Chapter 675: The treacherous hero seizes power
Chapter 675: The treacherous hero seizes power
Dugu Huai'en and Li Xiaochang galloped all the way and stopped their horses to rest the next morning.
Li Xiaochang was Li Yuan's nephew, and came to Nanzheng on behalf of Li Yuan. However, he had just arrived and didn't know anything about the situation or what had happened. He was of low status and didn't dare to ask more questions.
Until then, he couldn't help but ask: "General Huai En, what happened? Why did the emperor get sick?"
Dugu Huai'en sighed and said, "Neither the emperor nor the king of Zhao were infected with the disease, but were poisoned."
"Poisoned?"
Li Xiaochang was surprised and asked, "Why is the illness the same as the epidemic?"
"It's a strange poison that Wang Long brought. After being poisoned, the whole body becomes hot, the internal organs bleed profusely, and there is severe diarrhea and blood. It looks like plague, but it's actually poisoning, so this poison is also called plague poison."
Li Xiaochang seemed to have realized something and said, "So the plague is used to cover up this kind of poison?"
Dugu Huai'en nodded, "This was actually a plan planned by Wang Long, and he and Yu Wenhuaji jointly implemented it. The year before last, a plague broke out in the Qiang tribe of Taoyang County in Lintao County. That was Wang Long's tribe, and he had been paying attention to it. After the plan was finalized last year, he sent a group of infected Qiang people to Wudu County, which resulted in an outbreak of the plague in two counties of Wudu County.
After the emperor arrived, Yu Wenzhi dumped a dozen infected corpses that Wang Long had transported from Wudu County into Nanzheng County, causing an epidemic to break out in Nanzheng County. Many soldiers in the army also became infected with the disease, which created an opportunity for Wang Long to poison them.
The chief physician Zhang Kai and the palace maid Wei were both Wang Long’s men, so when the King of Zhao and the Emperor died of poisoning, everyone thought they had died of an epidemic, and then killed all those who knew about it, so Wang Long and Yu Wenzhi escaped the charge of regicide.
Li Xiaochang said anxiously, "We also participated in the coup. Will we also be charged with regicide?"
Dugu Huai'en shook his head. "Although we Guanlong nobles are the initiators of the coup, there are many types of coups, such as forcing the emperor to abdicate, negotiation, dethronement, imprisonment, and exile. We have never thought of regicide, and we did not participate in the specific planning. My task is only to bring Wang Long and Yu Wenhuaji together. How to do it is up to them. We will not be charged with regicide."
Li Xiaochang still felt uneasy. He was ordered to come to Hanzhong to participate in the division of interests, but he did not expect to be involved in a coup. How could he explain to the head of the family when he returned?
Li Xiaochang had no choice but to follow Dugu Huai'en to Hedong in disappointment.
Yu Wenzhi appointed Pei Ju as the left prime minister and led all the officials south.
They bypassed Nanzheng County, and Yu Wenzhi sent people to inquire about the epidemic situation.
Led by the governor Pei Yang, the people of Nanzheng County fought the epidemic with all their might. They buried all the wells, dug canals to bring the Han River into the city. The city had running water, and the people strictly followed the five major measures of drinking boiled water, washing hands frequently, not urinating or defecating at will, isolating themselves in time when they became ill, and taking decoctions for prevention.
The epidemic began to be effectively controlled. Although outbreaks still occurred, the number of cases and deaths was greatly reduced, which was indeed unexpected.
The army did not enter the city, but bypassed Nanzheng City and headed south. On the way, they met Chen Ling, who then learned that the emperor had died of illness. He was grief-stricken but helpless. Chen Ling no longer had an army and could not go back, so he had to accept Yu Wenzhi's appointment and was named the governor of Huaiyang County by Yu Wenzhi.
Although he was appointed as the governor of Huaiyang County, Yu Wenzhi did not let Chen Ling leave. The reason was very simple. Yu Wenzhi had blocked the news of the emperor's death, using the excuse that the secret could not be leaked so that the Western Sui Dynasty would be on guard. In fact, Yu Wenzhi was planning to use the emperor to control the princes. He did not want Yang Tan, the eldest grandson of the emperor of Luoyang, to get the news and ascend the throne first.
Yu Wenzhi led his army to Mian Gu County in Yicheng County, which was an important logistics base for the Sui army. The food and supplies that went south were first transported to Nanzheng and then to Mian Gu County.
The geographical location of Mian Gu County is extremely important. From here, it is divided into two roads, one to Baxi County and the other to Jiange County. Therefore, Mian Gu County has become a real logistical stronghold of the Sui army. It is currently guarded by 20,000 troops led by Zuo Tiancheng, a general of the Tiger Guards.
Why was Yu Wenzhi, a mediocre person, valued by the Guanlong nobles and chosen as the leader of this coup?
The reason was that among the twelve Tiger Guards who led the southern expedition, six were close confidants of Yuwen Huaji's father Yuwen Shu. After Yuwen Shu was assassinated, they were all reused.
Including the Thirteen Guardians and the Four Vajra under Yuwen Shu, especially the Four Vajra, all of whom were famous Sui generals, including Wei Wentong, the commander of the Western Army that attacked Jianmen Pass, Zuo Tiancheng, the commander of the logistics, Shang Shitu, the commander of the Tiger Guards, Liang Shuxie, etc., plus the current commander of the Western Army Zhao You also obeyed Yuwen Huaji's command. After Yuwen Huaji took office in Miangu County, the armies returned one after another, and the generals expressed their loyalty to Yuwen Huaji.
This was also the final evil consequence of Emperor Yang Guang's heavy use of Yuwen Shu, which ultimately helped Yuwen Huaji.
In just seven days, Yu Wenzhi had an army of 180,000 under his command.
Yu Wenzhi's aide was called Wang Shiqi. He was originally the aide of Yu Wenzhi's father Yu Wenshu. He was good at conspiracies and tricks, which was very much to Yu Wenzhi's taste. After Yu Wenshu's death, Wang Shiqi became Yu Wenzhi's chief strategist.
His original name was Wang Qi. After following Yu Wenzhi, he changed his name to Wang Shiqi, adding the word "Shi" to indicate that he was following the crown prince.
Wang Shiqi was cruel and ruthless. Yu Wenzhi's killing of Yu Shiji, Fan Zigai, Wang Long, chief physician Zhang Kai, palace maid Wei, and all the imperial doctors, eunuchs, and palace maids was all planned by him. His purpose was to silence them and to establish his authority. After killing Wang Long, he could put all the blame on Wang Long in the future.
The result was quite effective, and it frightened a group of civil servants so much that they dared not resist.
In the big tent, Wang Shiqi said to Yu Wenzhi: "The most urgent task now is to take Jianmen Pass. Wang Pu, the deputy commander of Jianmen Pass, is a man of Wei Wang Yang Ji, but Yang Ji intends to surrender to the emperor, so we must not let Jianmen Pass know that the emperor has passed away, and we must fight quickly and decisively!"
Yu Wenzhi had no idea what to do, so he asked quickly, "How can we get Wang Pu at Jianmen Pass to surrender?"
Wang Shiqi smiled and said, "Of course there is a way. Send an imperial edict to the city, demanding that the city surrender before dawn tomorrow. Wang Pu will know what we mean and will definitely surrender at midnight today."
Yu Wenzhi was skeptical, but he still ordered Wei Wentong to lead 30,000 troops to capture Jiange according to the plan. Wei Wentong was also confused, but when he arrived at Jianmen Pass, he ordered several crossbowmen to use large crossbows to shoot an imperial edict to the top of the city and nail it on the wooden pillars of the tower.
The defender of Jianmen Pass was called Duan Wenlie, one of Yang Qing's trusted generals. He led an army of 20,000 to guard Jianmen Pass and would never let the Eastern Sui army cross the pass.
Duan Wenlie had just received the imperial edict when Wang Pu came over to inquire.
"General, I heard that the enemy shot up the imperial edict of the Eastern Sui emperor?"
Duan Wenlie nodded. "It's ridiculous that he ordered us to surrender before dawn tomorrow. It's ridiculous that he put on airs in front of us!"
Wang Pu took the edict and took a look at it. He immediately understood that this was actually an edict for him. Previously, Dugu Kaiyuan had sent a piece of intelligence from Jiange County to the other emperor. Now the response came, requiring him to act before dawn.
Wang Pu also laughed dryly and said, "It's really ridiculous. Just ignore them."
Duan Wenlie groaned for a moment and said, "I think they are going to attack the city gate tomorrow morning, so we should use courtesy first and then force!"
Wang Pu nodded, "Brother is right. This is indeed the other emperor's strategy of using courtesy before force. Why don't I guard the city tonight? Brother and the brothers can have a good rest tonight and gather our strength to meet the enemy's strong attack tomorrow morning."
No one knew the secret that Yang Ji had secretly surrendered to the emperor of Eastern Sui. Although Wang Pu was a man of Wei Wang Yang Ji, and both served their own masters, Duan Wenlie and Wang Pu got along very politely and would not fall out with each other. What's more, the two sides worked together to resist the enemy, and got along even better.
Duan Wenlie never dreamed that Wang Pu had received Yang Ji's order to surrender to Eastern Sui. He thought that Wang Pu really hoped that the main army would recuperate well tonight to prepare for tomorrow's fierce battle.
Duan Wenlie nodded slowly, "I'll trouble you tonight, brother!"
(End of this chapter)