Chapter 164 Refusal of the Imperial Order
Goguryeo was not a Turkic country. It had its own etiquette system, which was the same as that of the Central Plains. Among the three brothers Gao Yuan, Jianwen had been killed in the battle by Qin Shubao.

According to the rules, if a king has no son or his son is too young to inherit the country, the younger brother can take over. Before Gao Yuan sent Gao Jianwu to Liaodong, he had already appointed him as the crown prince.

Although Gao Teng is a member of the royal family, he has long been estranged from the main bloodline. In addition, he took advantage of the chaos to kill the king. By then, other members of the royal family and local officials will not acknowledge him, and civil strife will break out.

Therefore, Gao Teng wanted to borrow Gao Jianwu's name to legitimately inherit the ancestral temple and country of Goguryeo. Anyway, all the nobles in Pyongyang City were dead. As long as he borrowed the name to establish the fact first, he could slowly plan later.

What's more, he has the endorsement of the Emperor of Sui Dynasty. With this two-pronged approach, Gao Teng will inherit the country from his ancestors. From the perspective of his ancestors, it is not that his descendants are unfilial and seek the throne of the country, but that Gao Yuan and Gao Jianwu are disloyal and unfilial, and are not qualified to be a monarch.

I faced the Sui Emperor's army of hundreds of thousands and led my men to defend Liaodong for three years. The hardships were beyond words. And these two thieves actually handed over the gateway to Liaodong to us. Their crime is unforgivable!
Gao Teng lowered his head and gritted his teeth secretly, constantly comforting himself, saying that he was just pretending to be submissive for the time being. After recuperating, he would surely achieve great things.

Luo Yi ordered his men to take Gao Yuan's head away and deal with it properly. After all, this was a gift to the emperor.

For Li Jiancheng, there was no big difference between Gao Teng and Gao Jianwu. He finally decided to choose Gao Teng, just thinking that it would be easier to cause civil unrest when he conquered Goguryeo in the future.

It's funny to say that Li Jiancheng had been in contact with Gao Teng for a long time, but this guy was quite twisted and just remained unmoved, focusing on defending Liaodong City.

It was not until Gao Jianwu came to see him and promised Liaodong City to Li Jiancheng that Gao Teng came to see him secretly. After verifying the truth of the matter, he immediately asked Li Jiancheng to give him a chance.

So the situation today came about. Li Jiancheng did not say much to Gao Teng. After plundering the capital of Goguryeo, he led his troops out of Pyongyang as promised.

They collected Lai Huer's body, integrated the navy and troops, and then began to withdraw. Pyongyang was an enclave, and even the Sui Dynasty could not occupy it now, let alone Li Jiancheng, so they left quickly and efficiently.

After retreating all the way back to Liaodong City, Li Jiancheng reported to the court that he had occupied Liaodong City, and joined forces with Lai Huer to capture Pyongyang and beheaded the leader of Goguryeo. The new leader offered a letter of surrender, but General Lai Huer unfortunately died in the battlefield.

The next day, Li Jiancheng piled up all the property looted from Pyongyang in the camp, and on the other side were the heads of those who disobeyed his command.

The naval general Lai Huer had died, Zhou Fashang was still recuperating in the Eastern Capital, and the remaining positions were no longer high. In addition, with the two original naval generals Qin Shubao and Shan Xiongxin, Li Jiancheng smoothly obtained the military power of the navy.

So he began to kill pigs and sheep and distribute the gold and silver to reward the three armies. He promoted his confidants with both power and virtue and tried his best to win over the hearts of the people.

At the same time, he ordered people to pass on a secret letter, saying that Li Jiancheng now had a strong army and that Yuwen Shu and others would definitely slander him to the emperor. He did not want to break off relations with the emperor so quickly, and he also wanted food and grass from the court, so he needed his in-laws and old friends to speak for him.

.........

The emperor looked at the head in front of him with joy, and condescended to come closer to examine it carefully: "You thief, this is what happens when you disrespect me!"

The others were congratulating the emperor, but Yuwen Shu suddenly said, "It is rare for Jiancheng to have achieved such great feats at such a young age. Your Majesty must reward him generously!"

Duke Xiao Cong of Liang immediately said, "This is all due to your majesty's power and virtue, and General Lai Huer's bravery. I think General Lai should be posthumously honored first."

Hearing this, the emperor remembered that Hu'er had died. Although he wanted to be sad, he couldn't be sad when he saw Gao Yuan's head. But he still issued an edict: "Confer him the title of Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince, Governor of ten counties, and forty swordsmen. The Ministry of Rites will draft a posthumous title, and Pei Ju, the Imperial Court Assistant Minister, will offer a grand sacrifice, and the Honglu Temple will supervise the funeral."

Lai Huer's sons who stayed in Luoyang thanked the emperor for his grace, but the emperor was indeed a little undecided about how to reward Li Jiancheng, after all, his official position was already very high.

As for what to do after the reward, the emperor couldn't help but regret that he shouldn't have promoted him so high last time.

At the same time, he couldn't help thinking that if Hu'er had died with me, it would be one less thing to worry about. I could even confer the title of Shang Shu Ling on him posthumously. What's so terrible about giving a dead person a higher title?

But not rewarding for merit is the same as not punishing for mistakes. The emperor had to reward even if he was unwilling to do so. At the court meeting the next day, Yuwen Shu, who received the latest news, could not wait to order his confidant, the Minister of the Dali Temple, to impeach Li Jiancheng, saying that he deliberately delayed reinforcements and thus killed Lai Huer.

This shocked the court. Although Li Jiancheng was not there, some people still came forward to ask for evidence. The Dali Temple Minister then recounted the situation he had obtained. From his oral description, there were indeed many abnormal feelings.

Yuwen Shu finally stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, Li Jiancheng is only a general of the First Guard, but now he has more than 100,000 soldiers and horses under his command. He led his troops to stay there without the emperor's order and did not order the navy to return to the court. This shows that he has two minds."

Only after hearing these words did the emperor's joy fade away. The figure of Yang Xuangan immediately appeared before his eyes, and he couldn't control his palpitations.

Yuwen Shu's confidant immediately said, "Li Jiancheng should be summoned back to the court immediately. If he returns, we can investigate him thoroughly. If he does not return, he is afraid of committing a crime!"

The emperor immediately issued an edict. Although he was dissuaded by the Duke of Liang and others, he was already suspicious and would not feel at ease until Li Jiancheng surrendered his military power.

As soon as the decree was issued, Li Jiancheng came to request for help, saying that the Yanyun bandits had surrendered and then rebelled again, secretly colluding with the leader of Goguryeo. He was trapped in Liaodong City and refused to defend it, so he asked the court for help.

Yuwen Shu and others immediately reported to the emperor that Li Jiancheng did it on purpose and requested that Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang, be killed!
The emperor was furious and was about to send people to Chang'an to sentence Li Yuan to death, but was persuaded by the empress and others. The most important thing was that Li Jiancheng had more than 100,000 troops outside. If he was forced to rebel and joined forces with the Turks and Goguryeo to cause chaos, it would really shake the foundation of the country.

Li Jiancheng's connections over the years came into play, especially under the leadership of the Dou and Xiao families, who actually suppressed Yuwen Shu, forcing the emperor to give it more thought.

After being angry, the emperor barely suppressed his rage and thought about how to kill Li Jiancheng. What to do if he rebelled?
Send troops to conquer Liaodong City?

How could the Liaodong City, which was defended by more than 100,000 elite soldiers of the Sui Dynasty, be captured without 400,000 or 500,000 elite soldiers?

It is possible to consider forcing him to return to Beijing with his parents, wife and children, but that would mean a complete break between them. Moreover, if the emperor suddenly found out, would Li Yuan be waiting for him to catch him? Could he actually catch him?

Even Li Mi and others have not been caught yet. Given the Li family's connections and the threat of Li Jiancheng being alone outside, Yang Guang suddenly realized that he no longer had the power of life and death as before.

...............

(End of this chapter)