Chapter 39 Pacify Goryeo: Li Ji grows stronger with age (Part 2)

The complete fall of Fuyu City and its surrounding cities caused Yuan Nanjian to panic.He realized that with the momentum of the Tang army sweeping the ground and thundering, it would not take long to approach Pyongyang and conquer the entire territory of Koryo.Therefore, Yuan Nanjian decided to take back Fuyu City at all costs, and no matter what, the main force of the Tang army could not be allowed to cross the Yalu River. Goryeo immediately assembled an army of 50,000, and approached Fuyu City quickly.Li Ji expected that this was almost the last reserve team that Goryeo could mobilize.If this force is wiped out, Goryeo will no longer be able to organize an effective counterattack.

After discussion, the senior generals of the Tang Army unanimously agreed with the above judgment of the coach Li Ji.Afterwards, Li Ji and several deputy chiefs led the main force of the Tang army and stood in battle in Xueheshui (flowing through the border of Fengcheng City, Liaoning), preparing for a decisive battle with this Korean army. At the end of February in the first year of Zongzhang, the two armies launched a large-scale battle in Xue Heshui. The result of this battle is also without suspense - the battle ended with the death of more than 30,000 people in the Koryo army. Goryeo suffered another disastrous defeat.

In fact, from the moment Yuan Nanjian decided to take back Fuyu City, the failure of the Goryeo army was already doomed.Because on the Asian battlefield at that time, the Tang army was undoubtedly the army that was best at field combat, and the most significant advantage of the Koryo army was city defense.As long as Yuan Nanjian has carefully studied the many battles of the Sui and Tang dynasties, he should adopt the strategy of avoiding the enemy's edge and fortifying the wall to clear the field, try to avoid field battles with the Tang army, and even avoid strategic decisive battles.He should, like every Goryeo war in history, constantly lure the enemy deep, lengthen the opponent's front and supply lines, and eventually wear down the opponent.

If Yuangai Suwen was alive, it would be absolutely impossible for Tang Jun to eat up Goryeo's vital forces again and again through field battles.But Yuan Nanjian is a newborn calf after all, too lacking in military experience and strategic wisdom.He was basically led by the Tang Jun from the beginning to the end, and he didn't have his own overall strategy at all. He only entangled in the gains and losses of a city and a place, and repeatedly used his own weaknesses to confront the enemy's strengths.Therefore, every time the Goryeo army launched a field battle with the Tang army, it was nothing more than hitting a stone with an egg, and a sheep entering a tiger's mouth!The Battle of Jinshan, the Battle of Fuyuchuan, and the Battle of Xue Heshui are all like this.

How could the Koryo army be undefeated under the command of such a supreme commander? Taking the initiative to stretch her neck to the opponent's knife again and again, how can Goryeo survive? After Xue Heshui's great victory, Li Ji took advantage of the victory and marched eastward, conquering the important military town on the west bank of the Yalu River-Dahang City (now Dandong City, Liaoning).Taking the city means that the vast land of Liaodong has all fallen into the hands of the Tang army, and the door of Pyongyang has been opened with a bang. In the summer of the first year of Zongzhang, various Tang armies joined forces in Dahang City. After several months of rest and recuperation, the Tang army launched a strong attack on the Koryo defenders on the Yalu River in August.At this time, the morale of the Koryo army, which has been defeated repeatedly, has fallen to the bottom, while the morale of the Tang army is unprecedentedly high with the power of several victories.Of course, the Koryo army could not withstand the powerful offensive of the Tang army, and soon collapsed across the board.

The Tang army crossed the Yalu River, entered the Korean Peninsula, pursued eastward for more than two hundred miles in one go, and captured the fortress Huyi City (northwest of Pyongyang City) in the northern part of the peninsula. At this point, Goryeo is gone.The guards of other cities were terrified when they heard the news, and either abandoned the city and fled, or surrendered the city. The Tang army seemed to be in a land without people.The brave general Qibi He Li took the lead in attacking the city of Pyongyang as the striker. Immediately afterwards, Li Ji's main force also arrived in Pyongyang, and immediately besieged him.

As the capital of Koryo, Pyongyang has been painstakingly managed for many generations, and its defense system is impregnable.Su Dingfang had besieged it for eight months before, and finally had to withdraw his troops sadly. It can be seen that Pyongyang is indeed a veritable strong city. However, the strongest thing in the world is not the city wall, but the human heart. The reason why many emperors of the Sui and Tang dynasties repeatedly fell into the sand in Koryo, a small Dongyi country, was not only because the city walls of Koryo were particularly strong, but mainly because the monarchs and ministers of Koryo could unite as one, and the whole country shared the same hatred.Today, although Pyongyang still has a strong city wall, the Koryo monarchs and ministers at this moment have obviously lost the courage to resist the enemy and the determination to fight to the end.Therefore, such a seemingly solid fortress cannot avoid the fate of being breached from the inside in the end.

When the Eastern Expeditionary Army of the Tang Empire besieged Pyongyang for a month, one person's will completely collapsed. He is the current Goryeo King Gaozang. As a monarch who has been left behind for a long time, Gao Zang's belief in defending the country and sense of responsibility are obviously lacking, at least much less than that of the power minister Yuan Nanjian, so it is reasonable to say that his will collapsed first.He took Yuan Nanjian's younger brother Yuan Nanchan and ninety-eight civil and military officials of the Goryeo court at all levels. Taking advantage of Yuan Nanjian's unpreparedness, he sneaked down the city wall and surrendered to the Tang army with a white flag in his hand.

The king personally brought all the civil and military officials to surrender to the Tang army. This was undoubtedly a heavy blow to the morale of the Pyongyang defenders.Yuan Nanjian was furious, but he still stood behind closed doors, ready to fight to the end. In the days that followed, Yuan Nanjian sent troops to counterattack the Tang army many times, but this was just a dying struggle. The counterattack of the Goryeo army was repeatedly defeated by the Tang army, and the fall of Pyongyang was only a matter of time. At this critical moment, another person betrayed Yuan Nanjian, which sounded the death knell of Goryeo.

This is a monk named Xincheng, who is Yuan Nanjian's confidant and holds the command of the Pyongyang defenders.He realized that the general situation of Goryeo was over, and no matter how stubbornly he resisted, he could not save the defeat, so he secretly sent someone to contact Li Ji, expressing his willingness to act as an internal response and surrender to the Tang army. On September 12th, the first year of Zongzhang, Xincheng suddenly opened the city gate, and the Tang army rushed in immediately.Li Ji ordered the soldiers to climb up the city wall, put up the flag of the Tang army, beat drums and shouted, and burned all the towers around the city wall, and the city of Pyongyang suddenly fell into chaos.

Hearing the earth-shattering shouts of killing and seeing the raging flames burning everywhere, Yuan Nanjian was completely desperate. He pulled out his sword and stabbed it hard into his chest. On this day, Pyongyang fell, and the Koryo Kingdom, which had been established for 705 years, was declared dead. At the moment when the city was broken, Yuan Nanjian was worthy of being a warrior, and bravely stabbed himself with the last sword. But he didn't strike hard enough, so he didn't die, but he still became a prisoner of Tang Jun.He was also captured at the same time as the Baekje king Fu Yufeng who was in exile in Korea. In December, Li Ji escorted these high-level prisoners of war from Goryeo back to the country. The imperial court held a grand triumphant ceremony for the expeditionary army.At the same time, from the head coach Li Ji to the ordinary soldiers, they will all be rewarded according to their merits. Treating the prisoners of war in Goryeo, the Tang Dynasty adopted a consistent principle of leniency. Except for the exile of the chief evil Yuan Nanjian in Qianzhou and the exile of Baekje King Fu Yufeng in Lingnan, the others were all pardoned and granted corresponding official positions.Gao Zang was named Siping Taichang Bo, Yuan Nanchan was named Sizai Shaoqing, and Xincheng was named Doctor Yinqing Guanglu.In addition, Yuan Boy, who was the first to belong to the Tang Dynasty, was also named General Youwei. Subsequently, the Tang Dynasty divided Koryo into nine Dudufu, 42 states, and 100 counties. At the same time, the Andong Duhufu was established in Pyongyang for unified jurisdiction.The positions of governors, governors, and county magistrates were filled by some meritorious old Goryeo generals, and some Chinese officials were also assigned to coordinate management.Due to his outstanding military exploits in this Eastern Expedition, Xue Rengui was promoted to General Youweiwei, and served as the Protector of Anton, leading 20,000 troops to guard it. Victory in the Goryeo War was hard-won. The Sui and Tang dynasties and four generations of emperors all devoted a lot of effort to conquer Goryeo - Yang Jian, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, launched an army of 300,000 troops to conquer Goryeo in the 18th year of Emperor Kaihuang (598 A.D.). Natural disasters and diseases led to the death of soldiers in nine out of ten cases; Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty exhausted his national strength because of the three conquests of Korea, which triggered a full-scale rebellion in the country, and finally buried the Sui Dynasty; The biggest failure in his life was also due to the personal conquest of Korea in the 19th year of Zhenguan (645 AD). This failed personal conquest not only dragged down his body, but also severely hit his spirit, making him lose his life in just a few years. He died with regrets and ambitions; until the era of Tang Gaozong Li Zhi, even though he inherited the strong national power and rich talent capital of the Zhenguan era, he still suffered a failure in the first Eastern Expedition to Korea in the second year of Longshuo and was Therefore, it almost gave up the strategy of the entire Korean peninsula.All these are enough to prove that the Koreans do have an extraordinary tenacity and tenacity. As a small country on the Korean peninsula, Koryo has repeatedly challenged its strong neighbors and was frequently conquered by large armies. It can be said that it is unique to stand upright, and it is enough to make people admire. If it weren't for the death of Yuan Gai Suwen and the subsequent internal strife among his three sons for power, the timetable for the Tang Empire to conquer Goryeo might have been greatly delayed. However, in any case, the Goryeo Kingdom, which had been established for more than 700 years, was completely destroyed under the powerful blow of the Tang Empire. The pacification of Goryeo marked the peak of the military expansion of the Tang Dynasty, and the territory of the Tang Dynasty reached its peak. However, when the moon is full, it wanes, when the water is full, it overflows, and it is the common sense of all things in the world to flourish and decline. Since the conquest of Goryeo, the military system of the early Tang Dynasty began to gradually disintegrate, and the war weariness of the people and soldiers grew and spread. Tang's military strength began to weaken, and the myth that Tang's army was invincible in the world was shattered, and the vigorous expansion history of the early dynasty also came to an abrupt end. The year following the fall of Goryeo, that is, in December of the second year of Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty (AD 669), Li Ji, a generation of famous generals with great military exploits and mighty powers, finally finished his magnificent life at the age of seventy-six. Before he died, Li Ji made this evaluation of his miserable life as a soldier: "When I was 12 or 3 years old, I was a 'dead thief', and I killed everyone I met. During the 14th and 15th year, I was 'difficult to be a thief'. Kill people. The seventeenth and eighteenth are 'good thieves', who are killed when they are in battle. The twenty-first is a general, who uses troops to save people from death." (Volume 201) From a desperado who "killed everyone" to a generation of famous generals who "used soldiers to save people from death", Li Ji completed the growth and transformation of life in the baptism of blood, fire and sword, and also made him a glorious history. A brilliant life through the ages. When the coffin was concluded, Li Ji’s demeanor of a famous general was summarized as follows: "Ji is a general, he is resourceful and decisive; he discusses with others, and he is good. The victory is attributed to the subordinates, and the gold and silk are scattered. All the way to Kejie." In the "Old Tang Book", Shi Chen also put Li Ji and Li Jing side by side, and made a very high evaluation: "In modern times, those who are known as famous generals, Ying and Wei Ergong (Ying Gong refers to Li Ji, Wei Gong Refers to Li Jing), the most in Chengyan Pavilion. The traces of Yinggong Zhenpeng and Ying, he pulled himself out of the grass, and he was always able to use righteousness to fight against things, and he won fame all the time. Virtuous, the commandment of life!" ("Old Book of Tang · Li Ji Biography") After Li Ji's death, Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi mourned for him. He stopped court for seven days and gave him the posthumous title of Zhenwu and the governor of Yangzhou. Funeral for hundreds of officials.In addition, referring to the stories of famous generals Wei Qing and Huo Qubing in the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozong built a mausoleum for Li Ji in the shape of Yinshan Mountain, Tieshan Mountain, and Wudeyan Mountain in recognition of his immortal achievements in pacifying Eastern Turks and Xue Yantuo. As the last of the founding fathers of the Tang Dynasty to die, Li Ji's death means that a vigorous foundation-laying era has come to an end.The history of the Tang Dynasty began to enter into an era of conservation of the past and the future. And Tang Gaozong Li Zhi, who is middle-aged and sick, can he guard the beautiful country left by Gaozu and Taizong?With Queen Wu Mei's strong interference in politics, will Gaozong Li Zhi be able to smoothly transfer the supreme power of the empire to Prince Li Hong in the days to come? Everything is still unknown.