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

Chapter 1684 The Emperor's Position Is Still Vacant

South of Tianjin Bridge, under the black banner, the command flag was waving rapidly.

In an instant, huge three-masted warships came upstream from the Luo River in the west.

It was filled with navy troops from Yangzhou.

Each warship was equipped with two catapults and densely packed ship crossbows.

With the command flags waved, the warships quickly lined up in front of the Duanmen. More than a dozen warships were scattered on both sides of the Duanmen, leaving enough space in the middle.

Flexible enough, aggressive enough.

As the command flag turned, thousands of soldiers quickly adjusted the catapults and crossbows on the ship.

At the same time, more small boats appeared around the big ship.

Some of them had already started to rush towards the north bank, while others began to move towards the boats that were ready to pick up the soldiers from the south bank.

Li Xuan looked at the Duanmen with cold eyes.

So what if the Tianjin Bridge was destroyed? It’s not like the Tianjin Bridge hasn’t been destroyed before and it’s not like it hasn’t been taken down before.

When Wang Shichong was captured from Luoyang by Emperor Taizong, he destroyed the Tianjin Bridge and delayed the battle for another month. In the end, he was forced to surrender by his subordinates in Ziwei City.

Although Empress Wu is now holding on to the Purple Palace, she is nothing more than dry bones in a tomb.

Now, the only thing Empress Wu can rely on, apart from the Ziwei Palace, is her bet that Li Xuan dare not kill her.

Although she changed the Tang Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty, she was still the empress of Emperor Gaozong, the mother of Emperor Zhongzong and Emperor Ruizong, and even in the eyes of court officials, she was the grandmother of Li Chongzhao.

Whoever has her blood on his hands, no matter who becomes emperor in the future, as long as he is her blood, he will never let the person who killed her go.

Even if nothing happened when he was alive, his grave would be dug up and his corpse would be whipped after he died.

A sneer appeared on Li Xuan's lips. What a big deal.

Empress Wu was about to die.

He really hoped that someone would jump out in this short period of time!

……

More than a dozen boulders flew fiercely from the warships toward the Ziwei Palace, and more crossbow arrows mixed in with the boulders shot silently toward the city wall.

Brutal, brutal, cruel and vicious.

In an instant, there were casualties on the city wall, and a large number of people were missing.

Yan Huaidan stood on the city gate and glanced sideways behind him.

Although the yellow banner was still standing there, there was no trace of Empress Wu underneath it.

At this moment, the entire Ziwei Palace has completely fallen into the hands of Yan Huaidan.

He looked coldly at Li Xuan, who was standing under the black banner under the city, and then landed on the warships on the river and shouted, "Rolling stones, crossbows, fire, sink these warships."

With a loud "bang", more and bigger boulders fiercely smashed towards the warships on the Luo River from above the Ziwei Palace.

With a "bang", huge waves suddenly exploded in the Luo River, but the warships on the Luo River dodged flexibly.

Many soldiers have begun to land on the north bank. At this moment, more crossbow arrows fall over their heads.

Almost instantly, a large number of soldiers who landed died.

And more crossbow arrows were falling down madly in countless numbers, a complete covering attack, without caring about the loss of arrows at all.

Under the black banner, the command flag was waving rapidly.

The movement of large and small ships was more flexible, trying their best to avoid being hit by the rolling stones and crossbow arrows from the city walls, while at the same time they tried their best to attack and kill the enemies on the city walls.

……

With a loud "bang", a three-masted warship was hit from the side by a rolling stone, and a huge hole was immediately broken, and the river water rushed in.

Just as the warship began to tilt and the soldiers panicked, a command flag was waving under the black banner.

The next moment, in the surprised eyes of everyone, the warship headed directly to the center of the river, and finally sank slowly above the ruins of Tianjin Bridge.

With a loud "boom", the warship finally sank completely, but the water surface was one foot above the deck, and the soldiers could even run on it.

In an instant, everyone understood Li Xuan's plan. He was going to use these warships to build a floating bridge and then directly attack the Ziwei Palace from the south bank.

The sound of fighting stopped for just a moment, and the next moment, it became even more fierce. The black-armored soldiers on the south bank had already begun to climb onto the north bank.

Li Xuan looked solemn. At this moment, his ears suddenly moved and he looked suddenly towards the upper reaches of the Luo River.

A loud bang came from the upper reaches of the Luo River... no, it came from the palace.

"Pass the order, all ships, retreat eastwards downstream." Li Xuan said quickly, and the command flag had just been waved, and the next moment, a mighty flood rushed directly down from the upper reaches of the Luo River.

Yan Huaidan on the city wall watched coldly as the flood directly pushed back the warships, and the small boats were directly overturned, with countless soldiers struggling back and forth in the water.

More often than not, they were directly killed by the wooden stakes that were carried along, and finally sank completely into the water.

On the north bank, countless soldiers were shot to death by bows and arrows. Their blood flowed directly into the Luo River and was then washed away.

Yan Huaidan raised his head and looked directly at Li Xuan on the south bank.

Under the black banner, Li Xuan had a calm face, as if he didn't care about the casualties in front of him. Yan Huaidan continued to raise his eyes. Behind Li Xuan, on the entire Dingdingmen Street, tens of thousands of black-armored cavalrymen were densely packed, looking at him coldly.

……

Under the black banner, Li Xuan spoke calmly, "Right Guard General Wang Fangyi, attack the north gate of Ziwei Palace; Right Army Guard General Li Duozuo, attack the east gate of Ziwei Palace; Left Guard General Tang Zhenxing, attack the west gate of Ziwei Palace. All units will attack the city with all their strength within one day and one night. This king wants to know how strong the defense of Ziwei Palace is."

"Yes!" All the generals bowed in unison, then turned around and led their troops away.

Li Xuan looked at the others and said, "General Qu Chongyu of the Right Guard will lead the General of the Right Gate Guard to integrate the left and right gate guards and take charge of the gates of Luoyang. General Cui Ding of the Left Jinwu Guard will reorganize the left and right Jinwu Guards of Luoyang. General Zhou Qian of the Left Thousand Bull Guard will reorganize the left and right Thousand Bull Guards of Luoyang and cooperate with the Chief of Luoyang to control the entire city."

Qu Chongyu, Cui Ding and Zhou Qian all bowed at the same time, accepted the order and left.

At this time, Liu Zhirou, Ouyang Tong, Wang Dezhen, Dou Lu Qinwang, Dou Xuande, Yao Lingzhang, Wang Jishan, Duan Baoxuan, Cen Changqian, Di Renjie, Du Shenyan, Yang Jiong, Yao Chong, Song Jing and others finally came forward.

Li Xuan saw a group of familiar faces and was the first to bow and say, "Thank you for your hard work."

"Thank you for your hard work, Your Majesty." Everyone bowed in return.

"No need to be like this. We are all family. Seeing that everyone is safe, I am finally relieved." Li Xuan turned to look at Liu Zhirou and said seriously, "This time, it's all thanks to the Chief Secretary."

Liu Zhirou bowed his hands in a bitter tone, shook his head and said, "I never thought that the Queen would dare to claim the throne and change the Tang Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty."

If Empress Wu had not ascended the throne and changed the Tang Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty, Liu Zhirou might have continued to be polite to her for a while. However, as soon as Empress Wu changed the Tang Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty, Liu Zhirou could no longer calm down. In a very short time, Liu Zhirou sent people to contact Li Xuan's men in the city.

With the help of Li Xuan's men, the stone slabs containing gunpowder were delivered into Qixia Gate, and then Ouyang Tong and others were rescued.

Especially Ouyang Tong and others. Empress Wu was a person who did not keep her word. She had clearly issued a general amnesty, but in fact she only released them from Qianniu Prison and sent them to Qixia Gate. Once Li Xuan released the water to rush into the city, they would most likely be the first to die.

So Liu Zhirou did make a contribution in this matter.

"Who would have thought that the Queen would kill Sanlang and Silang..." Li Xuan shook his head calmly, looked at the people in front of him and said, "The most important thing now is to restore order. Liu Changshi will continue to serve as the Chief of Luozhou, Yao Chong will serve as the Imperial Censor and the Inspector of Luozhou Sima, and Song Jing will serve as the Magistrate of Luoyang County to assist Liu Changshi in stabilizing the people of Luoyang."

"Yes!" The three of them bowed at the same time. It was most appropriate to let them do these things.

Li Xuan looked at Wang Dezhen, Ouyang Tong and others, and said apologetically: "As for the others, you all need to go to Xuchang. Prime Minister Cui and Prime Minister Lu are now in Xuchang. I'm afraid your positions will need to be relocated..."

"It doesn't matter. As long as I can continue to serve the Tang Dynasty." Wang Dezhen waved his hand.

Among everyone, his position is the most stable.

After occupying Chang'an, Li Xuan dismissed a large number of people, including Dou Lu Qinwang and Dou Xuande.

However, considering that the Minister of Revenue Ouyang Tong, the Minister of Punishment Wang Jishan, and the Minister of War Duan Baoxuan were all in prison, Li Xuan appointed new candidates.

Zhang Da'an was appointed as the Minister of Personnel, Yun Hongyin was appointed as the Minister of Revenue, Ren Xiaoren was appointed as the Minister of Punishment, and Wang Fangyi was appointed as the Minister of War.

Therefore, the positions of Ouyang Tong, Wang Jishan and Duan Baoxuan need to be considered, but there will always be positions for them. Moreover, not allowing them to return to their original positions now is actually expanding Li Xuan's power sphere, which is another calculation.

Compared to the three of them, Wang Dezhen's position as Shizhong, Yao Lingzhang's position as Zhongshu Shilang, and the third rank of Zhongshu Menxia will not change. Li Xuan had originally reserved positions for them.

"We are guilty and will eventually be judged by the central government." Ouyang Tong nodded calmly and couldn't help but feel relieved.

To be honest, he was really worried that Li Xuan would give him a third-rank official position right now.

With Li Xuan's current status as Grand Marshal, Vice Prime Minister, and commander of the army to conquer Luoyang, he can make decisions on military positions, Luoyang, and even the positions in Luozhou Prefecture for the sake of rapid stability. However, when it comes to more positions, especially those above the third rank in the central government, chaos may arise if he is not careful.

Li Xuan nodded and said, "Both meritorious and guilty must be judged. Brother Huaiying, please go and come back soon. You, the Junior Official of the Dali Temple, will still be needed. The guilt of Wu Sansi, Wu Youning, Fan Lubing and others must be judged by the Three Judicial Departments and announced to the world."

Di Renjie had originally decided to leave the central government, but now that Li Xuan wanted to settle accounts for the sins committed during Empress Wu's reign, he was afraid he would have to stay.

Li Xuan's eyes fell on Dou Lu Qinwang and Dou Xuande, and he said solemnly, "I'm afraid Mr. Dou will retire again. Lord Dou Lu should be the chief secretary of the Prince of Yongping. Let's just let it go, okay?"

Dou Lu Qinwang and Dou Xuande looked at each other. Dou Lu Qinwang stepped forward and bowed, saying, "May I ask, Your Majesty, how will the Prince of Yongping be dealt with in the future?"

"Study first, and try to take an imperial examination in a few years... Just take the imperial examination. If you pass, you can go to Xiangtan to be a governor. If you do well, you can have another position in the future. If you don't do well, you can return to Beijing to be an idle king." Li Xuan sighed softly and looked in the direction of the palace. He still didn't understand how she could do such a thing.

Dou Xuande wanted to say something, but Dou Lu Qinwang beside him couldn't help but pull his arm. Dou Xuande sighed softly, and then he and Dou Lu Qinwang bowed at the same time: "Thank you, Your Majesty."

"Also, please give a message to Prime Minister Lu. Now that Luoyang is stable, I suggest that the court send a special envoy to welcome His Majesty back to the capital to see who is the most suitable person." After Li Xuan finished speaking, everyone realized that the biggest problem now was that Li Chongzhao was not in Luoyang.

The position of emperor is still vacant.

Especially four months ago, Yangzhou had been captured and Li Chongzhao's whereabouts were unknown.

in case……

That would definitely be a earth-shattering event.

……

"What do you think?" Ouyang Tong stood behind Li Xuan.

Under the black banner, there were only two of them.

"Emperor Zhongzong still has a legitimate son alive, so it won't be difficult." Li Xuan looked at Ziwei Palace calmly, as if Li Chongfu was still alive, and said softly: "Let's take over Ziwei Palace first."

"Then how long will it take you to take over the Ziwei Palace?" Ouyang Tong looked towards the Ziwei Palace in front of him.

After the flood, there were intense shouts and cries of killing all around the Ziwei Palace. Only in front of the Duanmen, the warships withdrew, and only the shield-armored soldiers crossed the Luo River by boat. With countless crossbow arrows overhead, they tentatively launched an attack on the Duanmen. Poor Yan Huaidan seemed to be terrified. Every time, countless crossbows fired at the same time, as if the crossbow arrows in his hands were really endless.

Li Xuan hesitated for a long time before speaking: "It depends on how the Queen will die and how long it will take her to die."

Ouyang Tong looked at Li Xuan and asked, "How do you want her to die?"

"Killed by Wu Sansi." A sinister smile flashed in Li Xuan's eyes.

(End of this chapter)