My father, Li Shimin, please call me Crown Prince

Chapter 234: The ruthless prince of the Tang Dynasty, the rebels are exterminated

Confucius said: If the name is not right, then the words will not flow.

The Tang Dynasty is the teacher of kings, the suzerain state, and the common ruler of the world.

This is order.

Fang Xuanling's words sounded weak.

No country will use force against a weak country when it becomes strong.

With a large number of soldiers, generals and sophisticated weapons, if we don't start a war, is it a good idea to just keep them?

However, launching wars wantonly is not a good thing for the Tang Dynasty.

There are too many countries around, and for the Tang Dynasty, launching a full-scale war is too costly.

Because conquering most countries was not a good thing for the Tang Dynasty, but instead added more burdens.

For a place like the grassland, even if it is occupied, it doesn't make much sense.

If there is peaceful development and the population increases, a large amount of food supply will be needed. In fact, the grassland cannot be self-sufficient. If it can be self-sufficient, there will be no need to collect food and plunder everywhere.

Plundering is not the hobby of the grassland people. They have no food to eat and are so hungry that they can only rob.

Every winter, a large number of grassland people starve to death.

In order to achieve better, peaceful and stable development, the Tang Dynasty needs a name, otherwise it will be in chaos.

From this perspective, if the prince forcibly annexed Silla, it would have a very bad international impact, causing more frequent and larger rebellions in neighboring countries.

Considering long-term interests, Li Shimin would not allow the prince to send troops to Silla privately.

"Send a message to the prince, not to start a war against Silla without authorization."

Li Shimin issued an imperial edict, his tone left no room for doubt.

Li Shimin himself did not want to see the crown prince become too powerful. If he really annexed Silla and Baekje, the number of troops in the crown prince's hands would likely reach an extremely exaggerated number.

Coupled with the fact that Goryeo is easy to defend and difficult to attack, the prince will become the king of Liaodong in the future.

What does he want to do?

Will we bring the ethnic minorities from Liaodong to go to war with the Tang Dynasty?

This was the situation that Li Shimin least wanted to see.

Therefore, even if there is a possibility of a fallout, Li Shimin must withdraw the Tang army and not give the prince the opportunity to seize military power.

If the prince took away the military power of the 100,000-strong Tang army, and added the troops of Goryeo, Silla, and Baekje.

Then you can become an emperor yourself.

It's not that Li Shimin was afraid of the crown prince, but he killed his brothers and imprisoned his father, and then started a father-son war that destabilized the entire Tang Dynasty. How would history books record him?

This is simply a case of being deserted by everyone, and no matter how great the achievements are, they cannot cover up the situation.

The main purpose of limiting the prince's military strength is to control the situation within a certain range, at least to slightly suppress the prince's ambitions.
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East Palace.

Since the prince's expedition to the east, this place has become much quieter.

No matter what Li Shimin said, he would not come to embarrass the Crown Princess.

Su Yuer now controls the entire East Palace.

Su Yuer was delighted by the great victory in the Eastern Expedition, but she had not heard the news that the prince would be returning to the court.

"Father, why did His Majesty ask everyone else to return to the court, but didn't ask the Crown Prince to come back?"

These days, Su Tan often comes to the East Palace to accompany his daughter.

Su Tan felt uncomfortable when faced with his daughter's question.

He knew some information, although it was not accurate, but the conflict between His Majesty and the Crown Prince was already very prominent.

Su Yuer didn't know about these things.

"Korea has just been pacified, so there are naturally many things to manage. The Crown Prince is very busy, so it is normal that he cannot get away at this time."

Su Tan said comfortingly, not wanting to make his daughter worry too much.

Su Yuer was a little melancholy: "You won't come back for the New Year."

Su Tan shook his head gently: "Probably not coming back."

"Now the Crown Prince is recruiting students to serve as officials in Goryeo. All the children of the Su family are responding to the Crown Prince's call. When we meet the Crown Prince, we may get more accurate information."

While speaking, Su Tan felt a little uncomfortable.

My daughter is so young, and now she has to live a life of widowhood.

He knew in his heart that the prince might not come back even in three to five years, let alone next year.

These things are not big secrets. Some people can make some guesses by asking around.

Even if Su Tan did not have much political awareness, as the prince's father-in-law, he was respected by the prince and had some connections.

Su Yu'er didn't think much after hearing this, and said with a smile: "I will manage the East Palace well, and I will definitely be happier when the prince comes back."

She didn't realize at this moment how long this wait would take.

Su Tan smiled on the surface and sighed in his heart, but he could do nothing about it.
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Goryeo.

Li Chengqian's plan went smoothly.

Under the strong pressure of the army, a large number of Goryeo nobles were tried, and their wealth exceeded everyone's expectations.

Almost every day a large amount of money continued to flow into Li Chengqian's treasury.

The amount of gold, silver, treasures, money, grain, rice and flour was simply an extremely exaggerated number.

As of now, it is equivalent to the annual tax revenue of the Tang Dynasty, and this is only one-third of the area of ​​Goryeo.

This is how wealth works. The vast majority of wealth is controlled by a very small number of people.

Even if Goryeo was destroyed, these nobles would not spend their own assets.

But now, Li Chengqian took action directly without any consideration.

This brought hatred from the entire Goryeo aristocracy, but they had no way to deal with the Tang army.

There are some who want to rebel, but rebellion is not an easy thing.

The nobles fell, and the people were fed.

The redistribution of interests largely resolved Goryeo's original class contradictions, allowing the people to obtain more land. Even if it was an equal-field system, it meant they could live a good life.

For the people, whoever allows them to live a good life is their benefactor.

The once arrogant aristocratic lords were overthrown and were no longer exploited and oppressed.

At this time, who would be foolish enough to follow the noble lord who once treated them like pigs and dogs to rebel? This is nonsense and a person must be crazy.

Even a fool knows who is truly good to them.

However, rebellions are the business of the great nobles. The small nobles have only a dozen people and cannot cause any trouble.

During the Great Trial, there were some small local cities that refused to obey discipline.

Li Chengqian's response was simple and crude. He used severe punishments in times of chaos and exterminated the entire clan of rebels.

Suppress all disobedience with force.

Rebellion is caused by not killing enough people. As long as enough people are killed, that is enough.

But things are still relatively tricky.

On the day when Li Chengqian's army arrived at the capital of Goryeo, there were more than twenty local rebellions.

For many local nobles, the prince of the Tang Dynasty was trying to dig up their roots, which was totally unacceptable. They were once high and mighty, but now they were being demoted to commoners and had to stand trial, which was more painful than killing them.

Where there is the first one, there will be the second one, and thus endless rebellions arise.

A city in northern Goryeo.

Yuan Nansheng looked surprised.

"Father, I didn't expect that the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty was so incompetent that he actually wanted to expel all the nobles in Goryeo and demote them to commoners. This is a great opportunity for us."

"This time, all the nobles will unite with us to resist the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty."

Having lost the war, Yeon Gaesomun and his men are now hiding in the dark, waging guerrilla warfare against the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty.

After all, Goryeo's territory was so large, and the Tang army had so many troops. It could not be said that they had complete control over Goryeo. Even Yeon Gaesomun did not have complete control over Goryeo.

Local forces still hold great influence.

When Yeon Gaesomun assembled his army, they would not give their full support, as many of the nobles already had their own private armies.

Now that the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty has done this, he is making an enemy of the entire Goryeo aristocracy.

"This is our last hope. If we fail, we will fail completely."

Unlike his son, Yeon Gaesomun was in a bad mood.

He has seen more places than his son and has a higher political awareness.

After taking charge of Goryeo, Yeon Gaesomun was well aware that the problems of the aristocracy were already deep-rooted and difficult to reverse, and it was almost impossible to solve the problem fundamentally.

But now the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty seems to be facing many crises by doing this. However, in fact, once this problem is solved, Goryeo will never be able to return, which means that Yeon Gaesomun will lose all possibilities.

From now on, Goryeo will be completely controlled by the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty.

Yeon Gaesomun did not want this to happen. Although there seemed to be a great chance this time, there was only one chance. If the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty did not do this, then even if he failed many times, Yeon Gaesomun would have many opportunities to make a comeback.

The most important thing is that the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty made such a great determination to completely change the entire Goryeo, rather than choosing to go back after winning the war and Goryeo surrendered.

"This time, we really have no way out."

Yeon Gaesomun said earnestly.

This is only the last chance.
-
The capital of Goryeo.

Pyongyang City.

This was the most prosperous city in Goryeo.

It is also the place with the largest number of nobles in Goryeo.

Today, the sky is gloomy.

The gates of the royal capital were opened, and Li Chengqian arranged for the army to enter the city directly and take over the security of the entire city.

At the same time, martial law and curfew were announced.

The royal palace, at the main gate of Anhe Palace.

King Go Jang, a puppet supported by Yeon Gaesomun, and his ministers knelt at the door to welcome the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty.

King Gao Zang held the seal bestowed by the Tang Dynasty in his hand. When he saw the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty riding over, he shouted, "Your humble servant, Gao Zang, pays respect to His Royal Highness the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty."

Li Chengqian, on his horse, glanced coldly at King Gao Zang but ignored him.

He rode his horse directly into the palace gate.

King Gao Zang, who was originally a little nervous, was now filled with fear.

He was somewhat happy before because he was a puppet supported by Yeon Gaesomun and the nephew of the former King of Goryeo, King Yeongryu Go Geonmu.

However, after being supported by Yeon Gaesomun as a puppet queen, Li Shimin did not enthrone her.

In a sense, the Tang Dynasty's attack on Goryeo was a restoration of order, and it stands to reason that the blame should not be placed on him, a puppet.

However, the actions of the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty clearly showed that he was very dissatisfied with him.

Behind him, generals including Su Dingfang followed the prince into the royal palace.

At this time, the Tang army was in charge of all the defense forces in the palace of the entire Goryeo capital.

The reason why Li Chengqian disliked Gao Zang involved historical reasons.

Historically, after Emperor Gaozong of Tang conquered Goryeo, he appointed Gao Zang as the governor of Liaodong and conferred him the title of King of Joseon. However, Gao Zang later conspired with the Mohe people to rebel against the Tang.

This shows that this guy is also full of rebelliousness.

If that's the case, why keep him?

Anhe Palace City is somewhat different from the Tang Dynasty.

It is mainly divided into three palaces, namely South Palace, Central Palace and North Palace.

Each palace is divided into outer hall, inner hall and sleeping hall.

The Central Palace Hall was where the Goryeo king held court meetings.

Although the general official system is slightly different from that of the Tang Dynasty, it is generally not much different.

Li Chengqian was dressed in gorgeous clothes, standing tall on the high platform of the hall, with a stern face and unquestionable majesty in his eyes. Generals such as Su Dingfang stood majestically on both sides, like iron towers, exuding a murderous aura.

In the back, the Queen of Silla stood quietly with her attendants, staring calmly ahead. In the center of the hall, Gao Zang, with a pale face, led the Goryeo officials to prostrate themselves on the ground, their bodies trembling slightly, and the whole hall was filled with oppressive silence.

Li Chengqian spoke slowly, his voice as cold as if it came from the Netherworld: "Goryeo has rebelled many times, causing great suffering to the people. This is an unforgivable crime. Go Zang, King of Goryeo, you are the ruler of a country, but you cannot protect the land and the people. Instead, you condone rebellion. I hereby sentence you to be stripped of all privileges of the Goryeo royal family, and from now on you will be demoted to a commoner. You will never be able to restore your country again for generations."

When Gao Zang heard this, he felt like he was struck by lightning. He wanted to explain himself but dared not speak a word. He could only kowtow in despair.

He didn't expect this would be the outcome.

The Goryeo royal family thus fell into the status of common people.

Li Chengqian paused, and his eyes swept across the prostrate Goryeo officials like a knife: "As Goryeo officials, you have failed to assist the king, and even worse, participated in the rebellion. From today on, all your official positions will be dismissed, all your property will be confiscated, and you will be expelled from Pyongyang and exiled to a remote place. If you disobey, you will be killed without mercy."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire hall fell silent.

Who could have thought that the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty would directly dismiss all the officials of Goryeo.

You must know that the entire political operation of Goryeo now relies on these civil servants.

What the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty did was equivalent to completely depriving Goryeo of its political system. No one would have thought that the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty had such courage.

Silla Queen Kim Deokman opened her lips slightly and was completely stunned.

Before he even met the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty, he was already given a warning.

The two trusted ministers who followed him, Kim Yu-shin and Bitam, were also frightened.

The Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty, this is too cruel.

The Goryeo officials suddenly cried and begged for mercy one after another, but under the majesty of Li Chengqian, everything seemed so powerless.

Subsequently, Li Chengqian announced that Anhe Palace was renamed Shenwu Palace and all palace maids and eunuchs were dismissed.

Li Chengqian didn't want to be assassinated by some loyal Goryeo palace maid or eunuch while he was sleeping.

Anyway, I don’t have a concubine, and the royal palace is just a temporary living place.

These palace maids and eunuchs are not of much use.

After these arrangements were given, the last thing was the audience with the Queen of Silla.

The Queen of Silla and two ministers knelt tremblingly in the middle of the hall.

"King Jin Deman of Silla pays homage to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Tang."

(End of this chapter)