While preparing for the Northern Expedition to Taiyuan, Chen Sangliang made another important military decision. Ma Sanbao, deputy general manager of the Sui Army's West Route Army, reported to Chen Sangliang that Li Gui, who claimed to be Emperor Liang, had water in his head. He had listened to the flattering words of a Hu wizard in the first year and believed that God would send him a beautiful girl from the sky. , wasted money and people to build a jade maiden platform in Liangzhou to wait for the arrival of the goddess, but the goddess did not come, and famine came first. The main purpose of joining forces with Xue Ju to attack Pingliang was also to grab grain and alleviate the urgent need. After the failure, the famine in the control area became more serious. After Ma Sanbao and Jiang Mo basically took over Xue Ju's territory, they saw a rare opportunity, so they took advantage of the approaching spring plowing to launch an attack on Li Gui. They did not seek to defeat Li Gui, but just to delay the farming season in the areas controlled by Li Gui's army and not to give him any crops. The chances of them planting successfully. Not bad, driving Xue Ju to surrender his troops as the vanguard, Ma Sanbao successfully broke through Jincheng Pass, and came to Huining, an important grain-producing area in Wuwei County, forcing Li Gui to send troops to rescue Huining, which delayed the farming season. At the same time, the Hu people under Li Gui's rule also took the initiative to contact the Sui army, expressing their willingness to act as internal agents to help the Sui army kill Li Gui. Ma Sanbao himself was proficient in the Hu language, and his deputy He Panren was simply a Hu person. After understanding, it was discovered that these Hu people were not Ma Sanbao pretended to surrender because he was really dissatisfied with Li Gui's brutal rule and in order to reopen the Silk Road to facilitate business. Ma Sanbao felt that the opportunity was rare, so he sent a memorial to Chen Sanbao, asking Chen Sanbao for permission to launch an attack on Li Gui. An all-out war was launched, waiting for an opportunity to eliminate Li Gui and recover the five counties of Xiliang. Although he was very wary of the Hu people, but considering that once the five remote counties of Xiliang were separated from the central government for too long, it would definitely give foreigners more opportunities to infiltrate and invade, Chen Sangliang still agreed to Ma Sanbao's petition and conferred the title Ma Sanbao was the general manager of the march to Xiliang Road. He allowed him to launch the Western Expedition, reinforced his troops and provided him with food and grass supplies, and entrusted all the Xiliang war to his oldest accomplice and lackey. In addition, Chen Sangliang accepted the offer of An Xinggui, an official from Daxing, and sent An Xinggui, who was from a wealthy family in Wuwei, back to Wuwei to act as a spy. He asked An Xinggui to pretend to escape and report to Li Gui, defrauding Li Gui's trust and taking the opportunity to rebel against Li Gui. His subordinates killed Li Gui. ¡ª¡ªIf this thing goes through, Chen Sangliang will certainly give An Xinggui a high official title. If it doesn't go through, Chen Sangliang will also give An Xinggui a posthumous title. Everyone will deal fairly and not take advantage of An Xinggui. Li Gui's matter can basically end here. Li Gui, who is restricted by climate, environment and resources, is destined to not be able to make big waves, and is not worthy of Chen Sangliang's much concern. What Chen Sangliang is most concerned about at the moment is, The fighting situation in Queshu Valley battlefield is still the same. But what Chen Sangliang never expected before was that the development direction of the Queshu Valley war would completely deviate from his previous estimates and expectations, and might even disrupt his overall plan for the Northern Expedition to Taiyuan. Chen Sangliang's previous order to Liu Heitai was a bluff, creating the illusion that the main force of the Sui army could launch an attack on Taiyuan at any time, causing the Taiyuan army to enter a state of full combat readiness prematurely and tire the enemy. The twelve gates would be ignited with one charge. The exploded pig iron cannon was just a prop used to intimidate the Li brothers. But what Chen Sangliang never expected was that due to a slight mistake, his bluffing plan would go on a completely different track, causing Huo Yi and Sui troops to fight Li Er in advance, and then recruit the main force of the Taiyuan army to pull The prelude to the decisive battle between the main force of the Taiyuan Army and the Sui Army in Hedong. Judging from the reports from various overt and covert channels, Chen Sangliang discovered that Liu Heitai was somewhat involuntarily involved in this matter. It was entirely because of Li Er's idea to crack down on fake artillery that he started the war. He abandoned the artillery and forced the Taiyuan Army and Huo Yisui to The army was forced to engage in a war of attrition. At the same time, Liu Heitai also reported his plans to Chen Sangliang, determined to use his own army to compete with the main force of the Taiyuan Army first, and exhaust the army more effectively. The main force of the Taiyuan Army and the consumption of their combat power will allow the main force of the Sui Army to fight better and more easily during the Northern Expedition in the future. To put it bluntly, it means sacrificing the individual to achieve the overall situation, letting the Sui army in Hedong bleed and sweat first, so that the main force of the Sui army will bleed and sweat less in the future. The younger brother endured hardships by himself, tying his head to his belt and working hard so that the boss could easily take advantage of the situation in the future. The boss naturally likes such a younger brother, and Chen Sangliang also likes Liu Heitai's loyalty. But Chen Sangliang's liking does not mean that Chen Sangliang's other younger brothers also like him. As a general, he quickly climbed to the position of commander-in-chief of the Hedong Military Region. Liu Heitai was already extremely jealous, and now Liu Heitai It also disrupted Chen Sangliang's Northern Expedition plan, causing many Sui soldiers to die on the Queshu Valley battlefield. Complaints and strange words against Liu Heitai will naturally appear no matter what, insinuations and accusations that Liu Heitai was incompetent and caused so-called casualties to the soldiers. Official documents also began to appear on Chen Sangliang's desk. Chen Sangliang knew very well whether Liu Heitai could do the job. Chen Sangliang also knew whether the fallen soldiers in the Queshu Valley battle were in vain, and he turned a blind eye to these sour documents. But what happened next made Chen Sangliang unable to pretend that he couldn't see or hear. The situation seemed to be very critical. Huo Shiju, the deputy general manager of the Hedong Road March, a veteran of the Sui Army, and Ziqi, the Linfen prefect, jointly reported that Taiyuan Army General Yin Kaishan led an army of 5,000 people southward to attack Yang County and Yueyang County in the middle of Linfen County. The county was in emergency, and Huo Shiju had to secure Linfen City, which had a large amount of grain and military supplies. He did not dare to risk sending troops to rescue, so he could only ask Liu Heitai for orders, but Liu Heitai directly replied to Huo Shiju and Wei Ziqi, saying that there was no need to rescue these two people. It¡¯s a county town. If the Taiyuan Army likes it, feel free to take it! Before the matter was over, Liu Heitai directly gave orders to let the two counties fall. Huo Shiju and Wei Ziqi also reported an even more shocking thing - they heard rumors that Liu Heitai was responsible for the war in Queshu Valley. Unfortunately, he was afraid of being held accountable by Chen Sangliang and being surrounded by the main force of the Sui army in Taiyuan, with no hope of breaking out. He was greedy for life and fearful of death, so he secretly contacted the Taiyuan army and begged for surrender, preparing to offer Huoyi City to the Taiyuan army in exchange for his life! This report by Huo Shiju and Wei Ziqi naturally shocked the Sui army decision-makers. Chen Sangliang could no longer pretend to be deaf and dumb. He could only express his position in front of a group of civil and military subordinates, saying that he believed Liu Heitai was absolutely He would not do such a thing, all this is just a shameless estrangement by the Li brothers, and he also expressed his support for Liu Heitai's decision to abandon the defense of Yang County and Yueyang County - with Chen Sangliang's current strength, he has no need for it long ago. Sticking to the gains and losses of one city and one place, if you lose Yangxian and Yueyang, you can get them back in the future. It is worth losing two small counties temporarily in exchange for Huoyi and Linfen being as stable as Mount Tai. The most disgusting thing is the alienation plan, and this is the same for the Sui army. After hearing Chen Sangliang's statement, someone soon said: "His Royal Highness, Liu Heitai is a surrendered general of the traitor army. He is capricious. Now he is trapped in the isolated city, facing the main force of the Taiyuan bandit army alone. If the war is not favorable, there is no guarantee that he will not be willing to surrender. " This suggestion attracted many echoes, and even Changsun Wuji, who currently serves in the Ministry of Internal History, did not dare to do so. Taking it lightly, he reminded: "Your Highness, people are far apart. Liu Heitai has not been following you for a long time. He is not an old man from your old department" "Shut up!" Chen Sangliang finally found a punching bag and roared at his brother-in-law. : "What old man from the old department is not old from the old department? According to you, then in my Tang Dynasty Prime Minister's Office, I can only use the civil and military subordinates I had when I was in Qiaojun? You can count for yourself, how many people are there in my prime minister's office? Can a civil and military official follow me longer than Liu Heita? Can I not even trust them and want to drive them out of the Prime Minister's Office?" Changsun Wuji, who was unlucky enough to be the target, shut up and asked Qu Tutong. However, Chen Sangliang's new lackeys, such as Chen Sangliang, Du Ruhui, Pang Yu and Sun Fuga, who were far less qualified than Liu Heitai, were all moved. They were glad that they followed Chen Sangliang, a generous boss who did not doubt his employment. Chen Sangliang snorted again, and then said to everyone: "Gentlemen, I know you have good intentions, but I can guarantee you that Liu Heitai will not have second thoughts. He is not that kind of person! I think If I treat him as a national scholar, he will repay me as a national scholar!" Everyone shut up and did not dare to remind Chen Sangliang to beware of Liu Heita's rebellion, but they still felt a little dissatisfied in their hearts. Chen Sangliang also knew what everyone was thinking, but Chen Sangliang But Sangliang was speechless - Chen Sangliang couldn't tell everyone that he was a time traveler and that he already knew what kind of character Liu Heitai was, right? Although he could use his authority to suppress everyone's doubts about Liu Heita, the possible dangers in the Hedong battlefield could not be ignored. Even Li Jing, who had not spoken before, said: "Your Highness, the main force of the Taiyuan Army is moving south in a large scale, and the whole county of Linfen is in emergency. We can no longer stick to our previous Northern Expedition plan and must make certain adjustments. Your Majesty believes that it is best to send an army north to Linfen immediately to reinforce Linfen County to ensure the safety of our military supplies and food. We should also appropriately contain the main force of the Taiyuan Army, for Liu Hei. General Tai will share some of the pressure to avoid further deterioration of the situation. ""My ministers think so too," Pang Yu also said quickly: "If something goes wrong in Linfen, Yu Wenhua and Ji, who are stationed in Hanoi, will definitely take advantage of the situation. , making our army even more passive. I asked you to lead an army north to Linfen to rescue the two generals Huo Shiju and Liu Heitai." Pang Yu spoke, and Qu Tutong and Li Jing immediately volunteered to lead their troops north to reinforce Liu Heitai. After Chen Sangliang thought about it for a moment, he shook his head and said: "We have to send a support army to Liu Heita, but there is no need to bother you to go out personally. You all have the experience of leading troops alone to fight. This battle is just a partial division." Containment is not a decisive battle with the Taiyuan bandits. Sending you there would be overkill. What I mean is that by letting one of Cheng Yaojin and Qin Qiong lead the army northward, I will also cultivate their independent abilities so that they can be used in the future. " Considering that there was really not much chance of success in this battle, Pang Yu and Qu Tutong kept their mouths shut. Li Jing did not insist, but nodded considerately and said: "What your Highness said is very true. It should be given to General Cheng and Li Jing. General Qin has an opportunity to lead the army alone. They are all about thirty years old and in the prime of life. Now that they have been trained, they will be of great use to His Highness in the future."At this, Li Jing paused, then smiled and said: "However, it is estimated that both generals want this opportunity. Who to give this opportunity to, Your Highness, I'm afraid it's hard for you to decide." "It doesn't matter, let them decide for themselves." Chen Sang Liang smiled and replied: "If they all want to go and no one is allowed to go, then let them decide who will go. It can be a martial arts competition or drawing lots. Whoever is lucky will go." Everyone laughed. In addition, Chen Sangliang ordered to summon Cheng Yaojin and Qin Qiong, announced his decision to them, and asked them who was willing to lead 10,000 troops north to help Liu Heitai. As expected, Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin Sure enough, they all rushed together, wanting to lead the troops to fight alone. Even brothers and sisters refused to give in to each other, and then decided to challenge the Wu Ding coach without Chen Sangliang opening his mouth! Fortunately, Chen Sangliang changed his mind again. He was afraid that there would be any accidental injuries in the competition between the two generals, so he decided to choose the coach by casting lots. Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin applauded together, and then they couldn't wait to pray to gods and Buddhas to beg them to win. The result of praying to God and praying to Buddha was that Qin Qiong had a better character and won the position of the reinforcement leader. Although Cheng Yaojin was willing to admit defeat and not cheat, he was so regretful that he screamed. Chen Sangliang comforted him with a smile, saying that in the future Cheng Yaojin would definitely be given the same opportunity to compensate, and he ordered Qin Qiong to immediately prepare to send troops, and arranged for Qin Qiong to lead his army to the north to help Liu Heitai two days later. In fact, Chen Sangliang was more willing to let Qin Qiong take the lead, because not only did Qin Qiong have more battlefield experience than Cheng Yaojin, he was also more capable of using his brains in battle and had a heavier personality, and it would be harder for him to face the cunning Li brothers. Suffer. Therefore, after sending Qin Qiong to lead the army north, Chen Sangliang no longer worried about the situation on the Linfen battlefield. He concentrated on dealing with internal affairs and prepared everything that needed to be prepared in advance so that he could have no worries when he led the main force north. Worrying, at the same time, we are also waiting for news about the alliance with the warlords around Taiyuan. The news came first from Liang Shidu, the nearest city. Liang Shidu agreed to accept Chen Sangliang's order and send troops on Chen Sangliang's behalf to attack Lishi County controlled by the Li brothers. After the incident was completed, Lishi County was also returned. To Chen Sangliang, Master Liang was generous enough to send someone to escort Chen Sangliang's envoy to contact Liu Wuzhou to Mayi, showing some sincerity to Chen Sangliang - but the condition was that after the matter was completed, Chen Sangliang The mourner must make him the King of Liang. Chen Sangliang agreed to Liang Shidu's request, considering that Liang Shidu had a strong army and was a great threat to his home base of Daxing. Liang Shidu was overjoyed and agreed to send troops at the same time as the main force of the Sui army. He also immediately handed over the envoy sent by the Li brothers to ask for help to show his sincerity. Then there was news from Liu Wuzhou. Liu Wuzhou agreed to help Chen Sangliang capture Loufan County and Yanmen County. The conditions he offered were that he would be granted a royal title and land in Yanmen County, and he would also send troops to escort Chen Sangliang. Another envoy went to Xujun to contact Luo Yi. Chen Sangliang bargained and agreed to make Liu Wuzhou King of Dingyang, rejecting Liu Wuzhou's land request. There was no reply for a while and a half after the distant letter went north, so it is not yet certain whether Liu Wuzhou will stab the Li brothers in the back. Luo Yi's side was further away, and it was even less likely to receive news in a short period of time. Fortunately, Luo Yi had a record of being kind to Chen Sangliang's envoys before. His refusal to accept Chen Sangliang's recruitment was also an excuse to be alone in Hebei, surrounded by enemies. Dare to be the target of public criticism, so Chen Sangliang estimated that even if Luo Yi would not send troops to help him fight in the eastern part of Taiyuan County, he would not be likely to help the Li brothers and himself. Although there was little hope, because he liked Dou Jiande's upright character very much, Chen Sangliang still gave Dou Jiande a chance to reform. He once again sent an envoy to Linming to contact Dou Jiande and appease him. He sincerely canonized Dou Jiande as King of Ji and asked Dou Jiande sent troops to attack the Li brothers. At the same time, Chen Sangliang also specially arranged for Xiao Shou?, the second son of the uncle of the Great Xiao State, to serve as an envoy to let Dou Jiande know his magnanimity and disregard of past grudges. As a result, Chen Sangliang found that he was slapped in the face again by Dou Jiande, this time much harder than the last time. More than ten days after Qin Qiong sent troops, Yuan Zicai, the Shangdang prefect who was first accepted and submitted to Chen Sangliang, sent an urgent report. It was said that Dou Jiande's 20,000 troops invaded Shangdang County. At the same time, Xiao Shouye also returned to Daxing with Yuan Zicai's messenger. Wiping tears, he said that Dou Jiande not only flatly refused Chen Sangliang's recruitment and canonization, but also scolded him. A bloody man was put into a prison car and taken to the Shangdang to be handed over to Chen Sangliang's subordinates. He was extremely disrespectful to Chen Sangliang. In addition, Dou Jiande also wrote a reply to Chen Sangliang. In the letter, Dou Jiande was very arrogant and appointed Chen Sangliang as the Linming market management official, telling Chen Sangliang that he would not only send troops to help the Li brothers , but also to break through Daxing and capture Chen Sangliang back to Linming to see the vegetable stall, allowing Chen Sangliang to return to the glorious days when he made a living by picking vegetables and leaves. After reading Dou Jiande¡¯s reply, Chen Sangliang couldn¡¯t help but get angry no matter how good his temper was. He also didn¡¯t understand what kind of medicine Dou Jiande had taken. Why should he have trouble with himself? In anger, Chen Sangliang immediately orderedShangdang and Linfen sent orders asking them to closely monitor the movements of Dou Jiande's army, and ordered Qin Qiong to let him try to lure the enemy and find a way to lure Dou Jiande across the Taihang Mountains and wait for death in Linfen County! Then, Chen Sangliang soon discovered that he had done another stupid thing. On the first day of April, when Chen Sangliang was still preparing to send troops for the Northern Expedition in the second half of the month, Li Jing, who was appointed Minister of the Ministry of War, suddenly rushed in. Wudedian, with a somewhat nervous expression, handed a newspaper with chicken feathers on it to Chen Sangliang and said, "Your Highness, the urgent report from Linfen is bad news." "Bad news?" Chen Sangliang was stunned. He said in surprise: "Something happened in Linfen City? It's impossible, isn't Qin Qiong's reinforcements already arriving in Linfen City?" "It's not Linfen City that's in trouble, it's General Qin Qiong." Li Jing said with a somewhat bitter tone: "General Qin and The rebel army Yin Kaishan fought in Yueyang. Although they won the field battle and forced Yin Kaishan to retreat to the city, Dou Jiande's partial army Wang Fubao suddenly came out from Hechuan. General Qin led his army to fight. He was unexpectedly defeated and suffered a lot of losses. Yin Kaishan took advantage of the opportunity. When the troops were sent out, General Qin was forced to retreat to Linfen. "Chen Sangliang's mouth was wide enough to hold two eggs, and he exclaimed, "How is it possible that Qin Qiong was defeated?" "How many troops did the enemy have just now? I can't believe it." Li Jing smiled bitterly and replied: "Your Majesty, you may not believe how many troops there are. It's only three thousand troops!" "Three thousand troops?" Chen Sangliang couldn't believe his ears again, and he was stunned. He said: "How is it possible? Qin Qiong will be defeated by a small number and a large number?" "General Qin Qiong fell into the enemy's arrogance trick." Li Jing lowered his head and replied: "When the bandits and General Qin were fighting, they pretended to be defeated and fled into the mountain road. And deliberately broke into pieces to look like they had no power to fight back. General Qin fell into the trap a little carelessly, thinking that the enemy had been defeated and not being too vigilant. The rebel general Wang Fubao took the opportunity to launch a sneak attack at night after the fifth watch of the general, and led it himself Three hundred elite soldiers, dressed in the uniforms of our army officers, suddenly rushed into our army camp. His other subordinates were also beating drums and trumpets in the mountains to scare our army. Our officers and soldiers did not know how many enemies were coming, and they could not distinguish them in the darkness before dawn. The enemy and we were killed in chaos by the bandit army. When the bandit army came to attack us, our army had no power to fight back." After that, Li Jing added, "Also, General Qin also discovered this. Wang Fubao's troop strength was actually about ten thousand, and he deliberately led only three thousand troops to advance first, just to show the enemy's weakness and make our army underestimate the enemy's carelessness. " Chen Sangliang stood on the spot dumbfounded, and after a long time he cursed. , "Who is this common man Wang Fubao? He is so cunning, even Qin Qiong can be fooled by him!" "Your Highness, have you never heard of Wang Fubao's name?" Li Jing asked in surprise, and then said: "This Wang Fubao is a famous general under Dou Jiande. He fought many important battles during Dou Jiande's growth. Don't you know, Your Highness?" After recalling it carefully, Chen Sangliang found that he had indeed seen Wang Fubao's name in the detailed investigation report. I also vaguely remember that he won many battles under Dou Jiande, but because I had never seen this person on TV or in books in the 21st century, I never paid attention to him. Li Jing over there said again: "Your Highness, when I returned to the Eastern Capital from Mayi, I passed through Hebei and had some contact with Dou Jiande's army. As far as I know, this Wang Fubao is very popular with Dou Jiande's soldiers and soldiers, and among the people. His reputation is also very good. He is a rare general. Although it is unexpected that General Qin Qiong was defeated by him, it is not too surprising. But just after he finished humming, Chen Sangliang suddenly remembered something and hurriedly shouted: "Sun Fujia, hurry up and get Dou Jiande's detailed investigation report immediately." After Sun Fujia agreed, Li Jing was busy Asked again the reason, Chen Sangliang frowned and replied: "I seem to remember that there is such an article in our detailed investigation report, saying that Wang Fubao has a bad relationship with his colleagues and is very marginalized under Dou Jiande, but I don't know if there is any record. Wrong." Li Jing's eyes flashed, and he already understood the evil intentions of the unscrupulous nephew, and said hurriedly: "I hope your highness remembers correctly, if this Wang Fubao is really marginalized by his colleagues under Dou Jiande, then we can deal with this Wang Fubao if we want to. It¡¯s easy to say.¡±