Chapter 7 6. Why not surrender to the Huns

What?Hearing the order from Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty to let him return to Chang'an, Li Yuan was almost scared to death.Emperor Yang Guangna is a very smart person, he must have guessed it. The political rumors about "the Yang family should be destroyed and the Li family should be prosperous" were made up by me, Li Yuan.If I go to the capital, I'm afraid my head will... Frightened in his heart, Li Yuan fell down on the bed with a groan, cried and said to the emissary: ​​Brother, look at me, I'm already sick like this, I don't even know if I can live until tomorrow.It's not that I resisted the order and didn't obey it, but I was worried that once I left the house according to the order, I would die before I left the house.Brother, can you do me a small favor, go back and talk to the emperor, and tell me that I am really sick...

The envoy had no choice but to go back and tell Yang Guang that Li Yuan was seriously ill and could not come to Chang'an according to the order.After Yang Guang heard this, he didn't believe it, so he went to Li Yuan's niece who was a female official in the palace, and asked her: Why doesn't your uncle come to Chang'an?Li Yuan's niece replied, "Maybe it's a serious condition?" Yang Guang sneered: I'm afraid it's a heart attack? The niece hastily wrote a secret letter to tell Li Yuan the news.After receiving the letter, Li Yuan was really seriously ill.What he wanted to do most at this time was to discuss with his wife Dou Shi, but at this time Dou Shi was critically ill, so Li Yuan had to keep the matter in his heart and dare not speak out.

Soon, Dou died of illness.Li Yuan was in great grief, thinking that he married such a good wife, but because he didn't listen to her, he fell into such a dangerous situation.From then on, he adopted the strategy of keeping a low profile, deliberately indulged his sensuality, and even took bribes from his subordinates, expressing that he had no ambitions.Moreover, he followed the advice of his late wife Dou's who had not been adopted before, and gave Yang Guangjin a lot of eagle and dog toys. In this way, in the thirteenth year of Daye, Yang Guang sent a decree and appointed Li Yuan as Taiyuan to stay behind.

On the day he received the imperial decree, Li Yuan called his four sons Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin, Li Yuanba and Li Yuanji over, and said to them with tears: Your father is so stupid. Today is the opportunity... For Li Yuan, what kind of opportunity does a mere stay in Taiyuan indicate? It turned out that the local residents were all old people of the ancient Emperor Tao Tang.Therefore, the land of Taiyuan is also called Tang, and Li Yuan's title of Tang Guogong for generations is precisely to use Taiyuan as the fiefdom of the Li family.So when Li Yuan came back here, it was like a wanderer who had been bullied and returned to his hometown.Therefore, Li Yuan thought that this place would definitely become the place where his dragon stings, and he just waited to recuperate and soar into the sky.

But when Yang Guang asked Li Yuan to return to the fief, he didn't want this guy to recuperate.Yang Guang gave Li Yuan an important task, ordering him to leave Taiyuan and join forces with Mayi prefect Wang Rengong to go north to guard the frontier and deal with the invading Huns. The barbarians in the north have always been a serious problem for the Central Plains, so in order to help Li Yuan complete his mission, Yang Guang also specially allocated some soldiers and horses from Hedong to be under Li Yuan's command.In this way, the soldiers of Hedong, Li Yuan's own soldiers, plus the soldiers of Mayi prefect Wang Rengong, the three front forces add up to a scary number.

How many people are there? Almost got together to 5,000 people. Five thousand people against the Xiongnu... How could the three front armies be so small when they came together? This is because Yang Guang wants to keep one hand, Li Yuan wants to keep one hand, and Mayi prefect Wang Rengong is not stupid. Realizing that there were few soldiers on his side, Wang Rengong became a little angry, and said: In the past, General Huo Qubing of the Han Dynasty sealed the wolf as a xu, led 20,000 elite soldiers and 150,000 horses, and chased the Huns northward. It's only 5,000 people, not enough for the Xiongnu to drink a pot... I don't know what Mr. Li cares about?

Li Yuan bit his head and said: "The situation is like this. Now the emperor is far away in the south of the Yangtze River, and he wrote a poem saying: "I am good at Mengjiang, and it is also accidental to conquer Liao, but there is still color, and the parting is only this year."Your majesty is really wise, this poem is written so well... I mean, we only have 5,000 people here, and we are stationed in such a deserted city, with no food inside, no reinforcements outside, just a random group of Huns wandering around Han, there are more people than us... I don't know what Mr. Wang cares about?

Wang Rengong smiled bitterly and said: I just asked you because I had no idea, but you asked me instead. Li Yuandao: Oh, so you have no idea...you have no idea, and I have no idea...how about we do this and surrender to the Huns.