In June 631, the midsummer in Chang'an was very hot, and Xia Xue and her one-year-old son Li Zhi were taking refuge in the royal garden Furong Garden. The faint scent of lilacs fills the air, and the sparse sunlight shining through the gaps in the trees gives it a dreamy feeling.

Xia Xue, who was pulling her son to learn to walk in the garden corridor, suddenly heard the eunuch on duty outside the garden report loudly: "The emperor has arrived!" ”

Xia Xue looked up and saw Li Shimin walking in with a somewhat gloomy face.

Xia Xue hurriedly picked up her son and came to Li Shimin, Li Shimin saw Xia Xue and her baby son, his face immediately turned cloudy, and after kissing Xia Xue first, he took his son and happily hugged him a few times. With Xia Xue, Li Shimin has gradually become a bit romantic in later generations, not as conservative and old-fashioned as the ancients.

"Erlang, why did I see that your face was not very good today, did you encounter something unhappy?" Xia Xue asked with concern.

"Alas, Xue'er, I didn't want to disturb you, but this matter is too serious, I still want to ask for your opinion."

"What bothered us and didn't bother, what's the matter?" Xia Xue knew that Li Shimin loved and trusted him very much, and even had some admiration complexes, and he would definitely consult with him when he encountered a major event and was difficult to decide.

"An envoy from Silla came to report today that Goguryeo did not listen to my mediation advice and continued to invade the country with Baekje and Fusang in a vain attempt to destroy and divide Silla. The leader was Goguryeo's powerful minister Mo Lizhi - Yuangai Suwen, and he also arrogantly said that the Sui Dynasty wanted to conquer Goguryeo, which led to the destruction of the country, and if you dare to attack Goguryeo, you will still let you lose the country. In order to show his contempt for my Datang, he also invaded the northeast border and looted a lot of property and the people of Datang, which is tolerable, which is unbearable! Li Shimin said indignantly.

"What do the ministers think?"

"Basically divided into two factions, one is that the Tang Dynasty is currently focusing on the development of domestic construction, as soon as possible to restore the devastated towns and villages after the war, it is not suitable to wage war abroad, and Goguryeo is located in the bitter cold land of the northeast, the climate is harsh, the road is difficult to travel, the grain and grass logistics are difficult to guarantee, "one husband is the key to ten thousand people" The dangerous passes are very many, it is difficult to solve the problem quickly, if it is delayed for a long time, it will enter the winter, where the winter is dozens of degrees below zero, and there are often snowstorms, Tang. The army will freeze to death if it doesn't have to fight. Li Shimin's face was a little gloomy, "The other faction said that troops should be sent to teach Goguryeo, Baekje and Fusang a lesson, otherwise if they are allowed to act recklessly, they will seriously threaten the northeast of our Tang Dynasty, and the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

Xia Xue carefully recalled the relevant historical records.

Goguryeo's current minister is Mo Lizhi - Yuan Gai Suwen, Mo Li Zhi is a new highest official position set up by itself to replace the Great Pair Lu, and its functions have actually gone beyond the nature of the prime minister, and it is a temporary special official position set up by the power minister Yuan Gai Suwen to usurp the throne.

Yuan Gai Suwen was an iron-fisted military dictator of Goguryeo. He staged a coup d'état, killed the king of Goguryeo, Gomu, and made Gozang king. During his reign, he ruled brutally at home, and the people of the country could not bear the suffering; Actively prepared for war abroad, attacked Silla, provoked wars, and refused the armistice warning of Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, and had a fierce conflict with the Tang Dynasty on the historical issue of the ownership of Liaodong, which led to a series of historical events such as Li Shimin's personal conquest of Liaodong by Taizong of the Tang Dynasty.

It is said that Yuangai Su Wenchang is a burly and handsome, with a thick and slender beard, known as the "beautiful bearded man", likes to wear a crown decorated with gold, often wears five swords on his body, and has a large number of samurai accompanying him in and out, majestic and murderous, so that people dare not look up. At present, Goguryeo can be said to be in power and ambitious.

According to historical records, although Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, conquered Goguryeo and occupied some of its cities, he did not move its bones, and the destruction of Goguryeo was completed more than ten years after Li Shimin's death. Moreover, Li Shimin's health deteriorated when he returned after conquest of Goguryeo.

Thinking that if her husband's health was damaged because of his personal conquest of Goguryeo, Xia Xue was resolutely opposed.

"Erlang, what is your opinion?" Xia Xue asked tentatively.

"My opinion is to resolutely solicit and be prepared to march in person!" Li Shimin said resolutely.

Sure enough, just like in the history books, my husband wants to conquer Liaodong in person.

In order to prevent the proliferation of firearms with excessive lethality, Xia Xue has always limited the use of firearms to 10,000 Angel Firearms Corps, 100 steel warships, 5,000 navies and 5,000 Angel Marines, and this establishment has been strictly controlled. The rest, including the main army of angels led by Li Jing, are also mainly based on cold weapons such as bows, crossbows, knives and guns. Regard firearms and weapons as the core strategic security of Datang, just like nuclear weapons in later generations, which will only be used at critical times, is the last great wall of national defense, and the sharpest sword of national security, of course, cannot be overflowing. Therefore, Li Shimin is very much in favor of this idea of "strictly controlling the establishment of firearms", and Li Shimin feels that it is the most reassuring and safest to hand it over to Tianxian's wife. Angel guns and other firearms are Datang's "secret weapons", and they are generally not used unless they are absolutely necessary, and of course there is no need for so many firearms!

Now Datang relies on more advanced steel smelting technology, steam engines, internal combustion engines, electric motors, etc., and the cold weapons manufactured by Datang, such as Tang knives, angel crossbows, light plate armor, bright armor, three-edged armor-piercing guns, shields, bows and arrows, etc., are much more advanced than the cold weapons of other countries, enough to cross the world, and after all, the production cost and difficulty of these cold weapons are much smaller than those of firearms, and they can be equipped on a larger scale. Army.

A month ago, the Nanzhao Kingdom, whose territory was in the Yunnan region of later generations, raised an army to invade the southwest border of the Angel Country, killing and plundering many ordinary people of the Angel Kingdom in the southwest border area. Now although the Angel Kingdom has joined the territory of the Tang Dynasty, its name is now called: Angel Special Zone, and everything will remain independent for fifty years, including military defense. Therefore, Xia Xue did not ask Li Shimin to send troops to help, but sent 10,000 firearms corps and 20,000 auxiliary corps, led by Su Dingfang, to the southwest to quell the chaos and conquer Nanzhao.

The Nanzhao Kingdom was a state located in the southwest of the Central Plains that emerged in the 8th century, and its people were mainly composed of Wuman and Baiman, and was established by the leader of Mengshezhao, Pi Luoge, and at its peak ruled the whole territory of Yunnan and Guizhou, Sichuan, southeastern Tibet, northern Vietnam, northern Laos and northern Burma. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, there were many tribes in the Erhai region, among which there were six larger tribes, known as the Six Edicts. They are: Yue Xi Zhao, Shi Lang Zhao, Lang Qiong Zhao, Mengshe Zhao and so on. Mengshe edict is in the south of the edicts, called "Nanzhao". Nanzhao successively conquered the provinces of the Xi'er River region, destroyed the other five edicts, and unified the Erhai region.

The Erhai area became the capital of Nanzhao. The ten eyelids centered on Dali City are the center of governance, society, economy and culture of Nanzhao. These ten are: Yunnan Zhi, Pintangzhi, Baiya, Zhaochuan, Mengshe, Mengqin, Xuanchuan, Yamato, Tho, and Dajiao.

However, Nanzhao's ambitions did not end there. After the success of the unification of the Six Edicts, they wanted to rule a larger region, which contradicted the Tang Dynasty, which wanted the surrounding small states to balance each other. Soon after Nanzhao unified the Erhai region, he took advantage of the turmoil in eastern Yunnan to merge the eastern part of the country, and had a fierce conflict with the Tang Dynasty Angel Special Zone, and raised troops to invade the southwest border of the angel country, killing and plundering many people of the angel country in the southwest border area. As a result, Xia Xue had to send Su Dingfang to lead the angel army to conquer the ambitious Nanzhao Kingdom.

The primeval forest to Nanzhao is like a huge net, it is difficult to get out if you get into it, and if you don't have a long knife and a giant axe to open the way, it will be difficult to move an inch in the thorn vines. Lin Mang was covered with miasma, and in the humidity that seemed to be foggy but not foggy, it was like entering the ghost realm and demon realm.

The Nanzhao Mountains, with high mountains and deep valleys, peculiar shapes, changeable climates, heavy rain and fog, rivers and streams, different directions, green and dark primeval jungles, is a closed world isolated from the world, and outsiders are out-and-out labyrinths or cold and vicious traps.

The mountains of Nanzhao are far away, the terrain is complex, the trees are large and the forests are deep, the miasma is pervasive, poisonous insects are everywhere, the roads are difficult to travel, and there are many ethnic minority tribes, and the marching process of the angel army is very difficult, and it is not easy to quell the chaos. According to the telegram sent by Su Dingfang, it was known that it would be difficult to calm down without at least six months.

The Navy's 5,000 marines also rebelled and rioted in Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Malay Peninsula and other Southeast Asian archipelago areas at the beginning of this month, killing angel country workers and sabotaging oil exploitation. incident, the marines were led by Sima Chao, and all of them were sent there to quell the chaos.

At this juncture, Goguryeo provoked the Tang Dynasty and infringed on the people on the border of the Tang Dynasty.

Xia Xue was a little anxious, and she had to find a way to stop it, but she knew that Li Shimin had a resolute personality and would not change once she made a decision.

If he said that he would wait for a few more months and wait for his Angel Army Huo Weapon Legion to come back to help fight, it is estimated that it will seriously hurt Li Shimin's self-esteem. Xia Xue knew that her husband Li Shimin was an emperor of the ages, a hero of the world, a military genius, and the god of war of the Tang Dynasty, and he could be invincible with his own strength alone, for example, in the past, he defeated more than 100,000 Dou Jiande's army with only 3,500 people, and all of them were cold weapons, so it would be difficult to do it if he put it on himself or anyone.

Therefore, Xia Xue is very confident in her husband Li Shimin.

If you are only worried about your husband's health and oppose your husband's achievements and expansion, then it is not good for the self-confidence, dedication, pride and ambition of this great emperor on horseback in history, if a man does not have self-confidence, dedication, pride, and ambition, then he will languish, decadent and decaying, and Xia Xue is of course more reluctant to see such a result. Since her husband belongs to the battlefield of battle, then in his youth and prime, before he is 40 years old, he should not stop his ambition to expand his territory and make contributions.

Xia Xue carefully recalled the historical records, and remembered that in history, when Li Shimin personally conquered Goguryeo, he was already 45 years old. Now due to the butterfly effect caused by his own crossing, this time has been greatly advanced, and now Li Shimin is only 33 years old, upright and young in his prime. Xia Xue knew that Li Shimin's health declined after the age of 45, mainly because of their family genetic disease - high blood pressure. 45 years old in ancient times, belongs to the threshold of old age, people's physique, physical fitness, immunity and so on will be seriously reduced, the expedition to Liaodong, the environment is difficult, the diet is rough, the danger is stressful, the lack of rest, excessive fatigue and other reasons, will lead to the aggravation of high blood pressure, resulting in a decline in physical health. Now Li Shimin is only 33 years old, upright and young in his prime, and his physique, physical fitness, immunity, and other aspects should be in the golden age of his life, so even if the environment of the expedition to Goguryeo is difficult, dangerous and tense, Li Shimin's current body should be bearable.

Thinking of this, Xia Xue no longer objected to Li Shimin's personal expedition, "If it's an eagle, let him soar into the blue sky, this is true understanding and true love!" Xia Xue said silently in her heart.

"Erlang, I also support your opinion, we should teach Goguryeo, Baekje, Fusang and other countries a lesson, Goguryeo is the leader, then eliminate it, even if the offender is far away, he will be punished, let the surrounding countries know the majesty of my Datang, and dare not easily offend my Datang in the future, so as to ensure long-term peace and stability! In addition, Goguryeo has fertile land, rich mineral resources, and an important geographical location, which is worth fighting both strategically and economically! ”

"Cher!" Li Shimin kissed Xia Xue again excitedly, "I know that my wife understands me best and supports me the most!" It has always been my wish to conquer Goguryeo and include Liaodong in the territory of the Tang Dynasty! Li Shimin excitedly also used Xia Xue's hometown nickname for his wife.

"However, Erlang must pay attention to safety, don't charge ahead, that's not what the boss should do, as the boss, protecting his own safety is the greatest responsibility for the commander's army!" Xia Xue admonished.

Li Shimin gently held Xia Xue's jade hand, and felt the warmth flow from his arm to his mouth little by little.

"Uh-huh. Now that I have Xue'er, my son, and my care, I will cherish my life even more, so don't worry. ”

At this time, the son was already asleep, and the two gently carried the child to the bedroom bed and let the child sleep.

Then Xia Xue pulled Li Shimin to the study, she took a piece of paper, and quickly drew a map of Liaodong on it, and marked Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla, and Fusang on the map.

Then he gave Li Shimin an analysis of the reasons for the failure of Emperor Yang of Sui to conquer Liaodong.

In the eighteenth year of the emperor's reign (598 AD), Emperor Wen of Sui ordered Yang Liang, the king of Han, and Shiji, the king of Shangzhu, to be the marshal of the marching army, and Zhou Luoyu to be the head of the water army, leading an army of 300,000 to attack Goguryeo by land and water. Yang Liang, the king of the Han Dynasty, led the Sui army by land to Linyu Pass (Shanhaiguan in later generations). During the rainy season, the roads were muddy, the supply of food and grass was insufficient, there was a lack of food in the army, and epidemics were encountered. The Sui army of the waterway, led by Zhou Luoyu, went out to sea from Donglai, and went straight to Pingyang City, where they encountered strong winds at sea and sank many ships. On September 21, both land and water routes were forced to return. Eight to nine-tenths of the Sui army died. The Sui army retreated.

The king of Goguryeo, Gao Yuan, did not obey the ceremony, and Emperor Yang of Sui decided to conquer Goguryeo.

Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty issued an edict to gather the world's armies, regardless of the north and south, far and near, to converge in Zhuo County. In addition to the military, there are hundreds of thousands of people who have been on the road for a long time, crowding the roads, day and night, the dead pillowing each other, the stinking roads, and the world is in turmoil.

Before the first conquest of Goguryeo, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty in order to conquer Goguryeo, excessively brutally conscripted the people, resulting in the poverty of the people, and the people's materials and people's strength were exhausted. Wang Bo, Dou Ziying, Dou Jiande and other people were righteous, and from then on, the people were innumerable, and they captured the city. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty ordered Duwei and Yingyang to hunt down with the county and county, and kill them if they were captured, but there were still more people who were righteous, and they still couldn't prohibit the people from being righteous.

In the first month of the eighth year of the Great Cause, all the soldiers of the Sui Dynasty who enlisted were concentrated in Zhuo County, with 1,133,800 soldiers, and the number of people who transported supplies for them was twice the number of soldiers. At the end of March of the eighth year of the Great Cause, the army of the Sui Dynasty arrived at the Liao River. Because the bridge built by the Sui army was still a few meters away from the shore, the Sui army went to the water to engage the Goguryeo army on the opposite bank, and as a result, the Sui army died a lot, and the Sui Dynasty's Zuotunwei general Mai Tiecane and Hu Benlang generals Qian Shixiong and Meng Cha were all killed. After that, the Sui army lengthened the bridge, finally crossed the Liao River, and defeated the Goguryeo army on the east bank. At the beginning, when Emperor Yang of Sui met in Liaoshui, Emperor Yang of Sui ordered them to be divided into three ways in order to prevent the generals from covering the attack of the light army and fighting alone to win the reputation of the merit and reward, so they were ordered to be divided into three ways. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty ordered the generals that if Goguryeo wanted to surrender, they should be appeased and accepted, and no more attacks should be made. When the city of Liaodong was about to be captured, the Goguryeo army in the city claimed to surrender, and the generals of the Sui Dynasty did not dare to continue the attack according to the order of Emperor Yang of Sui, but played Emperor Yang of Sui first, and when the reply order arrived, the Goguryeo army in the city was ready to defend and began to resist again. This situation has been repeated many times, and Emperor Yang of Sui still does not wake up. The Sui army still did not capture the city of Liaodong. Even after Emperor Yang personally went to the front line to command, the Sui army, whose morale had declined, was stalemate for another month under the stubborn resistance of the defenders of Liaodong and failed to take the city. Other cities of Goguryeo also held out, and the Sui army did not take them.

The general of Youyiwei led the Jiang and Huaishui armies into the Hunshui (Datong River), and then led 40,000 elite soldiers to land and attack Pingyang, but the Goguryeo defeated Laihu'er, and the Sui soldiers returned only a few thousand. Yu Wenshu and others led a Sui army of 305,000 people, which was defeated by Goguryeo, and Xin Shixiong, the general of the Sui Dynasty's Zuotun Guard, was killed in battle. When Yuwenshu and other nine armies crossed the Liao River, there were 305,000 soldiers, and when they returned to Liaodong City, there were only 2,700 people, and tens of thousands of materials, reserves, weapons, and ordnance were lost. Emperor Yang of Sui's first attack on Goguryeo ended in a crushing defeat.

In the ninth year of the Great Cause (613), Emperor Yang of Sui once again drove his own expedition to Goguryeo. In the first month, Emperor Yang issued an edict to recruit soldiers from all over the world to gather in Zhuo County, and began to recruit people for Xiaoguo. Yang Xuangan decided to rebel because of Yang Guang's suspicion. When Emperor Yang of Sui personally conquered Goguryeo for the second time, Yang Xuangan rebelled. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty secretly summoned the generals and secretly ordered the withdrawal of the army. The military materials, equipment, and attack tools left by the Sui army were like hills and mountains, and the barracks, tents, and cases were all abandoned. The Sui army was terrified, and the chaotic division of the deployment was lost, and the various roads were scattered. Goguryeo dispatched thousands of soldiers to pursue, but because there were too many Sui troops, they did not dare to get too close. The Sui Dynasty still had tens of thousands of people, and Goguryeo followed the attack, and the last weak thousands were killed and plundered by Goguryeo. Yang Xuangan's rebellion was quickly put down.

Emperor Yang of Sui personally conquered Goguryeo for the third time: in the tenth year of the Great Cause (614 AD), Emperor Yang of Sui issued an edict to once again recruit soldiers from all over the world to attack Goguryeo. In March, Emperor Yang of Sui arrived in Zhuo County, and the soldiers of Sui fled one after another on the road. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty went to Linyu Palace, sacrificed to the Yellow Emperor, and killed the rebels to provoke the drums, but still could not prevent people from fleeing. In autumn and July, Emperor Yang of Sui drove to Huaiyuan Town. This is the Sui Dynasty has been in turmoil, most of the conscripted troops failed to arrive on time, Goguryeo is also troubled, the Sui Dynasty came to Hu'er to take the opportunity to march to Pingyang, Goguryeo King Gao Yuan was afraid, so he sent an envoy to surrender, imprisoned and sent back to Hu Sizheng. Emperor Yang of Sui was very happy and sent an envoy to summon Hu'er to lead the army back. Goguryeo's request to surrender was not really annexed, but just a delaying tactic to deceive the Sui army. And Yang Guang, who was "conceited and talented", failed to see through this, and actually ordered the class teacher to return to the court. Lai Hu'er thought that this was a good opportunity to break through Goguryeo, and wanted to continue the attack, but the generals obeyed the orders of Emperor Yang of Sui and asked them to return.

Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty waged war against Goguryeo, and millions of people were killed in successive wars, and the excessive and brutal conquest and rule caused strong dissatisfaction among the people in the country against Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. When Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty attacked Goguryeo for the first time, he began to break out in the rebellion of the people at the end of the Sui Dynasty. By the third expedition of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty to Goguryeo, a large number of people everywhere caused the rule of the Sui Dynasty to collapse and exist in name only.

In October, Ding Mao, Emperor Yang of Sui arrived in the eastern capital, Jichou, and arrived in Xijing. The king of Goguryeo, Gao Yuan, entered the court, but Gao Yuan did not come. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty ordered the generals to be dressed up strictly and prepare to conquer Goguryeo again, but in the end they did not make the trip.

During the third expedition of Emperor Yang of Sui, the king of Goguryeo expressed his submission on the surface, but he did not enter the court according to the order of Emperor Yang of Sui, and captured a large number of Sui people and did not let them go.

Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty conquered Goguryeo, but Goguryeo was still there, but the Sui Dynasty was in turmoil and perished.