On the territory of the Great Sui, Hongnong County does not rely on the Yellow River, a narrow strip of land in its north belongs to Henan County, extending to Tongguan, as if the big brother of Henan County stretched out his long arm to hug the little brother of Hongnong County, but in terms of historical evolution and customs, this narrow strip along the Yellow River taken away by Henan County has always belonged to the jurisdiction of Hongnong District.

In the ninth year of the great cause, Yang Xuangan rebelled, Luoyang was in danger, Yang Guang ordered Yang Zhiji, the then Hongnong County Taishou Yang Zhiji, to block Yang Xuangan's western retreat into Guanzhong, so he ordered that the west of Shaanxi County was temporarily under the jurisdiction of Hongnong County, forcing Yang Zhiji to do everything possible to drag Yang Xuangan to retreat westward.

The edict said that although it was a temporary jurisdiction, it has not been abolished, so that there was a narrow strip west of Shaanxi County along the Yellow River that was under the jurisdiction of Luoyang, and at the same time under the jurisdiction of Hongnong County, so Li Yuan sent the general Li Xiaogong to lead 30,000 troops to appear in this narrow strip, which caused a great shock in Luoyang, and the government and the opposition agreed that this was not as simple as capturing Hongnong County, Li Yuan intended Luoyang, Emperor Tai Yang Dong ordered Wang Shichong to deal with it urgently, Wang Shichong paid attention to the city, and he personally led 30,000 troops to garrison the dangerous place of Kuoshan, Eyeing Lee Hyo-gong's army.

Li Xiaogong's main army was stationed about 20 miles west of Shaanxi County, close to the Yellow River, and he also sent his subordinate general Huang Zhi's power army of 3,000 to guard Hanguguan, and sent his deputy general Liu Hongji to lead an army of 5,000 to guard Hongnong City, firmly controlling several strategic points in Hongnong County, forming a confrontation with Wang Shichong.

At this moment, the spies of Hedong County came with the news that Yang Yuanqing personally led an army of 40,000 from Hanoi County to Hedong County, divided his troops into two routes, stationed in Fenglingdu all the way, and garrisoned in Hebei County on the other side of the Yellow River, facing them across the river.

The sudden situation made Li Xiaogong very worried, Yang Yuanqing's 40,000 troops stationed on the north bank of the river brought him great pressure, once Wang Shichong launched an attack to cooperate with Yang Yuanqing's army to cross the river, if Fenglingdu's Sui army crossed the river at the same time, cut off his retreat. His 30,000 troops were about to be wiped out, and Li Xiaogong urgently sent people back to Chang'an to report to Li Yuan.

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In the camp of Kunshan Mountain, Wang Shichong also stood in front of a sand table and pondered for a long time, and Yang Yuanqing's deeds of using the sand table to fight have been known to many people. Wang Shichong is also one of them, he sent scouts to explore the mountains and rivers of Henan, and also made a sand table of the twelve counties of Henan Province, although it is not as accurate and detailed as Yang Yuanqing's sand table, but it is also much more useful than a map.

Although Wang Shichong looked at the sand table, he was thinking about the court in his mind, and he had been fighting against the Wagang Army for more than two months. made him gradually grasp the military power, but the contradictions between him and Lu Chu and Huangfu Wuyi and others also began to intensify, and he was just a foreign monk, in the control of the imperial court, he was far inferior to Lu Chu These old ministers, Emperor Tai was also obviously biased towards Lu Chu, which made him very passive, although he controlled most of the army. However, the 10,000 Imperial Forest Army guarding the imperial city was controlled by Lu Zushang, the nephew of the Lu Chu tribe, so that although he wanted to launch a military coup, he was unable to do so.

Recently, Wang Shichong heard a rumor. Said that the imperial court planned to recruit Li Mi, which made him very nervous, if the rumors were true, then he would face a life and death catastrophe, Li Mi's army would no longer come to deal with Luoyang, but to deal with him Wang Shichong personally, no one in the court would support him, which made Wang Shichong politically embattled, making him extremely isolated.

Wang Shichong is not a rebel bandit like Zhu Ji and Li Zitong, he is simple-minded. only knows how to kill and plunder, he is not a famous and loyal minister like Yang Yichen and Zhang Xutuo, he is good at fighting, has the ability to command, and also has strategy, and is insidious and vicious. At the same time, he also has a certain political mind and vision, and he knows that it is no longer the era of chaos and bandits in the seventh year of the Great Cause, and if you want to participate in the struggle for the world, you must have a political foundation, you must get the support of the literati, and you must get the support of the famous families who control all kinds of resources.

If he only killed the Chinese military ministers and the emperor with courage, it would also be the moment when his king was destroyed, he had to get the support of political forces, and now he was worried about internal troubles, the hostility of Lu Chu and others inside, and the threats of Li Yuan and Li Mi outside, which made him feel deeply pressured, and now his only hope was Yang Yuanqing, and he hoped to get Yang Yuanqing's support, food aid, maintain his army, and military support, so that his external pressure would weaken.

At this time, Wang Shichong also arrived at the information, Yang Yuanqing sent troops to Hedong County to suppress Li Yuan's army in the north, which made him overjoyed, which meant that his nephew Wang Renze's envoy had a harvest, but why did the nephew not come back, which made Wang Shichong anxious.

At this moment, there was a report from the guards outside the tent, "General Ren Ze is back!" ”

Wang Shichong was overjoyed, as soon as he thought of his nephew, the nephew came back, and he hurriedly ordered: "Quickly order him to come in and see me!" ”

After a while, Wang Ren hurriedly walked in and knelt down on one knee, "Nephew Ren is seeing uncle!" ”

"Hurry up!"

Wang Shichong helped his nephew up, and the two sat down, Wang Shichong asked impatiently: "How is it, what is Yang Yuanqing's attitude?" ”

On the way, Wang Renze had already heard the news that Yang Yuanqing had transferred to Hedong County, which was the fulfillment of his promise to threaten Li Yuan's army from the north and express his sincerity, which made Wang Renze also feel very excited.

"Uncle, Yang Yuanqing is willing to cooperate with his uncle in the overall situation, but he still needs his uncle to make concessions in some details."

Wang Shichong nodded, "You tell me the details of the meeting with him first, and every word of his cannot be omitted." ”

Wang Renze told Wang Shichong the details of his meeting with Yang Yuanqing one by one, Wang Shichong didn't say a word, and there was no expression on his face, but when Wang Renze said that Yang Yuanqing called Yang Tong the king of Yue, Wang Shichong's eyes flashed a strange light, and he immediately continued to listen quietly, when he heard that Yang Yuanqing was willing to support him to take another step, he couldn't hold back the excitement in his heart, stood up and paced back and forth.

He was convinced that Yang Yuanqing supported him to replace the Southern Sui, and that there was only one Sui Dynasty, in Taiyuan and not in Luoyang, which was more important than anything else, which was the cornerstone of his cooperation with Yang Yuanqing, and also meant that he could get Yang Yuanqing's support after seizing the power in Luoyang, which would enable him to get through the initial difficult period.

"Uncle, can we agree to 30,000 stone of grain in exchange for 3,000 ordnance prison craftsmen?"

Wang Shichong smiled slightly, this is a small problem, as long as he can exchange Yang Yuanqing's support, he can fully agree to this condition, and Yang Yuanqing did not put forward such harsh conditions as Hongnong County that made him unacceptable.

"This condition is acceptable."

"But..... Will the court agree? Wang Ren asked worriedly.

Wang Shichong hesitated, although the ordnance supervisor was under his control, he sent the three thousand good craftsmen and their families away. This is not so easy, he thought about it and said: "Yang Yuanqing didn't say that he wanted it soon, you can wait a little longer for him, and you will go to Hedong County again." Discuss the details with Yang Yuanqing and tell him that as long as Li Yuan's army retreats within a month, I can give him the craftsman. ”

"My nephew understands, I'll go see Yang Yuanqing again immediately."

Wang Shichong simply wrote a handwritten letter to Yang Yuanqing and ordered his nephew to bring it with him.

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In the early morning, the city gate of Hongnong County was bustling as usual. Despite the tense situation in Hongnong County, it had little effect on the general population, and a large group of peasants gathered in front of the city gates with their burdens, clamoring to go into the city to sell vegetables.

At this moment, a man on horseback came from a distance with a carriage, and the crowd forced them to slow down and patiently follow the basket into the city.

The man was about thirty years old and fair-skinned. He has a long and thin face and a black beard under his chin, although he looks a little haggard. But the eyes are very clear and bright, this person is Yang Shidao, who once served as the Taishou of Wuyuan County, he is also the son of Yang Xiong, the royal family of the Great Sui, after Yang Yuanqing established himself in Fengzhou, he had to leave Wuyuan County and return to Beijing, and was appointed by Yang Guang as the Taishou of Liang County, but Liang County was captured by the Wagang Army, and he had to return to Beijing to serve as Honglu Siqing, after Emperor Tai ascended the throne. He was also appointed as the Shoshu of the Ministry of Rites.

Yesterday at noon, Yang Shidao received the exact news that Lu Chu and others had persuaded Emperor Tai and were ready to accept Li Mi's surrender, which made Yang Shidao very nervous, and he realized that a military rebellion was coming. He fled Luoyang City with his wife and children overnight, and came to his brother Yang Gongdao to take refuge here.

Yang Shidao rushed all night last night, and also considered the way, although he also heard that his brother surrendered to Li Yuan, but Yang Shidao himself wanted to go to Taiyuan, the reason is very simple, his sister Yang Peihua pseudonym Jiang Peihua, married Yang Yuanqing, and was named the side concubine of the king of Chu.

Moreover, he once served as the Taishou of Wuyuan County, has strong connections in Fengzhou, and has a very good relationship with Cui Junsu, Du Ruhui, Zhang Ting and other senior officials of the Northern Sui Dynasty.

But there are some things he wants to explain to his eldest brother Yang Gongren, Yang Shidao's wife died of illness last year, leaving two young sons to be taken care of by his concubine Bai Yuniang, who escaped from Luoyang this time and brought them out.

The carriage slowly stopped at the back door of the county office, this is the Taishou mansion, the front of the mansion is very busy, more than a dozen carriages are full of large and small cages, and dozens of officials are helping to carry items.

Yang Shidao was slightly stunned in his heart, is the eldest brother going to move? Just as Yang Gongren walked out of the gate and arranged his bookcase.

"Big brother!"

Yang Shidao shouted, Yang Gongren turned around and saw that it was the third brother, he was stunned, didn't the third brother serve as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites in Luoyang? How to get to Hongnong-gun.

"Uncle!" Yang Shidao's two sons also waved to him from the window probe.

Yang Gongren greeted him with a smile, reached out and touched the heads of his two nephews, and asked Yang Shidao with a smile: "Why don't you write a letter first, another hour later, I will leave, where are you looking for me?" ”

"Where is Big Brother going?"

Yang Gongren smiled, "It's not convenient to talk here, let's go to the house and talk!" ”

Yang Gongren instructed his family to bring the carriage into the house, and ordered someone to find his wife to take care of the children, and he took his brother into the study, Yang Gongren and Yang Shidao are half-sisters, and Yang Gongren is ten years older than Shidao, although so, the relationship between their brothers is very deep.

The two entered the study and sat down, and Yang Gongren asked, "Is something wrong in Luoyang?" ”

Yang Shidao sighed, "Lu Chu and a group of stupid people led the wolf to drive the tiger, and Luoyang is estimated to mutiny." ”

Yang Shidao told Lu Chu that Emperor Tai was ready to accept Li Mi's surrender, and he sighed: "Wang Shichong is a ruthless person, how can he be arrested, he will definitely strike first, and the Southern Sui court will change his surname to Wang sooner or later." ”

Yang Gongren groaned and said, "Why don't you go to Chang'an with me!" Li Yuan has made my household servant, and I can also protect you as the Taishou. ”

Yang Gongren looked at his brother, and Yang Shidao shook his head, "I decided to go to Taiyuan and want to ask my brother to get me a boat." ”

Yang Gongren pondered for a long time, and finally agreed, "It's okay, in the future, Yang Yuanqing and Li Yuan don't know who will kill the deer, and our brothers really want to leave a way back for each other." ”