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

Chapter 1665: A Heart-to-Heart Talk: A Country Cannot Be Without a King for a Day

The Tianmen Gate is opened and Luoyang is cut off.

Standing on Yique Pass, looking at the towering Luoyang City opposite, Qu Chongyu sighed: "We are back again."

Li Xuan stood beside Qu Chongyu, nodded calmly, and said: "Yes, we are back."

Looking from Yique Pass, Dingding Gate is just opposite.

From here you can clearly see a street extending from Dingding Gate and directly into Duanmen.

From here, they can even see the Qianyang Palace.

If Li Xuan's eyesight was several times better, he would definitely be able to see the court officials and even Empress Wu coming in and out of the Qianyang Palace.

In that case, he would be facing off against Empress Wu.

Seeing Li Xuan's confident look, Qu Chongyu asked in surprise, "How come, my dear son-in-law is sure to capture Luoyang?"

"I guess so." Li Xuan nodded gently, pointed to the northeast corner of Luoyang and said, "That's Tongyuanfang, the poorest place in Luoyang. In the past years when Hebei and Shandong suffered from famine, a large number of people would pour into Luoyang City and finally gather in Tongyuanfang."

Qu Chongyu nodded. Tongyuanfang, just by hearing the name, one can guess the flavor.

Li Xuan pointed to the mouth of the Luo River south of Tongyuanfang and said seriously, "That's where the Luo River leaves Luoyang City. There is a water gate and ships have to pass through there every day. But since the war began, entry and exit there have been strict controls."

"I heard that you have a lot of people who are skilled in sailing. Could it be that some of them have already entered Luoyang from there?" Qu Chongyu narrowed his eyes and looked at Li Xuan. He knew that the navy under Li Xuan was quite powerful.

When he captured Chang'an, all the ships of the Chang'an Water Conservancy Bureau had fallen into his hands.

Especially in the palace, at least half of the official ships were still left, traveling between Chang'an and Luoyang.

It's just that because of the previous water storage strategy, these ships could not be used. But now that Hulao Pass has been captured by them, it is inevitable that the Wei River will be released, the Yellow River will flow, and shipping will resume. Perhaps it has already started.

"Not many people." Li Xuan shook his head slightly, looking towards the Luoyang East Water Gate, and said cautiously: "Every night, only about thirty people who are proficient in water can pass through the underground fence of the water gate and enter Luoyang City. So far, there are only more than a hundred people, less than two hundred."

"Then what?" Qu Chongyu stared at Li Xuan.

If used well, eight hundred people can open a solid city gate.

For example, Xuanwu Gate.

"Then they will enter Tongyuanfang. The people in Henan County will help them prepare the defenses, and then they will enter the army with the previously recruited soldiers." Li Xuan's eyes showed a hint of sarcasm, and he said softly: "After we came to Luoyang, they lost nearly 70,000 people. Although they have been replenished from time to time, they still have to recruit soldiers from Luoyang City."

"People in Luoyang will not like to join the army, especially at this time." Qu Chongyu gave an accurate answer.

Luoyang, at the feet of the emperor.

The people here have always been arrogant. Even in normal times, they would not bother to join the other sixteen guards except the Jinwu Guard and the Qianniu Guard.

Not to mention it's wartime now.

Li Xuan nodded calmly and said, "That's right. At this time, only outsiders, especially people from Hebei, are willing to join the army."

Hebei?

Qu Chongyu keenly grasped the key point in Li Xuan's words.

Li Xuan mentioned Hebei more than once. Does that mean that all the people in Tongyuanfang are from Hebei?

"Once they join the army, they will be assigned to various checkpoints. However, since it is closest to the Upper East Gate, most of these new recruits will be assigned to the Upper East Gate." Li Xuan's eyes turned serious, and he said softly, "Once the Upper East Gate encounters a fierce attack, the control of personnel movement will not be so strict. In that case, suddenly, the city gate opens..."

Qu Chongyu's eyes suddenly widened: "So your real target is Shangdong Gate, so the current Yique Gate, and the previous Dingding Gate, are just to attract the attention of the court, and then enter Luoyang from Shangdong Gate in one fell swoop."

Li Xuan did not answer this question. He turned to look at Qu Chongyu and said with a folded hand: "I also want to thank my father-in-law. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to capture Yique Pass so easily."

Last night before Li Xuan and his men arrived at Yique Pass, Qu Chongyu had already captured Yique Gate.

"It's none of my business. If you hadn't sent someone to contact me yesterday, I wouldn't have thought they would attack you last night." Qu Chongyu looked at Li Xuan deeply and asked, "My dear son-in-law, how did you know that the palace planned to attack you last night?"

Li Xuan smiled calmly, then said with emotion: "Father-in-law came from Nanyang, so he naturally knew that the court had mobilized 20,000 soldiers from Shannan Road, but father-in-law may have overlooked that another 20,000 soldiers from Huainan arrived in Xuchang a few days ago. Wei Yuanzhong used these 20,000 soldiers to replace himself in guarding Xuchang."

"Who is it?" Qu Chongyu immediately understood what Li Xuan meant. Li Xuan had someone among these 20,000 people, and his position was not low.

"He is Xue Qianfeng, the second son of Wu'an County Duke Xue Wanche and Princess Danyang, and the commander of Huangshan Prefecture." Li Xuan raised his head, looked towards Huidong, and said softly, "In the early years, my son-in-law and my cousin Qianfeng once fought in Muzhou together. I didn't expect that my son-in-law returned to Chang'an, while my cousin stayed in Huangshan Prefecture. Oh, and there is also Wang Dali, the governor of Shezhou. These things cannot be avoided with them."

"Huainan Road." Qu Chongyu nodded after thinking for a while and said, "The Grand Princess of Huainan, the Grand Princess of Changle, the Grand Princess of Dongyang, and the Prince of Jiangdu, they are all in Huainan Road, right?"

Li Xuan nodded and said, "My cousin's mother is my aunt, the Grand Princess Danyang, the wife of Governor Wang, the late Princess Suian."

Qu Chongyu fell silent. Huainan has always been a place where royal family members gathered. In the early years, there were several princes, and there were also princesses.

They all had their own fiefdoms in Huainan. Although they had no governing power, they still had a lot of manors and fields.

Especially the children of Emperor Gaozu, who were treated even better.

Take Li Xuan’s deceased father, King Peng Li Yuanze, for example. Li Yuanze even had a prince city in Pengzhou.

Moreover, it was Emperor Taizong who personally ordered its construction. There were many royal families from Huainan, Shannan, Jiannan, and even Jiangnan.

Especially in Jiangnan, in the early days, Li Ming, King of Cao, Li Zhen, King of Yue, and later when Li Xuan was King of Nanchang, they all served in Jiangnan.

Not to mention, Hangzhou Chief Clerk and Jiangdu Prince Li Xu, and Princess Changle's husband and Kuazhou Governor Zhao Gui, all participated in the ascension of Crown Prince Li Chongzhao to the throne.

"The court has transferred the kings to the capital, but the princesses, their husbands, and their sons have not come to the capital." Li Xuan sighed, and then said softly: "And the court is mobilizing troops in Huainan, and Governor Wang and my cousin can't get around it. They even have a few trusted people who have infiltrated. They can't do big things, but they have no problem passing on some news."

Qu Chongyu nodded, looked at Li Xuan, and asked, "So, dear son-in-law, the emperor is in Jiangnan, is there any news?"

Although Li Xuan had the last will of Emperor Gaozong in his hand, in fact, he was still following the imperial edict of Li Chongzhao, the Emperor of Yangzhou.

In other words, Li Xuan has now reached Luoyang, and other people have no time to ask about the whereabouts of the emperor. Otherwise, Li Chongzhao's whereabouts alone would cause a lot of trouble.

Li Xuan sighed and said, "I'm not sure. I just heard that the emperor entered Maoshan, but after Maoshan, he might have entered Tianmu Mountain or Xianxialing. Maybe they are going to Huidong. The world is vast and there are thousands of miles of mountains and rivers. If something really happened somewhere, it would be troublesome."

"If something really happens and we take over Luoyang, my dear son-in-law, this problem will be your trouble." Qu Chongyu looked at Li Xuan deeply.

Once Li Xuan takes Luoyang, it means that the world is pacified. At that time, the country cannot be without a king for a day, so who to make the emperor is the most realistic problem facing Li Xuan.

Even many people in the military have other ambitions.

Qu Chongyu had heard of it before, but he didn't know what Li Xuan was thinking.

If Li Xuan can go one step further, then Qu Douer can also go one step further, and Qu Chongyu can also go one step further.

The current situation is favorable to Li Xuan. He can go straight into Luoyang and force his way forward with his military force.

It seems to be so, and it is actually so.

But Li Xuan was too sober.

The reason he has the advantage today is that more people are dissatisfied with Empress Wu treating the emperor as a puppet, rather than anything else.

If Li Xuan dared to take a rash step forward, then half of those who originally supported him would immediately turn against him.

This is inevitable.

The reason why Li Xuan could get to where he is today was because he relied on the prestige of Emperor Gaozong and the power of orthodoxy.

These gave him great support.

But once he lost this support, even if he finally forcibly occupied Chang'an and Luoyang, it would be too difficult to calm the hearts of the people.

There will be more people against him.

……

"In today's world, too much power of the royal family and aristocratic families is concentrated in the local areas. Even the Wei family still has three or four provincial governors in office, so a transition is needed."

Li Xuan raised his head calmly, looking at Luoyang City across the street, looking at the Suzaku Gate, looking at the Qianyang Palace, and said softly: "If the emperor cannot be found, then the next one will have three candidates, the Prince of Linzi, the Prince of Yongping, and the Prince of Ping'an, each of whom has supporters behind them.

You can use the dragging method, just drag it first.

Let the supporters of the three parties fight each other first, and fight as fiercely as possible, and try to involve all those who are interested.

When they are at the point of a life-and-death struggle with no room for compromise, and our people have taken over key local positions and are able to stabilize the world, we can then try to make further progress. "

"Okay." Qu Chongyu was a little nervous, a little excited, but also a little relieved.

He had been the Right Guard General for several months and knew very well what Li Xuan's subordinates were thinking.

In fact, the vast majority of people do not have any further ideas. That kind of idea only exists in the hands of a few people who have followed Li Xuan for a long time.

But the vast majority of people are very sensitive about the power in their hands.

As long as Li Xuan is there, they can hold on to the power in their hands for a long time. Once Li Xuan's position is shaken, or even someone comes out to compete with Li Xuan, these people will inevitably push Li Xuan to go further voluntarily or unconsciously.

Just like Yuchi Jingde in the Qin Palace back then.

Now, Li Xuan finally relaxed and he had his own plan.

that's enough.

Li Xuan sighed and said, "The world, nowadays, it is only because Emperor Gaozong has been in power for more than 30 years that people are in awe of him, so many things can be done in the name of Emperor Gaozong. But if you want to do something, you have to break this awe. But once this awe is broken, ambitious people in the world will rise up, just like Wang Mang back then."

"Yes!" Qu Chongyu nodded seriously. Wang Mang's mistake was that he plotted treason while the prestige of the Han Dynasty was still there. Although he succeeded for a few years, he was ultimately defeated.

The same is true for Empress Wu today. Li Xuan's advantage over Empress Wu is that he is a descendant of the Li family, a descendant of Great-Grandfather, and also the orthodox one.

At this moment, a rapid sound of horse hooves came from the front.

Then, a Qianniu guard with a white silk tied to his head appeared at the foot of the city, and then excitedly bowed to Li Xuan and said: "General, Gongyi and Yanshi have been defeated!"

(End of this chapter)