The impact of Yang Guang's death is undoubtedly far-reaching.
The originally peaceful world became completely chaotic, with wars everywhere.
Let’s talk about the north first. Xue Ju, the overlord of the Western Qin Dynasty, held a founding ceremony on the third day after receiving the news of Yang Guang’s death and ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor.
Influenced by Xue Ju, Dou Jiande, Liu Wuzhou, Liang Shidu and others also proclaimed themselves kings and emperors.
Zhai Rang did not proclaim himself emperor, because he and Li Mi were intensively attacking Xingyang, and finally attacked Xingyang in one go, with their troops pointing directly at Luoyang with great momentum.
The north is in chaos, and the south is also in a state of flux.
The most prominent thing is not that Li Zitong proclaimed himself emperor, but that Xiao Xian of the Baling Gang and Lin Shihong of the Poyang Hui proclaimed themselves emperors and established the Chu and Liang States respectively.
Before this, although these two men had great power, they had never raised an army to rebel against the Sui Dynasty.
But this time after Yang Guang's death, he established two countries with lightning speed, and basically divided the area south of the Yangtze River.
Li Yizhi ignored the chaos outside and focused on dealing with internal matters.
After Yang Guang's death, he did not proclaim himself emperor, but instead established Yang Guang's nephew Yang Hao as emperor, appointed himself prime minister, and took control of all military and political power of the court.
To put it bluntly, he is supporting a puppet in order to gain fame and fame.
After that, Li Yizhi entrusted his close subordinates who had been following him in the name of the imperial court.
After all, this is what they have been waiting for.
Among them, Li Jing was named the general and took control of the Xiaoguo Army; Luo Tong was named the general and took charge of the Yangzhou Army; Yin Kaishan was the commander of the Imperial Guard; Tian Wen was the imperial censor; the others were Xue Zhen, Gao Shouyi, and Shao Lingzhou
and others, various rewards and appointments.
As for Shi Long, he had no interest in official positions and still only served as a commander of personal guards, sitting in the palace.
However, Li Yizhi gave him the title of Founding County Marquis as compensation.
Under Li Yizhi's forceful sorting, Jiangdu County quickly recovered. Just when he was about to summon everyone and determined to take the initiative, one after another bad news came one after another.
Jiangdu Palace, in a side hall.
Li Yizhi summoned Tian Wen, Li Jing and others to discuss the matter and asked Shao Lingzhou to announce the news.
He is now the commander of the Jinyiwei newly established by Li Yizhi. He has integrated the elite forces of the Zhuhua Clan and the Beggar Clan, and has also absorbed many military experts. He is responsible for collecting intelligence inside and outside the imperial court.
Shao Lingzhou said in a deep voice, "According to reliable information, Shen Faxing, Li Zitong, Lin Shihong, and Xiao Mian have reached an alliance and are preparing to jointly send troops to attack Jiangdu from the east, southeast, south, and southwest, with a total of nearly 400,000 troops."
"Not only that, they seem to be lobbying Wagang Village, hoping that they will send an army from the north to join the siege of us. At the same time, Du Fuwei's Jianghuai Army is also ready to take advantage of the opportunity to counterattack and regain its original territory."
Having said this, Shao Lingzhou paused and continued, "There is also news. Yuwen Shang, the leader of the Yuwen Clan, has been released from seclusion. It is said that his strength has greatly improved. He has now issued a letter of war to the Prime Minister in Luoyang, and he will meet with the Prime Minister in one month.
The decisive battle. You Chuhong from the Dugu Clan expressed support and said she would be there to watch the battle."
Although the previous news seems that the situation is critical, powerful enemies from all directions are attacking, which is very dangerous.
However, even an army of 400,000 is still a rabble united by all parties. It is the opponent of Jiangdu's current elite army of 300,000.
But the latter one is extremely heavy.
You must know that Yuwen Shang was once a supremely powerful man with the same reputation as Heavenly Sword Song Que, but now no one knows what his level of cultivation is.
Even with the strength that Li Yizhi has shown now, it is difficult for him to be his opponent.
Tian Wen frowned and said, "A rich man cannot sit down in the palace. With his current status as Prime Minister, how can he accept Yuwen Shang's challenge like a warrior."
Xue Zhen and other civil officials naturally nodded in agreement and tried to dissuade Li Yizhi from refusing.
"It's that simple. The Prime Minister is originally a warrior. If he doesn't accept the challenge, he will be looked down upon by everyone in the world. Even the Prime Minister himself will have inner demons in his heart."
Shi Long shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Besides, Yu Wenshang's challenge has been supported by the Dugu Clan. Once the Prime Minister does not agree, I am afraid that he will have to face the cooperation between Yu Wenshang and You Chuhong. Then the Prime Minister will be even more
Danger."
Yin Kaishan and Shao Lingzhou nodded heavily. Naturally, they knew the stakes involved.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the venue became depressing.
Li Yizhi looked at the heavy expressions on everyone's face, couldn't help but chuckle, and said slowly, "I have my own opinions about Yu Wenshang's challenge, so you can't help but worry. Shao Lingzhou, you will reply for me later and say that I have accepted the challenge.
Waiting in Jiangdu in a month."
Although Yu Wenshang is very strong, the strength he has shown before is not all he has. It is still unclear who will win in the end.
Besides, isn’t it still a month away?
Within a month, with the help of great luck, Li Yizhi believed that his martial arts could be improved again.
So, he said to Li Jing, "General Li, you don't have to worry about the decisive battle. What you have to do now is to go out and attack. What I want is not only to repel their attack, but also to take the opportunity to pacify Jiangnan in one fell swoop and raise my troops."
Go north."
Shi Long and others saw that Li Yizhi seemed to be confident in dealing with Yu Wenshang. Although they were a little confused, they felt a lot more relaxed.
Li Jing said in a deep voice, "Prime Minister, I actually had a plan to quell the surrounding rebels a few days ago, but I didn't expect that they would take the initiative to attack. This is just right, as it saves us from fighting a siege."
Next, Li Jing began to describe his strategy in detail.
According to Li Jing's prediction, Wagangzhai had just captured Xingyang and must have suffered heavy losses. It was impossible to send troops south in a short period of time.
Furthermore, Wagang Village now not only has to face threats from Luoyang, but also Li Mi's power has become stronger again, and Zhai Rang can no longer coexist peacefully.
Therefore, there will definitely be civil strife in Wagang Village in the next few months, and there will still be energy to go south.
As for Du Fuwei, he was already a lost dog. As long as 20,000 Yangzhou troops were left to defend him, he would not dare to move.
Since then, there is basically no threat to the north, and all we have to do is deal with the south.
"Among the four major forces in the south of the Yangtze River, although Chu and Liang were powerful, they raised their troops in a hurry and never passed through the battlefield. Therefore, even if there were many Sui troops among them, their combat effectiveness was definitely not strong."
"For them, we can first occupy Danyang and defend, and then we can deal with Li Zitong and Shen Faxing first."
"Shen Faxing was a former Sui general. He became independent after the rebellion. He was experienced in battles for a long time and his combat strength was not weak. Although Li Zitong was born in a poor family, he first participated in Wang Bo's Changbai Mountain rebellion. The combat effectiveness of his army was not inferior to that of the Jianghuai Army."
"Therefore, our first priority is to attack them. After destroying them, we will then turn around and march westward to pacify Lin Shihong and Xiao Xian. They have just established their power and their foundation is unstable. As long as their main force is defeated, Jiangnan can be conquered in one battle. .”
After describing the strategy, Li Jing explained the specific combat plan.
Specifically, it is divided into two parts. The first part is that he personally led most of the Xiaoguo Army to wipe out Shen Faxing and Li Zitong.
The other one is for the Yangzhou Army and part of the Xiaoguo Army to cross the river and occupy Danyang, and then coordinate with Li Yang from the north to the south to blockade the Yangtze River to defend Lin Shihong and Xiao Xian.