Ming Dynasty: I am truly not the Emperor of Longevity

"How could... such a thing happen!"

After a moment of silence, Zhang Yin's gaze swept across the faces of his son and the two elders.

Although it was absurd and unbelievable, reason told me that the three people in front of me were not lying.

Li Dali was his only surviving son and the undisputed next leader of the Maitreya Sect. No matter how much trouble he caused in the capital, he would face it together with him.

There is absolutely no need to fabricate stories in front of oneself to shirk responsibility for a failed operation.

As for what Elders Wu and Pan said, it should also be true!

Six top-level martial arts masters infiltrated the Marquis of Wuding's residence to assassinate him. If Zhu Houyu had been prepared, it would have been very difficult for them to succeed.

But at most, it's just a failed assassination attempt; leaving would still be easy.

Even if there were an ambush in a place like the Marquis of Wuding's mansion, there's no way to stop six top-level internal martial arts masters who are determined to break through.

However, the four elders died in the Marquis of Wuding's mansion.

While the idea of ​​ghosts and spirits is utterly absurd, at the very least, it can explain this matter.

"I never imagined that after talking about ghosts and spirits to believers for so many years, we would actually witness demons and monsters appearing on earth one day!"

Zhang Yin let out a long sigh.

"But what exactly does this demon intend to do by possessing a royal prince?"

"Father, although we have never seen demons with our own eyes, all the stories about demons and monsters since ancient times have been harmful."

Li Dali spoke up.

"As for the demons and monsters that infiltrated the court, they came to wreak havoc on the government."

In the story of King Wu's conquest of King Zhou, as told by the storyteller, there is a tale of a thousand-year-old fox spirit from Xuanyuan Tomb who, on the orders of Nuwa, absorbed the soul of Daji, the daughter of Marquis Su Hu of Jizhou, at Enzhou Post Station, and then took on a body and entered the royal palace.

This fox demon, with her beauty and sorcery, won the favor of King Zhou and plotted to frame Queen Jiang, leading to her tragic death.

He even encouraged King Zhou to cut out the seven-aperture exquisite heart of his uncle, Bigan.

They also created the torture of branding with hot irons to torment ministers like Mei Bo who dared to speak out against them.

This has caused the court in Chaoge to lose the hearts and minds of the people!

Ultimately, the whole world rebelled, and Ji, the Marquis of Xibo, launched an attack on Zhou, ending the centuries-old rule of the Shang dynasty.

The woman possessed by the fox spirit was merely a woman about to become a concubine. After entering the palace, she used every means at her disposal, but in the end, she could only become King Zhou's queen.

No matter how much Daji wanted to disrupt the court, she still needed to bewitch King Zhou and make him act tyrannically.

This demon that possessed Zhu Houyu was completely different!

Zhu Houyu was the emperor's only younger brother, and his succession was second only to the princes.

It has the opportunity to ascend the throne on its own!

Zhu Houyu has been assisting the Crown Prince in overseeing the country for two years. If he were truly just the emperor's younger brother, he might actually return power to the emperor after the emperor regains consciousness.

But we already know that it is actually a demon wearing the skin of Zhu Houyu!

It will never give up the throne that is within its grasp!

Although we don't know what the original form of this demon is, it is definitely an anomaly, and its nature is completely different from that of humans!

Once he ascends the throne, he will surely act like the fox spirit possessing Daji, running rampant and doing evil.

Moreover, it was the emperor itself, and its ability to wreak havoc on the court was far greater than that of Daji, the queen who needed to rely on King Zhou!

I fear that it won't be long before the capital and the imperial court are thrown into chaos, with everyone living in fear.

"What a wonderful gift! After careful consideration, I realize that it makes perfect sense."

Zhang Yin remained silent for a long while before finally speaking.

"In that case, the next step in my teachings will take into account that Zhu Houyu is a demon in human skin!"

In the eyes of this demon, the chaos in Shanxi is probably neither important nor of interest.

The emperor's coma presents a perfect opportunity for him to seize power!

With Fan Jizu dead, the Ming army in Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi was left without a unified commander.

The Ming troops in Xuanfu and Datong will not appear in Taiyuan Prefecture in the short term.

The only force we need to face is the Shanxi Zhenming Army, which Liu Nie can mobilize.

Among the various Ming armies in Shanxi, the Taiyuan Three Guards had the largest number of troops.

The Taiyuan Vanguard and Right Guard only have a little over two thousand men outside the city, which is only half the size of our Taiyuan Left Guard.

Ma Yi and Luo Wenyuan would never dare to order them to engage in open battle with us; they would only hold their camp and not come out.

Liu Nie dared not send out the small garrison inside the city to pursue them.

Fenzhouwei, Pingyangwei, and Luzhouwei are far away and will take at least several more days to arrive. We have already arrived in Pingdingzhou.

Each local garrison only has a few hundred men, which poses no threat to our army of over four thousand.

We don't need to fight any Ming army. We should be able to reach Pingding Prefecture with our army within two days without any problems.

The three of you do not need to travel with the army; ride back to Blackwood Cliff as fast as you can.

Although I have not yet seen how the people of Zhen Dingwei, Dingzhouwei, and Baoding Youwei set up camp near Heimu Cliff.

But with only four or five thousand guest soldiers, it would be impossible to truly surround Blackwood Cliff completely.

When night falls, take the hidden path up the mountain behind the hill.

Great gift, once you reach the top of the cliff, immediately take full control of the main camp, integrate all forces, and prepare to join forces with your father to attack the Ming army below the mountain.

I know that Zhao Xixian has been secretly tinkering with some mechanical devices on Blackwood Cliff for the past two years. Although he is ambitious, he is indeed quite talented.

Now our sect is facing a life-or-death crisis. If Blackwood Cliff is lost, he, as the Right Protector, will certainly not have a good end.

Make sure he provides you with a great gift and gives you all the knowledge and skills he has acquired.

"Once my army arrives, we can attack from both sides and surely defeat these three guards' invading forces. Then, we can take over the entire territory of Pingding Prefecture."

"Rest assured, Master, we two will definitely escort the Left Protector back to Blackwood Cliff safely."

Wu Nian and Elder Pan clasped their hands in greeting to Zhang Yin.

"Our sect is destined to win this battle!"

Zhang Yin said confidently.

"The real question is, what should our sect do after this battle?"

"Father, after we take Pingding Prefecture, we should first send our elite troops to guard the key routes into Pingding Prefecture, especially the western pass of Jingxing."

Li Dali thought for a moment.

"But the most crucial thing is that the opportunity to take Taiyuan City has already been missed."

It is impossible for Pingding Prefecture alone to maintain a long-term standoff with the imperial army.

Even if we raise the flag in Pingding Prefecture and call on believers from all over the country to come, and raise an army of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands, it won't work.

In my opinion, we should simply abandon the plan to pacify the prefecture, divide our forces to plunder villages and towns in several nearby prefectures and counties, and transport the grain and supplies back to Blackwood Cliff.

Increase the material reserves on Blackwood Cliff as much as possible.

After the imperial army approached, the entire army retreated to Blackwood Cliff!

Black Cliff is a strategically important and easily defensible location. After the Taiyuan Left Guards went up the cliff, there were more than 8,000 able-bodied men and women, plus the elderly, women and children, totaling nearly 20,000.

Even if the imperial court sends 100,000 troops, it will be impossible to conquer it by force.

The only solution is to besiege them and wait for us to run out of food.

If we adopt a siege tactic, then it's a contest of who can afford to wait it out!