Chapter 209 Peace
Clean up bureaucracy, establish military farms on the frontiers, wipe out bandits, persuade bandits to return home, base their economy on agriculture, promote industry and commerce, increase revenue and reduce expenditure, recuperate, revive culture and education, and improve the imperial examination system.

Li Jiancheng set the main tone for the Tang Dynasty in the Xuanzheng Hall for the next ten years. The old ministers of the previous dynasty all breathed a sigh of relief, fearing that the current emperor also had lofty ambitions that surpassed the Qin Emperor and Han Emperor Wu.

They were frightened by Emperor Yang’s ambitions. They were not afraid of the emperor’s extravagance and enjoyment, but they were afraid that he would like to wage wars.

They were especially afraid that the emperor wanted to conquer Goguryeo, so Liaodong City sent a report that it had been attacked. Although the other side did not raise a flag, it was obviously Goguryeo. In the past few years, Goguryeo King Gao Teng finally solved his internal problems.

Regardless of the grand ambition of expanding the territory, one’s own gate should always be retaken, so the army was sent to attack and test, mainly to see whether the Emperor of Tang was as crazy and reckless as the Emperor of Sui.

An official said: “Liaodong City is actually an enclave, just like chicken ribs, tasteless to eat but a pity to throw away. If the country is strong, then we wouldn’t care about the loss, but now people’s livelihood is declining, it is not worth wasting too much on an enclave.

Your Majesty, I think we can use Liaodong City in exchange for Goguryeo’s submission and tribute, which will not only avoid war but also gain benefits.”

Li Jiancheng didn’t say anything, and Qin Wang Li Shimin immediately said, “No! Goguryeo is like a wolf, and will push for more if it gets an inch. Now we should not only not negotiate peace and give up the city, but we should send envoys to ask for punishment and warn Goguryeo that if it dares to covet the city of our Great Tang, don’t blame the millions of heavenly soldiers for coming again!”

It is still unknown whether these words could scare the people of Goguryeo, but it did scare a lot of old ministers first, and it also won the support of many military generals, who were very eager for the credit of destroying the country.

The old guys were frightened, but they were not afraid. Moreover, many generals had followed His Majesty to attack Pyongyang, and they all knew how badly Goguryeo had suffered in the war that year.

If they still had the national strength they had in the past, they would have raised an army to retake Liaodong City long ago. Why would they have bothered to test it?

Pei Ji, the Minister of the Left, said: “What the King of Qin said makes sense. In my opinion, Goguryeo should be punished, and Liaodong City should not be easily surrendered. However, I am only worried about whether there is any instigation from the Turks.

If we attack Goguryeo again, internal and external troubles will cause the situation that has finally been stabilized to collapse again. How can those counties that are now secretly disobeying the imperial orders be able to remain peaceful? This is what I am worried about.”

Li Jiancheng sat high up in the chair, wearing a scarlet-yellow robe and a crown. After listening to the opinions of the ministers, he spoke: “What Zuo Pushe said is indeed a mature and prudent statement for the state, but what the King of Qin said also makes sense. Liaodong City is not easy to capture, and it has always curbed the ambitions of Goguryeo and cannot be abandoned lightly.

Therefore, I decided to send an envoy to Goguryeo to convey my will. “

The emperor did not say what to do if Goguryeo did not obey his order, nor did he order the army to be mobilized and food to be prepared. It was obvious that he was not prepared to go to war in anger. At most, he ordered the soldiers in Liaodong City to hold their ground.

This is stable, but what about the emperor’s dignity?

Some sensitive and well-versed civil officials had already thought of Emperor Wen of Han. It was not that they did not have the ability to fight back, but that they were keeping a low profile for the sake of the overall situation.

To hide one’s capabilities and bide one’s time, “韬” refers to the sheath of the bow and arrow; “光” means sharpness; “养” means to store; “灰” means dark.

Putting down the weapons and developing quietly in the dark will inevitably lead to enduring criticism.

Your Majesty is not a weak king. You are the commander-in-chief who marched eastward to Pyongyang and beheaded the former king of Goguryeo, and fought against the Turks in the north to force Shibi Khan to sign the Yulin Alliance.

As a result, even the old ministers who were most opposed to war with Goguryeo felt uncomfortable.

Goguryeo was just a small country that should have been destroyed long ago if Emperor Yang had not made many mistakes. Li Jing, the Duke of Wei, let out a breath of foul air and asked for a fight. He did not need a million troops, or even 200,000 or 100,000. He only needed 50,000 elite soldiers, plus the generals and soldiers in Liaodong City, and he would destroy Goguryeo for his king!
But the emperor waved his hand to signal the Duke of Wei to retreat: “The ruler of Goguryeo was personally established by me. He is cruel but not brave enough. He will most likely accept my order.

Peace, peace, peace, I only hope for peace now, so that I can recuperate with the people, and the rest can be temporarily abandoned. You should also understand my intentions and assist me in stabilizing the world. “

The emperor’s most important task is not to be a hero and force everyone to obey his dreams, but to integrate his own dreams, the dreams of officials and the dreams of ordinary people, and lead everyone to realize this dream together.

The dream of people all over the world now is peace.

………

Li Jiancheng gave up foreign wars and promoted people from Guanlong to be prime ministers to run the Secretariat in order to maintain internal stability and gather the power of Guanlong to clean up and rectify uncontrolled county officials.

Another thing is to let the sixteen generals of the guards coordinate the troops to suppress bandits and ensure the safety of the people and the smooth flow of trade routes.

In particular, we must first ensure that official roads to Chang’an, Luoyang, Jiangdu, Shujun, Xuancheng, Piling, Wujun, Kuaiji, Yuhang, Dongyang, Nanhai, Yuzhang, Jingzhou, Caizhou, and Qizhou are unobstructed.

Not only did he endure the temptations of Goguryeo, but he also allowed Tuyuhun Khan Murong Fuyun to recover the four counties of Xihai, Heyuan, Shanshan and Qiemo that Emperor Yang had conquered with great difficulty.

The emperor’s series of administrative policies made some officials convinced, but also made some officials and generals feel that the emperor was weak.

Dugu Huai’en contacted General Xuanwei Yuanjun Shizhong Doctor Pei Su and others. Most of these people were nobles from Guanlong, but their status in the court was neither high nor low.

The top official positions were all occupied by the old men in Guanlong, and those waiting in line to take over were all the emperor’s confidants, such as Wang Long, Du Ruhui, Fang Xuanling, Liu Wenjing and others, who had no chance at all.

Therefore, they were willing to criticize the emperor’s policies in private on weekdays, and after Dugu Huai’en pulled their heads, they became even more excited.

The only thing they were worried about was the justification for their war.

Someone proposed to help the abdicated Emperor Yang You to restore the Sui Dynasty, but this was quickly rejected by everyone. The people at that time had not forgotten the crimes of Emperor Yang and had no attachment to the Sui Dynasty at all.

Someone else suggested raising an army on the grounds that the emperor was threatening the retired emperor. The people in remote areas knew very little about what was happening in Guanzhong, and it was unjust for the son to imprison the father.

But your idea was rejected again. The emperor emeritus is in good health. If you go out and raise an army in the name of the emperor emeritus, and the emperor emeritus finds out, he will be angry and lead the army himself. Wouldn’t that be courting death?

Some people wanted to find serious moral shortcomings in the emperor, but they couldn’t think of any after thinking hard. In the end, some of them even thought that they shouldn’t rebel against such a wise and benevolent ruler.

But Dugu Huai’en insisted, and said: “The meritorious officials in various counties who followed the emperor are terrified and uneasy. This is because the emperor treats the meritorious officials harshly. Most of the Li clan members have not been crowned as kings, which shows that the emperor is ungrateful. He also uses Xiao Cong, Wang Long, Fang Xuanling and other scholars from Jiangnan and Shandong, and suppresses the scholars from Guanlong. He has forgotten that his world was mostly obtained by the efforts of Guanlong!”

……………

(End of this chapter)