Chapter 1114: hard-edged
Chapter 1114 Show your sharpness
As soon as these words came out, all the ministers were surprised. No one thought that the emperor would personally conscript.
Fang Xuanling was silent, but Wei Zheng immediately stood up to object.
Servant Ma Zhou also spoke out against it, thinking that there was no need for the emperor to personally conscript.
"The minister recommends the right servant to shoot Li Xiang as the commander." Ma Zhou said.
Li Daliang backed down modestly, "I believe that Li Situ is more suitable than my minister to lead the Eastern Expedition." He recommended Li Jing to lead the army.
"The pharmacist is old and has leg problems. How can I bother him to come out of the mountain?" The emperor retorted, saying that Li Daliang was now the prime minister in the court, and he and Fang Xuanling presided over the affairs of the Minister of Ministers, so he didn't have time to spare.
"The minister recommended Li Xianggong, the British prince, as handsome."
"Li Ji wants to guard Hedong and guard against Xue Yantuo in Mobei." Li Shimin retorted.
"Then Chai Shao, Xue Shixiong, Cheng Yaojin, Niu Jinda, Su Dingfang, Duan Zhixuan, Zhang Shigui, Li Daozong, etc. can all be handsome!"
But the emperor still shook his head, "Of course I also know that they are all great generals and commanders, but I used to accompany Gaozu to Liaodong to **** military supplies and food, and I personally saw that Emperor Yang had no way to conquer the poor people of Liao. I interrupted my own hands and feet as a slave to Yao, and saw that there were starving people and those sleepy husbands everywhere along the way. In Liaodong, there were even dead and injured Chinese children everywhere..."
"I made an oath in my heart at that time, one day sooner or later, I will lead the army back to avenge the Chinese children. Now, I will raise the Sixth Army myself and send troops to crusade."
"You don't need to say more, I want to make an early decision."
"The crown prince inherited Qian and stayed in Luoyang to supervise the country, and the left servant shot Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng, the governor of the Zhimen, to stay and assist. In addition, I will call Qin Lang back again, and give the school's order to add Prince Zhan Shi to stay and assist."
"Zhongshu Ling Changsun Wuji, Shangshu Youpushe and Li Daliang, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and Zhongshu Ma Zhou followed me to conquer."
"With Chang Shi of Zhendong Governor's Mansion and Jinzhou Governor Niu Jinda as the chief commander of the Pyongyang Road Marching, he led 40,000 troops from Jiang, Huai, Ling, and Kip, and recruited 10,000 troops from Chang'an, Luoyang, and Shandong. Warships headed for Pyongyang by sea."
"Called the Hexi Jinglue envoy and Liangzhou Metropolitan Governor Shi Cheng Yaojin to be the general manager of the Liaodong Road March. He led the army of 60,000, as well as the Turkic and Dangxiang soldiers attached to Longyou Heshuo, and marched towards Liaodong."
It is not uncommon for the two armies of land and water to launch together. This is also the strategy of conquering Liaodong in the Sui Dynasty. After all, Goguryeo has been entrenched in Liaodong for hundreds of years. Even though the defense line of the Great Wall of Liaodong is broken, the frontal defense line of Liaodong is still quite strong.
But Datang and Goguryeo face each other across the sea, and their capital Pyongyang is by the sea, so sending an army to attack from the sea is in line with the law of war. Sending a partial army to attack from the sea will inevitably force the Goguryeo people to divide their troops to defend. It can weaken the strength of its Liaodong defense line.
Not to mention, with the current strength of the Tang Dynasty's sea power, which far exceeds that of the Sui Dynasty, there is still a strong chance of breakthrough when attacking from the sea.
As for the two generals chosen by the emperor, Niu Jinda was in charge of the navy and Cheng Yaojin was in charge of the main force of the land route. It is not surprising that Niu Jinda was here. After all, when he was the governor of Youzhou, Qin Lang attacked Goguryeo and took Beisha City. The one who sent troops for reinforcements was later impeached by the censor for sending troops without permission, so the emperor simply transferred him to guard Beisha, and was awarded the governor of Jinzhou, and later added the governor of the east of the town.
Lao Niu has been guarding southern Liaoning for many years and has never moved. He is the best candidate to command the navy.
Cheng Yaojin is the main force of the land route. It's a little surprising. He previously guarded Liangzhou in Hexi. Of course, his rank is no problem, and he has military exploits in fighting Tuyuhun and fighting the party.
He is now also driving to participate in Fengchan, and he can go to Youzhou to take office at any time and gather people.
Qualifications and abilities are not bad, although they are not as good as Li Jing, Qin Lang, Chai Shao, Li Ji, but after all, it is more than enough for him not to be the coach of the Eastern Expedition, but just the leader of the road.
The number of soldiers and horses dispatched by the emperor is not many, Niu Jinda has 50,000, Cheng Yaojin has 60,000, not counting the Hu barbarians of Xie Cong.
Compared with Yang Guang sending more than one million troops to conquer Liao, it is undoubtedly too little, but there are some advantages. First, the troops move quickly, and second, the logistical supply pressure is small.
It is already September, and it is not a good time to send troops, because Liaodong is cold, and winter will soon come, and the northern bays will freeze, the rivers will be frozen, let alone snow for thousands of miles, there is no time to fight too much.
But just as Li Shimin had deduced with the generals long ago, this timely dispatch of troops was able to catch the Goguryeo people by surprise. At this time, there are still nearly three months before Liaodong is frozen and unable to fight.
Autumn is tall and horses are fat, which is suitable for soldiers.
The Goguryeo people would think that winter is coming, and it is impossible for the Tang Dynasty to use troops at this time, so they will inevitably underestimate the enemy somewhat carelessly.
So Datang used Feng Chan as a cover to mobilize troops, horses, money and food in secret, and then sent troops to make a surprise attack in one fell swoop, which happened to catch the Goguryeo people by surprise.
Excluding the time on the road, Li Shimin only had two months to use the army.
And the emperor only needs two months.
Of course, it is impossible to destroy a country of 700 years in two months, and the emperor will not be so crazy. All he needs is to take advantage of the unpreparedness of the Goguryeo people and take one or two key cities by surprise, such as Liaodong, Anshi or Pyongyang.
After taking down a few important cities in a surprise attack, they can defend themselves and spend the winter safely. After next spring, the second round of offensive will be carried out.
In this plan, it doesn’t matter if the emperor personally conscripts or not. After all, both water and land are dispatched. The emperor starts from Qizhou, first goes to Youzhou, and then to Yingzhou in western Liaoning.
In the end, it may only be stationed in the state battalion, and it is impossible to lead the army to charge in person.
Soldiers and horses have already been mobilized, money and food have been transferred, and the emperor has also arrived in Qizhou at this time. Once the war order is issued, it can be guaranteed that all armies will cross the border before October.
This is a long-planned war.
The emperor must personally command.
Although Wei Zheng and others firmly opposed it, the emperor was firm.
"I originally planned to let Qin Lang command the troops on my behalf, but since he can't take command, then I will do it myself."
Next, it turned to the discussion of using troops.
"Qin Lang offered a plan to exhaust the enemy at the beginning, but the Goguryeo people fell for it. Over the past few years, they have overhauled the Great Wall of Liaodong, and even frantically smuggled iron materials from the sea to make Uzi swords and Persian mail armor. The treasury was empty, the people's livelihood was withered, and the people were miserable. , and even a famine has begun. If it weren’t for this, Goguryeo would not have jumped the wall to unite with Baekje and Wa, sent troops to invade Silla and Gaya, and even continued to oppress the Northeast Mohe and Shiwei.”
Qin Lang presented the method of repairing the Great Wall to the Goguryeo people before, and the Goguryeo people were deeply amazed by the method of building a strong fortress for the Great Wall, so they built it with the strength of the whole country, recruiting hundreds of thousands of young and strong to build it in Liaodong every year. Great Wall.
Because the method of building the Great Wall presented is too advanced, the construction of Goguryeo, which is backward in technology, is slow and consumes too much labor. For a small country in Liaodong with only a few million people, hundreds of thousands of young and strong people build the Great Wall in Liaodong every year for a long time. , Although it is a rotation, it has seriously affected the domestic economy of Goguryeo.
In particular, it has had a huge impact on their agriculture. In recent years, due to the lack of young and strong labor force, the Goguryeo people's agriculture has been severely hit, a large amount of land was abandoned, or due to lack of maintenance of hydraulic facilities, droughts and reduced production.
In any normal country, if this situation occurs, it is estimated that it will immediately adjust and reduce the manpower required to build the Great Wall to ensure food security.
But the problem is that the Goguryeo people were plotted against by the Tang people again.
Because Datang sent more smugglers to smuggle and sell grain to Goguryeo.
Therefore, although there has been a problem with grain production in Goguryeo in the past few years, and the grain output has been getting lower and lower, the price of grain in their country has been getting lower and lower. illusion.
In addition, in the past few years, many businessmen have purchased ores, paints, etc. at high prices in Goguryeo, making these operations very profitable. The nobles of Goguryeo are all rushing to invest money in mining mines.
Mining ore and selling it to those sea merchants will earn high profits, and then resell and buy a large amount of grain at a low price. Once in and out, you can make a lot of money. Compared with farming and grazing before, it is much more cost-effective.
The Goguryeo people fully enjoyed the benefits of trade.
The Goguryeo court also received a lot of money every year through taxes, etc., and had money in hand. Of course, it could buy more iron materials, cowhide, etc. from sea smuggling merchants, and then create more weapons and armor.
Anyway, mining is the most profitable industry in Goguryeo now, and the country is doing its best to develop the military industry, but the basic industries of agriculture and livestock are becoming more and more abandoned.
Many people at the bottom were conscripted to build the Great Wall or build military weapons because their young and strong family members were conscripted, resulting in barren fields or poor harvests. They finally got a little harvest, but the price of food in Goguryeo was suppressed by the price of smuggled food. The food produced cannot be sold for money, and many farmers have gone bankrupt.
In the end, they can only be reduced to miners or workshop workers for nobles, or even slaves.
But the Goguryeo nobles didn't care, they just felt that the environment was getting better and better, the money was getting better and better, and the family business was getting bigger and bigger.
Without anyone realizing it, they jumped into a big trap.
That was an economic war that Qin Lang set up against the Goguryeo people, trap after trap, they were complacent and complacent.
Now Goguryeo is no longer self-sufficient in food, and even the country has no food reserves. Anyway, the Maritime Chamber of Commerce will continue to bring cheap food supplements from the sea.
"Order Niu Jinda to block the coast of Goguryeo, prohibit all ships from going to Goguryeo, and prohibit all materials from entering Goguryeo!"
Once the sea is blocked and Goguryeo is banned by the sea, their grain reserves will not be able to support the next season's harvest, let alone support a full-scale national war!
(end of this chapter)