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

Chapter 767 The Winner Lives, The Loser Dies
At three o'clock in the morning, a flash of white light appeared in the eastern sky.

In the west courtyard of the Marshal's Mansion, the candles stayed on all night.

Li Xuan stood in front of the sand table. In front of him was the detailed terrain of the entire Taohe Prefecture. Qiu Zhenmu stood beside Li Xuan. Others, including Zhou Qian, Su Baotong, Cui Ding, Yang Xuan and Wei Ping, all stood on both sides of the sand table. On the side, the lines on it are clearly drawn.

There was a hint of exhaustion on everyone's faces, as if they hadn't had much rest all night.

At this moment, a rush of footsteps came in from outside, and Li Zhu appeared in the middle hall.

In front of more than a dozen people, a short note was handed to Li Xuan by Li Zhu.

Li Xuan took a look, then handed the short note to Qiu Zhenmu aside, and said softly: "Everything is ready, the crossbows, ambushes, and traps are all in place. There is only one thing left."

"It's His Royal Highness the King of England." Of course Qiu Zhenmu knew what Li Xuan was talking about best.

"Yeah!" Li Xuan nodded and said softly: "The King of England still doesn't know what happened, but before everything is done, we can't reveal a word to him. Otherwise, with his character, knowing such a big thing, It has to be revealed.”

"But you have to say it in the end." Qiu Zhenmu looked at Li Xuan with a solemn expression, slightly worried.

Li Xuan thought for a moment, turned and looked to the side, and said, "Baotong, go and call Dou Xiao over, and tell him that I have something to explain to him."

"Here!" Su Baotong immediately handed over his hands, then quickly turned around and left.

Li Xuan looked at everyone and said softly: "This battle is different from the past. 3000 Tubo cavalry are enough to massacre the entire Taozhou, so once we start taking action, we will immediately hit them hard, and then we will It’s a matter of siege and pursuit.”

"I obey!" Everyone present agreed with a roar, their eyes filled with uncontrollable excitement.

Li Xuan nodded, and then said, "Have you found Commander Zhang's six hundred cavalry?"

"Found it." Zhou Qian took a step forward, cupped his hands and said, "It is hidden in the prison in the north of the city. Zhang Shijun has given orders to mobilize the cavalry into the city tomorrow."

"It seems like he knows everything!" Li Xuan sighed, treating everyone as pawns in his scheme, including Zhang Yungong, the governor of Taozhou.

"He planned to sacrifice us, the prince, and the [-] cavalrymen on the right guard to achieve his own rescue." Qiu Zhenmu couldn't help but sneer, Zhang Yungong's thoughts Who can't see clearly, that's all the six hundred cavalry can do.

Li Xuan waved her hand and said, "At least, he and the Tubo people didn't really get together, otherwise we really wouldn't be able to face enemies from both sides at the same time."

"Then get rid of these [-] cavalry first, and then deal with the Tubo people." Qiu Zhenmu looked solemn.

Li Xuan smiled faintly, waved her hands and said: "It's not that easy. If these cavalry are loyal enough to the Tang Dynasty, then we are killing innocent people in vain. Why should we do this? Wouldn't it be better to take advantage of them and control them? ; If these people are just private soldiers of the Zhang family, and we really want to take action, we want to take them all down, but we have to suffer some losses. Even if we can include them among us, it will be difficult to cooperate and we will not be able to perform in the short term. Combat strength will eventually even affect ourselves."

At this moment, footsteps sounded outside, and Li Zhu entered first, followed by Dou Xiao.

Dou Xiao, who was tall and straight and had a handsome face, bowed his hands respectfully to Li Xuan: "Your Majesty!"

"Yes!" Li Xuan nodded, looked Dou Xiao up and down, and said at the same time: "The king will leave Taozhou tomorrow, and His Highness's safety will be entirely entrusted to you."

Dou Xiao's expression suddenly became solemn, he cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty's orders."

"Two things." Li Xuan took a deep breath, and then said: "Tomorrow, all the Qianniu Guards in the mansion will listen to your orders. No matter where they hear any movement, they will immediately send His Royal Highness to the west gate, wearing armor and holding swords. You don’t need to worry about anything else.”

Dou Xiao bowed slightly and asked worriedly: "My lord, is your highness safe?"

Li Xuan waved her hand directly: "Don't worry, the person in the world who least wants anything to happen to His Highness is me."

"I obey the order!" Dou Xiao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"The second thing." Li Xuan's expression suddenly became solemn, turned to look at Dou Xiao, and said seriously: "After tomorrow's incident, Zhang Shijun will definitely come to His Highness, control him, and not allow him to leave His Highness's side, but We will not prevent him from contacting the outside world or issuing any orders."

"I understand." Dou Xiao rolled his eyes and immediately understood that Li Xuan did not trust Zhang Yungong.

"Okay, go help. If His Highness asks, just say it's all on my king's orders." Li Xuan waved his hand directly. Dou Xiao immediately left without any hesitation, but at the end, he still glanced at the people in the hall. There were more than ten people, and there was a Taozhou sand table in the hall.

"Turn off the lights and go and rest for an hour. After an hour, get up, wash up, eat, and put on your armor." Li Xuan calmly ordered, and then everyone retreated silently, leaving only Li Xuan alone in the hall.

A long black stick appeared in Li Xuan's hand, and he whispered softly: "Today, you can drink blood properly."

……

Si Shizheng, the west gate of Taozhou City.

Li Xuan and Li Xian rode in the front, followed by two teams of Thousand Ox Guards, all in red and gold armor, holding Thousand Ox Swords, with round shields and long bows hanging on their sides. The people around were blocked on both sides of the long street and were not allowed to approach.

Arriving under the city gate, Li Xuan stopped his horse, turned to look at Li Xian, and said, "Let's stop here today."

"Uncle Wang, take care!" Li Xian looked very solemn.

Li Xuan smiled, then rode out of Taozhou City, followed closely by a group of Qianniu Guards.Li Xian looked at the Qianniu cavalry, who were also wearing red clothes and golden armor, but rarely wore shields, and felt something was wrong in his heart.

Turning back, Li Xian looked at the group of Thousand Oxen Cavalry behind him who were also wearing red robes, golden armor, and carrying round shields, and the strangeness in his heart was slightly relieved.

Li Xuan walked out of the city gate and saw Zhang Yungong, the governor of Taozhou, waiting outside with his crowd.

Seeing that the Qianniu Guards behind Li Xuan were all carrying bows and shields, Zhang Yungong stepped forward with some surprise and said, "Your Majesty, why do you all bring bows and shields today? There is something wrong with them."

"I don't know why, but I always feel that something is slightly wrong in my heart." Li Xuan looked at Zhang Yungong calmly, with a hint of subtlety in his eyes.

Zhang Yungong was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "There is nothing wrong with it. The entire Taozhou is under the control of the prince, so what else can be wrong?"

Li Xuan smiled, nodded and said: "I think so, but we are going to Hezhou. After all, Hezhou is before the war. Qianniuwei is more prepared, so I can save more face."

"It should be so." Zhang Yungong laughed and nodded, then cupped his hands towards Li Xuan and said solemnly: "Your Highness, take care."

Li Xuan cupped his hands and returned the greeting: "Your Majesty, take care. Your Highness is in Taozhou City now. I will leave everything to your Majesty."

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will ensure that His Royal Highness, King Ying, is safe and sound." Zhang Yungong looked solemn, and his words were extremely sincere.

"In this way, I can rest assured." Li Xuan raised his head and looked at the Taozhou First Ganshi and Sima people behind him. He cupped his hands and said, "Everyone, take care."

"My lord, take care!" Everyone held their hands at the same time.

"Haha, drive!" Li Xuan urged the horse, and the tall horse rushed out as fast as lightning. A whole team of Qianniu Guards behind him followed closely. From a distance, it looked like a whole team Like a golden torrent.

"Awesome!" Zhang Yungong couldn't help but sigh.

Turning around, Zhang Yungong looked at everyone, his face turned cold, and he asked: "Where has Yang Jin gone? Does he, the Ku Cao, still want to join the army?"

"Report to the envoy." Taozhou Sima Weiping took half a step forward with a solemn expression, cupped his hands and said: "Report to the envoy, Yang Canjun, following the order of the King of Nanchang, is putting the grain and grass brought in from the manor in the north of the city into the warehouse. The prince has an order. Until this is done, he will not be allowed to return home, nor will he be allowed to leave without permission."

Zhang Yungong's face was stunned, but then he waved his hand, snorted coldly, turned around and entered the west gate of Taozhou.

Although Wei Ping is Zhang Yungong's subordinate, his appointment is not in Zhang Yungong's hands. In addition, he is from Chang'an Wei family and is of the same clan as Li Xian's concubine Wei Tuan'er. Li Xian is here. , and he was not at all afraid of Zhang Yungong, the governor.

Zhang Yungong returned to the backyard of the mansion with a cold face. However, the moment he entered the backyard, the displeasure on Zhang Yungong's face disappeared without a trace. Looking at Zhang Luer who came over, he said directly: "Qiniang, send a message. The King of Nanchang has already left Taozhou City, asking those there to prepare for action, and also sent a letter to the north, asking them to start entering the city at seven quarters past noon and go straight to the west gate."

"Here!" Zhang Luer didn't hesitate at all and immediately walked towards the other courtyard. Soon, several carrier pigeons had already flown into the sky.

Looking at the homing pigeon flying far in the sky, Zhang Yungong suddenly felt extremely panicked.

But he sat on the side of the stone table, letting fear spread all over his body for a moment, and then he closed his eyes slightly, enjoying the trembling all over his body.

The carrier pigeon soared into the sky and headed directly towards the mountains in the southwest. Finally, it rushed to the valley and circled in a circle. The valley was already empty of people.

Suddenly, I don’t know what I heard. The next moment, the homing pigeon flew towards the north at a high speed, and finally landed on the arm of a rough and big hand.

Soon, the thin bamboo tube on Zi Zi's leg had been removed, and the note inside was slowly opened.

Wang's trip to Nanchang arrived at the Rouge River Valley at noon.

Rouge River is a waterway connecting Taozhou and Hezhou.

There are more than a dozen small boats on the water going back and forth between the two states. There are people walking on both sides of the river, and there is no bridge in the middle.

The owner of the thick and big hands has a rugged face, a Tibetan bun on top of his head, two long knives hanging on his waist, a golden ring on his right hand, and two slender wolf fangs tied under the braided hair on both sides. This person is none other than the fifth brother of Lun Qinling, Prime Minister of Tubo, Brenzan Ren.

Brenzan turned around and saw hundreds of warriors behind him, standing on the cliff like him. Below was a steep mountain wall. The mountain path was not considered narrow, but unfortunately, not far away was the rapid Rouge River.

Behind the gentle slope on the right is a full 1000 elite Tibetan cavalry.

Although there are only 1000 people in front of him, it is because he only needs 1000 people at the moment, and more cavalry are left to surround the exit on the east side of the valley.

As soon as they rush out of the mountain pass, they can immediately attack Taozhou City.

But before attacking Taozhou, they will first take Li Xuan's head.

Brenzan looked up to the east. Half an hour later, a cavalry team had appeared at the end of his sight.

The leader was none other than Li Xuan, who was wearing red clothes and golden armor.

(End of this chapter)