On the day that the main force of Yang Xuangan's rebels arrived in the eastern capital, a major event occurred in the afternoon, and the complacent Yang Xuangan sent a messenger into the city and sent a handwritten letter to Fan Zigai, who was left behind in the eastern capital.

It is conceivable that the old stubborn Fan Zigai saw the result of this persuasion letter, and not only immediately ordered the envoy to be beheaded, but also ordered the soldiers of the Imperial City Forbidden Army to escort the envoy to the head of Shangchun Gate and behead him in front of the main force of the rebels under the city!

When Chen Yingliang, who was assisting Pei Hongce in handling the official document in the city tower, heard the news, he wanted to persuade Pei Hongce to come forward to stop it, but unfortunately the soldiers of the Imperial City Forbidden Army, who were not under Pei Hongce's command, started too quickly, and before Chen Yingliang could ask Pei Hongce to stop it, the head of the envoy had already landed, and the bloody head was hung on the city wall by the forbidden army soldiers to show the public, demonstrate to the rebel ranks outside the city, and issued a warning that they would not be able to stand apart. Chen Yingliang was helpless, so he had to smile bitterly and said: "Fan Liushou, Fan Liushou, you are really willing, such a good opportunity was missed by you in vain." ”

"What do you mean by this? What good opportunity did Fan miss if he stayed behind? Pei Hongce, who was next to him, asked curiously.

"Uncle, have you ever tried a prisoner?" Chen Yingliang, who was born as the captain of the criminal police brigade, asked rhetorically, and saw Pei Hongce honestly shaking his head and denying it, Chen Yingliang replied: "Since ancient times, when interrogating prisoners, the most effective way to make prisoners bow their heads and confess their guilt, in addition to torture, another way is to let the prisoners see the hope of being forgiven and forgiven, and the prisoners will obediently bow their heads and confess their guilt in order to survive, and then betray their accomplices to atone for their crimes." The most stupid way is to blindly intimidate, so that the prisoner feels that if he confesses, he will not live, and he has to resist to the end in order to survive, and at the same time, in order not to be betrayed by his accomplices, he even deliberately shields his accomplices who have not yet been exposed. ”

"Fan Liushou used the stupidest method." Chen Yingliang spread his hands and said with a wry smile: "A small messenger, it doesn't matter if you kill or not, if you let him go, by the way, let him return to the rebel army to spread the news, just say that as long as he surrenders, he can get pardon and forgiveness, how can he receive some effect of shaking the enemy's military heart." However, Fan Liushou pushed him onto the city wall and beheaded him in public, and hung his head on the city wall to show the public, which is not the same as suing the rebel team, they have no other way to survive except to follow Yang Xuangan to rebel to the end? ”

Pei Hongce is also a smart person, after listening to Chen Yingliang's analysis, he immediately stomped his feet and shouted pity, "Yes, the virtuous nephew is reasonable, this is a good opportunity, Yang Thief rebelled, there must be many people in the team who were forced to obey, if they know that they can survive if they surrender, there are many people who may come over anyway!" Fan stayed in such a hurry, why didn't he think of this?! ”

The heads have been cut off, Chen Yingliang and Pei Hongce regret it no matter how useless, the result is just as Chen Yingliang expected, after Fan Zigai beheaded the messenger to show the news to the rebel ranks, the rebel leader Yang Xuangan and the brothers Wang Zhongbo and others not only did not jump like thunder, but also applauded and laughed together, and then Yang Xuangan praised the military advisor Li Mi and said: "Xuanxuan is really clever, Fan Zigai, this old thing, really can't hold his breath and kills people, this time, we don't have to worry about instability in the army." ”

"Thanks to Chu Gong's praise, I dare not be ashamed." Li Mi said modestly, and hurriedly said: "Duke Chu, without further ado, we should immediately spread the news of Fan Zigai's beheading to the three armies, and then spread rumors, just say that the tyrant's court has ordered that all those who have joined our army, no matter who they are, no matter how high or low they are, will be exterminated by the three clans, and the morale of the army will be stabilized while the iron is hot. ”

In addition to not listening to Li Mi strategically, Yang Xuangan was obedient to Li Mi in terms of tactical details, and immediately acted according to the plan, and asked his younger brother Yang Xuanting and Yang Su to leave Yang Xuangan's henchmen Wang Zhongbo to carry out this plan, and then Yang Xuangan asked Li Mi again: "Xuanxuan, you have a plan to kill two birds with one stone, can the other eagle shoot down?" Fan Zigai, that old thing, will he be provoked by us and send the main force of the defenders out of the city for a decisive battle? ”

"It's hard to say." The resourceful Li Mi rarely showed hesitation, and said hesitantly: "If Fan Zigai wants to go out of the city for a decisive battle, today is the best opportunity, taking advantage of the weakness of our army's fatigue and unstable foothold, and seize the opportunity to fight to the death, but it is all afternoon, and the defenders of the Eastern Capital have no signs of going out of the city for a decisive battle, which makes it difficult for me to judge." It stands to reason that with the irascible temper of that old thing, it is impossible to be willing to defend the city? ”

"It doesn't matter if the old thing doesn't go out of the city, it's a big deal to attack the city." Yang Xuangan said lightly: "I will send an order to the rear army, go all out to make siege weapons, and launch the siege the day after tomorrow!" ”

"This idiot, why do you always want to storm the Eastern Capital? Is this city so easy to attack? Li Mi muttered and scolded in his heart, but said: "Duke Chu, I think we should be prepared with both hands, in addition to preparing to capture the Eastern Capital by force, we should also try to lure the defenders of the Eastern Capital out of the city for a decisive battle." ”

"What's the Master's plan?" Yang Xuangan hurriedly asked.

"Use the acropolis of the Eastern Capital, Kim Yong Fortress, to make a fuss." Li Mi replied with a smile: "If you use the surrendered officers and soldiers to make a fuss, Fan Zigai's old thing will almost go out of the city for a decisive battle!" ”

…………

In the early morning of the second day after arriving in Luoyang, the main force of the rebels stationed outside the Donghua Gate had the first big move, dividing tens of thousands of troops to the north, and the target was directly aimed at the Eastern Capital Acropolis and the Luoyang County Governor was also located in Kim Yong City, the chief general of Kim Yong City, Luoyang Ling Da Xi's goodwill was already missing on the battlefield, and Liu Ziyi, the acting county magistrate of Luoyang sent by Fan Zigai, did not dare to engage in the battle, closed the city and held on, and at the same time sent messengers to Fan Zigai for help.

Liu Ziyi's messenger sent a letter of request for help into Luoyang City, Fan Zigai and Huangfu Wuyi and other important ministers of the Eastern Capital were in a dilemma, and they wanted to send troops to rescue Kim Yong City, but they suspected that this was Yang Xuangan's plan to besiege the city and send reinforcements, and wanted to lure the defenders of the Eastern Capital out of the city to ambush. Hesitating, Fan Zigai simply took the opportunity to inspect the enemy's situation and went straight to the main battlefield Shangchunmen to consult Pei Hongce, who had often expressed outstanding opinions in the past two days, to understand Pei Hongce's views on this matter.

Pei Hongce had already eaten and lived in the Shangchun Gate City Tower according to the order, of course Fan Zigai saw Pei Hongce very smoothly, but when Fan Zigai told Pei Hongce about the situation of Kim Yong Cheng's request for help, Pei Hongce did not immediately express his opinion, and secretly went to see the eldest nephew and new secretary Chen Yingliang next to him, Chen Yingliang nodded slightly to Pei Hongce, and then sighed slightly outside the door, Pei Hongce breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly said to Fan Zigai: "Fan stay, please wait, the lower official still has an urgent military business, go to do it for a while and come back, By the way, I also considered Kim Yong Cheng's military situation, and then immediately replied to Fan Liushou. ”

Fan Zigai did not doubt him, and let Pei Hongce temporarily leave the city tower to do military affairs, and after Pei Hongce led his nephew out of the city tower, he really returned to the city tower after a while, and said to Fan Zigai: "Fan stays behind, the lower officials are foolish, there is no need to save Kim Yong City, Kim Yong City is just a small acropolis, it is useless to gain, and there is no harm if it is lost, just order Liu Yushi to hold on, and it is impossible to risk sending troops to rescue, risk to rescue, if the thief army arranges an ambush, the consequences are unpredictable." ”

"What if Kim Yong Shing can't hold it?" Fan Zigai was still a little worried, and said, "In Kim Yong City, there are more than 3,000 defenders, so you can't watch them all wiped out, right?" ”

"If Kim Yong Cheng can't hold it, then what if Yang Yi can take it?" Pei Hongce said with a smile: "If Yang Cheng takes Kim Yong City, his confidence will definitely increase greatly, and he will be more determined to seize the Eastern Capital, so if Kim Yong City falls, it may not be a bad thing for our army's containment plan." ”

Seeing that the old stubborn Fan Zigai didn't lose his temper and showed a contemplative look, Pei Hongce hurriedly added, "If Fan stays behind to cherish the soldiers who defend Kim Yong City, you can also give them an order to allow them to break through and return to the Eastern Capital in a critical situation, anyway, even the Luokou Cang, which has hoarded nearly 10 million stone military rations, has been lost, so why care about the gains and losses of a small acropolis?" Since ancient times, those who have made good use of soldiers have never been confined to the gains and losses of one city or one place. ”

After thinking about it for a long time, the old stubborn Fan Zigai nodded and said: "It makes sense, you can let Liu Ziyi hold on to the city, but the order to allow him to break through cannot be given, the thief army is strong, and the officers and soldiers are frustrated. ”

"Your Excellency is wise, that's exactly what happened." Pei Hongce nodded hurriedly, and then said: "Lord Fan, about the defense of Luoyang, the lower officials still have a little foolish opinion, I wonder if the adults are willing to listen to it?" ”

"It doesn't hurt for Li Guogong to speak bluntly, and the old man listens to him." Fan Zigai intentionally or unintentionally changed his name for Pei Hongce.

"Then the lower official will be bold and outspoken." Pei Hongce was not polite, and immediately said: "The lower official thinks that our army should try to provoke Yang Xuan's rebels and urge him to attack the city immediately, and the sooner the better!" ”

"Why?" Fan Zigai Daqi asked.

"It's very simple, the traitors are attacking the city now, and there is no chance of victory." Pei Hongce analyzed: "Yang Wei marched 600 miles in eleven days, which is enough to prove that his army did not carry heavy siege weapons, and then although he captured some heavy equipment on the battlefield, he did not have any heavy weapons that could be used to attack the city, and temporarily rushed to make siege weapons, such as cloud cars, ladders, hook cars, winch crossbows (bed crossbows) and trebuchets and other large siege weapons, all of which could not be built in ten days and half a month, at most they were to build some light weapons such as flying ladders and trench cars, in front of the four-foot-eight-foot-high city wall of the Eastern Capital, Such siege weapons will never have any effect, so as long as our army can provoke Yang Xuangan and urge him to attack the city as much as possible, then it will be easy to win in the defense of the city, which can boost morale, boost the morale of the army, and then drag Yang Wei into the quagmire of attacking the city. ”

"That's right! We now need a victory to boost morale and morale! You can also get the effect of indirect reinforcement of Kim Yong City! Fan Zigai waved his hand excitedly, extremely satisfied with Pei Hongce's construction, and then Fan Zigai quickly asked: "Then how can we provoke Yang Yi and urge him to attack the city and find death?" Does Li Guogong have a high opinion on this? ”

"It's very simple, one word, scold." Pei Hongce replied with a smile.

"Scolding?" Fan Zi covered a flute.

"Yes, scold!" Pei Hongce nodded, and said with a smile: "Yang Xuangan was born in a famous family, relying on his father's shadow and smooth career, he has never encountered setbacks in his life, and he must have developed a high-minded and arrogant character, and the arrogant person is the most humiliated, so the adult only needs to write a letter to Yang Shun, and the book is full of humiliating words, and Yang Xuangan is scolded by the thief to the point of blood, which is unbearable, then Yang Shun will definitely reckless the consequences and immediately attack the city!" ”

"Brilliant plan!" Fan Zigai laughed loudly and said, "I can't imagine that Li Guogong has never been on the battlefield, and he can come up with such a brilliant plan!" Yes, the old man has dealt with Yang Rebellion, this traitor is indeed an arrogant person, a clever plan! The old man will repair the book and scold Yang for being a bloody dog! Provoke him to attack Luoyang Jiancheng immediately! ”

"Adults have won prizes." Pei Hongce was modest, and peeked at Chen Yingliang who was standing next to him, and said secretly in his heart: "I didn't expect that my seventeen-year-old eldest nephew would have so much bad water in his stomach." ”

"Yang Zhiji, I'm sorry, I copied your clever plan some time in advance, but I am protecting your Yang family's country, and you are also a relative of the emperor, so you must not mind, right?" Chen Yingliang also muttered quietly in his heart, and then continued to muttered in his heart: "Let Fan Zigai, an old stubborn old stubborn write a letter to scold Yang Xuangan, do I have to think about it?" This old stubborn who is stupid in reading and reading, shouldn't he get a bunch of people to scold Yang Xuangan? It's not even a fart! ”

Seeing that Fan Zigai couldn't wait to pick up the pen to write a book, Chen Yingliang was still a little uneasy, and inherited the ancient calligraphy memory of the dead ghost Chen Yingliang, Chen Yingliang just wanted to open his mouth to ask for a ghostwriter, but there were soldiers flying outside the gate of the city tower to report: "Yu Fan stayed, Lord Yu Pei, there are a large number of enemy troops coming from the east, and the target seems to be Shangchun Gate!" ”

Before the herald's words fell, Fan Zigai and Pei Hongce had just turned their heads, Chen Yingliang had already rushed out of the city tower like a rabbit, and rushed to the city wall to check the enemy's situation. How dare you be so presumptuous in front of you and me? ”

"If he stays behind to atone for his sins, the lower officials will teach him a lesson." Pei Hongce respectfully pleaded guilty, and then snorted coldly in his heart, "Old thing, a nephew who is more calm than my genius nephew, you can find one for me!" ”

"There's no need to scold, it's also your blessing to be so anxious about state affairs, and I think I will be able to share a lot of errands for you in the future." Fan Zigai added with a smile, and then ordered: "Go, go out to see what the situation is, if Yang Cheng is here to attack the city, it will save the old man from writing a letter and scolding as a villain." ”

What happened outside the city surprised Fan Zigai and Pei Hongce, and there was a fairly large rebel army outside the city, which frightened the demoralized defenders of the Eastern Capital in a hurry, running and shouting, which also caused Fan Zigai to lose his temper and slapped a panicked Sui army eagle on the spot. But when the rebel team approached the city wall, Fan Zigai and Pei Hongce were stunned to find that the vanguard of the rebel team was actually wearing the banner of the right military guard of the Sui army, and the captains of each regiment marching on horseback were still dressed as generals of the Sui army!

"What is Yang Cheng going to do?"

When Fan Zigai and Pei Hongce were confused, Chen Yingliang suddenly ran over, saluted Pei Hongce and asked, "Uncle, please confirm, is the forward team of the rebels the same team that was brought to Bai Sima Ban in the first place?" ”

After being reminded by his eldest nephew, Pei Hongce came to his senses, and after carefully observing for a while, he immediately roared angrily, "That's right, there are many right-hand guards who rebelled at the beginning, and the Eagle Yang Lang general Yuan Jinwei who walked in the front is the first Eagle Yang Lang general to lead the army to rebel in Bai Sima Ban!" ”

"Okay, you Yang Xuangan, I really underestimated you, I didn't expect that you, a fool, would also use heart-attacking tactics." Chen Yingliang sneered.

"What kind of heart-attacking tactics does Yang Wei use?" Someone next to him asked.

"Send our troops to recruit them." Chen Yingliang replied casually: "These soldiers are the old soldiers of the Right Guard, ......and the soldiers who defend the Eastern Capital are also the soldiers of the Right Guard, and they are very familiar with each other. ”

Having said this, Chen Yingliang suddenly found that Pei Hongce was quietly pulling his sleeve, and when he came back to his senses and took a closer look, Chen Yingliang suddenly discovered that the person who opened his mouth to talk to him was Fan Zigai, the current leader of the eastern capital Luoyang. Caught off guard, Chen Yingliang had to hurriedly salute and ask for guilt, "The kid is arrogant, talking nonsense in front of the left-behind adults, please forgive your sins." ”

Fan Zigai remained silent, first glanced at Pei Hongce, who was a little embarrassed, and then said: "You are not wrong, if Yang Shun does this, it will have a great impact on the morale of our army, since you can guess Yang Shun's intentions, then there is a way to crack it?" ”

"It's ......." Chen Yingliang was a little embarrassed to peek at Pei Hongce, but Pei Hongce looked more embarrassed than Chen Yingliang, and he didn't dare to look at his eldest nephew in front of Fan Zigai.

"You don't need your uncle to tell me, just tell the old man." Fan Zigai, who already understood the strange thing in his heart, sneered and said.

Chen Yingliang still didn't dare to say anything, and continued to peek at Pei Hongce, Pei Hongce smiled awkwardly, pushed Chen Yingliang, and said: "Virtuous nephew, if you have something to say, just say it, time is urgent, don't bother." ”

"Then the villain will be blunt." Chen Yingliang spoke at this time, and said cautiously: "The villain read a few overseas books when he was young, and he knows a strategy that can make Yang Yi's strategy ineffective, and even suffer from it. It's just that this strategy is a bit vicious, I'm afraid it's too ....... ”

"What are you afraid of?!" Fan Zigai, who was loyal to Emperor Yang of Sui, waved his hand and said viciously: "No matter how ruthless the methods are to treat these rebels and thieves, it is not too much!" ”

Note: Insulting Yang Xuan and thanking him for attacking the city, this plan is not fiction, it was invented by Yang Zhiji, the cousin of Emperor Yang of Sui, and used in Hongnong to deal with Yang Xuangan.