Chapter 200 Luoyang
After Yu Wenzhi escaped, he was only panicked for a while. Seeing that there were no pursuers, he immediately returned to his laissez-faire attitude and took the water route, continuing his extravagant enjoyment on Yang Guang's dragon boat.

This disappointed many people who supported Yu Wenzhi's ascension to the throne. This prime minister was even more arrogant and extravagant than Yang Guang.

However, he did not even have the most basic attitude towards government affairs. Every time he sat facing south like an emperor, he would not utter a word no matter what was reported to him.

Such silence was obviously not the emperor's wisdom and depth, but just simple and pure stupidity. After leaving the tent, he would immediately summon a group of confidants such as Tang Fengyi and Zhang Kai to discuss the matters proposed by the officials. Only after others gave him ideas would he order people to draft relevant edicts.

Everyone couldn't help but feel cold and angry. After marching thousands of miles, the situations they encountered were very urgent. As the leader of the group, he didn't even have the courage to make a decision when faced with a situation. How could this be possible?
But something even more outrageous happened next. When they reached a place where the water routes were cut off, most of the baggage and treasures had no means of transportation. Yu Wenzhi was reluctant to part with the treasures, so he ordered his people to forcibly requisition oxen, horses, donkeys and mules.

They managed to gather two thousand chariots, but they were not used to transport baggage or weapons, but to transport treasures and beauties.

The armor and weapons were all left to the imperial guards and brave warriors to carry by themselves, which caused great resentment among the soldiers. Yu Wenzhi was still very sensitive to danger, but he was reluctant to part with his treasures and beauties.

So he ordered the soldiers to be allowed to plunder at will to maintain military morale, but the key point was that even though they were willing to plunder, they still had to carry the looted gold, silver and treasures on their backs, which they could not carry anymore.

Sima Dekan, the leader of the Jiangdu Palace Rebellion, Duke of Wen, Grand Master of Lu, and Minister of Rites, began to connect the upper and lower levels again.

.........

In Luoyang, after the emperor's death, the officials in charge of the Eastern Capital, Duan Da, Wang Shichong and others, had already supported Yang Gao, the Prince of Zhao, as emperor and changed the reign title to Huangtai.

The late emperor was posthumously named Emperor Ming, with the temple name Shizu, and his mother Empress Xiao was honored as the Empress Dowager. Duan Da was appointed as the Nanyi and acting Minister of Civil Affairs, and Wang Shichong was also appointed as the General of the Left Guard, and Yuan Wendu as the Minister of Internal Affairs.

At this moment, no one paid attention to the emperor sitting on the throne. They were all frowning and expressing their own opinions. It was already uncomfortable enough with Li Mi and Zhai Rang, and now Yu Wenzhi was also here.

Gai Cong, the Minister of Rites, said: "We still have a great revenge for Emperor Ming and we are short of troops. If we can pardon Li Mi and Zhai Rang and order them to attack Yu Wenhuaji and let them kill each other, we will have an opportunity.

When Yuwen Huaji is defeated, Li Mi will surely be exhausted, and his generals will covet our official titles and rewards, so it will be easy to alienate him, and we can capture Li Mi and Zhai Rang easily, and restore the glory of our Great Sui Dynasty."

Everyone thought it made sense, so they sent people to lobby Li Mi and Zhai Rang separately. They first rewarded Li Mi directly, promoted him to the positions of Taiwei, Shangshu Ling, Marshal of the Southeast Road, and Duke of Wei, and claimed that as long as Yu Wenhuaji was pacified, Li Mi would be allowed to enter the Eastern Capital to assist in the administration.

The order was similar to that for Zhai Rang, but he ignored it and just quietly stationed his troops outside the city of Luoyang.

But after careful consideration, Li Mi decided to agree. After all, Yu Wenzhi was behind him, and if he didn't agree, he would be attacked from both sides.

So Li Mi turned his troops around and confronted Yu Wenzhi in Liyang. Yu Wenzhi was actually just passing by and wanted to plunder some food, fodder, and horses on the spot.

But he did not expect Li Mi to abandon the Eastern Capital and come here. Yu Wenzhi stepped out and said, "Lord Li, please come out and talk to me. I killed the tyrant, isn't this what you have been thinking about day and night? Why did you come to block our way?"

Li Mi could no longer care about the past. He had to enter the Eastern Capital to realize his ambitions, and then he could not rebel against the Sui Dynasty. So he pointed at Yu Wenzhi and cursed him mercilessly, "Your family was originally just the slave Poyetou clan of the Xiongnu. Your father, brothers, and sons have all received great favors from the Sui Dynasty. You have been rich and noble for generations, and you are second to none in the court. You even have a princess as your wife. Your lord was immoral, and you could not die to warn him. Instead, you took advantage of the rebellion to kill the lord yourself and even killed his descendants. You supported the illegitimate children of the royal family, monopolized power, conspired to usurp the throne, insulted the concubines, and killed the innocent. You did not follow Zhuge Zhan's loyalty, but did the same rebellious evil as Huo Yu.

What you have done cannot be tolerated by heaven and earth. I really don't know how you can still live in this world. If you come back to me quickly, you can still save your descendants!"

These words made Yu Wenzhi curse so hard that his face turned red. If it was someone else, it would be fine, but when you, Li Mi, rebelled, my family was a loyal minister!

Yu Wenzhi lowered his head, thinking of words to curse back, but he felt that none of them were as pleasant or powerful as Li Mi's, and he couldn't help feeling annoyed.

Just as Li Mi was preparing to respond, Yu Wenzhi finally raised his head, waving his whip with his eyes wide open and shouted: "What I am talking about with you is fighting, why do you have to quote words from a book!"

Li Mi laughed loudly and was too lazy to scold him. He just said to the generals around him: "Yu Wenzhi is so stupid that he dared to kill the emperor and usurp the throne. I can easily deal with him with a stick. He is definitely not more powerful than a dog."

Just as Li Mi said, he only used some strategies to defeat Yu Wenzhi.

At this time, Zhai Rang met Wang Shichong's envoy, and after receiving many treasures, he nodded and agreed.

After the messenger left, Wei Zheng and Xu Shiji came out from one side and said, "It is finally time to recapture Luoyang."

Zhai Rang shook his head: "At this time, Wang Shichong still wants to seize power."

Everyone laughed heartily, while in Luoyang City, a sudden mutiny began. Wang Shichong solemnly ordered: "Since we started fighting against Li Mi's Wagang Army, we have killed countless of their fathers, brothers and sons. Once we become his subordinates, I am afraid we will die without a burial place!"

The seven nobles of Luoyang, except Wang Shichong, all welcomed Li Mi very much, because due to the current situation, they had to unite all the forces that could be united in order to wait for the opportunity for a long time.

However, as a general who advocated war, Wang Shichong had a deep hatred for Li Mi. He was very clear that he would never be Li Mi's opponent in political struggles, so he could not allow Li Mi to enter Luoyang.

Wang Shichong's subordinates responded one after another, saying that they had been fighting each other for several years, so how could they just become one?

So, taking advantage of the fact that Li Mi was fighting with Yu Wenzhi, Wang Shichong bribed Zhai Rang, who was greedy and unwise, and raised an army to kill Duan Da, Lu Chu, Zhao Changwen, Guo Wenyi and others.

At this time, Zhai Rang was preparing his army for war, while not far from Luoyang City, Li Jing, Qin Shubao and Luo Yi, who had come from a long way, were eyeing this mighty city covetously.

...............

(End of this chapter)