After Empress Changsun died of illness, Li Er, who was emotionally hit hard, felt that his old friend was gradually passing away, and he actually began to feel nostalgic.
He asked the court painter Yan Liben to draw portraits of many heroes and then hang them in Lingyan Pavilion as a commemoration.
Originally, Li Er planned to include Li Yunze among them, but he sternly refused, saying that he had no intention of being hung.
The most popular painting style in the Tang Dynasty at this time was the so-called sketch realism style.
The Tang Dynasty has always been very culturally tolerant. In the past, ink painting had always dominated the painting world, but now a brand-new technology suddenly appeared, which naturally became extremely popular.
Therefore, when Yan Liben painted, he also used the most trendy sketch realism style. Li Er expressed his appreciation for this and had no objection, and thought it was good.
Li Yunze has objections to this.
He found Yan Liben and asked him to re-draw a set of Twenty-Four Heroes in the style of ink painting, threatening him to secretly sell the illustration album.
Yan Liben had no choice but to draw another set, which was time-consuming and laborious.
This set of twenty-four heroes of Lingyan Pavilion was brought back to the modern world by Li Yunze as a collection.
It is definitely the original authentic work, and it also has Li Er's seal as evidence.
Many of the heroes who were included in the portraits have already passed away. Excluding the civil servants and military generals, most of the remaining ones are old. In fact, there are not many who can eventually follow Li Er to Goguryeo.
Although it is said that Li Yunze and Sun Simiao cooperated to improve the medical level of Datang, they did successfully extend the life span of many people.
But this only treats the symptoms and not the root cause, that is, just a few more years of life.
Li Ji was the scheduled general to conquer Goguryeo, and he had already been presiding over the early preparations here in Youzhou for a long time.
Li Xiaogong did not die suddenly, and was sent to Jiangdu to command the fleet. First, he sent Li Chengqian and others overseas, and then took the fleet to Baekje.
Yuchi Jingde became active again after the last rescue of the Western Regions, and this time he also followed Li Er as a guard.
Li Jing is really old, but even though he is almost seventy years old, he is still taken by Li Er as a senior counselor.
Duan Zhixuan is still in his prime, so he came here this time as a chance to lead the army.
In addition, people like Zhang Liang, Changsun Shunde and others have been given up long ago. They spend the whole day singing and dancing in the house without leaving the house, so naturally they will not be brought with them.
In fact, in addition to the twenty heroes of Lingyan Pavilion, a new generation of generals is also gradually growing up, and Li Er also brought them all here this time.
Li Er used Li Daozong to temporarily conquer Su Dingfang, who was emerging in the Western Regions, and Xue Rengui, who was rising like a comet. Because of Li Yunze's persistence, his wife, Princess Danyang, was imprisoned, thus preventing Xue Wanche and others, who were stimulated and rebelled, from joining the army.
Not surprisingly, Li Yunze was also appointed as the Marching Sima this time, responsible for the logistics support of the army.
Li Er was determined to pacify Goguryeo in one battle, thus completely defeating the surrounding rebels, and creating an environment of eternal peace for the Tang Dynasty.
This battle not only mobilized almost all available field troops, but also arranged for Zhang Shigui and others to recruit soldiers as reserves again.
In the autumn of the fifteenth year of Zhenguan, hundreds of thousands of Tang troops gradually gathered in Youzhou.
The first to take action was Zhang Jian, the governor of Yingzhou, who led the border troops of the Tang Dynasty and the Khitan, Xi, Mohe and other tribes on the grassland that had been tamed after the reduction of Ding to raid from the grassland, with the intention of distracting Goguryeo's troops.
After arriving in Laizhou, the fleet led by Li Xiaogong began to attack and blockade the sea off Goguryeo and Baekje.
The fleets of Goguryeo and Baekje did not dare to fight, and they all hid in the harbor.
In early October, Yi Er's envoy arrived in Silla and ordered Queen Seondeok of Silla to send troops to flank Baekje and Goguryeo.
Queen Seondeok, who claimed to admire Li Er, was really frightened. After all, in the eyes of Silla, Baekje and Goguryeo were heaven-like existences and she really did not dare to offend them.
But Li Erdu had spoken in person, and Datang was a person who could not be offended. In a dilemma, he accepted his minister's suggestion and sent troops to harass and act as a wall to see which way the wind was blowing.
For the time being, Li Er pretended not to have seen this kind of outsider's behavior.
Of course, there will naturally be explanations when the war is over.
It's okay to be a wallflower on weekdays, but at this time, it's obvious that in the context of a national war, if you still work as a wallflower, then you really need to be a wallflower in the future.
At the end of October, Li Ji, the general manager of the march in Liaodong Road, personally led nearly 100,000 infantry and cavalry troops from the Tang Army to send troops forward, crossed the Liao River and approached Xuantu, which was one of the four counties in Liaodong during the Han Dynasty.
Li Er also fought this battle in the name of regaining the old land of the Han Dynasty. During the Han Dynasty, almost all the four counties were occupied by Goguryeo and Baekje. Naturally, both sides were fighting to the death.
Li Ji had enough strength in his hands, and his commanding ability was also good enough. He attacked Gaimou City himself and sent his troops to Su Dingfang to attack Xincheng.
Both cities were defeated in a single battle because they both used gunpowder to blow up the walls.
The solid city defenses that once gave millions of Sui soldiers a headache, and could only be filled with their lives, were as fragile as tofu in the face of gunpowder.
After the city wall was blown down, a phalanx of heavily armored Tang soldiers crossed the ruins and entered the city. The battle was basically over.
The forward progressed rapidly. Li Er was overjoyed when he heard the news and immediately set off from Youzhou with the main force.
It is naturally impossible for such a huge army to gather together.
Li Er arranged for many generals to lead their own troops and attack in various directions, forming a broad front to crush Goguryeo.
As time entered winter, Li Xiaogong's navy had to return to Laizhou because of ice on the sea surface.
The Tang army also began to gradually slow down its advance.
The reason why he wanted to send troops in winter was that Li Erda's idea was to obtain frontline strongholds through winter campaigns, consume Goguryeo's effective forces, and burn the war into the enemy's territory.
When spring arrives, the Tang army can directly attack across the board and take advantage of the good weather in the next nearly year to defeat Goguryeo in one fell swoop.
After all, Goguryeo was not a nomadic tribe like the Turkic Huihe Xueyantuo. It was an agricultural country with a city as its core.
To deal with nomadic tribes, just destroy their royal courts.
To deal with agricultural countries, it is necessary to capture all the cities everywhere.
Goguryeo's territory is thousands of miles away, and it would take time for the Tang army to sweep all the way.
Therefore, the strategy of sending troops to acquire frontline strongholds in winter and then destroying the country in one fell swoop the next year has been recognized by everyone.
With the arrival of winter, the threats that the Tang army needs to face mainly come from two aspects.
One natural thing is the weather. Cold weather will pose a huge threat to the Tang army.
Another is the counterattack of the Goguryeo people. Goguryeo, which is more adaptable to cold weather than the Tang army, is capable of launching a large-scale counterattack.
The news from Goguryeo's insiders is that the powerful minister Quan Gaisuwen and the king Gao Jianwu have stopped fighting and reached a reconciliation, and are raising soldiers, horses, food and fodder to prepare for a counterattack.
What came faster than the Goguryeo army was the raging cold wind and heavy snow.
Li Er moved very quickly, and soon arrived at Liaodong City after crossing the Liao River.
Just when they were about to launch an siege, it snowed heavily and they had to suspend the operation.
Tens of thousands of tents surrounded Liaodong City, and each large tent had a stove with a sealed chimney, burning briquettes to provide heat inside the tent.
People in China have known the benefits of coal for a long time and have been using it for a long time.
It's just that because we don't know that using coal directly can cause carbon monoxide poisoning, we usually use charcoal for heating, and coal is mainly used in ironmaking and other aspects.
However, impurities such as phosphorus in coal affect the quality of iron. It can be said that coal succeeds or fails.
The emergence of coal stoves with chimneys and briquettes solved the problem of coal heating.
When the smoke passed through the chimney and was discharged into the sky through the opening in the tent, the soldiers of the Tang Army in the tent could finally sleep beautifully around the stove.
This kind of cognition and technology is nothing to modern people.
But for the ancients who had been troubled by this for thousands of years, it was a groundbreaking technological upgrade.
The influence it brings is beyond words.
At the very least, the Tang army can now camp in the wild during the cold winter months.
In addition to coal, Tang Jun's standard heating equipment also included wool blankets, which were spread on rubber water mats to effectively insulate against the cold.
Then put on cotton underwear, woolen sweaters and trousers, put on a cotton coat outside, and talk and laugh around the fire.
Cover yourself with a quilt when sleeping, and you can still survive even if the temperature drops to several degrees below zero at night.
Li Er's tent was the largest in the entire army. After the supports were erected, its area was as vast as a small palace.
The generals in the army gathered here and were discussing the situation of the war.
There were several coal stoves burning in the big tent, and the warm heat vented out, making the entire tent feel as warm as spring.
There were dozens or even hundreds of generals and generals above the rank of captain gathered here, chatting with each other, and the buzzing sound was endless.
As an upstart who only came into his own in recent years, Xue Rengui had no connections here. After looking around, he walked towards Li Yunze, who was sitting in the corner on a horse and sleeping drowsily.
"Your Majesty."
"Um?"
After Xue Rengui saluted, he knelt down and asked puzzledly, "I have something that I don't understand at the end. Please let me clear my mind."
Li Yunze, who squinted his eyes and hugged his arms, softly uttered the word "Say."
"The city of Liaodong has been surrounded, why not fight?"
Xue Rengui really didn't understand this. "The location of this place is important, and the city area is large enough. If you stay in the city after capturing it, it will be better than outside."
After thinking for a while, he explained, "Don't be surprised, Your Majesty. The army's logistics are very good. The general just thinks it would be better to capture Liaodong City. It's not impossible to capture it."
At Xue Rengui's level, he naturally knew the secret of the Tang army's gunpowder.
With gunpowder, no matter how strong Liaodong City is, it is just a matter of using more gunpowder.
But at this time, the main force of the Tang army would rather camp in the wind and snow than attack the city, which made the young Xue Rengui incomprehensible.
Li Yunze, without raising his eyes, casually asked, "Do you study the Art of War?"
Xue Rengui was stunned for a moment, "I have read it."
"Have you ever read about what is called encirclement and reinforcements?"
"Surround the site for reinforcements?"
"If you don't attack important cities that can be captured, either there is something wrong with the commander's brain, or he is waiting for the enemy's reinforcements to arrive."
Li Yunze waved his hand, "When you have nothing to do, don't compete with others all day long. Reading more about the art of war is better than anything else."
While he was talking, coach Li Er, who was probably mentally ill, walked out of the back tent wearing a suit of gold armor.
After everyone greeted him, Li Er immediately said something to clear away the suspicion of being mentally retarded.
"My lords, reinforcements from Goguryeo are coming!"