The Imperial Guards stripped Li Cheng and Li Cheng of their official hats and clothes and escorted them out of the imperial palace. Together with their family members who had been waiting outside the palace, they were driven out of the capital of Western Chu and were not allowed to re-enter.
Empress Jiang Si saw that the play was almost finished, and her eyes signaled to Tang Master Pingzhang, the most senior official in the Dachu temple, that it was time for him to take the stage.
The Huaiyin Tang family was not one of the top ten tycoons in the Spring and Autumn Period. It arose when Da Chu was founded, flourished during the heyday of Da Chu, and declined in the last years of Da Chu. It can be said that the Huaiyin Tang family truly shared wealth and adversity with the Da Chu Jiang family.
After the fall of Da Chu, no one from the Tang family entered the Liyang officialdom. After the restoration of Western Chu, the Tang family was one of the first families to respond to Cao Changqing.
Although it is common knowledge that Tang Shi and Sun Xiji have different political views, it is a true dispute between gentlemen. Each has its own party and has never been in conflict.
The old man came out and said loudly, "Your Majesty, the Liyang Jiangbei camp led by Lu Xiangsheng has been defeated. Now is the critical moment for our decisive battle between Dachu and Liyang. Please lead your army to the west wall to boost morale."
The Tang Master did not mention the 50,000 Northern Liang cavalry outside the city, nor did he mention the Northern Liang King entering the palace.
The empress nodded and said: "What Tang Aiqing said is very much in line with my wishes. Tomorrow I will order all our troops and horses to go to the front line of the Western Barrier. General Chen."
Chen Kunshan, the only hussar general in the Western Chu Temple who is currently in the capital, stepped out of the queue and said solemnly: "From this moment on, the whole city is under martial law. You are only allowed to enter the city and are not allowed to leave the city!"
After this sentence, the next sentence is the key point, "If our imperial guards and spies discover that a homing pigeon is flying in anyone's home, they will be punished as treason! Everyone will be executed!"
"Retreat from the court~" This thrilling court meeting ended with the voice of the new eunuch in charge of the ceremony.
Many ministers' backs were soaked and they didn't dare to stop for a moment and walked out of the hall quickly.
Master Tang looked at the gradually emptying hall with mixed feelings.
The former Chu State was the backbone of the Central Plains!
Therefore, the great Chu country fell and the Central Plains fell.
One can imagine how tragic the soul-stirring Battle of West Fort was.
now………
"Alas~" Mr. Tang let out a long sigh and burst into tears, "Sun Xiji, why did you die so early?"
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Xiangfu four years, late autumn.
Jiang Si, the empress of Western Chu, personally led 20,000 elite soldiers of Western Chu to the Western Barrier.
On that day, Zhang Bianguan led the generals and schools in his tent to welcome him.
On that day, the morale of the Chu army was greatly boosted.
On the second day after the empress arrived, Zhang Bianguan mobilized all his troops to attack the Liyang army led by Gu Jiantang and Chen Zhibao.
This battle lasted from early morning to noon, and then from noon to afternoon.
Rivers of blood flowed and mountains of corpses piled up.
On the Western Chu side, more than 30 generals were killed in the battle, and the number of battle dead reached more than 50,000.
On the Liyang side, the generals suffered more than 40 casualties, and the troops including the Liyang New Army, which Zhao Zhuan had high hopes for, suffered more than 70,000 casualties.
Liyang Temple was most worried about the confluence of Liang and Chu, but it did not appear.
The 50,000 cavalry army that could have been a key force left the capital of Western Chu on the day the Empress of Western Chu led her army northward and disappeared without a trace.
At the same time that this news reached Tai'an City, five wealthy Western Chu clans in Shenhuang City were raided and executed by Chen Kunshan and Qi Su.
Fortunately, one or two scattered branches from these families now serve in Liyang Temple.
In addition to condemning Xi Chu for being desperate because of the end of his life, Zhao Zhuan awarded these people official titles and noble titles.
The courtiers all praised His Majesty the Emperor for his kindness.
The Liang thieves and the Chu thieves did not know the fate of the heavens, and dispersed without any benefit, which further confirmed that Liyang's fate was destined to return.
When Western Chu is to be destroyed, Liyang will be destroyed, and Liyang will officially rule the world.
Zhao Zhuan was overjoyed and dispatched 100,000 new troops and arranged for special personnel to escort a large amount of grain and military supplies to the Western Barrier, just to win this massive battle of Western Chu as soon as possible.
In addition to increasing our own momentum, these 100,000 new troops also undertake an important task. They are stationed on the outside of the Western Barrier to prevent Xu Fengnian and the Beiliang Army from suddenly disrupting the situation, so as not to cause any further changes in the final battle between Li Yang and Xi Chu.
As support came to the front line of the Western Barrier, the morale of the three armies was greatly boosted.
The Chu army, which had finally gained an advantage due to the empress's personal visit to the front line, was once again at a disadvantage.
Gu Jiantang and Chen Zhibao both knew that the opportunity for a decisive battle had arrived and launched the final battle.
In that battle, the last 200,000 troops of Western Chu died on the battlefield. The Empress of Western Chu, Xie Xijie, Kou Jianghuai and others burned themselves on the battlefield. Gu Jiantang killed Zhang Bianguan, the military saint of Western Chu.
As soon as the Western Barrier was broken through, the national war between Liyang and Xichu came to an end.
Gu Jiantang, Chen Zhibao, and Zhao Ju gathered their entire army and marched south to the capital of Western Chu.
Even though there was a garrison left in the capital city of Western Chu, it was captured in less than two days thanks to the cooperation between the powerful clans of Western Chu and Qian Qu Liyang, who had already secretly communicated with each other internally and externally.
As soon as the capital city of Xichu was reached, the next step was to recover the lost territory on Guangling Road and Nanjiang Road.
At this time, Liyang's imperial edict came and ordered Gu Jiantang to lead the two Liao border troops back to defend Beiliang.
Chen Zhibao was also appointed as the frontline coach of Hezhou and took charge of Hezhou defense.
The king of Jiaodong, Zhao Ju, also led his army back to the fiefdom to assist Gu Jiantang.
Liyang's move seems to be to guard against Beiliang, so that people can't find fault.
In fact, it was to prevent them from taking all the credit for destroying Chu.
The more than 200,000 new troops from Liyang will be taken over by Tang Tieshuang, the Minister of War, Cai Nan, the governor of the Lianghuai Road, and Wang Xionggui of the Ministry of Husband, who will go south.
At the same time, His Majesty the Emperor has also explicitly ordered the imperial army not to harass the people of Guangling Road, and will never allow unauthorized acts of suicide to vent their anger. Once discovered, the residences of the Jiedu Envoy and the Economic Envoy of Guangling Road can skip the Ministry of War and Punishment and be killed on the spot without mercy.
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With the capture of the capital city of Xichu, the battle between Liyang and Xichu officially entered its final stage.
As usual, the coach will hold a grand banquet and invite a number of meritorious officials.
Because Gu Jiantang had to prepare to return to Liaodong, and Chen Zhibao also had to go to take charge of the defense of Hezhou.
In the end, the most senior king of Jiaodong, Zhao Ju, held a banquet to entertain all the meritorious officials.
And just when the hall was full of guests in fine clothes, they were full of ambition.
Xu Fengnian, King of Northern Liang, suddenly appeared at the banquet as an uninvited guest.
It was only then that King Jiaodong discovered that the guards arranged on the outside had been eliminated.
The missing Northern Liang cavalry surrounded the banquet site.
Then, Gu Jiantang and Chen Zhibao, who were supposed to be leaving, also showed up at the banquet, standing clearly behind Xu Fengnian.
Even the empress Jiang Si, Zhang Bianguan, Xie Xiqiao, Kou Jianghuai and others who should have died in the Battle of the Western Barrier also appeared behind Xu Fengnian.
Seeing this scene, all the Liyang loyal ministers who attended the banquet asked themselves, Xu Fengnian had Gu Jiantang, Chen Zhibao, Zhang Bianguan and others to help him, it was no longer a simple dragon leaping into the abyss.
Can the Liyang court, which has lost all its elite talents, survive this disaster?
These are no longer things they need to worry about.
Autumn, the fourth year of Xiangfu.
Western Chu was destroyed, and Northern Liang held a celebration banquet as the occasion.
Collect all the border armies of the two Liao Dynasties, the new army of Liyang, and the surrendering army of Western Chu.
Cross the Guangling River north and enter Jing'an Road.