Transmigrated into Li Chengqian, he effortlessly ascended the throne and became emperor.

Let's go back to before the army set off.

Li Chengqian went to see Li Shimin with a hint of schadenfreude.

"Father, is the bet still valid?"

Li Shimin: "......."

For the first time in his life, he wanted to roll his eyes at Li Chengqian.

Li Chengqian wasn't annoyed; he just blinked his big, watery eyes at Li Shimin.

Li Shimin, annoyed by his gaze, waved his hand and said, "It counts, it counts!"

Li Chengqian then grinned and offered Li Shimin a suggestion: "Father, that Sun Fayin went back on his word and dared to play tricks on you, which is truly despicable. However, Baiyan City is a well-fortified city, and a direct assault would result in heavy casualties. I dare to suggest that you seek a reward for the soldiers of our Great Tang. Only with a generous reward can we have soldiers willing to die for their cause. Why don't you...?"

At this point, Li Chengqian leaned slightly closer to Li Shimin's ear and whispered a few words in a voice only the two of them could hear.

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin's eyes suddenly lit up, and his gaze towards his son was filled with pride: "You understand me perfectly! Very well, you sit and watch how your father conquers the city!"

And so, the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty charged into battle carrying Li Shimin's promise.

The promise was simple: on the day the city fell, all the wealth, gold and silver treasures in the city's treasury, as well as the people, houses, and fertile fields in the city, would not go into the national treasury, but would be distributed to the elite soldiers who were the first to breach the city.

If we win this battle, we will not only bring glory to our ancestors, but also acquire land, marry a beautiful wife, and our descendants will never have to worry about anything!

There was no need for Li Shiji to arrange troops or for Li Daozong to wave flags and shout slogans; the Tang army did not need to conduct any pre-battle mobilization.

The soldiers spontaneously grabbed swords, pickaxes, and even broken tree trunks, and charged towards White Rock City with roars of excitement.

Before the ladder was even set up, countless soldiers were already climbing up, stepping on the shoulders of their comrades.

Even more outrageous, a group of burly men couldn't even wait for the battering ram; they transformed into a demolition team from the Tang Dynasty, wielding hammers and pickaxes, and enthusiastically began digging at the base of the city wall.

The Goguryeo soldiers on the city wall were terrified when they saw the Tang soldiers with their eyes gleaming green and their bare hands digging through bricks.

Who knows? The battle was only halfway through when the enemy went crazy!

……

While the Tang army's construction team was demolishing Baiyan City in full swing, a secluded valley thirty miles outside Baiyan City was unusually quiet.

Qibi Heli pulled on the reins, and the warhorse behind him snorted.

As the Left Valiant Guard General of the Tang Dynasty, he was currently leading his only eight hundred cavalrymen, quietly lying in wait in the shadows, awaiting their prey.

The prey, of course, were the more than 10,000 Goguryeo reinforcements from Wugu City.

Eight hundred against more than ten thousand.

The sheer number of troops was enough to send chills down one's spine, but Qibi Heli showed no sign of panic whatsoever. He even idly picked at his ear with his little finger while waiting.

His confidence was not blind arrogance, but rather stemmed from the eight hundred silent, statue-like Tiele cavalrymen behind him.

As a people raised on horseback, the Tiele tribe was renowned for its fierce fighting prowess throughout the grasslands.

It is said that when these people get angry, even the once invincible Turks have to give them a wide berth.

What Qibi Heli brought this time was the cream of the crop, carefully selected from among the Tiele cavalry.

This group of rough men has a very distinct combat characteristic: they are not only willing to fight to the death, but also extremely good at fighting to the death.

Their tactics can be summarized in a very simple and brutal way: long-range shooting, close-range slashing, and a fierce charge.

These three strategies, tested in countless battles across the Central Plains and grasslands, have proven to be extremely reliable and invariably effective against any enemy.

In Qibi Heli's eyes, the so-called reinforcements of Goguryeo, a mixed force of more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry, were not any mortal enemies at all; they were just more than 10,000 walking medals!

At the horizon, billowing smoke and dust indicated that reinforcements from Wugu City had arrived.

"Draw your sword!"

Eight hundred horse-slaying swords were drawn simultaneously, their cold light reflecting the blazing sun over Liaodong.

"My lads, follow me to kill the enemy!"

Qibi Heli took the lead, followed closely by eight hundred Tiele cavalry. The black iron cavalry roared as they crashed into the unsuspecting Goguryeo formation.

When the Tiele cavalry were a hundred paces away from the enemy lines, they drew their bows and unleashed a precise volley of arrows that swept away a swathe of enemy vanguard like a death knell.

At fifty paces, he hung his bow and drew his sword.

At ten paces, he and his horse crashed fiercely into the enemy formation.

The immense kinetic energy instantly tore through the Goguryeo people's defenses.

After the Tiele cavalry charged into the enemy ranks, their blades flashed, and they seemed to cut down everything in sight.

Blood splattered everywhere like a fountain, and severed limbs and remains were crushed into mincemeat under the horses' hooves.

That kind of behavior doesn't look like a war at all; it's more like they're just grabbing kills.

Qibi Heli got carried away with the killing, his broadsword flashing like a dragon emerging from the sea, and he killed more than a dozen enemy generals in succession.

However, the ancients have repeatedly warned us with bloody lessons: the battlefield is risky, and one must be cautious when it comes to taking lives.

Immersed in the thrill of mowing the lawn, Qibi Heli carelessly swam too far and ended up dozens of steps behind the main group.

The variables on the battlefield can change in an instant.

A Goguryeo infantryman, feigning death, suddenly leaped up from the pile of corpses, his eyes bloodshot. He gripped a spear tightly in his hand, and like a viper spitting its tongue, viciously stabbed at Qibi Heli's waist from an extremely tricky blind spot.

"Ugh—" Qibi Heli cried out in pain, his tall body swaying violently as he finally lost his balance and fell heavily off his galloping warhorse.

"The Great Tang general has fallen from grace!"

Upon seeing this, the Goguryeo soldiers, like sharks smelling blood, roared and brandished their swords and spears as they pounced on the fallen Qibi Heli, attempting to chop this fierce Tang general into mincemeat.

At the critical moment, a thunderous roar exploded.

"General Qibi, do not panic! Xue Wanbei is here!"

In the midst of the Tang army's ranks, a young general in white armor single-handedly and recklessly charged through layers of enemy troops. His long spear flew up and down, each strike deadly, carving a bloody path through the impenetrable enemy formation.

Xue Wanbei rushed forward, swept his long spear horizontally, deflecting several spears that were thrusting at him, then bent down, grabbed Qibi Heli by the back of his armor collar, and tossed him onto his horse's back like a chick.

They then turned their horses around, spears clearing the way, and miraculously returned to their own lines.

Logically, when the commander is seriously injured and falls from his horse, the scene should change abruptly: the camera shifts to the rear medical camp, where a group of soldiers with red eyes are carrying a stretcher and shouting for the medic to save the man, and are carrying out battlefield first aid in a tense manner.

However, Qibi Heli was clearly not a delicate civil official, much less a Li Chengqian who needed to feign illness.

Having just been thrown back into his own camp, Qibi Heli, covered in dust and blood, shoved away the personal guards who rushed up to help him.

He gritted his teeth, pulled out the broken spear from his waist, and blood gushed out instantly.

"General!" The surrounding Tiele men were stunned.

"Scream my ass! I'm not dead yet!" Qibi Heli spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, tore off a piece of burlap from his inner shirt, and wrapped it tightly around the bloody hole in his waist like a sack, his actions so brutal they made one's teeth ache.

After bandaging himself, he didn't even drink a sip of water. He leaped onto a stray warhorse again, then raised his blood-stained saber high: "Warriors of the Tiele! Sons of the Tang Dynasty!"

"A subject dies for his lord! If we cannot annihilate this traitor today, I will never return to camp!"

"Follow me to kill the enemy!"

The commander's fearlessness pushed morale to an unprecedented high.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The already valiant Tiele cavalry had now completely transformed into a group of war machines devoid of pain.

Led by their wounded commander, they fought their way back to the battlefield.

This time, it was no longer a drill, but a one-sided massacre.

The land outside Baiyan City is destined to be completely stained red with the blood of the Goguryeo people today.