Under the city of Anshi, Li Ji rode a horse and stood on a high ground, holding a pair of binoculars to look at the city in front of him, and not far from him, a group of soldiers were flying a hot air balloon, but because today's wind was relatively strong, the hot air balloon also encountered some difficulties when taking off, but after a period of tossing, the hot air balloon finally flew up slowly, and there were also two soldiers holding binoculars on it, overlooking the situation inside the entire city of Anshi.

When Li Xiu first got the hot air balloon out, it was mainly to use it with gunpowder, so as to achieve the effect of intimidating the enemy, after all, people in this era are more superstitious, and the original hot air balloon is often painted with some ghosts and the like, the enemy soldiers see a ghost flying in the sky rushing to their side, naturally frightened morale is gone, and even sometimes kneel down and beg for mercy, if it is combined with the sound and light of gunpowder, the effect is more ideal.

However, with the passage of time, the hot air balloon has slowly lost its intimidation effect, because this thing has no technical content, some smart people can copy it after seeing it once, and even as early as a few years ago, there have been people who use hot air balloons to do business, such as letting people rise to the sky to view the scenery, or pull a banner in the air or the like, which is no different from the later generations, don't underestimate the creativity of the ancients.

Datang is an open country, and the surrounding small countries often send envoys to come, so the secret of the hot air balloon will naturally spread slowly, it is said that there are some small countries to imitate, so that the hot air balloon can no longer be used for the intimidation effect on the battlefield, but it also has a function, that is, it can be raised and looked at, after all, standing high and looking far, and understanding the terrain and the enemy's layout, is the basic quality of a general, so the hot air balloon is also mainly used for reconnaissance in the army.

Not long after the hot air balloon went up, I saw the soldiers on the lookout and threw down a few bamboo tubes, and then some soldiers picked them up and sent them to Li Ji's face, the soldiers on the hot air balloon have undergone some special training, not only can write, but also can draw, these bamboo tubes are the sketches of Anshi City drawn by the soldiers above, as well as the approximate layout of the troops in the city.

Li Ji opened the bamboo tube and looked at it at the moment, although the area of Anshi City is not very large, but there are 20,000 Goguryeo defenders in the city, and the other party's guards are also very smart, at least when Li Ji sees the information sent by the hot air balloon, he must not show a surprised expression, because judging from the layout of the city, the other party obviously knows the art of war, which is much stronger than the Goguryeo generals he met before.

After Li Ji finished reading the information in his hand, he handed it over to a general next to him, this general is also an acquaintance of Li Xiu, it is Li Shimin's cousin Li Daozong, compared to his cousin Li Xiaogong, Li Shimin has a lot of trust in Li Daozong's cousin, and he usually spares no effort to cultivate, such as this attack on Goguryeo, Li Daozong was sent to Cheng Yanjin's men, this time he was appointed as Li Ji's deputy, the two of them commanded a total of 20,000 troops, and Cheng Yanjin himself also commanded 20,000 troops, attacking Goguryeo from another direction.

"It seems that this Anshi City is not so easy to fight!" Li Daozong is also an experienced famous general, after seeing the layout of the city, he couldn't help but be a little surprised, during this time they almost swept through Liaodong, along the way they fought countless towns, among which the longest insisted on only ten days to break the city, but looking at the appearance of this Anshi City, it is estimated that it is a little difficult to fight it in ten days.

"Why fight, let's just wait here for work, I believe that reinforcements from Goguryeo will arrive soon!" Li Ji sneered at this time.

"I understand, it turns out that the general is planning to wait for the rabbit, Anshi City is located on the Liaodong Peninsula, if we lose here, our army can cross the Qianshan Mountain Range and go straight to the mouth of the Bogou, and as long as we pass through there, the front is Pyongyang City!" Li Daozong is also an extremely shrewd person, and he immediately understood Li Ji's intentions.

Anshi City is the key place of Goguryeo, if it is lost here, there will only be a Bogou mouth between the Tang army and Pyongyang City, so Goguryeo will definitely not sit back and watch Anshi City be breached, maybe the reinforcements are already on the way, and Li Ji is to wait for work and directly destroy Goguryeo's reinforcements, and then the people in Anshi City will be panicked, maybe they can break themselves.

"Not only that, but in addition, Your Majesty is also here, with Your Majesty's temper, you must want to personally command this battle, just enough to take Goguryeo's reinforcements to open the knife!" Li Ji smiled again at this time, and an arrogant smile appeared on his face, as if the hundreds of thousands of troops of Goguryeo were like local chickens and dogs in his eyes.

When Li Daozong heard the news of Li Shimin's arrival, his eyes also lit up, and if Li Shimin personally commanded, he would definitely reuse himself, and then he would have more opportunities to make meritorious contributions.

With Li Ji's order, 20,000 troops immediately set up camp outside the city of Anshi, although the number of defenders in the city is comparable to them, but the defenders in the city have no sign of going out of the city to meet the enemy, in fact, the combat power of the Tang army is the best in the world, especially in the face of foreign races, often win more with less, and even out of the record of more than 500 more than 10,000 people, not to mention Li Shimin's 3,000 cavalry to break 100,000 Dou Jiande's army.

It is precisely because of the above reasons, so with the same strength, almost no one dares to take the initiative to attack the Tang army, in fact, Li Ji now wishes that the other party dares to go out of the city to fight, so that he may be able to take Anshi City in one fell swoop, but unfortunately this city lord is a person who knows the soldiers, I am afraid that no matter how provocative he is, the other party will not come out.

At the same time, in the southwest of Anshi City, the army led by Li Shimin is also speeding up, and the places they are walking through now used to be the territory of Goguryeo, but now they have become the territory of the Tang Dynasty, such as the Liaodong City they passed through yesterday, and now it has been officially named Liaozhou by Li Shimin and has become the land of the Tang Dynasty.

"Goguryeo is dominated by Buyeo people, but there are also many Tatar people, Khitan people, especially the Tatar people are numerous, most of the Goguryeo army is composed of Tatar people, these Tatar people are fierce, barbaric by nature, both men and women are brave and ruthless, but the army they form does not listen to orders, and there is no rule when fighting, but it is not difficult to deal with." Cen Wenwen rode on a horse and walked while introducing Li Xiu to the customs of Goguryeo.

"Look, the pigtailed man who was captured over there is a man!" When Cen Wenwen said this, he suddenly pointed at the prisoners who were tied up on the side of the road and smiled.

Li Xiu also heard the sound and looked, and sure enough, he saw a group of prisoners escorting to the rear next to the road, many of which were braided on their heads, which looked somewhat similar to the Jurchens in later generations, in fact, these people were the ancestors of the Jurchens, but now they are regarded as savages by the Tang Dynasty, but who would have thought that after a few hundred years, this group of savages will be the Central Plains until the south of the Yangtze River, and after a thousand years, they will completely rule the Central Plains?

"This group of Tatars seems to be of little use except for brute strength, so what's the use of capturing them?" Li Xiu thought of the brutality of the Jurchens in later generations, and asked a little uncomfortable in his heart at the moment.

"Hehe, it seems that the horses don't know yet, these sturdy prisoners of war are actually quite sought-after, for example, now the amount of coal used by the imperial court has increased greatly, and mining coal is too dangerous, and most people are not willing to take risks to do it, as a result, these prisoners of war are useful, I heard that many coal mines near Chang'an are the property of the horses?" Cen Wenwen smiled again at this time.

"Ahem~, Uncle Ma has always been in charge of the coal mine, and I really don't know much about it." Li Xiu couldn't help but be a little embarrassed when he heard this, but what he said was also the truth, the coal mine was a partnership between his family and Ma Ye, but he only shared the debt, and Ma Ye was usually in charge of this matter, and he really didn't know that prisoners of war had been used as miners in the coal mine.

"Haha, in fact, the coal mine has been very hot in recent years, and many people have become very rich by opening mines, and even my family has opened a few coal mines in the Taiyuan area." Cen Wenwen laughed indifferently at this time, and even showed an expression of admiration when he spoke, after all, just one coal word has reduced the number of people.

"Speaking of coal mines, in fact, I heard that coal is also produced here in Goguryeo, but unfortunately it is too far away and it is not worth mining." Li Xiu also spoke again at this time, North Korea in later generations was rich in coal, and the good coal was very suitable for burning coke, which could be used to smelt steel, but unfortunately now transportation is a big problem, and the cost of mining is too great.

"There are a lot of products here in Goguryeo, but I have been thinking about a problem in the past few days, but I can't find a solution after thinking about it." At this time, Cen Wenwen spoke again, and after speaking, his brows furrowed.

"Oh? What is the problem that makes you so embarrassed by Jingren? Li Xiu couldn't help but be surprised when he heard this, Cen Wenwen's talent is first-class, and he will even be appointed as the prime minister by Li Shimin in a few years, and with his talent, he can't even think of a solution, so it can be seen that this problem is definitely not ordinary.

"Actually, it may be a little early to think about this problem, but with the current momentum of the army, it seems that the defeat of Goguryeo is a foregone conclusion, so I am also thinking about how to rule this place in the future?" Cen Wenwen frowned again this time and spoke.

Li Xiu couldn't help but be stunned when he heard Cen Wenwen's words, he had been worried about whether the Tang army would be blocked by Anshi City, and he really hadn't thought about what to do after defeating Goguryeo, but if Goguryeo was really defeated, it would not be easy for the Tang Dynasty to rule here.

First, Goguryeo has a vast area, and secondly, there are many ethnic groups here, and the number of Han people is mostly concentrated in the border area, coupled with the bitter cold climate here, if you want to incorporate this place into the rule of the Tang Dynasty, you must station a large number of troops, and it is okay for a short time, but after a long time, it will not only consume the national strength of the Tang Dynasty, but even changes may occur, such as being taken advantage of by Silla in history and snatching the fruits of the victory of the Tang Dynasty.