At the end of the Sui Dynasty, three of the most powerful bandits were among the most powerful ones. The first was Wagang Zhai Rang and Li Mi, the second was Dou Jiande, Hebei, and the third was Du Fuwei, Jianghuai.

Du Fuwei's power was mainly in Huainan, west of Jiangdu County, and the vast land between Jianghuai, including Liyang County, Danyang County, Zhongli County, Huainan County, and Lujiang County. It had more than 100,000 troops, of which 40,000 were the most elite army, which was called the "Shangmu" army.

There is not only Du Fuwei in the Jianghuai area, but Du Fuwei is the most powerful. In addition, there are Wujun Chen Faxing and Yuhang Li Zitong, and Jiangdu County Chen Len. These four forces occupy the Jianghuai and Jiangnan.

Chen Len fled back to Jiangdu after Yu Wenhua and his defeat, and had more than 10,000 remaining troops under his command. He used the food and materials left by the Sui Dynasty to revive the situation, provide relief to the victims, recruit soldiers, and gradually expanded the troops to 30,000 to defend Jiangdu City.

Among the four major forces in Jiangnan and Jianghuai, Li Zitong and Shen Faxing both regarded Li Mi as their lords, Chen Len proclaimed himself King of Jiangdu, while Du Fuwei was loyal to Emperor Tai of Luoyang. Last year, Emperor Tai was named King of Huai and the general manager of the five counties in Huainan. However, at this time, King Shichong of Luoyang usurped the throne, leaving Du Fuwei in a deep confusion.

That afternoon, a small caravan drove dozens of mules and horses loaded with cargo into Liyang City. The leader of the caravan came from Taiyuan Xiao Guan. More than 20 soldiers pretended to be caravans and protected Xiao Guan all the way south.

If they wanted to pass through Li Mi's sphere of influence, they could not wear armor and helmets, and go south in court clothes, so they could only dress up as merchants. Liyang was Du Fuwei's capital, with dense population and prosperous business. The city's merchants came and went, and the hawking sounds came one after another.

Xiao Guan brought northern fur, which is rare in the Jianghuai area. As soon as he entered the city, he was surrounded by shopkeepers from several shops. He was scrambling to buy the fur he brought.

They took off their fur and found an inn near the city gate. Everyone entered the inn. This is a famous inn in Liyang City. The shopkeeper's surname is Wang, who is over 40 years old. He is fat and looks very kind and friendly.

The subordinates went to rest, and Xiao Feng found the shopkeeper. He had some things to ask the shopkeeper. The two sat down in the back hall. The shopkeeper Wang ordered the clerk to serve tea and said with a smile: "I heard that Brother Xiao's accent seems to be from the northerner, but Brother Xiao is from the Jiangnan family again. This is a bit rare."

"This is normal! The Sui Dynasty defeated the south. There were countless southern surnames sent to the north. I was just one of them."

"That's true!"

Manager Wang smiled again and said, "This time, I came to Liyang, is there anything else besides selling goods?"

Originally, Xiao Feng wanted to inquire about some information, but was questioned by the shopkeeper, and he smiled. "It's nothing? I just want to find a few relatives who are wandering in Jiangnan, but I want to inquire about it with the shopkeeper."

"You said, as long as I know, I will tell you."

Xiao Feng pondered for a moment and said, "I have separated from a few friends in Luoyang. They are also merchants. They are also coming to Liyang County. I wonder if there are people from Liyang County who have come from Luoyang in the past two days?"

Xiao Jin wanted to inquire about Wang Shichong's envoy. He knew that Du Fuwei was originally loyal to Emperor Tai. Now that Emperor Tai has been deposed and Wang Shichong usurped the throne, he would definitely send someone to bribe Du Fuwei. I wonder if the envoy has arrived?

"From Luoyang?"

The shopkeeper thought for a while and said with a smile: "Three days ago, a team of people came from Luoyang, but they were not merchants. I heard that they were envoys, but no other Luoyang people heard of them."

Xiao Jin's heart suddenly sank. Wang Shichong really sent an envoy to come. At this moment, a noise suddenly came from outside, and a guy stumbled and ran in.

"Shopkeeper, there are many soldiers rushing in from outside...

Manager Wang stood up and said, "What are the soldiers here to do?"

The guy glanced at Xiao Feng and said timidly: "Are they here to catch this Mr. Xiao? A fur merchant from the north."

Manager Wang hesitated and looked at Xiao Feng, "Brother Xiao, what's going on?"

"I don't know either. Since I'm here to catch me, I'll go and have a look!"

Xiao Feng probably revealed some flaws and was reported by someone, but he was not nervous. He was originally an envoy, so why should he be ordered to go on an envoy?

Xiao Feng walked quickly to the front yard and saw dozens of tough soldiers standing in the front yard, each holding a long sword. Xiao Feng walked up to him and bowed, "I am a fur merchant from the north. What's the matter with me?"

The head captain glared at him fiercely and waved his hand, "Catch him!"

More than a dozen soldiers rushed over and grabbed Xiao Feng's arm. Xiao Feng snorted heavily, "I am the envoy of the Great Sui Dynasty, you dare to be rude!"

A soldier took out a silver medal from his arms and shouted, "Captain, he has a waist card!"

The captain took the waist card and he didn't recognize many words. He knew one of the characters Sui and was stunned for a moment, and immediately ordered: "Let him go!"

The soldiers let go of Xiao Feng, and the captain slowly walked forward, looked up and down at him, and asked, "Are you really an envoy of the Sui Dynasty?"

Xiao Feng snorted coldly, "Who do you think I am?"

The captain immediately bowed and apologized: "We have received a report that your subordinates are like soldiers, so I suspect that you Li Mi's spies were the ones who were actually Sui envoys and offended them."

Xiao Feng suddenly realized that the loophole was in his subordinates. He looked back and saw that his twenty-somethings surged out. Although they were dressed as guys, they were all burly and sturdy. They really didn't look like businessmen, they were all extremely elite soldiers.

But this was fine, so he simply went to see Du Fuwei and nodded, "Okay! I'm going to see your general."

The captain quickly bowed and said, "Since that's the case, please follow us to the General's Mansion!"

Xiao Feng sorted out his clothes and hats, ordered someone to take his schoolbag, walked out of the inn with his head held high, and followed a group of soldiers to meet Du Fuwei.

.........

Du Fuwei once proclaimed himself the General of Tianwei, so the soldiers all called him the General, and his military yamen was also called the General's Mansion.

Since he and Fu Gongyou decided to go south to start a business six years ago, after several years of fighting, they finally made a great career, occupying a fertile field, a population of millions, and an elite Jianghuai army of 150,000.

But Du Fuwei did not intend to become the emperor, so he became the object of enlistment by many forces. The earliest one was Yu Wenji, who promised to be the prefect of Liyang. Yu Wenji's stinginess angered Du Fuwei. He immediately turned to surrender to Emperor Tai of Luoyang, who appointed him as King of Huai and the general manager of the military and horses of the five counties in Huainan. It was obviously much more generous than Yu Wenji.

But not long ago, news came from Luoyang that Wang Shichong had usurped the throne and the Southern Sui Dynasty he was loyal to had disappeared, which left Du Fuwei in a confused state.

In the past few days, not only did Wang Shichong send envoys to win over, but even the Tang Dynasty sent an envoy to convince him that he could surrender to the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty issued extremely generous conditions and was appointed as the Minister of the South East Daoxingtai, the ambassador to pacify the south of the Jianghuai River, and the country of surrender and was granted the title of King of Wu.

But Du Fuwei was still hesitating. He could see clearly the general trend of the world. In the future, the one who won the world would be either Yang Yuanqing in Taiyuan or Li Yuan in Chang'an. Li Yuan came to win him over. He actually wanted to get news from the Sui Dynasty.

Du Fuwei had never had any dealings with the Sui Dynasty, nor did he even have any contact. He didn't know what the Sui Dynasty was about him, and he had been worried these days.

Du Fuwei is still young, only twenty-three years old, with a tiger-back and a bear-waisted waist, a very majestic figure, deep eyes, thick and black eyebrows, and a clear outline on his face, giving people a very rough feeling, but in fact he is as meticulous as a hair, careful in thinking, and has a very long-term vision.

In the afternoon, he was sitting in his room to instruct the documents submitted by various counties. At this time, a guard reported at the door, "General, the officer on duty in the North City seized a visitor from the north. According to the visitor, he was the special envoy of the Sui Dynasty and came to serve as an envoy under the order of the King of Chu of the Sui Dynasty."

Du Fuwei said with a 'Ah!', and he was surprised and happy. Sui envoy came indeed. He quickly ordered: "Come the envoy quickly and treat him with courtesy, and don't be rude!"

The guards went down, and Du Fuwei was so excited that he was uneasy. The envoy of the Sui Dynasty came indeed. Although he did not intend to surrender to the Sui Dynasty immediately, the arrival of the Sui Dynasty gave him a greater choice, so he could calmly consider his future.

After a moment, several guards took Xiao Feng into the room. Xiao Feng walked up to him and bowed, "Xiao Feng, the envoy of the Great Sui Dynasty, met General Du!"

Du Fuwei quickly got up and clasped his fists and smiled, "So it's Mr. Xiao, welcome to come to Liyangcheng!"

He was very polite and asked Xiao Feng to sit down and ordered someone to serve tea. Xiao Feng sat down, took out a letter from his arms, and presented it to Du Fuwei with both hands, "This is the handwritten letter from His Highness the King of Chu who asked me to bring to General Du. Please read it."

Du Fuwei took the letter and saw that the letter was written on the letter, "Yang Yuanqing, the King of Chu of the Great Sui Dynasty, sent to Du Fuwei, the general manager of the five counties in Huainan."

The general manager of the military commander of the five counties in Huainan was the official position granted by Emperor Tai. Yang Yuanqing still used it, but did not mention his King of Huai. Du Fuwei opened the letter and read it hurriedly. The letter meant that he could continue to be loyal to the Sui Dynasty, become a minister of the Sui Dynasty, and seek welfare for the people of the world.

However, from the beginning to the end of the letter, Du Fuwei was not mentioned as the title of King Huai, which made Du Fuwei feel a little unhappy. Yang Yuanqing admitted his five-county chief but did not recognize his title of King Huai, which made him very disappointed.

He was a cheerful person, so he asked Xiao Feng frankly, "I have read His Highness the King of Chu's letter. I can fully understand the Sui Dynasty's desire to unify the world and rest with the people. However, I cannot see the sincerity of the King of Chu in the letter. I wonder if I can explain it to me?"

Xiao Feng smiled slightly, "What sincerity does the general want?"

"Okay! I just say, if I surrender to the Sui Dynasty, what kind of official position can the Sui Dynasty grant me?"

"General Du is indeed a frank person, so I would like to say clearly that if the general surrenders to the Sui Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty will be appointed as the general of the military commander of the five counties in Huainan, the Shangzhu Kingdom, the General of the Cavalry, and the title of Duke of Liyang County."

Du Fuwei showed disappointment on his face. Among these dazzling official positions, the general manager of the military and horses of the five counties was a specific position. The Shangzhu Kingdom and the General of the Cavalry were honorary officials and scattered officials respectively, which was just a kind of honor and no practical significance. The other important title was the Duke of the County, and he is now the King of Huai.

Du Fuwei couldn't help but snorted, "You know that the Tang Dynasty has named me the King of Wu!"

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