"I dare to ask Your Majesty, how was General Cheng Mingzhen defeated?"

Su Dawei then asked Li Zhi.

Cheng Mingzhen was from Pingen County, Mingzhou, which is later Quzhou County, Hebei.

In his early years, he followed King Dou Jiande of Xia and served as the magistrate of Pule County, and was very famous.

In the fourth year of Wude in the Tang Dynasty, he surrendered to Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan, appointed as the magistrate of Yongnian County, and presided over Hebei Road.

Later, he followed Qin King Li Shimin and Yin Crown Prince Li Jiancheng to defeat Liu Heita's rebel army, became the chief of the Ying Prefecture, and was appointed as the Duke of Dongping County.

After Emperor Taizong ascended the throne, he was transferred to the governor of Mingzhou.

He was appointed as General of the Guard and General of Pyongyang Road for his merits.

Judging from Cheng Mingzhen's resume, this is a veteran who was born in the army. He has participated in almost all major battles from the founding of the Tang Dynasty to the present, and has rich combat experience.

The combat style is extremely calm and the psychological quality is tenacious enough.

Moreover, among the current generals of the Tang Dynasty, I really can't find a few who are more experienced in Liaodong than Cheng Mingzhen.

In the 19th year of Zhenguan, Cheng Mingzhen captured Shabei City in the battle to conquer Goguryeo and defeated the Goguryeo army in Dushan.

You can often win by surprise, and win with less.

He received praise from Emperor Taizong Li Shimin.

As a result, he became another recognized famous general after Duke Li Ji of Britain.

After Li Zhi ascended the throne, in the sixth year of Yonghui, Cheng Mingzhen was promoted to the governor of Yingzhou and also served as the governor of Dongyi.

In February, Silla asked for help from the Tang Dynasty because he was invaded by the coalition forces such as Goguryeo and Baekje.

At that time, Li Zhi sent Cheng Mingzhen and Su Dingfang, the general of the Left Guard, to lead his army to attack Goguryeo.

In May, Cheng Mingzhen and others crossed the Liao River.

Seeing that there were few soldiers in the Tang army, Goguryeo crossed the river to welcome the throne.

As a result, more than a thousand prisoners were killed by the Tang army, and burned them to the outer city and village.

Goguryeo's morale plummeted.

It is also worth mentioning that Cheng Mingzhen's son, Cheng Wuting, has followed Cheng Mingzhen in battles all year round and later became a famous general of the Tang Dynasty.

Su Dawei is now very curious about Cheng Mingzhen's qualifications and military use, coupled with Xue Rengui, a powerful general who was not born, how he was defeated.

Li Zhi pondered for a moment, as if he was organizing his language: "At the end of last year, Liaodong was cold and Cheng Mingzhen shrank his defense line and planned to fight again in the spring.

As a result, Xue Li, who led the cavalry alone, was caught by Goguryeo's plan to lure the enemy. Although Xue Rengui was brave and shot and killed the enemy's chief general, he still lost thousands of troops.

After that, Goguryeo took advantage of the weather and familiar geography to attack the food route, and the army was famined.

Cheng Mingzhen gathered the remaining troops and slowly retreated.

The Goguryeo faction was pursuing heavy troops.

Fortunately, Cheng Mingzhen used his troops calmly, reserved the rear army, and retreated in battle."

Su Dawei was stunned for a moment.

Unexpectedly, the problem lies with Xue Rengui.

Of course, the battle report will not be written in too detailed.

It is just the four words "a trick to lure the enemy", and there are countless swords and sabers hidden in it.

In order to feed the Tang army, Xue Rengui was careless. Goguryeo had already lost many troops before.

Although the Tang army only lost a thousand cavalry.

But those who conquer Liaodong are all elite soldiers in a hundred battles.

If you lose one, you will lose one.

Nowadays, the source of troops in Zhechong Mansion is becoming increasingly difficult, and the quality of the Tang army is deteriorating to the naked eye.

In the forty years of its founding, the Tang Dynasty was rich.

In the past, when I was in the army and fought, I could get rewarded for land.

Today's famous generals of the Tang Dynasty are all military aristocrats and military landlords.

There are many fields in the world, and the fields that are produced well have been divided up long ago.

Now when you are in a military war, you can get less and less fertile land.

Sometimes, when you return from victory, you can only get some silver rewards.

In contrast, it is more attractive to guard the land and house at home, with beautiful concubines accompanying you, and scattering branches and leaves, than to carry your head to the battlefield?

More importantly, losing in the Goguryeo battlefield exposes the "myth" of the Tang army's victory in every battle.

Su Dingfang added at this time: "I won't mention the loss of one thousand cavalry for the time being. The biggest difficulty is to retreat along the way, due to injuries, freezing and shortage of food."

"I have sent the Andong Protectorate to send troops to meet Cheng Mingzhen... Hopefully, it's time to do it."

Speaking of this, Li Zhi's face calmed down again.

Obviously, this failure caused him a lot of shame.

In the fifth year of Yonghui, although the combination of Cheng Mingzhen and Su Dingfang did not gain much advantage in Goguryeo, the Tang army did not lose its manpower and could still pass it perfunctorily.

This time it won’t work, it’s no small matter to lose thousands of elites.

It was not only the shame of Tang Jun, but also for Li Zhi, who was determined to be a great emperor, who was determined to be Taizong and was slapped hard in the face.

Su Dawei digested the information a little, and was still worried about Xue Rengui. He clasped his fists to Li Zhi and said, "Your Majesty, I wonder what to do with Xue Li?"

"You ask him?"

Li Zhi was angry and looked up at him with a gloomy look.

Seeing Su Dawei's expression was filled with worry, I suddenly remembered that a few years ago, when Wannian Palace encountered a flood, the guards fled one after another.

The eunuchs and maids all served as fish and turtle food.

In the end, Su Dawei and Xue Rengui risked their lives to break into the palace regardless of the flood, and carried themselves and Wu Meiniang, who was pregnant with Liujia.

This allowed him to survive.

I originally wanted to punish Xue Rengui severely, but when I thought about the past, I felt inexplicably softened.

He waved his hand and said, "Forget it, I think he made contributions to saving me in the past years. I will let him go to the northwest. If he can make contributions, come back."

Li Zhi was in a complicated mood.

He is still nostalgic.

If it weren't for this, Wu Meiniang wouldn't have been welcomed back to the palace from Ganye Temple.

Naturally, I also kept Su Dawei and Xue Rengui's grace to save his life back then.

Su Dawei proposed to build the Ducha Temple and establish his own Chang'an intelligence system, and he was right.

There is nostalgia in it.

As for Xue Rengui, he became famous on the battlefield of Goguryeo as early as the 19th year of Zhenguan.

Li Zhi had high hopes for him.

After returning from Wannian Palace in the past, he gave Xue Rengui a horse, unexpectedly hoping that you could become my thousand-mile horse.

As a result, reality slapped him hard.

The person I liked had a problem.

This made Li Zhi, who was extremely handsome, feel very uncomfortable.

If Su Dawei hadn't been present, he would have reminded him of what happened back then.

Xue Rengui is likely to be beaten to the end, and he will be directly dismissed from his post for the people and kicked out of the Tang army.

Forget it.

Li Zhi said in his heart: I have given you the opportunity. Whether you can make meritorious service depends on your own luck.

He put away his thoughts and looked at Su Dingfang: "Dingfang, what strategy do you have to go to Liaodong this time and how to configure your troops?"

Although Su Dingfang had just arrived from outside, he was still energetic and seemed to have thought of the answer to the questions raised by Li Zhi long ago.

"Your Majesty, our army sent troops to Liaodong this time to save Silla. Goguryeo and Baekje jointly invaded Silla. Silla was unable to withstand the harm and lost its territory. In my opinion, Goguryeo's centipede insects died without being stiff. Now is not a good time to use troops against Goguryeo."

"Oh, then we can just sit back and see?"

"No, if you want to break Goguryeo, you must first break his arm."

Li Zhi's eyes lit up: "What is the old general?"

"Goguryeo is difficult to break for the time being, but Baekje is not."

Su Dingfang's eyes flashed, as if they were hiding infinite wisdom: "To break Baekje, you must advance with water and land. I ask Your Majesty to transfer the navy to attack Baekje. After destroying Baekje, you can form a siege against Goguryeo in Silla. At that time, I will be sure to fight to determine the world."

"Okay, I'm sure."

Li Zhi suddenly laughed.

What he likes to hear the most is the heroic spirit of Su Dingfang.

Especially "one battle will determine the world".

What are the battles?

It's money and food.

The army is long-lasting outside and spends countless money and food.

Although the Tang Dynasty was rich, there was no surplus food.

Famous generals like Su Dingfang often use very few troops to destroy the enemy.

This is too worry-free, no, it is simply too money-saving!

Li Zhi smiled and felt relieved.

"Old General, according to your opinion, how many naval troops can do to destroy Baekje? How about 30,000?"

"According to my opinion, I cannot get a hundred thousand people."

"Well?"

Li Zhi choked immediately.

He looked at Su Dingfang's face and showed a surprised and painful expression.

You...you have changed.

This is not how you used military service in the past.

In the Western Turks, only 50,000 soldiers were destroyed.

Hundreds of thousands... Hundreds of thousands of navy.

How much does it cost?

I also want to build the Daming Palace, and I also want to enjoy my happiness.

Wronged……

"Your Majesty, this is the moment, that is the moment."

Su Dingfang said patiently: "Liaodong is bitter and cold, and it depends on the sea. Moreover, Baekje and Japan are different from Fuyu. If they do not use the navy army, it is difficult to cut off contacts. Japan will definitely support Baekje.

I heard that the sea route between Japan and Baekje is not far away, and I can arrive overnight, so I have to guard against it."

Su Dawei listened aside and couldn't help but give a thumbs up secretly.

What about the famous generals?

Su Dingfang's level is high.

Not only is he skilled in cavalry warfare, he can even consider Japan in Baekje and Goguryeo.

This strategic vision is simply top-notch.

If it weren't for a time traveler like Su Dawei, who would have thought that Japan would have made any moves when using troops to Liaodong at this time?

But it turns out that everything was received by Su Dingfang.

"Okay, I...I'm all right."

Li Zhi felt pain again, and had to grit his teeth and agree.

That expression looked like the boss who lost money for the last three days to clear the goods and jumped from the property price.

"What general should be used? Follow the old general's point. There is only one thing to do. In this battle, you must win."

"promise."

"By the way, there is also..."

Li Zhi looked at Su Dawei: "Before you leave, the information must be arranged, and it is necessary to conceal the news that I will use the veteran General Su to go to Liaodong."

In recent years, Li Zhi has increasingly tasted the sweetness of intelligence advantages.

He has already remembered this in his mind whenever he uses military force and intelligence first.

Su Dawei hesitated for a moment, but he still clasped his fists and responded: "Yes."

The emperor's words are simple.

But a hundred thousand army...

How is it possible to conceal such a large military mobilization?

At most, it can only delay for a few days, and sooner or later it will be found by the Japanese.

Moreover, such a big thing can easily expose the undercover agent you have worked hard to set up.

It will make the Japanese realize that they have been exploited by the Tang Dynasty in terms of intelligence.

However, this matter is a national policy and comes from Li Zhi's mouth.

There is no room for negotiation.
Chapter completed!