If you traveled back to ancient times, while others ate Guanyin clay, you would actually have giant

In the battle against Tubo Kingdom, Dalong achieved a perfect start by annihilating 50,000 of their troops in the first battle. Everyone thought that Tubo had finally met their match, including Zhou Wu.

Because no matter which aspect is compared between Tubo and Dalong, Dalong is far superior to Tubo. The only difference is that Tubo is located at a high altitude, and the combat effectiveness of its soldiers from the plains would be greatly reduced when they went up there.

However, Zhou Wu had raised this issue with the court two years ago when the envoy from the Tubo tribe came to propose marriage. He suggested that the court's border soldiers undergo rotational training in high-altitude areas to get used to the high-altitude climate as soon as possible. As long as this problem was overcome, Zhou Wu would find no reason why the Great Dragon Society would not be victorious.

However, unexpected events often occur even when there are no prior indications of them.

Everyone was waiting to see the Dragon's thunderous methods wipe out the Earthshakers, but news came from the front lines that the Dragon's vanguard had suffered a crushing defeat, and the Dragon's military discipline was shaken.

"what's the situation?"

Zhou Wu, who was far away in the South China Sea, was also paying close attention to the battle in Tubo. When he heard the news that the vanguard of the Great Dragon Army had suffered a crushing defeat after penetrating deep into Tubo, he wondered if there was something wrong with his ears, or if the messenger was a spy on the other side.

"Sir, this news is absolutely true; everyone in the capital knows it."

The messenger, feeling uneasy under Zhou Wu's gaze, quickly offered an explanation.

"Look at you, what are you afraid of? I didn't say anything, of course I believe you. Go and rest first."

"Thank you, sir."

After the messenger left, only Zhou Wu, Niu Er, and Lin Niangzi remained.

"Brother, the messenger sounded very convincing just now, so I think the news must be true."

Even without Niu Er saying it, Zhou Wu knew that the messenger would never lie about such a message; it was just that Zhou Wu himself couldn't believe it. How could such a perfect start be so badly beaten?

Not only Zhou Wu couldn't understand it, but the emperor and other officials in the capital also couldn't understand it until detailed battle reports from the front lines came back, at which point everyone learned the specifics.

It turns out that this defeat was not accidental.

Firstly, when the Dalong soldiers officially entered the heart of Tubo, they indeed experienced altitude sickness, and even had difficulty holding their guns when they were in combat.

The vanguard is the first unit to provide intelligence and scout ahead for the main force.

However, it has not only failed to play its due role, but has also been paralyzed halfway through.

The vanguard commander faced two choices: one was to continue advancing while leaving the wounded behind, but with the vanguard already small in number, leaving nearly half of the sick soldiers behind to advance was undoubtedly a huge risk.

The second option is to retreat with the sick, but this would expose the main force directly to the enemy.

The vanguard officer was also in a difficult position, but soon he no longer needed to choose, because the indigenous army attacked directly.

The vanguard of three thousand men, half of whom were sick, was utterly overwhelmed by the local army.

"Damn it, Prime Minister Zuo, investigate immediately. Didn't the high-altitude rotation training program start last year? Why are these soldiers still suffering from altitude sickness?"

Zhou Wu's proposed plateau rotation training plan aimed to help soldiers from the border regions bordering Tubo adapt to the plateau environment. He specifically found a high-altitude area on the border, spending a lot of money to have these soldiers take turns going there for training and adaptation.

But now it's obvious that something must have gone wrong, which is why Li Tiancheng is so furious.

Because of this situation with the vanguard, the main force behind them dared not advance rashly and remained stationed in place, but problems soon arose.

At least half of the soldiers in the main force began to experience altitude sickness, which terrified the general who led the expedition. He immediately withdrew from the plateau and reported the situation to the emperor.

. . . . . .

"Bang~~~"

This is already the umpteenth teacup Li Tiancheng has smashed. He originally wanted to show the neighboring countries the true strength of the Great Dragon, but unexpectedly, the Great Dragon has now become a joke.

Before they even faced the enemy head-on, half of their men had already lost their fighting ability.

Moreover, this could very well involve internal corruption issues. With Li Tiancheng's bloodshot eyes, no one dared to meet his gaze.

Left Prime Minister Zhuang Ying was already holding the investigation results and standing below waiting for the report, but before she could speak, large beads of sweat began to roll down her forehead.

"Have the investigation results been released yet?"

"Your Majesty, it has been found out."

Left Prime Minister Zhuang Ying wiped the sweat from his forehead. He had been observing for decades and had never seen a task as efficient as this one. In just a few days, the case of Gao Yuan's rotation training had been solved. In fact, more importantly, this case had already made Da Long lose face in front of the whole world. Everyone knew that the emperor had to execute someone this time, so no one dared to hide it.

"Say!"

"A total of 136 officials, both high and low-ranking, were involved in this case. They received training funds from the imperial court, but did not actually conduct training according to the reported number, so as to receive salaries without working."

One hundred and thirty-six people—this is absolutely the biggest corruption case since the founding of the Great Dragon Kingdom. Li Tiancheng knew that there must be some people involved who had embezzled and violated the law, but he did not expect that there would be one hundred and thirty-six people involved. And this is only what has been found; the actual number is definitely more than that.

“Cut them all down, leave none behind.”

"Wow~"

Since Li Tiancheng ascended the throne, in order to demonstrate his diligence and love for the people, all death row inmates had to be personally approved by him. This made the Great Long Dynasty under Li Tiancheng's rule the era with the lowest death penalty rate.

But this time, Li Tiancheng broke with tradition and didn't even conduct an interrogation. He directly ordered all these officials to be beheaded. It was truly a case of "when the emperor is angry, blood flows like a river." People had become accustomed to the emperor's tolerance, but they forgot that he was still the emperor, the emperor whose presence was like walking on thin ice.

Even the censors who usually loved to oppose the emperor kept their mouths shut and dared not stand up.

Nonsense, we are officials who speak out, not fools. The first lesson for every official is to learn to assess the situation and act accordingly.

. . . . . . . . . .

One hundred and thirty-six officials, regardless of rank or background, were all executed.

The entire Great Dragon Kingdom was once again shocked.

Despite this incident, the army that had set out to fight against Tubo was still waiting for the imperial court's orders.

"The Crown Prince is hereby appointed as the Grand General to lead an army of 200,000 to annihilate the Tubo."

Two hundred thousand soldiers are not many for the Great Dragon, and even a little too few to wipe out the Tubo Kingdom. But there was no other way. After repeated counts, the number of soldiers participating in the rotation training was originally expected to be five hundred thousand, but in the end, there were only two hundred thousand. This was all the Great Dragon had.

Upon receiving the imperial decree, Li Junren immediately led his guards and set off for Tubo.