Chapter 261 Baekje
Li Mi's six victories indeed made many civil and military officials feel that now was indeed a good opportunity. If they did not take advantage of the fact that they were strong and the enemy was weak, would they have to wait until the enemy was strong in men and horses before starting a war?

However, after the Minister of Civil Affairs Wang Gui described the situation of the granaries in various parts of the court, the generals had no choice but to keep quiet.

The meat is right in front of me, but my teeth haven't grown well.

However, this also made the ministers really start to consider the matter of destroying the Turks. As long as they could participate, they could leave a mark in the history books, which was very important to everyone.

As the Tang Dynasty had only been established not long ago, it undoubtedly grew rapidly, especially after its brilliant victory last year, which the whole country firmly believed in.

Fang Xuanling stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, although it is not appropriate to start a war with the Turks for the time being, it is possible to arrange some things in advance.

The Xueyantuo tribe was originally one of the Tiele tribes. It was attacked by Shibi Khan in the past, revived under Jie Li Khan, and now began to be excluded by Tuli Khan.

I think we can send envoys to contact and win them over, and follow the strategy of the previous dynasty, enthrone the leader of the Tiele tribe as Khan, and give him drums and banners to split the Turks. "

"Your Majesty, I second the proposal. It's not just the Xueyantuo tribe. Are the Khitan, Huihe, Bayegu, Adie, Tongluo, Pugu, and Xun tribes really willing to follow the Ashina family?"

Every dynasty had to deal with the grasslands, so there were ready-made methods and approaches to rely on, and the emperor agreed to all those that made sense and were feasible.

However, he still emphasized that the court's main task this year was to completely control the Liaodong region. The central principle was to continue to restore people's livelihood. Except for the river embankments that had to be repaired and the canals that had to be dredged, no corvée should be conscripted from the people for any reason.

The same applies to taxation. Every effort should be made to reduce taxes and levies.

In March, the Supervisory Commissioner of Henan Province submitted a memorial saying: "The people's safety and security depends on the prefects and county magistrates. If you can select the right people, Your Majesty can just sit back and do nothing.

Today, the imperial court only values ​​internal officials and neglects the selection of prefecture and county officials. Most provincial governors are military men, or officials in the capital are incompetent and are appointed to posts outside the capital. In remote areas, people are employed even less, so the people are not at peace. This is probably because of this. I implore Your Majesty to be prudent in the use of local officials. "

After reading this memorial, Li Jiancheng became alert. He realized that he was paying too much attention to the capital and neglecting the local areas. It would be better to appoint some useful officials to local posts instead of keeping them by his side.

At Li Jing's suggestion, the military system was slightly changed. The General's Office was renamed Zhechong Office. There were a total of 634 offices across the country, and 261 offices within the Great Wall, which were divided into various central guards.

Zhechoufu was divided into upper, middle and lower parts. The upper part had 1,200 people, the middle part had 1,000 people and the lower part had 800 people.

Two hundred people form a regiment, with a school guard; fifty people form a team, with a team captain; ten people form a fire group, with a fire captain.

…………

At the end of April in the fourth year of Taiping, Luo Yi, the Protector of Andong, led 50,000 troops from Liaodong to the south, Li Xiaogong, the King of Hejian, led 50,000 naval forces to the east to attack directly, and the King of Silla also led 60,000 troops to attack, attacking Baekje from three sides.

Baekje resisted quite bravely at the beginning, and the remnants of Goguryeo in Silla and Silla mobilized troops to respond. Fortunately, Zhang Huli, who stayed in Pyongyang, was well prepared.

However, the King of Silla had to call back his troops because the remnants of Goguryeo were joined by the Park family in the country and the Cui, Zheng, and Li families in the real bones.

The capital of Silla had almost been occupied by them. They were very dissatisfied that the royal family had submitted to the Tang Dynasty without anyone to guarantee their interests.

The people in the country also did not understand, so they quickly gathered tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, not only to depose the king, but also to support Baekje, drive the Tang army out of Liaodong, and help Goguryeo restore its country. But as the supreme commander, Li Xiaogong continued to advance steadily and had no intention of suspending the war, which made Baekje very difficult.

Just as there must be people who do not want the Tang army to come and disrupt the order and therefore continue to make trouble in the rear, there are also quite a number of people in Baekje who hope that the Tang army can break the existing situation and allow them to break the status that has been monopolized by the eight major clans for generations.

Among the 37 counties of Baekje, there were also some that surrendered without a fight.

However, after all, it was an expedition, and the Tang army suffered a lot of losses because they were unfamiliar with the terrain. If they only relied on Luo Yi, they probably would not have succeeded, and there was also Li Xiaogong.

When approaching the capital of Baekje, Li Xiaogong stopped the offensive and allowed his troops to plunder a batch of food before Baekje fortified its walls and cleared the fields, and then began to digest it and wait.

The reinforcements from Pyongyang arrived the fastest. Zhang Huli and Wei Zheng were not only able to send troops to Baekje, but they even arranged for some to support the King of Silla.

Wei Zheng came to Li Xiaogong's tent. After the two exchanged greetings, he said, "General, with your military force, you are more than enough to besiege the capital of Baekje. Why are you hesitating?"

Li Xiaogong said: "It is for the Duke of Wei's future governance and appeasement, and to eliminate those stubborn people.

Doesn’t Duke Wei think that the combined population of Goguryeo, Silla, and Baekje is a bit too large?
The Central Plains is also in dire need of people. Your Majesty has to relocate tens of thousands of households from Goguryeo to fill the border areas. How many Han people can be used to fill Liaodong?"

Wei Zheng frowned and said, "How can we stop eating because of choking? The affairs of Andong Protectorate should not bother the Prince of Hejian."

Li Xiaogong didn't care about Wei Zheng's attitude. At his position, he didn't need to care about anyone else's face except the emperor.

"Ordinary people are fine, but the nobles of Silla and Baekje will definitely cause trouble. Since I have been ordered to come here to expand the territory, I have the right to make decisions on the battlefield. If Duke Wei feels that it is inappropriate, you can impeach me at the court."

Wei Zheng looked grim. Arrogant soldiers and brave generals could not be persuaded by words alone. Moreover, Li Xiaogong was a member of the royal family. If he was really determined, what else could he do?
Luo Yi, who was standing by, was very happy to see Wei Zheng being humiliated. He really was the King of Hejian.

After all, he and Zhang Huli were foreign ministers, so they had to be somewhat wary of Wei Zheng.

As the order from Prince Hejian was conveyed, the Tang army wantonly seized food and property from local aristocratic officials in the counties they occupied.

But it was not just destruction. The Tang army was also recruiting young and strong men. Of course, the conscription was forced, so all the young and strong men had to serve as laborers.

The recruitment of soldiers is for a group of people who are dissatisfied with the current situation in Baekje. They are asked to surrender on their own initiative and will be given channels for advancement. As long as they come through the recruitment, they can directly command hundreds of civilians.

Then, without any orders from the Tang army, these people voluntarily attacked cities, occupied counties, killed officials and robbed food, and then were promoted to become substitutes for the aristocratic families.

Wei Zheng joined in when he couldn't dissuade them. In a sense, the King of Hejian's approach was not wrong.

There are still many people in Goguryeo who refuse to surrender. This is because the Tang army killed too few people and there are still many remnants of the aristocratic families, which makes them unwilling to cooperate and want to restore their country all the time.

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

(End of this chapter)