Datang: Rebirth of Li Chengqian, the beginning of the treason interrogation

Chapter 119: Refusal to Return to the Capital
"General Daochen, pay the soldiers first!"

Li Chengqian looked at Monk Daochen and said.

In just a few days, under the swift and decisive action of Monk Daochen, the once wealthy families in Baekje suffered a nightmare and most of them had their homes ransacked.

In this way, a large amount of wealth was accumulated rapidly.

Daochen is a ferocious and vicious dog with unique potential in house raiding.

His role is different from that of Black Tooth, and he is more suitable for carrying out some evil deeds.

"promise!"

Monk Daochen bowed respectfully and withdrew. Immediately afterwards, a large group of soldiers came out carrying money.

When the money was distributed to the soldiers, they lowered their heads one after another, their hearts filled with gratitude, and bowed to Li Chengqian involuntarily.

This leader is different. He is willing to reward them with money, which makes him more worthy of their service than other leaders.

Using Baekje's wealth to win over the hearts of Baekje's military was a brilliant move.

"Soldiers, now that the busy farming season has passed, I will first give you half a year's salary and send it back home to ensure the livelihood of your families."

Li Chengqian saw that the situation was almost settled, so he went up again and said loudly: "From now on, as long as you serve in the army for one day, you will get ten coins. If a soldier dies in battle, a one-time pension of 10,000 coins will be given to the family of the deceased."

The implementation of military and political reforms in Baekje would face much less resistance than in the Tang Dynasty. After all, he was the only one who had the final say, and no noble family would refute his opinion.

Heichi Changzhi looked at the young Crown Prince in front of him with admiration in his heart.

He originally surrendered to the Tang Dynasty only under pressure, but now, Li Chengqian's series of actions deeply convinced him.

Although Hei Chi Chang Zhi was also from a noble family, he was well aware of the hardships of the people and soldiers due to the harsh environment of Baekje. He was known for loving the people like his own children and loving the soldiers like his own sons.

However, he dared not even think about Li Chengqian's current move, because it not only requires great courage to challenge the ruling class, but also requires sufficient financial support.

These policies of Li Chengqian will undoubtedly greatly improve the living conditions of soldiers and their families, while also improving the morale and loyalty of the army.

Li Chengqian was so confident because he dismantled the Baekje treasury and seized the property of wealthy families.

"Soldiers, why don't you thank His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?"

Heichi Changzhi's voice became even louder.

"Thank you, Your Highness the Crown Prince!"

The roar roared out, and the city trembled.

Heichi Changzhi had an extremely terrifying appeal in Baekje, and one call would attract hundreds of responses.

Li Chengqian waved his hand to calm the excited crowd, then turned around and walked into the inner city.

"Xingjian, Changzhi, what do you think we should do next?"

Heichi Changzhi took a half step back and was not in a hurry to answer. Instead, he turned his gaze to Pei Xingjian.

There is an order of hierarchy, and Heichi Changzhi also understands the ways of the world better. Even if he has better ideas, he will let his superiors finish speaking.

Li Chengqian also agreed with this upon seeing this. This way, there would be no situation where people competed for credit and ignored the overall situation.

"Baekje and Silla have just been severely damaged by internal friction, and they have already made peace. There is no need to be on guard. We should station troops in the north to guard against the invasion of Goguryeo, and at the same time, we should wait for an opportunity to attack Pyongyang."

Pei Xingjian analyzed.

"General Pei is right. If we station troops on the border, Goguryeo will be worried. It will have to divide its forces to defend against them and invade them from time to time, making it difficult for them to cope with the situation." Heichi Changzhi thought the same.

"In my opinion, Yeon Gaesomun is not the type to sit and wait for death. I'm afraid he will take the initiative to pacify Baekje and Silla to eradicate the hidden dangers."

Gai Suwen, who was praised to the sky in the novel, actually never appeared on the battlefield when Li Shimin went on the Eastern Expedition.

Instead, he stayed in Pyongyang, which shows his determination to repel the Tang army and his confidence in Baekje's defense system.

And now that the Baekje and Silla armies have defected, how could this not attract their attention?
If we launch an attack from Baekje, we can attack Pyongyang just two cities away.

As a strategic leader, he would never allow the war to spread to the territory of Goguryeo.

"If Yeon Gaesomun abandons Goguryeo's city defenses and leads his army to attack, then it would be better to lure them deep into the city, have the army go around from behind, cut off their food supplies, and then surround them."

Pei Xingjian walked to the sand table and drew several horizontal lines with his hands.

"Moreover, we can also launch night raids and harassment to make the Goguryeo army restless and make them unable to distinguish the real from the fake. If they are real, they will be fake, and if they are fake, they will be real. I don't believe they can react in time."

Heichi Changzhi has a special liking for night raids and has his own set of fighting methods.

Because of the night attack, the gains were huge.

In this way, he conquered many small Silla cities one after another.

This night attack is also an open conspiracy. You know clearly that he is going to launch a night attack, but you still cannot defend against it because the initiative is completely in the hands of Heichi Changzhi.

He can sleep whenever he wants, but as the defender, you can only be nervous and stay up all night to guard against him.

"Since you two have a way to deal with Goguryeo, I am relieved. In fact, you can beat the drums at night and during the day."

Li Chengqian added.

"Without further delay, in this battle against Goguryeo, you, Pei Xingjian, will be the commander-in-chief of the army, and Heichi Changzhi and Jin Yuxin will be the left and right deputy commanders, leading the Baekje and Silla armies to follow your orders."

Heichi Changzhi is very good and can stand on his own, but he is still inferior to Pei Xingjian, one of the 72 Sages of the Temple of Martial Arts.

"promise!"

Pei Xingjian and Heichi Changzhi both bowed and accepted the order.

Pei Xingjian knew even more that he had to fight with style in this battle. The previous battle of Jingyuan when he commanded the Silla army was simply a mess.

If you kill one thousand enemies, you will lose eight hundred.

This was a shame, but also a training battle. However, the level of the soldiers of Silla and Baekje was still far behind that of the Goryeo army.

So this is also a challenge, to defeat the strong with the weak.

Military sentiment is on fire.

Pei Xingjian and Heichi Changzhi retreated together, as they still had many details to deal with.

"Your Highness, someone is coming from Chang'an!"

Wu Xing suddenly walked in and said to Li Chengqian.

Someone from Chang'an?

Li Chengqian raised his eyebrows. "Announce!"

After a while, a eunuch came in. It was obvious that he was exhausted, with dark and cracked skin. He had come from Chang'an, climbing mountains and wading through water, and had suffered a lot.

All of this was just to convey Li Shimin's will.

"Wu Xing, go and pour a glass of water for the father-in-law."

Li Chengqian ordered.

"I thank the Crown Prince for his kindness, but I still need the presence of Deputy Chief Steward Changsun to read out the decree."

The eunuch looked around but did not see Changsun Wuji.

"Someone, quickly summon Deputy Chief Changsun to come to the City Lord's Mansion."

Li Chengqian looked gloomy. This decree might have a lot to do with his uncle who didn't love him.

Changsun Wuji hurried over after a while. His face did not look very good, and he seemed a little frightened and at a loss.

The young eunuch saw that everyone was present, so he opened the imperial edict.

"Crown Prince Li Chengqian acted on his own and changed the strategic deployment without authorization, which put the Eastern Expedition Army in danger. He ignored the imperial order and ordered him to return to the capital and not interfere with military affairs anymore."

Li Shimin was extremely decisive. After learning that Li Chengqian had arbitrarily changed the combat deployment and let a group of new recruits lead the army, he weighed the pros and cons and decided to change the commander-in-chief.

He knew better than anyone that an incompetent general could lead to the exhaustion of the entire army.

He would not allow Li Chengqian to act so recklessly. If he was not careful, he would repeat the mistake of Emperor Yang of Sui and cause hundreds of thousands of soldiers to die in Goguryeo.

This was Li Shimin’s consideration.

"I have specially ordered Zhangsun Wuji to be the general manager of the Eastern Expedition and be responsible for all military affairs of the Eastern Expedition and to carry out the operations in accordance with the established strategic deployment."

After the eunuch finished reading, he looked at Li Chengqian.

"Chief Steward Zhang Sun, do you think I should accept this decree or not?"

There was an icy chill in Li Chengqian's voice.

Isn't this just that his subordinate employees reported him to his superiors and took away his own knowledge?

Li Chengqian also thought that Zhangsun Wuji was honest, but he didn't expect that he would be stabbed in the back.

This was also the time when Changsun Wuji set out from Laizhou to submit a memorial to the capital.

In more than two months, the situation has changed drastically.

Faced with Li Chengqian's questioning, Changsun Wuji couldn't help but sweat profusely. Who would have expected that Li Chengqian was so good at calculating and could play Baekje and Silla in the palm of his hand.

With only 10,000 people, they conquered the entire territory of Baekje.

Before that, he used Baekje's money to win over the hearts of the Baekje army and make Baekje surrender completely.

"When a general is on the battlefield, he may not obey the orders of the king!"

Changsun Wuji spoke in a slightly panicked tone.

"Your Highness, Prince Changsun, you are going to openly disobey my order, but do you know the consequences?"

"Your Highness, please come back to the capital with me, otherwise it will be extremely difficult for both you and me."

The young eunuch reminded kindly.

"His Majesty also said privately that this cannot be blamed on His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has no combat experience and should not have been appointed as the commander-in-chief of the three armies."

Seeing that Li Chengqian still had no intention of accepting the order, the eunuch spoke again.

This is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. What can a mere servant like him do?

"The military situation is urgent, so I cannot go back now. Besides, you will not be punished if you go back. Baekje has been pacified and is now under the control of the Tang Dynasty. Liu Rengui has also achieved significant results by breaking through the city of Beisha in Goguryeo and besieging Jian'an. This military situation has been reported back to Chang'an."

Li Chengqian said.

Isn’t Li Shimin afraid of these military defeats?

Now he divided his troops and advanced together, each of them achieving significant results at a very small cost.

"Also, a temporary change of commander will affect morale. When I return to the capital, I will apologize to His Majesty."

"Wu Xing, send this guy off. Let the eunuch go down and have a rest!"

Only Li Chengqian and Zhangsun Wuji were left in the hall.

"Deputy Chief Steward Changsun, who on earth is reporting this to me? There must be bad people among the army!"

Li Chengqian's gaze fell on Changsun Wuji, and his words were self-evident.

The previous knocks might have been too light.

(End of this chapter)