It was impossible for Li Hong to continue to pretend to be deaf and dumb. After taking a look at the situation of the battle and seeing that there would be no other changes for the time being, he turned around and saluted Father Long: "My son has met my father."
Li Zhi nodded with satisfaction, patted Li Hong's generous shoulder as a sign of recognition, and said with approval: "Hong'er, thank you for your hard work. I wonder how certain the victory rate of this attack is?"
"You will know after you see for yourself." Li Hong leaned forward slightly and whispered in Li Zhi's ear: "Who asked you to come? In case the enemy attacks the city, are you here to cheer or to distract the ministers? , take one look and go back quickly.”
"How do you talk to me? This is the attitude you have with me! Is it wrong for me to care about the war? Is it wrong for me to personally go to the city wall to boost morale? Don't talk nonsense to me, tell me, you are almost sure!" Li Zhi's side face He glared at the impatient unfilial son and also whispered in Li Hong's ear.
This unfilial son is becoming more and more outrageous. He dares to order me, and even dares to say that I am causing trouble by coming to the city wall!
But he didn't know that Li Hong even wanted to say, do you want to be a target for the enemy? However, when the rebellious words came to his lips, they were eventually swallowed back by Li Hong.
"Don't look at the fact that we have the upper hand now. Looking at the battle situation below the city, we have completely taken the initiative. This is just the local advance force. When their army arrives and looks at the corpses below the city, do you think they will make the same mistake today? When the time comes, they will definitely attack steadily, but the attack will be extremely fierce. "You should go back quickly." Li Hong looked at Gao Zang and others not far behind him and continued to whisper.
He had already told Hua Meng and Cheetah to attract the enemy's attention with the goal of defending the city when the enemy army arrived, and then asked Liu Xiang, the left general of the Jinwu Guard, to escort his father to retreat from other city gates.
It's good now that the person who should have run not only didn't run away, but ran to the city wall and came with the Tang Dynasty officials and the King of Goguryeo to inspect the battle situation. Isn't this just looking for trouble!
"Boy, don't think that I don't know what you are planning in your mind. I just asked Hua Meng and Cheetah clearly. Don't you just want to target yourself to attract the enemy, and then let me take the opportunity to retreat?" Li Zhi There was a rare and strange light shining in his eyes. He hadn't called Li Hong "boy" for a long time.
All in all, I haven't called him a boy since he was about ten years old. But today, my prince is able to ignore his own safety and use his own goal to attract the enemy and take the opportunity to retreat. This makes him It’s hard not to be moved by this emperor of the Tang Empire!
What's more, in these years, the prince Li Hong has done really well. In every aspect, he has demonstrated the strategy, wisdom, courage and decisiveness that a holy king should have.
Compared with himself back then, the prince today is much better than he was when he was twenty years old.
As the saying goes, "A friend in need is a friend indeed". Li Zhi believed that if he was in a dangerous situation and could stand by his side, there would definitely be a queen and a prince.
Now, facing the upcoming crisis of siege, the prince seemed to have proved his judgment. At the same time, he also proved that the prince was not suspected of seeking power and usurping the throne when his dragon body was weak. He just wanted to do his best to be the prince. He tried his best to assist his father.
The kindness in Li Zhi's eyes flashed, and he reached out again to pat Li Hong, who was glaring at Hua Meng and Cheetah. He took the telescope in Li Hong's hand and looked outside the city. He saw that on the battlefield outside the city, because of Jin Wuwei's After joining, the entire battle began to become a one-sided massacre.
Whether it was the soldiers of the Jinwu Guard or the soldiers of the Prince's Three Thousand Pagoda Battalion, they all showed the iron-blooded power of a Tang Dynasty man. The horse in his hand was tightly held in the enemy's arms and could not be pulled out. He used his long horse pole to block the enemy's long sword, and then drew out his own horizontal sword and continued to slash the besieging Silla and Baekje soldiers.
Relying on the Hengdao in his hand, relying on his fearless and tenacious fighting spirit, the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, one against three or five, took an absolute advantage in terms of momentum. The Hengdao in his hand seemed like a sword while riding on horseback. With the help of God, every swing of the sword will force the surrounding enemies to retreat, thus giving the Ma Shan of his companions behind him the opportunity to thrust out and withdraw.
When the war horse was chopped down by the enemy, the soldier who rolled to the ground did not sit still and wait for death. He blocked a circle with the horizontal knife above his head, and the whole person rolled up. Even without the war horse, he still charged in without fear of death. Enemy camp.
One arm was cut off by the enemy with a horizontal sword, but it did not affect the other arm, which was tightly held and roared like a javelin thrown into the enemy group with the largest number of soldiers.
Donated blood spurted out from his mouth, drowning the helmet and face of the enemy on the opposite side. He kicked off his legs and flew up. With his only remaining arm, he strangled the enemy's neck and strangled the enemy soldiers alive.
Falcons began to soar in the sky, and the thick and pungent smell of blood began to spread outside the city. The birds that fed on carrion were already jubilating in the sky, as if participating in a feast, and they were chirping happily in the sky from a distance. flying towards the battlefield.
Looking at the delicious meal below, the bird began to avoid the moving crowd, flapped its wings and slowly landed on the ground. Its beak pointed at the soldiers and war horses lying on the ground bleeding, twitching and screaming, and began to drink and feast happily.
But on the battlefield, more often than not, the enemy troops were impaled from their horses by the horse spears in the hands of the Jinwu Guards and the Futu Camp soldiers. Often, in a sprint, the soldiers in front of them could stab their companions behind with their horse spears. There is an opportunity for the second wave of horse stabbing.
The soldiers of Silla and Baekje were like crops to be harvested. After passing by the cone-shaped battle formations of Jinwu Guard and Butu Camp, they often fell to the ground in pieces. The Tang Dynasty war horses with horseshoes, this The force of the horse's hoofs at that time became a nightmare for the entire Silla and Baekje soldiers. Even the hardest helmets on their heads could not withstand the iron hoofs of the war horse and be crushed by it.
Before the soldiers of Silla and Baekje could scream in fear, their gray brains were smashed to the ground like watermelons. With a pop, the brains were splashed everywhere, which made Li Zhi stand on the wall and watch the battle. , unspeakable nausea and nausea.
He hurriedly put down the telescope in his hand, his body swaying for a while. Li Hong, who had quick eyesight and quick hands next to him, quickly helped him and asked nervously: "Father, are you okay?"
Li Zhi slowly closed his eyes, and then shook his head vigorously, as if to drive all the pictures he had just seen out of his mind, calming down the nervousness he had felt when he looked at the battlefield just now, looking at Li Hong anxiously, With a worried look on his face, he smiled and said slowly: "I'm fine, Hong'er doesn't have to worry."
"Father... you'd better go back and rest. I understand my father's mood. You don't want to retreat because you don't want to weaken the morale and national prestige of the Tang Dynasty. I promise you, if the people are in the city, the city will die. …”
"Hong'er doesn't need to say more. I don't care about the mere Liujing City. Compared with Liujing City, I care more about your safety. As for the soldiers from Silla and Baekje outside the city, I don't even care. I believe you can Guard this city, and I also believe that you can return safely!" The flush on Li Zhi's face became more and more serious, and his expression became more and more solemn. The kindness in his eyes just now filled his somewhat dim eyes. middle.
"Father..."
"Are all my words useless?" Li Zhi interrupted Li Hong again and said in an unprecedented firm tone: "I will not withdraw from Liujing. I will personally wait for you to defend the city in the palace of Goguryeo. The moment the reinforcements arrive! Also, I want to see you come back safe and sound and report to me personally!”
Li Hong looked at his father with a firm expression, knowing that it would be difficult to persuade him to withdraw from Liujing City. At this time, Father Long might have mixed feelings in his heart, right? He blamed himself for his private work and advocated sending Liu Rengui and Liu Renyuan, which led to his passivity in Liujing.
There was also a motive of not withdrawing from Liujing, to convey to the Tang soldiers to stick to Liujing and improve their morale. I am afraid that the more reason was that he did not want to leave Liujing alone to defend Liujing, but he retreated.
"Back then, your imperial grandfather and your great-grandfather fought together in Jinyang, suppressed internal rebellions, and fought against the Turkic invasion. Now, can't you and I follow the example of your imperial grandfather and great-grandfather, and suppress the rebellions of Silla and Baekje together? Rebellion!" Li Zhi slapped his hand heavily on the city wall, his face flushed even more, and he said with great enthusiasm.
"Your Majesty is wise and powerful. If your Majesty personally guards Ryugyong, then Silla and Baekje will be just like outside the city. They will be killed by our soldiers of the Tang Dynasty! I am willing to take off my official robes. Put on your armor and follow His Royal Highness to guard the city!" Shi Zangjie was the first to salute and shouted.
Following Shi Zangjie's words of loyalty and devotion to the country, other ministers including Ge Xiyuan stood behind Li Zhi and saluted, and responded loudly: "I would like to take off the official robes of civil servants, wear armor and go into battle, and follow His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to guard Liu. Beijing."
Li Hong looked at the civil servants kneeling on the ground. For the first time, he had a good impression of these civil servants for no reason. He had always thought that they would only disturb the morale of the military.
Looking at his father's flushed cheeks, he knew that this was a precursor to the onset of vertigo. Ever since his father began to take the initiative to exercise, vertigo had rarely occurred, and now there were signs of it again, which was enough to show that his father was suffering from vertigo. The emperor's heart at this moment was probably full of regret and eager to fight.
Unknowingly, Li Hong felt a little moist in his eyes. This was a wonderful time when he could never be alone with his father since his childhood.
The memory of the two-year-old child dragging a sapling and asking his father to plant it with him came to mind again. Thinking of this, seeing Li Zhi's kind eyes looking at him, Li Zhi looked at him with kind eyes. Hong couldn't help but said: "You need brothers to fight a tiger. When you go into battle, you need to teach father and son how to fight. How can Zeng Shen be a murderer? He repays his loving mother with three slanderous words."
(End of chapter)