"Kuan'er, is Liaodong really that good?"

Li Shimin ignored the bickering between Li Kuan, Changsun Wuji and others, and directly asked the question he was most concerned about.

Conquering Goguryeo was not his whim today.

He had this idea since he destroyed the Eastern Turks.

Previously, this idea was more about proving that the Tang Dynasty under his leadership was a more powerful country than the Sui Dynasty, and that he was a greater emperor than Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty.

However, he also knew how to learn from the lessons of the Sui Dynasty and did not dare to start a war easily, so he endured it for so many years.

Now that Li Kuan said it, conquering Goguryeo was not only a waste of people and money, but could actually make money and add a prosperous Liaodong Road to the Tang Dynasty. The meaning was completely different.

"Your Majesty, as long as Liaodong is built, Datang will have a huge granary. Maybe in more than ten years, the grain output of Liaodong alone will be able to meet the food needs of the entire Datang. And the stability of Liaodong

and prosperity will indirectly make Hebei and Hedong roads more stable and prosperous, thereby strengthening Datang's control over the northern grasslands and making an unexpected contribution to the stability of the frontier."

Although there is no basis for what Li Kuan said, Li Shimin can still understand it.

Nowadays, the northern part of Hebei Province can be said to be poor in people's livelihood, and there is no way to compare with Guanzhong.

The reason is that it was the frontier of the Tang Dynasty.

Throughout the history of the dynasties, no dynasty had a very prosperous frontier.

However, once the vast Liaodong becomes a road of the Tang Dynasty, then the northern part of Hebei Road, with a radius of several hundred miles centered on Youzhou, will become more stable.

Considering that the imperial court is now promoting cotton cultivation near Shuozhou, the Tang Dynasty's control over the grassland will inevitably be greatly improved.

However, if the development of Liaodong Road can really solve the food problem, then further expansion of cotton planting will become something that no longer needs to be worried about.

You know, in order to prevent cotton from occupying fertile land, the court only allowed cotton to be grown in the northern area of ​​Hedong Road.

In the future, the entire Hedong Road and Hebei Road can be used to grow cotton as long as the climate and environment are suitable.

It just so happens that the output of these cottons can be provided to the people of Liaodong Road to solve their problem of keeping out the cold.

The more Li Shimin thought about it, the more excited he became, and he couldn't wait to go on the expedition tomorrow!

"Your Majesty, these are just speculations by His Royal Highness the King of Chu. The risk is too great to make rash decisions based on these baseless speculations."

Changsun Wuji could see that Li Shimin was completely moved, but he still wanted to make a last-ditch effort.

"Wuji, if this is a baseless speculation, you will know after you follow me to Liaodong! Xuanling, you stay in Chang'an City to assist the prince. Maogong, I appoint you as the general manager of the march of Liaodong Road, from the left and right armies.

Wei Litou mobilized 10,000 elite troops to set off first;

Jinda, you take the students from the Military Academy to Youzhou immediately, recruit three thousand soldiers, and form an academy army led by the students from the Military Academy. Let everyone see the results of your study; Kuan'er, the most powerful person in the Tang Dynasty

Those who understand naval warfare are the city navy and the guards of the East China Sea fishery under the city governor's office. This time, I appoint you as the military commander of Pyongyang Road, leading 10,000 government troops from Dengzhou, Jizhou and other places, as well as city troops.

The soldiers of Bo Navy and Dengzhou Navy began to attack Goguryeo a month later..."

Li Shimin's courage was still very extraordinary, and he quickly decided to adopt Li Kuan's advice, quickly send troops, advance both by land and water, catch Goguryeo by surprise, and then completely bring Liaodong under the rule of the Tang Dynasty.

…

Li Shimin wants to lead the expedition in person!

This news cannot be hidden!

It only took a day or two for the people of Chang'an City to know the news.

Although everyone imagined that the Tang Dynasty was the most powerful country in the world, with the three failures of the Sui Dynasty ahead, many people were still worried about this expedition.

Especially some well-informed people knew that the number of soldiers sent out this time was actually less than 100,000, and their confidence in victory immediately dropped by several percent.

"Although the country is strong, if it is warlike, it will perish! That Li Kuan, who encouraged Your Majesty to go on a personal expedition, deserves to be killed!"

In the Imperial Academy, after Kong Yingda understood the situation of the expedition to Goguryeo, he couldn't help but curse.

"Your Majesty is indeed a little overconfident this time. He only brought so many troops to Liaodong. Although he would not be defeated by Goguryeo, Goguryeo's cities were built on mountains and rivers. They had withstood the test of the Sui Dynasty's army's attack.

Is it so easy to win? When the time comes, all they have to do is build a strong wall and clear the country, and we, the Tang Dynasty, will be in a dilemma."

Sima Caizhang obviously, like Kong Yingda, was not very optimistic about this war.

As for the blueprint drawn by Li Kuan, he didn't believe it even more.

"Your Majesty really wants to defeat Goguryeo, but haste makes waste."

Kong Yingda and Sima Caizhang were the only two people in the room, so they didn't have to worry about talking to each other.

…

"Your Majesty, the iron-making workshop has urgently adjusted its production arrangements. In the next month, a batch of crossbows and arrows will be produced, which will definitely meet the needs of the army for combat."

With a rare serious look on his face, Wang Fugui stood in front of Li Kuan and reported on the production arrangements of several workshops.

Under normal circumstances, only the workshops under the General Supervisor are allowed to produce crossbow arrows, but now that Li Kuan, as the general manager of the Pyongyang Road March, casually mentioned it to Li Shimin, he allowed the workshops under the Chu Palace to switch to producing military supplies as needed.

Even in order to produce crossbow arrows as quickly as possible, Li Kuan had the luxury of having his workshop produce all-stainless steel crossbow arrows.

As a result, although production costs have skyrocketed, production efficiency has also skyrocketed.

With the recommended water press, batches of crossbow arrows were quickly produced.

During this expedition, Li Kuan planned to rely entirely on his equipment advantages to let the Goguryeo army experience what asymmetric warfare was.

"Ask the general to prepare more kerosene bombs. If any of the city's guards wants to stay inside and be a tortoise, I will roast them!"

The Intelligence and Investigation Bureau of the Prince of Chu has been operating in Goguryeo for almost ten years, and Li Kuan's understanding of Goguryeo is much deeper than the average person.

He didn't have much worry at all about this expedition.

Victory is inevitable, the only thing is to see how big the scale of victory is.

Historically, although Li Shimin's first expedition was considered a victory, it did not completely capture Goguryeo, and he returned to the court after winter came.
Chapter completed!