Chapter 127
The Crisis of Tai'an City
Although Han Zhiruo, who was in charge of the Tiance army, was extremely anxious, no matter how she urged, the generals remained unmoved. After all, she was only a guest official and could not command these powerful generals!
Fortunately, after a few days, Zhangsun Wuwo actually came to the Tiance army in person! He was a powerful guest official of the Tiance Palace. Although he did not bring the prince's order to attack the city, a word of convenience was enough!
His arrival also means that Lu Qinghou’s good days are over!
On the eighth day, when Liu Buqi was hiding his whereabouts and preparing to deal the final blow to the grassland army, 80,000 Tiance troops had already formed their battle formation under Tai'an City!
Zhangsun Wuwo even came to the city gate alone and shouted to Lü Qinghou:
"My Tiance army has been waiting for days, showing its sincerity! What exactly does Lord Lu want? Do you have to wait for the barbarians from the grasslands to invade Youzhou, cut off the retreat of the King of Yan's expedition, and kill the King of Yan's family before you will give way?"
"For the sake of the empire, the people, and Youzhou, I must execute you, a traitor, a disloyal, unfilial, unkind, and unjust person!"
Lü Qinghou had originally planned to avoid showing up, even if it was just for an hour! Unexpectedly, Changsun Wuwo came up and put such a big hat on his head!
At this time, Tai'an City was full of new recruits. Their loyalty to Youzhou and King Yan was unquestionable, but their understanding of the situation in Youzhou was far inferior!
Once you are instigated by Changsun Wuwo and really think that you did it on purpose, wouldn’t it be more harm than good?
"Master Changsun, you're joking. Although I hold a low position and influence, I am connected to His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan by blood. We are one in life and death! How could I possibly commit such a treacherous act?"
Although Changsun Wuwo was somewhat surprised that Marquis Lu Qing, who had climbed up the city wall to confront him face to face, was so young yet he could rule an entire prefecture on his own!
But he still insisted with a sneer, "You may be eloquent, but you led the troops to occupy Tai'an alone, and then blocked the imperial army from coming to aid you. The world has already judged the right and wrong. If you don't want to be condemned as a sinner for all eternity, then quickly open the door and make way!"
Marquis Lü Qinghou paused for a moment before retorting, "Lord Changsun, as the saying goes, 'Those who come uninvited are considered thieves!' I am under Madam Anguo's orders to guard the gates of Youzhou. How can I just let anyone in who claims to support Youzhou pass through? To be disrespectful, how can I know if you are truly following orders or just colluding with foreign powers?"
"How about this, since Your Excellency said you were acting on orders, please take out the imperial edict and read it out in public. Otherwise, I will absolutely not obey your orders!"
Changsun Wuwo stared intently at Lü Qinghou who was standing firmly on the city wall. At this moment, if he said that he was acting on the orders of the prince, it would be of no use even if he really took out the prince's handwritten letter!
This young official could easily shirk his responsibilities by saying that he only obeyed the emperor's orders and refused to accept them!
Although the power to write imperial edicts lies in the hands of the Crown Prince Regent, the Emperor is still alive after all. How could His Royal Highness the Crown Prince issue such a clear imperial edict that would leave the handle to others?
"So, Lord Lu is determined to resist to the end?" The topic of the imperial edict had to stop here, and Changsun Wuwo directly launched a naked threat!
Although eighty thousand brave soldiers would suffer heavy losses if they wanted to capture Tai'an Prefecture, if they could take advantage of this opportunity to completely control Youzhou, even if it was just to control a gateway, it would be considered a great deal!
Marquis Lu Qing said coldly, "Lord Changsun, although it is a mindless act that brings pain to relatives and joy to enemies, if you insist on acting recklessly, I am afraid that I can only fight for my life with the 20,000 soldiers of Tai'an Prefecture and defend Youzhou to the death!"
For a moment, the sound of unsheathed swords could be heard from both inside and outside the city walls! With a heavy cold snort, Changsun Wuwo left Lü Qinghou behind and turned back to the camp!
We can't fight right away. I set up the battle formation just to intimidate this young Youzhou official, but it obviously didn't work!
After returning to the camp, Changsun Wuwo called Han Zhiruo and learned about her situation before she left Youzhou, especially asking in detail about Yue Hanxin's current situation.
He also called the general in command and asked him about the success rate of the siege and the preparation of the siege equipment in the army.
Based on this, he came to an indisputable conclusion!
Tai'an City is currently being guarded by civilian officials and new recruits. Our side is well-prepared for war and has four times as many troops as the defenders.
Although Tai'an City was built as a fortress in Youzhou and is difficult to attack due to its high height, if one really wants to storm the city by force, it should be taken in three days at most!
As for how to deal with the criticism from scholars all over the world after the war breaks out!
This is actually very easy to solve. I have already given sufficient reasons today!
Guannei Hou started his army to purge the emperor's side. We can completely put the blame for starting the war on Lu Qinghou and purge the Prince of Yan's side!
So, the key to fighting or not lies in the Great Wall defense line!
What if after the war breaks out, Liu Buqi abandons the Great Wall defense line and would rather let the grassland troops wreak havoc in Youzhou than keep the Tiance army out?
After a whole day of deep thought, Changsun Wuwo directly ordered an attack on the city tomorrow, and it was imperative to capture Tai'an City within three days and completely control the gateway to Youzhou!
He was going to gamble, betting that Liu Buqi wouldn't dare to rashly abandon the Great Wall defense line and leave the King of Yan isolated and stranded outside the territory! If this side fought a quick victory, it would leave Youzhou no chance!
…
On the ninth day, Lü Qinghou, who was observing the movements of the Tiance Army on the city wall, immediately discovered signs that the enemy was about to attack the city!
Although I have never been to the battlefield, everyone knows that those siege weapons pushed to the front with great fanfare are obviously not for showing off!
Tomorrow will be the tenth day. Although I still don’t know the situation of the Great Wall defense line, I also don’t know what my wife’s subsequent arrangements will be.
But due to his almost blind trust in Liu Buqi, Lu Qinghou resolutely mobilized the civilians to prepare to defend the city!
This kind of pointless war, which is a civil war in the empire, and Lu Qinghou's current reputation, will naturally not receive a huge response from the people of Tai'an!
Fortunately, in recent years, with the strong support of Liu Buqi and the management of the Lu family, the entire Tai'an has become a shopping mall with a strong commercial atmosphere. It can be said that it is a place where merchants gather and escort agencies are everywhere.
These merchants did not face any discrimination in Youzhou, and their family members could even become officials in the Prince of Yan's Palace and escape their merchant status!
Instead, they became the main force of the conscription of civilians this time. Everyone knew that if Tai'an Prefecture fell into the hands of Tiance Prefecture, the current status of these merchants would be gone, so they would naturally do their best to support the defense of the city!
As for the retired veterans in the escort agency, they naturally responded to the call and went up to the city walls early in their armor!
While both the attacking and defending sides were making final preparations, several messengers, holding high the Youzhou Canglang flag, rushed into Tai'an Mansion on horseback, shouting excitedly!
"Great victory at the Great Wall, great victory at the Great Wall! Madam Liu personally led the army to completely annihilate the 50,000-strong army of the Steppe Khanate!"
Lu Qinghou on the city wall was so excited that he almost jumped up!
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