Chapter 303: Li Hong and the ministers of Zhenguo were at a loss to deal with the current passive situation, and no one could think of a good solution.
Finally, the Right Prime Minister Shi Qinshu cautiously took a step forward, raised his hands and said: "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, a million coalition troops have arrived at the city. Our capital city has less than 400,000 defenders. It is really... difficult to resist. In my opinion, we...
…The only way left is to negotiate peace with the coalition forces…”
Before he could finish speaking, Li Hongmeng slammed the table, interrupting Qin Shu's words. Qin Shu asked him to negotiate a peace, which Li Hong absolutely could not accept. With the current situation in Zhenguo, there was no capital to negotiate a peace.
Negotiating peace is equivalent to surrender, which is equivalent to pulling him down from the throne or even the throne. He also has to go to Yin Zhun to plead guilty. How can Li Hong accept such humiliation?
"The enemy army has surrounded the capital, and the life and death of the Zhen Kingdom hangs on a thread. As a minister of Dazhen, you do not plan to defeat the enemy and share the worries of the country and the king, but instead you still persuade the public to ask me to surrender to the coalition forces? I
What is the use of Wang Liuer and other people who are greedy for life and afraid of death?!" As he spoke, Li Hong said loudly: "Where is the swordsman? Drag this traitor out and kill him!"
Li Hong gave an order, and the guards outside the hall immediately rushed in. Two of them stepped forward and grabbed Qin Shu's arms, and walked out without saying anything.
Qin Shu was so frightened that his face turned pale, and his body was trembling suddenly. He shouted repeatedly: "Your Majesty, spare my life. I am wronged. Your Majesty, please spare my life..."
At this moment, Li Dan hurriedly stepped out of the queue, waved to the guards who were pulling Qin Shu out, then raised his hands to Li Hong and said: "Father, Master Qin's advice...may be inappropriate.
But it’s also out of loyalty to my father…”
Loyalty? Li Hong raised his eyebrows. He didn't see that Qin Shu had any loyalty to him. Before he could speak, Li Dan continued: "What's more, now the coalition forces are sieging the city and have broken through Hua Ning and the two cities.
The army in the city is in panic. If my father kills the ministers again at this time, I'm afraid it will make the people in the city even more chaotic. I hope my father will think twice."
If others tried to persuade him, he might not listen, but it was his son who asked for mercy, and what Li Dan said was not unreasonable.
Li Hong meditated silently for a moment, and the coldness on his face gradually eased. He raised his head, waved his hands to the guards, and said in a deep voice: "All of you, go down!"
Then, he glared at Qin Shu fiercely, said nothing more, looked around at the ministers and said: "In the future, whoever dares to talk about peace talks lightly, don't blame me for being ruthless and punishing him severely!"
The ministers of Zhenguo all shrank in fear, lowered their heads one by one, and did not dare to breathe. Qin Shu shrank his shoulders, quietly slipped back to his seat, and at the same time glanced at Li Dan gratefully.
To put it bluntly, Qin Shu is Li Dan’s pathfinder.
Li Dan proposed to negotiate peace with the coalition forces, but Li Dan couldn't say it himself, so he used Qin Shu's mouth to test his father's attitude. As a result, Li Hong was furious. Li Dan now understood that his father would not do this no matter what.
If you accept it, you can only think of other ways.
After the court was dismissed, as soon as Li Dan returned to his palace, the two secret assassins who had been left by Tang Yin came to ask for a meeting. Li Dan invited them to his study, and then briefed them on what happened in the court.
Told it once.
Now it seems that it is impossible to persuade Li Hong to abdicate on his own initiative. The only way is to use force to force him down from the throne. But this also involves one point: whether Li Dan should do it or the coalition forces should do it.
Take action.
If Li Dan takes it upon himself, he is not yet sure that he can subdue his father. But if the coalition forces take action, Li Dan must find a way to let the coalition forces enter the city. However, this is easy to say, but too difficult to do.
The four gates of Xitang are guarded by Li Hong's trusted generals, and there are heavy troops stationed there. Without Li Hong's handwriting and token, no one can open the gates. Even if Li Dangui is the prince, he does not have that authority.
The two secret assassins have been following Li Dan for a while, and both of them understand his difficulties.
One of the hidden arrow personnel named Lu Jian suggested: "As the prince, it is easy for the young master to enter and exit the palace. If the young master can steal King Zhen's token and open the city gate, it will not be difficult."
Li Dan smiled bitterly, sighed quietly, and said: "The token has always been carried by my father. It is not easy to steal it. What's more, even if I can steal the token, I still can't open the city gate without my father's handwriting."
."
Lu Jian rolled his eyes, and an idea flashed in his mind, and he said: "The four generals guarding the gate will not be there all the time. If we go with the token while they are away, as a young master, the generals below should not dare to embarrass them.
."
"This..." Li Dan thought about it carefully and nodded slowly. He felt that the method Lu Jian said could be tried, but how could he steal the token?
Li Dan is not in a hurry. He can wait and think of a solution slowly, but the hidden arrow personnel cannot wait. They know their own situation too well. The army only has enough food and grass to last for ten days. It is almost ten days now.
If we cannot attack Xitang, the entire army will be in danger.
Lu Jian said sternly: "Sir, my king hopes that this war will end as soon as possible so that he can return to the mainland of Feng Kingdom as soon as possible. Therefore, the matter of welcoming the coalition forces into the city must be done quickly, and it is best to be done within the next few days."
After a pause, he pointedly reminded: "If you can do things quickly and well, my lord, my king will be very happy. In the future, it will be easier to plead for Zhenguo in front of the emperor."
Although he is just an ordinary member of Dark Arrow, he now represents Tang Yin, and he speaks with great style, and there is a sense of arrogance between the lines.
Hearing this, Li Dan frowned and pondered for a long time. He finally calmed down and said seriously: "Okay! I will enter the palace tonight to meet my father..."
"Yes!" Lu Jian felt happy, raised his hands, and said with a slow smile: "Whether the matter succeeds or fails, I leave it all to the master."
On the other side, the situation of the coalition forces was not as bad as the Dark Arrow personnel thought. They defeated the two Zhen armies led by Xu Bufan and Guan Zhan. The coalition forces logically captured Huaning and Tongcheng together.
Even though the people in the city continued to resist the invading coalition forces, they no longer posed much of a threat due to the lack of regular army organization.
After capturing Huaning and Tongcheng, the coalition forces captured a large amount of grain, grass and supplies in the city, which ensured the coalition's logistical supplies. However, it is true that the coalition forces were eager to conquer Xitang because the Sichuan-Moscow coalition forces were advancing quickly.
When they arrived at Xitang, Tang Yin was anxious to enter Xitang City before the Sichuan-Moscow coalition forces.
Millions of allied troops besieged Xitang. Although the Zhenjun in the city did not dare to go out to fight, troubles continued.
There are still hundreds of thousands of Zhenguo people living in the outer city of Xitang. Now that Xitang has been closed, they can't get in, and they are surrounded by allied forces and can't get out. Hundreds of thousands of people every day
They had to eat and drink every day, and it was okay to be trapped for a short period of time. However, as time went by, the fear naturally spread. In addition, Zhenren's temperament was rough and impulsive, and sneak attacks on the coalition camps to steal food at night often happened.
The coalition camp is heavily guarded. People are often shot and killed by the coalition soldiers guarding them before they get close enough. Even if some lucky people manage to sneak into the coalition camp, they will be discovered quickly. If they are lucky enough to escape in time, if they are not lucky, they will be discovered quickly.
Some were captured by the coalition forces, and the final result was that their heads were chopped off and hung on the wall of the coalition camp for public display.
It had only been three days since the coalition forces besieged Xitang. More than a thousand Zhenguo people had been shot, captured and killed. Rows of severed heads hung on the walls of the village were shocking.
However, the high-pressure measures of the coalition forces failed to stop the Jin people. There were not only fewer incidents of camp thefts, but more incidents. The coalition soldiers who were sentrying and patrolling at night were often attacked by the Jin people. Some were knocked unconscious and some were beaten.
He died, and all his armor, dry food, and weapons were robbed, and he was finally found naked.
As the casualties of the coalition soldiers continued to increase, the conflict between the two sides became more intense. On several occasions, large numbers of coalition soldiers rushed into the outer city of Xitang and massacred the Zhenguo people inside. In this way, the hatred between the two parties became deeper.
, incidents of sneak attacks on coalition forces at night became more and more frequent.
This is a vicious cycle, and large-scale riots by the Zhen people and large-scale massacres by the coalition forces may occur at any time.
Of course Tang Yin doesn't want to see such a thing happen. In the eyes of others, Zhenren may be barbaric and uncivilized aliens, but in his opinion, Zhenren are a wealth more precious than gold, silver and jewelry, which can make up for the wind.
The treasure of the country’s national strength.
He has been trying his best to suppress the coalition forces, warning the coalition forces not to break into the Zhen people's residential area without authorization, let alone massacre the people of Zhen Kingdom without any reason. However, he is the Wind King after all. For his orders, An, Huan, and Yu armies
Most of them are obedient, accepting it on the surface, but still going their own way behind the scenes.
On this day, Tang Yin was discussing military affairs with Lingshuang, Yue Ze, and Li Xin in the military tent. Soldiers from outside came in to report that a Zhen man who called himself Di You wanted to meet Tang Yin.
When he heard that the person asking to see him was a chaste man, Li Xin sneered and snorted: "How dare a chaste dog dare to speak so shamelessly to meet the Wind King? Drive him away. If he resists, he will be executed on the spot!"
The soldier who reported the news agreed and was about to leave when Tang Yin stopped him. He smiled at Li Xin and said, "I know this Di You. The reason why I was able to sneak into Xitang was all because of his help."
"Oh?" Li Xin was stunned and murmured: "It turns out to be him!" After a pause, he was surprised and happy and said: "Could it be that he came here this time to tell Brother Wang that there is a way to enter the West Tang?"
"If that's the case, that would be great." Tang Yin didn't want to attack Xitang forcefully. Let alone what the damage would be, whether he could win or not was unknown. Now he was counting on Li Dan in the city. If Li Dan helped
If they are not busy, the coalition forces can only attack by force. If Di You, a local snake, knows the tunnels or methods that can sneak into the city, so that his own army can enter the city unnoticed, it will be a huge help to his own side.