Chapter 701 There is a Killer in the Lady

As soon as noon arrives!
Li Jing gave a direct order for one hundred tiger squat cannons to fire a round of salvos first.

Hundreds of guns fired!

The rumbling sounds of explosions continued to ring out!
The Tang army got so close that they felt their ears were going to be deafened.

For the defenders in Anshi City, it was like the world was turned upside down and the mountains were shaken by an earthquake.

The city lord Liang Wanchun was the most unlucky. He watched the shells coming from the sky and actually asked the guards around him to block them with their shields.

Isn't this like a mantis trying to stop a chariot?

The unfortunate Liang Wanchun was blown into pieces on the spot.

There were hundreds of defenders who received the same treatment as Liang Wanchun.

Without the city lord's command, the deputy general was also injured and had no way of taking charge and leading the defenders to resist.

At this time, Li Jing seized the opportunity and beat the drum himself. The 30,000-strong Tang army could almost be said to have captured Anshi City without bloodshed.

At the same time, Yeon Gaesomun, who was about fifteen miles away from Anshi City, heard the news that the Tang army had begun to attack, and immediately commanded the entire 150,000-strong army to accelerate, intending to cooperate with the defenders of Anshi City and catch the Tang army off guard.

Unfortunately, Yeon Gaesomun had no idea that in less than half an hour, Anshi City had fallen into the hands of the Tang army.

By the time he arrived at the battlefield with an army of 150,000, Li Jing had already taken over the city and moved the tiger squat cannon to the city wall.

Facing Yeon Gaesomun who was marching quickly, Li Jing did not give him a chance to rest and directly ordered the artillery battalion to cover the attack.

As the first battle of hot weapons in this world, the power of the Tiger Crouching Cannon was exerted to the extreme.

The rumbling sound of artillery fire was like a bolt from the blue.

One after another, shrapnel fell into the Goryeo army and exploded instantly, clearing out the soldiers within several meters around them.

Faced with unfamiliar artillery attacks, Yeon Gaesomun instinctively ordered his troops to storm the devastated Anshi City.

In his opinion, the short distance of a few hundred meters could be covered quickly.

As long as the two armies came into contact, the 30,000 Tang soldiers would be like the one million Sui soldiers back then, like chickens and dogs waiting to be slaughtered, and they would all be killed by him.

Unfortunately, this short distance of a few hundred meters was like a death zone. His 150,000-strong army attacked for half an hour but could not get through.

You know, the Tang army had more than a hundred tiger squat cannons. In addition, there was a musket battalion with three thousand musketeers, whose lethality was no less than that of the artillery battalion.

The 150,000 Goryeo troops were like targets, and their lives were quickly harvested by the Tang army.

"Why are the Tang army's weapons so brutal?"

Yeon Gaesomun saw the heavy casualties of his troops and began to panic.

At this moment, the Khitans suddenly appeared on the flank of the Goryeo army.

……

The Yeon Gaesomun family has been the Moli branch of Goryeo for generations, in charge of most of Goryeo's military and running the government on behalf of the king.

In this situation, the King of Goryeo completely became the mascot of the Goryeo Kingdom.

It was also in this situation that the King of Goryeo secretly sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty several times, hoping that the Tang Emperor would help him get rid of Yeon Gaesomun.

When the news that the Tang Emperor was personally going to invade Goryeo reached Goryeo, although the court officials, under the mobilization of Yeon Gaesomun, clamored to resist the Tang army.

However, the Goryeo royal family, especially King Yeongryu, were so excited that they wanted to "prepare food and drink to welcome the royal army."

On this day, the King of Goryeo was drinking in the palace when he suddenly heard someone coming to report intelligence from the front line, and he quickly let someone in.

The man who came was the palace guard. He ran in in a panic, knelt on the ground with a plop, and reported anxiously:
"Your Majesty, Sun Daiyin, the Lord of Baiyan City, sent a message saying that a Khitan army was suddenly discovered outside the city a few days ago!"

"Have the Tang people and the Khitan united?"

The King of Goryeo was a little confused. If only the Tang army came, he, as the King of Goryeo, could still cooperate with the Tang people from inside and outside to drive Yeon Gaesomun away.

If the Khitans also came in, would the Tang emperor still agree to cooperate with him from inside and outside?

Just when the Goryeo king was confused, another guard suddenly came to report:
"Report to the king, a group of Tang soldiers suddenly attacked Shicheng, and the lord of Shicheng was killed!"

"impossible!"

The Goryeo king was shocked at this time: "How could the Tang army break through Anshi City so quickly?"

The guards looked sad:
"Your Majesty, the messenger reported that the Tang army came from the sea."

"A joint attack by the navy and the army?"

The King of Goryeo was a little panicked.

Since the Tang Dynasty can attack Shicheng from the sea, it can definitely attack the capital of Goryeo.

After all, the capital of Goryeo was only a hundred miles away from the sea.

How can this be good?

He asked the Tang army to help him get rid of Yeon Gaesomun, but he didn't expect to become a prisoner himself.

Just as the King of Goryeo was getting more worried, another guard came rushing over:
"Report to the king, Mo Lizhi led his army to rescue Anshi City, but was defeated by the Tang army, suffering heavy casualties. Only 20,000 of the 150,000 troops escaped!"

"impossible!"

The King of Goryeo's tense nerves suddenly burst, veins on his forehead throbbed, and his eyes were red:
"Is Yeon Gaesomun a pig? Even if there were 150,000 pigs, it's impossible to kill them all in one day, right?"

That was a well-equipped army of 150,000 elite soldiers, and the foundation of the Goryeo Kingdom.

Now that the Goryeo Kingdom had been completely destroyed in the battle with Yeon Gaesomun, the King of Goryeo could no longer imagine what the fate of the Goryeo Kingdom would be next.

The guard was also confused and replied:
"Your Majesty, the messenger also said that the Tang army seemed to have the help of the Thunder God, who could cause thunderbolts from the blue sky. Thirty thousand of the 150,000 soldiers were killed by thunderbolts. In addition, the Khitans suddenly appeared and attacked the army from the flank. Mo Lizhi could not resist and was defeated again and again. He has already fled to Jili City!"

"What nonsense! These are all excuses that Mo Lizhi can only come up with!"

How could the King of Goryeo believe the words of "Thunder God's help"? However, he remembered that someone had just reported that Shicheng seemed to have been captured as well.

Shicheng and Jilicheng are only a few dozen miles apart.

Now that Yeon Gaesomun has fled to Jili City, he won’t fall into the trap of the Tang army, right?
Just as the King of Goryeo was guessing, Yeon Gaesomun had already been captured by Zhang Liang, the chief of the waterways.

"Is this the Prime Minister of Goryeo? He doesn't look that good!"

Zhang Liang looked at Yeon Gaesomun who was tied up with ropes, curled his lips, and prepared to send someone to hold him down.

At this time, a man in a black robe beside him stopped him:

"General Manager Zhang, His Majesty has ordered that after Yeon Gaesomun is captured, he should be sent to the camp immediately."

"Lord Su, when did His Majesty give the order?"

Zhang Liang heard the black-robed man speak and subconsciously asked, but then he quickly explained:

"It's not that I don't trust Lord Su, but Yeon Gaesomun's identity is particularly important, so I have to be careful."

Unlike Li Jing who had the Tiger Crouching Cannon, Zhang Liang was only in charge of the navy.

The artillery battalion and musket battalion following the navy were all led by the black-robed general in front of them.

As we all know, the Tang Dynasty represented the virtue of water and valued black.

Those wearing black robes are the emperor's personal guards.

Although Zhang Liang was as cunning as a fox, he did not dare to mess with the emperor's confidants.

The man in black robe looked at Zhang Liang expressionlessly, then reached into his arms, took out an imperial edict, handed it to Zhang Liang, and asked him to read it.

After Zhang Liang saw it, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly sent someone to hand Yeon Gaesomun over to the black-robed man for custody.

The news of Yeon Gaesomun's capture quickly spread throughout Goryeo.

Even Yeon Gaesomun was captured, so the other Goryeo defenders naturally lost their will to resist.

half a month later.

The Tang army attacked in three directions, successively capturing hundreds of cities and strongholds, and finally met up less than 50 miles away from Goryeo.

Unable to bear the inner torment, the King of Goryeo sent someone to deliver a letter of surrender.

This time, Su Mingzhe openly accepted the surrender of the King of Goryeo, and conferred the title of "Marquis of Shunyi" on the King of Goryeo, rewarded him with a mansion in Chang'an City, and ordered all the prominent families of Goryeo to move to Chang'an City.

As for the Kingdom of Goryeo, Su Mingzhe gave it to his third son, King Wu Li Ke, and changed the country's name to Wu.

Before Li Ke arrived, Su Mingzhe lived in the palace of the King of Goryeo and helped Li Ke temporarily manage Goryeo.

The former Goryeo King, now the Marquis of Shunyi, welcomed Su Mingzhe into the Goryeo Palace and fawned on him. He sent several of his princesses and a dozen noble ladies from the capital to the palace:

"Your Majesty, this is my eldest daughter, Suyuan, and these are the daughters of the former Moliji, Yeon Gaesojeong and Yeon Shuijing, and this is the daughter of the Grand Chancellor, Kim Mi-hee..."

More than a dozen noble ladies knelt obediently on the ground, accepting the fate arranged for them by the Tang Emperor.

"Ok?"

Su Mingzhe originally wanted to reward these women to the generals below, but he noticed the fierce murderous look in the eyes of several women.

As for reward, naturally, I can't say it:
"Just stay in the palace for now."

Su Mingzhe decided to work harder for himself. For the safety of his subordinates, he decided to deal with these noble ladies by himself.

That night, more than a dozen women's screams of pain were heard in the Goryeo Palace.

On the second day.

Su Mingzhe, helped by Gao Shuyuan and other noble ladies to put on his casual clothes, came to the royal court in a refreshed mood and convened a meeting with Fang Xuanling, Li Jing and other ministers.

Although the King of Goryeo announced his surrender, it does not mean that there is no resistance in Goryeo.

The population of Goryeo was also in the millions.

As the saying goes: Strong winds reveal strong grass, and turbulent times reveal loyal ministers.

Although the King of Goryeo surrendered, it was not so easy for millions of Goryeo people to surrender.

Next, Fang Xuanling was responsible for the naturalization education of the Koreans, that is, to standardize the writing system, the wheel gauge, the weights and measures, etc.

Li Jing allocated part of his troops to quell rebellions in various places.

In the blink of an eye, it was June and it was cloudy and rainy.

King Wu Li Ke rushed to the capital of Goryeo.

Su Mingzhe changed the name of Goryeo Kingdom to Wu Kingdom and handed over Li Ke as the ruler.

Since the vassal state was in a foreign land, after Li Ke became the ruler of Wu, he was considered a non-conquering vassal state that protected the Tang Dynasty.

Li Ke was naturally delighted when he heard that he could establish a sect and temple and become the true ruler of a country.

And Su Mingzhe gave him two more tasks.

The first task was to take over Fang Xuanling’s naturalization education task, and the second task was to recruit soldiers.

Su Mingzhe planned to recruit the young and strong labor force of Goryeo to help the Tang Dynasty continue its conquests.

In Su Mingzhe's plan, Baekje, Silla, Wa, Khitan, Mohe, Bohai and other countries will become fiefdoms of the descendants of Li family of the Tang Dynasty in the future.

In addition, there are the southern seas, the Western Regions, and so on.

There will be more and more members of the Tang Dynasty royal family, and Su Mingzhe will need a large amount of land to divide them up.

Therefore, conquering Goryeo was just the beginning.

(End of this chapter)