In March of the second year of Yuanzhen of the Tang Dynasty, people from central Shu and northwest came to Chang'an one after another, marking the basically end of the war between Guanxi and central Shu.
There are still some finishing touches left. For example, the remnants of Liangshidu in the northwest are still entrenched in the Hetao area, and there are still people in some places in southern Shu and eastern Shu who are separatist and resisting.
The Southern Barbarians are a stubborn problem in Shu. Not to mention it, Chai Shao of Kuizhou has completely surrendered to Xiao Mian, which is a little troublesome.
However, in the spring of this year, the world was very peaceful, and the sphere of influence of the princes had undergone considerable changes.
Dou Jiande turned around and went back to run Shandong. Some people under the banner of Li Yuan surrendered or were killed one after another. Dou Jiande greatly expanded his territory.
But having said that, Shandong, as the birthplace of the peasant uprising in the late Sui Dynasty, exported countless wars and talents. Now it is in ruins. The surviving people would rather stay in the mountains and live a hard life than go down to the mountains again.
The government or the rebels came to manage it.
Dou Jiande spent a lot of effort to get the refugees on the mountain to return to the counties one after another. However, as soon as there was any disturbance, people immediately ran away without a trace, making it very difficult to manage.
The hometown of the Northern Qi Dynasty, where heroes emerged in the past, and the military aristocratic groups in Hebei and Shandong, which could compete with the Guanlong clan, completely disappeared.
Dou Jiande stirred the embers and managed to get some sparks out, but if he wanted to restore Shandong's vitality, it was a no-brainer. Hebei under his rule was actually severely damaged, and was only slightly stronger than Shandong.
In other words, Dou Jiande's territory is quite large, but he has never been very popular. He really deserves the title of King of Tatters in the late Sui Dynasty.
Moreover, he had been staring at Henan for more than a day or two, but with ferocious beasts around him, he felt that he couldn't eat any more. After drooling all over the floor, he took advantage of Duan Da's surrender to hold the Hulao Prison in his hands, and he never stopped eating.
There was movement.
Xiao Mian's life has not been easy in the past two years, but he can't help but feel good about himself. Zhang Xiu and others were killed and died. Those who followed Xiao Mian in the past have passed away in the past two years.
Liang Guo's strength caused very great damage.
However, the leader of the country, Xiao Xian, became more and more stubborn. Last year, in addition to sending General Zhang Zhenzhou to attack Kuizhou, he also wanted Ning Changzhen and others to lead an army to attack Changsha.
Ning Changzhen refused to go out, so Xiao Mian was furious and wanted to send troops to attack Buchen, but was blocked by the officials, so he ordered Zhou Faming, Minister of War, to lead an army to attack Changsha.
Zhou Faming had no choice but to be ordered to leave the court. He first sent someone to show Su Huer's military strength and promised many benefits before convincing Su Huer to obey his orders.
The two joined forces to attack Changsha, and fought with Lin Shihong for more than two months. Lin Shihong was finally defeated and was driven out of Changsha City by the enemy, and fled south in embarrassment.
Zhou Faming and Su Huer were not very happy. More than two months of fighting had made them miserable, and everyone thought that Changsha was an ominous place. After Zhang Xiu captured Changsha, he was transferred back to the capital, and was soon questioned
cut.
Dong Jingzhen came to Changsha, immediately rebelled, and died within a few days.
His old enemy Lin Shihong was also surrounded in Changsha City several times and almost had his head chopped off. Ning Changzhen, Wang Renshou and others also entered Changsha. After an internal strife, they all became disgraced and no longer wanted to go near Changsha City.
.
This is truly an ominous city. Its reputation is now similar to that of Luoyang in the north. It is the kind of unlucky place that drools over but doesn't want to be associated with.
So Zhou Faming left his general Guo Huai to guard Changsha, and led the main force of the army to kill Lin Shihong and get rid of this annoying fly as soon as possible.
But the curse came true again, Xiao Mian ordered him to return to Beijing immediately to discuss important matters, and Zhou Faming had no choice but to teach him.
Xiao Mian didn't want to kill him. Dou Jiande formed an alliance with him. Li Xiaogong in Shu was more direct and made people submit to his subordinates. Xiao Mian was overjoyed and naturally wanted to summon the important ministers to discuss what to do next.
Before that, he also sent a letter to Li Po, advising him to be more aware of current affairs and surrender as soon as possible to avoid being captured and humiliated later, which was quite considerate for Li Po.
Therefore, Xiao Mian gained quite a lot last year. Dou Jiande and Dou Jiande reached a preliminary consensus on mutual non-aggression, and even promised not to attack him when he entered Henan. It was basically similar to the military alliance of a certain country later.
But there is a lack of practical constraints.
In the middle of Shu, the Liang Kingdom finally made great progress for many years, and Li Xiaogong surrendered.
At this time, two voices once again appeared in the Liang Dynasty. One was to take advantage of the situation and enter Shu and completely incorporate the Shuzhong granary into the Liang Kingdom's territory. This would cut off the arm of Guanxi, and after some management, they could even attack Guanxi or Jin.
It was difficult for Li Ding'an to take care of himself.
This was also the cause that Sun Quan of the Eastern Wu Dynasty tried his best to achieve.
The second suggestion is to march into Henan and capture the eastern capital of Luoyang, establishing Liang's dominant position in the Central Plains in one fell swoop.
The two sides argued endlessly. After Zhou Faming returned to the court, Zhang Zhenzhou's voice gained the upper hand for increasing troops. Xiao Mian also had some intentions. Although Luoyang looked delicious, it was between Dou Jiande and Li Ding'an and was easily besieged. Entering Shu
Otherwise, Li Xiaogong has surrendered, which is the best time to annex Shu.
It's a pity that Li Xiaogong didn't live up to his expectations. Before the Liang State could massively increase its troops to "help" him drive the Tang army out of Bashu, Li Xiaogong knocked his head to the ground.
Yizhou fell, Liu Hongji was defeated in Hezhou, and then surrendered the enemy. The situation in Shu changed drastically. Although Zhou Faming and others strongly supported the invasion of Shu, taking advantage of the Tang army's unstable foothold, they joined forces with Chai Shao's troops to retake Yizhou.
But Xiao Mian had already hesitated.
One winter, great differences arose in the Liang Dynasty over the direction of using troops in the coming year. People on both sides had sufficient reasons to support their suggestions.
For example, Zhou Faming and others felt that Henan's flat terrain had always been a place for the Four Wars, which was conducive to northern cavalry operations. Li Ding'an started his career as a cavalryman, and Liang's army was vulnerable to cavalry raids there, so he would attack them before they fought.
Lost three points of opportunity.
On the other hand, people led by the internal historian Xiao Lang believed that the terrain in central Shu was rugged and it was difficult to reflect Liang's military advantage in marching operations. In addition, Zhang Lun and others had a new victory and their morale was high, so they fought decisively in Bashu and fought with them.
Not much chance of winning.
On the contrary, in Henan, he could get the support of Dou Jiande, and with mutual support, he could fight with Li Dingan. Furthermore, Li Dingan had only been in charge of Guanxi for less than a year, and his foothold was not stable, his troops were scattered, and
After years of fighting, the soldiers were exhausted, so they were lured out of Tongguan and defeated at the gate of Luoyang City. Isn't this the story of Wang Shichong and Li Mi?
The other side came to criticize again, saying that Dou Jiande was unreliable at both ends of the snake and mouse, while the other side retorted, could it be that Chai Shao and Li Xiaogong were reliable?
At this time, Du Fuwei, who was in Liyang, came to interfere again. He sent an envoy to send a letter to Xiao Xianyan, saying: "You are a descendant of a famous family, and now you are the leader of the Liang Kingdom. I have always admired you. Dou Jiande made an appointment with me some time ago."
, whoever enters Luoyang first will be the king... If you are interested, I will help you achieve your goal..."
Needless to say, Du Fuwei was born in Shandong. He was brave and good at fighting, and had a kind temperament. He was very popular among his subordinates. He was different from the princes who are still alive today. He did not have much ambition and never talked to his subordinates.
What a topic of unifying the world.
From time to time, I would also like to find someone to support me, which would give my subordinates a headache.
This time he came forward again, and what he said was true. He really felt that Xiao Mian looked like a master... at least he was from a better background than Dou Jiande and Li Ding'an, wasn't he?
After Du Fuwei wanted to join a famous family, he wanted to join Li Yuan a few years ago, but he was far away from him, and Li Yuan was not very successful. After only a few days of contact, he suffered defeats one after another.
In particular, Li Yuan was not very friendly to Li Mi's actions and almost imprisoned him in Chang'an. Later, Li Mi escaped and was caught by Wang Shichong. It is chilling to think about it.
Moreover, as time passed, the kindhearted Tang Gong gradually disappeared, but his reputation for attaching great importance to family background became more and more widespread. He was not born in Du Fuwei. When he was in Shandong, he was impoverished and relied on stealing to make a living. When he arrived at Li Yuan's place, he was probably beheaded.
Already.
After seeing this clearly, Du Fuwei did not take the same old path of another time and space. In fact, the person he should be most grateful to for surviving till now is Li Po.
Of course, Xiao Mian's reputation is not very good now, and the viciousness he showed when he killed Zhang Xiu really made people shy away. Du Fuwei sent him a letter at this time, but in fact, he just wanted to make a good relationship. Once he really did it in the future,
How about bringing peace to the world?
But what Du Fuwei didn't expect was that he wrote a letter to Xiao Xian in his spare time, which completely ended the topic that had been quarreling all winter in Jiangling City.
With the guarantees of Dou Jiande and Du Fuwei, Xiao Mian decided to send troops to Henan.
But what Xiao Mian never expected was that Du Fuwei also sent a letter to Chang'an, Xijing. The content on the letterhead was almost exactly the same as Xiao Mian, except that the name of the recipient was changed. By the way, Liang Guo was also changed to
to the Tang Dynasty.
If Xiao Mian found out about this, he would definitely vomit three liters of blood and send troops to Liyang to chop off Du Fuwei's head first.
Moreover, the person who sent the message to Chang'an, Xijing, was Du Fuwei's adopted son Wang Xiongdan. He was a strong soldier in the army that Du Fuwei relied on very much. His standards were much higher than those of Xiao Xian.
But don't blame Du Fuwei for favoring one over the other. Li Ding'an was from a lower background, but having defeated Li Yuan, occupied Xijing and subsequently proclaimed himself emperor, he was indeed much more powerful than Xiao Mian.
…………………………
When Li Po took Du Fuwei's letter and read it twice, he was completely different from Xiao Xian's overjoyed after receiving the letter. He was a little confused by this guy. Our two families are so far away. When did you send the letter to me?
What do you mean?
What the letter says is: "The first to enter Luoyang will be king. Who the hell made the appointment with you? You don't want to join forces with Dou Jiande and Xiao Mian to trick me, right?"
And you still want to help me take control of Luoyang? We don’t have that kind of friendship with you... You’re not saying the same thing to Dou Jiande and Xiao Xian as I was before, are you?
If that's the case, do you want to provoke us into a melee in Henan and reap the benefits?