Fang Jun raised his eyes and glanced at Li Zhi, who was fighting with an upright and indignant look, shook his head and took a sip of hot tea.
This is naturally referring to the batch of ordnance transported from Chang'an to Liaodong years ago. Although Li Zhi hired countless ships from Jiangnan with the help of Changsun Wuji and finally transported the arms to Liaodong, it delayed the time after all. Snow had fallen in Liaodong. Although the ordnance It arrived at the Yingzhou General Manager's Office, but due to heavy snow and mountain closures, it was difficult to transport it to the garrison in various places.
Therefore, the Yingzhou General Manager's Office sent a letter describing the severe cold weather in Liaodong and making it difficult to travel, and asked whether they should wait until the weather improves before transporting the goods.
Fang Jun's attitude is that no matter how difficult the road is and how bad the weather is, weapons must be delivered to the garrison in various places as soon as possible and training must begin immediately without delay.
Li Zhi felt that Fang Jun was a little too much...
Fang Jun took a sip of tea and said slowly: "Your Highness, it is not because of the harshness of the humble ministers. This Eastern Expedition mobilized the strength of the whole country, and His Majesty personally led the expedition. There is absolutely no room for any mistakes. As the so-called ministers, we have our responsibilities. It means doing your job to perfection and striving to be meticulous in all aspects, because once the Eastern Expedition fails, no one can afford the consequences."
Li Zhi disagreed and snorted: "As you said, this Eastern Expedition to the Tang Dynasty mobilized the entire country's strength, and my father was the leader of the expedition. Many arrogant soldiers and generals were recruited, and Goguryeo was only a small place. , It’s just a mantis’ arm blocking the car, and it will turn into powder under the exertion, why do you need to be so cautious?”
It’s not that he didn’t know that the military situation was fierce. Liaodong was a land of mountains and mountains, vast and sparsely populated, which was completely different from the mainland of the Tang Dynasty. The army had to conduct continuous training in advance and be familiar with the local geography and weather before it could fully exert its combat capabilities.
However, in his opinion, Fang Jun was simply making trouble out of nothing. How could Goguryeo resist his father's personal conquest? When the Eastern Expedition begins, wherever the army reaches, the Goguryeo army will be invincible and disintegrate.
The reason why Fang Jun kept insisting on fulfilling their respective responsibilities to perfection and insisting on having the Yingzhou Governor's Mansion to deliver weapons to the garrison in various places in the snow was clearly because he wanted to use this to undermine his own prestige.
It was he who was responsible for delivering this batch of ordnance to Liaodong. As a result, time was delayed and there was a scandal of some missing ordnance. Now if Liaodong is forced to pay more for sending this batch of ordnance to the garrison in various places, The extremely serious price to pay was naturally his fault, Li Zhi's.
By then, the Liaodong army will definitely be full of resentment, and if soldiers freeze to death and suffer from frostbite, they will definitely be held accountable. How can Liaodong be willing to bear the consequences? At that time, they would naturally have to argue that the arrival of the ordnance was delayed, so they had to brave the snow to transport ordnance to the garrison in various places...
Fang Jun looked at Li Zhi's expression of displeasure and said with a smile: "Your Highness, how can you control the heart of a villain with the heart of a gentleman? As the minister of the Ministry of War, I should supervise the transportation and allocation of ordnance, food and fodder, and take every precaution I care, all for the sake of giving the Eastern Expedition army a better chance of winning."
Li Zhi also understood that things must be done carefully, but now he believed that Fang Jun was just using the topic as an excuse and wanted to take the opportunity to attack his prestige, so he was naturally angry.
"Soldiers of the Tang Dynasty can die on the way to charge into battle, but they cannot be destroyed in the unnecessary transportation of ordnance for no reason! The entire country of the Tang Dynasty conquered Goguryeo, and it was bound to be a success. Why do you need to be so cautious?"
Fang Jun frowned when he heard Li Zhi scratching his neck in dissatisfaction.
He put down the teacup, looked at Li Zhi, and said calmly: "Your Highness, please don't forget that when Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty conquered Goguryeo three times and looked down upon the world in high spirits, he had the same thoughts as Your Highness."
He didn't understand. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty made three expeditions to Goguryeo, but he returned without his armor and feathers. Hundreds of thousands of troops were trapped in Liaodong until the early years of the Tang Dynasty. When the envoys of the Tang Dynasty went to Goguryeo, they saw a large number of Sui people who had been captured by Goguryeo. Soldiers and civilians, "people of the Sui Dynasty cried all over the countryside when they looked at them." The corpses of Sui soldiers and soldiers were even built into a "Jingguan" with their white bones and white bones.
Why is it that to this day, no one cares about this lesson learned from the past, but is still full of confidence that it can be decided in a battle?
Doesn't anyone know that "a proud soldier will be defeated"?
Both the government and the public were too confident about the Eastern Expedition. It seemed that with a new emperor and a few more firearms, Goguryeo was as vulnerable as a chicken or a dog...
After hearing Fang Jun's words, Li Zhi said in astonishment: "Duke Yue, do you know what you are talking about? Nowadays, the Tang Dynasty has strong soldiers and horses, and countless soldiers are waiting for danger. The morale of the soldiers can't be reduced! Besides, my father is wise and powerful, and uses troops like a god. How can it be so?" Can you compare to a debauched and cruel king like Emperor Sui Yang? You actually compare your father to Emperor Sui Yang..."
"Shut up!"
Fang Jun slammed the coffee table and shouted angrily.
This guy is indeed very talented in politics, but it's a pity that he only knows how to play tricks, and actually wants to use this method of "getting guilty for his words" to bring him down?
His angry shouting not only frightened Li Zhi, but also frightened the Ministry of War officials outside the duty room. Everyone was listening to what was going on in the duty room, fearing that Fang Jun would lose his temper and kill the officer. The arrogant His Highness Prince Jin must be beaten...
Everyone looked at each other, and finally Cui Dunli wiped his face and knocked on the door helplessly. After pushing it open, he looked inside and relaxed when he saw that there was no scene of Fang Jun holding King Jin down and beating him violently. He asked in a tone of voice: "Your Highness, Minister...but if you have something to do, please call me?"
Li Zhi was frightened by Fang Jun's angry look. When he saw Cui Dunli, he swallowed and said, "That's right. Cui Shilang might as well come in first..."
"Need not!"
Fang Jun snorted coldly and waved his hand: "I am discussing matters with His Highness Prince Jin, so you don't need to disturb me!"
Cui Dunli had no choice but to say cautiously: "The affairs of the Yazhong are busy. Your Highness and the Minister can discuss it slowly. They are all working hard for the Eastern Expedition and seeking common ground while reserving differences..."
Halfway through the words, when he saw Fang Jun's cold eyes, Cui Dunli shrank his neck in fright, hurriedly retreated, and closed the door.
In the room, Li Zhi was trembling and trying to maintain his composure. Looking at Fang Jun's dark face, he said with a guilty conscience: "You, you, you, don't act nonsense."
Fang Jun immediately laughed angrily, glared at Li Zhi and said: "Since Your Highness is afraid that the minister will act recklessly, why do you use such frame-up words to frame the minister? Now everyone in the government and the public is optimistic about the Eastern Expedition, and seems to have completely forgotten." "A proud soldier will be defeated" is an ancient saying. I just wanted to remind His Highness, but I ended up being accused of comparing Your Majesty to a tyrant... I dare to ask Your Highness, I am cautious and worry about defeat before thinking about victory. Why? 'Lost the morale of the army'? Could it be that our millions of soldiers in the Tang Dynasty could lose their morale and become hesitant and fearful of war just because of the words of one person?"
Li Zhi was stunned, thought for a while, and asked: "Why is the Duke of Yue worried about the outcome of the Eastern Expedition? Now that the Tang Dynasty has strong soldiers and horses, and is powerful enough to crush Goguryeo, is there any reason to be invincible?"
He always thought that Fang Jun was just being new and different, and even deliberately suppressed himself.
But seeing Fang Jun's expression in front of him, he felt that maybe Fang Jun was really worried about the situation of the Eastern Expedition...
Fang Jun sighed and said helplessly: "In war, the outcome can never be determined by comparing the strengths of both sides. At the beginning of the Chu-Han struggle for hegemony, who in the world dared to predict that the one who would win the world would be Han Gaozu? Fu Jian's million-strong army marched south. Fierce generals are like clouds throwing whips to cut off the flow of water. Who dares to believe that in the end, the wind is roaring, the grass and trees are all soldiers, and the army is defeated and returns in embarrassment? The human heart is the most important deciding factor in war."
The entire Tang Dynasty is now filled with an atmosphere - so proud!
The once powerful Turks were completely wiped out, and the remaining troops had to flee thousands of miles away to survive in the depths of the desert. Xue Yantuo, who inherited the bravery of the Turks, was driven straight to Longting and was completely destroyed. The tyrannical Tubo had to temporarily avoid the edge of the Tang Dynasty. , lived on the plateau and tried their best to make peace, while the remaining small countries were trembling under the iron heel of the Tang Dynasty, fearing that the Tang army would suddenly arrive and destroy their country, family, and family.
The Tang Dynasty's military frontier was arrogant, how could Goguryeo stand in the way?
However, almost everyone has forgotten that the outcome of a war does not only depend on the comparison of combat power and national power. After all, war still relies on people fighting with swords and guns. Spiritual will is the decisive factor far better than force.
Otherwise, why would later generations of flower growers be able to thrive despite being surrounded by wolves?
How could they face the combined armies of the sixteen countries and achieve a world-shocking victory with absolutely weak military equipment?
Although Li Zhi likes to be clever, he has political wisdom after all.
After listening to Fang Jun's words and thinking about it carefully, although he still could not imagine the possibility of the Tang Dynasty's failure, he suddenly discovered that if the Tang Dynasty really failed in the Eastern Expedition, the consequences that would shake the country would be unimaginable...
