Li You is only responsible for deciding on strategic matters. As for how to fight, Cheng Yaojin, Liu Rengui and Xue Rengui will consider it.

In Li You's warehouse, Li You, Zhang Baogui, Magpie and White Tiger were playing cards. Zhang Baogui said, "Brother You, it's boring for me to be idle all day, so let me go ashore to fight a war too."

Li You said, "You can go, you can go there. I will tell Xue Rengui that you will be happy to go to the ashore with a military army. However, don't be greedy for me. After you get ashore, you must not go deep into the depths of Baekje. You can also be responsible for commanding and don't rush to the forefront. If you can agree to these conditions, let you go. Otherwise, you can play cards with me here."

Zhang Baogui raised one hand and sweared: "I promise that the depth will not exceed ten miles after getting ashore. Is it okay?"

Li You said, "Five miles, no more than this range."

Zhang Baogui thought to himself: "Wuli, maybe I can't even see a village." However, he did not refute Li You. Anyway, after he got ashore, he would do it. He said: "Okay, I understand."

Li You was told: "I will ask Zhou Qing to send you a special forces team member to be responsible for protecting you to safety."

Zhang Baogui was very grateful to Li You for his concern, and he said, "Brother You, I will be careful."

At this time, Cheng Yaojin, Xue Rengui and Liu Rengui came. Cheng Yaojin said, "Your Highness, the combat plan has been formulated."

Li You said: "Just talk about it briefly."

Liu Rengui said: "According to the reconnaissance, all the Baekje warships entered shallow water areas such as islands and reef groups and rivers' estuaries. The terrain is complex and not conducive to the warships of our army. Therefore, the naval deployment made by me is to form several squadrons to monitor the enemy warships on the sea based on the number of enemy warships, and eliminate all enemy warships that dare to come out. At the same time, three warships are used as a group to form patrols to eliminate the Baekje warships scattered in other places. A squadron is also organized to cover the transport ships and escort the army to land on landing operations."

Li You said: "You have deployed well and completely blocked the Baekje waters. Not only do you want to eliminate the Baekje warships, but any other ships will be captured or sunk as long as you encounter them. In short, no Baekje ships are allowed to appear on the sea."

"Yes, Your Highness." Liu Rengui said happily.

The ancient warships, merchant ships and fishing boats did not have a strict distinction between them, and sometimes they were not easy to identify. If there were some restrictions, it would cause some trouble for the navy's operations. With Li You's order, it would be much easier to block the coast.

Xue Rengui said: "Prince, since the Baekje people have decided to fight to the end, they will definitely be prepared to prevent our army from landing on land. There are 7 places that you provide for landing operations, and they cannot have so many troops deployed in each place. My deployment is that landing operations are divided into two stages. First, the four armies are divided into eight combat troops. Taking advantage of General Liu's navy's mobility, the navy will choose the random landing operations location. Attack everywhere and go ashore to strike the Baekje people.

Each unit will enter the land depth no more than 10 miles. If it encounters an area defended by Baekje, it will immediately board the ship and evacuate.

In the second stage, after the Baekje people became familiar with the combat characteristics of our army, their troops would be more dispersed to fight against our army's small landing forces.

At this time, our army concentrated its main force, chose a location to land, and entered a place with a far-reaching depth of the land, which gave the Baekje people a heavy blow.

Li You said: "Good idea. The mission of your army is not to destroy the Baekje army, but to destroy them as much as possible. All towns and villages will be burned, all young and strong men will be killed, and all young and beautiful women will be brought back. Other women, the elderly and children will be avoided as much as possible. All the property that is easy to rob and carry is destroyed, and all the things that cannot be taken away must be destroyed.

"This?" Xue Rengui and Liu Rengui were both a little surprised. Because in the past, Li You did not advocate killing and injuring civilians, no matter when fighting in the grassland or the Western Regions, they did not understand why Li You said this.

Li You said: "You don't understand that these Baekje people and those Japanese people, different from those in the Western Regions and those on the grasslands. They are the most shameless, capricious, vicious and cruel people. It is useless to use the means of influence. You must fight them mercilessly, and use the most severe means to fight until they are afraid. (Compared with the Nanjing Massacre, it is not too much) Only in this way can they surrender to you from the bottom of their hearts.

You can do whatever you want and fight until they can't bear it and come to negotiate.

Don’t worry, just kill them like you would against hungry wolves. I will take responsibility for any problems."

Cheng Yaojin said, "Your Highness is right. Think about how those pirates deal with the people of our Tang Dynasty. They even kill women, elderly people and children. If they are allowed to do evil, they are not allowed to take revenge?"

"Yes, the prince, and I understand."

Cheng Yaojin said: "The combat deployment has been decided. When will the action start? Please give orders."

Li You said, "You are here just in time. I made a Baekje food meal today. Let's taste it first, and then you can start to act."

The dinner began, and Li You, Cheng Yaojin, Liu Rengui, Xue Rengui, Wang Jue, Wang Guoxiang, Cheng Chuliang and Sima Jiong attended the banquet.

The dishes on the table include ginseng chicken soup, roasted whole chicken, grilled pork chop, beef soup rice, legendary red chicken cake, refreshing noodles and post-meal refreshments, etc., as well as fruit wine and fragrant wine.

Li You specially introduced fruit wine and fragrant wine. Baekje people called the wine made by adding petals or spices "scented wine", and the wine made with fruits is called "fruit wine". The wine made with petals or fruits has a beautiful color and a mellow taste. "scented wine" mostly uses azaleas, chrysanthemums, and lotus leaves; fruit wine generally uses sour fruits such as grapefruit, papaya, etc.

After savoring it for a while, everyone generally felt that the food of Baekje people was not very suitable for their appetite. Cheng Yaojin said: "Fruit wine, fragrant wine and fragrant green wine from the Japanese people have a light taste. Compared to our "Chang'an Chun", it is not a little worse."

Zhang Baogui said: "Brother You, you always say that food is the most important thing for people and foodies. But I think it is not good for you to eat everywhere in a variety of ways, because everyone has their own preferences and habits. Food in other places is generally only suitable for them, and it is not necessarily the best enjoyment for a foodie.

I think that you should choose a certain number of food varieties that you think are your favorite, keep researching them in depth, and strive for excellence. This is the best way to do it."

Baihu said, "I don't agree with your opinion. The prince is the most particular about food. Every time he changes his taste, what's wrong with it? At worst, it's not easy to eat, so he doesn't eat it in the future."

Liu Rengui said: "I agree with Baihu's opinion. No matter how good the dish is, it will be disgusting if you don't eat it in the same way."

Zhang Baogui retorted: "You speak out of context, and I didn't say it, but only ate a few dishes. Didn't I say a certain quantity? This certain quantity can be a lot, dozens or hundreds of them can do it."

Magpie supported her husband Baihu's opinion, and she said: "I also think my Baihu is right..."

Sima Jiong said: "I agree with Mr. Zhang's opinion..."

Everyone was arguing fiercely and didn't care at all about the upcoming war.

The dinner ended, and Sima Jiong asked to see Li You alone. He said, "Your Highness, I am very worried that the practice of the Eastern Expedition Army will cause criticism from some ministers in the court."

Li You smiled and said, "Don't think so much. As for war, it is normal to be cruel to the enemy. Isn't this what happened from ancient times to the present?"

Sima Jiong said: "However, the military discipline of our Tang army clearly stipulates that when fighting against the enemy, civilians are not allowed to be killed at will."

Li You smiled and said, "Let's do this, you are a military judge, you have your responsibilities. In order not to make things difficult for you, I will send someone to detain you, and I will bear all the responsibilities."

Sima Jiong just had a kindness, and he didn't want the prince to get into unnecessary trouble. He hurriedly said, "Prince, what are you saying? You are as kind as a mountain to me, and I am willing to take on everything with you."

Li You patted his shoulder with approval and said, "Good brother."

Sima Jiong was very moved and said to himself: "Even if I sacrificed my life, I can't let the prince bear the responsibility for violating discipline. If something really happens, I will bear the responsibility for poor supervision alone."

Night fell, and under the cool sea breeze blowing the Buddha, majestic sail battleships bulged their sails and sailed towards their respective scheduled combat positions.

On a transport ship, Zhang Baogui stood on the boat building, looking at the dark coast, his heart full of desire for battle. Behind him and on the deck below, the soldiers of the Third Army composed of thousands of state soldiers were also excited, and the young faces showed nervous and excited expressions.
Chapter completed!