When Li Zaigu returned home, he stepped back and told Zhang Rulian that Li Er wanted to command Goguryeo in person.

After hearing this, Zhang Rulian looked surprised.

She thought for a while and asked Li Zaigu curiously and puzzledly: "Now the court is not missing the powerful generals, why should the emperor personally fight?"

Li Zaigu said without hesitation: "According to my guess, there may be two reasons why the emperor wants to command the emperor in person."

Zhang Rulian then stared at Li Zaigu closely, her eyes full of anticipation.

"The Lord is old and hopes to go on a battle again in his lifetime to achieve greater achievements. In other words, the Lord begins to be very happy with his merits. This is one of them."

Li Zaigu lowered his voice and said cautiously.

"Secondly, the emperor does not want to leave the big hidden danger of Goguryeo to the next generation. Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Goguryeo has been a heart disease of the Tang Dynasty.

Compared with the nomadic peoples encountered in the Tang Dynasty in the past, Goguryeo had the same agricultural civilization as the Tang Dynasty. Although it was backward than the Tang Dynasty, compared with the nomadic people who ate raw meat and drank blood, the Goguryeo people had much higher political vision and cultural literacy. Therefore, whenever the Goguryeo people had the opportunity, they secretly sowed the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and the nomadic people in order to protect themselves in chaos.

In short, the existence of this country has always been a huge hidden danger to the Tang Dynasty. In addition, the emperor believed that the prince was weak by nature. If he could not destroy Goguryeo now, he might cause trouble to the prince in the future. The emperor was worried that a hundred years later, the prince would not be able to compete with Goguryeo after inheriting the throne.

The emperor believed that the emperor's personal command would definitely enhance the morale of our army and make it easier to annihilate Goguryeo."

Zhang Rulian nodded as if she understood.

Li Zaigu sighed softly and said to Zhang Rulian cautiously: "I have a bad idea in my heart. I always feel that the emperor's personal expedition cannot defeat Goguryeo in one fell swoop."

"Why?" Zhang Rulian frowned and asked anxiously.

"The emperor personally fought for the army, which can make our army's morale high, but it has one disadvantage." Li Zaigu said slowly.

"Oh?" Zhang Rulian's face became even more questionable.

"If the emperor personally fights, our generals will easily tie their hands and feet when they command battles on the front line, and they cannot let go of their hands and feet to do something big."

"My husband said it is reasonable!" Zhang Rulian thought, "When the general commands the battle, he must ask the emperor's opinion before making a decision. If this happens, it will easily delay the fighter."

"Madam is smart, you can understand it as soon as you say it!" Li Zaigu smiled.

Zhang Rulian smiled slightly, but then put away her smile and said, "Since that's the case, why don't your husband persuade the emperor not to personally enlist in Goguryeo?"

"The emperor has made up his mind, and it is useless to persuade him." Li Zaigu also put away his smile, looking a little helpless, "But I will find an opportunity to persuade the emperor not to personally enlist in Goguryeo."

Zhang Rulian said "Oh" and asked again: "Have the emperor decided to conquer Goguryeo? Is the husband who followed the army to conquer Goguryeo?"

"The emperor has not decided to conquer Goguryeo yet. As for whether I will follow the army to conquer Goguryeo, it is not decided." Li Zaigu said without hesitation.

After pausing for a moment, he added: "The Lord is only ordering to prepare for the dispatch of troops now, and the specific dispatch time has not been decided yet."

Zhang Rulian nodded.

Next, the couple changed the topic and talked about other topics.

...

After Li Er decided to conquer Goguryeo, he did not send troops immediately, but began to prepare for the troops.

On the one hand, Li Er ordered the construction of warships and raised military rations; on the other hand, he sent envoys to Goguryeo and Baekje respectively.

After the Tang envoy who went to Goguryeo to meet Quangai Suwen, he conveyed the will of the Emperor of Tang and asked Goguryeo to withdraw troops from Silla.

Quangai Suwen directly rejected the request of the envoy of the Tang Dynasty and spoke wildly. Even if the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty personally led the army, the Goguryeo people were not afraid.

Li Er had already guessed that Quangai Suwen would reject the Tang Dynasty's request. After hearing the news sent back by the envoy, he decided to command Goguryeo in person.

As for Baekje, after seeing the envoys of the Tang Dynasty, the king immediately expressed his intention to withdraw his troops from Silla and sent an envoy to apologize.

Baekje just agreed to the Tang Dynasty's request on the surface and secretly continued to attack Silla with Goguryeo.

Li Er sent envoys to Goguryeo and Baekje respectively. The real purpose was not to make Goguryeo or Baekje apologize to the Tang Dynasty, but to delay time so that the Tang Dynasty had more time to prepare for war.

Li Er summoned all the ministers to discuss the conquest of Goguryeo.

After discussion, the monarch and ministers decided to send a vanguard to test Goguryeo's strength and to test whether Goguryeo resists or surrenders.

When Li Er was considering who to be the commander, Guo Xiaoke sent someone back to the Xizhou army to report urgently.

Guo Xiaoke's urgent report was that Yanqi State relied on the Western Turks and stopped paying tribute to the Tang Dynasty. Not only that, with the support of the Western Turks, Yanqi dared to invade the border areas of Xizhou and plunder and kill the soldiers and civilians of Xizhou.

When Li Er saw Guo Xiaoke's urgent response, he was furious.

The small Yanqi Kingdom dared to be an enemy of the Tang Dynasty, which was simply a desperate situation.

Thinking back to the beginning, the Yanqi Kingdom took the initiative to send envoys to pay tribute and maintained good relations with the Tang Dynasty.

In the 12th year of Zhenguan, Gaochang joined forces with the Western Turks to invade Yanqi Kingdom, captured several cities, and captured about 2,000 Yanqi men and women.

To this end, Yanqi sent envoys to Chang'an to request troops to support.

Without saying a word, the Tang Dynasty sent troops to help Yanqi deal with Gaochang.

However, after the Tang Dynasty destroyed Gaochang, the king of Yanqi Kingdom, Long Tuqizhi, chose to surrender to the Western Turks.

The Longtu Qizhi married his daughter to the younger brother of Qu Lichu, the important minister of the Western Turkic Republic, and they made a promise to each other as a country of lips and teeth.

From then on, Yanqi's tribute to the Tang Dynasty became less and less, and he no longer paid tribute in the past two years.

Yanqi just didn't pay tribute, but his greed was enough to dare to send troops to invade the border areas of Xizhou, the Tang Dynasty.

Yanqi is a typical example of burning bridges across the river.

Li Er is not a lord who can be provoked by casually, and the Tang Dynasty is not a lord that other countries can be provoked by casually.

The Tang Dynasty pursued: Those who violated the Tang Dynasty will be punished even if they are far away!

Long Tuqizhi was not good at being his Yanqi King, but came to provoke the Tang Dynasty. I really don’t know how to write the word “death”.

After careful consideration, Li Er decided to appoint Li Zaigu as the general manager of the marching in Xizhou Road, and Guo Xiaoke as the deputy general manager of the marching, and to lead troops to attack Yanqi on the date.

Li Er originally wanted to appoint Li Zaigu as the chief marching commander of the Pyongyang Road and lead his troops to attack Goguryeo, but considering that Li Zaigu is familiar with the west side, he is more suitable to serve as the chief marching commander of the Xiju Road.

On the other hand, Li Er hopes to fight quickly and win Yanqi in one fell swoop, so as not to affect the overall situation of the conquest of Goguryeo.

In today's Tang Dynasty, Li Zaigu is the most suitable candidate for both familiarity with Yanqi and being able to fight and win Yanqi quickly.

Li Zaigu had no objection to Li Er's decision and set off for Xizhou today.

Before leaving, Li Er held Li Zaigu's hand and said earnestly: "In ancient times, the Tang Dynasty is going to deal with Goguryeo now, so there is no extra force to bring you to Xizhou. I hope you can understand my helplessness, and I hope you can teach you a good lesson for the Tang Dynasty and the Yanqi Kingdom!"
Chapter completed!