Chapter 479 Andong Protectorate
"Quan Nanjian is the main culprit. He can be exempted from death penalty, but he cannot escape
punishment for his crimes. He will be exiled to Qianzhong, and the former Baekje Buyeo Feng will be exiled to Lingnan." Li Chengqian said. After the rewards were given, the guilty people must be punished, especially the main culprit Quan Nanjian and others. None of them can be spared.
After dealing with the captives, they were taken away.
"The five tribes, 176 cities, and 690,000 households of Goguryeo will be divided into nine military governorships, 42 states, and 100 counties, and the Andong Protectorate will be established to govern the entire territory."
"As for how to divide the size of these military governorships, states, and counties, it will be left to the prime ministers of the three provinces to deal with." Li Chengqian said.
"Your Majesty! Now that Goguryeo has been incorporated into the territory of our Great Tang, who should be the governor of the nine military governorships, the governor of the prefectures, and the county magistrates?" The Minister of Personnel, who was in charge of the appointment, dismissal, promotion and attendance of officials, stepped out and asked.
Now that Goguryeo has become a part of the Great Tang, these newly organized military governorships, prefectures, and counties are in urgent need of officials to fill the vacancies.
According to past practice, this matter is actually very easy to handle, that is, to let the leaders of the original conquered areas still hold these official positions.
Although the original leaders still manage the original people, doing so can quickly stabilize the local situation, it is also easy to cause riots.
If these leaders feel that they have grown strong enough and want to fly alone, it will be easy for them to incite the local people to rebel.
Later, Li Chengqian abolished this custom and chose to apply the strategy of joint management between the Han people and the indigenous people of these conquered areas.
"Select the Goguryeo leaders who have made contributions to the expedition against Goguryeo to serve as governors, provincial governors, and county magistrates. These meritorious people and officials in the north should be selected as the most suitable candidates." Li Chengqian said.
"I obey your order!" said the Minister of Personnel. As for the remaining biggest official, the Andong Protectorate, he could not influence it.
"Appoint Xue Rengui as the Andong Protectorate, lead 20,000 troops to guard the former Goguryeo territory, and the Protectorate will be established in Pyongyang." Li Chengqian said.
"Thank your majesty for your grace!" Xue Rengui hurriedly stepped out to salute.
"Let's stop here today! Dismiss!" said Li Chengqian.
"Your Majesty, we respectfully bid you farewell!" All the civil and military officials knelt down to see Li Chengqian off.
On the 17th of this month, Li Chengqian offered sacrifices to the heavens in the southern suburbs to report to the heavens that the problem of Goguryeo had been solved.
Li Zhen was made the second person to offer sacrifices after him, as a reward for his destruction of Goguryeo. For a minister, being able to offer sacrifices to the heavens after the emperor was an unparalleled honor. This
was enough for Li Zhen to brag about for the rest of his life, and for his descendants to be prominent for a long time. How many ministers had this honor since ancient times?
Before Xue Rengui left for Pyongyang to take up his post as a protector general, Li Chengqian called him to the palace and told him that he had something to remind him.
"Your Majesty, I, Xue Rengui, pay my respects to you!" Xue Rengui bowed and saluted when he saw Li Chengqian.
To Xue Rengui, Li Chengqian was his mentor. Without Li Chengqian's kindness, he might still be working as a temporary worker for others, and how could he have his current status and wealth.
Therefore, Xue Rengui was very grateful to Li Chengqian.
"No need to be polite, please stand up and take a seat!" Li Chengqian said.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Xue Rengui stood up and saluted, and the eunuch brought a chair to Xue Rengui.
"I called you here this time because I have a few words to tell you." Li Chengqian said.
"Your Majesty, please give me your orders, and I will do my best to help you solve your problems." Xue Rengui said.
"This time you are appointed as the Protector of Andong, in addition to comforting the survivors of Goguryeo as soon as possible and restoring production in Andong as soon as possible, you must also pay attention to Silla's every move."
"Also, station heavy troops in important places to ensure that Andong and the Central Plains are unimpeded, especially Wugu City, which is a major transportation route connecting Liaoning and Pyongyang."
"As long as Wugu City is occupied, the connection with Liaoning can be completely cut off. Once Silla occupies this place, it can besiege our army if it advances, and block the reinforcements from Liaoning if it retreats." Li Chengqian said.
Xue Rengui understood what Li Chengqian meant, and wondered in his heart whether the emperor wanted to destroy Silla in passing, or whether Silla had some evil intentions because it did not have two enemies.
"What does your majesty mean?" Xue Rengui asked. He had to figure out what the situation was, as it would determine his future attitude towards Silla.
"Silla has always had the ambition to unify the peninsula. Silla joined forces with the Tang Dynasty to send troops to destroy Goguryeo and Baekje. The purpose was to occupy the territories of these two countries and make Silla the most powerful kingdom in the history of the peninsula."
"Now, Goguryeo and Baekje have been incorporated into the territory of the Tang Dynasty. How can Silla, which covets the homeland of Goguryeo and Baekje, watch the cooked duck become someone else's meal?"
"There will be a war between the Tang Dynasty and Silla. It is only a matter of time. Therefore, you must guard against Silla. As long as Silla dares to do anything wrong, you must suppress it immediately." "
The Tang Dynasty will always be your most steadfast backing. As for tribes like the Khitan, you must also find a way to divide and weaken them." Li Chengqian said.
Not only Silla was arranged, but also the Khitan and other tribes were arranged. The northeastern tribes wanted to establish the Bohai Kingdom, so they could just dream on!
"I understand!" Xue Rengui said, he already had a countermeasure in mind.
"Silla wants to annex the Andong (Goguryeo) area and the Xiongjin (Baekje) area. It will definitely unite with the anti-Tang forces to stir up trouble, but you don't have to worry. All those who may rebel against the Tang Dynasty have been left in Chang'an by me. Without these people, it is basically impossible for Silla to stir up trouble."
"I have appointed the right prime minister Liu Rengui as the governor of Xiongjin Protectorate, leading 8,000 troops to garrison in the Xiongjin area. You must help each other and take care of each other."
"I plan to disperse part of the population of the Andong area and the Xiongjin area to various places in the Central Plains, and then draw population from various places to fill these vacancies." Li Chengqian said.
"I know what to do." Xue Rengui said.
This time, in order to better deal with the Silla and Khitan tribes, Xue Rengui was publicly sent to lead 20,000 troops to guard the Andong area, but secretly an additional 10,000 troops were added.
Even the Xiongjin Protectorate was the same, claiming to the outside world that there were only 8,000 troops to guard it, but in fact it had reorganized 10,000 elite troops.
In addition to these, Li Chengqian also planned to mobilize troops from the Silla and Khitan tribes to the north after a while.
To deal with the rebellious tribes in Tubo and Mobei, take the opportunity to weaken the strength of the Silla and Khitan tribes, so that these guys will not have the opportunity to come out and make trouble again.
In order to better control the Andong area and the Xiongjin area, Li Chengqian also planned to migrate part of the population of these two areas to the inland of the Tang Dynasty and disperse them to various places.
Then, we will draw people from the inland areas of the Tang Dynasty to migrate to the Andong and Ungjin areas to fill these vacancies.
In this way, even if Silla wants to incite the remnants of Goguryeo and Baekje to hate the Tang Dynasty in the future, it will be useless.
Because most of the people in these two regions are originally the people of the Tang Dynasty, they will not hate the Tang Dynasty, and as for the remaining remnants, they are no longer a concern.
If Silla can be law-abiding, let it go. If Silla still refuses to give up, send troops to destroy Silla. Anyway, Goguryeo and Baekje have been destroyed, so Silla doesn't matter.