"Of course Jinling is within my attack range. Now Tang Zhiqi has led his troops to Jinling, but if we want to capture Jinling, we must first conquer Runzhou. In this way, Runzhou and Yangzhou are like two gates. You can completely shut out Prince Li Hong's navy and isolate Jinling. In this way, Jinling will be a turtle in the urn, easily accessible!" Li Jingye said with a mysterious and triumphant smile.
"Great idea, but if Runzhou cannot be captured in a short time, and the waterway cannot completely stop Li Hong's navy, we can't just sit back and wait for death, right?" The King of Yue was still a little worried, always feeling that something was wrong.
"Of course, so Li Jingzhen bypassed Runzhou and continued to go south to conquer Changzhou. In this case, will His Highness the Crown Prince still consider coming?" Li Jingye smiled sinisterly, which made several others feel relieved at the same time. tone.
At this moment, a soldier, dripping with sweat, hurriedly ran in and gasped: "Sir, there are no large ships at Yangzhou Pier or on the Yangtze River. Even two hundred miles away, we have not found any large ships." Large ships.”
"What? Do you have a five-tooth battleship?" Li Jingye stood up in a hurry, walked to the soldier and asked sternly.
"Returning to your lord, there are no five-toothed warships, not even one. Except for fishing boats and merchant ships, there are no other ships." The soldier allowed the sweat on his forehead to flow in with a bitter and salty smell. In the eyes, facing the angry Li Jingye, he did not dare to wipe them easily.
With the soldier's confirmation answer, everyone fell into silence again, and the atmosphere in the lobby became even more dull and depressing. Li Jingye's brilliant idea just now suddenly seemed extremely stupid.
King Pei Li Xian said nothing, but looked at them calmly as they argued, not daring to say a word. He sat awkwardly at the top and could only look at the bitter expressions of these people.
"There is no navy, no army to follow, and then two hundred iron weapons go straight to Yangzhou? What is the purpose? To negotiate peace?" Li Jingye's eyes almost popped out. This most impossible possibility now seemed to him , seems to have become the only reason for the prince to come alone.
Faced with Li Jingye's doubts, no one could give him a clear answer, whether it was King Cao or King Yue, or King Langya and Wei Siwen.
Seeing no reaction from everyone sitting there, all Li Jingye could think of now was King Luo Bin. He had followed Prince Li Hong in his expedition to Anxi. Maybe he could give him some advice.
So he turned to look at Wei Siwen and asked, "Has King Luo Bin returned from delivering supplies to Zhe Chong Mansion a few days ago?"
"He's back. He came back early this morning. Didn't you say that he worked hard and asked him to go back and rest." Wei Siwen said hurriedly.
"Call him over immediately." Li Jingye waved his hand and asked Wei Siwen to quickly find King Luo Bin.
"No hurry!" Yue Wang Li Zhen stood up and stopped him.
Seeing Li Jingye's puzzled expression, Yue King Li Zhen had no choice but to explain: "The top priority now is not to find King Luo Bin Jingye, but the prince is probably about to arrive at the city gate at this time. Should we welcome him or reject him?"
The topic raised by King Li Zhen of Yue was like a heavy stone, hitting everyone's chest with a bang. Faced with this question that weighed as much as a thousand pounds, everyone felt a heavy and oppressive feeling that made them breathless.
The atmosphere in the lobby suddenly seemed to be frozen. Yes, Prince Li Hong is outside the city now. Should he welcome him or refuse him entry into the city
Rejecting him means there is no way out. Without knowing whether His Highness the Prince has led troops to ambush around Yangzhou, if he immediately refuses His Highness the Prince's entry into the city, in case Yangzhou City has been surrounded, it is already under his control. Guilty, what should I do
Welcoming him into the city is tantamount to inviting a wolf into the house. If there is no army behind him, it's okay. If there is... I'm afraid it will be a disaster for everyone sitting here.
After thinking about it, the only thing that troubled them was obviously not to welcome or reject His Highness the Crown Prince's entry into the city. The most important thing was that they still hadn't figured out His Highness the Crown Prince's intentions and whether he had any troops following him!
The atmosphere in the lobby is still a bit stiff. Everyone doesn't know what they are thinking, and everyone doesn't know what the purpose of His Highness the Crown Prince is when he comes to the city alone, and what he relies on!
"I thought it would be better to let Prince Li Hong enter the city. I'll go to the city gate to greet him soon. After all, the dedicated army has not yet conquered any city in the lobby. The government troops can find other excuses to deal with the prince. The most important thing at the moment is to figure out his purpose." King Cao Li Ming thought about it and felt that Li Hong should be allowed to enter the city.
"What Uncle Wang said is absolutely true. Now we are relying on fantasy and guessing, and obviously we have not thought of the prince's intentions. So why don't we welcome him into the city and make some insinuations? In this way, we can understand the prince's words Having a group of people under our noses will also help us control the prince's actions so that ridiculous things like today will not happen again. In this way, even if he has thousands of troops behind him, he will not be affected by his presence with us. Are you afraid of being under the control of others?" Langya King Li Chong said in agreement with Cao King Li Ming's suggestion.
Li Jingye looked at the few hesitantly and murmured thoughtfully: "But the two princes can think of it, and presumably His Highness the Prince can also think of it, that he would let us control his actions so easily? Obviously, he This time I took the initiative to deliver it to my door..."
"Jingye, I think the proposal from King Cao and Chong'er can be considered. We are only relying on speculation now, and obviously we cannot grasp the precise motives of the prince. Your speculation just now is completely contrary to the situation we are facing. His Royal Highness is in a There is no army behind Guandao, and there is not even a five-tooth warship at Yangzhou dock or even two hundred miles away. In this way, if you want to know yourself and the enemy, you may not be able to welcome the prince into the city, let alone welcome him into the city. In the end, won't the initiative be more firmly in our hands?" Yue Wang Li Zhen thought about it, walked up to Li Jingye, and said seriously.
"Then... in that case, shall we go to the city gate immediately to greet His Highness the Crown Prince?" Li Jingye glanced hesitantly at the three of them, and finally said with some uncertainty.
"Okay! I'll welcome him into the city first and see what kind of medicine he, Li Hong, is selling in the gourd." King Cao Li Ming also stood up from his chair.
Li Jingye still felt a little uneasy, but at this moment he couldn't help but ponder the stakes. He could only follow King Cao Li Ming and others to the city gate.
But this did not affect him, so he sent people to find King Luo Bin. King Luo Bin followed the prince to conquer Anxi, and during this period, he had been wandering around Yangzhou. In addition to the captain who is currently leading the troops outside, all Zhechong Mansion belongs to him. I am most familiar with the movements outside Yangzhou City and various Zhechong Mansion.
Therefore, if we invite King Luo Bin to come over, we might be able to learn from him the movements of some things outside the city that we control, or the various Zichong Mansion in the lobby. From this, can we infer what the Crown Prince relied on when he entered Yangzhou alone? .
Manjiang Garden was also taken care of by Li Jingye. A few days ago, Li Hong came here for a short time and stayed here, and he was full of praise for Manjiang Garden. Now that he came here again, Li Jingye had no other choice. , we can only continue to arrange for His Royal Highness to stay in Manjiang Garden.
On the Yangzhou official road, Wei Tuqi led two hundred prince guards, one behind the other, protecting the two carriages in the middle. When passing some villages, one could even smell a hint of the tense atmosphere in the early stages of the war.
In the small villages passing by, when they saw the cavalry passing by with flags fluttering, they did not stop their hands as usual, standing in the fields or at the door of their homes, watching quietly.
Nowadays, when the common people see the cavalry passing by with banners fluttering, they all retreat in panic. The common people in the fields pick up their hoes and run into the dense grass. Like a tail, he trotted a few steps quickly into the house, then turned around and quickly closed the door, and there was no more movement.
"It seems that Li Jingye has made enough preparations for the station." Bai Chun opened the curtains and looked at the scene outside, murmuring.
"You have done enough. If you had done enough, you should have driven these people into the city or dispersed them. Now they are still staying in the same place. Obviously he does not know whether this battle should be attacked or defended." Li Hongsao Glancing out of the window, I saw a peasant woman rushing into her home with her naked child in her arms.
Bai Chun lowered the curtains and looked at Chen Qinghan beside him. Chen Qinghan's face had been full of worry and anxiety all the way. It was obvious that he had been worried about his father Chen Jingzhi, who was still imprisoned in Yangzhou Prison.
"Then will they let us enter the city smoothly?" Bai Chun asked doubtfully.
Along the way, His Royal Highness suddenly changed to a small road. After staying in a Zhechong Mansion for two days, he continued to walk on the small road until he was approaching Yangzhou, then he changed to the main road, saying that this would allow Li Jingye to greet him at the city gate.
She didn't understand why if she changed the route, Li Jingye would greet him respectfully as before, but she never asked this question along the way.
But now the Yangzhou city gate was in sight, and seeing Chen Qinghan's anxious look, Bai Chun couldn't help but ask on behalf of the silent Chen Qinghan.
Chen Qinghan glanced at Bai Chun gratefully, and then waited expectantly for Li Hong's answer, as if Li Hong's answer was like the fish charm that opened the city gate, which worked better than anything else and could make her feel at ease.
Li Hong stretched out comfortably in the spacious carriage and said easily: "He can't do it without opening the city gate. He has no other way to go. We changed our routes many times along the way, so he doesn't know where we are." How many people are there and what is the intention, so there is no other way but to open the city gate to welcome us in and then make some insinuations to understand my intention."
(End of chapter)