Chapter 252: Li Chengqian’s reaction to the news of Li Shimin’s death
Killing the enemy in a pit is the most appropriate and efficient way to deal with the enemy.

Since ancient times, war has always been a bloody affair.

Therefore, the art of war should not be discussed lightly. Fearing soldiers like a tiger shows how cruel and ruthless the world is.

“In addition, a team must be left behind to manage the livestock and maintain close contact with Liaodong to continuously transport supplies. The rest of the people will rest for three days and then continue to advance deeper into the area.”

Xue Rengui glanced at the other generals present.

At this moment, all he wanted to do was to emulate the heroic feat of the former champion, Huo Qubing, and march forward bravely, deep into the enemy territory, to defeat and kill the Mohe royal court in one fell swoop.

“As ordered!”

Several generals responded in unison, and then each followed the order and retreated in an orderly manner.

After many days of fighting, Xue Rengui successfully won the sincere respect of all the soldiers with his extraordinary bravery and outstanding military talent.

All the soldiers from the four regions were sincerely convinced by Xue Rengui and had complete faith in his leadership.

……

Suddenly, there was a burst of rapid horse hoofbeats in Liaodong City. A fast horse was seen galloping past like lightning, and the knight on the horse shouted loudly: “Urgent news, urgent news!”

The passionate voice instantly spread throughout the street, causing several pedestrians along the way to hurriedly avoid it.

“Your Highness, eight hundred expedited letters have arrived!”

Inside the Baijia Academy, Wu Xing hurriedly ran to Li Chengqian with a letter in his hand, then respectfully handed the letter to him with his hands trembling slightly, perhaps because he was walking too fast or perhaps because of the content of the letter.

Li Chengqian pretended not to hear anything about this. He stood there like a sculpture, with all his mind and energy focused on the cylinder in front of him.

To be precise, this is not an ordinary cylinder, but a groundbreaking steam engine!

I saw the steam engine emitting billowing hot steam, like a roaring steel beast.

The iron wheels on its left and right sides seemed to be dancing tirelessly, spinning back and forth non-stop, bringing up gusts of wind.

After months of hard work and countless failures, they finally succeeded in breaking through the technical bottleneck and manufactured the core component of the steam engine – the cylinder.

At this moment, in Li Chengqian’s eyes, nothing else in the world could compare to it.

For him, nothing was more important than putting this steam engine into practical use.

Seeing that Li Chengqian was unmoved, Wu Xing quietly approached again and whispered softly in his ear, but this time his voice was much louder than before.

“Your Highness, the Bad People just sent a secret report that a shocking change has occurred in the Tang Dynasty court. His Majesty… has passed away.”

“Your Majesty has passed away?”

Li Chengqian couldn’t help but murmur under his breath when he heard this. After a long time, Li Chengqian slowly came back to his senses as if waking from a dream.

“What did you just say? Say it again!”

Li Chengqian turned around abruptly and stared at Wu Xing in disbelief, wondering if he had heard what he had just said wrongly.

impossible!

It was only the year 647, and there were still two years before Li Shimin’s death.

My first reaction was that this was absolutely impossible.

“Your Highness, I personally saw all the officials dressed in plain clothes escorting the coffin into Zhaoling Mausoleum. The news is accurate.”

Wu Xing added that such big news must have been confirmed repeatedly.

“Notify Liu Rengui and the others to come to the City Lord’s Mansion immediately for political discussions.”

Li Shimin’s premature death was definitely a major event that had an impact on the course of history.

This forced Li Chengqian to treat the situation with caution and even change all his plans.

Half a day later.

Several of Li Chengqian’s confidants gathered together.

“General Pei, do you know what the Crown Prince will do next?”

Liu Rengui asked Pei Xingjian who was standing aside, and the other generals also listened attentively.

“I can’t guess what His Royal Highness is planning, but in the northern border, Xue Rengui and Gao Kan both received reports of victory, so it might be a war.”

Pei Xingjian said that he was in charge of the entire Dao and knew the information faster than others.

“In that case, it should be regarded as a great joyous event. General Xue and General Gao used their military skills like gods and defeated the enemy. It is a blessing.”

Liu Rengui smiled, and their previous worries disappeared.

At first, except for Li Chengqian who had confidence in Xue Rengui and Gao Kan, none of them thought it was an impossible feat.

The way of commanding varies from person to person.

There are generals who can lead a hundred men and break through an enemy’s formation as if they were entering an empty area.

If there is a general, he can lead millions of people and accomplish the mission of destroying a country.

When it comes to small group combat, no one can match Xue Rengui.

This was something that Liu Rengui and Pei Xingjian could not do.

But when it comes to commanding a large army, among the younger generation, Pei Xingjian is the best.

One is a general and the other is a commander.

“In the final analysis, it all depends on the planning of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince knows how to use people wisely. If it were you or me, we might have frozen to death in the ice and snow.”

Pei Xingjian smiled and said, how lucky he was to be able to serve under such a lord.

There will no longer be any such thing as being unappreciated.

Everyone can make use of their talents.

“The Crown Prince is here!”

When they turned around, they saw Li Chengqian walking into the hall with a gloomy face.

In his self-awareness, Li Chengqian did not treat Li Shimin as his father.

Moreover, the two of them didn’t spend much time together.

However, when he heard the news of Li Shimin’s death, Li Chengqian couldn’t help feeling sad.

Everyone present was good at observing people’s expressions and when they saw that the atmosphere was not right, they all shut their mouths.

Li Chengqian took a seat and looked down.

“Since we are all here, I will tell you that I have received the latest news that His Majesty has passed away. Soon, the court will send an envoy to invite us to watch the new emperor’s coronation ceremony.”

“Your Highness, please accept my condolences!”

Hearing this, everyone lowered their heads.

But at this moment, everyone’s minds began to become active.

Everyone knows that a huge change is about to happen.

“Your Highness, the court has sent an envoy to let me wait for him to watch the ceremony. Whose ceremony is it?”

Soon, Liu Rengui asked without knowing what was going on.

“Of course it’s the new crown prince Li Zhi.”

Li Chengqian spoke slowly, also wanting to see what his group of confidants thought.

Especially Liu Rengui, after all, he had previously declared that he would not attack the Tang Dynasty.

Now, these things certainly can no longer restrict Liu Rengui.

Before, he wanted to repay Li Shimin for his kindness.

Now that Li Shimin is dead, I can definitely participate in the fight for the throne.

He was the first to speak, which showed his attitude.

“The previous emperor passed away, and the new emperor’s ascension to the throne is inevitable. According to etiquette, it should be you, the Crown Prince, who will ascend the throne. If it is anyone else, we will not be willing. We are willing to escort the Crown Prince back to the capital to ascend the throne.”

Cheng Chumo quickly looked up and said to Li Chengqian.

From the beginning to the end, they only recognized Li Chengqian as the crown prince.

“Your Highness, you disobeyed the order and stayed behind to protect the four provinces of Goguryeo. You never thought that you would be slandered by treacherous people. It is really unfair.”

“We are all willing to lead the army to seek justice for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, kill the treacherous villains, and restore order to the world.”

Pei Xingjian also stepped forward to express his attitude.

“Your Highness, there are treacherous ministers in power in the court. They are taking advantage of the time of Your Majesty’s death to commit evil deeds. They should be executed,” Li Zhen also advised.

Without exception, several people wanted to start a war.

Even the name of the expedition has been thought of.

This is also the best time to go on an expedition.

After all, when Li Zhi first ascended the throne, the situation was unstable and it was easiest to accomplish things.

If that were all, things would be a lot easier.

However, Li Chengqian’s ultimate goal was only known to his sworn brothers.

“Your Highness, please give the order, otherwise it will be too late. The sooner this happens, the better.”

Liu Rengui called out again.

“Your Highness, do not hesitate any longer and give the order to recruit soldiers.”

“Under the pretext of recruiting soldiers, we can also solve the problem of refugees caused by the previous snowstorm, which is also disaster relief.”

Seeing that Li Chengqian remained silent, several people spoke up one after another.

In fact, this is also a necessary process.

Are there three times when an emperor ascends the throne?

Not to mention raising an army.

“All the generals are speaking out for me, and I am very pleased. But if we raise an army, we only have four roads. Can we succeed?”

Li Chengqian asked again, wanting to seek everyone’s opinion.

The hall also fell silent.

The enemy is strong and we are weak, so it is indeed difficult to defeat him.

It’s okay to hold on, but everyone knows how difficult it is to attack the Tang Dynasty.

That is not a barbarian land like the Mohe and Wa.

They are fighting against the will of Heaven.

To the Tang Dynasty, they were a barbarian land.

The most fatal thing is that the military strategies they rely on will certainly not be very effective when used in the conquest of Tang.

It’s easy to say, but when it comes to doing it, it becomes extremely difficult.

“Your Highness, you may be mistaken. Our four lands are not fighting against the entire territory of Tang. We can only say that they are treacherous and cunning.”

“Your Highness, you have always been dignified and benevolent in the court. If you raise your arms and make the injustice you have suffered known to the public, I’m sure there will be an uproar in the court and the public, and there will surely be more celebrities and patriots who will speak up for you.”

Cheng Chu said silently that he was just telling Li Chengqian about the plan he had planned before.

“Yes, that’s right!”

Liu Rengui agreed, but was shocked in his heart, thinking that all this might have been planned long ago.

“Generals, since you all think this can be done, then let’s do as General Cheng says.”

“If there is nothing else, Li Zhen will stay, and everyone else, please leave.”

Li Chengqian immediately dismissed several people.

“I’ll take my leave!”

The generals also knew that Li Chengqian had important matters to discuss in secret, so they all tactfully withdrew.

Each of them has an important responsibility, but none of them feel guilty about it.

“Are all the muskets and artillery ready for use in the battle?”

In the campaign against Tang, this new weapon will definitely be used on the battlefield.

During this period, Li Chengqian was busy lecturing and researching steam engines, and never asked about Li Zhen’s military training.

Only now did he remember.

“There are now 5,000 musketeers who can operate them skillfully, and only 100 cannons have been manufactured, but they are all usable.”

Li Zhen answered awkwardly.

This is a technical hurdle that is difficult to overcome.

He could only produce so many guns and cannons, and he could only train so many soldiers and armor.

“That’s enough. For the next training, you will practice according to the plan I gave you before. You must carry out the requirements according to actual combat.”

This is Li Chengqian’s last trump card.

However, such a force is obviously not enough to play a decisive role in the campaign against the Tang Dynasty.

It can only have the effect of surprise.

“Okay, let’s conduct the drill in an actual combat manner.”

They have put so much effort into this team.

Only the two of them knew that most of the four fiscal revenues were swallowed up by these artillery and muskets.

“By the way, have the military equipment department developed any new types of guns?”

There are still certain limitations in firing a gun.

It cannot change the situation of the war, but if it innovates the new generation, it will definitely be able to change the battlefield situation.

“It has not been successfully developed yet. According to the plan you provided, I have only developed a rough outline. Although the gun is no problem, the difficulty lies in the bullet coating.”

Li Zhen shook his head.

“It seems that I am too impatient. Now that I have nothing to do, you can go down and get busy.”

Li Chengqian couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

Although our ancestors were smart and skilled, the gap in technological eras could not be easily resolved in this way.

If a few more years pass, this problem may be solved.

But now I can’t wait any longer, the battle is about to begin.

Notices were posted one after another in important cities in the four provinces of Liaodong, Pyongyang, Baekje and Silla.

“Your Highness, have you shown your benevolence again?”

“That’s definitely the case. Since Crown Prince Li Chengqian came here, every time he posted a notice, it was a benefit to the people.”

At the city gate, countless people crowded in, all wanting to see what was going on. Even those who were illiterate came to join in the fun, and they accounted for the majority.

“Is there anyone who can read, please read to us what good things are said in this book.”

Someone immediately shouted.

“Alas, this is not a good thing, but a very bad thing!”

The leading sergeant sighed and said that although he had never been to school, he had heard clearly all the contents of the notice when it was circulated.

“May I ask, sir, what is written on it?”

The faces of many people changed, and the peaceful days did not last long.

“Could it be that they are going to increase taxes again?”

“That’s fine, but I’m afraid they’ll take away the land.”

For a moment, everyone couldn’t help but worry.

For them, the most important thing is food and clothing.

“You are all wrong. There are treacherous ministers in power in the court who have slandered our current Crown Prince. Now they have even come up with a pretext to establish a new monarch.”

The leading sergeant shouted.

The people are still confused. What does this kind of national and family affairs have to do with them?
Although everyone felt sorry for Li Chengqian, they seemed powerless to do anything.

Everything will be fine if we don’t touch their land.

Everyone in the world is benefiting.

This is normal.

(End of this chapter)