The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 149 How can I find brave warriors to guard the four directions?
“Ho ho ho…ho ho!”

“Ho ho ho…ho ho!”

“Ho ho ho…Roar roar…” The roar, almost like that of a wild beast, echoed in the foggy indigo mountains, sounding extremely terrifying.

"Kill... Don't let Li kid go!" The thousands of ferocious Bian troops gathered into a torrent that buzzed in the jungle, and the sky was in an uproar.

With a loud bang, the dry firewood covered with kerosene was ignited. Amidst the blood and gas, a pine tree instantly crackled and burned all the way to the treetop. Countless shrubs and dead trees of strange shapes, with bleak fallen leaves all over the ground, flashed red light. At this moment, billowing black smoke suddenly blocked the view and went straight up to the sky. The blazing flames rose up, illuminating the hillside with green and red.

The fire is spreading all over the prairie!

"what…!"

"Da da…"

"Oh my god."

Amidst the sea of ghosts howling and wolves howling, He Delun suddenly rushed out of the thick smoke with flames all over his body, holding a red-faced fat man in his arms. Then, a large group of warriors with disheveled hair ran back behind him, stumbling. Some of the Bian people had their eyes, cheeks, and ears burned, and there were flames on their bodies. They fell down the slope while running, scratching their faces with their hands, struggling and roaring all the way.

"Let's go!" He Delun pushed the saint.

Zhu Wen got on his horse in a daze, staring blankly at the sea of fire on the pond.

Even the air was twisting and twitching. One could vaguely see many men wriggling in the bushes, bamboo forests, gullies, and sea of fire. They were densely packed; there were enemies, but very few, and most of them were his soldiers. They were turning into ashes in the raging fire!

Zhu Wen closed his eyes.

From the beginning to the end, he was led by the nose by Li Ni - fighting and retreating, the army was in disarray, pretending to be exhausted, and he almost thought that he was going to be defeated, but he was led into the pine forest and set on fire. It's ridiculous, this strategy of feigning defeat to deceive fools, the vanguard Zhu Youlun actually fell for it.

That was the trend. Zhu Wen was still good when he led the troops himself. Later, during the Battle of Qingjiangkou, Yang Xingmi built a dam upstream of the Huai River to flood the Bian army. The scouts discovered this, but Pang Shigu and other generals did not believe it. They thought the southerners were cowardly and did not dare to risk going out to work. The scouts said a few more words - "He is confusing the people, so behead him."

Later, the Wu people climbed over the fence and entered the camp wearing the uniforms of the Bian army, and swaggered into the camp to kill people. The Bian army didn't know what was happening.

Ge Congzhou took the wrong road along the bank of the Wei River and was caught up by the Wu army when crossing the river. All of his troops were killed or drowned, but he escaped on horseback alone.

As a result of these incredible operations, less than a thousand of the 60,000 troops that went to attack Wu returned.

Zhu Yanshou took advantage of Jia Gongduo's absence to hunt and besieged Qizhou. Since Jia Gongduo could not go back, he found two soldiers to wear sheepskins and sneak into the flock of sheep that Zhu Yanshou had robbed, and crawled into the city on all fours in full view of the Wu army. After delivering the message, he returned in the same way. In the middle of the night, with the help of the defenders, Jia Gongduo broke through the siege. Zhu Yanshou was so scared that he said, "I have only seen defenders fighting to break through, but I have never seen anyone break into the isolated city! There are ghosts in this place, don't fight!" So he ran away.

In abstract terms, there is no difference between the warriors of the late Tang Dynasty and the mentally retarded.

Even generals like Ge Congzhou and Zhu Yanshou, who were famous for their meticulous planning, often suffered from convulsions.

Falling into the trap is no big deal.

"Old dog Zhu Wen was burned to death! I thought King Bian was so brave, but this is all he is? Haha!" Crazy laughter echoed from the hillside. The rebels held up captured flags and armor, and waved the charred bodies of the soldiers high on their spears. The sun dispelled the clouds and fog, and shone the golden light on Shouyang Mountain. The shouts of "Long live the king" from all directions seemed to be right beside my ears.

The Bian army was either standing or sitting, looking dejected. After many failed attacks and suffering such a tragic disaster, their morale was greatly damaged.

After eight days and nights of fierce fighting with no hope of victory, can we still continue this war?

Zhu Wen, sitting on horseback, had stars in his eyes and his body was shaking. He had used up all the iron in the nine provinces to make a hammer. He had paid nearly 20,000 casualties and went through untold hardships to take down the outer stockade and fight his way to the mountainside. He was about to defeat Li Ni and make him leave Shouyang Mountain, but he was hit by a raging fire. Thousands of brave men in the vanguard were unable to evacuate in time and were buried in the furnace. He had used all his national strength to launch the Battle of Hezhong, but after working hard for a long time, he could not kill even one of Li Ni's men. This blow was really unbearable for Zhu Wen, who always made others anxious.

Could it be that the Mandate of Heaven is still with the Li family?

Could it be that Li Ze was really the leader sent by God to turn the tide of the revival?

Zhu Wen's eyes were blurred, and the dense bloodshot on his cloudy eyeballs seemed to be about to burst out. The silent unwillingness, regret, shame, and grief almost turned into an angry dragon that wanted to eat him bite by bite.

He hates it so much!
His life has been like walking on thin ice, it shouldn't be like this!

If I could give him another chance, a chance to start over...

"Oh, God, how can you be so unkind to me..." Zhu Wen was filled with shame and indignation. He covered his chest and shook it twice. With a "puff" sound, he spat out a mouthful of blood and fell off his horse.

After being carried back to the camp, Zhu Sheng sat alone in the commander's tent for a long time. Jing Xiang, Li Zhen, He Delun, Zhang Guihou and others stood outside the curtain and tried to persuade him for a long time before Zhu Sheng walked out with his eyes dull and beads on his face.

Kou Yanqing, who was observing everyone's words and expressions, couldn't help but sigh.

Now things are quite difficult.

To enter Chang'an from Puguan Road, you must capture Hedong County and Shouyang Mountain, which guard the Pubanjin in the north and south, and Chaoyi on the opposite bank. Otherwise, you dare not go to Fenglingdu and Tiesuo Bridge. If the grain route is seized and you are attacked halfway across the river, you can still deal with it, but if you are "exchanged" by Li the thief - you enter Chang'an, Li the thief leaves some troops to guard the ferry and the pass, temporarily blocking you in Guanzhong, and he leads the main force to join Yang Shouliang and Yang Shouxin in Heluo and more than 100,000 dismounted thieves at the gate of the city to enter Bianliang... The scene is simply unimaginable.

So here comes the question.

If we want to enter Chang'an, we have to get rid of the worries of the two cities and one mountain. According to the plan of "luring and annihilating the main force of Li Ni" before the expedition, now the enemy troops are stationed in two cities and one mountain, we have to attack them as well. It is indeed easier to attack than Tongguan. Without the terrifying Twelve Linked Cities and Forbidden Valley City, there won't be too many unnecessary sacrifices. But judging from the situation of the mountain attack in the past few days, the terrain of Shouyang Mountain, which is the easiest to attack, has been fully utilized by Li Ni, which is also very annoying.

Just the journey to Shangbei is enough to give me a headache.

By the time the soldiers reached the top of the embankment with their weapons in hand and facing the arrows, more than half of their physical strength had been depleted.

Moreover, they could not detect Li Ni's troop deployment, and did not know how many bandits were stationed in the mountains. Thirty thousand? Fifty thousand? One hundred thousand? The soldiers fought hard for seven or eight days, but when they started fighting, the bandits kept swarming out of the ditches and mountains, just like they were endless. There was no hope of completely wiping out the bandits.

If I can't see the blood bar, I will have urinary distress.

In addition, there are the four towns of Xiangyang, Jiangling, Weizhou, and Eyue on the flank battlefield, as well as Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin, who are still determined to take revenge. Hu Hong, the governor of Eyue, has already launched a tentative attack in the direction of Shenzhou to show his sincerity to Chang'an. Zibo and Qing are also in a bad situation. Wang Shifan is ready to make a move and has sent 20,000 troops to Yuncheng, waiting for the outcome here. Tens of thousands of dismounted bandits are still showing off their power in Bianliang, making the army panic and afraid of being robbed. The situation is not critical, but it is also very bad.

The success or failure of a matter depends on momentum.

Daliang's momentum seemed to be gradually losing. Although it still maintained an overwhelming advantage in military and financial resources, it could not see the hope of turning that advantage into victory.

The saint must have become furious because he realized this.

We need to be cautious about how to adjust next.

"The advantage is on my side. If I re-plan the strategy, I think I can still do something. Please cheer up, Saint." Looking at Zhu Wen who was sitting on the stool with his head down and a dull expression, Kou Yanqing felt uncomfortable and comforted him.

Unexpectedly, Li Zhen cursed: "How dare you say that, you bastard! If the saint had not listened to your slander, our army would be winning victory after victory in Yanzhou instead of being stuck in the river. Now that we have lost many soldiers and generals and the morale of the army has dropped, what evil schemes do you have to offer!"

Kou Yanqing was furious. He jumped onto the table, drew his sword and said, "Li Zhen, you traitor, if you hadn't provoked the Saint to teach Li a lesson, how could the Saint be guilty of crime? It is clearly you who pushed the Saint to the forefront, yet you are slandering him here!" He didn't notice that there was anything wrong with what he said.

"Traitor? You are guilty of sinning before the heavens?" Li Zhen laughed immediately, and seized upon the opportunity to ask sinisterly, "So you still think that Li the thief is the emperor. I was wondering why you were so timid on the battlefield, afraid to kill Li the thief..."

Kou Yanqing didn't expect Li Zhen to be so despicable. He pointed at Li Zhen with his five fingers shaking: "You - I will kill you, you poisonous scholar!"

"I will get rid of this great harm for the saint first!" Li Zhenyi drew his sword and shouted.

"Huh." Zhu Wen suddenly felt bored and let out a breath.

The general's tent was cold.

Kou and Li, the two civil and military officials, sat back in silence.

Zhu Wen was stunned and speechless.

How can this world be unified?
Kou Yanqing was indeed domineering, but he was right in one thing. He should not have been so quick to interfere with the court, demanding this and that, and should not have fallen out with the court so quickly. Stopping tribute, cutting off the grain transport and not allowing the government to pass through the border, using force to intimidate and threaten, these three magic weapons can only threaten timid ministers and cowardly rulers. They are useless to a saint.

Daliang, where should we go?

If Daliang were to return home in disgrace this time, he would become a complete joke in the eyes of the world.

One step back is a cliff, and his answer is - move forward.

If we don't kill Li Ni, we won't be able to pacify the world!

After Li Ni died, even if there was only one military city, one state and one isolated army left, he was confident that he could restore his power. As soon as the five hundred men took office, they faced Qin Zongquan's five hundred thousand Cai bandits, a thousand times difference, like a firefly and a bright moon, but he was the one who laughed last.

********
On September 16, the second year of Jingfu, after killing a wave of Bian army with the help of the terrain of the fort, the saint stopped playing with Zhu Wen and ordered Wang Congxun, the current defense envoy of Hezhong, to come from Hedong County to rescue the wounded. After that, he led more than 17,000 remnants of the three yamen imperial guards and 6,000 Hezhong Salt Pond garrison troops under his father-in-law Chen Xiong to evacuate Shouyang Mountain overnight and enter Tongguan from Fenglingdu.

Cui Anqian, the governor of Yin County, led more than 20,000 troops to occupy Chaoyi City, and together with 60,000 troops under the command of Wang Congxun, He Chuyu, Tao Jianzhao, Liu Xun and others, they guarded Pubanjin from the east and west.

Nineteen, there is an imperial edict.

Tuoba Sigong, the governor of Xinqin, and Zhe Silun, the lieutenant of Xinqin, who had been observing the situation at the border of Sui and Shi and at Heheguan in Lanzhou, were in bad luck and were given a warning by the court. If they continued to shirk their responsibilities and procrastinate, the next thing they would receive would be a letter of demotion or even dismissal. If they were not careful, they would be killed by their generals or other leaders. The saint's patience with them was running out.

During this period, war broke out again in Hebei and Henan.

Youzhou Jiedushi Li Kuangchou attacked Weizhou, and Li Kening, who stayed in Taiyuan, increased his troops to resist, but it was unsuccessful. Chengde Jiedushi Wang Rong attacked Concubine Liu, who was in charge of the military affairs of Xing, Ming, and Cizhou. Even if Li Keyong could not be destroyed, this old Wang next door should be taught a lesson not to always think about annexing Chengde. Concubine Liu was once in danger, and Keyong was so scared that he ran from Luzhou to rescue her, like a firefighter... In Shizhou, Sima Le was so arrogant that he really wanted to tear a piece of meat from Li Keyong, and he was fighting fiercely with Hedong Zhelu Ping Envoy Liu Yan and Kelan Envoy Wang Yanzhao.

Huazhou, knowing that Bianliang was being attacked by the bandits who had taken over 100,000 civilians, Weizhou Jiedushi Tian Xide led 70,000 infantry and cavalry out of the Qi River and stationed in Weizhou, seemingly heading south. Bianliang was speechless. Hu Zhen, the Jiedushi of the Yicheng Army who was confronting them, was in a state of panic and sent messengers to Zhu Sheng and Tian Hou for help. Zhu Wen did not respond and ordered them to rely on the ferry, military city and prefectures and counties along the river to fight to the death.

Zhu Wen was also mobilizing troops.

On September 26, Zhao Chang, the governor of the Zhongwu Army that was besieging Li Sizhao in Luzhou, led his troops to arrive in Puzhou in advance.

On the first day of October, the Zhaoyi reinforcement envoys Zhang Guiba, Li Si'an, Cao Tingyin, Xiao Hao, Liu Kangyi and others led more than 30,000 imperial guards and more than 60,000 auxiliary soldiers and civilians to Hezhong. All the Bian troops that had threatened Li Keyong in Luzhou came, leaving only a few thousand soldiers to guard Tianjing Pass in Zezhou and protect the grain route.

On the third day of the first lunar month, amidst the lingering autumn rain, Zhu Yougong, the governor of Shaanxi and Guo, led another 10,000 soldiers to the meeting. He Wei, the governor of Taolin, also led 4,000 infantry and cavalry to escort more than 20,000 captured men and women from Shaanxi across the Yellow River.

It was obvious that Zhu Wen didn't want Li Ni to celebrate the New Year.

He met the army of Daliang and vowed to destroy the bandits of Qin and Jin.

Tang Taiwei Du Rangneng and Prime Minister Li Xi were so anxious that they cried day and night and asked the emperor to go hunting in the west. Jin merchant Feng Xingxi secretly attached himself to Bianliang and secretly sent envoys to congratulate the Queen Mother on her birthday. He offered a number of money and goods. Of course, he did not forget to take care of Chang'an and also sent a batch of food to Li, showing his irreconcilable hatred for the bandits. Zhao Kuangning did not dare to fight the Bian people directly, so he sent his second brother Zhao Kuangming and third brother Zhao Kuanglin to come to the king's defense.

On the fifth day, the people of Bian lifted the siege of Luzhou. Li Keyong, the general of the cavalry, ordered Li Sizhao, Li Siben, Li Chengsi, Shi Yan, Ma Shisu, Zhou Dewei, Yelu Shudu and others to take more than 20,000 Han and Tibetan infantry and cavalry to rescue through the Fenshui Valley. Zha Zhu, the general of Heluo Bianhua, sent a letter to request to return to Guanzhong to fight against the bandits. The emperor ordered that his duties should not be changed, and he still urged the troops to clear the caves. He waited for an opportunity to join forces with Wei Bo to break Bian and capture Zhang Hui and hundreds of officials of the pseudo-Liang.

The Battle of the River opened a new chapter.

The subsequent winter offensive was probably Zhu Wen's most ferocious attack on the saint. What to do?
The emperor was worried about it.

The wind is blowing and the clouds are flying. Where can I find brave warriors to guard the four directions?

　I’d like to recommend a book written by a friend in the group. The author is Sir Dybala.

　　Good Morning Daming

　　Nuwa mending the sky is only a legend, but Jiang Qingzhi, a small South American warlord from the 21st century, was forced to add another 500 years to the Ming Dynasty.

　　"What? Beating up Yan Shifan can increase the Ming Dynasty's reign by ten years? No one can stop me! Xu Wei, fuck, let me go! Let me go!"

　　In the 27th year of Jiajing, the empire was in decline. What Jiang Qingzhi, the son-in-law, had to do was to pull the Ming Dynasty back from dusk to dawn... Good morning, Ming Dynasty!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)