In the troubled times, opening a warehouse to help grain is the best means to win people's hearts, coupled with the continuous disasters in the fifteenth year of the great cause, the people have no harvest, Li Mi opened the Xingluo warehouse at this time, and let the people take grain, which not only disgraced the imperial court, but also spread the prestige of Wagangzhai to Guanzhong. For a time, the people flocked to the village, and the nearby thieves and thieves also defected to Wagangzhai.

At this time, there was a rumor among the people: "Peach and plum, the queen goes around Yangzhou, tactfully in the garden, don't **, who promises!" "Tao Li Zi is secretly in line with Li Mi, who once fled, and the queen is the collective name of Yang Guang and Empress Xiao, which means that Yang Guang will not come back in Jiangdu, and Li Mi will take over the world.

The power of rumors is very powerful, and many officials of the Sui Dynasty feel that the Great Sui Dynasty has exhausted their spirits, and they have also surrendered to Wagangzhai.

King Yue thought that he was cleverly deployed, but Li Mi had already known about it, and even Pei Shiji's movements were clearly grasped by Li Mi. Zhai Rang wanted to withdraw to Wagangzhai, but Li Mi persuaded him again and again, so he reluctantly stayed and handed over the army to Li Mi's command.

Liu Changgong led his army across Luoshui and lined up on the east side of the Shizi River. Li Mi asked Zhai Rang to lead 2,000 people to ask for battle, Liu Changgong saw that Zhai Rang was only 2,000 soldiers and horses, and immediately became contemptuous, and did not wait for Pei Renji to arrive, and led the army to kill Xingluocang. Zhai Rang was defeated and retreated, and Liu Changgong was eager to make contributions and chase after him.

In the army of the imperial court, there are only more than 5,000 people who can really fight, and when Li Mi led the army to kill from the flank, those powerful children who came to mix the military merits were frightened, and Queen Cang retreated. Someone started, and more and more people fled, Liu Changgong did not stop drinking, and the morale of the army was instantly dissipated.

Seeing that the general trend had gone, Liu Changgong and other generals sighed helplessly and fled for their lives. Li Mi and Zhai Rang led the army in pursuit, not only killing five or six out of ten of the imperial army, but also obtaining countless baggage and equipment left by the Sui army.

"Gong Zhai, King Yue really gave us a generous gift." Li Mi and Zhai Rang rode on their horses, saw the mountains of loot in front of them, and said with a smile: "With these things, Zhai Gong can win the world!" ”

Zhai Rang felt a lot, shook his head slightly, and said: "If it weren't for Mr. Dissuasion, let him already go back to Benwagang, and in terms of ability, let him not be as good as Mr. Yicheng." Li Mi gave up his hand politely, and Zhai Rang ordered someone to transport the seized baggage and equipment to Xingluocang.

The defeat of the imperial army was a happy event, but Zhai Rang always looked preoccupied, Jia Xiong often accompanied him, and couldn't help asking: "Does Zhai Gong have something to worry about?" ”

"Jean Ben is a sinner, and out of desperation, he gathered troops in Wagang to become thieves." Zhai Rang replied: "Now that Wagang is getting stronger and stronger, there is an endless stream of people who come to defect, and they already have the strength to fight against the imperial court. Li Mi persuaded me to plot against the world, so that if I don't have such ambitions, but I don't want to be ambitious, they don't want to be honest and have the same achievements as me, and bear the name of thieves all my life, so how should I deal with myself in the opinion of a military advisor? ”

Jia Xiong pondered for a moment and replied: "The difficulty of this matter is all in Zhai Gong's thoughts. ”

"Please advise the military advisor." Zhai Rang arched his hand and said.

"Mr. Li has great talent and ambition, and it is widely rumored among the people that he will win the world." Jia Xiong bowed down and said: "With all due respect, Wagang can have today's prestige, mostly relying on Mr. Li's talent, since Zhai Gong has no intention of seeking the world, why not hand over Wagang to Mr. Li?" With Mr. Li's character, he naturally will not treat Zhai Gong badly, isn't it a good thing to kill two birds with one stone? ”

"That's what I mean." Zhai Rang did not mean to be unhappy, but felt that the stone in his heart fell to the ground, and he smiled: "Even you respect him, and I am relieved." Jia Xiong still maintained a bowed posture, Zhai Rang helped him, and said, "Your words are very reasonable, don't feel guilty." Jia Xiong stood up at this time, feeling a little uneasy in his heart.

In fact, Zhai Rang knew very well in his heart that the rebels who defected to Wagang were all coming for Li Mi, and Li Mi's prestige had already surpassed him.

After agreeing with Jia Xiong, Zhai Rang gathered the generals together and said what he was going to do. Li Mi was also in the crowd, he fell to the ground, and said first: "Gong Zhai, you are trapping Li Mi in injustice by doing this!" ”

Zhai Rang walked to the hall, personally helped Li Mi up, and said earnestly: "Let the mind have been decided, Mr. does not have to refuse, with the ability to let, can only make the soldiers food and clothing, but with Mr. 's talent, it can make them prosperous and rich, and seal their wives and children." Li Mi repeatedly refused to refuse, and Zhai Rang directly ordered someone to set Li Mi up and send him to the main seat, and then took the lead in bowing and saluting.

Li Mi was helpless, accepted everyone's gifts, and then went to help Zhai Rang, and said sincerely: "Zhai Gong's kindness, Li Mi will never forget in this life." ”

After everyone discussed, Zhai gave Li Mi the title of Duke of Wei, set up an altar, called the first year of Yongping, amnesty to the world, and issued a document to sign the palace of Marshal Wei. The Duke of Wei's Mansion set up three divisions and six guards, and the Marshal's Mansion set up officials below the long history.

After Li Mi was proclaimed emperor, he appointed Zhai Rang as Shangzhuguo, Situ, and Dongjun Gong, appointed Fang Yanzao as the left long history, Bing Yuanzhen as the right long history, Yang Defang as the left Sima, Zheng Detao as the right Sima, appointed Shan Xiongxin as the general of the left Wuhou, Xu Shiji as the general of the right Wuhou, Zu Junyan as the secretary, and the rest of the people were awarded official positions according to their ranks.

The Wei State took Luokou as its capital, and its territory was only tens of miles in radius at first.

I have to say that Li Mi's prestige is indeed not comparable to Zhai Rang. As soon as he ascended the throne, most of the bandits south of Zhao Wei and north of Jianghuai came to join him, among them, the arrival of Meng Rang, the leader of the thieves in Changbai Mountain, doubled the strength of Wagangzhai.

In addition to the group of thieves, Shi Chai Xiaohe, the magistrate of Gong County, Henan, and Shi Zhengyi, the servant, surrendered the county seat to Li Mi, and Pei Renji and his son Pei Xingyan sacrificed the military prison to attach Li Mi. Li Mi was overjoyed and awarded Pei Renji the official title of Shangzhu State, and named him the Duke of Hedong County, and named Pei Xingyan as the Duke of Shangzhu State and Jiangjun County.

Chai Xiaohe and Zheng Yi couldn't resist the Wangang thieves, and their surrender was still reasonable, but Pei Shiji also defected to Wagang, which was really unexpected, and it wasn't until many days later that the news gradually spread.

It turned out that Liu Changgong was defeated and fled back to Luoyang, and went to the palace to ask for guilt, King Yue's face turned pale and asked: "There are only thousands of traitors, how can you be defeated?" ”

"His Royal Highness King Yue, Wechen made an appointment with Lord Pei, but Lord Pei did not come, Wechen thought that the fighter could not be delayed, so he led the army to suppress the thieves, and defeated the thieves at first, but when he was about to win, the thief army suddenly rushed out of tens of thousands of people, and Wechen tried his best but could not defeat, so he could only temporarily withdraw the army." Elder Liu Changgong burst into tears and cried bitterly: "Weichen fought alone, failed to defeat the thief army, and asked His Highness to surrender his guilt." ”

"Pei Renji, it's a big deal for me!" King Yue gritted his teeth and said hatefully: "Come here, pass the edict to the superintendent Xiao Huaijing, and ask him to arrest Pei Renji and his son and send them to the Eastern Capital for trial." Then, he comforted Liu Changgong and said: "The defeat in this battle is not the responsibility of the general, what is the crime, get up." ”

Liu Changgong kowtowed his head to thank him, thanked the king of Yue, and said many words of loyalty, and the king of Yue was also very satisfied with this.

Xiao Huaijing is the supervisor of the imperial history, but he is insatiable, and what Pei Renji obtained from exterminating the rebels is basically rewarded to the brave soldiers in battle, which makes him dissatisfied, and often plays bad things about Pei Renji's father and son. Not long after Pei Renji led his troops to withdraw to the Tiger Prison, Xiao Huaijing received an order from the King of Yue and led people to arrest Pei Renji and his son.

The soldiers of the Tiger Prison Pass respected Pei Renji and disgusted Xiao Huaijing, they made their own decisions, killed Xiao Huaijing, and then persuaded Pei Renji to defect to Wagangzhai. Pei Shiji also knew that it would be difficult for him to survive when he returned to the Eastern Capital, so in desperation, he could only sacrifice the Tiger Prison Pass and lead the people to join Wagang.

At this point, people began to wonder, since Pei Renji and Pei Xingyan both defected to Wagang, where did Pei Yuanqing go?