In Liyang County, Li Mi's army began to retreat slowly. Li Mi had already obtained the exact news that the Sui army occupied Jiangyangcang and Jiangdu.
This news made Li Mi fall into despair. Only then did he realize that he had fallen into a trap. Xiao Du's coalition was just a bait. He could not bear the temptation and fell into Yang Yuanqing's plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain.
Although Li Mi was panicked, he still did not dare to retreat in panic. Xiao Du's coalition followed him closely like a wolf. Once there were signs of panic, it would cause unstable morale and eventually lead to defeat. Now Li Mi still has a thread in his heart.
Hope to regain Jiangdu City and Jiangyangcang.
The reason why he went from despair to another glimmer of hope was because he received another intelligence. The Sui army had not many troops, only 40,000 to 50,000 people. If he attacked fiercely at any cost, he might be able to recapture Jiangdu City and Jiangyang.
warehouse.
As night fell, Li Mi's army entered the territory of Jiangdu County and set up a camp by a small river called Lingshui. Although the soldiers were exhausted after nearly a day of march, the soldiers could not fall asleep, so they gathered in groups of three or three.
Let’s discuss your own way out together.
If the fall of Jiangyangcang means that the Wei army is about to face the danger of food outage, then the fall of Jiangdu means that the morale of the army begins to become unstable.
Indeed, not only the families of ordinary soldiers were in Jiangdu City, but most of the generals' families were settled in Jiangdu City. The fall of Jiangdu means that their wives and children fell into the hands of the Sui army.
As the news spread rapidly, almost all the soldiers knew about the fall of Jiangdu. Suddenly, people were panicked and the morale of the army began to shake seriously. From the beginning of camping, deserters began to appear in the army, from dozens to hundreds, or even several.
Thousands of people began to flee.
The appearance of the deserter made Li Mi extremely angry. He ordered Shan Xiongxin to be the army judge and led three thousand troops to patrol with sharp axes. "Anyone who fled will be killed if they catch it."
In the big tent, Li Mi paced back and forth anxiously with his hands behind his back. He had just received the news. Xiao Du's coalition appeared in Chisonggang, fifty miles away from him, and followed them in a state of silence, which made him extremely worried about something.
, If the Sui army and Xiao Du coalition formed a strong front-and-back attack on him, then he would be really in danger.
On the one hand, the morale of the army was disintegrated, and on the other hand, the threat of attacks from front and back. Internal troubles and external troubles made Li Mi feel like thousands of silk threads were twisted together. He was so worried that he didn't know what to do.
At this time, the voice of the counselor Fang Xuanzao came from the door of the tent, "Your Majesty, can I come in?"
Li Mi had a lot of resentment towards Fang Xuanzao. As a strategist, he could not see through Yang Yuanqing's layout and encouraged himself to fight the west. This was a dereliction of duty. But Li Mi was in a state of ruthlessness at this time, and he wanted to listen to the advice, so he held back.
He said qi: "Come in!"
Fang Xuanzao walked in. He was also very ashamed. He really couldn't see Yang Yuanqing's attempt to send troops to Jiangnan. Almost everyone thought that Yang Yuanqing would attack Guanzhong first, and Dou Jiande of Qingzhou had not been wiped out yet, so this would give people a
The illusion that the Sui army had to conquer Jiangnan at least after conquering Qingzhou first.
But he never expected that the Sui army would succeed in attacking Jiangdu from the sea, which made Fang Xuanzao extremely dissatisfied. But he had to admit that this was actually a strategic mistake of theirs.
Fang Xuanzao stepped forward and gave a deep bow, "See Your Majesty!"
"Please sit down!"
Li Mi sighed and returned to her seat and sat down. Fang Xuanzao did not dare to do it, and still stood aside. He asked with concern: "Your Majesty is worried about the upcoming attacks?"
Li Mi nodded, "That's true, but unfortunately I have no choice but to watch the situation of being attacked from both sides."
After pausing, Li Mi asked again: "Sir, what solution do you have to solve the current crisis?"
Fang Xuanzao hesitated and said, "I have a plan, but I wonder if your highness can accept it?"
Li Mi was excited and hurriedly said, "Sir, what strategy?"
"Wei Majesty suggests that Your Majesty lead his army north, return to the Central Plains, then erect the Wagang banner, capture Luoyang, echo the Tang Dynasty, and then join forces with the Tang Dynasty to fight against the Sui army. Wei Majesty believes that this is a way out."
Li Mi was stunned for a while, and then said for a while: "But the Jianghuai soldiers will not go north with me."
Fang Xuanzao tried his best to persuade him: "Your Majesty, it is impossible to do everything. Now your Majesty has 180,000 troops, plus the 20,000 troops in Pengcheng County, and there are actually 200,000 troops, of which only 5 soldiers in Jianghuai
Sixty thousand, the remaining tens of thousands of troops are the Central Plains army. They will support Your Majesty to return to the Central Plains. More importantly, the people of the Central Plains support the Wagang Army. As long as Your Majesty raises the Wagang banner and gets the support of the people of the Central Plains, the food problem can be solved.
The soldiers at the bottom will also support you. Your Majesty is the only way out!"
This suggestion made it difficult for Li Mi to make a decision, mainly because the risk was too great. Once it failed, it would be over. There was no chance of turning the tables. He walked to the tent with his hands behind his back and sighed, "Let me think about it again!"
Just then, a noise suddenly came from afar, and someone was cursing: "Let me go! You bastards, let go!"
Li Mi was stunned and asked angrily: "Who is making noise?"
"Your Majesty, it seems to be the voice of General Li." A personal soldier replied.
Li Mi frowned, and he also heard the voice of his powerful general Li Wenhui. What's going on? He saw a fire in the distance, and the fire was getting closer and closer. He saw a large group of military soldiers holding sharp axes.
The officer with a large tied body pushed him up and saw that he had a big beard, a strong figure, big and round waist, and his two arms seemed to have a thousand pounds of strength.
This person is named Li Wenhui, Wang Bodang's general and one of the most powerful generals under Li Mi. He used a 130-pound mature copper stick with extremely bravery and was highly valued by Li Mi. If it weren't for his brain
Simple, brave but not resourceful, he has long been promoted to the third-ranked figure of the Wei army.
He was tightly tied up by four beef tendons and straight into his flesh. At this moment, he was extremely angry, his face was so red that it seemed to explode, and he shouted in pain, "Let me loose!
!”
A group of military soldiers pushed him to Li Mi and kicked him in the bend of his leg. Li Wenhui fell to the ground while kneeling. A captain came forward to report: "Your Majesty, this man is going to escape, but his brothers found him.
During the arrest, he killed thirty-four people and injured countless people. He specially pushed him to let His Majesty lose his power."
Li Wenhui turned her head and shouted: "If I don't resist, you will kill me. I'm forced by you."
Li Miyin walked forward with a calm face, suddenly slapped Li Wenhui in the face twice, gritted her teeth and said, "How dare you be a deserter and betray me?"
Li Wenhui lowered her head deeply and whispered: "My mother is in Jiangdu City. I am afraid that the Sui army will harm her. I want to take her away. I will never have the idea of betraying His Majesty."
"snort!"
Li Mi snorted heavily, stared at him with a stern look and said, "You are not the only brothers in Jiangdu City, and no one else can escape. You will run away. How dare you shake your morale in the army!"
Seeing that Li Mi had murderous intentions, Fang Xuanzao hurriedly stepped forward and advised: "Your Majesty, General Li has always been a foolish person. He is very filial to his mother. Most of the army know about it. For his past battle for His Majesty, he will be fine.
His life is gone!”
The personal soldiers begged for Li Wenhui one after another. Li Mi looked at the sharp axe in the hands of the military judge and said coldly: "I said, "If you dare to escape, you will kill someone. If I forgive him, how can I convince the public? I will push it down and kill it!
”
Li Wenhui burst into tears and shouted, "Your Majesty, I will not be afraid of death. I beg Your Majesty to support my mother for me. I will be a cow and a horse in the next life to repay Your Majesty."
Fang Xuanzao knelt down on the ground and cried, "Your Majesty, spare his life!"
Everyone knelt down, "Give him aside!"
Li Mi was unmoved and waved her hand, "Push down and kill!"
Military law general Li Wenhui pushed down and presented the head for a moment, "Your Majesty, Li Wenhui has been beheaded."
"Transfer other people's heads to the public, and those who dare to flee will be executed together!"
.........
The news of Li Wenhui's escape and being killed soon spread across the army of more than 100,000, causing shock to the entire army, and the escape was temporarily suppressed.
But the war of the army did not stop, but instead became deeper and deeper, from soldiers to officers. Xidaying was the site of Wang Bodang's troops. In a camp, more than 20 middle and low-level generals were gathering together to discuss
Countermeasures.
A side general said angrily: "Damn it, we are just a dog. Li Wenhui has no credit and has worked hard. When he hit Hulao Pass, he was hit by three arrows and kept the handsome flag. Now he turned against him.
, kill him just by saying that he would kill him. If he had known today, why would he have worked hard for him?"
The other sighed, "Actually, Your Majesty has no choice. If you don't kill one to warn a hundred people, everyone will flee and the army will collapse."
"Bad!"
Another man cursed: "This is obviously Shan Xiongxin is slapping General Wang's face. If he persuaded him back quietly, who would know? Could it be that he would go to His Majesty to make trouble? Do you not understand why he asked His Majesty to kill Li Wenhui? Kill Li Wenhui,
It is equivalent to cutting off General Wang’s arm. Shan Xiongxin’s intentions are vicious, and I don’t believe His Majesty doesn’t know.”
An older officer said impatiently: "Stop fighting. It's time. I'm still saying what's the point. Everyone should think about what to do? Our family is in Jiangdu. Do we really want to fight Jiangdu?"
Everyone fell silent, and the last one gritted their teeth and said, "If you don't care for yourself, you will be punished by heaven and earth. Everyone, Li Mi is in a desperate situation. I'll protect your wife, children and parents!"
Another person also said: "General Qin is right. Li Wenhui has no credit and has worked hard, but Li Mi killed him without any affection, which shows that in his heart, we are not even as good as dogs. Such a lord protects him.
What's the point? When the war comes, we will surrender first, save our lives, and also save our parents, wife and children."
Everyone agreed, and at this moment, someone suddenly shouted in a low voice: "Lu Shun'er is here."
The curtain was opened, and a young officer entered the tent. Everyone was surprised and surrounded them, "Liu Shun'er, aren't you Jiangdu? How is the situation in Jiangdu now? Tell us quickly?"
The young officer named Liu Shuner smiled mysteriously and found a thick stack of letters from his arms, "This is everyone's letter, all the letters above. I risked my life to deliver the letters. Please pass them privately!"
When everyone heard that there was a letter from home, they rushed forward and rushed to find their letter from home. At this time, a letter from home was enough to make ten thousand yuan.