"Why are you looking at me? Didn't you see what just happened? The Tang army has been fighting all these years, first defeating the Turks, then defeating the Tuyuhun, and then messing up the Tibetans. It can be said that they are almost invincible. Don't you know what the situation is like in our country? Do you think they can withstand the Tang attack with a bunch of corrupt officials?"
Lord Lu said as he packed his things. If he had not seen the military might of the Tang Dynasty in front of him, perhaps he would not have said these words. But he had just watched from above for half an hour. These were all the most elite troops of the Tang Dynasty. Just looking at the pace of their movements, it was clear. Moreover, with someone like His Royal Highness the Crown Prince leading the team, it would be really weird if Goguryeo was not destroyed.
"But don't we, Goguryeo, have the protection of the gods? The Sui army was also very powerful before. Hundreds of thousands of people couldn't defeat us. We even chopped off their heads and built a Jingguan."
When the young man said this, he was immediately shut up by the adults.
"Shut up! Do you still want to live? Not many people in the Tang Dynasty know about this. Only some of the upper class know. If the common people knew about it, would we, the people of Goguryeo, still have a chance to survive? There are still many people from Goguryeo in the Tang Dynasty. If they knew that we piled up the heads of the Han people, all of us would lose our heads."
Goguryeo had its own glory, which was that it once defeated Emperor Yang of Sui and Li Shimin. However, a small country is a small country after all, and it does not have much strategic depth. Moreover, as time goes by, the Central Plains dynasty develops faster than them. Apart from civil strife, they have not made any other progress in the past two years. Once the two sides meet on the battlefield, Goguryeo's defeat is doomed.
"But we also have to be loyal to the king. We can't just leave like this. Shouldn't we follow their team to Goguryeo? We should send a message to the king every step of the way, otherwise those pigeons..."
Before the young man could finish his words, a dagger was stabbed in his stomach. Lord Lu originally wanted to spare his life. The two of them would live in the territory of the Tang Dynasty from now on. Anyway, you couldn't tell from their faces that they had been hiding in the Tang Dynasty for several years, and their speech didn't make you realize they were from Goguryeo.
But this young man is too ignorant. I have already decided to betray Goguryeo, and you still talk about being loyal. In that case, I can only send you to the King of Hell. Once you get to the King of Hell, you can be loyal however you want, but I will definitely not accompany you.
"A man of insight is a true hero. You're such a tactless brat, let's just pretend we've never met. Don't blame me on your deathbed, blame your own foul mouth. If I let you live, I won't be able to survive in this hall. Aren't you willing to be loyal to the king? Then continue to serve him after you die. I won't be accompanying you any more."
Lord Lu looked around and saw that there was no one around, so he stabbed the boy a few more times. As for those pigeons, they had to be killed somewhere, otherwise so many pigeons would fly back to Goguryeo, which would always arouse some people's suspicion. He now had only one idea, how to treat himself as an ordinary citizen of the Tang Dynasty and not find any flaws in himself. Only in this way could he prolong his life. As for the people of Goguryeo, they could not take care of you.
While the spy chief of Goguryeo was killing people to silence them, Li Xiang had also discussed with General Li Jing that General Li Jing would continue to lead the army forward, while Li Xiang would lead a small force to set off ahead.
Everyone thought that Li Xiang was in the army. If Li Xiang could rush to Liaodong as quickly as possible, he would be able to catch Goguryeo off guard. They thought that the army had just set out from Chang'an and the real battle would not start until two months later. This was the time when they were least vigilant.
But if Li Xiang brought an elite force to the border area and combined with the army under General Su Dingfang, he could attack the major cities in the border area first. By the time General Li Jing and his men arrived, the Goguryeo border cities would have been almost destroyed, and we would have a base for attack.
According to Li Shimin's order, we are not going to defeat them this time. We are going to occupy the entire Goguryeo. From this moment on, Goguryeo can only set up a protectorate, and ten years later, we will start to set up counties. There will be no talk of vassal states.
Originally, General Li Jing disagreed, but considering the complicated situation in Goguryeo, he agreed to Li Xiang's plan. Su Dingfang was in the border area anyway, and that person was relatively reliable. It was impossible for him to let Li Xiang do whatever he wanted. General Li Jing wrote a letter to Su Dingfang, asking him to keep an eye on Li Xiang and not to advance too deeply, so as to avoid being unable to retreat if something happened.
As for Niu Jinda, he felt that this was a sign of the Crown Prince's trust in him. Although the commander of the entire army was General Li Jing, General Li Jing was in poor health and could only be in the carriage all the time, so the running around was still Niu Jinda's job. The fact that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was able to give him this task was enough to show that he valued him very much.
At sunset that day, the army was already one hundred miles away from Chang'an City, but Li Xiang and his men had already run to a place two hundred and ten miles away. If it weren't for the fact that they had just left, Li Xiang would even want to advance at night.
Li Xiang only took away 8,000 soldiers. Although there were only 8,000 soldiers, they were the most important in the army. Among them, 3,000 were cavalry and 5,000 were artillery. The term "artillery" was also just proposed by Li Xiang.
When leaving Chang'an City, Li Xiang also improved the crossbows used by these people. The maximum range reached three thousand meters. However, this is also the limit of the crossbow. If you want the range of the crossbow to be longer, it is impossible now. Li Xiang is already prepared. After this battle, Li Xiang will definitely form an all-firearms unit.
When facing Li Shimin, Li Xiang had various difficulties with his gunpowder, but now that he was the Grand Marshal of the Eastern Expedition, these so-called difficulties immediately disappeared. He no longer needed to make gunpowder on the road. Li Xiang could directly exchange it in the system, and the exchanged gunpowder was even purer...