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

Chapter 730 The Final Battle to Destroy the Nation (First Update)
Late April, outside the city of Lhasa.

A massive military camp appeared in the southwest of Lhasa, where countless black-armored cavalrymen galloped back and forth in a dense array.

The Lhasa River flows slowly past the military camp.

The city of Lhasa, ten miles away, had its gates tightly shut.

Countless Tibetan soldiers on the city wall looked nervously toward the Tang army camp.

This enormous military camp was merely a part of the entire Tang army.

There were two military camps, one ten miles to the west and one ten miles to the south of this camp.

The three military camps firmly controlled the main roads leading south and west of Lhasa, while to the west and north lay only vast, rugged mountains.

Although there are tens of thousands of troops inside Lhasa City, there is also a military camp of 20,000 men located on the upper reaches of the Lhasa River to the east of the city, which can launch an attack on the Tang army that is attacking the city at any time.

The two sides complemented each other, firmly protecting the city of Lhasa.

Su Dingfang stood on the hillside north of the military camp, gazing out over the entire city of Lhasa.

Qibi Heli, Xue Rengui, Fang Renyu, Li Dejian, Li Junxian, Pei Xingjian, Di Renjie, Wei Daijia and others stood behind Su Dingfang.

Three days ago, Xue Rengui led a large army to attack Lhasa City, but was directly attacked by 20,000 Tibetan cavalrymen from the east of the city, which scattered their offensive. However, just as Xue Rengui was about to lead his army to pursue them, the south gate of Lhasa City suddenly opened, and 5,000 cavalrymen charged out and fiercely rushed towards Xue Rengui's waist.

However, just as Xue Rengui turned around, the Tibetan cavalry charged down again.

If it weren't for Fang Renyu's timely rescue, Xue Rengui would have suffered a great loss.

Even so, Xue Rengui was left looking disheveled.

“There are some experts in the city,” Su Dingfang said with a cold laugh. “I didn’t expect that even though Dama Rinchen is dead, Tibet still has talented people.”

Among the crowd, Li Dejian spoke first: "Lhasa is 35 feet high, which is difficult to conquer. Having people outside only increases the difficulty of the siege, without making any real difference."

Su Dingfang calmed down, looked at Li Dejian, and asked, "What are your thoughts?"

Li Dejian looked up at the city of Lhasa ahead and said, "To defend the city, we must defend the outside. There's nothing wrong with that. We'll just fight it out. Are we afraid of a direct confrontation?"

It's simply a matter of shifting the focus from attacking the city to annihilating the enemy outside. There's no difference. The key is still breaching the city. A direct assault would inevitably result in too many losses. That's the Ministry of War's method..."

Su Dingfang turned around, glanced at the military camp, and then said, "Northwest of Lhasa, there is a lake. The lake is vast, originally reaching as far as the Potala Palace. Later, when Lhasa was built, the lake was divided in two, and the middle section was filled in to build city walls and military camps."

“In other words, there’s a lake outside the city walls, a military camp inside the city walls, and the lake further in leads directly to the Potala Palace,” Wei Daijia couldn’t help but say.

Su Dingfang glanced at him but didn't say anything more.

When Wei Daijia led 5,000 cavalry to support the army, his biggest task was to rush to the Potala Palace as quickly as possible and rescue Princess Wencheng when Lhasa fell.

This is not only his mission, but also one of the biggest missions for Su Dingfang and his group.

“Yes.” Su Dingfang nodded and said, “The lake water seeped into the shore. Although the middle was filled in, it is still much softer. So the Ministry of War’s opinion is to dig a tunnel from there to the city, or to break down the city wall at a critical moment and have the cavalry rush in. Whether it is the defenders or anything else, they can be overwhelmed in one fell swoop.”

"Then what are we waiting for?" Wei Daijia couldn't help but get excited.

"It's not that simple." Di Renjie tugged at Wei Daijia from behind and whispered, "If it were feasible, the commander would have arranged it long ago."

Wei Daijia calmed down. He nodded gratefully to Di Renjie, with whom he had a good relationship, and then looked at Su Dingfang and said, "It was my fault for being rude."

Su Dingfang waved his hand and said, "It's none of your business. I also hope to take Luoxie as soon as possible, but... the lake in the northwest is not too close to the city wall, but it's not too far either. It's easy for us to be discovered if we easily send troops there, let alone anything else. And digging tunnels is not something that can be done in a short time."

To use the dug tunnels to infiltrate the city and overthrow the entire city, extreme secrecy is required.

We must not let the Tibetans notice anything, otherwise, with the army gathering, we might end up being set up as a trap.

Especially in the city of Lhasa now, there seem to be some notable figures.

“There is still some distance.” Di Renjie raised his head slightly and said, “If we first send cavalry to harass the city from outside, and then the people inside the city get used to it, then we can send troops to garrison by the lake. We don’t need too many people, just enough to keep watch and make you lower your guard. Then we can dig a dam, use tents to cover up the digging, and at night, we can use boats to transport away the excess soil and rocks…”

“It will take a long time,” Wei Daijia said, turning to look at Di Renjie.

“The length of time is not important.” Su Dingfang spoke directly, saying, “His Majesty has decreed that as long as Lhasa is captured within three years, it will be fine. Although as a subject one should break through Lhasa as quickly as possible, there is still plenty of time. We can take our time. At least, it should be no problem to drag it out until this autumn.”

"Yes!" Everyone bowed.

"Let's leave it to the other side of the lake for now. General Wei and Imperial Censor Di will be in charge of this matter." Su Dingfang saw Di Renjie and Wei Daijia bow and accept the order before looking towards the main gate of Lhasa: "The Lhasa River flows out from the south gate, so there might still be an opportunity."

“We just need to deal with the Tibetan cavalry outside the city first.” Li Dejian saw through Su Dingfang’s idea at a glance.

Su Dingfang nodded and said, "Lhasa is not far from the Lhasa River. Once we send troops to attack the east, they will attack us from the city from both sides. Moreover, if they cut off our upstream supply, our danger will be even greater."

As Su Dingfang spoke, he looked at Qibi Heli and Xue Rengui to one side. Their army camp was located downstream of the Lhasa River.

"Please make arrangements, Commander." Qibi Heli and Xue Rengui calmly cupped their hands. They could naturally see the danger involved, but there was no sign of the Luoxie River flooding yet, so they were not in a hurry. They also wanted to see what Su Dingfang was thinking.

Su Dingfang looked up at Lhasa and said calmly, "Now that Lhasa has gone through a winter, it should have enough supplies stored up in the city, so we can't attack it hastily. But by autumn, their food supply will be tight."

The entire city of Lhasa was blocked off from the outside world by the Tang Dynasty to the west and south, while the north and east were surrounded by high mountains, making it difficult to obtain food.

“Especially in autumn, we can harvest their grain first, which will make them even more anxious then.” After a slight pause, Su Dingfang squinted and said, “The Ministry of War also provided a tactic, which is to use the northwest wind in autumn to throw fireballs into the city and then burn the city from west to east.”

It is early summer now, and the prevailing wind is from the southeast.

Occasionally there is a northwest wind, but it doesn't last long.

But once autumn arrives, the wind blows from the northwest, and it's possible that the entire city of Lhasa will be burned down.

"At that time, even if they put out the fire in time, the morale of the people in the city would be even more turbulent, not to mention the lack of food." Su Dingfang turned to look at everyone and said coldly, "Since I am in charge of all affairs, I have decided to make the autumn harvest the general offensive for this year. Does anyone have any objections?" "Your subordinates will follow your orders, General." The generals bowed respectfully.

Su Dingfang nodded and said, "Therefore, before the autumn harvest, the various tribes will mainly harass and disturb the peace in Lhasa, but the other tribes will sweep through the entire city of Lhasa."

"Yes!" Everyone bowed.

Su Dingfang looked at the military camp to the south, raised his head slightly and said, "Keep the military camp for now, but build half of it on the mountainside, with half of the soldiers on the mountain and a small portion at the foot of the mountain to confuse the Tibetans. However, Duke Xue and Duke Longmen, you two must lead half of your troops to the south of the mountain to sweep away the southern part of Tibet."

"Your subordinates obey!" Qibi Heli and Xue Rengui solemnly cupped their hands in greeting.

In the southern part of Tibet today, because they need to defend Lhasa, they have transferred all their main forces to Lhasa throughout the winter. Although there are some local troops, they are few and far between. With the strength of Qibi Heli and Xue Rengui, it is not difficult to sweep them away.

“The Duke of Nanchang.” Su Dingfang looked behind him.

Li Junxian stepped forward earnestly, cupped his hands, and said, "Your subordinate is here."

"I trouble you to lead ten thousand cavalry to garrison Nagqu, protect the rear, and sweep across all sides, bringing all cities under the control of the Tang Dynasty." Su Dingfang's eyes turned cold as he said, "If anyone disobeys, kill them!"

"Yes!" Li Junxian bowed respectfully.

"The rest of you will stay here with me and wait for Commander Xin and his group to come from the east." Su Dingfang looked towards the east of Lhasa and said softly, "Although the east of Lhasa is all mountainous, there might still be a road leading to other places. If Xin Liao'er and his men can attack from that route and block the Tibetans' eastern route, then we can attack from both the east and the west..."

"The commander is wise." Everyone had already imagined that scene: the army outside the city would be attacked from both the east and west, tunnels would be dug from the northwest, and the city would be set on fire from the southwest. Coupled with the shortage of food stirring up the morale, once all of these things broke out at the same time, then Lhasa would surely fall.

Su Dingfang turned and walked towards the main camp, saying, "The grand strategy has been decided. Now, report to the court immediately and inform His Majesty!"

"Here!"

……

Luoyang, Qianyuan Hall.

Li Chengqian placed the memorial in his hand on the imperial desk, then looked at Liu Demin standing in the hall and asked, "After reading the memorial from the Duke of Wuyi County, what do you think of his military strategy?"

"With meticulous planning and careful execution, if everything goes smoothly, we should defeat the Tibetans this year." Liu Demin respectfully bowed.

"Don't rush." ​​Li Chengqian waved his hand and said, "Now that we are at the gates of Lhasa, we only need to harvest the spring crops and livestock planted by the Tibetans in winter. Then the army's food supply will not be so tight. So there is no need to rush. If we rush, we will be easily exposed and others will find our weaknesses. Now, stability is the priority."

"Yes!" Liu Demin bowed earnestly, but a hint of amusement flashed in his eyes.

Now, everyone in the world knows that the one who most wants to conquer Tibet this year is the emperor himself.

But Liu Demin immediately became serious.

Although the emperor was the most impatient person, he told the people of the world not to rush, to take it slow and steady, so as to avoid any accidents.

Although the soldiers knew this, when they actually encountered a situation, they fought even more fiercely than before.

The memorial sent by Su Dingfang contained a strong sense of this.

"Does my esteemed minister have anything to add?" the emperor's voice came from above.

Liu Demin thought for a moment, then cupped his hands and said, "If there is one shortcoming in the military strategy of the Duke of Wuyi County, it may be his insufficient utilization of the Lhasa River."

"Oh!" Li Chengqian couldn't help but look up.

"The only concern in attacking the 20,000 Tibetan cavalry outside the city is that when the main army marches out, the Tibetans will easily attack from both sides of the city. However, we are not limited to one option." Liu Demin cupped his hands and said earnestly, "If we can build more large ships and equip them with catapults, we can support the main army from the Lhasa River during the great battle. Then we will be able to fight two against two. If that is the case, what disadvantage will our army have?"

"Indeed, my dear minister, you have thought this through very well." Li Chengqian nodded in satisfaction and said, "My dear minister, you shall now set off for the front lines, taking with you your nine thousand men. Half of them can serve as infantry, and the other half can be transferred to the navy. As for matters of combat at the front, you shall obey the orders of the Duke of Wuyi County."

"Your subject obeys the decree." Liu Demin solemnly cupped his hands, then bowed and said, "Your subject takes his leave!"

"Hmm!" Li Chengqian nodded slightly, and Liu Demin then left the Qianyuan Hall.

As Liu Demin stepped out of Chengtian Gate, he breathed a slight sigh of relief, a hint of a smile appearing in his eyes.

Finally, I was able to go to the front lines again, and this time it was a war to destroy a nation.

Liu Demin was overjoyed, but after taking only two steps, he stopped.

For a moment, he looked in the direction of Qianyuan Hall with surprise and doubt.

His online army, numbering nine thousand.

Liu Demin suddenly slapped his forehead, his face full of regret.

The emperor ordered him to train elite naval troops in Hangzhou, precisely to combat the high-altitude miasma. It was only natural that his men would be converted into the navy.

How could the emperor not have thought of that?

Moreover, how could the emperor's concerns be limited to just the Lhasa River?

There is also the Yarlung Tsangpo River, which runs through Tibet from east to west.

……

In the Qianyuan Hall, Li Chengqian pushed Su Dingfang's memorial aside.

A new memorial book was revealed below.

He gently opened the book, and a few lines of text appeared before Li Chengqian's eyes.

Waterways...city walls...fire...

(End of this chapter)