Chapter 351: Preparing for the Battle of Shuzhou

Xie Chen was scared silly.

He shouted again and again.

But the attendants beside him had long since lost their voices.

The horse carriage just sat there, parked beside a forest; the entire forest was also deathly silent, not even the chirping of insects or the calls of birds remained.

Impossible!

Impossible!

Xie Chen roared in his heart: how could this Liangzhou Army have caught up!

However...

This terrifying atmosphere made him not even dare to lift the curtain of the horse carriage to take a look.

"Crown Prince, please step out of the carriage!"

At this moment, a cold voice rang out.

As expected!

Xie Chen wilted instantly, his face full of misery as he tremblingly opened the curtain.

He saw that all around the horse carriage, there were people everywhere!

They were all Liangzhou Army soldiers wearing green military uniforms! At this moment, they had already taken off their gliders and placed them to the side.

Leading this Air Force was none other than Jiang Xuan, the first person in this world to "fly."

With a thud.

Knowing he could not escape, Xie Chen fell to the ground in tears and knelt down directly: "Don't kill me, don't kill me! I didn't want to rebel, it wasn't me, it wasn't me, it was Prince Xiang..."

Jiang Xuan could not help but sneer coldly: "Rest assured, the Young Master said to keep you alive! Let's go, I am taking you back to Yongan City!"

Only then did Xie Chen heave a sigh of relief.

Yongan City, Yongan City...

His whole body trembled; only now did he realize the intention of this Liangzhou Army. By holding him hostage, they could take Yongan City without wasting a single soldier or a single blade.

He was extremely unwilling in his heart; this Yongan City was his only asset. But what other method was there now?

He had lost.

He had already lost.

At this moment, he could only pray that he would be able to live on well.

Very soon.

Jiang Xuan's "Air Force" unit brought Xie Chen to Yongan City.

The garrison commander at the Yongan City gate, seeing the enemy approaching, was just about to plan a desperate defense, but when he saw Xie Zhen being dragged out, he was instantly dumbfounded. Only then did he realize that Yongan Port had been lost and Xie Zhen was in someone else's hands; what the hell were they still defending for?

"Open the city gates!"

The city gates swung wide open.

Jiang Xuan led ten thousand men and began to disarm the more than twenty thousand Yongan garrison troops.

Thus, Yongan completely changed hands.

This fierce battle at Yongan Port lasted for a full four hours.

That's right.

Starting from early in the morning, it was not until the afternoon that it truly ended. In the Battle of Yongan Port, the total troops committed by both sides reached as high as two hundred thousand.

One hundred thousand each.

In this battle, the Liangzhou Army achieved final victory, destroying the Jingzhou Navy and fifty tower ships; the Jingzhou Army suffered as many as seventy thousand dead, twenty thousand wounded, and ten thousand routed.

As for the Liangzhou Army, five Yinzhou warships were destroyed, with twenty thousand dead and thirty thousand wounded.

The defensive fortifications and camps of the Yongan Port fortress were all destroyed.

This war was absolutely the largest-scale battle since the internal peace of the Longyan Dynasty for a thousand years. It attracted the gaze of the entire Longyan Dynasty.

The Liangzhou Army had won again.

This time, the gliders and long-range torpedoes used by the Liangzhou Army in the battle once again attracted everyone's attention.

This battle.

Was also the first war in this ancient age of cold weapons where the Air Force, Army, and Navy were all utilized.

This was absolutely a war of great significance.

It was enough for many of the great military advisor experts of the contemporary era to study for quite some time.

Liu Zheng finally, with Xie Zhen in tow, recaptured Yongan.

"Royal Brother..."

When Xie Chen saw Xie Zhen, he finally could not help but kneel on the ground and howl loudly.

Xie Zhen sighed and helped his second younger brother up: "Second Brother, why be like this? You held Yongan firmly; you have merit and no fault, this is very good, this is very good."

They were close brothers, after all.

Xie Zhen's established persona was that of a benevolent ruler, so at this time, he naturally could not deal a death blow to his own brother. Moreover, in terms of winning people's hearts, this Xie Chen could not even compare to Xie Yang. That he could have the territory of Yongan was entirely due to Prince Xiang. Therefore, having lost Yongan, he was left with nothing but the status of a Crown Prince...

Now...

He was afraid he would not even have a royal title left.

Xie Zhen chuckled and supported his own younger brother: "The chaos in Shu is about to subside. From now on, Shuzhou will still need Second Brother's help. My intention is, after I return to reorganize the Prince's Mansion, Second Brother will go to garrison Qianjiang, how about that?"

"Ah?"

Xie Chen nearly fell headfirst to the ground.

Qianjiang...

That is practically the land of barbarians, alright! This is simply exiling oneself! However, the situation is stronger than the man; this is the consequence of failing to seize power, so what Method could he have? Having said that, it is already not bad that Xie Zhen could spare his life. If he still wanted to continue staying in a wealthy land, that would be absolutely impossible.

Xie Chen also learned to be obedient and hurriedly knelt to thank him for his grace.

In itself, this Yong'an is a land of Chuan Shu.

Therefore, when Liu Zheng and Xie Zhen moved in, the resistance was not great. They merely dismissed the military officers who originally belonged to Jingzhou and sent them home.

Because next...

The two of them would point their swords at Jiangzhou.

"What are you saying?"

At this moment.

Jingzhou.

Xiangwang Mansion.

"Almost the entire army was wiped out?"

"The entire army wiped out?"

Xiangwang was almost angered to the point of fainting.

That was his own elite navy, one hundred thousand! The entire navy of this Jingzhou only had two hundred thousand, and another one hundred thousand were army troops. In one fell swoop, he lost over half of his navy.

How is that possible!

How is this possible!

When he heard this news, his whole person was stunned.

The Jingzhou Navy was almost invincible on the water. From the very beginning, Xiangwang had been filled with absolute confidence in his navy.

Even if they could not occupy an absolute advantage, they should not have been defeated so miserably, right? At the very worst, they should have been able to hold out until his reinforcements set off.

However, now...

"Your Highness..."

"Your Highness, Your Highness, calm your anger, mind your health!"

Seeing Xiangwang almost fall headfirst to the ground, a group of people hurriedly urged him.

Xiangwang gritted his teeth: "How to mind it? How to mind it!"

"Hmm?"

"You tell me!"

"Such an important place as Yong'an was lost by this Mandarin! Lost! A bunch of trash!"

Yong'an was too important to him.

This is the Waterway gateway to Chuan Shu; he had originally wanted to take advantage of this great chaos in Chuan Shu to steal a share of the spoils! But now, he had failed to steal the chicken and instead lost the rice...

"What is to be done?"

"Who can tell me? What is to be done?"

Xiangwang had a violent temper, comparable to the Old Shu King from before, and now he wanted to muster troops and generals to retake Yong'an.

Upon hearing this, everyone was startled.

"Your Highness, absolutely not!"

"Your Highness..."

This Liangzhou Army was in high spirits, and at this moment, holding the momentum of a great victory, they were about to attack Jiangzhou. At this time, if Xiangwang were to entangle himself further, not only was it unknown whether he could pose a threat to this Liangzhou Army in terms of strength... just from the perspective of morality, their Jingzhou had already fallen into an inferior position.

Why?

The current Liu Zheng was a victorious army, a righteous army, an army that was recovering lost territory.

If this Yong'an were still in your hands, you consolidating your strength to go to war with this Liangzhou Army would still be justifiable.

But...

Now that Yong'an is gone, you still want to harass the Liangzhou Army as they recover lost territory. I am afraid the imperial court, the entire Longyan, would not agree. To do this at this time is an act that would invite being pointed at by the spine!

"Could it be that it ends like this?"

"It ends like this!"

Xiangwang was very unwilling.

He was the hegemon of the south; how could he endure such humiliation!

"Your Highness, we can only wait and see!"

"Your Highness, after this great defeat, we should recuperate; you must know that this Prefect Liu is too arrogant, and sooner or later there will be an opportunity to deal with him!"

"That is right, Your Highness, the Emperor is still alive..."

Upon hearing these words, Xiangwang was slightly stunned.

That is right...

The Emperor is still there.

The Emperor is still alive!

How could he possibly allow a boy with a different surname to be so arrogant.

Just as Xiangwang expected.

At this moment.

Jinghua, the imperial court.

It had already descended into a chaotic argument once again.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, this Prefect Liu, destroying the one hundred thousand Jingzhou Navy, is truly, is truly..."

Zhu Zhen knelt on the ground, weeping bitterly.

The other members of the Scholar-official group also sighed one after another, lamenting the ruthlessness of this Prefect Liu.

The Prince of Qin stood out once again: "Emperor, your younger brother believes that Yong'an has always been territory of Chuan Shu since ancient times. The fact that the Prince of Xiang has occupied it for years without returning it is the true root of the crime. Furthermore, when the Southern Barbarians invaded, the Prince of Xiang's attitude was ambiguous; he had one hundred thousand troops stationed in Yong'an yet delayed sending them, which is why the Liangzhou Army marched south to provide aid."

"In that case, what crime has Prefect Liu committed?"

Xie Tianyao listened quietly.

Zhu Zhen shouted: "The Prince of Qin is wrong. The matters of Shuzhou and Jingzhou are fundamentally frictions between Feudatory Kings; for Prefect Liu to intervene without authorization is already an overstepping of his bounds..."

"And, and... Emperor, this Prefect Liu's entry into Shu, his military strength is too arrogant, I fear, I fear that in the future..."

The entire palace was silent as a graveyard.

The atmosphere turned strange in an instant.

Fear what?

Does this even need to be said? They fear he will become too powerful to be controlled. They fear that this Prefect Liu will grow increasingly strong, until eventually, he does not even listen to the imperial court's commands.

What is to be done about this?

Xie Tianyao smiled faintly: "My beloved ministers, I ask you, with the Southern Barbarian invasion and Prefect Liu's entry into Shu, which matter is greater?"

This question was incredibly sharp.

Many people lowered their heads.

Some even looked ashamed.

Indeed.

When the Southern Barbarians invaded Shuzhou, the world was in an uproar, everyone was jumping with rage, and each one felt they had suffered a great humiliation. However... not a single person sent troops to support Shuzhou.

Only the Prince of Yong from Hanzhong and the Liangzhou Army sent troops without a word.

Given this...

What reason do you have to hold Liu Zheng accountable?

What charge can you place upon him?

To repeat the same point, morally, it cannot be justified!

"But, Emperor..."

Zhu Zhen was getting anxious.

In truth, what they were all considering was their own interests. If the Emperor were to pass away one day and the world were thrown into chaos, where would they, this group of officials in the imperial court, go? Therefore, compared to the chaos of the world that the Feudatory Kings might prefer, they were the ones who craved peace the most.

"This matter need not be mentioned again."

Xie Tianyao smiled faintly, a flash of sharp light passing through his eyes, and said: "I have my own arrangements."

All the civil and military officials looked at one another.

This familiar look had appeared once again!

It seems the Emperor is about to kill!