Datang: Just been appointed as the crown prince, the counterattack system is here

Chapter 260 Li Chengqian: Father, Times Have Changed [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

Several viewing platforms had already been erected on the wasteland of the Wei River outside Chang'an City.

Five hundred Iron Pagodas stood on both sides, holding Mo Dao, their cold iron armor shining coldly in the autumn sun.

The envoys from various countries sitting on the viewing platform had different thoughts and could not help whispering to each other.

Lu Dongzan said thoughtfully, "I see that the Tang army's formation is not simple! This is not an ordinary military formation drill!"

"Oh, it's just bluffing!"

Murong Shun sneered, then picked up the dagger in his hand, stabbed a piece of fruit, and stuffed it into his mouth while muttering, "You have never seen the Tang army's muskets. When you see them, you will probably be surprised.

But that's all, because if you use your brain, you will know that the so-called musket is of no use at all!"

"As long as our cavalry charges, they probably won't even have a chance to fire a shot before they'll be scattered by our cavalry!"

"Oh?" Lu Dongzan raised his eyebrows, immediately becoming interested: "How could this musket be so vulnerable?"

During the time he was in Chang'an, he had inquired about the news of the Tang Dynasty, and things like muskets had become household names since the Double Ninth Festival.

Some people praised the musket as a divine weapon, while others scoffed at it. He heard all of this and thought to himself that if he had the chance, he must see the musket.

But now, after hearing Murong Shun say this after having witnessed the power of the musket with his own eyes, he couldn't help but feel suspicious.

But Murong Shun said with disdain: "To be honest, this musket is not as good as our bow and arrow. It needs to be reloaded after each shot, and the speed is very slow. When it reloads its ammunition next time, it is time to attack it. In my opinion, it is just a toy of the Tang people."

"This"

Lu Dongzan seemed to understand something after hearing this, and showed a look of realization. Then he played with the agate bracelet in his hand while looking at the Tang army with interest.

As for the envoys from other countries, they also did not take the muskets seriously.

They just hope to end this farce as soon as possible and have a final negotiation with the Tang Dynasty.

If the Tang Dynasty still forces them to agree to those two conditions, they don't mind uniting to fight against the Tang Dynasty.

Anyway, with Tuyuhun and Goguryeo leading the way, they have nothing to fear.

And the other side.

Li Chengqian stood in the center of the main stage, looking at the rows of mysterious objects covered with red silk, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

At this time, Li Shimin, who was also standing in the center of the main stage, frowned slightly: "What on earth are you trying to do?"

"Things have already come to this point. Why is your Majesty still dwelling on these things? Why not just sit back on your throne and take your time to see what happens?"

"Hmph! Do I need your guidance? I'm just afraid you'll be like you were at the Double Ninth Festival, losing your composure!"

"hehe."

Li Chengqian smiled without comment, then took out a few bronze tiger talismans and tossed them around casually without continuing to argue with Li Er.

Anyway, that's Li Er's character.

You can cause trouble, but you have to take the blame yourself.

For example, when he killed the Five Surnames and Seven Families, those aristocratic families, do you think he didn't want to kill them? But he chose not to kill them because killing them would ruin his reputation.

But if you want to kill, he will never stop you, but will help you secretly.

Because he knows you can take the blame.

So, this is the "wisdom" of Tian Khan.

Li Chengqian had already seen through it.

And as the father and son fell silent again.

The situation offstage is also constantly changing.

Until a familiar figure strode to the front of the main stage.

"Your Highness, the military exercises are ready. Please give your instructions!"

Su Dingfang knelt on one knee, his Ming Guang armor shining brightly in the sunlight, making Li Shimin's eyes full of passion.

He had fought for so many years, but this was the first time he had seen such beautiful armor.

And looking at the protective power of this armor, it is definitely the best armor in the Tang Dynasty.

I didn’t expect that the armor of a leader of the Eastern Palace would be so powerful. Then what kind of armor is this rebellious son wearing?
Just as Li Shimin was lost in thought, Li Chengqian, who was casually tossing a few bronze tiger talismans beside him, suddenly folded his five fingers and said in a deep voice, "Since we are ready, let them see the power of the Tang Dynasty!"

"promise!"

Su Dingfang agreed, immediately stood up, and shouted loudly to the messenger not far away: "Order - the military exercise has officially begun!"

"Dong dong dong——!"

As Su Dingfang's roar fell, the messenger immediately waved the flag in his hand.

Immediately afterwards, a burst of powerful drum sounds suddenly spread in all directions.

Amid the sound of drums, all the envoys from various countries sitting on the viewing platform, as well as the civil and military officials surrounding the main stage, looked up with solemn expressions.

A group of foreign cavalrymen in prison uniforms appeared in their sight at some point.

On both sides of them were the assembled black-armored guards, blocking their retreat like a city wall.

However, the moment they appeared, an uproar immediately broke out among the envoys from various countries.

"Prince of the Tang Dynasty! What's going on?"

"Yes, Prince of the Tang Dynasty, why are our people here?"

"Tian Khan, we need an explanation!"

Hearing these angry shouts, Li Chengqian remained very calm.

Li Shimin, who was standing aside, was somewhat puzzled, but he also noticed something and did not respond either.

Suddenly, Su Dingfang shouted at the group of foreign cavalry:
"You barbarians have repeatedly invaded the borders of the Tang Dynasty and murdered our people. According to the laws of the Tang Dynasty, you should be sentenced to death!"

"However, Heaven is merciful and merciful. Our Great Tang Emperor and Great Tang Crown Prince are both benevolent rulers and do not wish to slaughter you. Therefore, I will grant you a chance to live."

"As long as you can break through our defenses, the Tang Dynasty will let you live!"

When these words were spoken, the whole audience was shocked.

Especially those foreign envoys who had just expressed their dissatisfaction were instantly speechless.

In fact, they knew why these compatriots appeared here, but they just didn't want them to become the target of the Tang Dynasty's military exercises.

After all, in their view, the Tang Dynasty's actions were really damaging to their country's reputation.

However, as Su Dingfang finished speaking, they could no longer question the Tang Dynasty's actions.

After hearing Su Dingfang's words, the foreign cavalrymen revealed a ferocious look like jackals and waved their weapons wildly at the Tang infantry hundreds of steps away.

It was as if their blood that made them brutally slaughter the people of the Tang Dynasty on the battlefield had been awakened.

Because they knew better than anyone how great an advantage cavalry had over infantry, and as long as they charged, nothing could stop them.

Even if the Tang army was on high alert ahead, they were not afraid.

Finally, they took action.

Under the gaze of everyone in the viewing stand.

They gradually began to run, obviously wanting to break through the Tang army's defense line in one go.

But at this moment, Pei Xuan unhurriedly drew the sword from his waist and ordered the musket guards behind him: "Everyone, take your positions!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the musketeers behind him immediately trotted over to the row of things covered by the red silk and ripped off the red silk with a "rustling" sound.

"This is!?"

Seeing these things they had never seen before, everyone's pupils couldn't help but shrink suddenly.

Some shorter envoys stood up from their seats.

The other envoys, including the civil and military officials of the Tang Dynasty, also stretched their necks and looked at it carefully like giraffes.

As for Murong Shun, the dagger in his hand fell on the table with a "clack", spilling the scalding hot tea, which dripped down the table onto his feet without him even noticing.

".What kind of weapon is this?"

Lu Dongzan looked at Murong Shun with a bewildered expression: "Didn't you say you had a musket?"

"I, this, I"

Murong Shun opened and closed his lips, as if he wanted to say something, but he couldn't say it.

In the same situation as him were envoys from various countries, as well as civil and military officials.

They never imagined that this so-called military exercise would include such a weapons display.

However, before they could react, under Pei Xuan's command, the group of musketeers who ran to the designated position lit torches and waited for the next order.

When the alien cavalry rushed to a distance of about 500 steps from the infantry line, Pei Xuan swung his sword without hesitation and shouted:
"fire--!"

Immediately afterwards, the group of musketeers who picked up torches immediately lit the fuse, and as the cannon violently retracted, flames spurted out of the muzzle.

After a negligible delay.

Deafening artillery fire suddenly rang out from the viewing stand.

“Bang bang bang bang—”

The earth-shattering roar left the envoys from various countries on the viewing platform stunned.

They had no idea what artillery was.

They thought it was the musketry from the Double Ninth Festival banquet night again.

But the moment the artillery roared.

Some of them even bent over reflexively, too scared to speak.

But in their sight, something even more shocking was happening.

All I saw were black shells, accompanied by the sudden contraction of the artillery and the flames spurting out of the muzzle, shooting out violently from the muzzle.

After drawing a very obvious parabola in the sky, it did not fall down and explode directly. Instead, under the action of inertia, it began to fly towards the alien cavalry.

These foreign cavalry were equally unprepared.

Faced with the sudden artillery shells, the people in the front instinctively wanted to dodge, but the speed of the artillery shells was too fast, and they had no time to react and were hit directly by the artillery shells.

View from the viewing platform.

The shells fell like stones into the grass.

Some people had their knees or thighs broken, with crisp sounds of fractures, while others fell down with screams, and even horses were smashed to pieces.

It can be said that wherever the shells pass, almost no one can stop them.

And this happened in a very short period of time.

This caused the foreign cavalry who were still charging to look back subconsciously. As far as they could see, they saw blood all over the ground and horrific scenes of bodies being pierced.

Even though they had experienced countless battlefields, their faces turned pale and their hearts trembled when they saw such a scene.

.........

At the same time, the people on the viewing platform also reacted.

From their position, they could see more clearly the damage caused by the shells.

Just like the scene of wheat harvest in autumn, wherever the shells passed, almost no one around was left intact.

They could even see the gaps in the trajectory of the shells.

This is a quite shocking picture.

Even famous Tang Dynasty generals such as Yuchi Gong, Cheng Yaojin, Hou Junji, Qin Qiong, and Chang He could not help but change their expressions when they saw such a scene.

Among all the people present, the officials from Jiangling knew the performance of artillery best.

Especially generals like Su Dingfang and Xue Rengui, they seemed to have seen a new chapter in their future battles with the enemy.

As for Li Chengqian, although he was the person who knew the most about artillery in this era, he had never truly witnessed the power of artillery.

Because before he left Jiangling, artillery was still in the research and development stage, and the reason why he knew more about artillery than others was because he had the "Encyclopedia" rewarded by the system.

Although the current artillery is far inferior to the artillery of later generations, it still surprised him a lot.

Especially under the attack of solid artillery shells, the miserable state of the alien cavalry made him even feel that it was a bit cruel to attack the enemy with solid bullets.

Not to mention Empress Changsun, she had never even seen fighting on the battlefield, and even slightly bloody scenes were too much for her to look at.

What's more, it was such a tragic scene that he was so scared that his face turned pale and he was about to collapse.

Fortunately, Xiangling was there to support her, helping her maintain her dignity as the queen.

As for Li Shimin, after being surprised for a moment, he came to his senses and was almost ecstatic.

But he exclaimed with delight, "What a powerful firearm! With such firearms, our Tang Dynasty has no reason to fear the coalition forces of other countries!"

"cut!"

Li Chengqian couldn't help but curl his lips and said, "Look at what your father said. My Tang Dynasty is not afraid of the coalition forces of various countries! It is you who are afraid, not my Tang Dynasty." "Rebellious son!"

Li Shimin's face immediately turned dark.

However, before he could argue with Li Chengqian, Li Chengqian's next words stunned him.

Li Chengqian suddenly put away his cynical expression, and said calmly and solemnly as if to announce something:
"Father, times have changed. Wars like the ones you experienced before are probably gone forever. Take a good look at this, this is a new era for our Tang Dynasty!"

"This"

When Li Shimin heard this, he was stunned for a moment.

At the same time, after a moment of fear, the foreign cavalry gradually regained their composure and began to regroup.

There was no longer the fear in his eyes.

To be more precise, their fear has been replaced by a sense of luck.

Because they felt that although the shells fired by artillery were extremely powerful, their attack range was very limited.

They could easily use the cavalry's speed advantage to break through the Tang army's defense line at the cost of a certain proportion of casualties.

It was precisely because of this mentality of luck that they resolutely left behind their screaming companions, began to whip their horses frantically, and continued to charge towards the Tang army's position.

However, what they didn't know was that the artillery was also waiting for their arrival.

When the alien cavalry stopped charging, Pei Xuan had already commanded the musket guards to complete a new round of artillery shell reloading.

Even the firing angle of the gun barrel was adjusted to face the alien cavalry.

But as the foreign cavalry continued to approach, Pei Xuan did not decisively swing down the sword in his hand as he did before.

Soon, the foreign cavalry were only a hundred steps away from them.

Although the solid bullet just now was incredibly powerful, the lethality was still very limited when shooting at such a close distance.

Therefore, the civil and military officials of the Tang Dynasty, including Du Ruhui, Fang Xuanling, Cheng Yaojin, and Yuchi Gong, were not optimistic that this bombardment could achieve the same effect as before.

But in front of so many foreign envoys, if the previous effect cannot be achieved, I am afraid this military exercise will be a failure.

Therefore, many civil and military officials began to worry, and those who had already sat down gradually stood up as the foreign cavalry charged again.

Ministers like Ge Ping, Zhang Xuansu, and Chu Suiliang, in particular, could not help but shout loudly at the musket guards.

"Hurry up and light the fire! It will be too late if you don't light it now!"

"Quick!"

"They're coming!"

Hearing these shouts, Wei Zheng, who had been relatively calm, began to become a little worried.

Because as the alien cavalry gets closer, if we don't fire now, taking the solid bullets just now as an example, the shells may not be able to effectively hit these alien cavalry because the distance is too close.

Changsun Wuji, who had not spoken to Li Chengqian since the military exercise began, suddenly said to Li Chengqian, "Chengqian, do you know what's going on?"

To be honest, Li Chengqian didn't know what was going on at first, but as the foreign cavalry ran to a dangerous distance, he was no longer worried.

Because he always believed in Pei Xuan and any of his subordinates.

As the saying goes, don't employ people you doubt, and don't doubt people you employ.

But he smiled and explained to Changsun Wuji: "If my guess is correct, they should have changed the shells."

"Changed the shells?"

Li Chengqian nodded, and then said with a look of satisfaction:

"I didn't expect that Jiangling's 'private weapons' workshop has developed to this extent. They've even developed other shells based on solid bullets."

After hearing this, Changsun Wuji was still a little confused.

At this time, the foreign cavalry was already very close to the Tang army's position.

At the speed at which they charged, it looked like it wouldn't take long before they could break through the Tang army's defenses.

This made the Tang Dynasty generals on the viewing platform, who had seen grand scenes before, feel a little uneasy.

But at this moment, the sound of artillery fire rang out unexpectedly.

“Bang bang bang bang—”

There was another terrifying roar, accompanied by flames from the barrel, and the artillery finally completed the shooting.

What’s different from before is that the angle of the gun barrel has been significantly lowered.

All I saw were the gun barrels pointing straight at the alien cavalry, accompanied by a huge roar. Even the trajectory of the shells could not be seen clearly, and only countless small black dots could be seen covering the sky.

And those foreign cavalry were already very close to the Tang army's positions.

There was no way to dodge at the moment the artillery was fired. Almost at the same time when the sound of the artillery reached the viewing platform, a large number of alien cavalry fell down, and then rolled on the ground and screamed.

Looking from the viewing platform, it was a very strange scene.

Because of the distance, they could not see the overwhelming black dots at all, and could only hear the huge roar of artillery firing.

Immediately afterwards, the foreign cavalry fell down.

And those fallen alien cavalrymen kept screaming. Some covered their bloody faces, some covered their stomachs, and some covered their chests. They were all screaming at the top of their lungs and rolling on the ground.

This made many people in the viewing platform's hair stand on end when they saw such a scene.

"What's going on?"

Changsun Wuji's scalp tingled as he watched the scene before him. He quickly asked again, "Why did those foreign cavalrymen fall?"

"Yeah! I didn't even see any shells."

Wei Zheng turned around and asked Li Chengqian, "How did they get injured?"

"I just said that they changed the shells."

Li Chengqian explained with a smile: "If my guess is correct, it should be a shotgun."

"Shotgun?"

"It's just a lot of small shells."

This was the only explanation Li Chengqian could give.

.........

And the other side.

The other civil and military officials and envoys from various countries on the viewing platform also realized that those foreign cavalrymen could not have fallen for no reason.

Many of them were observing carefully, hoping to find any clues, but all they saw were the wounded rolling and screaming.

Just as Li Chengqian said, the shells fired by the artillery this time were indeed replaced with buckshot.

The people on the viewing platform were confused, but the foreign cavalrymen rushing behind understood what was going on.

They stopped charging again and looked back, only to see their companions rolling on the ground, their bodies riddled with wounds.

A lot of iron sand and shrapnel, even gravel and wood chips, were densely injected into the bodies of these companions, making it look like a hornet's nest.

There were such dense wounds all over his body that he was bleeding almost everywhere.

Those foreign cavalrymen who were still standing saw with their own eyes the miserable state of their companions, and their hearts were filled with fear again.

However, Pei Xuan had no intention of waiting for them to come to their senses.

Under his command, the artillery began to reload ammunition and adjust the angle at the same time.

When the foreign cavalry saw the black cannon muzzles pointed at them again, even though they were already very close to the Tang army's position and could even rush to the front immediately.

But none of them could know what horrible thing would be fired next from the cannons aimed at them.

The unprecedented fear overcame all the hope in their hearts and made them lose all desire to fight.

As the survivors at the front of the team turned their horses around and began to flee backwards like mad, the other foreign cavalry also began to flee with pale faces.

Soon, the only people left in front of the Tang army's position were the wounded who were rolling and screaming.

The team that was full of murderous intent just now was defeated in the blink of an eye.

Under everyone's gaze.

Like dogs that had lost their homes, they fled along the same route they had taken during the charge. They ignored their companions who were rolling on the ground and rushed towards the Wei River.

Seeing them rushing into the rushing Wei River, the black-armored guards standing nearby began to move out.

As they rode on horseback and waded through the water, the panicked foreign cavalry were quickly surrounded and had no chance of escape. They were shot to death by a new round of artillery fire, leaving no trace of their bodies.

Seeing this, Li Chengqian knew that the artillery display was over.

"How is this possible!"

Looking at the miserable plight of those foreign cavalrymen, Lu Dongzan instinctively thought of the Tibetan cavalry that he was proud of.

If the Tibetan cavalry were faced with such a devastating force, they would be like paper toys.

Cheng Yaojin, who was not far away, excitedly drew his sword and danced to the Qin King Breaking the Formation Song on the viewing platform.

"Hahaha! That feels great! It feels ten times better than when I split open the Luoyang city gate!"

Yuchi Gong looked at the devastation and couldn't help but laugh wildly, "Damn it! With this thing, there's no need for siege vehicles anymore!"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!!"

Murong Shun ripped open his brocade robe like crazy, revealing the Tuyuhun totem all over his back, and shouted loudly: "This is fake! These are all illusions!"

"Shh!"

Just as he finished speaking, a piece of hot shrapnel suddenly pierced his feet, and the scorched sand immediately began to emit green smoke.

"Prince, be careful!"

Bateau was shocked and rushed forward to remedy the situation.

Seeing this, Inujou Odenkumi immediately knelt down with the entire delegation, his forehead bleeding profusely from knocking his head. "Please ask the Celestial Empire to grant us the divine art of thunder!"

Bullshit thunder magic!
A group of barbarians who have never seen the world!
Li Shimin was secretly complaining and didn't want to pay any attention to the Japanese envoys. He shouted at Li Chengqian, "Rebellious son! How much more can you hide your incompetence!"

But Li Chengqian said calmly: "It's just a few hundred million."

Then he turned to Su Dingfang and said, "Commander Su, pull out our crossbow cart and show it to them."

"promise!"

Su Dingfang agreed and immediately gave orders to the messenger not far away.

"Crossbow cart ready—"

Wow!
Nearly twenty two-meter-high crossbow chariots slowly drove out accompanied by billowing smoke and dust.

The arrow groove made of fine steel reflected a cold light, which made Lu Dongzan, who had long been frightened by the artillery, suddenly break the agate bracelet in his hand, and the blood-red beads rolled all over the ground.

Murong Shun, who was standing by, was horrified to find that the Tuyuhun battle flag that he had asked Batu to bring to demonstrate to the Tang Dynasty had been stuck on the rammed earth fort at some point.

"No!"

Seeing this, Batou hurriedly tried to stop it.

But hundreds of fine steel crossbow arrows had already turned into a black torrent, instantly tearing the Tuyuhun battle flags into pieces.

But then Li Chengqian said calmly, "Load the fire arrows! Show our distinguished guests how the Tang Dynasty fights!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Su Dingfang ordered the loading of fire thunder arrows without saying anything else.

Immediately afterwards, bursts of flames shot up into the sky, accompanied by whistling sounds, and shot straight at the rammed earth fortress in front.

Rumble!
Amidst the earth-shaking explosion, ten rammed earth fortresses were reduced to ashes in a sky full of flames.

When Shizuka Soga saw this scene, her robe fluttered down, revealing her snow-white inner garment without her noticing.

Li Siyuan and Gao Yanshou were blown into dust and dirt by the strong waves, and they screamed loudly.

"Devil. The Crown Prince of Tang is the reincarnation of the Snow Mountain Demon King."

Murong Shun still couldn't believe what he saw, and sat on the ground as if talking in a dream.

At the same time, the Tang army, whose passion had already been ignited in the audience, cheered instantly.

"God bless the Tang Dynasty! Long live the Crown Prince!"

"God bless the Tang Dynasty! Long live the Crown Prince!"

"God bless the Tang Dynasty! Long live the Crown Prince!"

The sound waves nearly caused the viewing platform to collapse, and the cochleas of envoys from various countries were bleeding.

Chu Suiliang stood up with difficulty in the billowing smoke and dust, suddenly snatched the historian's red pen, and wrote something in bold and colorful strokes.

Autumn of the third year of Zhenguan.

Crown Prince Cheng Qian made the Shenwei Cannon and the Vulcan Crossbow, and the whole world was convinced and all nations came to pay tribute!

(End of this chapter)