In front of the tombs of General Hussar, Doctor Zuo Guanglu, and Governor Wang Rengong of Mayi, Li Po led a group of people to pay homage.
Li Po came forward in person and bowed.
Everyone was shocked. The emperor worshiped heaven and earth, his parents, and Wang Rengong was a minister of the previous dynasty. How could he bear this?
Li Po turned his head and looked at the crowd and said: "The prince is unparalleled in his loyalty and martyrdom. The people of Daizhou owe me a lot. He serves the king with kindness and righteousness, and protects the territory and people below. Even if he has flaws, he should be your minister."
An example of what to expect.”
It goes without saying that Wang Rengong was one of the former virtuous ministers of the Sui Dynasty. When everyone in the court was compiling the history of the Sui Dynasty, Wang Rengong was listed on the list. He was praised for his strong nature, uprightness and uprightness, and his reputation was not low.
As for Li Po, Wang Rengong had both merits and demerits in his tenure as the governor of Mayi.
His fault was that he drove away Li Jing, the Prime Minister of Mayi County, and then provoked civil unrest. His method of governing Mayi was really not praiseworthy. However, in the chaotic times of the late Sui Dynasty, people's mentality changed, and the general trend was the general trend. The fault did not lie with Wang Rengong alone.
What is meritorious is that he led the soldiers and civilians in Mayi City to fight against the Turks, regardless of life and death, honor and disgrace, and ensured that the three counties of Daizhou were not ravaged by the Turks again.
When Wang Rengong died, he was even more regretful. He felt that he had failed the king's entrustment and that he had failed the people of Mayi County. He felt that his life was in danger, and he died of sorrow and hatred.
When an official reaches the level of Wang Rengong, he can be said to have served the country and the people. People like Liu Wuzhou, or even Li Yuan, Wang Shichong and others, who are filled with selfishness and greed, can't carry Wang Rengong's shoes.
Not worthy.
Even though Li Po led his army to defeat the Turks many times, he still felt ashamed in front of Wang Rengong's tomb.
When Wang Rengong died, he was beside him. The old man had no selfish thoughts in his heart and only thought about others. Since ancient times, there have been countless loyal ministers and good generals, but Li Po saw with his own eyes that only Wang Rengong could shake his heart.
According to Li Po's previous thoughts, even though such loyal ministers were admirable, to be honest, he did not agree with Wang Rengong's behavior and scorned some of his actions.
But when I became emperor, my thoughts changed again. I felt that it would be great if there were more people like Wang Rengong.
Therefore, no matter how many conflicts he had with this person during his life, after Li Po ascended the throne and revised the history of the Sui Dynasty, he specifically asked people to list this person.
Today, I returned to Mayi. As the founding king of the Tang Dynasty, I once again named Wang Rengong in front of his tomb.
Everyone didn't know what the relationship between Wang Yuanshi and the emperor was, and they were all amazed. A hundred years later, if they could get the emperor to pay such a bow in front of their tomb, and add such comments, then their life would be sealed, and perhaps they would still be alive.
Being able to go down in history is a great thing for yourself and your family.
No matter what they thought, it was Su Rong who came forward to worship one by one.
………………
Most of the people buried in the Mayi Cemetery are soldiers and civilians who died in the battle at the city of Mayi. The brutality of that battle...it is difficult for people who have not experienced it to understand.
The soldiers and civilians in Mayi City worked together to hold back more than 100,000 Turkic troops in Mayi County. Not only did they buy time and fighter opportunities for the Heng'an Town Army, they also brought trouble to Yanmen, Loufan, and Bingzhou counties behind them.
Peace can be called a feat.
Li Po paid his respects to more than just Wang Rengong...
………………
It was almost winter when the emperor returned south, and there were fewer things going on in the court. So unlike when he came here, Li Po was not in a hurry to return to the capital, and looked around here and there in Jin.
To find out whether the local autumn harvest was going well, he asked people to check the status of the imperial examinations in various places. When he went south, he also sent his eldest son Shunde and Liu Jie to go to the party. He still remembered what Zhao Ying said when he went north.
Hemming and hawing.
At the same time, the Shannan South Road Supervisor Yamen was also asked to assist in the investigation...
The eldest grandsons, Shunde and Liu Jie, went there with troops. At the beginning of the founding of the country, there were many things that happened and we had to guard against them.
When Li Po arrived in Jinyang, the good news that Du Fuwei led his army to defeat tens of thousands of enemies finally came to his hands.
Li Po was very happy after receiving the news of the great victory at sea. He sent Du Fuwei to find trouble in Goguryeo, but by the way, he dealt a blow to the Japanese country. The blow to the Japanese country was quite painful, which was an unexpected blessing.
It's just that his ministers looked at the problem from a different perspective than he did.
Cen Wenwen believed that the Japanese sent envoys to the Central Plains many times during the Sui Dynasty with a very respectful attitude. The purpose of the fleet going to sea this time was not to fight with the Japanese. Du Fuwei was acting a bit wildly.
From now on, ships traveling to and from Silla must be on guard against Japanese attacks. As a result, there will obviously be more enemies, and some losses outweigh the gains.
Pei Shiqing and others thought that when Du Fuwei led his army to the sea, he should be prevented from repeating himself, and he should not be allowed to use military power...
Li Po listened and did not argue with them. It was a good thing for his ministers to think more, but they were inland all year round and did not quite understand the significance of this battle.
Above the East China Sea, Silla, Baekje, and the Three Kingdoms of Japan are obstacles that cannot be bypassed. If you want to dominate here, how can you do it without bloodshed?
After the alliance between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks, the external environment has been greatly improved. Such opportunities are rare. Taking advantage of the free time, the next step is to let the people recuperate and recuperate. The place where they can use troops is Goguryeo.
Let’s take a look at the situation in the northeast. The sea was just a virgin land for the Tang Dynasty. It would be a pity for ourselves not to deal with Japan and Baekje.
This is the general strategy for the next few years. He has not yet discussed it with the ministers. Now it seems that the situation is quite good and it seems that the next step can be carried out.
It is a good opportunity for the Japanese country to be hit hard. Can Goguryeo take a break? Let’s first figure out the damn island country?
Li Po was in a good mood, and with a wave of his hand, he issued an edict in Jinyang, ordering people to send all Japanese prisoners to the south for mining. However, the Shaofu had already written several times to request more manpower to dig for silver mines.
The number of prisoners of war is still a bit small. Roads, ditches, etc. will start to be repaired next year. There is a huge gap in labor shortage. Based on a rough calculation based on the project volume of the former Sui Dynasty, there is a shortage of about 200,000 to 300,000 people.
Well, this is the number of civilian services each year in the first few years of Daye. There is no need to worry about the subsequent years. Even Qin Shihuang did not play this way.
Li Po doesn't need people to build the capital, build a palace or dig canals, so a hundred thousand is enough. Where can he find this person? Japan and Baekje seem to be good targets.
Especially the Japanese country, which is isolated overseas and has nothing to do anyway, why not bring them all over to support the construction of the Central Plains...
……………………
Du Fuwei was obviously more capable than Li Po imagined. Just when he returned to Beijing, another naval battle broke out at the mouth of Baijiang River.
This battle is also a classic.
At the sea outside Baijiangkou, the Tang army arrived, and Du Fuwei first sent a thousand Japanese surrender troops to advance to the inland sea of Baijiangkou under the leadership of Yamada Tadanobu and others.
Du Fuwei asked them to pretend to be a Japanese fleet that had escaped from a naval battle. He wanted to see the Baekje people's reaction. If possible, Du Fuwei asked them to set fire to the ships at the Baekje people's port to cause chaos and wait for the follow-up. The arrival of the army.
The Japanese surrendered the people without hesitation and faithfully carried out his plan.
The people of Baekje were already prepared. The person who brought people to Baicheng to greet the Japanese army this time was Buyeo Eji, the eldest son of King Buyeo Chang of Baekje.
When the defeated Japanese army arrived and brought news that the Japanese had been defeated by the Sui people in a naval battle, Buyeo Yiji immediately panicked and prepared to borrow a message and escape back to Sixian City, which was the capital of the Baekje people.
His minister Sarizhenshi persuaded him and explained to him that although Japan was defeated, the Sui people would not necessarily become enemies of Baekje. They would probably attack Goguryeo from the river like before. What does it have to do with us?
Fuyu Yiji was so dizzy that he felt that what he said made sense, so he reluctantly calmed down, gathered the ships, and prepared for the attack.
There is no need to blame the prince for being incompetent. His family used to grow potatoes (not sweet potatoes). The so-called holy king of Baekje, Buyeo Myung-nog, was ambushed and seriously injured in the battle with the treacherous Silla. This is a famous incident in the history of the peninsula. The Battle of Guanshan.
This was the beginning of the feud between Silla and Baekje, and it also opened the curtain of civil strife in Baekje. Several big families in Baekje, such as the Sa family, the Hae family, etc. were in power, and the king's power was weak.
The subsequent Baekje kings were all puppets, and the powerful powerful families attacked each other. The territory of the Baekje people was encroached on by Silla, and in the end only a small piece of land along the coast remained.
So Silla is not a victim. It has been very prosperous in the south of the peninsula for a while.
However, after the Japanese intervention, the people of Silla began to suffer...
The history of the Baekje people is relatively chaotic. Needless to say, after the death of Baekje Dharma King, Buyeo Chang succeeded to the throne. He was selected by the great nobles from the ruins of the royal family.
When the nobles found him, he was planting potatoes to make a living. This shows how far the Baekje nobles had reached their monopoly, and they randomly chose a farmer to succeed him.
But Buyeo Chang was a very smart man. After he succeeded to the throne, he consolidated the royal power and checked and balanced the nobles. He did an impressive job. During his years in power, Baekje's strength gradually recovered, posing a great threat to Silla.
Silla launched two wars against Baekje, both ended in Silla's defeat, and lost six cities including Heseong during the war, so the Baekje people called Buyeo Chang the Tiger King.
………………
Buyeo Yiji soon received the news that the Japanese were coming by boat, and he listened to the advice of his ministers. He should be prepared for the arrival of the Japanese after such a long time.
So the Baekje people took a boat to meet them. The Japanese were very upset. There were many people coming, and they didn't seem to be friendly. They also asked them to hand over their weapons, etc. So some Japanese were very courageous and sailed straight in. , want to complete their mission and give the new master an explanation.
So the war broke out in the inland sea of Baijiangkou. The Japanese were defeated and fled quickly.
The Baekje people were not stupid enough and did not chase them out, but then several Tang army warships came from the west and joined the battle. The Japanese were greatly boosted and they came back to kill them.
When the Baekje people saw that the enemy was not many in number and only had large ships, the main force immediately rushed out and started a "battle" with the enemy on the sea at the mouth of the Baijiang River...