Wei Yingwu was lightly dressed this time and passed through Jianmen Pass with only two followers. When he entered the pass, he found that the soldiers guarding the pass had become much more alert. There were crossbowmen standing ready behind each arrow stack. They must have been
Cui Ning had already told his brother Cui Mi about the army in front of the pass.
When he entered the governor's house this time, Cui Ning welcomed him into the main hall, ordered his servants to bring him good tea, and treated him as a distinguished guest.
Cui Ning asked expectantly: "How? Does King Yong have this intention?"
Wei Yingwu smiled mysteriously, took out the letter from his arms and handed it to him. Governor Cui opened it and read it carefully, and said with great joy: "King Yong is worthy of being King Yong. His actions are indeed grand and courteous enough for a corporal. I, Cui Ningde,
What is there to hesitate about this kind encounter? Please go back and report to King Yong. Cui Ning will choose a good time and auspicious day to go to Jianmen Pass in person to welcome the army into the pass."
Wei Yingwu cupped his hands and returned the greeting: "In that case, I look forward to meeting Dr. Cui again."
In fact, the auspicious day and good time are just Cui Ning's words. He is waiting for the imperial edict sent by Li Siye from Chang'an, just like the underworld transaction of handing over the money and delivering the goods, without any ambiguity.
For Li Siye, the matter is already half successful. He doesn't have to worry about the news being leaked. The Cui brothers are more anxious than him now. They have already blocked all the news from Jianmen Pass to prevent it from flowing into Jiedu in Chengdu.
Go to the envoy's house.
The emperor's imperial edict was rushed by the Jinniu Road and was finally delivered to Li Siye. Along with it were several stacks of blank yellow silk imperial edicts, which had already been stamped with jade seals, so that he could reward the heroes who had entered Shu and save the time.
A lot of manpower passed back and forth.
Li Siye ordered people to pass the news into Jianmen Pass, and the Cui brothers came out of the pass in person to pay homage. When they saw Li Siye, they immediately performed the courtesy of a minister: "I am humble to Cui Ning, and Cui Mi has met my lord."
Li Siye sat in the tent and nodded with a smile, and winked at Wei Yingwu. Master Wei immediately invited the imperial edict to be read aloud.
At this time, everyone was kneeling on the ground. Only Li Siye was still sitting on the throne, listening to the content of the imperial edict: "Under the sect, Cui Ning, the governor of Shizhou, and Cui Mi, the commander-in-chief of Jianmen Pass, led Shizhou Jianmen Mingxiao Dayi.
I am very pleased that all the ministries have submitted to the imperial court and have made outstanding contributions. Cui Ning was granted the title of Marquis of Boling, the imperial censor, and the post of Jiannan Jiedushi. Cui Ning was sealed as the Marquis of Pu'an, the censor Zhongcheng, and served as the official of Jiannan.
Deputy envoy of Jiedu, envoy of the Unity Camp. The book is as shown on the right, and the talismans will be followed!"
The two brothers both prostrated themselves on the ground: "I thank the Emperor for his kindness, and I will swear to serve you to the death."
Wei Yingwu stepped forward and handed over the imperial edict to the two of them. Li Siye waved his hand and ordered someone to deliver the banner and Liubo. He stood up from his chair, stepped forward to help the two of them up and said with a smile: "Doctor Cui, and Cui Zhongcheng, from today on
We’ve been colleagues since then.”
Cui Ning said quickly: "My lord, what you said is wrong. We obey the imperial edict, but our allegiance is to the lord. My two brothers are willing to lead the way for the lord to conquer Chengdu and capture Shu County!"
"In this case, you can enter Shu with me."
In April of the third year of Yuanshuo, Cui Ning and Cui Mi opened the sword gate and led 40,000 Hexi troops into the Central Sichuan Basin. There was no natural obstacle in front of Li Siye.
…
After the Hexi Army entered the middle of Shu, Cui Ning brothers led the way. All the passing prefectures and counties surrendered, and the army advanced all the way to the front of Chengdu City.
At this time, the person serving as the Jiedushi of Jiannan was Li Chong, a member of the clan, the eldest son of Li Yi, the famous general of Xin'an during the Kaiyuan period. He initially followed the advice of his fellow general Guo Yingqian and burned down all three plank roads into Shu, thinking that this would stop Li Siye's attack.
The army, but it only made it inconvenient for the people and traders in Shu to come and go, and the prices of some goods soared. The Hexi army still landed in front of him like a magic weapon.
When he learned that Li Siye's army was approaching the city, the Jiedu envoy was completely uncharacteristic of his father's general. He was completely panicked and quickly called several of his generals for discussion.
"Fellow generals, Li Siye has led the Hexi Tiger and Wolf troops to the city and has sent me a letter of persuasion to surrender. I wonder what you all think."
Yan Wu remonstrated directly: "Of course we cannot surrender! Although Li Siye's Hexi Army is powerful, our Jiannan Army is not a vegetarian."
"But the enemy's troops are coming so fiercely that we may not be able to stop them."
Yan Wu knew that Li Si was cowardly, mediocre and indecisive, so he softened his tone and tried to dissuade him: "I, the Jiannan Jiedushi, have a total force of 60,000 men, but they are scattered in various states and counties. Why don't you pretend to negotiate terms with Li Siye to delay the situation?"
In the meantime, secretly send people to various places to send messages to the armies to guard and capture him. When the armies gather together, they may not be unable to fight Li Siye."
Li Hong's subordinates have a war faction, and naturally they have a surrender faction. However, Marching Sima Duji and a group of staff came forward and persuaded him: "General Yan Wu's passion is indeed loyalty, but he also needs to act according to his ability.
Since Li Siye entered the Central Plains from Hexi Province, he has experienced hundreds of battles and has never encountered an opponent. The flying tiger cavalry has traveled all over the Central Plains, and the Xuanwu Artillery Battalion has destroyed everything. Everyone knows that leaving the green mountains there is not afraid of running out of firewood, so instead of resisting and being defeated,
Instead of killing, it is better to surrender and obey first, and when the situation is favorable to the south in the future, it will not be too late to bring order to the chaos."
Yan Wu reprimanded angrily: "What nonsense are you talking about? If you surrender, you will surrender. How can you bring order to the chaos in the future? Now that the world is in chaos, the saints are crossing the Yangtze River south, and we need our mutual aid. Once the Jiannan Army surrenders, it will be long.
The momentum of the rebels has weakened the imperial court's strength, and the situation has become increasingly uncontrollable. Doctors must not listen to such words, and those who surrender must be treated according to military law."
Everyone was suppressed by Yan Wu's righteousness, and they could only mutter: "General Yan's family members are all in Jiangdong, and he is alone thousands of miles away from serving as an official in Chengdu. How can we be here, and we will defeat you?"
You can just pat your butt and leave, do we deserve to be slaughtered for our small family?"
"You! Loyal and righteous people should distinguish the importance of family and country. How can you forget your country and betray the imperial court and the country when you are in danger?"
Those who talked about surrender in front of Li Hong were basically locals from central Sichuan. Some of them did have such concerns, while others just wanted to change their families and keep their land and property.
Li Hong always didn't want to offend anyone, so he had to say calmly: "Everyone, please stop arguing. General Yan Wu is good at fighting. Since he said he can win, how can we give up? If we can, fight first. If we can't win, we can talk about surrender."
things."
Everyone present was surprised that things related to war and peace could be said to be such a child's play, but history has happened again and again, proving that the process of evolution is such a child's play.
Marching Sima Duji stepped forward and said: "Since the doctor is determined to fight, he should immediately send people to summon soldiers and horses from various states to come to Chengdu for rescue. He also needs to send a capable person to gather all the armies under unified command."
Li Hong came to his senses and quickly asked: "Who is willing to go out of the city to summon soldiers from various states to fight against the rebels?"
Du Ji glanced at Yan Wu with a smile, turned to Li Long and said: "General Yan Wu has a thorough understanding of the art of war, is brave and capable of fighting, and is the deputy envoy of Jiannan Jiedu. General Yan Wu should be asked to go out of the city to gather troops and horses to break the siege of Chengdu."
.”
Li Xi asked Yan Wu in a consultative tone: "General Yan Wu, what do you think?"
Yan Wu was hesitant and embarrassed. If he left the city of Chengdu, the capitulation faction around Jiedushi Li Hong would gain the upper hand. How many evil winds would blow every day to tempt Li Hong to surrender to the city. But if he sent incompetent people to summon the various ministries in Jiannan to fight
If the battle was defeated, Chengdu would also fall into the hands of Li Siye. He wished he could split himself in half and use the other half in Chengdu for easy supervision.
He had no choice but to cross his hands and say: "Since Dr. Li trusts Yan Wu so much, I will go out of the city to summon all the Jiannan Army troops to fight to the death with Li Siye's Hexi rebels."
Yan Wu agreed to Li Hong in the morning and prepared to leave the city in the afternoon. Before he left, Guo Yingyi and Guo Yingqian said goodbye to their brothers, leaving the hope of Chengdu in the hands of these two brothers: "After I leave, I hope that you two can always encourage and motivate the doctor.
We can't let him listen to the slander and surrender the city, but also ask him to believe in Yan Wu. As long as he holds on to Chengdu and I wait for opportunities to attack outside, the Hexi Army will have no backup. In less than two months, our troops will be exhausted and our food and grass will be cut off.
There will be a great victory."
The two brothers crossed their hands and replied: "General Yan, please rest assured, my two brothers will definitely advise the doctor from time to time."