Chapter 16 6. Conscription: kill two birds with one stone

When Li Yuan made up his mind to raise an army, one of the biggest problems he faced was that Taiyuan's military strength was not strong enough at this time. at a disadvantage.However, Yang Guang's contradictory psychology towards Li Yuan did not allow him to conquer the rebels in various places, nor did he allow him to recruit more troops, but only let him defend Taiyuan.Therefore, Li Yuan can only practice hard every day in order to improve his own strength. But for the younger generation, such as Li Shimin, who are eager to go to the battlefield, this kind of calm is unbearable.Therefore, Li Shimin brought Changsun Wuji, Liu Hongji and others to visit Li Yuan, hoping to start fighting as soon as possible.

However, Li Yuan said: "Now our strength is still insufficient, so we can't attack rashly. First of all, the army we have at present is the Sui army, and they are still loyal to Yang Guang to a certain extent. Once they send troops, will they fight for you?" Our Li family is fighting, this is still unknown. Therefore, the most important thing for us now is not to send troops, but to recruit troops." Li Shimin asked hastily: "Then why don't you recruit troops quickly?" At this time, Pei Ji and Liu Wenjing came out of the study and said to Li Shimin, "Second son, recruiting soldiers and horses is not the behavior of good people, that's what rebels would do."

Liu Wenjing said: "Although we are thousands of miles away from the emperor, I believe he is in control of our every move. It's all because there are many eyeliners of the emperor who stay by his side!" Pei Ji went on to say: "The two leaders among them, I believe everyone knows, are Gao Junya and Wang Wei who were sent in the name of assisting the left behind. Their responsibility is to report our movements to the current court at any time. Emperor, let us not act rashly. If we recruit troops, the news will be reported directly to Gao Junya, and they will report it to his master immediately. Then we will be exposed, and there is no time to prepare. "

Under Pei Ji and Liu Wenjing's explanation, Li Shimin understood the twists and turns, and couldn't help but frowned: "Could it be that we can only drill these troops that don't belong to us now? If this continues, the future is really unpredictable." Li Yuan said: "That's not the case. I discussed with Tang Jian and others until midnight last night, and we have come up with a good solution!" Everyone hurriedly asked: "What is the way?" Tang Jian said: "What we are doing in Taiyuan now is actually all because of those two 'eyeliners', so Yang Guang would know about it. If they weren't there, even if we planted anti-flags in Taiyuan, Yang Guang would not have done it for a while. Get the news. So, now our primary goal is to blindfold the eyes of these two eyeliners!"

Seeing Li Shimin and Liu Hongji's ignorance, Li Yuan smiled and said, "Just follow his orders and cooperate with him in doing good deeds, then you will know." Tang Jian and Li Yuan were family friends, and his grandfather was one of the "Eight Pillar Kingdoms" in the Northern Wei Dynasty. He was on the same throne as Li Yuan's grandfather Li Hu. Its decline, thanks to the protection of Li Yuan, the Duke of the Tang Dynasty, and Li Yuan, the hereditary title, was able to protect the prosperity in the troubled times.Therefore, when Li Yuan was appointed as Taiyuan stay-at-home, Tang Jian left Chang'an and defected to Taiyuan with his family. He advised Li Yuan and became Li Yuan's right-hand man together with Pei Ji, Liu Zhenghui, Liu Wenjing and others.

After Li Yuan decided to raise an army, the big problem he faced became the first hurdle that his advisers needed to solve.Everyone brainstormed and finally worked out this strategy with Li Yuan's consent. On this day, Gao Junya and Wang Wei were discussing about Li Yuan in the mansion. It turned out that Yang Guang was angry with Li Yuan because of Taiyuan's defeat of the Turks, and sent a special envoy to take Li Yuan back to Beijing to report on his work.But Li Yuan actually said that he was sick and refused to go, but he wrote a memorial in hand for the special envoy to take back, saying that he would go to Beijing to plead guilty after he recovered in a few days.The special envoy was sent away, but Gao Junya and Wang Wei, who were ordered to monitor Li Yuan, could not understand why he had such a sudden change. It turned out that the submissive Li Yuan had disappeared, and now Li Yuan was a little humble and unpredictable. .

Wang Wei said: "The emperor is very interested in this Li Yuan, that's why we let us keep an eye on him. This time Li Yuan refuses to go to Beijing, do you think there will be any problems?" Gao Junya said: "I went to see him yesterday, and he didn't seem to be sick. How could he say he was sick and not go to court? This is disrespectful!" Wang Wei said: "If Li Yuan is doing something tricky, we have to report it in time!" Gao Junya nodded, and was about to speak, but heard someone outside reporting: stay behind Li Yuan to invite two generals to discuss matters.

The two came to the conference hall in a hurry, and saw Li Yuan sitting in the middle, with Liu Wenjing, Tang Jian and others standing behind him, and the Taiyuan guards lined up in two rows on both sides of the hall.After clasping his fists and saluting, Wang Wei asked, "Why do you stay behind and summon your subordinates?" Li Yuan pointed to the table, and said to Gao and Wang, "You two generals, I just received a secret order from the emperor, so I invite you two to discuss together." "Secret decree?" Gao and Wang looked at each other suspiciously. Generally speaking, the emperor would only send secret decrees to them. How could he send it to Li Yuan?Even if it was sent to Li Yuan, they should have been informed in advance?Could it be that the emperor's secret decree ordering him to monitor Li Yuan was intercepted by him?Thinking of this, the two couldn't help feeling tense.Although he came here by the emperor's order, Taiyuan is far away from Chang'an after all, and this is Li Yuan's territory. If Li Yuan wants to do something to him accidentally, it will be bad.

Seeing the uncertain faces of the two, Li Yuan said to Tang Jian behind him, "Show the two generals the secret decree." Gao and Wang took the yellow silk handed over by Tang Jian, opened it anxiously, and couldn't help but let out a long breath. It turned out that the purpose on the yellow silk was that Yang Guang ordered Li Yuan to recruit troops in Taiyuan. Gao Junya said: "It turned out that the emperor ordered to stay behind to recruit soldiers, and his subordinates obeyed stay behind and dispatched." Li Yuan nodded slightly, and said solemnly: "Right now, rebels from all over the country are competing, and the emperor is also very anxious in Chang'an. He has already set off for Hangzhou, hoping to dispatch the army and horses there, and put down the rebels. After a while, the emperor will go east Therefore, I was ordered to recruit widely in Taiyuan to expand our military strength so that we can provide support at any time."

Wang Wei said: "Staying behind to share the emperor's worries is a lesson to be learned! But why haven't we got any news?" As soon as the words were finished, Pei Ji, the supervisor of Jinyang Palace, sneered and said, "General Wang, the person who sits in the first place in Taiyuan is Mr. Liushou. Do you think that the emperor needs to let you see the secret decree for Liushou first?" Wang Wei hurriedly said: "I don't dare! Stay behind and don't misunderstand, this is not what my subordinates mean!" Tang Jian took back the yellow silk from Wang Wei's hand, folded it carefully, and said to Wang Wei: "This is a secret decree. If everyone in the world knows it, it will not be called a secret decree. General Wang is here to assist you to stay behind." , so you just need to obey orders, there are not so many reasons.”

After hearing these words, Wang Wei and Gao Junya couldn't help but become embarrassed.But Li Yuan said with a smile: "Everyone, don't blame General Wang. The general should be worried when something happened suddenly. I believe he should only want to share the emperor's worries, and has no other intentions." Wang Wei hurriedly clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, stay behind and watch carefully." Li Yuan said: "Since the emperor has entrusted us with this task, we should do our best to complete it. From today onwards, order Sun Shunde and Liu Hongji to go to Fenyang, Tang Jian and Yin Kaishan to go to Yanmen, Liu Zhenghui and Duan Zhixuan are here In the east of Taiyuan, Li Shimin and Changsun Wuji are in the west of Taiyuan, recruiting soldiers from all directions. Generals Gao and Wang stayed behind with Ben, guarding the town of Taiyuan, selecting elite soldiers and strong generals to protect our great Sui rivers and mountains!" Everyone took orders in unison and dispersed separately.Although Gao Junya and Wang Wei were full of doubts, they had no choice but to retreat. They followed Li Yuan to the barracks to check the number of people and practice their bravery. Batch after batch of troops were recruited from all directions, and the strength of Taiyuan was increasing day by day.Years of wars have overwhelmed the people, and this conscription has led to the recruitment of young and middle-aged men over the age of fifteen and under the age of fifty, which has already caused public resentment.In a short time, several military-civilian conflicts occurred in Taiyuan and its surrounding areas due to conscription.Gao Junya and Wang Wei saw that the people in Taiyuan were so disobedient, so they tied up the leaders and wanted to kill them. Li Yuan sized up the kidnapped people, all of them were so angry that they could spit out fire.He said to Wang Wei: "Two generals, leave these people to me!" Wang and Gao hesitated for a moment and had no choice but to back down.Li Yuan ordered people to untie the bound people, sighed and said: "Now the people in the world are exhausted, but the emperor still has to impose a heavy burden. You really can't blame the people for this matter! You should disperse and go home. Be careful, don't be caught again. I can save everyone this time, but I can't guarantee that I will save everyone every time." When everyone heard that Li Yuan was so sympathetic, they couldn't help but knelt down and thanked Li Yuan for his great kindness. Li Yuan helped everyone up and said, "In troubled times, everyone can only hope for their own blessings." I don't know who shouted: "I'm willing to follow and stay behind!" Everyone was excited for a while, and they all expressed their willingness to follow Li Yuan. This scene made Li Yuan extremely excited, and the soldiers were even more moved.In their eyes, Li Yuan is so benevolent and a good general worth following. It is through these methods that not only Li Yuan's military strength is getting stronger, but his prestige is also growing.With the return of Li Shimin, Tang Jian and others recruiting soldiers, Taiyuan's military strength increased rapidly, and Li Yuan's ambitions began to expand gradually. He wanted to do more than that. Taiyuan was not enough to carry his desires, and winning the world was his ultimate wish. . As an expedient measure, Jiaozhao conscription bought enough time for Li Yuan to prepare. By the time the eyeliners placed beside him found that the wind direction was wrong and wanted to report to Yang Guang, it was too late.The overwhelmed Yang Guang couldn't make a timely counterattack against Li Yuan, and a banner that was about to occupy the world had already been erected.