Chapter 27: Sand Table Strategy

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  Li Gang would neither tell lies nor deign to speak them. Li Er, Empress Changsun, Changsun Wuji, and Duan's family were not calm.

  "Assistant, bring Zhenqian and Ke'er here. I was wrong this time. Li Ai Qing, why don't we go take a look at the sandbox that Chong'er made?" Li Er is a practical person, seeing is believing.

  "Please go first, Your Majesty!" Li Gang stretched out his hand, indicating that Li Er should walk ahead.

  The yard of Zhang Sun's family was not big, and soon they arrived at the storage room. They heard several young boys chattering inside.

  "Du He, you're a bookworm, what do you know about military campaigns?! You're in charge of the five routes army, have you ever thought about whether the commander's orders can be delivered smoothly, or whether the logistics and supplies can be provided on time?" The voice was unmistakably that of Chai Lingwu, whose father and mother were both renowned generals. His father, Chai Shao, was known for his bravery and martial prowess, and was one of the twenty-four meritorious subjects of the Tang Dynasty's Lingyan Pavilion. His mother, a daughter of Emperor Gaozu of Tang, had played a crucial role in helping her father expand his territory in Guanzhong, demonstrating exceptional talent and strategic thinking that rivaled that of Li Shimin. With such excellent genes, even if their child was foolish, he would still be the smartest among fools.

  Du He listened and felt that he had misspoken, so he changed his words: "Then let's have three routes for the great army! From Shuoxian, Yunzhou, and the banks of the Yellow River, three routes will be launched, advancing into Dingxiang, Baidao, and Tieshan."

  "I'm telling you, kid, can't you stick to your own views? You were just intimidated by that little brat Chai Lingwu and immediately changed your tune. What you said about the three routes of the great army is indeed correct, but it's not enough. The three routes of the great army arrived at Baidao and Tieshan, and Kongli and Tuli would certainly be unable to withstand our attack, but don't forget that it's a vast grassland as far as the eye can see. They may not be able to defeat us, but they can escape east or west. On the grasslands, our Tang army will have to bring equipment and rations, of course we won't be able to catch up with the nomadic Turks." Li Jing's grandson, Li Ye, curled his lip in disdain, saying that he was indeed worthy of being the grandson of the military god of the Tang Dynasty, spotting the flaws in this plan at a glance.

  "So what can we do to catch both Jili and Tuli at once?" Chai Lingwu felt that the five routes were too many, but three routes were indeed too few.

  Li Ye Huan put on a pretentious air, stroking his belly with satisfaction, holding the commander's baton and saying: "Gentlemen, please take note. If we can add two more routes to the three main armies that Du He brothers mentioned earlier, one route from Lingzhou into Yunzhong, we can cut off the retreat of the Congli army; another route from Yingzhou straight to Tuli's division, our five-pronged attack will force the Turks into two possible outcomes: either surrender like us or continue fleeing northwest and be driven further into desolate lands."

  "Great brother Wu Wei!" Li Yesui fawned and presented a cup of tea, flattering his great brother. His literary and military skills were no match for his great brother's, but his great brother was very fond of him. As long as he maintained a good relationship with his great brother, he would be set for life!

  Li Yehui was enjoying his brother's admiration, with a smile on his face, and took a few sips of tea.

  Chai Lingwu and Du He, Fang Yiai, surrounded the sandbox, carefully studied it, and couldn't help but admire Li Yexu.

  "But, General, if we were to launch an attack as you said, at the very least we would need an army of 100,000 men, and it's estimated that we would need around 500,000 taels of silver for food and supplies. You should know that with the great disasters last year and this year, these silvers are not easy to come by." Chang Sun Erlang was quite particular about money, he didn't understand battles, but marching and fighting also couldn't be separated from eating, dressing, living, and traveling, all of which required money.

  "Hey, big brother, he said he's in charge of the money and food! Is he just bragging?" Chai Lingwu raised an eyebrow and teased Lang Sun Erlang, now that he didn't dare to provoke Lang Sun Chong, he started bullying Lang Sun Erlang.

  As soon as he heard this, Zhang Sun Erlang was furious. In his heart, apart from his father Zhang Sun, he admired his elder brother the most. He immediately pointed at Chai Lingwu and scolded loudly: "You're the one who's bragging! Your whole family is bragging! My brother said he could prepare money and food, so he definitely can."

  Several people, upon hearing Zhangsun Wuji's words, suddenly seemed to have the air let out of them. These high-ranking officials of the Tang Dynasty all felt that their families had no money; this war was a costly affair, several tens of millions of taels of silver, not a small sum. Last year there was a great drought, and this year a great disaster, the national treasury was empty, mice were dying of starvation, where would they find the money to wage war?

  Empress Changsun and Lady Dou did not understand military strategy, but hearing several children speaking sensibly, they were very delighted. Li Er and Changsun Wuji seemed to have gained inspiration, walking in with big strides.

  Li Yehui, Li Yexi, Du He, Chai Lingwu saw Li Erjin come in and immediately put away the previous nonsense, with a serious expression to meet him, only the eldest grandson of his own family, Zhangsun Erlang, was facing the door and did not see him coming.

  Changsun Zhi's second son saw that several arrogant young men had become honest, and thought it was his own eloquence that had conquered them. Just as he was about to continue, he heard Changsun Wuji's voice behind him.

  "Second Brother, we are all discussing military strategy together, how can you be so rude!"

  Chang Sun Er Lang turned around and saw his parents coming, so he quickly made a bitter face and said: "Er Lang was wrong!" He then hastily hid behind Empress Chang Sun.

  Empress Changsun liked the children of her elder brother's family, each with a fat head and brain, very sturdy. She reached out to touch the head of Changsun Erlang and said: "Brother, Erlang is defending you, it can be seen that their fraternal feelings are very good, don't be angry."

  Several little brats quickly knelt down on the ground and said: "The young master kowtows to Your Majesty, the Emperor and Empress!"

  "Get up, you all go out and play first!" Li Er helped Li Ye Xuan get up from the front. Although he had something on his mind, he wouldn't take it out on these kids. However, what those few kids said earlier made a lot of sense.

  Several half-sized children heard this and hastily paid their respects before running away.

  "A few naughty boys!" Empress Changsun said with a loving smile, seeing off several people running out of the yard.

  Li Er walked up to the Ansha plate, each mountain peak, each river, was made vividly lifelike, even the grasslands of Tujue were covered with small grass on top, more detailed than those few mounds of earth in the imperial palace.

  "Assistant, is this map accurate?" Li Er felt that it should be generally correct, but such a detailed map, he had never seen before.

  Chang Sun Wuji looked at the main strongholds and nodded, saying: "Your Majesty, look at this map of Shuo County, Yunzhou, Dingxiang, Baidao, and Tieshan. The locations are very accurate, but there are some minor details that were not marked on our previous maps, so I dare not confirm them."

  "Quickly summon Li Jing, Li Ji, Li Daozong, Wei Zheng, Cheng Yaojin, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and Wei Zheng to come over." After Li finished speaking, he turned around to look at the other sand tables, almost bulging his eyes out. Isn't the area west of Liushan Mountain where Tubo is located? Could this be a sand table of Tubo? Ah, and there's also the six tribes of Nanzhao? Hmph, and there's also the map of Goguryeo. Good, in the past, Sui killed countless Han children, this grudge cannot be forgotten.

  These maps are vivid and lifelike, they don't seem wrong. Li Er asked loudly: "Who made this sand table?"

  The two pillars followed behind the crowd, trying to shrink their presence, but several eyes were fixed on him, and now they had no choice but to stand out and say: "It was my young master who provided the map, and Liu Mujiang from the village made it."

  Zhangsun Wuji immediately understood Li Er's intention, "Quickly go and invite Liu Mugong to the mansion as a guest!" If these maps are correct, then not too many people can know about it, lest the enemy guess the route of the Tang army's march afterwards.

  "Yes, Your Majesty!" The two pillars, upon hearing this, seemed to have received a pardon and rushed out to spread the word.

  Li Er looked around and said: "This room, I'll take a good look at it. Not even a fly can fly in."

  The guards stood at the doors and windows, closely guarding the sandbox room.

  Li Ji remembered that he had just said there was a way to train soldiers, so he wanted to open his eyes again and asked: "Li Ai, where is the place for training soldiers? I'm very curious and want to take a look."

  "The place for military training is very large, so it's in the empty land north of Zhuangzi! Although I don't understand martial arts, after seeing Old Master Cheng's several turtle sons practice for half a month, they seem to have changed into different people, and I think this method of military training is not bad." Li Gang walked to the gate and got on his horse carriage, saying to Li Er.

  Li Er had already received news in the palace that these kids were doing sand table simulations of battles and also came up with all sorts of messy military training methods, which he had never heard of before. He thought they were just fooling around like children and didn't take it seriously at all.