Everything was difficult at the beginning, and Li Yuan was determined to go out on his own for the first time, that is, he returned victorious, thus doubling his confidence. Just as a person is determined to go into business, take out all his family property, and run the first transaction, if he loses all his old capital once, his business willingness or business career may come to an end forever, and he will no longer have the courage or capital to start again and try the second time; The reverse is also true, the first time he succeeds, he makes a large profit, the next business will be easy to do, and it will also stimulate his ambition to multiply, tenfold, and hundredfold the operating profits...... Rolling.

At present, it is with such a mentality that Li Yuan is determined to further expand his sphere of influence. It is a pity that there is no peasant rebel army to fight around Bingzhou now, and Liu Wuzhou is obviously a master who cannot be easily collided, otherwise, it will inevitably anger the Turks, and all the hard work last time will be in vain! If he wants to expand outward, he can only attack the Sui army, which involves the problem of openly turning his face with Yang Guang and openly rebelling, and there is no longer the kind of good thing that he can set up an archway without blushing and beating without beating his heart!

What to do? With the little force in my hands, can I easily put up a counter-flag? If it is not enough, how to move next is crucial! Li Yuan thought about it again and again, and asked himself that there was no way to do both, so he had to find Liu Wenjing again, express all kinds of concerns in his heart, and at the same time earnestly ask for his opinion.

"Tang Gong's great victory this time is just when morale is high, so he should be bold enough to seize the surrounding counties and counties, and then consolidate the foundation!" Liu Wenjing pondered seriously for a moment and replied calmly, "But looking at the whole world, our army's strength is still very weak, and it is not appropriate to openly oppose the imperial court for the time being, so as not to fall in front of others and provoke a strong enemy!" ”

"It is necessary to seize the land of the imperial court without provoking right and wrong," Li Yuan sighed, "where is there such a cheap thing in the world?" ”

"Although Tang Gong does not oppose the imperial court, he cannot tolerate traitors going unpunished." Liu Wenjing smiled slightly and said, "Sending troops to Xihe right now is a legitimate move!" ”

Gao Deru, the guard of Xihe County, once served as Yang Guang's personal bodyguard, and was known for his habit of blowing and beating. In order to realize the ambition of constantly climbing up, he often does not hesitate to dig out his heart and try his best to please his master. Once, occasionally, two peacocks flew in, opening the screen and spreading their wings, extremely rich. Before that, he had never seen a peacock, and suddenly found that the two birds were colorful, much larger than the ordinary birds he usually saw, and they were very beautiful, and he took it for granted that it was a mythical and legendary Luanniao, and decided that this opportunity to please Yang Guang was too rare, so he couldn't help but drive his horse all the way to Yang Guang, and repeatedly claimed that the emperor was blessed with all the sky, and even the Tiangong Luan Bird also came to congratulate the emperor.

Yang Guangsheng has the best temperament, and the fart is undoubtedly the right place, and he was so excited for a while that he forgot what his surname and name was, and immediately summoned hundreds of civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty and the concubines of the harem to accompany him to watch, so as to show his "blessing" of "true destiny" and "moving the heavens and the earth" in the public.

Unfortunately, when the car arrived at the scene, the peacock had already flown away, and it was impossible to distinguish the real from the fake. However, although Yang Guang took an empty trip, but the saying of "God's congratulations" made him "Sacred Heart" happy, so that he was always full of interest, his eyebrows flew and danced, and he talked and laughed, not only rewarded Gao Deru, but also issued an order on the spot to allocate two pieces of silver, solicit people's husbands, and build a new palace at the peacock foothold, named "Yiluan Palace", as a permanent memorial. The idiom "refers to the bird as Luan", which is derived from this allusion.

Although Gao Deru was notorious for his blowing and patting, he was able to rise step by step, and was selected by Yang Guang as a general, and was released to Xihe to serve as the county guard. Liu Wenjing's proposal to attack Xihe first was precisely aimed at his notoriety, under the pretext of being a traitor to the imperial court, so as to cover up Li Yuan's true intentions.

Rape for the court? Li Yuan thought for a moment, that excuse was too far-fetched, right? Who are you? It is up to you to decide who is loyal and who is traitorous among the officials of the DPRK and China? Without Yang Guang's will, what kind of traitor are you hoeing? However, he thought about it repeatedly, since Xihe had to fight, it was much better to have an excuse than to be completely unknown, and at least he could win the approval of many officials in the DPRK and China who were extremely disgusted with Gao Deru. After clarifying this line of thinking, he did not hesitate any longer, and ordered Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin to be generals and lead 20,000 horses to attack Xihe.

Gao Deru is known as a general, and he also knows a few fists and feet, but unfortunately he has never been on the battlefield in the past, and when he learned that the Li brothers were coming, he didn't know how to deal with it. Fortunately, I have heard the old saying that "the soldiers are coming, and the water is flooding", and since the enemy army has already approached the city, he has no time to think about it, compare the strength of the enemy and us, and order the city gate to be opened, and lead the whole city to meet the battle.

At first, Li Jiancheng was worried that Gao Deru was timid, and he would definitely not dare to go out of the city to fight, and it would definitely not be possible to capture the city in three or five days. Right now, the Sui army poured out of the city, but he couldn't ask for it, without waiting for the other party to form a formation, he clamped the horse's belly with his legs, and took Gao Deru with a knife.

Gao Deru had heard everything about Li Yuan in the past, but he didn't know anything about his sons, and he was not interested in knowing about them. The first time he went into battle, although he was a little timid, he lost psychologically for a while, but he had no choice, and when he saw Li Jiancheng slashing with a big knife, he hurriedly raised the knife in his hand to cover it. The two fought knife to knife, fighting for more than 60 rounds, Gao Deru gradually felt shortness of breath, left and right, to see if he couldn't resist, then he understood the danger of hand-to-hand combat, and hurriedly reined in the horse and fled.

Li Jiancheng won the first battle, how could he easily stop, urging the horse to follow closely. Li Shimin saw it clearly in front of the battle, gently took out his bow and arrow, and shot an arrow, which hit the heart of Gao Deru. Gao Deru fell off his horse and died. When the defeated soldiers saw that the county guard was dead, they did not dare to return to the city, and they all scattered and fled. The Li brothers ordered the army to seize the city in one fell swoop.

As an official for many years, Li Yuan deeply understands the importance of the people's support. In order to win the support of the local people as soon as possible, when the good news came, he immediately drove his horse straight to the West River without saying a word, and ordered Liu Wenjing to preside, draft a proclamation, and quickly introduce two important measures: 1. The elderly over 70 years old, regardless of whether they have children or not, will be supported by the government at public expense; 2. For those whose families are particularly poor, the government shall provide a minimum subsistence guarantee.

Some historians once commented that after Wang Mang usurped the throne in the Western Han Dynasty, he actually implemented a "primary socialism" system. According to this point of view, is Li Yuan's unprecedented measure of loving the people similar to China's current "subsistence allowance" policy?

Of course, those are all digressions, and I will leave it to many historians to discuss. What we can be sure of is that Li Yuan's move is undoubtedly in stark contrast to Yang Guang's cruel rule, and once it was announced, the people all thanked each other and praised him with one voice. This, of course, is also the evaluation he hopes to get, if he still follows Yang Guang's set, where will the appeal come from?

Gaining the support of the people is only the first step to success, and Li Yuan understands that in the future, it is necessary to strike while the iron is hot, recruit a large number of civilian elites to enrich the troops, and enrich the local government management agencies, so as to gradually consolidate the political power that has just been established. In line with this basic line of thought, he once again ordered a wide public notice to be widely posted, sincerely recruiting capable people from all walks of life to join the government, and those who have a skill and ability to join the army and politics will not refuse to come, and then according to their strengths, they will be rewarded with official posts, and more than 1,000 people will be awarded official titles at one time, thus absorbing many talented people with their own specialties, and also ensuring social stability and the people living and working in peace and contentment.

A solid foundation has been laid, and the next step is of course to continue to expand the results of the war, but if you send troops again, you can't use an excuse, right? The new direction of the march and the slogan of the march have undoubtedly become another thing that Li Yuan has been bothered about. He knew in his heart that in order to successfully solve this difficult problem, he had to work together and solicit the opinions of the officials extensively.

"Based on the current general trend, Tang Gong, as a prince and a fledgling foundation, is obviously unwise to establish a national name prematurely and openly fight against the imperial court!" Liu Wenjing responded and said, "Besides, there are many enemy troops on all sides like a carp crossing the river, with Liu Wuzhou and the Turks in the north, Dou Jiande in Hebei in the east, and Li Mi in Henan in the south...... There is no one who is not ambitious and powerful, and in the short term, it is reasonable to try to ensure that each other is safe and avoid head-on conflict! ”

"In this way, our army can only stand still for the time being?" Li Yuan couldn't help but ask.

"No!" Liu Wenjing further analyzed, "Yang Guang's murder of his father and brother is cruel and unkind, which is also a well-known fact, and most people in the world hate to break his body into thousands of pieces!" The Duke of Tang must start from this aspect, not only pay attention to Taoguang and cultivate obscurity, but also have a clear banner, hold high the banner of crusading against the tyrant Yang Guangmou, seize the opportunity, enter the west of Guanzhong, and seize Chang'an as the foundation of the place. ”

"Speaking of which, it's still an open rebellion and a direct conflict with Yang Guang!" Pei Lian interjected coldly, "Since this is the case, why don't Tang Gong establish the national name as soon as possible and compete with him with great fanfare!" ”

"Whether the country is founded or not, the effect of the two can be said to be very different," Liu Wenjing said and gestured vigorously, "At least, without the founding of the country, Tang Gong can be more famous!" ”

"Famous teacher? Lord Liu may wish to talk about it in detail! Pei Lin was stunned, and couldn't help muttering to himself, which dynasty and which generation of courtiers rebelled, and they could still be grandiose "teachers are famous", it's really interesting!

"At present, the most feasible plan is to respect the king Yang Yu as the emperor, and to show the loyalty spirit of the Tang Dynasty to serve the country and seek the welfare of the people of the world!" Liu Wenjing was never in a hurry, and every sentence was still clear-eyed, "Yang Yu, the acting king, is the grandson of Yang Guang, and now lives in Chang'an, and the army is marching westward to welcome the acting king, who dares to say that it is not a justifiable move!" ”

Welcoming the king? This excuse is indeed a bit new! Just think about it, Yang Yu, the acting king, is nothing more than a thirteen-year-old child, and far away in Chang'an, what does he look like, whether he is fat or thin, tall or short, I am afraid that no one here has seen it, and now he can use his name to cover up the eyes and ears of the world, this kind of unexpected whimsy is really not something that ordinary people dare to imagine! When Li Yuan and the officials heard this, although they felt incredible, none of them raised any objections.

Although Pei Lin was still a little dissatisfied in his heart, since the matter of raising troops was imperative, he really couldn't find a more suitable excuse, what else could he say?

On the auspicious day of July in the thirteenth year of the Great Cause, Li Yuan built an altar and assembled the three armies, so that Wang Wei and Gao Junya were raised from prison, beheaded in public, and the two heads were used to pay tribute to the handsome flag, and solemnly swore an oath.

Subsequently, Li Yuan claimed to be a special general, and his eldest son Li Jiancheng was the Duke of Longxi and the Governor of the Left Command, and the second son Li Shimin was the Duke of Dunhuang (Longxi and Dunhuang both belonged to the Qinliang region, and were the territory of Li Hui, the ancestor of the Li family, and Li Yuan divided the two sons into the Duke of Longxi and the Duke of Dunhuang, which obviously contained the meaning of aspiring to restore the ancestral industry), the right commander of the Metropolitan Governor, the fourth son Li Yuanji was the Duke of Qi, and the county guard of the state, Pei Lin was the long history, Liu Wenjing was Sima, Tang Jian and Wen Daya were the secretary, Wu Shi Yan was the armor, Liu Zhenghui, Cui Shanwei, and Zhang Daoyuan were Hu Cao, Jiang Duan joined the army for Sigong, Yin Kaishan was the government Peng, the eldest grandson Shunde, Sima Shixu, Liu Hongji, Xiahou Duan, Dou Cong, Wang Changhuan, Jiang Baoyi, Yangtun and so on will be the left and right commanders, and the son-in-law Chai Shao is the right commander of the governor, and Liu Shilong is the chief of the West River.

At the same time, Li Yuan also made people widely publish articles, denouncing Yang Guang's various crimes one by one, claiming that Yang Yu, the king of the dynasty, was the emperor, and Yang Guang was respected as the emperor, and sent troops to the west on the same day.

This book was first published from 17k, the first time to see the genuine content!