It's the thirteenth year of the Great Cause, the situation in the Central Plains is unstable, wars are raging everywhere, and even the three great nobles in the North feel like they are sitting on wax.
It didn't matter whether Yang Guang was drunk or dreaming, but all the government affairs were left to his patron, Yang Lin. This member of the royal family was not easy to fool.
The rebellion in the Heluo area is gradually fading away. The center of power of the Yang royal family has moved to the eastern capital, and they have even put up a defensive posture in Guanzhong, which makes the three great clans of the North very depressed.
The Yuwen Clan used to wish that the world would be in chaos so that they could take the opportunity to replace the Sui Dynasty and repeat the Yuwen family's dynasty. However, the reality has made everyone in the Yuwen Clan understand that if the world situation continues like this, their family will not have much chance at all.
It is true that the leader of the younger generation in the family, Yu Wenhua, is also the commander of the imperial guards of Yang Guang. Unfortunately, the patron king Yang Lin is not a vegetarian. Not only does his martial arts reach the level of a half-step master, he also has a certain level of control over the palace guards.
degree.
Just arbitrarily arranging a few confidants to hold important positions in the Imperial Palace Guards made it difficult for Yu Wenhuaji to fully control the Imperial Palace Guards and achieve the overwhelming power of one person under ten thousand people like in the original work.
Not only him, but also the senior officials of the Yuwen clan were trying to find a way to deal with the backer king Yang Lin. Unfortunately, the Sui Emperor Yang Guang was really dead at this time. He was in a state of intoxication all day long and ignored external affairs at all.
No matter how important the civil and military ministers around him were to give eye drops to the patron king, Yang Guang remained indifferent. Yu Wen's family felt that it was very uncomfortable to gather strength and punch the air.
They didn't dare to make it too obvious, as Yang Guang was still being restrained by the Dugu Clan.
The Dugu Clan obviously has no intention of replacing the Yang family for the time being, or perhaps this is fundamentally related to the Dugu Clan's establishment. The main forces are spread across all key departments in the court, and their momentum in the court is even greater than that of the Yuwen Clan. Although they are currently
He was worried about the chaotic world situation, but he had no idea of killing the patron king.
However, both the Yuwen Clan and the Dugu Clan, when the unification of Wu Guogong in the south was gaining momentum, they all had the idea of taking one place as their foundation, just like the Li Clan at this time.
Unfortunately, the one who made the decision in Dongdu at this time was Yang Lin, the patron king. Yang Guang, who was drunk and dreaming, completely let go of government affairs. As a result, no matter how anxious the Yuwen Clan and Dugu Clan senior officials were, they could not easily open their mouths to Yang Guang.
Among the three great clans in the North, the one doing the best right now is the Li clan, who has always been a secretive person.
At this time, Li Yuan, the leader of the Li Clan, was stationed in Jinyang and had tens of thousands of troops. He controlled most of Jin, which made him the second most powerful prince in the world.
It is a pity that Yang Guang did not rush to Jiangdu with hundreds of thousands of trusted soldiers in this life, which left Guanzhong and Heluo with no military strength, allowing the Li Clan, Wang Shichong and other forces to take advantage.
Yang Guang was in charge of the eastern capital and occupied the best land of Heluo. He had hundreds of thousands of elite Sui troops under his command, and he also controlled the military power of Tongguan and the western capital of Daxing. There was not much room for Li Clan to exploit.
This is the bad thing about being too close to the emperor. If Li Clan imagines that like in the original work of Double Dragon of the Tang Dynasty, he can easily win Guanzhong and sit back and watch the world's heroes fight to the death, and then take advantage of it.
Of course, everyone in the Li family still doesn't know this.
However, when Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty put his troops on guard against Guanzhong, and what he said to his patron king Yang Lin reached the ears of Li Yuan of Jinyang, it forced the Li family to take action.
Li Clan's ambition was huge, and it was not just caused by the rumor that "peaches and plums will conquer the world".
They had been secretly planning it for many years. If nothing else, just seeing the Nanhai Immortal Huang Gongcuo, who had not fully recovered from his serious injuries, quietly appeared in Li Yuan's study, we knew what was going on.
"Uncle Huang, are you okay?"
Seeing Huang Gongcuo acting like this, Li Yuan's eyes flashed with shock and he hurriedly asked.
You must know that Nanhai Immortal Huang Gongcuo is the best among first-class masters, and his strength has reached the late first-class or even the peak level. Unexpectedly, he is now seriously injured. How can he not be frightened?
"It's okay. It's not easy to escape with your life from Song Que, the Heavenly Sword, and to ensure that most of the Nanhai faction's elites evacuate safely!"
Huang Gongcuo's face was pale and his breath was disordered. After saying a few words, he gasped slightly. It was obvious that the injury this time was definitely serious, and he didn't know how long it would take to recover.
"Heavenly Sword Song Que?"
A sharp light flashed in Li Yuan's eyes, and he said angrily: "Why is this guy so vicious?"
Huang Gongcuo smiled bitterly and said helplessly: "What else can't be seen clearly? Song Que is the reigning son-in-law and excludes dissidents!"
"The Nanhai Sect is not at odds with the Lingnan Song Clan, and they directly rejected Wu Guogong's solicitation not long ago. Didn't this attract the Heavenly Sword Song Que to come looking for trouble?"
Speaking of this, he was filled with helplessness and said bitterly: "I thought I was about the same strength as Song Que, but I didn't know that this man has made such rapid progress in the art of swordsmanship and has almost reached the level of a half-step master. I can't force him to do that."
I can resist it!"
"Fortunately, Song Que is also the head of a powerful clan, and he is willing to act as a thug for his son-in-law!"
Li Yuan sneered repeatedly, but his heart was tightly depressed. Seeing that Huang Gongcuo was in a bad state, he could only comfort him: "Uncle, don't take it too seriously. It's only right to take good care of your injuries!"
"It doesn't matter, I can still hold on with my strength!"
Huang Gongcuo shook his head and said solemnly: "You have to be careful of Wu Guogong. Although he is a humble person, he is a very powerful being. It won't take two or three years for Jiangnan to be completely controlled by him.
Use your finger!"
Li Yuanning nodded and said depressedly: "Based on his reputation as the best master in the world, no one dares to underestimate him. Unfortunately, Jiangnan is too far away and there is nothing we can do about it!"
Huang Gongcuo's eyes flashed, and he reminded with a chuckle: "Aren't your two sons very close to Buddhism? The power of Buddhism in Jiangnan is quite amazing!"
"What does Uncle Master mean?"
A flash of understanding flashed in Li Yuan's eyes, and an inexplicable smile appeared on his face.
"Of course I asked Buddhism to help hold me back!"
Huang Gongcuo said it very straightforwardly and said coldly: "Let's not talk about direct confrontation. I guess southern Buddhism doesn't have the courage. It should be okay to use some tricks in secret, right?"
He knew the situation in the south quite well, and naturally knew how powerful Wu Guogong was.
Even the local nobles, who were deeply entangled and powerful, were suppressed and did not dare to take the lead, let alone the Buddhists in the south. Their lives were quite miserable.
Of course, he didn't know that the higher-ups of Southern Buddhism were enjoying it. The existence of Buddhism attracted too much of their energy. Every branch wanted to take a dominant position in Buddhism. There were many secret disputes among young and old, but it was difficult for outsiders to know.
"This is something you can try!"
Li Yuan smiled bitterly and said: "Since Buddhism has chosen to support the people of the world, it must give some face!"
Huang Gongcuo did not answer the call. It involved an internal dispute over resources within the Li clan, and it was difficult for him as an outsider to comment.
It's just that the behavior of the Buddhist clan is very puzzling. If you want to support the Li clan, why don't you know how to support the eldest son Li Jiancheng, but instead fall in love with the second son Shimin?
Isn't this artificially creating conflicts within the Li clan?
He didn't know that Li Yuan had put in a lot of effort to mediate the conflict between his eldest son and his second son. The result was unknown, and he had no complaints against Buddhism in his heart.
In the previous siege of Yanmen County, Li Clan used almost all its resources and finally gave Yang Guang a severe blow. However, it was the second son Li Shimin who benefited the most in the end.
Because of this matter, the eldest son Li Jianmin and the other sons made a lot of noise.
Fortunately, the situation was unclear at this time, and the external pressure was so great that the Li family had to work together to deal with it, so there was no civil strife, otherwise the fun would have been great.
After sending Huang Gongcuo off quietly, Li Yuan explained it to Li Shimin in private. Soon Cihang Jingzhai received the message, and Fan Qinghui was very distressed.
"Why is Master worried?"
Master Concubine Xuan walked over and saw the master's sad face, so she couldn't help but asked out of curiosity.
Fan Qinghui turned around and glanced at his direct disciple. He was satisfied in his heart but couldn't help but sigh: "Wu Guogong's unification of the south has caused great uneasiness among the northern families. Li Clan has written a letter asking us to come forward to suppress Wu Guogong's arrogance.
arrogance!"
"I'm afraid it will be difficult!"
Concubine Xuan frowned slightly and said disapprovingly: "Wu Guogong is known as the best master in the world, how can he be so easy to suppress?"
"No matter what, we have to interview and explore this matter!"
Fan Qinghui smiled bitterly. How could she not know the difficulty? Among the three great masters in the world except Wu Guogong, only Ning Daoqi, a Taoist disciple, had not been beaten. The other Turkic martial lord Bi Xuan and the Goguryeo Yijian master Fu Cailin were all severely wounded by Wu Guogong.
hand.
Looking around the world, which force can guarantee the suppression of Wu Guogong's momentum?
"Master, how do you plan to solve it?"
Master Concubine Xuan is worthy of being the contemporary successor of Cihang Jingzhai. She can see the trouble at a glance, but she also knows that Master Qinghui cannot shirk her troubles, otherwise it will be extremely difficult for her to have a good relationship with Li Clan in the future.
"This time, my teacher decided to go out on a mountain trip!"
Fan Qinghui's eyes flickered and he said leisurely: "Recently, the Demon Sect's thieves have been making trouble in the world, especially the Yin Kui Sect's movements. I have to come out and give them a good fight!"
Before the concubine Xuan could understand the meaning of her master's words, Fan Qinghui explained the affairs of Jingzhai and left the Emperor's Peak.
Since officially, neither Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty nor the three great clans of the North could suppress Wu Guogong Lei Hu, then we might as well not use official means at all, but use Jianghu means to contain the integration and development of the South.
Once the world is in turmoil, it will naturally trigger regional civil unrest, which can also slow down Wu Guogong's consolidation of forces and the speed of expansion.
Fan Qinghui understood clearly that Shi Fei Xuan was still too young at this time, and it was obviously not something that Shi Fei Xuan could accomplish by actively causing turmoil in the world.
Coincidentally, due to Wu Guogong's own life experience, the south is an important base for the Demon Sect, and it is easy to find excuses and opportunities to stir up trouble.