Chapter 259 Invasion Like Fire
“This is the signal, is it time to take action?”

A shout rang out in the residential area of ​​the city.

I saw countless laborers holding all kinds of simple farm tools, listening nervously to the faintly heard loud roar.

“It’s a signal. It’s a signal sent to us by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.”

As the sound became clearer and clearer, these simple people seemed to have their blood ignited in an instant. They all became extremely excited, with excitement and anticipation flashing in their eyes.

“Divide the land!”

I don’t know who in the crowd started shouting slogans first.

“Divide the land.”

Then, like a prairie fire, this passionate shout quickly spread throughout the city. People poured out of their homes from all directions, gathered into a surging torrent, and rushed towards the city gate. As they ran, they shouted loudly, with great momentum.

Before this, all the carefully planned strategic layouts exploded at this moment like a volcanic eruption.

Among the grassroots of the people, the policies of the Four Provinces of Goguryeo spread at an astonishing speed.

With the guidance and instigation of others, an unprecedented wave of peasant uprisings was finally triggered in Youzhou city.

Lu Chengqing stood there in a daze, his face filled with shock, and it was obvious that he had not yet recovered from this sudden and heavy blow.

Everything that happened before his eyes was completely beyond his previous cognition. Those terrible weapons that he had never seen before were constantly spewing out deadly flames and bullets, bringing him unprecedented fear and shock.

“retreat!”

Instead, it was Lu Renqi of the front army who came to his senses first. He looked at the black gun barrel in horror, without any courage or will to fight against it.

If they continued to charge blindly like this, they would probably be shot to death by the enemy’s powerful firepower before they could reach Li Chengqian.

Therefore, under Lu Renqi’s decisive order, the Youzhou army, which had no desire to fight, began to retreat rapidly.

“The thief will leave!”

On both wings, Cheng Chumo and Cheng Mingzhen were leading their armies and charging forward.

In an instant, the armies of both sides collided violently like two torrents, with swords and sabers flashing and shouts of killing resounding through the sky.

In the blink of an eye, the two armies were fighting each other. Wanting to withdraw at this moment had become a luxury.

On the chaotic battlefield, soldiers fought each other and the bloody smell filled the air.

“Don’t panic, keep calm! Maintain your formation, archers, prepare to provide cover!”

Faced with such an urgent battle situation, Lu Chengqing remained quite calm. He shouted loudly to command the soldiers to fight, and did not fall into panic and chaos because of Li Chengqian’s plan to lure the enemy.

Although the situation is not favorable to them, it does not mean that they are doomed to fail.

The two armies engaged in close combat and fierce fighting, and the battle situation suddenly fell into a stalemate.

At this moment, a fast horse came galloping over, and the person on the horse was Lu Renqi. He rushed to Lu Chengqing with an anxious face and shouted:

“Mr. County, let’s retreat back to the city! If we don’t make a decision, we will suffer the consequences! It’s not too late to abandon this part of the troops now. Otherwise, if Li Chengqian’s army takes advantage of the situation and rushes into the city, the consequences will be disastrous!”

After hearing this, Lu Chengqing’s eyes were filled with pity.

He looked around and saw the soldiers fighting bloody battles, and his heart ached.

Most of these people are from the Lu family.

After a brief struggle, he finally gritted his teeth and, under the close protection of his personal guards, took advantage of the chaos on the battlefield and quietly retreated to the rear.

The night enveloped the earth, and it was pitch black all around, with only the sound of shouting and killing being heard one after another.

The soldiers from various units were so focused on fighting a life-and-death battle with the enemy in front of them that they had no idea that Lu Cheng and Lu Renqi had quietly retreated back into the city.

Sacrificing the chariot to save the driver is not a good strategy at this moment.

“Your Highness, it’s a success! Look at the top of the city wall!”

Wu Xing excitedly stretched out his hand and pointed towards Youzhou City in the distance.

He kept a close eye on every move on the Youzhou city wall from beginning to end, and it was he who played a decisive role at this critical link.

I saw dark shadows flashing on the top of Youzhou City, and the flashes of swords and sabers were intertwined. It was obvious that someone was fighting fiercely.

Not only that, the city was engulfed in flames, the raging fire illuminated half the sky red, and thick smoke billowed straight into the sky.

Li Chengqian saw this and a hint of excitement flashed in his eyes. He shouted, “Sound the war drums immediately and order the entire army to launch a general attack! We must capture Youzhou City in one fell swoop!”

Following his order, the exciting drum beats suddenly rang out, resounding throughout the battlefield like thunder.

The drum sound was like a charge horn, instantly igniting the fighting spirit of a hundred thousand troops, and rushing towards Youzhou City like a tide.

There was no army formation, but a slight vibration could be felt on the ground.
Youzhou City is impregnable and attacking it from the outside is extremely difficult.

Therefore, the ultimate goal of this operation is to lure the enemy out of its hole, forcing Lu Chengqing to divide his troops to deal with the offensive outside the city, thus leaving him no time to take into account the changes in the situation inside the city.

So that the bad guys can cause trouble in the city.

Now it seems that every step was within Li Chengqian’s calculations.

“What’s going on? What happened?”

As soon as Lu Chengqing entered the city, he was shocked by the scene before him.

Flames shot up into the sky, and soldiers and civilians fought each other.

It can’t be any more messy.

“Lord, the people in the city have rebelled and have captured the city lord’s mansion.”

A bloodstained military neighbor rushed over and reported the situation.

“My Lord, let’s go. This is probably another conspiracy by Li Chengqian. This man is really vicious.”

This was the only possibility that Lu Renqi could think of.

Nothing can be such a coincidence. We can only say that everything was premeditated.

Without even realizing it, he was defeated.

It was not that the battle was disadvantageous, but that the army was defeated.

“Yes, retreat. Send a message back to the tribe quickly and have all the tribe members relocate. Otherwise, given Li Chengqian’s ruthlessness, he will definitely massacre the entire tribe.”

Lu Chengqing couldn’t help but shudder. His previous refusal to surrender had already offended Li Chengqian greatly.

It’s definitely not going to end well.

The first thing he thought of was no longer how to stabilize the situation, but how to deal with the aftermath.

Only after fighting with Li Chengqian, will you know how terrifying he is.

Before we knew it, we were in a losing situation.

It is to achieve crushing from all aspects, in terms of strategy, psychology and weapons.

The main army fled and Youzhou City was quickly captured.

It was only midnight.

“Your Highness stabilized the battle situation with just one move. We are ashamed.”

Pei Xingjian climbed to the top of Youzhou City and looked at the soldiers kneeling down in surrender, and was inspired.

“I was just lucky, it’s the people of this city who did the real work.”

Li Chengqian nodded and looked at the people who had gathered under the city.

“This is also due to the will of the people. Only now do I understand your good intentions.”

Before the release of the soldiers, many generals including Pei Xingjian were puzzled and did not agree.

Looking back now, it was a stroke of genius. Li Chengqian’s planning ability and insight into people’s hearts were beyond the reach of ordinary people.

“I just went with the flow. This is the power of the people’s will. One day, everyone will wake up.”

Li Chengqian’s words were full of meaning and he also had high hopes for this.

“Slow down the march, count the soldiers, distribute the good farmland to the people, and keep your word and fulfill your promise.”

Although it seemed that he had missed the opportunity to expand the victory, Li Chengqian was actually seeking victory by playing it safe.

As long as the land distribution policy is implemented, every city and every piece of land he occupies will become his true territory.

It will also gain the support of the people.

“Have someone draft a notice immediately and have it posted throughout the city tomorrow.”

Pei Xingjian also understood that the most important thing now was to stabilize people’s hearts.

“Your Highness, what should we do with those people from the Lu family? Don’t take them seriously…”

Pei Xingjian asked carefully.

Li Chengqian has a kind side, but he is also ruthless.

Before that, it was spread that those who entered the Lu family would be massacred.

You have no joke.

“All privileges of the Lu family will be revoked, and everyone will be treated equally. All excess money and property will be confiscated, and only enough housing and material goods will be left to ensure their survival.”

“If there are those who resist or disobey orders, we must use strong measures to suppress them. We don’t have much time to stay here and deal with them.”

Li Chengqian said.

Under the whole world, could it be the king’s land.

All he had to do was to eliminate the inherent monopoly of the class and make things fairer and more just, rather than to kill all the rich and powerful people.

“Your Highness’s kindness is a blessing to the world. If this is the case, those people of the Lu family who do not know the current situation should be killed.”

Pei Xingjian couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

After all, he was also from a prominent family, and he followed Li Chengqian to repay his kindness.

If they treat the Lu family like this, they will be even better to the Pei family in the future.

Pei Xingjian was not the only one who breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh, by the way, spread the news about Youzhou’s policies and the rebellion of the people of Youzhou, and call on all the oppressed people to rise up in resistance and join our righteous army.”

This is no longer a war that belongs exclusively to Li Chengqian.

“promise!”

Several people nodded. It can be imagined that in future battles, it will not be so difficult and there will be many people who will surrender.

Li Chengqian has the orthodoxy and puts benevolence and righteousness first.

If given a choice, everyone would choose him.

In the next few days, a group of core figures made arrangements around land reform.

Soon, Li Zhi, who lived in the deep palace, also received battle reports from the front line.

The distribution of the bad guys, to a large extent, allows those in power to quickly grasp major events across the country.

“Your Majesty, is there another urgent military intelligence in the middle of the night?”

Along with the soft footsteps, a gentle voice came from behind Li Zhi.

Wu Meir came over gracefully with light lotus steps, holding a bowl of steaming soup steadily in her hands.

Li Zhi still had his back to Wu Mei’er, his face gloomy and expressionless as he spoke:
“My brother is so powerful! He was able to capture Dingzhou, Yizhou, Cangzhou, Dezhou, Zhaozhou and other places without bloodshed.”

After saying that, he turned slightly and handed the letter in his hand to Wu Meir.

Wu Mei’er took the letter, glanced at it quickly, and put it back in Li Zhi’s hands. After a little thought, she said softly:
“I think the former crown prince had formed a clique and had many followers. Maybe he had already planted his people in these states and counties, which is why the situation is like this today.”

However, the letter consisted of only a few words, simply describing the general situation.

“It’s not what you think.” Li Zhi shook his head and rarely explained to Wu Meier.

“This time, the local people rebelled on their own initiative and then surrendered to Li Chengqian.”

With Li Zhi’s great talent and strategy, he had already seen through the real intention behind Li Chengqian’s move.

Hearing this, Wu Meir couldn’t help but frown and thought.

“Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the country has always been peaceful and the people have lived and worked in peace and contentment. How could there suddenly be civil unrest in so many places?”

No matter how hard she thought about it, she could never figure out the reason.

“This is how I, as a brother, excel!”

Li Zhi smiled, his eyes flashing with confidence and cunning, but he was sighing in his heart.

Although he had already seen the root cause of the problem, after much thought, he still could not find a perfect solution to deal with the difficult situation.

Li Chengqian used the ordinary people at the bottom of society to consolidate the base of his power.

Faced with such a situation, Li Zhi could only place his hopes on the scholar-official class to compete with them.

However, this was not what he really wanted. What he wanted was to take back the power that originally belonged to the emperor from those aristocratic families, rather than further encourage these aristocratic families to control and hold power.

Li Zhi frowned, fell into deep thought, and paced back and forth.

“Then how did Li Chengqian win the hearts of the rebellious people? Your Majesty can follow his example.”

Wu Meir said.

If we talk about righteousness now, it must be Li Zhi.

This is the emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

“Imitate, how can I imitate?”

If Li Zhi wanted to divide the clan land and property of Jingzhao, he might be the first to step down.

“Someone, call Su Dingfang and Wang Fangyi into the palace!”

After a while, Li Zhi looked up and looked outside the door.

When Zhangsun Wuji went to war, these two did not follow the army. Instead, they were specially left behind by Li Zhi so that they could act according to their will in Chang’an.

In terms of strategic situation, Li Zhi had no way of suppressing Li Chengqian.

However, in the battle, Li Zhi was still confident that he could defeat Li Chengqian head-on.

There is no other reason.

That’s because the Tang Dynasty has vast territory and abundant resources, and in general, it has an overwhelming advantage in terms of numbers and material resources.

Even if you drag it out, you can drag the opponent to death.

The Tang Dynasty had 360 states, so the loss of a few of them was no big deal.

“Your Majesty, are you going to start a war again? Didn’t the Grand Marshal Changsun lead the army to fight before? Could it be that Your Majesty thinks that the Grand Marshal cannot resist?”

A hint of surprise appeared on Wu Meir’s pretty face.

Changsun Wuji’s expedition had overdrawn the country’s labor force.

If we mobilize more soldiers and horses, this year’s harvest will be wasted.

(End of this chapter)