Tang Dynasty: Taking the Empress Dowager to a brothel, Father Emperor, what a coincidence!

"hiss......"

Du Ruhui gasped in shock and shook his head repeatedly.

"It's as difficult as climbing to heaven. The Duke of Wei was a brilliant military strategist, but he was extremely cautious in his dealings with others."

He didn't even dare to take more of the Emperor's rewards, and he pretended to be sick at home every day to protect himself.

How could such an old fox possibly follow Your Highness and risk having his family wiped out?

You should know that during the Xuanwu Gate Incident, he hid and refused to return to Chang'an.

"Uncle Du, don't be so absolute."

Li Chengqian retorted with a smile,

"Li Jing was afraid of death because he felt that his father could easily kill him."

"If I let him see that I can not only make his life better, but also demonstrate strength far surpassing my father's?"

Du Ruhui was taken aback:

"Your Highness means..."

"Conquer Goguryeo."

Li Chengqian stood up, walked to the map of Liaodong, and pointed heavily at the location of Pyongyang.

"And it can't be a Pyrrhic victory; it has to be a decisive and overwhelming victory in a way that even Li Jing can't understand."

Du Ruhui understood.

Li Chengqian intended to use absolute strength to crush Li Jing, the military genius of the Tang Dynasty, and break through his psychological defenses.

Make him understand that following the Crown Prince is the only way to survive.

"The 300,000-strong army of Goguryeo is nothing more than my testing ground."

Li Chengqian turned his head and smiled.

"Uncle Du, Uncle Qin, get ready to witness a miracle."

......

Meanwhile, in the main tent of the Duke of Wei.

Li Jing stood in front of the sand table, holding a small red flag representing Goguryeo in his hand, lost in thought for a full half hour.

His mind is now filled with the battle taking place on the river.

He had never seen a battle like this in his entire life.

"How exactly do we break this deadlock?"

Li Jing clutched his hair, unable to come up with a solution.

He had been studying military strategy since he was a teenager and had fought on the battlefield his whole life. What kind of ingenious schemes and tricks hadn't he seen? What kind of desperate comeback hadn't he fought?

However, Li Chengqian's tactics were completely unreasonable.

There was no formation, no charge, no close combat.

It was just a bunch of random smashing, and then it was over.

Is the military strategy I've learned still useful?

Li Jing had fallen into self-doubt.

"Uncle Li, what's troubling you?"

Li Chengqian walked in from outside the tent.

Li Jing quickly composed himself, cupped his hands in greeting, and said:

"Your Highness, I am currently reviewing last night's battle and considering the next steps in our advance."

"Oh? Tell me about it."

Li Chengqian pulled up a chair and sat down.

Li Jing pointed to several cities on the sand table and said:

"The Jian'an City and Liaodong City of Goguryeo were strategically positioned, with tall and sturdy city walls."

If we launch a direct attack, our army will inevitably suffer heavy casualties.

In my humble opinion, the primary strategy should be to besiege the stronghold and strike at the reinforcements, supplemented by tunnel warfare and siege ladders...

Li Chengqian, growing impatient, interrupted Li Jing.

"Too slow. At this rate, we won't finish the game even by next spring."

Li Jing's old face flushed slightly as he said:

"Your Highness, this has always been the case in siege warfare. Even with palm-sized thunderbolts, someone still needs to be able to rush to the base of the wall. Goguryeo archers are no pushovers."

"Who says that attacking a city always requires sacrificing lives?"

Li Chengqian countered with a question.

Li Jing asked in confusion:

"If we don't sacrifice lives, do you think heavenly soldiers and generals can overthrow Chengqian?"

Li Chengqian was too lazy to explain and simply slapped the parchment in his hand onto the sand table.

"See for yourself."

Li Jing looked over with a belly full of suspicion.

A mechanical structure is drawn on the parchment.

A massive base, long counterweight walls, and a bunch of pulleys and winches.

"What is this?"

Li Jing stared at it for a long time but still couldn't figure out what it was.

"It smells so good! Old Li, what delicious food have you hidden here?"

Just then, Cheng Yaojin crawled in from outside.

He hadn't eaten enough, so he came to Li Jing's place to freeload a meal.

"Get out."

Li Jing cursed in annoyance.

Cheng Yaojin didn't care at all and went over to the sand table to take a look at the blueprints.

"What is this thing? Your Highness, is this a giant slingshot? When I was a kid in the village, we used to make slingshots out of these tree branches every day to shoot sparrows. What? Are you planning to use this thing against the walls of Goguryeo?"

Li Jing roared in anger:

"Cheng Zhijie, if you don't understand, shut up. The gears and winch marked on this are far superior to your broken slingshot!"

After scolding Cheng Yaojin, Li Jing turned to Li Chengqian and humbly asked for his advice:

"Your Highness, what is this?"

"This is a catapult, or we call it a counterweight giant catapult."

Li Chengqian reached out and tapped on the drawing.

"The trebuchets of the Tang Dynasty were all pulled by manpower, with short range and low power."

"Using the lever principle and a huge counterweight, I can throw a stone weighing over a hundred pounds or an oversized palm-sized grenade more than three hundred paces away."

Hundreds of steps?

Li Jing looked at the blueprints in shock.

The maximum range of Goguryeo archers was no more than 150 paces.

This means that the Tang army could launch attacks on the city walls with impunity from outside the enemy's firing range.

"This...this can actually be made?"

Li Jing looked at Li Chengqian and asked in a trembling voice.

"We have the blueprints, and there's plenty of timber in Liaodong."

Li Chengqian snapped his fingers.

"Send down the order to gather all the carpenters and blacksmiths in the army and have them work through the night."

I need to see the prototype first thing tomorrow morning.

Cheng Yaojin listened from the side, only half understanding:

"That's all talk. Can it really be as effective as my old Cheng's axe? Your Highness, once this giant slingshot is made, I'm going to try it out myself and see if I can smash a hole in the gates of Goguryeo."

Li Chengqian said with a smile:

"Alright, Uncle Cheng. You'll be in charge of the first test launch tomorrow."

Cheng Yaojin shouted:

"Leave it to me."

Looking at Cheng Yaojin's boastful manner, Li Jing suddenly felt a bad feeling.

Did this bastard blow up his own camp?