The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 829: Taiji Hall Discusses the Liaodong War
Less than ten years after ascending the throne, Li Shimin defeated Jie Li, the overlord of the northern grasslands, and more than doubled the territory of the Tang Empire. He used his unprecedented military achievements to prove that he was worthy of being the true master of this empire.

At this time, Li Shimin was calm and steady, and much more relaxed both physically and mentally.

Walking to the throne, Li Shimin glanced at the ministers kneeling on the ground below and waved his hand: "Stand up, everyone."

"Long live thanks!"

Li Shimin's attitude was very casual and his mood was very happy, which was a symbol of his extreme confidence in his control of power and the court.

There are no standards for attending court now, and Li Shimin’s behavior is the standard.

All the ministers in the court were paying attention to his every word and action, and Li Shimin didn't have to think about how to agree with them.

The ministers went through the process meticulously, stood up and took their seats, holding their court tablets and preparing to start the morning court session.

Li Shimin habitually glanced at the first position on the left, and it was still empty.

This was the position of the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty. After Li Yan was sent on a diplomatic mission to the Turks, the position was left vacant every time the court was in session. Neither Li Ke nor Li Tai dared to overstep their authority.

At that time, the Battle of Dingxiang was over and news of Li Yan's disappearance came.

King Li Tai of Wei felt that there were too many ministers in the court and it was a waste to leave a position vacant, so he wanted to occupy it.

But since he was ranked fourth and couldn't surpass Li Ke, he urged Li Ke to advance in "sequence".

I don’t know whether Li Ke thought too much or not, but he stood at the top the next day.

Unexpectedly, this would stir up trouble. At the suggestion of Zhangsun Wuji, the Right Guard General Hou Junji was the first to stand up and impeach Li Ke for usurping the throne. Then a large group of people followed suit, accusing Li Ke of being rude and suspected of plotting to seize the Eastern Palace.

Originally, Li Tai was planning to help Li Ke, but when he saw the aggressive crowd coming at him, he was a little frightened, so he lowered his head and became a coward.

Finally, seeing the strong reactions of the court officials, Li Shimin scolded Li Ke.

After this test, Li Shimin made his attitude clear, and from then on, this position remained vacant and no one cared about it anymore.

Although most of the ministers knew that the prince was in great danger, due to the complicated situation in the court, they had no choice but to accept the result that the prince would continue to disappear.

Li Shimin, who sat on the dragon chair, glanced around the hall and said, "Today's court meeting will only discuss one matter. Jie Li led an army of 200,000 to invade Goguryeo for more than a month. The army of Zuo Xian Wang Shiluodie and 150,000 troops have already conquered more than ten cities including Gaimu and Shabei."

"We recently captured Liaodong City, an important town in northern Goguryeo."

"I originally thought that the Turks would just plunder and leave this time, but now they show no signs of withdrawing and have instead stepped up their offensive."

"The King of Goryeo has sent an envoy to ask for help from the Tang Dynasty. Let's discuss today whether we should send troops or not?"

As soon as Li Shimin finished speaking, a young man with a haggard face walked out quickly from the back of the civil servants' line.

The man was wearing colorful royal robes, a white silk crown on his head, and a leather belt with gold buckles. He was clearly dressed in exotic style, quite different from the Tang Dynasty costumes.

The man in the ornate clothes walked to the middle of the aisle, knelt on the ground with a thump, and with a look of sorrow and pleading, he kowtowed and said loudly: "Supreme Great Tang Khan, Goguryeo is your vassal state, and the people of Goguryeo are your most loyal subjects."

"Now they are being invaded by grassland bandits. In just one month, Goguryeo has lost Liao and Gai provinces. The Turkic troops are heading straight for Xincheng and Guonei in the hinterland. Once these two cities are lost, our capital Pyongyang will no longer be covered and will be completely exposed to the iron hoofs of the Turks."

"Your Majesty, the Turks have committed all kinds of evil in Goguryeo, including burning, killing, looting, and committing all kinds of atrocities. They have not even spared the elderly and children. Countless people are wailing under the iron hoofs of these demons. Goguryeo is now like hell. All the people are looking forward to the Tang Dynasty's heavenly soldiers as if they were looking forward to the clouds and rainbows."

"I hope that Heavenly Khan will grant me mercy and save Goguryeo from collapse. The two million subjects of Goguryeo will always remember Heavenly Khan's kindness."

After Goguryeo defeated Wang Shichong and subdued Dou Jiande in the Tang Dynasty and secured its rule over the country, it submitted a petition requesting allegiance.

In the seventh year of Wude, Li Yuan sent the Minister of Punishments Shen Shu'an to Goguryeo to enthrone the king Gao Jianwu as the Supreme Pillar of the State, Prince of Liaodong, and King of Goryeo.

So there is nothing wrong with this person saying that Goguryeo was a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty.

This person was none other than Goguryeo's Crown Prince Gao Hengquan. When the Turks were gathering heavy troops in the north, Goguryeo King Gao Jianwu sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty. Now the Turks have been at war for a month, but the Tang Dynasty still shows no signs of sending troops.

Gao Jianwu had no choice but to send his own son to ask for help in person.

If Goguryeo was not facing powerful enemies outside and powerful officials inside, Gao Jianwu would have to come in person.

Before leaving, Gao Jianwu repeatedly emphasized to Gao Hengquan that this attack by the Turks was unusual. If Goguryeo could not get reinforcements from the Tang Dynasty, it might be in danger of extinction. If the Tang Dynasty could not be persuaded, they should not return home.

Gao Hengquan has been in the Tang Dynasty for more than ten days, and is not well received by the emperor and his ministers.

Everyone knows these reasons. The Former Sui Dynasty was destroyed because of Goguryeo. Although Yang Guang had brought it upon himself, he still could not defeat Goguryeo, which was in a corner, even with the help of the entire Central Plains army. Instead, he dragged himself to the brink of extinction. Countless soldiers died on the Liaodong front, and Goguryeo ignored these dead soldiers and left their bodies exposed in the wilderness.

This is not just a matter between the Sui Dynasty and Yang Guang. Goguryeo has become a shame for the entire Central Plains. It is already good enough that the Tang Dynasty did not send troops to destroy Goguryeo. How could it possibly help him?
Now that the Turks are attacking Goguryeo, the emperor, his subjects and the people of the Tang Dynasty all feel extremely happy.

Therefore, when Gao Hengquan came to work for Goguryeo, he was not welcomed by the two ministers, either in the Honglu Temple or the Ministry of Rites.

However, the survival of Goguryeo is a trivial matter.

However, the rulers and ministers of the Tang Dynasty did not want to see Jie Li extend his hand to the northeast. In the minds of everyone in the Tang Dynasty, Goguryeo was a lamb to be slaughtered, which meant that the Tang Dynasty had focused its main attention on the northern Turks.

After that, he was busy conquering the Western Regions, conquering the western part of the grassland, and carrying out internal reforms, and he really had no energy to take care of such a small place.

It can be said that as long as these things in the Tang Dynasty come to an end, Li Shimin will be the first to take the lead in dealing with Goguryeo.

Goguryeo was a peninsula-type country, surrounded by the sea on two sides. Silla and Baekje to the south were small forces with no rear, posing little threat to it. It was only connected to land in the north, with the Tang Dynasty to the east and the Turks to the north. Therefore, its main external threats were in the north.

It has two lines of defense on the northern border.

The outermost layer is the northern Liaoshui defense line with Liaodong City as the center and Gaimu, Shabei and other cities as wings.

Then there is the second line of defense with the new city and the domestic city as the core.

This is also the most solid layer of Goguryeo. Once it is broken, the capital Pyongyang will face the Turks directly. Once Pyongyang is lost, Goguryeo will be destroyed.

After a month of fighting, seeing that the Turks had invaded into Goguryeo's hinterland and Goguryeo had suffered great damage, Li Shimin felt that it was enough, so the day before he summoned several important ministers to Chengqing Hall to pass a resolution to intervene in the war in Liaodong, and then went through the procedures at the court meeting.

At this time, Gao Hengquan saw that the Tang Dynasty had finally brought the matter of Goguryeo to the court. In order to impress the Tang Dynasty's emperor and ministers, his expression was sad and his words were earnest, which made people sad and cry. It seemed as if he was under tremendous pressure and pain.

Gao Hengquan was breathing rapidly, his chest heaving, his body tensed, his hands clenched into fists, as if he hated the brutality and cold-bloodedness of the Turks, and as if he sympathized with his compatriots who had fallen into such a miserable situation.

"Sir, please stand up and speak!"

Li Shimin was not affected by the young man's emotions. Looking closely, he could see a hint of satisfaction deep in his eyes.

"Thank God Khan!"

Gao Hengquan stood up with a look of gratitude on his face, but in fact he hated the Tang Dynasty to the core.

The battle twenty years ago almost led to the destruction of Goguryeo, and it has not recovered until now.

This time, the Tang Dynasty defeated Jie Li and could have clearly taken over the entire grassland.

However, he only conquered the western grasslands, leaving the ferocious Jie Li in the east, which clearly left a hidden danger for Goguryeo.

Jie Li used to invade the Tang Dynasty, but now that the Tang Dynasty is strong, he dare not provoke it again, so he set his sights on these small forces in the east.

In five years, Goguryeo watched as Jie Li conquered all the tribes in the eastern grasslands one by one, and now he finally set his sights on Goguryeo, the only tribe bordering the Turks.

If the Tang Dynasty was still as weak as before, Jie Li would look down on his own country. Moreover, when the Turks invaded the Tang Dynasty, Goguryeo could slowly erode the interests of the Tang Dynasty in the northeast and expand its own territory.

In order to avoid war on two fronts, the Tang Dynasty adopted a policy of concession towards Goguryeo's actions.

During this Turkic invasion, Goguryeo had clearly requested assistance early on, but the Tang Dynasty kept making excuses and watched the Turks burn, kill and loot in Goguryeo.

Gao Hengquan was not a child who knew nothing. As the crown prince of Goguryeo, he received a good education since childhood and had some political wisdom. He was also well aware of the dirty thoughts among these big countries.

The Tang Dynasty was clearly sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger's head, hoping that the Turks would consume Goguryeo.

Now he had to beg so humbly, which was a great shame and humiliation. Gao Hengquan felt so angry that his teeth were itching.

At this moment, in his eyes, Li Shimin was even more hateful than Jie Li.

Li Shimin looked at the ministers in the hall and said majestically, "You all know the situation. Whether to send troops is a major matter and must be discussed by the entire court. Let's discuss how to deal with this matter now."

As soon as Li Shimin finished speaking, Wei Zheng was the first to stand up: "The Turks are greedy and cruel, and now they are starting a war in Goguryeo, burning, killing, looting, and endangering the people. Our Tang Dynasty is the Celestial Empire, and we should send troops."

Wei Zheng had a straightforward temper and a fiery personality. He could not stand such things, so he clearly expressed his position in the first flag tent.

(End of this chapter)