Chapter 413 Choose One
from Four Dafeng, Fengyuan City.
The lingering flames, the angry roars, the crumbling rubble, the desperate wails. The cruel war scene composed of light, shadow and sound has not stopped for two days.
There were more than 400,000 Daning troops and nearly 300,000 Dafeng garrison troops.
Seven hundred thousand people fought in the four directions of southeast, northwest, northeast and southwest for two whole days. Broken limbs and blood could be seen everywhere on the city walls. It was as terrifying as purgatory.
With the "same" hatred for the Yuanzhou City Massacre, the soldiers on both sides were blood-thirsty and wanted to send the "culprit" of all this to the underworld.
At this moment, the truth of who killed three million people in Yuanzhou City is no longer important.
Whoever loses will be the cruel and inhumane devil.
Whoever loses will have his name nailed firmly to the pillar of shame in history by historians and will be cursed by countless people in later generations.
Therefore, this is no longer just a war of aggression that determines the life and death of a country.
It is also a struggle for the power to "write history".
Now, the balance of this battle, which had already tilted to one side, fell heavily towards Daning again because of Li Qi's serious injury and coma.
Although it has not really bottomed out yet, it has reached the final moment.
Dafeng Imperial Palace, Tianlu Pavilion.
As Li Qi’s former study, the hall, which was once filled with the fragrance of birdsong and flowers, is no longer as cozy as before.
Dozens of court officials in official uniforms gathered here, and the first person sitting was a woman with a haggard face.
She was dressed in black, with her long hair tied into a bun. A strand of black hair fell beside her ear, swaying slightly in the candlelight.
"My Lords."
"you."
Listening to the continuous roar in the distance and looking at the officials discussing in the hall, Li Wutong wanted to say something, but perhaps because her voice was too soft, no one noticed it at the moment.
"My Lords, would you mind listening to me?"
Li Wutong clenched his fists tightly under the table, took a deep breath, and raised his voice slightly.
However, the noisy arguments in the hall did not stop.
Buck-passing, accusations, peace talks, fighting to the death, retreating westwards. Every purple-robed official was arguing with his colleagues with red ears and thick necks, but no one looked up to look at Li Wutong.
Although after Li Qi was seriously injured and fell into a coma, the latter began to preside over the government according to the law and actually sat on this seat.
But for these court officials, it was enough for them to just have Li Wutong sitting there.
What knowledge can a woman have? How can she possibly make decisions on state affairs?
Bound by the world's deeply rooted idea of "male superiority and female inferiority", almost everyone believes this.
What's more, Li Wutong is just a woman in her early twenties.
So, at this moment, no one cared what Li Wutong was thinking or wanting to say.
In fact, they had heard those two sentences a long time ago, but they all pretended not to hear them.
They didn't even give Li Wutong time to listen to his nonsense.
And the latter seemed to have lost the courage to speak a third time.
“.”
The fist against his knee trembled slightly. Li Wutong slowly lowered his head and closed his eyes tightly.
She really wanted to yell and tell everyone to shut up.
But she also understood that even if she really did that, she wouldn't be able to say anything useful.
Because even if everyone obeys her, she does not have the courage to make decisions as a "person in power".
She was afraid of making the wrong choice. It was not until this moment that Li Wutong realized how difficult it was to be a person with great power.
She finally understood Li Qi and Wei Changtian.
Understand the heavy pressure that every choice they make will determine the life and death of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people.
But now when the heavy burden is on his shoulders, this feeling of walking on thin ice makes Li Wutong almost breathless.
“.”
Her long skirt swayed as Li Wutong silently stood up from behind the desk, walked around the screen, and left through the side door of the hall.
The noise behind him continued, but no one paid any attention.
After leaving Tianlu Pavilion, we walked along the corridor for a while and then crossed a courtyard.
A quarter of an hour later, Li Wutong came to Li Qi's bedroom again alone.
The guards clasped their hands heavily and saluted her respectfully, which finally "restored" a little dignity for her.
Li Wutong forced a smile, but the smile faded away little by little after he walked into the hall.
"Grandpa Zhu, how is Father?"
Coming all the way to Fuyun Diaolong's bed, Li Wutong looked at an old man guarding the bed and asked softly a question he had asked countless times.
And the answer remains the same.
"Still asleep."
The old man shook his head, with some helplessness and self-blame in his eyes.
His name is Zhu Tianhong. He is a retainer of the Li family and also the person with the highest level of cultivation who guarded Li Qi when he climbed up the city wall.
It was he who stopped the "ordinary soldier" who suddenly attacked, preventing the latter from dying on the spot.
An unknown second-rank master dressed up as an ordinary soldier and attempted to assassinate Li Qi but failed. Zhu Tianhong thought that the matter had passed without any danger.
But the move that clearly did not hit Li Qi caused the latter to faint after a few breaths.
Although surprised, everyone thought it was not a big problem at first.
After all, the Dafeng royal family has a store of all kinds of rare treasures, and everyone feels that it should not be difficult to cure Li Qi.
Things like Mica Ganoderma are not only found in Ning Yongnian and Wei Changtian, but also in Dafeng.
However, the fact is, no matter what treasures were used or how many imperial doctors were consulted, Li Qi, who had no external or internal injuries, remained unconscious.
And although he was not injured, his life fire was getting weaker and weaker, and now only the last trace of it was left.
No one has ever seen this disease, let alone cure it.
Then perhaps all that awaits Li Qi is death in a coma.
“.”
Tears suddenly welled up in the corners of her eyes again. Li Wutong bit her lip and stopped looking at Li Qi who seemed to be asleep. Instead, she quickly wiped away her tears and slowly sat down opposite Zhu Tianhong.
"Grandpa Zhu, if the emperor doesn't wake up, what should Dafeng do?"
"well."
Zhu Tianhong sighed deeply: "Princess, but what did those officials tell you?"
“No, no.”
Li Wutong's eyes were a little evasive: "Yes, I want to hear your opinion."
“.”
Shaking his head, Zhu Tianhong seemed to have guessed something.
However, he did not point it out, but slowly explained all the options to Li Wutong. Simply put, there are only four paths before Dafeng, or the Li family.
1. Defend Fengyuan to the death and never flee, even if it means fighting to the last soldier.
Second, cede territory in exchange for peace. However, Ning Yongnian, who has all the advantages, is unlikely to agree to do so. Even if he is willing, the price that Dafeng will have to pay is absolutely unimaginable.
Third, abandon Fengyuan and continue to retreat westward. Judging from the current situation, at most they can survive for a little longer.
Fourth, abandon the entire Dafeng. While Daning has not yet been conquered, take all the Li family's assets and flee, and start over in another place. After several years, there may be a possibility of restoring the country.
There is no doubt that each of these four options is filled with despair.
However, as Zhu Tianhong said, no matter how much the court officials discussed it, in the end they would just have to choose one from these four.
So. "Princess, which one do you want to choose?"
“…”
"Grandpa Zhu, I want to go to the top of the city wall and take a look."
(End of this chapter)
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