Cen Wenwen was ordered by Xiao Miao, selected a number of treasured jade objects from the treasury, took advantage of the night to leave Changsha City, and disguised himself as a merchant and went all the way north.

Central Plains, Wagangzhai.

Wagangzhai is located at the junction of Weicheng, Lingchang, Kuangcheng and Yucheng counties, which was originally a swamp formed due to the flooding of the Yellow River, the place is remote and inhuman.

In the sixth year of the Great Cause, Cao Zhai of the Eastern County raised an army against the Sui and established the first Wagangzhai on this swamp, and his subordinate Xu Shiji suggested that he rob the ships and plunder the merchants and travelers to support himself.

Zhai Rang accepted his suggestion and led his people to the borders of Xingyang and Liang counties, plundering public and private ships, so the supply was sufficient, and more and more people came to join him, reaching more than 10,000 people.

However, at this time, Wagangzhai was still only a small and large-scale cottage, and it was not a big force, and what really made Wagangzhai go to the road of hegemony was in the 12th year of the great cause. This year, Li Mi, the prince of Pushan County, who followed Yang Xuangan's rebellion, defected to Wagangzhai.

Li Mi was a man with great political vision, and he suggested that Zhai Rang actively develop his strength, expand his influence, and attack Luokoucang, which had a large amount of grain and grass for the Sui army.

After capturing Luokoucang, Li Mi immediately opened the warehouse and released grain, selected strong soldiers from the homeless people, and won hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and his prestige was greatly boosted.

After that, Li Mi designed to ambush Zhang Xutuo, a famous general who was powerful in Dongxia, and surrendered Pei Renji, Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin and other brave generals. Zhai Rang felt that Li Mi's leadership ability was far superior to his own, so he took the initiative to give way to Li Mi, respected him as the Duke of Wei, and served as Situ himself.

After Li Mi ascended to the throne, he carried out drastic reforms to the Wagang Army, established a set of strict order, swept away the original bandit habits of the Wagang Army, and gradually established the position of the overlord of the Wagang Army in the Central Plains.

After Li Yuan raised troops against the Sui, in order to have a good relationship with Li Mi, the overlord of the Central Plains, he wrote a letter to Li Mi to contact him. Who knew that at this time, Li Mi claimed to be the leader of the alliance of the world's righteous army, and even wrote back to Li Yuan and asked him to lead his troops into Hanoi to join him.

Li Yuan was noncommittal after receiving the reply, but Li Shimin had an idea, and felt that he could go to Wagangzhai in the name of discussing with Li Mi to provoke the relationship between Zhai Rang and Li Mi. After listening to his son's suggestion, Li Yuan nodded yes, so he sent his son-in-law Chai Shao to Wagang.

Chai Shao and Li Mi turned out to be the bodyguards of Yang Zhao, the prince of Zhaode, and they had a little friendship with each other. Hearing that Chai Shao was coming, Li Mi set up a banquet in Wagang Village to entertain Chai Shao.

"Hahaha, Brother Si Changxian, since Prince Yuande passed away, you and I haven't seen each other for ten years!"

In the back hall of the Wei Mansion, Li Mi raised his wine glass and said to Chai Shao with a smile.

"yes, it's been ten years!" Chai Shao put a wisp of his beard and said with a smile: "Back then, I thought that Mi Gongwen was not a thing in the pool, but I never thought that Mi Gong would have such an achievement today." ”

"Hahaha, Brother Sichang is polite!" Li Mi laughed, drank a full glass, put down the glass and said with a smile: "I just don't know if your Lord Taishan Li Yuan is willing to come to Hanoi to meet the alliance now?" ”

"Well, this one!" Chai Shao pretended to be very embarrassed and said: "Mi Gong, don't be angry when the junior brother said this!" ”

Seeing Chai Shao's appearance, Li Mi's face couldn't help but sink, and he said unhappily: "Why, Li Shude looks down on my Wagang brother's background and doesn't want to form an alliance with our Wagang?" ”

"No, no, absolutely not!" Chai Shao waved his hand again and again and said: "Actually, when your letter was delivered, my father-in-law immediately ordered to go to Hanoi and make an alliance with Mi Gong. It's just that my second son-in-law, Li Shimin, expressed his concerns, and my father-in-law hesitated and didn't dare to come to Hanoi to make an alliance with Mi Gongyou! ”

"Concerns, what concerns?" Li Mi suddenly asked curiously. ，

Chai Shao glanced at Li Mi in embarrassment, pretended to be twisted and pinched, and said: "My second son, Shimin, said that this Wagangzhai is not only the secret prince in charge, but also a Zhai Situ, his attitude is not clear now, will we rush to Hanoi and end up with Cui Shishu?" ”

Cui Shishu was a Sui Dynasty official who had come from Hebei to join Li Mi a few months ago, but was unexpectedly imprisoned by Zhai Rang and asked him to hand over all the gold, silver and jewelry, otherwise he would be executed.

This matter has always made Li Mi feel ashamed, so the people around him did not dare to talk about it, and at this moment, it was mentioned by Chai Shao in person, Li Mi's face turned red in an instant, and he forcibly suppressed his anger and said: "Your second son is too fond of joking, although Zhai Situ is the old owner of Wagangzhai, he has given this first place to Lone, this Wagangzhai is naturally Lonely, and one person has the final say." ”

Chai Shao sighed helplessly and said: "I naturally believe in Mi Gong, but now there are rumors outside, saying that Mi Gong is just because of your noble birth, so you were pushed to the front by the Zhai family as a façade!" ”

"Who said that?" Li Mi couldn't hold back the anger in his chest anymore, and he got up and questioned Chai Shaodao sharply.

Chai Shao pretended to be cautious and said, "It is rumored that Zhai Rang Zhai Situ's brother Zhai Hong said it. ”

"Zhai Hong, Piff, swear to kill you!" Li Mi gritted his teeth and said word by word.

Seeing Li Mi's appearance, Chai Shao couldn't help but be secretly happy, but on the surface, he still pretended to be a peacemaker and stepped forward to persuade: "Mi Gong is angry, this is just my hearsay, it can't be true!" ”

"Whew-"

Li Mi breathed a long sigh of relief, glanced at Chai Shao, and said a little helplessly: "Since Tang Guogong has concerns, it is not easy to force it, I just hope that he will not meet Tang Guogong in the future!" ”

"Mi Gong is too worried, my father-in-law is kind and kind, how can he come to offend Mi Gong, the tiger power of the leader of the righteous army alliance in the world?" Chai Shao lost no time in patting Li Mi's ass.

"That's for the best!" Li Mi smiled proudly, nodded and said, "Sichang, it's getting late, I think you can rest here for the night for the time being, and go back to Hedong tomorrow!" ”

Chai Shao arched his hand and said, "Then it's troublesome!" ”

Li Mi smiled and said: "Si Chang is polite, Gu still has some government affairs to deal with, so I won't accompany Si Chang." ”

"Mi Gong, please take care of yourself!" Chai Shao cupped his fists and saluted.

"Hmm!" Li Mi nodded, slowly stood up and walked towards the gate.

Looking at Li Mi's distant back, the corners of Chai Shao's mouth suddenly raised a smug smile. The seeds of doubt have been planted in Li Mi's heart, and then we are waiting for it to take root and sprout on its own!