Li Chengqian of the Tang Dynasty: Please say long live His Majesty

Chapter 249: Prince Jin, Please Return to Taiyuan (Part )
In the Zhenguan Hall, Li Shimin sat on the imperial couch.

Li Chengqian stood on the third step of the Danbi, and Li Zhi stood on the first step of the Danbi.

Zhangsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Gao Shilian, Yang Shidao, Cen Wenben, Liu Li, Yu Zhining, Tang Jian, Li Daliang, Cheng Zhijie, Yuchi Jingde and others were divided into the civil and military classes in the palace.

Pei Sizhuang, the governor of Bozhou who had just returned from Liaodong, stood in the hall, holding his hu tablet and bowing, saying, "One mile east of the Liao River, there is a great wall ten feet high.

The Great Wall stretches from Liaobei along the Liao River, following the mountainous and hilly terrain, all the way to the sea. It is a thousand-mile long wall, with two hundred mountain forts supporting it in between.

"A thousand miles of the Great Wall, two hundred mountain fortresses!" Li Shimin frowned and looked at Pei Sizhuang, unable to resist asking, "Why has no one ever reported such a thing before?"

"Your Majesty, the Liao River isn't just one river, but several parallel streams. Normally, they don't interfere with each other, but when the water is high, they merge into one great river." Pei Sizhuang looked helpless and shook his head. "When the water is high, even scouts can't cross it. When the water dries up, Goguryeo scouts rush straight to the outermost river. This has been going on for decades."

"Decades?"

"Your Majesty!" Pei Sizhuang bowed earnestly and said, "This Great Wall has been secretly built for sixteen years."

"Gao Jianwu?" Li Shimin frowned immediately.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Ever since the Zhenguan period, Gao Jianwu, fearing Your Majesty, has secretly built the Great Wall from north to south to thwart the Tang offensive." Pei Sizhuang bowed and said, "Although the Great Wall is not high or thick, its terrain and the cold winter weather will inevitably hinder the attack of a large army."

Trouble.

Li Chengqian and all the ministers in the palace understood that they were in real trouble now.

When the Tang Dynasty attacked Goguryeo, its biggest concern was the weather.

In the cold winter, my hands and feet are icy cold, and I can't even hold the handle of a sword or a spear. How can I fight?

Not to mention the impact of food, fodder and clothing.

The vast Liao River, the Great Wall, and the boundless mountains and wilderness, it is unknown how long they will block the Tang Dynasty.

"He really deserves to die. He should have died a long time ago." Li Shimin cursed hatefully.

Although Gao Jianwu was killed by the Tang Dynasty this time, the emperor still wanted to eat him alive.

"During my visit to Goguryeo, I noticed frequent movements between the north and the south. The royal family's troops were sent south to attack Silla, while Gaesomun's direct troops were transferred north to Liaodong to prepare for a confrontation with the Tang Dynasty." Pei Sizhuang bowed and said, "I met Minister of Agriculture Li Xuanjiang in Bisha City. I wanted to ask him to return, but he insisted on serving as an envoy to Goguryeo..."

"He is a loyal minister." Li Shimin sighed softly, then looked up at his ministers and said, "My dear ministers, Gai Suwen murdered his emperor, betrayed his ministers, and oppressed his people. Now he has disobeyed my imperial edict and invaded and oppressed neighboring countries. I must punish him."

"Yes!" All the ministers bowed in unison. No one objected to the Tang Dynasty's conquest of Goguryeo, but...

"Your Majesty." Fang Xuanling stood up and said with a worried look on his face, "Your Majesty, are you going to personally lead the expedition to Liaodong?"

Li Shimin looked at the ministers in the hall. He knew that in the past, he could still delay it, but now, everything has reached the point where he has to act.

"Yes, I will personally lead the expedition to Liaodong." Li Shimin finished speaking. Seeing Fang Xuanling was about to say something, he immediately waved his hand and said, "This was my previous idea, but the Liao River is so dangerous. If we can't break through the Liao River and the Great Wall's defense line, even if I lead the expedition in person, it will be useless."

Fang Xuanling raised his eyebrows slightly and said nothing more.

The other people in the hall who wanted to stop the emperor also temporarily quieted down.

"My lords, please tell me how we can break through this thousand-mile defense line formed by the Liao River, the Great Wall, and the terrain?" Li Shimin looked up at his ministers.

Minister of War Li Ji stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the Great Wall is a thousand miles long. It must have weak spots. Send people to find and spy on the weak spots, and then gather the army and break them with a single blow."

Li Shimin nodded slowly and said, "My dear minister, what you said makes sense, but this requires a stable bridge."

The emperor raised his head and said thoughtfully, "Breaking through the Liao River is not difficult, and breaking through the Great Wall is not difficult either, but they will definitely rely on the Erbaishi City to launch surprise attacks back and forth.

If they attack our food supply route within a mile of our territory, we will find it difficult to gain a foothold. Over time, we will either run out of food and fodder, or our men and horses will be exhausted and our reinforcements will be cut off... Unless we can build a stable bridge, will the Goguryeo people let us build one?"

"Your Majesty, although the Goguryeo navy is not strong, it should not be underestimated!" Pei Sizhuang stood up and bowed.

"Yeah!" Li Shimin nodded lightly. He knew that the Goguryeo people had been preparing in Liaodong for sixteen years and had prepared countless means to deal with the attack of the Tang Dynasty.

There will be trouble if you go there rashly.

"Mr. Yan, Mr. Jiang, Mr. Yang, Mr. Qiu," Li Shimin pointed out a few names and then asked, "What do you think should be done?"

Yan Liben, Jiang Xingben, Yang Wulian, and Qiu Xingyan walked out of the train.

Yan Liben was the first to bow and said, "Your Majesty, building a stable bridge is difficult because it takes a lot of time. Especially since Goguryeo has catapults to interfere with it. If you add in bows and crossbows, there will be countless casualties. I'm afraid it will be difficult to succeed.

Therefore, I suggest that we should use floating bridges as the main means, and use warships to carry them back and forth, so that we can complete the project in one go." "I think so too." Jiang Xingben, Yang Wulian, and Qiu Xingyan all bowed.

"Floating bridge." Li Shimin sighed softly and said, "I know we need to build a floating bridge, but when Yang Guang crossed the Liao River, it was because Goguryeo threw wooden stakes upstream that the floating bridge was destroyed, resulting in countless casualties. The expedition was unsuccessful and suffered a series of defeats."

We talk about building a floating bridge, but how easy is it to build a floating bridge?
The floating bridge was unstable and easily burned by fire. Once it was destroyed, the soldiers who had already crossed the Liao River would immediately become fish on the chopping board, at the mercy of others.

"General Mai Tiezhang of the Right Guard of the Sui Dynasty died in this way. Many of you know what happened back then. I don't want to see anyone like you die like this!" Li Shimin couldn't help but sigh.

"The Battle of Red Cliffs." Li Chengqian looked up at the emperor, then stood up and bowed. "Father, I remember that during the Battle of Red Cliffs, Cao Cao, because his soldiers were not good at swimming, connected the ships bow to stern, allowing the men and horses to sail on the ships as if they were on flat ground."

The emperor frowned and said, "You've already mentioned the Battle of Red Cliffs. Don't you think the Goguryeo people don't know about it? At that time, they only need to set a fire to burn all the ships."

"Father, I'm not talking about warships, but floating bridges." Li Chengqian bowed and said, "The floating bridge plan is difficult to implement because it mostly uses small boats to connect the boats and build the wooden planks."

Small boats can be linked together easily, but large boats cannot.

This is common sense.

"So, I'm thinking, could we build a boat that's bigger, stronger, and easier to connect to than the improvised small boats we used to build the pontoon bridge?" Li Chengqian said, bowing. "If we can do that, we won't need too many soldiers on board, and with the rear connections, we can retreat at any time even if we encounter fire."

After a brief pause, Li Chengqian said, "The key is, if the warship can be disassembled at will, it can be used as a floating bridge when in use, and can be quickly transformed into a warship when not in use."

"If that's the case, the warship can't be too big or too small." Yan Liben frowned and looked at Li Chengqian.

"They should be flexible, impact-resistant, and fireproof." Li Chengqian looked up and said, "They should also be large enough to accommodate small catapults, and able to be quickly connected and disassembled. If we build twenty such warships, perhaps we'll have enough to cross the river."

"It's impossible to have such a perfect warship. There must be loopholes." Jiang Xingben stood up and bowed, looking at Li Chengqian hesitantly.

"This is inevitable." Li Chengqian nodded and bowed to the emperor, saying, "Father, I remind you that the river the Tang Dynasty needs to cross now is not the Yangtze River, but the Liao River."

The ministers were suddenly stunned, and then they realized that crossing the Liao River was not as difficult as crossing the Yangtze River.

"When the time comes, we'll split up and cross the river, covering each other and harassing them continuously. Finally, one night, we'll suddenly cross the river. After crossing, we'll clear both banks to avoid being attacked by fire. Then, all that's left is to guard against the wooden stakes in the water." Li Chengqian bowed and said, "Your son, I think it would be better to block the river with iron chains while crossing to block the wooden stakes and reduce the impact. At the same time, we can cover the upstream side of the boat with sheepskin bags!"

"A sheepskin bag?" Li Shimin frowned.

Yuchi Jingde stepped forward and said, "I know that when the Qiang people crossed the Yellow River, they used small boats made of sheepskin bags. It is indeed feasible, but it can only be used once."

"Then we'll build several more floating bridges at the same time." Li Chengqian looked up and saluted. "The upper one will serve as a shield, and the lower one will be the actual crossing point. Finally, we just need to destroy the wooden piles upstream."

"Time, and more time." Li Shimin frowned. Even if this could buy some time, it might not be enough.

"These are the only solutions I can come up with." Li Chengqian bowed helplessly.

He just found some methods from the knowledge of later generations, and he was not a professional for most people.

"It's enough for now." Li Shimin looked at Li Chengqian and said, "Crown Prince, return to Chang'an immediately and secretly build warships there. Build a few first and see how they perform. Meanwhile, the ministers will find someone to continue to work on this."

"Yes!" All the ministers bowed.

The Liao River, the Great Wall, the 200-stone city, and the mountains make it really troublesome.

"Prince of Jin!" Li Shimin looked at Li Zhi.

Li Zhi immediately bowed and said, "Your son is here."

"You go back to Taiyuan." The emperor said this, and the ministers immediately looked up in surprise.

This was especially true for Li Chengqian, which made Li Zhi very upset.

"Mr. Wei!" Li Shimin looked at Wei Ting.

Imperial Censor Wei Ting immediately stepped forward and bowed, "I am here."

"Appoint you as the Chief Secretary of the Bingzhou Grand Military Governor's Office, and go to Taiyuan to assist the Prince of Jin and govern the local area at the same time." Li Shimin raised his head with an unusually calm expression.

"I obey your order." Wei Ting lowered his head solemnly.

Li Chengqian finally came to his senses. He had always felt that he had forgotten something, and it turned out to be Wei Ting.

Li Chengqian lowered his head and curled up the corners of his mouth.

(End of this chapter)