My father, Li Shimin, please call me Crown Prince

Chapter 213 What does the Tang prince want to do?
The battle of Zhang Jian and Jian'an City was the first confrontation between the Tang army and Goryeo.

With a number far smaller than that of the Goryeo army, they killed more than 5,000 Goryeo soldiers and suffered a loss of only 2,000.

Especially, there were 5,000 Hu soldiers among them.

This kind of record is worthy of being called a great victory.

The news was quickly spread.

When the Tang troops heard the news, their morale was greatly boosted.

Pyongyang City, the capital of Goryeo Dynasty.

When Yeon Gaesomun learned the news, he was furious.

"Fool, you gave up the advantage of defending the city and went to fight the Tang army head-on. Why can such a fool be the general of Jian'an City?"

In the royal court, Yeon Gaesomun asked in a temperate tone.

None of the officials dared to speak, and the puppet King of Goryeo at the head was even trembling with fear.

In fact, Yeon Gaesomun is still very elegant.

The historical record of Yeon Gaesomun is that he was tall and handsome, with a beautiful beard, his hat and clothes were all decorated with gold, and he wore five swords. No one around him dared to look up at him.

Seeing that no one answered him, Yeon Gaesomun gave an order.

"Inform the defenders of each city to refrain from leaving the city to fight the Tang army."

Yeon Gaesomun took the Tang Dynasty's Eastern Expedition very seriously, but he was not afraid of it.

Because from the known intelligence, Yeon Gaesomun already knew that the Tang Dynasty only had 150,000 troops.

Back then, the Sui Dynasty's million-strong army failed to conquer Goryeo. Now, the Tang army wanted to win a great victory with only 150,000 troops, but Yeon Gaesomun thought it was unlikely.

Goryeo had an army of 300,000, twice as many as the Tang army.

And they are the ones defending the city.

Since ancient times, defending a city has always had a natural advantage, and it often takes several times or even ten times the number of troops to besiege a city before it can be conquered.

The right time, right place, and right people were all on Goryeo's side.

If I still lose, wouldn't it mean that I, the Great Molizhi, am incompetent?

After absorbing the fleeing civilians and soldiers of the Sui Dynasty, Goryeo now had better equipment, stronger cities, and more soldiers than before.

How could this be possible?

Of course, if everyone was a fool like Jian'an City, that would be a different story.

Following Yeon Gaesomun's order, all of Goryeo's frontline cities focused on defense and were determined not to engage in a field battle with the Tang army.

August 25th.

Li Chengqian's army arrived at the city of Liaodong.

He also heard the news about Zhang Jian's defeat of the Goryeo army.

The news was very encouraging.

However, this also means that Goryeo will be more secure in its income.

When the army arrived at Liaodong City, except for some Goryeo spies, the gates of Liaodong City were tightly closed, and there was no intention of sending troops to fight a battle with the Tang army.

Sunset.

Li Chengqian rode a horse and took Su Dingfang, Li Daozon and others to watch the situation in Liaodong City in front.

The city wall of Liaodong City is very high, about three zhang, or nine meters.

There are three city gates, the east and west gates facing each other, and they are double-story gate towers.

The design of the double-layer gate tower not only makes the city gate more solid, but also makes it easier for the soldiers defending the city to defend and attack from above the gate tower.

There are buildings such as corner towers, battlements, and parapets on the city walls.

The corner tower allows the soldiers defending the city to observe and attack the enemy from different angles without any blind spots.

The battlements provided cover and shooting positions for the defenders.

A parapet prevents enemies from scaling the city walls.

These auxiliary defense buildings cooperate with each other to form a strict city defense system.

In addition, there is a two-story building in the northwest outside the city, which may be used for observation and defense, capable of detecting enemy attacks in advance and issuing early warnings.

In terms of topography, the surrounding terrain has certain undulations and barriers.

Although the overall area is a plain, the terrain of Liaodong City is higher.

This gives it the advantage of being high above the ground.

The attackers need to attack from above, which increases the difficulty and physical exertion of the attack.

As the eastern capital of Goguryeo, Liaodong City had sufficient military forces for defense.

Li Chengqian had only 25,000 troops, and with auxiliary troops there were only more than 50,000.

But the number of defenders in Liaodong City would be at least no less than 50,000.

"Your Highness, Liaodong City is so large that we cannot attack it by force. We can only take it by strategizing."

Li Daozon also knew that he could not persuade the prince to attack the city.

So let me offer suggestions instead.

This time, the prince saw the majesty of Liaodong City with his own eyes, so he must have been a little shaken.

"Uncle, tell me how to outsmart us."

Li Chengqian asked with a smile.

Li Chengqian knew very well what Li Daozon was thinking, but he didn't care too much about it.

After all, he had never seen the power of gunpowder.

On the contrary, Li Chengqian became more confident after seeing the situation in Liaodong City.

Because those buildings on the city wall are a big trouble for others, but for Li Chengqian, they are the best way to exert the power of gunpowder.

Previously, they only planned to blow up the city gate, but now, they can also blow up the buildings on the city walls as well.

Gunpowder is obviously the most effective weapon against wooden structures.

"I hadn't thought of that yet."

Li Dao Zong replied somewhat helplessly.

Since ancient times, sieges have always been fought with the majority against the minority, with the enemy city being several times larger than the majority.

What can he do in this situation?

"Okay, don't think about it, uncle."

"And in a few days, we will know the outcome."

"Then you will understand clearly how I am so confident."

"By then, you will be able to see that the entire Goryeo gate will be opened for me."

"Ha ha ha ha!!!"

Li Chengqian laughed wildly, turned his horse around and returned to the camp.

Narrator Su Dingfang, Li Dejian, Helan Chushi, and Chen Yunchao all rode their horses to follow.

Li Daozon stood there, a little dazed.

He really couldn't understand where the prince got his confidence from.

Isn't this too conceited?

Turning his head to look at the majestic walls of Liaodong City, Li Daozon shook his head slightly and rode his horse to catch up.

At this moment, on the city wall of Liaodong City.

The defenders kept a close eye on the movements of the Tang army and did not dare to relax at any time.

"Is that the prince of the Tang Dynasty?"

"I heard that this attack on us was instigated by this Tang prince. When he becomes emperor in the future, he will definitely be a tyrant."

"I really want to just leave the city and chop this Tang prince to death."

"I would rather shoot his eyes out with a bow and arrow, so that he will know how powerful we are in Goryeo."

"He seemed to be laughing. I heard it."

"I heard it too."

"What is he laughing at?"

"I don't know. Maybe he's crazy."

"It would be better if you were really crazy."

Looking down from the Goryeo city wall, there were densely packed military camps and endless crowds of people.

When one hundred thousand people gathered together, from a distance they looked like a vast black sea with no end in sight.

The perspective from a high vantage point is even more shocking.

The entire plain was almost filled up.

Every time the young Goryeo soldiers looked outside the city, they would look nervous and swallow their saliva subconsciously.

The veterans were somewhat skeptical.

There was a more shocking scene than this back then. There were hundreds of thousands of soldiers at the gate of the city. The entire plain was completely filled with countless horses and countless people.

The scene today is very different from that of the past.

Moreover, the veterans know better that although there seem to be so many people, only less than one or two can actually fight.

The city walls are strong, there is no need to be afraid.
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After a day of rest.

Li Chengqian began to gather his troops and prepare for a tentative siege.

It is not yet time to use explosive packs directly.

Due to accuracy issues, the catapult and crossbow also need to be adjusted.

Thirty thousand infantrymen formed three hundred square formations of one hundred men each.

When thirty thousand people walked on the plain, the ground seemed to be shaking.

Following closely were twenty crossbows and twenty catapults, pushed by a large number of auxiliary troops.

"According to my arrangement, conduct precision tuning for each crossbow." "Someone should be nearby to record the height, range, and force."

Li Chengqian opened his mouth and gave orders.

Su Dingfang bowed and said, "Yes, Your Highness."

The personnel have already been arranged.

Compared to the trebuchet, the crossbow is more important.

Because the explosive packs thrown by the catapults were intended to be thrown directly into the city.

The accuracy doesn't matter, as long as the throwing distance is farther. Then we can equip it with explosive packs and carry out random bombing.

The bed crossbow is different.

The accuracy of the crossbow is higher than that of the catapult.

Especially for city gate towers and city gates, such large targets can be hit without much difficulty after a little adjustment and familiarity.

Li Chengqian had a limited amount of explosives, so he tried to save as much as possible.

Testing will begin soon.

The Goryeo defenders also became nervous.

Although they have a huge advantage for the time being, the strength of the Tang army is also deeply rooted in people's hearts.

"Prince's order: Prepare!"

"Prince's order: Prepare!"

"Prince's order: Prepare!"

As the messengers on horseback ran and roared loudly.

When the order was given, dozens of soldiers shouted in unison, their muscles tensed, and they pushed the capstan with all their strength. The capstan made a dull "creaking" sound.

It was like the roar of a giant beast before waking up.

As the capstan turned, the crossbow string was pulled back inch by inch, and the huge crossbow arrow on the crossbow arm was pressed up, but this crossbow arrow had no arrowhead, it was just sharpened into a pointed shape.

Around the catapult, groups of soldiers and busy ants were constantly shuttling around this giant beast of war.

They worked together to carry one huge stone after another under the catapult's arm.

When everything is ready.

Someone quickly reported it to the prince.

"Your Highness, everything is ready."

Li Chengqian flicked his sleeves and ordered, "Fire!"

The messenger ran loudly.

"Prince's Order: Fire!"

"Prince's Order: Fire!"

"Prince's Order: Fire!"

The soldier in charge of the launch pulled the mechanism hard, and the huge stone was thrown high into the sky.

The bed crossbow made a whistling sound and the crossbow arrow flew away.

People on Liaodong City saw this and shouted: Get out of the way! Get out of the way!

The Goryeo soldiers immediately squatted down along the city wall according to their previous drills.

The sky was filled with rocks and crossbow arrows.

But there aren’t many.

With a series of dull sounds, it soon ended.

That's it?

The Goryeo defenders were a little confused.

There's a lot of thunder but little rain.

Although the twenty stones smashed one corner, the crossbow was almost useless.

Even so, the Goryeo defenders did not relax their vigilance.

Who knows what Tang Jun’s evil plan is.

This may just be a test, and they will attack the city next.

Military camp outside the city.

Thirty thousand soldiers were ready for battle.

There were three hundred square formations of one hundred men, and the leader of each square formation was a student from Li Chengqian's Military Academy.

Rather than being a siege preparation, this was more like a large-scale drill.

What these soldiers have to do is to stand still and straight, not move around or talk to each other.

After the first wave of crossbows were fired.

The operator took notes immediately, and a craftsman was in charge of checking on the side.

Some people even picked up a scale to check the weight of the crossbow arrows.

A moment later, some gravel was brought over and hung on the crossbow according to the quantity of one or two kilograms.

As for the catapults, they basically stopped moving after one round.

It can be seen that stones were able to pass over the city wall and be thrown into Liaodong City.

Liaodong City has two walls, inner and outer.

The outer city is the commercial area, and the inner city is the residential area.

You need to break through the outer city first before you can attack the inner city.

In a conventional military battle, even if a large number of soldiers were spent to break through the outer city, they would still have to face attacks from the soldiers in the inner city.

This can maximize the defensive capabilities of the defenders.

The outer city was breached in a short time, and the soldiers who attacked not only had to fight with the outer city soldiers, but also had to deal with the bows and crossbows of the inner city soldiers, and it would be easy for them to be taken back.

After two incense sticks of time of debugging.

The crossbow fired again.

This time, there were stones weighing one or two kilograms tied on top.

The soldiers in charge didn't know why they did this, but since the prince gave the order, they had no choice but to obey.

Once or twice.

Three times, four times.

The Tang army was debugging the crossbows at a leisurely pace.

The Goryeo defenders were already starting to get bored.

We were fully prepared to deal with the Tang army's siege, but more than an hour had passed and the crossbows were still shooting at us.

A Goryeo soldier climbed up a ladder and pulled down the crossbow arrows from the city wall.

"what is this?"

Seeing the wooden bag hanging on the crossbow arrow, I took it apart out of curiosity.

The result was a pile of stones.

The news was reported quickly.

The one guarding Liaodong City is the Lord of Goryeo East.

He is Yeon Gaesomun's confidant and a member of the Yeon family, Yeon Junyue.

"What on earth does this Tang prince want to do?"

Yuan Junyue was very confused when he saw the crossbow arrows and gravel being sent to him, but he keenly felt that the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty was definitely plotting something.

The reputation of the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty has now spread to Goryeo.

This is a person who is extremely powerful in both wisdom and martial arts.

Hundreds of Goryeo guards acted as assassins, but failed to kill the enemy.

I heard that he is also an excellent archer.

And in Yuan Junyue's study, there is another poem.

That was the Qingyu Case Lantern Festival of the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty.

Every time he sees this poem, the prosperous scene of Chang'an emerges in Yuan Junyue's mind.

At the same time, one would also marvel at the talent of the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty.

Such a talented person must have a purpose for what he does.

But no matter how hard Yuan Junyue thought about it, he had no clue at all.

So he immediately convened a meeting and asked all the counselors and generals to discuss the matter together.

the other side.

Just after noon, Li Chengqian ordered the troops to retreat.

And let the cook prepare a lot of food.

All the soldiers who go out for training today can have a full meal, and meat will be provided.

When Li Daozon heard the news, he was extremely anxious and hurried to persuade him.

"Your Highness, the army only has enough food for a month. If they continue to eat like this, they will be out of food in less than half a month."

"According to regulations, the food and fodder sent from behind will not arrive until a month later."

"Your Highness, please quickly withdraw your order."

Li Chengqian asked calmly, "Do you want me to change my mind?"

Li Daozong explained: "I didn't mean that, but it won't last long if we continue like this."

Li Chengqian laughed and said, "Of course I know that it won't last long. However, there is plenty of food and grass in Liaodong City. We only need to capture it. Why would we need the baggage sent from the rear?"

"Okay, I've given the order, so let's do it."
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ps: I was too sleepy yesterday and overslept, so I didn’t have time to update.

(End of this chapter)