First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 211 Yuchi Jingde Seizes Power
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Hearing Gao Junya's words, Li Yuan's eyes lit up, he got up and looked at the map on the screen, and said excitedly: "Junya's words are reasonable, then Lu Chongmao's mere white body, plotting rebellion is nothing more than a high-ranking official and rich salary, if he wishes After killing Yuchi Jingde and surrendering the city, so what if I give him a Duke of the county?"

Pei Ji heard the words and continued: "Then Lu Chongmao has accepted the canonization of the puppet Han, and I am afraid it will be difficult to Zhao'an."

"The canonization of the fake Han is tantamount to deceiving oneself and others. No one in the world will admit it." Gao Junya immediately said: "Even if Lu Chongmao died loyal to Liu Wuzhou, when the news of his acceptance of my Tang gold and silver is spread, there must be mutual suspicion among them, and they can also be separated. Its military spirit, anyway, there is no risk, no cost, why not give it a try."

Hearing this, Li Yuan did not hesitate any longer, and immediately made a decision, deciding to order Lu Chongmao.

Li Yuan has always been a pragmatist. When the world rebelled against the Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan could develop in a low-key manner without seeking fame. Even if Yang Guang mocked him as "grandma's face", Li Yuan also looked calm.

And after raising troops, Li Yuan was even more generous with rewards, not only opened up the treasury to reward, but also granted various titles at will, such as Gao Chong's Uncle An Ling, who was just a false name and had no real title.

Even Pei Ji, Duke of the Kingdom of Wei, the chief assistant of the dynasty, only sealed [-] households. In Li Yuan's view, these vain titles are far inferior to the reality of the actual city of soldiers and horses.

Upon seeing this, Gao Junya shouted directly: "The city of the people is the most important thing, Your Majesty is wise."

Gao Junya thought of Gao Chong's sigh after learning that the title of Earl of Anling was not confirmed: "The sage made me grateful with only a false title. He is really a pragmatist."

That night, Gao Junya kept thinking about the five words "pragmatist".

From the time he stayed in Jinyang until he ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, Li Yuan has never been stingy with such rewards. He has granted dozens of awards for the Duke alone, and there are more others such as the Zhu Kingdom. In Gao Chong's words, "Anyway It doesn’t cost money, you can buy people’s hearts if you seal it down, why not seal it down.”

Li Yuan acted resolutely, and immediately sent envoys to sneak into Xia County with a lot of money to persuade Lu Chongmao to vote for the Tang Dynasty, and clearly marked the price. If Lu Chongmao offered the city to vote, he would be the county prince. If Lu Chongmao came with Yuchi Jingde's head, he would be the county Lord of the Duke.

The envoy rushed to Xia County overnight. At this time, Yuchi Jingde was still recovering from his injuries, and assisted Lu Chongmao in defending the city. Lu Chongmao was named King of Wei by Liu Wuzhou, and his status was higher than that of Yuchi Jingde. Yuchi Jingde came to vote alone. .

When seeing the envoy of Li Tang, Lu Chongmao was frightened and hurriedly led the envoy into the inner room, lest others would notice him. When the envoy took out the imperial decree, Lu Chongmao felt even more uneasy.

Lu Chongmao was originally from a wealthy family in Xia County, which belongs to Yuzhou. When Pei Ji retreated to Yuzhou, he fortified the walls and cleared the fields, and ordered the people to destroy the crops outside the city. The Lu family had more than [-] mu of fertile land outside the city. At this time, no matter how willing to destroy it, Lu Chongmao gathered the people to capture the city.

In terms of overall quality, Lu Chongmao was nothing more than a rich man in the countryside, he heard the instigation of a few cunning people around him, he rebelled, and then faced the Tang army's attack, he hurriedly defected to Liu Wuzhou, asking for help urgently.

When Li Shimin pacified Hedong, Lu Chongmao had seen Li Shimin's majesty. Yuchi Jingde captured Li Xiaoji and others alive.

In Lu Chongmao's heart, he was somewhat remorseful. Now he heard that Li Yuan not only pardoned him for the crime of raising troops, but also promised him a title. .

Lu Chongmao immediately agreed to the envoy, held a banquet in the county government, and killed Yuchi Jingde.

The messenger masked a happy face, and left through the back door overnight, but he did not leave the city, and his figure disappeared into the darkness of the streets and alleys.

In the evening of the next day, Lu Chongmao held a banquet at the county office and invited Yuchi Jingde. Yuchi Jingde arrived as scheduled and arrived at the gate of the county office.

Yuchi Jingde was furious, he kicked the guard over, "This waist saber was bestowed by His Majesty, it was given to you, how dare you take it?"

The guard was originally a county soldier, but he didn't dare to speak when he saw this.

Yuchi Jingde came straight to the hall, and saw Lu Chongmao sitting at the head, accompanied by a few generals on the left and right, looked at Yuchi Jingde and smiled, "General Yuchi is in high spirits, it seems that the injury should be completely healed."

Hearing this, Yuchi Jingde laughed loudly, put his hand on the waist knife, "This injury is not healed, but killing you traitor is easy."

After the words fell, Yuchi Jingde rushed forward regardless of everyone's horror, drew his sword and slashed at Lu Chongmao, Lu Chongmao's personal guards hurriedly stopped him, but Yuchi Jingde stabbed him one by one, and put the blade across Lu Chongmao's neck.

"Wei...General Yuchi, what...why is this?" Lu Chongmao asked tremblingly in shock.

Several generals in the hall were also shocked, "General Yuchi, how dare you disrespect King Wei?"

"You guys don't know good and bad. I'm here to break your siege first, and then to help you defend the city. How dare you sell me to the Tang army?" Yuchi Jingde slightly exerted force on the horizontal knife in his hand, and there was a trace of light on Lu Chongmao's neck. blood.

"Ah... you, General Yuchi, please forgive me." Lu Chongmao was terrified and begged for mercy.

Seeing his confession, Yuchi Jingde was furious immediately, "What's the use of keeping you for being a villain again", and immediately stepped on him on the desk, cut him off with a knife, and Lu Chongmao rolled into the hall, blood splattered.

"Lv Chongmao intended to plot rebellion, and he has already been executed by this general. Are you a gangster?" Yuchi Jingde stepped on the headless corpse and asked sharply, holding a knife.

All the generals Zuo Wenyanju hurriedly knelt down and begged for mercy.

Yuchi Jingde immediately gathered his military power, summoned more than [-] soldiers from Xia County, beheaded all of Lu Chongmao's cronies, and then said: "Xia County is located in the southeast of Baibi, far away from the Weizhou camp where King Song garrisoned troops. The city is small and there is little food. It is useless, and tomorrow I will withdraw to Huizhou and join forces with the King of Song."

Xia County General Zuo was afraid of Yuchi Jingde's power, how could he object, so he hurriedly nodded in agreement.

At the same time, in Puzhou, west of Xia County, Gao Chong stared at the map in front of him in a daze. He didn't notice until Kaohsiung brought the food, "Lang Jun, it's time to eat," Kaohsiung had to remind.

Gao Chong came back to his senses, picked up the rice bowl and put it into his mouth. He caught a glimpse of the stout Kaohsiung standing by his waist, and paused slightly. Kaohsiung's body shape was quite similar to Yuchi Jingde's, and he was also tall and strong.

It wasn't until the meal was finished that Gao Chong made a decision, "Go and call Brother Qin over", and Gao Xiong took the order to leave.

Now it has entered the winter of the second year of Wude, Li Mi has been defeated, Li Gui is dead, and Zhu Can is dead. Today, the three kingdoms are in a state of confrontation, with Xia in Hebei, Zheng in the Central Plains, Tang in Guanzhong, and others such as Liang Shidu and Liu Wuzhou. , Xiao Xian and others, although there are many soldiers and horses, they are really a foil.

"Time waits for no one," Gao Chong murmured to himself with vigor.

(End of this chapter)