Hearing this, Du Ruhui’s brows furrowed even tighter. “Then where did these two things come from? This is truly strange.”

Liu Hongji tapped the armrest and said coolly: “Actually, when Your Majesty captured Luoyang back then, I suspected that Wang Shichong had hidden a secret military arsenal in Luoyang City, because the number of weapons didn’t match up. Unfortunately, we never found it, so the matter was left unresolved. Now it seems my guess at the time wasn’t wrong.”

Li Shimin said in a deep voice: “And this secret military arsenal is now in Li Jiancheng’s hands.”

Liu Hongji nodded: “Exactly. This makes capturing Luoyang City even more difficult than we previously anticipated!”

Li Shimin said through gritted teeth: “No matter how difficult, we must capture Luoyang!”

He said this not out of anger, nor because of personal grievances with Li Jiancheng, but because he understood that if they didn’t capture Luoyang this time, Li Jiancheng would certainly seize the opportunity to grow stronger. By then, it would be even harder to deal with him, and more people would die!

As the tent fell into silence, a soldier rushed in, knelt on one knee, and loudly reported: “Your Majesty, the enemy city’s defenses are tight. Our army has been unable to break through, and casualties have risen to four thousand!”

“Your Majesty, continuing like this won’t work. Why don’t we withdraw first? After we figure out a way to counter their stone-throwing machines and crossbow carts, we can attack the city again.”

Faced with such heavy casualties, Li Shimin was also heartbroken. He knew that at the Qi River, he had already lost over six thousand soldiers, and another three thousand were temporarily unable to fight. He nodded: “Very well. Go pass my command—withdraw first and fight again later!”

After Du Ruhui left, Li Shimin sighed deeply and looked at Liu Hongji. “Do you have any methods, sir?”

Liu Hongji pondered for a long while, then said: “Li Jiancheng now has powerful weapons in hand. Rashly attacking the city would be extremely disadvantageous for us—we might even repeat the situation from years past.”

Li Shimin bit his teeth and remained silent. Back then, to capture Luoyang, countless soldiers had died. Bodies had even piled up like mountains on the city walls. Faced with this situation, the Tang soldiers began showing war-weariness. They didn’t want to die, especially not in such a gruesome manner.

Anti-war voices in the army grew louder. Not only soldiers but even generals demanded withdrawal. Li Shimin at that time withstood enormous pressure and refused to retreat. It was precisely his persistence back then that finally captured Luoyang and established his tremendous prestige!

After a long while, he said in a deep voice: “Sir should know that I absolutely cannot withdraw!”

“I understand, so before thinking of a way to counter the defending army, why not surround without attacking? Luoyang has now become an isolated city. Although Li Jiancheng currently defends Luoyang as solidly as metal and stone, how long he can maintain this is unknown, especially since the soldiers and civilians consume large amounts of grain daily.”

“I understand sir’s meaning. Good, we’ll follow your words—surround the city without attacking!” While they were discussing, the fighting outside had stopped. The Tang Army was cleaning the battlefield, carrying back the wailing wounded and blood-soaked corpses one by one, either for treatment or burial.

At the same time, Li Yuanji was on the city wall checking the hands of each soldier who had previously operated the stone-throwing machines and crossbow carts. After making a round, he walked to Li Jiancheng’s side and whispered: “Elder brother, three people have wounds on their hands. What should we do? Kill them now?”

Although he spoke extremely quietly, Jiang Yuan was right beside them and heard clearly. He was both shocked and puzzled, not understanding why they would kill these soldiers for no reason. Because of wounds on their hands? This reason seemed too absurd.

“Your Highness…” Jiang Yuan had just said two words when Li Jiancheng raised his hand: “Whatever matters you have, discuss them after we go down.”

After Jiang Yuan acknowledged, he said to Li Yuanji: “No rush. First record their names, then assign people to watch them.”

Li Yuanji hesitated: “But elder brother, didn’t you say…”

“I know what you’re worried about. Don’t worry, as long as we don’t contact their blood, nothing will happen.” Saying this, Li Jiancheng walked down from the city wall with Jiang Yuan. Seeing his mind was made up, Li Yuanji had no choice but to follow his instructions.

After descending from the city wall, a scarlet-topped horse carriage waited there. After boarding the carriage, Li Jiancheng said: “Are you puzzled about why Yuanji asked me that earlier?”

“Yes, during the great battle just now, they worked very hard to repel the enemy without any negligence. I can’t think of any reason for Your Highnesses to kill them.”

As the carriage wheels turned, Li Jiancheng said slowly: “If we don’t kill them, everyone in the city will die. What should we do then?”

Jiang Yuan was stunned, then said: “How is that possible? Your Highness, you…”

Li Jiancheng shook his head, interrupting him: “In worldly matters, nothing is impossible. Answer me first.”

Seeing him say this, Jiang Yuan had to lower his head and think carefully. After a moment, he said: “If it’s truly so, then we can only kill them.” Before Li Jiancheng could speak, he added: “Could it be that those three are Tang Army spies?” Although there were many unreasonable aspects, this was the only reason he could think of.

Li Jiancheng smiled slightly: “You just said that during the great battle, they worked hard to repel the enemy. How could they be spies? My reason for killing them is exactly as I said earlier—if they don’t die, the entire Luoyang City will die, even you and I!”

No matter how hard Jiang Yuan thought, he couldn’t understand his words, so he had to say: “I am dull-witted. Please speak plainly, Your Highness!”

Li Jiancheng lifted the curtain and looked at the bright moon hanging in the night sky, slowly sighing: “I originally thought the bottle of poison you brought would be enough to reduce Li Shimin’s forces by more than half, or perhaps directly eliminate Li Shimin. But the result was far from satisfactory—not only is Li Shimin perfectly fine, but his lost forces are almost negligible. If I’m not mistaken, Li Shimin has already sent people back to Chang’an to transfer troops. Soon, another hundred thousand, or even two hundred thousand, three hundred thousand troops will surround Luoyang City so tightly that not even water can leak through. Continuing like this… Jiang Yuan, do you think we can win?”

Jiang Yuan’s face turned pale: “Your Highness commands troops like a god and should be able to… defeat the enemy!”

Faced with his words, Li Jiancheng shook his head: “Don’t speak such flattering words. You know very well in your heart that under these circumstances, we have an eighty to ninety percent chance of losing.” After a pause, he suddenly asked: “Do you regret it?”

Jiang Yuan naturally regretted it in his heart, but he absolutely couldn’t say such words, or Li Jiancheng would never spare him. He had to say against his will: “My life was saved by Your Highness. To die for Your Highness is only natural. How can there be any regret!”

Li Jiancheng smiled slightly, patting his shoulder: “That you have such loyalty willing to face death shows I didn’t save you wrongly all those years ago!”