Of course, Zhu Can was escorted back to Taiyuan City by the Sui soldiers. He was escorted quietly to a hidden place outside the north gate of Taiyuan East City. Then he untied the rope from his body and gave him a bloody broken knife. He was forced to go to Taiyuan City with a crossbow. Zhu Can was so angry that he wanted to kill someone, but he did not dare to fight a dozen Sui soldiers with a broken knife with a curled blade. He had no choice but to crawl to the north gate of Taiyuan East City and loudly declared Identity requirements require entry into the city. Fortunately, Zhu Can, who is cruel and easy to kill, is also well-known within the Taiyuan Army. After reporting his identity, the defenders used a hanging basket to hang him on top of the city. After verifying his identity, Zhu Can was not found and was directly sewn into Zhu Can's underwear. After reading the letter, he notified Zhu Can's boss Li Er in accordance with military regulations. The result was just as Zhu Can expected. Although Li Er pretended to believe his explanation that he had fought his way back to Taiyuan, he personally came forward to take him back to Xicheng early the next morning, and took him back to Li Er's home in Xicheng. However, after arriving at a place where there were no outsiders, Li Er immediately revealed his true colors and immediately began to carefully interrogate Zhu Can about his escape. At the same time, Zhu Can also carefully noticed that Li Er's right hand was still pressed on the hilt of the sword. Following Chen Sangliang's instructions, Zhu Can, who knew he could not hide it, took the initiative to confess. He honestly admitted that he was captured by the Sui army, and fabricated a completely nonsense story about his capture, saying that he, Liang Jianfang and others had just escaped into the open area. Surrounded by the Nationalist Army, Liang Jianfang and Wang Huaiwen refused to surrender and were killed one after another. Liu Xiaomou was also snatched away on the spot by the lustful Chen Sangliang. He pretended to beg for surrender in order to keep his useful body, but Chen Sangliang ordered him to return to Taiyuan. I just came back in order to take the opportunity to return to Li Er. Finally, with Li Er's nod of agreement, he took off his clothes, took apart his needlework, took out Chen Sangliang's letter, and held it in front of Li Er with both hands. If he was still doubtful about the story of Zhu Can's capture, then when he saw the official defense appointment letter written by Chen Sangliang himself, Li Er simply couldn't believe his eyes. He held the thin piece of paper He was so stunned that he even forgot to watch out for Zhu Can's sneak attack and assassination. He murmured, "The Duke of Wei, General Youxiao Cavalry Guard, and Doctor Jin Ziguanglu, have given me a golden coupon to avoid death for life except for treason? I didn't read it. Is that wrong? That traitor Chen Yingliang actually wants to surrender to me? He actually offered such a condition?" At this moment, Li Er was really moved. But this is not surprising. After all, the current situation of the Taiyuan Army is here. Even if you want to hold on to the city until Chen Sangliang is exhausted and forced to retreat, it will be as difficult as heaven! And as long as something goes wrong, Li Er, who has a deep hatred for Chen Sangliang, will definitely end up being shattered to pieces and dying without a burial place! Li Er, who had been well aware of this for a long time, suddenly saw such a turn of events. Of course, he would be surprised and excited. Moreover, Li Er also knew one thing very well, that is, even if the Taiyuan Army won the battle to defend Taiyuan, after the victory, it would be difficult for Li Er, who was struggling to find a chance to make a comeback under Li Jiancheng's rule. If you are not careful, there is also the danger of your head falling to the ground! "Why does this man seem to be really moved?" Zhu Can is also a person who is good at observing words and expressions. He secretly saw that Li Er's expression was not right. He was puzzled and had some luck, and thought to himself: "What if Li Erlang is really a man?" I decided to surrender, which might be even better. This man's martial arts skills are superior to mine, and his scheming is deep and vicious. If he is determined to kill Li Jiancheng, it is not hopeless. There are many things wrong with ordinary people, but their reputation has always been very good, and what they say basically means what they say. " As expected, Li Er finally couldn't help but ask again, "Chen Thief wants you to bring this letter with you. "Give it to me, do you have anything else to say?" "Yes." Zhu Can replied truthfully: "Chen Thief wants you to persuade the right governor to surrender to Kaicheng. If you succeed, he will give you the letter." If the Commander-in-Chief Left refuses to surrender, Commander-in-Chief Right, you just have to capture or remove the Commander-in-Chief Left, open the gates of Taiyuan City and surrender, and he will still give you these letters. " "What?" Li Er suspected that he had heard wrongly. Asked: "If I was asked to persuade my brother to surrender, why didn't he personally come forward to persuade him to surrender? Didn't he and my brother wear a pair of pants before? Why do you want me to persuade my brother to surrender, and why do you want me to persuade my brother to surrender when my brother refuses to surrender? Are these really the words of Chen Yingliang, the traitor? "It's absolutely true. The general will not dare to deceive the right commander. These are indeed Chen Yingliang's words." Zhu Can nodded, rarely speaking the truth. Li Er was a little confused for a time, but after thinking about it carefully, he realized that it was not impossible. The first was the Taiyuan War. Li Jiancheng's determination to fight was beyond everyone's expectation, and he successively defeated the two great leaders Dou Jiande and Liu Wuzhou. Not only did the powerful neighbors drag down the water, they attacked the main force of the Sui army with floods without leaving any way out and carried out the plan. Even now at the end of the road, there is no sign of asking Chen Sangliang for peace and surrender. They will fight to the end. position give wayThe Li family, who had previously been very suspicious of Chen Sangliang's possibility of surrendering, were extremely surprised. The second is that Chen Sangliang may have secretly recruited Li Jiancheng, but was flatly rejected by Li Jiancheng. Therefore, it is not impossible for Chen Sangliang, who failed to recruit Li Jiancheng to surrender, to recruit Li Er and Li Yuanji instead! Thinking of this, Li Er was inevitably excited and a little shaken, but he was still shaken, and this wavering was not strong enough to destroy Li Er's reason. After trying to calm himself down, Li Er sneered first, and then cursed: "The shameless traitor finally showed his despicable face. When he was in a humble state, my brother cared for him so much that he actually wanted to kill him." My brother? You want me to kill my own brother? You're a despicable villain!" After cursing, Li Er casually put the letter on the desk in front of him and said to Zhu Can: "Get up. , for the sake of your confession, I will not pursue this matter. Go down and bathe and change clothes. We will talk about the other things later. Come and serve General Zhu to bathe and change clothes, and prepare a table of good food and wine for him. " Zhu Can thanked him respectfully, and followed Li Er to ask the maid who came in to go down to bathe and change clothes. Li Er first secretly ordered the soldiers borrowed from Li Yuanji to spy on Zhu Can, and then picked up the piece of Chen Sangliang's. The letter of appointment was handwritten, and he was thinking in his mind, "What should I do? Although the thief Chen is treacherous and despicable, he has a good credit. Are you considering taking a gamble? Or should you use this opportunity to trick the treacherous Chen Yingliang and regain the trust of that idiot Li Jiancheng? But? What if Mr. Chen breaks his promise? What if Mr. Li Jiancheng still refuses to hand over the military power to me? Isn't Mr. Li Jiancheng's suspicion and wariness about me as serious as usual? " "Let's wait and see. After thinking about it for a long time, Li Er finally decided to maintain a wait-and-see attitude for the time being. While carefully transferring the letter of appointment into an envelope and hiding it in his arms, he secretly said to himself: "Now, I have to confirm two things first. First, Is Li Jiancheng really determined to fight to the death against Chen Yingliang's traitor? Secondly, can Taiyuan City be defended? "The storm was about to come, and on the same afternoon, the main force of the Sui army led by Chen Sangliang was coming. Returning from Yuci to the foot of Taiyuan City, they joined forces with the rear army led by Li Jing, and then immediately joined forces to go north. Together they moved to the Chongsheng Temple area in the northeast corner of Taiyuan City to set up camp. They established a strong camp with deep ditches and high fortresses, and made preparations. A posture of long-term stationing. At the same time, what frightened the Taiyuan Army was that Chen Sangliang also brought nearly 10,000 Dingyang Army prisoners captured on the battlefield to the Taiyuan battlefield. They did not recruit or demobilize them on the spot. It looked as if they were going to be used as soldiers. The appearance used by Dam Minhu. When the main force of the Sui army passed through the East City of Taiyuan, Li Er once again accompanied Li Yuanji to the Taiyuan city wall, and inspected the enemy's situation with his eldest brother Li Jiancheng. From a distance, he saw Chen Sangliang's high-spirited appearance under the protection of a large number of brightly-armored Sui soldiers. All the Li brothers were in extremely complicated moods. Seeing Liu Wuzhou's dejected appearance on horseback escorted by the Sui army officers, Li Er and Li Yuanji inevitably felt a little gloating in their hearts, but Li Jiancheng burst into tears and choked up, "Brother Wu Zhou, I was the one who did it." "You." At the same time, seeing the heads of people in Taiyuan City resembling ant queens from a distance, the famous flatterer Feng Deyi also ran to Chen Sangliang and suggested: "Your Highness, there are many civil and military generals in Taiyuan City. When Li Jiancheng comes to Taiyuan City, he will definitely spy on His Highness's majestic appearance. In this case, why doesn't Your Highness come forward in person, or send another person to escort Liu Wuzhou to the Taiyuan City to show the public, which will definitely damage the morale of Li's army and hinder our army's attack on the city or surrender. Infinitely wonderful." "No, the news of our army's capture of Liu Wuzhou will be reported to the Li family's traitor army by our own scouts. There is no need to humiliate Liu Wuzhou like this anymore." Chen Sangliang shook his head and refused. After thinking about it for a moment, he simply decided. Said: "Go and convey my decree. Among the prisoners captured by our army, there are those whose families are in Taiyuan City. As long as they are willing, they will be released immediately on the spot and allowed to return to the city to reunite with their families." When he received a completely opposite order, Feng Deyi was a little dumbfounded, but he did not dare to disobey Chen Sangliang's order. He could only rush to the rear army who was escorting the prisoners of war to convey the order. As expected, there were more than 300 masters. The Taiyuan Army prisoners in Zhongtaiyuan City wanted to go home. Kan Leng, who was escorting the prisoners of war, obeyed the order and immediately released them on the spot, allowing them to return to the city to reunite with their families in front of everyone. More than 300 Taiyuan prisoners of war repeatedly pinched them. After everyone was sure that this was not a dream, they immediately cheered and left. Most of them knelt down and kowtowed to Chen Sangliang's handsome flag when they left. The power of hypocrisy is infinite. Chen Sangliang released more than 300 Taiyuan prisoners of war on the spot, which immediately posed a big problem for the Li brothers. Let them be released into the city. These prisoners of war will definitely become Chen Sangliang's free trumpeters and shake the morale of the defenders. Destroying morale, not letting them into the city will definitely demoralize the army even more, and it will be a dilemma. In the end, Li Jiancheng was forced to have no choice but to listen.Yin Kaishan's suggestion was to have people shout loudly to tell the prisoners to be calm and wait until the main force of the Sui army left to let them enter the city. Of course Li Jiancheng did this for the sake of safety and rights, but it also caused dissatisfaction among the captives who were eager to enter the city to reunite with their families. Even if they did not dare to reveal it publicly, they all whispered: "It is better for Your Highness, Prince Tang, to enter." I will go home directly to the city, and if you force me to go to the battlefield, don¡¯t expect me to sacrifice my life anymore!¡± The main force of the Sui army finally left, and the prisoners also entered the city one by one under the close supervision of the Taiyuan defenders, looking at Chen Sang. As Liang Shuaiqi went away, Li Jiancheng felt extremely complicated and thought to himself: "Brother Ying Liang, why don't you come and see me? Have you forgotten that we haven't seen each other for almost three years? But it doesn¡¯t matter if you don¡¯t come to see me. If we meet, you will definitely surrender me, and I will definitely reject you. Our brotherhood will be completely severed. " Li Jiancheng's mood was complicated. Some civil and military officials of the Taiyuan Army had more complicated feelings, especially when they saw the Taiyuan Army prisoners of war who were released by Chen Sangliang on the spot, the civil and military officials of the Taiyuan Army thought to themselves: "Chen Yingliang is a person that even Chai Shao can forgive, Chai Shao." Shao forced him to hang himself and almost died, but he spared Chai Shao several times. No matter how deep our hatred is with him, can we have the same hatred as Chai Shao and him? " Attacks on the Taiyuan Army happened one after another. Second update on the same night. On the left and right, Li Shentong, the only one with military power in the Li clan, suddenly rushed back to the south gate of Taiyuan West City with blood all over his body and two wounded soldiers, and had just boarded the stone bridge across the river. The horse fell down on the stone bridge and never stood up. It also injured Li Shentong, who was already injured. After the soldiers carried Li Shentong into the city, who could no longer stand up, they immediately cried and told the Taiyuan Army south gate guard who came to greet him, "Xicheng was captured by Liu Heitai, and the two thousand defenders plus two thousand Of the rural soldiers, only three of us escaped, and the rest were either killed or surrendered. "The reason for the fall of Xicheng was not only Liu Heitai's fierce attack, but also Chen Sangliang's propaganda to win over the people of the five counties in Taiyuan. It played a major role. The people of Xicheng and the local soldiers who were looking forward to getting rid of this year's tax pressure not only did not work hard when assisting in defending the city, but also continued to secretly provide various intelligence support to the Sui army. Liu Heitai finally broke through Xicheng, which was also Because Xicheng's rural soldiers secretly reported to Liu Heitai that the Taiyuan officers and soldiers at the west gate of Xicheng were killed in the battle, and the soldiers suffered heavy losses, Liu Heitai succeeded in attacking from the weak point. As a result, Li Shentong's westward escape to Lishi was blocked, so he had to flee to Wenshui County in the northeast. At the same time, because the Sui army's flag had been hung on the city in Wenshui County, Li Shentong They didn't even dare to enter Wenshui County and fled all the way back to Taiyuan. Li Shentong's unexpected return not only brought the bad news to Li Jiancheng that both Xicheng and Lishi were in danger, but also brought a backbone to the Li clan in Taiyuan City. However, no one from the Li clan left Li Shentong's bedside. Taking advantage of the opportunity that Li Jiancheng left, brothers Li Er and Li Yuanji had not yet come to visit, and that Li Shentong was conscious, a clan meeting was quickly held. "Uncle, since the death of our head, you have been the oldest and most prestigious in our Li clan." The first to speak was Li Fengci, cousin of Li Jiancheng and Li Er, who whispered to Li Shentong: "Chen The thieves have invaded the territory, and our army has been defeated in a row. Now only Taiyuan City is left to defend. Where should our Li clan go? "Uncle, please give us an idea." "What idea can I have?" Li Shentong looked depressed. He was dying and said: "The matter has come to this, let alone me. Even if Brother Shude (Li Yuan) is reborn, he will definitely be helpless and unable to do anything. What other ideas can I have?" "Brother, have you ever considered " Li Shuliang hesitated and said hesitantly: "Back in Daxing, we knew that Yang Guang would never give up or spare us, but now that Yang Guang is dead, Chen Yingliang is in control of the government, and Chen Yingliang's character is far worse than that. Yang Guang was gentle and well-known for not caring about past grudges. He didn't even care about Chai Shao, Xiao Yu, Dou Jin, and Chen Yingliang, and they were all appointed to official positions. Chai Shao was also reused You said, we? "Li Shentong closed his eyes and whispered in a hoarse voice: "Since you already have these thoughts, why don't you do it?" "Brother, there is someone who stops you," Li Shuliang said with a bitter smile. : "Brother, you know that because of the incident with the left and right governors, nephew Jiancheng hates us clan members to the core. Except for you, brother, who is highly respected, everyone has been gradually deprived of military power and real power by him. Now we Even if members of the Li clan want to enter or exit the city, they must first obtain Li Jiancheng's permission. Even if we can find a way to escape by ourselves, our family members can't escape, right? Li Daozong, who has such backbone, added:"If we go to see King Tang empty-handed like this, I'm afraid we can barely survive at most. More, we must not even think about it." Li Shentong refused to open his eyes, closing his eyes as if he had fallen asleep , and after a while he asked in a low voice: "Captain Zuo, what's your attitude?" "It seems that we don't have that plan. Yesterday we shouted on the city wall that we will live and die with Taiyuan." Li Shuliang replied in a low voice, and then said with a wry smile: "We were before I really misunderstood. During Daxing, I was afraid that he would sacrifice the lives of our entire family for his own life, and even helped Erlang, who had a deep hatred against Chen Zei, to fight for power with him. Who knew that he was actually more determined and stubborn than Erlang, so he insisted He said that even if he could not avenge his father, he would never bend his knee to the enemy who killed his father Oh, if I had known this, we should not have gotten into trouble at that time. " "Uncle, you are a highly respected member of our Li family. , the only one who can hold military power under the command of Zuo Dudu," Li Fengci said cautiously: "I wonder if my clan uncle can I persuade Brother Jiancheng? As early as when Chen Yingliang was in humble circumstances, he and Chen Yingliang were brothers, and Chen Yingliang was very talkative. A moral person, if heif he takes the leadit will be beneficial to all members of our Li family." After another long silence, Li Shentong said as if he was dreaming: "For the sake of my Longxi Li family. I promise you that the bloodline will continue, but you don¡¯t have to worry. Taiyuan may not be able to be defended. I also have to figure out the attitude of Jiancheng. If Taiyuan can be defended, we will not have that need. But if Taiyuan really cannot be defended, I will do it. For your sake.¡± ¡¡¡ Another night passed quickly, and in the early morning of the next day, when Chen Sangliang came to the Chinese army¡¯s tent in the new camp with yawns, Li Jing, Yuan Tiangang, Qu Tutong, and Feng De Yi, Sun Fuga and other staff members have all arrived. After meeting, Yuan Tiangang quickly presented Chen Sangliang with a new sand table of Taiyuan terrain, and said with a smile: "Your Highness, this is a small gift made by me to congratulate you on defeating Liu Wuzhou's bandit army. I hope you like it." On the sand table, Taiyuan has been blocked by a dam that blocks the route of the Fen River. On Longshan, the birthplace of the Jin River in the southwest of Taiyuan, there is also an additional Sui military camp and a small dam. The small dam blocks the south route of the Jin River and diverts the water flow. They were all forced into the Zhibo Canal, which goes straight into Taiyuan City. After carefully looking at the situation on the sand table, Chen Sangliang smiled and said: "Master Shangshu, how can I not like the gift you made with your own hands? But is it too early? When did I say that when attacking Taiyuan, water must be used? Attack tactics?" "Your Highness, accept it," Li Jing said with a smile: "Yuan Shangshu spent countless efforts to make this. Even if you pity the people and don't want to hurt innocent people, you should accept it. Don't let it down. Yuan Shangshu¡¯s kindness.¡± With a helpless smile, Chen Sangliang could only accept the beautifully made sand table with both hands, and said with a smile: ¡°Since this is Mr. Tiangang¡¯s hard work, I will accept it. But I have something to say first. I can consider water attack tactics, but I will never flood the city unless it is absolutely necessary! " "No! To attack Taiyuan, we must use water attack!" Yuan Tiangang is actually very gentle. He contradicted Chen Sangliang once and said decisively: "Your Highness, I know that you pity the people, but if you want to capture Taiyuan at the minimum cost, the only way is water attack! I propose that our army will send troops to capture Fenshui Bridge today. March into Longshan to seize the entrance to Zhibo Canal and station troops to guard it! Please give your permission!" "There's no need to be in such a hurry, is there?" Chen Sangliang asked with some doubts. "It must be so urgent!" Yuan Tiangang's attitude became more determined. He knelt down to Chen Sangliang, clasped his fists and said, "Your Highness, please order your generals to send troops immediately, break through the Fenshui Bridge and capture Longshan!" Chen Sangliang was killed by Yuan Tiangang. Li Jing, Sun Fujia and others, who had never seen Yuan Tiangang speak to Chen Sangliang in such a tone, were stunned by the rare attitude. Then Qu Tutong hurriedly reminded him carefully: "Yuan Shangshu, Your Highness has not yet Why do you insist on influencing His Highness's military strategy when deciding how to capture Taiyuan?" Blinking his eyes, Yuan Tiangang suddenly softened his expression and said with a smile: "Because doing this is tantamount to telling the Taiyuan rebels that we are going to use water attack? , there are also some well-educated people in the Taiyuan bandit army. They must have heard the story of Zhibo diverting water to Taiyuan. People's hearts are shaken by fear. When people's hearts are shaken, His Highness's favorite methods will be of great use. "" Yuan Tiangang's words reminded Chen Sangliang that even if he did not intend to use water attack tactics that would harm innocent people, he could still pretend to be preparing to flood the city with water to intimidate the enemy and bluff the enemy. If the internal situation is frightened, it will be much easier if we use any tricks such as divisive bribery and sneak attacks to lure snakes out of their holes to attack in the east and west. So after hesitating for a while, Chen Sangliang nodded and said, "Okay, Yuan Shangshu's words are reasonable. Then I will immediately send troops to seize Longshan Zhibo Canal." After saying that, Chen Sangliang added: "But again, it is okay to seize Longshan to intimidate the enemy. I have to seriously consider whether to divert water to the city." Yuan Tiangang smiled and nodded without saying a word. However, when he lowered his head, A trace of a sinister smile appeared on the corner of Yuan Tiangang's mouth.