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

Chapter 1604: Emperor Gaozong ascended the throne

"I don't understand what Envoy Song said."

Li Xuan raised his head and looked at the Song general behind the towering city wall, and asked, "Eastern and Western Tuyuhun rebelled, Changzhou was unable to suppress the rebellion, but Lanzhou sat on the sidelines and did nothing. Who is doing this sinister thing?"

With these words, General Song's anger rose again. He looked at Li Xuan and could not help cursing, "Eastern Tuyuhun and Western Tuyuhun rebelled, and Lanzhou received the news only ten days ago.

How can they easily go out when the troops are not yet fully assembled? Especially without an imperial decree from the court, how can they easily cross the border?
Could anyone be like King Peng and disregard the laws of the court?"

The soldiers on and below the city wall couldn't help feeling confused as they listened to the conversation between Li Xuan and General Song.

It was just leading 4,000 cavalry into Lanzhou. King Peng had done similar things before.

After pacifying Tubo, King Peng brought 3,000 cavalrymen and escorted countless Tubo nobles and property back to Chang'an.

Along the way, there were soldiers and civilians following in Changzhou, Shanzhou, and even Lanzhou, and there were more than 5,000 people in total.

Why does General Song look so angry today?

Li Xuan smiled calmly and said, "It turns out that Envoy Song dares not act rashly without an imperial decree."

Suddenly, Li Xuan pulled out an imperial edict from his bosom, looked at General Song with a cold gaze and said, "I am appointed Sikong by the Queen Mother and am returning to Chang'an with my husband Xue Shao, General Zhao Gong of the Left Thousand Bull Guards, and the Eunuch Fan Yunxian. Because we defeated the five tribes of the Western Turks, I am escorting the captives of the five tribes back to Chang'an today.

At the same time, I heard that the Eastern and Western Tuyuhun rebelled, so I went to Changzhou to put down the rebellion and captured the Tuyuhun royal family.

Returning to the court to report victory, he is now passing through Lanzhou.

The Lanzhou governor still won't open the door!"

……

On the top of Lanzhou City, Master Song clenched his fists, his face full of anger.

When Li Xuan was off guard, he didn't mind opening the city gate to let Li Xuan into the city, and then ordered his men to launch a sneak attack on Li Xuan.

However, when Li Xuan was prepared, he didn't dare to give Li Xuan any chance.

Losing Lanzhou would mean losing the entire northwest of the Tang Dynasty to King Peng. The Song army could not afford such a result.

General Song gritted his teeth and looked at Li Xuan: "The Queen Mother ordered King Peng to enter the pass from Dunhuang. Why didn't King Peng obey the order?"

"Give me the imperial edict. I will return to Dunhuang immediately and enter the country from Dunhuang." Li Xuan raised his head and sneered at General Song who was motionless. "Why, General Song doesn't have the imperial edict in his hand, or is General Song fabricating the imperial edict and plotting rebellion?"

"Whoever plots rebellion knows it in his heart."

Master Song finally cursed out, and he suddenly felt relieved in his heart, because he saw that the guards on the city wall looked at Li Xuan with a hint of doubt in their eyes.

They knew very well what kind of person their own governor was, not to mention the General of the Left Guard, Min Wen Gu.

Two people are here together to stop Li Xuan from entering Lanzhou. Is there really something fishy going on?
……

Li Xuan held the reins, sneered, looked at General Song and said, "Okay, okay, okay, then I will return to Dunhuang and enter the country from Dunhuang. However, the prince consort, the general of the Right Thousand Bull Guard, and the eunuch supervisor, the imperial envoys, the royal families of the five tribes of the Western Turks, the royal family of Tuyuhun, many captives, and a large amount of spoils, how about entering the country from Lanzhou?"

As Li Xuan finished speaking, Xue Shao, Zhao Gong, Fan Yunxian, members of the delegation, and more royal families from the five Western Turkic tribes, Tuyuhun royal families, and the Turkic tribes that escorted them, a total of more than 2,000 people, began to slowly move towards Lanzhou city.

Seeing more than 2,000 people coming towards Lanzhou City, General Song was shocked.

He dared to stop Li Xuan because he knew that the Queen Mother had issued an order, ordering the Dunhuang Governor's Office to intercept Li Xuan.

No cavalry under Li Xuan's command was allowed to enter the pass.

Even Li Xuan herself would be detained immediately upon entering the country.

Although the imperial edict is now in Dunhuang, which makes it a bit awkward for General Song who is in Lanzhou, he will not hesitate at all to do what he wants.

Because Empress Wu was there to back him up.

But what about these people in front of him: Xue Shao, the consort of the Empress's legitimate daughter Princess Tianping, Zhao Gong, the Empress's trusted general of the Left Thousand Bull Guard, and Fan Yunxian, the Empress's trusted eunuch supervisor. Would General Song dare not let them enter the city?
However, were those people around them really the envoys, as well as other Turkic and Tuyuhun royal families?
With King Peng's methods, as long as he dares to open the door, the city gate will never be closed again.

Seeing Xue Shao, Zhao Gong, Fan Yunxian and others getting closer and closer, the soldiers around them couldn't help but become agitated.

General Song's face suddenly looked extremely embarrassed. He didn't know how Li Xuan managed to send so many people to the city of Lanzhou so quickly, but the existence of these people was a huge trouble for General Song.

Don't let them in. They are angels who announce the imperial edict, a son-in-law, a general of the Left Thousand Bull Guards, and a eunuch supervisor. Even when they went to Fanzhou to announce the imperial edict, they were still sent by General Song.

Let them in. Maybe the people following them will be able to capture the city gate immediately.

At this moment, a burst of hurried footsteps sounded from the side. General Song turned his head subconsciously, and then saw that Min Wen Gu had already climbed up the city wall with more archers, and had already begun to draw his bows and arrows at the people below the city.

Seeing this scene, Xue Shao and Fan Yunxian under the city wall were the first to change their expressions.

Zhao Gong was calm. At this moment, he couldn't help but look back at Li Xuan in the distance.

Using them to open the gates of Shanzhou before was not a big problem, but using them to open the gates of Lanzhou is a bit of a fantasy.

Lanzhou Governor Song Shijiang now looked a little hesitant from a distance, but he was just afraid of their identities.

Only if they get closer to Lanzhou City, General Song will definitely take action, and at most the target will be changed to someone other than them.

But on the battlefield, swords and arrows are blind and no one knows when a stray arrow will kill someone.

If that really happens, then General Song will also have something to say to the court.

Moreover, he was the only one guarding Lanzhou City, and Empress Wu would never care about the lives of these people. Therefore, the idea of ​​using them to open the gate of Lanzhou City was simply unrealistic, and Li Xuan should understand this.

Zhao Gong looked at Li Xuan with a hint of doubt in his eyes. What was Li Xuan planning?
……

On the city wall, looking at the crowd lined up, although there were no siege weapons, there was definitely no shortage of swords.

General Song's expression became more and more solemn. Even though he didn't recognize others, he knew Murong Nuohebo, the King of Eastern Tuyuhun.

Especially in the past few years, Li Xuan wrote in his memorials more than once, requesting the destruction of Eastern Tuyuhun.

However, in order to calm the hearts of the various tribes, the imperial court would not touch Eastern Tuyuhun without a legitimate reason.

When Eastern Tuyuhun rebelled a while ago, the court had actually received the news, but they were just selecting who would be the main general to lead the expedition.

After all, it was not difficult to pacify Eastern Tuyuhun, and the novel also describes it as an achievement of destroying a country. However, before the debate could be concluded, Eastern Tuyuhun was easily destroyed by Li Xuan.

Looking at Xue Shao, Zhao Gong, Fan Yunxian and Murong Nuohebo who were almost reaching the city, General Song's face was full of helplessness, and then he gently raised his hand.

The next moment, with a loud bang, hundreds of crossbowmen stepped forward, aiming their crossbows at the people under the city wall.

As long as General Song gave the order, they would immediately shoot arrows.

Min Wen Gu glanced at General Song and couldn't help but shake his head slightly. This Governor Song was not a simple person. King Peng had really made a wrong calculation by doing this.

"Everyone." General Song walked to the female wall and shouted to everyone, "Everyone, this governor has been ordered by the emperor to guard Lanzhou. The city gate will not be opened. Please turn around and leave within forty breaths. Otherwise, this governor will have to obey the emperor's order."

"The first arrow, three steps away." Min Wen Gu gave the order without any hesitation.

With a "whoosh" sound, arrows fell like rain.

In a blink of an eye, the area three steps in front of everyone was filled with long arrows.

The cold arrow reflected a biting cold light in the winter sun.

Seeing this scene, Xue Shao couldn't help but stop immediately, and the same went for Fan Yunxian beside him.

But behind them, others were still pushing them forward.

"No, no." Xue Shao couldn't help but want to stop. He knew that General Song would not let go easily.

These killers on the battlefield will never hold back when killing someone.

But behind him, the people pushing him were using great strength. Compared to these people, Xue Shao had no strength at all.

On the contrary, Zhao Gong, although moving forward step by step, had unknowingly fallen behind Xue Shao.

Fan Yunxian on the other side looked more and more miserable. Compared with Xue Shao's resistance, he did not hesitate at all. Instead, he strode forward. Unknowingly, he had walked to the front and stepped on a row of crossbow arrows stuck on the ground in front of him.

As soon as he passed the crossbow arrows, Fan Yunxian could not help but run forward quickly: "Shoot, shoot, shoot quickly. King Peng received the order from the fake crown prince to raise an army to rebel. He has already taken Changzhou and Shanzhou. Now only Lanzhou is left. Shoot quickly and don't let his conspiracy succeed."

General Song suddenly raised his hand, and countless crossbow arrows were aimed at the people under the city.

At this moment, a gong sounded suddenly from the opposite army formation, and the next moment, everyone under the Lanzhou city wall retreated quickly.

Xue Shao, Zhao Gong, Murong Nuohebo, and other royal families of various ethnic groups were pulled back quickly.

Only Fan Yunxian was left.

Fan Yunxian was confused. Why was he the only one left?

General Song on the city wall seemed to have realized something and his expression suddenly changed.

At this moment, countless figures retreated from under the city wall. Li Xuan, dressed in black and armor, stepped forward slowly with a long spear in his hand, and said at the same time: "The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the person in charge of internal worship, the third-rank internal affairs supervisor Fan Yunxian, Supervisor Fan, you mentioned the fake crown prince just now, which fake crown prince are you talking about?"

Li Xuan's voice was extremely loud and could be heard clearly throughout the entire Lanzhou city.

The soldiers on the city wall looked at Li Xuan and Fan Yunxian in astonishment. How come another fake prince appeared?

Fan Yunxian stood at the city gate, and suddenly he felt a chill in his heart.

No, he fell into the trap.

Li Xuan rode his horse forward calmly without any intention of stopping. Even when he fell into the shooting range of the crossbows on the city wall, he still spoke calmly.

"Are you talking about the grandson of the emperor, Li Chongzhao, who was personally canonized by our Great Tang Emperor Gaozong Tianhuang and remotely appointed as the governor of Jizhou Grand Military Governor's Office, and the chief minister of the Imperial Court? Or are you talking about the crown prince, Li Chongzhao, who was canonized by the Great Tang Emperor Zhongzong Xiaohe in the first year of Sisheng and sits in the Eastern Palace as regent?"

When Li Xuan finished speaking, angry roars rang out throughout Lanzhou, inside and outside Lanzhou.

Then, Li Xuan's voice strangely turned soft, and it sounded faintly but clearly between heaven and earth: "Or, you are talking about the Crown Prince Li Chongzhao who escaped from the East Palace on the night of May 15th of the first year of Sisheng, the night when the East Palace in Chang'an was bloodbathed.

Even yesterday, in Luoyang, under the watchful eyes of the Imperial Guard General Pei Xingjian, Duke of Jiang, the Minister of Zongzheng Temple Wei Siqian, Prince of Ze Li Shangjin, the Governor of Runzhou Wei Xuanfu, and the Grand Princess Wencheng, the Crown Prince Li Chongzhao ascended the throne in accordance with the will of Emperor Gaozong and restored the heir to the throne."

The violent roar exploded throughout the world.

Everyone on the city wall was stunned, and General Song couldn't help but cover his face.

It’s over.

(End of this chapter)