The Villain's Counterattack

A farce in Luoyang temporarily quieted the world's heroes, but immediately after the farce, the world fell into chaos.

Duke of Liaodong Yang Xuyan personally led an army of 100,000 to sweep across Hebei. How could Dou Jiande's grass-roots army defeat the Liaodong cavalry that could roam the grasslands? They were beaten back step by step. Finally, with the guidance and help of Wang Shichong in Luoyang, Dou Jiande repaired the plank road in public and secretly marched through Chencang, organized the private soldiers of the aristocratic families to resist the cavalry of the Duke of Liaodong, and led his own troops to capture Jinyang, Shanxi.

The occupation of Li Yuan's old nest was undoubtedly a slap in the face to the Tang emperor. Especially since Dou Jiande had lost his troops and weapons in Hebei and was short of food and wealth, he was bound to repeat the story of Hebei and severely dealt with the local wealthy families and Buddhists with special means.

The Li family suffered heavy casualties. In anger, Li Yuan urgently ordered his son Li Shimin to send troops to fight. The troops had just been reorganized and had not yet had time to march to Jinyang when an urgent report came from the border that Shibi Khan personally led 150,000 cavalry, assisted by Liang Shidu's 100,000 troops, a total of 250,000. The 500,000-strong army had entered the pass and was heading straight for Chang'an.

As the governor of Jinyang and in charge of Shanxi, Li Yuan fought many battles with the Turks. After the Battle of Yanmen City, there was a short break. Since Li Yuan rebelled, he changed his strategy and took the initiative to show goodwill to the Turks. He was able to enter the pass with the support of the Turks. Because of this, Li Yuan tolerated and treated the Turks with favor.

After several years of recuperation, the Turkic people gradually recovered their strength thanks to the efforts of Shibi Khan and Zhao Deyan. With the presence of the great god Wu Zun Bi Xuan, they suppressed the signs of the rise of other forces on the grassland.

The feedback from investing in Li Tang was huge. Because Li Yuan had relied on the Turkic troops in the early stage of the uprising, the gifts he gave to the Turks were incalculable, which helped the Turks successfully overcome the difficult period after the Battle of Yanmen City. As their strength continued to increase, their ambitions also expanded.

Shibi Khan and his Turkic tribes, conceited about their contributions to the Tang, became increasingly arrogant and disrespectful. Whenever Turkic envoys arrived in Chang'an, they often behaved recklessly and unreasonably. Because the Central Plains had not yet been pacified, Li Yuan treated them with favor and leniency.

This not only failed to win the goodwill of the Turks, but made them even more arrogant. In the end, they even thought that since Yang Guang was gone, people like Li Yuan could become emperor, and no one in the Central Plains could resist the Turkic army. It was a good opportunity to go south to plunder wealth, so they set out on this expedition.

If it was the Battle of Yanmen City that broke the courage of the Turks and turned them into dogs, then Li Tang's inviting the wolves into the house and lavishly giving them gifts undoubtedly rebuilt the confidence, ambition and greed of the Turks, turning the dogs into wolves again.

Dou Jiande also had capable people under his command. After receiving the news, he immediately asked for peace with Yang Xuyan, the Duke of Liaodong, and sent an envoy to Liaodong with great fanfare. Along the way, they spread the word about the dangers of foreign invasions and made a big fuss about the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China not long ago. They listed themselves and Liaodong as Han forces, and believed that they should work together to resist foreign invasions.

If it were just that, it would have been fine, but Dou Jiande also took the opportunity to discredit Li Tang. It was obvious that Shibi Khan invaded Li Tang, but he said that Li Tang saw the loss of Jinyang and felt that it was insufficient, so it used the same trick again and wanted to use the power of the Turkic cavalry to attack other separatist forces. He was the first, but he would definitely not be the last.

He described Li Tang as the second Liang Shidu and called on the world to attack him. On the one hand, he legitimized his capture of Jinyang, and on the other hand, he tried to create hatred for Li Tang and publicized Yang Guang's great achievements in foreign wars.

Why should we publicize the great achievements of the late tyrant?

Haha, you treat the defeated generals of the tyrant Emperor Yang Guang as your ancestors. Isn’t that ironic?

What's more, in order to restrain the Duke of Liaodong, mere verbal righteousness is not enough, not to mention that Dou Jiande, as a rebel, cannot stand on his righteousness. Therefore, a group of envoys were also sent to Luoyang at the same time, but their target was not Wang Shichong, but the royal family of the Yang family stationed in Shanglin Garden.

The Luoyang delegation ostensibly paid tribute and requested a title, trying to gain official recognition from Dayi and the non-existent Sui Dynasty to acknowledge their legal possession of Jinyang. They secretly formed an alliance with Wang Shichong to deal with Li Mi and Li Tang together.

Wang Shichong, who was fighting fiercely with the Wagang army, knew better than anyone else what the so-called Yang royal family was like. On the surface, King Yang Xiu of Shu was in power and had appointed several royal family elders as elders, but in reality, Emperor Yang Guang of Sui was in command, and Yang Xuyan was fighting outside to rebuild the country.

Despite knowing this, Wang Shichong dared not utter a single word, perhaps because the more he knew, the more taboos he had. They were too powerful, and if it weren't for weakening the Buddhist sect and the aristocratic families, there would be no need for such behavior. This gave Wang Shichong an opportunity. Now that he had confirmed that the Sui Dynasty still existed, he could continue to be a loyal minister. While others would raise the banner of rebellion or join the rebels and the king, he would remain a nominal minister of the Sui Dynasty, and wait until the world was pacified. Wouldn't it be...

And there is another advantage of not being a rebel, that is, you can use the power of the royal family. Apart from other things, the Tianluodiwang organization alone can bring you huge intelligence benefits. You don’t need to operate weapons, armor, food, and even war horses yourself, and you can get enough supply.

Yang Xiu summoned Dou Jiande's envoy and sent a letter to Liaodong on the first day, promoting the Duke of Liaodong to the Duke of Liao and suspending all military operations against Dou Jiande's troops.

The next day, a discussion was held on Dou Jiande's official position. It was impossible to make him a king. The Sui Dynasty had never had a king of a different surname. Even Tiandao Song Que was only the Duke of Zhennan, let alone Dou Jiande. In the end, they reluctantly gave him the alternative position of a Grand Eunuch.

There was just a slight disagreement between the two regarding the stationing location. Dou Jiande hoped to stabilize Jinyang, but Yang Xiu wanted to give him the position of Grand Administrator of Guanzhong, supervising Guanzhong, and his stationing location was actually Chang'an. Dou Jiande's envoy was almost scared to death, and he thought to himself, you are too evil, and you wish they could fight to the death with Li Tang.

On the third day, Wang Shichong attended the meeting and invited Dou Jiande to join forces to attack Wagang's Li Mi. Dou Jiande had a close relationship with Wagang's late leader Zhai Rang. Li Mi had committed treason and killed Zhai Rang, and he had a grudge against Dou Jiande. Wang Shichong also produced evidence of Li Mi's collusion with the Turks and asked Dou Jiande to send manpower to attack Li Mi together.

Dou Jiande's delegation knew that Wang Shichong and Li Mi were fighting fiercely and were evenly matched, and the royal family had not even made any move, so they naturally agreed, but it was only a verbal agreement. On the one hand, they had to guard against Li Tang's counterattack, on the other hand, they had to be wary of the Turks sending troops to Jinyang, and at the same time they had to secretly guard against possible sneak attacks from the Duke of Liao. They had no spare energy to support Wang Shichong.

Whether you have the strength to work is one thing, and making verbal promises is another. At least you cannot compromise on the greater good, otherwise you will surely be taken advantage of by the Duke of Liao.

Upon learning that the Turks had sent troops, Li Mi, who was in a stalemate with the Luoyang army, was immediately encouraged. He thought to himself that his senior brother was indeed very capable. He was able to send troops to help from such a long distance, and his move was so grand that it was enough to affect the situation in the Central Plains. With such help, there was no need to worry about the failure of the great cause.

Li Tang?

Haha, how can your relationship with the Turks compare to the relationship between me and my senior brother Zhao Deyan.

In the Shanglinyuan Palace, a huge map was covered with small flags of various colors. Yang Guang slowly tapped the small flags with a green bamboo in his hand, a faint smile appearing on the corner of his mouth: "Demon Sect, helping others to accomplish things is not bad, but being the master of your own affairs is far from enough. This time, use the Demon Sect as a stepping stone to help me take the War God Technique to the next level!"

"Pada~" The small flag representing Wagang Li Mi was broken. Yang Guang's sharp eyes fell on Liang Shidu's flag, and he slowly shook his head and said, "Isn't it time to cut off all the tentacles of the Turks? Then I will let you change a Khan as the price for offending my great Sui Dynasty. This time, I will lead the army myself!"

"Royal brother, I think it's more appropriate for you to stay in the rear, every time..."

"Haha, I am a dead man, so I am free to act as I please. But you, the ruler of the Sui Dynasty, cannot leave Luoyang for a long time. This time, I leave Li Mi to you. I only want to spare Bi Khan's life. Use his life to help me soar!"

Yang Xiu curled his lips and snorted, "We are all descendants of the royal family, why is it so unfair? How can the Turkic Khan be compared to a mere scoundrel Li Mi from the Demonic Xiang Sect?"

"Don't be unhappy. What my royal brother gave you wasn't Li Mi, the elder of the Demonic Sect, but the Wagang Army, one of the most powerful rebel forces in the world. Isn't this gift enough to improve your War God Technique?"

Yang Xiu: ...