At noon that day, when Nangong Zhi of Nanyang County led a hundred thousand troops to rush to the aid of Dongyuan County, Yuan Zhong once again stood on the top of the city wall of Nanliang Prefecture. What he saw now was no longer the clean and prosperous Nanliang Prefecture that had been properly rectified by the Second Prince and Yuan Zhao. Now the Nanliang Prefecture was a ruin.
To be precise, Anyang was not bombed indiscriminately. The residential areas were not affected at all. What were bombed were the city lord's mansion, several barracks, and several main city gates.
Looking at the ruined city and the dejected wounded soldiers around him, Yuan Zhong felt extremely heavy in his heart!
Bombing, bombing, nothing but bombing and bombing! The form of war has completely changed. It is no longer face-to-face—the enemy is three thousand meters above the ground! Faced with such bombing and such a war, the governors and generals of Dongyuan County, as well as the soldiers, could only stare blankly, then curse, and then struggle desperately.
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In the north, the eldest prince led an army of 300,000 with Yuan Cai (Yuan Zhao's elder brother) as the vanguard to attack Kaiping County where Li Yulong was located. According to the agreement with Nanyang County, the eldest prince attacked Kaiping County, which involved Li Yulong's military forces and left the northern part of Anyang empty.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, a messenger from Kaiping County came forward and delivered the latest news: Li Yulong ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, naming the country "Tang", and invited "Your Majesty of the Great Xia Kingdom" to attend the ceremony.
As mentioned before, after the second prince left Wuyang City, the eldest prince ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, so Li Yulong called the eldest prince like this—His Majesty the Great Xia Kingdom.
The eldest prince does things unscrupulously, but he is not stupid. A stupid person would not do anything unscrupulous, but would just stick to the old ways. So when the eldest prince received this information, the first thing he thought of was not anger, but fear!
Li Yulong's ascension to the throne means that the Great Xia Kingdom has completely disappeared; then, the Cai Kingdom, which has been ready to move, will take action! So, after receiving this information, the eldest prince hesitated for a long time and finally made a decision:
"When we return to the capital, we will not open Ping County, but take the opportunity to occupy Wuyang County. Even if we cannot occupy all of Wuyang County, we must at least occupy the northern half. This way, we can occupy one-third of the area of Daxia and have a strong foundation! In addition... creak... send a gift to Li Yulong, congratulations on his ascension to the throne."
Li Xian blocked the news of Li Yulong's ascension to the throne to the south, that is, Nanyang County and Dongyuan County. Therefore, Nanyang County and Dongyuan County are still dreaming of a war in the north to reduce the pressure on their side.
Li Yulong's political wisdom is indeed superior; a simple ascension to the throne involves so many calculations. At least, his ascension to the throne has shattered the seemingly perfect alliances of Nanyang County. The timing of his ascension to the throne is also very good, as everyone is busy with their own affairs.
After ascending the throne, Li Yulong immediately began to rectify Kaiping County with great determination, and even "learned" from Li Xian: separation of military and political affairs, separation of finance, rule of law, proper emphasis on industry and commerce, etc. Of course, Li Yulong had his own considerations, and as the prince of "Taihao Shenting", he was well-informed and adopted many unique political systems.
For example, Li Yulong divided the prime minister's power into two: the left prime minister assisted the country and was responsible to the emperor; the right prime minister was responsible for people's livelihood and was responsible to the people.