My father, Li Shimin, please call me Crown Prince

Chapter 341 Li Zhi: It’s time to run away

"Please ask Lord Wei to lead the troops to Suzaku Street to persuade for peace."

At this point, Changsun Wuji had no choice but to speak.

When everyone heard this, they all nodded slightly.

It’s not that they are willing to get involved in the fight for the legitimate son.

But judging from the current situation, it would probably be too late for Li Jing to lead his troops to Suzaku Street.

The situation on the battlefield changed rapidly. By the time he gathered the guards from the palace villa and rushed to Suzaku Street, the situation there was probably already clear.

Li Jing went there just to finish the process.

At the same time, it is also an explanation to His Majesty.

It is outrageous that the princes are fighting and the court officials are completely indifferent.

In this way, you won't give anyone a chance to criticize you.

Chu Suiliang hesitated slightly, he wanted to delay a little longer.

The current situation is very good for the King of Wei. If he could delay it a little longer, it would naturally be even better.

Fang Xuanling saw through Chu Suiliang's thoughts, raised his eyes and looked at him with a hint of warning.

Chu Suiliang, who was about to speak, was immediately suppressed.

Among all the civil and military officials, although Changsun Wuji was the greatest meritorious official, everyone knew that Fang Xuanling was the one who should not be underestimated.
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Suzaku Avenue.

The winner has indeed been decided.

Of the one thousand soldiers brought by Li Chengqian, only more than three hundred are left, and they are all panting and guarding the prince's carriage.

On the other hand, half of the soldiers of the Wei-Jin coalition had plenty of physical strength because of the rotation battles.

"Brother, you lose."

King Wei Li Tai laughed triumphantly again.

Li Chengqian had a calm expression and said calmly, "I lost, so what."

"Qingque? How dare you kill my brother?"

"Now that my father is in a coma and I am the crown prince, will the officials in the court allow you to be the regent?"

Li Tai's expression changed slightly when he heard this.

He never thought of killing his brother.

But at this time he realized that if he didn't kill Li Chengqian, then how should he deal with Li Chengqian.

My father hasn't woken up yet, but now we have won.

But would the officials in the court allow him, the King of Wei, to imprison the crown prince?

If the crown prince cannot be imprisoned, then he will have no choice but to continue to serve as regent.

But if that's the case, what's the point of ambushing the prince today?

Isn't it a joke?

"Fourth brother, we have no way out."

Li Zhi said in a low voice.

Li Tai hesitated: "Zhi Nu, don't you think that we should..."

Li Zhi said firmly: "If not, how could Fourth Brother be crowned as the Crown Prince?"

"No one knows how long it will take for the emperor to wake up, but even if it is tomorrow, as long as my eldest brother is still here, he has the power to supervise the country."

"Brother is right. If he were still alive, the civil and military officials would not just sit there and do nothing, especially Uncle Changsun. Would he allow us to imprison Brother?"

Li Tai looked a little unhappy, and said, "Even if he is my uncle, so what? We have imprisoned my eldest brother, how dare Changsun Wuji come and snatch him away?"

"Everyone in the court knows that the emperor has long been furious about my eldest brother's rebellion. The imperial physician said that the emperor was in a coma this time because he was depressed and it was closely related to my eldest brother."

"As long as we wait until the emperor wakes up, he will definitely depose the crown prince."

Li Zhi was unwilling to hear that Li Tai did not want to kill him.

He wanted to ascend the throne, so he had to get rid of the crown prince and the King of Wei.

But Li Zhi himself did not want to bear the infamy of killing his two brothers.

The best outcome would be that the King of Wei killed the prince, and then he killed the King of Wei.

This way, I can give some explanation to my father.

After thinking for a while, Li Zhi said quietly, "What if my elder brother admits his fault to our father?"

Li Tai was shocked: "What do you mean?"

Li Zhi said: "Brother, enter the city like a trapped beast, there is no way to retreat."

"It is indeed as Fourth Brother said. Father is very angry because of my eldest brother's rebellion."

"But if you admit your mistakes to the emperor after he wakes up, hand over the Thunderbolt Fire and the method of making artillery, return Luoyang, return Liaodong to the Tang Dynasty, and plead with the emperor for mercy."

"Then will the emperor be soft-hearted and let the prince go?"

"Or maybe just give him a simple punishment without deposing him from the position of Crown Prince."

"We all know our father's temper. He is nostalgic for the past."

"My eldest brother, after all, was my mother's most beloved eldest son when she was alive."

"If that happens, won't we become a joke?"

Li Tai's face turned pale: "This is impossible, he has already started a rebellion!"

"How could the emperor bypass him?"

Li Zhi said: "Fourth brother, please don't forget that even when my eldest brother started a rebellion, after my father abolished the crown prince, Doctor Chu repeatedly asked my father to make fourth brother the crown prince, but my father did not agree."

"Doesn't this prove that Father still has high hopes for my eldest brother?"

"If he had completely given up, Father would have made Fourth Brother the Crown Prince long ago."

Hearing this, Li Tai's heart sank.

He knew that what Li Zhi said was right. His father always had a last thought for his elder brother.

Chu Suiliang mentioned repeatedly about appointing another crown prince, but Li Chengqian had rebelled, and his father had no intention of doing so at all.

In fact, everyone knows it, and Li Tai knows it too.

With the abilities Li Chengqian has demonstrated today, leaving aside the dispute between him and his father, he is the most outstanding heir, both in military affairs and in government affairs.

Li Tai had to admit this.

Today, under the governance of the crown prince, the people of Liaodong and Luoyang have enough food and clothing.

Not to mention the thunder fire and artillery, which can greatly increase the strength of the Tang army and expand the territory with ease.

From the emperor's perspective, as long as Li Chengqian is willing to admit his mistake and hand over the method of making the Thunderbolt Fire Cannon, he can be the crown prince and wait for his father to succeed to the throne a hundred years later.

Then it is very likely that the emperor, father, will forgive Li Chengqian for what he did.

When Li Tai thought of this, he felt sick all over.

So what does it mean for him to do this now?
For a moment, Li Tai turned his head to look at Li Chengqian's carriage.

Even though there were only 300 soldiers left, Li Chengqian, who was sitting on the carriage, was not at all panicked, as if he was not the loser, but they were the losers.

Why?
Where does the confidence come from?

Is it really as Zhinu said? So Li Chengqian had already made this plan.

Li Tai's eyes became sharp.

Li Zhi noticed the change in Li Tai's expression and felt relieved.

If Li Tai didn't kill him, he would be in real trouble.

If the fourth brother doesn't kill the eldest brother, he will force the action. So should he kill the eldest brother or the fourth brother first?

This is not easy to deal with.

As long as the fourth brother ordered the killing of the eldest brother, he would kill the fourth brother as well. In a way, it could be regarded as revenge for the eldest brother.

By then, father, you will only have me as your legitimate son.

There is no choice left for the position of crown prince.

In fact, Li Zhi had other concerns why he did not kill his elder brother himself.

Compared with Li Tai, Li Zhi thought more.

He knew even more clearly that Liaodong had now become the prince's back garden.

Back then, the mere possession of Goryeo was enough to make it difficult for the Sui Dynasty's million-strong army to conquer it.

Now, Goryeo, Baekje and Silla are unified. If they rebel, it will be extremely difficult to conquer them.

Before Li Chengqian occupied Luoyang, he left his eldest grandson Li Xiang in Liaodong.

It's not hard to guess what's going on.

Li Zhi estimated that Liaodong had already produced a large number of thunderbolts and artillery.

The imperial court raised an army and attacked Luoyang with only tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, but it was so difficult. Even you, Li Jing, Li Weigong, who led the troops personally, lost Tongguan.

How many troops will be needed to attack Liaodong in the future?
Mei Niang had told Li Zhi about this before. The Liaodong area can only be taken by strategy, not by force.

Therefore, the prince must not die in his hands no matter what.

If the crown prince is killed by force, even if he is crowned, Liaodong will not be able to solve the problem. In fact, there is a high possibility that they will counterattack the Tang Dynasty.

According to the order of inheritance, the eldest grandson of the emperor, Li Xiang, also has the right of inheritance.

Mei Niang told him that the emperor's eldest grandson Li Xiang was soft-hearted.

Only if the crown prince died at the hands of King Wei and he avenged King Wei would he have a chance to recover Liaodong in the future.

Just when Li Tai hesitated.

A guard came hurriedly to report.

"Duke Li Wei and others are mobilizing troops and preparing to come."

Li Zhi hurriedly said, "Fourth brother, make a decision quickly. I'm afraid the ministers in the court can't wait any longer."

This is Chang'an City. It would be difficult to hide the ambush for the prince from several important officials of the court.

However, this is also the result of multi-party game, which gives us this opportunity.

But we can't keep dragging it on.

Hearing this, Li Tai turned his head and looked at Li Chengqian, who was sitting on the carriage. His expression remained calm, as if he had him in his hands. He shouted coldly, "Brother, please surrender."

"Otherwise, don't blame me for not considering the friendship between brothers."

Li Chengqian laughed: "Come on, let me see how you, Qingque, can forget about our old friendship."

Li Tai felt a little bit unbelievable.

Li Chengqian is crazy.

Even at this point, he still acted as if he was sure of victory.

"Death is imminent, yet you are still so arrogant."

"Pass the order, kill without mercy!"

As the order was given, the Wei-Jin coalition forces immediately launched a final charge against the prince's 300-plus men, determined to defeat the prince's troops in one fell swoop.

At this time, Li Zhi secretly gave Li Yifu a look.

Li Yifu understood what he meant and took a few steps back while no one was paying attention.

Because the Royal Guards had already taken the field, Li Tai was left with only a few trusted confidants.

Li Zhi had been prepared for this and had secretly arranged dozens of people.

As soon as Li Tai gave the order to kill the prince, he immediately ordered someone to kill him.

one stone two bird.

But will Li Chengqian lose?

Looking at the Wei-Jin coalition forces rushing over, Li Chengqian picked up the teacup and took a sip.

Li Chengqian had no worries about his own safety.

Not to mention that he had a backup plan, even if he didn't have one, it would be easy for Li Chengqian to leave.

It seemed like everyone felt that at this moment, they must fight to the death.

However, if we change the approach, even if there are only three hundred people.

If he wanted to leave and break out with 300 people, could the Wei-Jin coalition force stop him?

It's just that there's no need.

"Your Highness."

Su Dingfang returned with questions.

Li Chengqian nodded: "Blow the horn."

Su Dingfang took out the bull horn hanging on his vest and blew it immediately.

Woo! ! !
The trumpet sounded.

This made Li Tai and Li Zhi's faces change suddenly.

The horn was blown at this time, which clearly showed that the prince had a backup plan.

"Quick, kill them."

Li Tai shouted anxiously.

Li Zhi was also a little anxious. How could the prince have any backup plan?

Where did the prince get reinforcements?

Could it be Lu Tong?
It's impossible. Lu Tong has been placed under house arrest by him, so it's impossible to mobilize troops.

Who is that?

As the horn sounded, soon after, the ground was shaken.

On the street next to them, a large number of cavalry suddenly appeared and rushed towards this side.

Then, a loud shout rang out: "Li Hu is late in coming to your rescue, please forgive me, Your Highness."

Li Hu, a student of Xunmou class.

It was when Li Chengqian set up the Military Academy in Chang'an.

At that time, Li Chengqian went to visit the barracks and mentioned Li Hu's name.

After that, Li Hu was encouraged and trained harder. He made many military achievements in the Battle of Liaodong and was promoted all the way.

Although he was not as talented as Pei Xingjian and Xue Rengui, he was also a powerful general.

In fact, for most people, it is not that they lack the ability, but that they lack opportunities.

Times make heroes.

Many times, it takes fate for things to work.

"How is this possible? How can there be so many soldiers and horses?"

"Where did the troops come from? When did Li Chengqian hide them in Chang'an City?"

Li Tai said in disbelief.

Li Zhi suddenly thought of something and said in a deep voice, "Furong Garden, Qujiang Pond."

Li Tai understood immediately and said through gritted teeth: "Hasn't that secret passage been buried?"

Li Tai and Li Zhi were both well aware of the assassination attempt by Goguryeo.

Those Koreans came in through the secret passage of Qujiang Lake.

Later, the prince used this as an excuse to forcibly take Furong Garden away from the King of Wei.

It is said that the secret passage has been buried, but in fact it has always been kept.

"I'm afraid that after Li Chengqian buried the secret passage, he took this opportunity to open up another secret passage."

Li Zhi regretted very much why he did not find the secret passage.

No wonder the prince only brought a thousand soldiers into the city, it turned out that he had been prepared for this.

Looking at the prince's reinforcements rushing over, there were probably about a thousand of them.

This is not a large number.

But it happened to be this time.

It was already very troublesome to deal with the prince's one thousand soldiers before, and now another one thousand comes.

Can you win?

The answer is yes.

Can't win.

These thousands of cavalrymen broke in from the side, causing the Wei-Jin coalition forces to panic. They had no choice but to immediately change their formation and meet the enemy from the side.

When cavalry charges, it is important to build up momentum.

Originally, the Wei and Jin cavalry, under the order of Li Tai, charged at the prince's carriage, but now they had to turn around immediately and change their formation, which took time.

Li Hu naturally wouldn't give them this time.

Thousands of cavalrymen acted like sharp knives, fiercely stabbing at the sides of the Wei-Jin coalition forces. With just one charge, they cut the Wei-Jin coalition forces in half.

The remaining 300-odd cavalrymen on Li Chengqian's side would naturally not be idle.

Su Dingfang had already been prepared and took this opportunity to launch a counterattack.

For a time, the Wei-Jin coalition forces were attacked from both sides, and the situation was reversed again.

Although the Wei-Jin coalition forces still had the advantage in terms of military strength on the scene, they were no longer able to form effective combat power.

Being attacked from both sides by Li Chengqian, he was on the verge of defeat.

Li Tai and Li Zhi's faces suddenly changed.

They have already won, and now they are going to be the losers.

Li Zhi no longer had the intention to assassinate the King of Wei.

If Li Chengqian wins, will he let them go?

So, let’s run for our lives first.

(End of this chapter)