Chapter 313 Summoned Again

Chapter 313 Summoned Again

Chapter 313 Summoned Again
Huxian Manor was Yang Liang's base. Not only was the command post located here, but all the money, food, supplies, and war horses and livestock were concentrated here. There were almost no wheat fields here, only open space, and a large number of warehouses and livestock sheds were built.

There were 400,000 dan of grain alone, 150,000 strings of copper coins, more than 30,000 heads of livestock, more than 100,000 sheep, 3,000 war horses, and a large amount of weapons and armor. These were the capital for Yang Liang's rebellion.

Why didn't Yang Liang take the army away? On the one hand, he wanted to continue launching the coup, and on the other hand, there were too much money, food and supplies for him to take away, so he had to leave the army behind to guard it, but in the end, all the money and food were taken away by Xiao Xia.

Xiao Xia left two thousand troops to guard the prisoners and supplies, and he led seven thousand troops north to Shiping County and quickly surrounded the second manor. The second and third manors were both plains with no mountains.

It was three o'clock in the morning, and seven thousand soldiers entered the manor and surrounded the military camp covering hundreds of acres. The camp was very quiet and the soldiers were all asleep.

Xiao Xia gave an order, "Attack!"

Torches were lit and waved, and this was the signal to attack. Seven thousand soldiers swept towards the more than three hundred large tents like a flood breaking through a dam. "Dang! Ding! Ding!" The alarm bells rang, but it was too late, as countless soldiers had already rushed into the tents.

"Those who surrender will be spared, those who resist will be killed!"

The soldiers shouted one after another, and those who were awakened from their sleep knelt on the ground with their hands raised in fear.

Because it was not wartime, each tent had a weapon rack. When the soldiers slept, their spears were placed on the weapon rack and only their swords were kept on their bodies. When the Wuhouwei soldiers rushed into the tent, the first thing they did was to move the weapon rack away.

Without spears, facing the dense spears, even with swords they could not resist. All the soldiers had only two choices: either kneel down and surrender, or rush forward and die.

Teams of prisoners were escorted out with their hands raised, the generals and soldiers were separated, and the tent was quickly cleared out.

Xiao Xia also left a thousand soldiers to guard the prisoners of war, and he continued to lead seven thousand soldiers to attack another military camp twenty miles away.

With the Sui army outnumbering the enemy by several times, the third military camp was also swept away. The soldiers had no choice but to surrender.

The sky gradually brightened. The 4,000 soldiers of the Third Army of the Right Wuhou Guard returned to Chang'an first. Xiao Xia led the 5,000 troops of the Fourth Army to conduct a centralized reorganization of the 6,000 surrendered soldiers. First, all the generals above the rank of colonel were cleared out, and then the soldiers were disbanded and reorganized.

Xiao Xia selected more than a hundred trusted soldiers from the third battalion under his control to serve as brigade commanders and colonels, while Sun Lei and twenty warriors served as Lang Jiang and Lieutenant General.

At the same time, 40,000 strings of money were taken out from the more than 100,000 strings of money seized to pay the soldiers two months' salary. After receiving the money, the soldiers' mood quickly changed from frustration and fear to joy. The generals might still have tendencies to take sides, and most of them were loyal to Han King Yang Liang, but the soldiers had no inclinations. They only recognized money, and they would be loyal to whoever gave them money.

Xiao Xia summoned Dou Dexuan and said to him, "You lead a thousand cavalrymen to escort all the generals out of Guanzhong, then release them, give each of them a few strings of money, and then you don't have to worry about them."

"I humbly obey my orders!"

Dou Dexuan led a thousand cavalrymen to escort more than 150 generals northward.

Xiao Xia ordered the rest of the Wuhou Guards to return to Chang'an, and he personally led the newly formed 6,000 infantry cavalry, a large amount of money, food, and supplies, as well as hundreds of thousands of livestock and sheep, to the southeast.

According to the agreement reached between him and the prince, these soldiers could not stay in Jingzhao Prefecture, so Xiao Xia naturally had a place to go. His father Yang Guang had a large manor in the northern part of Shangluo County, where Yang Ling had trained his troops before. Now that the three thousand troops had left, the manor was vacant, just right for Xiao Xia's six thousand new troops to use.

In Chang'an, Crown Prince Yang Yong received the news in the afternoon that Yang Liang's 6,000 private troops were completely wiped out by Xiao Xia, who then headed towards Shangluo County with the prisoners of war.

Yang Yong heaved a long sigh of relief. After pulling out the poisonous stinger laid by Yang Liang, he could finally have a good sleep.

Yang Yong drank a sip of tea and slowly said to Zhang Yunqiu: "The next step is to drive Xiao Xia out of Chang'an. Although he is not as vicious as the King of Han, this guy dared to do it, and his methods were cruel. If he stays in Chang'an, he will also be a hidden danger."

Zhang Yunqiu nodded, "Your Highness is right. I wonder where the emperor plans to place him?"

"I originally thought that the emperor would let him go back to Hexi, but now that the King of Qin has gone to Helong, Xiao Xia will not go there. I guess he will either go to the Central Plains or to Jingxiang."

"Aren't we going to Jiangnan?"

Yang Yong shook his head. "You don't understand the emperor. He never arranges things at one point. If the Prince of Jin goes to Jiangnan, then Xiao Xia will not go to Jiangnan. The emperor will definitely place him at a key point and let him stabilize the overall situation like the eye of the formation."

Zhang Yunqiu smiled and said, "In this way, Xiao Xia is already on par with the Five Kings."

Yang Yong sneered and said, "I saw it a long time ago, so I tried my best to suppress him, but unfortunately I failed every time. In the end, he still rose to power. He is the third generation trained by the emperor. If he were my son, he would be the crown prince, but he happens to be the son of the King of Jin, so he will eventually be a flash in the pan. It will not be his turn to rule the Sui Dynasty. In the end, it will belong to my son."

"Your Highness wants to train Yang Yu?"

Yang Yong nodded, "Yang Yan is useless, and now the second son is my successor. When Xiao Xia is transferred, I will let the second and third sons take over the left and right Wuhou Guards, so that I can ensure that I can ascend the throne smoothly!"

Yang Yong is now very proud and is just waiting for Xiao Xia to leave so that he can completely control the situation.

Two days later, Xiao Xia returned to Chang'an alone, while Sun Lei and others stayed in Shangluo County to continue training troops. The purpose of the training was to completely control the army.

Just after returning to the barracks, before he had even had two sips of tea, a soldier came to report, "General, Li Min wants to see you!"

Xiao Xia hurriedly said: "Please come in quickly!"

Not long after, Li Min walked into the big tent. He did not follow Prince Jin to Jiangnan because his wife was weak and needed him to stay in Chang'an.

"Brother, do you have time now?" Li Min asked with a smile. Xiao Xia smiled bitterly and said, "To be honest, brother, I just got back. If I go out for a drink, I'm afraid I really don't have time."

"It's not drinking, my mother-in-law invites you over."

Xiao Xia nodded. Since her aunt wanted to see her, she had to go no matter how busy she was.

He gave Liu Wenjing a few instructions, then stood up and followed Li Min to the Princess's Mansion.

"You were away these two days. Did you know that the emperor looked for you?"

Xiao Xia was startled, "When?"

"yesterday!"

Xiao Xia secretly thought that something was wrong. The emperor actually came to see him these two days.

"and then?"

"When the emperor couldn't find you, he summoned my mother-in-law to the palace. She covered up for you, but I'm afraid you'll have to explain it yourself in the end."

Xiao Xia nodded silently. This was really a bit troublesome.

When they arrived at the Princess's Mansion, Yang Lihua was just leaving the house. She said to Xiao Xia, "Don't ride your horse anymore. Follow me to the palace!"

Xiao Xia had no choice but to hand the horse to Li Min. He got on the carriage, and the carriage started slowly and headed towards the palace.

Inside the carriage, Yang Lihua asked in dissatisfaction, "Where have you been these past two days? The emperor couldn't find you."

Xiao Xia smiled bitterly and said, "To be honest with you, Auntie, I have been trying to steal the King of Han's girlfriend these days."

"What do you mean?"

"Han Wang Yang Liang deployed 6,000 private soldiers in Huxian and Shiping counties. The prince was worried that they would launch a coup, so he reached a consensus with me that I would eliminate these 6,000 private soldiers, and the prisoners of war and the seized money, grain and supplies would belong to me."

"and then?"

"Then I confiscated the army and obtained a large amount of money and food supplies. I transferred the army and money and food to Shangluo County."

"Does this mean that this army has become your private army?"

Xiao Xia nodded, "That's right!"

Yang Lihua shook her head. "You! This is under the Emperor's nose. If you want to do something like this in the future, you must first ask the Emperor for permission and then do it."

"My nephew knows his mistake!"

Yang Lihua added: "When you see the emperor, tell the truth, admit your mistakes to him, and promise not to do it again. I will do my best to plead for you."

Xiao Xia nodded silently. This time he should indeed report to the emperor before doing anything. He was used to making decisions on his own.

Inside the palace, Emperor Yang Jian was still half lying on the couch, listening to Xiao Xia's report with squinted eyes.

Xiao Xia was not hypocritical and said that he wanted to maintain stability. He told the truth and he actually just wanted this army.

Yang Jian did not deal with Xiao Xia's idea. On the contrary, he admired Xiao Xia's decisive actions. This was the style of doing big things.

Yang Jian nodded and said, "I am glad that you are willing to tell the truth, but if you do this, the King of Han will definitely hate you to the core. What will you do if he sends troops to attack you?"

Xiao Xia was silent for a moment and said, "If no one offends me, I will not offend anyone. If someone offends me, I will definitely offend him!"

"Have you never thought about the court?"

Xiao Xia shook his head. "The Crown Prince is hoping that my grandson and the King of Han will fight, and it would be best if both sides were defeated. My grandson will write a report to the court in the end, but he will not ask for instructions from the court."

Yang Jian smiled and said, "The truth is really harsh, but I have been listening to lies all my life, so it's not bad to hear the truth occasionally."

"But I should have asked my grandfather for instructions first. I admit my mistake."

Yang Jian nodded gently, "I understand. You want to be a chess player! Why would you think of asking others for permission first? Even if this matter is over, I will not mediate the feud between you and the King of Han. You have to solve it yourself."

Xiao Xia bowed and said, "Thank you, Grandfather Emperor, for your forgiveness!"

(End of this chapter)