Datang: What's wrong with my fief being a billion points larger?

Chapter 285: Forced by the situation, the frustrated Li Er had to give in

The Silla army on the shore was excitedly launching the final attack on Buyeo Zhang who was curled up on the dock. Hou Junji and Xue Wanshu behind him were also waiting with joy on their faces.

Suddenly, a whistling sound was heard, and an explosion suddenly occurred among the Silla army that was attacking the dock. Many people were blown away, and many fell to the ground. Potholes of different sizes appeared on the ground.

The sudden change made everyone quiet down instantly. They looked around in horror, with cold sweat dripping from their foreheads. Looking at their companions lying on the ground and crying, they became more frightened and kept swallowing their saliva.

Even Hou Junji and Xue Wanshu looked at each other in bewilderment at this time. They looked at each other and saw each other's fear.

Then the two of them stared at the fleet on the sea. In their eyes, the only variable was the fleet on the sea.

However, a moment later, the same supernatural event happened again in their eyes. The artillery of Liu Rengui's fleet at sea fired again. A huge noise was heard, accompanied by a whistling sound. Countless Silla soldiers on the shore were hit again, and countless people were blown away or injured. Many were also killed.

At this moment, Hou Junji and Xue Wanshu immediately realized that this was the noise made by the enemy fleet at sea.

However, the Silla army charging in the front collapsed directly at this moment. In their eyes, this was the anger of God, who sent down the wrath of thunder to punish them.

Even though the sky is clear now, it does not stop them from thinking this way. Apart from this, they can't think of anything else.

Gunpowder had not yet been invented, and no one outside knew about it, let alone cannons. Not only had no one seen it, no one would even think of it.

The army collapsed suddenly, and everyone was scrambling to escape. The fear of the unknown deeply stimulated everyone's nerves.

On the warship at sea, Li Yuanji looked at the defeated Silla army through a telescope, and the corners of his mouth suddenly curled up.

This is the power of artillery in its early days. Its physical lethality is actually very limited, but its spiritual lethality is huge.

It was at this time that Liu Rengui immediately ordered the Marines to land. Without any pressure, they landed directly on the shore. As the messenger waved the flag, the army led by Xue Wanche immediately switched to small boats to land after the large ship approached.

The 30,000 soldiers were like dumplings dropped into the water. The entire beach was filled with the figures of the army, constantly rushing towards the shore.

After getting off the boat, Xue Wanche immediately led his army to chase down the Silla and Tang armies, and took advantage of the situation to launch an attack on the city, which went exceptionally smoothly.

Seeing this scene, Li Yuanji immediately called Liu Rengui.

“Zhengze, move out two cannons and let Xue Wanche lead them to attack the city.

You lead a part of the navy, take four cannons, go check on the Tang navy, and punish them appropriately, but don't destroy them all at once."

Liu Rengui was suddenly puzzled and looked at Li Yuanji in doubt.

"My king, why don't you destroy the Tang navy? I have the confidence that I can destroy the Tang navy!"

Li Yuanji shook his head with a serious expression.

"Zhengze, you don't understand. I know you can wipe out the Tang navy, but if you do that, Li Er will definitely not be reconciled to the defeat of Li Ji and others, and will mobilize more troops.

Moreover, even if you can defeat the Tang navy, we will certainly not suffer any losses ourselves.

When Li Er gathers a large number of troops here, we will have to increase our troops accordingly. The war will then expand, and our deployments in other places will be impacted.

The original intention of the arrangement for Baekje and Silla was to consume the two countries and create opportunities for the entry of our army. However, it will then become a direct fight between us and the Tang Dynasty, which will benefit the neighboring countries for nothing. This is not good.

If Li Er had known better, he would have withdrawn from Baekje and Silla and gone to another place to regain his position.

But if Li Er really refuses to retreat and is unwilling to give in, and is determined to compete with me here, then I will not hold back and will kill Li Er's Tang army!"

Li Yuanji was indeed unwilling to fight with Li Er at this time and both sides would suffer losses, and he was unwilling to expand the scale of the conflict with Li Er. After all, his goal had not been achieved yet, and the deployment on the west side was already in place. If the conflict here was expanded, it would affect the deployment on the west side.

And just as Li Yuanji said, he really didn't want to fight with Li Er and give the surrounding countries an advantage for nothing.

If he and Li Er fight with all their might, no matter who wins or loses, both will be seriously injured. His expansion will inevitably come to a halt, and the recovery of the people's livelihood in Li Er's Tang Dynasty will inevitably be severely damaged.

By then, the Turks and Tuyuhun in the north of the Tang Dynasty will be eyeing him covetously, and as for him here, the remnants of Baekje and Silla will inevitably stir up trouble, Goguryeo will inevitably intervene, and the rebellion in Dongzhou Prefecture will further expand.

On the west side, Tubo's deployment was affected, and the expansion of the Harsha Dynasty's fiefdom to the west would not be feasible. Moreover, it would face counterattacks from four prefectures including Xizhou Prefecture, as well as small countries such as Pyu, including Srivijaya, which took advantage of its weakness to rush into its fiefdom.

Today, his fiefdom is indeed not small, but his control over many places will not last long. The surrounding small countries are eyeing him covetously, and the situation he faces is also not small.

It’s just that he has always been strong, and around him, except for the Harsha Dynasty, there have been no other powerful enemies like the Turks to the north of the Tang Dynasty.

Even for the Harsha Dynasty, there are still small countries like Gundam in front of it, and they cannot pose a threat to him for the time being. His situation is only slightly better than that of the Tang Dynasty.

But no matter what, Li Yuanji was unwilling to see other small countries encroaching on their land and resources and growing bigger.

These reasons are the reason why he does not want to expand the scale of the conflict with Li Er now. A local war is fine, but an all-out war is definitely not possible.

Although Li Yuanji thought so, Li Er really couldn't think of that. If Li Yuanji wanted to have a full-scale war with him, he would not back down. If he wanted to fight, he would fight to the end.

After hearing this, Liu Rengui said nothing more and admired Li Yuanji even more. In Liu Rengui's eyes, even though they now had the advantage, Li Yuanji was still able to consider the overall situation and all the Han people. Liu Rengui admired this mind very much.

"My lord, I know what to do. I will hurt the Tang navy, but I will never destroy it!"

Liu Rengui had only one thought in his mind, which was to hope that Li Er could understand what was going on. Otherwise, he would really destroy the entire Tang Dynasty navy.

At this moment on the shore, Xue Wanche led a large army to launch a full-scale counterattack, and together with the remnants of the Baekje army, the Silla army and the Tang army continued to retreat. After seeing the Silla army and the Tang army continued to retreat, the Baekje people along the way immediately returned and launched a counterattack against the Silla army and the Tang army.

Hou Junji and Xue Wanshu felt extremely aggrieved, and they immediately discussed that they could not allow the army to continue retreating, and they began to send troops to stop them. The Silla army wanted to escape, but with the concerted efforts of the two, they killed hundreds of people and forced the Silla army to stop retreating.

However, in the subsequent battle, when the Marines took out new firearms such as muskets, the Tang and Silla armies, which had never seen them before, were once again killed and forced to retreat.

Hou Junji and Xue Wanshu were both extremely shocked, not to mention the army below.

The two men were finally helpless and had to start evacuating continuously. They almost gave up all the cities along the way. It was really that the army was now in chaos and had no will to fight. They had no way of staying and waiting for help.

Finally, after the arrival of Li Ji's army, they fought and retreated at the same time and finally stabilized their formation. After so much time had passed, the Tang army and the Silla army no longer had the initial fear of the emergence of firearms.

At the same time, Xue Wanche stopped the pursuit, began to rest the army, consolidate the recaptured cities, and began to prepare for a new round of war.

At sea, Liu Rengui led part of the navy and began to attack the Tang Dynasty's navy. When he saw that the Tang Dynasty's navy was united and ready for defense, Liu Rengui immediately started bombarding with artillery amidst his sneer.

In more than two hours, fifty or sixty ships of the Tang Navy were directly destroyed, including more than thirty large ships, all of which were destroyed.

In Dengzhou, in the palace, Li Er paced back and forth, frowning, looking very annoyed.

Li Er was really upset. He was originally enjoying himself, but Li Yuanji suddenly sent him a letter, which shocked him. He didn't expect that Li Yuanji had guessed his whereabouts before he even showed up in Dengzhou.

The most crucial thing is that Li Yuanji also came here. Considering the situation between Baekje and Silla, Li Er became more concerned. In order to prevent Li Yuanji from sending troops to intervene, he sent Cheng Yaojin to be responsible for defense in Silla.

At the same time, he let Li Ji command the army, Hou Junji and Xue Wanshu intensified the offensive against Baekje. Everything was moving in a direction that was favorable to him, and Li Er became more and more excited.

What excited him the most was defeating Li Yuanji in front of him. After he ascended the throne, he suffered more humiliation than when he was the King of Qin. Li Er had accumulated a lot of resentment in his heart.

However, just when he was about to win a great victory, Li Yuanji's army began to counterattack, using new weapons that could directly attack the shore from such a long distance at sea.

Not only does it have a long range, but it also has tremendous power. Even catapults cannot compare to it. Every time it launches an attack, it is like the angry thunder god, which makes Li Er's heart suddenly shrouded in shadow.

However, the Silla army and the army he sent were directly defeated and were chased and killed by Xue Wanche's army all the way. Even though Hou Junji and Xue Wanshu tried their best to resist, a new type of weapon emerged from Li Yuanji's army.

It was able to penetrate the armor worn by the army from a distance of dozens of steps. It was invisible to the naked eye. Only a loud bang was heard, and the soldiers fell to the ground. The power was enormous.

Hou Junji and Xue Wanshu had worked so hard to rally the morale of the army, but this battle completely destroyed it. All the way they were beaten by Xue Wanche without any ability to fight back, and the army simply lost its will to fight.

After receiving one piece of information after another, Li Er had no good days and even suffered from insomnia at night. What shocked Li Er was that Li Yuanji suddenly had a new weapon.

He still had no idea what this new weapon was and could only learn a little about it through military reports from the battlefield.

Just when Li Er was feeling upset, Li Junxian hurried in.

"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened. The enemy general Liu Rengui led the navy to attack our navy. The navy was defeated and lost 73 ships, including 32 large ships, our new large ships.

This time, the enemy still used the new weapon, which could directly attack our large ships from a very long distance. In this naval battle, we didn't even have a large-scale contact with the enemy, but many of our ships were destroyed. Now the remaining navy has docked in Dengzhou to guard against Liu Rengui's navy attacking Dengzhou."

When Li Er heard the news, even though he was prepared, he was still a little unsteady. The navy was defeated, which was within his expectations. His navy was indeed no match for Li Yuanji's navy.

Although I was mentally prepared, this defeat was a bit too ugly, wasn't it?

Without any large-scale hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, so many warships were destroyed and we were defeated so badly.

However, the most crucial thing is that his navy was defeated so thoroughly. So what should Li Ji, Cheng Yaojin, Hou Junji, and Xue Wanshu in Silla do?
The navy is now unable to go to support Li Ji and others, as well as more than 20,000 Tang troops. So many people will be left in Silla completely, facing Li Yuanji's army and the attack from Goguryeo.

Coupled with the new weapons that Li Yuanji is now equipped with, as well as the tens of thousands of troops he has deployed, Li Ji and his men, as well as the more than 20,000 troops, are likely to be in great danger.

Li Er almost felt dizzy. The 20,000 troops sent out this time were not ones that could be lost. They were elite troops transferred from the north. Every man was wearing armor and they were all elite veterans who had experienced many battles.

Li Er really couldn't bear to give up such a powerful force.

Li Er sat on the stairs, speechless for a moment.

"This time, I was defeated by him again. How come the King of Qi has changed so much since he went to Lingnan? He even has such new weapons now.

You must immediately ask the Hundred Cavalry Division to investigate. At all costs, you must find out about this new weapon and bring the manufacturing process of this new weapon back to the Tang Dynasty!"

It was only a moment of distraction, and Li Er quickly recovered.

In Li Er's eyes, even if he failed now, it was only a temporary failure. There was still a long way to go in the battle between him and Li Yuanji.

Even though he had been defeated in battles when he was pacifying the world for the Tang Dynasty, true success lies in being the last one to laugh.

Today, Li Er has become extremely interested in Li Yuanji's new weapons. As long as he can get these weapons, it is still unknown who will win.

Li Junxian immediately went down to start making arrangements. He was shocked by the news. Even if Li Er did not give orders, he would have asked the Hundred Cavalry Division to find out. Li Yuanji had new weapons in his hands, but they had no idea about it. This was extremely scary.

Li Er was thinking quietly by himself. At this moment, he was struggling over whether he should mobilize the army to continue the war or negotiate peace with Li Yuanji.

Li Er also didn't want to continue the war. He didn't think as much as Li Yuanji, but he was very clear about one thing: if he concentrated his troops here to fight against Li Yuanji, Li Yuanji would definitely mobilize his troops to come.

By then, a great battle with Li Yuanji would require an army of at least 200,000 or more. This number is the minimum.

Li Yuanji's army already had the advantage of military equipment, and now with the addition of new weapons, he would need to mobilize even more troops. Otherwise, if he failed in a war of this scale, it would mean that his reign as emperor would really come to an end.

Regardless of the outcome of this war, Li Er dared to guarantee that the Turks and Tuyuhun would definitely invade the Tang Dynasty. There was no doubt about it.

Now most of his troops are still in the north. The army in the north can be said to be the most elite army in the Tang Dynasty. If they are to fight a big battle with Li Yuanji, they must be withdrawn.

The withdrawal of the northern army means the emptiness of the north. Such an opportunity, let alone Jie Li, even if it were him, he would definitely take advantage of this opportunity to invade.

But by then, he would be in a difficult situation. Regardless of whether he won or lost the battle with Li Yuanji, his position would be extremely dangerous. Even if he won, it would be a miserable victory, and by then, the north would be in ruins.

By then, all the chaos in the Tang Dynasty will probably surface, and the entire Tang Dynasty will be in complete chaos. The remnants of Li Jiancheng will probably rush out and take advantage of the troubled waters.

At that time, even if he defeated Li Yuanji, it would be a pyrrhic victory, and he would have to go back to deal with the rebellions in various places and the invasions from the Turks and Tuyuhun in the north. Li Er did not dare to think about it. The difficulty was too great.

And if he failed in the war with Li Yuanji, he would not be able to continue to be the emperor, and the Tang Dynasty would only become more chaotic.

Regardless of victory or defeat, Li Er will be a sinner of the world and of all eternity. His mutiny and killing of Li Jiancheng will become a complete disgrace and will be despised by people all over the world.

Thinking of these consequences, even Li Er couldn't help but tremble.

At this time, Li Er understood more clearly that unless the threat from the north was eliminated, he would never be able to launch a real all-out war against Li Yuanji.

"Do I really have to give in to him?"

Li Er was filled with pain for a moment. He was really unwilling to surrender to Li Yuanji. However, now that a full-scale war was no longer possible, he was unwilling to give up Li Ji and others of Silla, as well as more than 20,000 troops.

Li Er was really worried. Apart from surrendering and asking Li Yuanji to withdraw all the people he had stationed in Silla, there seemed to be no other way out.

With the water route cut off, it seemed that Goguryeo would not listen to him, so Li Ji and others had become isolated.

Li Er became more and more melancholy, he was really unwilling to give up.

Just then, Li Junxian hurried over again.

"Your Majesty, the navy has sent the last intelligence from Silla. Duke Cao led the army to respond. Now the formation has been stabilized. The army has switched from offense to defense. The army has initially adapted to the new weapons of the King of Qi. Next, we will do our best to prevent the enemy's attack."

Li Er felt mixed emotions when he heard the news. He was happy that Li Ji lived up to his expectations and demonstrated great ability, stabilizing the army and preventing it from retreating again.

But the worrying thing is that the fact that Li Ji was able to switch from offense to defense means that there is still no effective means to contain Li Yuanji's new weapons. Moreover, once the offense is switched to defense, in order to shrink the defense line, he will inevitably give up many places to concentrate the army to fight the enemy.

And there is a huge hidden danger, that is the material supply of Li Ji's army. Now that the sea route is cut off, all supplies cannot be transported. Under such circumstances, how long can Li Ji and others hold on?

Li Er was full of worries, but ultimately helpless.

"Go prepare the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone. Isn't the King of Qi in Dongzhou Prefecture now? Doesn't he want me to write him a reply? I will satisfy him."

Defeating his navy but not completely annihilating it, allowing his navy to escape, wasn't this the signal Li Yuanji was sending? Li Er understood it.

Li Junxian was also unwilling in his heart, but he had no way out. Li Er couldn't think of it, so he couldn't think of it even more.

On the other side, Li Yuanji was leisurely enjoying the massage from Wu Mei and Wu Shun. The war was progressing very smoothly. He had already sent a message to Xue Wanche, asking him to advance steadily and not to act rashly.

Li Yuanji was not anxious at all. The one who should be anxious at this moment was Li Er.

"Your Majesty, there is a letter from Dengzhou."

Yang Jianhe hurried in. Li Yuanji slowly stood up, took the letter and started reading it. After reading it, he sneered and threw the letter aside.

"What is this Li Er thinking? Even now, he is still pretending and talking to me in the tone of an emperor, asking me to release Li Ji and his men and the army. What is he thinking?"

Li Yuanji was really happy. This letter was telling him that he, Li Yuanji, was the King of Qi of the Tang Dynasty. It was explaining this over and over again. Wasn't it trying to make him release the people and admit that he was inferior to Li Er?

Although this is indeed the case today, whether he admits it or not is another matter, and now it is Li Er who is begging him.

Li Yuanji then spoke again.

"Send a message to Liu Rengui to intensify patrols. You can release Li Ji's military reports appropriately, but you must confirm the contents of the reports. At the same time, dismantle three more cannons and send them to Xue Wanche.

Also send a message to Xue Wanche, telling him to start the attack on Li Ji and to be cautious and not to rush ahead.

Li Yuanji wanted to see how long Li Er could endure.

After receiving three more cannons, Xue Wanche excitedly began to attack Li Ji's army. With the cover of the cannons, Li Ji's defense was extremely difficult.

Li Ji originally wanted to find an opportunity to attack during the battle, but Xue Wanche was too steady. Even though he had the advantage, he still took all necessary precautions, which meant that Li Ji had no choice but to defend like this.

Now, with Xue Wanche having three more cannons, after more than three hours of hard fighting, Li Ji had no choice but to lead his army to retreat again, and at the same time sent a message to Li Er.

He didn't know whether the military report could be passed on, but he had to try. If he continued like this, in his eyes, it would be nothing more than a slow death.

Unable to defeat him head-on, Li Ji used all kinds of tactics to lure Xue Wanche, but Xue Wanche did not fall for them. His march was also extremely steady, leaving Li Ji with a lot of tricks but no place to use them.

In Dengzhou, Li Ji's military report appeared in Li Er's eyes. Seeing that Li Ji had no other choice, he could either make a final desperate fight or ask Li Er to find a solution as soon as possible.

Li Er completely lost hope and finally had to write a letter of surrender and send it to Li Yuanji.

When writing the letter, Li Er's hands were shaking. He felt extremely aggrieved and his heart seemed to be bleeding, but he could do nothing about it.

(End of this chapter)