"Your Majesty, more than 50,000 people were captured, more than 20,000 were killed and wounded, and the remaining 50,000 or 60,000 people fled in all directions!"

When night fell, Niu Jinda finally completed the preliminary statistics of the results.

"Cheap those people, they actually escaped!"

Li Shimin was very satisfied with today's results, but he could not help but regret that he had not completely annihilated the enemy army.

In fact, fighting on the grassland, unless you have an absolute superiority in strength and can surround the opponent.

Otherwise, if you want to annihilate the other party, you are basically talking in a dream.

For example, it is very rare for 20,000 or 30,000 people to defeat more than 100,000 people and capture more than 50,000 people.

"Your Majesty, in fact, the last general thinks that letting these people escape at this time is not necessarily a bad thing; It is likely that the war in the future, because of their propaganda, can save a lot of trouble. The last general felt that it was better for us to return to Baiyan City to rest for a few days, and also settle the prisoners by the way, so that these people would not oppose our Tang Dynasty again in the future. ”

The defeat of hundreds of thousands of Goguryeo reinforcements basically meant that Liaodong no longer had a decent opponent.

At this time, it may be a good thing to let the news ferment.

Li Shimin listened to Niu Jinda's words, thought about it, and felt that it was feasible.

"I just heard Kuan'er say two days ago that the two kings of Southern Goguryeo and Northern Goguryeo have now arranged for envoys to go to various cities, demanding that all cities surrender to our Tang Dynasty and not resist; Now coupled with the news of our defeat of Goguryeo's reinforcements, it is estimated that some city lords who originally wanted to resist will have to be re-weighed. ”

"That's right! His Royal Highness the King of Chu made this move in a real second, and it simply crushed the fighting spirit of the Goguryeo people without any effort. Whether they supported King Gozo or Gao Huanquan, there was no reason to continue fighting. Even some die-hard loyalists of Yuan Gai Suwen will probably take this opportunity to make a new choice; Either go to Pyongyang to pledge allegiance to King Gozang, or go to Seoul to follow Gao Huanquan, or go to several cities on the border of Silla and follow Yuangae Su Wenming. ”

Niu Jinda can also be regarded as having thoroughly seen Li Kuan's layout ability, and feels that the entire Goguryeo is a chess piece on Li Kuan's chess table.

Originally, he was worried that the war might not go well, and the Tang Dynasty would have to pay a lot of warriors' blood to defeat Goguryeo.

Now, it seems that this is not the case at all.

"No matter where they choose to go, it's a good thing for us to take Liaodong. Kuan'er has written a special memora to me, suggesting that the Yalu River should be used as the boundary, and the west should be included in the Tang Frontier, and Liaodong Dao should be established to govern this area, and immediately began to build a cement road from Youzhou to Yingzhou, as well as from Yingzhou to Liaodong City. And the merchants of Chang'an City could be encouraged to come to Liaodong City to build various workshops, and the imperial court could exempt them from taxes for three to five years, and give away the land of the workshops for free.

However, Kuan'er advised me to appoint two kings of Goguryeo in the north and south respectively, so that they would both become the kings of the legitimate new state; At the same time, the imperial court's sailors set up several garrisons in Pyongyang, Seoul and other places, and stationed a sailor division for a long time to ensure that the situation on the peninsula was always under our control.

Jinda, do you think this idea is good or bad? ”

Although Li Shimin had already approved Li Kuan's suggestion in his heart, he still wanted to hear the opinions of others.

After all, his original plan was to destroy Goguryeo, complete the historical task of Yang Guangfu, and make Li Tang's country more legitimate.

However, the peninsula has many mountains and few lands, the people as a whole are barren after all, and these people have generally accepted the rule of Goguryeo, Silla or Baekje for hundreds of years, and it is very difficult for the Tang Dynasty to truly subdue them.

If the input and output are not proportional, there is no need for such a thing.

"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the King of Chu's idea is naturally excellent! In fact, the countries on the Korean Peninsula, in addition to the original Silla and Baekje, as well as the current South Goguryeo and North Goguryeo, are enough for them to drink a pot. In addition, there are soldiers and horses led by Yuangai Suwen who occupy more than a dozen cities in Goguryeo, and there are Japanese people who capture several cities in Baekje, and the situation will definitely be very chaotic at that time.

The more chaotic the peninsula is, the more it can reflect the attraction of our Datang. I don't think there's anything else that is remarkable, but the population on the peninsula is a bit large. Now a high-grade Silla maid can be sold for a high price of 100 yuan in Chang'an City. At that time, the peninsula will be full of wars and famines, and there will definitely be countless people who will take the initiative to come to Datang desperately. This can just alleviate the situation of labor tension in Chang'an and other places. ”

Niu Jinda has had a lot of contact with Li Kuan, and his thinking has been somewhat affected.

In his opinion, as long as it is good for Datang, he can do it.

As for whether doing so will damage the interests of other countries, this is not something he has to consider.

"I think so, too! Then handle it according to this, and tomorrow I will arrange for people to go to Chang'an City, and let the Ministry of Industry start planning the construction of cement roads. Also, this expedition, there are also some caravans to follow, and when the time comes, you can also let them go to various cities to choose their favorite shops, and take this opportunity to let them take root in Liaodong, so that Liaodong can truly become our Datang's Liaodong Road. Otherwise, after ten or twenty years, Liaodong will be occupied by those Hu people again. ”

"If you really want long-term peace and stability, the last general thinks that the Ministry of Education should take action first, and let the various academies in Chang'an City arrange a group of students to come to Liaodong. Only when the people living in Liaodong regard themselves as Tang people and are proud of being Tang people, can we truly solve the problem of stability. In the long run, the most effective way is to build Mongolian schools and primary schools, so that more people can read and hyphenate and accept the baptism of our thoughts.

In addition, the last general felt that he could also ask the officials to increase the efforts to recruit scholars in the spring of next year, arrange more young officials to come to Liaodong, and run Liaodong Road according to some ideas studied in the Military Academy and Guanshishan Academy, so that Liaodong can quickly become a desirable place. It's not the same as Lingnan, which makes people talk about it. ”

After today's battle, Niu Jinda also felt that this expedition to Liaodong had come to an end.

So he couldn't help but start thinking about the future rule.

"That's right! Jinda's idea is old-fashioned, and it is very in line with the actual situation in Liaodong. In fact, I am also thinking of finding an opportunity to expand the influence of the imperial examination, admit more students, so that more people can enter the officialdom through the imperial examination, and break the inherent pattern of the appointment of officials in the Tang Dynasty. Now this opportunity is just right! ”

Li Shimin has been engaged in the reform of the imperial examination for 10 years.

Basically, every few years, there are some reforms.

In order to break the family's monopoly on talents!