My father, Li Shimin, please call me Crown Prince

Chapter 130 Li Shimin, the Innate War Body
"What is the prince doing recently? I heard that he didn't even go to the Military Academy."

In Taiji Palace, Li Shimin asked Zhang Ananda.

He has always paid close attention to the prince.

Zhang Ananda replied, "I heard that the prince has been in the East Palace recently, playing a game called war chess."

Li Shimin was a little curious.

“Is wargame simulation related to the deployment of troops?”

Zhang Ananda replied, "I don't know, but the prince has been playing with Li Dejian, Du He, Zhao Jie, and the King of Han."

Li Shimin thought for a moment and said, "Go call Du He and I'll ask him."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Soon, Du He came.

"Greetings to Your Majesty."

"Give me a seat."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Li Shimin asked directly: "What was the war game simulation you and the prince played in the East Palace?"

Du He was a little surprised. He didn't expect that this matter would attract the attention of His Majesty.

Suddenly he started explaining with some excitement.

"It is a game designed by the prince. It uses a wooden board as the base, and uses sandstone and wood to carve out mountains and rivers on it."

"Then we simulated the deployment of troops and marching to fight."

"The prince has set up a set of rules, just like playing chess, each player makes a move."

"In addition to infantry and cavalry, we also have baggage, food and other supplies. It's fun to capture cities and territories."

Chess was popular in the early Tang Dynasty, and its popularity had a lot to do with Li Shimin's promotion.

Wu Zhao was a chess fan.

However, the way chess is played today is very different from that in later generations.

When Li Shimin heard this, he immediately became interested.

There is a shortage of entertainment games these days, so new games are obviously very attractive.

Zhang Ananda saw what His Majesty was thinking and suggested, "Your Majesty has not been to the East Palace for a long time. Why not go and inspect it?"

Li Shimin nodded: "It's time to inspect it. Let's go to the East Palace."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Du He also followed.

Taiji Palace is really close to the Eastern Palace. Li Shimin once went there with Empress Changsun.

But since the death of Empress Changsun, Li Shimin rarely visited the Eastern Palace.

East Palace.

At this time, Li Chengqian had just rewarded Lu Tong.

Of course, it is just verbal praise at the moment, and its main significance is to paint a rosy picture for Lu Tong.

General Jinwu already has enough money and power.

Even if you give some reward, it won't be of much use, so just don't give it.

Besides, what Lu Tong cares about most is joining the prince's party.

Simply put, it is the merit of following the dragon.

Once the prince ascends the throne, his power will naturally rise with the tide.

This time, Lu Tong sent the Koreans and the assassins here, and he officially became a member of the Prince's Party.

"My minister retire."

Lu Tong bowed and then left.

Li Chengqian then asked Li Yuanchang to play war chess with him.

"Your Highness, I'd better wait for Zhao Jie to come over and play with him."

King of Han Li Yuanchang said somewhat helplessly.

There was no fun at all in playing with the prince; he was completely bullied.

The only one who could fight against the prince was Li Dejian.

But for now, neither Li Dejian, Li Yuanchang, Du He, nor Zhao Jie have ever won a single game.

Except for Li Dejian, they could not hold out for half an hour in the hands of the prince.

The one who could last the longest was Li Dejian, who could usually hold out for about an hour.

At the beginning, everyone thought that it was because the rules of the game were designed by the prince and they were just not familiar with them.

However, as they played, they discovered that when it came to the use of tactics, they were no match for the prince.

Especially in terms of control over the overall situation, there is a huge difference.

The prince's tactics can always easily break through their defenses. They seem disorganized, but in fact they are well-measured in advance and retreat.

Even if a large force is concentrated, they will be defeated one by one by the prince.

So Li Yuanchang didn't want to play with the prince.

It's interesting to play with Zhao Jie. Two bad chess players, two rookies, can play against each other for two hours without a clear winner.

It can be said to be a real battle of three hundred rounds.

"Your Majesty has arrived."

The eunuch came trotting over to report.

Li Chengqian and Li Yuanchang looked at each other in surprise.

Your Majesty, it’s a rare guest coming to the East Palace.

"Father."

"His Majesty."

The two of them hurried out of the palace to greet them.

At this time, the two saw Du He behind His Majesty.

One look and I immediately understood.

Li Shimin said with a smile: "I heard that Cheng Qian invented a new game, war chess."

"I am very interested and came here to take a look."

Li Chengqian was not surprised that the military chess game reached Erfeng's ears.

During this period, he played war games in the East Palace every day and did not hide it.

Just as he placed eunuchs in the Taiji Palace to pass on messages, Li Shimin naturally also had arrangements.

Or it could be said that there was no need for special arrangements. When Zhang Ananda, the chief eunuch, asked the eunuchs in the Eastern Palace, no one dared to hide anything.

This is something that everyone knows.

Li Chengqian said: "In my spare time, I occasionally have inspiration. I feel that chess is too monotonous, so I suddenly have an idea to design a war game. I was thinking of perfecting it before presenting it to your father, but I never thought that your father had already received the news."

Li Shimin's face was calm and expressionless. He knew that the prince was pointing at him.

He was not surprised by this and said, "Cheng Qian, take me to see what is so wonderful about this war game simulation."

Li Shimin felt more and more that this game must be fun.

Li Chengqian nodded and took Erfeng and others to the side hall.

The sand table was placed in the side hall.

In the center of the hall, there is a large wooden platform, and on the wooden platform is a sand table.

As Li Shimin looked, the mountains and rivers carefully carved out of sandstone and wood appeared lifelike, with various chess pieces representing different types of troops and baggage and food placed among them, like a miniature war painting.

Li Shimin observed with great interest and asked, "How exactly is this war chess game played?"

Li Chengqian began to explain the rules to Li Shimin in detail: "It's almost the same as playing chess, each person makes a move."

"Infantry and cavalry move among these mountains and rivers according to their different characteristics. Each chess piece represents 100 soldiers, and baggage and food affect the army's ability to continue fighting."

"Attack a city and capture territory requires strategic layout, taking advantage of terrain and coordination of arms"

While listening to Li Chengqian's explanation, Li Shimin was thinking about the ins and outs of it.

But he didn't start directly, instead he said: "Yuanchang, you play a game of chess with Chengqian, I will watch from the side first."

Er Feng was still very cautious. If she went straight into it without fully understanding the situation, she would easily lose to the prince.

He doesn't want to lose.

"Yes."

Li Yuanchang came on stage with a bitter face, he didn't want to play with the prince.

I had refused before, but I didn't expect that I would have to go now.

Isn't this just asking for trouble?

However, Your Majesty’s edict cannot be refused.

Li Chengqian asked the eunuch Wen Zhong to bring chairs, and then several people sat around the sand table and started playing chess.

At the beginning, Li Chengqian did not take the development route, but attacked with force.

Li Yuanchang did not expect the prince's offensive to be so fierce. You know, the prince's previous playing style has always been based on development and pressure. Now that he suddenly changed his style, he could only respond hastily.

However, the front line soon began to collapse. Li Chengqian's red chess pieces almost completely crushed and occupied a large area of ​​important areas. This time, Li Yuanchang was defeated before even two quarters of an hour.

Normally he can last half an hour, or an hour.

Two quarters of an hour, or 30 minutes.

You have to know that war games are different from real battlefields. With the same number of troops, there is no such thing as morale.

It's purely a tactical showdown.

This shows that tactically, Li Yuanchang and the prince are not on the same level at all.

"Yuanchang, come down, I'll play some."

Li Shimin was eager to try and gave the order directly.

He had already become itchy from watching it just now, and he basically understood how to play the war game.

He was originally a chess fan.

War games are obviously more complex than chess and are more closely related to actual warfare.

Especially the depiction of mountains and rivers made Li Shimin feel like he was really on the battlefield.

He had not led troops to fight in person for many years, but for Li Shimin, those days on the battlefield were the times he missed the most.

"Father, why don't you watch a few more games?" Li Chengqian said with a smile.

"No need, just come directly."

Li Shimin understood what this meant, that the prince was not prepared to give in.

He also knew in his heart that the prince had some resentment towards his father, the emperor, to a certain extent.

Games start.

This time, Li Chengqian used the same tactics as he did before when fighting Li Yuanchang, and launched a strong attack.

It doesn't follow the path of business development at all.

Because of the problem of food and grass, the party that launches the attack first is at a disadvantage.

If they cannot break through the defense line quickly, they can only retreat temporarily to collect food and supplies.

Li Shimin frowned slightly and began to deal with it.

However, once they started fighting, they found that it was not that simple.

The defense line that was set up was obviously unable to withstand the attack of the prince, and the front line was breached in just five or six moves.

Li Shimin was forced to concentrate his forces for defensive response, but the trend of defeat was already apparent.

This was because Li Shimin was unfamiliar with the rules, but the reason why he was so strong was also because Li Chengqian was more familiar with the tactics.

Li Chengqian is very familiar with the tactics of coordinated cavalry and infantry assault.

Moreover, he is well aware of the essence of mobile warfare: if the enemy advances, we retreat; if the enemy stays, we harass; if the enemy is tired, we attack; if the enemy retreats, we pursue.

In the past, the gameplay of war games had been developed to a high level, and there were a large number of relevant tutorials on various classic tactics on the Internet.

It can be said that it is a collection of the essence of world historical wars.

Li Shimin's military talent was indeed very high, but after ignoring the impact of real battlefield aspects such as morale.

Naturally, it was not enough in the face of the mobile warfare that was the culmination of tactics in later generations.

"I lost."

When the blue chess piece representing Li Shimin's base camp was surrounded, the chess game was over.

"Come again."

Li Shimin was not at all upset, but extremely excited.

The excitement of this new game fascinated him, as if he really felt the feeling of strategizing in a big tent.

The prince's tactics made him even more impressed.

Li Shimin was well-versed in military books, but the tactics displayed by the prince had never appeared in any military book.

Each step seems to have no purpose, but it has deep strategic significance.

He had fought wars for most of his life and had never encountered anything like this.

Is this a tactic developed by the prince himself?

You have to know that such tactics are not just talk on paper, they are things that can actually be used on the battlefield.

And if such tactics could really be used on the battlefield, how exciting it would be.

Li Shimin was wondering if he could win if he met such an opponent back then.

He wasn't sure.

Li Yuanchang was watching from the side.

What a thrilling duel.

I couldn't help but mutter to myself, it turns out that His Majesty is about the same time as me, only half an hour.

Rounding off, I am equal to Your Majesty?
Soon, after the sand table was rearranged, the second round began.

Li Chengqian continued to attack aggressively, but soon his brows began to frown.

This Erfeng is really something.

It's only been one round, but they've found a way to deal with mobile warfare.

With the deployment of troops, the rudiments of positional warfare have already taken shape.

Military talent, so terrifying.

No wonder the teacher once commented that since ancient times, no one has been as capable of military affairs as Li Shimin.

The ability to comprehend is too strong.

Li Chengqian felt the pressure all of a sudden.

However, the time was too short, and Li Shimin's tactical arrangements were still a bit immature.

If Li Chengqian had put in a little more thought, he would have won the game.

But this round took nearly half an hour.

It is different from the half-letting-go and half-training approach used by Du He, Zhao Jie, and Li Dejian.

This is Li Chengqian's all-out offensive.

It's like for a Go novice.

I'll teach you, this is the white piece and that is the black piece.

Okay, now you can go to a professional Go tournament and win the championship.

"Come on, continue."

Li Shimin became even more interested. After just two rounds of war chess, he was completely addicted to the game.

Li Shimin liked war game simulation more than chess.

Every game is like a real war.

The third round.

Li Chengqian won again, but this time, the victory was not so easy.

What is the Innate War Holy Body?

In this round, Li Shimin not only understood positional warfare, but also began to familiarize himself with Li Chengqian's mobile warfare tactics.

While facing a strong attack, you can still have a counterattack posture.

Even after winning a local war, Li Chengqian was forced to temporarily change his tactics and lose some troops before he could defeat this counterattack.

The third game lasted more than an hour.

That is more than two hours in later generations.

"Keep going."

"Ananda, set the plate."

Li Shimin has become completely addicted and has turned into a middle-aged man addicted to the Internet.

He was deeply addicted to the war game.

There was absolutely no sense of time passing, even though it was starting to get dark outside and there were candles lit nearby.

But this time, Li Chengqian did not move.

"Cheng Qian, what are you doing? Start."

Li Shimin urged when he saw that the prince did not move.

Zhang Ananda beside him reminded: "Your Majesty, it's getting dark, it's time for dinner."

When Li Shimin heard this, he suddenly realized.

It turns out that so much time has passed.

The first game lasted one hour, the second game lasted one and a half hours, and the third game lasted two and a half hours.

Five hours, or two and a half hours, have passed since Li Shimin came to the Eastern Palace.

But for Li Shimin, who was completely immersed in the game, he didn't feel anything.

"I'm having dinner in the East Palace."

"Cheng Qian, let's continue after we finish eating."

(End of this chapter)