It has been a long time since Li Xiang met Yuchi Baolin. When Li Xiang left Tubo, Yuchi Baolin and Changsun Chong stayed there, and now Changsun Chong is still in Tubo.
Although there was no war on the Tubo side, it was necessary to be prepared for any eventuality. Chang Sun Chong stayed on the Tuyuhun grassland with an army of more than 30,000, while the other generals had already returned to Chang'an.
Li Shimin still couldn't be completely confident in these generals. Although they all started out by following him in battles, these generals now had too much prestige in the army. If anyone had any ideas, it would not be good for the stability of the Tang Dynasty.
So Li Shimin adopted Li Xiang's method. It is said that a tiger father will have a dog son. Now is a good time to give it a try. Let the descendants of these people lead troops outside. The whole family is in the capital, so there is nothing to be afraid of. What's more, these young generals do not have much prestige in the army, and Li Shimin can easily control them.
"Your Highness."
Li Xiang had already gone out of the camp ten miles to greet him. From a distance, he saw Yuchi Baolin galloping towards him. His figure seemed to be a little bigger than before.
Yuchi Baolin traveled from Tubo to Tuyuhun, then returned to the capital from Tuyuhun, and then went to Goguryeo. The journey was at least several thousand kilometers. He stayed in Goguryeo for about three months before selecting the army under his command.
When the imperial court launched the Eastern Expedition to Goguryeo, it mobilized nearly 200,000 soldiers. Li Xiang did not need so many people, so he only needed to pick out some elite soldiers from them. Now Li Xiang's way of fighting is different from before. In the past, he relied on filling the gap with heads, but now we emphasize high-tech and precision. It is definitely not a dream for tens of thousands of people to take over the Western Regions.
"Brother Baolin has been on the plateau for such a long time, I didn't expect his figure to be much stronger than before."
Li Xiang was telling the truth. Yuchi Baolin used to be the biggest among them. He had been eating meat a lot on the plateau these days, and he had grown up again unexpectedly.
"Your Highness, please don't blame me. I ate well and slept well over there every day, and there was no intention of fighting, so I gained weight. Fortunately, I didn't neglect my regular training, otherwise I would be a bunch of fat. After receiving your letter, I immediately set out with my men. It only took us seventeen days."
Yuchi Baolin said very proudly that during the three months in Goguryeo, he basically trained his soldiers. When he was heading from Goguryeo to the northwest, Li Xiang also asked him to speed up as soon as possible to see how long it would take to get there.
Li Xiang calculated the time and realized that it was really a journey of day and night. Goguryeo was more than 5,000 kilometers away from here. In that era, it all depended on the running speed of the warhorse. This man would almost be ruined.
"But are you still capable of fighting?"
Li Xiang looked at the army behind Yuchi Baolin and found that it was obvious that they had not reached their limit. During these seventeen days, most people only rested for three or four hours a day, and spent the rest of the time on the road. Of course, they could travel at such a fast speed because of the military stations along the way. If the logistics were not well managed, they would not be able to travel at such a speed.
"It should be at least 70% or more."
Yuchi Baolin was a down-to-earth man and would never brag about this to Li Xiang. When Li Xiang heard this, he smiled and nodded, but he did not let Yuchi Baolin immediately deploy the battle formation. It would be better to let the soldiers go back and rest first. He trusted Yuchi Baolin's character very much.
When the brothers saw the military camp in the distance, they were all extremely tired. They had been on edge all the way, and even ate on the backs of their war horses. Now they could finally have a good rest. After being assigned tents, many of them did not take off their armor and fell asleep directly.
Li Xiang knew that Yuchi Baolin was also tired, so he quickly asked him to go down and rest. That afternoon, the entire military camp was filled with snoring.
"It took 17 days to get here from Goguryeo. This is simply unbelievable."
Lord Zhao looked at the map for a long time and the route was already marked. He really couldn't believe that all this was true. If he had mobilized troops from there in the past, it would have taken at least more than a month, and all the people would have had to work day and night. But now the time has been shortened by more than half.
Lord Zhao didn't know what was going on, but Li Xiang was of course very clear. In addition to sufficient supplies along the way, the most important thing was that many roads were built across the country, and all of these roads were built by prisoners of war.
Although there is no such thing as cement and asphalt now, Li Xiang has already started to burn cement. Now cement roads have appeared around Chang'an City. I believe that in the near future, such cement roads will be common throughout the country.
"When Your Highness defeated Tuyuhun, he began building roads. Many people within the court opposed this, believing it was a waste of money and manpower. I never thought the results would be apparent now. The roads benefit the people in peacetime and enable the army to advance in times of war. This is truly a long-term strategy."
As a member of the civil service group, Lord Zhao is naturally not willing to praise military generals. Even though Li Xiang is the crown prince, at this moment Li Xiang's identity is more of a military general.
"Master Zhao, please don't praise me. If we didn't have so many prisoners, this plan wouldn't have been able to proceed so smoothly. Especially after we captured Goguryeo, the number of prisoners in the country increased. Now, according to incomplete statistics, at least 150,000 people died after all these roads were repaired."
Li Xiang said in a low voice that in this pre-industrial age, if you want to carry out large-scale infrastructure construction, you have to consider the loss of personnel. However, Goguryeo has a large population, and each of them has committed many crimes. So the best way to deal with you is to let you build roads and work.
"If Your Highness is not benevolent and righteous, they won't even have the chance to build the road. If we follow the national policy we set earlier, the Emperor will have to slaughter all of Goguryeo."
Lord Zhao didn't think there was anything wrong with what Li Xiang did. After Li Shimin's failed eastern expedition to Goguryeo, he had already issued an order to the outside world: from now on, anyone who conquered Goguryeo would be killed, regardless of gender. Now giving them a chance to work could already allow them to live a little longer...