Emperor Anping returned to Beijing and then held a grand ceremony to the temple.

The emperor wore a grand dang robe and accompanied by Tang King Li Xiao, he bowed three times and kowtowed in the Taimiao to worship his ancestors. Of course, he especially worshiped Emperor Chongzhen, who died tragically under the sword of a bandit.

When he was bowing, the emperor remembered the past and couldn't help but burst into tears, sighing and crying. The court officials also shed tears and secretly felt sad.

Among these people, Li Xiao’s mood is the most complicated.

After flying by four years, he finally regained the capital that Li Zicheng had occupied and even surrendered to the Taimiao to comfort and worship his ancestors. This was extremely exciting, but his situation was becoming more and more subtle.

Speaking of which, now I am the real ruler of the Ming Empire, Emperor Anping, who is only ten years old, is just a small puppet.

Perhaps, in the near future, the throne that has returned to the heart of the world will be taken over by myself...

Next, the puppet-like Emperor Anping ordered Li Xiao, the number one hero of the Ming Dynasty and the giant pillar of the Heavenly Resonance, to add nine tins.

Jiuxi (commonly "given") is a nine kinds of ritual instruments given to princes by ancient Chinese emperors and ministers who have special merits, and is a sign of the highest courtesy.

The nine special gifts are: chariots, horses, clothes, Lexian, Zhuhu, Nabi, tigers, axes, bows, arrows, and turtles.

One is a chariot and horse. It refers to a golden chariot and a large chariot and a military chariot and a military chariot and a military chariot and a military chariot and a military chariot and a military chariot and a military chariot and a military chariot and a military chariot and a military chariot and a military chariot and a military chariot and a military chariot and a military chariot and a military

The second is clothing. It refers to a robe and crown, plus a pair of red robes. Those who can comfort the people will give it.

The third is Le County. It is designated sound and sound utensils. Those who make people harmonious and happy will give it. It is also called "Hanging Music".

The fourth is the red house. It refers to the red lacquer gate. It is given to it by many people.

The fifth is to say "Habi". There are two statements. One is the special level of the palace when climbing the hall, so that the ascendant will not reveal his body, and it is still a special channel for VIPs. The second is the wooden staircase with a shorter staircase, so that the climbing steps will be too steep. These two statements are not very specific. Those who can advance well will give it to him.

The sixth is called Hu Ben. The number of Hu Ben guards guarding the gate is called 300 people; it also refers to weapons, halberds, thorns, etc. The one who can retreat evil will be given to Hu Ben.

The seventh is the bow and arrow. The red bow and arrow are hundreds of, and the mysterious bow and arrow are thousands of. It refers to the special red and black special bow and arrow that can conquer unrighteousness.

Eight is an axe. Those who can punish guilty will be given.

The ninth is called 结后. It refers to the incense wine used for offering sacrifices and rituals, made of rare black millet and turmeric grass. Those who are filial to prepare their filial piety will give it.

In history, Cao Cao had accepted the "Nine Tin" given by Emperor Xian of Han. Originally, these items were all honors given to ministers by the emperor. The problem is that the so-called "Nine Tin" such as Wang Mang, Cao Cao, Sun Quan, and Sima Zhao had accepted them; later, the founding emperors of the Song, Qi, Liang, Chen dynasties to the Sui and Tang dynasties all received "Nine Tin", so "Nine Tin" became synonymous with usurpation.

In front of everyone, Li Xiao accepted the gift from the emperor expressionlessly.

Last time, Emperor Anping ascended the throne, he wanted to give Li Xiao Jiuxi, but he finally refused. But this time, after pretending to give in, Li Xiao finally accepted it.

Perhaps, only he himself knows how heavy this gift and reward are and what it means.

It's time to come, it will always come.

Of course, Li Xiao is not in a hurry to take this step now before he completely dealt with Li Zicheng.

After all, it is the best way to become emperor when the country is unified and the entire land of China is under its complete control.

Therefore, after the sacrifice of Taimiao, Li Xiao immediately ordered the troops and servants of the country to go west with all their might and attack Li Zicheng who was hiding in Shaanxi.

The troops attacked Li Zicheng were divided into two routes, one from western Henan, attacking Tongguan with all their strength, preparing to directly attack Li Zicheng's nest Xi'an after capturing Tongguan.

On the other side, he set out from Xuanfu West Road and attacked northern Shaanxi with all his might, preparing to use the power of huge rocks to crush the eggs to destroy Li Zicheng.

Li Xiao ordered that more than 400,000 troops and horses were divided into two groups and traveled westward like two heavy hammers, attacking Li Zicheng's Dashun Kingdom with huge rocks.

The two routes of soldiers and horses actually have their own emphasis, that is, the Northern Route Army, which set out from Xuanfu West Road in the north, mainly consists of cavalry and infantry as the auxiliary, and is equipped with a small number of artillery troops. The number of cavalry and infantry starting from the west is much smaller than that of the Northern Route Army, and the troops under it are more heavy artillery troops.

The reason for this configuration is actually very simple, that is, Tongguan is in a natural danger and is extremely difficult to conquer, so Li Xiao had to mobilize a large number of artillery troops to blast the first natural danger into Shaanxi.

In real history, Li Zicheng defended the defenders of Tongguan for a month, but the Qing army had not yet been able to invade, which made the Qing army leader Duoduo very upset. In the end, he was able to successfully break open the city wall and capture Tongguan after transporting a large number of red and barbarian cannons.

Li Xiao will naturally learn from such historical lessons. After all, the Tang army's heavy artillery, in terms of quantity and power, far exceeds the Red Barbarian cannons of this era. Of course, Li Zicheng's troops stationed in it must be a more fierce and cruel blow.

Ten days later, nearly 200,000 troops from the Western Route Army came to Tongguan under the leadership of Tian Wei, the first town of the Tang army.

The west of Tongguan is Bohua Mountain, adjacent to the Qinling Mountains in the south, Taolin in the east, and to the west is the convergence of the three major rivers, the Yellow River, Weishui and Luoshui River. It is the junction of Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan provinces, with deep valleys and deep cliffs, high mountains and ridges, and a small path in the middle. It only accommodates a car and a horse. It has always been the key to the three Qin and four towns. It is the most dangerous pass in China since the Qin and Han Dynasties. In front of this pass, even if you have thousands of troops, it is difficult to jeopardize the security of this pass.

In addition to the towering city walls, there are also the Epilou City Pavilion. There are twelve cities and three city towers in the south of the Guan, connecting the mountain to the city wall. There are dangerous valleys in the north of the Guan, and the Yellow River water rushes by next to it. Although it is the junction of the three waters, the water still has a great momentum. It is impossible to cross the river nearby.

At this time, the morning light first appeared. Tian Wei, the commander of the Tang army, looked at the Henghuan's majestic pass among the mountains and ridges, and there was an indescribable sense of pride that rushed straight into his chest. Looking around, there were Tang army soldiers wearing red armor, with neat arrays, bright swords and guns in their hands, and dazzling cold light.

Historically, An Lushan broke through Tongguan and Wanyan Huo's daughter broke through Tongguan. It was just that the defenders in the pass themselves. If the two armies were really confronted and forcibly breaking through the gate under such terrain would be no different from dying.

While excited, I heard the civil servants around me stroked their beards again and chanted in a roar: "When the rain stops, I will stop at the Jin Tower. The mountains are magnificent and the three servants are closed, and the gates are closed and the Jiuzhou. The river flows around Huayin. When we climb to the late arrival, the wind and smoke are sorrowful to thousands of miles."

Tian Wei was excited and immediately ordered that the soldiers of the army stop working hard and immediately line up. The more than 600 heavy artillery pieces in the general were all arranged on the road, arranged in one hundred gates and one by one, and hit Tongguan.

He knew that an extremely strong city wall like Tongguan would be destroyed with difficulty after a bombardment. It was very likely that several bombardments would take place, and even several days of continuous attack before victory could be achieved. Therefore, he set up this formation, hoping to take advantage of the advantages of continuous bombardment to take Tongguan down in one fell swoop.

On the fifth day of March 3, Anping, the largest siege battle of the Tang army since its establishment officially began.

The morning light surged, the sky appeared, and the loud swan sounded loudly, and the Tang army finally began to attack Tongguan.

When he heard the siege horn coming from outside the city, the commander of Tongguan City Haohou Li Guo who was still in a hangover, woke up from his sleep instantly.

Li Guo rubbed his swollen eyes, and his heart was shocked and suspicious. Why was it so good? Why did the siege alarm sound? Could it be that the Tang army started siege today?

But this Tongguan City is so powerful that the city is solid and the defense is well prepared. It is not so easy for the Tang army to attack the city.

At this moment, the door slammed and was pushed open suddenly, and a panting soldier ran in quickly.

"Why are you so rude? You break in without reporting first? You are becoming less and less rules. By the way, why is there an alarm outside?!" Li Guo frowned and shouted at the small soldier with a stern voice.

"Report to General, big things are bad!" The soldier replied with a look of horror and panting: "There are a large number of Tang soldiers outside the city, pushing nearly two hundred cannons and shouting at the south gate of Tongguan City, shouting and attacking!"

Xiaobing's words were like a scoop of cold water, poured from Li Guo's head, and he stood up from the head of the bed, his eyes wide open. The two blood-red eyes were filled with shock and incredible expressions.

No?!

The Tang army really has the courage and courage to attack my Tongguan city?!

"Go away! Take the book and go and see it!"

"Abide by the order!"

Li Guo, who came to the east gate of Tongguan City, pointed his arm along the soldier's arm and saw in horror that in the east of Tongguan City, as many as 100 heavy artillery of the same size were pushed out from the densely surrounded Tang army formation, forming a straight line, and slowly pushing forward. These heavy artillery that were silently moving forward shone with a faint silver light under the reflection of the rising sun.

One hundred heavy steel dragon guns flashing with silver gray were slowly pushed one thousand meters outside the east gate of Tongguan by the Tang army gunners. Next, the Tang army gunners began to fix the gun frame, adjust the firing angle, load gunpowder and shells, and soon made preparations for combat.

These 100 heavy dragon guns lined up along the east wall of Tongguan City, with majestic momentum. The black muzzle was facing the opposite Tongguan City Wall. The awesome momentum made the enemy guarding the city so scared that they began to weaken their legs.

Good guy, these cannons look so scary that you can imagine how amazing the power will be once they are released.

The main general Li Guo had already seen such a terrifying cannon in Henan, and his face was filled with cold sweat.

At this time, there were many young and strong men and women who were drawn from the people to participate in defending the city. For these people, it was the first time in their lives that they had seen such a strange-shaped huge cannon. In addition to fear and worry, they also felt inexplicably excited and curious.

They were chattering and talking in a low voice, without knowing that these heavy cannons with huge black muzzles would be their best tool for ascending to heaven for free.

Seeing the Tang army pushing the artillery so proudly, Li Guo, the commander who had experienced many battles, almost intuitively felt that if the Tang army allowed to attack the city like this, it would definitely cause extremely terrible damage and attacks in the city wall of Tongguan. Such a result must be found before the Tang army began to attack the city.

Li Guo thought quickly and shouted to these soldiers guarding the city and Qingshang: "Don't panic, everyone! There are enough troops and horses in my Tongguan city and are well prepared. The Tang army wants to capture this Tongguan city, but I am afraid that he will not have such a good mouth! In addition, there are still two thousand cavalry in my city. When these Tang army artillery approach, our army can send cavalry to break out of the city, catch them off guard, and make their artillery a pile of useless scrap iron!"

As soon as Li Guo said this, the soldiers on the city wall were greatly encouraged, and the people became much more calm and the panic became much smaller.

However, although Li Guo said this, he had no confidence in his heart.

Will these Tang army artillery be so easy to be eliminated by the cavalry who left the city to attack? Will the chief general of the Tang army be so negligent? Could it be that it is just a wishful conjecture?

Li Guo was forced to calm down on the surface, but he couldn't help but sigh quietly in his heart.

Do your best and leave your destiny.

Li Guo took a long breath and quickly began the battle arrangements. He ordered the 4,000 cavalrymen in the city to wait at the east gate together, and wait for the Tang army artillery to get closer, and then leave the city to raid. The east wall was also guarded by him and his elite troops.

To his surprise, the Tang army artillery that were moving slowly stopped 800 steps away from the east gate of Tongguan City. Then these Tang army gunners were extremely skillful in loading fixed gunpowder on the spot, calculating the distance with the gun yard, adjusting the firing angle, and preparing to shoot.

Li Guo's eyes widened immediately.

In fact, he knew that the accurate range of the Tang army artillery could actually reach one thousand steps. The reason why it was two hundred steps ahead of time was probably because considering the Tongguan City, the bottom of the city wall was specially raised compared to the surrounding terrain. Therefore, the Tang army gunners had to consider the elevation angle and projectile degree, so that the Tang army would further advance the distance between these artillery in order to more effectively defeat the city wall.

The Tang army is about to fire. What should we do?

Just as Li Guo was suspicious, they heard from a distance that there were faint shouts coming from the Tang army formation.

"preparation!"

"put!"

Li Guo saw from afar that a man with an officer-like appearance in front of the Tang army artillery formation, swinging the red flag in his hand. At the same time, he shouted loudly. The steel heavy dragon-strike guns with a huge caliber at the door and 32 kilograms of cannon shells were immediately fired.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

...

In the continuous sound of huge cannons that shook the eardrums, the guns of 100 heavy dragon storms immediately floated with bloody red flames, and a dazzling golden flame flashed. In the thick and pungent white smoke, 100 huge black iron bombs weighing 32 pounds, with the sound of death, hitting the east wall of Tongguan City hard.
Chapter completed!