Chapter 49 140 Li Mi's Ox Horn Hanging Book

Emperor Sui Yang attacked Goryeo for the first time and was defeated.Of the more than one million Sui soldiers, only 2,700 escaped. Such a fiasco did not make this arrogant tyrant give up.Only a year later, he launched a second attack on Korea.He personally led the army to attack Liaodong, and sent Minister Yang Xuangan to supervise the transportation of grain and grass in Liyang in the rear. Yang Xuangan's father, Yang Su, was originally a close friend of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty and helped Emperor Yang seize the throne.Later, he was suspected by Emperor Yangdi and died in a depressed mood.Yang Xuangan had long been dissatisfied with Emperor Sui Yang because of this, and seeing the chaotic situation this time, he wanted to use this opportunity to overthrow Emperor Sui Yang.

In the name of supervising the transportation of grain and grass, Yang Xuangan recruited more than 8,000 young and strong peasants and boatmen, and asked them to transport grain to the front line of Liaodong.The young men were bitter about hard labor, and they were even more angry when they heard that they were being sent to work far from home. One day, Yang Xuangan gathered the peasants together and said: "The current emperor, regardless of the lives of the people, let thousands of fathers and brothers die in Liaodong. This situation can no longer be tolerated. I was also forced to do this .Now I am determined to work with everyone to overthrow the tyrant. What do you think?"

When everyone heard that someone took the lead in opposing the imperial court, why were they unwilling, there was a burst of cheers. Yang Xuangan formed a team of 8,000 civilians, distributed weapons, and prepared to attack the Sui army.He found that he lacked a counselor by his side to help him make suggestions, and he couldn't help thinking of his good friend Li Mi who was in Chang'an. Li Mi's predecessors were nobles in the Northern Zhou and Sui dynasties.When Li Mi was a teenager, he was sent as a guard in the court of Emperor Sui Yang.He was flexible by nature, and when he was on duty, he looked around and was discovered by Emperor Sui Yang, who thought the boy was not honest, so he was relieved of his errand.Li Mi was not depressed. After returning home, he studied hard and decided to be a learned person.

Once, Li Mi rode an ox and went out to see friends.On the way, he hung the "Book of Han" on the horn of the bull, and took the time to read.It happened that Prime Minister Yang Su caught up behind him in a carriage. He was secretly surprised to see a young man reading a book on the back of an ox in front. Yang Su greeted him in the car, "Which scholar is working so hard?" Li Mi looked back and recognized the prime minister. He hurriedly jumped off the bull's back, bowed to Yang Su, and gave his name. Yang Su asked him, "What are you looking at?" Li Mi replied, "I'm reading Xiang Yu's biography."

Yang Su talked cordially with Li Mi for a while, and felt that this young man was very ambitious.After returning home, Yang Su said to his son Yang Xuangan: "I think Li Mi's knowledge and talent are much better than your brothers. If you have any important matters in the future, you can consult him." After that, Yang Xuangan made friends with Li Mi. This time Yang Xuangan wanted to find a counselor, and remembering his father's advice, he sent someone to Chang'an to bring Li Mi to Liyang. When Li Mi arrived in Liyang, Yang Xuangan asked him how to fight the battle to overthrow Emperor Sui Yang.

Li Mi said: "There are three ways to defeat the official army. First, the emperor is now in Liaodong, and we will lead our troops to the north to cut off the retreat of the faint king. He has Korea in front of him, and he has no way of retreat. Within ten days, the army will not be able to provide food. It is the best policy to be able to win without fighting. The second is to capture Chang’an in the west and copy their lairs. If the officers and soldiers want to retreat, we will use the Guanzhong area as a base and hold on to the danger. This is the best policy. The third is Attacking Luoyang, the eastern capital, is the closest. But this is a bad strategy. Because the imperial court still has some defenders in the eastern capital, it may not be able to attack it quickly."

Yang Xuangan was eager for success. After listening to these three strategies, he felt that the first two were too time-consuming, and said, "I think the bad strategy you mentioned is a good one. Now the family members of the court officials are all in the Eastern Capital. Let's take the Eastern Capital." , Take all the family members into captivity. The morale of the officers and soldiers is shaken, and safekeeping can win." Yang Xuangan immediately sent troops from Liyang to attack Dongdu. Along the way, many peasants actively joined the rebel army, and the team expanded to 100,000 people, winning several battles one after another.Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was leading an army to attack Liaoyang. After receiving the emergency documents, he withdrew overnight. He sent general Yu Wenshu and others to lead the army to attack Yang Xuangan.Yang Xuan felt unable to resist, and wanted to retreat west to Chang'an.Yu Wenshu led his troops in pursuit, and finally surrounded Yang Xuangan's men.Yang Xuangan had nowhere to go and was finally killed.

Li Mi escaped from the chaos and wanted to sneak back to Chang'an.But the Sui army searched very closely, and Li Mi was still caught. The Sui general sent troops to escort Li Mi to the camp of Emperor Sui Yang.On the way, Li Mi discussed with a dozen prisoners and gave all the money they brought with them to the escorting Sui soldiers for food and drink.Sui soldiers accepted their bribes, drank and had fun, and relaxed their defenses.Li Mi and the others took advantage of the Sui Bing's drunkenness and took a chance to escape by jumping over the wall. After Li Mi was out of danger, he wanted to find another opportunity to resist the Sui Dynasty.He wanted to find a leader of the rebel army as a backer, but some leaders of the rebel army saw him as a frail scholar and didn't pay much attention to him.Li Mi had no choice but to change his surname and name, and hid in Tibet, and was almost arrested by the government several times.Finally, he heard that there was a strong rebel army in Wagang Village in Dongjun (now east of Huaxian County, Henan Province).The one who took the lead was called Zhai Rang. He was kind and liked to make friends with heroes, so he decided to go to the Wagang Army in Dongjun County.