Chapter 4958 Li Ji: Don't worry, let the guns fire for a while

Chapter 4958 Li Ji: Don't worry, let the guns and cannons fire for a while
In front of Lizheng Palace, the battle was fierce and endless.

Li Shenfu's face turned pale, and his heart was shrouded in despair...

With such powerful firepower and abundant supplies in the Lizheng Palace, it is obvious that they had been prepared in advance. The action planned by our side had already fallen into the eyes of Your Majesty and targeted arrangements had been made. Fortunately, I thought I had prepared secrets and was complacent, and the imperial power was within my grasp.

Li Shenfu was anxious when he saw Li Anyan leading more than a thousand remaining soldiers to launch fierce attacks on Lizheng Palace again and again, but still unable to shake Lizheng Palace in the slightest.

They have been delayed in Lizheng Hall for too long. Moreover, there are gunshots and fighting here. The news of changes in the palace is bound to spread. Civil officials and military officers are rushing to the scene. Even if Li Fuhu can convince Zheng Rentai, he may not be able to stop so many civil officials and military officers.

After all, this gentleman's position is wavering. He may be willing to go with the flow, but he will never be willing to turn the tide...

Once the civil and military officials enter the Taiji Palace, even if His Majesty encounters an accident, the situation will not become chaotic.

Even if he forced the prince to sign the abdication edict, what would that do?
No one will recognize it.

Your Majesty has more than one son, the Crown Prince...

Li Shenfu made a prompt decision and decided not to delay any further, otherwise he would lose everything.

He immediately summoned the servants and family soldiers brought by the royal family, gathering two or three hundred people, and ignored Li Anyan who was still attacking Lizheng Hall, and ordered: "Climb over the palace wall and go to Wude Hall!"

Li Wenliang held up a knife and shouted, "Follow me!"

Go to the palace wall first.

The other clan members also understood what Li Shenfu meant. They glanced at Li Anyan who was still fighting fiercely, and followed Li Wenliang to the palace wall, climbed up the wall with a human ladder, and then climbed over and entered the Taiji Palace.

Li Shenfu stayed behind and grabbed a servant, saying, "Go tell Li Anyan to continue to attack Lizheng Palace and capture the crown prince. I will go to Wude Palace to take charge of the situation first. Otherwise, something unexpected will happen!"

"Here!"

The servant felt bitter as he watched the battle in front of Lizheng Palace in full swing and extremely brutal. A stray bullet could take his life. It was too dangerous, but he dared not refuse and could only obey the order.

Only then did Li Shenfu climb over the palace wall with the help of other servants.

……

Inside the Lizheng Hall.

The roar of gunfire outside was deafening, especially the cannon that fired one shot after another, which shook the house and the walls. The sound of fighting was like the rising and falling of the sea tide. The queen nervously held the prince in her arms and asked about the situation outside from time to time.

The eunuchs kept going out to inquire and then report back.

"Li Anyan has rebelled, and is bringing bandits who were brought into the palace from somewhere and are now storming the palace gates!"

Everyone in the hall was shocked.

Since the time of Emperor Taizong, Li Anyan has been highly regarded and has been the guard of the Eastern Palace. Your Majesty has great trust in him, so after enthroning the Crown Prince as the Eastern Palace, he still appointed Li Anyan as the Qianniu Beishen, in charge of the security and guard of the Eastern Palace. Who could have thought that he would also rebel?
The queen asked nervously, "Can you still hold on?"

Li Anyan was also a founding hero. Although he was not well-known under Li Jiancheng, his achievements and abilities were real. Cen Changqian and his men were indeed well-armed and heroic, but they were just a group of "student soldiers" after all. Compared with veterans like Li Anyan, they were inevitably less experienced. Moreover, Li Anyan's men were all experienced warriors, so how could they be compared to a group of immature students from the academy?

It's fine to debate tactics normally, but now we are facing each other, swords and guns are indiscriminate, we must not be defeated by the enemy's charge...

The eunuch was very excited: "Don't worry, Queen. Although Cen Changshi is young, he has the talent of Xiang Huo. He is in charge of the artillery and is fearless in the face of danger. The other students are also brave and fighting. At present, the courtyard outside the Lizheng Palace is still littered with corpses. The rebels may be able to shake the mountains, but they cannot shake the 'Shenji Camp'!"

Xiang Yu was a young hero, feared by the people of Jiangdong, Huo Qubing fought against the Xiongnu at the age of 18, and won many victories... But these characters were only recorded in books, and I never saw them in person, so I always felt that they were exaggerated. But now Cen Changqian's performance is still vivid in my mind, and I am shocked. In order to appease the queen, the prince, and the two princesses, I compare Cen Changqian with the two "military gods".

The queen had no doubts.

Although it is obviously exaggerated compared with "Xiang Huo", after all, with the example of "evildoers" like Fang Jun, it is not surprising that a descendant of a famous family like Cen Changqian has such a brilliant performance. Although civil officials and military officials have different paths and fierce struggles, except for a very small number of people, the vast majority of ministers are both civil and military, and can pacify the world when they are on horseback and govern the people when they are off horseback.

Besides, Cen Changqian is highly regarded by Fang Jun and is entrusted with important tasks by him, so how could he not have some abilities?

This way, I feel a lot more at ease.

Compared to the safety of Lizheng Hall, she was more worried about the situation in Wude Hall. Since the rebels dared to launch a rebellion, how could they only focus on the prince and ignore His Majesty in Wude Hall?
Naturally, they would attack His Majesty first, and then coerce or kill the Crown Prince, in order to achieve their goal of usurping the throne...

Therefore, the Queen asked expectantly, "Can we break out of the siege from Lizheng Hall and go to Wude Hall to rescue His Majesty?"

The eunuch was stunned for a moment, then bowed his head and said, "Although we are holding on firmly at the moment, we are not strong enough to break out."

The queen was displeased.

Seeing the Queen's anxiety, Princess Jinyang said gently, "It is one thing to be able to rely on the terrain and firearms to defend against the enemy outside the palace gate, but it is another thing to abandon the terrain and go out to fight an enemy ten or even dozens of times your number outside the palace. For now, we should ensure the safety of the Crown Prince. As for the Wude Palace... I think Your Majesty must have made preparations in advance."

Although she had never been on the battlefield, she had read several military books and knew that the most important thing on the battlefield was to "play to one's strengths and avoid one's weaknesses." The current situation was fine, but if she gave up the Lizheng Palace position and rushed out, wouldn't that be "using one's own weaknesses to attack the enemy's strengths"?
If things go wrong, the current situation, which seems to be as solid as a rock, may turn into a desperate situation where we are surrounded and attacked everywhere...

The queen had not expected that the calmest person here was the young Princess Jinyang. After hearing what she said, she calmed down and forced a smile: "Sizi is only young, but he has the demeanor of a general who can remain calm even when facing a mountain collapse. It's a pity that he is not a man, otherwise our family would definitely have a famous general."

Princess Jinyang smiled and didn't respond.

The reason why she was so calm was not because her knowledge enabled her to see through the current situation, but because of her trust in Fang Junzhi.

Since both I and Sister Changle are in the East Palace, then my brother-in-law’s arrangement of the East Palace will be absolutely foolproof…

*****
Li Ji was awakened from his bed by his concubines. When he learned about the changes in the palace, he was a little confused. Then he sighed, put on his clothes, walked out of the bedroom and came to the living room, where he saw his eldest son Li Zhen waiting there.

Li Zhen looked anxious. He took a step forward and whispered, "The news just came out from the palace is that the rebels attacked Lizheng Palace fiercely and fought fiercely with the guards of Lizheng Palace. Your Majesty's current situation is unclear, but the imperial physicians from the Imperial Hospital have entered the palace, and Li Junxian has sent people out of Chengtian Gate to notify the civil and military officials to rush to Taiji Palace... Father, something is wrong. Please change your clothes quickly and enter the palace to see you!"

When the king was in danger and the country was in turmoil, my father, as the "number one person of the dynasty", naturally had to rush to the Taiji Palace to take charge of the situation.

Li Ji nodded and called his concubine: "Help me wash and change clothes."

The concubine stepped forward with her head lowered.

Li Zhen stamped his feet anxiously: "The situation is critical, and father is still concerned about these things?"

Li Ji said nothing. He washed himself slowly, put on his official robe, took out a ceremonial sword and hung it around his waist. Then he said, "Let's go. Let's go with your father to take a look."

The father and son left home and rode in the snow to the imperial city, surrounded by dozens of their personal soldiers. When they arrived near the imperial city, Li Ji did not enter the Suzaku Gate, but turned right along the street and walked north into the long street on the west side of Chongrenfang and Yongxingfang.

Li Zhen was surprised and asked, "Why didn't father go straight to Chengtian Gate into the imperial city, but took a detour to Yanxi Gate?"

Li Ji said nothing and rode forward.

Although Li Zhen was suspicious, he didn't understand why his father was so slow at such a critical moment, but he didn't dare to ask any more questions...

It was snowing heavily, and the snow on the streets was already above the calves of war horses. In the past, when it snowed so heavily, the yamen runners and police officers from Jingzhao Prefecture, Chang'an, and Wannian counties would have organized civilians to go out into the streets to clear the snow. But tonight, all the gates were closed, and apart from teams of patrolling soldiers, there was no one on the streets.

After passing Yongxingfang, Yanximen is on the left and Tonghuamen Street is in front of you. Across the street, you can see faint lights on the street outside Yongchangfang heading north to Xing'anmen through the snow.

So Li Ji passed Yanxi Gate without entering, rode his horse across the long street, and walked towards the light.

Li Zhen turned his head to the left to look at the nearby Yanxi Gate, then turned his head to the right to look at the black mass of the Left Guards standing in the snow on Tonghua Gate Street, and the Left Guards outside the East Palace Wall on Xing'an Gate Street in front of him to the north. His heart was beating fast, and he had no choice but to follow behind his father, step by step...

Only when I got closer could I see clearly that hundreds of Left Jinwu Guards were standing in awe on the north side of Yeonggi Gate, with their weapons in hand. A tent had been set up along the wall of the East Palace. The tent was filled with mist amid the heavy snow. When I got closer, I could see Fang Jun, who was wearing a mountain armor but had put his helmet aside. He was lifting a boiling pot from a small stove and brewing two cups of tea. He handed one cup to the general who was sitting opposite him in a helmet and armor...

Then he stood up, waved to Li Ji who was riding towards him in the snow, and laughed loudly, "Duke Ying is the pillar of the sky and the rock of the country. He should be heading to Taiji Palace to save the situation. Why did he run over here to avoid the snow? But since you are here, why not dismount and have a cup of hot tea to warm yourself up."

Another person stood up. He was tall and covered in armor. He smiled and bowed. "If Lord Ying doesn't come, I'm afraid I'll have to fight with General Fang."