Chen Yingsheng and Chen Yingjue are of course the pseudonyms of Yang Xuanting and Yang Jishan, and Li Mi, who is known as Liu Zhiyuan, originally wanted them to temporarily use the names of Chen San and Chen Qi, but the Yang brothers first thought that these two names were rustic, and secondly, they hated Chen Yingliang deeply, so they each took a pseudonym with deep meaning.

The brothers of the Yang family had some differences with Li Mi on this trivial matter, and they obeyed Li Mi in other matters, and according to Li Mi's instructions, they successfully attacked a team of officials who escorted the people to the north, rescued more than 200 poor people who were escorted to serve on the battlefield in Liaodong, and encouraged these people to obey the command, and raised the banner of rebellion in Huaiyang County, where there is no large rebel army to rebel, taking advantage of the fact that the Huaiyang official army is not strong enough, and taking advantage of the opportunity that the people are extremely dissatisfied with Emperor Yang of Sui's three expeditions to Goguryeo, and constantly recruiting displaced deserters to expand the team. It only took a month to become the largest uprising in Huaiyang County.

During this period, Li Mi's very cunning command team was specially active around Qian County, constantly looting villages and ambushing government teams, robbing money, food and weapons for self-sufficiency, but never stepping into Qian County, and successfully confused Xu Minlian and others, who were close at hand, making them feel that the Yang family brothers' team was afraid of the officials and soldiers of Qian County, and did not dare to harass Qian County, and never took them to heart, and also made Chen Yingliang, who was far away in Yongcheng, never pay attention to this volunteer army, so that the Yang family brothers and Li Mi developed under their noses. The team quickly expanded to more than 3,000 people.

Gradually having the strength to protect himself, Li Mi, who was very sober-minded, did not plan to continue to operate under Chen Yingliang's nose, and began to plan to lead the army north to Liang County, to the northwest of Liang County to wander around activities, trying to recruit and absorb the many people in that area, continue to expand the team, and also use his inner line in the Liang County official mansion (the inner line is a friend who is familiar with history should know) to grasp and understand the movement of the army in Liang County, and also grasp the situation of the imperial court. An effective and accurate attack must continue to transport grain north to supply the Caoyun fleet on the battlefield in Liaodong, seize grain for self-sufficiency, and also rely on the advantage of grain and grass to expand the team under its command more rapidly.

The plan is very good, and Li Mi, who has excellent ability, is also very sure to complete this plan, but there are also many thorny problems, how to avoid the interception of the Sui army, and the bigger problem is the food, because the team is expanding too fast, and because the army is at the turn of the spring and summer, the people's grain storage is pitiful, Li Mi's team has never received enough supplies, often hungry for a full meal, there is no food to supply the team north to Liang County, forced to helpless, Li Mi also decided to wait until after the winter wheat harvest before going north to Liang County, so that the team could continue to operate at the border of Qian County for the time being.

Fortunately, in the middle of April of the lunar calendar, it was already the time when the winter wheat was about to ripen, when Li Mi and the Yang brothers led the team to the Hugang area bordering Danxian and Luyi, the people of Danxian County and Luyi had already begun to harvest wheat, and the fields were full of golden ears of wheat, and ordinary people who were waving sickles to cut wheat could be seen everywhere, but after these people saw Li Mi's team appear, they all threw down their farm work and fled, for fear of being killed and looted by Li Mi's team.

Li Mi was very rational to let the Yang brothers order not to hurt the people who cut the wheat, and try to avoid trampling on the wheat field, the Yang brothers built yì let the army cut the grain directly, but also met with Li Mi's opposition, the Yang brothers were puzzled, asked the reason, Li Mi explained: "We can't delay too long in one place, the wheat must be dried and husked when the wheat is cut, there is no time to get the grain in two or three days, instead of taking the risk of cutting the grain, it is better to continue to go around in circles with the officials and soldiers, and it is not too late to come to get the grain after the people harvest the grain into the warehouse." ”

"I'm afraid of a ball!" Yang Xuanting, who was known as Chen Yingju, scolded a swear word and said: "As for the township soldiers of Zhao Tuo's five regiments, I could have killed them a long time ago if I wanted to, it would be better for them to catch up, so I would kill them here, so as not to follow us behind our ass all day to make people suspicious." ”

"It's easy to kill the township soldiers in Huaiyang, but what if you provoke Chen Yingliang's traitor? Can we beat him now? Li Mi asked rhetorically, and said with a smile: "Be patient, don't worry, I have already seen it, Zhao Tuo doesn't want to fight with us, he doesn't care much about our team going south and east, only going west to the hinterland of Huaiyin, he let the army go all out to block it, and it is clear that he wants us to flow to Qian County or Ruyin County, we must use his beggar-thy-neighbor evil mind to quickly accumulate enough strength to save enough grain and grass to go north, and he can't make a mistake for the sake of a momentary anger and severely damage his township soldiers. aroused the vigilance of Chen Yingliang, a traitor, and attracted his army to suppress it. ”

Yang Xuan nodded sullenly, and Yang Jishan, who was alias Chen Yingjue, asked again: "Strategist, in your opinion, has Chen Yingliang's thief noticed us now?" ”

"Of course not, otherwise his counterinsurgency army would have killed him a long time ago." Li Mi smiled and said: "But it's hard to say any further, that little thief is a general guard of the county, and what he is most afraid of is of course that there is a large group of rebels around him, if we grow stronger, I am afraid that sooner or later he will consider attacking us, so after we have raised enough food, we have to immediately go north to the north of Liang County, which has the largest number of rebels, which is our paradise." ”

"Then how about we get a handful of them before we leave?" Yang Zhiji said: "When the time comes, we will deliberately show our true name, grab a handful and go north, the tyrant Yang Guang heard the news and knew that we were in the army under the nose of Chen Yingliang's thief, and he will definitely be furious, punish Chen Yingliang's thief, let him lose his official position, and let him lose face, first let out a bad breath for our brother!" ”

Li Mi smiled and said silently, and said in his heart: "Do you think that I led the team around the border of Qian County all day long, just to have fun?" What I want is for the officers and men of the county to become accustomed to our activities and lose their vigilance! And I want to completely anger Chen Yingliang's thief, lead his new army of Qian County, which has not yet been fully trained, to the north, and let him go to the north of Liang County, where the rebels are everywhere, to be ****, and use the rebels there to consume him alive! ”

Just when he was snorting coldly in his heart, several ragged soldiers suddenly escorted a man who looked like a common man from the north, and shouted before he was far away: "The big leader, the second leader, the military advisor, I caught a spy from the county, he said that he said that he was a person sent by Xu Minlian, the Taishou of the county, and he must see you, saying that there is something important to discuss with you." ”

"The person sent by Xu Minlian?" Li Mi and the Yang family brothers looked at each other, and at the same time they were very curious, and hurriedly ordered the man to be escorted in front of him, and as soon as the man arrived in front of Li Mi and the others, he immediately nodded and said: "The three kings can be regarded as finding you, and the younger one is looking for you, but it has been around this area for almost two days." ”

"Who are you? Why should you come to us? Li Mi opened his mouth to ask, and by the way, introduced the pseudonyms of himself and the Yang family brothers, and at the same time carefully observed the visitor, and found that his expression was very humble, and his eyes were full of fear, not like a courageous person.

"The little Wang Youfang is a small staff member under Xu Taishou of Qiaojun." The man hurriedly introduced himself, and said: "The villain was ordered by Xu Taishou to contact the three kings to send a letter, and wanted to inquire for Xu Taishou, I wonder if the three kings are interested in abandoning the darkness and serving the court?" This is our handwritten letter from Xu Taishou, please look at the three kings. ”

As he spoke, Wang Youfang really took out a letter and presented it to Li Mi and the others with both hands, Li Mi took it but didn't open it immediately, but asked in surprise: "Listen to your tone, Xu Minlian is planning to recruit us?" ”

"Pretty much." That Wang Youfang said cautiously: "It can't be said to be a surrender, it's our Xu Taishou who heard that the three kings have never violated a single step of Qianjun, and feel that the three kings are loyal and know how to advance and retreat, not that they have no medicine ......, and it is not that they can't be saved, so we sent villains to inquire about the meaning of the three kings." ”

Li Mi suddenly laughed, knowing that his low-key tactics had achieved unexpected results, and he had been wandering around the border of Qian County for a month but had never stepped into Qian County, which made Xu Minlian mistakenly think that his own army was afraid of the Qian County army, so he came to try to surrender. When he opened Xu Minlian's letter again and looked at the content, Li Mi suddenly smiled even more happily, it turned out that Xu Minlian was not only a fool of the letter, but also really directly proposed to surrender, persuading Chen Yingshu and Chen Yingjue brothers to lay down their weapons, lead the team under their command to accept the reorganization of the army of Qianjun, make meritorious atonement and regain the status of a good citizen, and in the future, he will be crowned with his wife and son.

Yang Xuanting and Yang Zhiji also came over to read the letter together, and after reading the letter, they both sneered, and Wang Youfang, who was sent by Xu Minlian, nodded and said: "Two King Chen, we Xu Taishou still want to inquire, your ancestral home is in Yiyang County, Henan County?" ”

"Why do you ask this?" Yang Jishan asked suspiciously.

"If so, then the two kings of Chen, you may be related to our Chen Tongshou." Wang Youfang hurriedly said: "Our Chen Yingliang, the general guard of Qian County, is the same generation as you in terms of name, his ancestral home is in Yiyang, Henan, if the ancestral home of the two kings is also in Yiyang, then Jiucheng Jiu should be our Chen Tongshou's brother of the same clan." There is a big reason why we, Xu Taishou, are determined to surrender you because of the relationship between you and Chen Tongshou. ”

Yang Xuanting and Yang Zhiji both smiled coldly and did not speak, while Li Mi smiled and said: "Master Wang, you guessed right, yes, the ancestral home of our eldest leader and second leader is indeed in Yiyang, Henan, and I can also tell you clearly that when Chen Yingliang and Chen Tongshou's great-grandfather Chen Xin raised an army against Wei, he almost brought the great-grandfathers of our two kings to the army. ”

"Really?!" Wang Youfang opened his mouth wide, and said in surprise after a while: "Two kings, since you are related to our Chen Tongshou, why don't you go directly to him?" Why do you want to build ......, why do you want to do green things? ”

"It's hard to say in a word." Li Mi replied very vaguely, and asked again: "Master Wang, Xu Taishou sent you to send a letter to recruit us, so what does Chen Tongshou mean?" ”

"Chen Tongshou?" Wang Youfang was stunned for a moment, and then replied: "Chen Tongshou may not know about this matter yet, this matter was decided by Xu Taishou alone three days ago, and he should not have discussed it with Chen Tongshou." ”

Li Mi carefully observed Wang Youfang's expression, and saw that his expression did not seem to be fake, so he nodded slightly, knowing that this Wang Youfang was either telling the truth, or he was unaware of his death. Then, Li Mi suddenly asked, "Then what are you Chen Tongshou doing now?" ”

"Preparations are underway for the Eastern Expedition to Pengcheng County." Wang Youfang replied without thinking about it: "Chen Tongshou has officially informed Xu Taishou in an official document, saying that he is ready to accept the invitation of Pengcheng Dong to stay behind, and asks Xu Taishou to agree that he will personally lead the army east into Pengcheng to suppress the thieves there, and also prevent Du Fuwei and Zhao Pozhen and other thieves from advancing westward to ensure the safety of the Tongji Canal. ”

Li Mi didn't say a word, just looked at Wang Youfang carefully, Wang Youfang was a little furious by Li Mi's sharp gaze, so he said tremblingly: "King Liu, our Xu Taishou is very sincere, he asked me to sue you, he persuaded you to surrender, not because he was afraid that you would attack and harass the county, in fact, our army of the county even killed more than 30,000 thieves from Du Fuwei, and there is no need to be afraid of ......, and there is no need to worry about the king, you will go east." Moreover, as long as the old man is willing to do so, an order to ask Chen Tongshou to dispatch half of his troops is enough to ...... you and take you. ”

Yang Xuanting and Yang Jishan sneered loudly, although they knew that what Wang Youfang relayed was the truth, they still couldn't help but sneer at the arrogance and confidence of the Qian Jun. Li Mi remained silent, and asked again: "Since your military strength is so strong, then why do you Xu Taishou still want to recruit us?" Why don't you just destroy us? ”

"King Liu, how about the villain directly relaying Xu Taishou's words?" Wang Youfang asked cautiously first, and after getting Li Mi's permission, Wang Youfang said: "This question, I also asked Xu Taishou, Xu Taishou and his old man said that although our army in Qian County is elite, but after all, the number is too small, and there may be more than enough self-protection, but it is a little insufficient to exterminate the surrounding thieves, so Xu Taishou thought of trying to recruit you, to see if he can make you change your evil and return to the right and be used by the imperial court." If you can do it, it will be a good thing for you, for our county, and for the surrounding counties. ”

After that, Wang Youfang hurriedly added: "Three kings, don't worry, if you are willing to use it for our county, our Xu Taishou will not treat you badly, presumably you also know that among the surrounding counties, our county has the best money and food, much better than Huaiyang County, at least you don't have to worry about not having enough food and clothing." ”

Li Mi pondered for a long time, and then under the pretext of needing to discuss, he asked Wang Youfang to take care of him temporarily, and Wang Youfang gave up his hands again and again, and said in a pleading tone: "Three kings, you can not agree, but the two countries compete with each other, do not kill the envoys, I heard that you also often negotiate and contact with other kings' teams, if you set a precedent for beheading, it will not be good for you." ”

Li Mi laughed, comforted Wang Youfang a few words, and said that he would never kill the envoy, so he sent Wang Youfang away. It was also after Wang Youfang was escorted away that Yang Zhiji asked Li Mi: "Military advisor, how is it?" Xu Minlian's letter, is it sincere or false? ”

"Xu Minlian's surrender, it doesn't matter if it's true or not, anyway, we can't really accept it, it doesn't matter if it's true or not." Li Mi shook his head and said, "The key is, is this matter a trap of Chen Yingliang's thief?" ”

"Traps? What trap? Yang Xuanting hurriedly asked.

"Of course, it's to lure us to death." Li Mi replied without thinking about it: "Chen Yingliang's thief likes to be surprising with his soldiers, and he likes to plan and then act, and he will be fatal with one blow!" If he really wants to attack us, then he will definitely not want to follow behind our ass, spend time and effort chasing and killing, he will only find a way to lure us out of the hole, gather and annihilate us, let Xu Minlian come forward to recruit us, lure our team into the predetermined battlefield, and break it in a battle, which is also very similar to his usual method. ”

"So, this must be a trap for Chen Xiaothief?" Yang Jishan gasped.

Li Mi didn't answer, and his face was contemplative, until Yang Jishan asked again, Li Mi said with some hesitation: "This matter, it seems to be a trap of Chen Yingliang's thief, but I think that it is a trap that is very small, on the contrary, it is more likely that Xu Minlian really wants to recruit us." ”

"Why?" Yang Zhiji hurriedly asked.

"Because Chen Yingliang's thief doesn't need to spend so much effort on us." Li Mi's expression was a little dazed, and he replied: "Around Qian County, there are rebel troops that are stronger than us and more threatening to Qian County, and our team has always maintained restraint and deliberately did not harass the land of Qian County. Moreover, the eyeliner we sent to Qian County has not yet reported that there are signs of abnormal movement of the Qian County army, so I am a little unsure whether this matter is a trap of Chen Yingliang's thief. ”

"Since you're not sure, forget it!" Yang Xuan said impatiently: "Don't bother with that brain, cut the envoy of the county with one sword, don't pay attention to Xu Minlian." Come on, put ....... ”

"Wait!" Li Mi hurriedly interrupted Yang Xuanting's impulse, and said in a low voice: "Third general, Xu Minlian's envoy can't be killed, first, after killing him, it will inevitably completely anger Xu Minlian, and it is likely to attract cross-border retaliation from the Qianjun army." Second, if this is not a trap, it is a God-given opportunity for us to avenge the Chu Gonggong! ”

"What do you mean by that?" Yang Xuanting, who had dreamed of avenging his eldest brother, hurriedly asked.

"Three generals, you can think about it." Li Mi smiled and asked: "If we make an army under the nose of Chen Yingliang's thief, and take advantage of Chen Yingliang's thief's negligence to underestimate the enemy, suddenly break through the county seat of Qian County, and kill Xu Minlian, the Taishou of Qian County, how will the world be a sensation?" Tyrant Yang Guang, how will he reward Chen Yingliang for the thief? ”