Chapter 1026: The Prince Can Decide for Himself
"Master Du He, there is a clerk at Wangyou Bookstore who has not been found yet."
"My subordinates have sent people to continue searching."
"Please don't worry, sir. We will capture that person and hand him over to you."
In Du Mansion in Chang'an City, Du He looked at his subordinates in front of him with a gloomy expression.
Hearing his subordinates say that a clerk from Wangyou Bookstore had escaped, Du He's eyes flashed with murderous intent.
He knew very well that once Zhao Chen knew that he had killed people from Wangyou Bookstore, he would also want the shopkeeper Huang Zhi who had been following Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen will never let him go.
At that time, Du He just wanted to teach Huang Zhi a lesson. .??.
Who knew that he would break his internal organs with one kick.
He died directly in front of himself.
Thinking of Zhao Chen's methods, Du He felt a little nervous at the moment.
If Zhao Chen really found out that it was Du He who did it, let alone Li Tai, even the emperor might not be able to stop him.
Zhao Chen had dared to kill two officials at the entrance of Lingyan Pavilion before.
If Zhao Chen knew that he had killed his people, would he probably rush to his Du Mansion to kill him, Du He?
"It's been a few days, and you just came to report today. You really want me to die, right?" Du He looked at the subordinates in front of him with cold eyes and said angrily.
"My subordinates don't dare. It's really the old shopkeeper of Wangyou Bookstore who got the sky-blasting cannon from somewhere. The brothers he arrested together killed more than ten people on the spot."
"The guy took advantage of the chaos and disappeared."
"My subordinates guess that he should have gone to the south of the Yangtze River to look for Zhao Chen." The subordinates knelt on the ground and explained to Du He.
At this moment, when he thought about the shopkeeper of Wangyou Bookstore detonating the sky-blasting cannon on his body, he was still trembling in his heart.
"Then hurry up and arrest the person. Let me tell you, if that bastard really told Zhao Chen what happened."
"I'm so fucking dead."
"But before I die, I will kill you losers first."
"Get out!" Du He shouted angrily.
The subordinates didn’t dare to look back.
He ran away, leaving only Du He standing there with an angry and fearful face.
Du He himself didn't know when he became so afraid of Zhao Chen.
At this moment, he regretted that he should not have gone against Zhao Chen in the first place.
Look at Changsun Chong, wasn't he also an enemy of Zhao Chen at the beginning?
But now...
Didn't he just admit his mistake with Zhao Chen, but now he is in a prosperous situation.
But Du He also understood at this moment that he and Zhao Chen must be irresolvable.
One of the two must die in this matter.
"Zhao Chen!"
"Zhao Chen!" Du He gritted his teeth and chanted Zhao Chen's name twice.
…
"Your Highness, there is a military report coming from the front."
"Zhang Liang and Xu Shiji led their troops to retreat fifty miles. All the border areas have fallen under the iron heel of Goguryeo."
"It will take three days for Cheng Yaojin and Qin Qiong's support army to arrive."
"But with the border fortifications lost and reinforcements arriving, there is probably no way to fight back immediately."
In the East Palace, Fang Xuanling and Li Tai were reporting on the situation of the border war.
Li Tai sat on the soft cushion in the study, listening to the news brought by Fang Xuanling, and the pen in his hand stopped.
"It's only been a few days and you're retreating fifty miles?"
"Then what are Zhang Liang and Xu Shiji doing?"
"Pass an order from this palace to capture Zhang Liang and Xu Shiji and return to Chang'an to hold them accountable. I order my consort Chai Shao to lead the troops and fight back those bastards from Goguryeo." Li Tai slammed his pen on the table and said angrily.
Li Tai also wanted to take this opportunity to secure his position as prince.
I thought that Goguryeo would be caught off guard.
Unexpectedly, before the Tang Dynasty border troops took action, Goguryeo
He punched himself first.
Li Tai was a little confused now.
Thinking of the consequences that he might have to face once the emperor returns to Chang'an, Li Tai felt panicked.
The Tang border army was defeated because they started the war themselves.
If this spreads out, I'm afraid the people in the world will be scolded to death.
"His Royal Highness, it is really inappropriate to change generals before the battle."
"The army is newly defeated. If we act like this, it may cause turmoil in the morale of the army, which will be really detrimental to resisting the Goguryeo army." Fang Xuanling advised Li Tai.
Fang Xuanling felt that Li Tai was really messing around.
The army had just been attacked by Yuan Gaisuwen. At this time, Zhang Liang and Xu Shiji were escorted back to Chang'an.
Isn't that self-disruption?
If this continues, I'm afraid it will be difficult for the army to even hold on.
By then the morale of the army was gone, and no one knew how much land in the Tang Dynasty would fall under the iron heel of Goguryeo.
"Then what do you think we should do? If my father comes back and we lose this war, how will I explain to my father?" Li Tai looked at Fang Xuanling with a panicked look in his eyes.
Fang Xuanling frowned.
Li Tai's character is so unstable. Compared with Zhao Chen, there is clearly a gap between heaven and earth.
If the emperor hadn't asked him to help Li Tai supervise the country, why would Fang Xuanling be here.
"Let the army sit tight first, wait for reinforcements, and then find another way."
"As for what the prince just said, if you want to question someone, you can only question one person, not two people at the same time."
"As for who to blame, the prince can decide for himself." Fang Xuanling said.
Originally, Fang Xuanling didn't want to say the next two sentences.
If it weren't for Li Taishan's initiative and if he had to start a war with Goguryeo right now, what would happen today would not happen.
But Li Tai is the prince after all, so he cannot completely ignore his face.
"When will the father come back? Is there any news?" Li Tai did not say what happened before.
Instead, he asked Fang Xuanling about the emperor's news.
Li Tai actually wanted to know when Zhao Chen would return to Chang'an.
He confiscated all the properties under Zhao Chen's command. If he didn't make preparations before Zhao Chen came back.
I'm afraid that he, the prince, will be dealt with badly when the time comes.
Besides, that bastard Du He also killed Zhao Chen's shopkeeper.
This is clearly seeking death.
Fortunately, Fang Xuanling didn't know about the fatal incident, otherwise Li Tai wouldn't know how to deal with it.
"It's not clear yet, but it will take at least half a year to patrol the south of the Yangtze River. It has only been less than four months now."
"It should take some time." Fang Xuanling said, but she didn't know what Li Chengqian was thinking.
…
The sudden noise on the official road made everyone alert.
It was already dark now, and all we could see were the torches lighting up in front of us.
"Zhao Chen, I know you are here. I will give you a chance to come out. Otherwise, I will kill them." Wei Ting's voice spread into the forest.
Everyone looked along the dim light and saw Wei Ting holding a sharp knife on the official road ahead.
In front of him, Li Yuanji was tied up with five flowers and tied to the ground.
and other ordinary people in the village.
Everyone's mouths were gagged with cloth strips.
Li Chengqian was also tied up and hung from a tree next to the official road.
"Zhao Da, they don't know how they discovered us."
"The way in just now has been blocked."
"For the current plan, we can only go into the mountains." Cheng Chumo came back in the dark and talked to Zhao Chen about the current situation.
"You can't leave." Before Zhao Chen could speak, the emperor said in a deep voice.
"Yuanji is still in his hands. If we leave, he will kill Yuanji." The emperor looked at the torch in front of him with a gloomy look.