At the foot of the Nine Mountains.

The sound of fighting shook the ground overnight, and on the narrow mountain roads, the Southern Expeditionary Army followed one after another. Under the banner of the Red Tang Army, the offensive continued.

"Marshal, it's too difficult to attack, and the soldiers have suffered heavy casualties."

Under the mountain, under the big river, Li Shiji's face was ugly.

He coldly spat out a word.

"Keep attacking!"

The horn sounded again, and the already exhausted soldier barely mustered up and continued to shout and charge.

The drumming was already a little sluggish, and the drummer's arms were sore and swollen.

Li Ji strode over, took off his armor, and snatched the drumstick.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

The drums of war were stirring up.

The commander himself beat the drums, and the officers who oversaw the battle brandished their swords and roared.

"Rush!"

Mountains.

Cui Yan was dressed in plate armor and personally sat on the front line.

In front of the fort on the mountain, there are also trenches, and in front of the trenches is a breastwork.

Rows of militiamen were standing in the trenches, armed with muskets.

"Ready!"

"Put!"

"Ready!"

········

The militia platoon commanders commanded their own platoon of soldiers, firing their guns at the soldiers who were rushing upwards. Behind them were archers composed of Nanyang mercenaries and Lingnan soldiers, who were more well-trained and had practiced bows and arrows for many years.

At this time, it was arranged behind the musket array, taking advantage of the longer range of the bow and arrows, and shot a continuous rain of arrows down the mountain.

And behind the archers, there were crossbowmen.

Behind the crossbowmen were the gunners.

The Protector occupies a favorable terrain and is condescending.

At the same time, the firepower was ferocious, causing huge casualties to the Southern Expeditionary Army.

No matter how they rushed, they could not rush to the positions of the Yugoslav army.

Corpses are in ambush.

·······

"Dashuai, we can't fight like this anymore, we can't beat it hard. If this continues, the soldiers are just sending them to death in vain. Li Daliang watched a battalion of soldiers rush up, and then he couldn't come back at all, his heart was dripping blood.

It is said that the southern army is weak and a rabble.

But now he has truly seen the power of the Southern Army.

The Yugoslav army was in no way inferior to theirs, and their militia was armed not with wooden poles and spears, but with muskets. Seeing that they used the terrain to top the trench at the front, they formed a barrage attack at a distance of thirty paces, and it was a death zone that they couldn't rush through.

And the crossbowmen and gunners of the Southern Army were also quite strong.

Their bows and crossbows shot far and their arrows were powerful.

It is said that you can only look at the strength of a country's military strength, the number of its archers, and the quality of their arrows.

Although the nomadic tribes on the steppe have many war horses, their bows and arrows are very weak, especially the arrows, which are mostly made of bones.

And the arrows shot by the Southern Army, those arrows were stainless steel arrows.

It is better than the arrows of the official army, even if the charging soldiers are wearing breastplate armor, they can't withstand the damage of the armor-piercing arrows.

Liu Hongji was also silent and did not speak.

The equipment of the Southern Army is too good and there are many of them.

After fighting for a long time, they only let the opposing musket militia and crossbowmen return fire, and their cannons didn't even hit a few times.

Not to mention, the shadowy ironclad infantry and cavalry under the blue flag on the mountain.

Even the ditches and breastwalls under the castle could not be broken, and how to take those forts.

"Marshal, the reality of the Southern Army has been tried, let's collect the troops."

Li Ji stopped the war drum in his hand.

The hearts of the soldiers charging on the mountain were relieved, and the urging drum finally stopped.

Everyone slowed down, and the shouts of killing weakened a lot.

Li Ji looked at these and knew that the army had no heart to fight.

"Mingjin retreats!"

Although helpless, Li Ji still admitted that he underestimated the Southern Army a little. Not only are they well equipped, they are also well-trained, they have a large number of troops, and their morale is high.

He couldn't understand why the rebels didn't have the slightest weakness in the face of the official army.

"Collect the troops."

At the foot of the Nine Mountains.

The gong has sounded.

The officers and soldiers ran back like a tide.

An order was also given from the mountain to stop the attack.

The rain of arrows like locusts ceased.

The earth-shattering gunfire also stopped.

On the battlefield, only the smoke of gunpowder drifting in the wind remained.

And the countless corpses.

Cui Yan stood on the mountain, holding a telescope, looking at the hillside, and shook his head.

was originally a comrade, but now he is fighting on the battlefield.

"Why is the general upset?"

"Cannibalism, what is there to rejoice in, this is a tragedy that should never have happened. No matter how many people are killed, it is also a shame. Cui Yan said, "The teacher once said that if we open up the power of internal fighting to the outside world, we will become the heroes of the Han family." And to use power for infighting will only be a disgrace. ”

"Send a letter to Privy Envoy Zhang, we have repelled Li Ji's first onslaught!"

Rear, Hezhou City.

Zhang Zhongjian received the news and carefully inquired about the battle situation, and then sighed.

In one day's battle, the Yugoslav army fired a million arrows and fired more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition.

And the Northern Army, attacking in one day, left more than a thousand corpses on the slopes of Wuzhi Mountain.

The southern army lost a lot of ordnance, the northern army lost a lot of soldiers, and both sides lost.

"Send a letter to Guangzhou."

Guangzhou.

After the Privy Council received the military information, it immediately reported to the cabinet, and Li Chao went to see Cheng Qian with the war report and told him in person.

"We repelled Li Ji and won?" Cheng Qian was pleasantly surprised.

"Your Highness, we won the first battle, but we temporarily repelled Li Ji. Li Ji can only be regarded as a small setback, and he did not hurt his muscles and bones. But if we can repel him once, we can repel him a second time, a third time. Now it seems that on the frontal battlefield, our southern army is not weaker than the northern army in the slightest. In particular, the morale of the soldiers is very high, which is very good. ”

Cheng Qian was excited.

"The teacher is right, if we win the first time, we can win the second time."

"So what do we do next?"

"Militarily, we are not afraid, and we will guard the first line of Wuling according to the deployment. Now we only need to guard against sailors coming from the sea, but we are not afraid of them. The minister thought that we should immediately publicize this good news and tell it to the merchants and people in Lingnan, so that they could also encourage it. ”

"Good!"

"Your Highness, there is one more matter for the Cabinet to ask Your Highness. Now the king of Qi and the prince of Luo Guogong have raised troops in Yanbei and have captured Yingzhou. Luo Shixin, Shan Xiongxin, Niu Jinda and others raised troops in Monan and captured Zhangjiakou. And Su Dingfang and the eldest princess of Pingyang and Cheng Yanjin also united with Su Bi, captured Lanzhou, and robbed the three brothers Li Tai, Li You, and Li Ke. ”

"May I ask Your Highness, what should we do with these three princes?"

Cheng Qian frowned.

"My father once wanted to make Li Tai the crown prince, but he was stopped by the prime ministers last time. This time, he asked people to go to the Western Regions to pick up the three imperial brothers, needless to say, he must be preparing to make Li Tai the crown prince. ”

There really is no need to guess this, it must be so.

"Teacher, I'm very sorry about the matter of Shisanlang. I really can't imagine that the emperor should treat him so frustratedly. ”

Li Chao shook his head.

"Li Linfu is shallow."

"Teacher, I'll hand over Li Tai and the three of you to deal with."

Li Chao was surprised.

"Your Highness?"

"I'll leave this matter to the teacher and the cabinet."

Li Chao nodded.

Back in the cabinet, Li Chao summoned the second minister Ma Zhou and several other auxiliary ministers.

"What do you think should be done with those three princes?"

Ma Zhou glanced at Li Chao.

"I think that although His Majesty killed Li Lin, we can't learn from him. If we kill the three princes as well, it will not be good for us, the imperial court, and His Royal Highness the crown prince. It is better to temporarily detain the three princes first, which also makes the emperor a little jealous. When the Northern Expedition is successful in the future, it will be okay to release three more princes. ”

Several other auxiliary ministers also felt that they couldn't be killed, and if they were killed now, the prince's reputation would not be good.

Li Chao was silent.

"Since several Xiangguo said so, then let's decide to send a letter to the eldest princess of Pingyang."

Hankyung.

Li Shimin received a letter from Zhang Chao.

Zhang Chao asked Li Shimin to stop the search for his wife and concubine and his family, and buried Li Lin.

"Your Majesty must remember that there are three princes in the hands of the ministers!"

This is Li Chao's threat.

After reading the letter, Li Shimin's face turned pale.

"Traitor!"

"In vain for so many years, I have never seen that Zhang Wenyuan has a backbone. After so many years, I still trust him so much. Rebellious ministers and thieves must not die well! ”

"Wang Chengen, hurry up and hunt down the wife and concubine of the thief, and if you resist arrest, kill them on the spot."

After giving this order angrily, Li Shimin picked up the pen and replied to Li Chao with a letter.

"Li Fanghua is still in my hands!" Li Shimin's letter only has this one sentence.

The messenger is sent.

Li Shimin sat alone in the main hall and felt heartache.

Such a situation.

Exhausted.

He picked up a brocade box from the imperial case and opened it, and there were several jet-black balls inside.

This is the elixir offered by Taoist priests before, convincing that after eating, it can prolong life and live a long life. Li Shimin took it for a while and found that there was really nothing wrong with this elixir, and after eating it, it could still make people forget their worries and relax their minds.

Even, he saw the eldest grandson queen once.

Picking up a pill, Li Shimin took it with wine, then leaned on the dragon chair and closed his eyes.

After a while, he felt that the soul of the fast was drifting, in the clouds, and finally, he saw Guanyin again.

"Your Majesty!"

"Guanyin!"

Li Shimin pounced on him and hugged Empress Changsun.

········

When I opened my eyes again, it was already dark, the hall was dim, no palace maid dared to disturb me, and the lights were still not lit.

Li Shimin rubbed his head.

Empress Eldest Sun is gone.

Togetherness, meeting each other is always so brief.

"Cheng Qian!" Li Shimin sighed for a long time.

He won't give in.

Pick up the pen and dip it in vermilion.

Li Shimin personally drafted the edict.

"The abolished prince inherited the cadres as the common people, and established... King Jin ruled as the crown prince. ”

"Zhao Xue Yantuo Khan Yi Nan sent troops to conquer the traitors of the Tang Dynasty Monan, Luo Shike, Shan Xiongxin, and Niu Jinda. Zhao Khitan Khan and Kumo Xi Khan sent troops to recruit Yanbei traitors Zhang Tiegun and Qin Qiong. ”

·······

One by one, the edicts were written.

"Someone."

Outside, an attendant came in.

"Your Majesty."

"Take this edict to the door of Zhongshu and give it to the eldest grandson Wuji and Fang Xuanling."