Traveling the Heavens in Thunderbolt

Chapter 1141 Li Yang Tian Xia
The imperial guards stripped Li Cheng and his partner of their official hats and robes and escorted them out of the imperial palace. They were driven out of the capital of Western Chu along with their family members who had been waiting outside the palace, and were not allowed to enter again.

Seeing that the play was almost over, Empress Jiang Si signaled to Tang Shi, the Minister of the Secretariat, that it was time for the most senior official in the Chu court to take the stage.

The Huaiyin Tang family was not one of the top ten powerful families in the Spring and Autumn Period. It rose at the founding of the Great Chu, flourished during the heyday of the Great Chu, and declined in the last years of the Great Chu. It can be said that the Huaiyin Tang family was the only family that truly shared wealth and adversity with the Great Chu Jiang family. After the fall of the Great Chu, no one from the Tang family entered the officialdom of Liyang. After the restoration of the Western Chu, the Tang family was one of the first families to respond to Cao Changqing.

Although it was common knowledge that Tang Shi and Sun Xiji had different political views, it was a true dispute between gentlemen. They each formed their own factions, but never fought against each other.

The old man stepped out and said in a loud voice, "Your Majesty, the Liyangjiangbei camp led by Lu Xiangsheng has been defeated. Now is the critical moment for the decisive battle between our Great Chu and Liyang. Your Majesty, please lead the army to the West Wall to boost morale."

The Tang army did not mention the 50,000 Beiliang cavalry outside the city, nor did they mention the Beiliang King entering the palace.

The empress nodded and said, "What Minister Tang said is very much in line with my opinion. Tomorrow I will gather the troops and head to the front line of the West Wall. General Chen."

Chen Kunshan, the only cavalry general in the Western Chu court who was currently in the capital, stepped out and said in a deep voice: "From this moment on, the whole city is under martial law. Only entry is allowed, not exit!"

After this sentence, the next one is the key point, "If my imperial guards and spies in the capital find out that someone has a flying pigeon, they will be charged with treason! The whole family will be executed immediately!"

"Dismiss the court~" This thrilling court meeting ended with the voice of the new eunuch who held the seal of the Imperial Household Department.

Many ministers had wet backs and did not dare to stop for a moment and walked out of the hall quickly.

Master Tang looked at the gradually emptying hall with mixed feelings.

The former Great Chu was the backbone of the Central Plains!

Therefore, the Chu State was destroyed and the Central Plains sank.

It is conceivable how tragic the soul-stirring Battle of the West Wall was.

now………

"Alas~" With a long sigh, Master Tang burst into tears, "Sun Xiji, why did you die so early?"
-
The fourth year of Xiangfu, late autumn.

The Queen of Western Chu, Jiang Si, personally led 20,000 elite soldiers of Western Chu to the Western Wall.

That day, Zhang Bianguan led all the officers and soldiers in his tent to welcome the emperor.

That day, the morale of the Chu army was greatly boosted.

On the second day after the empress arrived, Zhang Bianguan led his entire army to attack the Liyang army led by Gu Jiantang and Chen Zhibao.

The battle lasted from early morning to noon, and from noon to afternoon.

Blood flowed like a river and corpses piled up like mountains.

On the Western Chu side, more than 30 officers and soldiers were killed in the battle, and the total number of casualties reached over 50,000.

In Liyang, more than 40 officers and soldiers were killed or wounded, and the troops, including the Liyang New Army that Zhao Zhuan had high hopes for, suffered more than 70,000 casualties.

The Liyang court was most worried about the merging of Liang and Chu, but that did not happen.

The 50,000 cavalry, which could have been a key force, left the capital of Western Chu on the day the Queen of Western Chu led her army north and disappeared.

When this news reached Tai'an City, five wealthy families from Western Chu in Shenhuang City were executed by Chen Kunshan and Qi Su.

Fortunately, some of the scattered branches of these families served in the Liyang government.

In addition to condemning the Western Chu for being so desperate, Zhao Zhuan also gave these people official titles and rewarded them with titles.

All the court officials praised the Emperor's benevolence.

The Liang and Chu bandits did not know the destiny and dispersed without any gain, which further proved that Li Yang was destined to be the emperor.

After defeating Western Chu, he would then destroy Liang, and Li Yang would formally unify the world.

Zhao Zhuan was overjoyed and sent another 100,000 new troops, and arranged for special personnel to escort a large amount of food and military supplies to the West Wall, just to win this massive battle against Western Chu as soon as possible.

In addition to increasing their own momentum, these 100,000 new troops also had an important task, stationed outside the West Wall Barrier to prevent Xu Fengnian and the Northern Liang Army from suddenly appearing to disrupt the situation, and to prevent the final battle between Liyang and Western Chu from being changed. As the support arrived at the front line of the West Wall Barrier, the morale of the three armies was greatly boosted.

The Chu army, which had finally gained an advantage due to the empress's personal presence at the front line, fell into a disadvantage again.

Gu Jiantang and Chen Zhibao both knew that the time for the decisive battle had come, and launched the final battle.

In that battle, the last 200,000 troops of Western Chu died on the battlefield. The Queen of Western Chu, Xie Xichu, Kou Jianghuai and others burned themselves on the battlefield. Gu Jiantang killed Zhang Bianguan, the military saint of Western Chu.

Once the western barrier was breached, the national war between Li Yang and Western Chu came to an end.

Gu Jiantang, Chen Zhibao and Zhao Ju led a large army and marched south to the capital of Western Chu.

Even though there were defenders left in the capital of Western Chu, it was captured in less than two days due to the internal and external cooperation of the Western Chu powerful families who had long been secretly in contact with Li Yang.

After taking the capital of Western Chu, the next step was to recover the lost territories of Guangling Road and Nanjiang Road.

At this time, the imperial edict from Li Yang arrived, ordering Gu Jiantang to lead the border troops of the two Liaos back to guard against Beiliang.

Chen Zhibao was also appointed as the front-line commander of Hezhou, in charge of Hezhou's defense.

Jiaodong King Zhao Ju also led the vassal army back to his fiefdom to assist Gu Jiantang.

Li Yang's move seemed to be intended to guard against Beiliang, and there was nothing wrong with it.

In fact, it was to prevent them from taking all the credit for destroying Chu.

The more than 200,000 new troops from Liyang will be taken over by the Minister of War Tang Tieshuang, the governor of Lianghuai Road Cai Nan, and the Minister of Revenue Wang Xionggui, and continue to move south.

At the same time, His Majesty the Emperor also issued a clear order that the court army was not allowed to harass the people of Guangling Road, and that the killing of people to vent anger would never be allowed. Once discovered, the residences of the Jiedushi and the Jinglüeshi of Guangling Road could skip the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Justice and be killed on the spot without mercy.

After the conquest of the capital of Western Chu, the battle between Li Yang and Western Chu officially entered its final stage.

According to custom, the commander-in-chief would hold a grand banquet and invite all the meritorious officials.

Because Gu Jiantang had to prepare to return to Liaodong, and Chen Zhibao also had to go there to take charge of Hezhou's defense.

In the end, the highest-ranking King of Jiaodong, Zhao Ju, hosted a grand banquet to entertain all the meritorious officials.

And just when the hall was full of guests in fine clothes, feeling proud and satisfied.

Beiliang King Xu Fengnian suddenly appeared at the banquet as an uninvited guest.

It was not until this time that the King of Jiaodong discovered that the guards arranged on the periphery had been eliminated.

The Beiliang cavalry that had disappeared surrounded the banquet venue.

Subsequently, Gu Jiantang and Chen Zhibao, who were supposed to leave, also showed up at the banquet and stood behind Xu Fengnian with a clear barrier.

Even the Empress Jiang Si, Zhang Bianguan, Xie Xichui, Kou Jianghuai and others who were supposed to have died in the Battle of the West Wall appeared behind Xu Fengnian.

Seeing this scene, all the loyal officials of Liyang attending the banquet asked themselves, with the help of Gu Jiantang, Chen Zhibao, Zhang Bianguan and others, Xu Fengnian is no longer just a dragon leaping into the abyss.

Can the Liyang court, which has lost all its elite troops, survive this disaster?

These are no longer something they need to worry about.

Autumn of the fourth year of Xiangfu.

After the fall of Western Chu, Northern Liang held a celebration banquet.

He took in all the border troops of the two Liao states, the new troops of Liyang, and the surrendered troops of Western Chu.

Cross the Guangling River to the north and enter the Jing'an Road.

(End of this chapter)