In 617 AD, the thirteenth year of Sui Daxing, in the early morning of September 27, the capital of Sui was Daxing.

The majestic Daxing palace city, the symbol of the imperial power of the Great Sui, one of the most important cities in the world, but at this moment, this palace city has become a huge military camp, tens of thousands of Da Sui soldiers live in the major yamen in the palace city, day and night do not take off their armor, three steps and a post on the palace wall, five steps and a sentry, knock on the wooden wall, transmit information, patrol soldiers come and go endlessly, and the guard is strict and abnormal.

There are more troops outside the palace, but it is a pity that they are not the Da Sui official army with the red banner, but the rebel army holding high the red and white military flag.

Li Yuan set up the command platform on the widest Suzaku Street, Li Yuan sat on the handsome chair, the civil and military generals on both sides, majestic, high-spirited, before the formal order to attack, in accordance with the rules when attacking the outer city, Li Yuan sent a messenger to the palace again, explaining that he attacked Daxing only to support the acting king Yang Yu to be the emperor, not to rebel against the Sui court, as long as the Daxing palace surrendered, the rebel custody will not hurt anyone, and will never investigate the Daxing court dug up the ancestral grave of the old Li family and killed Li Yuan's young sons.

The rebel envoy said really eloquently, which can be regarded as a mess, but it is a pity that the two deputy guards of Daxing are now the two deputy guards of the Yin World Master and the Gu Yi, all of whom are loyal lackeys of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, and the stubborn old stubbornness, not only ignored it, but was tired of listening, but the Yin World Master also personally pulled the bow, and shot an arrow that made the rebel lobbyist flee with his head in his hands. Seeing this scene, Li Yuan was not angry, but smiled slightly, and said, "Sure enough, it is a stone in the pit, which is smelly and hard." ”

"Father, we are benevolent and righteous, the Yin World Master and the Guyi are stubborn, and it will not work if we don't fight." Li Erjian on the side said, "Please ask my father to give the order to attack." ”

Li Yuan nodded and ordered: "Let's start, let the soldiers remember that as long as they surrender, they will not be killed." After the city is broken, he will never hurt His Royal Highness the Acting King, and he is not allowed to destroy the Temple of the Great Sui Sect. ”

Tens of thousands of rebel soldiers were divided into seven routes, and at the same time attacked the seven gates of Daxing Palace, hundreds of flying ladders successively set up the palace city wall, the rebel soldiers stepped on the ladders, and the Sui soldiers guarding the palace city also fought hard to meet it, and the rebels fought up and down. In addition, the rebels also dispatched siege weapons such as ladder trucks and ramming vehicles, but these weapons were too heavy and slow to pose a mortal threat to Miyagi for a while.

In order to relieve boredom and to flaunt his diligence and love for the people, Li Yuan simply asked his right-hand man Pei Lin about the situation of opening a warehouse and giving relief, Pei Lin replied truthfully: "General Yu, Daxing, Chang'an Old City and Acheng have been ordered to open warehouses and release relief, and more than 100,000 people have been given relief in the past three days, and the people are grateful to the general, and they all implore the general to ascend the throne and claim the emperor, and change the Yuan and build the country." ”

"Emperor?" Li Yuan laughed dumbly, and said angrily: "Nonsense! The general raised troops to serve the king in order to support the new emperor to ascend the throne and benefit the people, when did he have the intention of becoming the emperor? Sue sù below, in the future, there will be a mention of those who support me as emperor, and they will be severely punished. ”

Pei Lin respectfully agreed, and the civil and military forces around him were also praised, and they all admired Li Yuan's loyalty and loyalty to the Great Sui Imperial Court. Li Yuan was still tired of this kind of sycophant that he had long been tired of hearing, so he simply changed the topic and asked Li Er next to him: "Erlang, where is the 200,000 stone military rations escorted by He Panren?" It's twenty-seven today, why hasn't it been delivered yet? ”

"Father, I received a report last night that the military rations have arrived in Xinxiang." Li Er replied respectfully: "General He Panren He, please rest assured that although it is inconvenient to transport grain by land without boats, he will definitely be able to send military rations to Daxing on time before thirty." Counting the distance, the rations will be delivered by tomorrow evening at the latest. ”

"Okay, although Daxing is not short of food, but that food is for the people, we can't move around." Li Yuan nodded in satisfaction, beckoned Li Er to the front again, and asked in a low voice in Li Er's ear, "Is there any change in He Panren?" ”

"Father, I haven't found anything abnormal about He Panren yet." Li Er replied in a low voice: "It's just that an eyeliner suddenly disappeared, and our people are investigating his whereabouts everywhere, and there is no news yet." ”

"An eyeliner suddenly went missing?"

Li Yuan frowned slightly, and was thinking about whether this was just an ordinary accident, but Fu Peng Yin Kaishan suddenly came to the flag array, and reported that Du Ruhui had been invited after Li Yuan named the famous family, Li Yuan smiled, and immediately ordered to meet him, and after a while, Fang Xuanling's good friend Du Ruhui was brought to Li Yuan by half escort and half send. Li Yuan laughed when he saw Du Ruhui, and said: "Mr. Keming, you are so difficult to invite, this general soldiers have entered Daxing, and all the famous children in the city have taken the initiative to come to serve, why do you only want this general to invite several times before you come to meet me?" ”

"General, the younger generation has no intention of pursuing a career, and only wants to study behind closed doors, so he declined the general's invitation several times. For offenses, General Wanwang forgives. Du Ruhui replied helplessly.

"You don't want to work for your father, do you?" Li Yuan unceremoniously pointed out Du Ruhui's true thoughts, and said with a smile: "You want to serve Chen Yingliang and Chen Liu, right?" ”

Hearing Li Yuan's words, the surrounding rebel army was all one except for Li Er, but Du Ruhui was taken aback, looked up at Li Yuan in surprise, and stopped talking, Li Yuan saw Du Ruhui's incomprehension, so he smiled and said: "It's strange why the old man knows about you and Chen Yingliang, right?" You should take care of your family, one of them knows that the old man and Chen Yingliang thief have a deep hatred, in order to reward, he stole the letter written by Chen Yingliang thief to you, and presented it to the old man's second son, the old man only then knew that Chen Yingliang's thief has asked you to go out of the mountain to serve him several times, before the old man soldiers entered Daxing, he gave you the last letter, or persuade you to temporarily go out of the city to avoid the war, and wait for him to join you after entering the customs. ”

Du Ruhui suddenly realized, shook his head and was annoyed that his royal subordinates were not strict, Du Ruhui hurriedly arched his hand and said: "General, the younger generation does have a lot of correspondence with Chen Yingliang and Chen Liushou, and Chen Liushou has indeed invited the younger generation to go out of the mountain several times to serve him, and he is allowed to take a high-ranking position, but the father of the younger generation is in the hall, and his wife, son and daughter are also in Daxing, and he doesn't want to leave his hometown, so he refuses." ”

"You know, if you really want to work for that thief, you would have gone to the Eastern Capital a long time ago, so why wait until today?" Li Yuan smiled and said: "Chen Yingliang is a thief who is good at talents, the old man has already heard of this, you can enter his eyes, it is worth him to worry about you so much, naturally you have the talent to go through the heavens and the earth, how about it, are you willing to work for the old man?" ”

"The general has won the award, and the younger generation is shallow in learning, so he never dares to comment on the world." Du Ruhui said modestly: "The reason why Chen Liushou pays attention to the younger generation is also because the younger generation's friend Fang Xuanling is wrong in love and tries his best to recommend it to Chen Liushou. ”

"Hugh be humble." Li Yuan said with a smile: "The old man has heard a lot about you, and the old man knows that in fact, as early as when Chen Yingliang first entered the career, he became friends with you, had a lot of dealings with you, and often talked all night. The little thief couldn't pick the master's vision, followed Fan Zigai, the cool official, and was determined to act as a minions and eagle dogs for the corrupt officials in the court, and his vision for talents was quite accurate, and he promoted and appointed many outstanding talents. ”

Li Yuan's words touched a matter in Du Ruhui's heart, so that Du Ruhui couldn't help but say: "General, you said that Chen Liushou is not good at choosing the master and serving, this is very wrong. General, you may not know it, when Chen Liushou was still in his last days, he was forced to be cornered, originally he wanted to serve under your command, and begged someone to recommend you to him, but because of all kinds of mistakes and misfortunes, he couldn't do it, so he was forced to go to the Eastern Capital to serve Fan Liushou at that time. ”

"What did you say?" Li Yuan was finally taken aback, and stood up directly in shock, blurting out, "Chen Yingliang first wanted to work for the old man?" Really? ”

Du Ruhui was about to explain, but he didn't think that there was a huge cheer in front of him, Du Ruhui could only stop, and then turned back to follow Li Yuan and others to see the battlefield in the north, but saw that a red and white military flag had been planted on the head of Daxing Palace, and it was obvious that there were rebel soldiers who had successfully rushed to the city wall. Seeing this scene, Li Yuan applauded loudly with great joy, but who knew that the military flag fell to the ground again, and more Sui army flags appeared in its place, Li Yuan, who originally thought that he could already break the city, was disappointed and scolded: "Yin Shi Pifu, after the city is broken, you will definitely kill your whole family!" ”

"Father, don't worry." Li Er said with a confident smile: "We still have enough time, and we can rush to the city wall for the first time, which is already very good, which is equivalent to the death knell of the Yin World Master and the old puppet of the Bone Rite, which has sounded." ”

Li Yuan nodded, and observed the main battlefield of the Vermilion Bird Gate again, and saw that the soldiers of the self-army were full of body and rotated in an orderly manner, and there was no need to adjust, so he sat back on the handsome chair, and asked Du Ruhui again: "Keming, what did you just say?" You said that Chen Yingliang first wanted to defect to the old man, and asked someone to recommend him to the old man? Is that really the case? Since he had this thought, why did he go to the Eastern Capital again? ”

"That's a long story." Du Ruhui smiled a little bitterly and said, "Chen Liushou originally wanted to serve you, the general, but later changed his mind, all because of ....... ”

Du Ruhui's words had just begun, and he couldn't go on immediately, because Du Ruhui, who had his back to the north and the south, suddenly saw in amazement that the main party in this matter was covered in dust and blood and was being held by several rebel soldiers, stumbling towards Li Yuan's flag array. Sensing that Du Ruhui's expression was different, Li Yuan first paused, and then quickly looked back, and then Li Yuan immediately was dumbfounded, and blurted out: "Chai Shao, why are you here?" ”

Chai Shao didn't answer, but stumbled in front of Li Yuan, knelt down on his knees, raised his bloodstained face and looked at Li Yuanjian, his lips just moved, and two lines of tears had already welled up in his eyes, and then he couldn't cry.

Seeing this scene, although Chai Shao never said a word, the faces of all the rebels had changed greatly, knowing that the Tongguan battlefield must have undergone a serious change, Li Er, who was very deep in the city, also began to turn pale, Li Yuan was even more anxious, so he simply got up and grabbed Chai Shao's collar, and scolded angrily: "What are you crying about?" What happened? Tell me, what's going on? ”

"The morning before yesterday, Chen Yingliang sent troops to attack our army camp ......." Chai Shao finally spoke, his voice was hoarse and choked, and he sobbed and said: "The son-in-law and Xiuning led the army to defend the camp, who knew that Chen Yingliang's thief, it only took more than an hour to ...... from the front, and successively broke through the camps inside and outside our army, and our army suffered a miserable ......, a heavy defeat, and a very heavy loss. ”

"What about Yongfengcang?" Li Yuan's face turned white in a hurry, and he shook Chai Shao and roared, "How is Yongfeng Cang?" Still not in our hands? ”

Chai Shao nodded, choked up: "It's still there, Da Lang sent cavalry to rescue us, and after being defeated by the white-robed soldiers, he didn't dare to open Cangcheng to attack, and Xiuning also fled with a part of the defeated army." ”

All the rebels were relieved, Li Er's face was slightly more normal, Li Yuan was also relieved, and nodded again and again that Yongfeng Cang was still in his hand, and then Li Yuan was immediately furious and asked, "Then what are you doing here?" Isn't it okay to send someone back to report the news, why don't you stay in Yongfeng Cang to guard the city? Also, it only took more than an hour for Chen Yingliang's thief to attack your camp head-on, you are eating dry food, so useless?! ”

"The officers and soldiers are too powerful, the fierce generals are like clouds, our people are not opponents at all, the son-in-law is incompetent, and he can't resist it all the time." Chai Shao replied with tears in his eyes, and explained: "It was Xiuning who asked me to come back, and she said that if they all fled to Yongfeng Cangcheng, if they all fled to Yongfeng Cangcheng, if they didn't have time to close the door, the official army might take the opportunity to enter Cangcheng like the original Huoyi War, so I stayed behind the palace." ”

Xiuning said to me again, if you don't have time to return to the city, you should come to Daxing in the west and report to you, and also to He Panren, who is escorting grain and grass to the west, and ask He Panren and I to send grain and grass to Daxing as soon as possible, otherwise the cavalry of the official army may catch up with our grain team. The official army has taken down our camp outside the city, and it will definitely besiege Yongfeng Cang immediately, and the 200,000 stone grain in He Panren's hands is very important, and it must be sent to Daxing ...... no matter what. ”

Speaking of this, Chai Shao couldn't help but burst into tears again, but Li Yuan landed on a big stone in his heart, and sighed: "It's still Xiuning thoughtful, yes, before our main force counterattacks Tongguan, it is impossible for Yongfeng Cang to send us any more grain, only when the 200,000 stone army food is in hand, we will have enough grain and grass to counterattack Tongguan and reopen the grain road." ”

"Father, an army should be sent to meet He Panren." Li Erjian said: "Xinfeng is only two hundred and ten miles away from Tongguan, and if the officers and soldiers attack lightly, it is possible to catch up with our grain team." ”

"That's right." Li Yuan nodded and ordered: "Erlang, you take the troops, let He Panren speed up, transport grain overnight, and before dawn tomorrow, you must send the grain to Daxing." If the officers and soldiers are attacked by light cavalry, you will meet the battle and let He Panren transport the grain. ”

When Li Yuan's father and son answered, Chai Shao was crying all the time, and he wanted to open his mouth to speak several times, but he couldn't make a sound, until Li Er hugged his fists and sang a promise, and turned around to lead the army to attack, Chai Shao grabbed Li Er, cried and said: "Erlang, don't go, it's too late." ”

"What do you mean?" Li Er looked back in surprise and asked.

Chai Shao's tears flowed even more, and the muscles on his face were twisted for a long time before he said with difficulty: "He ......, He Panren has already rebelled, set fire to the grain, and then fled to Tongguan to join Chen Yingliang." ”

With a bang, Li Yuan kicked his son-in-law on the heel, and then Li Yuan rushed up and grabbed Chai Shao, roaring hoarsely with a hideous expression: "He Panren rebelled? Burned the grain? True or fake? Dare to say a lie, the old man wants your life! ”

Chai Shao nodded with a painful expression, and said even more painfully: "He Panren also wants to capture the son-in-law alive and dedicate it to Chen Yingliang's dog thief, but fortunately, the soldiers under the command of the son-in-law noticed it in time, but when the son-in-law and He Panren met, there were less than a hundred cavalry around him, and they couldn't stop him from burning food, so they could only take the road and flee ......." ”

Li Yuanru was struck by lightning, grabbed Chai Shao's hand and slowly let go, let Chai Shao fall to the ground and cry weakly, Li Er's face was like ashes, and the rebel Zhu Wenwu's face was as pale as paper, and he didn't dare to say a word in his heart, "It's over, even if we capture Daxing Palace, it's a rabbit's tail, and it won't grow." ”

The battlefield of the city wall in the distance is still shouting and killing the sky, the war drums are like thunder, but the rebels are silent in the banner array, the rebels have different expressions, and their hearts are overwhelming, thinking about everything. After a long time, Li Yuan was the first to come back to his senses, first took a few breaths, forced himself to calm down, and then ordered in a calm tone: "Temporarily block the news, so that no more people know." Intensify the siege of the city, prepare for night battles, and if you don't take Daxing Miyagi today, you will never withdraw your troops! ”

The rebel generals sang a promise, and Li Yuan turned to Pei Lin again, and ordered: "Xuan Zhen, order the official warehouses in various places to stop giving relief immediately, so all the grain will be kept in the warehouses and kept tightly, and no one is allowed to touch a grain of grain without my order!" ”

Pei Lin promised, and asked tremblingly: "General, how can you explain it to the people?" There are still many people in Guanzhong, waiting for us to release grain for relief. ”

"You just make an excuse and fool them." Li Yuan said expressionlessly: "It's only been a few days since the autumn harvest, and there is still a lot of food among the people, and these insatiable Diao people are all fooled and sent away by me." Again, send an army to Xinfeng to see if there is any unburned grain there, and if there is any, bring it all back. ”

The grain road has been cut off, and the follow-up military rations that are already close at hand have also been burned by the shameless traitor He Panren, and he will attack the palace city with all his strength at any cost to gain time and save grain and grass consumption............

As the offensive of the rebels continued to intensify, the morale of the already low Daxing Sui army could not support it even more, and there were constantly rebel soldiers attacking the city wall, and the defense line of the city wall was crumbling. ”

After thinking about it for a long time, the Yin Shishi decided to ask the acting king Yang Yu for his own choice, and instructed the cronies around him: "You go to see His Royal Highness the acting king immediately, and say that the situation is critical, if he doesn't want to fall into the hands of traitors, please prepare a set of inner clothes, and when you can't support it, I will take him out of the city and flee for his life." ”

The cronies agreed, but the Yin Shishi hesitated for a moment, and then ordered: "By the way, bring a letter to my sons, ask them to prepare soldier clothes for the older ones, prepare the clothes for the inner servants for the younger ones, and prepare the palace maid clothes for my daughter Yue'e, and then wait for my news." Yuan turned to Pei Lin again and ordered: "Xuan Zhen, send an order to the official warehouses in various places to stop giving relief immediately, so all the grain will be kept in the warehouses and kept tightly, and no one is allowed to touch a grain of grain without my order!" ”

Pei Lin promised, and asked tremblingly: "General, how can you explain it to the people?" There are still many people in Guanzhong, waiting for us to release grain for relief. ”

"You just make an excuse and fool them." Li Yuan said expressionlessly: "It's only been a few days since the autumn harvest, and there is still a lot of food among the people, and these insatiable Diao people are all fooled and sent away by me." Again, send an army to Xinfeng to see if there is any unburned grain there, and if there is any, bring it all back. ”

The grain road has been cut off, and the follow-up military rations that are already close at hand have also been burned by the shameless traitor He Panren, and he will attack the palace city with all his strength at any cost to gain time and save grain and grass consumption............

As the offensive of the rebels continued to intensify, the morale of the already low Daxing Sui army could not support it even more, and there were constantly rebel soldiers attacking the city wall, and the defense line of the city wall was crumbling. ”

After thinking about it for a long time, the Yin Shishi decided to ask the acting king Yang Yu for his own choice, and instructed the cronies around him: "You go to see His Royal Highness the acting king immediately, and say that the situation is critical, if he doesn't want to fall into the hands of traitors, please prepare a set of inner clothes, and when you can't support it, I will take him out of the city and flee for his life." ”

The cronies agreed, but the Yin Shishi hesitated for a moment, and then ordered: "By the way, bring a letter to my sons, ask them to prepare soldier clothes for the older ones, prepare the clothes for the inner servants for the younger ones, and prepare the palace maid clothes for my daughter Yue'e, and then wait for my news." ”