Datang: Just been appointed as the crown prince, the counterattack system is here

Chapter 418 Li Shimin: You're saying the Crown Prince killed his brother? [Seeking monthly votes]

"General! I've been wronged!"

Fu Fu'ai was pinned to the ground by his personal guards, but he kept shouting, "It was a sudden collapse of the earthen hill that caused the soldiers to panic. It was not my dereliction of duty!"

"Injustice?"

Li Xiaogong was so angry he gritted his teeth. He raised his sword and pressed it against the man's throat: "Where were you when the breach appeared in the city wall? Where were you when the Goguryeo people rushed out?"

As he spoke, he kicked Fu Fu'ai hard in the chest: "If you hadn't deserted your post, this wouldn't have happened!"

"me."

Fu Fu'ai opened her mouth, but hesitated to speak.

Li Daozong, standing to the side, was sweating profusely with anxiety.

He gazed at the Goguryeo soldiers constantly reinforcing their defenses on the ruins of the earthen hill, and then looked at the dust rising from the direction of the central army in the distance.

That was the sound of Li Shimin personally leading a large army. He probably still didn't trust them, so he quickly said to Li Xiaogong, "Brother Xiaogong, don't worry about him for now! His Majesty will be here soon. We have to find a way to take back the pass!"

Before he finished speaking, a clapper sound suddenly came from the earthen hill, followed by a hail of arrows.

Li Xiaogong hurriedly reined in his horse and retreated. Several cavalrymen were unable to dodge in time and fell off their horses with screams.

He looked up and saw Yang Wanchun standing on the top of the earthen hill, waving a red flag and directing soldiers to throw oil canisters.

"Use catapults!"

Upon seeing this, Li Daozong immediately roared and ordered, "Throw the oil canisters up there!"

Soon, the soldiers hastily mobilized the catapults.

Meanwhile, the artillery that could have been a deadly weapon on the battlefield was abandoned by them.

One by one, earthenware jars coated in grease flew whistlingly toward the earthen hill.

They originally thought they would get useful results, but the greater their expectations, the greater their disappointment.

The pottery jars were blocked by the Goguryeo soldiers' shields, and most of them were smashed on the hillside. The fire that broke out did not help the Tang army recapture the hill, but instead hindered the Tang army's route of attack.

"Idiots! You bunch of idiots!"

"Everyone, aim your shots!"

Li Daozong was so angry he jumped up and down.

Just then, a voice he least wanted to hear suddenly rang out.

"Your Majesty has arrived——!"

As the guards shouted, Li Shimin's yellow dragon flag came into view.

He was carried on a stretcher by the guards, his face ashen, but he stared intently at the Goguryeo flag on the earthen hill: "Where is Fu Fu'ai?"

It was clear that he already knew the opportunity had been lost, and that the culprit was Fu Fu'ai.

Li Xiaogong knew that this matter could not be hidden, nor did he want to hide it, so he immediately knelt on one knee and said, "Your Majesty, I have captured him!"

Li Shimin's gaze swept over the disheveled Fu Fu'ai, then looked at the blocked opening. He suddenly coughed violently, then laughed, tears streaming down his face: "What a Yang Wanchun! What a Fu Fu'ai!"

He pointed at the earthen mound: "Issue my order! Beat the drums! All troops, charge! Even if we have to fill it in, we must flatten this mound into plains today!"

The war drums thundered, and the Tang army surged toward the earthen hill like a tidal wave.

However, the Goguryeo people, relying on the collapsed earth and rocks, hurled rolling stones down from their high ground, and the Tang army paid a heavy price for every step they took forward.

Changsun Wuji stood beside Li Shimin, watching the soldiers fall one after another, and sighed, "Your Majesty, the supplies are running low, and the soldiers are exhausted and starving. If this continues..."

"Shut up!"

Li Shimin abruptly interrupted him, "I am the Son of Heaven! The Heavenly Khan! How can I be defeated by a mere Anshi City!?"

However, at that moment, Yun Duan rode a fast horse and galloped over, raising a cloud of dust.

"Your Majesty! The commander I sent to Chang'an has returned! And the provisions have arrived!"

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin's face lit up with joy, and he sat up from the stretcher as if he were suddenly jolted awake from his deathbed. "Is this really true?!"

"How dare I deceive Your Majesty?"

The cloud-based official quickly responded, but then changed the subject again: "However, many things have happened in Chang'an, Your Majesty."

Having said that, he glanced at Changsun Wuji with a complicated expression, gritted his teeth, and said, "Please allow me to report later!"

"Ok?"

Li Shimin was taken aback for a moment, then frowned and said, "What happened in Chang'an? You have to report it later?"

"this."

Yun Duan hesitated and said, "The most important thing right now is the war. I will report back after the war is over!"

Upon hearing this, Changsun Wuji's heart skipped a beat.

Because there has never been such an anomaly in the cloud.

Either what he reported was too shocking for Li Shimin to accept, or what he reported was unimportant and not as important as the war.

Regardless of the situation, Changsun Wuji's heart was in his throat, and he subconsciously looked at Li Shimin.

Li Shimin pondered for a moment, seemingly not paying much attention, and then waved his hand, saying, "You're right, the most important thing now is the war; we can talk about the rest later!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he cast another cold glance at Li Daozong: "Daozong, this is your chance to redeem yourself. If you don't seize it, do you know what will happen to you!"

"Yes!"

Li Daozong responded, his forehead dripping with cold sweat, but he didn't have time to wipe it away. He bowed to Li Shimin and took his leave.

Li Shimin did not intend to let it end there. He then ordered Yuchi Gong and Cheng Yaojin, who had escorted him, "Jingde and Zhijie, lead five thousand elite troops to the west of the city. Use a feint attack to the east and a counterattack to the west, and see if you can take Anshi City while Yang Wanchun and his men are fighting for Tushan!"

"promise!"

Yuchi Gong and Cheng Yaojin exchanged a glance, then immediately agreed and withdrew.

Soon, the war entered a fierce stage.

The Tang army and the Goguryeo army engaged in fierce fighting near Ansi City.

Until nightfall, neither side could gain the upper hand in the battle.

It must be said that the tenacity displayed by the Goguryeo army exceeded everyone's expectations. Even Li Shimin, faced with such a battle situation, could not help but sigh in despair.

"Although the supplies have arrived, the morale of the army has probably already collapsed."

As Li Shimin spoke, he looked helplessly at Changsun Wuji, as if he had aged ten years in an instant: "Wuji, have I done something wrong?"

"What is wrong with Your Majesty's determination to complete the unfinished business of the world?"

Changsun Wuji said solemnly, "In my opinion, as long as we rest and recuperate for a while, we may be able to turn the tide next time!"

"Next time? Is there really a next time?"

Li Shimin shook his head with a wry smile.

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the tent.

Zhang Jian reported with a complicated expression: "Your Majesty, the wounded soldiers in the western camp have mutinied! They say they are unwilling to die for a lonely city any longer, and they are charging towards the central army!"

Li Shimin clenched his fist tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force, leaving deep finger marks on the wooden edge of the stretcher.

He looked at the flickering campfire outside the tent, the firelight reflecting on his pale face, sometimes bright, sometimes dim, much like the crumbling morale of the army at this moment.

"Wounded soldiers mutinied."

He repeated in a low voice, his tone tinged with an almost broken weariness: "It was me, it was me who made them bleed and lose heart."

Changsun Wuji's expression changed drastically, and he quickly stepped forward: "Your Majesty, please calm down! I will go and apprehend them immediately! Someone must be instigating this in the dark. I will arrest the ringleader to serve as a warning to others!"

"No need."

Li Shimin raised his hand to stop him, his gaze peering through the gaps in the tent towards the faint commotion coming from the west of the camp:
"They are my brothers who have risked their lives with me, losing arms and legs, all they wanted was peace. It was I who insisted on attacking Anshi City, it was I who was greedy."

Before he could finish speaking, another commotion arose outside the tent.

"We won't fight anymore!"

A soldier with a severed left arm held up half a spear, crimson strips of cloth fluttering on his empty sleeve:
"Why should we, the remnants of our army, have to fill the ditches again? Whether we take Anshi City or not, what does it have to do with us!"

He was surrounded by hundreds of wounded soldiers, some leaning on wooden canes, others being helped by others, their armor still stained with blackened blood.

Someone threw the leftover food bag hard on the ground, sending bran and sand flying everywhere.
"So what if the supplies have arrived? They're just going to make us scapegoats! Look at the wounds of our brothers, look at the mountains of corpses piled up outside the city!"

He pointed towards the earthen mound, his voice hoarse: "That's not a mountain, it was built with human lives! We want to go home!"

Several guards tried to stop them, but as soon as they raised their swords, they were pushed aside by the wounded soldiers who rushed forward.

A cook who had lost his right eye suddenly overturned a nearby grain cart, scattering millet and beans all over the ground.
"I'd rather go back to farming than be a nameless ghost! Anyone who tries to force us will step over my dead body!" Someone in the crowd shouted, "Let's go find His Majesty to settle this!" This was like lighting a fuse, and the crowd surged toward the central military tent.

Someone bumped into the wooden racks where weapons were stored, and knives and guns came crashing down, adding to the chaos.

The imperial guards guarding the tent gripped their swords tightly, their palms sweating profusely.

Having faced the elite forces of Goguryeo before, they found themselves hesitant to raise their blades against their comrades.

"Get out of the way! Everyone, get out of the way!"

The one-armed soldier charged ahead, his broken spear pointing at the tent entrance: "Give us a way out today, or kill us all!"

The wounded soldiers behind him shouted, the sound waves crashing against the tent, making the canvas tremble and even causing the candlelight inside to flicker violently.

Hearing the increasingly close shouts, Li Shimin, who was inside the tent, looked even more ashen-faced.

He struggled to get up, but Changsun Wuji held him down: "Your Majesty, your health is important, I will handle this!"

Before Changsun Wuji could lift the curtain, the tent flap was forced open by a brute force.

The one-armed soldier led a dozen wounded soldiers in, the broken tip of his spear almost piercing Li Shimin's stretcher.

"His Majesty!"

His voice trembled violently, but he still mustered his courage and said:

"This humble general does not intend to rebel, but only begs Your Majesty to have mercy and allow us, the remnants of your army, to go home!"

Behind him, a taxi driver with bandages wrapped around his leg knelt down with a thud, tears streaming down his face mixed with dirt.

"Your Majesty, my mother is still waiting for me at the village entrance! Even if my leg heals, I can't carry a gun anymore. If I stay here, I'll only be a burden to the brothers!"

These words were like a boulder thrown into a lake, and immediately many people echoed them.

"Yes, Your Majesty! My father died in Liaodong, and I'm the only one left in the family. If I'm gone too, the fields will all go to waste!"

"Your Majesty, my wife just gave birth, and I haven't seen what the baby looks like yet."

Amidst the cries and screams, someone suddenly turned their attention to Changsun Wuji, who was standing nearby:

"Did you instigate His Majesty to continue the attack? The supplies just arrived and you're already urging an attack. What are you up to?!"

"Exactly! It's easy for you civil servants to talk when you're not the ones suffering, since you're not the ones shedding blood!"

Several agitated wounded soldiers rushed forward a couple of steps, startling Changsun Wuji's personal guards who immediately drew their swords to protect him.

The air inside the tent froze instantly. The glint of the blade reflected in the bloodshot eyes of the wounded soldiers, but it didn't make them back down. Instead, some picked up broken swords from the ground: "Today, either we live or we die."

"Shut up!"

Li Shimin suddenly shouted, his voice not loud, but carrying the majesty of someone who had long held a high position, which brought the chaotic crying and shouting to an abrupt halt.

He panted, his gaze sweeping across the faces of each wounded soldier, from those with missing arms and limping legs to those with scars on their faces, finally settling on the kneeling soldier:
"I know you fight alongside me so that your families can live a better life."

He paused, a metallic taste rising in his throat, but he forced it down:
“If Anshi City is not breached, the Goguryeo people will dare to repeatedly invade the border. Today they harass Liaodong, tomorrow they will dare to attack Youzhou. At that time, your homes, your fields, and your children will still be lost.”

The one-armed soldier, with his neck stiff, said, "But we can't fight anymore!"

Li Shimin was momentarily speechless, but finally said helplessly, "If we can't fight anymore, then we'll stop. I grant you permission to return to your hometowns."

"What!?"

These words stunned not only the wounded soldiers, but also Changsun Wuji, who stared wide-eyed in astonishment.

Li Shimin didn't look at them, but gazed at the deep night outside the tent: "Have the physicians treat your wounds, give you enough travel money, and go home. Tell your families that I am sorry, but this battle in Liaodong must be fought by someone."

"This"

The wounded soldiers looked at each other; the tense atmosphere they had just displayed had somehow dissipated.

The soldier with the missing arm moved his lips, then slammed the broken spear into the ground and knelt down with a thud.

The wounded soldiers behind him also knelt down, and cries of pain rose again.

This time, however, it wasn't anger, but rather a mix of guilt and confusion.

The noise outside the tent gradually subsided, with only sporadic sobs drifting in.

Li Shimin stared at the kneeling figure's back and suddenly coughed softly. Each cough sounded like coughing on broken glass, making him curl his fingers in pain.

Looking at the newly added white hairs at his temples, and then at the darkening sky outside the tent, Changsun Wuji felt as if this long night would never end.

The wind outside the tent howled, making the wounded soldiers' gradually fading sobs intermittent.

The one-armed soldier kowtowed deeply, his forehead pressed against the cold ground: "Your Majesty, this humble general is a scoundrel."

He couldn't continue, his shoulders trembling like withered leaves in the autumn wind.

A blind old soldier groped forward, his withered hands clawing at the ground as if trying to grasp something: "Your Majesty, we don't want to rebel, it's just that seeing our brothers fall one after another makes us panic."

Li Shimin closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the bloodshot veins in his eyes spread like a spider web.

He waved his hand at Changsun Wuji: "Have the physicians take them down to treat their injuries, give each person three months' worth of rations, and send them by carriage to the border, as far as they can go."

"Your Majesty!" Changsun Wuji exclaimed anxiously, "If this sets a precedent, I'm afraid..."

"There is no fear."

Li Shimin interrupted him, his voice as soft as a sigh: "They have shed enough blood."

Upon hearing this, the wounded soldiers cried even harder, some of them banging their heads against the ground, leaving bloody marks on their foreheads.

Finally, he was led out by several imperial guards, half-helping and half-persuading them, and the commotion outside the tent gradually receded like the receding tide.

The silence inside the tent was even more suffocating than the chaos that had just transpired. Li Shimin stared at the hole in the tent ceiling, through which a sliver of moonlight shone, illuminating the dust motes floating in the air. He suddenly asked in a low voice, "Wuji, do you think I'm really getting old?"

Changsun Wuji's throat tightened, and he was about to speak when hurried footsteps sounded outside the tent. This time it was Yuchi Gong's voice, filled with unprecedented anxiety: "Your Majesty! Something terrible has happened! The west of the city is in chaos too!"

Li Shimin's heart sank. Yuchi Gong lifted the curtain and entered, his armor stained with mud and blood, his face ashen.
"We just launched a feint attack on the west side of the city, but as soon as we got to the city walls, some soldiers threw down their weapons and said they wanted to go home. Then dozens of them ran out of the camp, and we couldn't stop them!"

"A bunch of trash!"

Li Shimin slammed his hand on the stretcher, but the movement aggravated his wound, causing him to gasp in pain: "Where's Cheng Yaojin? Send him to chase after him!"

"We chased after them! But the brothers all said..."

Yuchi Gong gritted his teeth, his voice hoarse: "It seems something terrible has happened in Chang'an, otherwise the Commandant wouldn't be so hesitant, otherwise Your Majesty wouldn't..."

He didn't dare to continue, but the meaning couldn't be clearer.

The morale of the troops has collapsed, and suspicion has grown wildly like weeds.

Li Shimin's face instantly turned pale.

He recalled the details of Chang'an that Yun Duan hadn't reported, and waved his hand helplessly, saying, "Never mind, let them go. Summon Yun Duan in; I want to hear about Chang'an!"

"promise!"

Soon, footsteps could be heard outside the door.

About fifteen minutes later, Yun Duan strode in: "Your subject pays his respects."

"Alright, enough with the nonsense!"

Li Shimin waved his hand to interrupt Yun Duan, then looked at Yun Duan with a solemn expression and said, "Speak, has something major happened in Chang'an?"

Actually, he had already sensed it when the report was sent from the cloud, but because of the military situation, he pretended not to know.

Yun Duan glanced at Li Shimin, then at Changsun Wuji, and sighed, "A great thing has indeed happened in Chang'an, so great that I don't even know where to begin. In short, it's extremely chaotic, as chaotic as a raging torrent."

Upon hearing this, both Li Shimin and Changsun Wuji felt a pang of unease.

But then Yun Duan said with a complicated expression, "Your Majesty, the epidemic in Chang'an has been brought under control by His Highness the Crown Prince. However, before that, Prince Shu Li Ke, Prince Liang Li Yin, and many officials in Chang'an colluded with the guards to spread 'Qingwen San' and poison the people of Chang'an."

"Later, the Crown Prince returned to Chang'an and forced his way through the Mingde Gate to enter the city. After that, the Crown Prince fought with the Prince of Shu and his men and successfully thwarted their plans, thus preventing the use of an even more potent version of 'Qingwen San' to continue harming the people."

"Is there anything else?" Changsun Wuji quickly asked.

Yun Duan glanced at Li Shimin, whose face was ashen, and then continued in a deep voice, "Furthermore, Hou Junji also colluded with the garrison commander and led his troops back to Chang'an."

"What!?"

Li Shimin and Changsun Wuji were shocked when they heard this.

Hou Junji actually rebelled?
Shouldn't he be pacifying the Gaochang Kingdom in the Western Regions?!
The news was so overwhelming and shocking that both Li Er and Changsun Wuji felt their minds couldn't keep up!
However, what happened next truly shocked the two of them beyond belief.

"in addition."

After considering it for a moment, Yun Duan sighed and said, "It is said that the Crown Prince killed the King of Shu and the King of Liang."

Boom!

Li Shimin and Changsun Wuji thought they had misheard and looked up sharply at the clouds.

(End of this chapter)