Chapter 4 4. Retreat as Advance: The Art of Surrender

Because of Emperor Yangdi's tyranny, not only were there many contradictions within the ruling group, but also rebellious nobles such as Yang Xuangan appeared. Among the people, peasant uprisings sprung up like mushrooms after a spring rain.However, many rebels have no organization and no goals. They only seek temporary happiness. They revolted because they did not want to be exploited.And in this case, the strength of the rebel army was scattered in various places, which provided the opportunity for the Sui army to defeat them one by one, and the combat effectiveness was not strong; the friction between the rebel armies was also easy to consume power.Therefore, the emergence of a charismatic leader who could command various rebel armies became one of the most urgent needs at that time.As the leader of the rebel army born from the working people at the bottom, Du Fuwei was not only talented, but also brave in killing the enemy. With the help of the think tank formed by Fu Gong Er, he became one of the candidates in this period of history.

As the leader of the rebel army, Du Fuwei, although he came from a humble background like other rebels, he showed a strategy and foresight that other rebel leaders did not have.After being active in the Jianghuai area for a period of time, his power has continued to expand, but he is not satisfied with it, but hopes to further expand the team and absorb the surrounding rebels. Among the rebels conquered by Du Fuwei, two teams were particularly strong. One was Miao Haichao's team, which was slightly inferior to him, and the other was Hailing Zhao Pozhen, which was stronger than him. For Miao Haichao, Du Fuwei has full confidence, because in the troubled times at that time, the number of troops in his hand was the capital to speak.Although Miao Haichao is deeply rooted in Xiapi, his military strength is not comparable to that of the Jianghuai Army, so as long as Du Fuwei gives an order, he can be taken down.But Du Fuwei did not do this, he hoped to incorporate Miao Haichao in a better way.

On this day, Miao Haichao was discussing with the generals in the army's meeting room, when he suddenly heard a report from outside the door: Jianghuai Fu Gong Er asked to see him. After hearing this, Miao Haichao hurriedly invited his assistant Gong Er to come in and serve tea. Seeing that Miao Haichao was respectful to him, Fugong Er cut to the point and said, "General Miao, I am here this time under the order of my lord, to vote sincerely for Mr. Miao!" When Miao Haichao heard this, he hurriedly bowed his hands and said, "How dare you, how dare you, sir?" Fu Gong Er said: "My lord saw that today's world is devoid of morality and the people are miserable, so he raised his troops to save the people from the fire and water. But now, the heroes of the world rise together, but the tyrant still does not fall. The general has commanded Xiapi for many years and has a strong army. , so I intend to surrender, and I intend to follow the general to rebel against the Sui Dynasty, so that the world can be settled early, so that the people will not suffer!"

It was only then that Miao Haichao understood the meaning of Fu Gong Er. He guessed that Du Fuwei would never want to be under others, so the "surrender" was just an excuse.Therefore, he said to Fu Gonger Er: "Since General Du started his army, his prestige and strength have been increasing day by day, and now it is even more prosperous. I have always admired him, so how dare he act rashly." Fu Gong Er said with a smile: "General Miao is too modest. It's just that my lord thinks that the world is in chaos now, and heroes are doing their own things. The so-called division makes the weak, and the gathering makes the strong. That's why I came up with a way to join hands with General Miao. Unexpectedly The general wants to resign."

Miao Haichao said: "The ancients said: When the display is in place, the virtuous will live there. How can I be so virtuous, how dare I take such a high position." Fu Gong Er said: "In this case, why doesn't the general go to my lord? Firstly, it can expand the general's military power, and secondly, it can save the people. Isn't this the best of both worlds! Moreover, my lord has been invincible since the incident. Can be like a tiger with wings." Only then did Miao Haichao understand that the real purpose of Fu Gong Er's trip was not to surrender, but to recruit surrender.He thought over and over again, Du Fuwei's military power was indeed growing rapidly, but his own troops were constantly decreasing; It's better to surrender at this point and end up with a happy couple, presumably Du Fuwei will not treat himself badly.

So after some humility, Fu Gong Er, who had come to surrender, took Miao Haichao's surrender form back without a single soldier, and all of this was within Du Fuwei's prediction. Back at the barracks, Fu Gong Er said to Du Fuwei: "Miao Haichao is not strong, and he doesn't want to face the lord directly, so he surrendered. But Zhao Pozhen is different. It is better than our army, what can we do?" Du Fuwei smiled and said: "Since I am determined to subdue these rebels, I must have a way to take him down." Fu Gong Er hurriedly asked, "Does your lord have any tricks?"

Du Fuwei said: "You don't need to rush to ask, just follow my arrangement. In two days, you go to Zhao Pozhen's army to pay a visit to him first, and say that I want to surrender to him." Fu Gong Er said: "Ah? Is the lord going to repeat the old trick? Zhao Pozhen is not Miao Haichao!" Du Fuwei said: "Of course I know that the two of them are different. Miao Haichao was born in a scholarly family. He is afraid of war and weapons. He will submit if he is cunning but not brave. Instructor, he has been wielding knives and sticks since he was a child. He is pretentious, so if we deal with him in the same way as Miao Haichao, it will only backfire."

Fu Gong Er said: "Yes, then what should we do?" Du Fuwei smiled mysteriously, and said: "When you go to visit him this time, you only need to show him my sincerity of surrender. In addition, prepare me a dagger, a horse and a watch, and the rest is just Let me do it myself." Fu Gong Er was at a loss, so he had to follow Du Fuwei's instructions, went to Zhao Pozhen's army, and expressed his intention to surrender to him. Zhao Pozhen was really different from Miao Haichao, and he didn't take Du Fuwei seriously.After hearing Fu Gong Er's statement, he laughed boldly, and said to the left and right: "You see, although Du Fuwei is mighty, he also has to rely on my flag to live a good life!"

The people on the left and right hurriedly echoed and praised General Zhao's majesty. Zhao Pozhen said to Fu Gong Er: "Since Du Fuwei is so sincere, why didn't he come by himself?" Fu Gong Er replied hastily and respectfully: "My lord has always admired the general. To show his prudence in this matter, he decided to make sufficient preparations. The general and the general's soldiers' weapons will be compiled into a book, and then presented to the general. Therefore, let the subordinates come to visit the general first. To show my sincerity, my lord will come to meet the general in person tomorrow afternoon, and present the surrender form."

Zhao Pozhen laughed and said, "Okay! Okay! Then I will hold a banquet tomorrow to congratulate General Du." Fu Gong Er thanked him, turned around and left Zhao Pozhen's camp. That night, when Fu Gong Er presented Du Fuwei with a watch and a dagger, Du Fuwei said solemnly: "My move can be said to be risky, but I am sure that I can succeed. The key is to see how you cooperate with me. gone." Fu Gong Er hurriedly asked, "What should I do?" Du Fuwei said: "I asked you to pay a visit to Zhao Pozhen today, first to express my intention of surrender, in order to let him relax his guard against me, and let him know that I will go tomorrow to present the surrender table. But when the time comes, I will I will carry this dagger in the surrender list, and when Tuqiong sees the dagger, I will slash Zhao Pozhen in his army!"

Fu Gong Er was taken aback, and hurriedly said: "My lord, absolutely not. Tomorrow, Zhao Pozhen will hold a banquet for you, and his cronies will definitely come. If you kill him at the banquet, wouldn't it mean that you will burn everything together and have no way out?" !" Du Fuwei said: "When I go to present the watch tomorrow, you will bring soldiers to follow. They will not let you enter the military tent, but because they know that I am here to surrender, they will definitely entertain our soldiers at the gate of the camp." When the time comes, if you see the army flag falling in front of Zhao Pozhen's tent, you will lead the army to rush in to rescue him." Fu Gong Er said: "But there are many brave generals in Zhao Pozhen's army. If my lord kills him, those people will not let you go! I'm afraid I will be outnumbered..." Du Fuwei said: "Those people are all without their own opinions. They are led by Zhao Pozhen because they lack the ability to dominate one side. As long as Zhao Pozhen dies, they will definitely be in chaos. It will be useless if there is no leader. Yes, I'm sure of that." Fu Gong Er didn't say anything more, just looked at Du Fuwei nervously. Du Fuwei smiled and said relaxedly: "Think about it, since we raised our troops, which day has we not been in fear. As long as the Yang family is not destroyed, as long as we do not seize power, such days will continue. This time, although some Take risks, but as long as we successfully annex Zhao Pozhen, our strength in Huaibei will be unmatched. At that time, we will be a little more stable!" Fu Gong Er nodded solemnly, and withdrew to arrange tomorrow's entourage.And Du Fuwei wiped the shiny dagger again and again under the lamp, and said to himself: "Tomorrow's battle will be up to you!" The next day, Zhao Pozhen hosted a banquet in the army to entertain Du Fuwei.As expected, all the relatives brought by Fu Gong Er were kept out of the door, and they were also served with wine and meat.Du Fuwei knelt down and said, "Come to surrender today. All the weapons of the generals under your command have been compiled into books so that the generals can check and collect them. Please allow me to present them to the generals!" Zhao Pozhen looked around proudly, laughed and said, "General Du is too thoughtful!" With a smile on his face, Du Fuwei respectfully presented a roll of albums.Just as Zhao Pozhen opened the scroll, he suddenly saw a bright dagger hidden in the scroll. After a moment of surprise, Du Fuwei grabbed the dagger in his hand and stabbed Zhao Pozhen's throat. The soldiers at the banquet were still holding wine glasses in their hands, and were stunned by the changes in front of them.Du Fuwei stabbed Zhao Pozhen to death, rushed to the tent gate, cut down the army flag, and said to the generals: "Everyone, I, Du Fuwei, have the ambition to conquer the world, but Zhao Pozhen is only satisfied with this small Hailing. Follow him and you can only wait to be wiped out by the Sui army, and you will only die at that time. Why not follow our army to conquer the world, and have long-lasting wealth!" As if in a dream, the generals looked at Zhao Pozhen, who was lying in a pool of blood, and Du Fuwei, who was standing in front of the tent holding a dagger. drop. Du Fuwei's move to incorporate the rebel army became the most rapid and powerful measure to expand the number of troops during the war at that time.With this measure, Du Fuwei's army expanded rapidly and became an important military force occupying Huaibei.However, his flexible and changeable strategy did not cause too much internal friction in the process of incorporation. Whether it was persuading surrender, coercion, or taking risks, it effectively saved the military force and carried out the war on the premise of avoiding bloodshed as much as possible. expanded.As the leader of a rebel army, Du Fuwei's resourcefulness can be described as far-reaching.Although he failed in the end due to lack of military strength, his achievements are enough to stand out from the crowd.