Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 142 We were protected too well by Li Ming

Chang Sun Yan made some simple preparations, took a few guards with him, and set off on his journey.

The journey was four thousand miles, travelling light and without any luggage.

As long as you can break through the blockade of Pingzhou and reach the inland states, there will naturally be people rushing to entertain you just by showing your face.

Well, the key is to break through the Pingzhou blockade.

He didn't have time to accompany the Youzhou governor's large army, so he took a long detour in a carriage and slowly went out.

He was going to take a risk and take a shortcut.

The highway built by the imperial court was definitely unusable as it had been occupied by Goguryeo and Murong Yan.

But the shortcut he chose was right next to the highway, hidden in the dense forests in the mountains beside the road.

It was a secret passage built secretly by the Red Turban Army for the purpose of rapid transfer and ambush of the enemy.

Chang Sunyan ran along the secret passage in the mountains. As soon as he left Wuli Township, he immediately felt a completely different atmosphere.

There was no sign of human, and even the birds and animals in the mountains did not dare to sing loudly. The dark woods were dead silent.

This was Cui Minggan’s initial impression of Pingzhou when he first arrived there.

Chang Sun Yan was infected by this atmosphere and his heart gradually became gloomy. After walking around on the mountain path for about half an hour, he finally saw a few figures on the side of the road.

They were farmers from nearby areas, and during their spare time they took the initiative to repair the damaged roads for the Red Turban Army.

As he got closer, Chang Sunyan took a deliberate glance.

They were almost all elderly people, and among the sea of ​​white-haired heads, Chang Sun Yan had a hard time finding a head of black hair.

This young man had only one arm and the red scarf on his head was as bright as a flame.

When the young man heard the sound of horse hooves, he looked at the people coming over warily. After confirming that they were his own people, he excitedly waved his only arm at them.

All the young men are going to the battlefield... Chang Sun Yan sighed inwardly and bowed to the disabled soldier on his horse.

Halfway through the journey, he met a team retreating from the front line.

The soldiers' morale was still high, but their fatigue was visible to the naked eye.

"It's the committee's messenger, make way!"

At the commander's command, the soldiers quickly made way.

"Thank you." Chang Sun Yan said secretly in his heart, not daring to slow down and continued to ride his horse at gallop.

When passing by this team, he found that the proportion of injured and sick people was obviously much higher than before.

An unconscious soldier was still biting half of an enemy's ear.

The front line is more tense than expected... Chang Sun Yan couldn't help but speed up his pace.

Not long after, he climbed up a small hill along the path and heard heavy footsteps coming from the foot of the hill.

Chang Sun Yan subconsciously glanced at the road beside him and immediately broke out in a sweat.

It was the army of Goguryeo.

They formed a tofu-like square formation and advanced along the highway towards the heart of Pingzhou.

When you read about an army of tens of thousands in a book, it is just a number.

But when he saw the endless military formation with his own eyes, the solemn atmosphere and the overwhelming pressure made Chang Sun Yan forget to breathe for a moment.

This huge army was only separated from Changsun Yan by a few big trees and a low hill!

"Ming-ge has been facing... such a difficult situation? The enemy he is fighting against is such a terrifying one?!"

After witnessing all this with his own eyes, Chang Sun Yan suddenly realized that the actual situation in Pingzhou was even more serious than those of them who were involved in the situation knew!
They were so well protected by Li Ming and the Red Turban Army that they were somewhat numbed by the peace of Wuli Township.

Li Ming has always silently endured the limited resources and overwhelming enemies.

Li Ming silently bears the pressure that ordinary people can hardly imagine, and never shows it in front of others.

Chang Sunyan's nose suddenly felt sore.

"No delay, it has to be as soon as possible!"

He felt the burden on his shoulders was extremely heavy.

We must get to Chang'an as soon as possible and don't let the corrupt imperial court hold Ming Ge back!
…………

Chang'an in February was plunged into a depressing atmosphere.

On the one hand, heavy snow suddenly hit the basin of the Yellow River, causing disaster to the people and making it difficult to travel.

On the other hand, the Liaodong front, which had been bustling in the previous few months, suddenly fell into an eerie silence.

The last message that came from that direction was Zhang Jian relaying Changsun Yan's letter of defense, accusing Murong Yan of being a traitor, without mentioning Goguryeo once in the entire letter.

Then, there was no news.

Even Zhang Jian, Zhang Liang, and all other official channels fell silent at the same time, as if they had agreed upon it, and no more words were heard.

It was as if Liaodong had disappeared from the world overnight.

But those who have been in battle for a long time know that when you are focusing your reconnaissance in a certain direction, suddenly no spies report back.

That in itself speaks for itself.

Strictly speaking, the Liaodong direction was not completely silent.

In fact, a large number of rumors about Liaodong have been bombarding the eardrums of court officials during this period.

From the monster in Lide Hall who took the initiative to lead the way for Goguryeo, to the wise and brave Jiedushi who stubbornly resisted the beasts of Buyeo, no matter what version you are willing to believe, there is always one that suits you.

Because of the existence of Chang'an Express, people generally support the latter version.

However, in the imperial court, the fair and just officials would obviously not believe such "rumors" of highly suspicious relationships when making decisions.

Based on the existing information, they made a reasonable analysis and summarized the following three possibilities:

Li Ming had rebelled, and he was the one who allowed the Goguryeo people in, and he also provided them with armor and weapons; Li Ming had rebelled, but the Goguryeo people had nothing to do with him; Li Ming did not rebel, but he did not fight against the Goguryeo people either.

As for other possibilities, such as Li Ming's forces fighting Goguryeo, even the most extreme Ming fans would not dare to adopt them easily.

After all, in the letter of defense that whitewashed himself, Li Ming did not mention the word "Ju Li" at all.

Then he must have been hiding in the mountains, avoiding the attacks of Goguryeo and Tang armies, watching the fight between the two tigers.

Well, everyone thinks that this is very consistent with Li Ming’s sinister and cunning personality.

In Liangyi Hall, the routine small court meeting was held.

As before, the court officials chose the "Li Ming" theory that suited their physique according to their buttocks and started fighting against each other.

Amidst the repeated criticisms, the facts became increasingly blurred.

Li Ming's position and the details of the Liaodong Incident became a complete mess, and no one could convince anyone else.

Li Shimin sat cross-legged on the dragon couch, his elbows on his knees, stroking his beard rather roughly.

Although his health was much better than last month, his face became more and more sour when he saw the spitting faces of his beloved ministers.

He vaguely felt that from the people to the court, there was a hidden force that was deliberately muddying the waters and magnifying the suspicious points about Li Ming with reason and evidence.

He didn't have any solid evidence, but he could roughly guess who it was. He glared at Changsun Wuji and Zhang Liang calmly.

Chang Sun Wuji looked very innocent: Yes, yes, it’s me again. I was also responsible for the heavy snow in the north.

The Minister of Works Zhang Liang did not dare to look at His Majesty and lowered his head guiltily.

The "adopted sons" of Liaodong suddenly became like kites with broken strings, unable to produce a single fart, which made him lose face.

However, there is a reason why Zhang Liang's intelligence network suddenly expanded.

When even spies can't find a place, it means that -

"Huh?" Li Shimin snorted contemptuously, full of energy:

"It seems that Goguryeo has spent a lot of money this time.

"Surround Liaodong so that not even a fly can fly out?"

Although he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he could probably guess a thing or two.

Goguryeo must have mobilized all its forces, expending huge amounts of manpower and resources, using bunkers to block the entrances and cannon fodder to tightly blockade Yingzhou and Pingzhou.

Using the purest and most brutal resource advantages, an impenetrable blockade was built, making it difficult for the messenger to fly even if he had wings.

"But it is also possible that the letter has already been sent from Liaodong, but was trapped in Hebei and Shandong due to the snowstorm." Fang Xuanling proposed another possibility expressionlessly.

No matter who is to blame, let’s blame the snow disaster first.

It doesn’t matter whether others believe it or not. As long as someone argues with him, he can engage in a three hundred rounds of debate and use garbage time to drag through today’s court meeting.

This is Laofang’s strategy during this period.

Because as the number of court debates increased, the wind direction was shifting in a direction unfavorable to Li Ming.

The best verdict that could be obtained for Li Ming is cowardice.

As a prince and the governor of Liaodong, Li Ming hid aside and watched Goguryeo invade the country and ravage the people.

He neither joined the army to help nor provided any valuable information to the court.

It was a complete disgrace to his father, Tian Khan. As for the other verdicts, they were even more interesting:

Choose between treason and both treason and collaboration.

"This large-scale mobilization by Goguryeo must have caused quite a stir. However, His Highness Li Ming did not mention it in his recent letter. This is really... strange."

Fang Xuanling's deputy and old rival, Shangshu You Pushe Xiao Yu said.

He immediately saw through Lao Fang's trick of "stuffing junk issues into the agenda" and decisively chose to ignore it.

A debate is about to break out.

Knock knock... Li Shimin knocked gently on the armrest, forcibly interrupting the chanting of both sides.

"The most pressing issue now is not Prince Ming, but Goguryeo."

The barbarians have come out in full force to block the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and you are still fighting among yourselves?

Can’t prioritize?
The ministers who had been full of fighting spirit just now immediately shut up.

It's not that they are good at civil wars but not good at foreign wars.

But there has been no useful intelligence coming from Liaodong for a long time.

Making decisions and micromanaging based on outdated intelligence will lead to the destruction of a nation and a race.

"Logically, even if the Goguryeo army came, the Yingzhou army would not be powerless to resist. How come overnight, they suddenly couldn't even send a letter?"

Fang Xuanling stroked his goatee and pondered, looking up at his seat.

I wonder if Your Majesty has any idea?
"Cough, cough, cough!" Li Shimin coughed dryly a few times.

It was when he was having a headache last month that he rashly issued the imperial edict to ask Zhang Jian to support Pingzhou, which helped the Goguryeo people complete the operation of luring the tiger away from the mountain, making the situation in Yingzhou even worse.

It can be said that Lao Li’s long-range micro-management was half to blame for the defeat of Yingzhou.

What they didn't know was that the Yingzhou army led by Xue Rengui, which had been lured away from the mountain, was actually alive and well in Pingzhou, and had tried to contact Chang'an more than once.

It was simply because the letters they sent could not go through the official channels and were regarded as random rumors among the people, and were consciously blocked by the dignitaries.

Changsun Wuji considered his words carefully and said:
"The troops of the Weizhou Military Governor's Office have already headed north. The general commander, Li Shiji, has a long history of military achievements. This army should..."

Li Shimin made a rough estimate in his mind and shook his head:
"It's difficult. There are not enough people."

The strategic goal of sending Li Shiji at that time was to unite with the Yingzhou army, maintain the situation in Pingzhou, and survey the conditions in Pingzhou.

With Yiping and Yingzhou both blocked and the Yingzhou army suspected to have suffered heavy losses, Li Shiji's army might be unable to hold on alone.

"What's more, there is heavy snow in Hebei, which has greatly slowed down Li Shiji's marching speed. I'm afraid he won't be able to reach Pingzhou on time." Fang Xuanling said.

This time he was not talking nonsense. The impact of weather factors on the march was undoubtedly huge.

According to Li Shiji's report, after more than half a month of trekking, they have not yet reached the edge of Youzhou.

"At this rate, I'm afraid Pingzhou will be lost by then, and Goguryeo will have pushed its defenses to the Yanshan line."

Li Shimin gently tapped the armrest of the dragon couch and fell into deep thought.

Goguryeo's strategic goal was very straightforward, and he could see it at a glance.

But it was useless to see it, as Liaodong was a long way away, and it was impossible for the Tang Dynasty to send its army of annihilation to Goguryeo's doorstep with just a wave of its hand.

Now it's a race speed situation.

It was faster for Goguryeo to completely occupy and digest Pingzhou and build a defense line on the Yanshan line.

Li Shiji still marched faster.

"If we let the Goguryeo people get ahead and occupy the Yanshan Mountains, it will be difficult to take it back..."

Li Shimin looked up at the sky and thought:

"Should we let Li Shiji abandon his baggage and march quickly with light equipment?"

Marching with light equipment is faster, but the disadvantage is also obvious - the combat effectiveness is greatly reduced.

It's okay to grab victory points, but it's not okay to attack the enemy.

The choice depends on how quickly Goguryeo can take Pingzhou.

But how fast was Goguryeo's offensive?
I don’t know. The information is completely cut off.

The imperial court didn’t even know how many people Goguryeo had dispatched!
On one side were his son and the Yanshan defense line, and on the other side were the lives of the Tang Dynasty soldiers.

It’s hard to decide, it’s hard to decide…

At this moment, a eunuch suddenly came to report:

"Your Majesty, there is urgent news!"

No one dared to blame the eunuch for being ignorant after he broke into the small court meeting without any reason.

Because it must be something big.

Li Shimin shifted his center of gravity slightly forward:

"what's up?"

"Your Majesty, it's a beacon fire! A beacon fire warning!"

…………

After Cui Mingan returned to Youzhou, he immediately wrote a letter to the court to report the situation in Pingzhou.

But there was heavy snow in Hebei, and the letter could not be sent to Chang'an by an express ride of 800 miles. The flowers were already cold.

In order to convey the great crisis encountered by his cousin to Chang'an in advance, Lao Cui decisively chose another more primitive and faster way of information transmission -

war.

The information contained in the beacon fire was very simple, and it obviously could not prove Li Ming's injustice.

However, using different combinations of smoke and fire can still express some necessary information.

Governor Cui personally climbed up to the top of the Youzhou city wall and supervised the messengers to light the beacon fires.

A moment later, the same fireworks were lit on the hilltops several miles away.

In this way, hundreds of beacon towers were lit one after another from north to south in the Tang Dynasty.

Ignoring the obstacles of mountains, wind and snow, the same message was conveyed to the center of the empire.

…………

"It's actually a beacon fire." The faces of the ministers immediately became serious.

Because this method of transmitting messages since ancient times is too primitive and contains too little information.

It will only be useful when an emergency war breaks out on the border.

Since Tian Khan ascended the throne, all the barbarians have submitted and the beacon fire has not been used for a long time.

But now, actually...

Li Shimin couldn't help but hold on to the armrest of the dragon couch:
"What warning?"

The eunuch swallowed subconsciously and said tremblingly:

"To the northeast, the enemy is 150,000!"

Everyone present gasped.

They could guess that Goguryeo had placed a heavy bet in Liaodong.

But even the most unreasonable minister did not expect that Goguryeo would actually put all its national strength and bet its national destiny on this battle!

Is Gao Jianwu out of his mind? !
After such a mobilization, even if they win the war, won't the country be in chaos? In just a few years, won't Liaodong be spit out?
"He wants to put Pingzhou and Yingzhou to death..." Li Shimin's eyes were a little dazed.

He held the handrail tightly, making an extremely painful decision in his heart.

With such a large army from Goguryeo coming forward, Liaodong would not be able to hold out for long.

Perhaps at this moment, Pingzhou has completely fallen, the Yanshan defense line has changed hands, and a letter for help from Youzhou is on the way.

How to do?
As a father, he could order Li Shiji to abandon his heavy armor, battering rams and all baggage and march into Pingzhou with light equipment.

After the main force of Weizhou Military Governor's Office was almost destroyed, Li Shiji might be able to take the risk to rescue Li Ming and others if Li Ming was still alive.

As an emperor, he could also tell Li Shiji not to be anxious, to bring all the equipment and to march steadily.

First, watch the area south of Yanshan Mountain. After a year or two, when Goguryeo can no longer hold on and explodes, we can easily recover the lost territory.

On one side is the son, and on the other side is the country.

This bowl of water is really hard to carry!

All the ministers looked at His Majesty in silence.

After an unknown amount of time, an old voice came from the dragon bed:

"Tell Li Shiji to...

“Steady and steady.”

(End of this chapter)