Tang Dynasty: Taking the Empress Dowager to a brothel, Father Emperor, what a coincidence!

Jiangzhou City.

Report!!

"Master! Something terrible has happened. Longmen County has fallen!"

Inside the main hall, Wang Chong, the governor of Jiangzhou, was discussing matters with representatives of prominent families from various prefectures in Hedong Circuit.

He was from a collateral branch of the Wang family of Taiyuan, but he was the most crucial pawn that the Wang family had laid out in the entire Hedong region.

Upon hearing the messenger's cries, the assembled gentry and landlords erupted in uproar.

"What's the panic?"

Wang Chong sat upright in the main seat and slowly roared,

"Is the sky falling down?"

The messenger, panting heavily, shouted:

"Wang Renzhe... Wang Renzhe was beheaded. That Li Ming... he, he is the Crown Prince."

"What?"

These words caused an even greater panic to erupt in the entire lobby.

Has the Crown Prince already infiltrated Hedong?

Wang Chong calmly raised his head and gave the order:

"Issue my order! Close all four city gates and impose martial law throughout the city."

He summoned all the servants in the manor and assigned them to guard key locations.

Send a message to all households: immediately bring out all your private soldiers to assist in the defense. Those who shirk their responsibilities will face the wrath of me, Wang.

In just a quarter of an hour, the entire city of Jiangzhou transformed from a bustling prefecture into a heavily guarded fortress.

Just when the atmosphere in the city was extremely tense, a scout came running to report.

"Reporting to the Governor, an envoy from the Eastern Palace has arrived outside the city. He says he is here on the orders of the Crown Prince and has important items to present."

Wang Chong sneered:

"Let him in."

Before long, a young eunuch dressed in the attire of the Eastern Palace walked into the main hall with his head held high, escorted by dozens of armored soldiers.

Ignoring the menacing stares around him, he took out a wooden box from his robes.

"By order of His Highness the Crown Prince, I am sending two items to Governor Wang."

Firstly, there was a confession personally signed by Wang Renzhe, the magistrate of Longmen County.

Secondly, rubbings of the account books listing the names of those who had paid tribute to the emperor in various prefectures and counties of Hedong Circuit.

The eunuch opened the wooden box, held up the two documents high, and announced loudly:

"His Highness the Crown Prince has ordered that you, Wang Chong, immediately open the city gates and proceed to Longmen County to be interrogated."

Inside the hall, the faces of all the representatives of the powerful families turned deathly pale in an instant.

That record contains evidence of all their crimes.

Wang Chong walked over and slowly took the two pieces of incriminating evidence from the eunuch's hands, evidence that would cause the entire Hedong officialdom to be in turmoil.

He first glanced at Wang Renzhe's scrawled handwriting, then flipped through the densely filled account book.

Suddenly, he smiled.

"A mere child with a bunch of peasants managed to win a game in that poor, remote place like Longmen County, and he really thinks he can shake the foundation of my Wang family's centuries-old tradition?"

His laughter stopped abruptly, and his face instantly turned ferocious.

"Someone! Bring a brazier!"

A servant nervously brought over a copper basin with a roaring charcoal fire burning brightly.

Under the horrified gaze of everyone, Wang Chong threw the confession and the rubbing of the account book into the brazier.

"Your Excellency, you mustn't!"

One of the heads of powerful families exclaimed in shock.

Wang Chong suddenly turned around and shouted sharply:

"Why not?"

"Evidence?"

Wang Chong pointed to the basin of flames, glanced around at his allies whose faces were ashen, and said, word by word:

"In this Hedong region, my words, Wang Chong's words, are evidence of my crimes. The rules of my Wang family are the law of the land."

Did you all see that? The Crown Prince is going to uproot all our noble families.

He's not targeting my Wang family; he's targeting all of us.

Today, he can use this tattered account book to deal with Wang Renzhe of Longmen; tomorrow, he can use the same thing to confiscate your homes and exterminate your clan.

"By then, do you think kneeling and begging for mercy will do you any good? Look at the fate of the Cui family in Chang'an."

The panic among everyone turned into anger because of Wang Chong's words.

"That's right! Governor Wang is right. The Crown Prince is trying to kill us."

"Let's fight them. Even if it means mutual destruction."

"We are willing to live and die with Governor Wang, and we swear to defend Jiangzhou to the death."

Looking at the indignant crowd, Wang Chong revealed a smug expression.

He successfully tied everyone to his chariot.

In his view, as long as Jiangzhou, a fortified city, was held, the emperor in Chang'an would surely intervene to mediate, given the immense influence of the Taiyuan Wang clan in the court.

In the end, the arrogant crown prince had no other fate but to slink back to Chang'an in disgrace.

He had no idea that what he had burned was just one of the three pieces of evidence that Li Chengqian had sent him.

The real killing move had already been delivered by the spies of the Hundred Cavalry Division to Wei Zheng, the Grand Censor of Chang'an.

After seeing everyone off, Wang Chong returned to his study alone.

He picked up his pen and wrote a secret letter, requesting that his family in Taiyuan send troops to support him as soon as possible.

After doing all this, he handed the letter to his confidant and ordered him to send it out overnight.

It was late at night.

Wang Chong climbed the towering city wall of Jiangzhou alone, gazing towards the southeast in the direction of Longmen County.

"Come, Your Highness."

I've already prepared your grave; now it's up to you whether you dare to jump in.

......

Several days later, on the towering city wall of Jiangzhou.

Wang Chong, clad in armor, pressed his hand against the battlements, staring intently at the dust rising on the distant horizon.

However, when they saw the army in its entirety, everyone on the city wall, including Wang Chong, was stunned.

What kind of army is this?

At the very front of the procession was the Crown Prince's entourage.

But what followed closely behind was a group of infantry.

Behind this elite force were tens of thousands of refugees, along with their families.

"A guard of honor? Infantry? And a bunch of beggars?"

One of the generals standing next to Wang Chong couldn't help but mutter:

"Is this prince here to fight a war, or to beg for food?"

Wang Chong remained silent, but he was somewhat puzzled.

He couldn't understand what the Crown Prince meant.

But he wouldn't treat Li Chengqian as a fool.

After all, he knew about Li Chengqian's sweeping conquest of the peninsula.

Just as he was having doubts, the Crown Prince's army stopped a mile from the city wall and began to set up camp.

Inside the central command tent, Li Chengqian looked at the map of Jiangzhou's defenses, which was highlighted in the map.

"Your Highness, the walls of Jiangzhou are three zhang high and the moat is five zhang wide. The city's garrison, plus the private armies of various families, numbers nearly 20,000."

Wang Chong, that old fox, is also a seasoned expert in defending cities. If we launch a direct attack, our casualties will likely be considerable.

Xue Rengui stood aside and pointed to several weak points on the map, analyzing them.

Li Chengqian nodded, his fingers lightly tapping the table:

"A strong attack would play right into Wang Chong's hands. He'd love for us to sacrifice lives; as long as we drag this out until a change occurs in the court, he'll win."

I never do business at a loss.

Li Chengqian suddenly looked at Cheng Chumo:

"Chu Mo, I'm giving you a difficult task to bring glory to your ancestors."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Chumo immediately perked up:

"Your Highness, just say the word! Don't worry about one task, even ten or eight, I'll handle it perfectly for you. Are you going to charge into battle, or go and take on that old scoundrel one-on-one?"

"Neither."

Li Chengqian shook his head.

He picked up a drawing from the table and handed it over:

"I want you to go down to the city walls and challenge them."

"A challenge?"

Cheng Chumo took the blueprints and was even more bewildered.

"It's that simple?"

"Simple?"

Li Chengqian raised an eyebrow.

"I want you to draw all the attention of the city to the city gate."

"Do whatever is most outrageous, use the most offensive language, make sure Wang Chong thinks I'm a mentally unstable madman, a rogue who only knows how to throw tantrums."

As Cheng Chumo looked at the strange horn made of rolled-up sheet metal on the blueprint and listened to the Crown Prince's request, his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

This job is just what I'm looking for.

"Your Highness, just you wait and see."

Cheng Chumo said excitedly,

"I'm a pro at cursing. I guarantee I'll curse that old turtle so hard he'll jump off the city wall."

Half an hour later.

Wang Chong, who was fully prepared, finally received the "challenge" he had anticipated.

Suddenly, a rider emerged from the Crown Prince's army formation; the rider was none other than Cheng Yaojin's son, Cheng Chumo.

He was followed by a procession of princely entourage, with drums and music playing in unison, creating a grand spectacle.

Wang Chong said coldly to the general beside him:

"They're here! Get the archers ready. If they dare to come within a hundred paces, shoot them down!"

However, when Cheng Chumo arrived at the front, he did not play by the rules, either reading out a declaration of war or issuing a stern challenge.

He stopped a good two hundred paces from the city wall, took a tin canister from his saddle, and roared:

"Hey! Listen up, you old turtle Wang Chong on the city wall. You're surrounded by your Grandpa Cheng."

Wang Chong and all the soldiers defending the city were completely dumbfounded.

Is this an envoy sent by the Crown Prince?

Are you sure they're not just thugs from the streets of Chang'an?

"If you know what's good for you, quickly hand over the beauties and wine of the city. And give all the gold and silver from your storehouse to your grandfather."

Otherwise, Grandpa will raze your governor's mansion to the ground today and hang you on the city gate tower like a kite.

"puff!"

On the city wall, a young general couldn't help but burst out laughing, but seeing Wang Chong's face, which was as black as the bottom of a pot, he quickly suppressed his laughter.

Wang Chongqi pointed angrily at Cheng Chumo below the city and roared:

"Shameless! Arrogant! Scoundrel! This...this is the descendant of a duke of the Great Tang? He's nothing but a bandit. A scoundrel."

He had expected a proper duel, but his opponent pulled this stunt right from the start.

It feels like you've prepared all your martial arts skills for a life-or-death battle with a martial arts master, only for the other person to come up and take off their pants and urinate on you.

It is extremely insulting.

Seeing no reaction from the city walls, Cheng Chumo seemed to get even more excited.

"Wang Chong! You old bastard. Your son appeared to me in a dream yesterday."

He said you secretly kept three mistresses outside, and spent all your money on them, so you didn't even have money to burn paper money for them.

He also said that your wife had been having an affair with the stableman in the manor for a long time.

Your hat is so green it could feed horses. Does your wife know?

"Wow!"

At this point, the people on the city wall could no longer contain themselves and burst into laughter.

Wang Chong's vision went black, and he almost fell off the city wall on the spot.

"Father! Father, what's wrong?"

His son, Wang Ce, who was standing beside him, quickly helped him up.

"I'm so angry!"

Wang Chong pointed to the area below the city wall.

"This is no prince! He's clearly the most shameless rogue in Chang'an."

Wang Chong was so angry he felt like his lungs were about to explode.

But he dared not open the city gates to go out and fight.

This behavior is too bizarre; it defies common sense in every way.

This must be the Crown Prince's conspiracy to provoke me and lure me out of the city.

"Stop laughing! All of you, shut up!"

Wang Chong looked around and roared.

"Pass down the order! Everyone must be on high alert. No matter how that scoundrel insults us, no one is to pay him any attention, and no one is allowed to leave the city. Anyone who disobeys will be executed!"

He focused all his attention and his most elite troops on the direction of the city gate directly in front of him.

They were afraid that Cheng Chumo was just feinting before launching a sudden and fierce attack.

The entire city of Jiangzhou was captivated by Cheng Chumo's "solo crosstalk" performance.