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

Chapter 138: He has soldiers and money and looks like a crown prince
"General Daochen, Pyongyang has just been pacified. There must be rebellion in the city. You should lead the army to suppress it."

Just because the city was breached and the soldiers were not allowed to plunder it, it didn't mean that the wealthy families could sit back and relax.

"Don't worry, Your Highness. I will suppress all the rebellions and will never cause any disturbance to the safety of the city."

Monk Daochen also understood what Li Chengqian meant.

It was nothing more than plundering all the property in Pyongyang.

He had done this kind of thing several times and was very familiar with it.

"Liu Rengui, sort out the Goguryeo treasury. I need to know the remaining money and grain and the situation of the Ministry of Revenue."

"If you find anyone with dirty hands and feet, drag them out and behead them!"

Goguryeo had been established for many years, and Li Chengqian was still very much looking forward to its financial resources.

Only with money can we pay the soldiers.

The military pay system has simply changed in Li Chengqian's hands.

From the previous practice of whoever looted more when a city was broken into, the spoils would belong to him, but now they are distributed uniformly by the government.

This can not only ensure fairness, but also avoid internal strife among soldiers due to fighting for spoils. At the same time, it is also conducive to the management and command of the army and improves the combat effectiveness of the army.

When Baekje was plundered, the plunder reached as much as 10 million strings of cash, which made Li Chengqian stand up straighter.

Goguryeo's territory was so large, so it must have been more than this.

We have soldiers and money.

This is what it looks like to be the crown prince of the Celestial Empire.

Soon, everyone went their own way and Li Chengqian was left alone.

"Your Highness, you have been staying up late last night. I have already had the palace cleaned up. Your Highness, please go and rest."

Wu Xing bowed, his tone full of concern and respect.

Li Chengqian nodded. He knew he needed to have a good rest. He had been in a state of tension for more than a month and had hardly had a good night's sleep. The bumpy ship and being alone deep in the enemy's territory made him stay alert at all times.

Now that Pyongyang has fallen, he can feel a little more at ease.

After a while, Li Chengqian arrived at the gate of a magnificent palace.

The palace was built perfectly, with exquisite dragon and phoenix patterns carved on the beams, which looked lifelike, and stone piers towering on the eaves, which looked majestic and domineering. The whole palace gave people a solemn, noble and elegant feeling.

"Tsk!"

The palace gate slowly opened, and a row of maids stood in two neat rows, bowing their heads respectfully. They were dressed in gorgeous palace clothes, with graceful figures and beautiful faces, exuding charming charm.

"Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty!"

A beautiful noble lady in palace dress bowed gracefully. Her voice was clear and pleasant. She was like a phoenix among birds. In front of her, those beautiful palace maids could only serve as supporting roles.

There was a hint of sadness between his brows, which added a bit of lovable temperament.

"Your Highness, please rest assured. There are no safety risks. This is the concubine of the former King of Goguryeo. I have asked her to take care of your Highness's daily life. If your Highness does not like it, I will ask her to leave."

Wu Xing apologized for his unauthorized action.

Li Chengqian touched his nose with a strange look on his face.

Before long, I became Cao Cao.

"Why don't you wait for His Royal Highness to go to bed? If there is any mistake, be careful of your people."

Wu Xing observed Li Chengqian's expression and when he saw that Li Chengqian remained silent, he knew what he meant.

Li Chengqian walked into the palace very naturally.

The winner becomes the king and the loser becomes the bandit.

Everything here is his spoils of war.

"Wu Xing, secretly monitor all movements in Pyongyang City. Don't take it lightly." Li Chengqian's voice was heard from inside the palace.

He could do the same thing as Cao Cao, but he didn't want to repeat the same tragedy as Cao Cao.

A few days later, Li Chengqian was radiant and his energy and spirit had reached its peak.

Holding power in hand, sleeping with beautiful girls drunkenly.

It can be said that he has reached the peak of his life.

"Reporting to His Royal Highness, all the money in the treasury has been exchanged, a total of 60 million strings of cash."

Liu Rengui placed several thick account books in front of Li Chengqian.

Sixty million strings of cash were the tax revenue of the Tang Dynasty for two years. One string of cash was equal to one tael of silver, which meant sixty million taels of silver.

This is just the royal family's money.

"Your Highness, I have confiscated the property of those rebels in the past few days, and the total amount is 50 million strings of cash. Please review it."

Dao Chen also submitted the accounts, which recorded the origins of various sums of money.

All of a sudden, Li Chengqian became a billionaire.

These moneys were all hand-copied from the upper class and could be retained without causing any problems to people’s livelihood.

"All of them will be released together. Wu Xing will be in charge of guarding them. As for how the money is moved, you need to report to His Majesty."

Li Chengqian pretended to be calm. Now that he had the funds, he could start a lot of research.

"In addition, the original troops in Pyongyang have all been assigned to the Tang army as Your Highness said."

Pyongyang was captured and more than 10,000 soldiers were captured. Now they have all been incorporated into the Tang army by Liu Rengui.

Both the former generals and soldiers became small pawns of the Tang army and were completely defeated, while most of the sergeants of the Tang army were promoted one level or more because of their military merits.

Ordinary soldiers were promoted to fire captains, and fire captains were promoted to regimental commanders.

The military power was firmly in the hands of the Tang army's soldiers, and the originally large number of Goguryeo soldiers were divided and no longer posed any threat. They were all under the absolute leadership of the Tang army.

"Very good. First distribute one month's salary to the whole army to reassure them."

Li Chengqian's military structure is gradually being improved.

"Where are the new Goguryeo soldiers?"

Liu Rengui didn't quite understand. Isn't this just throwing stones?
"It will be counted as their salary for the next month. From today on, they are all members of the Tang Army and enjoy all the military benefits. As long as they have made contributions, they will be treated equally."

Since Goguryeo was incorporated into the Tang Dynasty, they were naturally considered Tang people.

In a real sense, most of Goguryeo's territory belonged to the Liaodong Plain.

Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, they have all been Han people.

Silla and Baekje are Koreans and Koreans.

"If more cities surrender, how will we arrange the soldiers? If there are too many soldiers, it will be difficult to control them. I think a one-to-one ratio is the limit."

The mountain cities close to Pyongyang had already learned the news of the fall of Pyongyang and the king's surrender. They no longer had the will to fight and expressed their willingness to surrender.

"Then we will select the best people to manage them, and send the rest back home to engage in production."

Nowadays, Li Chengqian's army is growing like a snowball, from the initial 40,000 people to as many as 100,000.

With more soldiers, the burden also becomes greater accordingly.

Pei Xingjian and Heichi Changzhi controlled an army of 60,000.

There were more than 30,000 troops in Pyongyang, and more than 10,000 troops transporting grain.

The war is about to end, and managing the local area has become a top priority.

(End of this chapter)