Chapter 60: Unexpected Trouble

Once Li Jing had gathered the prefectural soldiers, he led his forces out from Luoyang. The main body of the army marched directly toward Shuozhou, while Li Jing himself led his personal guards along the grain transportation route to verify the rear supply schedule and facilitate his own tactical dispatching.

Simultaneously, Li Jing needed to make arrangements at the river port to set the fishing plan into motion.

At this moment, Li Jing was heading along the canal toward Youzhou. The further he traveled toward Youzhou, the uglier Li Jing's expression became, and by the time he reached his destination, his face was as dark as a gathering storm.

In modern times, the Sanggan River has a two-month freezing period. However, during the Tang Dynasty, the global average temperature was higher than it is today, to the extent that even the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau could sustain a kingdom.

Therefore, the freezing period of the Sanggan River, known as the "Little Yellow River," was actually very short; otherwise, the imperial court would never have used this river as a grain transportation route.

Even if the river surface froze, at least the corvée laborers could get through the period by "breaking the ice."

The reality, however, was that a snow disaster had struck the Tujue regions as early as August, indicating that the weather for the entire year was unusually and bitingly cold.

Under this sudden cold snap, the Sanggan River also froze, and by October, the ice on the river was already quite thick.

What truly angered Li Jing, however, was that Dou Jing, who was responsible for grain transport in Youzhou, had neither memorialized the court to report the drastically different conditions nor organized the commoners to break the ice.

Now that the grand army had already set out, a problem had emerged along the supply route—how were they supposed to fight under such circumstances?

Li Jing suppressed his rising anger, for he clearly remembered that Dou Jing had been in charge of military land reclamation and logistics ever since the Li family raised troops in Taiyuan.

If this were still the Wude era, Dou Jing would likely be sitting in the position of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue; he was certainly not an irrational man.

Regardless of the circumstances, Li Jing believed that Dou Jing must have a reason, or at least would give him an explanation.

"Greetings, General Manager Li," Dou Jing greeted Li Jing respectfully upon seeing him.

Li Jing said sternly, "Minister Dou, this punitive campaign against the Tujue is a matter of paramount importance to the state. Now, the bitter winter has arrived early, causing the Sanggan River to freeze. Such a critical issue was neither reported to the court, nor were the commoners organized to break the ice and snow. This battle concerns the foundation of the Great Tang—how can you treat it so carelessly?"

"I understand your meaning, General Manager Li, but I have already handled this matter," Dou Jing said with a trace of a sigh. "The bitter cold caused the Sanggan River to freeze months ahead of schedule. I once sent men to break the ice, but how can human effort contend with the heavens? The ice and snow only grew thicker the more we broke it!"

"Judging by Minister Dou's demeanor, it seems this matter has already been resolved!" Li Jing remarked.

"It can only be considered a clever workaround!" Dou Jing replied. "General Manager Li, just follow me!"

With that, Li Jing and Dou Jing rode their horses to the banks of the Sanggan River.

Here, apart from the bustling sounds of the crowd, the most prominent presence was dogs, whose incessant barking made the place appear extremely chaotic.

Dou Jing quickly summoned Li Chunfeng over and then said to Li Jing:

"General Manager Li, this is Li Chunfeng, the man who devised the strategy of sledding across the snow. Chunfeng, this is Li Yaoshi, the March-eyewitness General Manager of the Dingxiang Dao. The grain we need to transport must be sent from Youzhou to Shuozhou, where General Manager Li is stationed. Explain to General Manager Li how you plan to ensure the grain transport!"

Upon hearing Dou Jing's introduction, Li Chunfeng immediately bowed and said, "Greetings, General Manager Li."

"Li Chunfeng... you seem to be under the command of the Prince of Yue?" Li Jing asked, looking at Li Chunfeng.

"I serve the imperial court, but I will never bring shame upon the Prince of Yue!" Li Chunfeng replied firmly upon hearing Li Jing's words. "If General Manager Li has instructions, please give them; as long as I know, I will answer them one by one."

"You certainly have some backbone," Li Jing said with a solemn expression. "However, even if you are a protégé of the Prince of Yue, if you delay this grain transport, I will still subject you to military law, and at that time, even the Prince of Yue will not be able to find a single fault."

"Chunfeng understands his responsibility!" Li Chunfeng nodded and said, "So, what does General Manager Li wish to ask?"

Seeing that Li Chunfeng was neither servile nor overbearing, Li Jing did not continue to make things difficult for him, but instead asked, "How do you plan to solve the problem of military grain transport?"

Li Chunfeng calmly stated, "Chunfeng once spent time in the Bureau of Astronomy and studied astronomical divination and mathematics. Although I cannot summon an eastern wind like Zhuge Liang, I at least know that Youzhou will not warm up within the next six months. Therefore, after arriving in Youzhou, I borrowed men and horses from Minister Dou Jing and took a trip from Youzhou to Shuozhou while the Minister was leading men to break the ice!"

"There must be a thousand miles between Youzhou and Shuozhou. Even if the Sanggan River were not frozen, relying on boats to make a round trip would take more than a month, let alone now that the Sanggan River is frozen solid. How could you possibly make a round trip within a month?!"

"It is true!" Dou Jing produced a letter from the side and said, "In September, the Sanggan River froze, forcing me to make dual preparations: on one hand, I had the commoners break the ice along the river, and on the other, I sent Chunfeng to scout the route. Ultimately, Chunfeng brought back a handwritten letter from General Manager Zhang Gongjin, bearing General Manager Zhang's military seal, which proves what Chunfeng says. Because of this, I approved Chunfeng's plan—sledding across the snow!"

Li Jing took Dou Jing's letter, examined it, and his expression shifted.

Just as Dou Jing had said, it bore Zhang Gongjin's seal, and he himself recognized Zhang Gongjin's handwriting. After all, Zhang Gongjin's memorial proposing the troop deployment had been delivered by his own hands.

"How did you manage it?" Li Jing asked Li Chunfeng, half-convinced.

"To put it simply, it comes down to two words: ice skating," Li Chunfeng explained. "During the period I spent with the Prince of Yue, I frequently accompanied ice and snow, so I studied them. I discovered that when people travel across ice and snow by applying force, their speed is no slower than water transport, and in certain terrains, it is even faster. That is why I planned to use sleds for transport."

Li Chunfeng recalled the time he and Li Tai used ice to measure the length of mercury; he had played with ice for quite a while back then. Li Tai had also made a simple wooden ice skate and played with it for a few days. Although the ice and snow season was not long enough and Li Tai stopped playing after a few days, Li Chunfeng had firmly remembered the concept of traveling on ice, and when faced with this situation now, he had proposed the corresponding plan.

Hearing Li Chunfeng's words, Li Jing wore a solemn expression and said, "Your idea is good, but water transport and land transport are fundamentally different. Traveling downstream, this method might indeed allow you to deliver the grain. But this time, you are traveling upstream from Youzhou to Shuozhou—how do you overcome those upstream stretches?!"

"Lord Li must have visited our Gaoling Port," Li Chunfeng said. "In the Guanzhong region, there are also muddy and narrow places. How those large vessels are made to pass through these areas—since I was responsible for the corvée labor in Gaoling, I know better than you!"

"You intend to rely on human labor to pull them?!" Li Jing exclaimed upon hearing this. "How can that be done?!"

"That is why I personally made a trip along the Sanggan River and found that although the routes at both ends of the Sanggan River involve traveling against the current, once the ice surface freezes, it is exceptionally smooth. It is only necessary to have dogs pull the loads; taking advantage of the smoothness of the ice, transporting thousands of catties is effortless. Furthermore, these heavy loads can be further broken down into boxes weighing less than fifty catties each. Transporting twenty boxes at a time using wooden sleds on relatively flat terrain, it is entirely possible to travel fifty li a day. Since the Sanggan River is frozen and water power can no longer be used to navigate the drops and rapids, we will simply assign extra corvée laborers to each drop. When the supplies arrive, human labor will be used to carry them past the elevation changes. In other words, we change the wooden sleds and the laborers, but not the supplies."

"How will you arrange the sequence and number of corvée laborers along the river channel?" Li Jing asked.

"Arithmetic!" Li Chunfeng replied. "This is the optimal distance I calculated using mathematics based on the route I personally traveled. There may be errors, but the margin of error is definitely within a hundred paces! However, the situation in the middle section is somewhat complex, so I will also focus my efforts on this stretch of ice. The remaining roads are almost completely flat. Therefore, Chunfeng can guarantee that the grain transport will not be delayed!"

"Why use dogs to pull the wooden sleds?" Li Jing asked further upon hearing this. "Would other beasts of burden not be faster?"

"Ahem! Let me answer that!" Dou Jing interjected. "Because horses are not adept at walking on icy terrain, and more importantly, horses require too much fodder. Since the weight we can pull at one time is limited by comparison, we collect dried salted fish from the commoners along the Youzhou coast. Feeding these dried fish to the dogs allows the grain to occupy less space on the wooden sleds, enabling us to transport a greater quantity of grain."

"Dried fish..." Li Jing nodded upon hearing Dou Jing's words, but could not help chewing on the significance of those two words.

Regardless, the matter was considered resolved; as long as the grain transport was not delayed, that was all that mattered.

Looking at Li Chunfeng, Li Jing said, "Once I have finished dealing with these trivial matters, accompany me to Shuozhou, and I will personally walk this grain route. If everything is as you say, then the middle section of the grain route will be entrusted entirely to your sole charge!"

"Order received!" Upon hearing Li Jing's words, Li Chunfeng bowed respectfully and said, "However, General Manager Li, there is one thing I must report!"

"Speak!" Li Jing nodded, listening to what Li Chunfeng had to say.

With a solemn expression, Li Chunfeng stated:

"This kind of bitter cold weather is merely an anomaly. Next year, in the third month of spring, when the earth thaws and the winter snow gradually melts, the ice on the river channel will also gradually dissolve, yet it will not be completely melted away. At that time, it will be impossible to ski or boat. Therefore, for at least a month after the third month, Youzhou will be unable to deliver grain directly. I ask General Manager Li to make preparations for land transportation before then!"

Li Jing nodded. For a military commander, this was indeed a detail that required attention.

He had to admit that witnessing Dou Jing's assurance of grain transport made him feel considerably more at ease.

However, apart from inspecting the safety of the grain route with Minister Dou, there was another extremely important matter to attend to in this trip to Youzhou: discussing with Youzhou Governor Wei Xiaojie the construction of multi-decked warships to fish in the Bohai Sea.

After all, Wei Xiaojie was the Governor of Youzhou; whether it was the construction of port facilities at the river mouth or the conversion of Youzhou military vessels into civilian use, Wei Xiaojie's cooperation was essential. Moreover, compared to Wei Xiaojie, Li Jing was merely the planner, while the person responsible for actual implementation would still be Wei Xiaojie.

When Wei Xiaojie first heard about building ports and converting military ships into civilian fishing vessels, his jaw dropped wide open. Although he looked down upon the naval forces, he had never imagined treating the navy with such disdain.

However, after Li Jing explained the reasoning—that this was a backup measure for the future conquest of Goguryeo—Wei Xiaojie expressed his understanding and stated that he would arrange the plan accordingly.

More importantly, while he was merely a flanking force in the campaign against the Tujue, he might well be part of the main force should they campaign against Goguryeo.

Li Jing then took the opportunity to insert some former naval personnel to ensure the smooth progress of the plan. Otherwise, there would have been no need to bring so many personal guards toward Youzhou; a portion of them were specifically meant to join the navy for fishing.

Next, he instructed Wei Xiaojie to provide support after he launched his attack on the Tujue. Following that, Li Jing departed Youzhou, crossed the entire length of the Sanggan River with Li Chunfeng, and arrived in Shuozhou around early November.

During the Han Dynasty, this place had another name as well: Mayi!

Whenever wars broke out between the Han Chinese and the nomadic tribes of the grasslands, this location invariably stood out, serving as an indispensable stage.

"Greetings, Commander Li!" Seeing that Li Jing had finally arrived, Zhang Gongjin immediately arranged for people to go out and welcome him.

Li Jing treated Zhang Gongjin with considerable courtesy. Putting everything else aside, the mere fact that Zhang Gongjin was one of the nine men who accompanied Li Li Shimin into the Xuanwu Gate showed that Zhang Gongjin was an absolute confidant of Li Shimin; Li Jing would never put on airs in front of him.

And Zhang Gongjin possessed the temperament of a military man. Facing one of the only two ministers in the entire Great Tang credited with the subjugation of hostile states—aside from Li Shimin and Li Xintong—Li Jing's military record was convincing to the vast majority of people.

Unless it was someone particularly arrogant about their achievements like Yuchi Jingde, no one dared claim to be superior to Li Jing.

Li Jing smiled and said, "General Manager Zhang is too polite. Having just arrived in Shuozhou, I am not yet familiar with the situation here. I must ask General Manager Zhang to summon the generals for a meeting, brief us on the situation in the northern frontier, and let us pool our wisdom and collectively discuss when to launch the attack!"

They were discussing the attack already?

Zhang Gongjin was slightly startled, then smiled and said, "Commander Li, please!"

Li Jing was well aware that the freezing of the Sanggan River, which was normally navigable year-round, was an unexpected difficulty. Although Li Chunfeng's appearance had resolved the problem, he could not forget that when spring arrived and the river thawed, even if grain could still be transported from other places, it would inevitably impact the army.

More importantly, the Great Tang had suffered disaster after disaster in recent years, and its foundation was exceedingly thin. If not for the sudden snowstorm presenting the Great Tang with an opportunity to fight for a decade of peace in a single battle, this war would never have been fought.

"Therefore, this war cannot be dragged out! We must use the momentum of elite cavalry to deliver a crushing blow or even annihilate the Tujue in one fell swoop!"

Li Jing mused, for war was, after all, merely an extension of politics; war itself was a means, not an end.

Considering the state of the nation, Li Jing had already determined in his mind that the strategy for dealing with the Tujue must be a swift and decisive victory.

However, how to execute this strategy still required Li Jing to formulate a concrete plan based on the intelligence provided by Zhang Gongjin.

As for Li Jing, having just arrived without even settling into his quarters, he immediately summoned the generals for a military council—a move that the commanders stationed here welcomed with utmost enthusiasm.

For they had long been sharpening their swords in Shuozhou, simply waiting for Li Jing's arrival to lead them in a fierce battle against the Tujue.

Today's update is late. My father finally got a hospital bed for his surgery today, and I had to handle all the pre-surgery medical examinations, which is why the update is late. Additionally, I will need to act as a caregiver for the next few days, so I will try my best to guarantee at least one chapter a day, usually around ten or eleven o'clock. Multiple updates will be quite unlikely.

I don't know why every time my novel launches on the platform, I always run into problems. I remember last time it was a broken keyboard, and the time before that, a crashed computer.

(End of this chapter)