Sima Yi and Qin Hui successively recommended Li Yuanji, and Pei Ji quickly agreed. Sima Yi also nodded in agreement. Upon seeing this, Li Yuanji immediately patted his chest and loudly asked Li Yuan for orders.
"According to my decree, since the generals Chai Rong and Guo Ziyi were appointed, they have lost troops and generals. They have not made any achievements, and they have wasted money and food. They are indebted to me. Chai Rong is removed from the post of general manager of Bingzhou and marshal of the Western Expedition, and Guo Ziyi is demoted to three ranks. , returned to Chang'an in the near future. The post of Generalissimo of the Expedition to the West was taken over by Qi Wang Yuanji, Xiang Guo Pei Ji temporarily took over the post of Bingzhou Governor, and Tong Guan, the inspector of the Three Palaces, was the supervisor! Before the three arrived at the front line, Xihe County was temporarily Wang Li Keyong takes command of the three armies."
Li Yuanji, Pei Ji, and Tong Guan were appointed. They smiled and left happily. The rest of the courtiers also resigned.
"Father, why did you help King Qi and the others just now?"
Master Sima pushed the wheelchair and asked Sima Yi in confusion: "My son thinks that the incident between Chai Rong and the King of Qin is probably the Sui Dynasty's plan to alienate each other."
"Of course I also know that this matter is probably false!"
Sima Yi said calmly: "But Master, don't forget that ever since my father presented your majesty with a five-pronged strategy to attack the Sui Dynasty, the King of Qin has always regarded my father as a nuisance to the court, a traitor and a traitor. If the King of Qin gains power, he will be a traitor." Father, how can I live a good life?"
"Li Yuanji guessed that he was arrogant and ambitious. The one hundred thousand troops under Chai Rong were the most elite troops in the Tang Dynasty. If he had obtained military power, he would not be willing to be Li Jiancheng's vassal anymore because of his temperament. But I have recommended him to help today. If you take refuge with Li Yuanji, you will definitely be reused. As for Li Yuanji, I have ambitions but no power. When the time comes, I can secretly plan to occupy the magpie's nest and make good friends with the Turks. I, Sima Yi, may not be able to achieve great hegemony! "
Sima Yi's eyes flashed coldly, but even his son Sima Shi didn't want to tell him what he was saying from his heart.
. . . . . . . . . .
Li Yuan replaced Chai Rong and Guo Ziyi with Li Yuanji, Pei Ji, and Tong Guan. The news quickly spread like it had grown legs.
Chai Rong, who fought with Yue Fei on the Zhanghe front line, was speechless for a long time after receiving his reward. Guo Ziyi was also eclipsed, and Zhu Yuanzhang sighed after hearing about this. After he was defeated in Hebei, he had been dealing with Chai Rong and Guo Ziyi. Although he had some slight dissatisfaction, he was able to get along with each other in general. He also knew that the two men were both civil and military, and they were rare generals.
As for the three people who came to replace the second general, Li Yuanji, Pei Ji, and Tong Guan, Tong Guan and Zhu Yuanzhang were not very clear about it, but Zhu Yuanzhang, Li Yuanji and Pei Ji, had heard about it for a long time.
Li Yuan raised troops from Jinyang, leaving Li Yuanji in charge of Bingzhou. Later, Liu Wuzhou led his troops south to attack Bingzhou. Li Yuanji first forced the cavalry general Zhang Da to rebel, and later deceived Sima Liu Dewei and ordered him to lead the old and infirm personnel to defend the city. He claimed that he would lead the strong soldiers out of the city to fight. . As a result, taking advantage of the opportunity for the troops to leave the city at night, he took his wife and concubines and abandoned the army and fled back to Chang'an, resulting in the fall of Bingzhou.
As for Pei Ji, he is also an Adou who cannot be helped up. He is timid by nature and has no general talent. With superior military strength, Yusuo Yuandu was killed by Song Jingang and was defeated, and the entire army was defeated. Pei Ji fled alone and galloped all day and night before escaping back to Jinzhou to save his life.
Zhu Yuanzhang was not optimistic about using such two defeated soldiers to replace Chai Rong and Guo Ziyi, who had experienced hundreds of battles and were deeply loved by the soldiers. Li Yuanji was irritable and brainless, and Pei Ji was greedy for profit and unrighteousness. Can they really negotiate well with the Turks and the Turks? Does the Tang Dynasty still have the relationship between its three parties to jointly fight against the Sui Dynasty? But in the final analysis, he was just an outsider, and it was difficult for him to express his opinion on the personnel appointments in the Tang Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang was hard to talk to, but all the generals under Chai Rong were in a state of excitement.
"General, we all know exactly what kind of people King Qi and Pei Ji are!"
General Xin Yunjing said loudly: "When he was in charge of Bingzhou, he indulged in entertainment and hunting all day long, trampled on farmland and crops, and indulged those around him to openly plunder the people's property. The people's resentment boiled, and the morale of the army was weakened. Liu Wuzhou and Zhao Kuangyin raised their troops southward, and the situation in Bingzhou was in a state of decay. !”
"And that Pei Ji!"
General Deng Zongbi, who was single-handedly promoted by Chai Rong, said unceremoniously: "Everyone in the world doesn't know that he, the Prime Minister, has no talent for stabilizing the country and relies on flattering His Majesty to please His Majesty. How did he get the ability to take charge of the three armies?"
"good!"
Tao Zhenting, Xin Congzhong, Zhang Yinglei and other generals responded: "We only obey General Chai and General Guo!"
"Yue Fei is proficient in the art of war, and he leads his troops well and with strict discipline. He is truly a handsome man like no other."
Guan Yu slowly opened his red phoenix eyes and said proudly: "Based on King Qi and Pei Ji, they are really no match for him!"
Guan Yu was a proud man, so he was convinced by the abilities of Chai Rong and Guo Ziyi. But if he were led by the notorious Qi King Li Yuanji and the notoriously flattering Pei Ji, he would be unwilling to suffer discomfort.
"But His Majesty's decree has been issued. Do you want to resist and disobey it?"
Guo Ziyi let out a long sigh: "You are disloyal if you want your ministers to die and your ministers to live forever! We are all generals of the Tang Dynasty. How can we hold on to military power and disobey the imperial order? How can we be different from rebellious ministers and traitors?"
Chai Rong also sighed helplessly: "Chai accepted the good intentions of the generals, but now that the imperial edict has been issued, how can we, as ministers of the Tang Dynasty, resist and disobey it! I hope that the generals can take care of Chai and Guo With such a thin face as the general, I am able to assist King Qi and Xiangguo Pei!"
Everyone felt helpless after hearing this, and they could only helplessly bow their hands to Chai Rong and Guo Ziyi.
At the same time, Li Yuanji, Pei Ji and Tong Guan, who had been appointed by Li Yuan, were overjoyed and looked like villains who had succeeded. General Zhu Si and Tong Guan's promoted confidants led 3,000 soldiers to escort them, and they were full of fanfare and satisfaction all the way.
From Chang'an to Bingzhou, after passing Jingxing, Li Yuanji suddenly found that there were about four to five hundred people in front of him, supporting each other with their children and their daughters, meandering eastward. His face darkened, he looked around and said, "What's going on? ?”
"They must be people from Hedong. They heard that the Sui Dynasty implemented equalization of land in Hebei, so they moved their families to Hebei."
Pei Ji raised his eyebrows slightly when he spoke. The Tang army was defeated in repeated battles. In order to gain the support of the aristocratic families under his rule and to obtain the money and food soldiers that the Tang Dynasty desperately needed, Li Yuan turned a blind eye to the aristocratic families' annexation of land. The people under his rule were unbearable and suffered year after year. There were people who went to the Sui Dynasty every month.
After all, Pei Ji is also a prime minister, and he also understands the importance of population to the country. However, he himself was also a beneficiary of the land annexation. In the past few years, his family relied on his power to add countless manor tenants, so how could he let go of the benefits.
