Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

The next day.

The howling south wind grew stronger and stronger, making the Tang army flags planted on the city wall flutter.

Liaodong City, outside the west gate.

Tens of thousands of Tang army soldiers stood in formation with solemn expressions, and all their eyes were focused on the huge Jingguan in front of them.

The strong wind blew away the weeds on top, revealing the bones of countless Sui army soldiers.

Desolate and tragic.

Li Chengqian stood at the front of the military column, while Du He, Li Ji, Hou Junji, Li Daozon and others lined up behind Li Chengqian.

A moment of silence.

Li Chengqian bowed three times solemnly towards the remains of the former Sui soldiers, and then spoke loudly with a serious expression.

"Heroes, we have fulfilled your long-cherished wish of conquering Liaodong City. Next, we will continue to conquer Goguryeo."

"Don't worry, we will take you home after this battle is over!"

"You can rest in peace now!"

As Li Chengqian finished speaking, the generals behind him shouted in unison.

"Please rest in peace, ancestor!"

Then the soldiers behind also began to shout, and the shouts became louder and louder, echoing through the sky.

Li Chengqian turned around slowly with the help of his personal guards. He looked at Li Ji with a solemn expression and spoke in a low voice.

"General Li, please arrange for someone to collect the remains of the heroes."

Li Ji stepped forward, clasped his fists towards Li Chengqian and said, "I obey your command!"

Under his command, thousands of craftsmen responsible for burial came out.

They first bowed three times respectfully to the remains of the hero, and then carefully put the remains into a wooden box.

Li Chengqian took a look and then said to Hou Junji: "General Hou, take the army back to the city to rest and continue the expedition in five days!"

The central army was in a better situation. Li Ji's army had been fighting for more than a month, and many of them were siege battles.

If the soldiers do not get enough rest time, they will have a harder time in subsequent expeditions.

Hou Junji nodded seriously.

Under his command, the army retreated to Liaodong City in an orderly manner.

...

In the afternoon.

The battle report of the attack on Liaodong City was also sent to Li Chengqian.

"In this battle, we annihilated more than 8 enemy troops, beheaded one Lisa, and beheaded 1 generals of varying ranks."

"We seized more than 2 war horses, more than 2 sets of armor and weapons, more than 12 stones of grain and fodder, and more than 120 million taels of gold and silver..."

Li Chengqian handed the battle report to Du He and said excitedly, "Du He, take a look at it too."

It has to be a big city like Liaodong City to have seized so many gold, silver and other valuables!

Du He took the battle report and started reading it. When his eyes fell on the captured content, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.

"These officials in Liaodong City are really rich!"

"I don't know how much money they have plundered from the people."

The largest amount of seized property in Liaodong City was the wealth of Lisa Gao Changyi and a group of generals. The combined wealth of these people was 50% more than that of the common people.

This does not include the value of antiques, calligraphy and paintings, silks and satins, etc.

Li Chengqian nodded in agreement, and suddenly asked, "Du He, do you think the officials in our Tang Dynasty also exploit the people?"

"After all, the prefectures and counties under the Tang Dynasty are much richer than Liaodong City. If those governors and county magistrates exploit the people, they must have embezzled much more money than the officials of Goguryeo."

When Du He heard Li Chengqian's soul-touching question, his expression was stunned for a moment.

I didn't expect that the confiscation of property in Liaodong City would cause Li Chengqian to think like this. It seems that staying in the East Palace is not of much use. Only practice can bring true knowledge!

After a moment's pause, Du He smiled and said, "Your Highness, if the water is too clear, there will be no fish. The officials in the prefectures and counties below are more or less corrupt."

"Du He, how do you think we can put an end to corruption among officials?"

"It is impossible to completely eliminate it. We can only send more imperial censors to investigate these officials and punish them if we find any."

Du He put down the battle report and shook his head.

Corruption and abuse of power is a problem that has troubled monarchs of all dynasties, and it cannot be solved no matter what means are used.

Li Chengqian frowned and said in a daze, "Are we just going to let these parasites continue to suck the blood and flesh of the people and the court?"

No wonder even though the Tang Dynasty was so rich, the imperial treasury was often short of money.

It seems that the rich people are all officials and people from wealthy families, while the court and the people are very poor.

Du He said softly, "Your Highness, we can use this question as an assessment question for recruiting scholars for the East Palace Chongwenguan, and see if the scholars have any good ideas."

Li Chengqian's eyes lit up: "Du He, your suggestion is a good one!"

With a breakthrough, Li Chengqian no longer worried about it.

He picked up the pen and ink on the table, turned his head and said to Du He, "Du He, I plan to write down the recent results of the battle and send it back to Chang'an, so that my father and all the ministers will know about our battle situation!"

"You are my number one military advisor and the deputy chief of the central army. How about you write this battle report for me?"

When Du He saw the pen handed to him by Li Chengqian, he jumped up.

"Your Highness, you should write the battle report. I'm going to go around Liaodong City."

"The howling south wind outside is already carrying a hint of moisture. I'm afraid it will rain heavily soon. I'll see if the soldiers have been properly settled."

After Du He finished speaking, without waiting for Li Chengqian to speak, he ran towards the gate.

After a few moments, he disappeared.

Seeing Du He running faster than a rabbit, Li Chengqian's hand holding the brush froze in mid-air.

"Du He is such a fast runner! Could it be that he is secretly practicing his escape skills without my knowledge?"

Thinking of this, Li Chengqian suddenly lowered his head and stared at his lame leg in a daze.

a long time.

"Hey~"

Li Chengqian let out a long sigh.

The originally excited mood suddenly became depressed.

...

Inside Liaodong City.

Under the escort of Xue Rengui and his personal guards, Du He wandered aimlessly in the city.

"Meet Deputy Chief Steward Du."

The patrolling soldiers who were coming towards them stopped and greeted Du He when they saw him.

They had heard that the reason they were able to successfully capture Liaodong City was entirely due to two good strategies thought up by Deputy Chief Steward Du.

One is to lure the enemy deep into our territory and annihilate most of the enemy’s main forces.

The second method was to use fire attack, which successfully burned down the steep and towering city walls.

Now Du He has a very great reputation in the army and is respected by these soldiers.

When they arrived at the South Gate, they found that the chief architect Yan Lide was directing the craftsmen to repair the collapsed city wall.

Seeing Du He approaching, Yan Lide deliberately said in a sarcastic tone, "Hey, some people who are struck by lightning just don't think about the consequences. It would be enough to just smash a gap in the wall, but they have to destroy such a long section."

"They have done a great job in destroying the wall, but it is hard for us who are repairing the wall!"

After saying this, he raised his head and said to the craftsman beside him: "Don't you think so?"

These craftsmen, who usually obeyed Yan Lide's orders, were so scared that they dared not speak when they saw Du He standing on the top of the city wall with a smile on his face.