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

A storm is brewing destruction over the Bohai Sea.

On land, a storm called "Tang Dynasty Infrastructure Construction" has swept across the entire Liaoxi Corridor in an unreasonable manner.

Duan Lun was the Minister of Works during the Tang Dynasty.

This hardworking man, who usually had a low profile in the court and was always held back by Dai Zhou for budget constraints, was now standing shirtless in front of a huge makeshift kiln.

His face, tanned dark by the fire, was filled with fervent excitement.

"Quick! Increase the heat! Raise the temperature!"

Duan Lun waved a waterlogged burlap towel and roared at the top of his lungs.

"The recipe left by His Highness the Crown Prince must not be wrong; the ratio of limestone to clay must be precise. Grind it into a fine powder immediately after firing!"

Before Li Chengqian went to sea, he left the Ministry of Works with no special weapons or equipment, only a piece of light paper.

The recipe for "silicate cement" is written on it.

"His Highness says this is called 'divine soil.' Just add water and mix it; once it dries, it's harder than bluestone!"

Duan Lun watched as bags of dusty powder were loaded onto a cart, his eyes gleaming with an intense desire for technological breakthroughs.

What was the most fundamental reason why Emperor Yang of Sui's million-strong army perished in Liaodong?

It wasn't that the Goguryeo army was particularly strong, but rather that the muddy swamps of Liaodong could trap people and kill them!

In winter, the ground was frozen solid, but when spring thawed, it turned into a muddy mess. The wheels of grain transport vehicles would get stuck and couldn't be pulled out. Countless soldiers starved or froze to death on the grain transport routes before even seeing the enemy.

But now, Datang has cement.

"To get rich, build roads first; to win a battle... build expressways first!"

Duan Lun muttered the famous quote left by Li Chengqian as he turned to look at the endless construction army ahead.

It was a massive labor force consisting of 300,000 Turkic, Gaochang, and Tibetan prisoners of war.

Under the whip of the Tang Dynasty overseers and the heavy-handed policy of two white steamed buns and carrots per meal, this group of foreigners who once swaggered on horseback displayed astonishing labor efficiency.

"What should we do with that swamp ahead?" A vice minister from the Ministry of Works ran over, sweating profusely, to ask for instructions.

"Deal with what?!" Duan Lun glared, pointing to the mountain of cement bags beside him. "Just fill it with rubble, then cover it with sacred soil! Crush a road out of it for me!"

It does not require the complex precision of railway tracks.

It also eliminates the need for time-consuming and laborious methods like carving out tunnels.

Once the foundation is compacted and cement grout is poured, a smooth road can stretch rapidly through the muddy ground as if by magic.

Moreover, since there is no need to consider the high-speed driving requirements of modern cars, this rudimentary version of cement road is sufficient to withstand the crushing force of any heavy equipment currently used by the Tang Dynasty.

"Boom!"

A dull thud of wheels rolling came from behind.

Duan Lun turned his head and saw a group of heavy four-wheeled carriages pulled by eight strong horses galloping at an astonishing speed on the cement road that had just been paved a few days ago and was already completely hardened.

The carriage was loaded with the Shenji Battalion's newly cast red-coated cannons and boxes of exploding shells.

In the past, these heavy vehicles, weighing several thousand kilograms, could hardly move on muddy roads, and would overturn if they encountered even a small pothole.

But now, the flat, hard concrete road surface minimizes resistance. The horses run with ease, and the artillery is as stable as a mountain.

"Heavenly soldiers! These are the true heavenly soldiers!"

Duan Lun was so excited that tears streamed down his face. He seemed to see the destiny of the Tang Dynasty stretching unstoppably towards Liaodong along this gray dragon.

As the cement road continues to advance.

The Tang Dynasty's logistics supply line was no longer a fragile spider web, but an indestructible steel artery.

Food, weapons, and winter clothing were continuously transported from within the Great Wall to the Liaodong front.

Without the hindrance of mud, troop movement was incredibly fast. The soldiers of the Tang Dynasty could even comfortably sit in their carriages and eat hot meals while marching.

For the Goguryeo people, however, all of this was an approaching nightmare.

Jian'an City, on the Liaodong border.

This mountain fortress, built against the mountain and situated in an extremely strategic location, was the first natural barrier that allowed Goguryeo to defend against the Central Plains dynasties.

Goguryeo's garrison commander, Gao Tubo, stood on the city wall, wearing a heavy bearskin cloak, and vigilantly watched the west.

The commotion on the Tang Dynasty side has been enormous lately.

Dust filled the sky, obscuring the sun, and the faint sound of muffled explosions could be heard.

"General, the scouts report that the Tang army is not setting up camp in Liucheng as is customary, but is instead... repairing a road."

A lieutenant ran up the city wall and reported to his superior with an extremely strange expression.

"Build a road?" Gao Tubo sneered, his weathered face full of mockery.

"Can manpower possibly repair this muddy Liaoxi Corridor? By the time they reach Jian'an City, our ice and snow will have already frozen them into ice sculptures."

The lieutenant swallowed hard, his voice trembling slightly.

"But General...they're building the road too fast."

"The scouts said they poured a gray powder on the ground, and within a day, the ground became as hard as stone!"

Gao Tubo frowned abruptly, shoved his deputy aside, and strode to the edge of the city wall.

He raised the monocular telescope he had bought at a high price from the Persian merchant and looked toward the distant horizon.

My gaze pierced through the thin morning mist.

A straight, wide avenue, tinged with a deathly gray hue, stretched out like a drawn sword, pointing directly toward Jian'an City.

On that avenue, countless Tang Dynasty cavalry and heavy carriages were speeding towards them at an incredible speed.

There was no muddy tracks where wheels got stuck, and no weary, stumbling steps.

Only the suffocating sense of oppression brought by the rolling iron cavalry.

Gao Tubo's hand trembled, and the telescope almost fell off the city wall.

He rubbed his eyes hard and looked again. The gray road still stretched out there, cold and real.

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

Gao Tubo's voice instantly lost its usual composure, carrying a sense of horror from the depths of his soul.

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

He suddenly realized that this was Jian'an City, which had once blocked a million Sui soldiers.

Before this unreasonable gray dragon, all natural advantages seemed to have been lost.

The Tang army has already crossed the mud and the cold winter, and is now directly at the throat of Goguryeo!

While Gao Tubo was still terrified of that cement road.

He didn't notice.

On both sides of that gray avenue, in the dense forests of Liaodong.

Three thousand ghostly black and red figures had silently crossed the border.

Instead of taking the main road, they crept into the shadows like wild beasts.

The man leading the group dragged a huge scythe in his hand, and the black light in his eyes was colder than the harsh winter of Liaodong.

"Pass down the order."

Bai Qi's hoarse voice whispered in the wind, like a judgment from hell.

"Seeing living things."

"Kill them all."