People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 1645 Brother Cheng, I need to apologize to you
On the mountain ten miles away from Xishi Pass, countless amounts of blood flowed down the mountain.

Corpses fell one after another on the road, spreading from the top of the mountain to the foot of the mountain.

Under the continuous rainy night, the sound of fighting gradually stopped.

Li Xuan rode on his horse and slowly headed towards the top of the mountain. The black-armored soldiers around him immediately stepped aside respectfully.

The closer we got to the top of the mountain, the more soldiers died, but most of them were soldiers wearing other uniforms.

The closer you get to the top of the mountain, the more boulders there are. Even at the highest point of the mountain, there are dozens of barrels of tung oil.

Su Baotong, Li Lang and others who were following Li Xuan couldn't help but gasp when they saw this scene.

If they had not rushed into the mountain path when it rained tonight, the tung oil alone and the countless dead leaves and hay on the entire mountain path would have been enough to burn them completely.

Add to that the rolling rocks on the top of the mountain, and I'm afraid they wouldn't be able to survive even if they had more lives.

Not to mention, after the fire, the army's morale was low.

As long as the cavalry charges forward, no matter how many soldiers you have, you will eventually be defeated.

Li Xuan watched all this calmly and said, "Leave two thousand people to guard here. If we are forced to retreat, we can use rolling stones to delay the pursuers so that we can strike back."

"Yes." Su Baotong and Li Lang bowed respectfully, and then watched Li Xuan riding down the hillside.

The two looked at each other and couldn't help shaking their heads.

When in Shanzhou, Li Xuan knew that Cheng Wuting must have set a trap in the mountains.

After finding the captured prisoners and interrogating them, hundreds of them died, and finally all of Cheng Wuting's arrangements in the mountains were revealed.

Cheng Wuting set up three ambushes on the North and South Xiao Roads, but the threat posed by the first two was not great. As long as there was time, they could be cleared out bit by bit and all of them could be cleared out.

But the real threat lies in the third place, that is, outside Xishi Pass.

The steep mountains on both sides outside Xishi Pass are also covered with rolling stones and tung oil.

With them around, Li Xuan won't be able to easily capture Xishi Pass without paying a huge price.

Of course, Cheng Wuting’s arrangements on the entire mountain road were far more than that.

There are more early warning beacon towers on the mountain roads.

But alas, it was already night and it was still raining.

No beacon of any kind can be transmitted.

……

"I don't know whether Yue Ju and the others can enter Xishi Pass, and whether they will be discovered by Cheng Wuting?" Su Baotong looked towards the direction of Xishi Pass, his eyes full of worry.

On the mountain road, tens of thousands of cavalrymen were marching at a steady pace.

Everyone held a torch in their hands, lighting up the entire mountain path.

Let them move forward at a moderate speed, neither too fast nor too slow, and at the same time ensure that they can launch an offensive immediately when they reach Xishi Pass in an hour.

Li Xuan looked ahead calmly and said calmly, "What they are holding is the memorial Yang Zhirou wrote to the Queen Mother. If the memorial is genuine, then they will have no problem entering Xishi Pass. As for whether Cheng Wuting will exhaust all efforts to search them, of course, this is inevitable, so they have to make a fuss."

Yue Ju and his people were all locals specially selected by Li Xuan.

There will be no problems with accent or behavior.

Moreover, when these people were in the army, they had all had more or less contact with Yang Zhirou and were not unfamiliar with him.

When Li Xuan was in Shanzhou, he happened to capture a Guoyi Duwei from Lingbao Zhechongfu.

Yue Ju and his men marched with this Guoyi Captain for a night, and at least they had enough understanding of him.

As for the Guoyi Captain, unfortunately, Li Xuan had already seen his body before.

At this moment, tens of thousands of people could be killed or injured, so they cannot afford to make any mistakes.

"As long as they make a fuss in the city, they will naturally attract the attention of everyone in the city. This way, Zhou Qian and others will have the opportunity to put their things under the city wall." There was a hint of worry in Li Xuan's eyes. With Cheng Wuting guarding Xishi Pass, Li Xuan's chances were pitifully small.

If he is not careful, Li Xuan himself may die in this battle.

So this time, Li Xuan was extremely careful.

"The only purpose of Yue Ju and his men entering Xishi Pass is to cause a stir in the city. As for the rest, they are all matters of Luoyang city." Li Xuan raised his head slightly and looked in the direction of Luoyang.

Yang Zhirou knew Li Xuan very well, and he guessed that Li Xuan would make a fuss about food and fodder.

There are one million people in Chang'an and one million people in Luoyang.

Chang'an has the Guanzhong Plain, and Luoyang also has the Luohe Plain.

Similarly, during this year, food and grass from the south of the Yangtze River were not delivered to Chang'an or Luoyang.

However, compared to Li Xuan who started carefully diverting the Wei River for irrigation in early May, Luoyang did nothing.

The most important thing is that Luoyang did not exempt the people from taxes.

In fact, neither Chang'an nor Luoyang was short of food.

The grain was either stored in government warehouses or in the homes of wealthy families.

But the people had no food at home.

No matter who is in power, the exploitation of the people will not change.

Especially when the people are poorer, they exploit them more vigorously.

When they were besieged in Luoyang, they became even less willing to take out food.

Unless Empress Wu was willing to confiscate the properties of these people.

But in any case, once Luoyang was blockaded, the city of Luoyang, which was already short of food, would immediately cause conflicts between the common people and the aristocratic families.

And faster than anyone had thought.

After all, there was the precedent of Emperor Taizong besieging Wang Shichong, and no one wanted to repeat the tragedy of that year.

But this happened when Li Xuan reached the city of Luoyang.

There was no problem with Yue Ju holding the memorial written by Yang Zhirou.

With that memorial, no matter how harsh Cheng Wuting was, no matter how detailed the search was, even if he left nothing unturned, he had to let Yue Ju go after the search yielded no results.

Even though he was the commander-in-chief of the army, Yang Zhirou was the military supervisor, and Cheng Wuting could not stop his memorial to Empress Wu even if he wanted to.

Therefore, Yue Ju and others would definitely be able to leave Xishi Pass.

In Li Xuan's plan, their biggest role in Xishi Pass was to make some noise, attract the attention of the city, and then make it easier for the Qianniu Guards outside to act.

The role of these people is not in Xishi Pass, but in Luoyang.

Li Xuan would certainly not let them hand over the memorial to Empress Wu. When they went to Luoyang, they would actually only go to one place, which was Pei Yan's mansion.

Shanzhou fell and Xishi Pass was lost. At this time, Cheng Wuting sent people to Pei Yan's mansion.

Li Xuan wanted to see how Empress Wu would treat Pei Yan and Cheng Wuting.

Li Xuan raised his sinister gaze, and at the end of his sight, a light was already faintly visible. …

On a rainy night, the sound of endless fighting rang out between heaven and earth.

Cheng Wuting stood on Xishi Pass, looking at the cavalry at the end of his sight who were ready to attack at any time, and he couldn't help but grit his teeth.

On the valleys on both sides, countless soldiers were rushing upwards frantically. Even though boulders were constantly being thrown down, they were still rushing upwards desperately.

The battle started suddenly.

Suddenly, a burst of panicked shouting was heard on the originally quiet mountainside. Just as the people at the Xishi city gate noticed it, a fierce attack was immediately launched from the foot of the mountain upwards.

And in a very short time, they rushed to the mountainside and were still rushing up madly.

On a rainy night, you have no idea how many people are coming.

But the fighting was so fierce that the sound of blades piercing bodies could be heard clearly.

Cheng Wuting's eyes were full of worry.

When Yue Ju and his companions came before, Cheng Wuting sent people out to investigate, but in the end there was no result, and no one even came back.

Yue Ju and the others kept clamoring to leave, so Cheng Wuting had no choice but to let them go.

After all, Yang Zhirou and Yang Zaisi were both from the Hongnong Yang clan, and had a certain blood relationship with Empress Wu.

If Cheng Wuting really blocked his memorial, and if something really went wrong, Cheng Wuting would not be able to bear it.

After Yue Ju left, Cheng Wuting sent people to investigate the situation in Shanzhou City while thinking about Li Xuan's intention of calculating the food.

Cheng Wuting did not send many people to investigate the situation in Shanzhou City, and he did not even have any plans to rescue Shanzhou City overnight.

Encircling a point and attacking its reinforcements is a tactic that every general can use.

Li Xuan is especially good at this.

If Cheng Wuting really rushed to rescue Shanzhou City, he was sure that no matter how many people he sent out, as many as he sent would die.

Cheng Wuting stood on the city wall, looking at Li Xuan in the distance in the rainy night.

In the darkness, no one knew how many cavalrymen were staring at Xishi Pass, waiting for Cheng Wuting to send people to break out of Xishi Pass and then swallow them all in one breath.

Countless cavalrymen rushed to the mountaintops on both sides from behind Li Xuan, their movements were terrifyingly skillful.

Cheng Wuting was certain that all the ambushes he had set up on the mountain road had been completely eliminated by Li Xuan.

just now……

Cheng Wuting suddenly felt vaguely uneasy. Li Xuan seemed to know about Yue Ju and the others. Could it be that there was something wrong with Yue Ju and the others?

Turning around, Cheng Wuting withdrew his thoughts, because when Yue Ju and his companions left Xishi Pass, Cheng Wuting had specially sent 500 people to escort them.

All the way to the city of Luoyang.

Therefore, it is impossible for them to do anything behind their backs.

Now Cheng Wuting only needs to deal with Li Xuan directly.

Cheng Wuting looked up at the mountains on both sides. Compared with Li Xuan's side, it was easier for Cheng Wuting's side to rush up to provide support. So for now, Cheng Wuting still had the upper hand. However, in terms of the intensity of the fighting, his side could not compare to Li Xuan's.

After all, there is only a small foothold on the mountain.

We have to find a solution somewhere else.

Cheng Wuting turned sideways and ordered his personal soldiers, "Prepare three hundred brave warriors to attack King Peng's position. I want to know how many people he has brought?"

The unknown is Cheng Wuting’s biggest enemy.

Overnight, Shanzhou City was broken.

Li Xuan suddenly rushed to the foot of Xishi Pass.

Cheng Wuting had no idea about the situation at Xiaoling Pass. He could only quickly mobilize a large number of soldiers from inside and outside the city to try to hold on to the situation.

The night moon is cold, just like Cheng Wuting’s heart.

……

Corpses lay on the mountain path, and blood and rain water mixed together and flowed down the mountain.

Li Xuan rode calmly up the mountain path, wearing a black hat on his head, looking extremely mysterious from a distance.

Although the rain was not heavy, it continued and had a significant impact on people.

Li Xuan's men were fine as they had gotten used to the influence of the weather over such a long period of time, but this was not the case for Cheng Wuting's men.

Especially under the northwest wind, the direction of the night rain was already unfavorable to Cheng Wuting's side.

Li Xuan finally reached the top of the mountain.

Looking down from the top of the mountain, Xishi Pass is surrounded by two mountains. When fighting out from the center of the mountains, you must face Xishi Pass.

There were a large number of rolling stones and tung oil piled on the tops of the two mountains. Unfortunately, it was difficult for them to use their power in the rainy night. Moreover, Li Xuan sent the Qianniu Guards to kill people from the mountainside on a rainy night. By the time they were discovered, a large area in the middle had been left empty.

When charging from behind, although the mountain was steep, Li Xuan still managed to charge up.

You can go down from the south of the mountain and head towards the city gate, but the slope becomes gentler as you go down. No matter what Li Xuan does, Cheng Wuting can react in time.

In other words, the heights of these two mountain tops are not too high, otherwise this place would definitely be a dangerous pass like Hangu Pass that will be remembered through the ages.

Li Xuan raised his head and landed directly on the city wall, landing on Cheng Wuting.

……

Under the night rain, the autumn wind is slightly chilly.

Li Xuan looked up at Cheng Wuting and said in a calm and firm voice: "Brother Cheng, I haven't seen you for a while."

Li Xuan's voice rang clearly in Cheng Wuting's ears.

This voice, which sounded like an ordinary greeting, made Cheng Wuting feel a heavy pressure.

"Your Highness." Cheng Wuting spoke, his voice equally clear and loud. He looked at Li Xuan and said directly, "I really never thought that Your Highness would suddenly rush here."

"I have to come anyway, no matter if it's early or late, as long as the time is right." Li Xuan looked at Cheng Wuting and shook his head gently, saying, "Brother Cheng, there is something I need to apologize to you for."

"Oh!" Cheng Wuting found it a little funny for a moment, looked at Li Xuan and nodded, "Your Highness, please speak."

Li Xuan raised his head, looked up at the sky, and said softly: "When the late emperor was still alive, Emperor Zhongzong was still the crown prince. At that time, because Brother Cheng and General Zhang Qianxu were very close to Prime Minister Pei, I suggested that the crown prince choose one of them. In the end, I suggested that Emperor Zhongzong choose Zhang Qianxu.

Unexpectedly, Emperor Zhongzong eventually died at the hands of Zhang Qianxu.

If I had chosen Brother Cheng at the beginning, perhaps the result would have been different."

As soon as Li Xuan finished speaking, Cheng Wuting's face changed drastically, and all the soldiers on the city wall also changed their faces.

Li Xuan continued calmly: "Prime Minister Pei..."

(End of this chapter)