On the sixth day of the first month of August, after Li Yuan's army crossed Youshui, there was a horse Pingchuan in front of them, and they all arrived at Linyuan City in less than a day.

Outside the west gate of Linyuan City, there were already densely standing figures to greet the triumphant victory of the Wuping army. In addition to the guard general Chen Li and other civil and military officials, there are four or five thousand people who don't know where to stand outside the city and look forward to it, this kind of scene of harmony between the army and the people for a while made the soldiers of the Wuping army moved, even if they were tired, but the step was sonorous and powerful, just because they added a little pride and sense of responsibility to protect the country and the people.

Li Yuan's steed stopped, and Chen Li, the general of Linyuan, trotted forward first, holding the reins with both hands very respectfully, bowing his head and proclaiming: "The last general will meet the handsome!" This time, our army pacified Dongxi in one fell swoop, thanks to the wise and wise martial arts of the marshal! My Datang can have such a natural star, the luck of the dynasty! Luck to the people! No, when the last general left the city today, the people of the city also spontaneously followed, and they all wanted to see the dignity of the great handsome......"

"Ahem......" Li Yuan blushed in embarrassment, not because he felt that he couldn't afford this honor, but everything described by Chen Li could happen in Langzhou, and it could happen anywhere in Wuping, but in Linyuan City at this time, it would never happen.

Why? It's just because the situation in Linyuan City is really special.

Although it is only a small land, this small city has been under the strict control of the Central Plains Dynasty for hundreds of years, and has been regarded as a gateway to resist the Youshui barbarians.

When Ma Yin, the king of Chu, ruled Hunan, he naturally knew the importance of Linyuan City, so after generously handing over Xizhou and other places to Peng's governance, he moved all the evacuated Chu soldiers and horses to the city, which was equivalent to pinching the throat of Xizhou's eastward advance, and even if the situation changed, he could occupy the absolute initiative.

But Ma Yin's good son Ma Xifan didn't think so, and the first thing he did after succeeding to the throne was to start a war with Peng Shichou in high spirits, but after two years of fighting, he reluctantly negotiated peace and stood up, and in order to show Wang De, he took the initiative to withdraw most of the defenders of Linyuan City......

After that, it is a well-known thing in the world, after the Chu State fell into the civil strife of the brothers fighting for power, the Southern Tang Dynasty and the Southern Han Dynasty entered the game, and the Dongxi barbarians also took advantage of the fire to rob, Linyuan City, a city where the Han people had inhabited for hundreds of years, because of the scarcity of defenders, had to reluctantly let the Xizhou barbarians drive straight in.

Just like the time of the Western Expedition that day, when Li Yuan led the army to attack for the first time, he almost did not encounter any resistance, and the officials in the city and more than 1,000 Chu troops surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, the barbarians, and then the Tang Dynasty, which was very coherent and coherent. The soldiers of the Tang Army, who had made sufficient preparations to kill the enemy, saw these Chu soldiers all smiling on their faces after entering the city, and consciously stacked their armor and blades in front of them, and they could only put away their killing intent......

In the past, when Li Yuan and Peng Shiyu formed an alliance, because both sides did not talk about the ownership of Linyuan City because they were very "tacitly", and they were in the honeymoon period, they did not send troops to garrison until the former Fantian clan rebelled, and the Dongxi barbarians were stationed.

This time to conquer Dongxi, Li Yuan had already made up his mind, and the barbaric land of Sanzhou could be returned to Peng Shiyu's rule, except for Linyuan City, which must be firmly controlled in his own hands in the future. Therefore, before the army continued to march westward, Li Yuan deliberately left Chen Li and several other generals, together with 800 soldiers to garrison here, and sent a message back to Langzhou, so that Xu Kuangheng quickly selected a group of civil and military officials to take up their posts, and officially included the city under the rule of Wuping.

Li Yuan, who led the army to capture Linyuan City twice, is naturally well aware of the situation in the city, because of the cowardice of the Linyuan defenders over the years, the situation of the people can be imagined, I don't know how many times they have been burned and looted by the coming and going army, whether it is a Han or a barbarian, now it has long been ten rooms and nine empty, not to mention people, livestock are difficult to find.

Then the question arises, where did the dense crowd of four or five thousand people who greeted the Wuping army outside the West Gate come from? Li Yuanke had never issued any decree to reward migration before, so what kind of people would be stupid enough to take the initiative to relocate to the front line of the war?

When Li Yuan asked Chen Li this question with a cold expression, Chen Li was stunned at first, and then replied with a twinkle in his eyes, since the Tang army took over the city, there are often people who come from the land of Dongxi, because they have been busy rectifying the city defense recently, but they have not registered and made a register, after all, according to Tang law, household registration is made every three years.

This answer can be described as ingenious, "coming from the wind" not only shows his merits, but also prevents the question of a handsome man in advance, and how can Li Yuan be so good? just smiled lightly and compared it to the truth, and then ordered a few junior officials to step forward and began to randomly ask the people who were evasive about the truth.

I don't know how much ability this Chen Li has, in Linyuan City in just one month, it has made the people avoid like tigers and wolves, even if they have joined the army and repeatedly vouched in the name of the marshal, they all bowed their heads and did not dare to speak, and the original cheerful "Zhu Jie" atmosphere gradually fell into an intriguing silence.

Just when Chen Li was secretly lucky in his heart, Li Yuan ended up in person, and directly waved his hand to summon several barbarian guides sent by Peng Shiyu, and whispered a little.

"The First Evolution"

Most of these barbarian guides were businessmen who had been traveling for many years, and they all knew Chinese barbarians, so they naturally didn't dare to slack off at this time, so they hurriedly stood in front of the people and began to shout loudly in barbarian according to Li Yuan's meaning.

After muttering a few times, the whole army was at a loss, and all the people changed their faces one after another, all of them fell to the ground and wept bitterly, and no one stood on a closer look, Chen Li and the others were scratching their ears and cheeks in Yuancheng, Li Yuan was already gloomy, and then said coldly: "General Chen, you just said that these people are all migrated from the land of Dongxi, according to what Ben Shuai heard, there are not a few Han people in the land of Dongxi, why don't these people even have a Han person?"

Don't you think it's strange by such a coincidence? Could it be that these barbarians all want to abandon their homeland and join me in the Tang Dynasty, and they all yearn for Ben Shuai? On the contrary, none of the Han people with the same roots and ancestors came? ”

"This ......" Chen Li couldn't help but swallow his saliva, obvious beads of sweat suddenly oozed from his forehead, and he hurriedly stepped forward and arched his hand: "Great, handsome, your prestige has already spread all over the world, and all barbarians naturally surrender, it's normal......"

Li Yuan was suddenly angry and funny in his heart, didn't this guy hear about the tragedy of the siege of Xizhou? The barbarians are afraid that they have long regarded themselves as flood beasts......

"Ridiculous! That being the case, why did Ben Shuai lead the army all the way to the army, but none of the barbarians followed? ”

Chen Li's face turned red, but he still stiffened his neck and insisted on arguing: "Handsome! It is not certain whether these people are all barbarians, the Han barbarians here are mixed, and there are naturally Han people who know the barbarian language......"

Li Yuan snorted lightly and said indifferently: "Oh, why didn't anyone respond when he just joined the army and asked questions in Chinese?" Ben Shuai tells you that it's because they don't understand! The barbarians in the three states of Dongxi, most of the common people do not understand Chinese! Besides, do you know what Ben Shuai just asked the guide to shout? If it is a barbarian, anyone who falls to the ground can leave on their own! Since they are willing to vote for me Datang, why do they all want to leave?! ”