The next day, Li Shimin summoned everyone to discuss countermeasures, and everyone sat silently...

After a while, Li Shimin then spoke, "You all talk about what to do, right? Should you continue to attack Goryeo? Or should you withdraw your troops and return to Youzhou and attack Goryeo again tomorrow in spring?"

In fact, this is a difficult problem, because if you retreat to Youzhou, let alone encounter ambush on the road, you will say that this northern expedition against Goryeo was considered a waste of effort; if you continue to move forward and destroy this country, then food and grass will be a problem and must be solved as soon as possible.

"Your Majesty, what I mean is to withdraw my troops and return to Youzhou. Come here in the spring next year!" Fang Xuanling said.

"Xuanling, tell me your reasons?" Li Shimin said lightly.

"Emperor, no matter what kind of ambush we encounter on the road, as long as we march carefully and send a large number of scouts, we can avoid being ambushed." Fang Xuanling analyzed, "If our food and grass are saved, it can take twenty days to support us to the Youbei Grassland. As long as we enter the Youbei Grassland, the army will not worry about no food and grass to be available."

"Your Majesty, I will not agree with Fang Xiang's opinion!" Suddenly, as soon as Fang Xuanling finished speaking, Cheng Zhijie opposed it, "This time our army attacked Goryeo, and how many soldiers had spent their lives to capture so many cities, how could we retreat just because of a lack of food and grass? I thought we should not retreat but advance, and caught the Goryeo people off guard and broke through the Goryeo capital in one fell swoop."

"Your Majesty, I agree with Fang Xiang's opinion!" Cen Wenben began to support Fang Xuanling.

"Your Majesty, I think Fang Xiang has said a lot, so you should act cautiously!" Xue Wanche also supported Fang Xuanling's suggestion.

"What do you mean?" Li Shimin asked Li Daozong.

"Your Majesty, the biggest problem now is food and grass. As long as the food and grass problem is solved, everything will be easy to handle. The suggestion of the Wei Me is that we cannot retreat. Not only can we retreat, but we must increase the offensive. Goryeo junior high school cannot withstand the struggle of the war. From this battle, we can see that they are already fighting the whole country. As long as we overcome the difficulties in front of us, we can conquer their capital in one fell swoop, pacify Liaodong, and eliminate the shame of the previous dynasty." Li Daozong said loudly.

"Yes, Master, we cannot withdraw our troops!" Li Xianzhong also spoke.

Because Li Daozong talked about the shame of the previous dynasty, and actually implied that if he retreated this time, what would be the difference between the previous dynasty's failure to return to Goryeo in the north?

"You think the same as mine!" Li Shimin nodded and said, "We have entered the trap set by the Goryeo people, but why aren't this trap we are willing to come in? I have long expected the strategic intentions of the Goryeo people, but I didn't expect that they would be so courageous and would be willing to use half of their territory as bait."

Immediately, Li Shimin paused for a moment and continued, "Li Ke also suggested that I pay attention to the transportation of food, grass and supplies, but I was not considering it properly, and I didn't expect the problem to be so serious."

When everyone heard Li Shimin admitting his mistakes, they all lowered their heads.

"But, this time, I personally led the army to fight, and I will not return to the court until I destroyed Goryeo." Li Shimin said fiercely, "So, don't mention the withdrawal of troops. Everyone think about how to solve the problem of food and grass!"

Li Shimin's sentence: Immortal Goryeo vowed not to return to the court. Everyone's eardrums hurt. They did not expect that the emperor would make such a vow, which would be so important to the war against Goryeo.

"Your Majesty, even if you want to transport grain in Youzhou now, it will take two months to arrive in Baiyan City. Our food can only barely support twenty days. How should we spend the remaining forty days?" Fang Xuanling said worriedly.

"If we speed up the grain transportation, how many days will be left?" Li Shimin asked lightly.

"The terrain in Liaodong is undulating and the roads are uneven. Two months is the fastest. If you speed up the grain transportation speed, you won't save much time. At most, five days!" Cen Wenben said.

"Then think about it, what should we do now?" Li Shimin asked the generals around him.

"Master, we can send a large army to escort the grain transport team along the way, so as to ensure that the food and grass are not lost!" Xue Wanche said, "But in this way, our army will be reduced in number, which is not conducive to siege operations."

"There is another way, which is to mobilize troops!" Cheng Zhijie said.

"There are too many troops to transport food and supplies. Once they enter Liaodong, they also need food and grass. How much food can they still be left when they arrive in Baiyan City?" Li Daozong said, "But with fewer troops, how can they protect the safety of the grain transport team?"

"Your Majesty, please transfer the Bingzhou Iron Cavalry!" Li Xianzhong said, "They have good mobility, only a few people and enough to undertake the huge transportation line guard mission."

"The last general thinks so too!" Li Daozong said.

"The last general agrees!" Cheng Zhijie said.

Li Shimin pondered that he didn't speak.

After a while, he spoke, "How many people are appropriate to mobilize?"

"Thirty thousand, 30,000 elite horses are enough to protect the entire grain road!" Li Daozong said affirmatively.

"Then I will issue an order to Chen Qi, the governor of Bingzhou, and ask him to dispatch 30,000 Bingzhou cavalry to Youzhou to escort the army's food and grass north along the way!" Li Shimin issued an order.

"No——" Fang Xuanling took the order.

"Also, allocate 30,000 elite cavalry to Xue Li and ask him to pick up the grain transport team. This batch of grain is the foundation of our battle with Goryeo, and there must be no mistakes!" Li Shimin continued to order.

"No" Xue Wanche received the order.

"The problem of transporting grain has been solved. How can we solve the remaining forty days of grain in the army?" Li Shimin asked again.

"As long as the army does not retreat, the last general will have a way to solve it!" Cheng Zhijie suddenly spoke.

But seeing a cold light flashing in his eyes, Li Shimin and everyone knew what he meant.

"Cheng Zhijie, unless he had no choice, he could not use this method!" Li Shimin warned.

However, Cheng Zhijie shouted loudly, "Your Majesty, the army with tens of thousands of books was out of food, and his life was in danger. Isn't this a last resort?"

The tent fell into silence again.

Because everyone knows what Cheng Zhijie's method is, and everyone knows that if you really want to do this according to Cheng Zhijie's method, how much bad reputation will the emperor leave in the future?

However, Cheng Zhijie spoke again, "Your Majesty, I am willing to take all the responsibility. The remaining forty days of food and grass issues will be handed over to the Imperial General! Imperial General will never disappoint you!"

"Knowing the secret--" Li Shimin was moved, but when he said this, he kept silent.

Because, he saw the tears in Cheng Zhijie's eyes, and he knew very well that only by doing this can he keep the army of tens of thousands.

"Okay--" Li Shimin shouted, "I give you the right to give your all your strength!"

"No" Cheng Zhijie bowed to accept the order.

Suddenly, the atmosphere in the big tent became much calmer and more solemn.

After a while, Li Shimin spoke again, "Xue Wanche, tomorrow you will supervise the battle and conquer Baiyan City for me!"

"As for your order!" Xue Wanche said with the command.

This was the first time he discovered that the emperor directly issued an order to him, the great governor.

"Do you have anything else?" Li Shimin asked.

Everyone was silent.

"Then you go down and prepare!" Li Shimin said a little tiredly.

"No" everyone quit the big account one by one.
Chapter completed!