Tang Dynasty: A Guide to Avoiding Pitfalls for Li Er at the Start

Chapter 221 Using Yeon Gaesomun for a Trade
"There's no need to worry about that. The Ministry of Civil Affairs also has tea and soap. However, regarding fireworks, my father should consult His Majesty first."

Wen He and Li Daozong had just stepped outside when they heard a sound coming from inside.

The two looked at each other, then Li Daozong frowned and forcefully pushed the door open.

The two people who were talking inside suddenly turned around, and they were both taken aback when they saw Li Daozong walking in angrily.

Immediately, the Goguryeo envoy inside the room rose and bowed to Yi Do-jong.

"I have met Minister Li."

Li Daozong ignored him and instead turned to look at the young man beside him.

"Changsun Chong, who gave you permission to be here?"

Indeed, this young man was Changsun Chong, and his face was still bandaged.

His still swollen face looked particularly comical. Just then, Wen He walked in from outside. When Changsun Chong saw Wen He, his expression changed, and he pointed at him, trembling all over.

"What are you doing here? Weren't you under house arrest?"

Looking at him, Wen He raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Where I am is none of your business."

Looking at Wen He's face, Changsun Chong couldn't help but recall the scene at Wanchun Tower.

He involuntarily took a step back.

But just as he stepped back, Li Daozong suddenly grabbed his collar.

"You're just a mere Principal of the Ministry of Rites. Who gave you the audacity to meet with foreign officials here?"

"This is Minister Tang's intention."

Changsun Chong quickly explained.

At this moment, the Goguryeo envoy standing to the side looked somewhat bewildered.

He hadn't expected that Li Daozong was unaware of this matter.

He then went up to explain with a smile.

"Minister Li, please don't misunderstand. Lord Changsun's actions were indeed at the behest of Minister Tang."

The messenger thought he should go up and try to persuade him, since he had come today on important business.

I didn't come here to watch these Chinese people fight amongst themselves.

But before he could even speak, Li Daozong glared at him.

Upon seeing this, the messenger burst out laughing.

“We visited Vice Minister Changsun before, and he recommended Young Master Changsun to Minister Tang.”

It's Changsun Wuji again?

Li Daozong and Wen He's faces clearly showed their displeasure.

They now understood why Changsun Chong was there.

This was clearly Tang Jian trying to do Changsun Wuji a favor.

The incident at Wangchun Tower had already ruined Changsun Chong's reputation in Chang'an.

If they can win over Goguryeo now, then at least in front of Li Shimin, Changsun Chong can prove his abilities.

This way, they could salvage their image in the emperor's eyes.

Changsun Wuji knew about the incident at Wangchun Tower, although the emperor hadn't said anything about it publicly.

But there will definitely be some resentment in your heart.

Just then, people from Goguryeo came to our door.

Changsun Chong was from the Ministry of Rites, which is why he went to see Tang Jian.

After all, although Li Daozong was the Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, he knew nothing about foreign affairs and used to rely on the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial.

And since that junior official was Tang Jian's man, everything seemed to fall into place naturally.

They never expected that Li Daozong would go to Wen He, and that the latter would actually dare to defy the imperial decree and leave her home.

Changsun Chong was in a bind.

He looked at Wen He, his legs trembling uncontrollably.

A few days ago, he collapsed on his bed, and every day he kept shouting that he wanted to kill Wen He.

But now, when Wen He stood in front of him, he felt his limbs were ice cold and his body seemed to be out of his control.

But Wen He ignored him, found a seat, looked at the Goguryeo envoy, and said calmly, "The things you want are all mine. His previous promises to you are invalid."

"Wen He, you!"

"Changsun Chong, I don't want to fight you today. If you know what's good for you, get lost!"

If it weren't for the presence of Goguryeo people, and Wen He's desire to avoid bringing shame upon the Tang Dynasty, he would have personally thrown Changsun Chong out long ago.

Having studied martial arts with Li Shimin for so long, even two more Changsun Chongs wouldn't be a match for him.

The latter gritted his teeth and glared angrily at Wen He.

But he knew he couldn't beat Wen He, and this was Li Daozong's territory.

When Li Daozong came in just now, his murderous gaze was as if a knife was held to his neck.

He was filled with a mixture of anger and fear, but he quickly calmed down.

"Then I shall take my leave."

Suppressing his anger, Changsun Chong bowed to Li Daozong and turned to walk outside.

He didn't even dare to look at Wen He, for fear that she would call him back.

He walked very fast, and you couldn't tell at all that he had been injured recently.

"The palace physicians are quite skilled; their leg injury healed so quickly?" Wen He sneered.

Li Daozong, standing to the side, snorted in dissatisfaction and turned to look at the Goguryeo envoy, only to see the latter leisurely drinking tea.

"Since the promise made by that young master Changsun earlier is not valid, then what can County Magistrate Wen offer us?"

"By the way, I previously revealed some information to Lord Changsun: the Japanese are planning to seek cooperation with us. Of course, we are allies of the Tang Dynasty, and as long as the Tang Dynasty is friendly to us, we will naturally not seek other allies."

He chuckled softly and took a sip of tea.

He had a smug look on his face, as if he had the upper hand.

Li Daozong frowned, about to reprimand him, but Wen He stopped him.

"Then you can go."

Wen He said.

"What did you say?" The Goguryeo envoy was taken aback, not expecting Wen He to issue an order to leave as soon as she opened her mouth.

"Isn't the Tang Dynasty afraid of us joining forces with Japan?" the Goguryeo envoy questioned.

Wen He looked at him and scoffed.

"What losses has your alliance caused to the Tang Dynasty?"

Upon hearing this, Li Daozong, who was standing to the side, was stunned.

That makes a lot of sense.

The alliance between Japan and Goguryeo seemed to pose little threat to the Tang Dynasty.

No! He shook his head.

If Goguryeo and Japan were to conquer Silla and Baekje, wouldn't Goguryeo have no worries about its future?
"Does the Tang Dynasty not fear the destruction of Silla and Baekje?" The Goguryeo envoy's voice was low, and his grip on the teacup tightened involuntarily.

However, Wen He still seemed unconcerned.

"They are just two vassal states, and two that are disobedient at that. Let them be destroyed. But I am worried about Goguryeo. If Japan occupies one of their territories, Goguryeo will not be facing weak states like Silla and Baekje."

The Tang Dynasty people had no idea about the fighting capabilities of Japan.

But Goguryeo knew very well.

Several battles took place between Tsushima Island of Japan and Silla, with the latter suffering a major defeat in each one.

And this is just one family in Japan.

Another point that Goguryeo knew much more about than the Tang Dynasty was the Japanese ships.

Those little dwarfs build hundreds of ships every year.

This is also why Goguryeo wanted to cooperate with Japan.

However, this matter was always the idea of ​​King Go Geon-mu of Goryeo, while Dae-dui had always been against Noh Yeon-gaesomun.

Therefore, after they arrived in Chang'an this time, they never had any contact with the Japanese.

"Hehehe, it's a misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding."

The Goguryeo envoy's expression immediately changed, as if the tense atmosphere from before had never existed.

"Goguryeo and the Tang Dynasty are allies. As for the mere Japanese, we don't take them seriously."

He hadn't forgotten the purpose of his visit today.

Japan had previously acquired artisans and the right to trade with Wenhe.

This made them extremely envious.

Although Goguryeo's smelting technology was no worse than that of the Tang Dynasty, they lacked iron. If they could obtain a large amount of iron ore through Wenhe, they would be able to achieve great success.

Then Goguryeo's strength will increase even more.

When the time comes to destroy Silla and Baekje, we will not need the help of Wa at all.

And those fireworks.

He still remembered what Yeon Gaesomun said to them after seeing the fireworks.

"The people of the Tang Dynasty are really foolish. If that thing that can explode in the sky could be used on the battlefield, it could easily scare away the enemy cavalry."

Besides the Tang Dynasty, Goguryeo also had formidable rivals.

They also had to face the Turks, as well as a Khitan tribe that had recently risen to power in Liaodong.

Last year, Goguryeo was plundered several times.

This forced them to halt their annexation of Silla.

Wen He ignored him and picked up the scroll that Changsun Chong had just seen.

After only a glance, Wen He scoffed and looked up at the envoy opposite her: "That's all?"

"Ah, yes, yes."

The envoy saw his sneer and was already prepared for Wen He to refuse.

To my utter surprise, the latter would ask this question.

Could it be that they asked for too little?
Li Daozong was even more surprised. He took the scroll from Wen He's hand, and after reading it, he couldn't help but gasp.

These Goguryeo people are incredibly greedy.

That Changsun Chong is incredibly audacious!

They actually dared to agree to things on Goguryeo's list.

Although most of the items on the list were unimportant, there were two things that Goguryeo would absolutely never give.

One is iron ore, and the other is gunpowder.

Li Daozong frowned, about to reprimand him, but Wen He spoke first, saying, "These things can be given to you, and they can be given to you for free, but I need you to send someone with you."

"Ah? I wonder who you are referring to, Wenxianzi?"

“Yeon Gaesomun”.

"This is impossible!"

The Goguryeo envoy was furious and slammed his fist on the table.

"That's our Goguryeo's Great Lu!"

"Don't rush to refuse. You can take my request back and ask. Trading one person for these things is a good deal for you."

Wen He smiled kindly.

Li Daozong, standing to the side, was completely bewildered.

If it weren't for the fact that the Goguryeo envoy was still there, he wouldn't have been able to resist asking out of curiosity.

Is Yeon Gaesomun really that important?
If Wen He knew what he was thinking, she would definitely tell him that it was very important.

Although Yeon Gaesomun is now the Grand General of Goguryeo, he does not have absolute power.

At least the current Goguryeo king can still restrain him to some extent.

If this news were to reach Goguryeo, given Yeon Gaesomun's personality, he would certainly become suspicious.

He felt that Gao Jiancheng would target him.

Then Goguryeo will have a very interesting show to watch.

An internal strife in Goguryeo was, in any case, beneficial to the Tang Dynasty.

"That's absolutely impossible!"

"Then please do as you wish."

Wen He picked up the teacup, then realized that the custom of serving tea to others did not exist in the Tang Dynasty, and couldn't help but laugh self-deprecatingly.

But this appearance, in the eyes of the Goguryeo envoy, seemed to be mocking him.

"Then I'll take my leave!"

The messenger snorted, flicked his sleeves, and left.

"Is this the end?"

Li Daozong stared at Wen He in astonishment. After he came in, he didn't even exchange a few words with the Goguryeo envoy before the man was dismissed.

"ended."

Wen He smiled and nodded.

"Okay, it's time for me to go back."

After getting some fresh air, Wen He felt much better. It would have been even better if she hadn't run into Changsun Chong.

Li Daozong chuckled and rose to see him off.

Just as the two stepped out of the government office, a servant hurriedly ran towards them from the front.

"Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, Viscount of Gaoyang County, Your Majesty summons you."

(End of this chapter)