A few days later, the guards handed over the five-flowered Fu Gongyou to Li Ji, the general of the Tang Dynasty Zhendong who came to pursue him.

Fu Gongyou was escorted to Danyang. Soon, Emperor Li Yuan ordered: "Execute on the spot." ”

Before Fu Gongyou died, he regretted it: "In vain, I prided myself on being smart, and I was praised as a "wise fox" by the world, but I didn't expect that in the end, I was tied up by the guards who were sad because of me, and I was sent to the Tang Army camp and slaughtered. If I hadn't tempted, maybe those two guards would have escorted me safely to Huiji by now, why now? Why is that? ”

Danyang City, the Dezheng Palace, is now the Metropolitan Governor of Jingzhou and the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion of Li Xiaogong, the King of Zhao County.

In the study, Shi Lijing, deputy governor of Jingzhou and commander of the march of Jingzhou, Li Xuan, the general of the march of the southeast road of the Tang Dynasty, Li Ji, the general of Zhendong, and Kan Ling, the vanguard general, were divided into two columns and sat on the high-backed chair under the head of Li Xiaogong, the governor of Jingzhou and the king of Zhaojun.

Li Xiaogong raised his head and smiled at Li Xuan: "Now that the thief head is assisted by Gongyou, and his henchmen are scattered all over Jianghuai, I don't know if King Yong'an has a clever plan to pacify the thief armies in various places?" ”

Li Jing, Li Ji, and Kan Ling heard Li Xiaogong's question, and knew that this was a kind of temptation by Li Xiaogong to Li Xuan, and Li Xuan's strategy of abandoning the ship and destroying the enemy was indeed very good, and was recognized by Li Xiaogong.

Li Xuan slowly stood up and said, "I think that the rebel forces in other places in Huiji should be exterminated as soon as possible; As for the rebel thief Zuo Youxian forces that will be in trouble, it should be delayed rather than rushed, and it will be delayed for a while. ”

"Oh, why?" Li Xiaogong asked.

Li Xuan replied: "After the thief leader Fu Gongyou was ambushed, the biggest force of the Jianghuai thief army is the power of the rebel thief Zuo Youxian. Zuo Youxian is the confidant of the thief Shoufu Gongyou, the military secretary of the anti-Song Dynasty, the ambassador of the Southeast Province, and the governor of Yuezhou, and has a high prestige in the anti-Song Dynasty, and there are many henchmen. If the progress of our army to suppress the rebels in various places is a little slow, the rebels in various places will definitely be attached to Zuo Youxian out of self-preservation, then Zuo Youxian is likely to become the second thief leader and auxiliary Gongyou, leading Jianghuai and forming a force. Our army is attacking all over the country, Zuo Youxian only has 50,000 Jianghuai elites, more than self-preservation, and the attack is insufficient, he will definitely hold on to himself, even if he assists all places, he will only send a small number of troops. Therefore, I suggest that the bandit armies in various places outside the Huiji should be exterminated with the force of thunder. ”

Li Xiaogong, Li Jing, Li Ji, and Kan Ling nodded again and again, Li Xiaogong was even more appreciative and smiling, what Li Xuan said coincided with what he thought, but the counterinsurgency strategy he discussed with Li Jing and Li Ji was: after cutting off his wings, attack its roots. After exterminating the rebels in various places, concentrate heavy troops to attack the rebels in one fell swoop. This is different from what Li Xuan said.

Li Xiaogong asked: "The traitors from all over the country outside the Huiji have been exterminated, and then what?" And then how? Don't you attack Fu Gongyou? ”

Li Jing, Li Ji, and Kan Ling also looked at Li Xuan, and what Li Xiaogong asked was also what they had in their hearts.

Li Xuanzhizhu said in his hand: "Wait and see what happens, and wait for its internal strife." ”

"Civil strife?" Li Xiaogong stood up and asked. "You say they're going to have civil strife? In terms of strength and prestige, after the thief's head and auxiliary Gongyou were ambushed, Zuo Youxian was qualified to take over the power of the thief's head and auxiliary Gongyou. Who would dare to compete with him and oppose him? ”

Li Xuan replied: "The thief head Fu Gongyou is cunning and suspicious, how can he allow Zuo You Immortal to be alone, and there will inevitably be someone who restrains Zuo You Immortal?" And this person is Chen Zhengtong, the deputy governor of Yuezhou. Chen Zhengtong was originally the commander of the personal guard army of the thief leader Fu Gongyou, and he was the confidant of Fu Gongyou's henchmen, and Fu Gongyou's trust in him was far above Zuo Youxian. When Zuo Youxian served as the governor of Yuezhou and was in charge of the Huiji, Chen Zhengtong was also promoted to the deputy governor of Yuezhou to monitor Zuo Youxian. In the past few years, Zuo Youxian has developed a group of his own forces in the Huiji Army, and Chen Zhengtong has also developed a group of forces loyal to himself with the help of the secret support of the thief leader Fu Gongyou. After my Datang exterminated the thief armies in various places, he entered to suppress Huiji, and the rebel thieves Zuo Youxian and Chen Zhengtong will inevitably join forces to fight against my Datang; If I, Datang, can stand still after exterminating the thief armies in various places, or even deliberately retreat, leaving a stage for Zuo Youxian and Chen Zhengtong to fight, I firmly believe that the two of them will inevitably kill each other. ”

Li Xuan said, and everyone in the camp looked at Li Xuan in surprise.

Is this still a test of military capabilities? King Yong'an's answer is to grasp the hearts of the people. Yong'an Wang Li Xuan's analysis of people's hearts is too thorough. According to the suspicious character of the thief leader Fu Gongyou, he will definitely guard against Zuo Youxian. Why didn't we think of any of this? They all focused on Zuo Youxian and ignored Chen Zhengtong. According to what King Yong'an said, since Huiji still has Chen Zhengtong's forces, in order to compete for power and interests, the two will definitely fight among themselves.

After thinking about it, Li Xiaogong ordered: "According to the strategy of King Yong'an, quickly exterminate the thief armies in various places outside Huiji, and then stand still and wait for Zuo Youxian and Chen Zhengtong to have internal strife." ”

The news of Fu Gongyou's beheading reached Huiji, the military department Shangshu, the ambassador of Southeast Province, and the governor of Yuezhou, Zuo Youxian, suddenly cried bitterly, and Chen Zhengtong, the deputy governor of Yuezhou, was pale, crying almost fainting, relying on the support of the emperor Fu Gongyou, Chen Zhengtong was not less embarrassed Zuo Youxian, the relationship between the two has been very bad, and now the backer has collapsed, according to Zuo Youxian's character, Chen Zhengtong feels that the future is bleak.

A few days later, Zuo Youxian, who did not have Du Fuwei's hegemonic bearing, nor did he have Fu Gongyou's thorough analysis and forbearance character, began to eliminate Chen Zhengtong's forces in line with the principle of "revenge and revenge, and grievances and complaints".

At this time, the Tang army, under the leadership of Li Jing, Li Ji, and Kan Ling, began to suppress the thief forces in various places outside Huiji.

One by one, the urgent documents were delivered to the bookcase of Huiji Zuo Youxian. Zuo Youxian was anxious and worried. He secretly said in his heart: "There are emergencies in various places, I only have 50,000 Jianghuai elites, and Huiji is the foundation, do you keep it?" Which way to save? Which way not to save? After guarding the meeting, the maximum number of troops that can be sent is 10,000, and there are nearly 50,000 or 60,000 people on each road in Datang, what is the effect of these 10,000 people being sent? ”

Thinking of this, Zuo Youxian threw aside all the emergency documents, and ordered his subordinates: "Don't send the emergency documents in front of me in the future, the Tang army is powerful, and if you lose it outside the meeting, you can lose it." ”

After the Tang Dynasty wiped out the rebels in Jianghuai, it stopped the pace of attack.

Seeing that Datang stopped attacking, Zuo Youxian couldn't help but speed up the speed of clearing Chen Zhengtong's forces, he wanted to completely take charge of Jianghuai's 50,000 Datang elites as soon as possible, so that he could confront Datang.

Huiji, Chen Zhengtong's mansion, and the forces that support Chen Zhengtong gather together.

A Jianghuai army general said to Chen Zhengtong: "Deputy Governor, today, Lao Wu and Lao Wang have also been removed from their positions by Zuo Youxian and deprived of their military powers. ”

Chen Zhengtong said with a sad face: "Now, people are swordsmen, and I am fish and meat, what can I do?" ”

A grumpy Jianghuai army general stood up and said, "Can we just watch Zuo Youxian's thief, remove us from our positions one by one, deprive us of military power, and then slowly play to death?" I won't sit and wait for death, I will lead my troops to kill Zuo Youxian's evil thief tonight. ”

"Yes, since he wants to kill us, we dare to fight him." The other generals chimed in.

One of Chen Zhengtong's confidant generals said to Chen Zhengtong: "Deputy Governor, it's rare for everyone to be like this. Now that everyone has been removed from their official positions, the army can still control it, take advantage of this opportunity to do it! If you win, you can still have a way to live; If you don't do it, you can only wait for death. ”

Chen Zhengtong pondered for a long time, slapped the table and stood up and shouted: ", kill that thief, and get a chance of life." ”

That night, Chen Zhengtong led the army to enter the Yuezhou Governor's Mansion in Huiji, and the military department Shangshu, the ambassador of the Southeast Province, and the Yuezhou Governor Zuo Youxian were killed. Subsequently, the forces supporting Zuo Youxian surrounded Chen Zhengtong's army in the Yuezhou Governor's Mansion, and the two sides started a fight. The meeting was in turmoil.