Chapter 38 Chapter Thirty-Eighth Attack on Silla Gai Su Wen Lost His Way to Conquer Goryeo Li Shimin Makes a Strategy

Chang'an streets and alleys have already begun to spread rumors that Datang is going to attack Korea. Those little ordinary people who were idle all day showed joy, encouraged and encouraged each other.And the civil and military officials of the imperial court also began to write letters one after another, strongly demanding that they attack Goryeo in advance.But Li Shimin lost the courage to dare to think and act when he was young. He only remembered that Wei Zheng had repeatedly advised him not to do anything to other countries, and it was best to manage himself well. But reality is reality after all. Between countries, there are no eternal friends or eternal enemies. Only interests are the most important.

Over the past few years, Gai Suwen has been preparing for battle in the military. Is it just to defend Datang?No, Li Shimin knows that once Gai Suwen has confidence, he will expand first. At that time, it will not be a question of whether you forgive his sins, but a question of him directly wanting to eat you. Li Shimin expressed his thoughts in the court: "Gai Suwen murdered the king and usurped power. This is intolerable. With the strength of Tang Dynasty today, it is not difficult to destroy him, but I don't want the people to suffer from hard labor. After thinking for a long time, I decided to let Khitan, Mohe What do you think of the two tribes going to fight Goryeo?"

This is really a very sharp and vicious trick. Changsun Wuji was the first to stand up to express his opposition. He said: "Gai Suwen knows that he has committed a heinous crime, and he will take strict precautions for fear of conquest by the Tang Dynasty. No matter who you let your majesty go, it will definitely be a long and hard battle. Your Majesty I thought it would be better to give Gai Suwen some rewards to stabilize his heart first. In this way, he will become more arrogant and arrogant. Before others can act, the people of Korea will exhaust his internal energy. Even if it is not the case, by then If we send troops again, we will be much stronger than now."

This is a very dangerous move, but Li Shimin approved of Changsun Wuji's strategy. On that day, an edict was issued to appoint King Gaozang of Koryo (the nephew of King Rongliu) as the king of Shangzhu Kingdom, Liaodong County, and King of Koryo, and sent envoys to hold the festival canonization. Many people fell into confusion, isn't this a matter of not having Gai Suwen? It has its own truth in it. The canonization of the new king of Goryeo can show that he doesn't care about Goryeo.In this way, Gao Zang became Gai Suwen's puppet again. What is unexpected is that Gai Suwen is indeed very cunning. He united with Baekje and launched a sudden attack on Silla. Let's beat up Tang Chao's younger brother first. Tang Chao's reaction can represent the Tang Dynasty. North Korea's attitude.Silla and China can only face each other across the sea. Therefore, Gai Suwen always thought that the unification of the Korean peninsula could be achieved by first using Baekje to destroy Silla and then swallowing Baekje.Generally speaking, Silla is a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty. It is really about to be beaten, and it is enough to ask for help.

But the reality is not that simple. The approximate location of Silla is in the eastern part of South Korea today. Part of the reason why Gai Suwen united with Baekje first is that Baekje is to the west of South Korea, and Goryeo is all of Liaodong and North Korea.If Silla wanted to communicate with the Tang Dynasty, it had to bypass their blockade far away, take a small broken boat, and go around the sea to Laizhou in Shandong or Lianyungang in Jiangsu. When the messenger arrived in Chang'an to ask for help, Goryeo had already killed Silla. The king of Baekje, regardless of past and old enmities, developed a good cooperation with Gai Suwen, and successively swallowed up several cities in Silla.In order to express his gratitude, Gai Suwen also called the shots and gave up a piece of land in Silla to Baekje.Baekje was moved to tears, and he came and went with Goryeo, showing a good moral standard.

Seeing that the good thing is about to come to an end, news came from the border: "The envoy of Silla brought the special envoy of the Tang Dynasty, passing through Goryeo by land, and came here swaggeringly." ... No matter how stupid the king of Silla was, he would not wait until the country was about to perish before sending envoys for help.During the joint forces of Goryeo and Baekje, the king of Silla sent books across the sea and sent Li Shimin such a letter: "Koryo is fooling Baekje, and the two countries are discussing to attack us. We listen to the emperor. (Koryo and Baekje are united, and we will discuss it. I return to the emperor.)"

The envoys of Silla, in today's terms, did not have work experience.Their images are not obscene, but they probably haven't seen anything on the scene, at least the scene where Li Shimin came out scared them so much that their IQs plummeted.Li Shimin, with a dignified face, asked in a calm tone that frightened them: "Is there a way not to fight this battle?" The Silla envoy did not dare to breathe, and said: "There is no way...Your Majesty, please take pity on us." Seeing Li Shimin's cold face, the Silla envoy cowardly muttered, "Your Majesty..."

Li Shimin saw that they were not expected to come up with ideas, so he said calmly: "In this way, listen carefully. I have three plans. First, I will let the general of the Tang Dynasty lead the Khitan and Mohe troops to attack Liaodong, and you can delay for a while; second, I will send people to beat gongs and drums and wear purple clothes Hongqidi passed through Koryo and sent rewards to your country. They would think that I am here to help you and withdraw troops from your country. Third, Baekje now feels that it relies on the sea and does not repair military equipment. I will use tens of thousands of elite soldiers. Take a boat across the sea to raid and directly destroy Goryeo. The king of your country is a woman, so you let foreigners bully you. I will let the Li family clan go to your country to be the master, and I will hand it over to you after the political power is settled down. These three plans, you Which one are you going to choose?"

The Silla envoy froze there. They told Li Shimin in their usual manner that they really had no control over this matter, and it was useless to ask.Several people chirped and discussed for a long time, but there was no result of the discussion. In the end, it was Li Shimin who was impatient and called the shots, sending Comrade Li Xuan, Prime Minister of Sinong, dressed in gorgeous clothes, to pass through Koryo with drums and gongs.Li Xuanju brought a letter of credence, which was used to order Goryeo.The letter of credence asked Gai Suwen not to attack Silla, and to understand it with reason and emotion.

The envoys of Silla had people from the Tang Dynasty, and their appearance suddenly changed on the road, their faces shining brightly. But when Gai Suwen came here, the situation was not as optimistic as Li Xuanzhang imagined, which also made the Silla envoy lose confidence in seeking peace.After announcing the decree, Gai Suwen put on a look of dissatisfaction, and said bitterly: "In the past when the Sui Dynasty invaded our country, Silla took the opportunity to take away 500 miles of land from me. If we don't take back the 500 miles of land, we will Never give up!" The obedient Silla envoy was almost dizzy with the utter nonsense.

... Gai Suwen is a shameless person. Gai Suwen was really shameless, and the Silla envoy almost went mad with anger.Open your eyes and look carefully, Silla is only so big in total, how can it take away your five hundred miles of land? Gai Suwen didn't care about the actual situation in Silla. For him, this country, which was 250 miles wide from east to west and 500 miles long from north to south, was too tempting. It is a big joke for Gai Suwen to say something shameless. Seeing that Gai Suwen was not convinced, Li Xuan persuaded him: "The past is in the past, why are you talking nonsense! Goryeo is still Chinese territory, and the emperor has not conquered you until now, so how dare you say that you want to take back the land of Silla? The cities of Eastern Liaodong are all counties and counties in China, let alone China, how can Koryo have to ask for its old land!)” Gai Suwen didn't expect Li Xuanju to say something like this, "This is Gao Li's family business, what reason do you have to interfere?" He wanted to slap Li Xuanju in the face, but his rationality told him that this slap If it goes down, it will attract millions of soldiers from Datang.Gai Suwen swallowed a mouthful of saliva, he could only use arrogant words to let Li Xuanzhang understand that he didn't want to listen to Li Shimin's words at all. Li Xuanju returned to Chang'an with this good or bad news, and Chang'an exploded immediately. Li Shimin announced the convening of a meeting to study the Koryo issue. The participants actively spoke and discussed whether they could be a teacher.It was Comrade Chu Suiliang, an admonishing doctor and calligrapher, who first raised his concerns. Chu Suiliang said: "It is certainly good for Your Majesty to conquer Liaodong, but if you fail to capture it the first time, you will have to attack again, and if you attack again, safety will be unpredictable!" As soon as the words fell, Li Ji immediately retorted, "I have an opinion! I think it is not the case. Think about it, Your Majesty. Before Xue Yantuo invaded the border, Your Majesty wanted to pursue him, but was dissuaded by Wei Zheng's bitter remonstrance. If he had fought before, he would have beaten them to pieces. Don't stay. Your Majesty, look at the present, they have repeatedly caused troubles, and they still hate each other!" Li Ji's words touched Li Shimin's sensitive nerves. He nodded and said, "Yes, I have a little worry and can't take care of the overall situation, which led to today's situation." By coincidence, the second and third groups of urgent envoys sent by Silla came to Chang'an one after another, crying and making trouble, which made Li Shimin quickly make the decision to send troops. On this day, Li Shimin ordered 400 Wu boats to transport grain by water, and ordered Zhang Jian, the governor of Yingzhou, to recruit soldiers from Youzhou and Yingzhou, as well as Khitan, Xi, Mohe, etc. send troops. The army was about to be assembled, and Gai Suwen was intimidated. He packed several boxes of gold, silver and jewelry, sent envoys from Goryeo, and traveled thousands of miles to Chang'an.The Koryo envoy invited Li Shimin to accept the bribe by death, but Li Shimin said that the army was dispatched, and he didn't want any bribes.Now, Gai Suwen no longer had the calmness he had before.In order to make Li Shimin take back his order, he actually sent fifty senior officials from the Goryeo Dynasty to Chang'an and asked them to stand guard for Li Shimin. The ministers from Goryeo interceded for Gai Suwen, and Li Shimin, who originally didn't intend to embarrass them, was furious.Pointing at their noses, he cursed: "You are Gao Wu's (King Rongliu's) confidantes, you are not righteous, and now you are pleading for the thieves! Get out of here!" Fifty people were crossed by guards and put in prison. A mobilization meeting should be held before the battle. Li Shimin chose the Taiji Palace as the location of the mobilization meeting. He stood on the main hall and announced to the elders of Chang'an gathered here in a passionate tone: "Liaodong is my homeland of China. The thieves don't leave the branches. Killing the king and the lord, the law of nature cannot tolerate it. I want to conquer it myself!" The crowd erupted into loud cheers, but Li Shimin comforted everyone by saying, "Even if this war is just, it doesn't mean that we can disregard anyone's sacrifice. I made an agreement with all the elders that among the elders in the village, there will be children and grandchildren who will follow me." The imperial court will definitely treat those who set out on the expedition generously. When you go home, you must rest and recuperate at ease, and wait for the day when my master Wang returns triumphantly!" Li Shimin's decision surprised the officials. It is necessary to go to Korea, but no one agrees to the emperor's personal conquest. For this reason, the ministers spoke one after another.Everyone gave three reasons why Li Shimin could not be recruited in person. These three reasons, in the final analysis, meant that Li Shimin could not have the same knowledge as Goryeo: One is to remove the root and pursue the end, the other is to let go of the high and take the next, and the third is to explain the near and seek the far. For a small country on the border, does the emperor need to go out in person?This is the view of almost all civil servants. However, you cannot stop an emperor who wants to create immortal feats.Li Shimin lived in the imperial court and had not fought in person for twenty years. For anyone who was once a god of war, it was indeed unacceptable for him to continue like this.Gai Suwen's attack on Silla was a good opportunity for the Tang Dynasty to destroy Goryeo.In the absence of any opposition from public opinion in the world, this is a just dispatch of troops. It can not only destroy the threat from the east, but also satisfy its own ambitions, why not do it? Finally, Li Shimin said to the officials: "Gai Suwen killed the king and butchered the minister. The people of the whole country are stretching their necks waiting to be rescued. Have you ever thought about it? If I don't save it, who will save it?" From Chang'an to Pyongyang, the operation state is more than 4,000 miles by land to Koryo; via Donglai (Shandong Peninsula) to Korea, 2,500 miles by land and 700 miles by water. This time, Li Shimin mobilized grain and grass from warehouses in affluent areas and transported it to the battlefield first.He chose two very strategic locations as places to store grain—Yingzhou and Gudarencheng. Yingzhou, present-day Chaoyang, Liaoning, is an important place guarded by Yuangai Suwen to the east; Ancient Daren City, now Longkou, Shandong, faces Koryo across the sea. Comrades who don't know these two places can buy a map of China from the women who sell maps in the night market. Of course, you can just read it and not buy it.Because at a glance, it can be seen that these two places are the springboard for the attack on Goryeo, and millions of stones of grain are stored at the end of the land march.The next step is to obey Li Shimin's arrangement, wait patiently for the arrival of the army, and then make plans. Tang Jun's plan came out soon, divided into water and land, the specific arrangements are as follows: Pyongyang Road Chief of the march: Zhang Liang. Deputy Chief of March: Chang He and Zuo Nandang. Chiefs of the Marching Division: Ran Rende, Liu Yingxing, Zhang Wenqian, Pang Xiaotai, Cheng Mingzhen. Pyongyang road task: recruit soldiers from the Yangtze River, Soochow, Beijing, and Tokyo, build 500 Wu ships, and sail across the sea to Pyongyang. Liaodong Road Chief of the march: Li Ji. Deputy Chief of March: Li Daozong. Chiefs of the marching division: Zhang Shigui, Zhang Jian, Zhisili, Qibi Heli, Ashinamishe, Jiang Deben, Qu Zhisheng, Wu Heita. Liaodong Road Mission: Lead the iron cavalry to approach Liaodong. Before the two main roads dispatched troops, the probing troops led by Zhang Jian fought against the Koryo army in Liaodong. This was a very funny battle, and it ended with Zhang Jian retreating without fighting. At first, in order to cooperate with Comrade Zhang Jian and allow him to cross the Liaohe River with peace of mind, Li Shimin sent an excellent painter, craft artist, and architect to build 400 warships for the vanguard army.The name of the arts and crafts artist is Yan Lide, who is the elder brother of the painter Yan Liben.The warship was built smoothly, the magnificent ship was delivered on time, Yan Lide also paid the craftsmen enough wages, and there was no default in payment. In addition, the warships are equipped with first-class equipment and have good combat capabilities. Where is the problem?