A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1309: Guarding Liaodong with Troops

Under the city of Liaodong, on the banks of Taizi River.

The corn and soybean seedlings in the fields are already green again. Soon, the golden autumn will bring a bumper harvest.

Li Shimin was still wearing the brown robe that the prince had given him when he parted with him in Dingzhou before going to the war.

The wind blew, bringing a hint of coolness.

"Leaving 30,000 people behind, I feel it is still not enough, we should increase it a little more."

With the successive capture of Wugut City, Lishan City and Buyeo City, the strategic goals set by the emperor were basically achieved, and he began to consider returning home.

The original plan was to leave behind 30,000 soldiers and horses, but now it seems a little insufficient, after all, many city walls have been captured.

To the west of Jicui Mountain, as all the major cities had been captured, the lords of the remaining large number of small and medium-sized mountain cities of Goguryeo abandoned their cities, fled with their soldiers and civilians, and retreated to the cities to the east of Jicui Mountain.

All of a sudden, they occupied a large number of uninhabited cities.

If these 30,000 people were to be spread across the cities like a pancake, the burden would inevitably become less and less.

But we can't help but send troops to garrison.
Now, there are three more governorates in the Andong Protectorate, namely, the Wuguzhou Governorate, the Daxingzhou Governorate, and the Buyeo Governorate.

It had six military governorships and eighteen states.

According to the emperor's intention, each military governor's office would have one main and one deputy city for garrisoning, while other castles would have a small number of garrisons. This was also based on the original Goguryeo people's setting of one area with two city cores.

For example, in the Taizi River Basin, there are Liaodong City and Baiyan City, and the two cities are close to each other.

Xincheng is grouped with Gaimucheng, and Buyeocheng is grouped with Geumsancheng.

Anshi City and Jian'an City are in one group, and Beisha City and Jili City are in another group.

The Daxing City at the mouth of the Yalu River is grouped together with the Bochu City, and the Wugut City and Lishan City are grouped together.

In a region, one main city and one deputy city form a core. If you guard these two cores, then the entire region can be controlled.

The big city has 3,000 soldiers stationed, the secondary city has 2,000 soldiers stationed, so the six groups of twelve cities will have 30,000 soldiers stationed. The other mountain cities and fortresses, as well as the subsequent beacon towers, ports, and docks will also need soldiers stationed.

Even if we divide the troops into garrisons according to the garrison system, the upper garrison has 500 men, the middle garrison has 300 men, and those with less than that are the lower garrisons. Fifty men are the upper garrison, thirty men are the middle garrison, and those with less than that are the lower garrison.

Many garrisons shall be established.

It is probably necessary to set up twenty upper towns, thirty-five middle towns, ninety lower towns, and garrisons, for a total of more than three hundred.

There are probably more than 40,000 people guarding these garrisons alone.

Adding the 30,000 garrisons in the previous twelve cities, there will be more than 70,000 garrisons in total.

This is far more than the 30,000 troops previously planned.
Leaving more than this many people behind is not just a matter of leaving more soldiers, it also involves material supplies and so on.

Especially winter clothes and quilts.

The problem of food and firewood has been solved.
There is no need to worry about barracks, as we can move into the existing city fortresses.

The soybeans, wheat, corn and other crops in this field can be harvested again in October, so we can have a lot of reserves before winter.

"Before the Bohai Sea freezes over, we will be able to supply winter cotton clothes and quilts."

"You must hurry up and do it as early as possible," Li Shimin said repeatedly, gathering his clothes.

Looking at the transport ships on the Liao River, Li Shimin finally said after a long while, "Let's prepare to return home early. Maybe we can still catch up with the prince to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival."

Although there are still some small regrets in my heart,

But the emperor was not the kind of person who would easily lose himself.
"Liaodong is cold early, the grass is dry and the water is frozen, so it is difficult for soldiers and horses to stay for long. This Eastern Expedition has achieved such a great victory that the Goguryeo people have all fled to the east of Jicui Mountain and are hiding in their cities, trembling and afraid to come out.

Just leave some troops to garrison Liaodong, and I hope Your Majesty will return victoriously soon."

All the cities that should be captured were captured,

Although there are still many cities and fortresses west of the Yalu River, it is meaningless to continue to attack those mountain cities now.
Taking advantage of the cool autumn weather, we can retreat early and save some food and fodder.

This winter, neither side has the energy to launch another large-scale offensive.

Everyone goes back to their own homes, each looking for his own mother.

But the Tang army won a great victory this time. Not only did it completely destroy the three lines of defense of the Goguryeo people, Liaoze, Liaoshui, and the Liaodong Great Wall, it even directly broke through Jicui Mountain and reached the mouth of the Yalu River.

The Liaodong Wugut Road was completely opened up, leading directly from Liaodong City to Daxing City at the mouth of the Yalu River.

This means that the Tang Dynasty has the ability to march straight to Pyongyang at any time.

The Liaodong mountain city defense system that Goguryeo had operated for hundreds of years has completely failed.

The Tang Dynasty could attack when advancing and defend when retreating.

Completely take the initiative.

If we don't fight this year, we can continue fighting at any time next year. It's all up to the Tang Dynasty to decide whether to fight or not.

"I plan to move all the families and relatives of these soldiers stationed in Liaodong and settle them directly in Liaodong."

The emperor drew on the garrison system that Wu Huaiyu had previously established in the Western Regions. He no longer rotated soldiers from the Central Plains to garrison in the border areas, as the cost of going back and forth was too high and unstable.

Soldiers were drawn from the inland areas and moved directly to Liaodong with their families to settle down. These soldiers became permanent border troops.

In Liaodong, a Zhechongfu was set up, a map was drawn, and land was distributed to the army, and more land was given to the families of the border troops, and some Goguryeo captives were even given to the border troops as slaves. These people were the backbone of Liaodong in the future, and later the people were relocated to the border, and some Goguryeo people were also included in the rule.

This system is of great benefit to the rapid stabilization of the newly recovered Liaodong, but of course it also has some hidden dangers.

The hidden danger is naturally that these border troops will form a local vassal group over time.

In the past, the border troops were rotated in from the inland areas, who would serve for one or two years and then go back. They came from all over the country, and the officers and soldiers were constantly on the move.

The camp remains permanent, but the soldiers and generals change.

However, after the implementation of this permanent border army, and even the localization of the border army, the soldiers were no longer government soldiers but recruited soldiers, regular professional soldiers, and the mobility of middle and lower-level officers also decreased.

The soldiers' homes are in the border areas, and all their relationships are in the border areas, so they will naturally form a community of interests.

It is indeed more efficient than the original rotation system for garrisoning the border, but over time, the central government's control over the border areas will definitely decline.

Tang Xuanzong's ten military governors did make great contributions to Li Longji's expansion of territory, but later they also led to the An-Shi Rebellion.

Any system actually has its pros and cons.
Even the system needs to be patched continuously during operation.

When they were first formulated, they were all aimed at current needs, but other problems gradually emerged later.

For Li Shimin now,
What he urgently needed was to consolidate the Liaodong region he had conquered, and even to prepare for the conquest of Goguryeo and the recovery of the Korean Peninsula.

The emperor's most urgent concern at the moment is how to consolidate the newly occupied territories and prepare for the conquest of the entire Goguryeo. As for the possibility that the border troops may be organized into local groups in the future, the emperor is certainly aware of this.

This is nothing new.

For example, the Six Garrisons of the Northern Wei Dynasty later became local military groups. The Six Garrisons Uprising also destroyed the Northern Wei Dynasty. The military men of the Wuchuan and Huaishuo Garrisons also established the Eastern and Western Wei, Northern Qi and Northern Zhou Dynasties respectively.

But just as the border army system that Wu Huaiyu first tried out in the Western Regions achieved remarkable results, Li Shimin now attaches great importance to the current benefits.

As for future issues, they can be readjusted after destroying Goguryeo and conquering the Korean Peninsula.

The Andong Protectorate was expanded from 30,000 soldiers to 70,000 garrisons, or possibly even 80,000 garrisons. The military power of Su Dingfang, the Protector-General, became quite heavy.

Six military governorships, eighteen states, and eighty thousand border troops.

"Huaiyu, how about you take charge of the Protectorate General of Andong and let Su Dingfang be the Deputy Protector General? I'm worried that Su Lie lacks the experience to handle such a big project," asked the emperor.

Wu Huaiyu refused without any hesitation.

The emperor couldn't even fully trust Su Dingfang, so how could he give him such great power? If the emperor really trusted him so much, he would let him continue to lead the Western Regions. There would be no need to transfer him back to the court and cause so many troubles.

"I suggest that we follow the old rules and have one of the princes take up the post of Grand Protector. Su Lie can be the chief officer of the Grand Protectorate or the deputy Grand Protector and preside over the affairs of the palace. The court can then select a few capable officials to serve as assistants and together with Su Dingfang, they can preside over Liaodong. Then we can have peace and stability."

Li Shimin fully recognized Su Dingfang's abilities, but he could not completely trust him.

In other words, the emperor would not completely trust anyone.

Liaodong is now such a big business, we must be extremely cautious.

the next day,
The emperor summoned the ministers who were accompanying him in Liaodong City to discuss matters such as the return of the army and the garrison of troops.

Finally, it was agreed that
There were 80,000 troops stationed in Liaodong, including the twelve main and deputy cities of the six military governor's offices, 3,000 in the main city and 2,000 in the deputy city, totaling 30,000. The troops stationed in the main city were called military towns, and those stationed in the deputy cities were called shouzhuo.

The rest of the mountain fortresses were stationed with garrison troops. The upper garrison had 500 soldiers, the middle garrison had 300 soldiers and less than 30 soldiers were called lower garrisons. The upper garrison had 50 soldiers, the middle garrison had 30 soldiers and less than 30 soldiers were called lower garrisons.

In addition, a Ya Army was set up in the Protectorate.

The total garrison consisted of 80,000 infantry and cavalry, in addition to the 12 battalions of the Goguryeo Imperial Guard commanded by Gao Huanquan, with 12,000 men, and the vassal city troops of Mohe with 12,000 men.

"The seventh prince, Li Yun, the prince of Jiang and governor of Anzhou, remotely commands the Grand Protectorate of Andong."

"The Right Guard General, Duke of Xing, Su Dingfang, was appointed Chief of the Andong Protectorate, Governor of Liaodong Prefecture, and Provincial Governor."

"Wei Ting was appointed as the Sima of the Andong Grand Protectorate, and Zhang Jian was appointed as the Deputy Grand Protector of the Andong Grand Protectorate and concurrently the Governor and Governor of Yingzhou."

······
A series of personnel appointments.

Su Dingfang had been the Grand Protector General for less than a month when he was promoted to the position of Chief Protector. On the other hand, Wei Ting was promoted from a Baiyi attendant to the Governor of Gaizhou, then to the Governor of Xincheng, and finally to the Sima of the Grand Protectorate. Although he was also given the title of Inspector, he was also promoted in leaps and bounds.

In addition, the emperor assigned Yingzhou Military Governorate to Andong Protectorate, so Andong Protectorate actually consisted of seven military governorates.
The six military governorates in Liaodong had 80,000 infantry and cavalry, not counting the troops from Yingzhou.

Zhang Jian, the governor of Yingzhou, was also given the title of deputy protector-general of Andong, while Li Daozon was promoted from governor of Jian'anzhou to deputy protector-general.

Wu Heita took over the post of governor and governor of Jian'an Prefecture.
Pang Xiaotai was appointed governor of Daxingzhou, and Zuo Nandang was appointed governor of Wugucheng.

The governorship of Buyeo was given to Qibi Heli, and the governorship of Xincheng was given to Zhishishili, two Hu people's son-in-law and generals.

Su Dingfang looked excited. He stepped forward to thank the emperor and accepted the decree with excitement on his face. He did not show any dissatisfaction with his demotion.

As the Chief Clerk of the Andong Protectorate, he was actually in charge of the affairs of the Protectorate, with seven military governorates, twenty-one prefectures, and a hundred thousand soldiers under his command.

He also took the Xi, Qi, Mohe and other tribes under his command.
He holds real power and becomes a frontier official in charge of a region.

Wu Huaiyu was also happy for his senior brother. He had finally made it and from then on became a big shot in the military of the Tang Dynasty.

Wu Huaiyi will also return to the Western Regions to continue serving as the Grand Protector of Anxi, while Cheng Yaojin will also go to Hetao to take over as the Grand Protector of Chanyu.

If we add the fact that Niu Jinda has been appointed as the governor of Liangzhou and Liu Lan has become the governor of Xiazhou, Wu Huaiyu's faction has risen again in the army.

(End of this chapter)