Great Tang Southern Emperor

Du He explained: "But the other cannons are just a small hole when fired, and not many people will die. Besides, there are other types of cannons in the city, and our army is also equipped with them, but we don't have the giant cannons, so Pay special attention to it. What's more, our army has seen other cannons before. Even if the enemy fires, our soldiers will not panic, but the giant cannon is too powerful, and all the produced The giant cannons are all equipped in Chang'an City, not many people in our army know about the power of this cannon, once the enemy fires the cannon, it will probably deal a blow to our morale."

"So it's like this..." Qin Huaiyu understood, but he didn't expect this.

Li Zhen said at this time: "Actually, you don't have to worry about the artillery, because we have already obtained the defense map in the city, which includes the specific location of the artillery positions, but the enemy doesn't know much about our artillery positions. So If we really want to go to war, we can completely clear the artillery positions in Chang'an City. No matter how bad it is, we can let the people hidden in the city make a surprise attack, and we can still destroy their cannons, so cannons or something, You really don’t have to worry too much about it.”

To be honest, Li Zhen really wanted to blow up Li Zhi's cannon. After all, Li Zhi had used this trick on him. With the lives of a few dead men, it almost paralyzed all the artillery forces in Yegang. If it weren't for the coastal defense fort The ammunition depot exists alone, and I am afraid that Yegang will not be able to support the moment when they send the secret weapon up.Although Li Zhen retaliated against all the participating forces afterwards, the anger in his heart still did not dissipate. After all, Li Zhi, the biggest culprit of that incident, was still sitting in the palace. Now that he has this opportunity, Li Zhenzhen I really want to give him a way to give him back, to give back to him, and to give back to Li Zhi all the depression he has suffered.

Of course, this is just Li Zhen thinking about it in his heart. After all, in his opinion, the cannons in Chang'an City do not belong to Li Zhi at all, but belong to him. Now it is only temporarily in Li Zhi's hands. If he wants to get it back, when he takes Chang'an back, he can't just seize some scrap iron, right?

What's more, the number of cannons in Chang'an City is astonishingly large. Once all of them are destroyed, the money lost will be a lot of money. I have never been stingy, but there are some things that obviously don't need to be destroyed, so why destroy them?It's like he could kill Li Zhi in one fell swoop and end the war as quickly as possible, but because he was worried that doing so would destroy Chang'an City, he canceled this plan.Of course, if he had no other way to deal with Li Zhi, maybe he would choose to destroy all the cannons, but now he obviously has a better way to defeat the enemy, so naturally he doesn't need to use this trick.

"Your Highness is far-sighted, and my subordinates admire it." Seeing Li Zhen's words, Du He canceled his plan in his heart even though he was unwilling.

Seeing this, Li Zhen didn't want to discourage her confidants, so she hurriedly said: "Of course, we still have to accept the opinions of the staff department, but it's not for the purpose of preventing cannons, but to leave enough room for fighting, otherwise once we get too close to the city wall , and Li Zhi chose to fight us with all his strength, the two armies will easily mix together and form a big melee. In this way, our combat effectiveness will not be easy to display, and we may really lose this battle .”

Du He also knew that it was Li Zhen who was stepping down the steps for him, so he quickly responded: "Your Highness's words are reasonable, it seems that the distance of twenty miles is very necessary. Once Li Zhi's army rushes out, our cavalry With enough space to charge, even if Li Zhi sends out all his men, he will definitely not be our opponent."

"Well, let's move on to the next topic..."

"Yes……"

……

On the afternoon of the third day, a large-scale army appeared [-] places away from Chang'an City. Among the flying flags, an extraordinarily huge flag showed the identity of this army—it was Li Zhen, the prince of the Tang Dynasty, and he wanted to come back. Take everything back.

And Chang'an City, which has already received the news, has also implemented martial law. It is not inferior to ordinary people to appear on the street to prevent the spies planted by Li Zhenan in the city from taking the opportunity to make trouble. At the same time, Li Zhi brought all the important officials of the court to the city. Watching the army preparing to set up camp.

"Qi Guan Changhong, my starling is worthy of being a famous general of the Tang Dynasty, and he is really capable." Through the binoculars, Li Zhi saw the difference between Li Zhen's army and his own army, that is discipline.Although Li Zhen's army is camping, it looks quite chaotic, but anyone with a little knowledge of military knowledge can see that this chaos is only superficial, it looks chaotic, but in fact it is chaotic and not scattered. Once there are enemies When an attack comes, they will immediately take up their weapons and organize an orderly array to meet the enemy.

And what about the army here?

Li Zhi looked at his army again. There were tens of thousands of troops standing on the city wall. It looked like that, but he knew very well that these troops were just for show. Once they really confronted the enemy, especially Li Zhen If so, I'm afraid it will collapse immediately.

Of course, it's not that he doesn't have an elite army. After all, almost all of the sixteen guards are in his hands. Those are the real elite soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, but his real elite only accounted for half of his million-dollar army. In addition to the sixteen guards, only the government soldiers drawn from Guanzhong were regarded as elite—however, 50 of the regular army of more than 30 were abducted by Li Zhen.

The remaining less than 50 are recruits he recruited temporarily, and they were assigned to various armies after a little training in a hurry. The reason why he recruited so many troops was also to boost his momentum. Even if the army adds up, it will not exceed 80, and this does not include some troops that must stay behind, so 50 is already the limit. In order to increase his power and give his people confidence, he had no choice but to recruit such troops. Lots of recruits.

So these soldiers look a little elite to outsiders, but insiders can tell at a glance that they are purely a bunch of embroidered pillows, which are not useful, and they can be used as transport soldiers to transport some military supplies and corpses. If they were to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy, they would raise their hands and surrender before the enemy rushed to them.

It's just that what Li Zhi probably didn't expect was that recruits and veterans were mixed together, which was a taboo for military strategists.Of course, it doesn't matter if you do this in normal times. Veterans leading recruits can increase the growth rate of recruits, which is very helpful for recruits to quickly form combat effectiveness.The problem is that it is now a time of war. Mixing recruits and veterans together will not only fail to improve the combat effectiveness of the army, but recruits who lack battlefield experience will also drag down the veterans, resulting in a reduction in the combat effectiveness of the troops. That's what Wahlman did, and as a result, hundreds of thousands of troops were defeated by Li Zhen's 10 troops. Although there is a reason why the young army's combat power is unparalleled, it is not true that his mix of old and new did not affect the combat power of the entire army. possible things.At least if he had separated the recruits from the veterans at the beginning, even if Zhenla was finally defeated, they would not have been defeated so quickly, and they were defeated by Li Zhen with a single charge.You must know that there are tens of thousands of people, not to mention people, even if there are hundreds of thousands of pigs, if Li Zhen's 3 people are to kill them, they will not be able to kill them.

It stands to reason that such a behavior, if there are veterans around, should be able to see this defect, but unfortunately Li Zhi has already put all the veterans under house arrest, causing him to be surrounded by a group of people who are talking about soldiers on paper, let alone commanders. They are in the army, and they haven't even been on the battlefield, so how can they have such a vision?

So at this time, Li Zhi actually has only 20 or less than 30 soldiers in his hands. Fortunately, he controls Chang'an City, and there are a huge amount of cannons and ammunition inside, so there is no need to worry about being defeated by Li Zhen in a battle. , and as long as the news of Dashi and Turkic invasion came, Li Zhen would probably slow down his offensive, and he would have a chance to breathe.

……

Chapter 1252 Soldiers approaching the city (2)

Chapter 2 Eighteen

"Your Majesty, Li Zhen has an envoy here."

Li Zhi was standing on the city wall watching, when he saw an envoy with a banner behind him galloping out of the army on the opposite side on a fast horse, aiming at the city wall.

A general next to him took out a sniper rifle: "Your Majesty, there must be a conspiracy in Li Zhen's dispatch of the envoy. Do you want my subordinates to kill him? Or kill the spirit of Li Zhen's army?"

Li Zhi stretched out his hand and pressed down the sniper rifle: "No need, the two armies meet, if we don't attack, we are enemies, but we still have to abide by the rules of the battlefield. Don't be impatient, I want to see, my starling What the hell are you doing?"

"Yes." The general could only reluctantly put down the gun in his hand, waiting for the messenger to arrive.

The messenger's speed was very fast, and the distance of twenty miles was reached in an instant, but he did not come to the city wall, but stood ten feet away: "Listen, Li Zhi, the hypocrite, I am the messenger of His Highness the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty. The second time I came here just to send a letter of war. If the hypocrite has the courage, he will drive the army out of the city. We will have a decisive battle. If you care about the lives of your soldiers, then open the city gate obediently and tie your hands Surrender, for the sake of brotherhood, my Highness can reward you with a whole body and spare the life of your family, as for your subordinates, as long as the crime is not serious, His Highness will forgive them all, and let the past be forgotten."

After the envoy finished speaking, he opened his big bow and shot up the arrow with the letter tied on it: "Here is the letter of war, and I will take my leave."

"嗖~叮!" The bow and arrow brushed against Li Zhi's cheek dangerously, brought up his broken hair, passed over his head with a scream, and nailed it fiercely to the pillar behind Li Zhi.

"Presumptuous." The general with the gun set up your sniper rifle again.

Li Zhi quickly lowered his gun again, and said slowly: "Forget it, this is Li Zhen deliberately provoking us, if he kills the messenger, wouldn't it just fulfill his wish?"

"But this is too irritating." The general said angrily: "Your Majesty, please let me lead an army of [-] to test Li Zhen's strength?"

Li Zhi refused without even thinking about it: "You don't need to test Li Zhen's strength. I know more about Li Zhen than you. The most important thing for us now is to stick to it. As long as we don't let Li Zhen Breaking through the city is our victory, and when the aristocratic family gathers their strength, then is the time for us to really wrestle with Li Zhen."

Of course, he couldn't just talk about the Western Turks and Dashi, so he had to use family reinforcements instead.

"Yes, I understand. I just wronged you, Your Majesty. I'm afraid I will be humiliated by Li Zhen during this period of time."

"A man should bear the burden of humiliation. For the sake of the final victory, what is a mere insult?" Li Zhi said: "Order, Chang'an is completely sealed off. No one is allowed to leave the city without authorization. Anyone who disobeys the order will be killed. In addition, Niu Man will be sent to take him away." The left leader of the army guard, watch over Xue Rengui tightly, don't let him make trouble at this time..."

"Yes."

Li Zhi looked at the fortified barracks opposite, and murmured to himself: "Brother Huang, I know it's very easy for you to kill me, but once I die, Chang'an City will inevitably fall into chaos. It's also the reason why you didn't make a move, but other than that, how else can you win this war?"

Shaking his head to get rid of the distracting thoughts in his mind, he asked the officials behind him: "My dear friends, now my imperial brother is attacking with 60 tigers and wolves, and it will take some time for our reinforcements to arrive. What do you think we should do?" , so that we can stop my brother's 60 soldiers and support them until our reinforcements arrive?"

A civil servant dressed in a purple official robe with a goose title ribbon, but with a faint look of obscenity between his brows and eyes suddenly came forward and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, I have a way to make the King of Yue withdraw his troops on his own initiative. If we don't retreat, at least it can make him fearful and dare not raise troops in a short time, so as to buy time for our reinforcements to arrive."

"Oh?" Li Zhi raised his eyebrows, and suddenly became interested: "Tell me, if it is feasible, I will naturally reward you a lot."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." The civil official was very pleasantly surprised: "The minister's method is very simple. The King of Yue himself has no weakness, so it is definitely not possible to attack the King of Yue, but we can definitely attack the people around him."

"The people around him?" Li Zhi was thoughtful: "Continue talking."

A hint of ruthlessness flashed in the eyes of the purple-robed official: "Your Majesty, don't forget, we have almost all the old courtiers from the late emperor's period in our hands, and most of Li Zhen's confidantes are second-generation dudes who used to be in Chang'an City. In other words, almost all of their parents and family members are in our hands. If we use their family members to threaten them... Considering the safety of their family members, even if they don't do anything else, at least letting them stand in the neutral camp is absolutely There is no problem. And without the help of his confidantes, even if Li Zhen is talented, he might not be able to control an army of 60. When we send a large army to the battle, he may only be defeated This is the way to escape."

"This is absolutely impossible." Before Li Zhi could express his opinion, another person who was dressed similarly to him stood up and said sharply: "Pei Rengui, you are making His Majesty unrighteous. Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven. To be aboveboard, how can you do something like kidnapping your family and threatening your opponent? If this matter gets out, it will not be good for His Majesty's reputation. Your Majesty, this plan is absolutely impossible, otherwise, even if you buy time, I'm afraid To be criticized or even underestimated by the people of the world is really not worth the loss."

The wretched civil official, that is, Pei Rengui, retorted: "Hmph, since ancient times, people who do big things don't care about small things, but now it's about the battle for the throne. If you fail, you will die and your family will be wiped out. What methods can't be used? Besides, you are worried about this matter." Let’s spread it, so let’s just not spread it? It’s just a threat to one person, do we have to face it? Can’t we send envoys to contact them in private?”

"This..." Even Li Zhi was a little moved, thought for a while and said: "In this case, then I will leave this matter to you. Just in time, isn't Pei Xingjian your nephew? You tell him, even if If he chooses to be neutral, I will give him a good position afterwards. If he chooses to stand on my side, he will also have a share of what I promise to the family... Not only Pei Xingjian, but also Li Zhen's other confidants, And promise them the same."

"Yes, I will definitely do this for His Majesty." Pei Rengui's breath became short of breath. What did Li Zhi promise to the aristocratic family?Isn't it fiefdom?But looking at what he meant now, if Pei Xingjian chose to side with Li Zhi, after winning, not only would the Pei family have his own fief, but he would also give Pei Xingjian an extra fief?In other words, the Pei family will have two fiefdoms... If this is the case, then there is no doubt that the Pei family will jump up, surpass the seven clans and five surnames, and become the number one wealthy family in the Tang Dynasty.And Pei Rengui, who made this happen, will also leave a name in the history of the Pei clan and be admired by all generations of descendants.

Li Zhi asked his surroundings again: "Aside from Pei Aiqing's method, do you Aiqings have any other strategies?"

"Your Majesty, I also have an idea..."

"Your Majesty, I feel that for King Yue, we should..."

"I don't agree with Master Li's thoughts..."

"..."

It's okay if Li Zhi didn't say that. As soon as he opened his mouth, the ministers behind him immediately scratched their heads. After all, Pei Rengui just came up with a plan, and he got such a big promise from Li Zhi. If the rule is adopted, doesn't that mean that it is possible for him to obtain the fief alone?Thinking of this, everyone became restless. In order for Li Zhi to adopt his method, he almost had to incarnate as Zhuge Liang and Jiang Ziya, boasting that his strategy was the best strategy in the world that could stabilize the Tang Dynasty for 1 years. That spit The stars had already sprayed on Li Zhi's face.

Not only are they bragging about their own strategies, but at the same time they belittle the strategies of others. After all, this can reduce competitors, right?And when they hear that their strategy has been belittled, the fief is likely to leave themselves. Of course, the belittled person is not happy, and immediately refute it back... Just like that, after a while, there was a quarrel in the upper and lower gates of the city. There was a pot of porridge, and there was almost a fight-this scene was almost exactly the same as the disputes in the court in the past. As for Li Zhi, he became a supporting role, and he was full of anger and couldn't release it. He could only watch these so-called important ministers helplessly. They have lost all face in front of outsiders.