I, the son of Yang Guo, abducted Zhang Sanfeng across the heavens

"No, this isn't right."

Xu Maogong paced back and forth in the hall, muttering to himself anxiously, "Something is wrong here, there must be something wrong."

After several years of siege and conquest, the army of King Hou Tu had almost occupied half of the original Tang Dynasty, dividing it with Yang Jian in the south and the north.

Yang Jian occupied the northwest and still made Chang'an his capital; the army of King Hou Tu occupied the southeast and made Hangzhou their capital.

Originally, I wanted to move the capital to Nanjing, but no kidding, this place is known as the ancient capital of Six Dynasties. In fact, most of the so-called "dynasties" such as Eastern Wu, Eastern Jin, Liu Song, Southern Qi, Southern Liang, and Southern Chen were short-lived and not worth mentioning.

The main reason is that it has only been a few years since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, an era that was ended by Yang Jian himself. There is no point in moving the capital here again. From the perspective of aesthetic fatigue alone, it is enough to make Yang Gui's rejection.

After thinking about it, I decided to go to Hangzhou.

This place was later the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty. It was a good opportunity to set an example of "great gift to the court" for that spineless and stupid dynasty that only knew how to give money, land, women and its emperor, so that they would know what a truly powerful dynasty was.

At this moment, the high-ranking officials of King Hou Tu’s army were discussing matters in King Hou Tu’s palace in Hangzhou.

At this time, several years had passed since the Siping Mountain Alliance. The previous rebel kings were useless. They were all leaders of the old forces that Yang Gui and Hou Tu wanted to completely destroy. They had already been told in advance that they would naturally not leave any high-ranking positions for them.

Fortunately, Yang Gui had been the Heavenly Dao for a long time, and he also learned the set of Fifty Derivations of the Great Dao and Forty-Nine Derivations, which left a way out for those previous rebel kings.

Unless someone has committed a large-scale massacre and his crime is unforgivable, he can use his own wealth or military organization to buy a free official position, or the priority to expand territory and become a king overseas in the future.

People like Gao Tansheng, Dou Jiande and Tang Bi, who still had some ambition and some people under their command, chose the priority of dividing the land and becoming kings in the future.

This power means that although your troops and money and grain are confiscated, the quantity and quality are all recorded. And the annual interest rate is increased by 5% year by year.

When the country is stable in the future and needs to expand territory, they can re-issue it according to this number. At that time, these troops, horses, money and food nominally belong to the court, but except that they cannot attack the court's homeland and openly rebel, they can go anywhere to expand territory.

Wherever you conquer, you will be crowned king.

Although this statement seemed unreliable, most of the rebel kings did not believe it. But after all, things had come to this point. Even if the Hou Tu army killed them all and occupied their forces, they had no resistance, so they had no choice but to believe it.

By the way, among them is Shan Xiongxin, who is now the leader of Wagang.

After he returned, Li Mi was still obsessed and believed that he had the possibility of becoming emperor. And because of Xu Maogong's departure, Li Mi chose to continue to intensify the conflict with Shan Xiongxin, Wang Junke and their brothers.

The result, of course, was that he was captured by Shan Xiongxin and others in a mutiny.

After seeing the terrifying combat power of King Hou Tu's army, Shan Xiongxin and others had no intention of fighting with them at all.

After stating the strength comparison between the enemy and us, I didn't expect Li Mi to say lightly: "Then let them die. Anyway, people will die when they serve in the army. Can't I give them more pensions?"

To be honest, Li Mi was a monarch in the founding period. Compared with other leaders and emperors of the feudal dynasty, he was quite conscientious. At least he knew that he should "give more pensions" when people died.

Most of the military chiefs and leaders in charge of the feudal dynasties chose to eat empty salaries in peacetime and empty salaries and pensions after the war. They ate the empty salaries and pensions, and naturally they also ate the real salaries and pensions.

The court allocated 50 taels of silver as a pension for each person. When it actually reached the families of the soldiers, if there were one or two taels of silver, it meant that the military commanders of this army had strong moral concepts.

After all, even in the imperial court and the emperor, this rule is a tacit unspoken rule. In this era, ordinary people are as cheap as grass, and a life is not worth mentioning at all.

So this is exactly why Yang Gui prefers Lao Ba.

Lao Ba may be cruel, shameless, or fickle, and his achievements in governance and military affairs may not even rank among the top 3,500 emperors in Chinese history. But one thing is that he was born in the lower class, and he never forgot his original aspirations. He really took the lives of ordinary people as his own.

This is a very incredible thing. Perhaps this is the last bit of mercy that Zhu Yuanzhang's humble origin brought him.

Similarly, Shan Xiongxin, who was born as a big brother in the underworld, may not take the lives of ordinary people seriously, but he definitely treats his brothers who rely on him for a living as human beings.

Li Mi's words immediately angered Shan Xiongxin and Wang Junke. The long-standing irreconcilable and increasingly intense contradictions finally broke out at this moment.

Shan Xiongxin, who could no longer tolerate this, rushed up the stairs and captured Li Mi alive from his throne. He then summoned all the main leaders of the Wagang Camp for a public trial.

Li Mi, who had already aroused public anger, was naturally deposed from the throne and expelled from Wagang, never to return.

No one knows what happened to Li Mi later, and no one cares. After all, according to the current situation, he has no chance, and the probability of dying in troubled times is probably relatively high. The best ending is to become a teacher or a legal advisor and live out the rest of his life.

But judging from Li Mi's arrogant character, perhaps he would rather choose to commit suicide.

It's just that no one cares anymore.

After driving Li Mi away, all the people in Wagang unanimously elected Shan Xiongxin as the supreme leader. Shan Xiongxin, who had seen the world, did not proclaim himself emperor again, but directly took his men, horses, food and fodder, and the whole village to join the Hou Tu King's army, using these to buy the priority to expand the territory and become an overseas king in the future.

This is good. If the Blue Dragon Star wants to cause chaos and wreak havoc in the Central Plains again in the future, he doesn't have to reincarnate as Yeon Gaesomun after his death. Shan Xiongxin can directly attack from overseas.

Of course, there were also some who suffered heavy losses, or were directly killed, and the second or third in command who succeeded them were anti-kings with little ambition, so they just chose to buy a free position.

Although Yang's rules stipulated that non-overseas kings could not inherit the throne, his reign was enough to provide his descendants with enough wealth and power to support them for several generations. As for what would happen after that? All we could say was that our children and grandchildren would have their own blessings.

The previous rebel king no longer counts, and the current senior leaders of King Hou Tu’s army have risen to their positions entirely based on their abilities and merits.

Today, those who are qualified to discuss matters with Xu Maogong in the palace hall are basically all talents who were trained later. Among the former rebel kings, only a few such as Shan Xiongxin, Dou Jiande, Gao Tansheng, and Li Yuan are still in the hall.

That’s right, there is also Li Yuan.

As a representative of the aristocratic family that was clearly going to be overthrown, Li Yuan originally thought that his family was doomed, but his son was determined to make it. The old Li family had produced many talents, such as Li Jing from the Longxi Li family, Li Yuan's son-in-law Chai Shao, and then Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Hou Junji, Yin Kaishan, and Wei Zheng from the Li Yuan group, all of whom showed their talents and were qualified to attend the palace to discuss matters.

Including Xu Maogong, who later changed his name to Li Ji, it can be said that a large part of the original twenty-four heroes of the Lingyan Pavilion of the Tang Dynasty are here.

Some of these people were under Li Jiancheng, and some followed Li Shimin, but now that Li Yuan had given up the idea of ​​becoming emperor and handed over all his people, these people were no longer distinguishable. They also did not bring any bonus to Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin.

So Li Jiancheng was unable to come to the palace to discuss matters.

No matter what kind of talent Li Jiancheng was in history, in the world view of "The Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties", Li Jiancheng is just a complete fool.

But Li Shimin was qualified to come.

Li Shimin did not rely on anyone but his own abilities. His abilities were so great that if he asked his father to help him with something, he could even make his father eligible to come to the main hall to discuss matters.

Today, Li Shimin is already the third person in Hou Tu's army. Apart from Yang Gui and Hou Tu, he is the most respected. In fact, Yang Gui and Hou Tu rarely take charge of things. Basically, Li Shimin is already 85% of the legitimate king.

Li Yuan can be said to be a father who gained status through his son.

Xu Maogong called people to discuss the matter this time, and he shouted that something was wrong, but he didn't know what was wrong. He always felt that there was something on the tip of his tongue, but he just couldn't remember it or say it.

This annoying feeling of anger made Xu Maogong, who always regarded himself as a wise man, start to pace back and forth in the hall hurriedly.

Li Shimin and other important officials were also smart. Although they were not as good at using strange strategies as Xu Maogong, they were definitely smart people in the world. After listening to Xu Maogong's words, they also felt that something seemed wrong, but they just couldn't say why.

"There must be something wrong." Yang Gui was sitting on the throne, and he and Hou Tu were like a licentious and immoral king, feeding each other fruits, but no one dared to underestimate them.

Even Shan Xiongxin, who had experienced the Li Mi incident, did not feel dissatisfied at all.

The reason is that they are all smart people, and they have personally led troops in battles and governed counties and cities.

For those masters who can train a group of grassroots cadres in three to five years and have terrifying good breeds and terrifying meat yields like livestock, no matter how licentious and immoral these people are in their daily lives, they must not be disrespected in the slightest.

It is impossible for them to lose power. Even if they are really incompetent, they have the confidence to be incompetent.

"Please help me, my Lords." Li Shimin bowed deeply. "What is the reason for the increasing friction and conflict between our two sides?"

"Why ask? Someone must be plotting against us." Yang Gui lazily ate a piece of watermelon handed over by Hou Tu, and fed his wife a piece of durian. "You don't really think this chaotic world has come to an end, do you?"

"Ah?" All these smart people were really shocked. They never thought that Yang Gui would come out with such an answer. They thought to themselves, could it be that this king has become so stupid that his brain has gone blank?

"Then who is plotting against us?" Xu Maogong asked impatiently.

"It's simple. There's no need to guess. Just make a direct and violent argument. Whoever benefits is the mastermind behind the scenes." Hou Tu was impatient. "How come you are dumber than Luo Shixin?"

Being told by Hou Tu that they were dumber than Luo Shixin, a mentally handicapped fool, all those who claimed to be smart were furious. Of course, no one dared to vent their anger, as they were afraid that Hou Tu would beat them to death.

But they dared not to obey, because the atmosphere of internal deliberation and decision-making in King Hou Tu's army has always been relatively democratic and relaxed.

Li Shimin, as the most senior official in the group, took the lead and asked, "Please tell me, Your Majesty, who has benefited?"

"Peking."

The same thing was also being discussed in Yang Jian's Chang'an Palace. Hua Yan pointed his finger at the northeast corner of the map, "Our two sides are divided by a not-so-regular diagonal line. One side occupies the northwest, and the other occupies the southeast. We are facing each other across half of the Yangtze River."

Yang Jian, Gao Jiong, Wu Jianzhang and others looked at the map and nodded.

"But we have always ignored this quiet northeast corner." Huayan drew a circle with his finger, circling out an area, most of the Yanyun area, including twelve of the Sixteen States of Yanyun, as well as areas such as Liaodong outside the Great Wall.

"This...what is this?" A feeling of fear arose in Yang Jian's heart.

Because this has always been their Yang Tang's territory, and he even conquered it with his own hands. But during the long period of chaos, he had never noticed such a large piece of land, and had never considered anything he did, as if it had completely disappeared from his worldview.

The others also had this feeling, and a chill of fear crept up their backs.

"Perhaps it's because there's no one causing chaos in this area, there's no rebel king, and Yang Guang hasn't made any trouble. We assume that this area is part of the imperial court, and no one cares about it or thinks about it. Maybe we think that after unifying the country, it will naturally belong to us?"

Some people start looking for excuses, trying to find a way to make themselves less afraid.

However, Yang Jian ruthlessly exposed his lies. After all, he was the founding emperor and had followed Yang Gui for so many years, so he would not deceive himself.

"That's not right. When Yang Guang conquered Goguryeo three times, he had to use Yanyun and Liaodong as springboards. Whether he was mobilizing troops or transporting food, he had to get supplies and rest from here. We should have noticed this area where horses are raised and food is produced during our struggle for world hegemony for so long."

"The method of concealing the secrets of heaven." Hua Yan said with a serious face. For Yang Gui and Hou Tu, there was no obstacle and they could see through it directly. But for Hua Yan, he had only just seen through it now.

"What?" Yang Jian was shocked. "Didn't they say that immortals are not allowed to exist?"

"Not a deity." Hua Yan shook his head: "This is very shallow, just obscuring the secrets of heaven. It's not as good as the method of using the Seven Star Lamp to prolong life that Zhuge Liang tried to use back then. That was a method of stealing the secrets of heaven, which is much more serious than this.

He was able to do this because we didn't attack him. They didn't do anything either, otherwise, with such a simple method, if he made the slightest move, it would be broken. For example, now."

"This...how can you be sure it is Beiping?" Yang Jian and others asked again.

"Obviously, there is only one person who can make a difference here, Luo Yi, the King of Beiping." Hua Yan narrowed his eyes, "And he must also have a very smart and resourceful strategist helping him." (End of this chapter)