Chapter 862 The Imperial Capital Falls! (Part 1)

The sky,

darkened.

Li Xundao was inspecting the camp. The Imperial Guards were personally trained by him. Although they absorbed many sons of generals from the original old Imperial Guard system, they were basically marginalized. The troops in front of him were still under his control, Prime Minister Li.

Yao Zizhan, dressed in a green robe, slowly walked over. Li Xundao waved his hand, signaling the generals around him to continue patrolling the camp, while he himself took the initiative to walk towards Yao Zizhan.

"Teacher Yao, haven't you rested yet?"

"Not only me, but His Majesty probably hasn't rested either."

Li Xundao nodded. After all, this was His Majesty's first personal expedition, and also the first time in a hundred years of the Great Qian that the Emperor had personally led the army. The last time was during the reign of Emperor Taizong.

It was impossible for His Majesty not to be nervous. After all, the opponent he faced was not some rebellious cultists, but the Yan army, and even the Yan army under the royal banner.

"Xundao, will the Yan people launch a night raid?"

"If I were the commander of the Yan army, I should choose a night raid at the latest tonight. In fact, the Yan people should have reacted last night, because last night, except for the Northern Route Army where Prime Minister Han is located, the other three routes had already made contact with the Yan people.

But the Yan people only chose to shrink back and didn't take the initiative to do anything.

During the day, it can still be explained that the Yan people want to wait until night. Tonight, there will probably be a night raid. If they don't act again, this iron cage will really be forged."

"I have contacted that Prince of Western Peace several times. This person is not indecisive."

"Teacher Yao is joking. Since he dared to leave the elite troops of my Qian army in Liangdi alone, and led his troops deep into my Great Qian, how could he be indecisive?

He is good at taking risks, and what he fears most is hesitation.

Actually,

Xundao hopes that the Yan army can launch a night raid tonight. If the Yan people still do nothing, then..."

"What are you worried about?"

Teacher Yao asked curiously.

Li Xundao sat down, and Teacher Yao also sat down cross-legged.

"Prime Minister Han and Zu Xinyue send several messages every day. Originally, Xundao thought that the Yan people would unceremoniously want to defeat Prime Minister Han's troops in one fell swoop, but the Yan people didn't choose to do so."

"Is it because it's raining and the Yan people's horses can't run?"

"Two years ago, when the Yan people launched a national campaign against Chu, it was that Prince of Western Peace who led his troops to attack a stockade of rattan armor soldiers of Chu, and he dug open the Chu people's stockade by filling it with earth.

Besides, the Yan people are rampant by relying on the strength of their cavalry, but it doesn't mean that the Yan army won't fight when they dismount.

The north is the rear of the Yan people. Prime Minister Han's troops are stuck on the Yan people's retreat route, because we all know, and that Prince of Western Peace must also know, that it is impossible for him to rely on this lone army to subvert my Great Qian.

When he came in, he must have been thinking about how to get out."

"Is it to besiege the point and attack the reinforcements, or did the Yan people not expect that we would bring so many troops this time, and even His Majesty personally led the expedition to boost morale?"

"It is possible. The situation on the battlefield is ever-changing, and everyone has their own thoughts. No one can completely guess it accurately.

And from the military report sent by Zu Xinyue, that Prince of Western Peace is really there, which is what I am most relieved about. With him here, everything is easy to say."

"Yes, with him there, everything is easy to say. The nearly 50,000 soldiers he brought this time, in my opinion, are not as good as him alone.

Once the pillar of the Yan Kingdom collapses, Jindong will inevitably be in chaos, and the Yan people will lose Jindi. Everything will almost return to what it was in the past."

The two people's perspectives are different, one from military affairs and the other from politics.

"It's just that, facing such an opponent, Xundao really doesn't dare to take it lightly. I have been uneasy since I failed to keep him in the back mountain that day."

At that time, Prince of Western Peace was assassinated on the Wangjiang ice, and he used the power of the Magic Pill to resolve the crisis with the means of a Qi Refiner, but Li Xundao found an opportunity to use the White Lotus left by his master, Zang Fuzi, as a guide to "detain" Zheng Fan to the back mountain;

He thought he could solve a major problem, but who would have thought that Zheng Fan went up the mountain and down the mountain again, and finally not only gave up his master's White Lotus, but also abolished most of his Qi Refiner cultivation.

Yao Zizhan comforted him: "Some people are destined, and they deserve to die on the battlefield."

Li Xundao nodded.

At this moment,

Yao Zizhan spoke softly again; "If you were in the position of that Prince of Western Peace, what would you do?"

"I wouldn't wait until now. Since ancient times, the reason why we use the method of encirclement to defend against the enemy, seemingly with a grand and multi-pronged army advancing, is actually because a single army cannot achieve stability on its own.

Therefore, for the encircling party, the biggest flaw is that once the opponent detects it in advance, when you encircle, no matter how many routes you come from, I will only go one way, and preemptively eat your divided routes with superior strength one by one.

Even if you can't win every battle in the end, at least after you eat one or two of your routes, the so-called encirclement will be impossible to talk about.

But that one clearly deployed so many sentry riders. Judging from the news from the previous two days, when my three armies approached, the Yan people's sentry riders immediately reacted.

His ability to use troops should not be so great that he would just sit and wait for us to build the cage.

This is also the point that Xundao is most puzzled about. Facing such an opponent, I really dare not expect him to make such a big mistake to give me an advantage."

"If the Yan people plan to break through, which route do you think the Yan people will take?"

"What does Teacher Yao think?"

"The north, right?"

The north is where Han 亗 is located.

Li Xundao shook his head and said, "If the Yan people plan to withdraw from the north, they wouldn't wait until now to launch an offensive against the north."

"Then the west? The west has the fewest troops, and they are mainly Northern Qiang cavalry."

"Cavalrymen hate to encounter cavalrymen the most, because cavalrymen can hang each other. His Majesty also issued an decree early on, instructing that Mingya Overseer that once the Yan people go to his place, he doesn't have to fight the Yan people head-on, just avoid their edge and then find an opportunity to entangle them. Afterwards, the other three armies will immediately tighten their pockets and suffocate the Yan people."

"Then if the Yan people choose..."

Yao Zizhan bit his lip,

and continued:

"If that Prince of Western Peace, after discovering the Golden Crow Dragon Banner of our Majesty, directly chooses to attack our route?

According to the Yan people's character, according to his character,

I think,

he might really do that!"

Li Xundao really wanted to say, is he trying to die?

Of the four armies, the most difficult to fight is the Imperial Guard where His Majesty is located.

Whether it is training, quality, equipment, or the morale boost brought by His Majesty himself here, this route is definitely the most difficult to fight, and it is definitely the most resistant.

But Li Xundao couldn't say these things to Yao Zizhan, because he knew what kind of reason Yao Zizhan would think this way.

Li Xundao reached out and gently scratched a few stones on the ground;

The Qian people are afraid of the Yan people, even if this fear has been reduced a lot after the victory in Liangdi, but when that Prince of Western Peace led his troops to appear, everyone's heart was still very nervous.

Literati are always sentimental, and the officials of the Great Qian like to study the rules. They obviously haven't really set foot on the ground, but they always think that they have understood the secrets of heaven, and sometimes they are even more Qi Refiners than Qi Refiners.

In Yao Zizhan's view,

the most impossible choice is often the most likely choice, because in the past, the Yan people and that Prince of Western Peace have always done this.

But,

how is it possible?

On second thought, Li Xundao felt that maybe His Majesty was also a little apprehensive now.

"Teacher Yao, don't panic, I am here on this route."

"Okay, okay, okay."

"Teacher Yao, please go and accompany His Majesty and talk to him."

"Okay, I'll go now."

Yao Zizhan got up and left, and when he walked over, the soles of his boots stepped on the pile of stones that Li Xundao had scratched earlier.

Li Xundao also stood up. At first, he didn't pay attention, but after taking two steps, he turned around and looked down,

and found that the original pile of small stones,

only one was left in place.

Li Xundao frowned slightly,

and his eyes looked towards the direction where the Yan people's camp was located.

"A trick within a trick?"

Li Xundao habitually clenched his left wrist with his right hand, and his fingertips tapped back and forth,

"A lone army deep within a lone army?"

Li Xundao closed his eyes, and a map immediately appeared in his mind.

Then,

he slowly opened his eyes again,

"Out of desperation comes life."

Li Xundao turned his head and looked at the location of the Golden Crow Dragon Banner, where His Majesty's camp was located.

He hesitated and hesitated;

Because although he was Prime Minister at this time, as a Prime Minister who had basically been cultivating in the back mountain for the first half of his life, his wings and influence in the Qian Dynasty were not as good as Yao Zizhan.

Most importantly,

that Prince of Western Peace can have the final say in the army,

but he can't.

He is Li Xundao, he is not His Majesty.

Moreover,

he just thought of a possibility, a possibility based on his own flash of inspiration, a possibility that he himself felt that the other party would not think of it this way and would not do it this way.

This possibility

is far more crazy than what Yao Zizhan said earlier, directly attacking the army where the Golden Crow Dragon Banner is located!

His teeth pierced into his lips, and blood began to overflow.

Li Xundao felt that everything was in chaos in his mind, but in this chaos, he still decisively chose to walk towards His Majesty's camp.

But when he got there, he couldn't help but stop again.

Because he realized a problem, that is, no matter whether his previous flash of inspiration was true or not, he had already lost the ability to stop and change it.

"Prime Minister Li, do you need this servant to inform His Majesty? His Majesty is currently playing chess with Teacher Yao."

"No need, I'm just here to see how well His Majesty is resting."

"Yes."

Li Xundao walked out of the camp and returned to his own tent.

From time to time, generals came in to report military information to him, and he approved and responded to them one by one.

When it was almost dawn,

Teacher Yao walked in.

"I'm tired, I'm tired, I'm going to sleep for a while."

"Has His Majesty also fallen asleep?" Li Xundao asked.

"His Majesty has also rested. Haha, His Majesty said that he thought the Yan people would raid the camp tonight, and he was thinking of listening to the screams of killing on the opposite side while playing chess with me, so as to inject more flavor into this game and pass it on as a good story.

It's a pity that the Yan people didn't give him this face."

Li Xundao smiled and nodded.

"Xundao, you still have to pay attention to rest. The safety of this army and His Majesty is mostly entrusted to you."

"Wait a little longer."

"It's almost dawn, what are you waiting for?"

"Waiting for the Yan people."

"If the Yan people don't come to fight at night, are you thinking of rushing in openly during the day?"

"No, waiting for the Yan people's surrender letter."

"Surrender letter? Who is surrendering? Could it be that one?"

Yao Zizhan was shocked by these words, and immediately continued;

"He, the Yan people, won't even do a trapped beast fight, and directly surrender?"

"I don't know if they will really surrender, but to be honest, I don't want the Yan people to send the surrender letter in a while, otherwise..."

"Otherwise what?"

"Otherwise, it means that we have been calculating for a long time, but in the end, we have been calculated against."

"In the current situation, where can he calculate? Whether it is the three borders or Liangdi, a large number of Yan people's troops are involved, and the other troops in the Yan people's country have no time to appear in the Xishan County at this time. Even if the Prince of Western Peace is good at fighting, can he conjure up troops?"

"No, Teacher Yao, I just flipped through these memorials sent by Prime Minister Han a few days ago, from their meeting to other interactions between them.

After reading it again, I suddenly realized that what is written on these military intelligence documents are not words or things,

but,

full of deliberate intentions.

That Prince of Western Peace is like a clown, jumping around on the stage,

shouting again and again,

he is here,

he is here,

he is just here,

but, hehe, this may be great skill seems clumsy, the more he shouts it out with such fanfare, the more we will laugh at him."

Just then,

there was a burst of cheers outside the tent,

followed by

the messenger's loud shout:

"Report!!!!!!!! The Yan prisoners Prince of Western Peace sent a letter of surrender!"

"Bang!"

Li Xundao's fist fell on the desk,

and he smiled bitterly:

"It's over..."

…

"Your Highness, the surrender letter has been sent."

Chen Xianba reported.

Zheng Fan nodded, and at the same time checked his armor to see if there were any problems. At the same time, he touched the location of the heart guard mirror, where the Magic Pill was.

"Dahu."

"Here!"

"Check the silver armor on this Prince's Pixiu again."

"Yes!"

"Didn't the surrender letter just be sent? Why are you so panicked all of a sudden?" The Sword Saint asked curiously.

Zheng Fan shook his head,

and said;

"Originally, I didn't plan to send this surrender letter. I was worried about gilding the lily. Later, I thought about it, it can't be worse than it is now, so I might as well send it. Maybe it can delay for a while longer, right?

It's just that we have to be prepared here and not treat the Qian people as fools. Maybe there are people in the Qian people who are suspicious. Once they see this surrender letter, they will almost be sure.

Increase the stoves, erect the flags, stir up dust with the horses, and release all the remaining main forces in the camp as sentry riders;

These illusions will be very deceptive before they are exposed, but they will immediately show their true colors after they are exposed."

"So..."

"So I'm scared. The calmness before was all fake. Now, I'm starting to panic."

"Weren't you panicked before you made this decision?"

"When disaster strikes, you can truly feel the fear. Everything before was fake. I only have 10,000 soldiers here, and the Qian army has more than 200,000. Even if the first Marquis Zhenbei a hundred years ago had a record of breaking 500,000 with 30,000, our current strength disparity is even more exaggerated than that of the first Marquis Zhenbei.

Xianba, pass the order down, the whole army be prepared and await this Prince's orders!"

"Yes!"

…

"Uncle, is there any news from the north?"

"Not yet, not yet."

"It's worrying."

"What are you worrying about, kid? Repair your fishing net properly."

"I'm afraid the Yan dogs will attack again!"

"How is that possible? How is that possible? The Yan dogs are not the Yan dogs they used to be. Haven't you heard? The two most capable princes of the Yan dogs are gone.

Now, they are relying on a junior to support them."

"Uncle, that junior is not simple either."

"We are not the Great Qian we used to be either. Did you ever think that His Majesty would personally lead the expedition? His Majesty has gone north, and those soldiers are all excited and desperate.

The Yan people, what about the Yan people? Aren't they all just a pair of shoulders carrying a head?

Didn't we win a battle in Liangdi? It is said that there is a large lake in Liangdi, and the corpses of the Yan dogs have filled the entire lake."

"Uncle, why didn't you let me go when the government recruited laborers last time? My parents were killed by the Yan dogs. I dream of killing the Yan dogs to avenge my parents."

Back then, Li Fusheng's troops reached the city of Shangjing. Facing the almost impossible to break Shangjing, Li Fusheng ordered his subordinates to capture the people of Jingji and force them to attack the city, causing heavy casualties to the people.

"Live well. Only when people are alive can they have hope. Your parents are gone. It's not easy for your uncle to raise you. For you, your uncle didn't marry a wife. You can't have anything happen. You have to take care of your uncle in his old age."

"Uncle, you all said that we can win, and you also said that His Majesty has gone. Why..."

"Why are you talking so much nonsense? Come, unload the fish. When the news of the victory comes back, the price of fish and meat in the city will definitely rise."

The uncle and nephew unloaded the fish they had just caught from the boat together,

and just came ashore on the south bank of the Bian River,

when they immediately felt a terrifying tremor coming from the ground.

The uncle and nephew looked to the west in a daze, where a black sea of clouds was crushing in with a majestic force!

Soldiers,

so many soldiers,

so many cavalry!

"Ha...haha...ha...damn it...it should be our victory in front...His Majesty is returning to the court...ha...haha..."

"No, Uncle, black armor, black armored cavalry, it's the Yan people, it's the Yan people, the Yan people are attacking, the Yan people are attacking again!!!"

…

This was a dusty army, the knights were tired, and the warhorses were also tired.

They took advantage of the heavy rain a few days ago to march in the mud and hide, and took a big detour from the west before the Northern Qiang cavalry arrived.

At this time, many soldiers' lips were chapped and scabbed, and the warhorses also began to spit foam when they ran;

It was an all-out run, and I don't know how many warhorses will have to be sent to the rear as packhorses after this time, unable to bear the responsibility of warhorses again.

But,

all this was worth it, because they succeeded.

In front of them,

stood the most prosperous, magnificent, and populous city in the Xia territories... Shangjing City!

Chen Yang let out a hoarse roar from his throat,

and shouted to Fan Li, who was running with all his might in front of him:

"General Fan, we're here, we're here, quickly take out the King's brocade bag, quickly take it out and see what the King has ordered!"

The King used himself as bait to trap Han 亗's troops, and at the same time, attracted the Qian army to approach and surround him.

The purpose was to create enough opportunities and possibilities for the main force led by Chen Yang.

Before leaving,

Prince of Western Peace handed a brocade bag to Fan Li in front of Chen Yang, and told them to open the brocade bag when they saw the city wall of Shangjing City.

"That's right!"

Fan Li seemed to have completely forgotten about the brocade bag. After all, unlike other people's infinite admiration for Prince of Western Peace, Fan Li had the least sense of "awe" for his master, even among the Demon Kings.

What a fuss about playing tricks with brocade bags!

But Chen Yang's eyes were so hot,

Fan Li could only fumble around and finally took out the brocade bag,

opened it,

and inside was a piece of paper,

Fan Li hesitated, and while continuing to run, he kept pulling the paper, and finally saw the words on it clearly, just two words, two words that he was very familiar with.

Hehe!

Fan Li smiled,

raised his double axes,

and shouted:

"Urra!"