Emperor Anping returned to Beijing and immediately held a grand ceremony to tell the temple.

The emperor was dressed in grand robes, accompanied by Li Xiao, the king of the Tang Dynasty, and bowed three times and nine bows in the Taimiao, paying homage to his ancestors, of course, especially to the Chongzhen Emperor who died tragically under the sword of Liukou.

When bowing, the emperor remembered the past, and couldn't help but cry, sighing and crying, and the courtiers also wept with emotion and secretly felt sad.

Among these people, Li Xiao's mood is the most complicated.

Four years have flown by, and finally recaptured the Beijing master stolen by Li Zicheng, and also sued the Taimiao, and paid tribute to the ancestors and ancestors, which is extremely exciting, but his own situation is becoming more and more delicate.

Speaking of which, the current self is the real ruler of the Ming Empire, the ten-year-old Emperor Anping, but he is just a little puppet.

Perhaps, in the near future, this emperor who has returned to the heart of the world will be taken over by himself......

Next, the puppet-like Emperor Anping ordered to add nine tins to Li Xiao, the number one hero of the Ming Dynasty and the Heavenly Giant Pillar.

Jiuxi (Tong "Ci") is the ancient Chinese emperor to give princes, ministers and special honors of nine kinds of ritual vessels, is the highest courtesy.

The nine kinds of special gifts are: chariots and horses, clothes, Lexian, Zhuhu, Nama, tiger ben, axes, bows and arrows, and bamboo mustaches.

A chariot and horse. refers to the golden chariot chariot, and the military chariot; Xuanmu two horses, that is, eight black horses. Those whose virtues are feasible are given chariots and horses.

Second, it is called clothes. Refers to the crown of the clothes, plus a matching pair of baregar. He who can reassure the people will give it.

Three are said to be in Le County. Designated tone and tuning equipment. and to the people and those who rejoice. Also known as "happy hanging".

Fourth, it is called Zhu Hu. Refers to the red-lacquered gate. The people give it to those who have a large number.

Five, Na Ma. There are two ways to say this. The first is the special chiseled majesty level when ascending the palace, so that the ascender does not show his body, and he is still a special passage for VIPs. The second is the wooden staircase with a lower staircase, so that the climb is not too steep, both of which are not very specific. Those who can enter the good will be given His Majesty.

Sixth, it is said to be a tiger. There were a number of Tiger Ben guards of the army guarding the gate, or three hundred; It also refers to the weapons held by the tiger guards, halberds, and the like. Those who can repel evil will give the tiger a wolf.

Seven are bows and arrows. Tong bow arrows hundred, Xuan bow arrows thousand. Refers to special red and black bows and arrows, which can be given by the unjust.

Eight called axes. It is given to the guilty who can punish them.

Nine said Ji Hu. It refers to the fragrant wine used for ceremonies, made from rare black millet and tulip. Filial piety is given by those who prepare it.

Historically, Cao Cao received the "Nine Tin" given by Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, and originally, these items were all honorable things given by the emperor to the ministers. The problem is that the so-called "nine tins", such as Wang Mang, Cao Cao, Sun Quan, and Sima Zhao, have all accepted it; Later, the founding emperors of the Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen dynasties to the Sui and Tang dynasties all received "nine tin", so "nine tin" became synonymous with usurpation.

In front of everyone's eyes, Li Xiao accepted this gift from the Son of Heaven expressionlessly.

The last time Emperor Anping ascended the throne, he wanted to give Li Xiao Jiuxi, but he finally refused. But this time, after pretending to give in, Li Xiao finally accepted.

Perhaps, only he knows how heavy this gift and reward is, and what it means.

It's time to come, it's always coming.

Of course, Li Xiao is not in a hurry to take this step before he completely cleans up Li Zicheng.

After all, it is the best thing to wait until the whole country is unified and the entire land of China is under its own complete control, and then ascend the throne and become the emperor.

Therefore, after the sacrifice to the Taimiao, Li Xiao immediately ordered the soldiers and horses and the servant army in the country to go west with all their strength to attack Li Zicheng, who was cowering in Shaanxi.

The soldiers and horses attacking Li Zicheng were divided into two routes, one route marched to western Henan, and attacked Tongguan with all their might, preparing to attack Li Zicheng's old nest Xi'an after capturing Tongguan.

On the other hand, they set out from Xuanfu West Road and attacked northern Shaanxi with all their might, preparing to crush the forces of huge stones and destroy Li Zicheng.

Li Xiao's order was immediately issued, as many as more than 400,000 soldiers and horses, the soldiers were divided into two routes, and the mighty westward march was like two heavy hammers, attacking Li Zicheng's Dashun Kingdom with a boulder pressing an egg.

In fact, these two routes of soldiers and horses also have their own emphasis, that is, the North Route Army that set off from Xuanfu West Road in the north is mainly cavalry, supplemented by infantry, and a small number of artillery units. The number of cavalry and infantry in the soldiers and horses starting from the west was much smaller than that of the Northern Route Army, and more of its soldiers and horses were heavy artillery troops.

The reason for this configuration is actually very simple, that is, Tongguan is in the natural danger and is extremely difficult to overcome, so Li Xiao had to mobilize a large number of artillery troops to blast away this first day of danger in Shaanxi.

In real history, Li Zicheng relied on the defenders of Tongguan to defend for a month, and the Qing army did not have to attack, which made the Qing army's main general Duoduo so irritable, and finally after transporting a large number of Hongyi cannons, he was able to successfully blast open the city wall and capture Tongguan.

After all, the heavy artillery of the Tang Army, both in number and power, far surpassed the Hongyi artillery of this era, of course, it was necessary to take advantage of Li Zicheng's soldiers and horses stationed in it, a more ferocious and cruel blow.

Ten days later, nearly 200,000 soldiers and horses of the Western Route Army, under the command of Tian Wei, the first town of the Tang Army, came all the way to Tongguan.

Tongguan West Bohua Mountain, south of Qinling, east of Taolin, west of the Yellow River, Weishui, Luoshui three major rivers of the confluence, for Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan three provinces junction, stacked valleys deep cliffs, lofty mountains and mountains, in the middle of a sheep intestine road, only allow one car and one horse, has always been the United States for the three Qin lock key four towns throat, is since the Qin and Han dynasties to descend China's first dangerous pass, in front of this pass, even if you have thousands of troops and horses, it is difficult to threaten the safety of this Xiongguan pass.

In addition to the towering city wall, there are enemy towers and pavilions, there are twelve cities and three city towers in Guannan, the mountain and the city wall are connected together, Guanbei is a steep valley, the water of the Yellow River rushes next to it, although the water is dry in the middle of winter, because it is the junction of three waters, the water potential is still not small, want to cross the river in this vicinity, it is impossible at all.

At this time, the dawn first appeared, Tian Wei, the commander of the Tang Army, looked at this Xiongguan Pass in the lofty mountains, and there was an indescribable pride that rushed straight to his chest, looking around, they were all Tang Army soldiers in red robes and armor, the array was neat, the swords and guns in their hands were clear, and the cold light was dazzling.

Historically, An Lushan broke the Tong Pass, and the beautiful woman broke the Tong Pass, but the defenders in the pass crossed first, if the two armies really faced each other, and forcibly broke through the pass in such a terrain, it was really no different from sending them to death.

When he was excited, he heard the civil servant beside him stroked his beard again, and chanted in a loud voice: "When the guest travels in the rain, rest in the Jinlou." The mountain is strong and the three are shut, and the door is closed and Kyushu. The river goes from Shaanxi Road, and the river flows around Huayin. Towards the late arrival, the wind and smoke are sad. ”

Tian Wei was excited, and immediately ordered that all the officers and men of the army should resign from their hard work and immediately line up, and the more than 600 heavy artillery pieces among the generals were all laid out on the road, placed in a column of 100 guns, and bombarded Tongguan.

He knew that such an incomparably strong city wall as Tongguan could be destroyed by a single bombardment, and it was very likely that it would take several bombardments, or even several days of continuous attack, to achieve victory, so he put up this formation, hoping to take advantage of the continuous bombardment to take Tongguan in one fell swoop.

On the fifth day of the third month of the third year of Anping, the largest siege battle of the Tang Army since its establishment officially began.

The morning sun surged, the sky was bright, the loud swan horn sounded loudly, and the Tang army finally began to attack Tongguan.

Hearing the siege horn from outside the city, the defender of Tongguan City, who was still hungover, woke up from his sleep in an instant.

Li Guo rubbed his swollen eyes, and his heart was shocked and suspicious, how could he be so dignified, why did this siege alarm sound? Could it be that today the Tang army began to attack the city?

It's just that this Tongguan City, the soldiers are solid and well-prepared, and those Tang troops want to attack the city, how can it be so easy.

At this moment, the door slammed open, and a panting soldier ran in quickly.

"Why are you so rude, trespassing without reporting first, it's really getting more and more unruly. By the way, why is the alarm going off outside?! Li Guo frowned, and shouted loudly at the little soldier who reported the news.

"General, it's a big deal, it's a big deal!" The little soldier replied with a frightened and panting face: "The city, there is a large number of Tang troops outside the city, pushing nearly 200 cannons, towards the south gate of my Tongguan City, shouting all the way to attack!" ”

Xiao Bing's words were like a scoop of cold water, pouring down from Li Guo's head, and he stood up from the head of the bed, his eyes widened. The two eyes, which were blood-red from the stimulation of alcohol, were full of expressions of shock and disbelief.

No way?!

Does the Tang army really have the guts and courage to attack my Tongguan Jiancheng?!

"Let's go! Take Ben to see it! ”

"Yes!"

Li Guo, who came to the head of the east gate of Tongguan City, followed the direction of the small soldier's arm and pointed to see in horror that in the east of Tongguan City, from the densely surrounded Tang army array, a total of as many as 100 heavy artillery pieces of the same size were launched, lined up in a straight line, and slowly pushed forward together. These heavy cannons that move forward silently, shining faintly silver in the reflection of the morning sun.

A hundred steel heavy dragon bombardment guns shining with silver gray light were slowly pushed by the Tang gunners to a kilometer outside the east gate of Tongguan. Next, the Don gunners began to fix the gun mounts, adjust the angle of fire, reload gunpowder and shells, and soon made preparations for battle.

These 100 heavy dragon guns, lined up along the east city wall of Tongguan City, majestic and majestic, the muzzle of the black hole, straight towards the opposite Tongguan city wall, its dignified momentum, so that the enemy troops defending the city, frightened to begin to weaken their legs.

Good guys, these cannons look so terrifying, you can imagine how powerful they will be when they are fired.

The main general, Li Guo, has seen such a terrible cannon in Henan, and his face is also brushed with cold sweat.

At this time, at the head of Tongguan City, there were many young men and women who were drawn from the people and came to participate in the defense of the city. For these people, it was the first time in their lives to see such a strange and huge cannon, and their faces were not only afraid and worried, but also inexplicably excited and curious.

They chattered in a low voice, unaware that these heavy cannons with huge black muzzles would be the best tools for them to ascend to heaven for free.

Seeing the Tang army coming with artillery so proudly, Li Guo, the chief general who had experienced a hundred battles, almost intuitively felt that if the Tang army was allowed to attack the city like this, it would definitely cause extremely terrible damage and blows to the walls of Tongguan City, and such a result must be prevented before the Tang army began to attack the city.

Li Guo quickly thought about it, and shouted at these soldiers and young men who were defending the city: "Everyone, panic! In my Tongguan City, there are enough soldiers and horses, and the defense is thorough, the Tang army wants to capture this Tongguan City, I am afraid that he does not have such a good mouth! In addition, there are still 2,000 cavalry in our city, and when these Tang artillery is approaching, our army can send cavalry to kill them out of the city, catch them by surprise, and make their artillery a pile of useless scrap metal! “

As soon as Li Guo's words came out, the soldiers at the head of the city were greatly encouraged, and the people's hearts were much calmer, and the degree of panic was much less.

It's just that although Li Guo said this, he didn't have a bottom in his heart.

Will these Tang army artillery really be wiped out so easily by the cavalry who sneaked out of the city, and will the Tang army commander really guard against such negligence? Could it be just wishful thinking?

Li Guo was forced to be calm on the surface, but he couldn't help but sigh quietly in his heart.

Do your best, let it be the fate of heaven.

Li Guochang took a long breath and quickly began to make battle arrangements, he ordered that the 4,000 cavalry in the whole city wait at the east gate, wait for the Tang army's artillery to get closer, and then go out of the city to raid, and this east city wall is also guarded by him with elite soldiers.

To his surprise, the artillery of the Tang Army, which was slowly advancing, all stopped when they were eight hundred steps away from the east gate of Tongguan City. Then these Don gunners were extremely skilled in loading the fixed gunpowder on the spot, measuring the spacing with a gun gauge, adjusting the angle of fire, and began to prepare for firing.

Li Guo's eyes widened suddenly.

In fact, he knew that the accurate firing range of the Tang army's artillery could actually reach 1,000 steps, and the reason why it was 200 steps ahead of it now should be because considering the Tongguan City, compared with the surrounding terrain, the bottom of the city wall was specially heightened, so the Tang gunners had to consider the elevation angle and projectile degree, and the Tang army would further advance these artillery distances in order to more effectively defeat the city wall.

The Tang army is about to open fire, this, what should I do?

Just when Li Guo was suspicious, at this time, they heard faint shouts from a distance in the Tang army's array.

"Ready!"

"Put!"

Li Guo saw from a distance that in front of the Tang Army's artillery array, a person who looked like an officer was holding a red flag in his hand and waved it down vigorously. At the same time, he shouted violently, and 100 steel heavy dragon bombers with a huge caliber and 32 catties of shells fired at once.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

……

In the continuous sound of huge cannons that broke the eardrums, the muzzles of 100 heavy dragon bombardment guns immediately floated crimson afterburners, flashing dazzling golden fire, and in the dense billowing white smoke, 100 huge black iron bullets weighing 32 pounds, with the howling sound of death, slammed into the eastern wall of Tongguan City.

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