Chapter 127:

Chapter 127:

But in a hurry, the two separated again.

The next day, Li Mu left Jiankang with his army and headed for the southeast where religious chaos was rampant.

The name of Li Mu's **** of war was known to everyone in the Southern Dynasty, but who didn't know his feat of regaining Chang'an? Now this Yingtian Army, with neat appearance and strict military discipline, has not only made no offense to the common people in autumn, but also drove to Yangxian, which was occupied by Taoism. Soldiers who had passed through the famine also helped the people to clear fields and clear ditches before leaving.

During these years, Dayu has experienced constant civil strife. The people are also frightened by the imperial army under various banners. No matter which one it is, even the Guangling army of the Gao clan, it is unfortunate that the protection is not in order. It is necessary to hide the money and food at home, and watch from a distance, so as not to be bumped into by passing troops, and borrow it in the name of levying military food.

But this time, as Ying Tianjun's reputation spread, the situation was very different from before.

Every time Li Mu hits a place, the people will greet each other. When talking about the suffering of religious chaos, everyone gritted their teeth. Not only many people took the initiative to act as spies, they always reported the movements of the Tianshi teachers to the army. Those who had a little surplus at home, When the troops are stationed, not only do they not hide, but they also dig out the food that had been buried to avoid the sect to reward the troops. If Li Mu can't shirk but accept it, he won't take it in vain. He will give money on the spot, a lot of money.

Li Mu knew very well that the main reason why the chaos of the Tianshi Religion almost overturned half of the imperial court was that there were too many religious followers who were blinded by Wu Cang and obeyed. Take Wu as an example, according to the government's calculations, almost every two households have one household with a cleric. After Wu Cang's uprising, the number of the soldiers who followed him around was an astonishing hundreds of thousands at the time of the incident. Often this place has not been extinguished, and chaos has arisen in other places. such a big upheaval.

In order to disintegrate the soldiers, in addition to fighting, Li Mu deliberately selected a group of people from the army who can speak and play well. Everywhere he goes, it is convenient for the crowd to demonstrate the so-called fire and knife swallowing methods to the people. , in order to expose Wu Cang's tricks to deceive believers. After the demonstration was completed, people were told to spread it everywhere. The ordinary church members were originally the common people, but they were deceived. They fled back there and returned the family wealth and food that they had given away, and the government did not take any of it, and all belonged to that person.

Wu Cang was well versed in the art of manipulating people. He took advantage of the people's fear of ghosts and gods and their superstition and worship. After the uprising, he turned the churchmen into soldiers, and he was half a threat to the people at the bottom, but a deception. Those believers who joined the teaching at the beginning, because they believed in the so-called teaching family, all actively donated their family resources and brought their whole family to the teaching, and there were not a few people who were emptied of their families. Now either he has been cut off from retreat, or he has been fascinated by the so-called future benefits promised by Wu Cang, so he makes trouble with him. Seeing that the situation is not right, even if you want to quit, there is no way to go, you can only bite the bullet and follow.

Li Mu so preached, those who are swaying, who will not be moved? It is also rumored that some churchmen in a certain place have claimed back the food they had given from the local incense master, and now they have brought their families back to their hometowns to farm the land, and the government has really let go of the past.

The news spreads ten, ten spreads a hundred. It didn't take long for Li Mu's army to leave for Kuaiji, but before the army arrived, the teachers in the city heard that Li Mu's army was coming. The leaders asked for tribute, and they went up one level at a time. Those leaders were pursued, and seeing that the situation was not good, they fled overnight. When Li Mu arrived, he took this large southeastern county with little effort.

That's how, with the support of the people, the differentiation of the lower-level clergymen, and the good fighting of the sergeants, in just a few months, in March of the following year, Li Mu took over the land of Wu, where the chaos of the Heavenly Teachers was most rampant. It was owned, and then more than a dozen counties including Danyang, Qiantang, Xin'an, etc. were recovered.

Wu Cang had already lost most of the counties that had fallen into his hands at this time, and the number of his soldiers was decreasing day by day, like a lost dog. He was forced to flee south with the treasures he had collected earlier, and finally retreated to Linhai County, where he had nowhere to go. A fight between beasts, and the brothers who were in trouble together were killed.

At this point, the large-scale religious turmoil that began in the fall of last year and continued until this April has finally subsided.

Those counties in the southeast that had fallen into the hands of religious rebellion all returned to the imperial court. The people loved Li Mu so much, and some people in the places that suffered the most even proposed to build a shrine for him to honor him. After being informed by Li Mu, he sent people over to express his gratitude to the local people. On the grounds that the emperor had just died soon, he resolutely refused, and the people gave up.

Xiao Min, the king of Dongyang, who has been emperor for less than two years, has a weak physique. In addition to being less temperate, his foundation is empty. When Qu A was surrounded at the end of last year, he was overly frightened. Although he was rescued by Li Mu, he returned after returning. On the way, he accidentally contracted a cold and fell ill. After returning to the palace, although the imperial doctor made various treatments, the emperor could not afford to be ill and died at the end of the first month, and the four-year-old prince ascended the throne.

At that time, Li Mu was unable to escape due to the tightness of the war. He only handed a sacrificial gift to the imperial court and was unable to return to Beijing for the funeral.

Three months have passed now, and the Southeast is set. Li Mu sent someone to send a report of the war to the court. He was preparing to return to the court, but he learned a piece of news.

At the end of last year, when Li Mu set out to quell the troublesome rebellion in the southeast, Gao Qiao sent Shang Chong, the younger brother of the prefect of Lujiang who was killed in the battle of Jiankang, and Pei Zhen, the prefect of Yuzhang, to lead the troops to chase the defeated Xixi. Xu Mi, who fled, plans to completely wipe out his remnants and never give him a chance to revive.

Xiangyang, which Xu Mi was proud of, was brought to him by Li Mu before, but he was well versed in the truth of the three caves of the cunning rabbit. In the past when he was running Jingzhou, in addition to Xiangyang, he went further upstream in Yiling, which is close to Shu and Hanzhong, to take care of himself. There is also a place left.

After escaping back to Jingzhou, he retreated to Yiling, where he regrouped his troops, and took advantage of the complex terrain and strong city defenses in the area to start a tug-of-war with the pursuing imperial army. Not long ago, he even seized the right to control the river in the area of ​​Yiling, and all the ships passing by must pay him taxes, and because his ancestral home belonged to the ancient Song Dynasty, he also established the Song Dynasty and called himself the emperor.

Since the Jingzhou rebels returned to the upper reaches, Li Mu has been extremely concerned about the news of the war.

The latest news he got was that Gao Qiao had sent Gao Yin, who was recovering, to lead the army to Yiling for reinforcements.

That night, the soldiers in the barracks were laughing and laughing. Under the stimulation of the celebration wine, in the camp, sergeants could be heard everywhere in the camp: "You are in the car, I will wear a hat, and I will get off the car when I meet you." Ma, I will meet you another day and be your king." The sound of singing.

During the singing, Li Mu couldn't sleep for a long time.

The reason why Xu Mi has the current reliance is because of Yang Xuan's own strength.

It was because of Yang Xuan that he gathered the military hearts of those soldiers. It was also because of Yang Xuan that Xu Mi was able to defend Yiling for half a year under the heavy pressure of the imperial army, and even now he has become an emperor by himself.

He closed his eyes and remembered that when he joined the army at the beginning of his youth, he was bullied and bullied. At the age of fifteen, it was because of the appreciation and promotion of Yang Xuan, who was already a lieutenant at the time, that he had everything that he did in the future.

He remembered that day, when he took 6,000 soldiers to Pingliang Prefecture in Shu, out of concern, he deliberately made a detour to Jingkou in the middle of the night to remind himself.

He also remembered that when he was in Nanyang last year, he was persuaded by himself to disobey the name of Xu Mi and cooperate with the dispatch of troops to rescue Lu Jianzhi from the siege of the city.

Yang Xuan has had bad results in the past.

It is because of this that he has spoken and reminded several times.

When he was in Nanyang, how could Li Mu not see that Yang Xuan did not have no intention of giving up. But in the end, it is still no match for Xu Mi's cunning and cunning. Knowing that he values ​​love and righteousness, he used a son's head in exchange for a veteran's loyal follower. This deal is really worthwhile.

Now Gao Qiao sent Gao Yin to attack Yiling again.

One is his wife's brother, the other is a long-term friend, and Li Mu can no longer stay out of it.

He made a decision quickly. The lieutenant commander had temporarily camped here and continued to clean up the remaining Heavenly Teachers who had escaped into the deep mountains and forests. In the early morning of the next day, he took only a team of people and set foot on the road to the west.

Along the way, he stayed overnight, traveled through trials and hardships, and finally arrived at Yiling after half a month.

When he arrived, Gao Yin had already led his army to the outside of the city. Thousands of troops were standing in the wilderness just a few arrows away from the Yiling city gate.

Strangely, no matter how Gao Yin called for war, there was no reaction in the city.

Gao Yin had been besieging for a few days, and was discussing with his subordinates, and when he decided to attack hard, he suddenly had to report to Li Mu to arrive. He was very surprised, and hurriedly dismissed the meeting in the tent.

"Da Sima came from a long way, but something happened?"

Emperor Taikang, who died last year, made Li Mu the Great Sima in Qu'a last year. The Grand Sima has a high-ranking position. The dynasty has been vacant for decades, and no one is responsible for it. In a hurry, the officials of the Ministry of Rites, Yu Zhangshou, were completely unprepared. The golden chapter and the purple ribbon were issued, the Dao was in chaos, the class teacher returned to the court, and the canonization was done again.

However, officials in the DPRK and China have since then renamed Li Mu the Great Sima.

Gao Yin was no exception. He addressed him as an official with a very respectful tone.

He could see at a glance that Li Mu had arrived in a hurry, and he was only accompanied by seven or eight strong personal guards, obviously not in the name of the court, and knowing his relationship with Yang Xuan, it was not difficult to guess that maybe it was For personal reasons, there is such a question.

Li Mudao: "General Gao, I want to see Yang Xuan first before deploying the troops."

As the war was imminent, it was inappropriate for Li Mu to meet with the traitor in private.

Li Mu's tone is also very calm, without the slightest command tone, but it is full of an irresistible meaning.

Gao Yin hesitated for a while, then nodded quickly.

When it comes to siege, it has always been easy to defend and difficult to attack. What's more, Yiling's city defense is solid, and there are veterans like Yang Xuan guarding it. If it is really attacked, even if it can be captured, the casualties of the soldiers will be heavy.

Gao Yin knew this very well in his heart.

Li Mu smiled slightly, turned his horse, and walked towards the city gate alone.

He rode alone, galloped to a stone's throw outside the city gate, turned over and dismounted, and under the gaze of countless eyes from the barracks behind him and the front of the city, he strode towards the closed city gate. And go.