What are the people who are scrambling to flatter Li Yuan's rebels, not only Yuan Qi and Li Yangcheng? From Taiyuan all the way to Daxing, just on the way south, the military and civilian officials and the children of the gate lords who rushed to join Li Yuan's rebels were already like carp crossing the river, and now that the main force of the rebels has already defeated the capital of Daxing, the people in Guanzhong who came to join the rebels can only be described as overwhelming.

Of course, the children of the powerful people and the eunuchs in Daxing City were very enthusiastic, and the Yuan family had already told them the importance of standing in line, and also told them what kind of rich rewards they would get once they followed the right master, and had the opportunity to become Li Yuan's founding father, and of course they would not miss it after being like Yuan Qi and Li Yangcheng.

More enthusiastic are of course the children of Guan Longmen Valve, these people not only have a deeper and more refined family history, but also have an inextricable connection with Li Yuanmen, Emperor Yang of Sui has never been waiting to see them, and from time to time he supports civil and military ministers such as Yu Wenshu, Lai Hu'er and Pei Ju to fight them - Chen Fuliang is definitely one, and now Li Yuan is so powerful, what kind of politeness will these people have? Not only did they take the initiative to come to repay the service, but they also brought their own families, weapons, war horses, and dry food, and donated money, land, and property -- if it weren't for the fact that these gate lords had great powers and some understanding of the specific situation of the Tongguan battlefield, maybe they would have offered chrysanthemums -- in short, they had invested a lot of money to support Li Yuan in seizing the world.

There are also the surrounding counties of Daxing, which are different from history, this time because there is a lack of virtue in Tongguan disgusting Li Yuan's rebels, Li Yuan's rebels did not dare to seize the surrounding counties first and then attack Daxing as in history, but before the main force of the rebels to defeat Daxing, the adjacent Lantian, Jingyang and Shiping counties have taken the initiative to send a table, including Li Jing's hometown Sanyuan County. And when the news spread that the main force of the rebels had taken Daxing, the surrounding counties of Jingzhao did not hesitate to immediately submit a request for surrender, for fear that they would be one step late and would not be able to express their loyalty to General Li.

In the face of this enthusiastic scene of servants, the rebels were of course overjoyed, and many rebel generals began to flutter, for example, Li Yuan's baby son-in-law Chai Shao was very ruthless to drive a few of his friends out of the house, and he didn't pay attention to the sincerity of his friends' guilt, and even Li Yuan's cousin Dugu Huaien personally came to the door to explain, Chai Shao didn't give face at all, and said a lot of harsh and mean words, which made Dugu Huaien very faceless, so he could only give up.

Li Yuan, who is eager to buy people's hearts, if he knows about this, of course he will have to scold his son-in-law, but it's okay for Chai Shao, his father-in-law Li Yuan has not been idle to take care of his affairs now, and while he is busy all day long, there are two more difficult problems in front of Li Yuan, one is of course the threat of Chen Fuliang's reinforcements from the Eastern Capital, and the other is the whereabouts of Yang Yu, the acting king.

As mentioned above, Li Yuan's banner when he raised troops in Taiyuan was not a rebellion, but to support the acting king Yang Yu as emperor. Missing', if Li Yuan doesn't want to find a way to give an explanation to the people of the world, a rebel and rebellious infamy can't run away no matter what, and there will be some moral blows to Li Yuan's rebels who claim to be righteous teachers, and once the truth of Yang Yu's disappearance is exposed, the reputation of Li Yuan's rebels will inevitably be dealt a heavier blow, and it is very likely to trigger a local backlash, so Li Yuan in addition to continuing to claim that the Yin Shi Shi hijacked Yang Yu to escape, and then there is a desperate search for the children of the Yin Shi who may know the truth.

Strange to say, although the rebels sent many cavalry to chase and search, under the pretext of raising war orphans to let the local government help with the search, and secretly ordered Duan Lun, another son-in-law who was leading the army west to reinforce Yongfengcang, to intercept and search, but more than two days have passed, and as of the first day of October, the sons and daughters of the Yin Shishi are still nowhere to be heard from and their whereabouts are unknown. Li Yuan guessed that the Yin Shi Shi Shi was likely to have arrangements, and prepared a secret hiding place outside the city in advance, but he sent people to interrogate the Yin Shi Shi's family and subordinates, but he did not get any valuable information.

On the afternoon of the first day of October, after more than two days of hard work, the various situations in Daxing City were basically settled, the remnants of the enemy that should be cleaned were cleaned up, the officials and people who should be pacified were appointed and pacified, the Sui army that should be organized was reorganized, the number of nearly 10,000 dead bodies inside and outside the palace city was carried away, the streets and palace walls stained red by blood were also washed clean, and the aftermath work came to an end. Taking advantage of the fact that there is still some time, Li Yuan, who is still embarrassed to move into the palace, held a meeting in Anxingfang, where he lives, and convened a group of close confidants and important generals to discuss the action of returning to Yongfengcang.

There is no dispute about whether to send the main force back to aid Yongfengcang, no matter how stupid the rebel decision-makers are, they know that if they don't dredge the grain road as soon as possible, it won't be long before the army will have to forcibly borrow grain from the people, Chen Fuliang's notorious reputation for undefeated achievements also makes the rebel decision-makers dare not have any hope for Li Jiancheng's division to defeat Chen Fuliang, so the focus of the meeting is a question, who will lead the main force to return to Yongfengcang? Who stays in Daxing City?

As the commander-in-chief, Li Yuan of course can't leave Daxing City lightly, Li Er is also very happy to lead the main force to fight to the death with his rival Chen Fuliang, but after careful consideration, Li Yuan shook his head and said: "No, the old man must personally command this battle, and the old man personally led the army to return to Yongfeng Cang, Pei Lian, you stay in Daxing City." ”

Li Er refused to insist on giving up, while pointing out that Li Yuan could not leave Daxing lightly now, and on the other hand, he was willing to set up a military order to guarantee the defeat of Chen Fuliang, Li Yuan shook his head again and said: "No, Erlang, although you are good at using soldiers, you like to play with fire and take risks with soldiers, Chen Yingliang's experience in commanding large-scale army battles is much richer than yours. This battle is related to the survival of our army and the lifeblood of the country, and the old man can only rest assured if he personally commands this battle. ”

At present, Li Er, who is still relatively obedient, has no choice but to obediently accept his father's arrangement, and at that moment Li Yuan immediately dispatched troops and generals, arranged for generals and soldiers and horses, and decided to send 80,000 troops to a decisive battle with Chen Fuliang, Li Er, Liu Wenjing, Li Xiaogong, Ma Yuangui, Zheng Yuanshou and Zhan Jun and other capable generals all accompanied him. As a result, this triggered a small butterfly effect, seeing that Li Yuan didn't call his name, Chai Shao stood up in a hurry, and said to Li Yuan: "Father-in-law, son-in-law Chai Shao is willing to be the vanguard of the front and help his father-in-law fight to the death with Chen Xiaothief!" ”

Glancing at his son-in-law, Li Yuan shook his head and refused: "Virtuous son-in-law, don't go, I know that you want to take revenge, but the grievances between you and Chen Yingliang's thief are known to the world, if you go, it will have an impact on the morale of our army, and it will have an encouraging effect on the morale of the officers and soldiers. ”

Hearing this, all the rebels present couldn't help laughing, Chai Shao's expression was extremely embarrassed, fortunately, Li Yuan said again: "Don't worry, the old man has an important task entrusted to you, the old man replaced His Royal Highness the king and appointed you as the head of the regent imperial forest army, leading the imperial forest army to guard the Daxing palace city, and protect the harem and the families of hundreds of officials, this is also an important task, you have to be on duty carefully." ”

Guarding the palace city and guarding the families of hundreds of officials, this task is of course very important, and people who are not absolutely reliable don't even dream about this task - if there is any accident between the palace city and the families of hundreds of officials, the blow to the rebels will not be extraordinary, but unfortunately Chai Shao does not want to accept this feeling, but he has no choice but to obey his fate. At this time, Li Er suddenly said: "Brother-in-law, you should pay attention to something, please take care of Jiang Cairen and her daughter for me, don't let them have an accident." ”

Chai Shao was stunned, Li Yuan and the rebel generals were also slightly stunned, and then Li Yuan asked curiously: "Erlang, why?" ”

Li Er didn't want to explain in detail, so he smiled and said: "Father's forgiveness is because Jiang Cairen's daughter is good and beautiful, and the child is a little worried about her, so he asks his brother-in-law to take care of her." ”

Li Yuan scolded his son for being lustful, but Chai Shao lowered his head slightly, and said secretly in his heart: "Is this the will of heaven?" Qian'er asked me to ask Xie Mudong about that incident, what was the situation? ”

"Then it's decided." Li Yuan clapped his hand and said: "Immediately notify all the troops and horses to be recruited, so that they can prepare for the march, and they will go on time at three o'clock tomorrow." Moreover, he told the people in Daxing City that Da Lang had defeated Chen Yingliang's thief on the battlefield of Tongguan, and the old man personally went out this time to annihilate the remnants of Chen Yingliang's thief and recapture Tongguan, and encouraged the people to go outside the city tomorrow to see off our army. ”

Everyone sang the promise neatly, and Chai Shao also agreed, but what he was thinking about in his heart was always his sister's words, and he also decided to go to meet Xie Mudong as much as possible, but it was a pity that although Chai Shao entered the palace in the evening to take over the defense, he was busy with official affairs and couldn't find time to do this little thing, just explained that it was strictly forbidden to harass the palace and ensure the supply of food and clothing, so as not to let Yang Yuer and her mother go hungry. The rebel generals also did as they were ordered, and remained silent all night.

In the early morning of the next day, Li Yuan in golden armor personally led the army to march out, although the preparations were hasty, the honor guard was not majestic and glamorous, but tens of thousands of people who saw off Li Yuan still gave Li Yuan a lot of face, believing that the Sui army in the eastern capital had been vulnerable Daxing people were eager to end the war, and they were more eager to get rid of tyranny and harshness, and live a peaceful life. I wish Li Yuan a victorious victory and defeat in one fell swoop the famous scum Chen Fuliang of Daxing, who aided in the abuses -- for the current Daxing City, Chen Fuliang is indeed the biggest scum traitor.

Incomparably modestly took the Zhuangxing wine sent by the old folks of Daxing, and after drinking it all, Li Yuan raised his glass and said loudly: "Thank you, thank you for your love and affection, please rest assured, the dog Li Jiancheng has defeated the tyrannical and cruel Chen Yingliang three times before, Chen Yingliang was forced to retreat to Tongguan, the old man went this time, just to bring this corrupt official who was corrupt and cruel and harsh to justice, recover the city of Tongguan, and reopen the Daxing grain road." When the old man triumphs, he will inevitably open the warehouse again to release grain and help the people. ”

"Long live the General!" I don't know who took the lead in shouting, and immediately led countless Daxing soldiers and civilians to cheer in unison, shouting long live the general! - Don't care about the word long live, there is a famous general in the Sui Dynasty who is directly called Long Live Shi!

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm short-lived, I'm leaving!" Hugging the tens of thousands of Daxing soldiers and civilians, Li Yuan shouted: "Open up!" Bingfa, Tongguan ---- ! ”

"100,000 urgent! 100,000 urgent! ”

Our general Li Da's long tail has not been finished, and suddenly a fast horse galloped on the spacious official road in front of him, and immediately the rebel knight held high the Tang Bao with rooster tail feathers on behalf of the urgent military situation, and rushed straight all the way, constantly shouting in his mouth that 100,000 were urgent, and the rebel striker did not dare to stop him, so he rushed directly to the nearest place, and then Li Yuan's personal soldiers stepped forward to stop him and forwarded the military information Tang Bao to Li Yuan. Seeing this scene, Li Yuan's heart sank slightly, but he didn't dare to reveal it in front of thousands of soldiers and civilians, so he could only secretly pray that there would be no bad news -- it was best that Li Jiancheng or other rebel divisions had won the battle -- even if it was a small victory.

Of course, many of them believed that this should be the good news that Li Jiancheng had broken the Tongguan, but these confident officials and gentry soon found that the situation was wrong -- when they opened the Tang Newspaper and only glanced at it, General Li Yuan, who had just been shouted by them, was obviously stunned, and then many sharp-eyed officials and gentlemen also found that their hands were slightly trembling.

"General, what's wrong?" The rebel generals also saw that something was wrong, and hurriedly came up to inquire about the situation.

Li Yuan didn't answer, and after thinking for a while, Li Yuan also closed the Tang Newspaper, and said loudly with a smile: "Zhugong, it's bad news, the flash floods in Weinan and Zhengxian have washed away the roads, our army can't continue to march, and Chen Yingliang's thief can live a few more days." Haha, haha, hahaha. ”

Li Yuan's laughter was quite reluctant, people who were familiar with him knew that the situation was wrong, but the people of Daxing who were not familiar with him were disappointed, sighing and regret were everywhere, Li Yuan also sighed heavily, and then said loudly: "No way, since the road has been washed away by the mountain flood and there is no way to enter the army, there is no need to let the soldiers work in vain." Ordered the whole army to go back to the camp to rest, and after the local government repaired the road, we will send troops to take the head of Chen Yingliang's thief! ”

Knowing that something was wrong, the rebel generals hurriedly agreed, and ordered the organization team to withdraw to the camp to rest, and the people of Daxing were also disappointed and dispersed, Li Yuan's face kept a relaxed smile, but his fists were quietly clenched, his nails were cut into the flesh of his palm, and his skin was bleeding.

Chai Shao, who came to see him off, also saw that the situation was wrong, but he didn't say anything, but as Li Yuan and the others obediently returned to the city, until they withdrew to Anxingfang, when Li Yuan rushed into the lobby with a blue face, Chai Shao came out of the crowd and was the first to ask: "Uncle Yue, what's wrong?" The army is about to set off, why not march again? ”

"What are you going to do in the army?!"

Li Yuan, who was holding back his anger, finally caught a punching bag, and immediately roared in a hoarse voice: "Go and give Chen Yingliang's thief a chance to work and face our army of the Western Expedition?" On the way, we consumed the already small amount of grain and grass, so that Chen Yingliang's thieves could drag us to death?! Daxing to Tongguan is more than 270 miles away, how much grain and grass does road transportation consume us?! Go and expose the empty rear, so that the Guanzhong army, which Chen Yingliang can now command, can take the opportunity to counterattack Daxing?! ”

Chai Shao's face suddenly turned pale, although Pei Lin and Li Er's rebel generals had vaguely guessed this situation for a long time, but after getting confirmation from Li Yuan's mouth, they still couldn't help but look like ashes. Li Yuan became more angry the more he roared, and simply overturned the case in front of him, and roared angrily: "Chen Yingliang! Piff! Shameless villain! Obviously, they have already cut off the water source of Yongfeng Cang, and they even launched a sneak attack, which caught us off guard! Shameless puppet, don't cut you with a thousand knives, the old man swears not to be a man! ”

"General, so Yongfeng Cangcheng has also been breached?" Pei asked tremblingly.

Li Yuan hung his head in a gloomy manner, and said weakly: "It was broken yesterday, Da Lang only lasted less than four hours in front of him, and Xiuning was captured alive by him. ”

"Xiuning has been captured?" This sentence was like a thunderbolt from the sky, and it blew Chai Shao into confusion all of a sudden, but after coming back to his senses, Chai Shao just felt at a loss and had no other extra thoughts.

"Give Dou Cong and Da Lang an order, let them give up Pujin Pass and retreat, recruit Duan Lun back, don't let him die in vain." Li Yuan said helplessly: "These armies all retreated to Xinfeng and acted as a barrier to the periphery of Daxing, and now it is impossible to withdraw to Taiyuan, so we can only rely on Daxing to compete with Chen Yingliang's thief, lengthen his grain route, offset the weakness of our lack of grain and grass, and then find a way to break him." ”

Pei Lian, Li Er and the others reluctantly agreed, and then Pei Lian said: "General, do you try to contact Xue Ju and Bai Yushao, conclude an alliance with them, and pull them into the battlefield in Guanzhong to contend with Chen Yingliang's thief." ”

"Give it a try." Li Yuan said even more helplessly: "Bai Yushao doesn't care, pull Xue Ju in as much as possible, he has a lot of cavalry, he can help us a lot, as long as he is willing to form an alliance with us to fight the enemy, any conditions can be discussed." ”

When Li Yuan and the rebel generals discussed countermeasures, Chai Shao's mind was always blank, and he didn't know what to think and do, until someone touched him lightly, Chai Shao came back to his senses, turned his head to look at it, but saw that the person who touched him was the old shameless Yun Dingxing, who basically had no right to speak on this occasion, Chai Shao, who usually had no friendship with Yun Dingxing, was a little confused, and asked in a low voice: "Old general, what's the matter?" ”

"Don't worry." Yun Dingxing's tone was unprecedentedly sincere, and he said in a low voice: "Don't worry about your wife, Chen Yingliang is not that kind of person." ”

"It's okay, I'm not worried."

Chai Shao nodded, but halfway through his head, Chai Shao suddenly found that his beloved wife had fallen into the hands of the enemy and was captured alive by Chen Fuliang, a bitter enemy who had been feuding for many years, and he had never worried about his wife's life safety and chastity innocence. Chai Shao couldn't help but feel at a loss again, and said secretly: "Why don't I worry about Xiuning?" Is it because I know very well in my heart that he is not that kind of person? ”

"Big nephew, come on." Yun Dingxing also meditated in his heart, and said secretly: "Although my uncle is not in charge of the army now, there are still a few old troops in the army who listen to me, come on, I will definitely help you." "The battlefield in Guanzhong is here to compete with Chen Yingliang's thief."

"Give it a try." Li Yuan said even more helplessly: "Bai Yushao doesn't care, pull Xue Ju in as much as possible, he has a lot of cavalry, he can help us a lot, as long as he is willing to form an alliance with us to fight the enemy, any conditions can be discussed." ”

When Li Yuan and the rebel generals discussed countermeasures, Chai Shao's mind was always blank, and he didn't know what to think and do, until someone touched him lightly, Chai Shao came back to his senses, turned his head to look at it, but saw that the person who touched him was the old shameless Yun Dingxing, who basically had no right to speak on this occasion, Chai Shao, who usually had no friendship with Yun Dingxing, was a little confused, and asked in a low voice: "Old general, what's the matter?" ”

"Don't worry." Yun Dingxing's tone was unprecedentedly sincere, and he said in a low voice: "Don't worry about your wife, Chen Yingliang is not that kind of person." ”

"It's okay, I'm not worried."

Chai Shao nodded, but halfway through his head, Chai Shao suddenly found that his beloved wife had fallen into the hands of the enemy and was captured alive by Chen Fuliang, a bitter enemy who had been feuding for many years, and he had never worried about his wife's life safety and chastity innocence. Chai Shao couldn't help but feel at a loss again, and said secretly: "Why don't I worry about Xiuning?" Is it because I know very well in my heart that he is not that kind of person? ”

"Big nephew, come on." Yun Dingxing also meditated in his heart, and said secretly: "Although my uncle is not in charge of the army now, there are still a few old troops in the army who listen to me, come on, I will definitely help you." ”