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

The sea breeze grew stronger, carrying with it the salty smell of the crashing waves.

Inside the spacious command center of the flagship treasure ship, a windproof glass lamp illuminated the room brightly.

Li Chengqian leaned back on a chair covered with a tiger skin.

The enormous nautical chart unfolding before them was, in the minds of the Tang people at this moment, still a mysterious realm with countless blank spaces and blind spots.

However, on this holographic star map redeemed by the system, everything from the twists and turns of the coastline to the distribution of reefs, and even the direction of ocean currents, is shockingly clear.

Zheng He stood aside, looking at the blueprint, his eyes still filled with shock.

He prided himself on his extensive knowledge of the ocean, but in front of this map, he felt that his previously proud nautical knowledge was like a child's scribbles.

"Your Highness, although the Goguryeo navy is weak, the waterways outside Pyongyang are complex."

Zheng He pointed to the location of the Taedong River estuary on the map, his brows furrowing slightly.

"If we go upstream directly from the Taedong River, we will probably be attacked by fire from both banks and hit by rolling logs and rocks."

"Going against the current?"

Li Chengqian chuckled and pulled out a specially made charcoal pencil made of mahogany from his pocket.

He completely ignored Zheng He's tactical analysis and instead crudely drew a line heavily on this map, which could be described as a work of art.

It was an extremely glaring red cross.

It perfectly pins the entire three characters of "Goguryeo" firmly at the bottom.

"Zheng He, remember this."

Li Chengqian twirled the red pen between his fingers, his eyes revealing an arrogance that disregarded all tactics.

"Within the range of Tang Dynasty artillery, all tactics are just fancy pieces of paper."

"I don't want you to go and fight any water battles with them."

"I want your treasure ship. Sail it directly to the coastline closest to them."

"Use those thousand ship-mounted smoothbore cannons to blast all their fortifications, all their ships, and their ridiculous confidence within fifty miles of their coastline into dust!"

Zheng He's body trembled.

This tactic of completely abandoning naval protracted warfare and directly using firepower to overwhelm opponents across dimensions left this traditional naval commander feeling a chilling shock.

This is hardly a war.

This is clearly plowing the land!

"Your subject understands." Zheng He knelt on one knee, his voice trembling with a hint of fanaticism.

"This is just an appetizer for the main course."

Li Chengqian did not stop writing with his red pen.

His gaze passed over the Goguryeo peninsula marked with a red cross and landed on a long, narrow island further east, curled up in the sea like a caterpillar.

That place is still called "Wa" (倭国).

Li Chengqian looked at that name, which in this era still seemed extremely humble, and even had to send envoys to the Tang Dynasty to fawn over it.

However, images of extremely disgusting and distorted historical events from later generations uncontrollably surfaced in my mind.

"You can't overfeed a dog, and you definitely can't wait for it to grow fangs."

Li Chengqian muttered to himself, a chilling killing intent that seemed to materialize instantly erupting in his eyes.

He drew a heavy circle on the island with the red pen in his hand.

The force was so great that it even tore a hole in the tough parchment.

Then, next to the circle, he wrote three large characters in an extremely casual yet domineering manner.

【Japan Province】.

"Your Highness, the word 'Japan'..." Zheng He looked at the three words with some confusion.

It seems there were no vassal states of the Tang Dynasty with this name.

"The Land of the Rising Sun, the Primordial Land. These dwarfs certainly know how to pat themselves on the back."

Li Chengqian sneered and casually tossed the charcoal pencil onto the table.

"Since they will like this name in the future, I will bestow it upon them now."

"However, it's no longer the Yamato Kingdom under the Emperor."

"Instead, it was a province on the map of my Great Tang Dynasty, specifically used for mining silver and growing potatoes."

Zheng He did not understand what "future likes" meant.

But he understood the absolute possessiveness and destructive desire in the Crown Prince's eyes.

This is a war of annihilation with no way out and no need for pity.

"Go."

Li Chengqian waved his hand, slumped back into the tiger-skin chair, and closed his eyes.

"Tell Huo Qubing, the commander of the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry, that once we reach the shore, those who run fast and those hiding in the caves should be left to him to capture."

"As for Bai Qi..."

A chilling smile curled at the corners of Li Chengqian's lips.

"The more commotion he makes in the Liaoxi Corridor, the more Yeon Gaesomun's attention will be drawn to the land."

"By the time they realize what's happening."

"The dragon flag of the Great Tang Dynasty is already flying atop the Imperial Palace in Asuka-kyō."

"Ugh—!"

This was accompanied by Li Chengqian's order.

The extremely thick steam whistle on the flagship emitted a roar that tore through the sea wind.

Immediately afterwards, thirty massive Ming Dynasty treasure ships, as large as steel mountains, simultaneously raised their enormous sails, blotting out the sky.

The sails are billowing.

The roar of the steam engines in the lower decks sounded like a series of awakened giant beasts.

This invincible fleet, which transcended the understanding of the entire era, cleaved through the turbulent Bohai Sea under the sunlight, carrying the mighty power of the Tang Dynasty, and bared its extremely ferocious fangs towards the unknown seas to the east.

The calm on the sea was completely shattered.

Meanwhile, on the Liaodong front.

That bitterly cold land where Emperor Yang of Sui's million-strong army once met their tragic end.

Another war machine of the Tang Dynasty was also pressing closer and closer to the border of Goguryeo in an extremely frenzied and unreasonable manner.

However, that wasn't an army charge.

Instead, there was a sky full of gray dust and countless shirtless prisoners of war laborers, as dense as ants.

Behind them, a straight, flat, and hard gray road, stretching at an alarming rate of ten miles per day, is rapidly extending into the towering mountains of Liaodong.

The infrastructure-building madmen of the Tang Dynasty are using their own methods to prepare for impending destruction.

"Hurry up! Smash those pebbles into pieces, you son of a bit!"

A foreman from the Ministry of Works of the Tang Dynasty brandished a leather whip and roared at the top of his lungs.

"The mountain town in front is blocking my way? Then let's blow it flat with explosives!"

"Minister Duan said that this cement road must reach the banks of the Liao River within ten days!"

And on the Goguryeo border mountain city less than 30 miles away from this wildly extending cement road.

The Goguryeo general stood on the high city wall, holding a monocular telescope, but his hands were trembling violently.

He rubbed his eyes, staring in horror at the road in the distance that resembled a giant gray python approaching him.

"That...what kind of sorcery is that?"

The commander's voice was filled with undisguised despair.

"The Tang people...melted up stones to pave the roads?!"