The Villain's Counterattack

Li Yuan, the governor of Taiyuan, is the head of the Li family, one of the four major clans. He is a martial arts expert with outstanding abilities and a far-sighted vision. Not only does he have many brothers who are masters, but he also has many friends who are masters in the martial arts world.

What made Fan Qinghui most happy was that Li Yuan's sons were all quite capable. The eldest son received a complete education from the head of the family and should have been the best candidate. However, he was quite old, his thoughts were mature, and he had close relations with other aristocratic families. If Cihang Jingzhai wanted to join him, it could only be ranked behind. This was something Fan Qinghui could not accept.

At this moment, she suddenly thought of Yang Guang. Yang Guang was not the eldest son, but in the end he defeated the crown prince Yang Yong whom she supported with the help of the Demon Sect and his own efforts. Why couldn't she support the second son Li Shimin to defeat Li Jiancheng?

Although it may be more difficult, after all, Li Jiancheng's ability is not inferior to Li Shimin. He even received a more advanced and complete education than Li Shimin, and his experience also exceeds Li Shimin. But it is precisely because of his young age that he is more malleable.

Among the four major clans, the Song clan is a staunch Han Chinese clan. As the leader of the Hu sect, Cihang Jingzhai could not possibly gain the favor of the Song clan. Even though Fan Qinghui thought she could seduce Song Que with her beauty, she was unwilling to let the Song clan come to power.

The Dugu clan is dominated by women and the Cihang Jingzhai has always been run by women. Beauty is originally an advantage for her, but it has no effect at all in the Dugu clan, so she can only give it up.

The Yuwen clan was rejected by Cihang Jingzhai early on, probably because Cihang Jingzhai supported Emperor Wen of Sui Yang Jian in usurping the throne, and it was the Yuwen clan's Great Zhou that was usurped. They did not believe that the Yuwen clan would truly befriend Cihang Jingzhai after regaining the throne. After all, the lesson from the past was not far away.

After searching for a long time, the only option left for Cihang Jingzhai was the Li family. In order to maximize their interests, they set their sights on the second-born son, Li Shimin.

While cultivating Li Shimin, they suppressed Yang Guang at the same time. The Turkic invasion of the Pass was jointly planned by Cihang Jingzhai and the aristocratic families in Hebei. After many years of observation, they had a deep understanding of Yang Guang. In addition, Yang Guang and the aristocratic families were alienated, and under the guidance of Fan Qinghui's true or false prophecies and rumors, Yang Guang finally fell into the trap.

Fan Qinghui's move was extremely ruthless. The Turkic army of 500,000 surrounded Yanmen, and the Grandmaster Bi Xuan, the Martial Master, was there to support them. She didn't know that the Evil King Shi Zhixuan had been promoted to the Grandmaster, so she could never have imagined the possibility of the Turkic failure. Even if she couldn't kill the Sui Emperor Yang Guang, she could still return with a great victory and completely expose the nature of Yang Guang's weakening.

According to Fan Qinghui's prediction, Wu Zun Bi Xuan and the Turkic army of 500,000 surrounded Yanmen, trapping Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty, all the civil and military officials, and all the masters of the Yin Gui Sect in Yanmen City. Both sides were enemies of Cihang Jingzhai, and it would be a dog-eat-dog fight, with both sides suffering losses and perishing together.

However, no matter how much she planned, she could never have anticipated that Yang Xuyan, a later comer who was well versed in history, had already arranged everything and was quietly waiting for the Turks to fall into his trap.

Cihang Jingzhai's most direct rival, the Yingui Sect, learned about the possible source of the conflict between Cihang Jingzhai and the Yingui Sect due to Xiaoyaozi's (Yang Xuyan) revelations, and was instructed to seek the "Dao Xin Zhongmo Dafa" to complete the "Tianmo Dafa", so he did not accompany them at all.

Yang Guang also received the intelligence about the Turkic invasion from Princess Yicheng in advance. Although he refused to believe it was true, he was more or less prepared. As a result, his troops were divided into two groups and were not really trapped in one place. This gave him a lot of room to maneuver and forced the Turks to divide their troops.

Although Fan Qinghui had long anticipated that the Turks might not be able to defeat Yang Guang, after all, Yang Guang had never been defeated in his campaigns since he ascended the throne. Even his three expeditions to Goguryeo could not be considered a failure. Not only did he almost destroy Goguryeo, he also occupied Liaodong. However, he suffered considerable damage, and was alienated from the aristocratic families. He was also secretly slandered by Cihang Jingzhai and the clan as a tyrant.

But she never expected that the troops from Liaodong, Luoyang and Jiangdu would return so quickly, and use their tactics in a cunning way to defeat the 500,000-strong Turkic army.

Over half the 500,000-man army was killed or wounded, Martial Master Bi Xuan was severely wounded, and Shibi Khan was nearly annihilated. Had it not been for the sudden intervention of Imperial Preceptor Zhao Deyan at the last moment, the Turkic empire might have been shattered. Even so, the Turkic supremacy on the steppes was severely impacted. The Tiele, Mohe, Khitan, Shiwei, and other steppe tribes bared their fangs, and during this period, they tacitly dispatched troops to seize vast quantities of pastures, people, and cattle and sheep that had once belonged to the Turks.

This was absolutely unimaginable in the past. Fan Qinghui racked his brains but could not figure out the reason. Could it be that a spy or traitor appeared around him and leaked his plan early?

Fan Qinghui had already made two plans. If the Turks were unstoppable and there was hope of success, he would use a knife to support the Turks in destroying Yang Guang. If things were impossible, he would support Li Shimin in sending troops to rescue and force the Turks to withdraw to build momentum for Li Shimin.

But before she could make any move, or even see the final outcome of the Turkic army and Yang Guang's defenders, the armies of Liaodong, Luoyang and Jiangdu suddenly rushed out and forcibly defeated the 500,000-strong Turkic army, causing Fan Qinghui's plan to fail.

In the end, the Sui army was defeated in the Battle of Yanmen, and Yang Guang's prestige in the eyes of foreign tribes soared. When Fan Qinghui's plan failed, he came up with another one. He secretly spread the word that none of the credit for this battle was left to Yang Guang, and all was thrown to Liaodong Marquis Yang Xuyan, Sui General Zhang Xutuo and Jiangdu Wang Shichong.

The Hebei noble families then took action, and coupled with the disloyalty of the Longyou noble families, various threatening words, either explicit or implicit, reached Yang Guang's ears, eventually forcing him to leave the eastern capital Luoyang and move to Jiangdu.

Fan Qinghui thought he had a good plan, but he didn't realize that this was exactly what Yang Guang had planned. He worked hard to destroy the north, greatly weaken the aristocratic families that were connected to foreign races by blood, and make friends with the southern forces. He fought to cut flesh and heal wounds, and planned to rebuild the country from south to north with the blood of the Han people.

I don't know if it was because Yang Guang was too successful, or because the propaganda of the aristocratic families who controlled public opinion was too powerful, but his reputation plummeted. Even though he treated the southern aristocratic families very well, he ultimately did not get their support. Even the Yingui faction that originally supported him became disloyal.

At this moment, Yang Guang suddenly realized that too much is as bad as too little, but it was too late. He gave up the huge piece of rotten meat, but did not get the expected support. The power he could mobilize was instantly reduced to the limit, and he was unable to continue to control the world.

Two real and fake smart people. The fake one was complacent and indirectly encouraged Li Yuan to rebel and capture Guanzhong and Chang'an. The real one saw things too clearly and became depressed and indulged in luxury.

Yang Guang's withdrawal from the historical stage was what Fan Qinghui wanted to see and was also planned. The best proof of this was that Li Shimin wanted to seize the Dongming account books, which was also instigated by Cihang Jingzhai.

But she never imagined that the Sui royal family still had such a huge power in secret. They actually retained a considerable combat force to escape from the Yu Wenzhi rebellion and returned to Luoyang in a swagger, instantly bringing Luoyang's strength to a level that could compete with the Li Tang in Guanzhong.

As Pushan Gong Li Mi was defeated, Dou Jiande was expelled by Liao Guogong and Taiyuan, Shanxi was seized. The situation gradually deviated from Fan Qinghui's expectations. It was not until the fall of Tongguan that Fan Qinghui truly realized what it meant that man proposes, God disposes.

Are you talking about the loss of the He Shi Bi?

Haha, it was just a piece of Heshi Bi, not worth Fan Qinghui losing her composure. However, Yang Xuangan who suddenly appeared when the Heshi Bi was stolen made her feel quite troubled. A great master who was good at fighting was no less threatening than Martial Master Bi Xuan. The subsequent destruction of Jingnian Zen Temple made Fan Qinghui feel like a rabbit dying and a fox mourning.

Perhaps because everything was going wrong, Fan Qinghui was becoming increasingly irritable. After his morning class and lunch, he climbed up a high place and gazed into the distance, his eyes casting towards where his beloved disciple, Shi Feixuan, was. "Feixuan, whether Jingzhai can continue to prosper depends on you alone."

She really didn't expect that Shi Feixuan lost the Heshi Bi during her trip to Luoyang and was defeated by the Yingui Sect's witch. You know, Shi Feixuan is a peerless genius whose talent is even higher than her, the master of the sect, and her junior sister Bi Xiuxin. How could she suddenly be defeated by a little-known witch from the Yingui Sect?

"Dang~Dang~Dang~" Suddenly, the alarm bell at the gate of Jingzhai Mountain rang loudly, and Fan Qinghui's face suddenly changed.