From beggar to emperor: I am not Zhu Yuanzhang

Du Hong was thinking of Liang Wang Zhu Wen, who held the power of the court.

Zhu Wen was now his only supporter, and only Zhu Wen had the strength to challenge Yang Xingmi to a duel. Du Hong, who was in a hurry and sought medical treatment, could not care anymore and quickly wrote a letter and sent someone to Kaifeng, hoping that Zhu Wen would reach out. Give him a helping hand.

What Du Hong didn't know was that before he wrote the letter, Zhu Wen had already fallen out with Yang Xingmi and overturned the table.

The cause of the incident was actually a very small matter. Yang Xingmi sent people to escort more than 1 kilograms of tea to Kaifeng for sale. As a result, the law enforcement brigade under Zhu Wen snatched away the tea as soon as it opened. Yang Xingmi was so furious after hearing the news that he almost spit out a mouthful of old blood. He wrote angrily to Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty, denounced Zhu Wen's crimes, and requested that troops from Hedong, Hebei, Shandong and other places be mobilized to attack Zhu Wen. Tang Zhaozong himself was already in danger at this time. How could he dare to provoke Zhu Wen? In the end, the matter ended.

Although Tang Zhaozong was controlled by his family slaves and traitorous officials, he had a good impression of Yang Xingmi. After all, Yang Xingmi had always respected the court and the down-and-out emperor. In order to express his appreciation for Yang Xingmi, Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty soon issued an edict (this time it was a genuine imperial edict) canonizing Yang Xingmi as King Hongnong. At that time, Zhu Wen's title was King Dongping, so the two were basically on an equal footing.

Zhu Wen became angry and vowed to teach Yang Xingmi a lesson.

Soon, the opportunity came.

As the saying goes, a big tree attracts the wind. Yang Xingmi, who was growing rapidly in power, soon attracted the unfriendly eyes of a bunch of surrounding warlords, big and small, and conflicts continued on the border. The three major warlords Du Hong of Wuchang, Zhong Chuan of Hongzhou, and Qian Liu of Hangzhou formed a group to fight against Yang Xingmi. At the same time, they sent letters to Kaifeng to contact Zhu Wen to take action together.

At this time, Zhu Wen was suffocating because Yang Xing sealed the king and had nowhere to vent. After receiving the news, he was overjoyed and immediately sent General Zhu Yougong to lead his troops across the Huaihe River south. The four warlords finally gathered a table of mahjong.

Before the matter was over, Du Hong's autographed letter was delivered. After reading it, Zhu Wen laughed and said, "God help me. I was worried that I had no excuse to send troops to Wuchang, so Du Hong wrote to ask me for help. Since If God wants to give Wuchang to me, then I will accept it."

Zhu Wen did what he said and immediately ordered General Zhu Yougong, who was on the Huainan front line, to lead his troops south and rush to Huangzhou. At the same time, in order to contain Yang Xingmi, Zhu Wen launched an offensive in northern Anhui at the junction of his and Yang Xingmi's territories, in an attempt to contain Yang Xingmi from aiding Huangzhou.

When Yang Xingmi heard that Zhu Wen was involved in the war, he became furious. "Zhu, you are taking advantage of the situation. Since you want to play, I will play with you."

Yang Xingmi immediately wrote to Cai Chou, who was guarding Luzhou, and ordered him to send troops to stop Zhu Wen's army heading south. Yang Xingmi had just finished writing the letter, but before he could put it in the envelope, he received urgent military information from the Huaibei front line.

After reading the military situation, Yang Xingmi's face turned pale and the letter in his hand fell to the ground.

Yuan Xi, who was next to him, picked it up, looked at it, and sighed. Sure enough, he had guessed it right.

The military intelligence only reported one thing: Cai Chou surrendered.

It turned out that Zhu Yougong's army had besieged Luzhou three days ago. Cai Chou organized many breakouts but failed. In desperation, he had to surrender again and betrayed Yang Xingmi.

This surrender of the professional households is considered a solid move.

Cai Chou's surrender suddenly made the situation in Huaibei become serious. Luzhou is the gateway to Huainan and the only way for Zhu and Wen's troops to go south. If Zhu Wen wants to capture Huainan and Wuchang, he must first capture Luzhou. In turn, if Yang Xingmi wants to defend Huainan, he must also secure Luzhou.

It seemed a bit unwise to hand over such an important city to a capricious person like Cai Chou.

It's too late to say anything now. Cai Chou's surrender allowed Zhu Yougong to capture Luzhou without bloodshed, clearing the obstacles to the southward movement. If nothing else happens, Zhu Yougong's army will quickly move south to Huangzhou and attack Xu Wen and Zhu Yanshou there. If others form an encirclement, the consequences will be very serious.

The situation was so serious that Yang Xingmi immediately convened a meeting of the generals staying in Yangzhou to discuss countermeasures.

The current situation is very unfavorable for Yang Xingmi. He is facing the dilemma of a three-line battle.

First, Xu Wen, Zhu Yanshou, Liu Wei and Tao Ya fought against Du Hong in Huangzhou. Secondly, the fall of Luzhou opened the door and Yangzhou directly faced the threat. Thirdly, the general guarding Xuanzhou, Tian Kai, also fought against Du Hong. Qian Liu, who was entrenched in Zhejiang, fought for Huzhou, Shezhou and other cities.

How to solve the mess left by Cai Chou's surrender under such extremely unfavorable circumstances?

This directly tested Yang Xingmi's wisdom and level.

At the meeting, everyone discussed for a long time, and they all thought that Luzhou should be recaptured, but no one came forward to recommend themselves. The key is that everyone knew that Zhu Yougong's Northern Cavalry was difficult to deal with, and they would suffer big losses if they failed, so only fools took the lead. bird.

In addition, at this time, Yangzhou City really could not produce any decent troops. The Crouching Tiger Camp was in the hands of Tian Kai in Xuanzhou, the Black Clouds were with Xu Wen and Zhu Yanshou in Huangzhou, and the two most capable troops were in other places. , this battle is not easy to fight.

Seeing that all the civil and military officials were cowering and no one came out to share the worries, Yang Xingmi took action and said: "Cai Chou, the evil thief, betrayed again and again. This is unbearable. This time I will personally send troops." , I must capture Cai Chou alive, and I want to know clearly."

Everyone was surprised when they heard that Yang Xingmi was going to take action in person. It seemed that Yang Xingmi was really angry this time.

At this moment, a guard hurriedly came in and delivered a letter. As soon as he reached the door, he was intercepted by Yuan Xi.

When Yuan Xi opened it, his face changed drastically, his hands trembled, and the letter actually fell to the ground. He quickly picked it up and hurried into the palace. Yang Xingmi had already seen this scene, so he asked him what happened and why he was panicking?

Yuan Xi had no way to hide it, so he had to present the letter: "General, read it yourself."

Yang Xingmi took the letter and read it, and suddenly shouted: "Cai Chou, this evil thief!"

Yang Xingmi's violent reaction frightened everyone present. What happened, everyone whispered.

It turned out that this letter was sent back by a spy from Luzhou. It reported that in order to please and curry favor with Zhu Wen, Cai Chou brazenly ordered Yang Xingmi's ancestral tombs to be dug up, including those of his parents, which were destroyed.

Cai Chou shocked everyone present by doing such a vicious thing. No one dared to imagine that their former brother could be so crazy. Perhaps stimulated by this incident, many generals stood up and volunteered to return to Luzhou to capture Cai Chou alive, and brought her back to Yang Xingmi for her punishment.

Yang Xingmi waved his hand: "No, this time I will personally send troops to recapture Luzhou and capture Cai Chou alive. I want to ask him why he did this."

A few days later, Yang Xingmi arranged for Dai Yougui and Gao Xu to stay in Yangzhou, and he rushed back to Luzhou with Yuan Xi, Li Shenfu, Tai Meng, Li Yu and others.

After the army returned to Luzhou, after a fierce battle, they destroyed Zhu Wen's army stationed in Luzhou City. Cai Chou was caught on the way to escape and fell into the hands of Yang Xingmi again.

When they heard that Cai Chou had been arrested, Yang Xingmi's subordinates strongly demanded that the traitor be punished with the cruelest punishment.