Li Mu solved the problem that was satisfactory to him, and wrote a letter to praise him. He also said that if Li Mu wanted to, he could be made a Duke of the country. In order to comply with his status as a minister, as for the title of prince, it was not possible for the time being. Although Li Mu's status,
Everyone in the world already knows this. But if Li Mu is made a prince, it is equivalent to Li Shimin admitting that the Xuanwu Sect incident was wrong. Moreover, if Li Mu is made a prince, it will give the government and the public a vague attitude. There should be a
On the day when Li Shimin Long Yu passed away, would the crown prince inherit the world, or would it be returned to Li Jiancheng's lineage and Li Mu inherit it?
Li Mu's current power has been completely overpowered.
Li Mu managed Dingxiang, Luoyang, and Yangzhou, all of which were important towns in the Tang Dynasty. In addition, his stepfather Tang Jian managed Shuzhou and was in the southwest. His adoptive father Li Ji was the governor of Bingzhou and led tens of thousands of troops.
, commanding the army in Liaodong. Although he had no official business in Chang'an, Li Shimin knew that Li Mu's father-in-law Bai Nao'er had now become the leader of the "Daoer" in Chang'an City, with four beams and eight pillars under his command.
A big net tightly controlled the 108 squares of Chang'an City.
Anyone with eyes can tell what kind of person Bai Nao'er is. It's clear that someone is managing it for him, and the people managing it are all from Jisi Hall as expected.
Li Shimin had always been a serious nuisance to Jisitang. He wanted to destroy Jisitang more than once, but the more he understood Jisitang, the more he discovered that Jisitang could not be destroyed, and it could not be destroyed.
Take this business as an example. Without Jisitang, most of the trade routes in Datang would be cut off. From now on, traders will not be able to leave the county, and the economy will inevitably be greatly affected.
Therefore, Li Shimin must let the Jisi Hall exist, unless one day he comes up with a system that can completely eliminate the Jisi Hall.
Li Shimin was accommodating both civil and military officials throughout his life, but he was not good at finance. Looking at the imperial court, there were only a few people who were good at business. These people were all tied together, and they were no match for Li Mu.
Nowadays, the only external enemies of the Tang Dynasty are Xue Yantuo and Goguryeo. Internally, there are two that Li Shimin is most afraid of. One is the powerful family, and the other is Li Mu.
Although the powerful family is hateful, Li Shimin is confident that he can suppress it. Because they are a piece of loose sand and can never be united. And Li Mu and Li Shimin have no way at all. It can be said that if Li Mu wants to rebel, Li Shimin has no confidence that he can.
Take control of the situation.
But even so, Li Shimin still dared to let Li Mu be the supervisor of the country and the minister. Such a mind is indeed a model for emperors throughout the ages.
…
Li Mu is the acting minister, and all court affairs will eventually be handed over to him. Even Fang Xuanling is nominally his subordinate. In order to strengthen the connection with Li Shimin, Li Mu trained hundreds of homing pigeons.
They make information transmission more convenient. Basically, any message can be delivered in three to five days.
The information will first go to Li Mu, and then he will choose whether to make it public. He transferred Tang Guan back and established a news agency under Datang Daily. It was responsible for sorting out the information every day, and posted it at the entrance of various major squares in Chang'an.
Notices were posted every day to publicize the news about Master Wang to reassure the people.
In April, Li Ji led his army to Youzhou. In May, Li Shimin's car drove to Dingzhou. The soldiers were not acclimatized to the climate and got sick. Li Shimin personally asked the sick soldiers and entrusted them to the prefectures and counties for treatment. There were many places where the powerful did not foresee.
They recruited their names and volunteered to join the army in private uniforms. Li Shimin issued an edict and praised the bravery of these people, but did not agree to their request to join the army and instead dismissed them.
At the end of May, Li Ji led his army from Tongding to cross the Liao River and arrived at Xuantu. He officially entered the territory of Goguryeo. The Goguryeo soldiers and people were very afraid, and the cities were closed and guarded. Li Daozong led thousands of soldiers to the new city. Zhang Jian
He led his army across the Liao River and marched towards Jian'an City, defeating the Goguryeo defenders and beheading thousands of people.
In June, Li Ji captured Gaimou City in Goguryeo, capturing more than 20,000 people and more than 100,000 shi of food. At the end of June, Zhang Liang led his army across the sea from Donglai and attacked Bisha City. Cheng Mingzhen led his army to arrive at night, with Wang Dadu as the vanguard.
In that month, the Tang army captured Bisha City and captured 8,000 men and women.
Li Mu looked at the battle report in his hand, then looked at the map hanging on the wall, and thought to himself that this is only Goguryeo? The Tang army is simply unstoppable. According to this progress, it is estimated that they will be able to return to the court before the end of the year.
As if he had a premonition of what Li Mu was thinking, the army attacked Liaodong City and encountered stubborn resistance. The overwhelming momentum also stagnated here. Li Shimin was so angry that he cursed Emperor Sui Yang. According to the news sent back, Li Shimin
I scolded him for five whole days.
In fact, it’s not to blame Li Shimin for scolding, this needs to be traced back to a period of history. Why is Liaodong City so strong? In fact, it was not like this originally. In the ninth year of Daye, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty personally conquered Goguryeo. At the end of April, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty ordered the generals
To attack Liaodong City, the generals were allowed to "do it cheaply". The Sui army set up flying towers, crashed cars, and ladders under Liaodong City, and dug tunnels to cooperate. They continued to attack the city day and night for more than 20 days but failed to capture Liaodong City. The Sui Dynasty
and Goguryeo suffered heavy casualties.
After attacking Liaodong City for a long time without being able to capture it, Emperor Yangdi ordered more than a million cloth bags filled with soil to be piled up into a Yuliang Avenue thirty paces wide and as high as the city, so that the soldiers could climb the city along this road.
and built an eight-wheeled chariot, which was higher than the city wall and shot down into the city. Just when the siege was ready and Liaodong was about to be captured, and the situation was critical, Yang Xuangan rebelled. In order to lead the army to quell the rebellion, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty secretly summoned the generals to withdraw.
The military supplies, equipment, and attacking tools left by the Sui army were piled up like hills, camps, tents, and case barriers. They were all abandoned. These supplies were not wasted at all, and they were all used by Goguryeo to strengthen Liaodong City. So Li Shimin faced
The Liaodong City is stronger than the Liaodong City that resisted the Sui army for several months and left the Sui army unable to do anything. This was all the result of Emperor Sui Yang's brain failure. How could Li Shimin not be angry?
Seeing that the blitzkrieg was no longer possible, Li Shimin had no choice but to change his strategy. He surrounded Liaodong City, instead of fighting, and divided his forces to provide reinforcements. At first, the results were obvious. In terms of frontal combat, the Goguryeo army was actually quite different from the Tang army.
There is a big gap. But after a few fights, they are not stupid. If they can't fight head-on, why should they wait for you to kill them? They believe that Liaodong City has tall walls and plenty of food and grass in the city, so it is not a problem to hold on for a year. And the army of the Tang Dynasty is laborious.
The expedition's food and fodder supply lines are thousands of miles long, so it will certainly not last long.
Since they can't help, there will be no help over there. All Goguryeo's armies huddled in their own cities and implemented the strategy of fortifying the walls and clearing the country. Everywhere the Tang army went, they often couldn't even see a single civilian, and when attacking a city,
But it would be impossible to attack for a while. The two sides entered a stalemate, and neither one could do anything to the other.
Li Shimin had no choice but to prepare for a long-term struggle. He ordered Li Mu to collect the autumn grain and speed up the transportation to Liaodong. At the same time, he also asked Li Mu to find ways to collect meteorites and make explosives. If he wanted to break through Liaodong City, he would rely on the flesh and blood of the soldiers to fill it, and he did not know how many casualties would be incurred. But if
If you have gunpowder, you will get twice the result with half the effort.
…
Just when Li Mu was debating whether to make gunpowder and send it to the front line, unexpected news reached Chang'an.
The mud is dead.
The news sent back by Li Xiaogong said that Ni Shu died of illness. But Li Mu did not believe it. He had met Ni Shu before. In his memory, Ni Shu did not look like a seriously ill person. His death,
There must be something fishy.
In fact, Li Mu is not very concerned about Ni Shou's life and death. But the problem now is that Ni Shou is the maintainer of the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and the Western Turks. If Ni Shou becomes the Great Khan of the Western Turks, the Western Turks will be in harmony with the Tang Dynasty. If Ni Shou is
Even if he dies, his successor may not continue to implement his previous policies. Once the Western Turks advance eastward, they will have nearly 200,000 cavalry. It is impossible to resist the 50,000 cavalry of the Dingxiang Protectorate alone.
Liveable.
Not to mention, there is Xue Yantuo in the north.
Li Mu did not dare to neglect. On the one hand, he sent a letter to Li Shimin via flying pigeons, and on the other hand, he quickly notified the remaining officials to come to the East Palace to discuss the matter.
I can't wait for Li Shimin's decision. It will take at least half a month for the news to come back and forth. And when the news comes from Dingxiang, it will take ten days for it to come back. If we wait for the news before taking action, by the time the news comes, it will be already
It's too late.
If the worst happens and the Western Turks march eastward, no one can help Dingxiang. The only way is to organize the existing forces and find a way to help Dingxiang.
Li Mu immediately had no hesitation, and his first order was to personally take over the Dongcheng Arsenal and supervise the production of gunpowder. At the same time, Li Mu also asked Li Chengqian to issue an order to allocate 20,000 soldiers and horses from Shuzhou to rush to Dingxiang to guard against the movements of the Western Turks.
He also wrote a letter to his father-in-law, the current leader of the Gaochang Kingdom, asking him to contact the countries in the Western Regions. Unite all the forces that can be united and move closer to the Dingxiang Protectorate. Potatoes and grains are grown around Dingxiang.
It will definitely not be a problem. What is lacking now is people, people who are committed to the Tang Dynasty.
…
When Li Shimin received the news, it was already six days later. When he saw the words on the note, Li Shimin remained silent for a long time. Seeing his expression change, Changsun Wuji and others also had a premonition that something was not good. Li Shimin sat blankly.
After a long while, he handed the note to Changsun Wuji and others for circulation.
"The mud is dead..."
There were only a few words on the note, but it was nothing less than a thunderbolt. Before sending troops, Li Shimin consulted with important ministers more than once, including more than twenty discussions about the Western Turks. Most people believed that the conclusion of an agreement with the Western Turks
The alliance of brothers was the basis for the Tang Dynasty to let go of the Eastern Expedition. With Nishe's obedience, when the Tang Dynasty was conquering Goguryeo, the probability of him stabbing him in the back was almost zero.
But who would have thought that Nishu would die?
How he died now is no longer important. What is important is that he is dead. There are many people in the Western Turks who are hostile to the Tang Dynasty. The last time the Western Turks advanced eastward, the Tang Dynasty was almost destroyed.
Danger. Half of the elite soldiers of the Tang Dynasty are now in Liaodong. If the Western Turks invade at this time, these soldiers and horses will not be able to fly back even if they have wings!
Li Shimin murmured: "Do you want me to follow the example of Emperor Sui Yang and withdraw the troops in a hurry?"
Li Jing was silent and didn't know what he was thinking. Others were also talking about it, but they couldn't come up with a reason. Changsun Wuji was very anxious. He wanted to control himself and not show anxiety. But he really couldn't control it. Changsun Wuji
The family's power was based on Longyou. After the victory of Tuyuhun, the Changsun family sent a large number of children and workers to the banks of Qinghai Lake in order to mine salt mines.
These areas are the only way for the Western Turks to advance eastward. Not only the Changsun family, but also most of the nobles of the Tang Dynasty were born in Longyou. Their wealth, lives, and their ancestral tablets are also here today.
As for Longyou. Seeing that their hometown is about to be taken away, how can they not be anxious?
Now that the war has entered a stalemate, the Goguryeo army cannot retreat. The two sides are just wasting their time, and they don't know when it will end. Rather than waiting for no results here, it is better to return to the court and preserve the foundation and ancestors.
If it was really because of wasting time here that the family was slaughtered and the ancestral hall was burned down, then it would be really difficult to see the ancestors again.
Li Shimin watched the expressions of these people in his eyes. He raised his hand to stop Changsun Wuji from speaking, and said to everyone present: "I have to think about how to make a decision. None of you are allowed to spread this news. If it disturbs
No matter who it is, I will not forgive you." After a pause, Li Shimin said: "You all go back, auxiliary machine, Li Jing, you two stay."
Others left one after another, and Li Shimin also retreated. However, Eunuch Gao stood guard outside the door and looked at the two people in front of him.
"What do you think of this news?"
Changsun Wuji couldn't wait to answer and said: "Your Majesty, I think it is necessary to take charge of the army and return to the court."
Li Shimin frowned, feeling unhappy but did not show it, and said, "Tell me your reasons."
Changsun Wuji knew Li Shimin better than Li Shimin knew himself. How could he not guess what Li Shimin was thinking: "Your Majesty, I care about the clan. I don't deny this, but I am more than that."
.Your Majesty may have thought about what would happen if you don’t go back?”
"What?"
"Your Majesty, the number of troops and horses in the country today is only half of the normal number. These troops and horses have to be stationed across the country, and there are very few who can support Dingxiang. And if Dingxiang fails, the Western Turkic troops will be directed towards Chang'an. This scene
, it’s like the Bianqiao Alliance back then!”
Li Shimin's pupils shrank, the Bianqiao Alliance was the greatest shame in his life, and Changsun Wuji's mention of this matter was like a knife in his heart.
"If Your Majesty does not send troops, it will cause panic in the country. Putting aside the people for the moment, can Your Majesty trust those noble families and nobles? Will they coexist and die with the Tang Dynasty? I am afraid that once Dingxiang is lost, they will be like what happened in the late Sui Dynasty
, establish yourself as a king and separate the regions!"
"If this is true, the people of the world will be back in dire straits again!"
"This..." Li Shimin showed hesitation, and Changsun Wuji actually knelt down: "Your Majesty, I know that you are not willing to give in, but your Majesty, you are in your prime in the Spring and Autumn Period, and you cannot defeat Goguryeo this time. You can regroup and come again, but if
If you lose your country, it’s too late to regret it!”