Chapter 888: The Battle of Andong

The entire room was stunned.

By the time Liu Zheng left, many people had not yet recovered their senses.

"Go quickly!"

Liu Zheng, however, took Pei Qianyun and boarded the Horse Carriage like a flash; only when the carriage sped away did he finally let out a long sigh of relief.

"Young Master, this..."

Pei Qianyun held back a laugh.

Liu Zheng wiped the sweat from his back and laughed heartily: "If you want to laugh, then laugh! Why hold it in?"

The two looked at each other and laughed, feeling very satisfied.

The reason was simple: Pei Qianyun had been by Liu Zheng's side for so long, yet this was the first time he had seen Liu Zheng act so domineering! Usually, no matter who he was with, he was gentle, refined, and humble. Thus, this put-on display of dominance looked incredibly out of place.

"How was it? Not bad, right?"

Liu Zheng had originally stopped laughing, but at this, he was once again amused to the point of hilarity by Pei Qianyun.

:

"Those petty scoundrels actually wanted to make a move against you, Young Master!"

It was not until Liu Zheng laughed to the point of tears that he asked Pei Qianyun.

Pei Qianyun hurriedly nodded: "Not bad, not bad! Did you see those cowards? Not one of them dared to even let out a fart! Hahahaha, if this matter spreads back to our country, it will surely be taken by the storytellers as a bit of material! Hmm, what should we call it? 'The Overbearing Aura of Assistant Minister Liu, the Civil and Military Officials of the Li Dynasty All Stunned'?"

"What?"

Pei Qianyun's expression changed.

Only then did Pei Qianyun let out a cold shout.

Liu Zheng, however, shook his head and chuckled: "Don't think these people are easy to fool. Today was actually very dangerous. If it weren't for my final sentence, I fear this Li Tun would still be trying to find a Method to ambush me here!"

Pei Qianyun was somewhat anxious.

Did this not mean that life in the Li Dynasty from now on would remain very dangerous?

Liu Zheng nodded: "In their perception, the Longyan Imperial Court is the only immortal existence. A mere Crown Prince of the Xiliang King still has too little influence on the Imperial Court."

"Ah, this..."

Liu Zheng had left.

Yet, in this Liyuan Palace, everyone still had not recovered their composure.

Liu Zheng smiled: "It depends on Xiao Qian now."

"This..."

"Presumptuous, presumptuous, presumptuous! Alarmist talk, alarmist talk!"

You look at me.

I look at you.

Li Tun, however, waved his hand.

The entire room fell silent once more.

Li Hang finally reacted, stood up, and shouted angrily: "Bring him back for me!"

"Wait a moment!"

"Your Majesty, this fellow is definitely spouting nonsense. By his..."

Li Hang became anxious.

Li Hang's expression changed slightly.

He knew what Li Tun was thinking. At this moment, Li Tun's entire heart and mind were focused on his own son; he had been moved by Liu Zheng's final sentence!

Li Hang was left speechless.

Min Weizhong was also burning with rage in his heart at this moment.

Li Tun tilted his head to look over: "He is indeed the Imperial Envoy this time..."

"This..."

"Your Majesty, this old subject believes that Assistant Minister Liu's words have a fair amount of credibility."

Min Weizhong could only stand out and say.

Crown Prince!

Liu Zheng had actually agreed in public that Zhang Yuzhen's son would be named Crown Prince! This matter was something their Westerner Party had been obstructing recently! He had actually agreed to it! However, Min Weizhong could only sigh deeply at this. What other Method did he have? He was merely trying to save his own life!

Suddenly, a man covered in sweat and looking panicked ran in: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, General Li has been miserably defeated!"

"What?"

Li Tun said nothing, his expression gloomy.

Just at this moment.

Li Zhenzhu's miserable defeat was within Xiao Qian's expectations.

The Wa army in Gyeongsang Province still had an army of eighty thousand after being thwarted by Xiao Qian.

The entire room was shocked.

Second, this defeat caused Mizuno Masashige's troops to lose twenty thousand, but it did not damage their core strength. Mizuno Masashige still had eighty thousand troops in his hands who were as fierce as wolves and tigers.

Third, Xiao Qian understood the spiritual attributes of these Wa Samurai quite well; regarding this point, he had to admire them—it was very strong. When spiritual attributes are stronger than actual combat power, then at that moment, the spiritual attributes become combat power. One very prominent characteristic is that they become braver with every setback. The more they are defeated, the stronger they become. The spirit of Bushido would make these Wa people feel shame and then show courage. This was a point about the Wa people that Xiao Qian had always admired.

Xiao Qian could feel during the battle that the opponent was also a master of the Art of War. His judgment of the situation was very accurate.

First, the opponent's crushing defeat this time was due to underestimating the enemy; it was only because they were caught off guard that they fell into Xiao Qian's trap. The sudden appearance of the Longyan army and their powerful combat strength made the enemy unable to adapt.

However, Li Zhenzhu could not hold back.

He borrowed twenty thousand troops from Xiao Qian, then led his own fifty thousand troops—a total of seventy thousand—and set out in a grand manner, intending to wash away his previous shame.

Combining these three points, he decided to withdraw his troops temporarily, reorganize the entire army, and then engage the Wa army in battle, planning to take it slow.

This is the most secure method, and of course, it is also the only method.

Li Zhenzhu believed that in terms of time, space, and combat power, he could steadily devour them. Seventy thousand troops, twenty thousand Cavalry, thirty thousand Infantry, and twenty thousand Archer—the configuration was quite reasonable; in his view, there was no reason why this battle would not be won. He was determined to take back the city of Andong.

Therefore, from the very beginning, he did not leave himself any backup plan, and all his military strength was committed to the siege.

The location where this battle took place was Andong in Gyeongsang Province.

The Wa army itself only had thirty thousand men.

Influenced by various factors.

This battle was one Li Zhenzhu had to fight.

His thinking was very simple: seventy thousand against thirty thousand, could they really not win?

Now the Southerner Party had a faint momentum of taking over the power of the Westerner Party, so in terms of the war, the Southerner Party needed to put on a show and could not keep losing.

It was not that they had not fought. It was that they had not taken Andong within his expected time.

The time he calculated was seven days.

However, he truly had not expected it.

Seventy thousand against thirty thousand, they really had not won.

During this period, Li Zhenzhu finally saw the ferocity of these Wa Samurai.

That is correct.

Because seven days was enough for the Wa army that had already occupied other cities to come to the rescue. So he had to end the battle within these seven days. At the beginning, he was very confident. He launched an uninterrupted, fierce attack, but those reckless guys from Wa actually held on by sheer force of will.

A tenacity that left people dumbfounded.

The people were all dumbfounded.

Was there such a way to play?

It was not just ferocity toward the enemy, but also ferocity toward themselves.

Just during the process of the siege, several times Li Zhenzhu's side was about to successfully breach the city, and at this time, a team of Wa Suicide Squad would always appear; they would tie explosives to their bodies, rush into the Li Dynasty army like madmen, and then ignite the explosives to perish together with them. Once, and then again.

Afterwards.

The Wa side ran out of explosives.

Could it be that their lives were not lives?

Li Zhenzhu felt in an instant that compared to these Wa Samurai, the Li Dynasty soldiers were simply all trash, getting routed at the slightest provocation, and fleeing in panic at every turn.

The city gate would quickly turn into a field of fire.

Li Zhenzhu started cursing at this point.

He simply had people douse themselves in oil and then charge in.

Ignite.

Consequently.

Three days.

How was this battle to be fought?

Were these people even human? Were their lives not lives?

These Wa Samurai in Andong held on for those seven days by sheer force of will. On the very last day, the reinforcements of Mizuno Masashige finally arrived. Like a mountain-toppling, sea-churning force, they, who had been resting while the enemy was exhausted, faced the Li Dynasty army—which had already been terrified out of their wits by the other side's thirty thousand men—and immediately launched a slaughter that was destructive and almost crushing.

"Run!"

Five days.

Seven days.

Xiao Qian did not even know how this Li Zhenzhu had become a famous general of the current Li Dynasty.

If he had been able to choose to fight and retreat at that time, the casualties would not have been so great.

At that time, Li Zhenzhu only said this one sentence.

The Li Dynasty army had been scared silly by these thirty thousand defenders during those seven days and had long wanted to run; at this moment, upon receiving the order from the commander-in-chief, what else could happen? One by one they went mad, and one by one they ran faster than rabbits.

The twenty thousand troops borrowed from Xiao Qian had no intention of fighting to begin with and had been slacking off the whole time; they were naturally the fastest to run, and they did so in an orderly fashion.

After all, the boss had already given instructions.

But the formation was scattered.

The morale of the army collapsed all at once.

Seeing this situation, Mizuno Masashige directly led his fifty thousand reinforcements and began the pursuit.

This was absolutely a shameful battle that could be recorded in history.

If the situation was not right, they would just bolt and run.

The rest, however, were different.

The fifty thousand Li Dynasty troops he led.

Actually suffered a casualty ratio that was hard to accept.

The Battle of Andong.

Li Zhenzhu's great army was slaughtered until not a single piece of armor remained, and they did not even have the courage to look back.

The entire Li Dynasty was incomparably shocked.

If it were not for Xiao Qian leading his army to come and provide support at this time, it is feared that this "famous general" of the Li Dynasty, Li Zhenzhu, would also have lost his life in this battle.

Thirty thousand!

Shock.

The Li Dynasty court was in an uproar.

Li Tun watched with an expressionless face as the Westerner Party could finally accuse the Southerners of inaction on a large scale. At this moment, there were two thoughts in his mind.

The news was sent back.

Throughout the Joseon Kingdom, the people were wailing in misery.

Just as he intended to use the Southern Faction to replace the Westerners in government, this crushing defeat occurred, which was something he absolutely could not tolerate.

He suddenly felt that the Southern Faction, in whom he had always placed high hopes, were actually so fragile.

First, he suddenly remembered the words of Vice Minister Liu at the banquet today. That's right, facing the Wa army, their Joseon Kingdom was just that pathetic. Pathetic is pathetic; even if one refuses to admit it, it is still pathetic. Without their Longyan Army, the Joseon Kingdom could not even defend its own territory; if the Longyan Army were to truly join forces with the Wa, then I fear the entire Joseon Kingdom would be unable to resist.

Second, it was his deep disappointment in the Southern Faction.

Humiliation.

The Southern Faction were good at fighting, while the Westerners were good at governing.

Li Zhenzhu was already considered a quite outstanding general within the Southerner Party, but what had he brought to the Joseon Kingdom?

Defeat.

Li Tun watched the people below arguing back and forth, and he did not say a word.

Following that.

Then.

If he let the Southern Faction take over the reins of government, would it really be a better choice?

Lingering and refusing to leave.

In ten years, he could make the Joseon Kingdom completely crush the Wa.

He then thought of those few words from Liu Zheng again.

Like the morning bell and evening drum, they rang incessantly in his mind.

Li Tun took a deep breath.

Could he really do it?

In ten years, he could make the Joseon Kingdom strong enough to attract the attention of the world.

Ten years of time.

The example of Liangzhou was right there.

Looking at these civil and military officials arguing fiercely, he suddenly felt a deep sense of weariness.

Yes.

He could.

However, just as he stood up, his head tilted to the side, and he actually collapsed to the ground just like that.

Amidst the sudden, deathly silence of the entire hall, he had just turned to leave.

Then, he slowly stood up.

"Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty!"

Everyone in the hall cried out.