After the opening of the Western Regions and the deterrence of the plateau, the interior of the Tang Dynasty was also thriving, and the soldiers were full of food.

The Yinshan Military Horse Farm has been restored to more than 100,000 war horses, the craftsmen outside Chang'an City are working day and night, the warehouses are full of grain, the endless canals are full of cargo ships transporting materials, and countless soldiers are eager to try to make contributions.

At the same time, the opportunity has finally arrived. There was a civil strife in the Liaodong Kingdom, and the king of Liaodong was killed by the ministers, and another clan was appointed as the king, and sent troops to attack Silla, blocking the road for Silla to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty.

Baekje and Liaodong joined forces to attack Silla and wanted to carve up Silla, and Silla sent envoys to Datang for help.

Not only that, Liaodong also sent envoys to the northern grasslands to contact Xue Yantuo and other grassland tribes to fight against the Tang Dynasty.

Li Shimin, who had long wanted to deal with Liaodong, would naturally not let go of such a good opportunity.

So the edict ordered 60,000 soldiers from Henan, Hebei, Youzhou, and Shandong in Guanzhong, and 40,000 troops from Jiang and Huaishui, and the troops attacked Liaodong by two routes.

Because the Wang family has been doing business at sea all the year round and is familiar with the sea conditions, the navy is specially led by Wang Chengyue. The other army was commanded by Xu Shiji.

Li Shimin's army to conquer Liaodong was far less than that of the former Sui, and it was very well prepared, although many people in the government and the opposition were worried, but under the suppression of Li Shimin and Wang Xuanjing, it was carried out quickly.

Although Liaodong won the Sui Dynasty, it also paid a great price, especially after three consecutive years of conquest, Liaodong suffered heavy casualties, coupled with Liaodong's farming technology was already lagging behind the Central Plains, and the environment was worse than that of the Central Plains.

However, because of the defeat of the Sui Dynasty, the people of Liaodong were not afraid of the arrival of the Tang army, but took the initiative to meet the battle.

The army of the Tang Dynasty was in its heyday at this time, with sufficient soldiers and food, and led by famous generals, which was not at all comparable to the Sui army commanded by Yang Guang indiscriminately.

Under the city of Liaodong, tens of thousands of troops on both sides were fighting, and 40,000 troops of Liaodong Kingdom went out of the city to attack, wanting to annihilate the Tang army in a battle.

Li Daozong led 4,000 iron cavalry to charge the battle, and Xu Shiji attacked from the flank. Although the Liaodong Kingdom had a larger number of people, under the charge of the Tang army, which was not afraid of death, it was soon in chaos.

Xu Shiji took the opportunity to attack and defeated the army of Liaodong in a battle. Liaodong was defeated, and then Xu Shiji took advantage of the situation to attack, and this great city of Liaodong, which had made Yang Guang break his halberd three times, was broken by the Tang army in one fell swoop.

Immediately after that, when Xu Shiji captured Liaodong City, the waterway army, led by Wang Chengyue, crossed the sea and went straight to Pyongyang.

In that year, Daqian used this tactic to break through Jizi Korea and set up Lelang County, which was also successful this time.

Tens of thousands of sailors rushed straight to Pyongyang, and the defenders of Pyongyang were afraid when they saw the Tang army all over the mountains, and in order to destroy Pyongyang, Wang Chengyue specially brought 300 catapults.

Measuring two zhang long, five feet wide, and one and a half feet high, these catapults required seven to ten people to control, and these catapults were the result of hundreds of years of continuous improvement by the Wang family.

A catapult can throw a ten-pound stone hundreds of paces away.

Wang Chengyue ordered people to build a mound of earth outside the city, and then placed catapults here, and 300 catapults threw stones and oil.

For a while, the stones were like hail, and the fireballs fell into the city, and the Pyongyang defenders on the city wall could not resist it at all, and the fist-sized stones were like rain, and the ping-pong smashed down, even if they were wearing iron armor, their bones and tendons would be broken.

Seeing that the defenders at the head of the city were suppressed, Wang Chengyue directly ordered the army to attack.

How can the defenders of Pyongyang stop? Soon the Don army rushed up the city wall, and then opened the city gates. The army marched straight in and captured Pyongyang.

The Tang army advanced in the south and the north, and the Liaodong Kingdom was not an opponent at all, so it had to retreat in defeat after defeat.

If it weren't for the arrival of winter, Liaodong would only be overcome.

Li Shimin did not think about conquering Liaodong in World War I, which was different from the steppe nomads, relying on mountain cities, and was a large country with a population of millions and half nomadic and half farming.

Its heritage is profound, and it is not comparable to the steppe tribes.

Therefore, when Li Shimin saw the change in the sky, he did not attack again, but left a part of the army stationed in the conquered city, and the rest returned to the Central Plains to fight again in the next year.

Li Shimin conquered Liaodong again in the second year, and did not give Liaodong any chance to recuperate at all. Because Liaodong is located in the north, the grain matures later than the Central Plains and even Youzhou.

The Tang army was dispatched at this time, and Liaodong had no time to harvest grain, and even a lot of grain was taken advantage of by the Tang army to harvest, and even if it was too late to harvest, it would be burned down.

Li Shimin sent fewer soldiers to conquer Liaodong for the second time, and his purpose was to harass Liaodong and delay its agricultural time.

Although Liaodong Kingdom relies on mountain cities, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but it also needs to cultivate grain, which can be attacked and harassed by the Tang army, and there is no time to harvest, and a large amount of grain is destroyed.

Although the casualties in Liaodong this time were not large, the food was becoming more and more scarce.

How big is Liaodong, compared with Datang, there is no strategic depth at all, and it has become a food shortage in just one year, and in the next two years, Datang continued to harass in this way, and the resistance of Liaodong became weaker and weaker.

In just a few years, Liaodong no longer had the strength to resist, so Li Shimin sent troops to destroy Liaodong in a battle.

How was the Liaodong Kingdom, which had been struck by the Tang Dynasty's tired enemy technique, the opponent of the Tang army, and was quickly broken by the Tang army.

Li Shimin issued an edict to revoke Liaodong, restore Lelang County of the Qianchao Dynasty, and relocate more than 100,000 households of Liaodong State, as well as officials and wealthy families, to Youzhou, Hebei, Shandong, and Hexi respectively.

Then 300,000 people migrated from the Central Plains, Shandong, and Hebei to Liaodong.

At the same time, Li Shimin ordered that all the people of Liaodong who were willing to learn Tang language, change customs, and change the names of Tang people could be treated preferentially according to the Tang people.

And they are not allowed to serve in the army, hold any official positions in the imperial examination, and so on.

With the issuance of the imperial decree, a large number of people in Liaodong changed their customs, wore Tang clothes, learned Tang language, and changed their Tang names.

Even if there are some local wealthy families who are unwilling to do so, they dare not have the slightest complaint when the Tang army is stationed on the side, and the local officials and nobles have been forcibly moved, without these people to lead, the land of Liaodong can no longer afford to make any waves.

And without the people at the bottom, these aristocratic gate lords of Liaodong Kingdom will become toothless tigers, and they will die out in a few years.

As long as it continues to be implemented for twenty or thirty years, when this generation dies, the new generation will completely forget about Liaodong, and it will be completely integrated into Zhuxia and become Liaodong County and Lelang County of the Tang Dynasty.

(End of chapter)