Sui Dynasty: I, Yang Guang, am both scrupulous and stable

Chapter 288 The loss of Goguryeo

Most things in the imperial city were kept secret. After more than ten days, there was still no news in the East Palace. Gradually, everyone seemed to no longer care about this matter, and it was slowly diluted.

From now on, ordinary people would occasionally talk about it after dinner, and they didn't dare to say it too loudly. They just talked about it privately and passed it around, saying all kinds of things.

The emperor and empress suppressed the matter from the beginning. If the secret had not been "accidentally" leaked, the prince who was supposed to be on the battlefield in Goguryeo might not have known the news at all.

Soon news came back from the battlefield in Goguryeo.

As the prince returned to Beijing, King Wei suddenly died. The Goguryeo people got the news and launched a counterattack.

The Sui army, leaderless and unwilling to fight, had low combat effectiveness. This battle was directly repulsed. Only the Goguryeo city that was captured in a surprise attack last winter was left. Almost a year's worth of battle results were all completed in a dozen days. Return with both hands.

In the morning, the crowd was excited: "Your Majesty, the general is willing to go to Goguryeo to lead the army in battle, but a small country dares to attack our country rashly during the peace talks. It is simply shameless and shameless."

"Yes, Your Majesty, our army will definitely be able to kill them without leaving a single piece of armor behind them if we regroup."

"Your Majesty, please allow me to lead the troops."

The courtiers in the court were getting more excited one by one. Of course, they were all just talking. This group of people were just expressing their anger. Most of the people who shouted the loudest were civil servants who had never led soldiers. It was impossible for the emperor to let them Those who went to lead the troops to fight, didn't the emperor know how much these people weighed?
In fact, there is only one person who the emperor wants to express now to fight against Goguryeo.

Jin Wang Yang Guang.

But throughout the morning, Yang Guang didn't say a word, didn't express a single attitude, and didn't say a word about the war situation in Goguryeo.

The emperor said to the ministers: "Gao Jiong has arrived in Goguryeo to stabilize the war situation and restart peace talks."

It's just that the peace talks this time were not proposed by Goguryeo but by the Sui Dynasty.

Although it was very shameless for Goguryeo to suddenly launch an attack during the peace talks, as a leader, if such a God-given opportunity could not be seized, the head coach of Goguryeo could commit suicide.

It is useless to stand here and point fingers. Winning on the battlefield is the truly useful negotiation condition.

To give an inappropriate example, you can see that Lü Meng, who had no overall view of the overall situation, was still complacent when he crossed the river in white clothes. This is indeed the case in many cases. Victory is far higher than morality.

Now Goguryeo has other better negotiating conditions in the peace talks, even the posture of a winner.

And the initiator of this farce, His Highness the Crown Prince, is missing. Neither the emperor nor the ministers mention it.

After the morning court, the emperor summoned Yang Guang alone. The emperor in the study was practicing calligraphy and asked Yang Guang while writing.

"Amo, you fought at the border with King Wei, and it was you who planned the Battle of Shuozhou. What do you think of the current battlefield situation in Goguryeo? I believe the news that we were defeated by Goguryeo will spread soon. When we go to Turks and other places, I'm afraid these foreigners on the northern frontline still have different intentions. Tell me how to stabilize the situation and regain our strength now."

"Father, I think we should withdraw from the army through peace talks."

"This is not your style. Everyone says that King Jin is good at conquering and fighting. Why are you so cowardly if you don't fight?"

Yang Guang immediately expressed his position: "My father wants my son to go, and my son has no objection. I am not afraid even if I die in battle on the border. But my father asked my son what I think. I will not change based on the current situation. I advocate peace talks." It’s not that I, my son, are timid.”

Yang Jian asked helplessly: "Why the peace talks?"

"Because our Sui Dynasty cannot bear the next failure."

Yang Guang began to analyze the reasons why the emperor could not fight: "First, the time has been lost and the people have been lost. Now he is leading people there. If he wants to fight again, he must reorganize the army first. How can the army that has just experienced such a great turmoil... It will be so easy to sort out.”

If the morale of the army is low, no matter how hard you fight, you will lose every battle. If you lose too many battles, it will be more likely to cause turmoil. Moreover, it is autumn now, and winter will follow. The surprise attack last winter is obviously inappropriate. In other words, if we continue to fight, This group of soldiers who have no fighting spirit really don't know how to fight in winter.

"Furthermore, Father, Gao Jiong is already in Goguryeo. Although he is not famous for leading troops, Father, you also know very well that Gao Jiong's ability to lead troops is not bad. Although he did not have any tricks in the previous battles, But they are all fighting steadily, and with their capabilities and status, our army has suffered consecutive defeats. It is extremely difficult to continue to fight and regain the chance of victory."

The emperor was naturally very clear about Gao Jiong's ability. He emphasized the word "stable".

The ability of his subordinates was second only to the emperor himself. Such a person could not stabilize the war situation in Goguryeo. It can be seen that the military morale of the Sui army has been completely lost.

Yang Guang continued: "Secondly, as my father said, although the Turkic peoples in the north have been greatly reduced in strength after fighting with us, if we are now losing consecutive battles with Goguryeo, and even spread to the Sui Dynasty, Then this group of ambitious people who nominally surrender to us will reignite the war, which will be very detrimental to us."

"So I believe that the most important thing now is not to defeat Goguryeo, but to stabilize the defeated army and plan for a big plan in the future. As long as our army's morale is stable, we can look for opportunities in the future. There is no need to fight now."

"In the future, when is the future? After this defeat, Goguryeo took away a lot of our weapons. Next time we may have to face Goguryeo who has firearms. The power of our weapons will be greatly reduced."

"Father, if Goguryeo wants to imitate firearms, it will definitely take a long time, and our weapons are still improving. Father, do you still remember what my son told you, that I want to build ships and go to sea to fight?"

"Are you planning to wait until the ship is built?"

"Father, you have already seen the steam engine. Although I haven't been able to get on the ship yet, I believe that I will be able to soon. The wind and waves in the Bohai Sea are incomparable with those in the East China Sea. If I just cross the Bohai Sea, I will definitely It can be made.”

The emperor's eyes were lonely, and he sighed softly: "Since I came to the throne, this is the first time I have lost a battle, the first time I have lost a battle!"

"It's a pity, it's a pity."

A wry smile.

If there had not been the return of the crown prince and the death of King Wei, the Sui soldiers would have occupied the current city, and Goguryeo had been fighting for a year. Their logistical reserves were not as rich as those of the Sui Dynasty. They might not have been able to fight for a while next year, and their Food was in short supply, and Goguryeo was in the bag.

Unfortunately, the war situation improved. In the end, the emperor and Yang Guang combined their opinions and decided to stop the war first.

The matter has come to this, and there is nothing to be done about it. After the situation calms down, he will try to do something big again, but Sui's face will be lost.

Although the emperor did not show it, this matter was a thorn in his heart. Since he ascended the throne, he had passed through many obstacles along the way and brought the Sui Dynasty to its current height, but he did not expect to eat it in a small Goguryeo. It was a big loss, and he couldn't blame anyone else for this. This was something caused by his prince.

Admitting one's failures is sometimes very difficult.

"When are you planning to attack Nan Chen next?"

"If it's quick, it'll be next year, if it's slow, it'll be the year after. We'll wait for the current situation."

"If anything happens, report back to Duofa Di."

"Yes, Father."

After talking about the business, Yang Guang asked: "Father, please take care of your dragon body. I see that you have lost some weight recently. My mother also said that you eat a lot less every day. No matter what, my father, your dragon body is important." "Well. , go down."

After Yang Guang walked out, Yang Jian punched his desk: "Stupid, stupid, how could I give birth to such a stupid son? If he had half the intelligence and stability of Amo, why would he be like this?"

During this period of time, few people mentioned the matter of the prince, but the more this happened, the more uncomfortable the emperor felt. No one even asked about such a big mistake. King Jin actually did not let anyone dwell on this matter. To condemn the prince.

If you compare goods, you have to throw them away, and if you compare people, you have to die.

The more they compare, the more they feel that Yang Yong is so stupid.

It's so stupid that it hurts, and it's so incompetent that it hurts.

The emperor came to the East Palace alone. The huge East Palace was almost empty. At this time, Yang Yong and Yun Zhaoxun were each under house arrest in a house. The two were like destitute prisoners. There would be special visits every day. The eunuch came to deliver the meal.

Yang Yong saw the emperor through the crack in the window. He immediately stepped forward and clawed at the boarded-up window and shouted: "Father, father, I understand that I am wrong, please let us out."

The originally tall and heroic prince was now much thinner. How could the prince, who was accustomed to a life of luxury and luxury, endure the hardships of a simple meal?

Facing the eldest son's plea, Yang Jian's face moved slightly, but in the end he could only sigh and walked to another room where Yun Zhaoxun was imprisoned.

Yun Zhaoxun, who was originally cute and charming, now looked like a swollen white pig.

The empress was never too cruel to her son and ensured his food and clothing, but Yun Zhaoxun had a large piece of lard mixed with rice for every meal, which was fishy and greasy.

I had to eat even when I was extremely hungry. My mouth was full of oil and my stomach was full of oil. In just a short time, I had already gained a lot of weight. Adding on the abnormal edema, I became even fatter.

The queen would never let this person, who was the culprit of the trouble in the prince's east palace, have an easy time.

When Yun Zhaoxun saw the emperor, he laughed loudly instead of begging for mercy. He stripped off all his clothes and danced crazily for the emperor to see.

Yunluo's head has actually been a little abnormal since the fall.

At this time, he displayed his ugly body in a very indecent manner, smiled ferociously, and muttered: "My son is not my daughter, and your son cannot be your son. Everyone has no son, oh No... I have a son, I have a son, you don’t have a son, you have a son but you don’t have a son anymore.”

The emperor glared at the culprit. The prince's east palace was now in a mess. There was no way to verify whether the prince's children were of his blood. The emperor hated this woman.

Death was too easy for her.

Before leaving, the emperor seemed to be talking to her, and seemed to be talking to himself.

"But please...don't die in front of me."

……

A few days later, the emperor was angry but could only let people complete the peace talks and temporarily calm down the incident.

In the end, the war was stopped at the cost of Goguryeo's loss of one city.

Although Goguryeo was beaten for a long time this time and many people died, in general the national strength was still there, and a lot of firearms were finally seized from the battlefield. This was what worried the Sui Dynasty the most.

King Wei's body returned to the capital. After an autopsy, it was confirmed that it was either poisoning, trauma, or sudden death. His life in his twenties ended abruptly.

On the day of King Wei's funeral, the whole city of Daxing was dressed in white and weeping endlessly. However, even at this time, the prince did not show up and was still under house arrest in the East Palace.

When it snowed in Daxing City, Yang Guang was ready to leave for Jiangling.

Before setting off, Yang Guang first arrived at the granary in Daxing City. Yu Qing, the former governor of Jingzhao and now the minister of the Ministry of Rites, followed behind him.

An old man like Yu Qingze is much more politically sensitive than everyone else and can smell key information that no one else is aware of yet, so he often interacts with Yang Guang during this period.

"Yu Shangshu, how is the storage capacity of the granary? I heard that grain production in various places is limited this autumn."

"Yes, His Highness really cares about the livelihood of the people. The grain output this autumn is less than [-]% of last year. However, the two national granaries in Daxing City and Luoyang City have sufficient stocks. However, the national granary in Youzhou City that has just been put into use now has insufficient stocks. It’s sufficient, but without a canal, transportation is a big problem.”

Yang Guang nodded and asked: "How is the canal going to Youzhou City now?"

Yu Qingze said slightly embarrassed: "Your Highness, because of Yu Wenxin's incident, Yu Wenkai was brought back to Daxing City for investigation, so some progress was delayed."

Yang Guang was naturally aware of Yu Wenkai's affairs. As Yu Wenxin's brother, he would naturally be investigated, and it was Yang Guang who personally protected him. The emperor also felt that Yu Wenkai had made great contributions, so he investigated However, after he did not participate in the rebellion, he was allowed to build canals and national granaries.

Yang Guang asked: "During the harvest this fall, the biggest reason for the decline in grain production is the disasters in Yangzhou and other production areas."

Yu Qing nodded: "Yes, among the major grain-producing areas, the main problem is that the lower reaches of the Yangtze River have bad weather during the harvest season."

"If you put it this way, if our side is damaged, Nanchen's side should be the same."

"Yes."

Nanchen's food, especially Jiankang City's food, is largely self-sufficient in the surrounding areas, mainly because that area is rich in products.

There was no trouble of large quantities of grain being transported from east to west, north and south like the Sui Dynasty, but therefore there was no large national granary to prepare for rainy days like the Sui Dynasty.

Naturally, their food security was guaranteed, but it was incomparable to that of the Sui Dynasty.

Yu Qingze looked at Yang Guang's smile and knew that he was thinking of some bad idea.

With the experience of a previous food war in Daxing City, Yu Qingze also had some thoughts on this matter.

"Your Highness, do you plan to use a food war to attack Nanchen?"

Yang Guang said slowly: "Food is the first priority for the people. Food is always a very important thing. Food security is the prerequisite for all security. I want to fight a food war, but now Nanchen should not be short of food. In the short term, It’s hard to see the effect inside, this time it’s their clothes that were hit.”

Yu Qing didn't quite understand.

Yang Guang did not explain to him: "Yu Shangshu, as long as we know that we are not short of food, we will not be controlled by others."

(End of this chapter)