After Hao Tianyi expressed his willingness to surrender his military power, his brothers left with satisfaction.
The night of the Mid-Autumn Festival has not passed yet, but the feeling of betrayal and separation lingers in my heart, so there is no need to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival again.
On the way to the study, he felt a sense of loneliness...
Kublai Khan reduced the power of the princes. For other princes of the Central Plains, although they lost some power, they were still high-ranking officials with incomparable honors.
The breadth of the area that the Mongols govern is still rare in history.
If Hao Tianyi had not been captured by Li Xia and then released, he would have happily accepted the change from "Chief Military and Civilian Manager" on Taiyuan Road to "Chief Civilian Manager".
Although descendants cannot inherit military power, they can easily become central officials by sending hostages into the dynasty. The Hao family is still prominent, and will be prominent for a longer period of time.
But the problem is, there is no if.
Only he is different, only he will be liquidated sooner or later.
"Actually, I also want to be the general manager of Taiyuan Road and the governor of Taiyuan, as you said. But am I the same as you? Haha."
"You can still be high-ranking officials in Dayuan, but if I lose my military power, it will be difficult for me to survive."
Returning to the study, Hao Tianyi took out the copied "Answers to Su Wu" from the bookcase, casually placed it on the candle and lit it.
He shouldn't have been captured in the first place.
You should not come back after being captured...
Green smoke rose, and the scene of Li Xia and Zhang Jue getting along suddenly appeared in his mind.
"Li Xia?"
Hao Tianyi murmured the name.
If it were this time last year, he would have despised Li Xia so much that there would be no possibility that he would want to seek refuge with Li Xia.
At that time, he looked at Li Xia, who was a local emperor on Taiyuan Road looking at a dog belonging to the Song Dynasty.
But today, he suddenly felt that... under Li Xia's rule, even if he only defended Shu, he could be an ordinary founding hero, at least it would be better than being liquidated in the future.
"Ha, that's funny."
Human nature is like this. If you can be a prince, you will not even think about changing your family; if you can be a high official in the Meng Yuan Dynasty, you will still not think of defecting.
Even as ordinary officials, some people still think that officials were more lenient under Mongolian rule.
But as long as the situation was worse, once he was reduced to a precarious situation, like Hao Tianyi, he suddenly felt that Li Xia showed the temperament of a wise king.
With this thought, he didn't need anyone to persuade him. As long as his attitude changed, Hao Tianyi suddenly had the idea of changing his family.
He quickly became excited and his mind was very active.
I also thought of taking my wife and children away with me, but it was difficult to arrange the more than thirty concubines. Do I really want to abandon them?
I also have a huge family fortune and thousands of hectares of fertile land, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to take them with me…
So there was some hesitation.
If he could continue to be loyal to Dayuan in the future, at least half of Taiyuan City would still be his property, but Li Xia would have to live in poverty.
Can you defect or don't want to defect?
It's a pity that Kublai Khan was already suspicious.
Sometimes this way, sometimes that way, Hao Tianyi looked very indecisive.
But if it were anyone else, how could they have any sense at this time? How many people would be willing to throw away the glory and wealth earned by two generations and start over?
I'm afraid that the vast majority of people would still choose to kneel before Kublai Khan and beg him to continue to trust him.
After the indecisive Hao Tianyi struggled repeatedly in his mind, he gritted his teeth and made a decision. In fact, it was beyond the reaction of a normal person. Even the younger brothers who knew him best did not think that he could really leave Taiyuan behind.
Maybe it would have been different if Kublai Khan had given him more time to think about it. Maybe it was his younger brothers who really pushed him to make up his mind.
"My father was kidnapped when he was young, and he had no choice but to become a Mongolian. Now that the Han Dynasty has prospered, it is time to bring order to the chaos. How can I, a good man from the Han family, stoop to serve the barbarians again?!"
…
Once you have made up your mind, you have to think about how to do it.
Hao Tianyi spread out the map of Taiyuan City and then started to think about it. His eyes suddenly froze.
Since the end of the Jin Dynasty, Shanxi has become the hinterland of Mongolia, and there has been no war in thirty years.
Taiyuan Road nominally maintained 20,000 troops, but in fact there were less than 8,000 troops to cope with the recruitment of the Great Khan.
Among them, more than a thousand of the most elite soldiers and horses had followed him to Yan'an and were captured by Li Xia. In the battle of Hancheng, Hao Zhongwei lost 5,000 men, and the remaining troops were gathered by Shi Tianze.
Hao Tianyi was not sure whether he could command the remaining troops.
Before, he had always thought that he was very brave and could not live up to his father's illustrious reputation.
But if you think about it carefully, apart from some smooth battles in his life, the only battle that made him famous... was when he was captured in Yan'an.
How many soldiers are willing to follow such a defeated general?
Even if the remaining less than 2,000 people are really willing to rebel, Taiyuan is a thousand miles away from Guanzhong, and there are all big and small princes in the middle, so it is impossible to get the support of Li Xia's troops.
It is impossible to defend the city, and even more impossible to fight all the way to Guanzhong.
In fact, it is impossible for the soldiers and horses in Taiyuan to be willing to abandon their wives and children and leave their homes to follow him to join Li Xia.
Hao Tianyi knew that if he spoke to any general, he would most likely be betrayed the next moment.
His neck felt cold, and he seemed to see his head being chopped off. A trusted general behind him sneered: "Why should I leave Taiyuan with you..."
In addition, there are still Zhang Hongfan and dozens of timid Xue troops in the city.
Although Zhang Hongfan's troops were small, Hao Tianyi knew that he had no ability to fight Zhang Hongfan.
Even the courage is gone.
Instead of leading troops to break out, it would be better to escape quietly.
"I'm such a waste." At the end, Hao Tianyi sighed helplessly...
~~
August 16th.
At three o'clock in the morning, Wang Xun was still sleeping soundly until he was pushed awake by Wang Chengye.
"Sir, Hao Tianyi hung five lanterns at the back door of the General Manager's Mansion and asked Mr. Hao to meet tomorrow."
Wang Zhen was not in a hurry to answer. He first arranged his hair, leaving a hair on both sides, and then asked, "Were you not followed by anyone when you inquired about the General Manager's Mansion?"
"No, I hired some gangsters from the city to watch him from the teahouse across the street to make sure there was no tail behind him before I saw him."
"killed?"
"No." Wang Chengye said: "The Commander-in-Chief has taught me that killing people may seem simple, but it can easily attract the attention of interested people."
"Don't you have your own thoughts?"
Wang Xun adjusted his appearance in front of the bronze mirror and said casually: "Killing people can easily attract their attention. But the problem is, the two good dogs from Yanjing are here to catch us, do they care about this?"
"Do you need me to kill that rogue again?" Wang Chengye asked.
"There is no need to look for him again." Wang Xin said: "Hao Tianyi is controlled by two good dogs. They are trying to lure me over."
"Should we transfer immediately?"
"No hurries?"
Wang Xun washed her face, straightened her sleeves, opened the door, and smiled in the sunshine.
"The weather is really nice." He looked at Ma Yan standing in the courtyard and asked, "Have you had breakfast?"
"Eat, I used to eat two meals a day, but after joining the Military Intelligence Department, I ate three meals a day."
Wang Xun shook his head in disgust and said, "Stop talking. You just made a dull sentence in two days and announced yourself as 'yamen' when you opened your mouth. Ha, this can be done carefully."
Yu Dechen came forward, holding a basket in his hand, and looked at Wang Xin with a helpless expression on his face.
"You made a reservation at Jinyang Tower and arrived early."
"eat together?"
"No."
Wang Xun smiled faintly, and instead of taking the basket in Yu Deshen's hand, he took out a moon cake from it and broke it open.
After breaking three pieces in a row, he took out a piece of paper and glanced at it, with a confident smile on his face.
"Look, I said that the arrival of two dogs will force Hao Tianyi to rebel..."
Wang Chengye, Ma Yan, and Yu Dechen were all surprised, and finally began to admire Wang Xun.
"Is this? He made an appointment with Mr. to discuss his surrender?"
Wang Chengye took the note and pondered.
Being a cautious person, he asked again: "How could Hao Tianyi deliver a letter to Mr. Hao like this?"
Wang Xun waved his hand, the corners of his mouth seemed to be grinning to his ears, but his tone became more and more calm.
"I left a few more ways for him to contact me, that's all."
"Mr. Gaocai, what should we do next?"
"I asked him to mobilize his confidants to kill Zhang Hongfan and Hao Tianting first, and then control the Hao family members and control Taiyuan." Wang Xun said: "Once Taiyuan is blocked, the princes south of Shanxi will lose contact with Yanjing. I can
Contact Ahema and inform him that the princes of Shanxi are cooperating with us to force Ahema to submit. In this case, we will ask the King of Qin to cooperate and encroach on Shanxi..."
Wang Chengye was a little confused after hearing this, but asked: "But the key is, can Hao Tianyi do it?"
"I don't care what he does." Wang Xun chuckled lightly.
He is a counselor, lobbyist and strategist, and his talent lies in stirring up the situation.
He doesn't care about other things.
He doesn't know how to lead troops in battle, he doesn't know much about Taiyuan, and there are only a few people around him, so he can't control him even if he wants to.
"Monk Hao Batu has been dead for eleven years, and Hao Tianyi has been in charge of the military and civilian affairs of Taiyuan Road for eleven years. If he can't even kill two dogs, what should he do with this waste? It's better to just pack up and go back to Chang'an."
Wang Xun muttered like this and walked back into the house.
"I'm going to disguise myself and meet Hao Tianyi."
…
In the courtyard, Wang Chengye and Yu Dechen looked at each other and said in a low voice: "Why do I feel that I am afraid that I will fall into trouble?"
Yu Dechen was not surprised either. He remained calm and asked, "Have you read the tip bag that Secretary Lin gave you?"
"No."
"He said he would watch if he felt it was dangerous."
Yu Dechen pointed at himself, then at Ma Yan, Wang Chengye, and said: "We are the Military Intelligence Department."
Ma Yan pointed to the basket in his hand.
"He won't eat this breakfast, can you give it to me?"