Great Tang Southern Emperor

"Should... not?"

"Yeah, I haven't heard that King Jin has a virus laboratory?"

"The probability is not high, Luo Zhe, you are too worried."

"The establishment of a virus laboratory is not a small project. King Jin may not have this ability before."

"..."

Everyone meant the same thing, that is, Luo Zhe was thinking too much. The virus laboratory, which was accumulated purely by resources and time, was not something that Li Zhi, a mere prince, could play around with.

However, Li Zhen has a different opinion on this...

Chapter 1259 The content of this chapter is a bit complicated, so I can't name it.

Chapter 2 The content of this chapter is a bit complicated, so I can't name it.

"Your Highness, what do you think? Will King Jin use the plague to fight?" Qin Huaiyu asked quickly when he saw Li Zhen's expression changed.

"My opinion is exactly the opposite of yours. My ninth younger brother is not a simple character. So in my opinion, this is not a question of whether it will happen, but a certainty. He will definitely use this trick. Yes." Facing Qin Huaiyu's question, Li Zhen gave different answers: "Although my ninth brother is not capable of virus research and development, as far as I know, the old blood alliance jointly formed by the aristocratic family also has a A laboratory specializing in the study of viruses. Although the strength of this laboratory is not strong, at least it is much worse than Chen Tianlu's laboratory and Cheng Jianxi's laboratory, but after so many years, they should be able to use money piles alone. Some results have been piled up... You should know about the plague in Langzhou last year, right?"

Cheng Chuliang thought for a while, and said, "Your Highness, what you said was the typhoid plague that happened on a large scale in Langzhou last year, but because the old god Sun Simiao happened to pass by for treatment, so few people died from the typhoid plague?"

"It was that time." Li Zhen nodded and said: "According to the information I know, the typhoid fever that time was not a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster. The power of their typhoid virus... It's a pity that their damage power is not very good, and they happened to meet the old god Sun again. As you know, almost all of Langzhou was infected, but less than 100 people died of the disease... ..."

"Hahaha..." Everyone laughed. Although they were angry at the way the other party used their compatriots to test the virus, they couldn't help laughing when they heard the results.We must know that plague was synonymous with death in ancient times. Which plague in ancient times caused death not counted in tens of thousands?But when it came to the blood alliance, with so much effort, only dozens of lives were killed (although dozens of lives are lives, but it is nothing compared to a large-scale plague), although there are also Sun Simiao's contribution, but it also proves that the enemy's virus is not very powerful.

If it is a really powerful virus that will die within a short time after the onset, then even if Sun Simiao has the ability to deal with 10 people in a state, he probably has more than enough heart but not enough power?Those who are seriously ill will probably die before Sun Simiao treats them. It can be seen that their virus is really not very good-you have spent so much effort, and the result is so little. Are you kidding me?

After laughing, Li Zhen's expression turned solemn again: "But that was already a year ago, and now a year has passed, and no one knows if they have made a breakthrough. What's more, I also got a piece of news, that is When we cleaned up Chengjianxi, some of the remnants were not caught, and these people have already voted for my ninth brother, God knows if there is a deadly virus in their hands..."

"This matter is easy to talk about." Qin Huaiyu said: "This subordinate will go down to collect the medicinal materials along the way, and ensure the sanitation of the camp, so as to ensure that there is no danger."

"That's the only way to go. It's a pity that we can't do this kind of thing. Otherwise, we only need to inject some powerful viruses to ensure that Chang'an City will fall without a fight..." Fang Yiai said regretfully.

"There is no way to do this. After all, we are people from the Tang Dynasty. It is already against the sky to fight our own people. Using weapons of mass destruction is even more harmful. What's more, my palace made an attack a long time ago. I made a poisonous oath that I would never use weapons of mass destruction on my own people." Li Zhen sighed, why didn't he want to end this war as quickly as possible?Moreover, he also possesses the ability. Whether it is a highly contagious virus, a large-scale chemical gas, or a variety of highly toxic substances that can be released in water sources, he has everything in his hands. If he can be ruthless If you use these things, you can definitely end this war within three days without bloodshed.

The problem is that he can't do this. There are indeed humanitarian considerations, but it's more about the aftermath. If using these weapons can indeed end the war quickly, what about after the war?This matter is destined to be hidden. Once this matter is leaked, what Li Zhen will face in the future will be the dissension of the common people all over the world. The demands of the common people are very simple and easy to satisfy. As long as they don't starve to death, they won't rebel.It's just that although they can accept a fatuous emperor, it doesn't mean they are willing to accept a tyrant who doesn't take their lives seriously.

The tyrants in the past have never ended well. No matter how capable you are, you will eventually be overthrown by the people. This is true for King Zhou, Emperor Qin Shihuang, and Emperor Sui Yang. Perhaps they have no choice but to do so. But the common people don't care whether you have difficulties or not, they only know that they can't survive, if you don't let us live, then we will definitely not let you live well.

It can be said that once Li Zhen really uses weapons of mass destruction, he will immediately lose the popularity of the people. Focusing on the road of conquest, there will be very little time to pay attention to domestic affairs-how similar is this to Emperor Sui Yang?

Once Li Zhen loses the battle on the front line, there will likely be turmoil in the country - the aristocratic families and other forces who have failed in the struggle will never let go of such an opportunity, but at this time Li Zhen has lost the support of the people. Under the circumstances, even if he has the ability to reach the sky, I am afraid that he will be able to stabilize the situation, let alone secure the throne. It is more likely that he will be pulled from the throne by the angry people, and he will never recover.

"But why did King Jin dare to do this? If he wins in the end, then he will also face the scene that His Highness said?" Yuchi Baoqing asked, if he really wanted to do what Li Zhen said, then Li Zhi would not dare to do so do it?Otherwise, if the news leaks out, Li Zhen's inference just now is likely to become Li Zhi's fate in the future, right?

Qin Huaiyu explained: "It's not easy? Of course it's because King Jin has scapegoats. With so many families under him, he only needs to blame any small family, and then cry again, and the next If you have committed a crime or something, then you can enjoy the results with peace of mind? If the people have an explanation, naturally there will be no troubles."

This is Li Zhi's advantage, that is, his subordinates are mainly cooperative, so they can abandon some small families at any time as the scapegoat.But this is not enough for Li Zhen. Although he also has alliance forces, most of his forces have become his confidantes. For example, the aristocratic families under his command are really loyal to Li Zhen, and Taoism , also closely cooperates with Li Zhen, Li Zhen can certainly abandon these forces, but once he does something to abandon his allies, then the rest of his subordinates will immediately turn away from him or even directly betray him. Don't say that with Li Zhen's character, she can't do this kind of thing.

Regarding Qin Huaiyu's conjecture, Li Zhen also agreed: "Probably that's what he thinks. My ninth brother, don't look at him who is usually gentle, courteous and frugal, filial and gentle. He is a real gentleman, but in fact he is comparable. Everyone is darker, but he is very smart and knows how to cover up his black heart in the shell he wove, if you don't get to know him deeply, it is impossible to see through his true face."

Luo Zhe then said: "That's true. We were all deceived by Ye's appearance. Fortunately, I thought he was a good person before. Who knew that he would dare to do something to force the palace to usurp the throne? It really surprised everyone." Unexpected... Hey, it's only because he usually hides so well that even His Majesty was deceived by him, which made his plot succeed..."

"Okay, let's not talk about this, let's go on according to our respective plans, my ninth brother will make trouble at any time, we have to make preparations." Speaking of Li Zhi's matter, it is a scandal within the royal family after all, and Li Zhen is unwilling He talked too much about this kind of thing, so he changed the subject immediately.

"Yes, my subordinate is resigning." Qin Huaiyu and the others are also smart people, so they immediately stopped this topic and started to collect medicinal materials...

The days that followed were much easier, although Li Zhi also caused a lot of trouble for Li Zhen, and even, as he expected, he dropped the virus where the army must pass.But because Li Zhen had prepared for a long time, collected a large amount of medicinal materials, and had the genius doctor Chen Tianlu by his side, these plagues did not cause Li Zhen too much trouble. Instead, the surrounding people were affected and infected. Quite a few, but fortunately Li Zhen has a lot of medicinal materials, and his chamber of commerce collected them in advance, so it didn't cause any loss.

On the contrary, it was Li Zhen who won the hearts of the people, and by the way, the surrounding aristocratic families were in bad luck—because Li Zhen secretly spread the news that the plague was caused by the aristocratic family, in order to hinder Li Zhen's progress... So the same situation happened in Baima County. The people who knew that they were lying on the gun were not happy. Under the instigation of the internal response arranged by Li Zhen, the angry local people directly demolished the local family...

In addition to the plague, Li Zhi also used other means to stop Li Zhen, but because of the internal response, Li Zhi had just formulated a plan on his side, and Li Zhen had already received the news, and then made corresponding countermeasures .Therefore, Li Zhi's methods did not cause Li Zhen too much trouble. Later, perhaps he also realized that Li Zhen could not be dealt with by tricks alone, so he calmed down rarely, just accumulating strength and preparing to fight against Li Zhen. Chang'an and Li Zhen fought to the death.

At this moment in Datang, the whole world has set its sights on Chang'an, and everyone knows that the next battle will be the one that will dominate the fate of the Tang Dynasty, and there can only be one winner in this battle ——And is King Jin able to protect his own fruit?Or is the prince superior and successfully seized the country?No one can say for sure on this point, except for those already in the team, the rest of the people have turned on the mode of watching from the sidelines. They neither join the king of Jin, nor do they pledge allegiance to the prince, they just sit by and watch the show, waiting for the decision After the real winners are revealed, then is the time for them to offer their loyalty...

This is the survival wisdom of the officialdom. Although the principle of neutrality will not benefit them too much, they will not take too much risk, and no matter who wins in the end, they will be safe and sound and keep their current position There is no problem. After all, no matter who the winner is, he needs the assistance of middle and low-level officials like himself. Otherwise, how can the emperor govern the country by himself?

However, although Li Zhi did not cause trouble for Li Zhen later, because Li Zhen had too many people, the speed was still very slow, and he could only walk less than a hundred miles a day at most, which can be said to be very slow.

This situation continued until Li Zhen came to Luoyang...

Because Luoyang has the largest cattle and horse market in Datang, and don’t forget that today’s Turkic prairie has already become the pasture of Datang, so the daily trading volume of cattle and horses in Luoyang alone is at least several thousand (horses), Therefore, the reserves of cattle and horses here are very rich.This also led to the fact that when the army arrived in Luoyang, Li Zhen, who was rich and powerful, immediately bought a large number of horses for the soldiers to ride. Although these horses were not war horses, they could only be regarded as ordinary pack horses, but even pack horses were important to the army. The speed is still very powerfully improved, after all, four legs are faster than two legs - don't worry about riding skills, after Tang conquered the Turks 20 years ago, there is no shortage of horses. Horses, so any army has riding training. Although they are not very proficient, it is no problem to sit on the horse smoothly and run fast.

Originally, according to the calculations of Li Zhen's staff department, according to the current marching speed, it would take at least ten days to reach Chang'an smoothly, but with this batch of horses, this time will be reduced to less than five days.

Of course, it is not without other disadvantages that the entire army is equipped with horses, that is, the food consumption has directly increased by three times. You must know that the food intake of horses is much larger than that of humans, and horses are very difficult to serve. Horses have to be fed with concentrate, and good horses are fed purely with grain, and sometimes even horses may eat better than humans, which adds to Li Zhen's burden.

Fortunately, Li Zhen has nothing else, but the small money in his hand is still enough, and the food in Datang is not worth much now, so although the burden on Li Zhen's chamber of commerce has increased, it will not really be dragged down, and Even if you are tired, it will only be these few days. Once you wait four or five days, Li Zhen will arrive in Chang'an, and you won't be tired from the chamber of commerce anymore.

Chapter 1260 Entering Guanzhong + Converging Youth Army

Chapter 2 Entering Guanzhong + Joining the Boys' Army

The calculation given by the staff department was not wrong at all, neither too much nor too little, exactly five days later, Li Zhen came to Huazhou not far from Chang'an City.

Speaking of the road to Chang'an, there is a hurdle that Li Zhen must face, and that is Tongguan, which is the first barrier for Guandong to enter the pass.Although now that there are hot weapons, the importance of the checkpoint has been greatly reduced, but such an important pass as Tongguan, Datang has never given up.In the first year when cement was researched by Li Zhen, the Tang Empire used cement to reinforce and renovate these important passes, and its application of cement was earlier than the two major cities of Chang'an and Luoyang.

Therefore, it is not accurate to say that Chang'an and Luoyang were the first cities to use cement. The first batch of cities to use cement were actually important passes such as Tongguan and Wuguan. It is not as big as a county and is not noticeable, so people in the world think that Chang'an and Luoyang are the first cities to use cement in the Tang Dynasty.

And not only that, in the following 20 years, Datang repeatedly reinforced these important passes. Today's Tongguan is completely different from 20 years ago. After that, the height has reached twelve feet, so the height of Tongguan is not considered to be exceeded), the width has also reached more than three feet, and it can even ride four horses side by side without being crowded. The walls are all poured with cement. It is also clamped with steel bars, which can be said to be a real reinforced concrete structure, which is indestructible.In addition, the city walls are also equipped with large-caliber city defense guns, the largest caliber even reaching [-]mm, which is extremely powerful.It can be said to have both offensive and defensive capabilities. In terms of defense, it is no less than Chang'an City. It will take a lot of effort to take Xiongguan down. If you choose to attack by force, there are no tens of thousands of shells that will definitely not collapse the city wall.

Originally, Li Zhen thought that he would have a tough battle here. After all, the importance of Tongguan was too great. Li Zhen had no reason not to pull the guards here into his camp, but the facts were as he expected. On the contrary, when Li Zhen's army arrived, the Tongguan guard surrendered without taking possession, opened the city gate, and welcomed Li Zhen into Tongguan.

After entering the city, Li Zhen was very strange, and asked him why, and then got the reason from it—it turned out that the guard had received Li Zhen's favor in the early years, and kept this kindness in his heart. When Li Zhi usurped the throne, Li Zhen After the news of Zhen's crusade came, the guard immediately thought of a way to repay his kindness.At the beginning Li Zhi did send someone to win him over. In order to keep his position as a guard, he agreed to Li Zhi's win over without hesitation as Li Zhen's support, but in fact he was in Cao Ying and his heart was in Han. Everything he did was to make false claims with the other party, but the real purpose was to wait for Li Zhen's arrival.

Now as soon as Li Zhen arrived, the guards immediately tied up the supervising army sent by Li Zhi, and then opened the city gate to welcome Li Zhen into the city. The threshold of the battle was easily accepted by him.

After learning the truth, Li Zhen also lamented that good and evil will be rewarded in the end, the way of heaven is like reincarnation, and good people will be rewarded after all. A favor that he had inadvertently bestowed, even he himself had forgotten, was unexpectedly memorable. Now that I have helped myself a lot at this critical time, I really need to do more good deeds in the future.

As for such a guard who values ​​love and righteousness, Li Zhen naturally did not hesitate to reward him. Not only did he reward countless gold and silver, but he also promised that as long as he wins this war, he will be promoted and honored. He bowed his head, patted his chest and promised to swear to the death, so...

Li Zhen didn't stay in Tongguan for a long time, just continued on the road after a little repair - in fact, it's not just Li Zhi who can't wait anymore, as the distance from Chang'an gets closer, Li Zhen is actually more important than Li Zhi. Can't wait.

……

"Your Highness, are you so convinced of this Chang Ning? What if he and King Jin are playing hard-to-get tricks? Aren't you worried that he will steal our way?" Continue on the road, after leaving Tongguan, Fang Yi Ai couldn't help asking, Chang Ning was the Tongguan guard, and it was his devotion that saved Li Zhen from a big trouble, but the matter was so smooth that Li Zhen's subordinates had doubts about it and doubted it. Could this be Li Zhixin's conspiracy?

Li Zhen smiled and said, "What about the real thing? What about the fake one? In short, haven't we already entered? Or do you think I will fail this time?"

Fang Yiai quickly explained: "That's not true, it's just that if we are in a decisive battle with the King of Jin, and Chang Ning surprises our rear, it will be a disaster... Knowing that Tongguan is an important pass in the Tang Dynasty, there are a total of 8000 defenders. If these 8000 people are only fighting head-on, we are not afraid, but if they are used as surprise soldiers, they can also cause us a lot of trouble.

"Don't think too much about it. Chang Ning is trustworthy, so you don't have to worry too much." Li Zhen is not an idiot, how could he easily believe other people's one-sided opinions about such things, so when he entered the city, Afterwards, they had people investigate everything about Chang Ning, and finally came to the conclusion that this person has great faith and promises, and he will repay his kindness, and there is a [-]% certainty that he can be trusted.

What's more, even if Chang Ning is not trustworthy, so what?The terrain of Tongguan is special, and the direct result is that it is not defensive from the outside but not from the inside. If it is to defend the enemy from the Kanto, then Tongguan can indeed be said to be easy to defend and difficult to attack, but it is not the case internally, because behind Tongguan is the Loess Plateau. The terrain is much higher than that of Guandong. If you attack from Guanzhong, you will fight from top to bottom. On the contrary, it is extremely easy to take it down—that is to say, Tongguan can only defend against external enemies, but cannot defend against internal attacks. , even if Li Zhen fails in the end and is cut off, there is no need to worry at all.

Not to mention that Li Zhen was absolutely sure of winning the war this time, he never thought about the fact that he would fail when he came to Chang'an this time—at worst, he just killed Li Zhi with spies, even though he did so It will cause damage to Chang'an City, but even his life will be lost. How can Li Zhen care about these things?Anyway, even if Chang'an City was destroyed, the pot belonged to Li Zhi and his aristocratic families, and had nothing to do with Li Zhen.