Boom! Boom! Boom! ”

The sound of war drums outside the city wall of Licheng County is earth-shattering, tens of thousands of Tang soldiers push the cloud ladder, carry the siege ladder, and kill the city wall overwhelmingly, the arrows in the sky are like rain, and they shoot intensively at the Tang soldiers, and the Tang soldiers hold their shields high, run with arrows, and people continue to fall to the ground with arrows.

The 30,000 Biansong army led by Li Mian, the 30,000 imperial court Shence army led by Qu Huan, and the 30,000 Boying army led by Liu Qia, a total of 90,000 troops besieged Qizhou.

And Li Na pretended to accept the will of the Son of Heaven, sent his own stand-in to the imperial court, but 'fell ill' in Luoyang, he took advantage of this time difference to urgently prepare for war, transferred the troops of various states to Qizhou, and transported a large amount of military materials and food to Qizhou, after ten days of emergency transportation, the Ziqing army basically completed the war preparations, Li Na immediately announced that he was the king of Qi and established the state of Qi.

Song Fengchao, the eunuch who presided over the occupation in the Central Plains, suddenly realized, he was annoyed and angry, and ordered an army of 90,000 to attack Qizhou with all his might, and at the cost of casualties, he would take Qizhou within ten days and break Li Na's body into ten thousand pieces.

A number of ladders hooked the battlements, a large number of siege ladders were also erected, the soldiers of the Tang Army bravely climbed up, but the rolling wood and stones on the head of the city fell like hailstones, barrels of fire oil flowed down the ladder, burning rapidly, the Tang Army on the ladder was burned so badly that they screamed, they jumped into the moat to escape, the entire moat became a sea of fire, the Tang Army suffered heavy casualties, in just half a day, the number of casualties exceeded 3,000 people.

Li Mian, the commander of the three armies, couldn't stand it, the enemy's fire oil was too powerful, and if it continued like this, the Tang army would not be able to capture the city with tens of thousands of casualties, so he immediately shouted: "Mingjin withdraws his troops!" ”

'When! While! While! The bell for the withdrawal rang, and the 30,000 besieging Tang troops retreated like a tide.

At this time, Song Chaofeng, the supervising army, rushed over angrily and asked sharply: "Why do you want to withdraw the army?" ”

Li Mian really despised this eunuch in his heart, he didn't understand anything, and he still held the power, at the beginning, everyone said that they couldn't trust Li Na, they couldn't give Li Na time to prepare for the war, and they wanted to immediately surround Qizhou, cut off the food from the states and the army to support Qizhou.

But this Song Chaofeng refused to agree, and wanted to implement the plan of the Son of Heaven, only to find out in the end that he had been deceived, and Li Na had also completed his war preparations, but now he was in a hurry, and he would only lose the lives of the Tang soldiers in vain if he attacked the city at any cost and did not talk about strategy.

Li Mian held back the dissatisfaction in his heart and said: "The rebels are very well prepared, their morale is high, and the fire oil is particularly sharp, and the damage to our siege weapons is too great, if we continue to fight like this, our casualties will soon exceed 10,000, and we will not be able to capture the city." ”

Song Chaofeng shouted in a sharp voice: "How can you fight without dying in a war? There will always be a time when the rebels' fire oil will run out, as long as they can capture the city, even if half of the soldiers die, I think it will be acceptable. ”

Liu Qia next to him couldn't help but say: "Prison army, if half of the brothers die, our morale will collapse, when the enemy army kills out of the city, we will be defeated, the boss is right, the situation is not right, we must immediately stop the battle and stop the loss." ”

Qu Huan, the commander of the Shence Army, also advised: "Now that the morale of the enemy army is high, and 20,000 people can exert the power of 50,000 people, we should besiege the city, gradually wear down the morale of the enemy army, and use time to win the war, this is the wise way." ”

"The person who confesses to the Son of Heaven is our family, not you, I don't care, you will explain to the Son of Heaven yourself!"

Song Chaofeng snorted heavily, turned around and rushed away angrily.

The three of them glanced at each other and shook their heads, if the eunuchs took over the military power, it would be a misfortune for the army.

The three of them were about to discuss the military situation, but Song Chaofeng came in like a whirlwind, and said to Liu Qia: "I just received the order of the Son of Heaven, ordering you to immediately lead the army to Yuzhou to intercept Li Xilie from going north." ”

........

After Li Xilie was knighted by the imperial court, he immediately felt the weakness of the imperial court, and he knew that his opportunity had come.

Li Xilie immediately took the initiative to ask Ying to go north to crusade against Li Na, without waiting for the consent of the imperial court, he led an army of 50,000 to the north of Yuzhou, the soldiers pointed to the hinterland of the Central Plains, after being ordered by the imperial court to retreat, Li Xilie immediately showed a hideous face, proclaimed himself the king of Huai, announced the establishment of Huai, burned and looted all the way, and killed Bianzhou.

At this time, the hinterland of the Central Plains was empty, the Central Plains army was besieging Qizhou, only some state soldiers were left, unable to resist the murderous Huaixi army, the situation in the Central Plains was very critical, Li Shi had to use the flying pigeon to transmit the warrant, and urgently ordered Bo Yingjiedu to make Liu Qia lead the headquarters of 30,000 troops, to intercept Li Xilie's army north.

At the same time, the imperial court sent Longwu general Ge Shuyao to lead 30,000 Shence troops to the Central Plains to cooperate with Liu Qia to suppress Li Xilie's rebellion.

Liu Qia's 30,000 Tang troops retreated westward, which greatly reduced the pressure on Li Na, and he adopted the advice of Wu Shan, a military advisor, to temporarily recruit 20,000 troops in the city, exempt them from paying taxes for ten years, and take advantage of the opportunity of the Tang army to besiege the city and train the soldiers with all his might.

In Hebei, Hedong Jiedu made Ma Sui and Zhaoyijun Jiedu make Li Baozhen join forces to attack Weizhou again, while Wang Wujun led 30,000 troops south to rescue Wei Bo's army, and the four armies broke out in Weizhou again.

Wang Wujun and Tian Yue both asked for the support of the most powerful Zhu Tao, who was extremely treacherous, ostensibly leading the army south, but sent the general Ma Wei to lead 20,000 troops to attack the Yiwu army, swallowing Yizhou, Dingzhou and Hengzhou in one fell swoop.

Yiwu Jiedu made Zhang Xiaozhong lead the army to retreat south in a panic, but was ambushed by the Youzhou cavalry led by Zhu Tao in Shiyi County, Zhang Xiaozhong was defeated, and all 15,000 troops surrendered.

Zhu Tao did not stop, taking advantage of the opportunity of Hedong Jiedu to make Ma Sui lead the main army to fight in Weizhou, he led 30,000 elite troops to go to Jingcheng and slaughtered into Hedong, and the soldiers pointed to Taiyuan Mansion, Taiyuan stayed behind Li Huaiguang to ask the court for help, Ma Sui also had to divide 20,000 troops, and ordered the deputy general Li Sheng to withdraw to Hedong to fight against Zhu Tao.

Hebei and the Central Plains battlefield is in full swing, the war also spread to the east of the river, too anxious, for a time the government and the opposition shook, Taiyuan is the Tang Dynasty Longxing land, was named the northern capital, the strategic location and geographical location is extremely important, there is no room for the slightest loss, for two days, Li Shi convened the important ministers to discuss the rescue of Taiyuan.

But at this moment, news came from Hedong that Li Sheng, the deputy envoy of Hedong Jiedu, led 20,000 Tang troops to win three battles and three victories in Pingcheng County, Yizhou, defeated Zhu Tao's 50,000 Youzhou army, and set up an ambush in the Mouse Bird Valley to annihilate 5,000 Youzhou cavalry, and the general Zheng Jingji only led dozens of cavalry to flee north in panic.

Li Sheng led the army to pursue to the north, using the strategy of striking the east and attacking the west, pretending to pursue the main force of the enemy, but the return army completely annihilated Zhu Tao's 10,000 rear army in Shiai County, Zhu Tao was defeated in five battles, and the grain and grass were lost, so he had to lead the defeated army to fly away and retreat to Hebei in a panic, and the plan to capture Hedong was completely bankrupt.

When the news came, the government and the opposition were jubilant, and Li Shi, the son of heaven, crowned Li Sheng as the envoy of the Longyou Festival and the regular attendant of the left scattered cavalry, and gave him the title of Jincheng County Duke.

At night, Xiangguo Lu Qi appeared in the study of Yuanfu, Yuan Xuanhu took a sip of tea and said: "Zhu Tao rebelled in Youzhou, and the secret letter he wrote to Zhu Zhu was intercepted by Ma Sui, under the current circumstances, it is no longer realistic for Zhu Zhu to continue to serve as the envoy of Jingyuan Jiedu, I have sent someone to send him a letter, so that he can take the initiative to resign from the post of Jingyuan Jiedu, the key is who will take over the post of Jingyuan Jiedu, does Lu Gong have any ideas?" ”

Lu Qi thought for a while and said: "Last month, the imperial court appointed Cui Kuan as the envoy of the Shuofang Jiedu, and the original Jiedu made Hun Yang enter the court and was named the general of Zuojin Wuwei, and it is very likely that the Son of Heaven will let him take over as the envoy of the Jingyuan Jiedu." ”

"No way!"

Yuan Xuanhu shook his head decisively and said: "Hun Xuan's ability is too strong, and he must not be appointed as the envoy of Jingyuan Jiedu." ”

Lu Qi knew that Yuan Xuanhu must have an idea, so he asked, "What does the family master mean?" ”

Yuan Xuanhu said slowly: "It is best to promote Shi Yao Lingyan, the governor of Jingyuan Mansion, to be the envoy of the festival." ”

"Yao Lingyan is a civil official, it is unlikely."

Lu Qi rolled his eyes and said: "It's better to be like this, let Peng Wang Li only lead the Jingyuan Festival envoy, and Yao Lingyan will stay behind, which is very reasonable!" ”

Yuan Xuanhu praised: "This is a good strategy! ”

Lu Qi said again: "It's not enough for me to just say it, I have to let the people around me blow the wind, the Son of Heaven trusts the internal officials more, does the head of the family understand what I mean?" ”

"Xiangguo, please rest assured, I have already arranged it, not only that, but it is a safe way to make Hun Ying unable to serve."

Lu Qi was startled, and hurriedly said: "Zhang Yi died violently, the Son of Heaven is already suspicious, and he can't let the minister die unexpectedly." ”

Yuan Xuanhu smiled, "Don't worry! I've got my own measure. ”

..........

Lu Qi said goodbye and left, at this time, Li Man, who was hiding in the back room and eavesdropping, came out, she sneered and said: "The head of the family has his own measure, won't he let me work hard again!" ”

Yuan Xuanhu said unhurriedly: "Since I invited you here, I naturally hope that you can contribute, I don't want you to kill him, as long as he is injured or sick, this little thing can't be done?" ”

Li Man sat down and said: "I have done a lot of things for you, but there is no benefit, the head of the family is willing to throw 500,000 yuan on Zhu Zhu, why is he not pulling out a dime for me?" ”

"You are a child of the Yuan family......."

Without waiting for Yuan Xuanhu to finish speaking, Li Man waved his hand to stop him, "You know I'm not!" ”

Yuan Xuanhu smiled bitterly and said: "Your father is also the deputy head of the Yuan family, he was expelled from the family and had no choice but to sacrifice every year, and he still has his spiritual position, why don't you want to be a disciple of the Yuan family?" ”

"Don't say these meaningless, show some sincerity!"

Yuan Xuanhu looked at her for a moment and said, "I don't think money is rare for you, so what do you want?" ”

Li Man smiled slightly: "I heard Master say that the Yuan Mansion has a collection of divine weapons. ”

"You mean Zhan Lu Jian?"

Li Man nodded, "This is the sincerity I want." ”

Zhan Lu Sword has been collected by the Yuan family for hundreds of years, Yuan Xuanhu is really a little reluctant in his heart, he pondered for a long time, and finally agreed, "I can give it to you." ”