Chapter 17 Wagang Crisis

Daye Thirteen Years October 25th.night.Luoshui. An army is nervously crossing the river under the cover of night, and is rushing towards Luokou where Li Mi is stationed.Wang Shichong took the lead, with a dignified expression.These days he has been thinking about a question - what kind of opponent is Li Mi? This person seized the leadership shortly after he came to Wagang. In just half a year, the number of his troops grew to hundreds of thousands, occupying the three major granaries of the empire one after another. The army elected as the leader.Against such an opponent, how much chance do you have of winning?

Wang Shichong was at a loss. In the middle of the night, Wang Shichong's troops stationed in Heishi (now south of Gong County, Henan).In the early morning of the next day, Wang Shichong left part of his troops to guard the camp, and personally led the elite to form a formation on the north bank of Luoshui.Li Mi received the battle report and immediately led his troops to fight. The Wagang army had just crossed Luoshui, and before they could gain a firm foothold, Wang Shichong ordered the soldiers who were ready to attack.As a result, the Wagang Army was defeated, and the soldiers fell into the water one after another, including Chai Xiaohe, who had advised Li Mixi to enter Guanzhong, also drowned in this battle.

Li Mi was furious. While gathering the remnants of the infantry and ordering them to withdraw from Yuecheng (the fortress defending Luokoucang), he personally led the elite cavalry to go straight to the Black Stone camp of the Sui army. As a result, a dramatic scene appeared: Wang Shichong chased the remnants of Wagang to the north, preparing to attack Yuecheng and Luokou; while Li Mi went south with his cavalry, preparing to take down the Sui army camp on the south bank of Luoshui River . The two sides seem to be going their separate ways. But beating Wang Shichong like this is definitely a disadvantage.Because Li Mi's Moon City has been in operation for a long time, the city defense is extremely strong, but Wang Shichong's Black Stone Camp was built just last night, and it will definitely not be able to withstand Li Mi's charge.

Sure enough, as soon as Li Mi's cavalry attacked, the Sui army guarding the camp hurriedly lit a beacon.Moreover, he was afraid that Wang Shichong would not see him, so he burned six sticks as soon as he ignited. Wang Shichong, who was besieging Yuecheng, was suddenly dumbfounded.The food, supplies, and supplies he brought with him for this expedition were all in the Black Stone Camp. If Li Mi were to burn them, then he would be defeated without a fight.Wang Shichong had to rush out of the siege and return to his teacher to save himself.Seeing that the strategy of "encircling Wei and saving Zhao" was successful, Li Mi immediately turned to face Wang Shichong.

As the Sui army returned to the division in a hurry, the formation had already dispersed during the run, and Li Mi led all the most elite cavalry under his command, so Wang Shichong was defeated in this battle and more than 3,000 people were killed. This battle was the first contest between Wang Shichong and Li Mi, and the result made Wang Shichong come to a conclusion-Li Mi is a terrible opponent. After Luoshui was defeated, Wang Shichong kept the camp closed and refused to fight for more than ten days. To be honest, he has already developed a little fear of Li Mi. Wang Shichong in the front stood still, and Yang Yu, the king of Yue in the Eastern Capital, immediately murmured in his heart—the emperor transferred you here from Jiangdu, not for you to come on vacation!What's more, you have been given the right to control the various armies. If you, Wang Shichong, were a turtle, how would you fight this battle?

So Yang Tong sent envoys to Heishi camp every day, saying that he was condolences to Wang Shichong, but in fact he was urging him to fight. Wang Shichong had no choice but to write a letter of war to Li Mi.On November 9, the two sides fought a large-scale battle on the Jiashizi River (a tributary of the Luoshui River in the southeast of Gongxian County, Henan Province).In this battle, Li Mi's entire army was dispatched, and the banners stretched for tens of miles from north to south.After the two armies lined up, Zhai Rang, the forward of the Wagang Army, attacked the Sui army first, but was defeated in the first battle and retreated quickly.Wang Shichong chased after him, but he got into the pocket that Li Mi had opened for him.

As soon as Wang Shichong rushed to the front of the Wagang Army's central army, Wang Bodang and Pei Renji suddenly rushed out from the two wings, cutting across his army formation, and severed the connection between his rear army and the front army.But Li Mi personally led the Chinese army to storm his front.The Sui army was cut into two sections, unable to look at each other from head to tail, and Wang Shichong was attacked on three sides. The soldiers lost their command and collapsed in an instant.Wang Shichong broke through the siege desperately, leaving behind the corpses of countless soldiers, and fled westward with the remnants.

From a military point of view, the combat effectiveness of the Wagang Army is absolutely first-class, but from a political point of view, there is always a huge hidden danger lurking inside the Wagang Group. That is - the instability of the power structure. To put it bluntly, no one is convinced. At this point, Li Mi feels more deeply than anyone else.So he had to keep his eyes wide open and always maintain a high level of alertness to the people and things around him. In the winter of Daye's thirteenth year, the thing that worried him most finally appeared. A small group of people are just around the corner, trying to challenge his authority.

To be precise, this is a small group.And the core figure of this small group is Zhai Rang, the past leader of Wagang Village. After Zhai Rang stepped down from his top position, he lived a relaxed life.He still bears the title of Situ, and the brothers in the past still respect him, and the treatment of basic necessities of life has not changed at all. Zhai Rang didn't have the ambition to win the world, and he didn't have any ambitions for power, so after retiring to the second line, he has always enjoyed this kind of pampered, carefree life.He doesn't have to worry about anything, and he doesn't have to worry about food or clothing. So far in life, what more can he ask for?Zhai Rang often expresses such emotion in his heart.

However, Zhai Rang can be satisfied with this kind of life of idle clouds and wild cranes, but the people around him are not reconciled to Zhai Rang leaving power behind. You came out with Boss Zhai just to get rich, but now Boss, you actually retreated to the second line early and handed over the military and political power to Li Mi, what's going on?It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to be rich, but what about the brothers?I have been with you for so many years, but in the end, the bamboo basket is empty, how can everyone swallow this breath? Therefore, the matter of Zhai Rang ceding power had baffled his subordinates from beginning to end.

Sima Wang Ruxin has been urging Zhai Rang to take back the power from Li Mi, and establish himself as the governor of Otsuka to take charge of the overall situation.But Zhai Rang refused.Seeing that Zhai Rang was so disappointing, his elder brother Zhai Hong, who was then Duke of Xingyang in the Zhu Kingdom, immediately jumped up.This old brother Zhai is a rough man, he never turns around when he speaks, and shouted as soon as he opened his mouth: "You should be the emperor yourself, why should you give it to someone else? If you really don't want to be the emperor, I will be the emperor!" Zhai Rang laughed when he heard the words, taking his brother's words as a joke.These words quickly fell into Li Mi's ears.To Li Mi, this is not a joke, but a huge threat. Li Mi's nerves tensed immediately.After that, his left chief Shi Fang Yanzao reported another incident to Li Mi.Fang Yanzao said that when he conquered Runan County (now Runan County, Henan Province) not long ago, Zhai Rang warned him: "I heard that you got a lot of gold and silver treasures in Runan, but you gave them all to Li Mi. What? I didn’t even give it to me! Li Mi was single-handedly supported by me, so it’s hard to say what will happen in the future.” The implication is that since he can support Li Mi, of course he can depose Li Mi at any time. Fang Yanzao and Zuo Sima Zheng Ting (ting) persuaded Li Mi to kill Zhai Rang.They said: "Zhai Rang is greedy for money and profit, self-willed, and ignorant of benevolence and righteousness. He didn't take you seriously at all. He should have made a plan early." Li Mi said: "The situation is not stable now. If you kill each other, it will hurt people far and near. What kind of role model?" Zheng Ting said: "A poisonous snake stings a hand, and a strong man cuts off his wrist, all for the sake of the overall situation. If Zhai Rang strikes first, it will be too late to regret it!" That's how Li Mi made up his mind. On November 11th, Li Mi set up a sumptuous banquet and invited Zhai Rang, Zhai Hong, his sons, Shi Zhai Mohou, the head of Situ's mansion, and Sima Wang Ruxin to the banquet.During the banquet, Pei Renji and Hao Xiaode were accompanied, Fang Yanzao and Zheng Ting were chatting and chatting, while Zhai Rang stood behind Shan Xiongxin, Xu Shiji and other bodyguards.As soon as everyone sat down, Li Mi said: "We don't need too many people to entertain high-ranking officials today. It is enough to leave a few people around to serve." After finishing speaking, the guards on his left and right walked out, but Zhai Rang's guard stood stay still. Without Zhai Rang's order, they will not move. Li Mi and Fang Yanzao looked at each other, and Fang Yanzao immediately asked for instructions with a smile on his face, "Everyone wants to drink and have fun today, and the weather is so cold, Situ's guards have worked hard, please reward them with wine and food." Li Mi glanced at Zhai Rang and said, "I'm going to ask Situ for instructions." Zhai Rang gave a dry laugh and said, "Very good." Then Fang Yanzao led Shan Xiongxin, Xu Shiji and others out.Apart from the guests of honor in the banquet hall, only Li Mi's guard with a knife, Cai Jiande, was left. Everyone exchanged greetings for a while, and before the dishes were ready, Li Mi ordered someone to bring out a newly made good bow, and asked Zhai Rang to try shooting.Zhai Rang took it, and as soon as he fully drew the bow, Li Mi gave Cai Jiande a wink.Cai Jiande suddenly drew his knife and slashed Zhai Rang on the neck from behind.Zhai Rang fell headfirst to the ground, howling like a bull roaring from his blood gushing throat.Before everyone could react, Cai Jiande hacked Zhai Hong, Zhai Mohou and Wang Ruxin to death. Shan Xiongxin, Xu Shiji and others in the wing room outside heard the howling, and immediately jumped up and fled.When he ran to the gate, Xu Shiji was cut in the neck by the gate guard.Wang Bodang saw it from a distance and shouted to the guards to stop.Shan Xiongxin and others hurriedly knelt down and begged for mercy, while the other guards stood there terrified, not knowing what to do. Li Mi came out quickly, and said loudly: "I joined the rebels with the lords for the purpose of eradicating violence and chaos. But Situ is tyrannical and greedy, bullying his colleagues. Today only the Zhai family was killed, and it has nothing to do with you. "After speaking, he ordered people to help the injured Xu Shiji in, and personally applied medicine for him. When Zhai Rang's followers heard that Zhai Rang was dead, they all prepared to go their separate ways.Li Mi first ordered Shan Xiongxin to go to comfort him, then rode into Zhai Rang's barracks alone, persuaded them again and again, and finally persuaded them, and then ordered Xu Shiji, Shan Xiongxin, and Wang Bodang to take over Zhai Rang's troops.At this point, the panic and commotion in the entire Wagang barracks gradually subsided. The death of Zhai Rang was an inevitable result of the power struggle among Wagang's top leaders, and it was also a concentrated expression of the internal contradictions of the group. On the surface, Li Mi successfully eliminated the largest dissident force in the interior, successfully incorporated Zhai Rang's confidants and followers, and consolidated his power and status.But in fact, the hidden dangers and unstable factors inside Wagang have not been eliminated, but have intensified.Because after this bloody incident, the generals and officials around Li Mi became insecure, and almost everyone was worried that they would become the second Zhai Rang. An invisible worry and panic spread rapidly in the Wagang Army like a terrible plague. In this sense, Zhai Rang's death did not open a new page in Wagang's history, but became a turning point for Wagang from prosperity to decline. Although the Wagang Army is still invincible on the battlefield since then, with more victories and fewer losses, the crisis of defeat has been quietly brewing under the superficial strength. After learning that Zhai Rang was killed by Li Mi, Wang Shichong let out a sigh of loss. Because he knows that there are always conflicts among the Wagang executives, especially Zhai Rang and Li Mi, it is absolutely impossible to coexist and co-prosper under the same roof for a long time.So Wang Shichong always thought this was an opportunity for him to eliminate Wagang.He silently bet his treasure on Zhai Rang's side in his heart, hoping that Zhai Rang could get rid of Li Mi, and then he could get rid of Zhai Rang easily. But the result was exactly the opposite of what he had hoped for. Through many fights and observation during this period, Wang Shichong felt more and more afraid of Li Mi as an opponent.After a long sigh, he said something like this: "Li Mi is very talented, and he is smart and decisive in his actions. It is really unpredictable whether he will be a dragon or a snake in the future!"