At noon, Yang Yuanqing's army arrived in Xianyang, about half a mile away from Xianyang City, the gate of Xianyang County was wide open, and the county magistrate Wei Yijie led more than a dozen officials to surrender.

Wei Yijie was the younger brother of Wei Ji and an important figure in the Wei family. He was originally appointed as the Minister of Rites. Because of the Liu Wenjing case, he was demoted to the magistrate of Xianyang County. There were no garrisons in Xianyang County, and only more than a hundred veterans opened and closed the city gates. Wei Yijie knew that he could not defend the city, and was afraid that the Sui army would plunder the people's food. He had no choice but to open the city and surrender.

A Sui army soldier led Wei Yijie to Yang Yuanqing. Only then did Wei Yijie realize that it was Yang Yuanqing, the King of Chu who had arrived in person.

He was frightened, knelt down on his knees, raised the county magistrate's seal and ribbon high, and said in tears: "Xianyang Kaicheng welcomes His Highness the King of Chu, begging His Highness to spare the people of Xianyang for the sake of not resisting, and do not hurt the people."

Yang Yuanqing smiled faintly and said, "Mr. Wei, don't worry. I came to Guanzhong not to kill the people. On the contrary, I came to provide relief to the poor in Guanzhong. Please raise me! I don't want the seal of the county magistrate."

Wei Yijie was even more surprised. There was 20,000 shi of grain in the Xianyang official warehouse. Is Yang Yuanqing going to open the warehouse to release grain? Wei Yijie didn't dare to say much, so he had to stand up and say, "Your Highness, please go to the city to rest!"

When the Sui army attacked Chang'an at noon, many soldiers were injured by arrows and needed care. He nodded and turned to Luo Shixin and Cheng Yaojin and said, "You two go and place your brothers well, and do not disturb the people. Then open the warehouse and release grain to provide relief to the poor in Xianyang. No matter men, women, young and old, they can receive food!"

"Abide by the order!"

Luo Shixin and Cheng Yaojin bowed at the same time, and the two rushed to lead the army into the city. Yang Yuanqing came to the county government under the escort of hundreds of personal soldiers, and he also needed to calm down and consider the next strategy.

In the county government hall, the personal soldiers quickly put together the sand table, while Yang Yuanqing stood in front of the sand table and pondered. Today, he was sure that Li Yuan would withdraw his troops and return to the aid immediately. The Crown Prince Li Jiancheng would definitely return to the aid immediately, with the army at least 50,000, but will the army on Li Shimin return to the aid?

Yang Yuanqing was worried that it was this. His surprise attack on Guanzhong was largely to put pressure on Li Shimin and force him to withdraw his troops and return to Guanzhong. He gave up the capture of the Central Plains. However, with Li Shimin's talent, he would definitely see through his intentions. Will he withstand the pressure and resolutely not withdraw his troops and return to Guanzhong.

Yang Yuanqing, based on his intuition, felt that Li Shimin would probably withstand the pressure and resolutely not withdraw his troops back to Guanzhong. After all, this was an opportunity to occupy the Central Plains. Now that the Sui army had just finished fighting the Turks, the hinterland in Hedong suffered heavy losses. The soldiers were physically and mentally exhausted, and they were indeed unable to fight another battle in the Central Plains.

Li Shimin should see this opportunity. There is a great possibility that he will not withdraw his troops. If so, how should he deal with this unfavorable situation? Yang Yuanqing walked back and forth around the sand table with his hands behind his back. Thinking about countermeasures, Cheng Yaojin rushed in and shouted as soon as he entered the lobby: "Your Highness, guess what did I find?"

Yang Yuanqing's thoughts were interrupted, and he was displeased. He turned around and glared at Cheng Yaojin fiercely. Cheng Yaojin suddenly realized that he was so scared that he lowered his head and did not dare to say a word. Yang Yuanqing snorted: "I will spare you this time. I dare to trek into the lobby again next time, and I will be responsible for the thirty military sticks!"

"Yes! I remember it."

Yang Yuanqing then retracted his thoughts and asked, "What did you find?"

Cheng Yaojin no longer had the excitement he had just now. He said tremblingly: "Wizhi and Shixin opened the warehouse and released grain. When I inspected the warehouse, I found that there were many long ladders, which were strong and tall, all three or four meters tall, which were very suitable for siege. Aren't we not carrying siege weapons? These ladders..."

This discovery made Yang Yuanqing quite interested, and he immediately said: "Let's go! Let's take a look."

The warehouse in Xianyang County is on the left side of the county yard, about one mile apart. The warehouse is actually two concepts. The warehouse is to store grain, and the warehouse is to store money and goods. The granary in Xianyang County is composed of two large granaries, which store 20,000 stones of grain, and is guarded by dozens of yamen runners.

At this time, the granary had been taken over by the Sui army. Luo Shixin led 500 soldiers to open the warehouse and release grain. Tens of thousands of people arrived after hearing the news, carrying sacks and donkeys. Many people even went out with their whole family. Anyway, the Sui army did not recognize them.

There were more than a dozen long teams in front of the granary, which were thousands of steps away. Although there were crowds of people, they were in order and there was no situation of looting. Hundreds of Sui soldiers and cavalry maintained order.

Yang Yuanqing rode his horse slowly, surrounded by his personal guards, and the county magistrate Wei Yijie followed by the side with a horse. He looked worried. These were all tax grains, and all grains were released to provide relief. How could he explain to the court?

Yang Yuanqing pointed at the people who were queuing up to receive the food and said to Wei Yijie: "Most of these people were dressed in rags, and they were obviously poor people. Isn't it a good thing to give them food relief? Why is County Magistrate Wei still so frowning?"

Wei Yijie sighed in his heart and had to bow and answer, "Your Highness is the one who is in charge of the world. You should understand that the court has its own laws, how to provide disaster relief, how much food to provide, the Ministry of Revenue has its own arrangements, who should receive food and who should not receive food. As a county magistrate, I also know, instead of freeing food like Your Highness."

"You mean I was giving food randomly?" Yang Yuanqing looked angry.

Wei Yijiexin said with a slight conspiracy: "Of course, Your Highness sees that these people are all dressed in rags, but many people have very smooth faces. How could he not know that they deliberately put on tattered clothes to get food, and even landlords and rich people are mixed in. Will Your Highness not know the cunning heart of the common people?"

Yang Yuanqing was stunned. He suddenly raised his head and laughed, "The Li family is so proud that I care about the poor and the rich. When I turn around and release the grain from Guangtong Cang, let Li Yuan cry!"

Wei Yijie became more and more frightened, but didn't know what to say. Yang Yuanqing closed his smile, looked back at him, nodded and said, "I found that County Magistrate Wei is very fond of my appetite. Since Li Yuan treats you unkindly, please follow me! I will let you serve as the Minister of Revenue in the Ministry of Revenue of the Sui Dynasty."

Wei Yijie smiled bitterly, "I appreciate your kindness, but if I go with Your Highness, my reputation will be over. Please understand."

"Famous Fame?"

Yang Yuanqing shook his head, "How do you think Liu Wenjing died? I might as well tell you clearly that everything is my plan and use the stupid spies of the Tang Dynasty. In fact, Li Shimin also knew in his heart that in order to kill Liu Wenjing, he used up Li Jiancheng's right-hand man and used the trick. The real deceived was Li Yuan. You were demoted innocently, so why should you defend the power struggle of the top leaders of the Tang Dynasty?"

Wei Yijie woke up like a dream and said for a while: "The reputation I mentioned has nothing to do with Liu Wenjing. Since I am a minister of the Tang Dynasty, I should naturally be loyal to the emperor. If I follow His Highness for the sake of a high official and generous salary, then I will be unrighteous to the emperor and I cannot leave. If His Highness forces me, I can only die and be loyal."

"Okay! Since you refuse, I won't force you. If you figure it out and come to surrender to me again, I will welcome you."

After saying that, Yang Yuanqing ignored him and urged Ma to follow Cheng Yaojin to the warehouse...

The warehouse was next to the granary, with dozens of soldiers guarding the courtyard. Yang Yuanqing quickly walked into the warehouse. The warehouse was a row of long bungalows, with small doors connected to each room. Various items were piled up in each room, dozens of boxes of copper coins, all of which were newly cast Kaiyuan Tongbao. This kind of money was also circulated in the Sui Dynasty, with thousands of stakes, and tens of thousands of pieces of cloth and silk, which piled up five or six rooms, and there were also several boxes of silver, about three thousand taels.

Yang Yuanqing pointed at these belongings with a horse whip and said to Cheng Yaojin: "All these are distributed to brothers, even if they are my reward!"

Cheng Yaojin was overjoyed. He had wanted to get these supplies for a long time, but the Sui army was strict and he dared not take them. Now that Yang Yuanqing spoke, he would be polite. Yang Yuanqing glanced at him coldly, "I warn you first, this is a reward for your brothers. You only have one of them. If you dare to take one or two more silver, I will peel your skin and fill it up and stand next to the military yamen!"

Cheng Yaojin suddenly remembered the skinned house, and he was shocked and said quickly: "I dare not be a man. I have changed my mind and no longer greedy for money."

Yang Yuanqing was too lazy to pay attention to him, so he walked to the last room. To be precise, this place was not a warehouse, but a place where the miscellaneous items were placed. The area was large and filled with all kinds of messy items, the drums at the county yamen gate, the water and fire sticks of the yamen runners, the tables and beds, etc.

But at the innermost, there were more than a dozen long ladders neatly piled up, about a hundred ladders. Most of them were four or five meters tall, wide and strong. They were not ordinary beam ladders, but city ladders with iron hooks on them. This discovery surprised Yang Yuanqing. He quickly turned around and called the county magistrate!

Soon, Wei Yijie hurried over, and Yang Yuanqing pointed to the city wall ladders, "Where did these ladders come from?"

Wei Yijie hurriedly bowed and said, "Report to Your Highness, when the Xianyang city wall was repaired at the beginning of the year, these ladders were borrowed from Chang'an. Because the northern city wall has not been repaired yet, the ladders are temporarily stored here."

Yang Yuanqing could no longer control his joy. With these siege ladders, he could attack Chang'an in two. He must force Li Shimin back. Even if he didn't come back, he would still be charged with a crime of resisting the order.

.........

On a snowy night, the Sui army once again advanced towards Chang'an, surging. Under the moonlight, the snow was particularly dazzling. The Sui soldiers were tightly wrapped in blankets, facing the bitter cold wind, and bravely advanced with high morale.

At about three o'clock in the morning, ten thousand Sui cavalry crossed Zhongwei Bridge, only ten miles away from Chang'an.

At this time, only 10,000 Jinwu Guard troops were left on the top of Chang'an City, and all the Yulin troops returned to the palace city, but Tang Ting had realized that Yang Yuanqing would be very likely to kill a retaliation.

Therefore, 40,000 young and strong men were urgently recruited, all of whom were armed. At this time, tens of thousands of young and strong men who had just been armed gathered in the corridor between the inner and outer cities. Everyone was wrapped in blankets and sat in crowded with bonfires. Some were asleep, while others were whispering and chatting.

Dou Gui stood at the top of the inner city and looked at the mostly untrained civilians in the corridor. He was full of worries. Can they resist the fierce siege of the Sui army?

......To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations, monthly votes, and your support is my greatest motivation.m
Chapter completed!