Northern Dynasties

Chapter 1382: Unhappy Retribution
Goguryeo has a very long history. It was first established by the Buyeo people, and then accepted the tributary rule of the Han Dynasty, and has existed in a lukewarm manner.

After the Yongjia disaster in the Western Jin Dynasty, the Central Plains was in chaos, and the Xianbei forces such as Murong in Liaodong also joined the struggle for hegemony. Goguryeo also ushered in a historical opportunity and began to expand its territory by fighting north and south, but it was not very smooth in the early stage and suffered a severe blow from the Former Yan regime.

It was not until the Southern and Northern Dynasties, when the Xianbei and Donghu forces such as the Murong clan were conquered by the Northern Wei, that Goguryeo took advantage of the power vacuum in the northeast region to begin rapid expansion, occupying a large tract of land east of the Liao River, and actively expanding toward the Korean Peninsula, while actively seeking to be enthroned by the Southern Dynasty in diplomacy.

However, the development of Goguryeo was not all smooth sailing. Although the northern regime was mainly fighting against the Southern Dynasty at that time and had no time to take care of the Liaodong region, Silla and Baekje on the peninsula were also fighting against Goguryeo.

During the Eastern and Western Wei periods, Goguryeo was experiencing an extremely fierce internal power struggle, while its external enemies, Silla and Baekje, seized the Han River Basin controlled by Goguryeo in one fell swoop and even directly captured Goguryeo's capital Pyongyang, severely damaging Goguryeo's vitality.

Fortunately, Silla and Baekje subsequently had an internal conflict due to uneven distribution of spoils and attacked each other, which gave Goguryeo a chance to catch its breath. The internal struggle was then stopped, and Silla and Baekje formed alliances, thus regaining the capital Pyongyang and avoiding the danger of national destruction.

During the Six Garrisons Rebellion, many nomadic people from Liaoxi and other places fled to Goguryeo to avoid the war. During the Tianbao period of the Northern Qi Dynasty, Emperor Gao Yang of Qi sent envoys to Goguryeo to demand the return of the people who had been dispersed there.

At that time, Goguryeo had just recaptured Pyongyang and its power was still relatively weak. It wanted to detain the people who fled into the country to supplement its own power. Therefore, it made many excuses to the Northern Qi's requests. As a result, it angered Cui Liu, the envoy sent by the Northern Qi to Goguryeo at that time, who punched the King of Goguryeo in the palace and scolded the King and his ministers.

At that time, Goguryeo had finally gained some breathing space and naturally did not dare to make enemies with the big country. Although the king was beaten, he endured it and returned 5,000 households of people to the Qi envoy so that he could return home to report. At the same time, he sent envoys to the Northern Qi court to beg for enthronement.

But the situation is different now. After years of recuperation, Goguryeo has basically returned to a stable state and has made some progress in strength. On the contrary, Northern Qi failed in the struggle for hegemony and was expelled to a corner of Liaodong.

This time, upon learning that the Tang Emperor's western tour was a great success, not only did he defeat the Western Turks, but he was also elected as the common leader by the Western Regions and named the Heavenly Khan, the remaining Qi followers were afraid that they would be attacked fiercely by the Tang Dynasty next, so they hurriedly sent envoys to Goguryeo to seek cooperation.

The Qi envoy to Goguryeo was named Li Cong, a surviving member of the Zhaojun Li family. Because the situation and power of both sides were very different from previous years, Li Cong did not dare to be as arrogant as the previous envoy Cui Liu when he went to Pyongyang. He brought a lot of gifts and was very respectful.

"Tang ruler Li Boshan rose to power in troubled times. He loved killing and was very powerful, and he waged many wars. He invaded Hebei before, killing all the nobles and slaughtering the people. The corpses were scattered all over the land, and the river was red. Since he came to power, there has been no day without war, and the southern barbarians and western Qiang have all suffered. Now all the borders are no match for him, and the disaster in Liaodong is not far away. Your Majesty should also make plans for yourself as soon as possible!"

After arriving at the Goguryeo Palace in Pyongyang and being received by the Goguryeo King, Li Cong first exaggerated the cruelty and tyranny of the Tang Emperor, and then gave earnest advice: "Now the remaining people of Qi and the Tang Kingdom have a grudge of killing the king and seizing the country. We are sworn enemies and will not stop until death! Now our country still has a huge number of strong soldiers, and the King of Xianyang and other world-famous generals are able to use troops like gods, and can serve as a barrier for Liaodong.

Now, the king and I are truly inseparable. If our country is destroyed, Goryeo will not be spared and will inevitably be plundered by the Tang imperial army. Now, the king only needs to make peace with our country and provide support, so that we can stay in Liaodong and fight against the enemy. It is our job..."

The current King of Goguryeo is named Gao Tang, also known as King Pingyuan. He is in his early twenties. The King of Goguryeo who was beaten by the envoy of Qi was not him, but his father, King Yangwon Gao Pingcheng.

When hearing the Qi envoy recounting the cruel atrocities committed by the Tang army, King Gao Tang of Pingyuan looked serious, but he did not immediately agree to Li Cong's request to unite against the Tang. Instead, he first arranged the Qi envoy in the embassy in the city, and then summoned a group of ministers in the country to discuss countermeasures.

Most of the officials in Goguryeo did not agree to have in-depth exchanges with Qi regarding the request made by the Qi envoy. The reason was very simple. Even though Northern Qi was so powerful in the past, it was still no match for Tang and was chased and fled all the way to Liaodong. Now Tang was even more powerful, and even with Goguryeo, it was probably no match for Tang.

Moreover, even if Goguryeo did not unite with Northern Qi, these lingering Qi people would have to fight to the death with the Tang army. But if Goguryeo united with them, it might anger the Tang and lead to an attack.

"The Emperor of Tang was a founding father of a country. His deeds of fighting wars in the south and the north show his ambition. The land of Liaodong owned by our country was once the former land of Han and Wei dynasties. How could Tang not attack us if it wanted to become a powerful father?" Just as everyone was discussing, a young man in the hall stood up and said solemnly, "Our country and Qi were once friends, and the king was also enthroned by them. It is natural for us to be friends now. Qi still has tens of thousands of soldiers, and Hulu Mingyue is also a brave general famous in China. They can resist the Tang army. Moreover, our king has the same surname as the Emperor of Qi. If we can use this connection, we can even pass on the title of Emperor of Qi. It is difficult for the ignorant people to know the inside story. If our king gets the title of Qi, he can pacify the remnants of Qi and control and intimidate the people in the country!"

The young man's name was Yuan Taizuo, and his father was Goguryeo's Molizhi and Dongbu Lord. Hearing his fantastic speech, Goguryeo King Gao Tang suddenly became excited and nodded repeatedly, saying, "Yes, the emperor of Qi is from the Gao family, and I am also from the Gao family, but the people and places we rule are different. Although Qi's fortune is declining, our fortune is rising. If we recruit the remnants of Qi to be loyal to us, we will have great potential. But the two families have no family relationship. If you marry my sister to the King of Qi, I will make her my son-in-law..."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Taizuo shook his head again and again and said, "The Lord of Qi lost his life, so he is no longer the ruler of the world. Even if we want to marry, we should marry Hulu Mingyue. If Mingyue can become the son-in-law of the royal family, what difference will there be between my Lord and the Lord of Qi!"

Although Goguryeo had adopted some Han customs, it was still a Donghu tribe in essence. They were not shy about marrying people with the same surname. However, it was obviously more cost-effective to marry the King of Qi than to marry Hulugu. The King of Qi was just a puppet controlled by Hulugu. If he could use this opportunity to recruit the entire Hulugu clan, it would be much more valuable than a woman.

Soon, the ruler and his ministers of Goguryeo reached a consensus that they could provide Northern Qi with a certain amount of manpower and material assistance, and even open the border to allow Qi's military and civilians to enter for rest and recuperation, but the prerequisite was that Hulugu married the princess of Goguryeo.

After hearing the request made by the Goguryeo king and his ministers, Qi envoy Li Cong was dumbfounded for a moment. He wanted to persuade them, but the Goguryeo king and his ministers insisted that only if Hulugu married a Goguryeo woman would they send troops and supplies to support him, otherwise there would be no talk.

In desperation, Li Cong had to hurriedly return to Yanshan Garden with the conditions offered by Goguryeo.

At this time, Yanshan Xingyuan was also actively preparing for war. Hulugu recruited all the remaining young men in the country, both men and women, for training and preparation for war. In total, he recruited more than 60,000 soldiers, which was a considerable number, but there was still much room for improvement in combat effectiveness.

But after these soldiers gathered together, the people in the country felt relieved. At least they were not completely powerless for the time being. The Tang army wanted to go to Liaodong to fight, and there was a lot of pressure in terms of supplies and troop dispatch.

When the envoy Li Cong returned to the imperial palace and informed Goguryeo of the conditions, the rulers and ministers of Northern Qi were all dumbfounded. Especially Hulugu, who was forced to marry, felt extremely embarrassed. He frowned and said unhappily, "I am over fifty years old and not a young man. How can I marry a Goguryeo woman? There are many heroes in the country. Can't I marry someone else?"

"The king and his subjects of Goguryeo are very determined, and they only support the king, and do not agree with any other sons."

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Li Cong also lowered his head and answered helplessly.

"Since the King of Goguryeo admires the King of Xianyang so much and is determined to propose marriage regardless of age, the King of Xianyang should not be bound by conventional etiquette and should put the overall situation first and agree to this matter!"

The atmosphere in the hall was a bit depressing, and everyone didn't know what to say for a moment. After a while, Qi Lord Gao Ji, who was sitting at the top, forced a smile and spoke.

Hearing Gao Ji's words, although Hulugu still felt quite awkward in his heart, he could only nod and agree. When he broke out from Jinyang before, he had no time to take his wives and concubines with him, so this time he didn't have to go through the trouble of divorcing his wives.

So after some discussion, they arranged for Hulugu's son Huluwudu to go to Pyongyang on his behalf to marry the Goguryeo princess, and urged the other party to provide assistance as soon as possible. After all, the Tang Dynasty could send troops to attack at any time, so the sooner the preparations were made, the more reassuring it would be.

When the meeting was over and they returned to their own room, the stiff smile that Qi Lord Gao Ji had been maintaining on his face suddenly disappeared, and he said with red eyes in a sad voice: "The son of Gao Huan has actually fallen to this point?"

Although he had no intention of marrying a Goguryeo woman, the condition proposed by Goguryeo made him feel sad and ashamed.