In Cheng Chubi's public room, several large boxes were still unopened. Cheng Chubi first took out the outline he had written last night while drunk and full of thoughts.
"You two can take a look first. This is a rough idea that Cheng drafted yesterday."
"To deal with Goguryeo, what we need to do is not to think of a military solution.
But we need to use what we are good at to shake Goguryeo’s rule over that land.”
Li Yifu and Xu Jingzong looked at Cheng Sanlang in front of them seriously and listened to his explanation. These words were really a bit incredible.
After all, that was the Kingdom of Goguryeo, and they had ruled there for at least three to five hundred years.
But after they checked the information, they were shocked to discover the problem. The population of Goguryeo itself was only about 700,000 households.
Based on the calculation that there are about five people in a household, the population is only three to four million. Even if all the people are soldiers, the number of young people will only be more than one million.
However, Goguryeo's main military force, nearly 160,000 to 70,000 soldiers and horses, was mainly stationed on the border of Liaodong to strictly guard against the Tang Dynasty.
In addition, there are a large number of servant armies, which are the many tribes in Liao land, such as the Mohe people.
When Goguryeo fought against the former Sui Dynasty, there were more than 100,000 Mohe soldiers and horses fighting together with Goguryeo.
In addition, there are about 30,000 elite troops stationed here in the royal capital of Goguryeo.
There are also about 100,000 troops, who are working with Baekje to conquer Silla.
If the Tang Dynasty came to invade like the Sui Dynasty, then if all the people of Goguryeo were armed, they could summon 500,000 to 600,000 horses to resist.
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Two days later, after a court meeting, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty finally agreed to send envoys to Goguryeo.
He condemned Goguryeo and Baekje for obstructing Silla's tribute route and starting provocations without any reason, and warned Goguryeo that if you don't correct yourself, you will be punished.
Many ministers were secretly relieved that His Majesty did not immediately raise troops to attack Goguryeo.
There was no way, Goguryeo was a taboo among the courtiers. After all, the power of the former Sui Dynasty was obvious to all.
However, nothing was gained from the three expeditions to Goguryeo. Instead, they only wasted people, money, and lost troops and generals.
In the end, everyone saw that the powerful former Sui Dynasty was buried in the dust of history.
If the Tang Dynasty also wanted to send troops to conquer Goguryeo, wouldn't it be afraid of repeating the mistakes of the Sui Dynasty?
Although the Tang Dynasty is indeed very powerful now, the question is, who dares to say that the military power of the Tang Dynasty is more powerful than that of the former Sui Dynasty, and that it can definitely defeat Goguryeo in one battle?
Therefore, His Majesty did not shout for help immediately. This is the wise and wise Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.
During this period of time, Cheng Chubi was really busy. He went to work every day and stayed in the public house.
Together with Li Yifu and Xu Jingzong, they secretly plotted and plotted there, and from time to time they even roped in Li Ke, an excellent royal courtesan, to work conscientiously together.
First of all, the first point is the food problem. Goguryeo is a semi-nomadic and semi-agricultural country.
It is precisely because of this social structure that Goguryeo's national grain reserves are not large. It can be said that in years of famine, people can easily starve to death.
On the contrary, Baekje and Silla, two small farming countries on the peninsula, sometimes even exported large amounts of grain to Goguryeo.
Of course, Goguryeo was always unreasonable and sometimes went hungry due to domestic famine.
They will simply send a large army to grab a wave. This kind of thing happens from time to time.
Another thing is that the powerful officials of Goguryeo, the Yeon Gaesomun clan, believed in Buddhism, but their leader believed in shamanism.
Compare the same information repeatedly to see if there are any loopholes that can be exploited.
Of course, Cheng Chubi did not forget his most useful tool: the Han and Tang Dynasty trading houses that had already expanded their business scope to the countries surrounding the Tang Dynasty.
After all, a lot of the information I have at hand also comes from Han and Tang Dynasty trading houses, because trading houses definitely have great advantages in doing intelligence work.
Many problems can be determined just from the fluctuation of food prices in a place or a country.
Just like the information sent by the Han and Tang Dynasty trading houses about the excessively high food prices in Goguryeo since the end of last year, it was because Goguryeo suffered a large-scale disaster in the autumn of last year.
Cheng Chubi could even infer that Goguryeo's troops to sack the borders of the Tang Dynasty might have something to do with this.
As for the Yuan Gaisumun clan, they like Buddhist affairs and love Buddhist rituals, which is definitely a good thing for Cheng Sanlang.
After all, engaging in religious worship is a waste of money and national strength. Otherwise, there would be no mass incidents against religion.
Then, Cheng Sanlang's eyes lit up and he immediately had a new bold plan.
Li Ke was helping Brother Chu Bi sort out the manuscripts when he saw Brother Chu Bi picking up a quill and writing furiously.
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When he poked his head, he couldn't help but take a breath of cold air. "Brother Chu Bi, what are you going to do?"
"Of course we are making plans. This is a new plan. Do you know that the main religion in Goguryeo is shamanism?
But it happened that the person in charge of the political power of Goguryeo, and even the one who controlled the imperial power, was Yeon Gaesomun."
"But the Yuan clan firmly believes in Buddhism. In this case, Cheng naturally wants to follow their favourites."
"Just give them tens of thousands of copies of Buddhist scriptures and let them make a large number of Buddha statues.
Then a large number of fine treasures that have been consecrated by eminent monks will be collected and shipped to Goguryeo..."
"A large number?" Li Ke's face turned dark for a moment. A good treasure consecrated by an eminent monk actually needs to use a large number of such quantifiers. Is it appropriate?
"Nonsense, don't even think about it. There are so many powerful people and wealthy businessmen in Goguryeo.
We will try to let them experience Buddhism up close and touch Buddhist artifacts, so that their souls can be sublimated."
"Of course, these treasures are all valuable, such as Buddhist scriptures printed on gilded paper.
Or maybe it’s a gilded Buddhist bell, a wooden fish, a prayer flag, a Buddha statue, some rosary beads, a tin staff, a bowl, a whisk…”
Li Yifu and Xu Jingzong also had toothaches after hearing this. They always felt that Cheng Sanlang was so rough and unreasonable in his plans.
Li Ke couldn't help but remind this brother Chu Bi who was talking happily.
"...Brother Chu Bi, which eminent monk do you think would accompany you to do such nonsense?"
Cheng Chubi's face turned serious and his expression became very serious. "What? Aren't they my monks from the Tang Dynasty?"
"My dear brother, you must remember that Buddhism has no national boundaries, but monks do have national boundaries."
Chapter completed!