In the spring of the thirteenth year of the Great Cause (617), a north wind blew, and a section of ice fell from the dry branches, and a few dead leaves drifted between the heavens and the earth. A flock of crows flew by, causing a loud noise.

From the Yang City, there were uniform, sonorous and powerful passwords and footsteps. Under the fluttering handsome flag, a middle-aged man sat on horseback and marched slowly, his face was dark, his figure was not high, but he was quite sturdy, with the color of wind and dust that could not be concealed, although he looked tired, but a pair of deep eyes were still shining, blazing, not angry and mighty, he had a compelling momentum, he was the famous Sui and Tang Dynasty hero Li Mi.

Li Mi and Zhai Rang led 7,000 elite soldiers of the Wagang Army from Yangcheng to the north, crossed Fangshan, attacked Xingluocang, the large granary of the Sui Dynasty, from Luokou, and conquered Xingluocang a few days later. Li Mi opened the warehouse and let the people take the grain, and even the elderly and women came with children on their backs, and there was an endless stream of hundreds of thousands of people on the road. During the war, people followed the grain, and where there was food, there were soldiers, and Li Mi and Zhai Rang's troops soon expanded to more than 100,000 people.

Yang Tong, the king of Yue, sent Angel Lang to lead Liu Changgong to lead 25,000 infantry and cavalry to attack Li Mi, Li Mi defeated him in one fell swoop, and Liu Changgong was only spared. Zhai Rang then elected Li Mi as the leader and called him the Duke of Wei. In February of this year, an altar was set up in the southern suburbs of Gongxian County, and the day was enthroned, and the year was called the first year of Yongping, and the document issued was signed as the Marshal Wei Gongfu. Fang Yanzao was appointed as the left long history, Bing Yuanzhen as the right long history, Yang Defang as the left Sima, and Zheng Detao as the right Sima. Zhai Rang was awarded the rank of Situ and was named the Duke of Dongjun. Shan Xiongxin was appointed as the general of the left Wuhou, Xu Shiyun was appointed as the general of the right Wuhou, Zu Junyan was appointed as the secretary, and the rest of the people were awarded official positions according to their ranks. So he took Luokou as his capital and stationed in an area of forty miles around Luokou.

Meng Rang, the leader of the thieves in Qilu Changbai Mountain, led his men and horses to join Li Mi, and Shi Chai Xiaohe, the magistrate of Gong County in the Central Plains, and Shi Zhengyi, the servant of the imperial court, surrendered the county seat to Li Mi. Angel Lang of the Sui Dynasty gave Pei Renji and his son Pei Xingyan to attach to Li Mi, awarded the official title of Shangzhu State, and was named the Duke of Hedong County. Li Mi sent Pei Renji and Meng Rang to lead more than 30,000 soldiers to attack back to Luocang, after conquering, they took advantage of the victory to enter Luoyang, looted the residents, and burned the Tianjin Bridge.

Li Mi personally led 30,000 soldiers to attack Luoyang, and the generals of the Sui Dynasty, Duan Da, Angel Lang, Gao Bi, Liu Changlin and others, commanded 70,000 horses to resist and fought in the old city of Luoyang, and the Sui army was defeated and fled. Li Mi turned around and captured Luocang to defend it, overhauled the barracks and trenches, coerced Luoyang, and wrote a document to various counties to announce the crimes of Emperor Yang of Sui.

Soon, Zheng Detao and Yang Defang died, and Zheng Ying was appointed as the left Sima and Zheng Qianxiang as the right Sima. Chai Xiaohe persuaded Li Midao: "Guanzhong uses the high mountains as a barrier and the Yellow River as a moat, Xiang Yu will perish if he leaves here, and Liu Bang will succeed in building the capital here." According to my idea, let Pei Renji guard back to Luocang, Zhai let the town guard Luokoucang, you personally select an elite team to raid Chang'an to the west, and the people who don't come to the suburbs to greet them will definitely get it without fighting. After conquering Xijing, when the foundation was firm and the soldiers and horses were strong, they turned around and went straight to attack the East and West Mountains and Hangu Pass, conquered the eastern capital Luoyang, and passed the documents to send orders to dispatch, and the world could be pacified. It's just that now heroes and heroes are scrambling to raise troops, and I'm really worried that others will get ahead of us, once we miss the opportunity, where will we regret it! ”

Li Mi said: "I have also thought about this strategy for a long time, and it is really a good strategy. But Yang Guang is still there, there are still a lot of troops following him, my team is all Qilu people, since I know that I haven't conquered Luoyang yet, where are you willing to follow me to the west? All the generals are from the heroes of the green forest, and leaving them behind will be their own kings and hegemons. If so, it's all over! ”

Li Mi relied on the bravery of his troops, and often entered the royal gardens to engage the Sui army in continuous battles. When Li Mi was wounded by random arrows and lay in the camp tent, the Sui army in Luoyang City took the opportunity to sneak attack, and Li Mi's soldiers fled in all directions, gave up returning to Luocang, and concentrated in Luokoucang. Emperor Yang of Sui sent Wang Shichong to lead 50,000 elite soldiers to attack, Li Mi lost the battle, Chai Xiaohe fell into Luoshui and drowned, Li Mi cried extremely sadly.

Wang Shichong camped in the west of Luokoucang and confronted Li Mi for more than 100 days, fighting more than 60 large and small battles. Wuyang County Chengyuan Treasure, Li Wenxiang, the leader of the Liyang Rebels, Zhang Sheng, the leader of the Huanshui Rebels, Zhao Junde, the leader of the Qinghe Rebels, and Hao Xiaode, the leader of the Plains Rebels, joined Li Mi and jointly attacked, conquered Liyangcang, and occupied it. Zhou Faming, the leading wealthy family in Yong'an, donated a large fief between the Yangtze River and the Yellow River to take refuge in Li Mi. Xu Yuanlang, the leader of the rebel army of Qi County, Xu Shiren, the great hero of Rencheng County, and Zhao Tuo, the Taishou of Huaiyang County, all joined him, and his power increased greatly for a while.

During this period, Zhai Rang's subordinate Wang Ruxin encouraged Zhai Rang to serve as the official of Otsuka, command hundreds of officials, and seize the power of Li Mi. Zhai Rang's brother Zhai Kuan said to Zhai Rang again: "The emperor can only be made by ourselves, how can we give it to others!" If you can't do it, it's up to me to do it. ”

Li Mi knew about this and secretly planned to get rid of Zhai Rang. It happened that Wang Shichong came with a formation, Zhai Rang sent troops to resist, but was attacked by Wang Shichong, Zhai Rang was slightly unfavorable, Li Mi and Shan Xiongxin and others led elite soldiers to rescue, Wang Shichong was defeated and fled.

The next day, Zhai let himself come to Li Mi's camp and asked for wine and merry, Li Mi arranged dishes to entertain him, and his subordinates arranged to eat everywhere one by one. After Li Mi invited Zhai Rang to sit at the table, he took out a good bow for Zhai Rang's appreciation, Zhai Rang had just been filled, and Li Mi sent a warrior to behead him from behind, and at the same time killed his brother Zhai Kuan and his general Wang Ruxin. Xu Shixun was slashed by the chaotic soldiers and was seriously injured, Li Mi immediately stopped it, so that he was saved from death, Shan Xiongxin and others knelt on the ground and kowtowed to ask for forgiveness, Li Mi was exempted from punishment and comforted them. So he personally went to Zhai Rang's various barracks and informed his soldiers of the situation, and no one dared to make trouble. He ordered Xu Shixian, Shan Xiongxin, and Wang Bodang to divide and control their people.

Through this incident, Li Mi obtained the absolute leadership of the Wagang Army, and the military strength of the Wagang Army was also severely damaged.

Soon, Wang Shichong attacked Cangcheng, and Li Mi defeated him again. Wang Shichong moved the military camp to the north of Luokoucang, erected a pontoon bridge on Luoshui, and sent all his men and horses to attack Li Mi, who led more than 1,000 people to resist, and the situation was unfavorable to retreat. Wang Shichong took advantage of the victory to approach the city of Luokou, Li Mi took advantage of his unpreparedness, selected hundreds of elite soldiers to intercept the sneak attack, Wang Shichong's soldiers fled on the whole line, rushed to embrace the pontoon bridge, and drowned tens of thousands of people. His angel generals Yang Wei, Wang Wei, Huo Ju, Liu Changgong, Liang De, and Dong Zhi were all killed, and Wang Shichong only saved his life. That night, it snowed so hard that his men almost froze to death.

Li Mi took advantage of the victory to conquer Yanshi County, built the city of Kim Yong City and stationed there, with more than 300,000 horses and horses, dominating the party.

The eastern capital stayed behind Wei Jin and fought with Li Mi at Shangchun Gate, Wei Jin was defeated and was arrested on the spot. The Sui court's official in charge of civil engineering construction defected from the Eastern Capital and surrendered to Li Mi. From the seashore and Mount Tai in the east to the Yangtze River and the Huai River in the south, there is no county that does not send envoys to attach to Li Mi. Dou Jiande, Zhu Cang, Yang Shilin, Meng Haigong, Xu Yuanlang, Lu Zushang, Zhou Faming and others all sent people to Li Mi to persuade him to ascend the throne, so Li Mi's officials all persuaded him to immediately proclaim the emperor, Li Mi said: "Before Luoyang is pacified, you can't talk about this matter." ”

In the first month of the 14th year of the Great Cause (618), Li Mi led an army of 300,000 to occupy Kim Yong City, stepped up the repair of the city gates, city walls and other defensive facilities, and marched to the mountain, approaching Shangchun Gate, and Luoyang City was in an emergency.

At this time, the political situation changed abruptly, Yu Wenhua and in Jiangdu strangled Emperor Yang of Sui with a scarf, set up Yang Hao, the king of Qin, as the puppet emperor, and led an army of 100,000 to the north, and the news spread to the eastern capital Luoyang, and the ministers known as the "Seven Guis" (Duan Da, Wang Shichong, Yuan Wendu, Wei Jin, Huangfu Wuyi, Lu Chu, Guo Wenyi and Zhao Changwen) supported Yang Tong, the king of Yue who stayed in Luoyang, to ascend the throne and change the Yuan Emperor.

When Wang Shichong was tyrannical and domineering, Yang Tong wanted to get rid of him by Li Mi's hand, so he sent someone to canonize Li Mi as Taiwei, Shang Shuling, Marshal of the Daxingtai Marching Army of Southeast Dao, and Wei Guogong, claiming to pacify Yu Culture and then let Li Mi come to the Eastern Capital to assist the government.

In order to avoid fighting on both sides, Li Mi accepted the canonization and sent troops to the east in July to fight against Yu Culture. Yu Wenhua arrived in Liyang and met Li Mi, who knew that his troops lacked military rations, and a quick victory would be beneficial to him, so he did not fight him, blocking his retreat.

Li Mi sent Xu Shiyun to guard Cangcheng, but Yu Wenhua and many attacks were unsuccessful. Li Mi and Yu Wenhua talked across the river, Li Mi reprimanded him: "You turned out to be a slave of the Xiongnu, your father, brother and son were all favored by the Sui Dynasty, and they were rich and noble for generations, so that you took the princess as your wife, and the glory you got was not second in the entire court." How can you allow Your Majesty to lose his morality, not to admonish him with death, but to take the opportunity of rebellion to kill the king with his own hands, and even kill his children and grandchildren, support the royal family to produce children, monopolize power, self-respect, conspire to usurp the throne, insult the concubine, and kill the innocent? You don't follow Zhuge Zhan's loyalty, but you do the kind of rebellious evil that Huo Yu did. It is true that heaven and earth cannot tolerate you, and man and god will not bless you. Coercion goodness, where are you going! Now, if you come to me quickly, you can save your descendants. ”

Yu Wenhua was silent, looked down for a long time, and then shouted loudly with angry eyes: "I tell you about slashing, why do you need to quote scriptures and chew words?" Li Mi said to his entourage: "Yu Wenhua is so mediocre and cowardly, he suddenly wants to be an emperor, this is Zhao Gao, Shenggong and other figures, I just need to break the staff to drive him away." ”

Yu culture and overhaul siege equipment to approach Liyang Cangcheng. Li Mi was a brave hero of the Sui and Tang dynasties, and personally led 500 light cavalry to attack Yu Wenhua and his position, burned Yu Wenhua and the siege equipment, and the fire was not extinguished all night.

When Li Mi learned that Yu culture and food were about to run out, he falsely claimed to be in alliance with him in order to slack his morale. Yu Wenhua was very happy that he didn't know what to do, and let his soldiers eat and drink freely, counting on Li Mi to send food. Later, knowing that it was a ploy, Yu Wenhua and furious, and Li Mi launched a fierce battle at the foot of Tongshan Mountain in Weizhou, from morning to evening, killing the sky in the dark, Li Mi took the lead, took the lead in the charge, unfortunately was injured by random arrows, and only got Ji County to rest.

Yu Wenhua was exhausted, food and grass were cut off, most of the soldiers defected, and after attacking Ji County, they quickly moved north to Wei County. His subordinates Chen Zhiluo and Zhang Tongren successively led their teams to submit to Li Mi. Originally, Yu Wenhua left some military supplies in Dongjun and sent him to guard the criminal department Shangshu Wang Rail, but at this time, Wang Rail saw that Yu Wenhua and the general trend had gone, and surrendered to Li Mi in Dongjun. Li Mi finally defeated Yu Wenhua, and Yu Wenhua had no choice but to lead the remnants to flee north.

When Yu Wenhua and his men and horses marched to Xuzhou, due to the impassability of the waterway, he ordered to plunder 2,000 local ox carts and load the treasures of the palace maids; His armor weapons were also carried by the soldiers. Due to the long distance of the road and the lack of people and horses, the officers and men of the three armies complained. The ministers Sima Deji, Zhao Xingshu and the general Chen Botu all planned to kill Yu Wenhua, but they were all killed by Yu Wenhua because of poor planning. Subsequently, most of the soldiers began to flee, and less than 20,000 men followed him.

After retreating to Wei County, Yu Wenhua saw that the general trend had gone, and said a very famous sentence: "Life should die, wouldn't it be an emperor one day!" So he poisoned the puppet Qin King Yang Hao, who single-handedly supported him to the throne, and set himself up as the emperor, with the country name Xu.

Yu Wenhua and he originally planned to capture Weizhou as his temporary shelter, but after attacking for dozens of days, he still did not take Weizhou, but was defeated by the Yuan Treasure defending Weizhou, and more than 1,000 people were lost. In desperation, he led his troops to Liaocheng in the northeast, intending to lure the thieves in that area to join the gang. Unexpectedly, he was betrayed by his subordinates, captured alive by Dou Jiande, the overlord of Yan Zhao, and captured his subordinates. Subsequently, Dou Jiande loaded him into a prisoner car and escorted him to Hejian. Dou Jiande listed all kinds of crimes he committed in killing the monarch and harming the people, and cut off his heads one by one with his two sons Yuwen Chengji and Yuwen Chengtoe.

Princess Yicheng, the wife of the Turkic Khan, was the cousin of Emperor Yang of Sui, and when she heard that her brother Yang Guang was killed by Yu Wenhua, she hated Yu Wenhua to the core. And I heard that my sister-in-law, Queen Xiao, fell into the hands of Dou Jiande. asked her husband to send an envoy to greet Queen Xiao and asked for Yu Wenhua's head. Because of the great Turkic situation, Dou Jiande did not dare to disobey, so Empress Xiao went to the Turks with the envoy and took Yu Wenhuaji's head by the way. After arriving in the Turks, the head of Yu Wenhua was hung outside the Turkic royal court, and was ravaged by the wind and sand of the desert day and night.

……

"Sandpiper and clam compete for fishermen and profits", just when Li Mi and Yu were fighting hard, Wang Shichong took the opportunity to destroy the dissidents and monopolize the Sui court government in Luoyang.

Li Mi learned of Wang Shichong's autocratic power, refused to enter the court, and returned to Kim Yong Cheng, the base of the Wagang army. In September of that year, Wang Shichong took advantage of Li Mi's exhaustion after the war to launch an attack, led 20,000 elite soldiers and 2,000 cavalry, coerced the Yan Division, set up camp on the south bank of the Tongji Canal, and set up a pontoon bridge on the Luoshui River to prepare for a decisive battle.

Since defeating Yu Wenhua and the well-equipped Xiaoguo army, Li Mi was a little proud and complacent, no longer sympathetic to the soldiers, there was no savings in the treasury, and even after winning the battle, Li Mi did not distribute the spoils to the soldiers, which made the generals of the Wagang army detached. Jia Yanfu, Xu Shiyun and others persuaded each other several times, but were alienated by Li Mi; On the contrary, Li Mi obeyed the mantra of Bing Yuan, who was greedy for money.

In 618 AD, Wang Shichong took advantage of the situation to attack the scattered Wagang army and defeated several members of the Wagang army. When Li Mi learned of this, he ordered Wang Bodang to defend Kim Yong City, and Bing Yuan Zhen to guard Luokou Cangcheng, and personally led his elite troops to Yanshi to meet him. Pei Renji suggested that Li Mi attack the Eastern Capital, but Li Mi did not listen.

Wang Shichong forcibly crossed the Luo River, and the two sides fought at the foot of the mountain, and Wang Shichong broke Li Mi. Pei Renji, Zu Junyan, Qin Qiong, Cheng Yanjin and other generals who were wounded in the Wagang Army were captured by Wang Shichong, and Bing Yuanzhen, Shan Xiongxin and others were dissatisfied with Li Mi for a long time and surrendered to Wang Shichong one after another. The Wagang army was heavily defeated, Li Mi had to flee east to Wujiaoguan, and Wang Bodang retreated to Heyang.

After the defeat, Li Mi now regretted it a little, and said to Wang Bodang: "The army has been defeated, and I have worked hard for all of you for a long time, and I will commit suicide now to apologize to everyone." "Everyone was crying and couldn't look up. Li Mi said: "It's an honor that the gentlemen refuse to abandon me, and they should go back to Guanzhong together." Although I am ashamed and useless, you will surely be able to preserve your riches. ”

His governor Liu Xie replied: "In the past, after Liu Penzi was attached to the Han Dynasty, he could still enjoy the rent. Ming Gong, you have a friendship with Li Yuan, who now occupies Chang'an, although you have not accompanied Qi Yi, but you blocked the eastern capital, cut off the return route of the Sui army, and made the Tang Dynasty possess Kyoto without a fight, which is also your credit. Everyone said, "Yes." ”

So Li Mixi fled to Chang'an and defected to Li Yuan.

Li Mi returned to Tang, Li Yuan was overjoyed, worshiped Li Mi as Guangluqing, sealed Xing Guogong, and married his cousin Dugu to Li Mi, calling Li Mi his younger brother. But Li Mi, a generation of heroes, is unwilling to live under others and is very dissatisfied with his situation.

At the end of the same year, Li Yuan sent Li Mi to Liyang to pacify his former troops, accompanied by Wang Bodang, the general of Zuo Wuwei. When Li Mi led his troops eastward to Chousangyi, Li Yuan was suddenly afraid of letting the tiger return to the mountain, so he repented and sent a decree to recall him.

Li Mi had a bad premonition and was terrified, so he decided to rebel against the Tang Dynasty. Wang Bodang tried to dissuade him, but Li Mi did not listen. Li Mi led his troops to attack the neighboring Taolin County, plundered livestock and went south into Bear's Ears Mountain, and went to Xiangcheng to join the old general Zhang Shanxiang.

Li Mi's actions were learned by the Tang Dynasty Xiongzhou deputy general Sheng Yanshi, Sheng Yanshi led the troops to ambush in the Central Plains Luhun County South Xinggong Mountain, on January 20, 619 AD, Li Mi led his troops to pass, was ambushed by Sheng Yanshi all killed, when Chinese New Year's Eve seven, the head of Chang'an.

Li Yuan sent someone to send Li Mi's head to Liyang to appease the rest of the troops. Xu Shichang offered Liyang to surrender and asked for Li Mi's body to be buried, which was allowed by Li Yuan. Subsequently, Xu Shiyun buried Li Mi in Liyang, five miles south of the three Jins, and the tomb was seven feet high. Li Mi, a hero of the Sui and Tang dynasties, perished.

It can really be said: "The rolling Yangtze River is passing away, and the waves are sweeping away the heroes." Success or failure turns empty, the green mountains are still there, and the sunset is red several times. ”