In July of the first year of Zhenlong, Li Jing, the king of Qin, crossed the well from Taiyuan, returned to Zhenzhou, Hebei in the east, and then went straight down the North Canal to the Daimyo Mansion of Weizhou, and after a short stay and recuperation, he entered Heyang Town, all the way through Wei, Huai, and Yu three states. On 9 July, Li Jing met with Li Hanzhi and Zhang Quanyi in Heyang City, Mengzhou, and conferred the rank of brigadier general on Li Hanzhi and the post of commander of the left capital of Hebei Province. Zhang Quanyi was awarded the rank of doctor from Sanpin Silver Qingguanglu, and served as the Minister of Agriculture. And the attached Heyang army was rewarded, some of the elite soldiers were integrated into the Qin army, and the rest of the troops were sent to the army to return home.

On 9 July, Li Jing led 50,000 men and horses, escorted by four generals, Zhou Dewei, Guo Chongtao, Li Hanzhi, and Zhang Quanyi, across the Heyang Bridge, reached the south bank of the Yellow River, and entered Kim Yong Yong, north of Luoyang. Wang Chucun and Yang Shouliang of Luoyang City and other Luoyang generals came out of the city to greet them, and the defenders of Kim Yong City surrendered.

In Kim Yong City, Wang Chucun and Yang Shouliang knelt down to greet them, although Li Jing was not ashamed of these wall grasses, but he did not show it on his face, and a set of superficial kung fu was excellent. For the 50,000 Luoyang soldiers who surrendered, they were rewarded, and a reward for the officials of Luoyang was read out in public, basically, although some of the new official positions they got were not as good as the original, but they also knew that the official positions of the Qin Domain were now much more valuable than those in Chang'an. After receiving the reward, the people finally settled down. Before they came, they had been worried that Li Jing would come to cross the river and tear down the bridge, hide all the birds, and turn their faces and not recognize people.

The successive attachment of Luoyang and Heyang made Li Jing's situation in the south very good. In particular, the annexation of Heyang allowed Li Jing to break the encirclement of the four towns on the periphery of Luoyang, and directly bypassed the Fengling Pass in the river, Huguan and Tianjing Pass in Zhaoyi. Luoyang's Wujiao Pass and other fortresses. From Heyang to Luoyang. The two passages of water and land were opened. Luoyang is completely in hand. Even the fall of Heyang allowed the Qin army to complete the encirclement of Zhaoyi Town on three sides, and the formation of a four-sided encirclement of Xuanwu Town.

On July 10, Li Jing entered Luoyang City.

Like entering Taiyuan, on the day of entering Luoyang, Li Jing also let the Qin army carry out a majestic march of soldiers and horses into the city.

A group of Qin troops dressed in clean military robes and shining armor. Both cavalry and infantry rode cleanly, with shiny coats, and they were all tall horses with the same coat color, and they entered the city with high spirits.

Luoyang, the eastern capital of the Tang Dynasty, the capital of several dynasties, the capital of Shang, Western Zhou, Eastern Zhou, Eastern Han, Cao Wei, Western Jin, Northern Wei, Sui, Tang Thirteen Dynasties, and even Wang Shichong's Zheng State and many other powerful imperial courts have established their capitals here.

Luoyang, the imperial capital of the Thirteen Dynasties, is located in the north of Luoshui, because the north of the water is called Yang. Therefore, it is called Luoyang, also known as Luoyi and Shendu. The mountains and rivers in the territory are crisscrossed. The west is close to the Qinling Mountains, the east is adjacent to Songyue, the north is according to the Wangwu Taihang, and according to the danger of the Yellow River, the south looks at the Funiu Mountain, since ancient times, there are eight passes of the capital, eight sides are surrounded by mountains, five waters surround the Luocheng saying, the river and the mountain arch wear, the shape is better than the world. It is known as the thoroughfare of ten provinces in the world, and is known as the center of the Central Plains.

There is no difference in the whole world, and there is no harmony in the four seas.

Luoyang is the place where the entire Middle-earth Dynasty built the most capitals, there have been more than 100 emperors here to guide the country, here is called the thousand-year-old imperial capital, especially Luoyang of the Han Dynasty and Luoyang of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it is a large scale. The Silk Road and the Grand Canal of the Sui and Tang Dynasties intersect here, and Luoyang stands between Heluo and Luoyang, living in the world.

Today, this great and prosperous capital has completely opened its doors to Li Jing.

The Sui Dynasty unified the north and the south, and Yang Guangli managed Luoyang and built Luoyang City. After the establishment of Li Tang, especially when Wu Zetian was in power, he vigorously expanded the eastern capital and changed Luoyang to the divine capital. After ascending the throne, it was set as the capital of Wuzhou, and Emperor Tang Ming lived in Luoyang for a long time. In the more than 200 years of the Tang Dynasty, half of the emperors were often in Luoyang, adding up to more than 100 years.

Similarly, after the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty weakened, Chang'an was broken several times, although Luoyang also fell into the hands of the Anshi Rebellion and Huangchao, but in terms of speaking, Luoyang suffered much better damage than Chang'an. Whether it was the Tianbao Rebellion or the Huangchao Rebellion, there was no big war in Luoyang City, especially in the Huangchao Rebellion that ended not long ago, Huangchao took Luoyang without blood, and later the imperial court recovered Luoyang, which was also bloodless. The raids of the chaotic soldiers are not as powerful as those in Chang'an.

When Li Jing rode into Luoyang City, he found that this thousand-year-old imperial capital was really well preserved, although after the war, the population of this Central Plains city has decreased sharply, and it has long ceased to be the home of a million. But it is far beyond the ordinary feudal town city, Luoyang City, which still maintains a population of nearly 400,000 at this time.

Especially after hearing that Heyang Town was attached to the Qin Domain, and the Qin army finally arrived in Luoyang, many people in the nearby prefectures and counties who fled to the mountains to escape the war also rushed to Luoyang City with their families and children. After the grand entrance ceremony, Li Jing's first order was to Zhang Bang Anmin.

On the one hand, notices were posted to publicize the order system and laws of the Qin army, and on the other hand, people were sent to open warehouses and release grain to help the people. On the one hand, he took over the defense of Luoyang City and its vicinity, and quickly arranged a large number of officials from Yanjing, Hebei, Shandong and other places to Luoyang, so that they could take over Luoyang City.

In a word. On the first day of the arrival of the Qin army, all the soldiers and civilians of Luoyang immediately felt a new atmosphere, a new atmosphere that made everyone happy. Grain ships from the Yellow River into Luokou, and then along the Luoshui until Luoyang City, watching the load of grain into the warehouse, bags of salt unloaded from the ship, the east and west cities in the city and the rapid opening of all kinds of commodities, the richest grain and salt, fish, meat and oil noodles and so on began to open up the supply, everyone cheered. No matter who becomes the master of this Luoyang City, it is not too important for many people. The important thing is that there must be grain, oil, rice and noodles in the market, sauce, vinegar and charcoal, and the price must be stable and cheap.

As soon as the Qin army arrived, the supply of emergency grain was opened, and the price of grain was more than ten times cheaper than in the past. What's more, the benefits of the arrival of the Qin army are not only these, it turns out that many people in Luoyang have been conscripted into the army, as soldiers, and as people's husbands, now. As soon as the Qin army came. The vast majority of them were sent home. Before leaving, he also got a severance pay, two wolf silver coins, twenty catties of corn, and a pair of shoes. Holding these things, the soldiers with various names tattooed on their faces, and the old and weak or immature young people, were a little incredulous.

Luoyang's 50,000 troops plus 80,000 people and strong men. Overnight, 80,000 were dismissed by the Qin army. In the end, only 5,000 soldiers and horses and 15,000 men were left. Even if these stayed, the treatment is very different from the past, the soldiers have an official number, have a stable salary, even if they stay as a people's husband, they all have a very good salary, the first day, the soldiers and people who stay. I had to get two sets of brand new clothes, shoes and socks for each person, and I also received a month's salary in advance.

Luoyang City. Guiyi Fang.

Yang Fuguang's mansion has become Yang Fuguang's prison place at this time.

Yang Shouliang passed through the heavy guards all the way and stepped into the innermost courtyard.

Yang Fuguang, the once powerful soldier and horse capital of the world, was described as withered at this time, the whole person was thin and unshaped, lying on the bed and coughing, but there was not even a person around him who poured water. His gaze was cloudy and pale. Hearing the footsteps, he turned his head hard, and saw that it was his righteous son Yang Shouliang, and snorted weakly in his mouth, he thought that he was not thin on this righteous son, and even far more than those "righteous sons" such as Zhu Wen and Li Ke, but he didn't expect that he was stabbed in the back in the end.

"What are you going to do?"

Yang Shouliang looked at Yang Fuguang with a somewhat complicated expression, he did not deny that Yang Fuguang was very good to him, and he also admired Yang Fuguang's ability. However, he also knows Yang Fuguang very well, this is a persistent or stubborn person, he only thinks about protecting the Tang Dynasty in his heart, but he sees through that this Tang Dynasty is already rotten and can no longer be supported. Yang Fuguang wanted to be a loyal eunuch, but he didn't want to die with him. It's stupid to know that you can't do it. Everyone can see that Li Jing will have the world, but Yang Fuguang has to hold Li Tang to death. There was no way, he had to do it in the end.

"King Qin has entered the city!" Yang Shouliang said.

Yang Fuguang coughed a few times with difficulty, and said weakly: "Our family heard the shouts outside, the noise was rushing to the sky, and the mountains were moving, and we already knew that it was Li Jing who came." As he spoke, he sighed in his heart, listening to the movement outside, he knew how popular Li Jing was, or how good Li Jing was at winning people's hearts. No need to ask, he can guess that Li Jing must be the same old way again, giving money and food to officials, exempting from military service, exempting from taxes and taxes, Li Jing is wealthy, he has money, as long as he opens his mouth, this set of silver bullets will be offensive, and a few people will not face him. "What official position did Li Jing give you?"

"Doctor!" Yang Shouliang replied.

Yang Fuguang sneered, he guessed correctly. Even if Yang Shouliang surrenders to Li Jing, Li Jing will never give him much of an official, the doctor is a fourth-grade official, can wear a deep scarlet official robe, and can even give a silverfish bag and hold an ivory wat, but this is only a loose rank, except for showing that he is a fourth-grade official, there is no half of the real power and power.

Yang Shouliang also understood Yang Fuguang's sneer, but he didn't feel any shame. Although when he was under Yang Fuguang, he had the title of a general, but when he arrived in the Qin Domain, it would be good to be able to save his life, and he was satisfied to get a rank of the fourth grade. He also saw through it, and he didn't ask for any high-ranking officials, he just wanted to be able to keep his life and property in this world change. If it were someone else, maybe they would have asked for more. But he knew that he was facing Li Jing, so he died of that heart.

"Are you here to kill us?" Yang Fuguang asked in a cold tone, his illness has become more and more serious, and he will not live for a few days if he stays here without being taken care of. He was not afraid of death, but was calm.

Yang Shouliang said: "Yang Gong, I didn't get anyone's order, and no one wanted to kill Yang Gong." I'm here to tell Yang Gong the good news, King Qin attaches great importance to Yang Gong and has already stated that he will let you out soon. I rushed over, just to read a game between our father and son, to persuade Yang Gong. Those who know the times are Junjie, Yang Gong, the general trend is clear, Li Tang is rotten, and overthrow is inevitable. And the king of Qin is sharp and will surely sweep the world. Especially you should know that Li Jing is not a yellow nest, Li Jing has won the hearts of the people all over the world, and he is deeply expected, wherever he goes, the people, the army and the people will support him. Today's Li Jing, the times create heroes, and no one can stop him from replacing Li Jing and sitting on the world. Yang Gong, why bother to block the car with his mantis arm? Wouldn't it be better to obey the will of heaven and conform to the will of the people? ”

Yang Fuguang pondered for a long time, "You want to persuade him to surrender?" ”

"Yang Gong, this is for everyone's good."

Yang Fuguang pondered. One thing comes to mind. "There's movement in Chang'an?"

"Indeed." Yang Shouliang nodded. "Chang'an doesn't know what conditions have been promised, and now it has successfully made peace with Chengdu and Xuanwu strike. Now, Chengdu and Chang'an, the two families are united, and they are about to fight the Central Plains with the King of Qin. ”

Yang Fuguang was not happy when he heard this. Although he didn't know it yet, Yang Fugong and Tian Lingzi had been forced by Li Jing's momentum to join forces again. And they also made peace with Zhu Wen. It can be said that the entire northwest and southwest regions are now united, and Yang Fugong has gathered the towns of Guanzhong, and even used a lot of means to force the four towns of Baoda, Dingnan, Zhenwu, and Tiande, which were already to be neutral, to finally send 10,000 horses and horses to join the imperial army.

Yang Fuguang concentrated the soldiers and horses of the eight towns in Guanzhong in Tongguan, plus the two towns of Shaanxi and Jinshang in Henan that are still under the control of the Chang'an Imperial Court, a total of ten towns of soldiers and horses, a total of 300,000 troops, assembled in Tongguan. And in the east of the river. Wang Chongrong and Meng Lifang also gathered all the soldiers and horses, a total of 100,000 horses. Form an alliance against Li Jing.

Tian Lingzi of Chengdu sent the general Gao Renhou as the commander of the capital, commanded 80,000 soldiers and horses in Sanchuan, and arrived at Wuguan. Zhu Wen left a small number of soldiers and horses, gathered an army of 50,000, and arrived at Wugao Pass. The 20,000 defenders of Wujiaoguan and the vicinity have all been transferred to the command of Zhu Wen in accordance with the agreement between Chang'an and Chengdu.

In addition, Liu Jurong, the envoy of Shannan Dongdao, was also crowned as the commander of Jingnan Xingying by the Emperor Taishang of Chengdu and the Son of Heaven of Chang'an, and commanded 80,000 soldiers and horses in the five towns of Shannan Dongdao, Jingnan, Eyue, Jiangxi, and Hunan, and gathered in Xiangyang.

Yang Fugong personally sat in Tongguan, with an army of 300,000 in ten towns. Gao Renhou led 80,000 soldiers and horses from Sanchuan to gather under Wuguan City, and Zhu Wen was the commander of the Jingdong camp, commanding 70,000 defenders such as Xuanwu and Wugao, and garrisoning Wugao Pass in the east of Luoyang. Wang Chongrong and Meng Lifang led 100,000 horses in Hezhong and Zhaoyi Towns in Hedong. Liu Jurong was the commander of the camp in the south of Beijing, and led 80,000 soldiers and horses from five towns to gather in Xiangyang.

The Fifth Route Army gathered around Luoyang, which was a huge net, and the total number of soldiers and horses of the Fifth Route Army reached 630,000.

Although these 630,000 people have a lot of water in the horses, and the Fifth Route Army also counts the people they carry into the soldiers, the actual strength is still as high as more than 300,000. Even if these soldiers and horses are not as elite as the Qin Domain, they are very amazing.

Yang Fuguang didn't know this, and he didn't want to know anything at this time. He knew in his heart that no matter how the towns were united by Li Jing's ferocity, their alliance was too weak, and even if the towns were united, they would definitely be divided into several roads and led by themselves. Such an alliance, not to mention the union of more than a dozen feudal towns, even if all those feudal towns in the southeast are called, what is the use. What's more, he already knew that Li Jing had already captured Heyang.

If Li Jing didn't get Heyang, then Luoyang might still be able to fight, lure Li Jing into the encirclement, and fight an inner front. But now that Heyang has been lost, if you want to fight this battle of Luoyang, then this battle may be broken through by Li Jing's center and on all sides.

He let out a long sigh in his heart, Yang Fugong had never fought and would not fight at all, the situation had completely changed, but he was still acting with his plan before being captured, how could he be undefeated? If it were him, if he wanted to fight at this time, he could only gather the elites of each town, and he didn't need more, one hundred thousand people would be enough. fought a decisive battle with the Qin army outside Luoyang, stationed the soldiers and horses in Pishan, and fought a field battle with Li Jing. Relying on the geographical advantages of the mountains, and then relying on the advantages of soldiers and horses, the battle will be resolved quickly.

Yang Shouliang only persuaded a few words, and left if he didn't succeed. Today, he came just to think about the father and son at the beginning, and he did his best.

After he left, Yang Fuguang turned around and couldn't sleep anymore. Looking at the silent room, he couldn't help but shed tears, Li Jing, he really underestimated him at the beginning. originally thought that it would be impossible for Li Jing to dare to take that step within ten years, but now, everything shows that Li Jing is no longer in a hurry and does have this strength. Li Jing, he finally tore off the mask of respecting Tang that he had been maintaining all along, revealing his true thoughts, he wanted to usurp Tang and become independent, he wanted to be the emperor!

In the middle of July of the first year of Zhenlong, the Chang'an court issued an edict to crown Li Jing as the regent, and the governor controlled the soldiers and horses of the world and added nine tin. On the other hand, it united the towns and gathered the five armies, totaling 350,000, known as the army of one million. They did not openly claim to crusade against Li Jing, but only sent troops in the name of crusading against Wang Chucun and Yang Shouliang, two rebellious people.

And at this moment, in the Ziwei Palace in Luoyang, the civil and military people who have come from Taiyuan Xingyuan and Yanjing one after another these days are sitting, shining with stars and purple scarlet halls.

Zhu Wenwu rushed to Luoyang, just for one thing, to persuade Li Jing to become emperor.

At this time, the civil and military forces of the Qin army, which had captured Heyang and Luoyang, all felt that the time was ripe. At this time, the Qin domain no longer needs to maintain the banner of respecting the Tang Dynasty on the surface, Hebei has been swept away, Hedong has won most of it, and then Heyang and Luoyang, occupying the center of the world.

Although there are still many feudal towns that have not yet been settled, the southeastern region is probably a subsidiary of the Qin domain, and Hezhong and Zhaoyi in the east of the river cannot last long under the offensive of the Qin army. Henan and Shannan have been broken by the Qin army, and it is difficult to hold on for a long time. At this time, there is no need for the Qin army to use the banner of the Tang Dynasty anymore, and the sooner the banner is revealed, the sooner it will give itself a justifiable name.

After the bell sounded, the first person to speak on behalf of Zhu Wenwu was neither the first assistant nor the prime minister, but the governor of Liaodong Province who came from outside the Guan, Tongping Zhangshi and Taifu Cui Yunqing. This Li Jing's teacher, who had served as the prime minister of the Qin domain for many years, had extremely high prestige and even more seniority, and it was extremely suitable for him to be the first to come out and persuade him at this time.

Cui Yunqing's gray hair and beard were meticulously combed today, wearing a purple robe and jade belt on her body, wearing a purple gold fish bag, holding an ivory wat and slowly coming out of the ranks, and playing loudly: "Your Highness, Fang Jin, the heroes of the Quartet have been wiped out, and the hearts of people near and far are all gone, and I sincerely see where the destiny of heaven is." May the title be corrected as soon as possible, and the hope of the subjects will be revived. ”

Facing the teacher's personal persuasion, Li Jing's eyes swept over the ministers, and said slowly: "The momentum of unification has not yet been achieved, and the road to the Quartet is still stalked. ”

In just one sentence, Li Jing rejected Cui Yunqing's persuasion.

As soon as these words came out, many people in the hall couldn't help but feel disappointed, and many generals even sighed. However, Cui Yunqing, who was rejected, didn't seem to feel half surprised, even the cabinet scholars and the prime ministers in the political hall sitting below, these important ministers in purple robes and jade belts only smiled slightly, no surprise.

The ceremonial officials in the palace soon announced the dismissal of the meeting, and Li Jing left the government hall and the cabinet members behind to convene an interim imperial meeting.

The rest of the civil and military went out of the hall, and on the way, Li Cunxiao asked Gao Siji with a smile on his face, "What are you laughing at, Your Highness refuses to persuade you to enter, what is there to be happy about." ”

Gao Siji smiled at the fourth junior brother, "Who said that King Qin refused." ”

"Didn't King Qin refuse in front of everyone just now?"

Gao Siji shook his head, and felt amused at Li Cunxiao's ignorance, "You can also read more books when you have time, otherwise others will laugh at you when you talk in the future." Today, King Qin did reject Taifu's persuasion in person, but in fact, this is not a refusal. ”

"Why?"

"Because according to the etiquette system, before the emperor of the new dynasty ascends the throne, he can only ascend the throne after three pushes. I know, today is just the first time that the ministers have persuaded him, how can King Qin accept it. ”

Li Cunxiao opened his eyes widely, was stunned for a long time, and then slapped his thigh heavily, and shouted, "I'm a mother, and being the emperor is not a guest for dinner, why do you have to do three pushes and four concessions." ”

His loud voice drew a chuckle from many civil servants and generals next to him.

Under the patriarchal system of the monarchy in ancient China, there was a three-push ceremony before the new emperor ascended the throne. Especially those emperors who established a new dynasty, before ascending the throne, they must act in a play, saying that ascending to the throne and becoming the emperor is not my will, but the mandate of heaven, but the will of the people, for the sake of the overall situation, and it is the result of everyone's joint election, and I have no choice but to ascend to the emperor.

According to etiquette, it is not possible to push once, and it is not possible to push twice, and it must be persuaded three times and pushed three times before finally accepting everyone's support to ascend the throne and become emperor under the support of all the people.

The three concessions are a gesture, in fact, to show the legitimacy of ascending the throne, to proclaim that the political power and the throne are mandated by God, supported by the subjects, and obtained reasonably and legitimately.

Although everyone knows that this is the most hypocritical set, no one is exempt from the past and the present.

It is precisely because everyone knows this set that Cui Yunqing took the lead in persuading Li Jing today, Li Jing refused, and those courtiers who knew this matter knew it well, and only an ignorant general like Li Cunxiao was anxious. (To be continued......)