Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 3317
The snow fell heavily at night, although the north wind that had been raging for a day had subsided a little, the snowflakes like goose feathers were densely packed, even if there were wind lanterns, it was difficult to see people outside Zhang Xu.

After one day of fierce fighting, an outlying mountain city of the Goguryeo Army was broken, and the vanguard army had already arrived at Dacheng Mountain City, an extremely important fortress in Pingrang City, and Pingrang City was already in sight.If they break through Dacheng Mountain City again, only Anhe Palace will be left in front, and if they capture Anhe Palace, they will be able to reach the Seven Star Gate.

The cold is fierce, and victory is within sight.

In the camp, Li Ji, who had commanded the battle all day, took off his armor, washed with warm water, changed into a normal uniform and sat in front of the table.

A brass hot pot was placed on the table, and the charcoal fire was burning vigorously. Several ingredients at the bottom of the pot were tumbling in boiling water, emitting steam.

The soldiers put two plates of cut mutton on the case table, and Li Ji asked: "Cut another plate, Duke Lu has a big appetite, so as not to have enough food and mock me for being stingy, treat the guests without worrying about being full."

The soldiers quickly agreed, and went out to the kitchen to cut the meat.

Cheng Yaojin, who was covered in cold, pushed aside the curtain of the camp tent and walked in. He rubbed his hands and sat down opposite Li Ji, complaining: "This weather is really killing me. If it continues to be so cold, I will kill you." I am afraid that the old bones will have to be confessed here."

Li Ji sighed, and said, "Who says it's not? It's cold in Guanzhong, but it doesn't have such a strong wind in Liaodong. The wind blows the cold air, making the severe cold seem a bit colder. If there is no stove, I'm afraid I will freeze to death. The number of soldiers who suffered from frostbite due to severe cold in the army these days has soared, and there is no good way for the military officer to do anything but suffer, but even if he survives, he may end up with frostbite all over his body and suffer for the rest of his life."

No matter how adequate the logistics supplies are, it is impossible for hundreds of thousands of troops to solve the problem of frostbite. Besides, even if there is no camp, there is a stove, but you can't carry the stove on your body when you are marching and fighting, right?
The severe cold has made the downsizing of the Tang army more and more serious, which has greatly affected morale.

Li Ji picked up his chopsticks and picked up half a plate of mutton. The aroma of the meat instantly diffused with the steaming heat. He sniffed, clicked his mouth and said, "It's a pity that there are no vegetables. If it is in Chang'an, how much meat should this plate be served with?" Such emerald green side dishes are delicious.”

Now that the army has arrived at the city of Ping Rang, it is already thousands of miles away from the mainland of the Tang Dynasty. In addition, it is cold and snowy in Liaodong, and the supply by land has long been cut off.

However, the coast of the Bohai Sea has also been frozen, and the navy can only start from Huating Town, go out of the Yangtze River estuary and head north to the coast of Koguryo, then stop in the deep water, load the luggage on the small boat, and then push the small boat from the sea to the sea. Glide on the surface, land when it reaches the mouth of the Weishui River, and transport it to the army on a fallen horse.

Time-consuming and labor-intensive, extremely difficult.

That is to say, the Royal Navy built by Fang Jun is well-organized, disciplined, and well-equipped, and it transports supplies to the front line day and night. Otherwise, the hundreds of thousands of troops at this moment may have fallen into the dilemma of food shortage.

From this, we can also feel that Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty failed to conquer Liaodong three times, which was really a crime of non-war.

Cheng Yaojin took out a small wine jar from his bosom, pushed aside the mud seal, and a scent of wine instantly filled the entire camp. While pouring wine into the bowl, he said, "If there were our royal navy in the previous Sui Dynasty, I'm afraid Goguryeo would have already If we perish, we have nothing to do at this moment."

Although the Sui Dynasty also had a navy, but the strength was too big compared to the Royal Navy. It was okay to transport troops in summer, but it was completely impossible to expect him to transport luggage in the severe winter.The army could only rely on land transportation for supplies, and it was impossible to move an inch in winter. Therefore, Emperor Sui Yang attacked Goguryeo three times. The battle plan was to destroy Goguryeo before the end of autumn, and it must not be delayed until winter.

This also forced the Sui army to advance at risk without any delay, and made mistakes repeatedly in impatience, and was dragged down abruptly by the Goguryeo army's steady and steady fight at every step.

Li Ji glared at Cheng Yaojin, pointed to the wine jar and said, "You actually hide wine? When you are marching, drinking alcohol is strictly prohibited. This is military discipline! As a general, you actually ignore military discipline. Is that how you lead troops?"

Cheng Yaojin grinned, pushed the full wine bowl in front of Li Ji, and asked: "When I came out from Chang'an, I hid a few jars of wine. These days are so cold, I can't help drinking them all. It's all gone, only this jar is left. If you didn't call me over to eat meat today, Maogong, I would still be reluctant to take it out! Don't use military discipline to scare people, just ask you to drink or not? If you don't drink, then I will do it yourself."

Saying that, he raised his hand to take the wine bowl back.

"Hey! Are you still not letting people talk?"

Li Ji quickly knocked his hand off, and pretended to be annoyed: "Not only did he violate military discipline by hiding wine privately as a general, but he also tried to bribe Pao Ze, which is an even worse crime!"

He took a sip from the wine bowl, narrowed his eyes, and praised: "Good wine!"

Cheng Yaojin looked contemptuous: "Just say that you are a prudish person, and you still don't admit it? You pretend to be a gentleman all day long, but you are actually full of bad water."

He poured himself a bowl of wine, took a sip, took out a chopstick meat from the hot pot and stuffed it into his mouth, it was so hot that he breathed cold air, but it was so refreshing.

Li Ji also ate a mouthful of meat, and wondered: "It's all right to say that I am prudish, why is my stomach full of bad water?"

There are quite a few people who disagree with him in the court, but few people say that he is morally corrupt, neither on the surface nor behind the scenes.

But Cheng Yaojin talked about him from left to right, eating meat and drinking wine, and said: "Fortunately, there is a sailor, otherwise if it is so cold and wants to eat meat, I am afraid that I can only get the corpse of a Goguryeo man." At the beginning of the Eastern Expedition, everyone rejected the navy, fearing that the navy would take credit for it, but now we rely on the navy to fight until now, we are ashamed of Fang Erlang."

Inside and outside the court, as well as in the army, all forces reject the navy as the main force of the Eastern Expedition, because everyone knows how powerful the navy is. Once the navy participates in the battle, it can not only bombard cities all the way along the coast, but even along the coast. The river goes upstream and threatens all the Goguryeo cities that are close to the river. It must be a lot of military exploits, making hundreds of thousands of troops reduced to a foil, and it is difficult to obtain military exploits.

At the beginning, the imperial court and the military all rejected the navy, and they, the elders of Fang Jun in name, just watched with cold eyes and remained silent, which was equivalent to being in the same camp as those people.

However, until now, whenever the battle is tight and the enemy city is difficult to break through, the navy will go upstream to bombard the enemy city, often with amazing results.

The supply of logistics supplies is to ensure that this battle can continue.

The navy has never participated in the battle, but the influence of the navy is almost everywhere. Even those who hate the navy will understand that the feats obtained by the navy after the war must not be less than any army... From the middle to the bottom, it is tantamount to slapping the face.

Li Ji raised the wine bowl to touch Cheng Yaojin, took a sip, and asked, "You must have received the news about the Western Regions, right?"

Cheng Yaojin just put the wine bowl to his mouth, he paused slightly when he heard the words, raised his head and drained the wine in the bowl, wiped his mouth, and said angrily: "Rebellious ministers and thieves, everyone will punish them! The crown prince is still Too weak, Fang Er fought repeatedly in Hexi and the Western Regions, and there were many dangers. A little carelessness would end up with the end of the whole army. In the end, those people secretly colluded with foreign enemies and did such dirty things, and they were still kept. Why? They should all be arrested and killed, is it possible that the group of beasts dare to rebel?"

In words, he was very dissatisfied with the prince.

These big shots, each of them has their own channels for news and communication, and they are always paying attention to the situation in Chang'an. Just now, someone from home has sent a letter to inform them of the recent changes in Chang'an.

Fang Jun was ostracized by all parties in the DPRK and China, so he failed to participate in the Eastern Expedition, and all the generals in Fang Jun's line were sidelined, which was unfair at all.Now the navy has put in a lot of effort but can only undertake the transportation of luggage. Fang Jun led the right guards to support them hard, first fighting Hexi, and then fighting the Western Regions.

For such a pillar of meritorious service, the crown prince has the power to oversee the country, so he should support it vigorously. How could he allow the Guanlong clan to frame him and then quickly compromise?
If you add a plain comment, it is "no responsibility", which is chilling.

Li Ji scooped up dried vegetables with chopsticks from the bottom of the pot, dipped them in the sauce, chewed them in his mouth, took a sip of wine and shook his head and said, "Prince is in a high position, so he should consider everything. How can you be so impulsive and reckless like you? But no matter the prince How to deal with it, we, as ministers, have no room for comment, I called you here today because I have something to tell you."

(End of this chapter)