In the first two years of Li Mi's escape, he lived in great hardship and deprivation, to the point of peeling the bark of a tree to eat.

Later, Li Mi hid in a cottage in Huaiyang County, changed his name, and gathered disciples to teach, but accidentally said some rebellious remarks, which aroused the suspicion of county officials and wanted to arrest him, Li Mi fled again, and finally arrived at the house of his brother-in-law Lingqiu Junming in Yongqiu County.

Li Mi's brother-in-law, Qiu Junming, didn't dare to keep Li Mi staying, so he transferred Li Mi to the house of the ranger Wang Xiucai to hide.

Wang Xiucai valued Li Mi very much and married his daughter to Li Mi, but Qiu Junming's cousin Qiu Huaiyi reported the matter to the government.

Yang Guang ordered Qiu Huaiyi to personally send the edict to Yang Wang, the general guard of Liang County, and asked him to arrest Li Mi and others. Yang Wang sent troops to surround Wang Xiucai's house, and Li Mi was out just as he was out, so he was spared, but his brother-in-law Qiu Junming and father-in-law Wang Xiucai were both executed by the government.

Since then, Li Mi has traveled back and forth between the chiefs of various tribes, lobbying them for a strategy to seize the world.

At the beginning, everyone didn't believe it, but as time went by, Li Mi's words were verified one by one, and the group of thieves gradually believed it, and some people said: "This person is the son of the minister, and he has such ambition and ambition, and now people say, 'The Yang family will be destroyed, and the Li family will prosper', I heard that the person who can become the king will not die, this person can tide over the difficulties many times, is he the person surnamed Li who will become the emperor?" ”

After the man's words came, the thieves gradually began to respect Li Mi.

Li Mi observed the commanders of various departments, only Zhai Rang's forces in Wagangzhai had the best military discipline and the most effective combat effectiveness, and more importantly, Zhai Rang's ambition was not great.

So in Li Mi's view, this tile gang village is like a pile of glittering gold......

Wang Bodang, the leading general in Wagang Village, once gave Li Mi a disciple salute and called Li Mi a teacher, so Li Mi asked Wang Bodang to introduce him to Wagang Village and met the owner of the village, Zhai Rang.

Due to Wang Bodang's strong recommendation, Zhai Rang kept Li Mi by his side and let Li Mi give advice for himself, and after a while, Zhai Rang had the heart to take the school Li Mi, so he asked him to lobby many small thieves around Wagangzhai.

Li Mide ordered to leave Wagangzhai alone, and in less than a month, many thieves around Wagangzhai all led the crowd to join Zhai Rang.

Zhai Rang was very happy, thinking that Li Mi was a rare talent, and gradually trusted Li Mi very much, and discussed anything with him.

Li Mi took this opportunity to persuade Zhai to give way: "Liu Bang and Xiang Yu were both born commoners and became emperors, and now the emperor is mediocre, the people are resentful, the elite troops of the imperial court have been lost in Liaodong, and the Turks are even more eyeing outside the Saiwai.

But Yang Guang abandoned the eastern capital, and was still cruising around Yang and Yue, and now is a great opportunity for Liu Bang and Xiang Yu to rise up! With the heroism of the public and the sophistication of the soldiers and horses, it can sweep the east and west capitals, destroy the tyrants, and the Sui Dynasty can be destroyed overnight! ”

After hearing this, Zhai Rang stayed for a long time before he came back to his senses, and excused himself to Li Mi: "As a group of thieves, my generation has been stealing between the grass every day, and what you said is not what my generation can think of. ”

Although Zhai Rang did not agree to Li Mi, he paid more and more attention to Li Mi, and handed over more things in Wagangzhai to him for help, and Li Mi's name spread more widely in Henan.

It happened that a man named Li Xuanying fled from the Eastern Capital, passed through various thieves, asked to visit Li Mi, and said to the people: "This person should replace the Yang family and sit in the world." ”

When others asked him why, Li Xuanying said: "Recently, there is a folk ballad called "Tao Li Zhang", which sang: 'Peach and plum, the queen goes around Yangzhou, like a garden. Don't talk nonsense, who promises! Among them, the word "peach" in "peach and plum" should be "escape", and the meaning of "peach and plum" should be that the person who fled is the son of the Li family, which corresponds to Li Mi, who has been on the run for many years.

Both the queen and the queen are monarchs; "Wan Zhuan in the garden" refers to the day when the Son of Heaven will not come back in Yangzhou, and he will die without a place to be buried; as for "Mo Langyu, who will say it", it means "secret", so the meaning of "Tao Li Zhang" is that Li Mi should replace Yang! ”

Soon, Li Xuanying was recommended by someone to meet Li Mi, so he took refuge in Li Mi and told Li Mi his views on "Tao Li Zhang", and after Li Mi heard it, the desires and ambitions hidden in his heart were immediately hooked......

The former Songcheng County Lieutenant, Qi County Fang Xuanzao, self-reliance on his own talents, hated that he could not be appreciated and appointed by the people in power, he had also participated in Yang Xuangan's rebellion, and later changed his name and surname to flee, and met Li Mi between Liang County and Songcheng, so he and Li Mi traveled all over the Han and the land, visited the thieves and commanders of various departments, and lobbied the heroes among them.

When Fang Xuanzao returned from the land of Han and Chu, there were hundreds of heroes who followed him, and Zhai Rang saw that the heroes had come to join Li Mi, and wanted to adopt Li Mi's suggestion, but he was still hesitant.

Li Mi naturally did not give up on this, he learned that Zhai Rang was almost obedient to the military advisor Jia Xiong, and he knew that Jia Xiong was quite a good woman, so he fell in love with him, and soon became a deep friend with Jia Xiong.

Subsequently, Li Mi asked Jia Xiong to persuade Zhai Rang under the pretense of divination, Jia Xiong agreed, but he thought of an idea but did not find the right opportunity to say it, just this day Zhai Rang summoned Jia Xiong, told Jia Xiong Li Mi's suggestion, and asked him if he could adopt it.

Jia Xiong secretly said in his heart that Zhai Rang's inquiry was really timely, and immediately replied: "Ji is unspeakable." ”

After hearing this, Zhai Rang finally made up his mind to act on Liu Xiang's actions according to Li Mi's words.

Seeing this, Jia Xiong continued: "I'm afraid that you may not succeed in establishing yourself as the king, if you support Li Mi, there is nothing that cannot be done." ”

Zhai Rang said: "As you said, Pushan Gong should be self-reliant, why did he come to me again?" ”

Jia Xiong replied: "Some things are interrelated, Li Mi came to you because your surname is Zhai, general, and Zhai is Ze's meaning." Pucao Feize does not grow, so he needs you, the owner of the village. ”

Zhai Rang thought that Jia Xiong's words were right, and his friendship with Li Mi became closer and closer.

On this day, Li Mi said to Zhai: "Now the country is boiling, the people are not allowed to cultivate, although there are many generals and horses, but there is no storage of grain, only rely on going out to loot, often suffering from insufficient supply, if it is protracted, coupled with the great enemy, the troops will inevitably disperse, it is better to capture Xingyang first, and then lead the troops to take the stored grain, wait for the soldiers to be strong and strong, and then compete with others for benefits." ”

After hearing Li Mi's words, everyone in Wagang Village looked a little weird, because what Li Mi said just now was basically the same as what Li Yin said when he went to Wagang a few years ago!

After Li Mi saw everyone's expressions, he asked Jia Xiong in surprise, and he was also very surprised in his heart, and said secretly: "Li Yin, this son, can think of my strategy just a few years ago, it is really a famous person, and I will definitely have a good meeting with him in the future!" ”