Chapter 654 [Second Update]

Before entering Longcheng, Liu Tan had a particularly unbelievable feeling.

He originally thought that no matter how smooth the previous progress was, there would definitely be a fierce battle when attacking Longcheng.

The result... let alone a fierce battle, they didn't even fight!

So much so that he was a little dazed when he entered Dragon City.

However, the moment he entered Dragon City, he came to his senses and wanted to run away.

As soon as Lu Xuan saw his expression, he leaned over, coughed lightly, and said, "Just bear with it. Everything will be fine once we get into the palace."

As he spoke, he handed over a handkerchief. Liu Tan quickly took it and covered his nose with it without saying a word.

He understood the reason, but why was the taste of Dragon City so... challenging?

The smell of cattle and sheep mixed with animal feces can be used as a biological weapon.

Liu Tan even suspected that King Zuo Tuqi knew that the smell here was bad, so he surrendered so quickly just to get him in and suffocate him to death.

Of course, this was just his wild imagination. The smell was just a bit strong, but it was unlikely to suffocate him to death.

And it was much better after arriving at the palace. It must be said that the Huns' palace was quite unique.

Although Xulihu left in a hurry, he took away almost all the valuable things he could. Now the palace was in a mess, like a storm.

Liu Tan took a walk around here and had no plans to live in the Xiongnu palace. Even after his men searched the place like plowing the land and made sure there was no ambush, he still had no plans to live here.

After all, even the Xiongnu palace had that lingering smell, and they used incense to cover it up. The mixture of these two smells reminded Liu Tan of when he was in the dormitory and his roommates sprayed air freshener after going to the toilet.

Or... forget it.

Liu Tan circled around and practically fled from Dragon City. As soon as he emerged, Li Xi whispered, "Your Highness...are you...going to pursue Xuli Lake?"

Liu Tan turned to look at him and said, "Yeah, what's wrong?"

Li Xi hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Highness has already reached Longcheng, something unprecedented in history. As the saying goes, don't pursue a desperate enemy. Please reconsider."

Liu Tan asked, "Do you think I shouldn't chase her?"

Li Xishen nodded and said, "He retreated too quickly. I really suspect they may have a trick up their sleeve. King Zuo Tuqi surrendered too quickly. Perhaps this was part of their plan."

Liu Tan thought for a moment and said, "Let's first see where Xulihu has retreated to. The desert is so vast, and if their route isn't clear, I won't rush in to pursue them."

Of course, all of this fell on King Zuo Tuqi.

The task of interrogating King Zuo Tuqi was handed over to Li Xi and Lu Xuan.

The two of them should be able to tell whether what King Zuo Tuqi said was true or false.

As for Liu Tan... he needed to write a memorial. Taking Longcheng was a great victory and he had to tell Liu Che as soon as possible. King Zuo Tuqi also had to be sent to Chang'an. As for what he said about staying in the Northern Border Kingdom, he could agree to it. As for killing Xulihu with his own hands... If Xulihu could be captured alive, he could let his father enjoy the drama of the Xiongnu father and son killing each other.

After Liu Tan finished writing the memorial, Lu Xuan and Li Xi happened to come over.

Liu Tan looked up at them and asked, "How is it? Do you know the whereabouts of Xuli Lake?"

Lu Xuan nodded: "He said that Xuli Lake is retreating to Langjuxu Mountain."

Wolf Mountain!

Liu Tan's ears twitched, and he immediately said, "Chase!"

"Hey!" Li Xi widened his eyes. He originally thought that Liu Tan had listened to him, but it turned out that he was just perfunctorily answering him?

Liu Tan said firmly: "We must chase him!"

After saying this, he sent someone to take Zuo Tuqi Wang and the victory report to Chang'an.

At this time, Liu Che was also muttering: "I don't know what Tan'er is talking about. He really doesn't even report the smaller victories now."

Liu Ju helped his father sort out the memorials and said with a smile, "There are so many tribes over there, they are nothing to my brother."

Not long after Liu Ju finished speaking, the news of the great victory was announced in Beijing.

Liu Che had already made preparations, but he was still wondering who he had captured this time? The Right Wise King or someone else?

Then he heard the messenger excitedly say: "Your Majesty, Dragon City has been taken!"

"What?" For a moment Liu Che suspected that he had heard it wrong. Even though he was always calm, he couldn't help but lean forward slightly and asked again.

Not to mention him, all the ministers who were still in the Xuanshi meeting could not help but stare at the messenger seriously, so the messenger said it again loudly.

These words were like a drop of water falling into a frying pan, instantly heating up the atmosphere.

Liu Che even asked the messenger to present the memorial. When he opened the memorial, his hands were shaking.

To Liu Tan, taking down Longcheng was just like passing a level in a game. However, for other people in the Han Dynasty, the symbolic meaning was definitely different.

Liu Che read it several times. After confirming that he saw the words "Prince Zuo Tuqi surrendered and took over Longcheng", he couldn't help but burst into laughter: "Good! Good! Good!"

Three consecutive "good" words are enough to show how good Liu Che's mood is.

Not only him, everyone likes colors.

Liu Che was so happy that he almost asked his son to come back quickly so that he could celebrate his success in person.

Fortunately, he still had some sense and asked, "How is the King of the North now?"

The messenger replied, "His Royal Highness the King of the Northern Territory has learned of Xulihu's whereabouts and is pursuing him."

Everyone was shocked after hearing this, and felt that his highness was determined to kill them all.

However, they felt very relieved when they thought that Xulihu was being chased by the King of the Northern Territory like a stray dog.

For many years, the Huns have been a major threat to the Han Dynasty. However, now this major threat can only survive.

Because of this, everyone felt that no matter how His Majesty the Emperor rewarded the King of the North, they would not object.

Well, apart from changing the crown prince, of course the emperor doesn’t seem to have any intention of changing the crown prince.

In this era, some news can be concealed for a long time, but some news can spread very quickly.

The news that the King of the North had defeated the Huns and occupied Longcheng spread very quickly. In just over a day, almost the entire Chang'an knew the news.

For a moment, Chang'an fell into a very fanatical atmosphere, and the feeling of being proud of oneself penetrated into everyone's heart.

The whole Chang'an was more excited than an army that had won a battle.

To reward the troops, Liu Tan also allowed them to enjoy wine and meat for three days. As for women… Liu Tan thought about it again and again and said, “You can find willing women, but you can’t force them. If I find out who dares to take a woman by force, don’t blame me for enforcing strict military laws.”

With so many men gathered together, to be honest, their physical needs do need to be satisfied, especially when they are at their most exciting moment after winning a battle.

Liu Tan couldn't really ban everything, so he could only try his best to find prostitutes who were willing to commit themselves to him, and ordered that no one should be killed, otherwise a military uprising would be waiting for him.

This kind of thing cannot be smoothed over by his personal charm.

During these three days, Liu Tan also wrote a letter to Huo Guang, and then he became intimate with Lu Xuan.

Lu Xuan didn't ask why he was writing to Huo Guang. Instead, Liu Tan took the initiative to speak, "Li Xi's concerns are correct. Xulihu left so easily, so he must have a backup plan. I'll have Huo Guang send something over. Maybe it'll be useful later."

Lu Xuan hugged his waist from behind and said, "Now that you've finished writing, you can have a holiday, right?"

As he spoke, his warm breath sprayed on Liu Tan's ears, making Liu Tan's heart beat faster.

Since it's vacation, then...it should be okay for him to indulge himself a little.

The result of his indulgence was that he almost stayed in bed for three days.

After every intimate moment, Liu Tan couldn't help but wonder if the racial differences were really that great. Lu Xuan's animal-like stamina was truly unbearable.

Although everyone was relaxing during these three days, there were actually some people working, and they were the scouts.

The scouts followed King Zuo Tuqi's confession and indeed tracked down the trace of Xuli Lake.

Because when Xuli Lake was evacuated, there were not only troops but also women, children, and even the elderly, so their marching speed was not very fast.

They even camped there after crossing the Gonglu River, and to the east of the Gonglu River is the Langjuxu Mountain.

Liu Tan stared at the words "Langjuxu Mountain" and said decisively, "Let's go."

No matter what, you have to go and see it.

But he did not expect that after crossing the Gonglu River, Xuli Lake would cut down the bridge and send some soldiers to station beside the Gonglu River.

At first, no one knew the purpose of Xulihu's actions, but Lu Xuan had a clue.

He said bluntly, "Xilihu probably thinks we don't dare to blow up the river, or rather, we can't blow it up."

I have to say that Xulihu's thinking is quite similar to his son's, that is, your powder keg cannot be used if there is water!

However, Xulihu is smarter than his son, and Liu Tan...really doesn't dare to blow up the river.

No one knows what the geological conditions are like around this river. When we blew up Youguduhou before, everyone was a little scared afterwards. What if the geology was looser and they fell in too?

As for blowing up Mount Yanran, I feel very relieved. After all, it is a mountain and not that fragile.

But Liu Tan was also a little puzzled: "Don't they know how advanced our ships are?"

Oh, the Huns may really not know. After all, Liu Tan had never used it when fighting the Huns, and he really... had no use for this thing.

Li Xi frowned and said, "But... I'm afraid it's too late. He left these soldiers behind to cover our retreat, but they may not stay where they are."

Liu Tan thought about it and realized that this was the truth. He snapped his fingers and said, "It's not difficult. I just happened to ask Huo Guang to bring something."

Just when Li Xi was wondering what it was, he saw a dozen soldiers carrying several huge boxes coming up.

When the first box was opened, he immediately smelled a very strong leather smell.

When Lu Xuan saw it, he subconsciously asked, "Is this... a hot air balloon?"