Deposed? I couldn't be happier! I wouldn't even be a dog to the crown prince.

"Han people...have they lost their minds?"

Lu Dongzan kept these words in his heart for a long time, but finally couldn't hold back and blurted them out with an extremely contemptuous sneer.

He stretched out his thin, bony hand and pointed to the ten red-coated cannons lined up in front of him. His fingers trembled slightly, finding the situation utterly absurd.

"Your Highness, is this your trump card for attacking the city?"

Lu Dongzan turned his head and looked at Li Chengqian, who was still lying in the panda carriage, leisurely drinking chilled grape wine. He could no longer hide the mockery on his face.

"Your Majesty, I acknowledge that the Tang Dynasty's cavalry is indeed unparalleled in the world."

To appear as an expert in military strategy, Lu Dongzan first flattered the Tang Dynasty.

"Your young general in white robes and your silver-armored general are both exceptionally fierce warriors. The charge of the Great Snow Dragon Riders is indeed enough to tear apart any defense line on the plains."

"But that's field combat!"

Lu Dongzan suddenly raised his voice, which sounded particularly sharp in the howling wind of the Western Regions.

He suddenly turned around, strode to the edge of the viewing platform, and pointed to the distant Gaochang Royal City, which was faintly visible in the yellow sand, resembling a giant earthen-yellow beast.

"Your Highness, please take a good look at that city!"

"Gaochang City is three zhang high and two zhang thick! Not only is it covered with blue bricks on the outside, but the inside is also made of loess unique to the Western Regions, mixed with gravel and glutinous rice juice, and it was built layer by layer, hammered and forged a thousand times!"

"Forget about ordinary knife and axe cuts; even a battering ram weighing hundreds of pounds would only leave a white mark at most!"

Lu Dongzan became more and more excited as he spoke, as if he had transformed into the garrison commander of Gaochang City, pointing out the secrets of the land to a group of ignorant rookies.

"Siege warfare is a battle of ladders, battering rams, catapults, and the lives of tens of thousands who were used to fill the moats!"

"But look at your own army formation, what do you have there?"

Lu Dongzan unceremoniously drew a large circle in the air, encompassing the entire vanguard of the Tang Dynasty.

"There were no siege towers, no catapults, and I didn't even see many decent siege ladders."

"You think you can just put these ten bare iron pipes here and force open the gates of the Kingdom of Gaochang?"

Lu Dongzan looked at the red-coated cannons again and couldn't help but let out another sneer.

"It has neither a bowstring nor a throwing rod, nor even a handle for striking the log. It's as heavy as an ox and as stiff as a stake."

"Your Highness, you're not trying to tell me that you're planning to blow Ju Wentai to death by using these iron pipes to blow air into the city wall, are you?"

This lengthy and forceful argument was delivered with conviction and confidence.

Lu Dongzan felt that his analysis was absolutely flawless.

He had even imagined in his mind the horrific scene of Tang soldiers crashing into the city walls, their heads smashed and bloodied, their bodies strewn across the ground.

however.

After he finished speaking, the surroundings became eerily quiet.

There was no anger or embarrassment as he had anticipated, nor any panic at having his hand exposed.

Cheng Yaojin, standing beside the imperial carriage, was picking his teeth with a twig he had picked up from somewhere. He looked at Lu Dongzan as if he were looking at a monkey at a street performance stall in the West Market.

Yuchi Gong, with his arms crossed, was trying hard to suppress his laughter. His dark face was almost turning purple from holding it in, and his shoulders were shaking.

Even Qinglong, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard who was always as cold as ice, twitched his lips in an extremely rare manner.

"What...what are you laughing at?"

Lu Dongzan felt uneasy under the stares of those people who looked at him like he was an idiot. The unease that had been suppressed in his heart resurfaced like poisonous weeds.

"Am I wrong?!"

He stiffened his neck and roared, trying to mask his inner panic with his voice.

"Your Highness, I advise you to face reality!"

"Without half a month of time and tens of thousands of lives to fill the gaps, you won't even be able to touch a brick on the walls of Gaochang!"

"And half a month later, my Zanpu's 200,000 highland eagles had already descended from the snow-capped mountains!"

"At that time, the Tang Dynasty will be attacked from both sides, and these tens of thousands of elite troops will all be buried with the Gaochang Kingdom!"

Lu Dongzan practically shouted these words.

He tried to break the Tang army's composure and calmness that made him extremely uncomfortable with this almost curse-like threat.

"It's so noisy."

A lazy complaint drifted out from inside the carriage.

Li Chengqian finally put down the glass cup in his hand.

He reached out and parted the silk curtains that were obstructing his view, leaning half his body out and resting his elbows on the edge of the car window.

There was no anger or murderous intent in those clear eyes.

There was only one kind of deep, intense pity...

That look was like that of a modern person who had mastered nuclear weapons, looking at a primitive man who was still smugly trying to figure out how to make fire by rubbing sticks together.

It's both pathetic and laughable.

"Lu Dongzan".

Li Chengqian tilted his head slightly, looking at this Tibetan sage who had once dominated history and caused the Tang Dynasty a great deal of trouble.

"You are a smart man. You were able to help Songtsen Gampo rise to power in such a harsh place as the plateau. You are definitely not stupid."

"but……"

Li Chengqian extended a finger and gently tapped on the windowpane, making a "tap-tap" sound, as if tapping on Lu Dongzan's heart.

"Your limited knowledge severely restricts your imagination."

"What's in your head is still those unchanging swords and spears from thousands of years ago, those stale and outdated ideas about using human lives to fill city walls."

The smile on Li Chengqian's face gradually faded, and an invisible pressure emanated from the eight-year-old boy.

"Do you think the city walls are very high, very thick, and invincible?"

"You think the distance is too far, the army is exhausted, and they are vulnerable?"

"Do you think it will take you two weeks to see clearly the outcome of this war?"

Li Chengqian shook his head, a cruel and arrogant smile returning to the corners of his mouth.

He straightened up from the carriage, his gaze passing over Lu Dongzan and landing on the ten fully loaded red-coated cannons at the forefront of the position.

"I am in a good mood today."

"I'll give it to you for free, to you Tibetans, to the entire Western Regions, to teach you a lesson."

Li Chengqian's voice carried on the wind, clearly reaching everyone's ears.

"I'm going to teach you what the roar of industry is."

"What does it mean to say that times have changed?"