Don't be a prince

"Very well, what you said made me suddenly enlightened. No matter what, you can go. However, I still don't feel relieved to lead 2000 people to escort you. I will go to Lingnan and bring the Donghai Navy. At the same time, I will give you a Wanxuan Jiajun! In addition, Daoist Sun must also go with us. When we northerners arrive in Lingnan, many people will be uncomfortable and vomit. With him following, I can rest assured.

When you come back, you can directly serve as Shang Shuling.I originally thought that I would teach you until you are 20 years old, but now it seems that I have nothing to teach you.Your heart, vision, and strategy, you are even better than I was back then.Now you don't need to learn anything other than practicing in court. "

After speaking, Li Shimin walked to the other half of the shooting range with his hands behind his back, ready to try the feeling of archery at sea.

Chapter 372

In terms of bows and arrows, Li Shimin is conceited. Similarly, he is also conceited in commanding the army in combat.

However, he is indeed qualified to be conceited. At present, in terms of archery, there are only a few in the whole Datang who can stand shoulder to shoulder with him, such as Feng An.As for combat, although he thought he was inferior to Li Jing, it was no problem to crush Cheng Yaojin and other generals.What's more, he and Li Jing once had a serious confrontation, and the "Using Soldiers to Use Soldiers" that the two of them worked out is relatively famous even in the history of Chinese art of war.

Chang Tianhou and Chang He didn't pretend to be others, but went to the opposite side and shook the wooden plank.

The wooden board under the target is shaking, and the wooden board under the feet is also shaking, which makes it take more effort to aim when aiming.

The emperor's ten arrows all hit the target, and five of them hit the red heart.But Li Chengqian was even more miserable. He only hit one arrow and hit the edge of the target.

Seeing his achievements, Li Shimin raised his eyebrows and smiled, "You see, it is good to hunt more. Although you have fought with the army, you have never experienced archery on horseback. Archery on horseback is actually not much different from that on a boat. The only difference is the ups and downs. However, from my point of view, your current archery skills are already hard to come by. I am most afraid that you will grow up in the palace, enjoy a comfortable life, and lose your enterprising mind. For this reason, I have done There are a lot of arrangements, but I didn't expect that you would persist without my supervision. This is very good."

Even though he said so, Li Shimin felt a little apprehensive in his heart when he saw his elder son who had grown tall and gradually became more mature.Although he wanted to see the crown prince being excellent, he had already reached the qualifications he should have when he was just a teenager, and he was even better than the current emperor in many ways.In his opinion, this is clearly a replica of the Wude period.

However, fortunately, Qingque had no intention of seizing the heir, and Li Ke was also honestly living in the fiefdom.The two of them are honest, and the remaining princes are not qualified to covet the throne at all.There is no competitor, as long as he, the prince, just waits to take over honestly, he probably won't start thinking about anything he shouldn't have.

After hesitating for a long time, Li Shimin swallowed the words of taking back his military power.

Li Chengqian also saw the emperor's hesitant to speak, but he didn't expect that his actions would arouse the fear of the emperor's father.If he knew, he would vomit it.

It's just a broken throne, as for it!

After practicing archery on a simulated ship for a while, the two returned to the palace together.

Run when you go out, and just take a walk when you go back.Otherwise, it is not suitable for breakfast.

After walking to the gate of the palace, Li Chengqian saw the supervisor of the Gunpowder Department. This guy was very anxious. Seeing the emperor and the prince, he trotted over.

"Your Majesty, Your Highness, something is wrong, something is wrong!"

Is something wrong with the Gunpowder Department?The hearts of the father and son tugged together.

After stopping Li Jian's attempt to stop the supervisor, Li Shimin stepped forward and asked, "What's wrong? Tell me clearly!"

Although he was out of breath after running all the way, the supervisor still insisted and said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, there was an error in the gunpowder assembly of the three ships. At the beginning, the demand list sent to Chang'an by His Royal Highness was cut off by Lu Guogong of the Ministry of War. Halfway through, now both the King of Wei and the King of Wu are completed, and the assembly of the Prince is fully loaded, but the assembly of the King of Wei and the King of Wu is not enough. The allocation of the two ships is not even the minimum standard set by His Royal Highness. However, if we mobilize gunpowder from Chang'an again, it will be too late!"

The quartermaster knew very well the emperor's desire to go to war in person. Even if he broke his leg from Dengzhou to Chang'an, it would take more than 20 days to transport the supplies.And this is when the courier is running desperately and the delivery ship is not afraid of capsizing day and night.

For more than 20 days, it was too late for the fighter plane.

"When I asked you for the list, you were secretive. It turns out that my request was cut in half? Damn, which time did you not follow the normal standard when submitting the demand list? Why cut it in half?"

In anger, Li Chengqian was about to lift his leg and kick the quartermaster, but it was Li Shimin who reached out and pressed his shoulder.

"Okay, I agreed to Hou Junji's request to cut you back then. After all, no one knew that your three ships were monsters to such an extent!"

After waving his hand, seeing the emperor's permission to leave, the quartermaster wiped the sweat off his face and slipped away.

After finally suppressing his anger, Li Chengqian said helplessly: "This is all right. The gunpowder weapons of the three ships are evenly distributed, but they are still not up to the standard. The eight-ox crossbow and the large grenade are not used at the same time, but separately. There are suitable scenarios for them. In this way, the combat power will be reduced. In the worst case, we may have to land and fight."

"Before there were no gunpowder weapons, the fleet attacked the shore, and it was also a landing battle! I know you pity the lives of the soldiers, but protecting them like this, it is easy to raise delicate soldiers. Once they gradually become unable to adapt to the bitter battle, it is the real battle." Self-reducing combat power. Well, since the number of gunpowder weapons is not enough, it is not enough. Try to install the same kind of weapon on a ship, and spare a ship to be used as a troop carrier. Didn’t you brag to me at the beginning, you Can the crossbows and trebuchets on the ship be disassembled and installed at will?"

Although a ship full of trebuchets looked stupid, Li Chengqian could only agree.This is the only way, but...

Looking at Li Shimin, Li Chengqian tentatively said: "Father, how about making a batch by yourself? Although it is not as good as Chang'an Gunpowder Workshop, it is still no problem to make up the number. There are still many fuzes. .”

Li Shimin lowered his head and squinted at Li Chengqian and said, "Don't even think about it, don't think that you know the formula of gunpowder, but you must not make it in Dengzhou. The simplicity of gunpowder has been exposed, what should I do if it causes others to speculate? I plan to update the Tang law while renovating the commercial law. The most important one is that the formula of gunpowder can only be controlled by the royal family, and the workshop can only In Chang'an, no posterity can change it!"

Li Chengqian didn't expect Li Shimin's reaction to be so strong, but he thought it was true, the appearance of gunpowder was not weaker than Dong Zhongshu's Confucianism.Confucianism is good at ruling people's minds, while gunpowder directly threatens people's lives.The most terrifying thing is to hold the doctrine of what you think in one hand and hold the gun tightly in the other.If gunpowder weapons are not surpassed or leaked, Li Tang can indeed rule the Central Plains forever.

Of course, this is only if those in power don't go too far.After all, countless facts have proved that no matter how powerful force is, it cannot fight against the tide of the people.

Obviously, don't even think about dispensing gunpowder, the three ships can only set off with a full load.

Wait....three ships?

Seeing that the Supervisor hadn't gone too far, Li Chengqian immediately looked at the Sky-Changing Monkey and stretched out his hand.

Changtian Monkey nodded, and he rushed out like a cheetah.Chang He on the side was stunned by the sudden burst of speed. He was sure that it was impossible to find someone with such speed in the entire Jinwu Guard.Good guy, the pro rate is really amazing.

In just 5 minutes, the quartermaster was brought back by the Sky Monkey.It was clearly carrying a person, but the Sky-Changing Monkey still didn't stop running, it just slowed down a bit.

Li Chengqian had long been used to this scene, but the emperor was a little surprised.You know, I led these bastards to have nothing to do, and they just focused on how to break through the limits of the human body. The sky-scraping monkey is running fast. I don’t know if they saw that Liu Mang could beat a cow with a punch, what would they do? What expression?

The quartermaster was already terrified by the Sky-Changing Monkey. Although he landed on the ground, his legs were visibly still trembling.

Not talking nonsense, Li Chengqian asked directly: "You just said that the Weiwang and Wuwang can also be equipped with weapons? In other words, these two ships have also completed armor assembly and sea trials?"

Seeing this was the problem, the quartermaster breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Yes, Your Highness, the Wei Wang and Wu Wang have completed the armor assembly and sea trials, and my subordinates met Wei Wang and Wu Wang halfway, and they have already rushed over. , ready to come to Dengzhou by boat."

"Didn't it mean that the efficiency of the ironworks couldn't keep up, and the iron armor of the two ships wasn't produced so quickly?"

"That was due to the efficiency of the ironworks. Later, Yan Xianzi came up with a method, which was to assign tasks to neighboring state capitals. Although the iron armor made by ordinary blacksmiths was uneven in quality, after being transported by sea, As long as you walk in the hydraulic forging room, you can put it into use. In this way, the iron armor of the two ships is finally in place, and the assembly was completed the day before yesterday, and the subordinates rushed back."

Hearing this news, Li Chengqian gave a wry smile and couldn't help but blush for his own stupidity.Assigning tasks to the surrounding state capitals and then transporting the iron plates back seems extraordinarily laborious and costly, but it is a more convenient method when the scale of the ironworks is limited.The loser always brags that he has money and lets the craftsmen spend it freely. It turns out that there is a way to spend money!

Compared to Li Chengqian's blushing, Li Shimin became excited: "Since that's the case, won't we be able to fight in three or two days?"

Seeing the quartermaster nodding, Li Shimin immediately walked into the palace with big strides, and while walking, ordered the generals and ministers accompanying Li Jianxuan to enter the palace for a meeting.

Although this time it was only an action against a shipyard in Koryo, it was not considered a war, but there were no trivial matters in the country and the court, and there was no problem with the preparations. All the important personnel in the court and China had to agree to go to war.

The direction of the matter was right according to Li Chengqian's guess. Under the insistence of the emperor, Zhang Liang, Zhang Jian, Li Jing and others, the civil servants agreed to fight without even refuting.After all, the above four people can be said to have the most say in the Koryo War.

The tense preparations started immediately, and Zhao Yi started to get busy like a donkey.

The boats hidden by Zhang Liang were all launched under the name of "requisition fishing boats", but they were no longer warships, but supply ships, transporting food, military supplies and some soldiers, and the three new warships were dedicated to combat.

Also at the same time, Dengzhou, Laizhou, Liaodong and other areas were completely sealed off to prevent spies or Korean businessmen from reporting back.Although the government strictly prohibits going out casually, the people in Dengzhou couldn't help but climb up on the roof of their houses curiously and look at the busy dock.

This is about to start a war!Sending troops in Dengzhou, where else can we fight?It must be Goryeo!

For Goryeo, the Shandong people hated it far more than the Sui Dynasty. After all, they could not turn their elbows outward. Although they hated the Sui Dynasty court, they also knew who the source of all this was.During the reign of Wude, when the Tang regime was not stable enough, the people of Dengzhou often clashed with the Koreans at sea. It was not until Zhang Liang came here, especially after the Tang Dynasty wiped out the East Turks, that the situation improved.

The news of the attack on Goryeo was widely spread, and the whole Dengzhou was boiling.Just when Zhao Yi felt helpless about the large pile of copper coins in the yard, the people donated spontaneously without him having to find a way to buy food.Many people would rather fight to eat fish for a year, but also let the army not have shortcomings.

Of course, Zhao Yi did not accept it with a shy face, but wrote it down one by one, and promised that after the government purchased the food, it would distribute it to the people of Dengzhou according to the records.

There is no shortage of food, no shortage of warships, no shortage of troops, and no shortage of weapons. With such ample confidence, Zhang Liang is ecstatic.Although he was not in the Chang'an Palace, but in the Dengzhou Palace, he was really appointed as the general manager of the Tōkaidō March.As for the emperor and the crown prince, they followed the army in the name of supervising the war, and he was the real caller.

It is the ultimate dream of all military personnel to be able to lead the army alone and be the general manager. Just imagine, who can hold back the saliva for the opportunity of a celebrity through the ages?

June [-]th in the tenth year of Zhenguan was an auspicious day, but even if it wasn't an auspicious day, Li Shimin didn't plan to fight another day.

Putting on his glossy armor again, the emperor gathered on the beach with 1 troops from Xuanjia Army and Zuowuwei.Counting the 4000 Donghai Navy and the Dengzhou young and strong who volunteered to fight, the number reached more than [-].

Although the three ships are huge, it is absolutely impossible to carry 4000 people. Therefore, this time, all the strong fishing boats in Dengzhou were requisitioned.

When we arrived at the beach, we saw an old man standing in the middle of the road that the army was about to pass, accompanied by Dengzhou Inspector Zhao Yi.

The old man is estimated to be in his eighties or nineties, his face is like a dead wood, and Zhao Yi and another child need to support him to walk.However, the wine bowl held by the two equally withered hands did not shake at all.

It wasn't until the emperor approached that the old man spoke up: "Your Majesty, on behalf of the people of Dengzhou, the old man presents you with a bowl of wine. I wish you a great victory in this battle!"

Li Chengqian, who was following behind Li Shimin, glanced at Zhao Yi and knew that he had arranged this plot.I have to say that his arrangement was very precise, and the slap happened to hit the most itchy part of the emperor's heart.

He had been confined in the palace for ten years, and this time the emperor was in high spirits when he went to the battle. He was blessed by the people at this time, and the guy in front probably burst into laughter.

Sure enough, the emperor kicked away Li Jian who wanted to test the poison, strode forward, picked up the wine bowl and drank it down in one gulp.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Li Shimin bowed his hands and said: "I would like to thank the people of Dengzhou for their kindness. When I triumphantly return, the whole people will have a carnival. Old man, please walk slowly, eat and sleep well, and wait for my triumphant return!"

It is unlucky for a white-haired person to send a black-haired person, so Li Shimin asked the old man to leave first.

It wasn't until the old man and Zhao Yi disappeared at the corner of the path that Li Shimin stretched out his hand, and the army drove to the beach, ready to board the boat.

Chapter 373 The old things repeat themselves?

The first person to board the ship must be the emperor. The Prince is his boat this time. All the gunpowder and arrows of the eight-ox crossbow have been installed in the weapon compartment of the Prince. The catapults on the ship have been replaced by the eight-ox crossbow. , as long as there is a volley, it is estimated that a ship as big as the Prince will have to kneel in a wave.

And the second ship was Li Tai's King of Wei. This guy refused to take his own ship, but joined the Prince.Because all the eight-ox crossbows on Wei Wang were dismantled and replaced with trebuchets, which made him feel that his ship was very frustrated.

Li Ke's ship no longer has gunpowder weapons, but the ordinary 1-ox crossbow arrows made by Dengzhou craftsmen are still equipped with three or four cabins.Even without the help of gunpowder, the power of ordinary eight-ox crossbow arrows is as amazing.

Sitting on the bow of the boat, Li Tai complained endlessly about Li Chengqian's arrangements. He also knew that it was not good to complain to the emperor, so he had to complain to Li Chengqian.Li Chengqian knew that he was referring to Sang scolding Huai, so he let it go.

It wasn't long after the ship went out to sea that the land behind it was no longer visible. There are more than 400 ships. Although the lineup is dense, people who are on board for the first time still feel the horror of being alone and helpless.

The most nervous person was Li Shimin. He was only interested in excitement before, but he forgot that it was his first time to go to sea. Now he saw that there was nothing on the wide water, and he suddenly panicked.At this time, Li Tai was still squatting on the side, thinking about it, which directly ignited his anger.

With a slap on Li Tai's armor, Li Shimin said angrily: "Okay, what's the big deal that deserves your nagging? The arrangement of the King of Wei and the Prince's is my order! If you dare to say one more thing, I will let you Send you back!"

Although he really wanted to go back to the shore and feel down-to-earth, Li Tai still kept his mouth shut.

Unlike the panic-stricken emperor, Zhang Liang, the new head of the Tōkaidō march, was looking at the map and thinking hard about countermeasures.Beside him, Cheng Yaojin, Li Jing and others were all there, and from time to time someone would point out and express their opinions.

Although he is the chief executive, Zhang Liang did not put on the spectrum of the chief executive.The North Korean and Chinese military are all here. He is not Li Jing, and he is not qualified to overwhelm the crowd.He is very clear that he still has the final say on matters at sea, but he still needs to listen to the opinions of the old fritters when it comes to the arrangement of battles.

"Wei Gong, the reason why I chose to cross the middle of the sea and take the shortest but most difficult way is to catch the Koreans by surprise. If we go by the seaside, it is easy, but once the wind leaks, even if we are still at sea, it will still be the same. It will be difficult to move an inch.

Muddy Water Bay is located on the left side of the peninsula, close to the direction of our Datang.As long as we fight quickly, reinforcements from Koryo land will not be able to intercept us on land.As long as we don't be greedy for meritorious deeds, don't rush forward, and leave as soon as the war is over and aid comes, the Koreans can only stand on the shore and skip around. "

Li Jing nodded, pointed at the map and said, "The terrain here at the Muddy Water Bay Shipyard is the most common river estuary terrain. As long as we ensure that we can attack from the front, we can dispatch two troops to go ashore from both sides, Attack, even if the Koreans can escape, it is estimated that they will lose more than half of their people.

This time we are mainly destroying the shipyard. We don't care about the heads. It is already a surprise that we can eat more than half of the people.Mr. Yun, with this great achievement, even if you serve as Minister of the Ministry of Officials, no one in the Tang Dynasty would dare to say anything wrong! "

After Li Jing finished speaking, Cheng Yaojin and others laughed.Generals no longer have real military power. The emperor wants to centralize power to prevent rebellion. If they don't want to rebel, they can only accept it honestly.However, judging from Li Daozong, Li Xiaogong, Hou Junji and others successively holding important civil positions, the emperor did not do everything wrong, but allowed military generals to intervene in the civil service system and gain power in the court.

Military power is a hot thing, it can dig the corners of civil servants and sow seeds on their land, and everyone is happy to see it succeed.Now the six ministers, the two important positions in the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Civil Affairs are all held by generals, which shows that they have gained a firm foothold in the power circle of the court.What is lacking is just to place some children in the family down.

The meeting place for the generals was right next to the emperor. This was not what the emperor requested, but what they did on their own initiative.Although the emperor said that this time he was just supervising the battle and would not intervene in it, it was obvious that even just listening to it on the sidelines could make the emperor feel overwhelmed.

Sure enough, Zhang Liang was about to give the order to the messenger, and the emperor outside the captain's room spoke:

"Let the Xuanjia Army, the pro-leader, and the Jinwu Guard take their own detours. My Xuanjia Army hasn't really been on the battlefield for a long time. This time, I will hand them over to you to command."

Zhang Liang was immediately overjoyed. He knew how aggrieved he was as the general manager of the Tōkaidō march, and he never expected to be able to command the Xuanjia Army and lead the army.Now that the emperor opened his mouth, all the worry in his heart disappeared immediately.With the combat power of the Xuanjia Army and the pro-leadership, it is enough to encircle the two sides, and it may be more terrifying than the frontal attack.

Hearing the emperor's words, all the generals, including Li Jing, looked at Zhang Liang enviously.Being able to command the Xuanjia Army and the relatives, regardless of honors or pets, being able to command an invincible army as a commander is the most enjoyable thing in itself.

The speed of the fleet sailing on the sea is very slow. After all, compared with the speed of the three warships, the speed of the fishing boats confiscated is only enough to eat farts.

Before dusk, Zhang Liang ordered to turn around, and the fleet turned slightly eastward. In less than a stick of incense, they saw a small island, which was just enough for the entire army to repair.

Even if the small island on the East China Sea is not on the chart, it is firmly imprinted in Zhang Liang's heart.Where is the size of the island, he knows better than how many children he has.

As soon as the boat touched the shore, there was the sound of vomiting one after another on the seashore. If you face the wind, you can smell a sour smell.

Li Shimin frowned slightly, and walked quickly to the unfinished tent, feeling better.This is also something that can’t be helped. Most of the soldiers such as the Xuanjia Army are from Guanzhong, let alone sailing on a ship, and the number of times they boarded a ship can be counted on the fingers.Nowadays, on a sudden long voyage, many people have suffered from seasickness.

Fortunately, Sun Simiao was in Dengzhou, and if he drank a pack of Chinese patent medicine with unknown ingredients, no matter how severe the seasickness reaction was, it would be relieved immediately, at least he would not spit out easily after eating.

Fortunately, Sun Simiao was there, otherwise more than 3 people would go all the way through the wind and waves, and they would vomit endlessly as soon as they arrived at the Korean beach. Wouldn't it be embarrassing to go out?

This was the case on the first day, but the reaction of the soldiers was much better on the second day.On the third day, except for a few people, the rest of the soldiers could withstand the ups and downs of the wind and waves as long as they took Sun Simiao's seasickness medicine.

On the fourth day, the fleet sailed arrogantly beyond the limit distance of the naked eye on the peninsula terrain.This is the Dalian of later generations, but now it belongs to the territory of Koryo. There are three strong cities, Beisha City, Delisi Mountain City and Chengshan Mountain City, and [-] naval troops are stationed here.There is no doubt that the Koreans built these three cities and placed the navy here to keep an eye on Datang on the sea.Datang sea sent troops to go around and attack Pingjing, and this place was the first to bear the brunt.

After circumnavigating the peninsula at the limit distance, the route to the north will resume. Muddy Water Bay is just north of the current route.I don't know whether Yuan Gai Su Wen is out of arrogance or keeping secrets. The location of the shipyard is far away from the three strong cities including Beisha City, and far away from the hoarding base of the navy, but in a place with few people.

Zhang Liang appreciated Yuan Gai Suwen's decision very much.

At this point in the voyage, the fleet has completely entered the waters of Korea.Pity the current Datang, who doesn't have enough energy to deal with Goryeo, and can only rely on Zhang Liang's efforts to carve up the Bohai Sea with Goryo.If this was placed in the real heyday of the Tang Dynasty, who would dare to compete with Datang like this?Is it the king's land in the whole world!

The sky-changing monkey's eyes are undoubtedly the best. Crouching on the mast, he even spotted the Korean ships in the sea ahead of the sentry.

Swinging down like a real monkey along a rope, the person rolled on the deck for a week, then knelt down on one knee in front of the emperor and other big bosses: "Your Majesty, chief executive, there is an unknown ship ahead, according to the proportion It is estimated that it is very likely that it is just a Korean fisherman, how to deal with it, please show me the chief manager!"

A simple sentence undoubtedly demonstrates the extremely high EQ of Changtian Monkey.It neither ignored the emperor, but also demonstrated the authority of Zhang Liang, the chief executive.

Zhang Liang subconsciously looked at the emperor, but Li Shimin was waiting for him with an expression like a fool.

"What are you looking at? Am I the chief executive or are you?"

Of course I am the chief executive!But you are still the emperor!

Roaring in his heart, Zhang Liang's heart was still very warm, and he said to Changtian Monkey without hesitation: "Order the camouflaged warship carrying soldiers to go forward first, and try to capture them alive. If there is resistance or nothing can be done, Shoot or kill!"

The war has officially begun. Anyone who is foolish to show kindness to the enemy at this time is absolutely foolish.In the face of war, there is no distinction between civilians and civilians.

A warship flying the Koryo flag broke away from the large group, disguised as a returning envoy ship, and approached the past, while the remaining ships all dropped anchor and retreated a certain distance to stop the ship, so as not to be exposed.

Half an hour later, the warship returned, but it brought several ships and a deck of dead bodies.The traces of the battle on the boat were clearly discernible. It was obvious that these fishermen had no intention of surrendering and chose to resist to the death.