A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1278 Want to learn from Sima Yi?
at night,

The emperor ordered a lot of wine and food to be prepared to entertain Qin Qiong, Yuchi Gong, Li Jing, Fang Xuanling, Wei Zheng, Yuwen Shiji and other old friends.

At the banquet, the emperor once again mentioned his plan to personally lead an expedition to Liaodong next year, and also mentioned the names of Li Jing, Qin Qiong, and Yuchi Gong.

"Your Majesty, I am old and have a stubborn leg disease, so I am afraid I cannot go with you." Li Jing did not object to the expedition to Liaodong, but he did not quite agree with the emperor leading the expedition in person, and did not want to go with him.

Li Shimin held the wine glass, walked to Li Jing and sat down, clinked glasses with him and drank a glass,
Then he stroked Li Jing's back with one hand.

"I remember that Sima Yi was seriously ill and dying, but he was still able to usurp the Wei Kingdom at the age of seventy. Pharmacist, you are only seventy-two now, you should encourage yourself!"

When the emperor said this, one hand was holding the cup and the other hand was stroking Li Jing's back. He was facing Li Jing, and the two were very close. The emperor had a smile on his face, but Li Jing suddenly felt a chill rushing from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

This is very inappropriate.

How could Li Jing be compared to Sima Yi in his loyalty? Moreover, the emperor even said that Sima Yi could still usurp the throne at the age of seventy, and asked him to encourage himself. What was he encouraging himself to do?
I was scared to death.

This seems like drunken talk.
Although the emperor didn't like drinking, he had just started drinking and couldn't have been drunk. It could only be said that the emperor used the alcohol as a cover and said these words half-jokingly.

Wu Huaiyu stepped out to smooth things over.
"Duke Wei has had a leg disease for many years. He is now old, so it is impossible for him to rush through the snow and wind to attack the Turks like he did in the past. But if he follows His Majesty, it should be fine. I will get some medicine for Duke Wei to take care of him. When he follows the army, he can bring an acupuncturist with him and do acupuncture regularly. It should be fine."

Li Jing also took advantage of the situation and said, "This old bone is really unable to charge on horseback. If Your Majesty does not mind that I am a burden, I am willing to do my part to help conquer Liao."

"Hahaha," the emperor laughed and patted Li Jing on the back. "Now that the pharmacist is willing to join the army, I am more confident. We have Shubao Jingde in the charge, and the pharmacist and Huaiyu as advisors. If we join hands, Goguryeo can be destroyed in one battle."

"Come on, drink and win!"

Let’s raise a toast together.

Wei Zheng really wanted to persuade the emperor again, but given the atmosphere, he didn't want to disturb him.

After the dinner,
Wei Zheng came to see Wu Huaiyu, and now he sees Wu Huaiyu regularly for health care, massage, acupuncture, and medicated diet. There has been some effect, but it still cannot reverse the condition, it can only delay it a little.

"The sage is determined to lead the expedition to Liaodong in person. The commander should give him some advice on this matter," Wei Zheng said frankly after sitting down.

Wu Huaiyu smiled bitterly.

The emperor was determined to lead the army in person. Who could persuade him to do so? Everyone had tried to persuade him. Wei Zheng had tried to persuade him many times, and Fang Xuanling, Ma Zhou and others had also tried to persuade him.

"The saint wants to destroy Goguryeo himself, and then use this achievement to enshrine the emperor on Mount Tai." Wei Zheng sighed, "There's wine, let's have two more cups."

Wei Zheng was in poor health and had been trying to quit drinking, which was very difficult for him.

"I'll just have a couple of drinks with you today."

"OK then."

Opened a small jar of rice wine.

Wei Zheng lifted the wine glass to his nose and smelled it, his face intoxicated. It would be too painful for a wine lover to quit drinking. He took a sip and enjoyed the wonderful taste.

He let out a long, satisfied sound.

“This wine is good.”

"The glutinous rice grown in the high mountain terraces in Luzon," Huaiyu introduced. The planting industry in Luzon is developing rapidly, with advantages such as land, rain and climate. A lot of grain is grown, and in addition to self-sufficiency, a large amount is exported to the Central Plains. However, although the grain is shipped by sea, the cost is also relatively high.

Processing it and making it into wine can greatly increase its added value.

"Doesn't Luzon Island have a lot of land? Why are they cultivating high mountain terraces?" Wei Zheng wondered.

"Luzon has several plains that are indeed quite flat and fertile, but there are also many mountainous areas. The indigenous tribes have the tradition of cultivating terraced fields for planting. When our people went there, they brought some more advanced terraced field planting techniques to the mountainous areas."

The main occupations in the mountains are still tea planting, mining, logging, etc., and growing grain is just for self-sufficiency. After all, it is inconvenient to transport grain from the plains outside to the mountains, and the cost of growing it directly in the mountains is very low.

Luzon's climate is good for terraced farming.

The glutinous rice grown in the terraced fields in the mountains is of much better quality than that grown in the plains.

It is very good for making wine and cakes.

Wei Zheng sipped the wine. "I've drunk tea and eaten sugar from your Luzon before. In recent years, I've also had spices from Luzon. I didn't expect the wine from Luzon to be so delicious. Luzon is really a treasure land."

"It's just that it's isolated overseas and too remote. Also, it's extremely hot all year round and there are too many mosquitoes," Wu Huaiyu said with a smile.

Wei Zheng was still able to see through this former neighbor.
"If I had such a precious piece of land, I would always think of retiring and retiring."

When a person is about to die, his words are also good.

Wei Zheng's life was almost coming to an end, and he began to envy Wu Huaiyu's life.

"I may not be able to wait until next year for Your Majesty to lead the army in person, let alone see the results. I am still a little worried. When Daye inherited the reign of Emperor Kaihuang, the barbarians from all directions came to pay tribute and congratulate. It was so glorious.

But the four expeditions to Goguryeo completely ruined Emperor Yang's great cause."

Wu Huaiyu refilled his empty glass.

“Duke Wei, actually, there is no need to worry too much about His Majesty leading the army in person. Emperor Yang of Sui did not understand military affairs, but Your Majesty is a cavalry emperor who led troops to fight at the age of sixteen. When it comes to commanding a war in the world today, even Duke Wei dares to compare with Your Majesty.” Wei Zheng held the wine glass, but was no longer in a hurry to drink it, but just sniffed it from time to time.

"Do you think that Your Majesty can really destroy Goguryeo in one fell swoop if he leads the army in person?"

Wu Huaiyu also said frankly, "It is not realistic to want to destroy the Liaodong overlord Goguryeo, which has been established for more than 700 years, in one battle, but Your Majesty will surely be able to tear open the defense line that Goguryeo has been building in Liaodong, and even severely damage Goguryeo's main force.

Annihilating the enemy's effective forces and destroying the Liaodong defense line they had painstakingly built for many years would have broken the backbone of the Goguryeo people.

There is no need to decide the outcome of a battle in one go, and we don't have to break into Pyongyang and capture Gao Jianwu alive to win.

If the emperor leads the army in person, as long as he destroys the defenses of Liaodong and annihilates a sufficient number of Goguryeo's manpower, then Goguryeo will be nothing more than meat on the chopping board, to be slaughtered by the Tang Dynasty.

"Mr. Wu is very optimistic about the expedition to Liao, but Mr. Wu should not forget that Goguryeo was able to establish itself in Liaodong for more than 700 years. Many dynasties in the Central Plains had thought of destroying Liaodong, but how many succeeded? On the contrary, they were in Liaodong, watching many dynasties in the Central Plains rise and fall.

When Emperor Yangdi conquered Liao, he mobilized the whole country, had a strong army, and had many generals, but why did he fail in four expeditions? If we count the failure of Emperor Wen's expedition against Liao, the previous dynasty could be said to have perished because of the expedition against Liao. Isn't this lesson enough for us to learn from?"

"During the Zhenguan period, Duke Wei and you have been conquering the east and the west to expand the territory. This has made the saints a little too superstitious about the use of force, and even a little bit militaristic. They have conquered one country after another. After defeating the Eastern Turks, they have conquered the Western Turks. After defeating Tuyuhun, they want to attack Tubo. After defeating Xueyantuo, they want to attack Goguryeo.

So after defeating Goguryeo, do we have to fight Linyi, conquer Dongying, Persia, and the Arabs?"

"If we continue to fight endlessly like this, the people of the world will eventually become tired and exhausted. Even if a country is big, it will perish if it loves war!"

Wu Huaiyu poured himself another glass of wine.

The taste of rice wine is mellower, and what Wei Zheng said was also mature and prudent, but now that the Tang Dynasty is on the rise, why not fight if we can?
If you hit with one punch, you can avoid hundreds of punches.

Besides, the wars fought by the Tang Dynasty over the years did not cause great loss of money and hardship to the people. Instead, they brought many war dividends. First, the border was stable and no longer subject to the danger of harassment. Then, after the expansion of territory and the submission of the four barbarians, the increase in trade led to industry and commerce, taxation, etc., needless to say.

In addition, after expanding its territory, the Tang Dynasty acquired a lot of new lands. A large number of poor and landless people from the Central Plains migrated to the border areas and acquired their own lands.

Many people who had originally become tenants, slaves, or even refugees eventually became self-employed farmers and joined the bourgeoisie.

The Tang Dynasty,

There was the Han Dynasty before and the Song Dynasty after.

The Han Dynasty was a pioneering and enterprising country. Even when it was destroyed, the barbarians and the Hu people did not dare to offend the majesty of the Han Dynasty.

As for the two Song dynasties, although some people say that the two Song dynasties were prosperous times with brilliant culture, they could not even unify the country. The Southern Song Dynasty could only rule along the river and live in a remote corner.

Wu Huaiyu still prefers the Han and Tang dynasties.

Even in the early Ming Dynasty, China was very confident in its external relations.

A country or a nation should not be afraid of war.

We cannot rely on annual tribute to beg for peace.
Peace is not begged for nor bought, but won.

"Duke Wei, our generation should fight when we have the ability. If we don't fight now, our descendants will suffer in the future."

Wei Zheng smiled bitterly and took a sip of wine.

He sighed, "You military commanders are only afraid of the world not being in chaos, and you are afraid of not having wars to fight."

Wu Huaiyu didn't argue with him.

Confucian scholars like to reform the emperor, like to live behind closed doors, and want the emperor and the literati to rule the world together. It would be best if all the warriors could be pinned to the ground and even the army should be controlled by civil officials.

The Song Dynasty should be the most ideal era for the literati.

After Wei Zheng finished two glasses of wine, he restrained himself with difficulty and stopped drinking. He sighed and said goodbye to Wu Huaiyu. He wanted Wu Huaiyu to persuade the emperor not to invade Liao, let alone lead the army himself. Unfortunately, Wu Huaiyu did not agree with him.

In the following days,
The emperor was at the Tangquan Palace in Mount Li, and he brought along Wu Huaiyu, Li Jing, Qin Qiong, Yuchi Gong, and Liu Hongji, as well as Fang Xuanling, Wei Zheng, Ma Zhou, Xiao Yu, Liu Ji, Yu Wenshi, and other civil and military officials.

They began to discuss the plan of conquering Liao next year.
How many troops to send, where to mobilize them from, and which generals to select to go to the battle.

Which other tribes should be recruited to assist?

How many land routes are there? Where to attack by sea? How to supply ships, food, and equipment? How to recruit civilians? How to cross the hundreds of miles of Liaoze and reach the city of Liaodong? How to attack this extremely strong city?

But how should we fight against mountain cities like Gaimu City and Baiyan City which are easy to defend but difficult to attack?

How to draw in Baekje and Silla, or even send troops across the sea to open up a third battlefield behind the Goguryeo people?
The emperor was in high spirits. He had people draw maps and make sand tables. He spent the whole day arranging troops and conducting war chess simulations. Wu Huaiyu and Li Jing took turns acting as the Tang army and Goguryeo in the confrontation drills.

Ministers like Fang Xuanling, Ma Zhou and Liu Li had to provide a series of logistical supplies, food and equipment, and even supporting plans such as rewards for military merit and disability pensions.

Time flies when I'm busy.
In the blink of an eye, it is the end of the year, and the sixteenth year of Zhenguan is about to end.
The seventeenth year of Zhenguan is about to arrive.

"Go back to Beijing!"

The day before the Little New Year, the emperor finally brought everyone back to Chang'an to celebrate the New Year.

(End of this chapter)