The King of Yue, Li Zhen, pondered for a moment and said, "I have very little dealings with him. Apart from the court meetings, I have no personal interactions with him. However, a few days ago, I was approached by King Ji Li Shen, but I rejected him."
Langya King Li Chong glanced at Pei King Li Xian, and then sighed, and said solemnly: "Everyone must know about the conflict between the Crown Prince and Pei King in Chang'an. I originally used the King of England Li Zhe as a cover to find out the inside story. But what is unexpected is that he had already laid a dragnet for Changmingfang and others at that time. The King of England and others were all reprimanded by him. As for what agreement was reached with King Pei later, and finally How to resolve the grievances between brothers, I’m afraid no one knows enough yet.”
"King Pei never mentioned it once?" Li Jingye glanced at Pei King Li Xian, but confirmed to Langya King Li Chong.
"I haven't mentioned it before, because after the Pei Yan incident happened, King Yin was kidnapped by Princess Wencheng using Pei Yan's nephew and others, and the prince joined forces with King Pei and King Ying to overnight in the West City of Chang'an City. I rescued King Li Dan of Yin and forced Princess Wencheng to take poison and commit suicide. You all know this, but later I quietly contacted King Pei, but King Pei had no idea what happened that night and what happened in Changmingfang. Not a word was mentioned," Langya King Li Chong said solemnly.
"That's it." Li Jingye looked a little disappointed. If that's the case, then the unexplained disappearance of Prince Li Hong this time is obviously even more unusual. There must be some conspiracy.
Li Zhen, the king of Yue, looked at Li Jingye's somewhat disappointed expression and smiled and said: "You don't have to worry so much about Jingye. Now Yangzhou is completely under our control. Jinling, Runzhou, and even Changzhou are all within easy reach. Now This place is completely your territory. Even if Li Hongzong has many heads and six arms, wouldn’t it be difficult for him to conquer Yangzhou? "
"Having said that, as the saying goes: 'Know yourself and the enemy, you can fight a hundred battles without danger.' Wouldn't it be better if we could understand his movements? Then we can be more stable, right?" Li Jingye's doubts became even more serious. At this moment, he found that , I don’t seem to be as proud as before.
The arrival of King Cao, King Yue, and King Langya seemed to be helping him, but... I always felt that they seemed to have other agendas, and they didn't seem to be very concerned about capturing Jinling and Runzhou.
"By the way, Jingye, I just wonder where Li Jingyou and others have arrived now? Has Runzhou strengthened its defenders? Why does Li Siwen always disagree with your recruitment? He is your uncle." King Cao Li Ming looked at it. He glanced at Yue Wang Li Zhen, then turned to Li Jingye and asked.
"Different Taoists do not agree with each other. Uncle Li Siwen has always been grateful to the late emperor for his gift to his family ancestors. What's more, he has lived in Runzhou for many years and has long regarded Runzhou as his own. The people there... Humph, but he, Li Siwen, is all alone. Of course he doesn’t want to participate in this grand event with me,” Li Jingye said helplessly.
But there was no mention of where Li Jingyou and others had led their troops, and the topic of Li Siwen was obscured.
Just when several people had their own secrets, Wei Siwen hurried in with a hint of excitement and joy on his face. He walked quickly into the lobby, saluted everyone one by one, and then said: "The Governor, Prince Li Hong His whereabouts were found.”
"What?"
"Where?"
"real?"
Three different dry voices sounded at the same time, but their tone was full of the same nervousness.
"It's only about thirty miles away from Yangzhou..." Wei Siwen said truthfully as he looked at the faces of all living beings in the Tang Dynasty.
"What?"
"So fast?"
"real?"
"It's true. It's estimated that we will arrive in Yangzhou City in another hour. Governor, what should we do now?" When Wei Siwen received the news, he almost sat on the ground in fright.
After this trot, the nervous and shocked mood has calmed down a bit. What should I do, what should I do, what should I do? After entering the lobby again, he threw everything to the few people sitting there, and then he himself felt more relaxed than ever before.
But at this moment, the expressions of the people sitting there were exactly the same as when he first heard the news. They were shocked, nervous, at a loss, and looking around at a loss.
Li Jingye looked at Cao King Li Ming, Cao King Li Ming looked at Langya King Li Chong, Li Chong looked at his father Yue King Li Zhen, and Li Zhen turned his attention to Li Jingye.
The eyes of several people revealed deep shock and disbelief, as well as feelings of fear and fear that seemed to come from the bottom of their hearts.
"How... how could it be?" Li Jingye came to his senses, looked at Wei Siwen again, and asked again with difficulty.
Just now, they had been wanting to know the movements of Prince Li Hong. Now, when they found out that the prince was only thirty miles away from them, they felt as if they had been distracted.
A sense of confusion and confusion that he had never felt before drained all the strength from his body. The chatting, laughing and heroic ambitions with the princes just now were still ringing in his ears, but at this moment because of the tense and dull atmosphere in the lobby, compared with just now, it seemed So embarrassing and disharmonious.
King Pei Li Xian looked at these people quietly, and suddenly his expression became like that of a lost dog. Even the faces of King Cao Li Ming and Langya King Li Chong were much paler than the rosy ones just now.
"He... They... How many troops did His Highness the Crown Prince bring?" Yue King Li Zhen also became a little stuttered, his sage and wise demeanor disappeared, and his face became more worried and nervous.
"Back to the King of Yue, it seems that there are not many people, that is, about two hundred riders, plus two carriages..." Wei Siwen looked at Li Zhen's appearance and continued to answer truthfully.
"What? Impossible!" King Langya almost stood up from his chair, looked at Wei Siwen and questioned angrily.
How is this possible with two hundred cavalry? Doesn't he know what the current situation is in Yangzhou City? How dare you march into Yangzhou with two hundred cavalry? Are you going to die? Li Hong? Absolute nonsense.
Faced with the doubts of Langya King Li Chong, Wei Siwen looked sincere and spread his hands to explain: "It is indeed about two hundred riders, going forward, backward, left and right, and no large army was found following them."
"Then what did he do during the period when he disappeared? Didn't he go to Zhechong Mansion to recruit troops? Then where did he go? There must be a fraud!" Cao Wang Li Ming analyzed it to the end and could only think that Li Hong was walking arrogantly on his way to Yangzhou. There must be a trick on the road.
Don't forget, this prince has always been known for his scheming. The Five Surnames, Seven Families, Li Xian, etc. were all defeated by his flawless plan, but no matter which time, Li Hong has never been seen so calm and calm.
"Yangzhou Wharf! Yes, it must be Yangzhou Wharf. He took the official route to attract our attention, and then let his army take the waterway directly to Yangzhou. Don't forget, he just led the Tang Navy to conquer the Japanese country. Now The soldiers have high morale and fighting spirit. He will obviously not let such soldiers go unused." Li Jingye slapped the table and said affirmatively.
"Since he dared to come to Yangzhou blatantly, swaggering, and riding lightly, he must have something to rely on. Otherwise, judging from Li Hong's behavior that seems to take risks every time, but is calculated with extreme precision, this is definitely not his behavior. Style." Yue Wang Li Zhen agreed with Li Jingye's analysis and nodded solemnly.
In any case, it is absolutely impossible for Prince Li Hong to bring two hundred personal guards and throw himself into a trap to die. But why they are so confident and what they can rely on, they need to think hard.
Li Jingye slowly looked at Wei Siwen. The meaning was self-evident, that is, should he immediately send troops to Yangzhou Pier to give Prince Li Hong's army a head-on blow
Wei Siwen looked at the eyes of Li Jingye and several other princes, thought for a moment and said: "Princes, Grand Governor, I have sent people to Yangzhou Pier to check the news. I should be on my way back now. Is there anyone there? Take the water route, we’ll find out soon.”
"That's very good! If he dares to walk by water, he will definitely be in trouble!" Li Jingye glanced at Wei Siwen approvingly, and after putting aside the matter of Li Hong's official career, his heart once again surged with great pride.
Several other people listened to Li Jingye's determination to fight to the death and nodded unanimously. On the water, they were elite soldiers, but on land, they were not necessarily strong and brave.
Cao King Li Ming asked with some doubts: "So, it was a wise decision for Jingye not to choose the waterway? But wouldn't Li Hong have thought of this? Ze Wang Li Shangjin went to Kuozhou, and as expected, Xu Wang Li Sujie was there. Jinling, Prince Li Hong went to Yangzhou, so... Jingye, where are your people? "
King Cao Li Ming looked at Li Jingye quietly with some vigilance and suspicion in his eyes. Li Jingye had excluded the waterway from the beginning. Is this right or wrong
"We can't fight those five giant ships on the waterway. I'm afraid that when we encounter the Prince's navy, we will die as many as we want. So I thought that the Prince will definitely focus on the navy, and others who can be recruited Zhe Chong Mansion will serve as a supplement, and then attack Yangzhou by water." Li Jingye also wanted to conceal the whereabouts of the army he recruited, but when several princes looked at him at the same time, he finally had to compromise: "I have ordered Li Jingyou to attack Run. Zhou, Li Jingzhen attacked Changzhou, then went south to Hangzhou, and captured the waterway area with Zheng Jingxuan of Kuozhou, completely trapping the prince on land. "
"What about Jinling? Don't you know the importance of Jinling to us? If we capture Jinling, we can rely on the natural danger of the Yangtze River and defend the soldiers coming from the north of the Yangtze River. Wouldn't it be better?" Langya King Li Chong has always believed that Jinling has dragon veins. However, only by occupying Jinling can we take a solid step towards a great cause.
(End of chapter)