Datang: From exiled prince to eternal tyrant

Chapter 213 The Eve of the Great War
Considering that these ballistas can only be used once, Li Ke did not bring too many ballistas.

These heavy tanks are rare items, and there are only more than 20 of them in total.

It's not always good to use up all at once.

Fortunately, the soldiers under his command worked hard and kept shooting arrows at the enemy's tent.

The range of the ballista was sufficient, and it quickly burned down the tent in the front row.

At this time, there was a reaction from the Tubo army, and Li Ke could already see villains running around in the tent.

Time was running out, of course he wanted to make full use of the ballista, so he ordered the soldiers not to stop, and kept firing arrows towards the opposite side.

At this time, the Tubo tent was in chaos.

The Tibetans were attacked by rockets only yesterday, and suffered heavy losses. They already hated the rockets to the bone.

Unexpectedly, the Shu army sent a bigger guy today.

Aren't the giant crossbow bolts with flames more fierce and horizontal than those sharp arrows?

While fighting the fire, the soldiers went to the commander's tent to ask for orders.

It's not an option to go on like this. Of course, we have to go out to fight and destroy that big thing that keeps shooting arrows.

Songtsan Gampo still had arrow wounds on his body, when he heard the news of the Shu army's fire attack, he became angry again, then grinned again, and leaned on his shoulder.

Such anger naturally affected the wound.

"Quick! Take the army and take that chariot from me!"

Songtsen Gampo repeatedly shouted at the generals.

Without waiting for these generals to leave their tents, he shouted again: "Don't love to fight, just return to camp after destroying that ballista!"

These generals ordered troops immediately, and led a team of 10 people to go to battle.

The number of Shu troops who came was only 5, which was enough.

When they got close, the Shu army retreated before fighting, and they had already withdrawn.

The Tubo people ignored the Shu army, and their goal was only the ballista.

Such a retreat would naturally not take away the ballista.

But when the Tubo people rushed to the front, they found that the crossbow cart was already "flashing" and ignited a raging fire.

It was Li Ke who destroyed these ballistas with kerosene.

"Hey! This Shu army is really deceitful!"

This time, these generals had no choice but to return without success, and they had to lead their men to put out the fire and appease the tents everywhere.

Li Ke led the Shu army back and retreated all the way to the ambush site.

He was a little disappointed, those Tubo people had apparently received a command and would not pursue them deeply.

When they saw that the ballista was burned, they retreated.

Naturally, Ma Liuzhi was so angry that he jumped up and lay in ambush several times, but all of them returned in vain.

In order to appease him, Li Ke divided the remaining ballistas into several groups and handed them over to Ma Liuzhi, ordering him to take people there every day to attack the camp with ballistas.

Before the war came, these ballistas were only useful for this.

He wants to weaken the opponent's strength as much as possible to prepare for the final battle.

After three consecutive days of fire attack, Ma Liuzhi finally encountered another setback.

When he saw Ma Liuzhi returning with the ballista in good condition, Li Ke knew that the other party had another countermeasure.

"The Tibetans dug new trenches, and now our ballista can't hit the opponent..."

As soon as he arrived at the handsome tent, Ma Liuzhi said dejectedly.

This was already expected by Li Ke, he just patted Ma Liu Zhi and said a few words of comfort.

"Your Highness, time is running out, what should we do next?"

Gu Wu was a little worried.

Over the past few days, the Tubo people have indeed been killed, but the opponent's main force has not been damaged, and the defense line has not been broken.

With all the fighting and calculations, the number of Tibetans captured, burned to death, and killed in the past few days was only tens of thousands.

Although a lot of large tents were burned, the Tubo people were backed by the royal court, and there was no shortage of supplies at all.

The real loss is nothing but a drop in morale.

But the two sides are stalemate, and there is no direct battle, so what if the morale is low?
It has been five or six days, and after a few more days, the Tubo people will be able to look forward to reinforcements.

The more time dragged down, the more unfavorable it would be to the Shu army.

Li Ke naturally knew this truth. All the preparations he had made before were just laying the groundwork for the final battle.

Now that the Tubo people's combat power is low, as long as the two sides meet head-on, they are sure of victory.

The only problem is how to force the opponent to go out to fight.

The answer given by Li Ke is water war.

"Water battle?"

Upon hearing Li Ke's strategy, Gu Wu was taken aback for a moment.

"Your Highness, are you right? None of us soldiers have practiced water combat!"

Although Ma Liuzhi was reckless, he was proficient in marching tactics.

Naturally, Li Ke knew that his people were not good at water warfare. He smiled to comfort the two of them, and explained, "We're heading north on a warship. Do the Tubo people dare not stop us?"

Without hesitation, Ma Liuzhi said, "Of course we have to stop..."

He was stunned again, and said: "Your Highness, what does your Highness mean, when the opponent comes out to intercept, let's land and fight again?"

Li Ke didn't answer, he looked at Gu Wu.

Gu Wu was a little hesitant: "Your Highness, I feel that the Tubo people may not stop us..."

He continued to explain: "Now, Tubo reinforcements are coming soon, and they are not afraid to let us enter the city. At worst, when the reinforcements arrive, they will besiege the city and attack..."

Li Ke nodded: "This is the end of the matter, maybe Songtsan Gampo will release some cities to us, and stop caring about the people in the cities..."

If he could enter the city, he would naturally be able to burn, kill and loot, but this was not of much benefit to Li Ke.

Once the reinforcements arrived, the Shu army would be blocked in Luoxie City, and there was only one dead end.

But of course Li Ke had envisioned such a situation long ago, and he proposed another strategy to provoke the enemy:
"What if our army did not go north, but attacked his camp along the river?"

Gu Wu retorted: "He can still guard the camp and shoot each other with bows and arrows."

Li Ke analyzed with a smile: "Then... what if my warship is equipped with a ballista? Use the ballista and kerosene to attack its tent, causing chaos, and then divide the troops to rush to the camp..."

Gu Wu stopped talking, and lowered his head to meditate.

After a long while, he nodded and said: "In this case, Songtsen Gampo has nothing to do..."

"Do not……"

Li Ke shook his head, affirming: "He has a way to deal with it..."

"what?"

Gu Wu and Ma Liuzhi stared over again.

Li Ke smiled and said: "As long as the opponent leaves the camp in advance and intercepts our army halfway, the warship can be blocked..."

"Then...then we divide our army and keep the main force on land, so we can fight against them outside the camp?"

Gu Wu asked.

Before he finished speaking, Ma Liuzhi retorted: "If the troops traveling by water cannot get close to the enemy camp, they will be useless...then the main force may not be able to fight the enemy camp!"

Li Ke faintly smiled: "That's not necessarily true!"

He asked Gu Wu again: "How many special forces do you have left, you need to be good at water..."

"five hundred!"

Gu Wu replied, and he looked over again: "Why is your highness asking this? Are you going to dive again to launch a sneak attack?"

Li Ke shook his head, and he sighed: "Now... the key to our success or failure depends on these five hundred special forces..."

(End of this chapter)