Chen Zhengtai's words make sense.

Li Shimin nodded.

He obviously empathized with it.

Goguryeo has been growing stronger over the past hundreds of years, and it has been attacked by nomadic peoples or the Central Plains dynasties.

I don’t know how many heroes launched a war with Goguryeo.

All of these wars have not achieved their ultimate strategic goals. Even though there are many remarkable points on the tactical level, they have failed in general.

This time Li Shimin personally fought, and was particularly impressed by this. He finally knew why Emperor Yang of Sui failed.

This place is far away from the core area of ​​the Central Plains.

It's particularly cold and the climate is very harsh.

The most speechless thing is that Liaodong County is not bad, but the territory of Goguryeo is divided into two by the Qianshan Mountains, the hinterland of Liaodong and Goguryeo, Lelang County, which leads to... its hinterland is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Not only that, because this place is remote and has a strong custom, once a war starts, countless soldiers can be recruited.

What’s scary is that although this place is bitter and cold, a lot of food can still grow in the fields. With food, it means a large population.

Under normal circumstances, the bitter and cold land is sparsely populated and cannot establish a powerful country, but it is just a group of loose tribes.

In places with bad weather, although the customs of the people are strong, they are often flat. Once troops are used, the war can be ended quickly.

And this place is surrounded by mountains, forming a natural barrier.

So this becomes an unsolvable problem.

The place is remote, and for any dynasty, it will be costly to start a war against it. Moreover, the supply line is too long, but the other party can use mountains and rivers to guard it, strengthen the walls and clear the fields, and waste you to death.

Places with many mountains are often sparsely populated. The problem is that the population of Goguryeo is quite large, enough to recruit hundreds of thousands of people to carry out large-scale combat.

This means that the size of your expedition army must be more than it, which makes replenishment more difficult.

When the Sui Dynasty launched a war and conquered Goguryeo for the third time, it actually dispatched a million troops. Of course, 80% of these million troops were used to maintain supplies. Think about it... This is equivalent to using ten times the resources to engage in a war of attrition with Goguryeo.

No one can stand it.

"It is unconquered militarily." Li Shimin smiled and said, "It really hits the nail on the head."

"So..." Chen Zhengtai said: "What must be engaged in Goguryeo is an economic war."

"Economic War?" Li Shimin glanced slightly and said, "What you call economic war is selling heavy armor?"

"Of course." Chen Zhengtai nodded: "Goguryeo's strength lies in defense. For facing our Tang Dynasty, he can only defend. He can use their land and use the Tang Dynasty to maintain a supply line that is thousands of miles long. He only needs to fight with the Tang Dynasty, one city and one pool, and with the help of the cold winter, he can kill our Tang army. So... the first thing he has to do is to change their strategy. But how can their strategy... be changed easily? If one person guards the city, he can retreat to the enemy, so why do he have to fight?"

Li Shimin thoughtfully. When conquering Anshi City, Li Jing encountered such a problem. The other party didn't go to fight. What can you do to me? Idiot, come and beat me.

Chen Zhengtai continued: "I have heard a saying that it is called the economic foundation, which determines the superstructure. However, if this is changed, it is its military foundation, which is actually the basis for determining the opponent's strategy. If they are mostly infantry and are good at archery, all the money and food in the country will be spent on repairing the city walls and strengthening defense. Then... Once the Tang army comes, Goguryeo will have to stick to it. But what if... let the Goguryeo... spend a lot of money to buy a large number of offensive weapons and armor? What if they turn from infantry to cavalry?"

Li Shimin suddenly realized something: "Yes, this is the key."

Chen Zhengtai smiled and said, "After Erchen's heavy cavalry destroyed Hou Junji's elite, the problem will be solved. After this battle, it will surely shock the world. The Goguryeo people will not send people to inquire. When they determined that the defense of this heavy armor was stronger than the city wall, and could advance and attack and retreat or defend, how could they not be moved? The Goguryeo people have always been afraid of the Tang Dynasty. Under this huge military pressure, how could they not try and consider having such elite soldiers of a hundred battles? Because of this... The Goguryeo people sent people to contact the Goguryeo people."

Li Shimin understood everything.

This is to capture the other person's psychology.

Li Shimin thought of a question at this time and said curiously: "It's just why Goguryeo bought so many pairs of heavy armor?"

"Because the next one is temptation." Chen Zhengtai smiled and said, "Actually, at first, the people of Goguryeo didn't want to buy too many, but when the Erchen reported the price, they were moved because the price was really low, just like... a promotion. When you were ready to buy 10,000 pairs of armor, but found that the money could buy 30,000 pairs of them, would you think, it's so cheap, should I buy more?"

After pausing, he said again: "Are you a fool if you don't take advantage of it?"

Li Shimin was amused and crying. He thought about it seriously and felt that if it were him... he might have bought more.

This is not that Li Shimin has no view of the overall situation, but that no one may be able to refuse such a temptation.

This is not a matter of IQ, but a matter of human nature.

Chen Zhengtai continued: "In addition... the son-in-law also conducted discounted marketing. If His Majesty found out that the money for these 30,000 pairs of armor was added, he could buy 50,000 pairs. What would His Majesty do?"

Li Shimin: “…”

"In order to manage Goguryeo, my sons are actually doing a loss-making business. They almost sold half and half for free, and gave these armors... to the hands of the Goguryeo people. The Goguryeo people thought they had taken advantage of it, but in fact... in terms of material value, they did not suffer any loss. After all, these armors were not at risk even if they bought them at the price of their purchase. Although Goguryeo is not short of pig iron, such good steel can be made even if they melted the armors directly and made into farm tools. How could this Goguryeo people not grit their teeth and bought these armors?"

Li Shimin sighed and couldn't help but say, "It's just... what if they really made them into farm tools?"

"I can't bear to give up." Chen Zhengtai said seriously: "Theoretically this method works, but no one would be willing to do such exquisite armor. Besides, there are more and more rumors about the Tang Dynasty attacking Goguryeo, and Goguryeo has to be guarded against. How can such armor be used for agricultural production with such armor? The only thing they can do at this time... is to train a heavy cavalry like the Tang Dynasty and try to rely on this armor to win. What's more, the Battle of Hexi has proved that such heavy cavalry can dominate the world. Under such a huge temptation, how could the Goguryeo people not try?"

"It's just your Majesty, the reason why the heavy cavalry of the Tiance Army exerted 100% of its combat power was not just because it was as simple as having armor. It was because the Tiance Army established an effective supply system. Such heavy armor requires Kong Wu's powerful people to wear, and Kong Wu's powerful people did not come out of thin air. This means that soldiers need to practice day and night, but practicing day and night is not to treat the soldiers cruelly, but to ensure that the soldiers can intake rich nutrition at any time!"

"At the time when a thousand heavy cavalry had to consume ten pigs, a cow and ten sheep in the army every day. Not only that, but also a lot of food, goat milk, eggs... These are all money. If people want to eat food, horses have to choose horses. In order to choose horses that can carry the heavy cavalry of the Tiance Army, almost every horse in the Tiance Army camp was a horse selected from thousands of horses from the pastures. To meet such a standard, it would be a one in a hundred miles. When a horse arrived in the army, it would still need to be carefully raised and provided with feed. Otherwise, there would be no way to keep their horsepower from exhaustion. As for the ups and downs, only one thousand heavy cavalry would cost more than a thousand guan."

"But Goguryeo... how could he afford to support 50,000 heavy cavalry? This forced them to find ways to plunder more money when they realized that the Tang army might be at the city, so they had to collect more taxes and lose their hearts."

It turns out...this is the so-called economic war...

Li Shimin suddenly understood.

No wonder when he came along the way, all of these Goguryeo people had a huge favor for him, and they regarded him as a tyrant for the Goguryeo King.

Everything... was suddenly enlightened at this time.

The Goguryeo people obtained things that should not belong to them, and if they threw these things that cost a lot of money aside, it would be a huge loss.

But if they are determined to form a heavy cavalry, they will inevitably need countless money and food consumption. If they do not impose heavy taxes, they will not be able to create a heavy cavalry.

This place is bitter and cold, and the Goguryeo court blindly urges all counties and counties to pay money and grain. In order to complete the tasks of the court, local parents will be extremely vicious.

So... the people's hardship has reached an unparalleled level.

But from another perspective, can the Goguryeo court choose to give up?

Obviously... they can no longer give up. They only have so many resources on hand. To fight against the Tang army, it is impossible to ignore these armors. They have no extra financial resources to build the city walls and increase the garrisons in various places again.

After all, they have paid for the cost of purchasing armor.

No matter how hard it is, there is no way to go back.

Li Shimin couldn't help but laugh and said, "After selling them armor, all the people's hearts in Goguryeo have belonged to my Tang Dynasty."

"That's right." Chen Zhengtai smiled and said, "Of course, it's not just that. The Goguryeo... has worked hard to build a heavy cavalry, but so what? Your Majesty, the heavy cavalry is an offensive army, not a defensive army. The Goguryeo has piled up all resources. Could it be that these soldiers wear these heavy armor and defend on the city wall? Your Majesty, if this is the case, then the Goguryeo is a fool, because... the Goguryeo army has changed, and correspondingly, their war form will be greatly changed."

Li Shimin had already begun to imagine the funny appearance of a group of bulky soldiers standing on the city wall panting.

Such heavy cavalry can only cooperate with war horses to fight, and cavalry... have always been the king of field battles, and cavalry can be placed in the city to defend the city, which is unprecedented in ancient times.

Chen Zhengtai continued: "It is precisely because of this that after Erchen arrived in Incheon with the Tiance army, he decisively chose to wait for his work. This is because... the Goguryeo people will definitely attack Incheon! In the expectation of the Goguryeo people, their heavy cavalry will definitely play a huge role in the plains of Liaodong. However... Erchen's partial army here has always threatened the safety of their royal capital. In order to prevent it, they must first defeat Erchen's Tiance army, and then... then transfer these heavy cavalry to Liaodong to fight the main force of the Tang Dynasty."

"The son of the son of the army is convinced that they will attack, but it is not that the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of the son

Li Shimin looked at Chen Zhengtai with appreciation, nodded, and couldn't help but sigh: "It's true. It seems mysterious and mysterious to expect the enemy to have the opportunity, but in fact... it's just that you know yourself and your enemy, and you can make accurate judgments. But... I'm afraid that so many heavy riders will be difficult to deal with."

Chen Zhengtai smiled and said, "In fact, their heavy cavalry can exert a combat power of at most two or three percent. It is a thousand miles apart from the Tiance Army, which can exert ten thousand combat power. And the most powerful thing about the heavy cavalry is that it is inseparable from swords and guns. This is the biggest advantage of the heavy cavalry, but if... once it can defeat the armor of the heavy cavalry, the advantages of the heavy cavalry will actually become a disadvantage. Therefore, the work that the son-in-law has been doing these days is to develop muskets that can break armor. Erpigou has been doing these tasks, and has made a lot of improvements to the rifles. After many experiments, it was finally produced in large quantities. It can be said that... the muskets equipped by the infantry of the Tiance Army are now produced for the purpose of dealing with the heavy cavalry."

At this time, Li Shimin understood everything.

This is called being prepared versus not being prepared.

When Chen Zhengtai was planning to sell heavy armor for Goguryeo, he actually prepared a way to restrain heavy armor.

I think this is something that the monarchs and ministers of Goguryeo must have not expected.

To put it bluntly, it is a sinkhole.

And these Goguryeo people were still silly jumping in happily!

In fact, heavy armor is a military group with very obvious advantages and obvious disadvantages, but as long as its advantages are invincible on the battlefield.

Once this advantage is gone, countless shortcomings will be exposed, such as supply difficulties, clumsiness, and sprinting speed is far less than that of light riders.

Once the armor can be broken, the heavy cavalry will be far inferior to the light cavalry, and it has even become the target of riflemen, and can be shot and killed at will.

Thinking of this, Li Shimin couldn't help but take a deep breath and said, "It's all connected, so that's it. I thought you did something bold for money, but I didn't expect it to be because of this..."

Chen Zhengtai couldn't help but smile bitterly and said, "My son is really wronged! After making a promise to Your Majesty, I have been racking my brains to destroy Goguryeo for the past six months. It's just that some things are inconvenient to be known to everyone. However... If I can win Goguryeo, even if my son is wronged and misunderstood, my son will have to bear it with pleasure."

Seeing Chen Zhengtai looking aggrieved, Li Shimin felt a little guilty.

In terms of it, he did not doubt it. If he had really listened to those words from Chen Zhengtai who was open to foreign countries and issued an irreversible decree, he would have regretted it for life.

Li Shimin said, "You have always been loyal, how can I not know about this? I will not doubt you, just rest assured. But after that... the Tiance Army quickly broke the domestic city, what is the reason?"

Chen Zhengtai said: "This heavy cavalry was built by Goguryeo who spent countless money and grains. Therefore, once the 100,000 elite Goguryeo was defeated by the Tiensce army, Goguryeo would be shocked. At this time, the minister quickly let the Tiensce army go north with the navy's ships and land in a port a hundred miles away from the domestic city. First, use artillery to level the domestic city as the gateway within one day. Then, he came to the domestic city with lightning speed and speed."

"At this time... in fact, inside and outside the domestic city, there was already a panic. As long as the son-in-law was required to step in, they would beg for surrender. At that time, what the son-in-law expected was that all these actions must be fast. The domestic city must not accept this great defeat psychologically, nor should they reorganize resistance again. Only as fast as the wind can they completely lose their stubbornness."

"As soon as this domestic city was surrendered, the sons immediately opened the warehouse and released the grain, disbanded the local recruits, and then... distributed their money and grain, so that they could go home to produce with peace of mind. He ordered the Tiance army to be unscrupulous. As long as the hearts of this person stabilized, the capital would change hands, and then Goguryeo... would not make any troubles."

Li Shimin listened to his eyes and kept nodding, "I thought you were just a partial army, but I thought that Li Jing was the chief executive of Liaodong, and I personally led the army to harass and restrain Goguryeo's army and horses. I expected that I and Li Jing would be able to destroy Goguryeo all the way. But how could I know... Your partial army has made the contribution to destroying the country. Since then, my Tang Dynasty has no external troubles. My heart has been relieved. Even if I leave now, I will never lose my long-term glory and my military achievements."

Speaking of this, Li Shimin looked at Chen Zhengtai deeply, with a feeling of relief in his eyes, and said with a smile: "You have made such a big announcement, tell me, how should I reward you?"

…………

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Chapter completed!