From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Chapter 981

The journey started on the first day of the new year. With the master accompanying us, it was not boring.

It was just that everyone was changing. For example, Nie Zairong became humble and resolute, and had a long-term strategic vision.

For example, the master... was more insightful and indifferent than before. He seemed to care nothing. He was not moved by the disaster victims he saw along the way. He just talked to Zhou Yuan casually.

Time passed quickly. In a blink of an eye, it was the seventh day of the new year. When it was about 400 miles away from Huaiyang, Zhang Fei came back.

"See the prince."

Zhang Fei came back alone. He was obviously very tired. He must have traveled all night.

"Four days ago, Li Jingzhi led an army of 80,000 and broke through Huaiyang, killing Jin Zhentang and all the civil and military officials of the Jin Dynasty and the harem family members, and bloodbathed Huaiyang."

"He established a capital there and named it Jingchao, also known as Yuanchu."

"He refused to surrender and wrote a letter for me to pass on to the prince."

Zhou Yuan was silent for a moment, then sneered: "He is smart, and he knew to take advantage of my attack on Seoul to seize the opportunity to kill Jin Zhentang and grab the name of orthodoxy."

"But where did he get 80,000 people?"

Zhang Fei said: "Land distribution."

"He implemented a new policy and told the people that one person who joined the army could be allocated two acres of land, which aroused enthusiastic registration, The team grew in an instant, and Jin Zhentang's soldiers also rebelled and surrendered to him. The attack on Huaiyang was very smooth. "

Zhou Yuan couldn't help laughing: "Very good, very insightful. Before, they divided money and food, but now they know how to divide land."

"Money and food are different from land. The latter belongs to the means of production and is the foundation of the people in this era."

"Heaven and earth support people. It is really outstanding to be able to achieve this in Goryeo."

"If it weren't for me, the external force, he should be the final winner."

Zhang Fei handed the letter to Zhou Yuan and said: "Li Jingzhi said that this was written by him."

Zhou Yuan opened the letter and frowned.

"I said I would trample everyone under my feet, and I would be the biggest one."

"Now I have destroyed the Jin Dynasty with my own hands, and I have gained a lot of people's hearts. I have divided the land and formulated new policies. We are united and united."

"Zhou Yuan, I know you have the ability to defeat me, but you have at least seen my ability."

"If you want me to die, you can do it easily, but if you want me to surrender and work for the Li Dynasty, then make a bet with me."

"As long as you can capture Huaiyang without using cannons, I will accept it."

"Do you dare to bet? If you dare to bet, don't fire the cannon."

Zhou Yuan tore up the letter at any time.

He looked strange and shook his head, saying, "How stupid! Why does he think I would use the lives of my own soldiers to make such a bet with him?"

"Without the cannon, I can easily capture Huaiyang, but I will at least have thousands more casualties."

"How could I do such a stupid thing? He takes himself too seriously."

"He doesn't understand that war never has rules and no bottom line."

After speaking, Zhou Yuan waved his hand and said, "Keep going. Try to get to Huaiyang within four days and blow up the city tower for him."

Four days was actually optimistic, because the mountain road was not easy to walk. After going around and around, it was not until the seventh day that we arrived at the gate of Huaiyang.

Calculating the time, it took a full fourteen days.

Dozens of falconets have been set up, and the soldiers of the elite battalion have also put on heavy armor, ready to attack at any time.

Zhou Yuan said: "Zhang Fei, give Li Jingzhi an ultimatum, tell him to surrender before dark, otherwise we will open fire."

"Send it with a flying arrow. If this guy turns against you and kills you, it will be a big loss."

Zhang Fei smiled and said: "I understand."

He wrote the letter, tied it to the arrow, and shot it directly to the tower of Huaiyang with a crossbow.

A moment later, Li Jingzhi's voice came from the tower: "Zhou Yuan! I will never kneel down again!"

He almost shouted his throat out, and his voice was full of hostility.

Zhang Fei came back to report, and Zhou Yuan also shook his head and said: "You have backbone, then fight."

Dozens of falconets fired at once, and the iron balls with flaming fire hit the low tower, directly blasting the stone bricks.

The gap has been opened, and the heavy cavalry began to charge. This place is much easier to fight than Seoul. It doesn't take any effort at all, and they just crushed all the way in.

The quality of these rebels was not even as good as that of the island bandits. When they saw such a terrifying heavy cavalry, they were immediately scared and pissed themselves and were directly defeated.

Wu Yaoying rushed in and quickly occupied various streets according to the original method to control the traffic of the entire city.

Zhou Yuan walked into the city slowly and saw Li Jingzhi sitting on a chair.

This kid even made himself a gilded chair, which was quite like an emperorCrazy.

"Kill me!"

Li Jingzhi grinned and said, "I have already sat in this position, I have achieved my ambition, even if I did not unify the entire Goryeo territory, I at least... I at least did it."

Zhou Yuan said, "Sitting in this position is nothing, it's nothing more than deceiving yourself."

Li Jingzhi grinned and said, "Enough! I have suffered so much, all for today."

"I am satisfied to die today."

Zhou Yuan sneered and wanted to expose him, but he held back in the end.

He said slowly: "You said you wanted to put everyone under your feet and become a great man."

Li Jingzhi said: "Yes! I did it! I will go down in history!"

Zhou Yuan shook his head, sighed, and said: "But, great men are not like this."

"A great man does not put everyone under his feet."

"But... let everyone stand up!"

"Stand at the same height as you."

Li Jingzhi's body stiffened, and he looked up at Zhou Yuan with a look of astonishment on his face.

Zhou Yuan said: "You have been on the wrong path from the beginning. You are smart enough and talented enough, but if you are going in the wrong direction, you will not succeed."

"If you did not want to step on everyone at the beginning, but let everyone stand up, you might have succeeded and could not wait for me to come."

"Li Jingzhi, it is true that heaven and earth support people, but it is cowardly to attribute failure to this."

Speaking of this, Zhou Yuan shook his head and said: "I will not kill you. I will let you follow the grassroots officials to help the poor. After a few years, you will have new insights."

"Take him down, escort him to Goryeo, and explain the situation to the Holy Mother."

The guards took him away, and Li Jingzhi said nothing, as if he was dead.

Zhang Fei frowned and said, "My Lord, this kind of person is determined not to surrender. He is no longer useful. Why don't you kill him?"

Zhou Yuan said, "He is determined not to surrender? Ha, he is just trying to save face."

"If he refused to surrender, he would have fled to his hometown in northeastern Goryeo, withdrawn his forces, and fought like a trapped beast."

"He stayed here and was bombarded, in fact, just to surrender, but he didn't want to bear the reputation of surrendering."

"After all, he is young, his temperament is not mellow enough, and he takes these things about face too seriously."

Speaking of this, Zhou Yuan smiled and said, "But he is talented. The Virgin Sister needs this kind of young power to help her govern the country."

"After spending a few years at the grassroots level and seeing the real suffering, he will mature when he grows up."

"Zhang Fei, war is never the goal, peace is."

"We can't just kill him for pleasure, saying that he is trash, which is meaningless."

He patted Zhang Fei on the shoulder and whispered, "We can't stay here. Goryeo should be handed over to the Goryeo people."