Chapter 127 Rebellion
Yang Xuangan was stationed in Liyang, and grain and fodder from all over the world were piled up here. From here, they were transported to Zhuo County through the canal, and then transported to the front line by civilians.

Now the warehouses in Liyang are full of food and fodder, but only a few ships of food and fodder are sent out every day. Not only is the emperor on the front line urging for more, but even Zhuo County has sent people to investigate several times.

However, Yang Xuangan evaded the issue by claiming that the river was blocked. However, it was obvious whether the river was blocked or not. Even if there was a blockage, people should have been arranged to clear it immediately. However, Yang Xuangan did nothing.

When the emperor sent people to urge for grain again, Yang Xuangan thought that there were many bandits on the waterways and it would be easy for ships to be robbed if they were sent out one at a time to transport grain. So he planned to form a large fleet and arrange guards to transport the grain all at once.

The emperor accepted this reason, but still urged him to transport the grain as soon as possible. Yang Xuangan knew that he had reached the limit of delaying. If he delayed any further, the emperor would definitely notice it. Therefore, he began to take down officials who did not cooperate openly and arbitrarily placed his confidants in important positions everywhere.

This made officials from top to bottom in Liyang feel that something was wrong. The Chief Censor You Yuan immediately led everyone to question Yang Xuangan about his intentions.
Yang Xuangan, who had been patient to the limit, met them in armor and opened his mouth with a thunderous speech: "The tyrant is rampant and trapped in a remote area. This is the time of doom. I will personally lead the righteous army to punish the wicked. What do you think? Are you willing to follow me and bring peace together?"

"You...you want to rebel?"

Yang Xuangan did not speak. He waved his hand and soldiers rushed in, holding shining long swords in their hands. The dangerous atmosphere made everyone's necks cold. Obviously, if the answer did not satisfy Yang Xuangan, blood might be splattered here.
"I wish to follow the public will!"

Most people knelt down. Those who did not kneel were either loyal ministers and righteous men of the court, or children of aristocratic families, or people who did not think highly of Yang Xuangan and were willing to die for their wives, children and clansmen.

Yang Xuangan said to them, "The dictator, for his own selfish desires, ruined the world to honor himself. The prosperous times left by the previous emperor have turned into a place where all the people rebelled in less than ten years. It is obvious that he is not a wise ruler. You are so talented and wise. If you don't pursue your own fame and gain, you should consider the people of the world."

The imperial censor You Yuan said: "Your Excellency is favored by the state, unparalleled in recent history. Your brothers are both in high positions and have been awarded various titles. You should be considered to have devoted your wholehearted loyalty to the emperor and have responded to his great kindness. Who would have thought that before the grave is dry, you would turn against him!"

Yang Xuangan defended himself: "Xuangan is not for his own wealth..."

You Yuan interrupted him: "Since you have made up your mind, I will die. I dare not obey your order!"

Yang Xuan sighed, and a strong armored soldier stepped forward and chopped You Yuan's body without hesitation. The head rolled under the kneeling official, whose eyes were wide open.

"what!"

The others who were standing there looked pale and said nothing, their legs trembling, but they still did not kneel down.

Li Mi walked out from behind the screen and said: "They are all relatives by marriage. Please stop being angry for a while and let me slowly persuade them. I will detain them first to prevent the news from leaking out."

Yang Xuangan was quick to accept advice. There were a few descendants of the Guanlong family here, although they were side branches, but since he wanted to change the dynasty, he would not easily offend any of them.

After everyone left, Li Mi suggested: "No matter how strict our defenses are, the news can't be concealed for long. We must strike first."

Yang Xuangan said: "I have ordered people to forge the news of Lai Huer's rebellion and report it to Yang Guang. It should be able to delay some time."

Li Mi immediately suggested: "Not only should we stir up chaos on Yang Guang's side, we can also use Hu'er's rebellion as an excuse to gather troops to suppress the rebellion, first seize a few surrounding counties and gather our troops." "Okay, that's it!"

Soon, the naval commander Huer rebelled because he failed to attack Goguryeo as planned and was afraid that the emperor would hold him accountable, so he rebelled. The emperor then ordered the Duke of Chu to gather troops and suppress the rebellion!

So, Yang Xuangan began to blockade the entire Liyang with great fanfare, and publicly issued a notice, requiring officials from surrounding counties to step up the pace of recruiting troops and send all the newly recruited soldiers to Liyang.

As for the areas within Liyang city and its subordinate counties, it goes without saying that all males, young and old, were sent to the army, including the thousands of boatmen and oarsmen in the canal.

Yang Xuangan assembled an army of 30,000 at an extremely fast speed. There were 8,000 elite soldiers, which were the entire strength of the Yang family, and all of them were battle-hardened soldiers left by Yang Su.

As for the shortage of civil servants, Yang Xuangan promoted any official who was willing to surrender. Those who were originally county lieutenants could now be directly appointed as prefects. Such coercion and inducement also won over most of the officials in these counties.

…………

As soon as Yang Xuangan made a move, Li Jiancheng received the news, but he did not intervene. If Yang Xuangan had not rebelled, the demise of the Sui Dynasty would have been delayed for at least several years, and it is even possible that the dynasty would have turned from danger to safety.

Because the emperor's strategy of conquering Goguryeo was not wrong, and he did not interfere. Although Goguryeo was so tenacious, it was just a small country and would definitely not be able to defeat a million-strong army.

The popular uprisings in the country had been almost suppressed by Zhang Xutuo. Wang Bo, Sun Xuanya, Hao Xiaode, Pei Changcai, Guo Fangyu and other bandit leaders who were said to have hundreds of thousands of people under their command were all dealt with one by one by Zhang Xutuo with only twenty or thirty thousand elite troops.

Luo Shixin, Qin Shubao and Shan Xiongxin also became famous throughout the world. When the emperor returned with a great victory in pacifying Goguryeo, the world would surely be pacified. Even if the emperor continued to live a luxurious life and exploit the people, as long as he held on to his million-strong army, the nobles would not dare to rebel and the people would find it difficult to rebel. What could they do?
We always need such a brave warrior to take the lead, set off the wave of troubled times, and lead the way for the king!
Li Jiancheng has already received the emperor's reward. He is writing a letter to express his gratitude. In the letter, he pointed out that the recent movements of the Duke of Chu's Mansion have been urgent and strange, and asked Your Majesty to take a closer look.

Judging from the time, this letter and the news of Yang Xuangan's formal rebellion should have reached the emperor at about the same time.

The Li family would not rebel so early, or even at all. It was just that the world was in a state of chaos and no one in the Yang family could rule the country, so they had no choice but to accept the abdication.

Li Jiancheng's heart was beating like a drum. More than ten years had passed in a blink of an eye. It was finally time for me to relax and realize my ambitions, without having to live in fear of following a tiger around every day.

Although he was not allowed to leave the house, Li Jiancheng resumed some social activities from that day on and invited old friends to his house for tea and chat.

The most important thing was that he asked someone to present the BMW and some lightweight gadgets he had prepared for a long time to King Dai Yang You who stayed in Chang'an.

Yang You was the son of Prince Yuande Yang Zhao, and was also Li Jiancheng's cousin. But he was too young after all, and had always been raised in the deep palace, so the uncle and nephew were not very familiar with each other.

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(End of this chapter)