Chapter 7 7. Kill all: Li Mi punishes Zhai Rang

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, it was Zhai Rang who achieved Li Mi's extraordinary career. He not only laid the foundation for the development of Wagang Village, but also had a very Yao and Shun demeanor. Without any coercion, it was just because he felt that Li Mi was leading Wagang Because of the talent in the village, he gave him a huge Wagang army, but he was willing to serve it without any complaints. Since Li Mi became the leader of Wagangzhai, he has become the leader of the rebel army through measures such as seizing Xingluocang and occupying Luoyang, but the existence of Zhai Rang still makes him feel uneasy.Although all Wagang generals respected him, they respected Zhai Rang even more.

After capturing Luoyang, Li Mi gave a banquet to all the ministers, and all the generals were drunk.Suddenly, a person stood up and said loudly: "Li Mi, you can have today, you have to thank one person!" Li Mi looked up and saw that it was Zhai Rang's brother Zhai Hong.I saw him staggering, came to Li Mi with a wine glass, and said: "When Uncle Wang recommended you, you were just a poor boy, but today you are sitting on the throne and accepting the congratulations of the generals." , but my younger brother Zhai Rang sits at the bottom and wants to toast you, do you think this is appropriate?"

Upon hearing this, Li Mi smiled and said, "Brother Zhai is right to blame you. If it wasn't for brother Zhai Rang's recommendation, how could I, Li Mi, be where I am today? So, I want to respect Brother Zhai Rang for a glass of wine! " As he spoke, he picked up his wine glass and drank it down.Everyone applauded loudly, only Zhai Hong remained relentless.Xu Shi hurriedly stood up, grabbed Di Hong and said, "He's drunk, my lord, don't blame him. I'll send him back right away." Then he ordered Di Hong to be sent back to rest.Li Mi had a smile on his face, and he was not displeased at all. He looked back: Zhai Rang was sitting in front of the banquet, and he just smiled at himself.

The next day, although Di Hong came to plead guilty to Li Mi, Li Mi still felt that he could not be relieved.Although he was born in a noble family, it is indeed Zhai Rang who is able to control the strong military power of Wagangzhai in troubled times.Zhai made him indifferent to fame and wealth, but it is hard to guarantee that the people around him have different ideas. Maybe Zhai Hong's drunken remarks are not his own thoughts. While thinking about it, a close friend suddenly came in and reported: "After Zhai Hong apologized, he went to Zhai Rang's residence with Xu Shi, Shan Xiongxin and others. Several people closed the door and whispered, I don't know what they were talking about."

Both Xu Shi and Shan Xiongxin were Zhai Rang's cronies when he started the incident in Wagangzhai, and they have been following him for so many years.It has only been more than a year since I joined Wagang Village through Wang Bodang's recommendation. Although they have outstanding military achievements, they still don't believe in him very much. This has always been Li Mi's heart disease.Seeing them gathering together now made him even more uneasy. That night, Li Mi quietly sent someone to call Wang Ruxin, Zhai Rang's confidant and staff member.Wang Ruxin didn't know what was the reason for the late-night conscript, so he bowed at Li Mi's feet tremblingly.Li Mi kindly helped him up, and said to him: "You have been with General Zhai for many years, and you are only a staff member until now. I heard that you are unwilling?"

When Wang Ruxin heard this, he quickly bowed down again, fell on the ground and said in a trembling voice: "This subordinate dare not. General Zhai is very kind to his subordinates, and his subordinates take it as their duty to assist the general, how dare they be unwilling?" After speaking, After a long while without seeing any movement from Li Mi, Wang Ruxin slowly raised his head to see that Li Mi was looking at him with a smile and said nothing.Wang Ruxin rolled his eyes, and immediately realized that what he just said was inappropriate, so he hurriedly added: "The subordinates are also willing to go through fire and water for the Lord."

Li Mi smiled and nodded, and said: "Very good, very good, whether you are loyal to General Zhai or to me, it seems that someone has framed you before." Wang Ruxin hurriedly said: "My lord is wise." Li Mi said: "You have always followed General Zhai, and now you say you will go through fire and water for me, how can I believe that?" Wang Ruxin didn't know what Li Mi wanted to say, and murmured that he didn't know how to answer to prove his loyalty. Li Mi said: "I heard that generals Xu Shi and Shan Xiongxin went to pay a visit to General Zhai today. Do you know about this?"

Wang Ruxin saw that Li Mi was now in charge of Wagang Village. Although he had followed Zhai Rang for many years, it was estimated that he could not escape Li Mi's palm now. Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth and confessed everything he knew: "This subordinate happened to be present, General Xu They came with General Shan and Zhai Hong. They all strongly suggested that General Zhai regain control of the entire army and not let the power go to the side.” After speaking, he glanced at Li Mi, and Wang Ruxin added: “However, General Zhai just advised them to assist you with all their strength. No matter who is in charge of the whole army, as long as Wagang can prosper, I will be satisfied."

Hearing this, Li Mi's already uneasy heart boiled even more.It seems that Zhai Rang really can't stay, even if he doesn't intend to, but the people around him have been pushing him for a long time, and it's hard to guarantee that he won't take action to replace him.He dismissed Wang Ruxin, called his entourage, and asked them to arrange a banquet. Tomorrow, he would specially hold a banquet for Zhai Rang. The next day, all Zhai Rang's family received invitations, saying that Li Mi was hosting a family banquet, and the two families were invited to have a good time together, and all their nephews and nephews were invited to drink and enjoy the flowers.

When I came to Li Mi's mansion, I saw that the banquet was placed in the courtyard, with flowers blooming on both sides, and seats were set up in the two courtyards. Zhai Rang, Zhai Hong and others were arranged in the inner courtyard, while the other nephews were in the outer courtyard. After drinking for three rounds, Li Mi said: "Brother Zhai, do you still remember when we defeated Zhang Xutuo?" Zhai Rang said with a smile: "Of course I remember, it all depends on the master's clever strategy!" Li Mi also smiled and said, "Not exactly. If Brother Zhai hadn't faced him head-on and pretended to be defeated to lure him into my ambush, how could we have defeated the number one brave general of the Sui Army!"

Zhai Rang raised his wine glass and said: "Zhang Xutuo is famous outside, and the Wagang Army won the first battle. From that time on, the subordinates admire the lord's strategizing very much." Li Mi hastily replied, "Even though I, Li Mi, am full of ambition, I wouldn't be where I am today without brother Zhai's support!" The two of you came and went, and slowly began to show a drunken state.Li Mi said: "After defeating Zhang Xutuo, I also captured his strong bow. It is said that this bow is made of divine iron, and it cannot be drawn without divine power." As soon as Zhai Rang heard this, he wanted to see the legendary bow.Li Mi took his hand and said: "The bow is in my inner room, Brother Zhai, come with me." When the two entered the inner room, Zhai Hong saw it and followed him.Li Mi asked the attendants around him to take out the magic bow. It was indeed a strong bow. Several people took turns to fight, but they couldn't pull it away.They were all amazed. Li Mi smiled and said: "I have a warrior named Cai Jian who is born with supernatural powers. He can draw this bow. Why don't you ask him to come in and show Brother Zhai?" Zhai Rang was not on guard at all, and said with a smile: "That's very good." After a while, three warriors were summoned in.I saw the leader with a full face, big shoulders and round waist.Li Mi said: "He is Cai Jian, a new warrior I have recruited, let him try to draw this bow." Cai Jian clasped his fists at Zhai Rang and Li Mi, raised the strong bow, blushed and slowly pulled it away, the bow was like a full moon, everyone applauded in unison.With the noise of drinking outside, there is a joyful atmosphere. Zhai Rang saw that Cai Jian drew his bow, and was a little bit dissatisfied with the strength of the wine, so he insisted on trying again.He exerted all his strength, and the bow slowly began to open. Just as he was concentrating on trying to pull it back a little more, suddenly there was a flash of a knife behind him, and the knife in the hand of the warrior Cai Jian had already slashed hard on his back. Zhai Rang screamed With a sound, he fell into a pool of blood. When Zhai Hong saw this scene, he broke into a cold sweat with fright, and before he could yell out, he was also stabbed and fell to the ground. At this time, the people drinking in the courtyard outside hadn't noticed any changes, and saw a group of soldiers with swords rushing into the door, and in an instant, the courtyard that was full of laughter just now was covered with blood. When Xu Shi and Shan Xiongxin heard the messenger's report, they hurried to the gate of Li Mi's mansion, only to see that the place was heavily guarded.Wang Ruxin stood up and said to them: "Zhai Hong tried to murder the lord at the banquet, and he has been executed. General Zhai Rang was so ashamed that he also killed himself with a knife. None of the thirty-six people in Zhai's house survived." Xu Shi and Shan Xiongxin looked at each other, too shocked to speak.Wang Bodang who just arrived didn't know what to say. The three of them were about to lead the horse back to their barracks, but they saw that the way they came was blocked, and all the blades facing them were white. Wang Ruxin said to the three people: "My lord already knows that the three generals are loyal, so I don't intend to make things difficult. I just want to ask the three to take over Zhai Rang's old department and appease the subordinates. I hope the three will not refuse." Faced with this situation, the three of them knew that they had no choice.Li Mi's killing spree, Zhai Rang's old department will definitely ask questions, and appeasing them is the most important job in the aftermath. Perhaps this is the reason why the three of them survived.The three had no choice but to dismount, kneel down and accept orders. Li Mi's killing of Zhai Rang was the most intense internal strife in the Wagang Army.After just tasting a little bit of victory, the struggle for power led to internal contradictions in the rebel army. The solution to this contradiction led to a large loss of Wagang Army's strength, and some generals defected to Wang Shichong.The internal division weakened its own strength and became the reason for the decline of the Wagang Army. Li Mi's performance in this incident was mostly criticized by later generations. In later historical records, he often appeared suspicious and treacherous, and it was mostly because of this incident.After this battle, several battles with Yu Wenhuaji and Wang Shichong all ended in failure, and the Wagang Army began to be completely defeated.