Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 233 Li Erlang is here~
Mingzhou, the Xia Dynasty Palace.

"Who did you say is coming?"

Slightly tipsy from the banquet, Dou Jiande shook his head and asked, "Who's heading towards Mingzhou City?"

Liu Bin, a scribe in the Imperial Secretariat, staggered into the hall, sweating profusely, and shouted, "King Xia! Li Erlang has arrived!"

"Their troops are already fifty li from Mingzhou, and they will surely arrive before noon tomorrow!"

"What did you say?" The music in the hall was quite loud, and Dou Jiande had drunk a bit too much. He asked incredulously, "Who... fifty li? Explain yourself!"

"King Xia!"

Liu Bin was almost frantic. "Li Shimin, the Second Prince of Tang, is leading his army to attack!"

Dou Jiande shook his head vigorously and took a deep breath.

He grabbed the wine bowl and smashed it hard beside him.

He roared in anger.

"Stop!"

The music finally stopped, and the dancing girls also finished their graceful dance and gathered together, looking bewildered and at a loss.

All eyes turned to them.

Dou Jiande stood up, leaning on the table, and pointed at Liu Bin.

"You~"

Say it again!

"King Xia," Liu Bin reported, "a messenger has arrived with news that Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty is leading a large army straight towards Mingzhou. They are already fifty li away and will arrive before noon tomorrow!"

The breaths of everyone in the hall caught in their throats.

Li Shentong, Wei Zheng, and the others all lowered their heads, their eyes darting around.

"how did it get here?"

Dou Jiande's voice was deep and somber, his face no longer showing any signs of drunkenness. "Why did no one come to report?"

"The military newspaper did mention this matter a couple of days ago."

"But the words are vague and ambiguous."

"Chen~chen~~"

Liu Bin was responsible for receiving military reports.

He glanced at the warning military report from two days ago and threw it away, not believing it at all.

Li Erlang had only captured Luoyang a few days ago.

They were too busy taking over Wang Shichong's territory to possibly travel thousands of miles to their deaths.

Only now, with a constant stream of accurate and detailed military reports arriving from various places along the route, has he begun to panic.

Dou Jiande glared at him fiercely and then temporarily suppressed the matter.

Now is not the time to punish this fool; the most important thing is to deal with the sudden crisis.

He asked in a deep voice, "How many men are there?"

"At least five thousand or more, possibly tens of thousands."

"Are you sure it's Li Erlang?"

"It's confirmed, the scouts saw Li Erlang's banner with their own eyes."

"Tens of thousands? Has Li Erlang brought all of the elite cavalry of the Tang Dynasty?"

"King Xia," Liu Bin said with some difficulty, "the urgent report says that many Tang soldiers came in two-wheeled carts."

"Ok?"

Dou Jiande frowned. "What two-wheeled vehicle?"

"The urgent report said that people can sit on it and it rotates like the wind, and move by kicking their legs."

"What the hell is this?" Dou Jiande thought about it carefully, but couldn't imagine it at all.

"King Xia!"

Ling Jing, the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, stepped forward and bowed. "What's important now is not the two-wheeled cart, but to move away from Mingzhou as soon as possible."

The people inside the hall were all in an uproar upon hearing this.

Having drunk quite a bit of wine, Liu Heita shouted, "What are you saying?"

"Mingzhou is so well-defended, even if Li Er kills ten thousand men at most."

"Even if they were incredibly audacious, could they possibly conquer Mingzhou?"

Ling Jing simply said one sentence.

"Luoyang City fell in a single day!"

The hall fell silent instantly.

Even a fortified city like Luoyang was breached in a single battle by Li Erlang.

What about Mingzhou?
The Chancellor of the Imperial Academy was primarily responsible for education.

Ling Jing held this position, but his job was to advise Dou Jiande and was an important strategist under him.

His words carried great weight.

Dou Jiande, who is easily influenced by others, was already tempted at this moment.

"King Xia."

Dou Jiande's wife, Cao, spoke up, "Are we abandoning all the grain, goods, craftsmen, and women in Mingzhou City?"

With just one sentence, Dou Jiande, who was always indecisive, made up his mind.

"Can't leave!"

The city of Mingzhou stored a vast amount of supplies and provisions for the families of civil and military officials.

These supplies and people couldn't possibly disappear overnight.

For Dou Jiande, losing these things was more than just cutting off flesh; it was like having his bones shaved off.

"King Xia."

Ling Jing spoke again, "In that case, we should mobilize the soldiers and civilians inside and outside the city to reinforce the city walls and defend the city."

"The fast horses flew to various places to summon reinforcements to surround them from all sides, and the troops were gathered and annihilated."

"The best course of action is to send a message to the Turkic Khan and ask him to send troops to our aid."

From a strategic perspective, this is indeed a good suggestion.

By fully utilizing their own strength, with an army of hundreds of thousands surrounding them, plus the iron cavalry of the Turks, they were more than capable of overwhelming Li Erlang.

Dou Jiande nodded, about to speak.

Liu Heita roared, "What kind of talk is that!"

"Tens of thousands of troops were stationed in Mingzhou City."

"Send word to the nearby prefectures and counties that another 10,000 to 20,000 can arrive before noon tomorrow."

"There are several thousand private soldiers and retainers in the city."

"So many heroes were scared into hiding in the city like cowards by Li Er's tens of thousands of troops?"

"In my opinion, we should take advantage of the fact that Li Er's army is exhausted from his long campaign and launch a decisive battle to defeat him!"

Liu Bin, a secretary in the Imperial Secretariat, also echoed the words.

"General Liu is absolutely right."

"King Xia."

"To hold out and wait for reinforcements might tarnish the prestige of the Xia King!"

When soldiers fight, practicality is the primary consideration; their goal is to win, or at least not to be defeated.

But Dou Jiande was not a soldier; he was a political creature.

His primary consideration was not military gains or losses, but rather the weighing of political gains and losses.

Terrified by Li Erlang's surprise attack, they stayed indoors and had to ask the Turks for help.

If this gets out, it will severely damage his prestige.

Dou Jiande nodded repeatedly.

"exactly."

"Li Erlang, with several thousand or even tens of thousands of troops, has come on a long march."

"If I were so frightened that I dared not go out, wouldn't I be ridiculed by all the heroes of the world?"

"In that case, let's gather our men and have a proper meeting with that Li Erlang tomorrow!"

"I want to see if he has three heads and six arms!"

"King Xia!" Ling Jing quickly interjected, "No, you mustn't!"

"Li Erlang must have had some tricks up his sleeve to break through Luoyang in one day."

"He was a man who roamed freely across the north and south, looking down on everything in his path, and often defeated large armies with a small force."

"Prudence should be the priority!"

This makes one seem tactless. Even when offering advice, one shouldn't exaggerate the opponent so directly, as it would be demeaning one's own lord.

Sure enough, Dou Jiande's expression changed.

My mind is made up!

"Tomorrow we will send a large army out of the city to meet the enemy!"

After saying that, he turned and left, leaving Ling Jing stamping his feet and sighing repeatedly.

Pei Ju, who served as the Right Minister under Dou Jiande, got up and walked out of the hall, muttering to himself.

"Idiot~~~"

The following morning, more than twenty miles south of Mingzhou City.

Lin Dao kicked a pebble on the road.

My gaze swept over the so-called official road, which was full of potholes and footprints and ruts.

"And this is still the official road."

"Luckily, I got a bicycle with inflatable tires."

"If this were solid, the bumpy ride of thousands of miles would have left my buttocks raw."

Solid tires are easy to maintain and wear-resistant.

It's fine on flat roads, but riding on rough roads can be unbearably bumpy.

"Brother Zihou."

Li Erfeng, pushing her bicycle, walked over and asked, "Why did you stop?"

He had a BMW but insisted on riding a bicycle, and he was extremely happy the whole way, like a big boy who had received his favorite toy.

"Less than thirty li away."

Lin Dao unloaded the box from the off-road vehicle.

"Dou Jiande either defends the city or goes to war."

"If we are going to war, now is the perfect time to leave the city and conduct pre-battle reconnaissance."

Li Erfeng said, "Scouts will be sent out to investigate."

He himself enjoys acting as a scout to understand the battlefield environment and situation, and he is very knowledgeable about it.

"Too slow." Lin Dao took out the drone, added a battery, and started adjusting it. "It's easy to alert the enemy."

"Detect in advance and strike first."

"Taking advantage of the opportunity when the enemy is mobilizing their troops, our main force can launch a surprise attack."

Li Erfeng stared at Lin Dao, lost in thought.

Lin Zihou must have been on the battlefield!
And he was even in command of troops!
‘Buzz~~~’

The drone's rotors began to spin at high speed, and under the astonished and incredulous gazes of the crowd, it flew towards the distant Mingzhou City.

"Brother Zihou~"

"Don't say anything, just watch."

Li Erfeng looked down at Lin Dao's control panel and saw the earth rushing past on the screen, and her heart trembled.

"Even without interference, it's still so troublesome."

Lin Dao reached out and adjusted the signal repeater placed on the roof of the car.

"Signal strength restored, this thing really works."

Li Erfeng, standing to the side, watched and listened, her mind racing, eager to acquire knowledge.

Unfortunately, I really can't understand it.

Even after recalling all the ancient books I had ever read, I had never seen any related descriptions.

Apart from the flying phoenix of the Mohist school.

"Dou Jiande is really bold."

The city of Mingzhou appeared in the drone's view.

At this moment, the city gates were wide open, and a large number of Xia soldiers, civilians, and laborers were marching out of the city gates.

"see it?"

Lin Dao handed the screen over, saying, "The opportunity has arrived."

Li Erfeng nodded emphatically and turned to call out to the cavalry.

Before setting off, Lin Dao handed him a walkie-talkie and gave him a brief explanation of how to use it.

"I will keep you informed of battlefield information in a timely manner."

"Go, and restore peace to this world as soon as possible!"

Lin Dao investigated Li Erfeng, and even wanted to investigate Li Jiancheng.

But he never considered Dou Jiande.

There's no messy story, just one reason.

Dou Jiande submitted to the Turks and accepted their investiture.

Colluding with barbarians and nomads is something Lin Dao cannot accept.

Wearing the bright armor with two large lanterns hanging on her chest, Li Erfeng mounted her horse and nodded heavily to Lin Dao.

"It's what you wish for!"

Three or four thousand Tang cavalrymen donned their armor and fed their warhorses water and provisions.

They switched from riding horses to warhorses, ate dry rations and drank water, and trotted forward.

As for the heavy infantrymen who rode bicycles, they followed along on their bicycles, but they were destined to only clean up the battlefield.

Although the road was bumpy, the bicycle could still run.

However, the land on both sides of the official road was simply not suitable for running.

The thousands of cyclists could only form a long, single-file line and proceed along the official road leading to Mingzhou.

Within Mingzhou City, approximately 20,000 to 30,000 troops went into battle.

In addition, there were thousands of private soldiers and retainers from various families.

Dou Jiande's royal procession left the city, which caused further delays.

When they finally made it out of the city and dispersed to prepare for their march,

The scouts who had gone ahead fled back like madmen.

"The Tang army is coming!"

(End of this chapter)