Chapter 3502: Deadlock
Hearing that the Right Guards showed great power and beat the combined forces of the Left Guards and the Imperial Army to the point where they lost their armor and were running like wolves, Li Chengqian couldn't help but clasped his hands in admiration and let out a long breath.
It's not that his city is insufficient, and his mood and anger are reflected in his colors. It's really that the strategic position of Xuanwu Sect is too important, and there is absolutely no room for any mistakes.
He was young and didn't feel deeply about the changes in the Xuanwu Sect in the ninth year of Wude. In recent years, few people dared to talk about the past events. However, occasionally someone talked about it, which made Li Chengqian aware of that past event. It was very detailed, and he knew that his father was captured by the Xuanwu Sect, and that was how he gradually ascended to the throne of the emperor.
Nowadays, those rebellious ministers and traitors hope to copy the footsteps of his father. How can they not frighten him?
Fortunately, Youtunwei is not only loyal to him, but also powerful in combat, enough to defend Qian Kun!
At the same time, gratitude to Fang Jun naturally surged in my heart. Half of the Youtun Guards followed Fang Jun out to control Hexi and thwarted Tuyuhun's raid. Then they traveled thousands of miles to the Western Regions to fight bloody battles with the cannibals. The other half stayed in the capital to defend the Xuanwu Gate for themselves... No matter for the empire, it was also Or for Li Chengqian and Fang Jun, what they did was the most benevolent and righteous.
Sighing out a breath, Li Chengqian calmed down and said to Li Jun: "The right guard is unparalleled in loyalty and righteousness and can be called a model in the world. How can I be stingy with rewards? When the left guard is defeated, why not let General Li join forces with Jiang Xia? The prince and the county went out of the Xuanwu Gate together to praise and reward the orphan. "
Li Junxian is the commander-in-chief of the "Hundred Cavalry Division" and represents the imperial power; Li Daozong, the king of Jiangxia County, is not only the Minister of Rites, but also the most famous general in the clan besides Li Xiaogong, and a staunch supporter of the East Palace. For these two people to come forward to appease and reward Li Chengqian is enough to show Li Chengqian's attention and concern.
Li Junxian nodded and said: "This is an honor for the general. I will contact the King of Jiangxia County later to work together."
At this point, there was a pause.
Li Chengqian saw that he was hesitant to speak, so he asked: "The general is my father's confidant, and I have great trust in him. If you have anything to say, you might as well speak up."
Li Junxian then said: "How does His Highness plan to deal with Changsun Chong?"
Li Chengqian was silent, thought for a while, and asked: "General, what advice do you have?"
Li Junxian said: "Chang Sun Chong is a rebellious minister, and there are still documents of sea arrest that have not been revoked. Although His Majesty once promised that he could return to Chang'an after serving his crime, but he has not completed his mission. Now he is hiding secretly. Returned to Chang'an and instigated various families in Guanlong to carry out mutiny. It is hard to atone for his crime by causing trouble to Chao Gang! How about summoning Changsun Wuji, and if he can lead his troops to retreat and eliminate the rebellion, he will release Changsun Chong and return to his home. Otherwise, he will be pushed to the Zhuque Gate. , show your head to others as a warning!”
Li Chengqian remained silent.
Everyone knows that these years have been bad for the Sun family. Their legitimate sons have been brutally killed one after another. The remaining few are really embarrassed. Otherwise, Changsun Wuji may not have carried out such treacherous and unethical actions as a military remonstrance in an attempt to continue the legacy of the Changsun family. Prosperity and wealth.
If you have an outstanding son, you can slowly train him and directly enter the central government to take charge of power in the future. Why take such a desperate risk?
Changsun Chong is Changsun Wuji's most valued son. If he can save his life, Changsun Wuji may not consider ending this mutiny.
Otherwise, if he forces Changsun Chong to death with his own hands, it will not only lead to further divisions within the Changsun family, but will even cause the Guanlong family to complain that Changsun Wuji is cold-blooded and ruthless, and then become alienated...
But Li Chengqian understood that Li Junxian's intention was not to threaten his eldest son Wuji with retreating because of his eldest grandson. Now that the matter had come to this, how could his eldest grandson Wuji retreat if he wanted to? It was just that Chang Sun Chong was publicly executed to death by such means, which severely damaged the morale of the Guanlong rebels.
After pondering for a long time, Li Chengqian slowly shook his head and sighed softly: "Although Changsun Chong was treasonous, worthy of death, and even failed his father, after all, he and Gu grew up together since childhood, and they were once brothers and sisters. Now that's the time. Today, I will definitely not ignore the national law and exonerate him for personal reasons, but I can't bear to push his head on the Suzaku Gate and let him be kept until the overall situation is decided."
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Li Junxian was helpless. His Highness had been stubborn and paranoid in the past few years and had done many ridiculous things. Everyone thought that he was violent and unworthy of a human being, and there were many slanders. His Majesty's desire to be easy to save became even more determined. However, in the past few years, he has gradually secured his position as the crown prince, but his character has become gentle and forgiving, as if in completely opposite directions. I really don’t know which one is his original character, but if he stays like this, he is more suitable to be an emperor. ……
"I will obey my orders!"
Li Jun nodded his head in admiration and saw that Li Chengqian had no explanation, so he stood up and left. Li Chengqian sent two servants to follow him.
Arriving at the Tai Chi Hall, Li Daozong, Ma Zhou and others were still gathered in the hall, discussing and making decisions based on the news gathered from all parties. However, Xiao Yu was a little tired and went to rest in the duty room of Sherenyuan outside Yanming Gate on one side. Li Junxian stepped forward and explained Li Chengqian's intention to Li Daozong in detail.
When Li Daozong saw that there were servants from the East Palace following him, he was naturally not surprised. However, the war at Xuanwu Gate was not over yet, so he asked several servants to go to Wang De, the chief servant, to collect money, cloth and other rewards from the palace treasury.
Although the rebels besieging the imperial city continued to attack, the Sixth Army of the East Palace had already taken precautions, and the situation was not too bad. One side was heavily besieged and attacked fiercely, but was helpless against the strong imperial city; the other side was well-defended, but had too few troops to launch a counterattack... The battle situation was so tense and stalemate.
Li Daozong sighed softly, took a sip of strong tea to refresh himself, and whispered: "If the Xuanwu Gate is not lost and the firearms in the foundry are not seized by the rebels and used to attack the city, then this stalemate is likely to continue. Unless there are sudden changes on both sides.”
Although Ma Zhou was a civil servant, he also had some knowledge of military affairs. He nodded and said: "The Youtun Guards have defeated King Jing, Chai Zhewei and others' disobedience. It depends on whether the foundry bureau can hold on. However, the challenges faced by the two The situation is completely different. I am afraid that it will be difficult for the Foundry Bureau to hold on. Once the rebels get a large amount of gunpowder from the Foundry Bureau and use it to blow up the city wall, the situation will take a turn for the worse. "
The biggest danger before was the Xuanwu Gate, but with the power of Youtunwei, the biggest danger is now impregnable, so the most worrying thing is the Foundry Bureau. After all, there were no regular troops stationed in the foundry, and Xu Jingzong, who rushed to the rescue, was not familiar with military matters. Although each of the more than a thousand students was an outstanding person, they had limited experience after all. They faced several times, even ten times or dozens of times of rebellion. The army besieged it, and it was really unknown whether it could be captured.
Once a large number of gunpowder firearms in the Foundry Bureau's warehouse were seized by the rebels, the imperial city would face a baptism of blood and fire.
If the solid city wall is collapsed by gunpowder and the rebels swarm in, with the strength of Dong Gong Liu, the battle situation will be reversed in an instant...
Li Daozong said helplessly: "Right now, the rebels are besieging the imperial city. The six leaders of the East Palace can barely keep the gates intact. This is already the limit. There is no way to break out and rescue the foundry. We can only rely on the efforts of the students in the academy and let fate happen. .”
The reason why the current dangerous situation is caused is that the previous prediction of the situation was insufficient. After successively capturing Chang Sun Chong alive and placing Marquis Mo Chen Qianhui under house arrest, it was thought that Guanlong was leaderless and the rebellion was bound to run aground and would be unsustainable.
But he didn't expect that Changsun Wuji had already sneaked back to Guanzhong and was secretly presiding over everything.
Now that I think about it, Changsun Chong and Hou Mo and Chen Qianhui were probably chess pieces thrown by Changsun Wuji to paralyze the East Palace. After the East Palace became careless, they suddenly launched a mutiny...
*****
Just when the officials of the East Palace were worried about the safety of the Foundry Bureau, the Foundry Bureau was being besieged by more than 10,000 rebels.
Since dawn, several more rebel groups have come for reinforcements and continue to besiege the Foundry. The naval guns that were originally powerful in destroying and deterring the rebels besieging the Foundry also gradually went out.
General Xin Mao led the academy students to launch ships in Kunming Pool to bombard the rebels with artillery. The initial effect was indeed very good, causing great damage to the rebels. However, the battle in the Imperial City gradually came to a stalemate, which made the rebel general realize that it would be extremely difficult to break through the Imperial City with the strength of the rebels alone without the participation of external forces, so he set his sights entirely on the Foundry Bureau.
As long as the gunpowder in the foundry bureau's warehouse was seized and used to blow up the walls of the imperial city, victory would be within easy reach, so more and more troops were sent to besiege.
The ships on Kunming Pond were usually only used for training, and the training on the ice-covered water surface had already stopped, so there were not many shells prepared. The bombardment continued for two hours. During this period, thunderbolts were used to blast the ice on the water surface to prevent the rebels from attacking the ship after the water surface was frozen, which would consume a lot of ammunition.
Under the violent attack of the rebels regardless of casualties, Xin Mao will realize that something is wrong. If he continues to fight, he will be completely defeated when he runs out of gunpowder and thunder. (End of chapter)