Chapter 1057: The Warmth Between Zhu Wen, His Father, and His Brothers; the Han Army Destroys the Tang Dynasty

In the original historical time and space, Emperor Liang Zhu Wen lived to be 61 years old and was killed by his son Zhu Yougui.

But in this time and space, Zhu Wen lived to the age of seventy-seven.

Generally, when an elderly person reaches the age of 77, he or she is already very old and starts to think about his or her reputation a hundred years from now.

Zhu Wen was different. He remained as tyrannical as before.

Moreover, his tyranny was not only directed at outsiders.

Even though he was his own son, Zhu Wen could kill him at will without a trace of mercy.

Originally, Zhu Wen had a total of seventeen sons (including adopted sons), seven of whom were killed by Zhu Wen himself and four were frightened to death.

Of the remaining six sons, except for four who were young and ignorant, only two survived to adulthood.

After these two Liang princes grew up, they simply married a wife and lived their own lives behind closed doors every day.

The two brothers dared not do anything like being arrogant and domineering, or forcibly abducting women.

There were no beautiful dancers or maids in the mansion.

The reason why these two brothers live in such fear is that they are afraid of repeating the same mistakes and becoming the "latecomers" of the eleven older brothers before them.

This day.

The news that the Han Kingdom was attacking the Tang Kingdom with great success reached the Liang capital Luoyang.

Zhu Wen had no time to enjoy himself in the harem, and immediately convened a court meeting to ask all the ministers to discuss the issue of reinforcing the Tang Kingdom.

Prior to this, Zhu Wen had ordered the border troops to attack the Han Kingdom in order to "encircle Wei to save Zhao", but unfortunately it had no effect.

"Your Majesty!"

General Wang Tan, the governor of Xuzhou, volunteered:

"I am willing to lead the army to attack Han and save Tang!"

When Zhu Wen saw Wang Tan standing up, he nodded and said happily:

"General Wang will surely defeat the Han army!"

Zhu Wen was able to usurp the throne and become emperor, so he must have had a trump card.

He had a total of sixteen brave and capable generals under his command, such as Ge Cunzhou, Yang Shihou, Niu Cunjie, etc.

Of course, Zhu Wen is now seventy-seven years old, and most of his brave generals have died, with only half left.

Among the remaining eight powerful generals, Wang Tan in front of them is the most respected.

When the ministers in the court saw Wang Tan take action, they secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed that Wang Tan would definitely be successful if he went to war.

The meeting is over.

Zhu Youzhen waved to his brother, and the two of them went to a tavern in the outer city of Luoyang tacitly.

This is Zhu Youzhen’s property, and the two brothers often come here for private meetings.

As soon as he entered the box, Zhu Youzhen said to his brothers excitedly:

"Eighth brother, Wang Tan led his troops to leave Luoyang. The opportunity for what I said last time has come. Do you want to follow me?"

When Zhu Youfeng heard his seventh brother talking about the past again, he immediately looked embarrassed:

"Seventh Brother, you are just a marching commander with only 3,000 soldiers and horses, and I am just a commanding lieutenant with only 800 soldiers and horses. If we unite together, we don't even have 4,000 people. Can we really accomplish anything?"

"You know, there are 15,000 imperial guards in the imperial city. Even if half of them were taken away by General Wang Tan, there are still 7,000 to 8,000 people left. You want to emulate Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, but your father is not Emperor Gaozu of Tang!"

Zhu Youfeng was rare to be sober and was unwilling to be coerced by his seventh brother.

When Zhu Youzhen saw that his eighth brother hesitated, he was not angry, but felt happy instead.

Last time, when he said that he wanted to emulate Li Shimin and carry out the "Xuanwu Gate Incident", Lao Ba was so scared that he ran away and didn't dare to say a word to him.

Now, Old Eight actually began to hesitate.

This means that he also has a heart.

Seeing this, Zhu Youzhen quickly revealed his trump card in order to encourage Zhu Youfeng to join his camp:
"Eighth brother, Zhao Gu, the commander of the Changle Gate Guards, has already surrendered to me. With Zhao Gu working with us from inside and outside, there is no need for us to fight head-on. We just need to dispatch troops into the imperial city, and then we can place father under house arrest and force him to abdicate... After father abdicates, the whole country can be assured!" Zhu Youfeng's face changed after hearing his seventh brother's trump card.

Zhu Youfeng suppressed the panic in his heart and slowly showed a trace of joy on his face:
"Seventh Brother, I don't want the world either. As long as you can let me live as a prince in peace after you ascend the throne, I will be satisfied."

Zhu Youzhen just smiled after hearing this:
"Okay, when I ascend the throne, I will enthrone you as the King of Qi and let you guard Qi. How do you think?"

"Thank you, Seventh Brother!"

Zhu Youfeng hurriedly thanked him.

The two brothers looked at each other and smiled, as if one of them had really become the emperor and the other the King of Qi.

the next day.

Zhu Wen personally escorted Wang Tan and the imperial guards out of Beijing.

That night.

Zhu Youzhen and Zhao Gu were discussing raising an army together when they were caught red-handed by Zhu Wen who led his troops himself.

the next day.

In the court, Zhu Wen abolished the seventh prince Zhu Youzhen's position as crown prince and appointed the eighth prince Zhu Youfeng as the new crown prince.

Zhu Youfeng was also the fourth prince during Zhu Wen's reign.

The political situation changed so quickly that many people in Liang's capital Luoyang were unable to react.

After Zhu Youfeng moved into the Eastern Palace, he brought a three-foot white silk and came to the Heavenly Prison to visit his seventh brother.

When the brothers met again, Zhu Youzhen finally realized where he had gone wrong:
"Old Eight, you betrayed me?"

"Seventh Brother, you can't blame me for betraying you. After all, if a man doesn't work for himself, he will be punished by heaven and earth!"

Zhu Youfeng looked at his seventh brother who suddenly realized what was going on and couldn't help but burst into laughter:

"Seventh brother, our father is already seventy-seven this year. How many more years can he live? If you can be more patient, you will automatically ascend the throne in a few years. It's a pity that you were too impatient and let me take advantage of you!"

……

The capital of Tang Dynasty, Taiyuan.

Su Mingzhe led the army to the city and received news that Liang general Wang Tan led an army of 150,000 to attack Shanzhou.

Shanzhou was originally the capital of Liang State. It was seized by Su Mingzhe less than two years ago. Now it is guarded by a general named Pu Jianzhong, who leads 8,000 soldiers.

When the generals under his command heard the news of the Liang army's attack, they were afraid that Shanzhou would be taken away, and then threatened to spread to Hezhong Prefecture, cutting off the Han army's retreat.

Only Su Mingzhe laughed after hearing this:
"Shu Emperor Wang Yan is indeed a coward. He is not as brave as the old villain Zhu Wen!"

When the generals saw that Emperor Su Mingzhe did not take Wang Tan seriously, they began to relax a little.

However, one general still stood up and said with a folded hand:

"Your Majesty, the Pseudo-Tang now only has one isolated city left, Taiyuan, which will be captured within three days. I am willing to lead the troops back to defend Shanzhou and protect the army's food supply route..."

Su Mingzhe heard this, but shook his head and refused:

"No need to return to defend. I believe General Pu and his men will be able to repel the invading Liang army!"

Pu Jianzhong, the commander-in-chief guarding Shanzhou, had only 8,000 men under his command.

If he knew that Su Mingzhe trusted him so much, he would definitely be "grateful and moved".

You know, this time, when the Liang army came to attack, Wang Tan brought a total of 150,000 troops.

An army of 150,000 besieging Shanzhou, a country with only 8,000 soldiers, was like a flying dragon riding on their face, and there was no way they could lose.

Wang Tan thought so too.

When he led his army to the city of Shanzhou, he did not persuade the enemy to surrender, but ordered the craftsmen in the army to start building siege ladders and other equipment.

On the second day.

Wang Tan was preparing to attack the city when he suddenly received a message from a carrier pigeon:
"Just yesterday, the Tang capital Taiyuan was captured in a battle, and Princess Zhenning and Li Cunxu were both captured by the Han Emperor?"

The generals under his command also looked confused:
"General, the capital of Tang has been destroyed. Should we still attack Shanzhou?"

(End of this chapter)