Chapter 20 Li Yuan: The strongest opponent

At the end of the thirteenth year of Daye, Xue Ju, who claimed to be the Emperor of Qin, defeated Li Hongzhi (who claimed to be the Emperor of Chu) and Tang Bi (who claimed to be the King of Tang), and annexed their tribes.Soon, Xue Ju ordered his eldest son Xue Renguo to send troops to encircle Fufeng (now Fengxiang County, Shaanxi Province), preparing to compete with Li Yuan for Guanzhong. Li Yuan immediately made deployments and ordered the army to divide into two groups: one led by Li Shimin to attack Xue Renguo; west of the mountain).While dealing with Xue Ju, Li Yuan ordered Li Xiaogong to lead an army to cross Zhongnan Mountain (Qinling) and expand to Shannan and Bashu.

On December 17th, Li Shimin defeated Xue Renguo in Fufeng and chased him all the way to Longshan.Xue Ju was terrified, worried that Li Shimin would cross Longshan Mountain to attack, so he quickly asked his subordinates, "Since ancient times, have any emperors surrendered?" The servant of the Huangmen, Xiu Liang, replied: "In the distance, Zhao Tuo returned to the Western Han Dynasty, and Liu Chan entered the Jin Dynasty; near by, there is Xiao Cong, whose descendants still enjoy wealth and honor! Turning disaster into blessing has happened in ancient times." Wei Weiqing Hao Yuan hurried forward and said loudly: "Your Majesty shouldn't ask such a question, what absurd and rebellious words Xuan Liang said! In the past, Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty, experienced countless failures. Liu Bei didn't even protect his wife and children. But in the end, they can achieve great things, how can His Majesty plan to subjugate the country just because of a small defeat?"

Xue Ju suddenly felt a slip of the tongue, laughed a few times, and said, "I'm just trying to test everyone's attitudes, and I don't have any other intentions." Then he rewarded Hao Yuan heavily, and cited him as a confidant and think tank. In late December, Zhang Long, the left-bearer of Pingliang County (now Guyuan County, Ningxia), Xiao Yu, the prefect of Hechi County (now Fengxian County, Shaanxi Province), and Dou Jing, the prefect of Fufeng County, all joined Li Yuan one after another.Li Yuan immediately appointed Dou Jing as the Minister of the Ministry of Industry and made him the Duke of Yan; he appointed Xiao Yu as the Minister of the Ministry of Rites and made him the Duke of Song.

At the same time, Jiang Mo and Dou Gui of the West Route Army entered Changdao (to the east of Lixian County, Gansu Province today) and were blocked by Xue Ju's army. As a result, they were defeated and had to retreat to Chang'an.Li Xiaogong of the South Route Army marched south of the Qinling Mountains and defeated Zhu Can who was entrenched here.The general suggested killing all the captives. Li Xiaogong said: "No, if we kill them all, who will surrender in the future?" Then all the captives were released.After that, Li Xiaogong continued to go south, entering Bashu from Jinchuan (now Ankang City, Shaanxi Province), where more than 30 prefectures surrendered wherever he went.

After Chang'an was captured by Li Yuan, Qu Tutong's only feeling was that the sky was falling. Because Li Yuan arrested all his family members as soon as he entered the city, apparently to use this as a bargaining chip to force him to submit. Qu Tutong was distraught, but he did not give in.When the family boy in Chang'an came to complain and persuade him to surrender, crying, Qu Tutong killed him without hesitation.He wants to show Li Yuan with actions that in order to be a loyal minister of the Sui Dynasty, he is ready to sacrifice his entire family. Qu Tutong then ordered Sang Xianhe to guard Tongguan, and led his army eastward, preparing to defect to the eastern capital.

But as soon as he left, Sang Xian and his back opened the door and surrendered to Liu Wenjing. Liu Wenjing immediately ordered Dou Cong and Sang Xianhe to lead the light cavalry to chase him all the way, and finally caught up with Qu Tutong at Chousang (now north of Lingbao City, Henan Province).Qu Tu ordered the army to line up and stand still.Dou Cong once again played the family card and ordered Qu Tushou, the son of Qu Tutong, to go to the front of the battle to persuade him.Qu Tutong yelled at his son from a distance: "Where did this thief come from? We used to be father and son with you, but today we are enemies with you!" Then he ordered the left and right archers to shoot Qu Tushou.

Seeing that a fierce battle was about to break out, Sang Xian and his horse galloped to the front of the battle, shouting to Qu Tutong's men: "The capital has fallen, you are all from Guanzhong, where can you go if you leave your hometown?" Sang Xianhe's words immediately had a shocking effect.Qu Tutong's followers looked at each other, and put down their weapons in unison. Qu Tutong was completely desperate.He got off his horse and knelt down, kowtowed again and again in the southeast direction, and cried hissingly: "The minister has been bent so far, and he dare not betray the country. The world knows it, and the gods share it!"

Then Qu Tutong was escorted to Chang'an. Li Yuan was overjoyed and treated him with the utmost courtesy, and immediately appointed him as Minister of the Ministry of War, named Jiang Gong, and concurrently served as Minister of Qin Gong (Li Shimin) Marshal's Mansion. Then Li Yuan gave Qu Tutong a task - to go back to Hedong and persuade his general Yao Junsu to surrender.Qu Tutong came to Hedong with a complicated, heavy and helpless mood. When they met under such circumstances, the two big men couldn't help crying at each other, with tears dripping down their cheeks.Qu Tutong said: "Our army has been defeated, and now the flag of righteousness is pointing, and the world will not respond. The situation is like this. You should come down early to get rich and honor!"

Yao Junsu was inexplicably sad and angry, and said: "Your Majesty is a minister of the empire, and the lord entrusts Guanzhong to you, and the acting king relies on you to protect the country. How can you surrender secretly, and even act as a lobbyist for others? The horse on which you ride, It is bestowed by the king, what face does the public have to take advantage of it?" Qu Tutong lamented: "Oh, Jun Su, I came here because of my strength!" Yao Junsu said: "Now I am still unyielding, why do you talk too much?" Qu Tutong was so ashamed that he had no choice but to leave sadly.

After Qu Tutong returned without success, Li Yuan's army intensified its attack on Hedong City. Yao Junsu was determined to stick to it. At that time, the road was cut off. In order to inform the imperial court of the Eastern Capital of the critical situation in Guanzhong and Hedong, Yao Junsu had to write a memorandum. Let the wooden goose flow eastward. The wooden goose floated to Heyang, was picked up by the defenders, and handed over to Yang Yu, king of Yue in the eastern capital.When Yang Tong saw the letter, he sighed for a long time, so in the name of the court, he worshiped Lord Yao as Doctor Jinzi Guanglu, and ordered someone to take the appointment letter to Hedong by a small road.

Later, Pang Yu, Huangfu Wuyi and others, the guards of Dongdu, surrendered to Li Yuan. When passing through Hedong, they repeatedly tried to persuade Yao Junsu to surrender, but Yao Junsu remained unmoved. Later, his wife in Chang'an came to the city again, and said to him with tears streaming down her face: "The Sui family is dead, and the destiny has its own destiny. Why should you suffer yourself and bring disaster on your own?" Yao Junsu yelled from the top of the city: "Women don't know anything about the world!" Then he drew a bow and arrow with his own hands, and shot it out.His wife fell and died at the hands of her husband. Knowing that the Sui Dynasty was exhausted, Mr. Yao would burst into tears every time he talked about state affairs, and said to the soldiers: "I am an old minister of the emperor's (Yang Guang) mansion. The food in the city can last for several years, and when the food is finished, the affairs of the world will be settled. If the Sui Dynasty falls and the fate returns, I will cut off my head and give it to the kings!" Yao Jun was always willing to be loyal to the Sui Dynasty, but his tribe was not willing to be the funeral objects of the Sui Dynasty.They have always wanted to defect, but Yao Jun has strict military discipline and good command, so the soldiers have never been able to find a chance. Hedong City has held on for more than a year.In the end, news of Yang Guang's murder came from Jiangdu, and the food in the city was almost exhausted, and tragedies of cannibalism happened every day.The tribe couldn't bear it anymore, so they had to kill Yao Junsu and open the door to surrender. Maybe Yao Junsu has been waiting for this day. Perhaps in his eyes, wealth and life are not the most important things for a person.What is more worth defending than them are human integrity, beliefs and values. In order to defend the righteousness of the monarch and ministers in his mind, Yao Junsu would rather sacrifice his own life. For us today, this seems to be a typical stupid loyalty - a meaningless and incurable stupid loyalty! However, just as we cannot demand and blame Qu Tutong with Yao Junsu's "great righteousness of the monarch and his ministers", we also cannot use the standard of "a man who knows the current affairs is a hero" to evaluate Yao Junsu. Of course, Yao Junsu's practice of burying an unpopular old dynasty that has lost its power is certainly not worth following, but his spirit of bravely defending his beliefs is worthy of our admiration and admiration. After all, there is something higher than wealth and life in his heart.In fact, no matter what such a thing is, as long as there is such a thing, the nobility and dignity of human nature can stand proudly in the face of suffering and death.I'm afraid that people in the world have lost such things, and are still proud of losing such things. In this sense, rather than saying that Yao Junsu was a sacrificial object of an old dynasty, it is better to say that he is a martyr of his own beliefs.This kind of person should not be forgotten by history. In the last days of the thirteenth year of the great cause, Li Yuan's power was expanding rapidly.The Bashu area in the south has been completely subordinated, and Liu Wenjing's march to the Guandong (east of Tongguan) has also made great achievements. In a short period of time, the land cities west of Hongnong (now Lingbao City, Henan Province) and Xin'an (now Xin'an County, Henan Province) All were included in Li Yuan's sphere of influence. On the first day of the first lunar month in the 14th year of Daye, Emperor Gong of the Sui Dynasty Yang You issued an edict: Li Yuan, king of the Tang Dynasty, could "walk on the sword and worship without being famous".That is to say, from then on, Li Yuan didn't need to take off his sword or take off his boots when he went to the palace, and he didn't need to be called by his courtiers when he played.Power officials of all dynasties in China have had this kind of privilege. Not to mention, Yang Jian, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, also enjoyed this kind of treatment on the eve of usurping the Zhou Dynasty. On the first day of the new year, Li Yuan was granted (or seized) this privilege, which seems to indicate that Li Yuan has taken another step towards the emperor's throne not far away, and at the same time it is tantamount to announcing a political message to the world. Forecast——The day when the Sui Dynasty came to an end is not far away. On the 22nd day of the first lunar month, Li Yuan ordered his son Li Jian to be the left marshal, Qin Gong Li Shimin to be the right marshal, and led more than 100,000 troops from all walks of life to march into the eastern capital.On the fourth day of February, Li Yuan ordered Taichangqing Zheng Yuanxuan to march into Nanyang County (now Dengzhou City, Henan Province), and Sima Yuangui, the left leader, to march into Anlu County (now Anlu City, Hubei Province) and Jingxiang area. The fourteen-year calendar of the great cause has just been opened, and the four heroes who are competing for the Sui deer in full swing feel that a strongest opponent has appeared! His strong strength, great momentum, and rapid development made all the players who participated in the competition secretly sweat. They all thought of a question at the same time—— Who is the next out?