Unparalleled Concubine

Speaking of this, the emperor remembered something, and his brows frowned even deeper.

"Mr. Gongyang has been out of town for so long, but he hasn't come back..."

Chong Xuantong knelt on the ground, kowtowed, and said, "Your Majesty, since gunpowder can be ignited and exploded at the touch of a button, what I mean is that we can send a surprise soldier out of the city, find the Southwest Army's firearms depot, and set it on fire..."

Now that the craftsmen in the capital had produced the sky thunder, it was not surprising that a general like Zhong Xuantong was no stranger to the nature of gunpowder, so he came up with a way to deal with it.

The Son of Heaven shook his head slightly, and said shyly, "The old general should know that my teacher is an extremely cautious person."

"Now it is Li Shuo of the Southwest Army who is attacking the city under the capital, and the soldiers led by the Ningzhou Army in the Southwest Army. Call it once, even if we destroy their firearms, it will only destroy their firearms for a day or two, and it will not be of much use."

Having said that, the Son of Heaven looked at Zhong Xuantong and sighed slowly.

"Old general, stick to what I want. If the city wall is damaged, I will ask the Ministry of Industry to repair it overnight. For the people in Beijing, I will let the Jingzhao Mansion go to appease the old general. Just take the forbidden army and stick to it. .”

Zhong Xuantong lowered his head and smiled wryly.

"Your Majesty, if you keep on guarding, the Imperial Army's spirit may be dissipated..."

The emperor still stubbornly shook his head, he stepped down from the throne, and personally helped the old general up from the ground, his gaze was firm.

"Old general, give me some more time..."

Chapter 1077

At this time, Emperor Yuanzhao was completely focused on firearms, even to the point of being a demon. As the Ninth Five-Year Lord, he spent at least one or two hours a day in the general prison, because the general prison Insufficient manpower, he also mobilized nearly a thousand craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry to work day and night to make the Tianlei developed by the supervisor.

Nowadays, it is too late to produce the kind of sky thunder that can be used by catapults in the southwest. What the court can do is to make as many sky thunder as possible, the better , so that even if it is impossible to attack the city, it can be guaranteed that the guards in the capital will be impenetrable.

After all, when Tianlei was first created, it was shining brightly when guarding Hanzhou City. Dozens and hundreds of Tianlei were thrown from the city wall, and the enemy would immediately lay down a large area, which was like boiling oil like gold juice. The effect is much better.

In order to ensure the prison's safety, the emperor also dispatched all the Qianniu guards among the three forbidden guards to the vicinity of the prison to protect the prison's safety.

Logically speaking, if the capital has a large number of sky thunders, the Southwest Army will not be able to break through the capital anyway if the number of people is insufficient. However, it was only at the end of last year that the imperial court roughly figured out what materials are needed to make gunpowder. , and added some materials that were not needed originally, which led to the fact that the reserves of gunpowder materials in the capital were not particularly large.

It is true that the Southwest Army is not strong enough to encircle the capital. It can only block the west gate of the capital. The other three sides of the capital, especially the east gate, can still enter and leave. Entering Beijing, whether it is to transport materials for gunpowder or necessities such as food, they will definitely be discovered by the Southwest Army. Unless the Forbidden Army is willing to send troops to guard these cavalry, otherwise the materials will definitely not be sent in.

Moreover, the imperial court's sky thunder is weaker than the southwest sky thunder. It is still unknown who can support the two sides to the end.

After bombarding the capital for three days, Li Shuo's Ningzhou army finally stopped for a day. On the fourth day, the Ningzhou army rested in place and stopped sending catapults to bombard the city wall.

At the same time, the old minister, Gong Yangshu, also returned to the capital from Luzhou, and entered the capital through the scarred west gate.

When the old man passed by the west city wall, he glanced at the scarred city wall and sighed slightly.

When Ye Lin went out of the city to meet Li Xin, he was sneaky, but Gongyang Shu was the "messenger" sent by the court. When he returned to Beijing, he was immediately taken into the imperial city. The prime ministers are all in the side hall of Weiyang Palace, waiting for this hard-working old man.

After the old Prime Minister entered the side hall, he bowed to the emperor and said, "I have seen Your Majesty."

Emperor Yuanzhao was not wearing the emperor's clothes at the moment, but just wearing ordinary white clothes. He walked down the steps himself, helped Gongyang Shu up, and took a deep breath: "Old Xiangguo, you and the Southwest Army, talk How is it?"

The Great Jin Dynasty, which had been strong for decades, was beaten to the capital by the enemy. Hundreds of thousands of forbidden troops in the capital could not hold on. During the three days of being bombarded indiscriminately, all kinds of pressure were on the head of Emperor Yuanzhao. He is a young man in his early 20s. On the surface, although he is trying to maintain the image of a calm emperor, how can he not panic in his heart?

He was not only afraid, he was even scared to death.

Because what he was facing was Li Xin, his own teacher, and the invincible Lord Jing'an of the Jin Dynasty!

When he was only three or four years old, Li Xin assisted Emperor Taikang to complete the Renchen Palace Change. Since then, he, the crown prince, has grown up listening to Li Xin's stories. The time spent in the palace was almost comparable to the time spent in the East Palace. Li Xin's image in his heart was extremely high.

Even after he became the emperor, he was still a little afraid of Li Xin.

After the change of Shen Yan, several assistant ministers left the court one after another, and Li Xin himself left the capital and returned to Yongzhou. Emperor Yuanzhao gradually grasped the core power of the Imperial Guards in Gyeonggi and the imperial court, and felt that his own strength had already After far surpassing the teacher Li Xin, I slowly let go of some awe.

But now, with the nearly invincible attitude of the Southwest Army, it severely shattered the confidence in the young emperor's heart, and even made him afraid to face the reality that the Southwest Army soldiers were approaching the city. He could only bury his head in the prison Only by putting on the prisoner's firearm can I barely feel at ease.

At this time, he really wanted Ram Shu to bring back some good news.

Gongyang Shu first looked at the ministers around him, then at the emperor, and shook his head slightly: "Your Majesty, the conditions proposed by Marquis Li are too harsh, so don't mention them, what I mean is that the court is still actively preparing for the war." Well, we can't talk anymore."

The Son of Heaven also looked left and right, and said to the other ministers: "I will avoid you for the time being, and I will talk to the old Xiangguo."

After the prime ministers left, there were only two people left in the side hall, one old and one young. The emperor looked at Gongyang Shu with a hoarse voice.

"I... can abdicate."

The thin lips of Emperor Yuanzhao trembled a little, and his voice was low: "Master Li can't understand me as an emperor, I can... take the sixth younger brother into the capital and give him the place. He is my younger brother. It doesn't matter which of our brothers takes this position."

Having said that, the emperor took a deep breath.

"As long as the Southwest Army withdraws, I will immediately issue an edict to abdicate. At the same time, the court will not pursue any responsibility for the Southwest Army. What title Li Shi had in the court before, and what title he will have in the future... I can take the last step and recognize the Southwest Army. Li Guo..."

It is already a great disgrace to the Jin Dynasty to be "soldiers approaching the city" by the rebels. If the rebels are forced to abdicate, it will be an even greater shame. But right now, Emperor Yuanzhao has no other way to go. He was not sure about dealing with the Southwest Army...or he, Li Yan, was not sure about dealing with his teacher.

He's... scared.

Gongyang Shu shook his head and smiled wryly: "Master Li insisted that the Southwest Army enter the capital, otherwise he would not agree to withdraw the troops. The veteran told him that it is absolutely impossible to let the Southwest Army enter the capital. hands, the imperial court will definitely not compromise."

Speaking of this, the old man raised his head to look at the Son of Heaven, and said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, what kind of a hero was Emperor Wu when he conquered the north? How could he lose the glory of Emperor Wu after only three or four generations? The entry of the Southwest Army into Beijing is no different from a frontal defeat, so let's just fight them to the end, the worst is just the entry of the Southwest Army into Beijing!"

The emperor turned around and returned to his seat. After sitting down, he said in a dejected voice, "Can the Imperial Army really win against the Southwest Army?"

"Li... Believe him, since he was 17 years old, he has never lost a battle or suffered a loss. He has been in the capital for more than ten years and has been in charge of the Imperial Army. He knows better than anyone what the capital looks like. But even so, he still brought troops to attack the capital."

He lowered his head and muttered to himself: "First it was the sky thunder, then the catapult, and then the iron pipe that can hurt people. No one knows how many things he has hidden..."

"I……"

The 21-year-old emperor, sitting on his dragon couch, trembled slightly because of fear.

He has some regrets in his heart now.

If in the first year of Yuanzhao, when Li Xin requested to depose his assistant minister and ask him to take charge earlier, he had completely sided with Li Xin, the current situation might not be like this.

At least it won't be this bad.

But now, he couldn't handle the situation anymore, he even thought of his father who had been dead for more than five years.

Gongyang Shu saw this scene, shook his head slightly, and sighed: "Your Majesty, don't panic,"

Chapter 1078

Gongyang Shu had a secret conversation with the emperor for an entire hour before the old man slowly walked out of Weiyang Palace, but after he left Weiyang Palace, he did not leave the siege immediately, but went to Kunde Palace to meet Empress Dowager Xie one side.

After all, although the Southwest Army is rebelling now, the name of the Southwest Army is the Sixth Prince, which means that it is the two sons of the Empress Dowager Xie who are fighting for the world. Even if she, the Empress Dowager, does not intervene, she must know about it.

When Gongyang Shu returned to Beijing, Li Xin, who was originally in Luzhou in the rear, also quietly came to the front line to fight with the Ningzhou Army, and temporarily took over the command of the Ningzhou Army.

Originally, it was impossible for the Ningzhou Army to take down the capital by itself. It was still possible for General Li Xin to coordinate the overall situation and use the strength of the entire Southwest to take down the capital.