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When the generals of the Liaodong Army were sharpening their swords and pointing directly at Liaoxi County, Yang Guang, who had just returned to the East for a short time, was preparing for a major event: the southern tour of Jiangdu.

After experiencing Yanmen Pass for a while, Yang Guang seemed to be frightened, and his courage became very small. Although the Eastern Turkic Shibi Khan has died, the Turks have launched an open and covert struggle for power, and they have completely flawless scruples about the northern border fortress. But Yang Guang seems to have lost confidence in completely destroying this great enemy, and no longer plans the Northern Expedition.

Although Pei Ju, Yu Shiji, and Pei Yun all proposed that they could take advantage of the internal war in the steppe to exterminate the Turks in one fell swoop, solve this great enemy once and for all, and eliminate the hidden dangers on the northern border of the Great Sui. However, Yang Guang only agreed to send envoys to the steppe to stir up contradictions within the Turks and support the weaker side, so that the steppe would never form a strong tribe.

To be honest, there is nothing wrong with this strategy, even Wang Shichong, Wei Xuan and others can't blame Yang Guang. But from this incident, several Xiangguo felt that the emperor, who was almost fifty years old, no longer had the domineering spirit of the year and began to decadent.

Well, since the emperor doesn't want to raise troops to the north again, it won't be a big deal, anyway, in a few years, it will be difficult for the Turks to win or lose, and there will be no major invasion of the northern border fortress for the time being. Then the imperial court should concentrate its forces to deal with the bandits in various parts of the Central Plains, right?

Several Xiangguo considered this in their hearts, and Wang Shichong, the secretary of the Ministry of War, even drafted a plan to exterminate bandits in various places.

At present, the rampant bandits in the Central Plains have reached a shocking level.

Because Yang Guang had previously transferred troops from all over the north to the east of the river, he was preparing for the northern expedition against the Turks. The county garrisons in various places were empty and could not send troops to suppress bandits, which gave the rebels in various places a good opportunity for development.

Hebei's Dou Jiande, Delianke, Handan, Hejian and other county towns are huge, and most of the counties in southern Hebei are controlled by him. Even he sent troops to fight near Beiping, but fortunately, Luo Yi rushed back at this time, so he could be regarded as keeping Beiping safe.

And Du Fuwei of Jianghuai, is also a succession of battles, Jiujiang, Luzhou, Danyang and other Huainan counties were taken by him, his sworn brother Fu Gongzuo crossed the Yangtze River, occupied Hukou and Yuzhang County, so that the original peace has been enjoyed in the south of the Yangtze River greatly vibrate.

Of course, the most frightening thing is the Wagang Army. After Zhai Rang was joined by Li Mi, it was like the finishing touch, and his power soared, not only successively breaking through Liyangcang and Jindi Pass, but also occupying six counties including Dongjun, Xingyang County, Henan County, Dongping County, and Chenliu County. All of a sudden, there were many soldiers coming to the Tiger Prison and conquering the momentum of the Eastern Capital in one fell swoop.

Under these circumstances, the price of grain in Luoyang, the eastern capital, was almost five times higher than before Yang Guang's expedition to Hedong. The price of doumi has reached five. As a result, many poor families have almost no rice to cook, and some people even sell their children and daughters in order to get a meal.

To add insult to injury, a large number of defeated soldiers and refugees poured in from the counties that had fallen from the east, adding to the tensions in Luoyang. Jingzhaoyin and several yamen in the eastern capital are exhausted every day by the frequent rice grabbing incidents in the city. The big families in the city were dissatisfied with the current law and order, and they wrote to the imperial court one after another, demanding that outsiders be forbidden to enter the eastern capital.

Just when several Xiangguo were anxious about this, Yang Guang made a decision that surprised everyone: he announced that he was going to tour the Jiangdu south!

A discerning person can see at a glance that this is the saint trying to escape. Now don't say that the situation in the world has been completely eroded, and even Luoyang, the capital of the Great Sui, has reached the verge of collapse. Yang Guang was helpless about this.

Especially in the battle of Yanmen Pass, he was greatly frightened, and went from the original audacity to the other end. Now Yang Guang's mentality has changed dramatically, he has the idea of living one day at a time, and he no longer thinks about being an emperor through the ages.

Yang Guang wanted to tour the Jiangdu in the south, but naturally encountered the opposition of many ministers. In particular, Wei Xuan, Fan Gai and others stated the great harm of doing so.

Fan Gai said: "Shengshang, Luoyang is the pivot of the world, but it can control Guanlong in the west, Jianghuai in the east, Hedong in the north, and Jingxiang in the south." This is also the reason why the Holy Admiral changed the capital from Chang'an to Luoyang. The importance of Luoyang is self-evident, it is related to the rise and fall of the Great Sui, and Luoyang must not be abandoned!

Wei Xuan also said: "Your Majesty, now that the bandit army has been put under the Tiger Prison, the eastern capital is in danger. If the saint goes to Jiangdu at this time, the morale of the military and civilians in the eastern capital will be greatly reduced. The fall of Luoyang is a possibility. And once Luoyang falls, there will be dissenting heroes and strong people in various places who will inevitably raise troops, and then the world will be in chaos, and the Great Sui may also be subverted! ”

And Yu Shiji, Lu Chu and others also spoke out against it, believing that it was not appropriate to tour the south of the river capital at this time. Especially now that the Wagang Army and the Jianghuai Army are in great power, both sides of the canal are under their threat. Once Zhai Rang and Du Fuwei knew that Yang Guang was going south, they would inevitably cut off the Dao and let the emperor go to Jiangdu, and they would not be able to return to the eastern capital.

However, no matter how bitterly the ministers of the court and the central government spoke, Yang Guang had already made up his mind. And the only daughter who can make him listen to Princess Luo Qi is in Liaodong, and Queen Xiao is a woman who doesn't understand politics, and she only heard Yang Guang say that there are fewer bandits in Jiangnan and are safer than in Dongdu, so she agreed. In this way, there is no room for recovery in the matter of the southern tour.

On October 15, the twelfth year of the Great Cause, Yang Guang took Empress Xiao, the palace concubines and the courtiers, under the protection of 100,000 soldiers, and went south to Jiangdu by boat.

And Yang Guang appointed Yang Tong, the king of Emperor Sun Yue, to stay in the eastern capital to supervise the country. It is assisted by Wang Shichong, the secretary of the Ministry of War, Wei Xuan, the secretary of the Criminal Department, Fan Gai, the secretary of the Ministry of Households, and Yu Shiji, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry.

After this news came out, all the counties and local tycoons in the world were dumbfounded. Everyone realized that the Sui Dynasty had gone to the general trend, and Yang Guang no longer had the heart to be aggressive, so he adopted the method of evasion and let the situation in the Central Plains erode. And among his descendants, whether they are the emperor or the emperor's grandson, they are all young, and none of them are talented. In the stable governance of the world, it may be possible to continue the Great Sui. But now it is a troubled time, and the mediocre emperor will never be able to inherit the unification of the Sui Dynasty.

Just when the world's heroes were about to move, a major event happened in Liaoxi County, and it was this major event that made the prestige of the imperial court drop to the lowest point.

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The county guard of Liaoxi County is the famous Hebei general Xue Shixiong, who has 50,000 horses under his command, more than four times the average county guard. Moreover, his soldiers and horses are elite soldiers who have been trained for many years, and cavalry accounts for more than half.

Yang Guang allocated so many elite soldiers and strong generals to Xue Shixiong, and naturally hoped that he could stop the expansion of the Liaodong Army to the Central Plains.

And Xue Shixiong has also been trembling and fulfilling his duties, and his troops are stationed at the border pass to prevent the infiltration of the Liaodong Army.

However, if the flames are everywhere today, it will be difficult for the supplies and materials of the imperial court to be sent to Liaoxi County. Therefore, Xue Shixiong also had to lower his posture and allow merchants of various ethnic groups in Liaodong and the Central Plains to trade in his county to collect transaction taxes to support his officers and soldiers.

However, on the ninth day of the lunar month, when the snow was falling heavily in the north, a vicious brawl occurred in Liaoxi County. A group of merchants from eastern Liaodong clashed with a merchant from western Liaoning.

The cause of this brawl is very ordinary, the merchant in Liaoxi is called Xue Wancheng, is Xue Shixiong's nephew, has been engaged in the fur business for a long time, and is a good woman, he took a fancy to the other party's merchant team, a beautiful woman accompanying him, and wanted to come forward to tease the other party. So the two sides naturally fought and injured more than ten people each.

The county's city guards arrived and separated the two sides. This kind of incident of fighting and being jealous because of a woman and fighting is commonplace, so the team of the city defense army did not interrogate too much, but felt that the woman involved was beautiful and noble, no wonder there was a fight because of her.

Because the team of the city defense army was the elder brother of the Liaoxi merchant Xue Wancheng, when dealing with the dispute, he favored the Liaoxi merchant and ordered the Liaodong merchant to make compensation.

Originally, he thought that the two brothers were the nephews of Liaoxi County Shou Xue Shixiong, and after revealing their identities, the merchants of Liaodong would be as peaceful as before, and they would not dare to argue with them. After all, if the people don't fight with the officials, most of them will think that they are unlucky, pay the money honestly and leave.

But the reaction of the merchants in Liaodong was much beyond his expectations. The group of businessmen firmly refused to accept compensation, and also claimed that he was partial to the other side and wanted to sue him against Xue Shixiong.

This was to that Xue Wansong on fire, and he should have locked up the group of merchants and prepared to torture them. And his younger brother Xue Wancheng secretly informed the cell boss that he wanted the cell boss to send the imprisoned beauties to his home at night for him to be insulted.

However, not long after this incident, the Liaodong Army invaded on a large scale, and from the border of Liaoxi County to the place where the county seat is located, it only takes two hours for the cavalry to arrive.

Therefore, by dusk, the county town of Liaoxi had been surrounded by the Liaodong army, and they were already preparing to build a ladder to attack the city.

When Xue Shixiong learned of this, he was taken aback and hurriedly ordered all the troops to go to the city wall to defend. He himself went up to the city tower and said loudly to the city: "Dare to ask which general of the Liaodong Army led the team?" Why would you suddenly attack my Liaoxi territory? ”

At this time, a young general with a face like a crown of jade, a handsome appearance, and a bright silver armor came out of the Liaodong army formation.

The young general held a Liquan treasure spear in his hand, and said angrily: "Xue Shixiong, I am Yuming!" Are you embarrassed to say? Why don't you open the gates and let me in to rescue the princess!" ”

"What? Rescue the princess? "Xue Shixiong was confused. He knew that when Yang Guang's youngest daughter Princess Luo Qi was engaged to Zhou Wang Yuming, he also knew that this Princess Luo Qi was resting in Liaodong City. But how could he come to find the princess this time?

"His Royal Highness King Zhou, are you mistaken? Isn't Her Royal Highness the Princess in Liaodong City? When did you get to my Liaoxi? And to use the word 'rescue'? Xue Shixiong is also confused.

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