Chapter 3 3. Step by step: Li Mi who came from behind

Wagangzhai is a name that most often appears in ancient Chinese historical novels, in which hidden dragons and crouching tigers, heroes emerge in large numbers.Due to the needs of the rule, the heroes from all walks of life in Wagangzhai are most often mentioned and praised, and they are all generals who later contributed a lot to the establishment of Tang Dynasty. Li Mi was originally an official in Chang'an in the Sui Dynasty, but was later suspected by the brutal Sui Yang Emperor.When Yang Xuangan rebelled against the Sui Dynasty, Li Mi went to follow him. Unexpectedly, Yang Xuangan was defeated, and Li Mi fled again.Later, after careful consideration, in the twelfth year of Emperor Yangdi's great cause (616), he chose Wagang Village, which was the most powerful at that time, as his goal.

When he first came to Wagang Village, Zhai Rang, the owner of the village at the time, didn't trust Yang Xuangan's old department.Li Mi knew very well that in a place like Wagangzhai, everyone ranked seniority based on strength and military merit, and being a nobleman would not give him extra points.In order to gain a firm foothold in Wagangzhai, Li Mi must first gain Zhai Rang's trust.As for the ambitious Li Mi, he no longer wants to serve any master like Yang Xuangan, he wants to be someone else's master. After passing the examination, Li Mi made a "triple jump" plan for himself: first, to gain the trust of Zhai Rang, the owner of the village, this requires him to make a certain contribution to Wagang Village, so that Zhai Rang can see his ability; Secondly, in order to gain the trust of the Wagang Army and convince others, we must do things that they cannot do, because there are many capable men and warriors in this team; finally, we must let everyone in the world know that there is Li Mi in Wagang Village. This big banner establishes its own real prestige.Although Li Mi was just one of the many people who came to surrender at this time, he knew that he would not be buried among this group of people forever.

After thinking of a plan, Li Mi went to visit Zhai Rang, the owner of the village, on the second day, and took the initiative to ask Ying to persuade the rebels around Wagang Village to surrender.This move won Zhai Rang's favor, and he could subdue other rebels without spending a single soldier. This is the best way to strengthen the team, so he ordered Li Mi to go to various places as a special envoy to lobby. After several months of hard work, Li Mi was not popular, and indeed persuaded many teams to surrender to Wagang Village. Since then, he has taken a place in Zhai Rang's discussion team.

In October of that year, Zhang Xutuo, the general defender of Xingyang who was famous for his bravery in the Sui Dynasty, led his army to conquer Wagang Village, which caused a shock in the army for a while. Some people wanted to negotiate peace, and some wanted to flee.Seeing everyone panicked, Li Mi felt that the opportunity to show his talent had finally come. He strode forward and said to Zhai Rang: "My lord, although Zhang Xutuo is coming aggressively, he has come from a long way after all. As long as our army shows the strength that we usually practice, it is not impossible to win."

Zhai Rang saw that Li Mi was not in a hurry, so he asked him, "What trick do you have?" Li Mi said: "Although the Sui army has a large number, it is an unrighteous army. We are firmly guarding the city, and the Wagang village has a natural shield. Zhang Xutuo came from a long way, and he is not familiar with the terrain of Wagang, which will definitely hinder him from fighting. , no matter how brave he is at that time, he will still be defeated." Zhai Rang nodded and said: "What General Li said makes sense. I think it will be a matter of time before Zhang Xutuo comes to Wagang Village because of my reputation. Prestige. Only General Li is not afraid of the Sui army, this is the bearing of my Wagang village!"

Li Mi took advantage of the situation and said: "The young general is willing to lead the army to meet the enemy, and take Zhang Xutuo's head for the lord, so as to show off the prestige of our army!" Zhai Rang was overjoyed and ordered Li Mi to lead part of the army to meet Zhang Xutuo.Li Mi strictly enforced military orders, encouraged the soldiers with generous rewards, and finally defeated Zhang Xutuo, gaining prestige in the army for himself.Zhai Rang saw Li Mi's military talent and asked him to lead the army for a long time.And the other generals in Wagang Village also admired him very much.

At this time, Li Mi had been in Wagang Village for less than half a year, but through his hard work, he was already outstanding among the heroes of Wagang Village.And these are nothing to Li Mi, and he is not satisfied with it. In terms of the influence of the Wagang Army at that time, it was already in the lead among the multi-way rebel army, and there were countless brave generals under it.When Li Mi was under Yang Xuangan's subordinates, he aimed to capture Luoyang, the eastern capital. Although he lost it in the end, he realized that Luoyang was no less important than Chang'an. As long as Luoyang was occupied, it would be enough to fight against the Sui Dynasty. But his horse is always looking ahead, so he tried his best to persuade Zhai Rang to capture Luoyang.

At this time, although Zhai Rang thought that Li Mi was very effective in assisting him, he didn't think it was wise to attack Luoyang.Although Luoyang is very important, it is easy to occupy it, but it is not easy to hold it.There was a lesson from Yang Xuangan, so apart from Zhai Rang, Xu Shi, Shan Xiongxin and others also strongly opposed it. Li Mi said: "Now, our Wagangzhai has a mighty army, but if we want to stand up to the heroes of all walks of life and overthrow the tyranny of the Sui Dynasty, capturing Luoyang is a road we must take!" After hearing this, Xu Shi sneered and said, "When the general was under Yang Xuangan's subordinates, did you also advise him in the same way?"

When everyone heard this, they couldn't help laughing.But Li Mi didn't take it seriously, and still said to Zhai Rang: "The reason why Yang Xuangan was defeated back then was because of insufficient preparation, and the Sui army had an absolute advantage in numbers. At this time, it is different from the past. Now the Wagang Army Not to mention the large number, and the brave generals; the situation faced by the Sui army is no longer as simple as it was when Yang Xuangan was. Now uprisings are surging in various places, and a lot of the Sui army has been scattered. If it is because of Yang Xuangan's defeat, will we stick to it forever? Does Wagangzhai leave the mountain gate?"

What he said was well-founded, and everyone was speechless. They looked at Zhai Rang and hoped that he could make a decision. Zhai Rang said: "The Sui army had General Fan Zigai and Yue Wang Yang Tong stationed in Luoyang. All the rebels knew the importance of Luoyang, but they didn't send troops to take it because once they occupied Luoyang, they would become the main force of the Sui army. opponents. When the time comes, the soldiers will be overwhelming, and the outcome will be hard to tell." Xu Shi went on to say: "So it can be said that Luoyang appears to be beneficial, but in fact it has disadvantages. If it is taken away, Wagang Village will be harmed instead."

Seeing this, Li Mi laughed, and said, "I think it's like raising troops against the Sui Dynasty in troubled times. What I want is not stability, but to make contributions, save the people of the world from tyranny, and let the tyrant Yang get the retribution he deserves. But now, But we are afraid of him because we are afraid of him! At the beginning, Zhang Xutuo was as powerful as a rainbow, but he was still defeated because the Sui army was an unjust army and could not win the hearts of the people in the world, and my Wagang village obeyed the weather and acted on behalf of the sky, so Only then can you win again and again. At this time, you should take advantage of the victory and pursue the attack. If you keep timid, the world will fall into the hands of others!" It's not that Zhai Rang didn't want to. As Li Mi said, it's merit that he seeks to raise troops in troubled times, but he felt that he was not prepared enough.While hesitating, Shan Xiongxin stood up and shouted in a rough voice: "We are not the people who are greedy for life and fear of death as General Li said. We just want to seize Luoyang, and it is not as easy as General Li said. Since you If you are so sure, tell us your plan and let us know whether we are brave or you are foolish." Li Mi said: "I don't intend to say that you are brave, but we have a great opportunity to cut off the back of the Sui army and ensure that we can take Luoyang safely." Zhai Rang and Xu Shi hurriedly asked, "What opportunity?" Li Mi said: "This opportunity is Xingluocang! There is a large amount of food and grass for the Sui army. For a long time, the Sui army conquered the rebels in Henan, Hebei, and Shandong, and it was close to Luoyang. Now the Sui army Tired of conquering and neglecting to guard against Luoyang, many of the defenders of Xingluo Cang were also taken away to the front line. Therefore, as long as we seized Xingluo Cang, we would cut off the Sui army’s food and grass, and turn the supply of food and grass into Our Wagang Army can expand rapidly, and by then it will be too late for the Sui Army to counterattack." Hearing what Li Mi said, everyone applauded in unison.As long as Xingluocang is captured, the Sui army's military supplies, food and grass will all be used by the Wagang army. Even if Luoyang is not attacked, the Wagang army can grow a lot. With Li Mi's repeated insistence, Zhai Rang finally agreed to raise troops to seize Xingluocang first, and then Luoyang. During this process, Li Mi's prestige was at its peak, and even Xu Shi, Shan Xiongxin and other Zhai Rang's old troops believed in him. He gradually cultivated his own power within the Wagang Army and took control of the military and political power of Wagang Village.Zhai Rang was originally a generous person. Seeing that Li Mi was so talented and broad-minded, he made Li Mi the Duke of Wei in February of the thirteenth year of Daye, and gradually retired.As a result, the Wagang Army established Li Mi's leadership position. After occupying Luoyang, Li Mi became the leader of all rebel armies. Li Mi is good at strategy, which is not only reflected in the fact that he became the supreme leader of Wagang Village within a year after he joined the Wagang Army; it is also reflected in the extraordinary strategy he displayed in several confrontations with the Sui Army.The battle to seize Luoyang, the eastern capital, shocked the rulers of the Sui Dynasty and regarded Wagangzhai as the number one enemy; It became a powerful anti-Sui force, and this move became a highlight in the peasant uprising war at the end of the Sui Dynasty.