soldiers under Yang Tong's command, needless to say the top ten main battle armies, the frontier soldiers and county soldiers who are going down are also selected elite soldiers, but with so many elite soldiers, not many of them can become flying soldiers, dizzy Secondly, the main reason is that these soldiers are too big, which not only increases the burden on the flying Shenzhou, but also is limited by the small space of the pod, so they are extremely inflexible; while the young Liao people who have lived in the mountains for a long time are relatively short in stature and heavy. Relatively light, body flexibility, sensitivity, and responsiveness are very good, very suitable for the needs of the Flying Army, so after they arrived, Yang Tong dumped the young Liaoren to Wang Xiongsheng, the chief general of the Flying Army.Young women are used to supplement Shura Wei, who is increasingly attrition due to marriage.

When the recruits arrived, Yin Mingyue, Li Xiuning, Yang Qinfang and others naturally got busy. Fortunately, these three tribes of Liaowangzhai were Liao people whose living habits were closest to those of the Han people. They also knew a little Chinese and could communicate in the simplest way. In addition, Lan Xueer, the Liaoren princess, is proficient in Chinese, and Yuan Ziyan, who has abandoned the way to become vulgar, can also speak the language of Liaoren, so there is no big problem in communication. Now the main thing is to teach military rules such as queuing and military regulations. During the running-in period with the busiest and most things, Yin Mingyue, as the leader of Shurawei, came back very late every day.

Yin Mingyue hurried back to the small quiet courtyard where she lived, and when she reached the living room door, she said to the soldiers: "It's getting late, you guys go back to rest, I'll go back to my room."

"Here!" The soldiers saluted and retreated, Yin Mingyue arranged her clothes at the door, and then gently opened the door.

In fact, she knew that Yang Tong was unlikely to be here when she came back so late, and even if she was, she should have slept.It's just that whenever possible, I don't want my husband to see my untidy side.As for marching and fighting, that is another matter.

The door of the room was opened, and the room was quiet, with a case, a bottle and a scroll, and a sprig of sweet-scented osmanthus inserted obliquely in the bottle, sprinkled the room with a sweet fragrance.

The lamp on the desk was a bit dim, Yin Mingyue closed the door lightly, subconsciously looked behind the screen, but found that there was no one there, so she went back to sit down by the desk in dismay.

Lost for a while, she took off the lampshade, picked out the wick, and the dark inner room became brighter. She was about to put the lampshade back on, but she saw a large green grasshopper with a pointed head lying on the table. Mingyue pursed her lips and blew, the big grasshopper moved slightly, but did not fly away.

Yin Mingyue put the lampshade away, and tapped her fingers on the table a few times. The big grasshopper's two filamentary tentacles moved, but still lingered.Yin Mingyue suddenly became interested, and cautiously opened her hands, bent her body, and prepared to capture this big grasshopper that was not afraid of people alive.

If Shura Wei saw that the icy general also looked like this, he would not be able to believe his eyes.But Yin Mingyue didn't think there was anything wrong with it. He saw the right moment, moved his palms forward, and successfully held the big grasshopper in his hands. Yin Mingyue smiled triumphantly. When it touched her face, she suddenly felt that there was something wrong with the big grasshopper. She moved her hands along the desk to the light, opened it quietly, and then slowly unfolded it fully. Only then did she realize that it was a lifelike grasshopper. .

Taking a closer look, Yin Mingyue's eyes flashed a color of understanding: "My husband has been here, this is the grasshopper he gave me!"

She smiled sweetly, and carefully placed the grasshopper in front of her. No matter how she looked at it, she thought it was cute.

The light casts the moon as if falling in love on the window, and the long eyelashes in the silhouette blink like a pair of fluttering butterflies, so charming.

………………

There are also a dozen clearly visible silhouettes on another window in the front yard, but there are two windows in a house, one for heaven, one for hell, one for joy and one for evil!
"Has Li Shimin behaved lately?" Looking at the information Ling Jing handed in, Yang Tong asked with a smile.

When Li Shimin was still the King of Jin, he either clamored for a decisive battle with the Sui Dynasty, or shouted the banner of "fighting back to Guanzhong". In terms of actions, he also initiated provocative provocations on the border of the Sui Dynasty many times, which is completely impetuous However, since he established himself in the counties of Dangchang and grasped the military, government, and finances, he seemed to realize that "firewood, rice, oil and salt are expensive", and he restrained himself a lot. Not only did he lose his previous impetuousness, but also Just like Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng whom he spurned in the past, he is cautious in everything and walks on thin ice. While trying to rectify his armaments, he wins over the various forces and political families that he hated before. Ask for money and give money to build the entire city of Chengdu like an iron barrel.

"In the past few days, the city defense has been handed over to Dou Lukuan and Li Yuan, and I have been working hard to rectify the internal affairs. I heard that I will marry the daughter of the Wei family in Guanzhong in three days." Ling Jing couldn't help laughing.

"Fuck!" Yang Tong couldn't help but swear, and said inconceivably, "The Tang Dynasty was about to fall, and Webster married his daughter to Li Shimin. Is he so stupid that his head will be broken by the door, or Are you crazy about wanting to be a prince and side concubine? Don't you fear that your daughter will become a widow?"

Before Yang Tong's generation, Webster was a family that had a political marriage relationship with the Yang family. Yang Tong's father Yang Zhaozheng's wife is the current Empress Dowager Wei, and his uncle Yang Wei's Princess Qi is also Wei's daughter. Princess Qi is dead. Later, Yang Hao also stole his wife and sister, and secretly gave birth to a daughter.

But the gluey relationship between Yang and Wei ended when Li Yuan raised troops in Jinyang. At that time, Empress Dowager Wei and Yang You were in a desperate situation in Guanzhong. Empress Dowager Wei visited many times to ask for help from her family. To make matters worse, he acted as the vanguard to welcome Li Yuan to enter the customs. However, the debts came quickly in June. After Li Yuan's repeated defeats, the head of the Wei family went to Yecheng and Luoyang many times to see the Empress Dowager Wei and Yang You, hoping that the mother and son would be happy together. For the sake of blood relationship, help to speak in front of Yang Yu, but this time, Empress Dowager Wei and Yang You used real actions to explain what it means to be "today's me, you will ignore me; tomorrow's me, you will not care about me." Get up", also came to thank the guests behind closed doors, but refused to see.

Later, in order to achieve the purpose of killing people with a knife, Yang Tong deliberately released rumors of reconciliation with the world's aristocratic families. This Wei Shi was the first Guanlong nobleman who came to pay homage. Send it to the palace, and give it to Yang Tong. After Yang Tong thanked him for his insensitivity, he turned around and wanted to pack it for Yang You to play with. Even Yang Tong didn't want this kind of gift, and of course Yang You didn't dare to accept it.

In the end, because he knelt too far, Li Yuan wiped out the main body, leaving only a few insignificant side branches. Yang Tong never imagined that at this point, Webster would actually pile his daughter into the fire pit.

"My lord!" Ling Jing said with a strange face: "These two are widows in the first place, and it doesn't seem to matter if they are widowed again."

"Return two?" Yang Tong was taken aback for a moment, and immediately understood.This should be the pair of Webster sisters in Li Shimin's history.

He remembered that before one of them became Li Shimin's imperial concubine, her first husband was Li Min, the son of Li Zixiong, the general of the Sui Dynasty and the Minister of the Household Department. However, Li Zixiong later joined forces with Yang Xuangan to rebel. Cleaned up, and perhaps because of her natal family, this concubine Wei took her daughter back to her famous natal family.

During the war between Li Tang and Wang Shichong, Li Shimin broke through Luoyang City. Li Shimin saw Wei Guifei and Wang Shichong's daughter-in-law, Wei Guifei and Wang Shichong's daughter-in-law Wei Wei sisters in the city. included in the harem.Now Li Shimin still destroyed Luoyang City, and also wiped out Wang Shichong's family. Maybe at that time, Li Shimin got the Weiss sisters, and now it's just a formality.

"That's right!" As Yang Tong expected, only Ling Jing said: "These two sisters, one is Li Zixiong's daughter-in-law, and the other is Wang Shichong's daughter-in-law!"

"It's come to this point, but you still have the intention to get married." Yang Tong laughed and said, "This Li Shimin is quite interesting."

Ling Jing said: "It should be because Li Yuan suppressed the nobles of Guanlong too hard, causing the government and the people to be divided, so Li Shimin planned to use the little power left for his own use. After all, the battle of life and death is imminent. If the aristocratic family rebels at this time, the Tang Dynasty Die faster and worse."

"Officials and aristocratic families of the puppet Tang Dynasty will not be so stupid. They know that they will have a good reputation after fighting Li Tang to the end. If they rebel at this time, they will lose their fame, fortune and life in the end." Fang Xuanling shook his head and said: "I think this is an illusion. Now that Li Shimin is getting married, he wants us to think this way. Of course, he also intends to win over and appease the aristocratic family."

"The huge gap between the Sui and Tang dynasties lies here. The more Li Shimin dances now, the tighter the rope around his neck is tightened." Yang Tong sneered and said, "The Pseudo-Tang Dynasty is already powerless, even those rich and powerful, The aristocratic family is willing to be of one mind with Li Shimin, but are the ordinary people who are under the oppression of the aristocratic family willing to fight against the imperial court with him? We don’t even have to do anything now, we just need to spread the word, and these poor, hopeless and helpless victims , the refugees will not hesitate to turn against me, Tai Sui."

"..." All the generals don't know what to say now, especially Yu Chigong, Wang Fubao, Niu Jinda, Xue Wanche, Yao Junsu, Liu Gang and others. They ran all the time and worked tirelessly here, preparing for a big battle, but before they warmed up, the enemy almost fell down, making them feel that they were holding their breath and couldn't vent it.

Looking at Yang Yu, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and Ling Jing who looked calm and calm, Pei Xingyan, who was also so depressed that he almost vomited blood, smiled wryly and said, "According to what His Majesty said, we don't do anything? Just sit and watch." Tang died in the civil strife?"

"That's not necessarily the case." Yang Yu's words made the generals heave a sigh of relief, but then, the hearts of all the great martial artists were raised: "Now we will see how Li Shimin reacts, I really want to see Li Shimin's reaction in the future." What kind of tricks are you playing?"

For the first time, this group of generals suddenly had an urgent hope that Li Shimin could be stronger. This is related to the final battle of the unification of the world. At least it should be a decent battle, right?

Although in order to avoid the loss of life, it is better to use less troops, but the meritorious service of military generals is obtained by war. If the puppet Tang Dynasty is taken down without bloodshed, it is indeed the best result for the court, but for the generals, it is very important. uncomfortable.

However, something that made these generals even more uncomfortable came again, only to hear Yang Yu suddenly say to Ling Jing: "Wei Wang's uncle sent a letter, saying that an old man wanted to kill Zhang Shigui without bloodshed before Xue Wanjun sent troops, to prove that his sword is not old. .”

Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and Ling Jing smiled knowingly, knowing who the "old man" Yang Tong was talking about.As important ministers of the Sui Dynasty and Yang Tong's confidantes, these ministers not only knew that Yang Guang and Yang Yichen were still alive, but also paid homage to Yang Guang, who had been praised and criticized for not long ago, but the Yang Guang they saw was no longer arrogant, arrogant, arrogant, and arrogant. The Daye Emperor who directly set the reign title as "Daye" is a stubborn "old man" who makes people laugh and cry, and is a bit rascal.

"Ling Shangshu, tell me about Zhang Shigui's situation." Yang Tong said.

"My lord, Zhang Shigui still has about [-] troops. He is currently stationed in Puci County. Zhang Shigui also took the initiative to attack General Xue Wanjun's Sixth Army. According to General Xue's feedback, perhaps they are not good at night fighting, so the combat effectiveness of this army Generally not strong. As for the equipment, they are all the standard armor of the Sui Army, which is very similar to ours, but the helmet is painted white to show the difference."

"It is well known that the Tang army lacks armor. Where did he get such good weapons and equipment?" Yang Tong asked curiously. The Sui army's previous standard equipment was actually not bad in performance.

Ling Jing said: "This question is easier to answer. Zhang Shigui initially rebelled in the Hongnong and Henan areas. This area is a buffer between the two capitals. Therefore, the imperial court not only garrisons, but also has many soldiers in various palaces. These have become Zhang Shigui's rebellious capital, after surrendering Li Yuan, under the instruction of Li Yuan, he attacked the city and seized territory in Henan, while developing his power, while consuming Wang Shichong's war potential. Weaponry."

"So that's it!" Yang Tong nodded and said with a smile, "So, this is a relatively independent small warlord in the Tang Dynasty?"

"That's almost what it means." Ling Jing smiled and said, "Actually, it is not difficult to annihilate Zhang Shigui. The city of Puci County is weak. They are also better than him in other aspects, and it is easy to wipe them out. The difficulty is that half of his army is the children of Ziyang people. Their families live in the Ziyang area, and they are related to each other. The Great Sui will completely lose the support of the people in Ziyang."

Yang Tong pondered for a moment and asked again: "Will he surrender to Sui?"

Ling Jing sighed, "If he was willing to surrender to Sui, he wouldn't have followed here from Xiyang. I think the possibility of him surrendering is extremely small."

"Why?" Yang Tong was a little puzzled.

"My lord, since he surrendered to Li Yuan, he sent his parents, wife and children to the capital of the puppet Tang Dynasty. Only the eldest son, Zhang Zhen, was by his side. I am afraid that he would not dare to surrender me to the Sui Dynasty. There is another reason. The long history beside him is Master Yuan Ren, who was sent by Li Shimin to assist Zhang Shigui in name, but in fact it was to monitor him to prevent him from giving birth to a different heart, so Wei Chen said he would not surrender to Sui."

Ling Jing said with a wry smile: "This is the problem. On the one hand, we need to persuade Zhang Shigui to surrender in order to keep the soldiers and lay the popular foundation for future governance. On the other hand, the possibility of his surrender is extremely low, which is indeed a bit difficult. .”

"We have won many times in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Li Yuan put in a lot of effort. After we finish, we can repeat the old tricks and use the power to defend against the enemy for ourselves..." Yang Tong smiled: "I remember the information sent by Chengdu Xizuo. Said: There is a fake Tang clan, who is highly valued by Li Shimin, but he lowered me to the Sui Dynasty, maybe this person can help us."

In the plan to attack Shuzhong, Li Shimin is a very important part.

Regarding the current Li Shimin, Yang Tong thinks he understands Li Shimin more thoroughly, has the ability, and dares to employ others freely, but his temperament is relatively impetuous, and he does things regardless of the consequences. Not many vital forces came to save the Tang Dynasty, but the result was that Li Yuan's little prestige and majesty were exhausted. After all, the emperor's son was rebellious, so what did others think?The subsequent court coup shook the stability of the Tang Dynasty even more, causing the hearts of various factions to fluctuate and diverge. When he was creating trouble for himself and the Tang Dynasty, he gave the Sui Dynasty the opportunity to send troops. Since then, the Tang Dynasty Chaos on top of chaos.The unfavorable national situation forced Li Shimin to settle down to seek development, accumulate strength, and win over various factions. Dong is ready to attack the heart first.

No matter how disappointing Li Shimin's previous performance was, it was the banner of the Li Tang Dynasty after all. He also knew that the Sui Dynasty would not forgive the powerful and the current backbone of the family. Only Li Shimin lost his composure. Next, guide Li Shimin's behavior becomes possible.

Therefore, Yang Tong decided to make use of Li Yuan, who is now valued by Li Shimin. Once Li Yuan, who is surrounded by clansmen and cronies, betrayed him, and Zhang Shigui also turned against him, how would Li Shimin feel?Will you still trust the general ahead?
Yang Tong didn't think so.

In my memory, the reason why Li Shimin dared to use Li Jiancheng was because the overall situation was settled, and the war-torn soldiers and common people didn't want to fight anymore. Even if these people wanted to avenge Li Jiancheng, they didn't follow them. Li Shimin has nothing to fear; the current general environment does not allow him to boldly employ people.

"Your Majesty mean to force Zhang Shigui against him?" Ling Jing laughed.

Yang Tong nodded with a smile, and said to Ling Jing: "You tell Ling Lingyi to tell this chess piece that as long as he and she do well, I can give him a prosperous life without worrying about food and clothing."

Ling Jing got up quickly and said, "Weichen will arrange it now!"

(End of this chapter)