Prince Li You of the Great Tang Dynasty begs the noble families to their deaths!

The problem is that from the early Tang Dynasty until the reign of Empress Wu Zetian, both the population and output remained at historically low levels.

Adding to this the burden of continuous warfare, the people's lives became extremely difficult.

The situation only improved during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, but this improvement was short-lived.

War is always a double-edged sword.

Li You pondered deeply under the oil lamp, using a simple map as a guide, trying to figure out how to use this important intelligence.

You want to fight with the navy? Doesn't the navy need warships? What if I burn all your warships to the ground? How will you respond then?

The next day, Li You summoned his four generals, his uncle Yin Hongzhi, and Wu Hong, the assassin who had rushed back to report the news, to discuss the matter together.

"The Tang army is going to fight Goguryeo. They have decided to advance by land and sea to attack the enemy from both sides. The chief craftsman Yan Lide has been sent to the Jiangzhou area to supervise the construction of warships, and quite a few ships have already been built."

"I intend to burn the Tang army's warships, thus completely ruining Li Shimin's war plans for this year. What do you all think?"

"Goguryeo?"

"Burning the ships?"

"Jiangzhou?"

Apart from Li You, everyone else in the room looked on incredulously.

The lord they followed often had a erratic way of thinking.

Sometimes his leaps in thought are so extreme that his subordinates find it difficult to keep up.

The problem is that, so far, none of King Qi's plans have encountered any major problems.

If it weren't for the King of Qi, many of those present would probably have already been taken to the West Market of Chang'an and beheaded as a warning to others.

"Everything has its advantages and disadvantages. I believe that if we can burn the warships, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages for the Tang army, while the advantages outweigh the disadvantages for my Huang Chao army. So I'm here to discuss this with everyone and see if it's feasible."

A silence fell over the room.

The others are still processing Lee Woo's proposal.

After a long pause, Yin Hongzhi spoke first.

"In the past, Emperor Daye also launched a northern expedition against Goguryeo, which consumed countless resources and caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. The people suffered greatly and rebellions broke out. If Li Shimin repeats the same mistake, exhausts the resources of the Li Tang dynasty, and incites public resentment, then it will truly be a golden opportunity for us."

Li You shook his head: "Uncle, Li Shimin is not Emperor Yang of Sui. His shrewdness far surpasses that of Yang Guang. According to my deduction, if Li Shimin's method of advancing by both land and sea succeeds, Goguryeo will not be able to withstand it at all. Once Goguryeo is destroyed, Li Shimin's prestige will rise to new heights, and he will truly become an invincible Heavenly Khan."

Upon hearing this, Yin Hongzhi sighed silently.

Although he missed Emperor Yang of Sui and the Sui Dynasty, it is undeniable that Emperor Yang handled the issue of attacking Goguryeo very poorly, leaving his subjects utterly disappointed.

In contrast, it seems that there was no battle that Li Shimin could not win.

Zan Junmo said, "My lord, in my opinion, Goguryeo is probably not so easy to defeat. Moreover, even if the Tang army wants to attack, they will have to wait until next spring, not this year."

Li You asked, "Why?"

"The winters in Goguryeo are so cold that people, horses, and livestock cannot survive long in the open."

Upon hearing this, everyone suddenly realized what was going on.

It is already August, and the Tang army's war preparations are less than halfway complete. Coupled with the weather conditions, launching a war this year is indeed impossible.

In actual history, Li Shimin's expedition took place in April of the following year (April 645 AD).

Li You thought for a moment and then asked the assassin who was attending the meeting a question.

"Wu Hong, what did you find out about the Tang army's shipyards in Jiangzhou, and how many ships have they built so far?"

"My lord, the Jiangzhou shipyard is located at the mouth of Poyang Lake, where over a thousand boatmen are working simultaneously. One of my brothers sneaked in, and because there are so many people and so many eyes, the count wasn't very accurate, but at least ninety ships have already been completed."

(Note: Poyang Lake was called Pengli Lake during the Tang Dynasty. For ease of reading, it will be referred to as Poyang Lake from now on.)

Jiangzhou is today's Jiujiang.

The so-called Hukou is the place where Poyang Lake meets the Yangtze River. "Hmm, you did a good job. Is the brother who went in still inside?"

"My lord, they're still inside."

"What is the situation at the shipyards in Hongzhou and Raozhou?"

"Hongzhou has built 46 warships, and Raozhou has 33. The defenses in these two places are not very tight, so we were able to investigate them thoroughly."

Li You nodded, praising Wu Hong's work, while also feeling deeply wary of the Tang Dynasty's national shipbuilding industry.

Historically, the imperial court assigned Yan Lide a target of 400 ships, and he has already completed about half of that.

"Excellent! The first battle our Huang Chao army will launch will be the burning of the Tang army's warships!"

"promise!"

Once the goal is set, the next step is to continue discussing how to turn that goal into reality.

Yan Hongxin said, "My lord, if we want to quickly burn the warships, we will probably need to use oil."

"Fire oil" was the Tang Dynasty term for crude petroleum, which was only produced in the Gaonu and Suzhou areas of northern Shaanxi at the time. It was also sometimes called "stone grease water." In addition to being used as fuel by civilians, the military kept large reserves of this substance for use in fire attacks.

"Where can I get kerosene?" Li You asked directly.

"This stuff is easy to buy in Chang'an; it's mainly used for lighting. It's also available in Luoyang, but not commonly. We'll have to send someone over to inquire." The speaker was Yin Hongzhi, who was more knowledgeable.

"Alright, we need to resolve the kerosene issue as soon as possible. Besides ignition sources, what else has anyone thought of?"

Although Li You is a modern time traveler, he is not a god and often has to brainstorm ideas.

"My lord," Wu Hong, the assassin, suggested, "I just remembered something. Those Tang warships are all in the water. If our soldiers want to get close, they'll have to know how to swim." "Hmm, that's a good suggestion, especially for the Northern Army camp; they're probably all landlubbers."

One person's plan is short-sighted, but many people's plans are far-sighted.

Several high-ranking members of Huang Chao's army discussed the burning of the warships for two whole days.

Subsequently, led by Wu Hong, a member of the assassin squad, and with a large amount of money, they rushed to Luoyang overnight to find Yin Shaokang, who was making connections with various wealthy people there.

Luoyang is currently the closest major city to Suizhou, and many scarce and sought-after resources have to be obtained from there.

Of course, in today's world, the place with the most complete selection of all kinds of supplies is Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty.

However, for Huang Chao's army, Chang'an was 800 li farther away than Luoyang.

Yin Shaokang, who is currently in Luoyang, is extremely busy.

Li You's idea of ​​a "Huimin Bank" aroused the interest of many businessmen.

Sometimes, the impact of a good idea can trigger very interesting changes.

Many common ideas in modern society would have been considered groundbreaking in ancient times.

These ideas and concepts are actually the culmination of hundreds of years of human wisdom, and are extremely valuable. The amount of effort, manpower, and attempts involved is too numerous to count.

Wu Hong came to Yin Shaokang and relayed Li You's orders.

Yin Shaokang immediately stopped what he was doing and sent his servants to secretly inquire about the whereabouts of the kerosene in Luoyang through various channels.