Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 227 I'll Help You Break Through the City

"When fighting abroad, one lives on simple meals."

Li Erfeng warmly greeted them, saying, "I apologize for the poor hospitality."

Looking at the meat porridge, unleavened flatbread, meat sauce, cured meat, and roasted lamb leg laid out on the table in front of me.

Lin Dao smiled and said, "Thank you for the hospitality."

He was no longer a novice who had just gained the ability to travel through time.

At this time, I wouldn't, in order to show off my superiority, make a grand promise like, "I'll treat you all to something delicious~~~"

I certainly wouldn't go to the modern world to buy fried chicken fast food anymore.

He reached for the dagger and skillfully sliced ​​the mutton.

I didn't dip it in meat sauce; I just cut it off like that and ate it directly with a dagger.

He often stayed in the army, so he knew what the meat sauce situation was like there.

I certainly won't force myself to endure hardship.

Meat porridge is made by cooking millet, wild vegetables, beans, and chunks of meat together; it's a big bowl of porridge.

A hodgepodge of stews and medleys that makes your scalp crawl at first glance.

The flatbread is called "Hu Bing," which is actually naan, a type of unleavened flatbread.

Take a bite, and let's not talk about the taste for now, but your teeth will definitely be the first to be put to the test.

I won't go into the meat sauce; you can refer to the meat crawling with maggots on the British ship.

The cured meat was dark and looked harder than a rock.

In other words, fresh roasted lamb leg is the most flavorful and palatable.

This is the most standard demonstration of productivity in the seventh century.

The Tang army ate these things and swept across the land.

All the military generals looked at Lin Dao with curiosity.

They couldn't understand why the King of Qin treated this person with such special regard.

The King of Qin had a bad temper, and when he got angry, even Yuchi Jingde dared not look him in the eye.

But he always treated this person with a kind and gentle demeanor.

That really piques my curiosity.

After eating and drinking to their hearts' content and wiping their hands, Lin Dao took the initiative to speak.

"Is the King of Qin going to attack Wang Shichong?"

Li Erfeng composed herself and replied, "That's right."

"This man is a wolf in sheep's clothing, cruel and tyrannical. The people of Luozhou have suffered greatly because of him. He should be punished!"

This is true.

Wang Shichong was extremely cruel and killed people at the drop of a hat.

He deposed the emperor and established himself as emperor, plundering the people's wealth and committing all sorts of atrocities.

The famous general Pei Renji and his son Pei Xingyan plotted to eliminate him, but their plot was discovered, and their entire clan was killed.

As more and more commoners and officials flocked to the Tang Dynasty, Wang Shichong used harsh laws and severe punishments to control the local areas.

If anyone in a family flees to the Tang Dynasty, the entire family will be punished, with no one spared.

Later, it even escalated to the point where they killed their neighbors' families as well.

It surpasses even the Sun Country in many ways.

He turned the palace into a prison, which was filled with people.

If there's no food, we'll eat dirt first.

If they can't eat soil, they start eating white meat.

Wang Shichong possessed everything one would expect at the end of a dynasty.

Another very important point is...

He's a Hu person!
"Let's fight Wang Shichong," Lin Dao said calmly. "I'm willing to lend a hand."

Upon hearing this, Li Erfeng was overjoyed.

"With Zihou's help, Wang Shichong's downfall is just around the corner!"

Upon hearing this, all the generals around frowned, and their brows furrowed more and more deeply.

The King of Qin is exaggerating a bit too much.

He was just one person.

Even if one is the bravest in the army, he is still just a fierce general.

The King of Qin had no shortage of fierce generals.

"I have a request."

Upon hearing this, Li Erfeng's smile froze. "Please feel free to say that."

"Wang Shichong and Zhu Can, I will execute them."

Wang Shichong was a false emperor, but a false emperor is still an emperor, which has symbolic significance.

If they were to rise up, they could also cause trouble.

Li Erfeng was well aware of this.

After a moment's hesitation, he nodded in agreement.

"can."

Compared to Wang Shichong, Lin Dao was clearly more important.

In Li Erfeng's eyes, this man was simply a god.

It was getting late, and Li Erfeng warmly invited Lin Dao to rest in the camp.

He even wanted to sleep side by side with his feet.

Lin Dao sternly refused, only asking for a tent, and explicitly instructed, "I am in seclusion, no one is to disturb me."

The generals were bursting with curiosity.

They surrounded Li Erfeng, chattering away and asking her questions incessantly.

Li Erfeng selectively recounted some details and also showed the generals a disposable lighter.

Yuchi Jingde and the others looked around at the lighter in astonishment.

However, the expressions of Qin Qiong, Cheng Zhijie, Li Shiji, and other military generals who came from Wagangzhai changed.

"Brother Dan~~"

Wagang Village has a strong sense of江湖 (jianghu, the martial arts world) atmosphere.

Shan Xiongxin had a good relationship with them.

Upon hearing of Shan Xiongxin's death, they were all filled with grief and indignation.

Cheng Zhijie turned to look for Lin Dao, but Li Shiji grabbed him.

"Not the time."

Xu Shiji was meticulous and ruthless.

The most urgent task is to find out this person's identity, background, abilities, and why he has gained the King of Qin's special favor.

Instead of rushing to seek revenge.

If his eldest grandson had been half as shrewd as him, the whole family wouldn't have ended up buried in the Iron Mound Tomb.

With gritted teeth, Qin Qiong and Cheng Zhijie crouched outside the tent in the forest road, keeping watch all night long.

They waited until Chenshi (7-9 AM), when the army had already eaten and was preparing to set out, but Lin Dao still hadn't come out.

Li Shiji came over and nodded, "Delaying the military is acceptable."

Qin Qiong and the others pounced into the tent like tigers descending a mountain. A short while later, they emerged with strange expressions on their faces.

Li Shiji hurriedly asked, "Where is he?"

"I wanted to ask that too," Wang Junkuo said, shrugging. "Where are they?"

"There's no one inside."

Qin Qiong shook his head. "The person is gone."

"You guys—" Li Shiji looked puzzled, "Didn't you keep an eye on things last night?"

Cheng Zhijie immediately flew into a rage, pointing to his eye socket. "I didn't sleep a wink all night! I stayed up all night guarding the tent, just waiting for him to come out!"

"That person~"

Before Li Shiji could finish speaking, he looked in astonishment at the people behind Qin Qiong and the others.

Everyone turned around and saw Lin Dao lift the curtain and walk out.

"Are they waiting for me?"

The July heat was intense, and the nights were stiflingly hot.

Furthermore, given his lack of complete trust in Li Tang, Lin Dao naturally wouldn't spend the night in the tent.

He went back to the modern world to sleep in an air-conditioned room.

"Lin Dao."

With a stern face, Li Shiji stepped forward and said, "It's past Chenshi (7-9 AM), you've missed the military time!"

Looking at the person in front of him, he thought about Li Erfeng's introduction last night.

Lin Dao looked enlightened. "I understand now. You've come to avenge Shan Xiongxin."

Having his thoughts exposed, Li Shiji remained unmoved, saying, "You have delayed the army's preparations."

Focus on the key points and don't ask about anything else.

That's a wise man; his grandson is far inferior to him.

Lin Dao was still smiling, but his gaze went past them and looked at Li Erfeng, who had rushed over after receiving the news.

"No rudeness!"

With a stern face, Li Erfeng rebuked, "Brother Zihou has come to help us; how can you restrict him according to military regulations?"

"Yes~"

Li Shiji led the group in bowing and accepting the order.

If things are beyond our control, retreat immediately.

"Since it's time, let's set off."

Lin Dao strode towards his off-road vehicle.

Seeing Lin Dao get into the car, Li Erfeng lowered her voice and said, "Luckily I arrived in time, otherwise if a conflict had broken out, I would have lost several of my generals."

Everyone was shocked.

Zhang Liang said with dissatisfaction, "Your Majesty, we generals are all skilled in martial arts and are all wearing heavy armor."

"Even if this person were the reincarnation of Xiang Yu, he might not be able to kill us all."

“You guys…” Li Erfeng recalled the scene from yesterday when Lin Dao, wielding a strange weapon, shot and killed over a hundred of Shan Xiongxin’s cavalrymen from a distance.

He shook his head repeatedly, "I didn't know how powerful he was."

Shan Xiongxin was also wearing iron armor, but he was still beaten to a pulp.

Tens of thousands of Tang soldiers set out from their camps and headed straight for Cijian with great momentum.

Cijian is located west of Luoyang, where the Cihe River and the Jianhe River meet.

Although Cijian is not as famous as Hulao Pass or Hangu Pass.

However, this place is extremely important to Luoyang, serving as its western gateway.

Once the city of Guanzhong is breached, the army that emerges from Guanzhong can march straight to the walls of Luoyang.

In Li Erfeng's view, Wang Shichong was bound to have a decisive battle with her here.

But as the army advanced, a messenger arrived with news that Wang Shichong's troops had already retreated.

"Return?"

Li Erfeng, on horseback, frowned. "They actually retreated."

This is the western gateway to Luoyang.

The area is crisscrossed by mountains and rivers, with harsh and complex terrain.

For the defending side, it is an excellent defensive terrain.

They set up numerous camps in key locations, and it would take the Tang army at least several months to take them down one by one.

But Wang Shichong simply gave up!

Li Erfeng subconsciously turned her head to look at the metal vehicle not far behind her.

"Could it be that Lin Dao killed Shan Xiongxin and scared Wang Shichong away?"

Withdrawing her gaze, Li Erfeng pondered for a moment and then ordered all the generals to come for a military meeting.

"Shi Wanbao, your troops will go south to occupy Longmen and cut off the Yizhou bandit army's route to the north."

"Liu Dewei, your troops are to occupy Hanoi."

"Wang Junkuo, your troops are to rush to Luokou and cut off Wang Shichong's supply lines."

"Huang Junhan, your troops go and retake Luocheng."

"The rest of the tribes will follow me to Beiman!"

The Tang army, having broken through Cijian, swept across the Luoyang Basin like a flood from the mountains into the plains.

Wang Shichong's abandonment of Cijian was a huge strategic and tactical failure.

Lin Dao followed along, arriving at Beiman with Li Erfeng's army.

Beiman is Beiman Mountain, which is only twenty or thirty miles away from Luoyang City.

It can be said that Li Erfeng had already put a knife to Wang Shichong's neck.

According to the normal course of events, the Li Tang army would spend several months taking down Wang Shichong's strongholds around Luoyang one by one, completely turning Luoyang into an isolated city.

Then came the battle where they defeated Wang Shichong in open field.

Then came the siege, the attack, the breaching of the city, and the end of the war.

Although historically, Dou Jiande voluntarily came to offer his head as a sacrifice, he also included himself in the sacrifice.

That's roughly the process.

The entire process took less than a year.

In the era of cold weapons, it was already considered very fast for a major battle of this scale to be decided and important areas captured in less than a year.

But Lin Dao can't wait.

He didn't want to personally lead the troops and continue the slaughter in the already wounded Central Plains.

The plan is to support the agent, influence him, train him, and arrange for him to do things.

Li Erfeng is a suitable candidate.

However, some of its historical practices...

Things like sending technology through marriage alliances, the Khan being accused of fattening up ungrateful wretches, and being overly tolerant of powerful clans prevented Lin Dao from making a decision.

He also planned to go to Chang'an to observe Li Jiancheng and see if he was qualified.

There was no time to spend months or even a year outside Luoyang.

After the Tang army set up camp, Lin Dao immediately found Li Erfeng.

"I will help you break through the city!"

(End of this chapter)