A Millennium Aristocratic Family Starting from the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 697 Sweeping Liaodong
After opening up the Western Region and shocking the plateau, the Tang Dynasty was also prospering internally, with abundant troops and food.

The Yinshan Military Horse Farm has recovered to have more than 100,000 war horses, the craftsmen outside the city of Chang'an are working day and night, warehouses everywhere are filled with food, the canals are filled with cargo ships transporting supplies, and countless soldiers are eager to try and make achievements.

Meanwhile, the opportunity finally arrived. Civil strife broke out in the Liaodong Kingdom. The king of Liaodong was killed by his powerful ministers, and another member of the clan was appointed king. He also sent troops to attack Silla and blocked Silla's way of paying tribute to the Tang Dynasty.

Baekje and the Liaodong Kingdom jointly attacked Silla and wanted to carve up Silla. Silla sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty to ask for help.

Not only that, the Liaodong Kingdom also sent envoys to the northern grasslands to contact Xue Yantuo and other grassland tribes to fight against the Tang Dynasty.

Li Shimin, who had long wanted to deal with Liaodong Kingdom, would not let go of such a good opportunity.

So he ordered 60,000 troops from the Henan, Hebei, Youzhou and Shandong prefectures in Guanzhong, and 40,000 troops from Jiangsu and Huaihe Rivers, and divided the troops into two groups to attack Liaodong Kingdom.

Because the Wang family has been doing business at sea all year round and is familiar with the sea conditions, the navy was specially led by Wang Chengyue. The other army was commanded by Xu Shiji.

Li Shimin's army to conquer the Liaodong Kingdom was far smaller than that of the former Sui Dynasty, and they were very well prepared. Although many people in the government and the public were worried, under the suppression of Li Shimin and Wang Xuanjing, the plan was implemented very quickly.

Although the Liaodong Kingdom defeated the Sui Dynasty, it also paid a huge price, especially the three consecutive years of conquests, which resulted in heavy casualties. In addition, Liaodong's farming technology lagged behind that of the Central Plains, and the environment was also worse than that of the Central Plains. Years later, he still has not regained his strength.

However, because of the defeat of the Sui Dynasty, the Liaodong Kingdom was not afraid of the arrival of the Tang army, but took the initiative to fight.

The Tang Dynasty's army was at its peak at this time. It was well-equipped with troops and well-prepared, and was led by famous generals. It was not comparable to the Sui army under Yang Guang's haphazard command.

Under the Liaodong City, tens of thousands of troops from both sides were fighting in a melee. Forty thousand troops of the Liaodong Kingdom came out of the city to attack, hoping to annihilate the Tang army in one battle. Seeing that the Liaodong Kingdom dared to go out of the city for a decisive battle, Xu Shiji immediately led his army to fight.

Li Daozong led four thousand cavalry into the formation, and Xu Shiji attacked from the flank. Although the Liaodong Kingdom had more people, they soon fell into chaos under the charge of the Tang army who was not afraid of death.

Xu Shiji took the opportunity to attack and defeated the Liaodong army in one battle. The Liaodong Kingdom was defeated, and then Xu Shiji took advantage of the situation to attack. This large city in Liaodong that had defeated Yang Guang three times was captured by the Tang army in one fell swoop.

Immediately after Xu Shiji captured Liaodong City, the waterway army, led by Wang Chengyue, came across the sea and entered Pyongyang.

Back then, Daqian used this tactic to defeat Jizi Korea and establish Lelang County. This time he was also successful.

Tens of thousands of naval troops rushed straight to Pyongyang. Pyongyang's defenders were frightened when they saw the Tang army all over the mountains and plains. In order to attack Pyongyang, Wang Chengyue specially brought 300 catapults.

These catapults are two feet long, five feet wide, one and a half people tall, and require seven to ten people to control. These catapults are the result of hundreds of years of continuous improvement by the Wang family.

A catapult can throw a ten-pound stone hundreds of paces.

Wang Chengyue ordered people to build mounds of earth outside the city, and then placed catapults here. Three hundred catapults threw stones and kerosene.

For a moment, stones like hailstones and fireballs fell into the city. The Pyongyang defenders on the city wall could not resist it at all. Stones the size of fists fell down like rain, and even those wearing iron armor would break their bones and tendons.

Seeing that the defenders at the top of the city were suppressed, Wang Chengyue directly ordered the army to attack.

How can the Pyongyang defenders stop it? Soon the Tang army rushed up the city wall and opened the city gate. The army marched straight in and captured Pyongyang. The Tang army advanced from the south to the north, and the Liaodong Kingdom was no match at all, and had to retreat continuously.

If winter had not arrived, most of Liaodong Kingdom would have been conquered.

Li Shimin did not plan to conquer the Liaodong Kingdom in one battle. The Liaodong Kingdom was different from the grassland nomads. It relied on mountain cities and was a semi-nomadic and semi-agricultural country with a population of millions.

Its foundation is profound and cannot be compared with the grassland tribes.

Therefore, when Li Shimin saw the weather changing, he did not attack again. Instead, he left part of the army stationed in the captured city, and the rest returned to the Central Plains to fight again next year.

Li Shimin conquered Liaodong Kingdom again the next year and did not give Liaodong Kingdom any chance to recuperate. Because Liaodong is located in the north, food matures later than in the Central Plains or even Youzhou.

The Tang army was dispatched at this time, and the Liaodong Kingdom had no time to harvest grain. The Tang army even took the opportunity to harvest a lot of grain. Even if it was too late to harvest, it would be burned.

Li Shimin sent fewer soldiers to conquer Liaodong Kingdom for the second time. His purpose was to harass Liaodong Kingdom and make it delay the farming season.

Although the Liaodong Kingdom relied on mountain cities and was easy to defend and difficult to attack, it still needed to cultivate food. However, it was harassed by the Tang army's attacks and had no time to harvest, and a large amount of food was damaged.

Although the casualties of Liaodong Kingdom were not large this time, food became increasingly tight.

The Liaodong Kingdom was so powerful. Compared with the Tang Dynasty, it had no strategic depth at all. In just one year, it became short of food. In the next two years, the Tang Dynasty continued to harass in this way, and the resistance of the Liaodong Kingdom became more and more powerful. weak.

In just a few years, the Liaodong Kingdom no longer had the power to resist, so Li Shimin sent troops to attack and destroy the Liaodong Kingdom.

The lingering Liaodong Kingdom, which had been attacked by the Tang Dynasty's tired enemy tactics, was the opponent of the Tang army and was quickly defeated by the Tang army.

Li Shimin issued an edict to abolish the Liaodong Kingdom, restore Lelang County in the Qian Dynasty, and move more than 100,000 households of Liaodong Kingdom as well as officials and wealthy families to Youzhou, Hebei, Shandong, and Hexi.

Then 300,000 people migrated from the Central Plains, Shandong, and Hebei to Liaodong.

The number of people in the Xia Dynasty in Liaodong was once again dominant. At the same time, Li Shimin ordered that all people in Liaodong who were willing to learn Tang language, change customs, and change Tang people's names could be treated preferentially as Tang people. Those who are willing to change their customs or change their names will be charged an additional 20% tax.

And they are not allowed to join the army, take the imperial examination, hold any official positions, etc.

As the imperial decree was issued, a large number of people in the Liaodong Kingdom changed their customs, wore Tang clothes, learned Tang language, and changed their Tang names.

Even if some local nobles were unwilling to do so, they did not dare to complain at all when the Tang army was stationed on the side. The local nobles and officials were forcibly moved away. Without these people in the lead, the land of Liaodong would never be able to turn over again. Any waves.

Without the people at the bottom, these aristocratic families in Liaodong Kingdom would become toothless tigers, and they would die out in a few years.

As long as it continues to be implemented for twenty or thirty years, when this generation dies, the new generation will completely forget the Liaodong Kingdom, and it will be completely integrated into the Zhuxia and become the Liaodong County and Lelang County of the Tang Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)