Chapter 36: Unacceptable

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The border emergency report is still from western Liaoning. Two months ago, as soon as the imperial army arrived, the Goryeo soldiers and horses immediately withdrew, and later the king of Goryeo sent a letter of plea, willing to pay tribute to the Han Dynasty. Now the north has long been icy and snowy, in order to facilitate supplies, some of the soldiers and horses left behind in Zhaoyuan have been transferred to Yancheng one after another. And at this time, the Goryeo army made a comeback and captured Zhaoyuan City again.

This time it was different from the past, the Yongji Canal had been frozen, and the ships could not pass, and it would take an unknown amount of time to transfer troops from Luoyang. Liu Ziqiu had no choice but to order a part of the local army to be transferred from the nearest counties in Hebei to reinforce Yancheng. The combat effectiveness of these local armies is definitely not as good as the regular army of the imperial court, and there is no problem in relying on the city to defend it, but there is a lot of lack in the offensive aspect, and there is definitely no hope for them to recover Zhaoyuan City. And in this season, the imperial army should not move lightly, Liu Ziqiu saw the defeat at the border pass, but he had to endure this breath for the time being.

It is precisely because of the capriciousness and re-invasion of the Koreans that Liu Ziqiu made up his mind to completely destroy Goryeo! At the same time, he also understood Yang Guang a little. In the history of later generations, it is mostly believed that Yang Guangsan's expedition to Goryeo was a reckless move, but the reasons for Yang Guang's expedition to Goryeo have not been further investigated. The Goryeo repeatedly invaded Liaoxi and Liaodong until they threatened Liucheng, and when the Sui army was strong, they pretended to surrender. When they find a fighter, they will surprise again. This capriciousness finally annoyed Yang Guang, who was determined to give Goryeo a hard blow. It's just that although Yang Guang has a high conceit, he didn't do a good job, so he failed.

Liu Ziqiu will not allow the Goryeo people to repeat many times, this time is enough, not to mention that this land originally belonged to Huaxia, and all he had to do was to recover the lost land.

Of course, Liu Ziqiu will not be as blind and impulsive as Yang Guang, nor will he consume national strength endlessly, he will think long-term.

……

A lesson from the previous car, a teacher from the back. Liu Ziqiu did not want to repeat the mistake of Yang Guang's defeat in Liaodong, so he had to find out the real reason for Yang Guang's defeat and take targeted measures to solve it. Although Liu Ziqiu traveled from later generations and still didn't know much about that period of history, through his understanding of Yang Guang and the information collected during this time, he still found some problems.

First of all, Yang Guanghao was very happy, and every time there was a war, he would send a huge army, the last time he conquered Tuyuhun was 500,000 horses, and the attack on Goryeo was as many as a million troops. The art of war has clouds: the general is in the plan but not in the brave, and the soldiers are in the jīng but not in the many. It is often not the number of people who determine the outcome of a war. Especially in this era, logistics and transportation are very difficult, and the more soldiers and horses, the greater the consumption, and the heavier the burden of logistics supply. In a war, the amount of food and grass needed by a million troops alone is quite a terrifying number. According to the calculation of each person's consumption of one pound of grain a day, nearly one million stones of grain will be needed in a month.

On the other hand, the Great Sui practiced a government military system, and the army served as a soldier in peacetime and in wartime. Except for a few armies such as the Beijing army and the guards, the equipment of the imperial court was uniformly equipped, and the weapons, armor, and horses of the rest of the soldiers were all provided by themselves. Such a military system directly led to the chaotic and uneven equipment of the army, which seriously weakened the combat effectiveness, and Liu Ziqiu, who participated in the Tuyuhun Campaign, deeply experienced this.

Another important reason is that the climate in eastern Liaoning is harsh, and the temperature in winter is often as low as minus 30 degrees. If adequate preparation is not made in advance, it is very likely to result in a large number of non-combat attrition. The Goryeo army already lived there, and its ability to adapt to the local climate must have far exceeded that of the Sui army, and as long as the tide of war dragged into winter, the situation would be reversed.

In that battle in history, the Sui army numbered millions, and only a few thousand people came back alive in the end. The ending was tragic and shocking. However, it does not mean that the Goryeo army is strong, if the Goryeo army is really strong, they will not only toss in Liaodong, but will already be involved in the Central Plains. Therefore, the biggest reason for the failure of the three expeditions to Goryeo lies in the Sui army itself. As long as its own problems are solved, not to mention Goryeo, Baekje and Silla are all added together, and they are also vulnerable.

Of course, Liu Ziqiu has never relaxed his army building, and some problems have actually been resolved. For example, the issue of the army's structure, such as the improvement of the army's quality, and the army's logistical supply, these have always been the focus of Liu Ziqiu's main focus. In particular, in terms of logistical supply, we have absorbed the experience gained in the battles of clearing Dangshan and Yushan bandits, and now a special baggage transport unit has been formed in the regular army. All Liu Ziqiu has to do now is make some adjustments to the xìng land.

There are two things that are most needed to prepare, one is to accumulate a large number of strategic materials, and the other is to adapt the soldiers to the local climate.

Ordinary cotton clothes and quilts are difficult to withstand the cold there, and even adding some sheepskin jackets may not be effective, Liu Ziqiu thought of a down jacket. A holy decree was transmitted to all parts of the country, and a large number of various kinds of down were collected, especially duck down and goose down. Of course, wild duck down, wild goose down and even velvet are better, but in limited quantities. In an era that relied purely on hand, collecting large quantities of down was a huge undertaking. Fortunately, it has now entered the farming season, and the people have a lot of time. Under the mobilization of local governments, almost all the people took action.

In addition to collecting down, another important task is to prepare dry food. The dry food is mainly composed of two kinds of cured meat, which is provided by the tribes of Mobei and the Western Regions, and fried noodles, which are fried by the soldiers of the army themselves during the interval between training. All the dry rations were not immediately distributed to the troops, but were successively transported to Jixian County for storage.

Jixian County is the seat of Zhuojun County, that is, the later Běijīng City, where there is a palace built by Yang Guang, called Linshuo Palace. However, the palace maids and eunuchs in the Linshuo Palace have been dismissed, leaving only an empty palace. Today, this Linshuo Palace has been transformed into a granary. A huge ice cellar was dug under the Linshuo Palace, and the cured meat and fried noodles were stored in that huge ice cellar, and even if they were taken out after three or five years, they could still be eaten.

There are many other strategic materials that are also gradually being transported to Jixian County, and the entire Jixian County has become a huge front-line base. This kind of transportation has not stopped all winter. Because of the heavy snow in the north, the canal surface is frozen, and it is completely dependent on people to pick horses, and the hardships can be imagined. The newly established baggage transport team became the main force of this task, and the snow plough "invented" by Liu Ziqiu during the Xihai Campaign was also widely used here, and many cattle and horses were transferred from Mobei. Even so, by the following year's chūn day, the transportation work did not stop, which shows the sheer volume of transportation. This is just a later story, so let's not press the table for the time being.

As for adapting the soldiers to the cold climate of the north, the best way is to send them to the local area for rigorous training. Attacking Goryeo, although Liu Ziqiu could not be a million-strong army like Yang Guang, 200,000 soldiers and horses were indispensable. He couldn't really put all 200,000 horses there to adapt, and if he did, the local logistics would not be able to afford it. Liu Ziqiu only selected 50,000 people to be transferred to Liucheng County, and these 50,000 people will serve as the main force in the war against Goryeo next year.

……

The cabinet was busy revising the regulations for the imperial examination, Liu Ziqiu was actively preparing for the war, and everyone had no time to talk about the canonization ceremony, until the chūn festival approached, and Luoyang City was lively again. The chūn festival is the most important festival of the Han people, and together with the Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Qixi Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival, it was designated by Liu Ziqiu as the country's five ** festivals. Of course, among some ethnic minorities in the Western Regions, Mobei and the South, there are also their own festivals, and Liu Ziqiu did not interfere with them. It's just that these five major festivals are all over the country, and no matter what the customs and habits of the people are, they must be celebrated all over the world.

Among the five traditional festivals, the chūn festival is the most important one. Some tribal leaders from the Western Regions and Mobei were also invited to attend the grand celebration held in Luoyang, making Luoyang City more alien faces. These tribal leaders were all received by the Ministry of Rites, and the imperial court sent a group of soldiers and horses to maintain order, but they were all right.

In addition to these leaders, there were also many merchants from all over the world who also came to Luoyang at this time, and even many merchants from Persia and further west, these blonde, blue-eyed and white-skinned guys should be regarded as real Hu people. After all, the chūn festival is a festival for the Chinese people, and for the Persians and people further west, they don't care about the chūn festival, but they will not give up such a lively opportunity, after all, it is also a rare business opportunity for them.

Among all the chieftains and merchants, the highest status is undoubtedly the four great khans from Mobei, that is, the Ashid Khan Mulin and the Ashina Khan Dumi from the **Turk, and the Xue Yantuo Khan Xue Shixiong and the Ashina Khan Daman from the Western Turks.

Among these four, Mu Lin undoubtedly has the highest status, because his daughter Mu Duoli is now Liu Ziqiu's concubine. Although he is only a nobleman, Liu Ziqiu does not have many concubines, not counting Xie Muyu, there are only five people, so looking at it, Mu Duoli is very amazing. The officials of the Ministry of Rites were also the most respectful and polite to Mu Lin, and Mu Duoli knew that after his father arrived in Luoyang, he also came to visit him in person, and rewarded him with a lot of gold and silver treasures and a batch of armor, which made the other three khans very hot.

On the twenty-fourth day of the third year of Zhongxing, Liu Ziqiu held a banquet in Jingming Courtyard in Xiyuan to entertain the four khans. Although many ministers, including Wei Zheng, were dismissive of the nomadic tribes of Mobei, Liu Ziqiu attached great importance to it, and in doing so, it was also an indication of his attitude. Who would have thought that at this banquet, the Western Turkic Khan Daman made a request that Liu Ziqiu was unacceptable.