[Lightscreen]
[The Tang dynasty's biggest problem was this:
everything it did in Haedong was a pure loss-making business.
Starting in 660, Tang fought Baekje.
Then Goguryeo.
Then Baekje's restoration forces.
Then Wa.
Then Goguryeo again.
After Goguryeo finally fell, Emperor Gaozong even took his stepmother along for a grand Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai to show off his achievements.
The result was painfully obvious.
The Tang treasury collapsed spectacularly.
This was also the direct reason Gaozong later abolished coinage after the ceremony—because the empire was really poor.
In the feudal era, population was a core asset.
A textbook example was Boss Cao himself.
If he couldn't beat you in Hanzhong, he'd simply relocate all the people of Hanzhong and Wuwei. Go ahead and take the land—what you'd get was an empty field, no profit attached.
Baekje was much the same.
After Liu Rengui pacified Baekje, the fighting had grown genuinely bitter. A large number of Baekje survivors chose to flee to Wa or Goguryeo rather than accept Tang rule.
Later, Goguryeo followed a similar path.
Most of its people were relocated inland and absorbed into Huaxia. Those who remained in Liaodong eventually joined forces with the Mohe tribes, founding the state of Balhae—independent in reality, submissive only in name.
In the end, the true winner on the Korean Peninsula was Silla.
Financial exhaustion, coupled with Tibet's constant activity, left Tang overstretched. After destroying Goguryeo, Tang neither stationed troops nor appointed generals in Baekje.
Nominally, it was direct rule.
In practice, it was barely different from loose vassal control.
The King of Silla was always extremely crafty.
After Tang destroyed Goguryeo, a tripartite conference was held. Silla didn't even attend in person—only sent envoys, making it very convenient to tear up agreements whenever necessary.
Later, upon hearing that Tibet had begun attacking Tang, the Silla king judged that Tang no longer had the energy to manage the peninsula.
So he moved decisively—sending troops to seize Baekje territory.
After news arrived of Xue Rengui's defeat at Dafeichuan, Silla grew even bolder.
Envoys sent to argue endlessly never stopped.
Territorial encroachment never slowed.
It wasn't until 675, when Liu Rengui once again took command and defeated Silla three times, that Silla sent envoys to Tang to declare submission again.
But by then, Li Zhi's vertigo had worsened, and anti-Tang forces led by Tibet were stirring constantly in the Western Regions.
After weighing the situation, Tang pinched its nose and acknowledged reality:
It no longer had the strength to directly govern the Korean Peninsula.
Silla's occupation of former Baekje lands was tacitly accepted.
Thus ended Tang's brief period of direct rule over Korea.
The peninsula returned to being merely a Tang tributary.]
Hou Junji had already resolved to prove his worth.
He stepped forward immediately, speaking with righteous indignation:
"Baekje was merely incited by Goguryeo.
Silla is the one with truly wolfish ambition!"
The other generals nodded in agreement.
Baekje had openly resisted Tang with blades drawn—that didn't offend them. And the subsequent chaos stemmed largely from Su Dingfang's troops looting.
If one really traced responsibility, it would circle back to the emperor himself. Hard to assign blame, and in any case, looting was part of war.
But Silla?
A local tribe to begin with, yet toward Tang they behaved with textbook duplicity—just like Wa.
When besieged by Goguryeo and Baekje, they called Tang Father.
Once Tang ran into trouble, they wanted to become Tang's father instead.
They needed another beating to behave—but their timing had been perfect. What they swallowed couldn't be made to come back up.
So now, in the eyes of the generals, Silla was officially placed on the must-be-destroyed list.
Especially since Chancellor Du Ruhui had already spoken:
If Haedong was to be pacified, Silla was the throat—and had to be firmly grasped.
Not to mention His Majesty's military philosophy.
He rarely mobilized hundreds of thousands, avoiding waste of manpower. Later generations all praised this approach—light forces striking straight for the enemy leader, ending a state cleanly and efficiently.
And of course… there was that later incident.
"Not to mention," Hou Junji added passionately,
"that Silla is the ancestor of the Bangzi! Later they even mocked His Majesty with clown performances. Such self-deceiving fools deserve to have their state name erased and their national history destroyed!"
Li Shimin recalled that one-eyed dragon version of himself.
His expression turned subtle.
If Hou Junji hadn't mentioned it, he might have forgotten.
Shaking his head, Li Shimin set it aside for now and spoke calmly:
"The foundation of managing Haedong lies in strong ships."
"If the navy is established, Haedong will have no troubles.
If the navy is not raised, troubles will arise everywhere."
"For now, we must first open the Western Regions.
Only then can we gradually plan for Haedong."
Li Shimin was very clear.
Once Tuyuhun stopped being a problem, control of the Western Regions had to follow.
Supporting the northern frontier was secondary.
The key issue was Gaochang.
Every coin they collected—was his money.
Being skimmed along the Silk Road was one thing.
But Gaochang collecting tolls right at Tang's doorstep while baring its teeth?
That was simply asking to be beaten.
Liu Rengui nodded slowly, feeling the weight on his shoulders grow heavier.
Su Dingfang had been silent for a long time, shame written all over his face.
Once praised by the emperor, later hailed by future generations as a god of war—Su Dingfang had been proud. Especially since his disciple Pei Xingjian was equally famous.
Add to that last year's trampling of Illig Qaghan's royal tent, and he'd felt rather pleased with himself.
Couldn't Old Su be considered both wise and brave?
But he hadn't expected the chaos on the Korean Peninsula to begin so simply:
lax discipline.
In his eyes, the matter was painfully clear.
Allowing troops to loot had cost Tang full control of the peninsula.
Li Shiji sensed his thoughts and patted his shoulder:
"Lately, everywhere I go, it's your name, Su Dingfang."
"What about me? Also a god of war—yet my name only appears in the corners. Who do I complain to?"
That aside, Li Shiji felt the navy was still worth fighting for.
The Western Regions were distant—every campaign took over half a year just to travel.
A navy, though?
With a strong fleet, one could go north to Liaodong and south to Jiaozhi.
He liked that later-generation term very much:
Maritime hegemony.
Thinking of this, Li Shiji suddenly remembered the Five Thunder Pavilion he and Li Jing had built together.
Since gunpowder already showed promise, shouldn't they urge the Directorate of Works to speed things up?
From later perspectives, gunpowder might not beat trebuchets in cost or convenience.
But at sea?
Cannons would leave trebuchets in the dust.
[Lightscreen]
[After the Battle of Baekgang, the Korean Peninsula was in chaos—but Wa remained eerily quiet.
They were genuinely frightened.
After Tang destroyed Goguryeo, Wa reestablished relations and reflected deeply:
"The reason we were crushed so badly must be that we learned too little from Tang!"
Thus began Wa's next great learning movement.
Political systems.
Palace architecture.
City layouts.
Calligraphy and poetry.
Written characters.
Everything copied Tang.
They hoped to grow strong through shortcuts.
But the Central Plains dynasties had crossed the Malthusian trap generation after generation.
Institutions were never something you could copy by brute force alone.]