Chao Gai didn't think of weapons at first. After all, Liangshan's foundation was not very strong. Liangshan was also injured by the weapons. However, the Hongmen Banquet he arranged was discovered by Wu Yong, so he had no choice but to forcibly raise troops to launch a coup.
After Wu Yong reminded him, Song Jiang was already on guard against Chao Gai, and recruited all his confidants in advance, and quickly recalled his brother Song Yu, Lu Junyi and other leaders to return to suppress Chao Gai's rebellion.
Song Yu also didn't understand Song Jiang's tearing up the covenant, but after all, Song Jiang was his only brother who was still alive. Song Qing and other brothers were now dead in the war, so it was naturally impossible for him to see Song Jiang's body missing.
Song Yu immediately prepared to lead his army back to suppress the rebellion, and nearly half of the other leaders also returned to help Song Jiang. However, nearly half of the leaders chose to wait and see, neither helping Song Jiang nor Chao Gai, including Lu Junyi.
Lu Junyi also didn't agree with Song Jiang's decision, but he had been brothers with Song Jiang for many years, and his temperament was also a bit indecisive, so he couldn't completely break up like Chao Gai, so he chose to wait and see.
Song Jiang has been in charge of the Liangshan Army for many years, and his prestige is naturally not comparable to that of Chao Gai. Chao Gai suddenly launched a coup, which really caught Song Jiang off guard. However, with the return of the four leaders Song Yu, Dong Ping, Hu Yanzhuo, and Lu Zhishen, the momentum of the rebellion
Gradually being suppressed, the situation became increasingly unfavorable to Chao Gai.
Chao Gai saw that the matter was exposed, but was not willing to let it go, so he sent Yan Qing to lobby Lu Junyi. He knew that Lu Junyi also supported recruiting An, so he wanted to get Lu Junyi's support to defeat Song Jiang.
At the critical moment of the internal fighting in Liangshan, Lu Junyi's indecisiveness recurred. Even with Yan Qing's pleading, Lu Junyi was still hesitant and missed the perfect opportunity to send troops.
After Lu Junyi made his decision, the coup initiated by Chao Gai had been suppressed by all the leaders.
In this coup, Liangshan suffered more than 5,000 casualties, and Hun Jianglong Li Jun, who supported Chao Gai, was also killed on the spot.
Chao Gai was wounded by an arrow from Hu Yanzhuo, but escaped with the protection of Shi Jin, and led the remaining 5,000 troops to Beihai, where he took refuge with Li Jing, the prefect of Beihai.
After learning about this incident, Lu Junyi also regretted it, but it was of no use and could only continue to stay under Song Jiang's staff.
The total strength of Liangshan was only 40,000, but after such a turmoil, the number of troops was directly reduced by a quarter, and the total strength dropped to 30,000, which can be said to be a serious loss of vitality.
Qingzhou, Qi State
After Wang Mang left Liangshan, he came to Qi State non-stop, preparing to lobby Zhu Tianpeng to join the Anti-Qin Alliance.
Huang Chao was forced to surrender to the Han Dynasty. Although claiming to be king without permission was tantamount to treason, it had not changed its flag after all. Therefore, Qi was still a vassal state of the Han Dynasty in name, so it could naturally join the newly established new dynasty.
However, Zhu Tianpeng was not as easy to fool as Song Jiang, and even though Wang Mang tried his best to persuade him, Wang Mang realized that it was impossible to persuade Zhu Tianpeng without using a big move, so he stayed in Qi and waited for the opportunity.
When the news of the civil strife and split in Liangshan came, Wang Mang didn't show any surprise on his face. He had already guessed that Song Jiang's rebellion would cause a turmoil in Liangshan.
It was Song Jiang's decision to accept the recruitment, and everyone up and down Liangshan thought so. But now he suddenly turned against him and slapped himself in the face. It is natural that some people would object.
Wang Mang had long guessed that there would be internal strife in Liangshan, but he did not warn Song Jiang in advance. Instead, he used Liangshan as a bait to lure the Qin army in Beihai to dispatch, and Qi would not watch Liangshan be destroyed.
Liangshan is actually not important in Wang Mang's plan. After all, Liangshan only has a total of 40,000 troops, and the overall combat strength is generally not high. Even if he joins the anti-Qin alliance, the effect will be limited, so the real purpose of his move south this time is
In fact, the purpose is not to seize Song Jiang's right hand, but to use it to lure Zhu Tianpeng of Qi into the water.
Wang Mang wanted to use Liangshan as a bait to provoke a war between the two countries. Once Zhu Tianpeng and Li Jing started a war, they would have no choice but to join the anti-Qin side to fight against the Qin army.
Wang Mang grabbed the tiger's skin of the Anti-Qin Alliance and used his own power to control the Qingzhou princes, but in the end he still complained about Li Jing's caution.
When he learned that the Qin army did not take the opportunity to send troops, Wang Mang's face was full of shock and surprise. This was obviously different from what he expected. It was so good that Li Jing took the initiative to let it go. At the same time, Wang Mang's follow-up plan was blocked.
Out of shell.
Zhu Wangmang's main purpose of going south this time was to lure Zhu Tianpeng into the water. However, if Zhu Tianpeng's Qi State had not entered the situation and only attracted Song Jiang, who was already seriously injured, this would not be of much help to the overall situation.
"It's getting tricky. It seems we have to find other ways. We need to hurry up." Wang Mang thought to himself.
As the leader of the anti-Qin alliance and the first contributor to the establishment of the new imperial court, Wang Mang had to rush back before Liu Che proclaimed himself emperor, otherwise all his busy work would be in vain making wedding clothes for others.
Although Wang Mang is not sure about convincing Zhu Tianpeng now, he will give it a try anyway.
"Ju Wuba, let's go to Prince Qi's Mansion."
"promise."
Under the protection of Ju Wuba, Wang Mang went to Prince Qi's Mansion again, but unexpectedly he was assassinated on the way.
"The traitor shall die."
Assassinations are a normal thing for Wang Mang, but the lineup of the assassin group this time is unprecedented. Not only are there half-step masters at the grand master level, but there are even grand masters.
"Hey, Qin Hao can't tolerate me anymore?" Wang Mang said with a bitter smile, even the Grand Master has been sent here, he will not give up until he is killed.
This assassination was arranged by Zhang Liang. The Grand Master sent was Dongfang Shuo, the Half-step Grand Master was Qin Yijue, and Chang'e secretly provided information. Logically speaking, it was absolutely impossible to fail, but in the end it was due to patrols.
Xia Luqi, Wang Yanzhang and other generals arrived "just in time" but failed.
Although Wang Yanzhang sealed the city gate in time, he still failed to capture Dongfang Shuo and Qin Yijue. However, Heibingtai also lost three super-level assassins.
"Mr. Wang Mang, I scared you."
Zhu Tianpeng said with a somewhat bad expression. He did not expect that the assassins of the Qin army would be so rampant that they dared to assassinate Wang Mang, the envoy of the Three Kingdoms, on the street in the capital of Qi. It was like slapping him in the face.
"The public security in Qi is really good. Qin's spies can come and leave whenever they want. Wang has really gained a lot of experience."
Wang Mang boasted and sarcastically, and then added: "King Qi, I pretended to enter the Qi State this time, so no one should know about it, but the assassins of the Qin State knew my whereabouts very well, and they
He set up an assassination attempt on the street, wouldn’t you, Your Highness, the King of Qi, find it strange?”