The Villain's Counterattack

Chapter 599 Li Mi's Financial Crisis

The news of the annihilation of the Zheng family in Xingyang spread throughout the world, and all the wealthy families were suddenly terrified. It should be noted that the Zheng family in Xingyang was a top-level aristocratic family, and they were the real local emperors in Xingyang. Even Li Mi of Wagang had to act according to their wishes, but they were annihilated in one day. How could it not be shocking?

The people who exterminated the Zheng family of Xingyang carried the banner of Wagang and kept calling themselves the Wagang Righteous Army, but they openly wore the uniforms of the Sui Dynasty soldiers and were equipped with the standard armor and weapons of the Sui Dynasty. Even the general Zhang Xutuo did not hide his presence.

Li Mi's capture of Luokou without a single soldier should have been a great victory worthy of publicity, but because of Zhang Xutuo's tactics, the outcome of the battle became completely different.

Ninety-nine percent of the food and grass in the Luokou granary disappeared, and the remaining part was still the rations for the soldiers in Luokou. Li Mi was very confident in the expedition, so he did not bring too much food and grass. When he wanted to return to Xingyang, he found that his retreat had been cut off by Zhang Xutuo.

Shen Luoyan was a secret military strategist, so she naturally came with the army. Her intelligence ability was not bad at all. In addition, after the plan was successful, Zhang Xutuo had no intention of concealing it, so she soon discovered the clues.

Last year when Yue Buqun was alive, it was the Sui army that pretended to be Turkic cavalry and captured the country estates. They did not take the usual route, but instead encroached on the countryside like rebel bandits, cutting off the food supply from the countryside to Wagang as much as possible. At the same time, they used this to win over the hearts of the people and hide the troops among the people, or in other words, hid the army in the countryside of Xingyang County, avoiding the eyes and ears of Wagang.

When Li Mi plotted against Yue Buqun and invited him to attend the birthday celebration of the great Confucian Wang Tong, he was plotted against by Yue Buqun and destroyed the Zheng fleet, losing control of the river. Zhang Xutuo took the opportunity to use the Sui fleet to transport food and grass to Luokou. This is why he was able to empty the food and grass in Luokou in such a short time. As for the whereabouts of this batch of food, one was Luoyang and Chang'an, and the other was downstream and disappeared.

Zhang Xutuo knew every move of Xingyang very well. As soon as Li Mi left Xingyang City, Zhang Xutuo quietly sent his troops out in the name of mobilizing troops for defense. Some of them delayed Li Mi's retreat, while most of them took a detour to Xingyang. At the same time, he mobilized all the Sui troops hidden in the countryside of Xingyang and captured all the towns in Xingyang County in one fell swoop.

One hundred and eight scouts sneaked into Xingyang City and successfully captured the city gate at night. They led the army into the city and captured the sleeping Wagang Army in one fell swoop. Then they surrounded the Zheng family in an orderly manner and launched the long-awaited revenge.

The demise of the Zheng family in Xingyang put Li Mi in a very passive position, and the shortage of food and grass made the morale of the Wagang Army low. If this problem could not be solved, his grand plans and ambitions would be shattered.

It is not Li Mi's character to blame others and complain about everything. What's more, he has many counselors and staff under him, not only brave and resourceful ones, but also supporters from aristocratic families. Everyone talked freely and made their own plans, but there were not many highlights. Only his true confidants Shen Luoyan and Jun Junyan could tell the truth.

Other methods such as revealing the true face of the rebels and looting, plundering merchants, borrowing money from temples at high interest rates, etc. made Li Mi frown.

Shen Luoyan controlled Li Mi's spies, who were spread across all walks of life in the Central Plains. Raising money to gather information was under her control. In the early stage, she could use some of the money to support one or two people. Then, with the help of her powerful network of relationships, she spread the news that Zhang Xutuo had gone mad and massacred the Zheng family of Xingyang. She used this as an implicit threat to other small and medium-sized families, and raised funds to support him in destroying Zhang Xutuo.

She changed the subject and mentioned two more names: Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling. Li Mi suddenly realized that these two names represented two things. One was the secret of immortality, which was too dependent on appearances, and a master from the demon sect like himself probably had no chance. The second was the clue to Yang Gong's treasure house. As a senior official who served Emperor Wen Yang Jian and the recently deceased Emperor Wu Yang Guang, Yang Su had fought many battles and traveled extensively. He must have amassed a fortune, even the most wealthy family would be bankrupt.

Li Mi racked his brains to carefully recall all the details of his interactions with Yang Xuangan, and could only come to one conclusion: Yang Gong's treasure was most likely buried in Chang'an, Guanzhong. This might be the reason why Yang Xuangan, the Duke of Chu, struggled to advance towards Guanzhong at the last moment.

Why did you say he attacked Luoyang fiercely in the early stages and only thought of rushing to Chang'an at the last moment?

It is most likely because of the rebelliousness of the naughty child. He thinks he can make a name for himself without relying on his parents and elders, but after he falls, he hurriedly seeks protection from his elders.

While Shen Luoyan's idea was a good one, considering it could sustain itself in the early stages, improve and expand in the mid-term, and even consider becoming the strongest and largest in the late stages, it was still a bit too slow. Now that Yang Guang had passed away, many powerful figures had emerged. Li Yuan occupied Chang'an, Wang Shichong occupied Luoyang, and there were also Liang Shidu of Shuofang, Liu Wuzhou of Mayi, Xue Ju of Jincheng, Li Gui of Wuwei, Dou Jiande of Hebei, Lin Shihong of Qianzhou, and Xiao Xian of Jiangling, all of whom were equally powerful. If he couldn't rise quickly, his hegemony would probably be over.

As the Duke of Pushan, Li Mi actually did not have much. He only had skills and so-called fame. The family members behind him were almost negligible. He was not much different from Wang Shichong, but he could definitely not be compared with Li Yuan.

If you think about it carefully, Li Yuan, who had the support of the Li clan, one of the four major clans, not only occupied the old capital Chang'an, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack, but also had many civil and military officials left behind in the old capital by Yang Guang. He had both people and soldiers, and was much stronger than himself.

If there is anything bad about it, it is that since Yang Guang moved the capital, the old capital has gradually declined, and is inferior to Luoyang in terms of population and economy. This is also the reason why Li Mi chose the same approach as Yang Xuangan and started with Luoyang first.

Zu Junyan was also a very capable person. He mentioned an ancient hero directly in front of everyone: Cao Mengde!

Li Mi raised his brows, suddenly enlightened. Cao Mengde never claimed the title of emperor, yet his descendants posthumously recognized him as Emperor Wu of Wei. He possessed remarkable achievements and abilities, having weathered countless battles and ultimately triumphed over the Three Kingdoms. Like Li Mi, Cao Mengde came from a good, though only average, background. Early in his career, he faced similar financial challenges. How did he overcome them?

Touch the gold captain!

Everyone fell silent upon hearing this, secretly sighing at Zu Junyan's cruelty for daring to come up with such an idea. Everyone knew that there were countless treasures buried underground, but the idea that the dead were the greatest was deeply rooted. As traditional aristocratic families and Confucian students, they were unwilling to cross the bottom line.

They coveted the huge wealth and treasures, but were unwilling to dirty their hands and bear the possible eternal infamy. Don’t you see how glorious Wei Wu was in his time, how dazzling his achievements were, and how extraordinary his talent was, but his reputation among the literati was still bad.

Li Mi said a few words in a light tone and ended the meeting hastily, leaving only Zu Junyan, Shen Luoyan, Wang Bodang, Xu Shiji and other close confidants to consider who should take over this important secret mission. If the news leaked accidentally, he would immediately become the target of public criticism.

At this moment, news came from outside that Young Master Li Tianfan had brought a large amount of food and wealth and was returning victoriously, which made Li Mi feel uneasy.

It feels like something is going to happen!