"Three years and three years, when will this Goguryeo be destroyed?"

The cold wind roars and the snow drifts.

Prince Cheng Qian, who was as tall as Li Chao, stood with his hands behind his back, standing on the Wanghuo Tower in the palace, and looking at the heavy rain in Hanjing.

Li Chao stood on one side in a mink coat.

In the cold winter, exhalation turns into frost.

"After all, it is a battle to destroy the country, and it is not that easy. In three years, the results of Your Majesty's victory in Liaodong have been very impressive. At most, Goguryeo will perish in another one or two years."

"Is it still going to take one or two years?" Cheng Qian asked, "Your Majesty hasn't returned for three years."

In February of the ninth year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin went out of Hanjing to Mount Tai for Fengshan. In August, the emperor issued an order to conquer Liao in Dengzhou. The Tang Dynasty attacked 200,000 troops on land and land, and 300,000 civilians were responsible for transporting baggage, food and grass. There were also 100,000 cavalry of the Khitan, Xi, Shiwei, Wu, and Xueyantuo tribes to conquer.

Silla and Baekje on the Sanhan Peninsula also sent 30,000 troops and even Japan sent a fleet of 20,000 people to conquer.

When this army of 380,000 people launched an attack, the Tang Dynasty and the people thought that this battle might end in half a year, and that it might be possible to destroy Goguryeo before the tenth year of Zhenguan. Some conservative estimates also believed that at most victory could be achieved in the tenth year of Zhenguan.

But it wasn't so easy to start the fight.

It was indeed very rapid at the beginning of the battle.

Li Shimin personally fought for this eastern expedition. He was in Dengzhou. After the attack began, he also crossed the sea to Beisha City in southern Liaoning and personally visited Liaodong to command.

The army was divided into three routes, and the Liaohe line was commanded by Li Jing, the Minister of War. They were commanded by 100,000 Tang troops and 100,000 tribal coalition forces. The 200,000 army attacked the Goguryeo people's Thousand Mile Great Wall Defense Line.

On the southern Liaoning line, 50,000 Tang troops attacked from south to north, and bypassed the Thousand-mile Great Wall of Goguryeo. On the southern Liaoning line, Li Ji, deputy envoy of the Privy Councilor, was commanded by the vanguard of Andong's Protector Weichi Baolin.

On this side of the sea route, Li Shimin unexpectedly selected five generals, led by Qin Qiong, deputy envoy of the Privy Councilor, Cheng Yaojin, the chief general of the Central Army, Su Dingfang, the chief general of the Right Army, Luo Shixin, the general of the Southern Yafu, and the five generals of Shan Xiongxin, led 50,000 navy troops and infantry to cross the sea to the east to attack Pyongyang.

In this war, the Tang Dynasty was full of fierce generals and elite troops gathered.

The fastest contribution was the waterway led by Qin Qiong. Goguryeo's army gathered on the front line of the Liaodong Great Wall. The Pyongyang area had many empty troops, and there were also Quanga Suwen and his son who served as internal support. Qin Qiong's fleet crossed the sea and reached the mouth of the Datong River in Pyongyang, and then followed the river to the bottom of the city of Pyongyang.

When the Tang army fleet arrived overwhelmed by the vast expanse of the world, the Goguryeo court was caught off guard. Quangai Suwen and his son launched a rebellion in the city. They cooperated inside and outside, and Qin Qiong easily attacked the city.

It only took half a day from arriving at the city of Pyongyang to attacking the city.

Gao Jianwu had no way to escape and refused to surrender, so he set fire to the palace and burned himself.

The royal army in Pyongyang either died or surrendered, which was the second time that the Central Plains army had invaded Pyongyang since the Sui Dynasty. Lai Hu'er also attacked Pyongyang, but at that time, the Goguryeo people deliberately let the Sui army enter the city. Lai Hu'er led the people of the country to enter the city and plundered the army in large numbers, but the chaos was not formed. As a result, the Goguryeo ambush took advantage of the chaos and defeated the Sui army. At that time, Lai Hu'er only led thousands of remaining soldiers to escape from the city. The Goguryeo army chased to the place where the Sui army warships were moored. Seeing that the remaining general Zhou Fashang was on high, he retreated.

Back then, Qin Qiong, Lao Tieqiong, was under Lai Hu'er's command and participated in that battle.

After twenty years, the head of Lai Hu'er's personal army had become the deputy envoy of the Tang Dynasty. Standing in the Goguryeo Palace, Qin Qiong was in a state of great excitement.

When the victory was delivered to Dengzhou, Li Shimin was extremely excited and personally crossed the sea to Beisha, southern Liaoning to take charge of command.

Li Jing from the North Road led 200,000 Hanfan coalition forces to advance step by step, steadily and steadily, heading directly to Liaodong City, sweeping away the guards and forts around Liaodong, and finally encircling Liaodong City.

Veteran Li Jing was not anxious or irritated. He took a month to defeat several troops to support Goguryeo in succession. Finally, he bombed the Goguryeo city gate with cannons and broke through the Liaodong city, the most solid and largest city on the Liaodong defense line of Goguryeo.

Qin Qiong defeated Pyongyang, and Li Jing seized Liaodong.

I thought the war could end quickly, but unexpectedly things did not go as I imagined.

Gao Jianwu died and the news spread to Liaodong. The commander of Liaodong Yizhi Wende immediately supported Gao Zang, the son of Gao Dayang, the younger brother of Gao Jianwu, as the king, and supported him as the 28th king of Goguryeo. He also appointed himself as Mo Lizhi and ruled over the country's politics.

King Gao Zang was completely a puppet of Yizhi Wende. Yizhi Wende was extremely stubborn in the face of the Tang army's persuasion to surrender.

After taking over Liaodong City, the war did not go smoothly.

On the front line of Liaodong, the Goguryeo people spent three years here. The reinforced Great Wall was not fake. Liaodong City is a plain city, but many of the cities behind it are mountain cities.

Countless mountain cities of all sizes stood like nails on each dangerous valley and mountain. Although Li Jing had an army of 200,000, under the terrain of Liaodong, there was no advantage in many soldiers. The Goguryeo people resisted stubbornly and fought to the death.

It is very difficult to attack the mountain cities and forts one by one.

Li Ji's attack on the south was also encountered in this situation.

Although it was said that the city was attacking and villages were captured all the way, the progress was slow. When the cold winter of the ninth year of Zhenguan came, the Tang army captured many cities, but it still did not attack the people of Goguryeo.

Faced with the coldness of Liaodong, Li Shimin had to order the offensive to stop and enter the winter rest period.

Xue Yantuo and Khitan and other troops retreated many troops and returned home. Fortunately, the Tang army had cotton clothes and shoes, which could resist the severe cold in Liaodong and defend the previous results.

It was not until summer that another round of attack began.

After a winter rest, the Goguryeo people also stabilized their decline. They also transferred cavalry from the Northeast to assist in the battle. The battle was in a dilemma. The Tang army captured cities and villages every day, but there were too many mountain castles on the front line of Liaodong. Every time they captured a village, it took time and expendable troops. If they killed one enemy, the Tang army would also lose 200 to 300.

However, Qin Qiong's naval and army progressed smoothly. After the capture of Pyongyang, the royal army around Pyongyang had almost no resistance. In addition, the three coalition forces of Baekje, Silla and Japan helped, Qin Qiong was in Goguryeo, south of the Datong River, like the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.

The Quangasuwen and his son also instigated their army to raise an army in the east.

In the tenth year of Zhenguan, the Tang army was very smooth on the eastern front and captured all the Goguryeo land south of the Yalu River. However, on the Liaohe line, the Goguryeo people fought to the death under the leadership of Yizhi Wende.

By winter, Li Jing and Li Ji won more than 100 mountain cities of Goguryeo, but they still failed to defeat the Goguryeo. When the cold winter came, the war stopped again and entered a rest.

In the summer of the eleventh year of Zhenguan, the war began again and fought for another half a year.

By this time during the winter break, the Tang army had already surrounded the east and west sides, trapping the Goguryeo people on the line of their Thousand Mile Great Wall. The Goguryeo people guarded hundreds of mountain cities and were still resisting, but they were at their end.

"We have suffered 30,000 casualties. If we fight for another two years, we will probably have many casualties." Cheng Qian said.

Three years have passed, Cheng Qian is already seventeen years old, and he is about to be eighteen. He is getting taller and taller, with Li Shimin's expression in his eyebrows.

After staying in Hanjing for three years, the regent of the country, Chengqian also performed better and better.

The emperor did not go home for three years and even made a vow to never return to Beijing until he destroyed Goryeo.

Just last year, the emperor promoted Dengzhou Prefecture to the Eastern Capital of the Tang Dynasty.

The Tang Dynasty is now a court in Dengzhou, the Eastern Capital, and then a court in Hanjing, the Central Capital.

For three years, the emperor focused on Goguryeo.

"It is worth it to destroy Goguryeo, 50,000 casualties," said Li Chao. After three years of fighting Goguryeo, there were not many soldiers who suffered casualties, and the main reason was that the money and food were consumed was quite considerable. But if you count it carefully, the Tang Dynasty did not lose money.

The Liaodong front line has not been taken yet, but the northern part of the Sanhan Peninsula and both sides of the Yalu River have been captured by the Tang Dynasty.

Li Shimin was also very cruel about the territory of Goguryeo that he captured and directly made a strategy to relocate all his people. All the Goguryeo people on the captured land, no matter which tribe they belong to, became slaves, and all their property also became the property of the Tang Dynasty. In addition to the sea freezing period, in various ports of Goguryeo every day, countless slave ships were loaded with slaves to return to Yangzhou, Dengzhou and other places.

Even the Marine tribes that once surrendered to Goguryeo have been reborn as the Tang Dynasty.

After the Tang Dynasty established prefectures and counties in the occupied areas of the Sanhan Peninsula, Baekje, Silla and Japan also surrendered even more to the Tang Dynasty.

This battle will never be lost. Now it is still one step away from the final perfection.

About one million Goguryeo soldiers and civilians were trapped on the front line of Liaodong, which were hard nails. However, after three years of war, the Tang Dynasty had sufficient military strength and sufficient food and grass, but the Goguryeo people were almost out of ammunition and food.

This is the fundamental difference between a big country and a small country. The Tang Dynasty's 200,000 troops fought in Liaodong for three years and did not shake the foundation of the country at all, but Goguryeo was already in a collapse.

"Taishi, next year is the twelve years of Zhenguan. My three brothers are all fifteen or sixteen years old. Since Your Majesty is not back for the time being, then I will decide and let their country be a vassal."

Prince Li Ke of Hanzhong is fifteen this year, King Li Tai of Qin is fourteen this year, and Prince Li You of Yiyang is fourteen this year.

The country of the fifteenth prince was originally the country of Li Ke this year, but Li Shimin did not speak.

"Do you ask Your Majesty for this matter?" Li Chao said with a smile.

Cheng Qian looked at the flying snowflakes in front of him, "Your Majesty doesn't have to bother you in this small matter. After the New Year, I will send someone to send three princes to the Western Regions. Eighty thousand soldiers have already gained a foothold in the Western Regions, and more than a dozen military towns in the Tang Dynasty have also been established. The nobles of the feudal ranks have also established their own castles and manors there, and recruited their own territory knights. Since Your Majesty has granted them territory there, the princes can't let His Majesty down."
Chapter completed!