"Chen Yingliang, this kid flew here with wings? How could it come so quickly? How can it be? How is this possible? ”

After learning the news that Chen Yingliang led the Peng Sui army had arrived in Qi County, Li Yuan, who was organizing the soldiers and horses of King Qin in Taiyuan City, was in disbelief, and even said three times in a row, how could it be possible, and then in shock, Li Yuan also mentioned the collar of the henchman warrior Tong who came to report the news, and quickly asked: "Is the news accurate?" Is it possible that the Qixian side made a false alarm and mistook the other Qinwang troops for Chen Yingliang's army? ”

"Ambassador, how could something go wrong in such a heavy situation?" At present, the samurai Tong who is still only the Taiyuan Yingyang Mansion team smiled bitterly and said: "Our people can see very clearly that the army of King Qin is fighting under the banner of Chen Yingliang, the deputy envoy of the twelve counties of Henan Province. In addition, there is also accurate information at the Qi County checkpoint, and the official document presented by the Qinwang team was also signed by Chen Yingliang himself, so he did not dare to stop them at the checkpoint and let them enter the territory of Qi County. It's just that the eyeliner we sprinkled there felt that something was wrong with the situation, and thought that the soldiers and horses in the Central Plains could not come so quickly, so we were in a hurry. ”

Li Yuan felt even more unbelievable, but the facts were here, but Li Yuan couldn't help but believe it, and couldn't help muttering: "How could he come so quickly?" Didn't I hear some time ago that he and Zhang Xutuo divided the twelve counties into two war zones, the north and the south, and he was in charge of the farthest southern war zone? Counting the distance, even if he sent troops immediately after receiving the news, he would only rush to the edge of the Yellow River at most now, how could he run to Qi County now? ”

Unable to figure out this question, Li Yuan had no choice but to put this question aside, and asked Wu Shi Tong instead, "How many soldiers and horses did he bring?" ”

"About twenty thousand." The samurai replied truthfully, and added: "It is not clear how many cavalry there are, but the number is definitely one or two thousand. ”

"Damn, a clown who jumped off the beam, even had a day when he led 20,000 troops to gallop on the battlefield, God is really blind." Li Yuan said rudely, and snorted coldly: "Twenty thousand troops? It must be the most team he can dispatch, bring all his belongings to King Qin, his ambition is not small, the old man wants to win the first merit of King Qin this time, it seems that it is not so easy. ”

"Ambassador, why do you have to rob him?" Wu Shi Tong became Li Yuan's cronies after Li Yuan was transferred to Shanxi, and he didn't know much about the past, so he kindly said: "Instead of competing with him, it is better to join forces to save the driver, although you and him are not subordinate to each other, but after all, he is only the deputy envoy of Henan Province to arrest, you are the ambassador of Shanxi Hedong to comfort you, after joining forces, he will definitely have to listen to your orders." In that case, why don't we try to join forces with him and take the 20,000 troops under his command for our own use, so that we can not only strengthen our strength, but also avoid many disputes? ”

"Don't think too pretty." Li Yuan said angrily: "That kid and anyone can join forces to save the driver, but they will never join forces with me, let alone accept my orders!" ”

Wu Shi Tong was shocked to ask why, Li Yuan shook his head and did not answer, and after thinking for a while, Li Yuan's heart suddenly moved, and he hurriedly instructed Wu Shi Tong: "Shi Tong, you go to see Jun Cheng Wang Wei immediately, Chen Yingliang's boy came from afar, and the grain and grass carried by the army must not be much, and it is inevitable that the grain and grass will be replenished in Taiyuan, the granary of Taiyuan County is controlled by Wang Wei, you persuade Wang Wei to give priority to the grain and grass provided to the soldiers and horses of King Qinwang in Hedong, and don't refuse Chen Yingliang's request for grain and grass, just deliberately delay the distribution, and wait for our army of King Qinwang of Hedong to go north to Xinkou first." ”

Hearing Li Yuan's order, Wu Shi Tong was stunned for a moment, and then said with a surprised expression: "Ambassador, does Chen Yingliang know that you are going to do this?" I don't know why, after Chen Yingliang's kid arrived in Qi County, he immediately took out a large amount of gold and copper coins and bought a large amount of grain from merchants in Qi County, Taigu and other places at three times the price. ”

Li Yuan's face suddenly turned iron blue, and he suddenly kicked over the table in front of him and yelled, "Traitor! Thief! Knowing that the old man was in Taiyuan, and knowing that the old man would definitely not give him grain and grass, he actually paid out of his own pocket to buy grain at three times the price, and did not give the old man a chance to drag you back! The old man doesn't believe it, and anything can make you think of the front! ”

After yelling, Li Yuan shouted to the warrior again: "You go and unite with Xu Wenbao immediately, and the two of you will join forces to put pressure on the merchants in the area of Qixian and Taigu to not allow them to sell grain to Chen Yingliang!" Sue those of you, just say that the army of King Qin of the imperial court is constantly heading north, or it won't be long before the price of grain can be sold five times! Ten times over! Don't talk about Chen Yingliang's traitor! ”

"Ambassador, I'm afraid that's unlikely, right?" Wu Shi Tong said with a sad face: "I'm not a fool in Qi County, I heard that King Qin's army is constantly going north, so are you worried that these King Qin's army will buy and sell strongly, or even force food without giving money?" Chen Yingliang took cash to buy grain from them at three times the price, and they must have hurried to get rid of it, and they didn't dare to leave these troublesome grains in the warehouse to cause trouble. ”

"You didn't do it, how do you know it's impossible?" Li Yuan was furious and roared: "If they must sell to Chen Xiaozi, then sue them, next time there are thieves and robbers attacking their business caravan, don't expect our Taiyuan army to send troops to protect them!" ”

Seeing that Li Yuan was really angry, the ancestor of the Jin Shang Dynasty, Wu Shi Tong, did not dare to slack off, so he had to quickly clasp his fists and sing a promise, and rushed down to arrange the arrangement, and then his own soldiers went inside to clean up the case that was kicked over by Li Yuan, but was kicked away by Li Yuan, and then Li Yuan yelled and ordered, asking the eldest grandson Shunde, Liu Hongji, Tang Xian, Xu Shixu, Xiahou Duan, Pei Lin and other henchmen and the eldest son Li Jiancheng to come to see him immediately, and the personal soldiers did not dare to slack off, so they hurriedly rushed down to give the order.

After a while, the eldest grandson Shunde, Liu Hongji and other confidants and cronies arrived one after another, and were shocked to see the mess in Li Yuan's room, and asked the reason Li Yuan did not answer, but asked the soldiers to clean up quickly. And when the soldiers finished cleaning up the case, Li Jiancheng also came to the room, and while saluting Li Yuan, he asked, "Father called, do you have anything to tell the child?" ”

Li Yuan nodded, changed his kind smiling face, and said, "I have good news for you, your good friend Chen Yingliang has come to Qi County with an army of 20,000 Qin Wang, and he will arrive in Taiyuan in about a day or two. ”

"Brother Chen, he's already here?" Li Jiancheng was also taken aback, and said in surprise: "How is it possible? How could he come so quickly? The child heard that he was in charge of the southern counties of Qian Pengxiapi, why did he arrive now? ”

"This is also something that my father is puzzled about." Li Yuan smiled and said: "Send you an envoy, immediately bring some wine and meat to give him the army, inquire about his situation, and ask him by the way, would you like to join forces with the soldiers and horses of your father?" If you have a reply, come back and report to me immediately, go and come back quickly, without delay. ”

To treat such a good thing as a friend's army, of course Li Jiancheng happily agreed, and he was about to go down to carry it out, but Li Jiancheng was still a little worried, and said to Li Yuan: "Father, it must be no problem for the child to go to the court, but persuade him to join hands with you to join forces, but the child is not sure ......." ”

"It's okay, you go and give it a try, I don't blame you if it doesn't work." Li Yuan said generously: "Your main task this time is to find out the specific situation of Chen Yingliang's army, the more detailed the better, so that you can have a bottom in your father's heart and know how much heavy responsibility he bears." Otherwise, when he arrives on the battlefield of King Qin, if his strength is not enough to deal with the enemy on the opposite side, but the old man does not send him reinforcements in time because he does not know the details, it will hurt him. ”

Li Jiancheng is not a fool, of course he understands the reason why his father wants to do this, but his father's fate is difficult to disobey, and he is eager to reunite with his friends, so Li Jiancheng did not shirk and immediately took the order to leave. As soon as Li Jiancheng left, Li Yuan immediately changed his gloomy face and said to a group of henchmen and cronies present: "You all heard it just now, Chen Yingliang came with 20,000 troops, why did he come so quickly, let's ignore it for the time being." But so far, he is the only one who has the strength to snatch the great merit of King Qin with the old man, and he must be careful! ”

"And." Li Yuan added: "Most of you know the grievances between me and Chen Yingliang's boy, if you don't know, I can tell you slowly, in a word, don't think about the idea of joining forces with him, this kid will never listen to my command, and he will never be able to help us win the great merit of King Qin." For him, I can only be vigilant, not trusted, because my relationship with him is too deep to be resolved! ”

The eldest grandson Shunde and Liu Hongji, who knew the details, nodded again and again, and Tang Xian and Xiahou Duan, who didn't know much, also nodded, indicating that they understood, and then Li Yuan asked, "When will our Qinwang army be assembled?" ”

"It will take three days at the earliest." Liu Hongji replied: "The main thing is the team on the Longmen side, the distance is too long and the journey takes too time, but the army there is an elite team that we don't need to break through, and it can't be without them." ”

Li Yuan's face was a little ugly, he hated himself for not having the ability to predict the future, he didn't know that Emperor Yang of Sui would encounter such a play in Yanmen, and when he received the edict of King Qin, he happened to be in Chang'an to pacify the people there, supervise the construction of an important castle to prevent Taihang Mountain bandits, and hastily organized soldiers and horses to go north to King Qin, and he was in a hurry, wasting a lot of time, and ended up in the current predicament.

"Ambassador, the situation is not good." In fact, Shunde, the eldest grandson of Chen Yingliang's relative, opened his mouth and reminded: "Ambassador, you are stationed in Taiyuan, and the emperor issued an edict to King Qin, but it turned out that Chen Yingliang, who was far away in the Central Plains, was the first to arrive at the battlefield of King Qin. ”

Li Yuan nodded, admitting that this was what he was most worried about now. Understanding what Li Yuan meant, Taiyuan Sima Xu Shixu, who had a more impulsive personality, immediately said loudly: "Then find a way to stop Chen Yingliang's kid, don't let him get ahead of us." In this way, I will take some people to stop him, and under the pretext of checking his identity, official position, and team members, etc., I will delay his footsteps, and when our soldiers and horses are assembled, we will go north, and then let him go north. ”

"If you want to die, go ahead!" Li Yuan said angrily: "What is he here for this time?" King Qin's rescue! If you dare to find an excuse to stop him, he will cut your body into meat sauce on the spot, and the emperor will only praise him for doing a good job and doing it right, and then he will chop up your whole door! ”

Xu Shixu shut up, and Pei Lian, who is also a distant relative of Chen Yingliang, stood up and said cautiously: "Ambassador, why don't you make a fuss about grain and grass?" Chen Yingliang is thousands of miles away, the grain and grass carried by the army is definitely not much, and it needs to be supplied in Taiyuan, Taiyuan County is in charge of Wang Wei, and the grain and grass in Jinyang Palace is controlled by the lower officials, as long as Wang Wei and I pinch him in terms of grain and grass, I will not worry about holding him back. ”

"It's useless, this has already been expected by that treacherous thief."

Li Yuan smiled bitterly, and then remembered to tell everyone about Chen Yingliang buying grain from the people at three times the price, but Li Yuan's henchmen were all dumbfounded when they heard it, and Xiahou Duan took the lead and said bitterly: "Oh no, Qi County and Taigu are places where Jin merchants gather, and there are a lot of grain stocks among the people, Chen Yingliang will definitely be able to get a large amount of grain soon if he buys grain at such a high price, and there is no need to beg us for grain and grass at all." ”

"And." Xiahou Duan added: "Once Chen Yingliang learns that our Qinwang soldiers and horses have not yet been assembled, and he has a deep grudge against you, the ambassador, in order to embarrass you and be punished by His Majesty, he will definitely continue to go north non-stop, and he will rush ahead of us for everything." ”

Li Yuan's smile was even more bitter, and he didn't dare to imagine what would happen to him after this situation appeared-with the cautious eyes of Emperor Yang of Sui, even if he didn't dismiss himself, he wouldn't be able to run away with a bloody scolding.

After a long time of sorrow, Li Yuan made up his mind and said: "In this way, don't wait for the army on the other side of Longmen, you should prepare immediately, tomorrow the old man will take the army that has been assembled to the north, first go to Xinkou to settle down the camp, and then slowly wait for follow-up reinforcements there." ”

"Ambassador, is it too risky?" Liu Hongji said with some worry: "Although we have also gathered nearly 20,000 troops now, more than half of them are temporarily recruited soldiers from surrounding counties, with insufficient training and poor equipment, and poor combat effectiveness. ”

"Then we have to go!" Li Yuan slapped the case a few times and shouted: "This official is an ambassador of Hedong comfort, stationed in Taiyuan, the emperor was surrounded by the Turks in Yanmen, and ordered King Qin, but this official arrived in Xinkou later than Chen Yingliang who was far away in the Central Plains. How else can he face the subjects of the Great Sui of the whole world? ”

"That's it!" Li Yuan slapped the case again, and said viciously: "I'll set off tomorrow, I'll take 10,000 troops north to set up camp first, fortunately, some Qinwang troops have been assembled on the Xinkou side, and Wang Rengong of Mayi should also arrive at Xinkou by taking the small road, the soldiers and horses under his command can fight, and the official will organize these troops, and the troops are still more than Chen Yingliang's boy!" ”

Seeing that Li Yuan's determination had been made, the eldest grandson Shunde and Liu Hongji and others did not dare to continue to object, so they hurriedly hugged their fists and sang a promise, and then quickly went down to prepare, and at the same time, it was also at this time that Pei Lian, the supervisor of Jinyang Palace, suddenly remembered a major event, hurriedly stopped, turned to Li Yuan and said: "Ambassador, Xiaguan suddenly thought of one thing, if we can do it, then even if Chen Yingliang kid arrives at Xinkou in front of us, this Qinwang Shougong is still yours, and Chen Yingliang kid can't snatch it away no matter how he robs it." ”

"What?" Li Yuan asked.

"Get in touch with His Majesty the Emperor and present the Qin Wang Chapter." Pei Lin smiled and said: "His Majesty the Emperor is surrounded by Turkic iron cavalry in Yanmen City, there is no way to go to the sky, there is no door to the ground, so that the edict of King Qin can only rely on driftwood to pass the edict, up to the emperor and the civil and military officials, down to the military and civilian people in the city, they must be eager to see through the news about the reinforcements." ”

Speaking of this, Pei Lin smiled even more happily, and said again: "In that case, why doesn't the ambassador immediately write a recital?" To the emperor, where have you organized reinforcements to arrive, and how far away is it from the Yanmen battlefield, send people to sneak to Yanmen by the Wutai Mountain path, and try to send them into the city. Once this matter is successful, His Majesty the Emperor will definitely be overjoyed, and the hundreds of officials who will accompany him will praise him, and the morale of the soldiers and civilians defending the city will definitely be greatly boosted, and the city will rejoice, and it will be counted in one fell swoop. ”

"Brilliant plan!" Li Yuan applauded and rejoiced, and said happily: "This plan is wonderful, if this matter is successful, His Majesty the Emperor may pass on the edict of driftwood again, and appoint this official as the commander-in-chief of King Qin's rescue, and at that time, all the soldiers and horses of King Qin in the world will have to obey the command of this official alone!" ”

"If the ambassador thinks it is feasible, then please write the recital immediately." Pei Lin volunteered: "Xiaguan will go to find a guide for you who is familiar with the terrain and path of Wutai Mountain, and after finding it, he will promise him a heavy reward, and let him take our messenger to rush to Yanmen City by copying the path." ”

Li Yuan was even more overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly ordered Pei Lin to act according to the plan, and personally wrote a draft, explaining that he had been ordered to go north to King Qin, and the soldiers and horses would arrive at the Yanmen battlefield in a few days, so that Emperor Yang of Sui could wait for his rescue troops to relieve the siege with peace of mind, but for various considerations, Li Yuan did not dare to guarantee the time and number of troops he sent, let alone promise when he could relieve the siege for Emperor Yang of Sui.

In the evening of the same day, Pei Lian, the head snake in Shanxi, really got a guide to lead the way for Li Yuan, and coincidentally, this guide was also from Tantou Village in Wutai County, called Liang Xiaosi, who was also greedy for Pei Lian's promised reward, patted his chest and promised to bring Li Yuan's messenger to Yanmen City, Li Yuan was overjoyed when he heard this, and also doubled the heavy reward promised by Pei Yuan, and promised to reward Liang Xiaosi with an official position once the letter was successfully delivered, and Liang Xiaosi was even more overjoyed, and hurriedly thanked Li Yuan.

The guide who is familiar with the terrain and roads is ready, and the next thing is the question of the messenger, Pei Lian, who has been inactive in Jinyang Palace for many years, is happy to take this risk - the danger is great, but the reward must be amazing. It's a pity that like Chen Yingliang, Li Yuan was reluctant to let the powerful Pei Lin take the risk of nine deaths, and after shaking his head in opposition, he had an idea and ordered: "Let Hou Junji go, come here, call Hou Junji, the official has an errand to give him instructions." ”

The soldiers sang a promise and took the order to leave, but Pei Lin was taken aback, and hurriedly said: "Ambassador, your personal follower Hou Junji has seen that he can't even pull the bow except bragging, and asking him to do such a big thing, isn't it a non-human?" ”

"Don't worry, the old man sees people more accurately than you." Li Yuan smiled and said: "Hou Junji is indeed a frivolous prodigal son who does not learn and has no skills, except for bragging, there are almost no martial arts, but this kid has two advantages, one is cleverness, and the other is good luck, cleverness can make it easy for him to avoid the Turkic interception, search and killing, luck is even more mysterious, this trip is a mission of nine deaths, others must be nine deaths, this kid may be able to catch that life." ”

Feeling that Li Yuan's words were reasonable, Pei Lin no longer objected, nodded and said with a smile: "Also, there is one more important point, among the soldiers under the ambassador's command, it is a pity for anyone to die, but it is not a pity to die this Hou Junji." ”

Li Yuan laughed loudly, and said in his heart: "Chen Xiaozi, if you let the old man succeed this time, the emperor will pass on the edict to the driftwood, and order the old man who is familiar with the Turkic military situation and folk customs to be the commander-in-chief of King Qin. ”

Thinking of Chen Yingliang and his daughter and son-in-law, a sense of regret suddenly came to Li Yuan's heart, making Li Yuan secretly say in his heart: "It's a pity, if it wasn't for that incident at the beginning, wouldn't the right-hand man by the old man's side be destined to add one?" Nineteen-year-old right-hand man, at the age of nineteen, he became a genius of the twelve counties to arrest the deputy envoy, such a powerful arm, the old man may never have a chance to meet it in this life. "Director, coincidentally, this guide is also from Tantou Village in Wutai County, called Liang Xiaosi, who is also greedy for Pei Lian's promised reward, patted his chest and promised to bring Li Yuan's messenger to Yanmen City, Li Yuan was overjoyed when he heard this, and also doubled the heavy reward promised by Pei Lian, and promised that once the letter was successfully delivered, he would reward Liang Xiaosi with an official position, Liang Xiaosi was even more overjoyed, and was busy thanking Li Yuan.

The guide who is familiar with the terrain and roads is ready, and the next thing is the question of the messenger, Pei Lian, who has been inactive in Jinyang Palace for many years, is happy to take this risk - the danger is great, but the reward must be amazing. It's a pity that like Chen Yingliang, Li Yuan was reluctant to let the powerful Pei Lin take the risk of nine deaths, and after shaking his head in opposition, he had an idea and ordered: "Let Hou Junji go, come here, call Hou Junji, the official has an errand to give him instructions." ”

The soldiers sang a promise and took the order to leave, but Pei Lin was taken aback, and hurriedly said: "Ambassador, your personal follower Hou Junji has seen that he can't even pull the bow except bragging, and asking him to do such a big thing, isn't it a non-human?" ”

"Don't worry, the old man sees people more accurately than you." Li Yuan smiled and said: "Hou Junji is indeed a frivolous prodigal son who does not learn and has no skills, except for bragging, there are almost no martial arts, but this kid has two advantages, one is cleverness, and the other is good luck, cleverness can make it easy for him to avoid the Turkic interception, search and killing, luck is even more mysterious, this trip is a mission of nine deaths, others must be nine deaths, this kid may be able to catch that life." ”

Feeling that Li Yuan's words were reasonable, Pei Lin no longer objected, nodded and said with a smile: "Also, there is one more important point, among the soldiers under the ambassador's command, it is a pity for anyone to die, but it is not a pity to die this Hou Junji." ”

Li Yuan laughed loudly, and said in his heart: "Chen Xiaozi, if you let the old man succeed this time, the emperor will pass on the edict to the driftwood, and order the old man who is familiar with the Turkic military situation and folk customs to be the commander-in-chief of King Qin. ”

Thinking of Chen Yingliang and his daughter and son-in-law, a sense of regret suddenly came to Li Yuan's heart, making Li Yuan secretly say in his heart: "It's a pity, if it wasn't for that incident at the beginning, wouldn't the right-hand man by the old man's side be destined to add one?" Nineteen-year-old right-hand man, at the age of nineteen, he became a genius of the twelve counties to arrest the deputy envoy, such a powerful arm, the old man may never have a chance to meet it in this life. ”