Li Chengqian of the Tang Dynasty: Please say long live His Majesty

Chapter 119 Liaodong, the Liaodong of the Tang Dynasty, I must take it back (Part )
Chang'an, East Palace.

Rest day.

Li Chengqian sat on the couch on the steps in the backyard of Cheng'en Palace, watching Su Shu walking slowly in the backyard with the support of Zheng Shuang'er.

Su Shu is the Crown Princess, and Zheng Shuang'er is the Crown Prince's younger sister.

Both of them were gentle women, especially Su Shu, who had already given birth to two sons for Li Chengqian, and now the third was about to be born. Zheng Shuang'er had no thoughts in her mind at all.

A burst of hurried footsteps sounded behind him. Li Chengqian turned around in surprise, and then saw Li Anyan walking in quickly.

The Prince's Household Manager is one of the few people who can appear in the Prince's harem.

"What's the matter?" Li Chengqian stood up and walked outside.

"The Turkic Ashina Simo just sent someone to deliver a letter to Chang'an that the vanguard of the Xueyantuo tribe appeared in the north of the Turkic tribe and seemed to be intending to invade." Li Anyan said with a serious expression.

Li Chengqian paused, looked up, and said, "Notify the Ministry of Internal Affairs and all prefectures in the Northwest to be on high alert. Also, inform Li Dejian, the Chief Clerk of Lanzhou, to send troops from the Gansu-Liang Road to investigate the Xueyantuo's lair. Finally, order the Anxi Protectorate to immediately investigate the movements of the Western Turks. Be wary of the Xueyantuo and Western Turks acting in concert."

"Yes!" Li Anyan immediately bowed.

"Send a copy of the news to Luoyang." Li Chengqian added.

"It has been sent, but news has also been sent back from Luoyang." Li Anyan looked at Li Chengqian solemnly.

"Say!"

"The progress of the Prince of Wei's compilation of the Book of the Later Han has suddenly accelerated." Li Anyan bowed solemnly and said, "It is very likely that the compilation of the Book of the Later Han and the Comprehensive Geography will be completed at the same time by the end of the year."

"Ah!" Li Chengqian looked at Li Anyan in surprise, frowning and saying, "Theoretically, the Prince of Wei's Palace doesn't have enough manpower and financial resources for him to complete the compilation of the 'Book of the Later Han' and the 'Comprehensive Geography' by the end of the year, right?"

"Someone intervened." Li Anyan said solemnly, "The King of Wei suddenly recruited many scholars to join the editing team, and manpower is no longer a problem."

"Oh!" Li Chengqian was slightly stunned, then a smile suddenly appeared on his face. He shook his head and said, "It seems that someone helped a lot. An Yan, do you think father knows about this?"

"How could Your Majesty not know?" Li Anyan bowed, then shook his head and said, "But Your Majesty has not made any movement."

"Don't worry, there will be movement." Li Chengqian couldn't help laughing. Poor Li Tai, he still didn't know anything.

"There is another thing. Chen Dade, the doctor of the Ministry of Personnel, has returned from Goguryeo." Li Anyan's expression was extremely solemn.

The Military Affairs Department's Zhifang Division is responsible for maps, city gods, garrisons, beacons, and other matters.

Maps, your own maps, and enemy maps.

Matters such as city gods, garrisons, and beacon guards also involve both our side and the enemy side.

To be more precise, the Military Affairs Department is responsible for all intelligence matters, including all kinds of intelligence from our side and all kinds of intelligence from the enemy.

Of course, since they are already spying, there will definitely be a lot of things like winning over, bribing, instigating, and assassinating.

When a Langzhong from the Military Affairs Department was sent to Goguryeo as an envoy, he was equivalent to the intelligence chief of the Tang Dynasty military, and he traveled to Goguryeo in the capacity of an envoy in broad daylight.

It is easy to imagine what happened to Goguryeo after Chen Dade left.

"Everything is about to begin." Li Chengqian turned to look at Li Anyan and said seriously, "Send a message to the Ministry of Revenue. I want to know the situation of the autumn tax and grain harvest in the various prefectures in Hebei Province this year, especially in Dingzhou, Youzhou, and Yingzhou."

"Yes!" Li Anyan bowed solemnly.

……

Luoyang, Taiji Palace, Qianyuan Hall.

"I traveled from Dingzhou, Youzhou, and Yingzhou eastward to Huaiyuan Town, and then crossed the Liao River to Liaodong." Chen Dade knelt in the hall, looking at the emperor on the high platform, and Zhangsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Gao Shilian and others on his left and right, and talked about his trip.

"Ever since Yang Guang failed in his three expeditions, Liaodong fell into the hands of the Goguryeo people. Hundreds of thousands of Liaodong people wanted to return to the Tang Dynasty but were unable to do so. Every time I passed through a place, the people cried loudly." Chen Dade's expression was slightly sad.

Liaodong, Liaoyang, and Shabei City were all places that once belonged to China. After Emperor Yang of Sui launched three expeditions to Goguryeo, they all fell into the hands of the Goguryeo people.

At the same time, hundreds of thousands of people in Liaodong also fell into the hands of the Goguryeo people.

The Tang emperors, from Li Yuan to Li Shimin, thought day and night about taking these places back from the Goguryeo people. The best thing would be to destroy Goguryeo directly in the end.

This was also the main reason why the emperor sent Chen Dade to Goguryeo.

"After passing through Liaodong, I entered Goguryeo from Shabei City. Along the way, I encountered many former Sui soldiers who had been lost in Goguryeo. There were tens of thousands of them. Most of them had already settled down in Goguryeo, but they were the lowest class in the country, with no food or clothing, and completely cut off from external news. Some of them didn't even know that the Sui Dynasty had been destroyed and the Tang Dynasty had been established."

Before Chen Dade could finish his words, Li Shimin had already slammed his fist directly on the table.

His breathing was heavy and his face was ferocious, as if he couldn't wait to attack Goguryeo.

The emperor looked up, stared at Chen Dade and said, "You continue."

"Yes!" Chen Dade said solemnly, "I've mostly traveled to coastal areas along the way. I've heard that in the deep mountains of Goguryeo, there are still hundreds of thousands of former Sui soldiers scattered among the mountains, living in hardship."

Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty mobilized millions of troops to attack Goguryeo three times, and even had several times more civilians and able-bodied men.

At least millions of people were lost in Goguryeo. Now, less than one-tenth of them are still alive, struggling to survive on the land of Goguryeo.

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, Wang Bo, the Zhishilang, wrote a song called "No Dying in Liaodong", which clearly expressed the resentment of all this.

For example, if Liaodong died, beheading would not hurt anything. Everyone in the hall, either themselves or their elders, had participated in those battlefields.

The most direct one was Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan. When Yang Guang launched his three expeditions to Goguryeo, he happened to be the Junior Supervisor of the Palace, responsible for supervising the transportation of grain and grass in Huaiyuan Town (near Liaozhong, Liaoning today). Emperor Li Shimin himself was listed in the list of followers at that time.

During those three campaigns, countless relatives and friends died there.

There are still corpses buried there today.

Looking back now, everything is still vivid in my mind.

"I finally entered Pyongyang, the capital of Goguryeo, and met its king, Go Geonmu. As I had previously known, Goguryeo's great general, No Gaisuwen, held the sway over all military and political power, with the king acting like a puppet." After a brief pause, Chen Dade looked up at Li Shimin and said, "So I met the king and told him a story."

"What story?" The emperor and the ministers in the hall asked curiously at the same time.

"Hongmen Banquet!"

……

Soon, the emperor came to his senses, and then he couldn't help but burst into laughter.

All the ministers in the hall burst into laughter at the same time, and Changsun Wuji couldn't help but slap the ground repeatedly.

After a long time, the laughter of the ministers gradually stopped.

Li Shimin looked at Chen Dade, nodded in gentle admiration, and said, "I can't promise you anything yet. If this plan succeeds, you will be demoted to a junior eunuch in the palace."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Chen Dade bowed deeply.

"You don't have to be like that. You earned all this yourself." Li Shimin leaned back, looking towards Goguryeo, and whispered in admiration, "The Hongmen Banquet—what a good strategy! If Gao Jianwu couldn't resist attacking Gai Suwen, then whether he killed Gai Suwen or Gai Suwen killed him, Goguryeo would be in chaos."

"Yes!" Zhang Sun Wuji bowed and said, "Your Majesty, everything can be further prepared."

"Hmm!" Li Shimin's expression grew stern. He turned to look at Chen Dade and said, "Mr. Chen, you must go to the Prince of Wei's mansion immediately and convey my order to summon Sima Suxu, the Prince of Wei, and several people who compiled the Comprehensive Geography. Have them draw up all the topographical information you've collected along the way. I'll need it next year."

"I obey your order." Chen Dade immediately bowed and left.

Li Tai, no, Su Xu compiled the "Guo Di Zhi". In addition to allowing the emperor to grasp more detailed human and topographic information of the Tang Dynasty, the most important thing was to cultivate a group of talents who could draw detailed topographic maps.

Now is the time when this group of people can be of greatest use.

"Also, regarding shipbuilding, immediately order Yan Lide back to Chang'an to discuss the construction of large ships with Yang Wulian. After the new year, I want him to go to Hongzhou immediately." After a brief pause, the emperor continued, "Inform the governor of Hongzhou to expedite the collection of shipbuilding timber immediately, and then build new ships on Panyang Lake to establish a navy."

"Yes!" Fang Xuanling bowed solemnly.

"As for other weapons and other matters, how are they?" The emperor looked at Changsun Wuji again.

"Weapons aren't the problem." Changsun Wuji raised his head, then smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, the problem now is that the iron materials in the Ministry of Works can't keep up with the speed of forging."

Li Shimin immediately understood that the weapons forging support provided by Li Chengqian greatly improved the weapons forging speed of the Chief of Works, the Ministry of Works, and the Ministry of the Imperial Household. The problem now was that there was no problem with the forging, but the iron materials used could not keep up.

"Tell the Ministry of War to find Su Xu." The emperor's expression turned cold, and he said calmly, "Isn't it for these matters that I asked him to compile the Comprehensive Geography?"

Maps, minerals, humanities, and topography, nothing here is simple.

The emperor always has strong political purposes in everything he does, but many of these purposes are hidden under other things.

For example, in "Guo Di Zhi", many people still believe that the Crown Prince and the King of Wei were competing for the throne.

"Okay, that's it." Li Shimin looked up at Fang Xuanling and said, "Prime Minister Fang, this year's autumn grain from Hebei should be quietly transported to Dingzhou."

"Yes!" Fang Xuanling bowed solemnly.

"Don't let anyone know." The emperor's expression was extremely cold.

"Yes!" Fang Xuanling bowed immediately.

At this moment, a voice suddenly came from far outside the hall.

"Report, urgent military report from six hundred miles away."

……

A dusty Qianniu Guard burst directly into the Qianyang Palace. As the ministers stared in astonishment, he reported to the ground, saying loudly, "Your Majesty, Xueyantuo Zhenzhu Khan has heard that he has ordered his son Datushe to mobilize 200,000 troops from the Tongluo, Pugu, Huihe, and Mohe tribes to cross the desert south, station at Baidaochuan, and occupy Shanyang Ridge to attack the Turks. The Turkic Khan has sent an envoy to report the emergency."

The emperor raised his head calmly from his seat and said, "He's finally here. Order Li Ji, the Chief Clerk of the Bingzhou Grand Military Governor's Office, to be the Minister of War. He must mobilize troops and dispatch troops from Bingzhou, Yingzhou, Lingzhou, Qingzhou, Liangzhou, and other places. He must attack at the right time. I intend to destroy him in one fell swoop."

　When Dade first entered the country, he wanted to learn about the mountains, rivers, and customs. Whenever he arrived at a city, he would leave silk and silk to the guardian, saying, "I love mountains and rivers. Here is a beautiful place, I want to see it."

　　The guardian was happy and led him to travel everywhere.

　　It is common to see Chinese people claiming, "My family is from a certain county. I joined the army at the end of the Sui Dynasty and was killed in Goryeo. My Goryeo wife was a prostitute, and I lived with her for almost half my life."

　　When he asked about the fate of his relatives, Dade lied and said, "They are all fine."

　　They all told each other with tears.

　　A few days later, people from the Sui Dynasty wept as they watched, and the countryside was full of them.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)