Chapter 221 Shaking from All Sides
Knowing nothing about state affairs, the maid quickly supported Huang Chao with her hand. Seeing Huang Chao totally lose it, she quickly played cute and flirted, intending to comfort him with her body while the iron was hot. As an ordinary maid, there were not many opportunities to make the emperor become enamored to her? This might be her only chance in a lifetime. The maid did not want to miss this opportunity to wealth and prosperity.
Tongguan was breached and Hua Zhou was occupied by the enemy in one day, Huang Chao was feeling frightened as though the end of the world was near. It was hard to empathize if you weren’t in that position. Huang Chao’s throne was like sitting on a spiked rug. After the initial sensation, as the situation worsened as not a single day went by without fear. It was difficult to live alone in Chang’an and barely hold on to Guanzhong, much less trying to expand his territory. After Zhu Wen betrayed him, Huang Chao barely had a good night’s sleep.
The more Huang Chao thought about it, the more he felt frightened and angry. His face muscles kept twitching, and his eyes were like a wolf and an eagle, scary beyond words. He looked down at the maid who wrapped herself around him and was touching every inch of him, he suddenly strangled her neck, and lifted her up with one hand. His hand was trembling and the blue veins on the back of his hand pulsated.
“Your, Your Majesty…” The maid’s face quickly turned from red to purple. As she stared at Huang Chao’s twisted features, she was so horrified that her eyeballs almost fell out. Her legs and hands kept kicking flailing, but she could not affect Huang Chao at all.
Huang Chao was like a beast as he gradually lost control of his strength. Amid the sounds of bones cracking, the maid’s neck shrunk rapidly to a strand of grass. Flesh and blood constantly poured out from the dead maid’s mouth. Her stiff face was dark and black and only her bulging eyes were still showing her horror.
In the end, the maid’s neck was broken by Huang Chao, and her head and separated body were dropped to the ground.
Huang Chao finally came to his senses and calmed down. Finally, he glanced at the memorial in his hand and walked over the maid’s body. He strode out of the palace and growled like a beast, “Decree my order, and gather the troops!”
The guard outside the door quickly obeyed and withdrew. Huang Chao then stood at the doorway and looked up at the blue sky for a long time.
His expression was still not calm, and conversely, it was showing more anger. “You d*mn Zhongnan Mountain Taoist sect. You were the ones that came to me, asking me to usurp. Now you’ve abandoned me and left me in this desperate position! When I’m finished with Li Ye and Li Keyong, I’m gonna lead an army and flatten Zhongnan Mountain! Without your Taoist Sect’s meddling, I’d still be the brave hero and the emperor of Qi Empire! I’ll show you that not only do I have the fortune to create chaos in the world, but also the ability to rule the world!”
The news of Li Ye breaching Tongguan had reached Chengdu. And Li Yan was happy like a child, laughing and shouting in the palace.
He held the memorial in his hand and looked at Tian Lingzi who was standing with his head down in the temple. He said cathartically, “I knew Prince An would not let me down. I knew he was going to breach Guanzhong! Prince An would never disappoint me. He really is my lucky star, and the pillar of my Tang Empire!”
Tian Lingzi lowered his head, and a look of murder flashed in his eyes. He pretended to be happy and added, “Your Majesty is right. Prince An is indeed a pillar of the state. Let’s not forget however, that Prince An did have the Yanmen Army’s help breaching Tongguan. Prince An did not order the soldiers to attack until the Yanmen Army got to Tongguan.”
Li Yan was stunned and said, “Oh? Is that true?”
Tian Lingzi quickly added, “Your Majesty, everything I said is true, and I do not dare to deceive.”
Li Yan suddenly smiled and said, “So he did have the Yanmen army’s assistance, big deal. The Pinglu troops were the ones that breached Tongguan. At the end of the day, Prince An is still the meritorious statesman.”
Tian Lingzi stopped arguing. Li Yan was pacing up and down in excitement before the royal table. He looked at Li Yan with the same expression as looking at a three-year-old child, so he smiled and said, “Your Majesty is right.”
Then, just like playing with a child, Tian Lingzi made Li Yan happy before he left.
The smile on Tian Lingzi ‘s face disappeared as soon as walked out the door and in its place was a hint of anger and ferocity. “Ah Prince An, now I see that you are capable of anything. And no matter how much I value you, It is still not enough for you.”
Guangling, Huainan.
Leaning on the short bed, Gao Pian enjoyed the singing and dancing in the hall while savoring wine.
The wine was naturally top shelf, a rare classic Shidong Chun. And the female entertainer was of course a headliner, whom he bought with a big price from Yangzhou. Therefore, Gao Pian was really enjoying himself, sometimes closing his eyes, and sometimes waving his head, some people would think he was drunk.
Gao Pian obviously was not drunk. He had not been drunk for a long time. Although he drank limitlessly every day, the more he wanted to get drunk, the more he was sober. And that had made him miserable.
Gao Pian had been like this since he suffered defeat at the hands of Huang Chao last year. The famous general who had never known loss was a thing in the past. He was now the withered flower.
Gao Pian could not recover from such a setback. He no longer had the courage to send troops to the Central Plains. Even after hearing about Prince An attacking Dengzhou, he had no intention to join the fray.
Now, apart from drinking the days away, seeking a path to immortality and finding Tao were his only interests.
There might not be any immortals, but Taoism had to exist. Even if he couldn’t find Tao, there were always Taoists.
After the songs and dances disappeared, an old babyfaced Taoist with white hair walked in the hall. He was hale and hearty. He sat down in front of Gao Pian, and a smile like a spring breeze showed on his face. He said then, “What does the general want to hear today?”
Gao Pian did not bother getting up but just leaned on the short bed and replied, “How about Laozi crossing Hangu on a cow.”
The Taoist kept smiling. “The general has heard it many times.”
Gao Pian shoved some wine in his mouth and smiled. “What haven’t I heard of?”
Taoist replied, “There is one thing.”
“Oh really, let’s hear it then.”
“Prince An and Li Ye had breached Tongguan!”
“What?” Gao Pian suddenly froze in shock, the goblet fell from his hand and wine spilled all over him.”
After Zhu Wen surrendered to Tang, he joined forces with Wang Chongrong.
Those two didn’t exactly sit around, who kept attacking the surrounding vassal states. Since Zhu Wei had surrendered to Tang, he wanted to prove himself. And the only way to settle in was to win battles. Wang Chongrong had also settled his past differences with Zhu Wen and fought together.
Zhu Wen’s sect was already elite otherwise he could not have beaten Fengxiang, Binning and Xiasui vassal state armies. Wang Chongrong’s Hezhong army was no pushover either. Even Zhu Wen suffered a loss when they fought. Though that loss was due to Yan Shi the inspector’s interference and misdirection, the Hezhong army’s strength was not to be underestimated.
After joining forces, they won battles everywhere they went, which had earned them quite a reputation. When the nearby Tang Vassal State Armies saw how great they fought together, they were excited and wanted to fight alongside them. Of course they helped because they wanted to grab merits so that after the war they too would be rewarded by the imperial court.
After a series of wins, Zhu Wen was a bit swollen with pride. He felt he played a crucial part in the Tang’s battle victories. When Zhu Wen fought the Tang army for Huang Chao, he beat the crap out of them. Now that he was on Tang’s side, he gave Huang Chao a bit of an ass-kicking too. Old Zhu thought very highly of himself, and he puffed up his chest wherever he went.
On this day, just as Zhu Wen was discussing battle details, a military messenger rushed into the camp and headed directly towards their tent. He started screaming along the way. “The Pinglu army has breached Tongguan and Hua Zhou! And the Yanmen army is charging towards Chang’an!”
This was great news. Usually when there was great news, the messenger would yell along the way to motivate everyone. This time was no different.
When Wang Chongrong heard the news, he was excited. He couldn’t help praising, “Great! Prince An is indeed extraordinary. Ever since he began leading the Pinglu soldiers, they’ve been unstoppable. First it was taking over Dengzhou, then Guandong. Now they’ve even breached Tongguan in such a short time. The rebels are now finished!”
Zhu Wen’s eyes twitched as he revealed a strange expression. He did not know what to say.
When Wang Chongrong saw his expression, he remembered Zhu Wen being defeated by Li Ye in Dengzhou. Knowing what he was about to say was inappropriate and awkward, But Wang didn’t care and just started laughing, then he asked Zhu Wen, “I believe General Zhu has fought against the Pinglu army. In your opinion, when would the Pinglu soldiers get to Chang’an and attack?”
Zhu Wen took a deep breath and added, “I’ve no idea when the Pinglu soldiers would get to Chang’an. But I do know that if we don’t hurry, we won’t get a chance to fight rebels!”
Zhu Wen had intended to garner more merits so that he would be rewarded and rise in the ranks. So when he heard that the Pinglu troops were about to enter the city, he started to panic. He knew all too well the strength of the Pinglu army, and that of the Huang Chao army. And now that he knew Li Ye was about to snatch the merit away from him, he naturally could no longer sit still.
Compared with Li Ye taking Guandong and breaching Tongguan, his previous military exploits were not even worth seeing.
Wang Chongrong and Zhu Wen did not have to wait long before Wang Duo’s messenger arrived with an order for the Hedong Army to attack the capital.
Not only did the Hezhong army receive this order, so did the Guandong armies from all four sides.
When the Pinglu and Yanmen forces breached Guanzhong. The standoff between the Tang forces and the Rebellion forces had suddenly been broken. Now it was the time for the Tang army to attack, and it was also the last battle against Huang Chao.
Banners and flags waved high above the military camp outside of Chang’an. Tens of thousands of troops gathered on the grounds. You could not see the end of their neat formations, and their ferocious fighting spirit was obvious.
Huang Chao, who was in full armor, actually stood high on the Commander Appointment Stage. He stood with his blade pressed on the floor, looking murderous.
Behind him, Shang Rang, Zhao Zhang, Yang Xigu, Meng Kai, Gai Hong and other more than 20 famous generals in Qi Empire crowed round Huang Chao like a myriad of stars surrounded the moon.
Huang Chao looked around at everyone, his eyes were like a sword swept over the faces of the sergeants at the front line. He suddenly spoke, and his cultivation of the Spiritual Master Realm made his sly voice spread far and clear into every soldier’s ear.
“Ever since I staged the uprising, my troops have crossed the Central Plains, fought bloody battles every day in the north and south without a day’s rest. The Qi Empire has been built on such mentality! I’m a scholar, and you guys are farmers, craftsmen, merchants and vagabonds, but I’ve been in bloody battles with you guys, so why? When a ruler is hopeless, chaos erupts in the world. When governors are corrupt, the people suffer. When the rich are greedy, you guys become homeless!”
“When the heavens and earth are ruthless, everything is treated like homeless dogs. Everyone’s body is given by parents, so why don’t you deserve clothes and food but the ones in power do? So why are the nobles and the ruling class born with silver spoons in their mouths? I think this is unfair. I hate seeing dirty dogs in powerful positions. I can’t bear to see you guys die from starvation! That is why I staged the uprising, to overthrow the Tang dynasty and establish the great Qi Empire. All I want is to give you homes, and put food on your tables and clothing on your back!”
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