My father, Li Shimin, requests Your Majesty to become the Retired Emperor.

Chapter 40: Surrounded Again, Su Gui Bravely Rescues the Crown Prince, Displaying Divine Power

Li Chengqian, Princess Gaoyang, and Su Gui rode out of Daxingshan Temple.

They ran westward towards Chang'an, but after running less than ten miles, they found a procession blocking their way.

Li Chengqian reined in his horse and glanced around.

Before them stood about a hundred horses, with masked men in black sitting atop them, their faces obscured.

Su Gui shouted, "Who are you? Why are you blocking our way?"

One of the masked men in black shouted, "Brothers, listen to my command! Capture Princess Gaoyang alive! Kill the other two! Charge!"

"Hey, what are you talking about? Do you even know who he is?"

Su Gui was about to say, "This is the Crown Prince! How dare you lay a hand on him? You are incredibly audacious!"

However, it was clear that the other party's goal was to kill Li Chengqian, so his words were useless.

Su Gui said to Li Chengqian and Princess Gaoyang, "You two run! I'll hold them off for a while!"

Li Chengqian said, "What will you do if we leave?"

"Your Highness, the situation is urgent, so don't say any more. Run!" Su Gui said, slapping Li Chengqian's horse's rump with her pear blossom spear. The horse was in unbearable pain and took off running.

"Then be careful." After saying that, Li Chengqian and Princess Gaoyang rode their horses southward.

"Know."

Su Gui's sword-like eyebrows stood on end, her tiger-like eyes widened, and she charged forward with her pear blossom spear, fighting against a hundred men single-handedly.

"Surround him!"

At the command of the leader in black, the men surrounded Su Gui. Su Gui showed no fear, and like a tiger among sheep, she instantly knocked more than ten masked men off their horses.

The leader of the men in black was also taken aback; he hadn't expected Su Gui to be so powerful.

He shouted, "Archers, prepare!"

Then, about fifty archers rushed forward, lined up in front of Su Gui, nocked their arrows, and aimed their dark arrowheads at her!

Su Gui watched all this and couldn't stop sneering.

"Release the arrows!"

All the archers fired their arrows at once, creating a rain of arrows. Su Gui wielded her pear blossom spear with impenetrable skill, taking the opportunity to strike the eagle feathers!

A moment later, the fifty archers had fired all the arrows from their quiver, and the ground was covered with a layer of arrows.

Su Gui was completely unharmed.

Everyone was shocked.

Su Gui raised her voice: "Are you the only ones who know how to shoot arrows, and I don't?"

He dismounted, grabbed a handful of arrows from the ground, and threw them back.

Instantly, more than ten archers fell to the ground.

Enraged, the leader of the men in black spurred his horse forward and raised his broadsword to strike at Su Gui.

Because Su Gui dismounted and hadn't had a chance to remount, she suffered a loss.

Seeing the overwhelming momentum of the opponent, Su Gui quickly dodged to the side. He managed to avoid it, but his warhorse did not. The horse's right foreleg was struck by the opponent, and the horse neighed and fell to the ground.

The saying goes, "A great general without a horse is like a man with broken legs."

Because the enemy outnumbered them, Su Gui turned and ran north, hoping to lure them to her side so that the Crown Prince would be safe.

The leader of the men in black said, "Half of you go after him, and the other half will follow me to chase after Li Chengqian."

"Yes!" the others replied.

So the men in black split into two groups, one heading north to chase after Su Gui, and the other heading south to chase after Li Chengqian.

Li Chengqian and Princess Gaoyang ran towards Zhongnan Mountain.

"Brother, who are those men in black? Why are they making things difficult for us?" Princess Gaoyang asked.

"I'm not entirely sure either. Although they are masked and we can't see their faces, judging from their physique and weapons, they should be those armored warriors in disguise."

If I'm not mistaken, they should have been sent by Qingque.

"Do you think Qingque has gone mad? He actually tried to poison you! I can't believe it."

Li Chengqian smiled bitterly: "We owe you so much tonight. If you hadn't notified us in time, I would have been burned to death by them."

How did you find out?

Princess Gaoyang blushed, thinking to herself that she couldn't possibly tell her brother that she was on a date with Bianji.

"I know a monk named Bianji who knows about this. He told me about it, so I rushed over to report it to you without hesitation."

"I see. So how did you and Bianji meet?"

"I...I met him when I came to the mountain to burn incense last time."

This reminded Li Chengqian of the time at lunchtime when a monk named Bianji came and sent Su Gui away.

At that moment, Li Chengqian suddenly heard shouts and neighing horses behind him. Dozens of men in black had caught up, yelling, "Don't let the Crown Prince escape! Capture them!"

Li Chengqian turned around and his head swelled up three times. He thought to himself, "These people are like persistent ghosts. Could it be that Su Gui has already suffered at their hands?"

Li Chengqian thought to himself, "I hope Su Gui is safe and sound."

"Brother, what should we do now?"

"I don't have any better ideas. I'll just keep running forward and try to shake them off!"

"good!"

The two men spurred their horses on and ran as fast as they could, while the men in black pursued them. Since they had run out of arrows, they had no more to shoot.

As the men in black drew closer, they could now make out the outlines of their faces.

Li Chengqian suddenly heard a "whoosh, whoosh!" sound behind him.

He turned around and saw that some of the men in black had thrown their large guns at him.

Li Chengqian quickly lay prone on the horse's back, and several large spears flew past his head and sides.

Li Chengqian felt a surge of tension and broke out in a cold sweat. He thought to himself that he was lucky to be alive, otherwise he would have been impaled like a toad.

Fortunately, the horse under Li Chengqian's horse seemed to have a spirit of its own and ran even faster.

Soon after, they entered Zhongnan Mountain.

After running several more miles, Li Chengqian put his finger in his mouth and whistled.

Before long, a man led ten Turks on horseback and came galloping over.

One of the Turks fired several arrows.

His arrows never missed, and several men in black were immediately killed by them.

The leader of the men in black was taken aback. Realizing that Li Chengqian had brought reinforcements, he quickly turned his horse around and shouted, "Stop chasing! Retreat!"

And so, the dozens of men in black withdrew.

Princess Gaoyang was still in shock. She wondered how there could be Turks here.

The newcomers were none other than Chengxin, who led the group, and the other ten Turkic warriors were his subordinates.

"Your Highness, we were startled! We arrived a step too late, please forgive us!"

Chengxin and the ten Turkic warriors came to pay their respects. The one with the exceptionally accurate archery skills was none other than the divine archer Mujishe.

Li Chengqian wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and smiled, "Better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early. You've come at just the right moment."

"Where did you come from?"

Li Chengqian then briefly recounted what had happened.

Upon hearing this, Chengxin was quite surprised: "You're going to Daxingshan Temple, why didn't you tell me? We could have protected your safety."

"I originally thought it was just a meal, and Su Gui would be with me, so I didn't tell you."

"If there are any future actions, please inform Your Highness and me that we should not take such risks again."

Li Chengqian nodded slightly. At this moment, he recalled what had happened and realized that he had taken a bit of a risk.

"Your Highness, since Li Tai has been so disloyal to you, why don't we take this opportunity to kill him at Daxingshan Temple?"

Upon hearing this, Li Chengqian shook his head: "No, although these things may be related to Qingque, we do not yet have enough evidence to prove that Qingque was the one who did it."

I once said to my mother, "He may be unkind, but I am not allowed to be unjust."

Besides, don't you see I'm perfectly fine now?

"It is precisely because of your tolerance and forbearance that he will take advantage of you. To deal with someone like him, you must retaliate in kind."

However, no matter what Chengxin said, Li Chengqian disagreed.

Seeing that he was determined to do so, Chengxin had no choice but to give up.

Chengxin turned her gaze to Princess Gaoyang: "Isn't this Princess Gaoyang?"

Princess Gaoyang glanced at him and exclaimed, "Who do we have here? It's Chengxin!"

With a satisfied smile, he said, "It's been a while since I've seen the princess. She's become even more radiant."

"Is that so? It's fortunate that you appeared in time today, otherwise my brother and I would probably have been captured by them."

"The princess is blessed by heaven; how could these cowards possibly catch her?"

Princess Gaoyang smiled: "You're right!"

"Please, Your Highness and Princess, come into the cave to speak!"

After all that commotion, the east was already turning white.

Lights were lit inside the cave.

After some decoration, the cave, though not as luxurious as a palace, is still quite spacious and bright.

In his spare time, Li Chengqian would come here to exchange skills with them.

Tujishe was a strongman, Mujishe was a sharpshooter, Fengjishe was skilled in light footwork, Jinjishe was a famous wrestler in the Turkic Khaganate, and Shuijishe was a good swimmer with excellent swimming skills. Each of them had their own special talent.

These Turks were cheerful, generous, and straightforward, which is why Li Chengqian enjoyed interacting with them.

Li Chengqian said with great emotion: "There is a saying that goes, 'Effort never betrays those who are determined.'"

Fortunately, I sometimes came here to learn something from you, otherwise I might be dead today.

Jin Jishe said, "Your Highness is exceptionally intelligent, quick to understand and able to draw inferences from one instance to another. In fact, I think your wrestling skills are now superior to mine."

Li Chengqian waved his hand: "Who said that? I'm far inferior to you!"

Tujishi swaggered over, his tall frame swaying, looking quite indignant: "What 'single palm splitting the monument'? Those are just fancy tricks, not very practical."

"You Central Plains people, I think Xiang Yu was alright. He could lift a cauldron with his strength; that's real skill. How about I perform another act for Your Highness, lifting a giant boulder?"

Muji said, "Give me a break. You're just like that wild ox, all you have is strength. What's so great about you? Go away."

I do think that while Your Highness's archery skills are already quite good, there is still room for improvement.

The implication is that his archery skills are top-notch.

Feng Jishe came over and punched Mu Jishe: "You little brat, you're the worst bastard!"

Last time you said you dried a wild boar hide and that it could be used as a shield, impervious to swords and blades.

So I believed you and disguised myself as a wild boar to rush out of the cave. But the Emperor shot me through the buttocks! How are we going to settle this score?

"You're lucky you survived. Luckily you were wearing the wild boar skin I gave you, otherwise, I would have shot not only through your buttocks but also your head. You escaped with your life, and instead of thanking me, you're causing me trouble. That's outrageous!"

Everyone laughed.

Li Chengqian looked at everyone and nodded: "You all have your own strengths and are all remarkable."

"Mizuki, I've heard you're an excellent swimmer."

Mizukichi is tall, with fair skin, and slightly thin.

He said, "Your Highness, nowadays, in terms of the situation of war, it has shifted from land to water. During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao and Zhou Yu fought at Red Cliff. Zhou Yu was good at arranging troops and his formations for the navy were both offensive and defensive, and had unique characteristics."

Cao Cao launched several surprise attacks, but all failed. In the end, Zhou Yu set fire to Cao Cao's 830,000-strong army, reducing it to ashes.

Therefore, it is a great taboo for a general to be unfamiliar with water.

I think it won't be long before the Tang Dynasty will cross the Yalu River and launch an eastern expedition against Goguryeo.

Goguryeo had many warships and a very powerful navy.

How can our Great Tang Navy function without a powerful navy?

Only by launching simultaneous attacks and coordinating with each other can a complete victory be achieved.

Upon hearing this, Li Chengqian wondered if Emperor Yang of Sui had failed in his three eastern expeditions against Goguryeo, which involved a million-strong army. He wondered if this was related to Emperor Yang's focus on the land forces while neglecting the navy.

Li Chengqian said, "You are right. A general must not only be familiar with land warfare, but also be well-versed in the methods of naval troop deployment."

"As the commander of the navy, the first thing I must do is be familiar with the water!"

"You are right."

"Your Highness, I'm not bragging in front of you. I can't say for sure on land, but in the water, I'm like home. Whether it's fish, shrimp, or crocodiles, none of them can keep up with my speed. Besides, I can breathe underwater and dive to depths of dozens of feet, and I can stay submerged for three days and three nights without coming up."

"I've long heard that you're good at swimming. Now that I'm here, let's go to the Wei River and practice together."

I also need to learn to swim and dive!

Princess Gaoyang was intrigued upon hearing this: "Brother, that's wonderful! We can go there to catch fish, and then we can grill or fry them."

Li Chengqian laughed as well: "You've eaten everything in the palace, what are you really interested in fish for?"

"You don't understand. The fish in the imperial kitchen are already prepared, while this is fish we caught ourselves. How can they be the same?"

In addition, I really want to see what my elder brother looks like in the water.

I heard you can't swim, and I'm really curious to know if you can actually learn to swim and scuba dive well.

"Gao Yang, what do you mean by that? Don't you have any faith in me?"

"It's not that I lack confidence in you, but I also want to learn to swim and dive. Let's have a competition and see who learns first."

"Okay, let's have a competition then."