Chapter 258 Preparing for War
The King of Baekje listened woodenly to the speeches of the representatives of several major clans. When he first ascended the throne, he still had some ambitions, but over the years, all his energy had been exhausted in repeated internal struggles.

It doesn’t matter whether you fight or surrender. If you win, you can continue to enjoy yourself. If you lose, you will die.

If you surrender, if you are lucky you can be the Prince of Daifang in the Tang Dynasty, but if you are unlucky you will still die.

It seemed that there was not much difference. The King of Baekje picked up the wine glass and drank it, already thinking about which concubine he would sleep with tonight.

The officials were very dissatisfied with the attitude of the King of Baekje, but they did not say anything. They could not just hand over the power.

The internal law assistant Ping Shazhen, who had a different opinion from the others, said: "I heard that the Tang Dynasty established the Andong Protectorate in Pyongyang and wanted to set up governorships in other places, and wanted to promote the chieftains who have made contributions to be governors and provincial governors to jointly govern Liaodong.

After all, the Tang army is unstoppable, and we cannot act on our own and ignore our country and our family."

The eunuch Zuo Ping Jie Zhang glanced at the king and said, "It was not impossible originally, but some time ago, the Tang army forced the noble families of Goguryeo to hand over a huge amount of grain without any compensation.

What if they treat us the same way in the future?"

This statement made the representatives of the other families look resolute.

"We still have to send people to persuade Silla. Even if they want to surrender, they should do so after ensuring the interests of all families, especially Your Majesty. How can you be a county king?"

The King of Baekje nodded and said, "Then let's prepare for war."

"Yes!"

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

In the winter of the third year of Taiping, the Western Turkic Khan Tong Yehu and Princess Gaomi got married in Chang'an. Soon after the wedding, they set out for the west. The emperor ordered Qin Shubao, the Duke of Xinli County, to escort them to the Qin King's army.

The Western Turkic Empire is in chaos now, and only a few countries in the Western Regions have sent envoys to attend the wedding. If they are not escorted throughout the journey, Tong Ye may not be able to return to Qianquan alive.

But this is also a good thing. Otherwise, how could the Tang army enter the territory of Western Turkestan? The first time is new, the second time is familiar. I believe that next time, Li Shimin will be able to find his brother-in-law's home by himself without Tong Yehu's leadership.

After sending Tong Yehu away, Tuli could no longer sit still and sent envoys to propose marriage. Princess Yicheng even sent the dowry that Emperor Wen of Sui had given her as a betrothal gift.

But the emperor never agreed to the marriage with the Dong Turks.

The reason why Tong Yehu was not killed and even married to him was because Western Turkestan was not the current strategic target of the Tang Dynasty.

As for the west, the Tang Dynasty still needs time to digest the four counties it seized from Tuyuhun. As long as the Western Turks do not send troops to invade and do not block trade routes, the two countries can live in peace.

At least this was the case before the Tang Dynasty had dealt with Liaodong and resolved the DTZ, which is why they treated Tong Yehu in this way. Otherwise, Tong Yehu and Jie Li would have been executed together long ago.

But it was different for Tuli. After Goguryeo was eliminated, who was the overlord of this region? Whose orders should small countries such as Bohai, Khitan, Kumo Xi, Mohe, and Shiwei obey?
Should the emperor of the Central Plains give large amounts of gold, silver, jade and silk to the Khan of the grassland every year, or should the Khan of the grassland obey the emperor of the Central Plains as the Great Khan and serve him humbly like a servant?

This is the fundamental contradiction between the two countries. From Shi Bi to Jie Li, they all tried to prove that the new Tang Dynasty was not strong enough to shake the hegemony of the Turks.

Although Tuli is now clearly weak, he has not relaxed his control over Khitan and other countries, and strictly forbids them to come to pay homage. It can be expected that after he has completely eliminated the remnants of Jie Li and accumulated some strength, they will definitely come to challenge again.

In this case, Li Jiancheng was not prepared to give Tuli time to integrate his internal affairs, and even took the initiative to adjust their internal relations. In this way, there was naturally no need for a marriage.

.........

After the winter, Chang'an finally had less of a grim atmosphere, and the Jinyiwei had not been out for a long time. Not only the officials and nobles, but even the common people breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the Jinyiwei only handled imperial cases and had never had anything to do with them, it did not prevent them from being in awe of them. They could arrest or kill even high-ranking officials at will.

If one day we were to face them, wouldn't it be easier than killing a chicken? How could we not be afraid? It is rumored that the torture of the Northern Pacification Office is more cruel than hell.

At the court meeting, the emperor issued an order to hold a special examination next year, allowing those demoted officials to participate and select the best ones to be reappointed to their official positions.

This made many officials feel relieved. His Majesty has not shown any favor to the noble families in the past half year. If this continues, it will not be a good thing for the court or the world.

"Your Majesty is wise. The four western counties and the newly established Andong Protectorate are short of officials. It is the time to recruit people."

"Your Majesty, will other people be allowed to participate in this Enko?"

Li Jiancheng said: "Since this is a special examination, it is only for those officials who were demoted due to the streamlining of government offices. But it is only for this session. The next time the imperial examination is held, all scholars in the world can participate. At that time, I will also set up a military examination, which will be hosted by the Ministry of War, set up subjects, and select talents to enrich the army."

The Minister of War Fang Xuanling stepped forward and agreed. He had a heavy burden recently, but he was happy to be able to realize his ambitions.

All the ministers flattered the emperor, saying that no matter whether it was the imperial examination or the military examination, no matter how the examination was conducted, the children from aristocratic families would definitely have the greatest advantage.

Therefore, in their view, this was also the emperor's appeasement to them, and it seemed that the matter of forcing the emperor to abdicate was over.

After Pei Ji's death, the emperor had not been mentioned in the court for a long time, and it had become a taboo.

Li Jiancheng looked at his ministers with satisfaction. It had to be said that since the massacre, not only had the court run smoothly, but even the local administration had become clean.

With the defeat of the Turks, the destruction of Goguryeo and the establishment of the Andong Protectorate, his orders could be directly executed without going through the three provinces.

But after all, it is not in compliance with the regulations, so it is urgent to amend the system, and it is time to further strengthen centralization next year.

After the court was dismissed, the emperor summoned his confidants, some of whom were from Guanlong, some from Shandong, Jiangnan, and even from humble backgrounds.

Li Jiancheng had to admit that he was able to suppress Guanlong so quickly thanks to the hard work of two generations of emperors of the Sui Dynasty. During their reigns, they attacked the Guanlong nobles from all aspects.

In the later period of Emperor Yang's reign, Guanlong had actually reached a very difficult situation. After a considerable part of the forces in Guanlong were destroyed along with Yang Xuangan, the remaining forces in Guanlong were concentrated on him, and a small part on Li Mi.

However, he and Li Mi both had their own trusted confidants who they promoted, and did not rely solely on Guanlong. This led to the situation that when the Tang Dynasty was founded, Guanlong seemed to have high officials and generous salaries.

However, he did not get much actual military power. Li Jiancheng would rather keep some of the military power in the hands of those surrendered generals than give it to his in-laws.

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

(End of this chapter)