Chapter 26 A Hero's End: The Fall of Wagang

In September of the 14th year of Daye (the first year of Wude), the autumn coolness in the eastern capital became stronger and stronger every day. And these days, Wagang's heart is getting colder day by day. Because since Li Mi killed Zhai Rang, he has become more and more arrogant, and his attitude towards his followers has also quietly changed. He is no longer as compassionate to his subordinates as he used to be. In addition, there are two reasons why Wagang soldiers feel cold: 1. Wagang has nothing but food, so although the soldiers have repeatedly made military exploits, they have never received rewards such as money and silk; 2. Li Mi often treats the newly attached people very politely, but by comparison he neglects the old ones.

The Wagang people were indignant about this. Even Xu Shiji, who has always been broad-minded, couldn't help insinuating Li Mi at a banquet, hoping that he would realize his shortcomings and current problems. But now Li Mi could no longer listen to any discordant voices. He was extremely displeased, and began to alienate Xu Shiji from then on—sending him to Liyang Cang, on the surface, entrusted him with a heavy responsibility, but actually pushed him out of the Wagang headquarters. Although Li Mi is aware of the current situation of Wagang's scattered people, he thinks the situation is not serious and everything is still under his control.

By the autumn of this year, Li Mi even felt that the situation was changing for the better. Because he had just defeated Yu Wenhuaji's hundreds of thousands of troops and surrendered many elites, and then he heard that there was a fire in Dongdu, Wang Shichong and his gang were killing each other, and the result was likely to be a loss for both sides.All of this makes Li Mi optimistically think that Dongdu is just around the corner. However, Li Mi was too optimistic. Dongduhuo not only did not weaken Wang Shichong's strength, but made him stronger than ever.He now has the military and political power in the Eastern Capital, and he can mobilize troops to launch a general attack on Li Mi at any time.

In Wang Shichong's view, it is not the Eastern Capital that is at stake, but Li Mi - the Wagang Army led by him. Because of the Battle of Tongshan, although Yu Wenhuaji was defeated, Li Mi's Wagang Army also suffered heavy losses.Most of his elite died on the battlefield, and the combat effectiveness of the rest of them has been greatly reduced. Therefore, Wang Shichong believes equally optimistically that Li Mi's downfall is just around the corner. Two equally optimistic and confident men. A pair of enemies doomed to life and death. Fate had no choice but to arrange an ultimate showdown to end the protracted confrontation and contest between them.

On the tenth day of September this year, Wang Shichong took the lead.He strictly selected 20,000 elites, and rushed eastward. On the next day, he arrived at Luoshui, west of Yanshi (now Yanshi City, Henan Province), and quickly erected three pontoon bridges. At this time, Li Mi was stationed in Jinyong City in the north of Luoyang, and Wang Shichong threw Li Mi away and marched eastward with all his strength. Obviously, he wanted to seize the Luokou warehouse-because the army in the eastern capital was about to run out of food. Li Mi urgently ordered Wang Bodang to stay behind Jin Yong, led his elite troops to aid Yanshi, and camped at the southern foot of Mang Mountain, and then ordered Shan Xiongxin to lead the forward cavalry to camp in the north of Yanshi City.

On September 11th, Li Mi held a military meeting to discuss the strategy of defending the war.Pei Renji advocated taking a defensive position. He said: "When Wang Shichong comes out, Luoyang must be empty. We can divide our troops into two groups. One way is to guard the dangerous point to prevent him from going east; the other way is to go straight to the eastern capital. If Wang Shichong returns to the army, we will stand still ;If he advances eastward again, we will attack the eastern capital. In this way, we will have the initiative, and he will be defeated by our army when he is exhausted."

Li Mi agreed with Pei Renji's plan, and further analyzed: "The Sui army has three things that are unstoppable. First, its weapons are excellent; second, it is determined to go east; third, it will fight when it runs out of food. Therefore, we only need to stick to the city and accumulate strength. Waiting for Wang Shichong to fight, he has nowhere to go, and within ten days, his head will be sent to our command." It should be said that the strategy of Pei Renji and Li Mi is completely correct.If this battle is really fought according to this plan, the loser must be Wang Shichong, not Li Mi.

However, the God of Destiny turned his back on Li Mi at this critical moment. Because the vast majority of generals opposed the plan. Chen Zhilue, Fan Wenchao and others who had just surrendered from Yu Wenhua and his subordinates were eager to make contributions, so they fought hard together with Shan Xiongxin.They insisted: "Wang Shichong's army is not large in number, and has been defeated by us many times. It has long been discouraged. There is a saying in the art of war: 'If the number of the enemy is twice that of the enemy, we should attack.' What's more, we are definitely more than double now! Besides, Jianghuai Xin The attached soldiers all hope to seize this opportunity to make meritorious deeds, and when they fight when their fighting spirit is high, they will surely win."

Li Mi was moved.Yes, if you can defeat the enemy in one battle, why delay? He immediately adopted the advice of the majority—to fight!Of course Li Mi at this moment would not know, his defeat was sealed in this one word. Pei Renji tried hard to dissuade him, but Li Mi had made up his mind. Pei Renji sighed and said, "Your Majesty will regret it!" At the same time, Wei Zheng, who was not qualified to participate in the military meeting, also said to the chief historian Zheng Ting: "Although Duke Wei turned defeat into victory in the Battle of Tongshan, most of the brave generals and sharp soldiers died in battle, and the morale of the remaining soldiers was low. It is beneficial to fight against the enemy. Moreover, the Sui army is short of food and aims to fight to the death. It is difficult to fight for the front. It is better to resist it with deep ditches and high fortifications. In ten months, Wang Shi's food is exhausted, so he must retreat. At that time, he will pursue it with all his strength. There is no reason to be invincible."

Wei Zheng spoke clearly and logically, Zheng Ting only gave him a sideways glance and said, "This is just a commonplace." Wei Zheng was furious: "This is a strange strategy, why is it called a cliché?" Then he walked away. On the afternoon of September 11, Wang Shichong sent hundreds of cavalry from the vanguard across Luoshui to attack Shan Xiongxin's barracks.Li Mi got the news that Pei Xingyan, Cheng Zhijie and others were sent to reinforce him.Pei Xingyan rushed into the enemy's line first, was shot by the arrow, and fell off his horse.Cheng Zhijie rushed up immediately, killed several enemy soldiers, and carried Pei Xingyan onto his horse.The Sui army was chasing after him. A cavalryman caught up and pierced Cheng Zhijie's armor with a spear.Cheng Zhijie turned around and grabbed the spear, snapped it in two, then hacked and killed the Sui soldiers, and finally rescued Pei Xingyan back to the camp.

In this small-scale encounter, apart from Pei Xingyan, Li Mi's subordinate Xiao general Sun Changle and a dozen people were all seriously injured. In the middle of the night, Wang Shichong sent more than 200 cavalry to sneak into Mangshan Mountain, ambush in the mountain stream near Li Mi's camp, and prepare for the decisive battle the next day as internal support. On the morning of September 12, the time for the decisive battle finally arrived. Wang Shichong gathered his troops to swear an oath, and said loudly: "Today's battle is not only a matter of winning or losing, but also life and death. If you win, you will naturally get riches and honor; if you lose, no one will be spared. Therefore, this battle War is related to the survival of everyone, not only for the country, but also for yourselves!" As the saying goes, mourning soldiers must win. At this time, Wang Shichong's army was in a desperate situation of running out of food, so for the 20,000 soldiers, if they fought hard to defeat Li Mi, they still had a chance of survival;Therefore, when this battered and desperate army entered Li Mi's camp, Wang Shichong gave an order, and 20,000 people shot out like arrows from the string; Said - unstoppable. The battle was fought more fiercely than ever, because both sides were determined to win. When the fierce battle between the two armies was in full swing, Wang Shichong used a killer move he had prepared. He found a man who looked exactly like Li Mi in advance, and at this time he tied him up and pushed him to the front of the battle, and ordered his men to shout: "Li Mi has been captured alive!" The soldiers all shouted long live.Upon seeing this, the Wagang Army's morale was immediately decimated.Immediately afterwards, the Sui troops who had ambushed here last night suddenly moved out again, charged directly at Li Mi's camp, and set fire to the tents and houses.When the Wagang army saw the flames shooting up into the sky behind them, their will collapsed instantly and they began to run for their lives in all directions.Chen Zhilue and others, who were fighting hard yesterday, immediately surrendered to Wang Shichong.Li Mi fled to Luokou with more than 10,000 remnants. Li Mi never expected that this escape would bring his life to a dead end. He originally thought that victory or defeat was a common matter in military affairs, and it would not take long for him to regroup and make a comeback. But he was wrong. The defeat of Mangshan has completely put an end to his military career and the great cause of competing in the Central Plains, and at the same time, it has also put a dash on his ups and downs, wonderful and magnificent life. After the dash was written two words - DEATH. Although Li Mi fled into Guanzhong and surrendered to the Tang Dynasty a few days later, this only delayed his death, but failed to save his fate. Li Mi's escape was really a sad journey. Because the army was defeated like a mountain.He ran all the way, and his followers descended all the way in front of him and behind him. That night, Wang Shichong entered Yanshi, which was guarded by Zheng Ting.Before the Sui army attacked the city, Zheng Ting's generals opened the city gate and surrendered to Wang Shichong; Pei Renji, Zheng Ting, Zu Junyan and dozens of civil and military generals were all captured.Immediately afterwards, Shan Xiongxin and others fought on their own, refusing to accept Li Mi's order, causing Wang Shichong's army to quickly cross Luoshui, and Shan Xiongxin led his troops to surrender.Before Li Mi arrived at Luokou, the chief Shi Bing (bing) Yuanzhen who was stationed in Cangcheng had already secretly sent people to meet Wang Shichong's troops, ready to open the door to welcome the surrender. Li Mi finally despaired. People's hearts are unreliable, people's hearts are so fucking unreliable! In fact, since Zhai Rang was eliminated, people have been suggesting that Li Mi cut the grass and root out all the old minions of Zhai Rang, so as to avoid future troubles.For example, Fang Yanzao urged him to get rid of Shan Xiongxin at that time.He said that Shan Xiongxin is a person who is "lighter than going and going", and it is impossible to stick to one end, and it is better to kill early.But Li Mi still couldn't do it, because Shan Xiongxin bravely won the three armies and was known as the "Flying General" in the army. Li Mi cherished his talent.For another example, General Yu Wenwen also persuaded him to get rid of Bing Yuanzhen.He said that Bing Yuanzhen was Zhai Rang's best friend, and his post of long history was recommended by Zhai Rang. He was grateful to Zhai Rang in his heart, and keeping such a person would be a disaster sooner or later.But Li Mi was noncommittal after hearing this, because he didn't want to engage in too many infighting before conquering Dongdu.Afterwards, he was only secretly wary of Bing Yuanzhen, and never took any action.Finally, the news reached Bing Yuanzhen's ears, and he immediately made up his mind to rebel. Thinking of all this, Li Mi was filled with emotion and regret. Could it be that he is really too soft-hearted, too soft-hearted, to take all the problems on his own? However, what if the heart is not soft?Killing is easy, but the problem is that stability is too difficult!Even if Zhai Rang's old minions are all killed and none of them are left behind, will Wagang be able to be united and firm as a rock? not necessarily. And the result of doing it early is likely to force these arrogant soldiers back in advance! Besides, how many people have to be killed to clean up Zhai Rang's "old department"?Wagang was originally just a loose alliance of dozens of bandits, big and small, and it was never a regular army with strict military discipline and unified orders. And cohesion, that's basically bullshit.Since Li Mi took over the leadership, although this situation of looseness and disobedience has been changed to a certain extent, it has not been able to fundamentally wash away the gangster spirit of these people, nor can it reverse their half-hearted and ready to quit at any time. Of course, it is impossible to build the Wagang Army into a team with a high degree of loyalty and cooperation spirit with him and Li Mi at the core.Therefore, unspoken rules such as the interests of small gangs and the loyalty of friends in the rivers and lakes have actually been prevailing under Li Mi's superficial authority.In other words, the various potential interest relationships among the young and old in Wagangzhai are always intertwined and unbreakable.Under such circumstances, how can Li Mi decide which people are Zhai Rang's "old department" and who are targeted for targeted elimination, and who are completely clean and have nothing to do with Zhai Rang's clique?How should this standard be determined and handled? In fact, such a standard does not exist at all. Because in the final analysis, what really poses a threat to Li Mi is not Zhai Rang's "old department", but a pervasive and ubiquitous hidden network of interests.Unless Li Mi completely tore through this net and transformed the Wagang Army into a regular army in the true sense, it would be impossible to eliminate all kinds of hidden dangers.In other words, unless Li Mi left only a few confidantes and killed all the others, it would not be considered clean. However, can Li Mi do this? Of course not. Besides, since he took the top spot in Wagang, Li Mi has basically never lived a day of peace. First he fought against the Dongdu army, then he fought with Wang Shichong, and later he fought against Yu Wenhuaji. , so that he couldn't free his hands to clean the interior.If you insist on doing it, it is tantamount to destroying the Great Wall when the enemy is present! Therefore, a thousand words boiled down to one sentence - the situation is stronger than people! Just like when Chai Xiaohe proposed to abandon the Eastern Capital and go west to Guanzhong, Li Mi could only express helplessness, so Li Mi at this moment can only have helplessness. Luokou surrendered, and Li Mi, who was panicked like a bereaved dog, planned to go to Liyang to join Xu Shiji.But the left and right immediately warned him: "When Zhai Rang was killed, Xu Shiji was almost killed, and now he is only going to seek refuge after losing the battle. Do you feel safe?" Li Mi hastily reined in the reins. That's right, Xu Shiji is an out-and-out Zhai Rang ex-partner, and he was pushed out to Liyang by Li Mi, so if he goes to join him now, it will be very bad luck! Fortunately, Wang Bodang, who was originally stationed in Jinyong City, had already retreated to Heyang (now Mengzhou City, Henan Province). Li Mi immediately turned around and led the remaining troops to defect to Wang Bodang.After arriving in Heyang, Li Mi immediately held a military meeting to discuss the next step of Wagang. The atmosphere at this meeting was very different from the one a few days earlier. Everyone was downcast. Everyone is absent-minded. Li Mi first proposed his own plan.He decided to use the Yellow River as the boundary in the south, the Taihang Mountains as the boundary in the north, and Liyang Yao in the east. He decided to rebuild a base in this area, and then slowly seek development. At this moment, Li Mi's eyes are still firm, confident and optimistic. At least that's how it looks. However, his plan was opposed by all the generals present.They said: "The army has just been disbanded, and the people are terrified. If they stay here, they will all escape in a few days. The people's hearts are gone, and they don't want to fight anymore. Nothing can be done!" Li Mi glanced at everyone. Everyone also glanced at Li Mi. People have gone? Li Mi smiled wryly in his heart—if the people's hearts had gone, the people in Wagang would have already gone to hell!It's just that in the past it was subtle, clever, and sneaky, but now it's rampant, chic, and righteous! Just go, there is no permanent banquet in the world!Now that everything has gone with the wind, I have nothing to say. With a bang, Li Mi pulled out the saber from his body. He wants to kill. Kill a man named Li Mi. Li Mi said word by word: "There are many people who rely on the lonely! If the crowd is unwilling, the lonely way is poor!" After speaking, he swung the knife to his neck. However, the speed of Li Mi's knife is very particular.Neither too fast nor too slow.If it is too fast, others will have no time to stop him, and if it is too slow, it will show flaws.Therefore, "killing yourself with a knife" is also a technical job. It is the last card of many political figures throughout the ages when they are in desperate situations. A sad card. The premise of playing this sad card well is to grasp the most appropriate timing, and there must be someone around to cooperate.Otherwise, if you drop this card in your hand, you will play yourself to death. The person who cooperates with Li Mi now is Wang Bodang.He rushed forward with a stride, hugged Li Mi tightly, and cried loudly at the same time, and cried so loudly that everyone was shocked until he fainted from crying. All the people present were moved.Some people rushed to pinch Wang Bodang, but most of them couldn't help crying.So the big men in the room just burst into tears.When everyone was almost crying, Li Mi put away his saber and tears, and said to everyone: "If you don't see abandonment, you should return to Guanzhong. Although the secret body is useless, you will protect your wealth!" When everyone heard the words, they broke into tears and laughed. That's what they love to hear.If you can't get along here, just leave, what a simple truth!What surprises them is that now the boss is going to personally lead them to change jobs collectively, which is really a surprise.Staff member Liu Xie immediately said on behalf of everyone: "Duke Ming and Duke Tang belong to the same clan of the Li family, and they made a friendly covenant. , this is also due to Duke Ming!" Everyone nodded frequently and said in unison: "Yes!" So Li Mi led more than 20,000 people westward to Guanzhong, and went to Li Yuan. As soon as Li Mi left, the remaining tribes who were still stationed in various parts of the Central Plains suddenly had no leader, so they had to surrender to the imperial court of the Eastern Capital one after another. There is no more Wagang in the world. Li Mi was completely out of the game. Under the sunset in the autumn of 618 A.D., the back of Li Mi riding his horse to the west looked lonely and desolate. This is the end of a hero. On this day, the sunset glow in the western sky has been burning brightly——burning pitifully in Li Mi's life with an uncertain future and a number of days gone by. The setting sun was bright red, like the bleeding wound of a desperate hero.