Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 510 The Situation in Liaodong

Honglu Temple, Guanyi.

Jin Renwen sat in the chair, head down, without saying a word.

In front of him, Kim Beom-min spun around the room like a top, his hands clenched tightly together, muttering repeatedly, "It's over, it's really over..."

Not long ago, an official from the Court of State Ceremonial delivered an imperial edict, saying that the Emperor of Tang would summon the Silla envoys to an audience the next day.

Upon learning this news, the Kim brothers became like this, even refusing to eat dinner.

Kim Beop-min, as the crown prince of Silla, originally did not want to come to Chang'an again.

However, he had no choice but to come under pressure from his father, Jin Chunqiu.

Two years ago, Goguryeo was destroyed by the Tang Dynasty. Since that day, Jin Chunqiu has never had a good night's sleep.

Without Goguryeo as a shield, Silla was directly exposed to the powerful Tang Dynasty.

Moreover, Baekje was gone, and most of the Liaodong Peninsula had become Tang territory, leaving only a small piece of land in Silla, which bordered Tang.

Only then did Jin Chunqiu truly understand the meaning of the idiom "if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold".

It's like sleeping next to a tiger every day, constantly worried that it will eat you up!
When Goguryeo was attacked, Silla did have the idea of ​​helping Goguryeo.

However, Silla did not dare to help directly. Instead, it planned that as long as Goguryeo could hold back the Tang army, especially the Tang army in the Ungjin Protectorate, it would take the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Baekje, which would also be considered helping Goguryeo.

The Silla people's motivation was still to benefit themselves. They had coveted the territory of Baekje for too long. Only by obtaining Baekje and unifying the Three Hans could they fight against Goguryeo and the Tang Dynasty.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned.

Goguryeo suffered such a crushing defeat that its capital was besieged in less than a few months.

The entire Silla court was intimidated by the Tang army's powerful fighting force. Even the Mohe dared not make any rash moves, so how could they dare to mess with the Tang Dynasty again?
And so, Goguryeo was conquered by the Tang Dynasty.

The Silla king and his ministers hoped that Goguryeo would rise up in rebellion against the Tang oppression and drive out the Tang people. To this end, they secretly funded several Buyeo rebel forces.

Unfortunately, these rebellions failed to gain the support of most Buyeo people and were quickly suppressed.

They secretly used countless underhanded tricks to incite infighting among the various ethnic groups in Goguryeo, hoping to create chaos in Goguryeo, but Liu Rengui thwarted them all.

Liu Rengui, that old fellow, was not only good at fighting, but also even better at governing.

The Silla king and his ministers could only watch helplessly as Goguryeo was completely annexed by the Tang Dynasty.

In order to prepare for this day, they actually came up with an escape route, which was to invade Japan.

As long as they can establish a foothold in Japan, even if the Tang Dynasty attacks in the future, they can all withdraw from Japan.

In this way, they would be able to face the Tang Dynasty across the sea. Although there were Tang troops on the island, they were few in number, so the pressure would not be so great. If they joined forces with the Mohe people, they might be able to resist the Tang army.

Who would have thought that this escape route would also be ruthlessly cut off by the Mohe people.

The fact that things have developed to this point cannot be entirely blamed on the Mohe people.

Initially, when Silla occupied part of the eastern part of Wa Island, it did not clash with the Mohe people, whose main target at the time was the Ezo.

Silla sent envoys to seek an alliance with the Mohe people, hoping to establish a foothold on the Japanese peninsula together, advance and retreat together, and help each other.

When the two countries first started negotiating, things went relatively smoothly. The Mohe people were actually very wary of the Tang Dynasty and hoped to find an ally.

However, the arrogant attitude that the Silla envoys inadvertently displayed during the negotiations greatly displeased the Mohe people.

Silla was clearly small in territory and weak in military strength. Even if the Mohe people did not dominate the negotiations, they should at least be on equal footing.

However, the Silla people considered themselves a civilized and superior nation, and they held the Mohe people in contempt. They hid this mentality, and the Mohe people did not notice it at first.

But as time went on, the Mohe people weren't stupid, and they finally saw through the true colors of the Silla people.

Especially when Silla envoys went to the Mohe, they would raise their chins and have a contemptuous smile on their lips, as if they were angels from a superior country visiting a barbarian land, and they would point and criticize everything around them.

Even more incredibly, the Silla people seemed to genuinely believe that their military strength was comparable to, or even slightly superior to, that of the Mohe, and that their overall national strength far surpassed that of the Mohe, thus justifying their dominance.

This incomprehensible confidence angered most of the Mohe chiefs.

The Mohe were a tribal alliance, and although the chief had the most power, he could not ignore the thoughts of the other tribal chiefs.

In fact, Qiqi Zhongxiang still wanted to prioritize the overall situation and remain patient and silent.

However, if he continues to endure the anger of the chieftains, others will think he is weak, and he will lose his position as chieftain.

The Mohe people held a meeting of chiefs and ultimately decided to take action against the Silla people on the Japanese island.

The Silla people were completely unaware of their own problems and were extremely shocked by the Mohe people's sudden betrayal.

Seeing that the Mohe people were attacking, they decided to use their superior military strength to make the Mohe people behave.

After several battles, Silla was defeated and its territory was reduced to its original state. Most of Wa's territory was taken away, leaving only a small piece of land in Noto, which it barely managed to hold onto.

This battle completely shattered the confidence of the Silla people and cut off Kim Chunchu's escape route.

Jin Chunqiu, in a bizarre move, sent envoys to the Mohe people, proposing that Silla could teach them advanced smelting and farming techniques in exchange for the Mohe returning the conquered lands. Nomadic peoples of the steppes are inherently driven by a desire for conquest; how could they possibly relinquish what they've already gained?
Moreover, they inadvertently discovered that Silla was weaker than they had imagined. If it weren't for the Tang Dynasty, they would have swallowed Silla whole.

Jin Chunqiu had no choice but to send a large number of people to the Tang Dynasty to gather intelligence. Whenever there was any disturbance, he suspected that the Tang army was going to attack him.

Recently, he learned that the Tang Dynasty was transporting grain to Youzhou, and it seemed they were about to launch another attack on Liaodong.

Kim Chun-chu suspected that the Tang Dynasty wanted to annex Silla. In his fear, he had no choice but to reinstate Kim In-moon and send him to accompany Crown Prince Kim Beop-min to Chang'an.

Kim In-moon was also in a bad situation because he was a pro-Tang faction within Silla and had been suppressed countless times.

If Silla were to turn its back on Tang, Kim In-moon would be the first to suffer.

For example, when Silla and the Malgal were exchanging flirtatious glances, Kim In-moon was placed under house arrest.

Now that Jin Chunqiu needs this son again, he has released him.

When Jin Ren asked about the ups and downs of the past years, he said that he had long since become indifferent and had no hope for his father or the country. His mindset was surprisingly calm.

Kim Beop-min is different.

He was the future king of Silla, but he didn't want Silla to perish before he even became king. When he heard that the Tang emperor was summoning him the next day, he instinctively felt that things were going to be bad and that he was doomed!

The two brothers came to Chang'an with two missions. First, they had to find out the purpose of the Tang Dynasty's grain mobilization and who they intended to use force against.

If the target is Silla, then find a way to divert the trouble northward to the Mohe.

Secondly, they secretly contacted Buyeo Boksin to see if they could win him over and have him serve Silla, thus giving them a chance to take over Baekje.

They had already found out about Fuyu Fuxin's situation. After he surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, he was neglected and his official rank was even lower than that of his subordinate Daochen.

Kim Chun-chu believed that Bok-sin was definitely dissatisfied and that he could be bribed to use his prestige in Baekje to plot against Baekje in the future.

In the few days since arriving in Chang'an, Kim Beop-min has found out Bok-sin's address. However, he is afraid that if the Tang Dynasty finds out about his meeting with Bok-sin, they will suspect that they are plotting against Baekje.

Therefore, he wanted to use a more secretive method to meet with Fuxin so as not to arouse suspicion from the Tang Dynasty.

The two have been planning this for some time now.

Unfortunately, before he could make any plans, he was summoned by the Emperor of Tang.

“It’s over…it’s over…this time it’s really over…” Kim Beom-min patted the back of his hand as he paced back and forth.

Jin Renwen remained silent, lost in thought.

Kim Beom-min suddenly stopped, stared at him, and said, "Why aren't you saying a word?"

Jin Ren asked, "What do you want me to say?"

Jin Famin said urgently, "You've stayed in the Tang Dynasty the longest and know the Tang emperor better, can't you think of a way?"

"What can I do?"

"Of course, the way is to prevent the Tang Dynasty from attacking us!"

Jin Renwen said in a deep voice, "The Tang people plan everything carefully before they act. Once they start, they never stop. So if the Tang Dynasty wants to attack us, there's no point in thinking about it. If the Tang Dynasty doesn't attack us, then we're just asking for trouble!"

Jin Famin was good at only hearing what he wanted to hear. His eyes lit up and he said, "You mean, it's possible that the Tang Dynasty isn't targeting us?"

Jin Renwen shook his head and said, "I don't know."

Kim Beommin was furious and wanted to lash out, but then he remembered that this was Chang'an, not Silla, so he had to suppress his anger, walk over and sit down next to Kim In-moon, and said in a deep voice, "Tomorrow morning, you go to see Buyeo Bok-shin first, and then we'll meet the Emperor together in the afternoon!"

Jin Renwen glanced at him and said, "Isn't it too early to look for Fuyu Bok-shin now?"

Jin Famin said, "Just follow the plan we agreed on earlier and pretend to bump into him at Qingfeng Tower. The Tang people shouldn't suspect anything."

Qingfenglou is a restaurant in Pingkangfang, near Chunfenglou.

Fuyu Fuxin's current official position in the Tang Dynasty is Right Valiant Guard General, but it is a nominal position. He only receives a salary and does not need to go to the military headquarters.

When he first arrived in Chang'an, he still had some savings. He spent his days at Chunfeng Tower, and no one cared about him. Even the censors were too lazy to impeach these surrendered Hu generals.

Later, when Fu Yu Fuxin ran out of savings, he could only afford to go to Chunfeng Tower two or three times a month with his salary, so he had no choice but to go to Qingfeng Tower to drink and drown his sorrows.

After listening, Jin Renwen simply nodded.

Jin Famin said with concern, "Don't mention surrendering to him yet. Just try to get close to him and see if he is really dissatisfied with the Tang Dynasty. When the time is right, then bring it up with him."

Jin Ren asked, "I understand."

Kim Fa-min added, "Also, we can mention to him that the emperor summoned us, and see if he knows the emperor's intentions."

Jin Renwen frowned and said, "With his current official position, I'm afraid he wouldn't know these secrets."

"It wouldn't hurt to ask; maybe he knows."

Jin Renwen had no choice but to agree.

(End of this chapter)