First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 121 Chaos in the Central Plains
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As the Spring Festival approached, the city of Chang'an was decorated with lanterns and festoons. The 13th year of his great career was about to pass. In this year, Li Yuan's life had undergone tremendous changes. Sitting in the fertile fields of Guanzhong, with more than [-] soldiers, he became king and worshiped ministers, so majestic.

Especially after defeating Xue Ju and capturing the four counties of Anding, Tianshui, Hanyang, and Hechi, King Tang became more powerful and became one of the best princes and kings in the world.

Guanzhong is stable, and Li Yuan is full of ambitions. At the same time, the land of the Central Plains is constantly conquered.

This year is destined to be recorded in the annals of history. Under the leadership of the leader Zhai Rang, the Wagang Rebel Army crossed the Central Plains, occupied the largest granary in the Sui Dynasty, Luokou Warehouse, and then conquered Xingyang, killing the "Megatron East Xia" The famous general Zhang Xutuo.

After defeating the Sui army in Wagang Li Mi several times, his prestige was also greatly shaken. Rebels from all over the world, such as Li Wenxiang from Liyang Rebel Army, Zhao Junde from Qinghe Rebel Army, Hao Xiaode from Pingyuan Rebel Army, etc., especially after the Battle of Heishi, Li Mi's prestige was even greater. The post soldiers only knew about Li Mi, but not Zhai Rang.

Zhai Rang, the leader of Wagang, admired Li Mi's talent and felt that he was not as good as Li Mi, so he took the throne and elected Li Mi as the leader of the Wagang Army, as "Duke Wei".

Although Zhai Rang is open-minded, his subordinates such as Wang Ruxin and Di Hong are not reconciled. They secretly encourage Zhai Rang to seize power, but Zhai Rang ignores it.

However, Li Mi had tasted the benefits of power, how could he let go, and was worried about Zhai Rang, so he planned to kill Zhai Rang and rule Wagang.

After Wang Shichong was defeated in the Battle of Black Stone, Luoyang was in a hurry. Yang Guang was furious and mobilized elite soldiers from all walks of life to rescue Luoyang. After the reinforcements gathered in Luoyang, the soldiers were quickly replenished. County, intends to avenge shame.

The two sides confronted each other in Luoshui, and the stalemate could not be resolved. Wang Shichong was also experienced and became more cautious after repeated defeats. He wanted to find Li Mi's weakness and defeat him, so he sent troops to attack the Wagang Army north of Luoshui. Born in large numbers, they were once again defeated by the Wagang Army.

At this time, Yang Guang of Jiangdu couldn't hold his breath, and couldn't wait any longer. He started micromanagement and ordered Wang Shichong to cross the river quickly to defeat Li Mi.

But because the army is composed of reinforcements from all over the world, although Wang Shichong is commanded in name, they actually fight on their own. With Yang Guang's order, some people started to build the pontoon bridge. Huben Lang Wang Bian built the pontoon bridge first and crossed the river directly. The attack was hasty, Li Mi was caught off guard, the camp was breached, and the defeat was imminent.

However, at this time, Wang Shichong did not know the situation of Wang Bian's battle because of the different orders. Seize the opportunity, ordered a counterattack, and won a complete victory.

Wang Bian and other six Sui army generals were killed in battle, the entire Sui army collapsed, and countless people were drowned. Wang Shichong only led thousands of people to flee back to Heyang overnight.

Yang Tong, the King of Yue who stayed behind in Luoyang, and Wang Shichong, the official worshiping Jiangdu Tongshou, was Yang Guang's confidant. How dare Yang Tong punish him? In the capital, in addition, gold, silk and beauties are given to reassure him.

Wang Shichong was pardoned, and immediately led his army back to Luoyang. Along the way, he gathered more than [-] remnants of exiled soldiers and stationed troops in Jiacheng in the northeast of Luoyang.

On the other hand, Li Mi took advantage of the victory and pursued, marched forward triumphantly, captured Jinyong City in one fell swoop, defeated the Sui general Duan Da, killed Wei Jin, Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Sui Dynasty, and took the opportunity to capture Yanshi, Baigu and other places, with more than [-] troops.

For a time, Wei Gong Li Mi's reputation was powerful in the Central Plains, from the seashore and Mount Tai in the east to the Yangtze River and Huaihe River in the south, all of them surrendered to Li Mi. On the body, Dou Jiande, Zhu Can, Yang Shi, Meng Haigong, Xu Yuanlang, Lu Zushang and others wrote letters to persuade them to come in.

But Li Mi was very resourceful, knowing that the Sui court still survived, and that the western capital of Chang'an was already occupied by Li Yuan. He believed that if the eastern capital Luoyang was not conquered, he would never be able to become emperor, so he accelerated the pace of attacking Luoyang, repaired Jinyong City, and took Jinyong City as his base camp. They stationed troops at Mount Mang and approached Luoyang.

Li Mi's approach is undoubtedly very correct. Now Li Yuan in Guanzhong is called the king of Tang, Dou Jiande is called the king of Changle, and Xiao Xian is called the king of Liang. No one is called emperor, because Yang Guang is still alive. As long as Yang Guang is alive, the Sui court will survive. At this time, proclaiming the emperor is the target of public criticism, just like Yuan Shu, the great emperor at the end of the Han Dynasty.

At this time, only muffled development and continuous expansion of the territory is the right way. Li Yuan feels deeply about this. Without taking half a step eastward, whether it was Li Mi in the Central Plains, Dou Jiande in Hebei, or Xiao Xian in Jingchu, Li Yuan always showed kindness.

Even if Li Yuan broke Chang'an and established Yang You as the emperor, the people of the world did not think much about it. After all, Li Yuan's power had not left Guanzhong, and Li Yuan used to give people the impression that he was a good guy, but after the defeat of Xue Ju in the Western Qin Dynasty, Li Yuan collected In the land of the four counties, many people looked sideways at him, Li Mi also realized at this time, it turned out that Li Yuan had grown to such a degree.

Li Yuan should be completely ignorant of everything about the outside world, and concentrate on developing. Before Li Shimin's army returned to the imperial court, Li Yuan summoned all his ministers to discuss matters in Wude Hall.

"Now that Xue Ju in the northwest has been seriously injured, there is nothing to worry about for the time being. In your opinion, is it appropriate to manage Bashu at this time?" Li Yuan sits high on the throne, and the hall is full of civil and military skills.

Hearing Li Yuan's words, all the ministers knew that Li Yuan was full of ambition and high-spirited at this time, so how could he object?

The national treasury at this time is quite difficult. Most of the grain and grass in Jinyang Palace and Changchun Palace have been used up. When Li Yuan entered Chang'an, he opened up the national treasury to use it as a reward. It is definitely unrealistic to hope for the autumn harvest in the coming year. Yes, so Li Yuan is bound to win Bashu, a large granary that has not been war-torn and has abundant products.

It has to be said that Li Yuan is really the chosen son of this era. Northern Liang Shidu and Liu Wuzhou rely on the Turks to attack each other, Li Gui in the northwest restrains Xue Ju, and the Central Plains war between Li Mi and Wang Shichong is even more eye-catching. The rest of Changle Wang Dou Jiande , Xiao Mian, king of Liang, was busy fighting with the remnants of the Sui court.

However, Li Yuan had the support of the Guanlong family such as the Dou family and the Pei family, and took all of Guanzhong in just a few months. In this land, there has not been a separatist ruler, isn't this a gift from God to Li Yuan.

(End of this chapter)