On the official road east of Yecheng, a group of cavalry is galloping towards Yecheng, led by Pei Xingyan, the chief general of the Third Legion of the Great Sui, and the deputy generals Jia Wuben and Gao Yaxian.

They received the news of the march into the Central Plains in Bohai and were ordered to come to Yecheng to discuss the military situation. This order means that after more than a year of precipitation, the Great Sui Dynasty finally decided to chase the Central Plains, which is the first step to unify the world, so that the three generals are very excited, they dislike the slow waterway, simply one person and two horses, day and night galloping, although they are all running in the dust, but the face is happy, the spirit is excited.

"Three generals, Yecheng has arrived." One of the guards pointed to the huge city in the distance and shouted.

Pei Xingyan ordered: "Change horses and speed up." ”

"Whoa!"

The group quickly changed their horses and accelerated forward, and the horse's hooves stirred up billowing dust and galloped towards Yecheng.

……

In the military aircraft room of Chaoyang Palace, more than 20 civil and military ministers gathered together, Qin Qiong, the chief general of the Second Army, and Wang Wei and Zuo Tiancheng, deputy generals; The Fifth Army's commander-in-chief Deng Wei, deputy generals Xie Yingdeng and He Panren, and naval commander Zhang Zhenzhou and other generals...... It's all in place.

In the middle of everyone's seats is a rectangular sunken down, and a huge sand table is placed in the depression, and the topographic map of the Central Plains is vividly presented in front of everyone's eyes, even if they sit on the seat, they can see it clearly.

There have been new changes in the situation, the Xiangyang Department of the Black Ice Terrace sent urgent information, 180,000 Tang troops and a large number of heavy supplies were all transported to Waiwuguan, the commander has made it clear that it is the puppet Tang and Jin King Li Shimin, Liu Wenjing, Xiao Yu as the military division, Gao Shilian, Yu Wenshi, Duan Zhixuan, Gao Shilian as the marching Sima, and the generals with the army include Chai Shao, Duan Zhixuan, Liu Hongji, Hou Junji, Wang Junkuo, Li Xizhi, Qiu Xinggong, Zhang Gongjin, Li Gaoqian, it can be said that the lineup is huge, and this news has been verified by the direction of Daxing.

Yang Tong immediately realized that the Tang army was very likely to be a strategic deception of Wang Shichong, after all, except for the large army on the side of Xiyang, the Tang army adopted moderate defensive means in other border counties, but in order to prevent the Tang army from attacking the east, he still strictly ordered Xue Wanche of the Sixth Army and Chi Gong, the captain of the Seventh Army, to be on strict alert, and at the same time let Liu Gang, the chief general of Tongguan, enter a wartime state.

"Holy Lord, it's almost time, can you start?" Du Ruhui, the squire of the military department, asked in a low voice.

Yang Tong shook his head: "General Pei, they have already entered the city, and they will be there soon." Wait a little longer for them. ”

As soon as the words fell, there was a rush of footsteps outside the hall.

"Holy Lord, General Pei, General Jia, and General Gao have arrived." One of the guards shouted loudly.

Immediately afterwards, Pei Xingyan walked into the military aircraft room quickly, and said apologetically: "I'm late, I'm sorry to keep you waiting." ”

The three of them saluted Yang Tong together and said, "The last general will see the saint." ”

"The three generals have worked hard!" Yang Tong looked at the three generals with gray faces, pointed to the basin and food that had already been prepared, and said with a smile: "Wipe your face and eat something." ”

"Thank you, Holy Lord." The three generals' hearts warmed, and they hurriedly thanked them gratefully, and unceremoniously cleaned them on the side, and then grabbed the pastries and ate them.

Yang Tong was not in a hurry, and waited for them to catch their breath and relax before saying, "Let's start." ”

"Whoa!"

Everyone gathered around the sand table, and Yang Tong said to everyone: "Everyone, after repeated consultations, we decided to use the pseudo-Tang soldiers to enter Luoyang and chase the Central Plains. Our first step is to build a foothold in the Central Plains, the size is not important, the key is to be able to make the Great Sui vertical and horizontal, advance and retreat freely, so where to march from is quite critical. ”

He took an iron rod the thickness of his thumb and pointed to the sand table and said: "Among the three major forces in the Central Plains, Li Mi, who is the strongest, is in the middle, even if we win him, we will be encircled by the enemies of the three sides, and we can't move, so Li Mi is not advisable; The weakest Dou Jiande is now divided into three, and it is not difficult to annihilate him, but Qingzhou is alone, even if we recover it, it will not be of much significance, and it will not affect the Central Plains. ”

"In this way, there is only Wang Shichong, if we take Luoyang, not only can we return Luoyang, but also connect with Guanzhong to avoid the trend of multi-sided enemies, and more importantly, from a strategic point of view, taking Luoyang will be able to cut off the claws of the pseudo-Tang Dynasty plot against the Central Plains, making it difficult for it to develop eastward."

Pei Xingyan, who had just arrived, thought for a while and expressed his opinion: "Shengshang, if we take Luoyang, it will be equivalent to being between Li Yuan and Li Mi, if the two form an alliance, we are very likely to be attacked by the two powers, and the combined strength of the two is not weak." ”

Yang Tong said with a smile: "General Pei's idea is very correct, in order to contain Er Li, we have already sent envoys to discuss with Xiao Mo and Du Fuwei, and let the two of them contain Er Li from the south respectively and disperse their forces." In this way, even if we take Luoyang, it is impossible for the two to attack with all their might, and the most unreliable in the world is the ally, after the alliance, the two Li seem to be strong, but in fact, they have their own ghosts, guarding each other, elbowing each other, not only worried that the other party will take advantage of each other, but also afraid of the secret calculations from the allies. ”

"Even if Xiao Mo and Du Fuwei can't do it, I don't have to worry, I can let Wei Chigong advance eastward along the Han River, threaten Xiangyang, the pseudo-Tang capital, and at the same time let Wang Fubao and Xue Wanche march into Bashu. I don't believe in hypocrisy, and Tang dares to let the rear alone. ”

"So there will be no difference in meaning." Pei Xingyan asked with a smile: "But I don't know what the tasks of the last general and others are?" ”

Jia Wuben and Gao Yaxian immediately looked at Yang Tong, which was quite critical.

"The task of the Third Army is quite heavy and dangerous. In the early stage, he cooperated with the navy and put on a posture of attacking Qingzhou in the Bohai Sea to cover up for the march to Luoyang. As soon as my order arrives, you will penetrate Qingzhou with a thunderous force, and then garrison in Langxi County to govern Linyi County, and at the same time deter the three counties of Pengcheng, Xiapi, and Donghai of the puppet Wei. ”

When Pei Xingyan, Jia Wuben, and Gao Yaxian heard this, they were immediately refreshed and refreshed, and asked with their hands: "Holy Lord, is the supply of the Third Army in place and forcibly requisitioned?" ”

"After you capture Linyi County, immediately march into Ju County, and use prisoners of war and local people to open up docks, and the navy will provide you with supplies from the sea, so you can do without anywhere, but Ju County must not be lost."

"The Admiral understands."

"This mission is not only important, but also quite dangerous, do you three have confidence?"

"Rest assured, the last general and others will guarantee to complete the task." Pei Xingyan said proudly.

Yang Tong smiled and nodded, "I believe in you, be careful." ”

"Whoa." The three generals replied loudly.

Seeing that Yang Tong had arranged the tasks of the Third Army, Kong Yingda arched his hand and asked: "Holy Lord, we still have an alliance with Wang Shichong, if we attack him, what will the people of the world think?" ”

"The Covenant?"

Yang Tong sneered disdainfully: "We have never had an alliance with Wang Shichong, in the past, in order to deal with the pseudo-Tang, we only reached a verbal agreement with him, to make it clear, we only have a win-win business relationship with him." More importantly, I had a reason to go to war with him. ”

Kong Yingda understood what Yang Tong was referring to, and suddenly said: "The saint means that Wang Shichong is a chaotic minister and thief?" ”

Yang Tong nodded, and said proudly: "My Great Sui is orthodox in the world, and the rest are all my Great Sui's rebellious ministers and thieves, we can fight as much as we want." As for Xiao Mo and Du Fuwei, they are only mutually beneficial, and there is no alliance to say, and it is too cheap to form an alliance with them. ”

……

If a year ago, Li Yuan and Li Mi were regarded by Wang Shichong as the biggest enemies in this life, then now it is undoubtedly Yang Tong, as one of the last princes from Yang Dong, Wang Shichong is very aware of the horror of his neighbor, with the emergence of the various new policies of the Great Sui, and the Sui Dynasty spies spared no effort to publicize the outside world, a large number of Hongnong people crossed the mountains and mountains to migrate to Guanzhong, and every time the Yellow River froze, the people of Xingyang and Henan County would step on the ice and Beitou Dasui night after night.

The people of these three counties know that in the troubled times, the Central Plains has been a battleground in the world since ancient times, and once the Central Plains War breaks out, Luoyang will bear the brunt. For the people, the majestic Sui Dynasty was much stronger than Wang Shichong who was trapped on one side, and they had no confidence in Wang Shichong, so they were unwilling to die with Wang Shichong.

Even if Wang Shichong is doing well, but in the past few years, there have been a lot of people, especially the people of Xingyang, who have been seriously exploited by the family, even if Xingyang is too heavily guarded to prevent the people from flowing to the Great Sui, but for Xingyang, which is close to the Yellow River that freezes every year, in recent years, the loss has been as much as sixty percent.

What are the other places bordering Yang Tong, Wang Shichong doesn't know, but it must not be much better.

Wang Shichong can have today's prosperity, but he learned a lot of Yang Tong's methods, although he completely broke with the family, but the land controlled in the hands of the government was directly distributed to the people, without the family this layer of exploitation, not only Wang Shichong was rich, but also helped him attract a lot of people from the Jingxiang area, which has today's momentum.

But no matter how good the momentum is, it can't change the fact that Wang Shichong's territory is small, and the five counties of Henan, Hongnong, Xingyang, Xiangcheng, and Shuyang that he controls are strategic places in the Central Plains, no matter who wants to rule the Central Plains, they must fight here first, and many people of insight are no longer optimistic about Wang Shichong, because they feel that Wang Shichong not only can't open up, but also difficult to protect himself.

With the frequent actions of the Sui and Tang dynasties, Wang Shichong encountered big trouble here.

On the one hand, many officials were unwilling to die for Wang Shichong, and they hung up their seals one after another, which made there a lot of vacancies in the court officials, and his fourth brother Wang Shiyun alone served as more than ten concurrently and prepared, and he had to select some military attachés with a little knowledge from the army to enter the court as officials.

Secondly, the families of Xiangcheng and Shuyang counties are not optimistic about him, and Li Yuan, who is more secure and has a wider territory, is a little dissatisfied with his rule, and Wang Shichong has no choice but to let the crown prince Wang Xuanying go to appease, but the effect is not obvious.

The third thing is that the evil consequences of sheltering the cannibal demon king Zhu Cang finally broke out, Hongnong, Xiangcheng, and Shuyang, which were once deeply poisoned by Zhu Cang, the people of the counties and counties strongly demanded that Wang Shichong kill Zhu Cang to thank the world, Wang Shichong was annoyed and ashamed, and directly sent Zhu Cang to lead the army to suppress it, but Zhu Cang failed to return, and the contradiction was further stimulated.

All of this gave Wang Shichong an illusion-

Before the enemy could figure out who it was, he was already defeated.