The Villain's Counterattack

When the Han people are strong, foreign races must be weak, and vice versa.

The Turkic invasion was caused by Shibi Khan himself, but the military master Bi Xuan and the national teacher Zhao Deyan also made great contributions. As the few foreign leaders who knew that Yang Guang was still alive, they were extremely wary of the Sui emperor. As long as he was alive, they would not be able to dominate the world. Fortunately, they had a great opportunity to fake his death, so how could they not make good use of it?

But as long as Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty was still alive, they had to be cautious in all their actions towards the Central Plains. The route for this invasion of the Central Plains was carefully selected. Taking the western line to avoid Liaodong was one aspect, and at the same time, Liang Shidu was sent to harass Mayi. The Turkic army's target was directly towards Li Tang. If possible, they would not mind looting Jinyang as well.

In short, the goal is to avoid the sphere of influence of the Sui royal family and seize benefits from others. On the surface, this will not only avoid offending the Sui emperor, but also weaken the strength of the Han people and plunder the Han people's wealth to enhance the strength of the Turks.

This was a test to test the intentions of Emperor Yang Guang of Sui or the Sui royal family. If they tolerated this action, they would not mind expanding the team and conducting more such actions.

The harsh environment of the grassland tribes, while nurturing a powerful figure like Wu Zun Bi Xuan, also resulted in their overall scarcity. Without raiding the Central Plains, their lives would be extremely difficult. However, the Central Plains civilization was ancient and profound, and without internal strife, outsiders stood no chance. Wu Zun Bi Xuan was naturally proud, but not ignorant. He had almost perished during a previous siege, which had made him even more wary.

The timing chosen this time can be said to be very clever. The Luoyang army and Li Mi were fighting fiercely, and the Liaodong army and Dou Jiande's troops needed to consolidate their new territory after a big battle. Dou Jiande's troops, whose strength had been greatly damaged, had to face the wrath of Li Tang.

As for Li Tang, it was not going well either. Li Shimin seemed to have turned into a disaster star. Wherever he went, Buddhist temples were destroyed, leaving only the legend of Li Gongzifan widely circulated among the people. Even though Cihang Jingzhai tried its best to defend him, it was of no use. For their own safety, the majority of Buddhists rejected him and even expressed that they did not welcome Qin Wang Li Shimin to approach them within a radius of 100 miles.

The temples in Chang'an were in dire straits, being robbed almost every other day. Li Shimin had thought of using himself as bait to lure out the dark culprit, but even though he was in Chang'an, with the help of Li Yuan and the Buddhist sect, and all the forces of the Tiance Mansion, he was ultimately unable to lure the enemy out. Instead, the people he sent out suffered heavy losses in a sneak attack.

However, what is very strange is that the Buddhist sect and Li Yuan's men suffered heavy losses, but the Tian Ce Palace suffered almost no casualties.

Of course, "almost" does not mean that there is really no damage at all. Not to mention others, Fang Zetao, the owner of Duba Villa who just joined, was accidentally seriously injured. There is a reward for every effort. The seriously injured Fang Zetao suddenly discovered a clue, which pointed directly at the Crown Prince Li Jiancheng of the Tang Dynasty.

If you're unlucky, even drinking cold water can cause teeth to ache. Fang Zetao, believing himself to be too weak, didn't participate in the risky fishing plan. Instead, he took the unusual approach of investigating the stolen goods. He believed that transport was definitely inferior to robbery. He skillfully utilized the abilities of previous worlds, flexibly using the easily overlooked power of beggars, and soon discovered a clue.

Fang Zetao was also a meticulous person. He did not seek to make any achievements but to avoid mistakes. He was determined to make steady progress and finally came to Li Jing and Hong Fo Nu for help. He was very optimistic about the war gods in history. He usually liked to get close to them and greeted them with a smile, making it difficult for people to dislike him.

After Li Shimin nodded, Li Jing and Hong Fu temporarily teamed up with Fang Zetao to investigate the rat transport team he discovered. Naturally, the more they investigated, the more information they got. The situation in Chang'an City was complicated and the forces were so numerous that it made him dizzy. The various factions were even more numerous than those in Luoyang.

During this period, we successfully found some stolen goods that had flowed out of the destroyed temples. Not only were they scattered and not in large quantities, most of them were stolen by gangsters near the temples or picked up afterwards. On the contrary, the buyers were quite interesting. There were not many wealthy families, but there were quite a few small landlords and gangs.

When the investigation hit a bottleneck, a large-scale private transaction caught Li Jing's attention, probably because he actually recognized the person in charge of the contact, who was from the Prince's Mansion. He then tracked the case all the way to a private base outside Chang'an City and discovered a large amount of treasures from the destroyed temple.

This completely stunned Li Jing, Hong Fu Nu and Fang Zetao. Unlike Li Jing and Hong Fu Nu who were shocked and uneasy, Fang Zetao was overjoyed. He thought he had caught the prince's handle and could use it to please Li Shimin. However, he did not expect that he was not strong enough and was too excited, which exposed his true identity. He was discovered by the spies planted in the prince's mansion and was chased by him.

Li Jing and Hong Fu Nu stayed behind and let him go first with the intelligence. As a result, Li Jing and his wife fought their way out safely. Unfortunately, Fang Zetao was chased and killed by a master under Li Jiancheng, his heart was broken and thrown into a stinking ditch, and he lost his life in vain. He escaped by choosing a new resurrection point.

In order not to arouse suspicion, Fang Zetao did not hesitate to injure himself and pretend to be desperately trying to escape, and successfully passed the news to Li Shimin. Li Shimin made a prompt decision. While sending people to pick up Li Jing and Hong Fu, he went to see Li Yuan with the intelligence, successfully increased his presence, and severely reported Li Jiancheng.

Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji entered the palace together and admitted that they had indeed purchased the stolen goods from the destroyed temples at low prices. While making a lot of money, they secretly inquired about the background of these people. They never thought that before they could catch the other party's tail, they were alerted by Li Shimin's men and their plan was ruined.

For a time, the struggle between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin became increasingly intense, causing unrest in the entire Chang'an City. The fishing plan was naturally greatly affected, and the black hand also quietly lay low from then on, no longer committing crimes frequently, as if it was really scared by them.

Shi Zhixuan: Haha, are you scared by a bunch of weaklings? It's simply that we've looted so many treasures that Yang Gong's treasury is almost full, so we have to transport them back to Luoyang and Sichuan in batches. Our forces are too dispersed, making them unsuitable for large-scale operations. As for inciting internal strife between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin, it was just a casual move. Success or failure is irrelevant. The items thrown out are just unimportant odds and ends, not worthy of the Grandmaster's attention.

After Liaodong annexed Hebei, it immediately launched a large-scale purge, implemented martial law in all aspects, and cracked down on all kinds of disobedience. No matter whether they were martial arts masters or wealthy families, as long as they did not abide by the rules, they would be crushed without mercy. For a time, the atmosphere in Hebei changed drastically. It was a bit exaggerated to leave doors unlocked at night, but it was still possible to not pick up things on the road.

The Liaodong cavalry galloping across the roads were well-equipped and well-trained, and they only followed rules and not favoritism. When the former Sui officials saw that Yang Xuyan still recognized the rule of the Sui Dynasty, they all emerged, but what they faced was a reckoning.

First, he made a self-explanation and defended himself to prove that he had always been loyal to his duties. Then Liaodong organized local prestigious people and local elders to investigate his official reputation and set up a drum for crying out for justice. If anyone had a grudge against this person and thought he was right, he could beat the drum to complain, and the Liao Kingdom would send someone to redress his grievances.

The result was that of the ten former Sui Dynasty officials who came with arrogance, six were beheaded after public trial, two were imprisoned and exiled with their fortunes lost, and the last two, one escaped, and one was stripped of his official position for lack of ability.

This move terrified the entire Hebei region, but how could they have known that Yang Xuyan's understanding of Hebei was even greater than their own? He had already scooped up any available officials in the Sui Dynasty's Hebei government, or immediately invited them after taking over Hebei. Those who came to him on their own initiative were those they disdained or had issues with. Before Yang Xuyan could even settle accounts with them, they had already come to him. Naturally, Yang Xuyan would not miss this opportunity to build his reputation and prestige.

Whenever a young man from a wealthy family came to plead for mercy, the Liaodong government would invite these people to the square in front of the government office and let them state their demands to the people one by one. They would then refute them one by one, severely humiliating these self-righteous young men from wealthy families and drawing countless people's applause, but making many wealthy families very dissatisfied.

Liaodong then measured the land and counted the population, and issued identity cards, which dealt a heavy blow to the wealthy families. But when you are under someone's eaves, you have to bow your head. During wartime, if you are not on the population register, you will be considered a refugee and will be captured by Liaodong to work as a laborer.