On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 300
"Have you heard that in the eastward expedition to Goguryeo, 10,000+ people were lost there, without any gains."

"Yan Gong led us to fight four times, and the casualties did not exceed 30 people. Gao Jiong supported [-] troops, but lost more than half of them. There is also a reason why we cannot be listed as famous generals with Yan Gong and the others."

"One general is incompetent, and the three armies are exhausted to death. It is hateful that the entrusted person is not human. More than a hundred thousand soldiers are buried in other places."

Inside and outside Jicheng, there are many discussions about the Battle of Liaodong, and even Cui Che has heard of it.

In fact, he also knew that Gao Jiong couldn't be blamed for this incident.

Unlike later generations, from Jixian County to the east, you can take the Liaoxi Corridor.

Before the Tang Dynasty, no one was willing to take this road along the sea, because it was full of mud and swamps, no less than Liaoze.

It had to wait until the Liao and Jin Dynasties, after the Liaoxi Corridor was passed through by survivors and developed, it gradually became easier to pass through.

Today, from Jixian County to Yingzhou, you can only go through the hills of western Liaoning, and the road is rugged and steep.

This is also the reason why Cui Che decided to encircle Wei to rescue Zhao and attack the Khitan's rear instead of directly rescuing Longshan County.

Gao Jiong's army marched to the hills of western Liaoning, crossed more than 2000 miles of mountain roads, and crossed Liaoze for more than [-] miles to rush to Liaodong.

However, the Goguryeo people could not hold on, and the logistical supplies could not be supplied in time. Even if Cui Che was to replace Gao Jiong, he would be at a loss what to do.

On the seventh day of August in the 17th year of Emperor Kaihuang (597 A.D.), Yang Liang, king of Han, arrived in Daxing first. As soon as he entered the hall, he knelt down in front of Yang Jian and Dugu Jialuo, crying that he almost died at the hands of Gao Jiong.

Yang Liang was full of complaints against Gao Jiong, and lashed out at Yang Jian and his wife for his self-willedness and failure to follow good strategies, which led to the defeat of the army.

Needless to say, Dugu Jialuo, before going on the expedition, she purposely let go of old grievances and asked Gao Jiong to take good care of Yang Liang. Now that she heard that her son escaped from death, the old and new grudges were counted together. Jiong cannot be eaten alive.

Yang Jian was even more disappointed with Gao Jiong.

He has a very good face, knowing that Dulan Khan rebelled, even if the opponent fled far away in Mobei, Cui Che had to go out to pursue him. Now that he has suffered such a big defeat, the anger in his heart can be imagined.

When Gao Jiong returned to the capital to plead guilty, Yang Qiangqiang suppressed his anger and did not deal with Gao Jiong's crimes severely, but only reprimanded and fined him.

Gao Jiong has done his duty and assisted him for 17 years. His credit cannot be completely erased by a defeat, but the last trace of affection between the monarch and his ministers has almost been cut off.

However, for such a defeat, someone had to take responsibility, so Wei Chong, the battalion governor who was in charge of supplying logistics and military supplies, was dismissed as a civilian.

Sima, the former general manager of Youzhou, was appointed, and general Liu Fang was appointed as the governor of Yingzhou to guard against Khitan and Goguryeo.

Not only that, but Yang Jian is also intensively planning the second battle to conquer Goguryeo, and the candidate for the commander is Cui Che who is sitting in Youzhou at this time and frightening the northern border.

Although the casualties of more than [-] people were painful, they were still within the range that the Sui Dynasty could bear.

The reason why he urgently wanted to send out troops again with the momentum of thunder was not only because he couldn't hold back his face, but because he was worried that the rest of the frontier forces would follow the example of Goguryeo.

However, Goguryeo itself was also uncomfortable. Gao Jiong’s siege for more than [-] days not only caused some damage to Goguryeo, but more importantly, Goguryeo mobilized more than [-] people, and only harvested a place of corpses abandoned by the Sui army.

The rewards after the war were not a small expense, and Silla and Baekje in the south of the Korean Peninsula, especially Silla occupying the Han River basin, saw the main force of Goguryeo moving westward, trying to attack Pyongyang.

Gao Yuan, king of Goguryeo, had no choice but to send envoys to the court to express his apology to Yang Jian, calling himself "Liaodong dung earth minister Yuan." '

Yang Jian had already learned from the generals about the difficulty of conquering Goguryeo. Seeing that Gao Yuan gave him the steps, Yang Jian gave up.

In this battle, the Sui Dynasty won face and lost Lizi.

However, Yang Jian did not recall Cui Che. Instead, he recalled Li Jingzheng, the governor of Youzhou, and appointed Cui Che to be the governor of Youzhou again.

The root cause lies in the disastrous defeat in Liaodong, which caused severe damage to the government soldiers in Hedong and Hebei. It was necessary for a general to sit in Youzhou to deter Monan.

Looking at the government and the public, there is no more suitable candidate than Cui Che.

He is not only his own son-in-law, but also has deep prestige among the various ethnic groups in the Monan Grassland.

However, Yang Jian still specially sent someone to remind Cui Che not to have another conflict with Xi Wang Ahui Lusu, and he was also worried about forcing Kumoxi to the Goguryeo camp.

When the news reached Hebei, the soldiers and civilians in the fifty towns of You, Ping, Yi, Xuan, Yan, and Heng all clapped their hands and celebrated.

Li Jing, who left his post, sat in the carriage, looked through the window at the people of Jicheng who were rushing to tell each other, and could not help complaining to Chang Shi:

"When I was the governor of Youzhou, I tried my best to govern the people. When I was about to leave, there was no one to see me off. I only cared about congratulating Duke Yan for leaving the town."

Chang Shi shook his head and said:
"Yan is a land of martial arts, although Duke Pingou can protect the environment and the people, but he has no great achievements, and his reputation is naturally not as good as Duke Yan."

Li Jing smiled bitterly and said:
"In the final analysis, more than [-] people were recruited to escort the grain and fodder. The road was difficult and the people complained a lot."

Chang Shi remained silent.

Cui Che stood at the top of the city, watching Li Jing's carriage go further and further away after leaving the city.

Li Gang behind him said doubtfully:

"Why didn't Duke Ming give him a gift?"

Cui Che withdrew his gaze and said:

"It's not a journey after all."

Then, he smiled at Li Gang and said:

"I have to trouble Wen Ji again with the government affairs of the General Manager's Mansion."

Cui Che was re-appointed as the governor of Youzhou, Li Gang was still the governor, and Sima was Mai Tiezhang.

"As long as you want, I dare not ask for your ears."

Li Gang smiled.

At the same time, Yang Jian was also preparing to quell the Lingnan Rebellion.

As the so-called Xia conquered Liaodong and Dongping Lingnan, this was also a battle that had been planned for a long time.

All the generals asked to lead the army one after another, but Yu Qing stayed out of the matter.

But Yang Jian already had a favorite candidate, so he said to Yu Qing:

"You are the Duke of Jin, and the official worships the prime minister. Now that the country is in trouble, how can you remain indifferent."

Yu Qing hurriedly knelt down to plead guilty, was appointed as the marching commander, and took over the burden of countering the rebellion.

It's just that Zhao Shizhu, who is the commander of the army, is Yu Qingze's brother-in-law, but he has an affair with his brother-in-law's concubine.

He was worried that his brother-in-law would blame him if the matter was revealed, so he spread rumors everywhere to slander Yu Qingze. These rumors also reached Yang Jian's ears, which made Yang Jian very dissatisfied with Yu Qingze.

Even when Yu Qing bid farewell to Yang Jian, Yang Jian didn't give him a good face.

When Yu Qing put down the Lingnan rebellion, he sent Zhao Shizhu to the court to report victory.

Zhao Shizhu took the opportunity to falsely accuse Yu Qing of intending to rebel. Yang Jian was furious and ordered the relevant departments to conduct a thorough investigation. Qing was executed.

Zhao Shizhu, who falsely accused his brother-in-law, was also named Zhu Guo.

(End of this chapter)