So, why did the emperor personally conquer Goryeo in the eighteenth year of Jeongguan?

Goryeo was divided into five tribes, among which the leader of the Shunnu tribe had a son named Gai Suwen. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info This man is famous throughout the tribe for his majestic and handsome face, with three locks of hair under his chin, but he is also known for his cruelty and ferocity.

At the beginning of the seventeenth year, Gai Suwen's father died, and according to the convention, Gai Suwen should be made the head of the Shunnu tribe. But the people of the tribe were extremely disgusted with his conduct, and few people embraced him.

In order to be the leader, Gasuwen knelt down to the elders of the tribe and begged them to put him on the throne, and he pretended to be remorseful, often weeping bitterly over his evil deeds. After a year of observation, the tribe finally agreed to let him succeed his father.

However, as soon as Gaysuwen ascended to the throne, his murderous nature was soon revealed. He made the patriarchs of the tribe lie on the ground, and he stepped on their backs, mounted their horses like stools, dressed in gold like the kings of Goryeo, and came and went with his own soldiers wielding swords to open the way, and the pedestrians who stood in the way were immediately seized and thrown into the valley.

For this reason, the ministers of Goryeo discussed with Gao Jianwu to kill him. When Gay Suwen heard the news, he set up a banquet and invited the ministers to come and inspect it. After these ministers arrived, Gai Suwen gave an order, and nearly 100 people were killed.

Then, Gai Suwen led his troops to attack the palace of Goryeo and killed Gao Jianwu, but he still didn't understand his hatred, so he chopped Gao Jianwu's body with a knife and threw it into the ditch before stopping. and set up the son of Gao Jianwu's brother Zang as the king of Goryeo, and he himself made Mo Lizhi - an official position like the military department of the Tang Dynasty, and since then he has become the hidden king of Goryeo.

When the Tang Emperor heard about this, he only sent an envoy to offer condolences. Some ministers persuaded the emperor to take this opportunity to crusade against Goryeo, and Sikong Fang Xuanling said, "Your Majesty has the most courageous army in the world, but you don't need to collect it. ”

But Situ Changsun Wuji said, "No one in Goryeo reported the disaster, and there is no reason for us to send troops, so we should first write a letter of sealing to comfort us." The emperor took his advice and sealed it as the king of Goryeo.

The Tang Dynasty showed weakness, making Gai Suwen more and more arrogant, and soon planned to join forces with Baekje to defeat Silla, so frightened that Silla hurriedly sent an envoy to the Tang Dynasty for help.

The emperor asked the Silla envoy, "What can I do to save you from calamity?" ”

The Silla envoy said, "Where do we have a plan, we can only hope that Your Majesty will be pitied!" ”

The emperor said, "I have three ways for you to choose: the first method, I lead the Khitan and the Jin to attack Liaodong with partial troops, and Goryeo will be saved, so the danger of Silla can be alleviated for a year." The second method, I can give you the Tang Dan banner, in case the Goryeo and Baekje troops arrive, you line up with the banner I give, and the two countries will inevitably withdraw their troops when they see it. Third, the small country of Baekje relies on the sea on three sides without repairing troops, and I can succeed in raiding them with tens of thousands of boat divisions. But because your Silla country is adjacent to Baekje, and Silla is a female king, the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses have arrived, and all of them are fierce, and she may be insulted. However, I will protect Silla as the suzerain, and then let her defend herself when the danger is over, which of these three strategies do you choose? ”

The messenger could not cope, and it seemed that none of them were good. As a result, the Tang Emperor sent Si Nong Xuan Award and held the emperor's seal to urge Goryeo to stop attacking Silla. Before Hyun Prize arrived in Goryeo, Gae Suwen had already captured two cities in Silla.

Xuan Xuan announced the will of the Tang Emperor, and Gai Suwen replied, "In the past, the Great Sui invaded us, and Silla took the opportunity to seize 500 li of Goryeo, and it is impossible for me to stop." ”

Xuan Award said, "How can I mention the past again?" Liaodong is a county in China, and the Tang Dynasty Emperor still doesn't take and let you govern it, how dare Goryeo disobey the edict of the Tang Emperor? ”

Gai Suwen insisted on not complying, saying, "In the past, the Great Sui was aggressive and raised troops to see him, but didn't he return in vain? Could it be that a word from the Tang Emperor will make me cringe? ”

After returning to the emperor and the emperor, the emperor said, "Gai Suwen killed my canonized king, abused his subordinates, and complained, did he think that I was unknown?" ”

On the first day of July in the eighteenth year of Zhenguan, the Tang Emperor decided to personally conquer Goryeo and issued the emperor's edict:

"Practicing teachers and using soldiers, the ancient way...... Goryeo Gai Suwen, disobeyed his lord and cruelly harmed his ministers...... If we don't punish you, you won't be able to purge China. Today, I will patrol the thistle, and ask the guilt of Liaojie......"

The edict also said that on this expedition, the march must be frugal, and all the camp tents are not allowed to be decorated. Food can satisfy hunger, don't eat delicious. The river can be crossed, but no bridge can be built; Roads that are passable do not need to be repaired. Students and old people in the counties near the emperor's imperial camp did not have to greet them.

The emperor said, "I have never had more than a month's reserve of military rations before, and I can still fight the chaos, and I am invincible, and no one dares to line up in front of me." Hit the Huns, exterminate Tuguhun, Gaochang, easy to pick up mustard (bend down to pick up a straw stick). Now that the harvest has been abundant for many years, the family is sufficient, and there will be no defense and no refusal. How can the Tang Dynasty be comparable to the Sui Dynasty, a horse official under my command who is herding a herd dares to enter the Turkic rebellion alone and lead hundreds of people to conquer Yanqi, how can a Goryeo thief be so intimidated! ”

So, the emperor went out to patrol Youzhou, and raised 100,000 troops in Youying and Youying, and 50,000 horses from the Xi Department and the Khitan Department, and went to Goryeo to kill.

At the end of July of the eighteenth year, the Tang army brigade crossed the Liaoshui River and approached the city of Gamu in Goryeo. The emperor sat in the Chinese army, with Li Jing and Li Daozong as the vanguard.

These two people are heavyweights who can be handsome, and today they are pioneers together, which shows that the emperor is holding the heart of victory, and it can be seen that Gai Suwen is angry. As soon as the army arrived, it swept away the outer barrier of Gaimu City like a gust of wind.

The Goryeo guards in the city held out in the city while flying back to Pyongyang. Gai Suwen was on the front line of Silla, and when he heard the news, he didn't dare to underestimate it, and he was so frightened that he didn't need to say it in his heart.

But he had some expectations and wanted to see how big Datang's catties were. Therefore, in addition to leaving a small number of men and horses on the Silla front to defend and monitor the movements of Silla, almost nearly 400,000 soldiers from Goryeo were transferred back to Liaodong.

The terrain of Gaimu City is dangerous, the city is tall and strong, and the walls are built with huge stones. The Tang army's first victory in the first battle frightened the defenders of Gaimu City, and they never fought again but defended to the death, and the Tang army attacked under the city for more than ten days, and the war did not progress.

Hearing that a large number of reinforcements from Goryeo had arrived, Zhang Yan, the governor of Yingzhou, who accompanied the expedition, proposed: The enemy's reinforcements are large, and the vanguard of the Tang army is less than 20,000 people, so should he dig a deep ditch as a precaution and wait for the arrival of the emperor's Chinese army before making plans.

Li Daozong, the king of Jiangxia, said, "No, the thief army came from afar in a hurry, and in fact they were very tired, and they would definitely despise us because of their large number of people, so it was already expected that we would take the defensive." ”

Zhang Yi asked, "What is the prince going to do?" ”

King Jiangxia said, "It's not easy, he thinks we will defend, we must attack!" The first battle rushed at him, so that he couldn't even stand up the camp! Li Jing also said, "The vanguard never leaves the thief to the commander, since we are the vanguard, we must overcome the enemy in front of us and wait for the holy driver!" ”

Sure enough, the 50,000 Goryeo reinforcements who arrived in advance were proud and came directly to the vanguard camp of the Tang Army. They saw the camp tent of the Tang army from a long distance, and probably calculated that the number of men and horses of the Tang army was less than 20,000, so they were very arrogant.

After arriving, he was not in a hurry to set up camp, and directly opened a formation in front of Gaimu City. And the guards in Gaimu City had had enough of more than ten days of anger, and at this time they also opened the city gate boldly and led their men and horses out of the city.

General Gao Lilai ordered: "The Tang army is weak, and defeat is imminent, give me a drum, and we will win in one battle!" ”

Before the drum sounded, the Tang army on the hillside, one on the left and one on the right, came over first. (To be continued.) )