As Chen Yingliang and Fan Zigai were worried about, after the fiasco of the sneak attack on Luoyang, Li Mi, the military advisor of the rebel team, really had the idea of persuading Yang Xuangan to move to Guanzhong - this is also a matter of course, the first is that this strategic choice is extremely correct, and the second is that Li Mi believes that with the current situation, it is difficult for the rebels to capture Luoyang, the eastern capital that the defenders are becoming more and more confident in, and even if they can finally take it, it will inevitably have to pay a heavy price and consume countless precious time.

In order to persuade Yang Xuangan, who likes to enter the water in his head when making strategic decisions, Li Mi, the fox of Wagang, who has not yet reached the peak period, actually naively started the idea of Li Zixiong of Yang Su's old department, and wanted to use the identity and fame of Li Zixiong, the former general of the right Wuhou, to join forces with Li Zixiong to persuade Yang Xuangan to give up the siege of Luoyang and go west to fight Guanzhong Daxing, which was in a state of emptiness. At the same time, because time is precious, on the way back to Jim Yong Cheng from Luoyang, Li Mi found an opportunity to tell Li Zixiong about this alone.

After Li Mi explained the situation to Li Zixiong in private, Li Zixiong, who had already fallen three times in the political arena of the Great Sui, immediately knew that his opportunity had come, and agreed to Li Mi's request, and then proposed to advise separately, first let Li Mi persuade Yang Xuangan to give up attacking Luoyang, and then persuade Yang Xuangan to raise troops to fight Guanzhong, step by step, first lay the groundwork, and finally join hands to persuade Yang Xuangan to adopt the correct strategy. Li Mi was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately agreed to advise them separately.

Sure enough, after Yang Xuangan led the rebels back to the camp in Kim Yong City, the first thing he did was to order Li Mi to urge the people to make every effort to build siege weapons, and asked for as many siege weapons as possible! Li Mi seized this opportunity and cautiously said to Yang Xuangan: "Duke Chu, Luoyang City is high and deep, and the garrison of officers and soldiers is also quite tight, if our army attacks head-on, the losses will inevitably be huge, and I don't know how much time it will take. ”

"Something else? What else are you going to do?! Yang Xuangan, who had not yet found his second brother Yang Xuanzong, roared: "Luoyang's tyrant lackey, killed so many of our rebels, and caused my second brother to disappear on the battlefield, if you don't cut the old dog Fan Zi and the thief surnamed Chen, I swear not to give up!" ”

"But Duke Chu, if we can't capture Luoyang before the main force of the official army returns to help, then it will be a big trouble." Li Mi reminded: "At that time, let's not say that we will avenge the second general, it is difficult to get out, instead of taking the risk of storming Luoyang City, it is better to move to Guanzhong as soon as possible, the main force of the official army in Guanzhong has been disabled by us, and it is far easier to take Guanzhong than to break through Luoyang." As the so-called gentleman takes revenge, it is not too late for ten years, and it is not too late to wait until our army occupies Guanzhong, chokes Tong Pass and guards Sanfu, and then tries to take revenge. ”

Yang Xuangan is not a person who can't listen to persuasion at all, and Li Mi is indeed very reasonable, Yang Xuangan has to think carefully about Li Mi's mention even if he is angry, and after suppressing his anger for a while, Yang Xuangan ordered: "You go first to urge the auxiliary soldiers to build siege weapons, whether to attack Luoyang City with all your might, let me think carefully." ”

Seeing that Yang Xuangan was not good at all, Li Mi quietly breathed a sigh of relief, hurriedly saluted and retreated, and first went to urge the auxiliary soldiers and civilians to build siege weapons according to Yang Xuangan's requirements.

Li Mi secretly went out of the account with joy in his heart, but Yang Xuangan was still worried about the second brother Yang Xuan, whose life and death were unknown, not only looking forward to the second brother being able to come back suddenly, but also afraid of confirming the death of the second brother, and even more afraid that Yang Xuanzong would accidentally fall into the hands of the Sui army. Come, quickly arrange a sleeping tent next to my sleeping tent, let the old general rest, and arrange ten diligent soldiers to serve the old general. ”

Yang Xuangan's pro-soldier captain sang a promise and quickly made arrangements, while Li Zixiong smiled and said: "Duke Chu doesn't have to be polite, the old man has been leading the army for many years, and he has long been used to not sleeping for a few days and nights. Oh, by the way, just now Li Junshi persuaded Duke Chu to give up attacking Luoyang and move his division to attack Guanzhong, about this matter, the old man is a little shallow, I don't know if Duke Chu is willing to listen? ”

"The old general's talent, even my father is full of praise, the kid is not talented, and he wants to ask the old general for advice." Yang Xuangan, who has an excellent tutor, said respectfully: "Please also ask the old general to give advice, and the kid will listen to him." ”

"Then the old man is welcome." Li Zixiong was indeed not polite, and said straight to the point: "The old man thinks that the Duke of Chu must not adopt Li Junshi's construction, otherwise our army will be in danger!" ”

"Why?" Yang Xuan was taken aback.

"The reason is very simple, our army has just been defeated in the siege." Li Zixiong said eloquently: "Because the Duke of Chu adopted Li Mi's trick to attack Luoyang, but was seen through by the enemy, he arranged an ambush in advance to guide our army to suffer a big defeat, it is the time when the army is depressed and morale is low, if we give up attacking Luoyang and move to Guanzhong at this time, it will inevitably make the officers and men of our army think that the Duke of Chu is escaping from the battle, and he is afraid of the Luoyang official army, which will not only be detrimental to the reputation of the Duke of Chu, but will further shake the morale of our army, which is not conducive to the war!" ”

"The old general is right, that's the truth." Yang Xuangan, who didn't really want to give up attacking Luoyang, nodded vigorously, and naturally felt that Li Zixiong's words were more heard than Li Mi's anti-ear advice, and then Yang Xuangan asked again: "Old general, then in your opinion, should we continue to attack Luoyang City?" ”

"Not only should we continue to attack, but we should also attack head-on, and attack the eastern capital Luoyang with dignity!" Li Zixiong replied categorically, and said: "Sun Ziyun: The method of using soldiers, ten to surround it, five to attack it, now the army of the Duke of Chu has reached 100,000 people, but the defenders in Luoyang City are only more than 20,000 people. ”

"And Fan Zigai is brutal and unkind, and he is notoriously mean and strict to the soldiers and generals!" Li Zixiong waved his hand again and said viciously: "The officers and soldiers are afraid of his obscenity, and may be loyal to their duties for the time being, once Luoyang is in danger, they will inevitably abandon Fan Zigai and go, so as long as our army attacks Luoyang head-on and storms the Luoyang defenders with the overwhelming momentum of Mount Tai, then within a few formations, the Luoyang defenders who are guarding because of fear will inevitably collapse due to fear, and in turn help our army to kill the brutal and ruthless Fan Zigai's old stubbornness!" ”

"Wonderful!" Yang Xuangan slapped his thigh and said happily: "Listen to the old general's words, it is better to read for ten years, our army has suffered a fiasco this time, and the fault is that I should not listen to Master Li's bad idea, what opportunistic means are used to sneak attack Luoyang, if it is a frontal attack, we may have already sat in the imperial city of the eastern capital to celebrate the victory." ”

"That's exactly what happened." Li Zixiong nodded vigorously, and took the opportunity to arch his hand and said: "Duke Chu, in the early years, he followed Wei Xiaokuan and your father to Daogong during the southern and northern wars, and he had many times to attack the city, and he had a small experience in attacking the city. ”

"That being the case, then I will ask the old general, and the next time I attack the city, I will ask the old general to command the army on my behalf." Yang Xuan was overjoyed, and hurriedly thanked Li Zixiong, and took the initiative to say: "The old general is indecently humiliated, he has come thousands of miles to vote, and he has assisted the kid to conquer the tyrant, and the kid has nothing to repay, I want to ask the old general to temporarily take up the position of military advisor first, and when the kid achieves great things, he will definitely be rewarded!" ”

"Strategist?" Li Zixiong was taken aback, and hurriedly said, "Duke Chu, what about Li Junshi?" I don't dare to be old, I really don't dare to be. ”

"Li Mi?" Yang Xuangan snorted and said, "Let him be the deputy military division, let him assist you to give advice to me and command the siege, he is a junior, and it is also appropriate to assist you." ”

Li Zixiong continued to pretend to be modest, but Yang Xuangan resolutely refused to allow it, Li Zixiong had no choice but to join the rebels for less than a day, 'reluctantly' accepted the position of military adviser of the second leader of the rebel team, and then Li Zixiong said unceremoniously: "Duke Chu, since you want to attack Luoyang City head-on, then you must first solve the moat in Luoyang, and our army should build at least a hundred shrimp and toad carts, fill in a section of the moat first, and then our large-scale siege weapons can reach the city." ”

"Someone!" Yang Xuangan didn't even blink his eyelids, and immediately shouted and ordered: "Go and give Li Mi an order, let him immediately go all out to build a shrimp toad car, three days ......, no, within two days, at least a hundred shrimp toad cars will be built for me!" No less than one, the more the merrier! ”

The shrimp toad car is a siege weapon invented by Emperor Shi Hu of Zhao Wu, the main function is to carry earth and stone to fill the moat, and also has a certain anti-arrow function, which can be used to quickly build temporary anti-arrow fortifications under the city, before the rebel team has built quite a lot of this siege weapon Hou used, with the current manpower and material resources of the rebel team, it is difficult to build a hundred shrimp toad cars within two days, but after receiving this order, Li Mi immediately understood that Yang Xuangan was determined to attack Luoyang Jiancheng. Frightened, Li Mi hurriedly returned to the big tent of the Chinese army, inquired about the situation with Yang Xuangan in person, and made his last efforts to correct Yang Xuangan's strategic mistakes.

It was also Li Mi's back, when he returned to Luoyang City from the Houjun construction site, it was just in time for Fan Zigai to send a rebel prisoner of war to send a letter to Yang Xuangan - Lao Fan was indeed ruthless, sent this prisoner of war to send a letter, and also learned from Chen Yingliang to cut off his nose to demonstrate to the rebels, and the result also had some effect of adding fuel to the fire, seeing the bleeding soldiers crying back, and seeing Fan Zigai scolding his ancestors for the eighteenth generation and threatening to whip the corpse of his second brother Yang Xuanzong every day. Yang Xuangan, who had a very bad temper, suddenly had blood rushing to his brain, beating his chest and scolding with a crying voice: "Fan Zigai old puppet, if you don't cut you with a thousand knives, I swear not to be a man!" ”

"Duke Chu, what's wrong? Why such a gaffe? Li Mi just saw Yang Xuangan going crazy, and didn't have the letter in Yang Xuangan's hand, of course he didn't know why Yang Xuangan suddenly had a convulsion. At the same time, Li Mi faintly had an extremely ominous premonition - at such a sensitive moment, Yang Xuangan suddenly scolded his opponent's boss Fan Zigai so much, that was not a good signal.

"Come on, go and call Yang Xuanting, Yang Wanshuo and Yang Jishan!"

Yang Xuangan didn't pay attention to Li Mi, who was becoming more and more unpleasant, but just shouted and ordered, until Li Mi asked again, Yang Xuangan threw the letter in front of Li Mi and yelled: "Why are you here?" If you don't supervise the construction of the shrimp and toad car in the back camp, what are you doing here? ”

Li Mi is a person who has received Yang Su's great kindness, so naturally he didn't care about Yang Xuangan's rude words in anger, but just picked up Fan Zigai's handwritten letter and read it carefully, and first saw Fan Zigai tell Yang Xuangan, saying that the Luoyang defenders found Yang Xuanzong's body when they were cleaning the battlefield, Li Mi's heart sank, but he was not too surprised-after Yang Xuanzong disappeared in the chaotic army, Li Mi had already understood that it must be more than lucky. However, when Fan Zigai threatened to hang Yang Xuan on the corpse of Shangchun Gate Day and Day, Li Mi was suddenly furious, and blurted out and scolded: "Chen Yingliang thief, you are so vicious!" ”

blurted out and scolded, Li Mi hurriedly raised his head and said quickly to Yang Xuangan: "Duke Chu, don't be fooled, Fan Zigai is deliberately provoking you, wanting to induce our army to besiege Luoyang Jiancheng with all his might, and he can't spare his hand to attack the empty pass." And I can also be sure that this shameless poisonous plan must have come from the hands of that thief named Chen Yingliang, hanging the body of the second general in Shangchun Gate, where Chu Gong had been humiliated, Fan Zigai Lao Pifu did not have such a delicate mind! ”

Yang Xuangan didn't pay attention to Li Mi's words at all, and just continued to scold Fan Zigai hysterically, Li Mi was not interested, and said: "Duke Chu, the more Fan Zigai deliberately provokes you, the more he proves that he is afraid that our army will change its goal to attack Guanzhong, I think that as long as we raise troops to the west, we will definitely be able to take Guanzhong lightly, and maybe Fan Zigai's old horseman will also be forced to send troops to the field to try to contain the speed of our troops ......." ”

"Shut up!" Yang Xuan couldn't bear to interrupt Li Mi and roared, "Did you say enough?" If you say enough, go back to the rear camp to supervise the construction of siege equipment, I gave you the military order, build a hundred shrimp and toad carts in two days, if there is one less, come and see you! ”

Li Mi was stunned, looking at Yang Xuangan blankly, saying that Yang Xuangan, who had never thought that he had done his best to assist, would say such a thing to himself.

"And." Yang Xuan, whose face was pale, simply said: "By the way, I will tell you one thing, I have worshiped the old general Li Zixiong as a military advisor, and you will be a deputy to the old general, who will be responsible for making grain and grass and siege equipment for our army, and formulating military strategies and tactics. ”

Li Mi's black face turned a little white, and then a little blood red appeared, and he said in a slightly trembling tone: "Duke Chu, Old General Li has been on the battlefield for a long time and has rich experience, it is absolutely no problem for me to be his deputy, but why don't you allow me to participate in the formulation of military strategies and tactics again?" Could it be because of the slogan that Chen Yingliang's thief arranged for the white-robed soldiers to chant neatly this morning? ”

"Yes, how?" Yang Xuangan asked rhetorically, and said with a sneer: "If the Dharma Master feels that the deputy military division is too wronged, you can find another job, and as a reward for your hard work during this time, I will subsidize your 100 gold travel expenses." ”

Yang Xuangan has no other words to hurt Li Mi so much, just received Yang Xuangan's letter notice, Li Mi immediately abandoned his family business in Daxing and rushed to Liyang to assist Yang Xuangan to raise troops against Sui, and worked hard to give advice to Yang Xuangan, loyal and never had two hearts, but in the end in exchange for Yang Xuangan's words, the pain in Li Mi's heart at the moment can not be described in words.

After standing in a very complicated mood for a moment, Li Mi weakly arched his hand to Yang Xuangan and said, "Thank you Duke Chu for your kindness, Li Mi obeyed the order, and I will go to urge the rear army to build siege equipment, Duke Chu take care." ”

After saying that, Li Mi immediately turned around and staggered out of the big tent of the Chinese army, and the whole person seemed to be a teenager all of a sudden. Seeing Li Mi's bleak back, Yang Xuangan, whose conscience had not been eaten by dogs like Captain Chen, felt a little guilty, and almost wanted to stop Li Mi again, but when he thought of Li Mi's insistence on opposing his attack on Luoyang to take revenge, Yang Xuangan dispelled this idea again, and said secretly: "Take Luoyang first." ”

Slowly walked out of Yang Xuangan's Chinese army tent, Li Mi looked at the direction of Luoyang in the distance, and sighed in his heart, "Chen Yingliang boy, you are lucky, Yang Xuangan, a brave and unscrupulous horseman, seems to be destined to be a stepping stone for you." ”

In the afternoon of the same day, Fan Zigai, who was a good man, ignored the persuasion of many civil and military officials in the eastern capital, insisted on ordering Yang Xuanzong's body to be hung on the Shangchun Gate, and whipped Yang Xuanzong's body in public.

Two days later, under the personal command of Li Zixiong, the new military division of the rebels, and under the cover of the elite rebels led by Yang Xuanting, the rebel team dispatched hundreds of shrimp and toad carts in one go, loaded with earth and rocks, and began to fill the river. Pei Hongce and Xie Zichong commanded the defenders to fight back with bows and arrows, desperately releasing arrows to suppress the rebel river-filling team, and the rebel team with sufficient troops went forward one after another, always transporting soil and filling the river.

With the advantage of sufficient manpower, the rebel army carried out the reclamation work quite quickly, and in less than a day, the section of the moat more than 20 zhang wide had been filled, opening the way to the bottom of the Shangchun Gate. But after seeing this, the two civil and military bosses of the eastern capital Luoyang, Fan Zigai and Huangfu Wuyi, were not worried but happy, because Fan Zigai and Huangfu Wuyi had received the news that Yang Guang had personally led the main force of the Sui army to quickly return from Liaodong, and at the same time confirmed the news that Laihu'er would return to Luoyang for help before he could ask for instructions, so as long as the defenders of Luoyang used the advantage of city defense to drag the main force of the rebels for a period of time, the elite main force of the Sui army led by Yang Guang and Laihu'er could easily extinguish the rebel team in one fell swoop.

Chen Yingliang was also snickering, because Chen Yingliang knew very well that although the siege tactics adopted by the rebels now were correct and effective, they could indeed pose a huge threat to the eastern capital Luoyang, but they had an equally huge weakness, that is, they could not give full play to the advantages of the number of troops and field battles, which means that as long as Chen Yingliang led the Baoguo army to hide in the high place of the city wall and smash the stones and trees for a period of time in the future, he could easily wait for the main force of the Sui army to come back to help, and there was no need to lead the Baoguo army with only more than 700 people left to go out of the city. Go and fight with the main rebel force of more than 100,000 people.