Chapter 1,335 The bloody battle with Xuanwu Gate (Part 1)
During the Yin and Shang Dynasties, "brothers shall succeed to their younger brothers" as a legal principle for the succession of the throne.
Pan Geng had two younger brothers. After his death, the throne was passed to his younger brother Xiao Xin. After Xiao Xin's death, his throne was passed to his younger brother Xiao Yi. After Xiao Yi's death, the throne was passed to his son Wu Ding instead of Pan Geng.
The son of Geng and Xiao Xin, this was the throne inheritance system of the Shang Dynasty.
There are countless such old examples in history books.
Therefore, if His Majesty Li Er really dies, and the legitimate son of Emperor Gaozu is already dead, it would make sense at least legally to be succeeded by Li Yuanjing, the eldest among the concubines.
Moreover, he will control the Taiji Palace by then, and he will be able to win the support of a large number of courtiers when he ascends the throne as emperor.
Of course, being able to defend the palace and defeat the Guanlong clan is another matter...
Moreover, although Li Yuanjing has a clan status, he is not very powerful. Once he ascends the throne, he will rely more on his own support. Compared with having to fight for power with the Guanlong clan after taking refuge in Changsun Wuji, the situation is obviously clearer.
After weighing the matter again and again, Chai Zhewei finally made up his mind and asked, "I wonder how many soldiers and horses the prince has brought with him this time?"
Li Yuanjing was overjoyed when he heard this, knowing that Chai Zhewei was determined to stand on his side, and hurriedly said: "This time, several princes and county princes have assisted, mobilizing guards, troops, and more than 10,000 serfs in the imperial village. They are all elites and fully equipped with armor.
Great things will definitely happen!”
With the help of Chai Zhewei, we will immediately become more powerful and great things can be expected!
Chai Zhewei curled his lips, what's the use of a miscellaneous army of more than ten thousand people? But he also knew that Li Yuanjing and the princes behind him, the greatest advantage of the princes was not the army, but the control of the voice and direction of the Li Tang royal family.
As long as these people stand behind Li Yuanjing, they are far better than a hundred thousand troops.
He looked at the sky outside the window. It was still dark, and heavy snow like goose feathers was falling. He couldn't tell the time at all, so he asked You Wenzhi: "What time is it now?"
You Wenzhi said: "It's already midnight. It's snowing heavily today, so it's dark. It's expected to be another hour before dawn."
Chai Zhewei nodded and ordered: "Order the entire army to assemble and make as little noise as possible. Don't attract the ideas of the Youtun Guards and the Beiya Forbidden Army, and then launch a sudden attack to capture Xuanwumen in one go!"
Although he was proficient in military strategies, he also knew some basic military knowledge. He knew that before dawn, the human body is at its lowest alert. No army, no matter how well-trained, could resist this sleepiness and exhaustion from the body.
Therefore, throughout the ages, most wars have broken out before dawn.
"Here!"
You Wenzhi was excited when he saw that Chai Zhewei had finally made up his mind to join Li Yuanjing, but he did not communicate too much with Li Yuanjing. Instead, he asked: "Youtun Guards are separated from our army by a wall. If they interfere with our army's attack on Xuanwu Gate, there will be trouble.
Should we first concentrate our forces to defeat the Youtun Guards, then reorganize the army and concentrate our firepower before attacking Xuanwu Gate?"
Chai Zhewei nodded and said, "That's exactly what it should be!"
Li Yuanjing on the side reminded: "This is the Zuo Tun Guard Army. I shouldn't say much, but I would like to ask Duke Qiao to be more careful. After all, the Right Tun Guard once followed Fang Junbing to the White Road and overthrew Xue Yantuo.
Although there is only half of a powerful army left outside the Xuanwu Gate at the moment, it cannot be underestimated. When we concentrate our strength to strike with thunder, we must not ignore it lightly."
In order to win over Chai Zhewei, he did not hesitate to debase himself and come here personally. He was never willing to be misunderstood by Chai Zhewei that he wanted to interfere in military affairs. But after all, at a critical moment, he must not suffer setbacks because of carelessness and underestimate the enemy, otherwise it is very likely to shake the morale of the army.
In short, he didn't quite trust Chai Zhewei's military qualities...
Chai Zhewei didn't think so much, but laughed in his heart. They all said that His Highness King Jing "does great things without sacrificing his own life". Now it seems that it is indeed true. The Youtun Guard is indeed a powerful army in the world, and among the Sixteen Guards, it is the most powerful in terms of combat.
The first sequence is above the Zuo Tun Guard. However, the half of the Right Tun Guard in front of us had its elite removed due to Fang Jun's Western Expedition. How could the remaining less than 20,000 people withstand the Zuo Tun Guard's sudden onslaught?
I believe it will be completely defeated in less than half an hour.
On the contrary, he was quite afraid of the Bei Ya Imperial Army on Xuanwu Gate. Although this army only numbered about three thousand in number, each soldier was carefully selected and could be called the best among the best.
The gate is so advantageous that one man can guard the gate and ten thousand men can't open it. If you want to capture Xuanwu Gate, you can only completely annihilate it. There is no chance of it happening.
That is a head-to-head battle...
However, at this time, I will naturally not refute Li Yuanjing's face, and I cannot let him have any dissatisfied thoughts in his heart, otherwise there will be endless troubles.
Then he said with a smile: "Your Highness, don't worry, how can the general be a reckless person?"
He turned to You Wenzhi and said, "Go out and order the troops to assemble. Call all the generals here to discuss combat matters."
"Here!"
After You Wenzhi went out, Chai Zhewei led Li Yuanjing to the wall.
Looking at the map near Xuanwu Gate hanging on the wall, the surrounding terrain and the topography of the palace are like looking at the palm of a hand. Within the area of the Zhuque Gate in the south and the Weishui River in the north, even a hillock, a river, or a palace are all carefully observed.
It was so detailed that nothing was left out. Li Yuanjing exclaimed: "Can Duke Qiao draw this map? It is really meticulous! I had seen maps in the army before, but they were crudely made things, which were completely different from the map in front of me.
The difference."
Chai Zhewei twitched the corner of his mouth and said speechlessly: "These maps were issued by the Ministry of War, not made by the generals. In fact, it is strictly prohibited for the army to make private maps. Once discovered, military law will be followed."
Li Yuanjing: "..."
It's a little embarrassing.
The Ministry of War was Fang Jun's territory, which meant that the map was drawn by Fang Jun. I wanted to praise Chai Zhewei, which made the relationship between the two parties more harmonious, but it was self-defeating.
In fact, although he was in the army in his early years, he only took on some clerical work. After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, he stayed away from the army. He never paid attention to the changes in the army in these years, and spent a lot of manpower and material resources on Fang Jun.
I don’t know about drawing the map of the world.
Fortunately, Chai Zhewei pointed at the map and explained to him the strategies and tactics of attacking Xuanwu Gate. This was a strategy that he had thought up for a long time. It was considered very thorough. Even though there were some flaws, he still knew nothing about military affairs.
Li Yuanjing couldn't see through it...
Seeing that Chai Zhewei was confident and talking freely, Li Yuanjing's confidence doubled. Both the government and the public slandered Chai Zhewei's reputation, and almost no one said anything good about him, especially since he was too timid to fight and refused to go out to control Hexi Province because he claimed to be ill.
Increasingly, Chai Zhewei's reputation has plummeted. But now it seems to Li Yuanjing that it is better to meet him than to be famous. Perhaps Chai Zhewei has some problems with his character and has many flaws in his character, but the origins of this school are not false at all.
When I hire people at the moment, I only value ability and not character. So what if they are a treacherous person? As long as they can help me achieve great things!
After a while, the Zuotunwei generals came one after another and gathered together.
Chai Zhewei stood in front of the map, distributed tasks and issued orders in detail.
"I have received news that the rebels have invaded the Yeting Palace from Anfumen. Although the Sixth Army of the East Palace is still resisting, they will be defeated soon. The rebels will occupy the Yeting Palace and approach the Taiji Palace. We are here.
As soldiers of the empire, we should protect the country and fight to the death! However, now that the Youtun Guards have defected to the rebels and intend to raid our army, how can we sit back and wait for death? Moreover, if we want to enter Taiji Palace from Xuanwu Gate to repel the rebels
, Qingtian protects you, you must first deal with the Youtun Guards!"
Chai Zhewei pointed at the map with an excited expression.
He certainly can't say that the purpose of raising troops this time is to capture Xuanwu Gate. The purpose of the existence of the left and right guards is to guard Xuanwu Gate. Now that the right guard is "guarding and stealing", doesn't he clearly tell everyone that I want to rebel?
That is absolutely not possible.
The Tang Dynasty has been established for a long time, and the respect for His Majesty Li Er among the military is at its peak. Under such circumstances, it is impossible for anyone to rebel. If Chai Zhewei dares to shout a "rebellion" slogan at this moment, it is guaranteed that the next moment
The whole army collapsed.
No one will rebel against His Majesty Li Er!
These words immediately ignited the morale of General Zuotunwei!
The competition between the left and right tunwei has been around for a long time, and it reached its peak after Fang Jun succeeded the right tunwei as the general. Before, Gao Kan forced the left tunwei to release Cui Dunli, which completely ignited this conflict. The struggle between the two sides
On the verge of breaking out!
Under such circumstances, even if Chai Zhewei just shouted "Destroy the right guard", let alone entering the Tai Chi Palace to protect him, the left guard would be filled with murderous intent and their morale would skyrocket!