Luo He's convoy arrived at the Wu capital as planned. He didn't waste a second. The moment his boots hit the earth, he turned to Fei. "Ready the deployment. We are going to attack the castle tonight."
Then without waiting for any response, he strode directly toward the main command tent where Gin Wenyuan recedes.
Inside, the map tables were surrounded by officers, but standing at the center was the formidable patriarch of the Gin family, Gin Wenyuan.
"Ah!" The old man's face broke into a broad, welcoming smile the same moment Luo He parted the tent flaps.
He stepped forward with open arms, pulling Luo He into a hearty embrace. "Here comes my favorite son-in-law!"
Behind his father, Gin Hao couldn't entirely hide the subtle roll of his eyes, a flicker of cold disgust slipping past his well guarded expression.
To Gin Hao, Luo He was nothing more than a lowborn martial artist, a nameless nobody who had shamelessly used their prestigious family name to claw his way into power.
The Gin family had long since figured out that Luo He was using them as a stepping stone to establish standing among the high aristocracy.
Gin Hao loathed him for it. Gin Wenyuan, a deeply experienced and cunning old fox saw the broader picture.
He knew Luo He was using them, but he also recognized that he stood to gain far more from Luo He's brilliant treachery than he lost in family pride.
Luo He was the key to tearing down the Wu Kingdom, and in exchange, Gin Wenyuan intended to take the throne for himself and become Emperor.
It was a trade the old man was more than willing to make. Gin Wenyuan gestured to his son. "Hao'er, prepare the vanguard for immediate deployment."
Hao offered a stiff bow. "Understood father." He said, shooting Luo He a final, icy glance before exiting the tent. With Gin Hao gone, Luo He and Wenyuan turned their attention to the grand battle plan.
Surrounding the formidable capital were nearly 200,000 of Gin Wenyuan's cavalry, yet the atmosphere within the Wu capital remained dangerously relaxed.
That was entirely by Luo He's design. On his orders, Gin Wenyuan had deliberately shown no intent to launch an assault over the past fortnight.
They had only cut off supply lines, making it appear as though they were preparing for a slow, agonizing war of attrition to starve the city into submission.
The leniency had lulled the defenders into a false sense of security. The capital's guard was slack, convinced no immediate breach was coming.
"Remember, Patriarch Gin..." Luo He said, his sharp eyes scanning the layout of the city streets.
"Once the gates shatter, instruct all of your men to cause as little chaos as humanly possible." Gin Wenyuan raised an eyebrow.
"You want restraint during a siege?"
"We are not here merely to invade the Wu Kingdom." Luo He said coldly.
"We are here to also rule it. There is a vast difference. If we slaughter and pillage, we antagonize the populace into permanent rebellion. The citizens living in that city will soon be your subjects. The less we intrude upon their lives tonight, the easier it will be to bend them to your reign tomorrow."
Luo He paused, fixing Gin Wenyuan with a uncompromising gaze.
"I demand minimal bloodshed..." Luo He continued. "Our blades are for Wu soldiers holding weapons, not civilians."
"Anyone who voluntary drops their arms and surrenders is to be left untouched."
"If your troops cannot fight while obeying my principles, I will pull my support and refuse to participate in further campaigns alongside the Gin family army."
Gin Wenyuan didn't hesitate. Rather than taking offense, the old strategist offered a respectful bow, accepting every single one of Luo He's conditions without a word of protest. Why would he object?
Luo He was offering him a path to become an Emperor overnight with minimal blood shed and minimal collateral damage to his future empire.
It was an astonishingly efficient plan.
"Your main army will hold the perimeter." He laid out the plan in profound detail. "Only send in your 20,000 most elite, disciplined cavalry. The ones who obey orders without question, to sweep the streets.
The outer city is inhabited mostly by the poor and common folk. The Wu military considers them disposable.
The moment the outer gate cracks, the Wu garrison will abandon the outer wall and just retreat straight to the inner line to protect the nobility. We won't face sustained heavy resistance in the outer ring."
Luo He then detailed the true core of his attack. His newly designed, heavy-duty mobile ballistae.
"Ordinary siege weapons are useless at this range, but these ballistae pack a very heavy punch, unlike any currently in existence."
"Set on armored mobile carts, they can fire from 300 meters out, well beyond the usual effective range of the city's archers." Luo He gestured to the siege supply list.
"I brought ten of these, fifty reinforced steel chains, and sixty massive anchoring bolts. We will wheel them into position under the cover of darkness.
Launch at least twenty to thirty anchoring bolts into the main gates before the first defenders even realize what is happening."
"How do we pull down an iron-reinforced wooden gate?" Gin Wenyuan asked, with an intrigued expression.
"That is where the steel bridge apparatus comes in." Luo He replied. "We link those chains from the embedded bolts directly to a heavy steel traction bridge powered by a team of war-horses.
The horses pull in unison, jerking the heavy massive doors entirely off their hinges."
"Horses under fire go berserk, Son." Gin Wenyuan noted shrewdly.
"Between flaming arrows and panic of the soldiers, controlling hundreds of horses at the foot of a fortress wall is practically as good as impossible." He said.
Luo He smiled faintly.
"Which is why we aren't using your horses. I brought my own."
Luo He had personally selected and trained a unit of over a hundred warhorses back at the Jin mansion. Utilizing his extraordinary animal-taming abilities, he had spent hours communicating with them.
Mentally conditioning them, and preparing them for the deafening chaos of the waring battlefield. "They would not break." Luo He calmly reassured.
Luo He led Gin Wenyuan toward the waiting convoy. "Grand father," he said with a faint smile. "I have seen your army but you still haven't seen what I brought for the gate."
Gin Wenyuan raised an eyebrow. Luo He simply waved his hand.
Then the two went to check the cargo being unloaded under the careful watch of Fei.
The first carriage was covered. Its entire body had been enclosed within a heavy protective casing.
The edges reinforced with steel plates. It looked less like a wagon and more like a sealed iron chest on wheels.
Several men climbed onto it and began removing the panels.
One side came away.
Then another.
Then the rear.
Finally, the heavy roof was lifted clear.
What remained was the big sturdy wheeled carriage beneath, and mounted upon it was an enormous ballista. Gin Wenyuan stared.
Another carriage was uncovered.
Then another.
Ten in total.
Each carried one of Luo He's newest and most powerful siege engines.
"Do they always travel like this?" He asked.
"Of course." Luo He replied. "Why would I bring them all this way only to leave them behind? They are too valuable to end up in enemy hands, as to leek their secrets."
The old man gave him a long look before laughing with a booming laugh.
"You really did prepare everything."
"Nearly everything."
Behind the ballistae came several heavy horse carriages. Their coverings were also removed to reveal great coils of reinforced steel chain packed tightly within.
Jin Wenyuan's expression became slightly curious every time something new opened up. Finally came the largest object of all.
A massive iron framework rested upon a long rolling platform. It was so heavy that several horses had been required merely
to move it's massive form.
The soldiers surrounding it stepped aside as Luo He approached.
"This," Luo He said, placing a hand against the iron frame. "Is the important part."
Gin Wenyuan examined it carefully.
The great framework was built to gather the force of the horses and distribute it across the chains rather than allowing the pull to concentrate in a single place.
The chains would meet at the frame, while the horses would draw from behind it.
Gin Wenyuan slowly nodded. "So you have brought the entire mechanism with you."
"The entire mechanism." He confirmed.
The specialists to maintained and operated the ballistae had traveled with him.
So had the men who handled the horses and assembled the equipment. Even the specially trained horses had been brought from his own estates.
Gin Wenyuan looked toward the animals.
"You truly have brought your horses as well," The old strategist laughed again.
"I want some of your normal men to attach the chains. People who are rather easy to replace." Luo He said casually.
"My men will l handle the chains?" The old man agreed with no reservations.
"They'll do the dangerous work." There was no hesitation in Luo He's voice. "The rest of my people are fare too valuable to waste on something that very well requires little skill despite carring considerable danger."
Gin Wenyuan looked once more over the strange collection of machinery.
He had expected Luo He to arrive with an army. Instead, the young man had arrived carrying an entire siege operation. The old strategist shook his head in disbelief.
"I'll let that minor insult pass because you have prepared really well for this operation."
Luo He grinned.
"I told you. I don't like doing things twice."
Gin Wenyuan laughed. For perhaps the first time that night, he began to understand just how thoroughly Luo He had prepared for the fall of Wu's capital.