On the third day of the defeat of the Sui army in the eastern capital, and also on the 14th day of June in the ninth year of the Great Sui Dynasty, the main force of the rebel army led by Yang Xuangan personally arrived at the city of the Eastern Capital, and was stationed outside the Shangchun Gate of the Eastern Gate of the Eastern Capital as well as history.

In fact, including Yang Xuangan himself did not expect that the army would be so smooth, since the battle in Jijun crossed the Yellow River, the Sui army along the way is all willing to surrender, including the ancient famous pass and tiger prison pass are obediently surrendered, the same is true of Luokou Dacang, which has stored tens of millions of stone military grain, surrendered and offered food, providing Yang Xuangan's team with enough military food to squander for several years, the defenders of the eastern capital sent troops to quell the rebellion, and were easily defeated by Yang Xuangan's two younger brothers, and captured tens of thousands of sets of elite equipment and countless war horses. Alleviate the urgent need for the rebel army to be under-equipped.

Yang Xuan is most proud of the people's support for him, suffering from the wanton squandering of national strength by Emperor Yang of Sui, the people who have long been looking forward to changing the status quo are vying to cling to the rebels, the rebels march westward, thousands of people rush to join the rebels every day, the place where the soldiers are recruited is as lively as a bazaar, when Liyang raised troops on the third day of the first month of June, Yang Xuangan's command was only 8,000 troops, but only 11 days later, the size of the rebels' army has exceeded 50,000, and the number is still increasing rapidly!

The army is there, the military rations are loaded, the weapons and armor and the war horses are also loaded, the future seems to be bright, and under the complacency, outside the Shangchun Gate, in front of countless soldiers and civilians, Yang Xuangan shouted out the famous words that he had shouted countless times after the army, "As a Shangzhu country, my family has a lot of money, and as for wealth and nobility, I have nothing to ask for." Now I don't care about the exterminators, but I am anxious to solve the suspense for the world! ”

Not to mention, Yang Xuangan's touching speech really played a role, on the day he arrived in the Eastern Capital, there were people outside the city who sent cattle and sheep wine to reward the rebels, only one morning, there were more than 2,000 people at the bottom who volunteered to join the rebels, Yang Xuangan laughed, and felt more and more that he had made the right choice to raise troops, and he also felt that the world was at his fingertips, and the morale of the rebel team was also greatly boosted, and he was full of confidence in breaking through the Eastern Capital.

There is only one exception in the rebel ranks, this person is Li Mi, the military advisor of Yang Xuangan's rebels, looking at the tall and magnificent city walls of the eastern capital, Li Mi's heart is still full of worry, "There are twenty-two city towers, the city wall is four feet five feet high, three feet thick, the height is more than nine feet in Daxing, the thickness is more than seven feet, the moat is two feet wide, and half a foot deep, introducing Luoshui living water!" Such a fortified city, if it is attacked head-on, it is not easy to take. ”

After muttering, Li Mi went to look at the direction of the Eastern Capital Imperial City in the northwest, and prayed in his heart, "Fan Zigai, Fan Liu, you must send troops out of the city to fight again, it is best to send the main forces in the Eastern Capital City out, only in this way can we hope to quickly take the Eastern Capital, so that Yang Xuangan that idiot can win a glimmer of hope for success." How nice would it be if this idiot had adopted my best policy? ”

………………

Li Mi's prayer has a good chance to succeed, at the same time in the eastern capital, personally went to the city to observe the enemy's situation, confirmed that Yang Xuangan did not immediately attack the city, Emperor Yang of Sui appointed the eastern capital to stay in Fan Zigai immediately returned to the imperial city, asked the king of Yue Yang Tong to ring the Jingyang bell to convene a hundred officials, only nine years old Yang Tong obeyed Fan Zigai's words, and immediately ordered the inner servants to ring the bell, after hearing the bell, the civil and military officials above the fifth grade in the eastern capital city did not dare to slack off, and they also rushed to the imperial city one after another, and entered the Chongguang Gate to participate in the court meeting on the main hall of the East Palace, Among them, it naturally also includes Chen Yingliang's current gold owner, Henan Zanzhi Pei Hongce.

The so-called court meeting is actually Fan Zigai's hall of words, after the hundred officials arrived, Fan Zigai first gave a general introduction to the military situation outside the city, and then immediately assigned tasks, arranged for eleven important ministers of the eastern capital to supervise the other city gates except for the Shangchun Gate, and commanded the city gate guards, requiring these eleven officials to eat and live in the city tower, not to leave the post without permission, the city gate is in the people, and the city gate is lost to kill the whole family! Yang Xuangan's garrison Shangchun Gate was entrusted by Fan Zigai to the right Wuwei general Huangfu Wuyi, and Huangfu Wuyi, who was not in good health, did not hesitate, and immediately received orders along with the other eleven important ministers of the Eastern Capital.

After arranging the officials at the city gate, and assigning the army to guard the gate, with 10,000 reserves in hand, Fan Zigai suddenly said again: "The thieves came from afar, marched 600 miles in eleven days, and fought a battle in Linqingguan during the period, the team must be very tired, and the foothold in the eastern capital has not been stable, so the old man should think that the eastern capital should send another army to fight with Yang Xuangan rebels outside the eastern capital, and strive to defeat the rebels. lest the number of disobedient people increase. ”

When Fan Zigai said this, there was silence in the main hall, almost everyone was peeking at Pei Hongce, and many people still had some schadenfreude in their eyes - among the officials at the city gate arranged by Fan Zigai, there was no Pei Hongce's name, so the civil and military officials present were analyzing with their toes, and they could also guess who Fan Zigai would send out of the city to make meritorious service and fight to the death with Yang Xuangan's rebels, who were in full swing.

To everyone's surprise, Pei Hongce, who is currently wearing the guilt, is very calm, as if he didn't hear Fan Zigai's voice, and Fan Zigai was not polite, and quickly said to Pei Hongce: "Master Pei, among the courtiers here, only you have fought with Yang Xuangan and the thief, you have experience to expect, there are lessons to learn, and it is also the best opportunity for you to atone for your sins. ”

In front of everyone's eyes, Pei Hongce went out of work unhurriedly, and said to Fan Zigai: "The lower official is willing to take the order." ”

"Huh?" Including Fan Zigai himself, many civil and military officials in the eastern capital were surprised, Fan Zigai was of course surprised by Pei Hongce's readiness to agree, and other civil and military officials were surprised that Pei Hongce was not even frightened by Yang Xuangan.

Surprised to surprised, after a little misunderstanding, Fan Zigai still showed a relieved smile, nodded and said: "Very good, Master Pei is really a loyal and patriotic person, he has been defeated and fought repeatedly, and he has never been discouraged, this perseverance is worth learning from." When arming, the old man left 6,000 reserves, how about half with you? The old man doesn't expect you to win the head of Yang Xuangan's rebel thief in one battle, as long as you win a battle, so that Yang Xuangan's rebel thief will not dare to peep into the eastern capital! ”

"Fan stays behind, and the subordinate is willing to lead the troops to fight!" Pei Hongce suddenly raised his voice and said loudly: "But as a courtier of the Great Sui, for the sake of the family and the country, and in order to repay the emperor's grace like heaven, the battle of the lower officials can only be lost, and absolutely cannot be won!" ”

"What?!"

As soon as Pei Hongce's words came out, the hall was shocked, and the old stubborn Fan Zigai almost stared his eyeballs out of his sockets, and after finally coming back to his senses, Fan Zigai suddenly roared angrily and yelled: "Pei Hongce, what did you say?" You lead the army to battle, and you can only lose? Can't win?! ”

"Exactly!" Pei Hongce nodded solemnly and said loudly: "Fan stay behind and don't be impatient, please listen to what Xia Guan said, after listening, you can understand Xia Guan's good intentions, and you can also understand Xia Guan's loyalty to Da Sui!" If Fan Liushou feels that the words of the lower officials are unreasonable, it is not for the sake of the family and country of the Great Sui, and the lower officials will beg to be beheaded! ”

"Pei Hongce, above the main hall, there is no joke!" Fan Zigai said angrily: "If you talk nonsense and quibble unreasonably, don't blame the old man for settling the new account and the old account together!" ”

"Fan Liushou rest assured, just listen to the foolish opinion of the lower officials." Pei Hongce was not afraid, and said loudly: "When Xia Guan went home last night, he stayed awake all night, thinking left and right, thinking about how to defeat Yang Xuangan's rebel thief, so that Yang Xuan did not dare to peep into the Eastern Capital!" However, Xia Guan suddenly thought of an important question, only to find that Xia Guan must not beat Yang Xuangan's rebel thief, and must stick to the eastern capital city and lure Yang Cheng to attack! ”

Speaking of this, Pei Hongce paused, glanced at Fan Zigai, who gritted his teeth, and then said: "Fan Liushou must want to ask, what important question did Xia Guan think of before he had such thoughts?" Xia Guan didn't dare to deceive His Royal Highness King Yue, nor did he dare to deceive Fan Liu, Xia Guan put himself in the shoes of Yang Xuangan rebel and thought about it, assuming that Xia Guan himself was Yang Xuangan's rebel thief, so what should he do to usurp the world of the Great Sui, and what should he do to bring about his own destruction and be easily pacified by my Great Sui army? ”

"Suppose you yourself are Yang Xuan's rebel thief?" Fan Zigai was surprised again and said, "What you said is fresh, and you actually figured out a plan for Yang Xuangan to rebel against the thief." ”

"Fan stays behind, this is called empathy." Pei Hongce said a new term that he only learned last night, and then said: "Xia Guan believes that Yang Xuangan rebelled and rebelled, and there are three strategies to choose from strategically. Now that he is in the eastern capital, it is his strategic strategy, so the lower officials must let him be induced to continue his mistakes, instead of beating him away, let him choose the best and middle strategies, and cause more disasters to the Great Sui court. Fan stays behind, do you want to listen to Yang Xuangan's upper, middle and lower three strategies for the rebel? You'll understand. ”

"Tell me about it." Fan Zigai replied with a cold snort.

"The lower officials think that Yang Xuan's best strategy for rebels should be to attack Zhuojun and seize Linyu Pass (Shanhaiguan)!"

Pei Hongce's words were so startled that Fan Zigai jumped up directly, and the faces of the hundreds of civil and military officials in the Eastern Capital also changed color, but Pei Hongce looked as usual, and continued to say loudly: "Please stay behind Fan and think about it, if Yang Xuan feels a rebel and captures Linyu Pass, what kind of damage will it cause to our Great Sui World?!" The orthodox army of the Son of Heaven personally conquered Goguryeo, and has invaded the territory of Goguryeo, if the Linyu Pass is lost, the 300,000 army led by the emperor himself will not only make a quick decision on the grain route, but will also immediately face the counterattack of the Goryeo barbarians, the entrapment of the Khitan Turks, what are the consequences, do you dare to imagine Fan staying behind? His Royal Highness King Yue, my lords, do you dare to imagine?! ”