When Li Jing led his army to attack Japan last year, almost all of Datang's fleet was gone. There were only a few canoships left in the country, which could not withstand the storms at sea.
The shipyards in Jiangnan are almost completed this year, but it will take some time to build warships as strong as those of the former Sui Dynasty.
Mainly due to the impact of the war, many of the skilled shipbuilders were dispersed, and it also took time to prepare some shipbuilding materials.
In other words, the founding of the Tang Dynasty was still short, and all walks of life were recovering, especially in technology-intensive industries such as shipbuilding.
Cultivating talents takes time.
However, after the destruction of Baekje and Japan, the shipbuilding industry of the Tang Dynasty ushered in a period of rapid recovery.
Firstly, it is because the imperial court attaches great importance to it and all kinds of resources are tilted towards this side.
Furthermore, the shipbuilding industries of Baekje and Wa are not as good as those of the Central Plains, but because they are close to the sea and have frequent maritime traffic, their seagoing ships are also unique. Although the ships are small, they can withstand the wind and waves of the sea.
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After the Tang army destroyed Baekje and Japan, the first people they recruited were shipbuilders and fishermen who often sailed out to sea.
There are all kinds of people, almost tens of thousands of people.
This undoubtedly injected vitality into Datang's maritime undertakings.
It is foreseeable that Datang will benefit from this in the next few years.
If you can maintain continuous investment, ocean sailing is not impossible.
Nowadays, the maritime industry is still in its infancy, and input and output are not directly proportional. It is far from the harvest season. Once input and output form a virtuous cycle, then the maritime industry will enter the golden age.
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The current situation is that Datang's maritime fleet is somewhat tight.
After Li Jing destroyed the Japanese state, the fleet was divided into two parts. Some ships were ordered to return north and returned to the port of Baekje to rest for a winter.
In the spring, King Wu Du Fu ordered Liu Rengui and others to bring all the captives from Baekje to the port and ship them back to the Central Plains.
This is just the first batch. When Li Jing leads his army back to the peninsula, Du Fuwei plans to wipe out some of the Baekje tribes that are not very docile and send them back one after another.
Therefore, in the first half of this year, Datang will receive tens of thousands of workers, and they can start some major projects, such as rebuilding the post station system.
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"The Goguryeo people want to play tricks on me to claim vassal status again? They are really seeking death...leave it all to the Military Intelligence Department."
The news of the Goguryeo envoys arriving in Chang'an at the end of March was accompanied by a letter from King Wu Du Fuwei, explaining the purpose of the Goguryeo people's visit.
This reminded Li Po of some very bad memories, the Liaodong City that had been repeatedly defeated and fought, and the Sifang City that looked weird...
Yang Guang and the Goguryeo people are capricious but have a tacit understanding.
The more than 300,000 troops were only twenty or thirty miles away from Pyongyang City, but they were unable to take another step forward. Even in such a situation, Goguryeo still played a trick.
These memories completely disgusted Li Po. More than ten or twenty years later, the Goguryeo people still wanted to repeat their old tricks, which made Li Po very angry.
He was not Yang Guang, he didn't have that much face, and he didn't care much about what outsiders said about him. He didn't kill the envoys who came from Tibet during the war between the two countries, and he didn't put back those who came from Tibet.
Therefore, he did not give Goguryeo a chance to disgust him in person, so he ordered Zhang Liang to send people to Luoyang to intercept the people, interrogate them there, and finally let them "reside permanently" in Luoyang.
Soon the Military Intelligence Department sent back some news.
Speaking of which, Goguryeo's request for help from the Tang Dynasty had some substance.
In addition to professing tribulation to the Tang Dynasty, they also planned to send some "outsiders" stranded in the country back to the Tang Dynasty. These people numbered 20 to 30,000.
Mainly they are the officers and soldiers of the Sui army who lived in Goguryeo when the Sui army conquered Goguryeo.
In these years, they had no hope of returning to their homeland. Some people continued to resist in the mountains and forests of Goguryeo, attacking Goguryeo villages and plundering Goguryeo places, just not obeying the control of the Goguryeo people.
Over the years, most of them have been wiped out by the Goguryeo people, and the remaining ones have become the main part of the mountain bandits in Goguryeo. Their methods are fierce, cruel, and very cunning, giving the Goguryeo people a lot of headaches.
Their biggest achievement in recent years was taking advantage of Gao Yuan's death to unite more than a dozen troops and carry out an unprecedented looting of the surrounding areas of Pyongyang City.
They all had a blood feud with the Goguryeo people. Too many people died that year. Those who survived by chance did not want to join the enemy and only wanted to risk their lives with the Goguryeo people.
Of course, these are only some of them, and the other large part became captives of Goguryeo. Those who were not caught stayed incognito, married wives and had children.
Those who were captured first became slaves, and later gradually integrated into Goguryeo's military and political system, so there are many "outsiders" in Goguryeo today.
Goguryeo just wanted to send these people back to show its sincerity.
In addition, the Goguryeo people have been promoting Buddhism for some years, and they also want to take some Buddhist scriptures back from the Central Plains...
Well, these are relatively normal. As for asking Datang to send troops to help them fight against the Turks' invasion, when they said it, it sounded like a joke.
They had quite a plan and were overly clever. They didn't want the Tang army that had destroyed Baekje to go north for reinforcements, but they wanted Tang Dynasty to send troops from the direction of Yingzhou to attack the Turks' retreat.
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The letter written by King Gaocheng of Goguryeo to His Majesty the Emperor of Tang Dynasty was also sent to Li Jiancheng.
Li Po looked through it briefly. A few years after Gao Cheng succeeded to the throne, he changed his name to Gao Jianwu. From what he heard, he knew that this man was ambitious and wanted to do something great.
This person was of low stature, claiming to be a concubine, and wrote a lot of letters, hoping to let Li Po understand the meaning of death and coldness. Apparently, he had not received any news about the alliance between Tang Dynasty and the Turks.
Li Po took a look and threw it aside. Not to mention Li Po, even the ministers of the Tang Dynasty now know that the Goguryeo people talk like farts and have no credibility at all.
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As for the current domestic situation in Goguryeo, I got some messy news from those envoys.
There were once five Goguryeo tribes, but now there are only three left, and they are still fighting fiercely.
Goguryeo Molizhi, also known as Yuan Taizuo of Dadulu, is old and has only a few years to live. He is a serious and powerful minister in Goguryeo and comes from a family of prime ministers.
It was he who helped Gowon kill Eulji Mundeok, and later supported Goguryeo to succeed him, and firmly controlled the military and political power of Goguryeo. King Goguryeo was more like a puppet he established.
This letter that reached Chang'an was written by Gao Cheng himself, but Yuan Taizuo was watching when he wrote the letter, because he was both Gao Cheng's teacher and the prime minister of Goguryeo, a standard template for a powerful minister.
In fact, the most useful piece of information obtained from the Goguryeo envoys was that Bima Huizhen, the southern leader of Goguryeo, was not only a political enemy of Yuan Taizuo, but also a confidant of Gao Cheng.
Unlike Yuan Taizuo who was born in the Shunnu tribe, Bima Huizhen was born in the Guannu tribe and was always affiliated with the royal family.
Because Pyongyang City is located in the south of Goguryeo, Bima Huizhen commanded the southern military power to defend Pyongyang. If the Tang army crossed the river to fight, Bima Huizhen's troops would be their main enemy.
It’s hard to say how many men and horses Bima Huizhen had under his command. The Goguryeo people have always had the habit of all-in-one soldiers. Generally speaking, Bima Huizhen could muster 50,000 to 60,000 men immediately. In wartime, the number might more than double, or even
More.
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Li Po started strolling around the Tai Chi Hall again. The situation looks good. Will he cross the river this fall?
The city of Pyongyang is right on the riverside. For the Tang army now stationed on the riverside, it is literally within reach, and there is no one place to land. It is difficult for Goguryeo to mount an effective defense like it did on the bank of the Liao River.
But it's a matter of timing.
Now it seems that the Tang army did not have to spend much effort to defeat Pyongyang. The meat has already come to the mouth, it just depends on how to eat it.
It’s just that the Turks in the north are more annoying. Once the Tang Dynasty moves its troops north, will the Turks move south from the Yalu River?
If it really comes to that step, the Tang army crossing the river must be careful. The Turks are not interested in crossing the river and conquering it. If they see the opportunity, they will not be polite to you.
At that time, the Tang army will be at a certain disadvantage, because the Tang army is all infantry, and without horses, they will be on the defensive when facing the Turks' attack.
Behind them is the newly occupied Goguryeo territory, and there must be countless Goguryeo people resisting. In addition, fighting across the river, there is almost no way out...
Being familiar with the military, he thought about it and felt that he still had to wait.
It will take some time for the Tang Dynasty to gather troops on the peninsula. It is estimated that Li Jing will return to the peninsula in June and July. Together with the more than 50,000 people under Xue Wanche's command, the Tang army will gather 150,000 to 200,000 people on the peninsula.
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It should be enough to destroy Goguryeo. Once the Turks are dissatisfied and drive their troops south, Yu Wenxin, Li Nian, Yu Chikai and others will lead their troops out of the fortress to dig out Ashina Duowen's lair.
Will Ashina Duowen live until the end of autumn this year? Then you have to ask his cheap aunt, Ashina Yang Huan.
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If Ashina Yang Huan could get rid of Dongfang Khan who had gone berserk, given the current relationship between the Turks and the Tang Dynasty, it would be more acceptable to divide the two sides across the river to rule.
Liaodong belonged to the Turks, and the Tang Dynasty had the final say on matters on the peninsula.
In fact, Goguryeo had been put on the table, and Li Po even put on his napkin. He was worried that the other diner was too greedy and could not eat well, so he came to mess with the other diner.
He did not discuss this matter with his ministers. He was an expert in fighting. Ten Wen Yanbo, Xiao Yu, and Feng Deyi combined were not as good as him.
What he is best at is seizing the opportunity to fight, but he is too far away, but he believes that Li Jing, Du Fuwei, Xue Wanche and others will not easily let go of any fighting opportunity.