Red Mansion Taoist

Chapter 308 Martial Arts Performance
"Help the Crown Princess sit down quickly, and put some cushions on the chair. Don't let her catch a cold!" When the Queen Mother saw Li Qiang and Lin Daiyu entering the main hall, she hurriedly gave orders to her attendants without even waiting for them to bow.

Lin Daiyu's previous worries were completely unnecessary. She was carefully helped by two palace maids to a cushioned chair nearby.

"Look at you, you're already a father, but why are you still acting like a child? The Crown Princess is in confinement after giving birth, and you took her to the Imperial Garden. If it weren't for your face, I would have gone to the Imperial Garden to capture you!" The Queen Mother did not have a good face towards Li Qiang.

"Please sit down and calm down. Be careful not to get angry!" Li Qiang hurriedly stepped forward and helped the empress dowager sit down, saying.

He knew that the Queen Mother had no ill intentions and was doing it entirely for his own good.

"You!" After the Queen Mother sat down, she pointed at Li Qiang and shook her head at his shameless look.

"How could I not take care of Sister Lin's health? I have cured her and she won't need another month!" Li Qiang explained with a smile.

If I don't explain it clearly, I'm afraid the Queen Mother will get angry.

"Why didn't you say anything, kid?" When the Queen Mother heard his words, she also thought of his methods and couldn't help laughing.

"It's my grandson's fault!" Li Qiang immediately admitted his mistake.

"You stay here. I will go with the Crown Princess to see the child!" The Queen Mother nodded at Li Qiang, smiled and pulled Lin Daiyu out of the main hall.

Li Qiang couldn't help laughing as she watched the Empress Dowager and Lin Daiyu leave together.

Although there are retired emperors and empress dowagers in the palace, the atmosphere in the palace is much better than when Emperor Jingwen was in power.

At that time, there was a lot of intrigue in the palace, and there were many examples of people like Yuanchun who failed in the palace fighting. Look at Xue Baochai, in order to enter the palace, she learned the palace rules since she was a child, and at the same time she also learned a lot of scheming.

Looking at the present situation, no matter what the Queen Mother thinks, her attitude shows that she does not want any palace struggles.

In fact, there is nothing to argue about. Li Qiang now only has Lin Daiyu as his wife.

Even if she takes a concubine in the future, look at the group of women that Lin Daiyu brings with her. She will not take a concubine from outside. Why are the concubines all Lin Daiyu's little sisters and they are very easy to get along with?

Li Qiang turned and walked towards the dragon table. As she walked, her clothes changed into Buddhist robes and she also had Buddhist beads in her hands.

Jin Dong and the other three young eunuchs were already accustomed to this kind of magical thing. They were all busy with their own work and were not attracted by this magic.

On the day of the martial arts performance, there were few people in other parts of the capital, but on both sides of Chang'an Avenue, there were many layers of people standing inside and outside.

The Beijing camp had early arranged 20,000 soldiers to maintain order, so no crowding or trampling occurred.

This was also what Li Qiang had ordered in advance. He knew what the consequences would be if the crowd became too crowded and emotions ran high and no one cared.

The 20,000 soldiers from the Beijing camp are there to calm these people down. No matter how emotional they are, they will not do anything irrational.

Not many people can climb up to the Chengtian Gate Tower. They are mainly important civil and military officials in the court, foreign visitors, and lords of the first rank and above in the capital, and some important members of the royal family.

Of course, the five elders of the royal family were not on the list, and their mansions were still sealed.

Li Qiang had no intention of forgiving the five royal elders. She wanted to make them understand what they could and could not do.

"The Emperor has arrived, the Crown Prince has arrived!" a eunuch announced loudly.

Everyone on the Chengtian Gate Tower knelt on the ground, and the crowds on both sides of Chang'an Avenue also knelt down.

The one in front is the retired emperor. Today he is wearing a full black armor. Some scars can still be vaguely seen on the armor, making the armor full of vicissitudes of life.

Li Qiang followed behind the retired emperor, wearing Qilin armor.

Under normal circumstances, the armor worn by the retired emperor is real combat armor, while Li Qiang's Qilin armor is more like ceremonial armor.

Because of the appearance of the Qilin Armor, once it appears on the battlefield, it will inevitably become the target of concentrated fire from many enemies.

Even long-range weapons such as bows, arrows, and crossbows will receive special attention.

But no one on or off the city wall doubted the ability of the man wearing the Qilin Armor, because he was Li Qiang, the best general of Daqian, who had fought against the strong with the weak many times in his life and never lost.

"Prince, I am old, so you should make the announcement!" The retired emperor waved his hand for everyone to stand up, then turned to Li Qiang and said.

The fact that the emperor let Li Qiang preside over such an occasion showed that he fully trusted Li Qiang and handed over all power to her.

Li Qiang took a step forward and looked at the crowd of people under Chengtian Sect. There were more than 100,000 people visible to him.

"Since Taizu founded Daqian, the military might of Daqian has intimidated all directions and made the barbarians terrified. More than a hundred years have passed, and the enemy seems to have forgotten the military might of Daqian. Today's martial arts performance will show the world the style of Daqian's army. Daqian is mighty!" Li Qiang said loudly.

His voice had a magical effect, making the sound travel far away, so that even people at the end of Chang'an Street could hear it clearly.

"The martial arts performance begins!" he then ordered loudly.

A flag-bearing officer at Chengtian Gate waved the flag in his hand, and the sound of horse hooves was heard from the left side of Chang'an Street.

"Beijing Camp, that's the Beijing Camp!" Someone recognized the military flag and shouted.

The Beijing Camp is the most elite army in the world, and this time it was placed first to enter.

The Tatar envoy sitting on the city wall was also looking at the Beijing army.

There was contempt in his eyes. The most elite cavalry in the world was not even a match for the Daqian cavalry.

Even though the Tatar army was defeated by Daqian many times, the pride engraved in their bones could not be removed. They always believed that it was Li Qiang who used magic to defeat the powerful grassland Tatar army.

The 5,000 soldiers of the Beijing Guard Camp rode their war horses in an orderly manner on Chang'an Street. When they arrived in front of Chengtian Gate, they all turned to face Chengtian Gate and put one hand on their chest to perform the Daqian military salute.

At the same time, waves of momentum rose into the sky. This was the centurion of the Beijing camp activating his own aura of bravery.

The Tatar envoy suddenly stood up, and the envoys from other countries beside him also stood up and looked at the Wei Jing camp with disbelief.

Among the 5,000-man Beijing camp, there are more than 50 brave generals. This ratio is really too terrifying.

At any time, a brave general could be luxuriously promoted to the level of centurion. If this ratio really prevailed, who in the world could compete with the Daqian army?

"Impossible, they must have gathered all the warriors together!" The Tatar envoy shook his head and explained.

"Yes, yes!" The envoys from other countries also nodded repeatedly. They would not believe that Daqian's military force was so powerful.

After the five thousand cavalrymen from the Beijing Camp passed by, there were battle formations of a thousand men each, and their large flags indicated which provinces they belonged to.

Although they were not riding horses, after they arrived at Chengtian Gate and saluted towards the city wall, all the centurions burst out with a terrifying aura of bravery.

At the beginning, the Tatar envoy was still talking about how Daqian had gathered together some brave generals, but when teams of thousands of soldiers passed by, he gradually shut up.

In fact, the centurions of each team are all powerful generals, which can no longer be explained by Daqian deliberately concentrating powerful generals.

The crowds on both sides of Chang'an Avenue cheered whenever they saw the thousand-man army from their hometown. All the Daqian people present straightened their chests, a sense of national pride rose from their hearts and turned into a flame.

After the battle formation of thousands of people from various provinces ended, five hundred soldiers from Liaodong Town of the Nine Border Military Towns rode their war horses through Chengtian Gate.

When the aura burst out from their bodies, all those who felt the aura of the brave generals were shocked, because among the five hundred soldiers, as many as fifty were brave generals.

Even though these are the elite troops of the Nine Frontier Military Towns, the proportion of fierce generals is ridiculously high.

This was not an isolated case. Later, five hundred soldiers from each military town appeared. They were all riding war horses, and each of the ten leaders also possessed the strength of a fierce general.

"They are indeed the elite troops of the Nine Frontiers. With such troops guarding the border, Daqian can sleep peacefully!" The retired emperor couldn't help but sigh.

He also felt his blood boiling after watching this. If he were twenty years younger, he would have wanted to lead these troops to kill the enemy.

The last army came out, and they were a little different from the previous ones.

There was an extra tall warhorse between the five hundred soldiers, with a Portuguese cannon on its back.

"This is the prince's personal guard!" When someone saw the army's flag, they recognized the identity of this army.

"Is that a cannon? How could this army have so many cannons?" Someone also asked his own question.

The five hundred soldiers were wearing heavy armor, and even their horses were armored.

Wherever they passed, people on both sides of the street felt the ground shaking.

"Is this your private army?" The emperor turned to Li Qiang and asked.

"Yes, a lot of money was spent on this army, and several master craftsmen and many artisans were mobilized to research and manufacture weapons for them. They are the future of the battlefield!" Li Qiang replied with a smile.

This artillery corps is the trump card of this military exercise and the army that truly shocked everyone.

No matter how powerful the rest of the army is, it is just a traditional army.

On the city wall, everyone was paying attention to this army.

"These must be heavy cavalry. Such a heavy cavalry will be invincible on the battlefield. It's a pity that the number of people is still a little too small!" A general shook his head and sighed.

Heavy cavalry is a nightmare on the battlefield. The cavalry and horses are fully armored and have almost no flaws.

With a weight of nearly a thousand pounds and a group charge, everything in its path will be destroyed.

Not only did the general think so, but others also agreed with the general's opinion.

"Everyone, please pick up the earphones in front of you. The noise down there is a bit loud!" Li Qiang said to the people on the city wall with a smile.

He picked up a pair of earplugs and handed them to the emperor. The emperor looked at him, took them and put them on his ears.

Some officials put on earplugs, but many others did not care about what Li Qiang said.

The Tatar envoy, in particular, threw his earplugs on the ground with disdain.

When they were approaching Chengtian Gate, the five hundred soldiers all inspired their bravery, and the rising bravery soared into the sky.

"How is it possible? They are all fifth-rank generals. Are there so many fifth-rank generals in the world?" a general muttered to himself.

He rubbed his eyes hard and grabbed the general next to him, as if he wanted the general to confirm that he was not mistaken.

"Your private army is invincible. No wonder you were able to defeat the Tatar army of 100,000 with just 500 of your own soldiers!" The retired emperor shook his head and exclaimed.

A fifth-turn general is almost the ceiling level of Daqian's generals. Sixth-turn generals are rare, and only one appears every many years.

Now is a relatively peaceful period, and the probability of a sixth-turn warrior appearing is extremely small.

The more turbulent the war, the more looted resources are available, and the spirit of the warriors is more resilient, able to withstand the pain of training, and thus have a better chance of being promoted to the sixth level.

"This is just the beginning!" Li Qiang said with a smile.

Five hundred warriors dismounted in unison. Their movements were in unison, and two people worked in a group to take down the Portuguese cannons from Charles' horses.

They began to load gunpowder, but since this was a military exercise, they did not load bullets.

Then, under the gaze of everyone, the fifth-turn warrior held the Portuguese cannon and lit the flame.

With a loud and uniform bang, two hundred and fifty Portuguese cannons fired at the same time.

Then the team did not stop moving forward, but loaded gunpowder while moving forward. When they reached the tenth step, the second volley began.

Within fifty steps in front of Chengtian Gate, the army launched six consecutive artillery attacks.

The entire Chang'an Avenue was quiet. Regardless of whether they knew anything about military affairs or not, everyone understood what the army before them represented.

"Daqian is invincible, Daqian is mighty!" Someone couldn't help but shout.

Then more and more voices joined in, eventually forming a common roar from everyone.

"It's them, it's them who desecrated the sacred mountain, it's them, it's them!" The Tatar envoy shouted.

He pointed at the five hundred soldiers, his eyes full of anger.

But he knew that the Tatar sacred mountain had been attacked, causing great damage.

Thousands of years old ancient temples were destroyed, and even the top of the sacred mountain was attacked.

The Tatar Sacred Mountain is the Tatars' place of faith and their spiritual sustenance. Attacking it is tantamount to declaring war on all Tatars.

However, since Li Qiang dared to expose this army, he did not care about the attitude of the Tatars at all.

At this time, the Tatar tribe was still licking its wounds. The Tatar God Mountain was also severely damaged due to the last defeat, so it was not easy for the Tatar tribe to start a war.

Besides, Li Qiang didn't want the Tatars to take the initiative. In the past, the Tatars would attack Daqian first, and then Daqian would fight back. Daqian had always been on the defensive.

But he thought differently. With such an army, no one in the world could be Daqian's opponent. Instead of waiting for the enemy to attack, it would be better to take the initiative to destroy the enemy.

When the emperor saw the look on the Tatar envoy's face, he looked at Li Qiang meaningfully.

The retired emperor also received information about the attack on the Tatar sacred mountain, but he did not expect that it was Li Qiang who did it.

He realized again Li Qiang's revengeful mentality, and in order to retaliate against the Tatar invasion, he actually went deep into the Tatar tribe and attacked the Tatar sacred mountain.

(End of this chapter)