Spoiler History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 661: Mantis trying to stop a chariot and the lips and teeth are cold

"The solitary smoke rises straight up, and the distant trees look round..."

Looking at the ancient capital of Jinling gradually moving away, Li Yu was restless and had no interest in writing any words. He just recited two lines of poetry by Bai Juyi, a famous Tang Dynasty poet.

It is now June, and the two banks of the river are covered with lush greenery, making the Jinling City in the distance, with a large indentation on its wall, lose much of its menacing aura.

Some people are anxious, while others are calm and composed.

Before the person arrived, a plain voice arrived first:
"The king can still tolerate some elegance."

Then a middle-aged man in a brocade robe with a sword on his waist stepped out of the cabin and stood on the side of the ship with the gait of a dragon and a tiger. He also looked back at the Jinling City which was getting farther and farther away in the distance, and the "Song" flag vaguely visible on the top of the city.

Li Yu was not polite about this:

"I am just a prisoner, why does General Cao humiliate me?"

Retracting his gaze, Cao Bin saw Li Yu's calm double pupils and...

"The king is really as the rumors say, with a full forehead and overlapping teeth, and he is indescribably noble."

His forehead is full and his teeth are exposed and neat. No wonder it is rumored that Li Yu was highly suspected because of his appearance.

Emperor Ku Gao Xin was born with overlapping teeth, and Emperor Shun had double pupils, both of which can be considered as the appearance of emperors.

Seeing that Cao Bin didn't pay any attention to what he said, Li Yu was too lazy to say anything more. He just turned sideways and looked intently at the city of Jinling, sighing in his heart that his experiences in the past six months were truly like a dream.

After the Song army surrounded the city, most of the officials in the court...in the city thought it was nothing to worry about.

Firstly, Nanjing was a strong city and the Song army had few soldiers; secondly, there was the temporarily appointed Huangfu Jixun who led the recruited troops to fight fiercely with the Song army, and there was also the Hongzhou Jiedushi Zhu Lingyun who led a large force to resist the Song army.

Although the Song army had the help of Qian Chu, who did not understand the principle of one's own destiny, the expedition was ultimately too long and tiring to sustain.

Therefore, if Jinling held out and a desperate battle was fought outside the city, it might be possible to repel the Song army and preserve the country's destiny.

But... starting from the end of March, the Song army besieging the city began to openly test a new type of military equipment under the city.

Li Yu, who had nothing to do in Jinling City at the time, climbed to a high place to look into the distance, and discussed with his ministers, but no one could guess the answer.

But soon, one would realize the power of this thing without having to climb the city walls.

Stones weighing hundreds of pounds and mud balls as big as a person flew into the air with the help of the weapons, and either hit the city walls or directly passed over the walls, causing countless casualties inside the city.

The bombardment lasted only four days, and the Song army was able to dig through the wall without any interference from the Southern Tang army. Eventually, the north wall of Jinling collapsed into its current state.

Under such circumstances, submitting a letter of surrender was the only choice Li Yu had.

After the fall of Jinling City, the morale of the Southern Tang army collapsed.

Huangfu Jixun's army was defeated, and he killed his main general and surrendered to the Song army.

Zhu Lingyun made a desperate move in a decisive battle with the Song army, but was surrounded on three sides and was defeated and killed.

As for the "ministers" of the Southern Tang in the city of Jinling, they were all now happy to welcome the royal army, and each of them presented a memorial accusing him of being a seductive man with a charming appearance who was causing chaos in the south of the Yangtze River.

Therefore, when Li Yu heard the title "Lord of the State" at this time, he felt it was ironic.

However, Cao Bin was now successful and full of vigor. He turned a blind eye to Li Yu's resistance and even patiently advised:
"You come to Bianjing in the name of the king. You only need to give the emperor a title of honor, and you will have no lack of wealth and honor. The king can be a marquis of peace and happiness, and write books and paintings with your brother, and live in Bianliang forever."

Li Yu sneered at Cao Bin's statement:
"Thirteen years ago, I entered Bianliang and wanted to have sex with Song but failed."

"Just two years later, the Shu emperor, who had surrendered, became the Gongxiao King of Chu in Bianliang."

"Changle Weiyang? Oh, it would be better to ask my brother to serve more good wine to me during the tomb sweeping ceremony."

But after the ridicule, Li Yu sighed to himself. How could he not understand what Cao Bin meant? Even if he hated it now, he still wanted the title of the king. Although surrendering like this might follow in Meng Chang's footsteps, there was at least a glimmer of hope for survival.

And if he did not have this title of king, then the Song Dynasty's conquest of the Tang Dynasty would become a war to suppress rebellion, and he would be sentenced to death.

Therefore, Li Yu was more aware that his previous words actually exposed his true desire not to die.

Sure enough, Cao Bin had a blank expression on his face, but there was a smile in his words:
"It seems that the king still wants to live."

Cao Bin pretended not to have heard about Meng Chang's death. Although he guessed in his heart that it was probably because of the murderous Wang Quanbin that caused unrest in Sichuan and Shu that Meng Chang died suddenly, he would not utter a word about the related speculation.

While Cao Bin and Li Yu were talking, another person came out of the cabin and laughed loudly.

"General Cao, you are joking. If you can live, who would want to die?"

Li Yu, who was originally calm, immediately became furious when he saw the person coming:
"Qian Chu!"

Now the demise of his Li Tang dynasty was inevitable, and the key to this battle was naturally the capture of Nanjing City by the flying stone machine.

But if you think about it carefully, if Qian Chu, the ruler of Wuyue, had understood the importance of mutual dependence at the beginning of the war and joined forces with the Tang to fight against the Song, why would he have ended up like this?
There was no need to even ask for an alliance to resist Song. As long as Qian Chu was impartial and did not send any soldiers, it would not be so easy for the Song army to cross the river.

However, Qian Chu chose to help the Song Dynasty destroy the Tang Dynasty with all his strength. Therefore, Li Yu had no idea about the Song Dynasty. Instead, he had a lot of resentment towards Nanyue and almost wanted to devour it alive.

This expression made Qian Chu stop in his tracks and laughed:

"Why doesn't the king know the will of heaven?"

"Now that the Song government has pacified the southern part of China, it is only time to lead the army north to destroy Liu Han and pacify the Khitan. Then all of China will return to the Song and inherit the Mandate of Heaven of the Tang Dynasty."

"Why does Lord Li have to do the same as a mantis trying to stop a chariot?"

Li Yu was furious:
"If our Tang Dynasty is destroyed, how can you survive?"

"I am like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. What is the difference between you and the King of Yu?"

Facing the scolding, Qian Chu's attitude was very relaxed:

"I don't want the country of Yue to survive."

"what?"

Facing Li Yu's confused expression, Qian Chu also sighed:

"The strong city of Jinling was taken in five days, but our city of Qiantang is far inferior to Jinling."

"Since Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty, the world has been in chaos. How many people who have become powerful with their military power have survived?"

"Now that the Song emperor has swept the north and south, the world has once again shown signs of unification. Lord Li, do you think that even if I help you, what difference will the outcome of this battle make?"

Li Yu remained silent. He knew his own business. If the Song army took Nanyue first, he would definitely send troops to help, but in the end he would be unable to save Nanyue from its fate of destruction.

When the Song Dynasty took control of Qiantang, it was inevitable that they would continue to move southward. By then...

"General Cao, tell me, even if I join forces with Lord Li, can't the Song army defeat them one by one?"

Cao Bin smiled and said nothing. He couldn't say that he was completely unaware of the stone-flying machine.

If there were no stone-throwing machine, it would probably take at least three to five years to defeat the two countries one by one.

The silence of Cao Bin made Qian and Li think that he was confident, so Li Yu became more depressed, while Qian Chu became more carefree:
"It is my great fortune to be the Marquis of Anle in the Song Dynasty."

(End of this chapter)