The Battle of Xiangji Temple

At this moment, in a vast flat area.

Two armies were facing each other. One was the 150,000 Tang troops led by Guo Ziyi, and the other was the 120,000 'rebels' commanded by An Shouzhong and Li Guiren.

"An Shouzhong, I advise you and your men to surrender quickly. Don't resist stubbornly. Otherwise, when my army advances, I will surely make you die a horrible death. And today you have joined forces to stop my army from recovering Chang'an. In the history books, you will surely be written as a traitor!" Guo Ziyi held a mo dao and shouted in front of the formation.

An Shouzhong was furious and retorted, "There are treacherous officials in the court. We are acting on a secret edict to punish the traitor Yang Guozhong. You led the army to resist us. You are in cahoots with that treacherous official. How dare you say we are traitors?"

"Yang Guozhong indeed deserves to die, but when did His Majesty issue such a secret edict? It's just An Lushan's ambition at work. He intends to rebel. You can't tell right from wrong and are following the orders of Traitor An. You really have ulterior motives."

"Since it's a secret edict, how would you know about it?"

"Stop talking nonsense. Dismount and surrender immediately. Don't make one mistake after another. Otherwise..."

"If you want to fight, then fight. Why so much nonsense?"

An Shouzhong snorted coldly and then gave the order, "Kill them!"

"Kill!" Guo Ziyi waved his knife and shouted.

In an instant, the two armies charged at each other, and clouds of sand rose. A great battle was about to break out.

"Stop!"

Suddenly, a thunder - like voice came from above in the sky. It was as if it came from the mouth of a god, rolling and echoing in the void within a radius of a hundred miles.

This sudden voice immediately made the troops on both sides stop in their tracks. Everyone's eyes turned towards the direction from which the voice came.

"Roar!"

Immediately afterwards, a dragon's roar sounded again. Golden light surged, and a huge golden dragon flew out of the clouds and then transformed into a human figure. It was none other than Li Shimin.

"I am Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin!"

He stood in mid - air as if an immortal had descended to the world. His body slowly descended towards the battlefield below.

"A dragon! It's a real dragon!"

"Taizong? He says he is Emperor Taizong?"

"How is this possible?"

Among the two armies, there were whispers of discussion. Everyone's face showed an expression of extreme disbelief.

A real dragon descended to the world, claiming to be the Great Ancestor.

Who among those who witnessed such a scene would dare to question its authenticity?

"Pay our respects to Emperor Taizong!"

"Welcome the return of the Great Ancestor!"

Almost without hesitation, when Li Shimin's feet touched the ground, whether it was the Tang troops led by Guo Ziyi or the 'rebels' on An Shouzhong's side, everyone knelt down immediately and paid their respects respectfully.

"Old Li really managed to show off this time."

Above the clouds in the high sky, Qin Ning led the army and stood there. Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but speak up.

The way Li Shimin made his entrance just now made him a little envious.

"Sir, next time when we go to the later generations of our Ming Dynasty, I also want such an entrance effect." Zhu Yuanzhang said.

Hearing this, Qin Ning just smiled and then said, "Let's go. It's time for us to go down too."

"Whoosh!"

As he finished speaking, he waved his hand, and the 100,000 - strong army disappeared from the spot. When they reappeared, they were already beside Li Shimin, blocking between the Tang troops and the rebels.

"What... what... what?"

"Where did this army come from?"

The sudden appearance of 100,000 people in the middle of the battlefield naturally surprised the Tang troops and the rebels.

Meanwhile, An Shouzhong, the rebel general, and Guo Ziyi, the commander - in - chief of the Tang army, both came alone to Li Shimin's front.

"We have seen the Great Ancestor. Welcome the return of the Great Ancestor!"

The two didn't look at each other but directly knelt down in front of Li Shimin, extremely respectful.

"Get up." Li Shimin said calmly.

Guo Ziyi and An Shouzhong got up and glanced at each other but didn't say a word.

At this time, Qin Ning and the others also walked over. Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Old Li, finish this quickly. We still have to go to the scene of the Battle of Suiyang later."

Hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's address to Li Shimin, both Guo Ziyi and An Shouzhong were shocked.

Who is this person?

How dare he address His Majesty the Great Ancestor like this?

No!

Why is he also wearing a dragon robe?

But this dragon robe seems different from the ones they've seen?

"This is the Hongwu Emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Grand Founder of the Ming Dynasty in later generations."

Li Shimin introduced the two of them. Then he pointed at Qin Shi Huang and said, "And this is Ying Zheng, the First Emperor from the Great Qin Dynasty."

The Grand Founder of the Ming? The Hongwu Emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang?

Obviously, Guo Ziyi and An Shouzhong were confused when they heard this name.

But they were very familiar with the name of Qin Shi Huang, and their faces immediately showed great surprise.

"Qin... Qin Shi Huang?" Guo Ziyi said in disbelief.

Today, not only did the Great Ancestor return, but he also brought a so - called Grand Founder of the Ming.

That's not all. Even Qin Shi Huang came?

How is it possible?

Such a thing would be hard for anyone to believe.

Could it be that the First Emperor back then really obtained the elixir of immortality and became an immortal?

It is said that in his later years, the Great Ancestor also often took some pills. Could it be that the Great Ancestor, like Qin Shi Huang, really achieved immortality and was listed among the immortals?

"I came from the sixth year of Zhenguan."

Li Shimin saw the surprise and confusion on their faces and didn't waste any time. He immediately told them the whole story in detail.

"Really traveled through time?"

"Is this young sir really an immortal?"

Amid the surprise, their eyes also turned to Qin Ning.

"Your Majesty the Great Ancestor means that if you hadn't appeared, in this battle... more than a hundred thousand soldiers would have died? And it would have created the highest record of beheadings in the history of the cold - weapon era?" Guo Ziyi asked, with cold sweat pouring down his face.

More than a hundred thousand people died in four hours.

It showed how fierce and cruel this battle was. It was unprecedented and would never be repeated.

"Among the fierce battles during the Zhide period, besides your battle here, there was also the Battle of Suiyang." Li Shimin sighed.

"Suiyang?"

Hearing this, Guo Ziyi frowned.

It was now September of the second year of Zhide, and the Battle of Suiyang started in February.

So he had naturally heard something about the situation in Suiyang.

"As far as I know, Suiyang is still holding out. Could something else have happened later?" Guo Ziyi couldn't help but ask.

Li Shimin closed his eyes. After a moment, he said, "The whole city was consumed to feed the world."

"The people of Suiyang have received no reinforcements or supplies since February until now. Why do you think they have been able to hold out until now?"

These simple eight words, 'The whole city was consumed to feed the world', struck Guo Ziyi and An Shouzhong like a thunderbolt.

Qin Ning said, "At this time, Emperor Suzong of Tang took the recovery of Chang'an and Luoyang as the top priority. The court thought that as long as the two capitals were recovered, the siege of Suiyang would be lifted automatically. However, in October of the second year of Zhide, it was not until three days after the fall of Suiyang City that Prime Minister Zhang Hao led the reinforcements to arrive. It was too late."