After the secession of power in the north of Jianping, the unification war of the Li Tang Dynasty gradually came to an end. The remaining scattered secessionist regimes no longer posed a great threat to the Tang Dynasty. Until this time, there were basically no armed groups in the north, which could obstruct Li Tang's great cause of dominating the world.

After the northern heroes were destroyed one after another, and the Tang Dynasty became the veritable lord of the Central Plains, next, the Li Tang Dynasty, which was like a rainbow, was about to implement the last step of unifying the world: pacifying the south. The Tang Dynasty unified the north and entered the Central Plains, and the general trend of the world, which was originally divided by the heroes, suddenly underwent great changes, forming a situation of confrontation between Li Tang and Jiangnan Qunxiong in the north and south, as if returning to the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. After all, history will have to reunify the north and the south again.

However, if the Tang Dynasty wanted to sweep the south, it had to confront the various separatist forces in the south. So, when the Tang Dynasty was fighting a fierce war with a strong enemy in the north, what was the situation in the south? When the Tang Dynasty sent troops south, what kind of fierce enemies would it encounter? In the face of the heroes of the Jiangnan Dynasty, how did Tang Gaozu Li Yuan skillfully layout and use the contradictions between them to divide and disintegrate them?

After quelling the Hebei rebellion and eliminating strong northern enemies such as Liu Heimin, Xu Yuanlang, and Gao Kaidao, the northern region was basically included in the territory of the Li Tang Dynasty. With the annexation of the northern secession regimes one by one, the Tang Dynasty faced fewer and fewer enemies on the road to dominating the world. Therefore, at this time, the Tang Dynasty gradually changed the direction of its offensive and aimed its spearhead at the Jianghuai region, which was located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Obviously, the purpose of the Tang Dynasty was to take action against the Jiangnan heroes and complete the last step of the unification war - to pacify the south. Since it was decided to pacify the south and realize the unification of the north and the south, first of all, it was necessary to understand the hostile forces that Li Tang wanted to face in the south, that is, the opponents of the Tang Dynasty in pacifying the south.

If the Tang Dynasty wanted to unify the north and the south, it was mainly in the Jianghuai region. As we all know, at the beginning of the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, there were famous "three giants" in the north, they were Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, Zheng Emperor Shichong, and Xia King Dou Jiande, forming a three-legged trend of Tang, Zheng and Xia. Similarly, at the same time, in the Jianghuai region in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, there are also "three giants": Du Fuwei, Li Zitong, and Shen Faxing. These three giants, evenly matched, in order to compete for the hegemony of the lord of Jianghuai, fight each other all year round, and fight inextricably.

Therefore, the Tang Dynasty mainly faced these three enemies when it used troops against Jianghuai. Among the three giants of Jianghuai, Du Fuwei was the first to develop, while Li Zitong and Shen Faxing came from behind, and their strength was enough to compete with Du Fuwei. However, the division of the Jianghuai region is still the most prominent with Du Fuwei.

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, and the peasant rebel armies in various places were surging, and the three peasant rebel armies were particularly eye-catching. One is the Wagang Army led by Li Mi and Zhai Rang, the other is the Hebei Rebel Army led by Dou Jiande, and the other is the Jianghuai Rebel Army led by Du Fuwei and Fu Gongyi. It can be seen from this that Du Fuwei's military strength still occupies a place among the separatist heroes in the late Sui and early Tang dynasties. So, what kind of person was Duvoy?

Du Fuwei, a native of Zhangqiu, Qizhou, about this person's early experience, the records in the history books are quite interesting and legendary:

Less Luotuo, no industry, poor family no self-sufficiency, every time you wear a kiln for a thief. and the auxiliary prince is a friend of the neck. Aunt Gongyi's family is a sheep herding business, and Gong Yi counts sheep to give it, and Gu has regrets because of its theft. The county was in a hurry to arrest, Fu Wei and Gong Yi died, and gathered a crowd as a group of thieves, at the age of sixteen. (The Old Tang Book: The Biography of Du Fuwei)

This account says that when Du Fuwei was young, his family was poor and could not support himself. Fortunately, Du Fuwei has a good friend named Fu Gongyi, and the two can be called friends. Fu Gongyi's aunt's family lives by shepherding sheep. As a result, Fu Gongyi guarded his own theft, often stealing his aunt's sheep to help Du Fuwei.

However, there is no impermeable wall in the world. After discovering the theft of the two, Fu Gongyi's aunt immediately reported it to the government, and the local yamen came to arrest the two sheep thieves. In order to avoid being arrested, Du Fuwei and Fu Gongyi hurriedly fled in advance. In desperation, the two had no choice but to fall into the grass. At that time, the two were only sixteen years old.

From ancient times to the present, it takes courage and courage to become the leader of any industry, even if you are a bandit. Precisely, Duvowe was such a person. After falling into the grass, every time he went out to block the road and rob, Du Fuwei has always been "out of the front, into the palace", soon won the unanimous support of his subordinates, was elected as the leader, became a fledgling bandit leader.

Of course, the rise of Du Fuwei is inseparable from the social background at that time. By the time Du Fuwei and Fu Gongqi fell into the grass, there were already wolf smoke everywhere, and peasant uprisings were rising one after another. Especially in the ninth year of the Great Cause (613), Yang Xuangan raised an army against the Sui in Liyang, causing Emperor Yang of the Sui to conquer Goguryeo for the second time, and the success was lost. Subsequently, the peasant uprising war at the end of the Sui Dynasty officially kicked off, which also gave Du Fuwei a chance to sit on the throne.

At first, Du Fuwei's strength was still relatively weak, and it was difficult for him to achieve great things on his own, so he had to rely on others first. Therefore, in December of the ninth year of the Great Cause (613), Du Fuwei led the crowd into Changbai Mountain, took refuge with Zuo Junxing, a local rebel leader, and joined the sequence of peasant uprisings.

Unexpectedly, this Zuo Junxing looked down on Du Fuwei very much, and his attitude towards him was extremely arrogant and rude. Seeing this situation, Du Fuwei felt that if he continued to serve under Zuo Junxing, he would inevitably be put in small shoes, and he would never have a bright future. There is no place to stay here, there is a place to stay here. After careful consideration, Du Fuwei led his subordinates to break away from Zuo Junxing and chose to develop southward and enter the Jianghuai region.

So, why didn't Du Fuwei continue to stay in the north to develop, but chose to go south to Jianghuai? That's because Du Fuwei saw that the competition in the north was too fierce, and all the heroes were desperately competing for Guanzhong and the Central Plains, and even if he developed in the north, there was not much room for development. On the contrary, the Jiangnan area is relatively calm, and when you get there, you may have a lot of opportunities. Therefore, Duvowe decided to go to the south for development.

In this way, Du Fuwei led his troops to the south into the Jianghuai region, and began to fight in Huainan, proclaimed himself a general, and developed military power, thus opening a new starting point for his life's career. After coming to Jianghuai, Du Fuwei began to develop his forces, preparing to annex some local armed forces and expand his strength. Soon, Du Fuwei locked on a target, Miao Haichao, the leader of the rebel army entrenched in Xiapi, Jiangsu.

Miao Haichao was the leader of a peasant rebel army in Xiapi, who gathered people here to be thieves, and his strength was neither strong nor weak. But after all, although the sparrow is small, it is also meat. If the soldiers and horses of Miao Haichao are annexed, it will be the "first pot of gold" that Du Fuwei earned after going south. However, Du Fuwei did not want to conquer by force, but wanted to surrender without a fight. So, Du Fuwei assigned his friend Fu Gongqi to send someone to threaten and intimidate Miao Haichao:

Today, with the bitter Sui government, each is righteous, the strength is weak, and he is often afraid of being captured, so why not be strong, then he will not suffer from the Sui army. If the public can be the main, I should be obedient and unbearable, but I can come and obey orders, or I will fight to decide the male and female. (The Old Tang Book: The Biography of Du Fuwei)

After listening to Fu Gongyi's intimidation, Miao Haichao felt up and down in his heart, and he thought that he was by no means Du Fuwei's opponent. Rather than being beaten to the ground at that time, it is better to recognize the situation. Therefore, Miao Haichao didn't say a word, and immediately led his men and horses to surrender to Du Fuwei. Therefore, Du Fuwei not only collected a rebel army without a single soldier, but also occupied Xiapi without bloodshed, and had both an army and a territory.

Xiapi was close to Jiangdu, the core city of the Sui dynasty in the south. It can be said that in addition to Chang'an in the west and Luoyang in the east, Jiangdu was the third largest capital of the Sui Dynasty. Therefore, Du Fuwei's occupation of Xiapi posed a threat to Jiangdu. The local defenders of the Sui Dynasty naturally can't pretend to be deaf and dumb, and must gather heavy troops and go all out to fight. Du Fuwei, who has just risen, is about to face the first vicious battle after entering Jianghuai.

In December of the ninth year of the Great Cause (613), the Sui Dynasty Jiangdu stayed behind and sent Song Hao, the captain of the school, to lead a team of elite soldiers to defeat Du Fuwei. This was the first time that Du Fuwei had confronted the Sui army head-on, so how should Du Fuwei respond to the Sui army's attack? Du Fuwei thought of a trick to lure the enemy deeper.

Du Fuwei took advantage of the Sui army's psychology of underestimating the enemy, led his troops to engage the Sui army, and feigned defeat. As soon as Song Hao saw Du Fuwei's "defeat", he immediately commanded the main force of his cavalry and chased after him. Soon, Du Fuwei fought and retreated, and led the Sui army into a reed. When the Sui army entered the reeds, Song Hao was taken aback. It turned out that the reeds were staggered, trapping the Sui army, and the cavalry could not move an inch.

At this moment, Du Fuwei gave an order, ambushed the soldiers in all directions, and took advantage of the upwind wind direction to start arson to attack the Sui army. In an instant, the reeds turned into a sea of fire, and many Sui soldiers were buried in the fire. Du Fuwei skillfully used fire to attack and break the Sui army, thwarting the first encirclement and suppression of the Sui army, and won a complete victory.

Soon after defeating the Sui army, Du Fuwei laid another trap, killed the Hailing thief commander Zhao Po in one fell swoop, and surrendered his troops, expanding his army again. After Du Fuwei entered Jianghuai, he successively forced Miao Haichao, defeated the Sui army, and planned to kill Zhao Po's formation, and his strength gradually developed, which also attracted the attention of Emperor Yang of Sui:

The tide of the sea is afraid, that is, the handsome people descend to it. Fu Wei turned to plunder Huainan, proclaimed himself a general, Jiangdu stayed behind to send the captain Song Hao to ask for it, Fu Wei and the battle, Yang was invincible, led the people into the reeds, because of arson from the wind, all the people were burned to death. Hailing thief marshal Zhao Po formed a formation with few soldiers, light, and summoned and forced; Fu Wei made the public and the soldiers live outside, and he and the ten people on the left and right entered the wine, and killed the formation in the seat, and the people. (Information Governance Guide)

Immediately, Emperor Yang of Sui sent Chen Ling, the general of the right imperial guard, to command 8,000 elite soldiers to conquer Du Fuwei. At that time, Du Fuwei had many soldiers and Chen Ling had few soldiers. Therefore, Chen Ling adopted the tactics of fortifying the walls and clearing the wilderness, sticking to the camp and not confronting Du Fuwei head-on. As a result, the military posture of the two sides fell into a stalemate for a while.

Du Fuwei saw that it was not possible to go on like this, and Chen Ling must be forced to take the initiative to fight, and then annihilate him in one fell swoop. What to do? Duvowe adopted an old-fashioned method: agitation. Du Fuwei imitated the old trick of Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdoms period, and sent people to give Chen Ling's women clothes to wear, in an attempt to provoke him. In addition, Du Fuwei also sent a letter to Chen Ling, in which he humiliated Chen Ling and called him "Grandma Chen".

Of course, Chen Ling didn't have Sima Yi's endurance, how could he suffer such a great humiliation, and he was suddenly furious, and he had to pick Du Fuwei's skin. So, Chen Ling led his army out of the nest and swooped down on Du Fuwei's army. Not to be outdone, Du Fuwei immediately waved his troops to meet the battle, and the two armies launched an unprecedented battle.

Although, Duvowe had an advantage in troops. However, the Sui army was well-trained and well-equipped after all. It is conceivable that in this battle, the two sides fought extremely hard, and the battle situation was particularly tragic. During the battle, one of Chen Ling's subordinates, taking advantage of Du Fuwei's unpreparedness, bent his bow and arrow, and shot Du Fuwei in the forehead with an arrow. Du Fuwei endured the severe pain, jumped like thunder, pointed at the general, and scolded angrily: "If I don't kill you, I will never pull out the arrow." ”

After speaking, Du Fuwei spurred his horse and galloped back and forth in the Sui army camp. The general Chen Ling, who attacked Du Fuwei, was so frightened that he fled in all directions. Unexpectedly, Du Fuwei was extremely brave, went deep into the Sui army's formation, shouted and attacked, invincible, and finally captured the Sui general who was injured by the secret arrow. After capturing this Sui general, Du Fuwei forced him to pull out an arrow for himself in front of him, and then beheaded the enemy general with a single sword. Immediately afterwards, Du Fuwei carried this person's head, re-entered Chen Ling's army, and repeatedly struggled to attack, and even killed dozens of Sui soldiers in a row:

Fu Wei refused, from the front of the challenge, the edge will shoot its forehead, Fu Wei angrily, pointing to it and saying: "If I don't kill you, I will never pull out the arrow." And so he did. The ridge will run to its array, Fu Weiyin into the ridge array, shouting and impacting, invincible, get the shooter, make him pull out the arrow, and then cut it, with his head back into the ridge army to fight, killing dozens of people. (The Old Tang Book: The Biography of Du Fuwei)

After this battle, the Sui army was defeated and almost collapsed, and the main general Chen Ling was only spared and fled back to Jiangdu alone. So far, Du Fuwei has achieved the greatest victory since the battle against the Sui army, and his prestige is great. After breaking the Sui general Chen Ling's department, Du Fuwei decided to strike while the iron was hot and made a big move.

Therefore, Du Fuwei took advantage of the victory to send troops, broke through Gaoyou, occupied Liyang, and proclaimed himself the governor. After conquering Gaoyou and Liyang, Du Fuwei assigned generals to attack from all sides, attacking the city all the way, and going down. At this time, seeing that Du Fuwei was getting bigger and bigger, the armed forces of all sizes in the Jianghuai area were attached to Du Fuwei one after another. Therefore, Du Fuwei's strength has once again been expanded in a blowout.

It is worth mentioning that while Du Fuwei is trying to expand his strength, he also attaches great importance to internal management. For example, Du Fuwei selected 5,000 people in the army who dared to die, called "Shangzheng". This "recruitment" of 5,000 people is the trump card force in Du Fuwei's hands. Du Fuwei gave this "upper recruitment" a very high treatment and shared weal and woe with them.

Every time, once he encounters a tough and vicious battle that is difficult to fight, Du Fuwei will send "recruitment" to him. After the war, when the troops were inspected, anyone who found that his back was injured, needless to say, must have been greedy for life and afraid of death, and he would be killed if he escaped from the battle. Moreover, Du Fuwei is a man who is light on money and righteous. During the battle, as long as the captured property, Du Fuwei did not take a penny, and all the rewards were given to the soldiers under his command. Therefore, the Jianghuai rebel army was absolutely obedient to Du Fuwei, and they fought extremely bravely and invincible.

Later, in the second year of Yining (618), Jiangdu mutinied, Yu Wenhua killed Emperor Yang of Sui, and established Yang Hao, the king of Qin, as the emperor and monopolized power. After taking power, Yu Wenhua, in order to consolidate his position and cover up the act of killing the king, prepared to seek foreign aid from outside Jiangdu. Therefore, Yu Culture and selected Du Fuwei, who is getting bigger and bigger. As a result, Yu Wenhua took the initiative to extend a hand of friendship to Du Fuwei, and in the name of the Sui Dynasty royal family, he granted Du Fuwei the post of Liyang Taishou.

Unexpectedly, in the face of Yu Wenhua and the olive branch thrown out, Du Fuwei did not appreciate it at all and directly rejected the appointment. So, why did Du Fuwei refute Yu culture and face in public? Why would you rather tear your face with Yu Wenhua than accept his so-called "kindness"? There are two reasons for this.

First, Du Fuwei looked down on Yu Wenhua at all.

In Du Fuwei's eyes, Yu Wenhua is a mediocre and incompetent, incompetent and introverted son, if it weren't for the fact that he is the eldest son of Yu Wenshu, how could the Xiaoguo rebels elect him as their leader? Du Fuwei I hero, like Yu Wenhua and such a waste of dim sum, what qualifications do you have to dictate to yourself.

Second, Du Fuwei believes that Yu culture will not last long.

As mentioned above, Yu Wenhua and the killing of Emperor Yang of Sui suddenly became the target of public criticism, and they were attacked by the separatist forces of the Quartet. Undoubtedly, in the eyes of the world's heroes, Yu Wenhua and he seem to be a traitor to the party, and everyone will be punished. At this time, if anyone stands with Yu Wenhua, it is to jump into the fire pit.

Yu Wenhua appointed Du Fuwei as the Taishou of Liyang, obviously to pull him into the water and tie Du Fuwei to his chariot. Du Fuwei is so smart that he can't see Yu Wenhua's trick. Therefore, Du Fuwei was not fooled and decisively rejected Yu Wenhua's appointment.

After rejecting Yu Wenhua, Du Fuwei turned to another force, who is it? Yang Tong, the king of Yue in Luoyang. Du Fuwei believes that even though the general trend of the Sui Dynasty has gone, after all, the foundation still exists. If you want to lay a foundation in the troubled times, you must have a suitable banner. If you can serve Sui Zhengshuo and use the influence of the Sui Dynasty, you may be able to take the opportunity to develop your power and wait for the opportunity to grow step by step.

Soon, Du Fuwei took the initiative to go to Luoyang and proclaimed himself a vassal to Yang Tong, the king of Yue. At that time, Yang Tong, the king of Yue, was in Luoyang, fighting hard against Li Mi's Wagang army, and was in urgent need of foreign aid. Seeing Du Fuwei as a minister, Yang Tong gladly accepted it, and immediately canonized Du Fuwei as the governor of the host and the king of Chu.

After being canonized by Luoyang, Du Fuwei can be regarded as having a resounding name, which is convenient for the future development in the Jianghuai region. Soon, Du Fuwei moved to Danyang. During this period, he began to establish the rudiments of the state in the same way as other separatist regimes. For example, Du Fuwei began to select meritocracy, strengthen armaments, lightly punish the meager endowments, abolish the funeral system, and never tolerate those who commit adultery and pervert the law for bribes, no matter how serious they are.

It can be said that at this time, Du Fuwei was already the number one hegemon in the Jianghuai region, and his strength was becoming stronger and stronger, and he had the intention of annexing the Jianghuai region and encompassing the south. However, the back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves. Just when Du Fuwei rose in Jianghuai, the other two separatist forces sprung up at the same time, and finally formed the "troika" of the Jianghuai region with Du Fuwei. The leaders of these two armed forces are Li Zitong and Shen Faxing.

Let's take a look at Shen Faxing first.

If we say that Du Fuwei is relying on his strength, he has developed and grown step by step; Then, Shen Faxing relied on the influence of his family to occupy a place in the troubled times. According to the record of "Old Tang Book: The Biography of Shen Faxing", the Shen family "lives in the south of the country, thousands of clans, and is served by far and near", and the strong clan is the strong capital in the hands of Shen Faxing.

Shen Faxing, a native of Wukang, Huzhou, and his father Shen Ke, successively served in important positions such as Nanchen Tejin and Guangzhou Thorn History. As for Shen Faxing, in the later period of the Sui Dynasty, he was appointed as the county guard of Wuxing. During his tenure as the county guard of Wuxing, the Dongyang thief Marshal Lou Shigan raised troops to rebel, attacked the city all the way, and fought against the Sui Dynasty. So, Emperor Yang of Sui ordered Shen Faxing and the imperial servant Cheng Yuanyou to jointly lead the troops to suppress Lou Shigan's rebel army.

However, soon after, in March of the second year of Yining (618), Jiangdu mutinied, and Emperor Yang of Sui was killed. Shen Faxing felt at this time that the opportunity had come, with the influence of the Shen family in Jiangnan, if he could take advantage of the situation to raise troops, he would be able to do something earth-shattering.

After making up his mind, Shen Faxing privately united with Yuan You's subordinate generals Sun Shihan and Chen Guoren to launch a coup d'état, detain Yuan You, and order his subordinates. Then, in the name of crusading against Yu Wenhua and rebelling against the party, Shen Faxing announced that he would raise troops and send troops from Dongyang, while marching, while gathering the army and advancing into Jiangdu. Until the time he arrived at Wucheng, Shen Faxing's account had gathered a total of 60,000 elite soldiers and had a certain military strength.

Then, Shen Faxing began to use troops on a large scale, successively captured Yuhang, Biling, Danyang and other places, occupied ten counties in Jiangbiao (south of the Yangtze River), proclaimed himself the governor of Jiangnan Province, and undertook the establishment of hundreds of officials. At the same time, like Du Fuwei's choice, Shen Faxing is also trying to get in touch with Luoyang.

Not long after, in August of the first year of Wude (618), Shen Faxing heard that Yang Tong, the king of Yue, was officially enthroned under the support of Wang Shichong and was the "Emperor Taizhu". Subsequently, Shen Faxing presented to the emperor of Luoyang and took the initiative to proclaim himself a minister. In the recital to the Emperor Tai, Shen Faxing called himself Da Sima, Lu Shang Shushi, and Tianmen Gong. In fact, this is a disguised way to make the emperor admit his titles, and the emperor is naturally helpless.

After getting the acquiescence of the emperor, Shen Faxing "undertook the system of placing hundreds of officials" and divided the bureaucrats. For example, Chen Guoren is Situ, Sun Shihan is Sikong, Jiang Yuanchao is Shangshu Zuo Servant, Yin Qian is Shangshu Zuocheng, Xu Lingyan is Shangshu Youcheng, Liu Ziyi is the Elector Lang, and Li Baiyao is Fu Peng.

Later, Shen Faxing felt that he was already in full fledgling, and there was no need to rely on any other party's forces, and he planned to stand on his own and go it alone. Therefore, in August of the second year of Wude (619), Shen Faxing proclaimed himself King of Liang, built Yuan Yankang, set the capital of Biling, changed the official system of the Sui court, and followed the old example of Nan Chen. At this time, Shen Faxing was officially established as a political power. At the same time, what he did also buried deep hidden dangers.

Since Shen Faxing conquered Biling, he couldn't help but be a little complacent, thinking that the transmission south of Jianghuai could be determined. Therefore, from this time on, Shen Faxing's temperament changed greatly, he began to become cruel and ruthless, keen on severe punishment and strict law, and the soldiers under his command were immediately beheaded if they made a slight mistake. In this way, the soldiers deviated from morality and gradually developed a sense of resentment towards Shen Faxing, which indirectly led to his future demise:

Fa Xing since the Ke Pi Ling, said that Jianghuai has been pointed to the south to decide, dictatorial punishment, the soldiers have a small mistake, that is, they will be killed, to laugh freely, by the disintegration of the soldiers. ("Old Tang Book: The Biography of Shen Faxing")

Rising in Jianghuai at the same time as Du Fuwei and Shen Faxing, there is also a leader in separatism. This person is also a crucial figure in the Jianghuai situation, he is - Li Zitong.

Li Zitong, a native of Cheng County, Donghai County. When he was young, Li Zitong's family was poor, he made a living from fishing and hunting, and he was kind and charitable, and he was naturally warm-hearted. As long as there is a little surplus wealth in the family, Li Zitong will take it out to help the villagers. Therefore, Li Zitong has a pretty good reputation among the townships. But there is one point, Li Zitong is narrow-minded and will repay, which also leads to polarization in his personality:

Less poor and cheaper, fish hunting as a thing. In the township, those who see Ban Bai will replace him. If you are good at giving money, your family has no accumulation, and your grievances will be repaid. ("Old Tang Book: The Biography of Li Zi")

In the last years of the great cause, the rebels in Shandong swarmed. At that time, in the Changbai Mountain area, there was a leader of the peasant rebel army, named Zuo Caixiang, who called himself the Duke of Boshan and occupied the mountain as the king. Therefore, Li Zitong came to Zuo Caixiang and quickly won his appreciation. However, the tree is a big trick. Because Li Zitong's personal ability was too outstanding, the limelight overshadowed his boss Zuo Caixiang, and he was naturally suspicious of Zuo Caixiang, and began to squeeze out Li Zitong everywhere.

There was no way, Li Zitong could only lead his subordinates, leave Zuo Caixiang, cross the Huai River, rendezvous with Du Fuwei, and switch to Du Fuwei's command. Although, Li Zitong temporarily begged for a living under Du Fuwei. However, this person is ambitious and unwilling to rely on others forever. After a long time, Li Zitong became rebellious, and even wanted to take the opportunity to annex Du Fuwei's territory and subordinates and take it for himself.

In October of the 11th year of the Great Cause (615), Li Zitong plotted to assassinate Du Fuwei and sent troops to attack Du Fuwei's station. Du Fuwei was caught off guard, and in the melee, Du Fuwei was injured and fell from his horse, and his life hung by a thread. At the critical moment, Wang Xiongdan, a general under Du Fuwei, carried Du Fuwei on his back, fled to a reed swing, gathered the remnants of the army, and regathered together.

At this time, Sui Cheng (the sixth son of the future Hu'er) led the official army, suddenly covered up and attacked Du Fuwei's department. As a result, Du Fuwei suffered a heavy blow and his troops were defeated. In the end, fortunately, Wang Xiong personally led more than ten guards, sacrificed their lives to protect each other, and fought desperately with the Sui army to protect Du Fuwei from the encirclement.

After breaking Du Fuwei, Lai Zhen immediately turned the gun and attacked Li Zitong, breaking him in a battle. After the defeat, Li Zitong led the remnants of the army, retreated all the way, and fled to Hailing (now Taizhou, Jiangsu). Although Li Zitong was frustrated for a while, this did not hurt his vitality. Soon, Li Zitong re-recruited 20,000 soldiers and horses, proclaimed himself a general, and quickly recovered. Soon after, Li Zitong proclaimed himself the king of Chu and divided one side.

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, and the northern heroes competed for hegemony in the Central Plains. Similarly, the Jianghuai region, located in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, has never stopped. With the successive rise of Du Fuwei, Li Zitong and Shen Faxing, the "Big Three" in the Jianghuai region have been formed, standing on their feet. Obviously, Du Fuwei, Li Zitong, Shen Faxing and other Jianghuai three heroes are all determined to win the crown of the lord of Jiangnan. Therefore, between the "Big Three", there will inevitably be a rush and competition.

So, what was the military situation in the Jianghuai region like at that time? Generally speaking, it is mainly a contest between the "Big Three", and a contest between the remnants of the Sui Dynasty and the "Big Three". In this process, the Li Tang Dynasty played a role in fueling the flames, taking advantage of the conflict of interests between the "three giants" to provoke the struggle between the three parties, and gradually achieve the intention of dividing and disintegrating the Jianghuai heroes.

Since the rise of the "Big Three", the situation in the Jianghuai region has changed suddenly. At that time, Du Fuwei occupied Liyang, Chen Ling guarded Jiangdu, Li Zitong occupied Hailing, and the three forces were all eyeing the Jianghuai region. At the same time, Shen Fa's ambition to build the capital is not small.

Among these four forces, Du Fuwei, Li Zitong, and Shen Faxing are the emerging Jianghuai Three Heroes; Chen Ling, on the other hand, was a remnant of the Sui Dynasty. Chen Ling, who was originally the right imperial guard general of the Sui Dynasty, led 8,000 elite soldiers to crusade against Du Fuwei, but was defeated by Du Fuwei and fled back to Jiangdu alone.

Later, in March of the second year of Yining (618), Jiangdu mutinied, and after Yu Wenhua killed Emperor Yang of Sui, he naturally led 100,000 Xiaoguo to embark on the road back to his hometown in Guanzhong. Therefore, Jiang must have someone to stay behind. As a result, Yu Wenhua appointed Chen Ling, the general of Zuo Wuwei, as the Taishou of Jiangdu and guarded Jiangdu. Yu Wenhua's idea is very simple, if the west returns to Guanzhong is not smooth, he can return to Jiangdu at any time.

Of course, not long after Yu Wenhua left, Chen Ling immediately returned to the Sui Dynasty. As we all know, the Sui Dynasty had already existed in name only at this time. After Li Yuan conquered Chang'an, he supported Yang Yu, the acting king, as the emperor and monopolized power. Therefore, it is not so much that Chen Ling returned to the Sui Dynasty as to surrender to Li Yuan.

At that time, Li Yuan had just conquered Chang'an, and his main energy was still on Jingluo Guanzhong and Li Tang's founding of the country. However, JAC cannot relax either. Since Chen Ling is attached, you might as well take advantage of it. Through Chen Ling's chess piece, he contained the "Big Three" of Jianghuai and provoked a war between them, causing them to lose both. Therefore, in the name of the Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan appointed Chen Ling as the governor and ordered him to continue to garrison the Jiangdu and deal with the Jianghuai Sanxiong.

The problem is that the strategic location of the Jiangdu guarded by Chen Ling is too important, this is the land of Longxing of Emperor Yang of Sui, the center of the Sui Dynasty's rule in the south. Therefore, Jiangdu naturally became the object of competition among the southern heroes, and everyone wanted to eat this piece of fat. So, who opened their mouth first? Li Zitong.

In September of the second year of Wude (619), Li Zitong personally led a large army to surround the Jiangdu city defended by Chen Ling, intending to break through the Jiangdu in one fell swoop. Chen Ling knew that his troops were weak and he was definitely not Li Zitong's opponent. What to do? I had to seek foreign help and ask Du Fuwei and Shen Faxing for help. After all, both of them had been canonized by the Sui Dynasty, and they would give themselves some face.

Therefore, Chen Ling sent hostages to Du Fuwei and Shen Faxing, expressing his sincerity and hoping to get support. Originally, for Jiangdu, Du Fuwei and Shen Faxing, they were also salivating, but they were unexpectedly preempted by Li Zitong, so they were naturally unhappy. Soon, Du Fuwei led his army to come to the rescue. Subsequently, Shen Faxing ordered his son Shen Lun to have tens of thousands of generals, and together with Du Fuwei, he rushed to the aid of Jiangdu and attacked Li Zitong.

After the two armies arrived near Jiangdu, Du Fuwei garrisoned in Qingliu and Shen Lun garrisoned in Yangzi. Originally, Li Zitong concentrated his forces and attacked Jiangdu. However, who would have thought that Du Fuwei and Shen Faxing suddenly sent troops, and the situation became not optimistic. In the face of the sudden two-way army of Du Fuwei and Shen Faxing, how should Li Zitong respond?

At this time, Li Zitong's strategist Mao Wenshen offered him a plan, that is, to discord, sow discord between Du Fuwei and Shen Lun, and make them distrust each other. How to implement the divisive plan? Li Zitong adopted the advice of the strategist Mao Wenshen, screened a group of Jiangnan people in the army, and asked them to pretend to be Shen Lun's subordinates, and then attacked Du Fuwei's camp at night without knowing it.

Du Fuwei didn't know that it was Li Zitong's trick, and he was furious, thinking that Shen Lun did it. As a result, Du Fuwei indiscriminately sent troops to attack Shen Lun's department as a sign of "revenge". Shen Lun was attacked for no reason, and he was not to be outdone, and immediately sent troops to counterattack. As a result, the two armies of Du and Shen began to fight each other, suspicious of each other, and each supported the army to confront each other, but ignored Li Zitong's siege of Jiangdu:

Zitong Nayan Mao Wenshen offered advice, recruited Jiangnan people to deceive as Lun soldiers, attacked the Fuwei camp at night, Fu Wei was angry, and the repatriation troops attacked Lun. Because the two of them are suspicious of each other, they dare not be advanced. (Information Governance Guide)

In this way, Li Zitong's goal was achieved, taking advantage of the discord between Du and Shen, and there was no time to take care of others, Li Zitong concentrated the elite of the whole army and stormed Jiangdu. In the end, the city of Jiangdu was broken, and Chen Ling broke through the siege and fled to Du Fuwei. After that, Li Zitong led the army into the city of Jiangdu in a big way, and took advantage of the victory to attack, and attacked Shen Lun's department, and the Shen army was defeated. Du Fuwei saw that Jiangdu had fallen, Shen Lun was defeated, and it was meaningless to fight again, even if he was unwilling, he could only lead his troops to withdraw in frustration.

After the occupation of Jiangdu, Li Zitong's power was greatly expanded. Until this time, Li Zitong, who was complacent, decided to formally establish the regime and start anew. In September of the second year of Wude (619), Li Zitong became the emperor in Jiangdu, and the country was named "Wu", and the Ming Dynasty was established.

Therefore, among the "Big Three" of Jianghuai, Li Zitong was the first to claim the emperor and establish the country. Soon after Li Zitong became emperor, the Danyang thief Shuai Le Botong led more than 10,000 men and horses to surrender to Li Zitong. Li Zitong was overjoyed and appointed Lebotong as the left servant. At this time, Li Zitong wanted the wind to be windy, to be rainy, and the momentum seemed to overshadow Du Fuwei and Shen Faxing, and he became the emperor of the soil on his own territory.

In the first battle of Jiangdu, Li Zitong won, Shen Faxing lost, and Du Fuwei withdrew. The contest between the "Big Three" ended temporarily with the defeat of the two strong. Especially Du Fuwei, originally, among the three heroes of Jianghuai, he was the first to develop. But now, Li Zitong and Shen Faxing have come from behind, and they have been played by Li Zitong many times, losing troops and losing generals, and allowing Li Zitong to capture Jiangdu. It can be said that Duvowe is the one who suffers the most.

Du Fuwei, who suffered a heavy setback, began to think about the next way out at this time. After a struggle of ideas, in the end, Du Fuwei made a difficult decision: to surrender to Tang. After the Battle of Jiangdu, Du Fuwei took the initiative to ask the Tang Dynasty to surrender. At the same time, the Tang Dynasty also signaled to Du Fuwei that it wanted to recruit him.

When Du Fuwei, Li Zitong, and Shen Faxing were inextricably fighting, at the same time, in the Guanzhong area, the Li Tang Dynasty was founded and officially began the journey of dominating the world. It's just that at that time, the main energy of the Tang Dynasty was all on sweeping away the northern heroes. However, this does not mean that the Tang Dynasty completely ignored the situation in Jianghuai. On the contrary, from beginning to end, Li Tang has been paying attention to the development of the situation in Jianghuai.

Tang Gaozu Li Yuan found that among the three giants of Jianghuai, in order to compete for the Jianghuai region, they fought fiercely all year round, and the battle was bloody. It is precisely because of this that Tang Gaozu formulated a strategy of division and disintegration, taking advantage of the contradictions between the three giants, throwing Chen Ling as a bait, causing the three heroes to bite each other, weakening their strength, and alleviating certain difficulties for the Tang army to go south in the future. In the same way, recruiting Du Fuwei is also an important measure for Li Tang's differentiation strategy.

So, why did Du Fuwei choose to descend to Tang? At that time, the Tang Dynasty had just pacified the northwest, eliminated the two major regimes of the Western Qin Xue clan and the Hexi Li Rail, and was making every effort to deal with Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang. At the same time, Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande in the Central Plains were also eyeing the Tang Dynasty. In other words, the unification war of the Tang Dynasty was just beginning. Li Tang is only one of the many secessionist regimes, and it is still unknown whether he can dominate the world.

In this case, Du Fuwei's choice to descend to Tang is precisely his cleverness. First of all, Du Fuwei could see that sooner or later the Tang Dynasty would unify the north. Once Li Tang takes the north, he will inevitably move south, pointing directly at Jianghuai. Instead of being directly opposed to the Tang Dynasty, it is better to take the initiative to surrender and sell it to the Tang Dynasty. Maybe when the time comes, he can also rule the river with the Li Tang Dynasty and continue to rule the Jianghuai.

Secondly, Du Fuwei did not expect to dominate the world, he just hoped to sweep away Jianghuai and become the lord of the south, nothing more. However, Li Zitong and Shen Faxing's big sitting has undoubtedly become his biggest obstacle. Therefore, Du Fuwei needed the support of the Tang Dynasty, and through the power of the Tang Dynasty, he destroyed the two old enemies of Li Zitong and Shen Faxing and occupied Jianghuai.

For the Li Tang Dynasty, recruiting Du Fuwei was just the right time to use the soldiers and horses in Du Fuwei's hands to take the opportunity to eliminate the two forces of Li Zitong and Shen Faxing. Even if they can't completely eliminate Li and Shen, they can still make Jianghuai Sanxiong's vitality greatly damaged. When the Jianghuai Sanxiong is exhausted, the main force of the Tang army will go south, and it will definitely be able to level the Jianghuai without much effort. It is equivalent to saying that there is a relationship between the two sides that use each other.

On September 12 of the second year of Wude (619), Du Fuwei announced his attachment to Li Tang. In this regard, the Tang Dynasty naturally accepted it gladly. Soon, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan canonized Du Fuwei, and then appointed Du Fuwei as the ambassador of Huainan pacification and the governor of Hezhou. It should be said that the alliance between the two sides has basically been established.

Of course, Du Fuwei was attached to the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty canonized Du Fuwei. This kind of relationship between the monarch and the minister is only a superficial relationship between the monarch and the minister. The Tang Dynasty could not directly administer Du Fuwei's territory. And Du Fuwei still controls his territory and army in Jianghuai.

In the blink of an eye, it was the third year of Wude (620). This year, the general trend of the world has changed dramatically again. In the Central Plains, the Li and Tang dynasties pacified the northwest and consolidated Guanzhong, forming a three-legged trend of Tang, Zheng and Xia. Tang Gaozu Li Yuan also began to compete with Emperor Zheng Shichong and Xia King Dou Jiande for the lord of the Central Plains. During the same period, the three giants of Jianghuai, represented by Du Fuwei, Li Zitong, and Shen Faxing, were also in full swing to confront each other. On both sides of the north and the south, a three-legged situation emerged at the same time.

In this year, that is, in June of the third year of Wude (620), Li Shimin, the king of Qin, led a large army to level the forces of Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang, and achieved the "Great Victory in Hedong" and recovered Taiyuan; After that, the Li Tang Dynasty actively planned to go east out of Tongguan and conquer Luoyang. At this critical moment, the Tang Dynasty suddenly issued an edict to Jianghuai. It turned out that this was Tang Gaozu's new appointment to Du Fuwei, who was nominally attached to Li Tang.

Tang Gaozu passed on the edict to Jianghuai, appointed the governor of Hezhou, the southeast road Xingtai Shangshu Ling, the Chu king Du Fuwei as the envoy, the governor of the Jianghuai south of the military, Yangzhou Thorn History, the southeast road Xingtai Shangshu Ling, Huainan Province pacification envoy, into the king of Wu, the surname of the country Li. At the same time, Du Fuwei's friend and right-hand man Fu Gongqi was also appointed by the Tang Dynasty as the left servant of Xingtai and was crowned the Duke of Shu. This series of official titles is enough to see the importance that the Tang Dynasty attached to Du Fuwei.

The Tang Dynasty not only crowned Du Fuwei with a different surname, but also gave the country a surname. With such a favor, Li Yuan wanted to tie Du Fuwei firmly to Datang in this way, and he wanted to tell him that Datang would not forget you. And, with this method, he inspired Du Fuwei to send troops to defeat Li Zitong and Shen Faxing.

After subjugating to Li Tang, Du Fuwei's power was temporarily restored. Therefore, Du Fuwei began to think about the next move, which was to destroy Li Zitong. Li Zitong was the first of the three Jianghuai heroes to publicly claim the emperor, and he was also the most powerful. If Du Fuwei wants to sweep away Jianghuai, he must first kill Li Zitong, a strong enemy. What's more, Li Zitong has defeated Du Fuwei many times, which made the two form an indissoluble feud.

However, without waiting for Du Fuwei to attack, Li Zitong took the lead. It's just that Li Zitong did not start a war with Du Fuwei, but aimed at another of the "Big Three" - Shen Faxing. Among the three heroes of Jianghuai, Shen Faxing's strength is the weakest, sandwiched between Du Fuwei and Li Zitong, and it is difficult to survive. Therefore, whether it is Du Fuwei or any one of Li Zitong, making a move on him is a fatal blow to Shen Faxing.

In December of the third year of Wude (620), at this time, in the Central Plains, Li Shimin personally led the main force of 100,000 Tang troops to conquer Luoyang, and after several fierce battles, successfully defeated Wang Shichong's main force and surrounded Luoyang. Compared with the life and death under Luoyang City, the Jianghuai region is not much better.

In December of that year, Li Zitong launched an attack on Shen Faxing, took the initiative to lead the army to cross the river, attacked Shen Faxing's headquarters, and directly took Jingkou (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu). Originally, Shen Faxing's strength was the weakest of the three heroes of Jianghuai. Coupled with several defeats, he suffered heavy losses.

The loss of Jingkou caused the entire front of the Shen Department to be in jeopardy. In the face of Li Zitong's large-scale attack, Shen Faxing knew that it was difficult to resist, but he still didn't want to sit still and was ready to fight hard. So, Shen Faxing appointed his generals to shoot Jiang Yuanchao and lead the troops to resist Li Zitong. The two armies fought in Yuting, and the result can be imagined, the Shen army was defeated, and Jiang Yuanchao was killed in battle. Until this moment, Shen Faxing can be said to have gone to the general trend.

First lost the military town of Jingkou, and then the defeat of Yuting, and the main force was lost. There was no way, Shen Faxing had no choice but to abandon the Biling and flee to Wu County. As soon as Shen Faxing fled, the Danyang, Biling and other counties under his jurisdiction surrendered to Li Zitong one after another. Li Zitong occupied Shen Faxing's original territory and appointed Shen Faxing's mansion Peng Li Baiyao as the internal history servant and the country's sacrificial wine. After this defeat, Shen Faxing, one of the three heroes of Jianghuai, suffered a heavy blow, and only Surviving was left:

It was a year old, Li Zitong crossed the river to attack Shen Faxing and took Jingkou. Fa Xing sent his servants to shoot Jiang Yuanchao to refuse, and fought in Yuting, Yuan Chao was defeated and died, and Fa Xing abandoned Biling and went to Wu County. As a result, Danyang, Biling and other counties all descended to Zitong. Zitong used the Faxing Mansion Peng Li Baiyao as the internal history waiter and the national son sacrificial wine. (Information Governance Guide)

As soon as Shen Faxing was defeated, only Du Fuwei and Li Zitong were left in the Jianghuai region, and it was inevitable that there would be a big war between the two sides. Originally, Du Fuwei had already planned to fight Li Zitong with his troops. Unexpectedly, Li Zitong took the lead again. Li Zitong defeated Shen Faxing, and his power increased greatly, so he naturally had to make a move against Du Fuwei next. Therefore, Du Fuwei could not be allowed to hesitate, and he had to take the initiative to attack before Li Zitong made a move.

Therefore, Du Fuwei planned to take advantage of Li Zitong's new victory, immersed in joy, and when his precautions were lax, he suddenly launched an attack and caught him off guard. Soon after, Du Fuwei sent the left servant of Xingtai to shoot Fu Gongyi, and the deputy generals Kan Liang and Wang Xiongdan, led thousands of elites to attack Li Zitong.

This time, Du Fuwei bet on all the family funds, wanting to compete with Li Zitong. Fu Gongqi led the army to cross the river, conquered Danyang in one fell swoop, and then entered Tunlishui. It was here that Li Zitong led tens of thousands of people to meet Fu Gongqi in a narrow way, and the two sides launched an encounter with a huge disparity in strength.

Li Zitong has tens of thousands of troops in his hands, and in terms of the number of troops, he has an overwhelming advantage over Fugong Qi. However, Fu Gongyi was not timid at all and decided to fight against the odds. Therefore, Fu Gongyi selected a thousand elite armor in the army, holding a long sword in his hand, as a striker; At the same time, he selected a thousand people, followed closely behind, and played the role of "overseer". In addition, Fu Gongqi issued an extremely strict military order: "Those who retreat will be beheaded." "As for the auxiliary princess, he personally led the main force and pressed the formation for the whole army. The whole army is up and down, there is no advance or retreat, and Li Zitong fights.

At the beginning of the battle, Li Zitong lined up in a phalanx to meet the enemy. I never thought that Fu Gongyi would dare to attack from the front with only thousands of dead soldiers. First of all, the more than 1,000 long swordsmen who were the vanguards fought desperately with Li Zitong's troops at all costs; Immediately afterwards, Fu Gongqi commanded the follow-up troops and outflanked them from the left and right flanks. In the face of such a fierce attack, even if Li Zitong had a large number of troops, it was difficult to parry for a while, so he could only lead his troops to defeat.

Seeing Li Zitong defeated, Fu Gongqi immediately led his troops and chased after him. However, he ignored one point, he had thousands of men in his hands, and his troops were not superior at all, and once he pursued deeply, it was very easy for the opponent to counterattack. At this point, a dramatic scene occurred.

On the way to retreat, Li Zitong saw Fu Gongqi leading the army to pursue, and felt that God would help me. At the same time, his troops have also regained their vitality. Therefore, under the command of Li Zitong, his subordinates quickly launched a counterattack against Fu Gongyi. Fu Gong Yi was caught off guard, but was defeated by Li Zitong, who was retreating, and had to withdraw his army and return, without fighting. What was supposed to be a winning thing, in the end, the cooked duck flew.

At this point, everyone may think that the story should be over, and Fu Gongyi's dispatch of troops this time must be a failure. However, the tide of the war has been reversed. At this moment, the appearance of a person changed the entire battle situation, and he was the deputy general of Fu Gongqi - Wang Xiongdan. Wang Xiongdan is Du Fuwei's righteous son, this person has courage and knowledge, once in the chaos of the army, saved Du Fuwei's life, is a general in Du Fuwei's camp.

Fu Gongyi was defeated and returned to the camp, and the morale of the whole army was depressed. At this time, Wang Xiongdan actually proposed to Fu Gongqi that taking advantage of Li Zitong's recent victory and relaxing his vigilance, he dispatched elite troops to attack the enemy's camp at night.

Zitong has no barriers, and it is ruthless in the first victory, and it can be broken by taking advantage of its unpreparedness. (Information Governance Guide)

It must be admitted that Wang Xiongdan's idea is indeed very bold. However, Fu Gongqi may have experienced defeat and was so distraught that he did not take his advice. Wang Xiong saw that since Fu Gongqi did not agree, he simply did it alone. That night, Wang Xiongtan led hundreds of private soldiers to quietly approach Li Zitong's camp and suddenly launched an attack.

Wang Xiong made a surprise attack on the enemy camp, followed the direction of the wind, and set fires everywhere. Suddenly, in Li Zitong's camp, the flames soared into the sky, and thousands of Li Zitong's soldiers were captured on the spot. Until this time, Fu Gongqi finally mustered up his courage and immediately sent troops to cooperate with Wang Xiongtan to attack the enemy camp.

For a time, Li Zitong's army was defeated, and the army ran out of grain and grass, and the soldiers had no fighting spirit. In desperation, Li Zitong had to make the same choice as Shen Faxing, abandon Jiangdu, and go to Jingkou. Then, Du Fuwei quickly encroached on a large area of Li Zitong's territory, and all the land in Jiangxi belonged to Du Fuwei. Soon, Du Fuwei moved to Danyang. After some hard fighting, Du Fuwei finally came to the bitter end and defeated his old enemy Li Zitong:

Gong Yi is a thousand people, and the long knife is the striker; He also made a thousand people follow him, saying, "If there is a retreat, he will be beheaded." "The rest of the self-handsome people are back behind. Zitong went forward for Fang Chen, Gong Yi forwarded thousands of people to fight to the death, Gong Yi reopened the left and right wings to hit it, Zitong was defeated, Gong Yi chased him, but he was defeated, and he did not come out of the wall. Wang Xiong said: "Zitong has no barriers, and it is ruthless in the first victory, and it can be broken by taking advantage of its unpreparedness." "Gong Yi did not obey. Xiong Dan attacked it at night with hundreds of his personal belongings, and because of the arson of the wind, Zitong was defeated, and thousands of his deaths were dropped. Zitong eats all the food, abandons Jiangdu, Baojingkou, and the land of Jiangxi enters Fuwei, and Fuwei migrates to Danyang. (Information Governance Guide)

Let's talk about Li Zitong's situation.

Originally, Li Zitong had previously sent troops on a large scale and defeated Shen Faxing, which further expanded his power. However, the battle with Du Fuwei instantly knocked him back to his original form, and after decades of hard work, he returned to the pre-liberation period overnight, not only losing his elite, but also losing a large amount of territory. This is undoubtedly a heavy blow to Li Zitong, and it is very likely that after this battle, it will be difficult for him to have a chance to turn over.

In the situation of losing his division and losing his territory, Li Zitong considered what to do next? After suffering a fiasco, Li Zitong led the rest of the troops to the east of Taihu Lake, constantly collecting remnants of troops along the way, and regathering 20,000 soldiers and horses. So, where will Li Zitong develop next?

After consideration, Li Zitong believes that if he starts a war with Du Fuwei again and tries to recover the lost territory, it is obviously unrealistic, at least for the time being, he will not be able to defeat Du Fuwei. In contrast, Shen Faxing, who had fled to Wu County, had just experienced a major defeat and did not have any effective resistance at all. If you concentrate your forces at this time, destroy Shen Faxing, and annex his territory, you may still have a chance to make a comeback. Therefore, Li Zitong made a decision, I can't beat Du Fuwei, can't I beat him Shen Faxing, so I will fight Shen Faxing.

At that time, Shen Faxing was cowering in Wu County. As a result, Li Zitong led the army to attack Wu County and broke Shen Faxing. In the end, the city of Wujun was broken, and Shen Faxing fled again, abandoning the city with hundreds of followers on the left and right. The loss of Wu Jun marks that all of Shen Faxing's family resources have been lost, and he is really a lost dog now.

After escaping from Wu County, Shen Faxing planned to lead the remnants of his army to defect to Wenren Sui'an, the leader of a local peasant rebel army. Knowing that Shen Faxing had come to defect, Sui An immediately dispatched his general Ye Xiaobian to meet him. Unexpectedly, halfway through, Shen Faxing suddenly repented, he didn't want to send someone under the fence. Therefore, Shen Faxing was ready to kill Ye Xiaobi, annex his troops, and then switch to Huiji to take the opportunity to restore his strength.

The plan was good, but unfortunately, the first step was broken. Out of nowhere, the news leaked, and Ye Xiaobian, who was in charge of answering, sensed Shen Faxing's conspiracy and immediately deployed the army, intending to exterminate Shen Faxing. At the end of the mountain, Shen Faxing finally understood that his general trend had gone, and in desperation, he could only choose to commit suicide by throwing himself into the water, ending his life of ups and downs. It can be said that among the "Big Three" of Jianghuai, Shen Faxing is the first hero to perish.

After Shen Faxing committed suicide by throwing himself into the water, Li Zitong took the opportunity to occupy all of Shen Faxing's territory. By defeating Shen Faxing, Li Zitong miraculously made a comeback and the army recovered. Soon, Li Zitong led his ministers to move the capital to Yuhang, and collected Shen Faxing's hometown. According to the records of "Zizhi Tongjian", the vast area of "Taihu Lake in the north, Lingling in the south, Baohuiji in the east, and Xuancheng in the west" is occupied by Li Zitong.

Roughly speaking, from the end of the Sui Dynasty to the third year of Tang Wude (620), the Jianghuai region was surging, and the "three giants" of Jianghuai represented by Du Fuwei, Li Zitong and Shen Faxing rose one after another, and launched a fierce competition for the lord of Jianghuai, each of which was inseparable.

In response to this situation, the Li Tang Dynasty, which was fighting fiercely with the northern powers, did not relax its attention to Jianghuai. The Tang Dynasty prescribed the right medicine, adopted the strategy of differentiation and disintegration, and took advantage of the contradictions between the three heroes of Jianghuai to make them attack each other, resulting in a situation where the three heroes were defeated and injured, so that the Tang army could break through and eliminate them one by one.

Indeed, this strategy of the Tang Dynasty has received very considerable results. First of all, Li Tang recruited Du Fuwei and guided Du Fuwei to attack Li Zitong and break Li Zitong; Then, Li Zitong was unwilling to fail, and hit Shen Faxing hard in one fell swoop, forcing Shen Faxing to commit suicide in defeat, and he took the opportunity to annex Shen's territory. Li Tang did not spend a single soldier, so that the "three giants" of Jianghuai were the first to fold, and under the pretense of foreign enemies, they eliminated a military hidden danger that would pacify Jiangnan in the future.

Shen Faxing fell, and Li Zitong took the opportunity to annex Shen's hometown, resurrected with blood, and came back from the dead. Therefore, as soon as Shen Faxing died, the situation of the three heroes standing side by side in the Jianghuai region immediately changed, and it became a confrontation between Du Fuwei and Li Zitong. Everyone knows that there will be a decisive battle between Du Fuwei and Li Zitong after all. The outcome of this decisive battle is directly related to the final ownership of the lord of Jianghuai.

So, what is the result of the decisive battle between Du Fuwei and Li Zitong? In the competition between Du Fuwei and Li Zitong, what vital role did the Li Tang Dynasty, which has been sitting firmly behind the scenes and watching the tiger fight? With the defeat of Li Zitong, how did the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and Du Fuwei change in terms of "monarchs and ministers"? In the end, why did Du Fuwei take the initiative to enter the court and be willing to be a "caged bird" under the supervision of Tang Gaozu?