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Chapter 698

"Meet His Royal Highness, Prince Qi!"

Li Shentong dismounted from his horse and came forward to meet him from a distance.This courteousness was still done to the fullest. Seeing this scene made Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji looked a little better.

Li Jiancheng didn't care too much, and dismounted together with Li Yuanji, and more than a dozen general managers of the Tang army behind him also dismounted.

A group of generals stood behind him, and Li Jiancheng smiled and said, "The king of Huai'an is free." After speaking, he helped Li Shentong up himself, then patted Li Shentong on the shoulder and smiled to the generals behind him: "The king of Huai'an is getting fat!"

After speaking, everyone will laugh together.

Li Shentong said with a smile: "Your Majesty, the crown prince, is concerned. As soon as His Majesty's army comes out, the whole world will be shaken. Zhao Jun must be terrified."

Li Jiancheng smiled faintly, and cupped his hands in the direction of Chang'an to the west: "This still depends on the father's strategizing properly. What is the movement of the Zhao army in Heyang, the king of Huai'an, and Liyang?"

Li Shen said: "There is no change in the slightest. Obviously, I don't know anything about His Highness the Crown Prince's departure from the West."

General Li Shenfu stepped forward and said: "His Royal Highness, Liyang City is Zhao Jun's granary in Hebei. If we can capture this city, we will be able to solve the problem of food and grass supply for the army. I invite all the troops to go east and attack Liyang City quickly."

Li Jiancheng was moved after hearing this, but he was not sure about changing his mind and asked, "What is General Qu's plan?"

In the last battle against Wang Shichong, Qu Tutong ranked first among the generals of the Tang army in terms of meritorious service.Li Yuan attached great importance to this veteran. This time when Li Jiancheng went to war, Li Yuan knew that his son was not proficient in military affairs, so he repeatedly told Li Jiancheng that Li Yuanji would ask Qu Tutong more about everything.

So Li Jiancheng remembered it very well, and asked Qu Tutong whenever he had a problem, so what could he do?
General Qu Tutong thought for a while and said: "A sneak attack on Liyang is indeed a good strategy, but from Hanoi to Liyang, let alone hundreds of miles away, it is difficult to keep it secret during the period, and it is easy for Zhao Jun to find out. We will capture Liyang within a few days, and Liyang is right next to the Yongji Canal, so the transportation is convenient, and if we can’t make a quick victory, the Zhao army will definitely reinforce along the canal, so the general thinks that the chance of success is not great.”

Li Yuanji also said: "Yes, Li Chongjiu is cautious by nature. How could he give us an opportunity? He must have deployed heavy troops in Liyang City. Our army is joining forces to take Heyang with one effort. This is an unwise move.”

When Li Yuanji said this, he was clearly ironic that Li Shenfu's opinion was very unwise.Li Shenfu couldn't go down the steps for a while, but Li Shentong said: "What His Royal Highness Qi Wang said is very true, it is because of the lack of consideration of Brother She."

Li Jiancheng saw that the discussion had resulted in a result, and he didn't want Li Yuanji and Li Shenfu to have a dispute before the war started, so he smoothed things over and said: "The opinion of King Gong of Xiangyi is also very insightful, and Gu also thinks it is feasible. But right now, the priority is to take down Heyang with lightning speed. After Heyang is defeated, it is not too late to consider sending troops to Liyang. This is what the emperor personally taught Yugu, so please don't make any changes. .”

Seeing what Li Jiancheng said, Li Yuanji, Li Shentong, Li Shenfu, and Qu Tutong all said yes and expressed their obedience.

At present, Li Jiancheng led the army to move on, and Li Shentong and Li Shenfu stayed behind in private.Li Shenfu was very annoyed at Li Yuanji's refutation of himself just now, and said to Li Shendao: "Brother, we are also the uncle of King Qi. He didn't even call us uncle when he saw us, and he used his status as a domineering man." , I can’t swallow this breath.”

Li Shentong reassured: "It's like this in everything. You are the county king and he is the king. In terms of dignity, of course he is superior. You are inferior. Why can't you bear this anger. I have always relied on my uncle status and suffered a lot. It's you instead."

After hearing this, Li Shenfu said anxiously: "Brother, how could you be so rude when the King of Qin led the army, and you see that the prince has no independent opinions, and he actually listens to King Qi and Qu Tutong in everything. How can a human being be the coach win a battle?"

"That's better than knowing nothing about yourself. It's better to command blindly. The prince is also self-aware," Li Shentong said indifferently, "Now that King Qin is losing power and Princess Pingyang is dead, the only one who can lead troops among His Majesty's princes is The crown prince and the king of Qi are married, so just bear with it."

After the Tang army joined forces with Li Shentong in Hanoi, with a force of 12, they arrived in Heyang City a long time ago.

The water of the Yellow River is surging and rushing endlessly. Outside Heyang City, gongs and drums are noisy, and there are countless soldiers, horses and flags, and the overwhelming army is overwhelming.

Looking at this large army, Li Jiancheng felt very much the beauty of being a handsome man. He whispered to Li Yuanji beside him, "I finally know why so many people want to be emperors. Look at the response, how beautiful it is. As long as you taste this Don't let go of the taste, it's really called a man who can't lose power for a day."
"What His Royal Highness said is true." Li Yuanji listened with envy.At this time, Li Jiancheng asked Li Hongji, the general beside him: "What is the ferry in front of Heyang City?"

Liu Hongji said without hesitation: "Reporting to His Majesty is Meng Jindu!"
Li Jiancheng's eyes brightened when he heard the words; "It turns out that this is the place where King Wu of Zhou met the eight hundred princes."

Hearing what Li Jiancheng said, Liu Hongji also said very jokingly: "Back then, King Wu Xie conquered the great merchants, sent troops from Guanzhong to Mengjin Huimeng, and crossed the Yellow River to the north to defeat King Zhou in Muye in the suburbs of Shang. Now that the crown prince is recruiting troops here, it is exactly recreating the scene of King Wu's discussion back then!"

Hearing what Liu Hongji said, Li Jiancheng laughed, obviously very happy.King Wu's conquest of merchants was a well-known dispute between East and West in the history of the Central Plains.The Zhou royal family that rose from Guanzhong defeated the forces of the Shang Dynasty in Hebei. After the Zhou royal family destroyed Shang, the center of gravity of the world has not changed in Guanzhong.

Now that Li Tang came from Guanzhong again to pacify the forces in Hebei, it seemed that he was repeating the scene of his destiny.

Hearing what Liu Hongji said, Li Jiancheng felt full of confidence at the moment, and felt that he was just like Zhou Wu Wang inheriting his father Zhou Wen Wang's destiny.

Li Jiancheng raised his horsewhip to Heyang and said, "Heyang city has few soldiers, and it can resist our army for a few days, but I just think that God has the virtue of good life, so let the envoy persuade the city general to surrender first."

At present, Li Jiancheng chose a bold envoy to go to the city to say surrender.

Soon the envoy returned from the city and said to Li Jiancheng: "His Royal Highness, the defenders in the city have answered."

Li Jiancheng asked in a loud voice, "What did the enemy general say?"

The envoy said: "The enemy general is a timid person and has no opinions, but his lieutenant general and the superintendent have different opinions. One said he was willing to surrender, and the other said he was not willing to surrender, so let me report to His Highness. I beg for a day to discuss and reply tomorrow."

Li Jiancheng nodded and said: "This is also a reasonable request, just agree to him."

"Your Highness can't."

Li Jiancheng turned his head and looked, it turned out to be General Chai Shao of You Xiaowei.

Li Jiancheng asked: "General Chai thinks why not?"

Chai Shaodao: "Your Highness, this is clearly General Zhao's plan to slow down the army. How can it be so difficult to surrender? If they have any objections, they can take Heyang City first."

After hearing Chai Shaozhi's words, Li Jiancheng was puzzled: "This." He had just expressed his position and asked him to withdraw his order immediately, but it was difficult to step down.

Qu Tutong said: "Our army has come from a long distance, and the boats and vehicles are exhausted. It may not be the best to attack the city in a hurry. Since the city says to think about it for a day, we might as well rest for a day to relieve fatigue. If they don't agree tomorrow, we can attack the city again. It's not too late."

Qu Tutong's words reached the bottom of Li Jiancheng's heart and said: "This is the solemn words of the old man, so let's do it like this."

At present, 12 Tang troops stationed under the city of Heyang for one night.

The next day Li Jiancheng sent envoys into the city to persuade him to surrender.

Soon the envoy came back and brought Zhao Jun's envoy.

When Zhao Jun's envoy saw Li Jiancheng, he prostrated himself in the tunnel and said, "I pay my respects to His Royal Highness, Your Highness is a thousand years old!"

Seeing that the envoy was so respectful to him, Li Jiancheng was very happy and asked, "How did you think about it all night?"

The Zhao Guo envoy lowered his head and said: "Our generals had a discussion last night. At dawn, all the generals believed that the Tang army was too powerful to be countered by manpower, so they decided to abandon the dark and turn to the bright, and the whole city surrendered. We just want His Royal Highness to agree. A condition?"

"Surrender, what nonsense is there to surrender? Believe it or not, I will fight into the city now when I am angry." General Huang Junhan of the Tang Army scolded angrily.

The Zhao Jun envoy was very frightened and trembled on the ground. Li Jiancheng said, "You have also seen that Gu's temper is not very good, but let's talk about the conditions first."

The envoy repeatedly kowtowed and said: "His Royal Highness, the city lord has the heart to surrender to Tang, but his family is in Luoyang. If he surrenders suddenly, his family's life may be lost. Therefore, I implore His Royal Highness to allow two days to allow the city lord to fulfill his minister's day. Keep your family safe."

Hearing this, Qu Tutong sneered and pressed his sword to get up and said: "Your Highness, don't say any more, drag this person out and behead him!"

The envoy raised his head and shouted: "Your Highness, what I said is absolutely true. If you don't believe me, you can peel off my confidant and see if it's true. We don't need two days, one day One day is fine, when the sun rises tomorrow, Heyang City will definitely surrender."

"What is trust in empty talk?"

"Here is the Tiger Talisman of the city general. It can be used as a guarantee. Please have a look at it, Your Highness."

After hearing what this person said, Li Jiancheng's subordinates took the Sealed Tiger Talisman and nodded after verifying that it was indeed the real thing.

Li Yuanji frowned and said: "Since I have waited for a day, I don't care about waiting for an extra day."

After hearing this, Li Jiancheng said, "Okay, Gu will trust you again."

On the third day, with Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji looking forward to it, the gate of Heyang City was still closed.

"His Royal Highness, shoot a letter from the city!"

Upon hearing this, Li Jiancheng opened the letter and saw that it said: "In the past, Chen Qingzhi went north to Zhonglang City with 30 white robes and conquered Er Zhurong's [-] troops. , he can leave his name through the ages in the future, fortunately."

After seeing the letter, he looked up at the densely packed archers in Heyang City. Li Jiancheng knew that he had been deceived and threw the letter paper on the ground, angrily saying, "Siege the city! I must skin this Su Dingfang!"

(End of this chapter)