A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

Xia Jie staggered back to his throne, his head drooping limply, his eyes empty and lifeless.

The courtiers all wisely withdrew, leaving Xia Jie with some space.

……

Yangcheng, the Prime Minister's Residence.

Li Jing received Xia Jie's envoy, Zhuang Qiang, here.

"Zhuang Qiang, the envoy of the vassal state, greets the Grand Commander of the superior state."

Zhuang Qiang, as expected of the Minister of Rites, was very courteous, adopting the humble posture of an envoy from a foreign country from the moment they met.

Li Jing and the others laughed, "No, no, Lord Zhuang is the Minister of Rites of the Great Xia Empire, a man of high status. How could we possibly accept such courtesy from him?"

"Grand Commander, you jest. The Great Tang is the legitimate successor of China, revered by all nations, and naturally deserves it."

Zhuang Qiang said with a smile.

"What brings Lord Zhuang here?"

Li Jing spoke frankly.

Zhuang Qiang was somewhat unaccustomed to the straightforward style, but when you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head.

"Your humble servant has come here to request that the superior nation withdraw its troops. As for the matter of the emperor, it is all the fault of the direct line of the Great Xia. My lord was forced to ascend the throne."

"Only by removing the throne, which is of imperial authority, can the mistake be averted."

"My king is utterly loyal to the Tang Dynasty and has no other intentions whatsoever!"

"Oh? You mean I should thank Xia Jie?"

Instead of being angry, Li Jing smiled and looked at Zhuang Qiang with a playful gaze.

"No need. Your Majesty, I was merely expressing your difficulties; I had no other intentions!"

"If the Grand Commander is willing to withdraw his troops, my king is willing to abdicate, submit to the Tang Dynasty, pay tribute annually, and never rebel!"

"At the same time, my king is willing to personally gift the Grand Commander ten thousand fine horses, ten thousand taels of gold, and a thousand beautiful women as a sign of his respect for the Grand Commander."

Zhuang Qiang lowered his head and said meekly.

"What a grand gesture."

Li Jing gave a mocking laugh, treating him like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world.

"In war, envoys are not to be killed. Your head is temporarily tied to your neck. Go back and tell your emperor that wrongdoing has consequences."

"And his mistake is unforgivable!"

"Let him wash his neck and wait to die!"

"presumptuous!"

Seeing that the conflict was irreconcilable and that the Tang Dynasty was determined to destroy the Xia Dynasty, Zhuang Qiang no longer bowed down and submitted.

"Although your Great Tang has won, my Great Xia still has millions of soldiers, countless riches and grains, and tens of millions of people."

"Your Great Tang is ultimately an outsider. If my Great Xia were to mobilize the entire nation, we would surely inflict a crushing defeat on your Great Tang!"

"However, His Majesty, for the sake of the people, does not wish for widespread suffering and death, and therefore wishes to cease hostilities and make peace."

"This is, after all, the Great Xia. The Great Xia has nurtured scholars for four hundred years, with countless people coming one after another. Grand Commander, have you thought this through?"

"This commander has thought it through very clearly."

"Listen carefully to me, His Majesty gave me instructions before I set out with the troops."

"Under the whole heaven, all is Tang territory; throughout the four seas and eight wastelands, all submit to the Tang dynasty."

"Anyone who dares to claim the title of emperor will be halted at the first sign of war, and though they may be far away, they will be punished!"

Li Jing's domineering words startled Zhuang Qiang, who staggered back several steps, his face turning deathly pale.

"see a visitor out!"

Seeing Zhuang Qiang drenched in cold sweat from fright, Li Jing burst into laughter.

After Zhuang Qiang returned to the camp, Xia Jie immediately summoned him.

After hearing Li Jing's attitude from Zhuang Qiang, Xia Jie felt extremely humiliated.

He's already willing to relinquish the title of emperor, so why won't Li Jing let him go?

Okay, if that's the case, then let's go all out.

Even if it means death, I will still take a piece of your flesh.

"Pass on my order: the army shall have a hearty meal and attack the city tomorrow."

For three consecutive days, Xia Jie relentlessly attacked the city at any cost.

On the fourth day, he continued his all-out attack on the city, not allowing his soldiers to rest.

The soldiers were full of complaints and their morale was low.

Just as Xia Jie was personally leading the supervisory team to force the soldiers to attack the city, an army suddenly attacked from their rear.

The commander of the troops was none other than Cheng Yaojin, the lucky general of the Tang Dynasty.

This force was the ambush troops that Li Jing had arranged on Xia Jie's route. He did not send these troops back to Yangcheng, but instead had them remain in ambush outside. When Xia Jie attacked the city, they would attack from behind to disrupt their morale, which might have a surprising effect.

Xia Jie's willingness to launch a massive attack at any cost gave Li Jing an opportunity.

Such a high frequency of attacks will surely demoralize and exhaust the army.

This was a perfect opportunity for Cheng Yaojin.

If Cheng Yaojin seizes this opportunity to break through, he might be able to secure victory in one fell swoop.

Li Jing also seized this opportunity. The Xia army was short-handed and simply not strong enough to attack several gates of Yangcheng at the same time.

Li Jing dispatched an elite cavalry force led by Qin Qiong to break out from one of the city gates.

If Xia Jie returns to the camp to provide reinforcements, Li Jing will personally lead a large army out of the city gate and attack from the flank, annihilating them.

If Li Jing continues to order his men to attack without retreating, Qin Qiong's army will storm the camp and join forces with Cheng Yaojin to cut off Xia Jie's retreat.

Xia Jie was now in a bloodthirsty frenzy. He knew he had no hope of winning, but Li Jing's trampling of his dignity had driven him mad. Even if it meant death, he wanted to inflict as much damage as possible on the Tang army.

So when his camp was attacked, he didn't even glance at it and continued to command his troops to attack the city with all their might.

Upon seeing this, Qin Qiong followed Li Jing's instructions, bypassed the Xia Dynasty's army, and stormed into their camp to join Cheng Yaojin.

The two joined forces and completely destroyed the enemy's camp, burning all their supplies to ashes.

In the chaos of battle, countless soldiers trampled each other to death.

Xia Jie's defeat is just around the corner.

After Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin entered the city through the side gate and informed Li Jing of the results of the battle,

Li Jing decisively chose to launch a full-scale attack, leading 100,000 troops to defend the city walls while ordering his generals to charge out from their respective city gates, thus defeating Xia Jie in one fell swoop.

The battle raged into the night. Li Jing had already foreseen that the moon would be high in the sky that night, and under the bright moonlight, Xia Jie would be surrounded by corpses.

He then committed suicide on the spot.

The Great Xia Dynasty, which had lasted for nearly 500 years, thus came to an end.

Li Jing also successfully accomplished the feat of destroying a great empire, and his status as a military strategist rose rapidly.

When the battle report reached Luoyang, Li Shimin was troubled by how to reward the generals and how to deal with the Great Xia, which made him frown deeply.

The achievement of destroying an empire was enough to warrant Li Jing being granted the title of king, and even that might not be enough.

Only by splitting the earth can their achievements be rewarded.

So, did the Tang Dynasty implement the feudal system?

If this door is opened, from now on all meritorious officials will yearn for fiefdoms.

Then it will be unstoppable.

Can't it be sealed?

What about Li Jing's merits? And the vast territory of the Great Xia is too far away to be directly governed.

But Li Shimin couldn't bear to let go of the title of the largest empire in history. Since the pre-Qin period, when has there ever been an empire with such a large directly controlled territory?

With the help of steam engines, the Tang Dynasty was able to barely maintain control over that area.

Spanning two states and covering tens of thousands of miles, with a population of tens of millions, how alluring!