Chapter 177: Going to war! (asking for monthly tickets)
Li Xiang was actually quite curious. Li Jingren had such a personality. What had happened to make him so depressed?

Li Jingren was obviously too embarrassed to speak, so he had to ask Cheng Chubi to do it for him.

I didn't expect that Li Jingren, a tall, rich and handsome man in Chang'an, couldn't handle a woman...

Cheng Chubi also gave him a general idea. In short, Li Jingren fell in love with the daughter of Ashina Simo, but the man had feelings for her and the woman had no interest in him... It's not that the man had feelings for her and the woman had no interest in him, because Ashina Yun said that she liked heroes who galloped on the battlefield, not second-generation rich kids who hid under the protection of their ancestors.

"What are you talking about! Brother Jingren led the caravan to the grassland and risked his life. How can he not be considered a hero?" Cheng Chubi cursed viciously: "This Ashina Yun is really blind..."

Li Jingren sighed and said, "Chu Bi, I know you feel unfair for me, but there is no need to belittle her."

Damn it...

Li Xiang suddenly felt his blood pressure rising.

You kid...

It's mixed, so Ashina Yun is the Void Mask?

Are you controlled by the time barrier?
Li Jingren said again: "You don't know, when I was on the grassland, I went to Huaihua County Prince's troops alone, and I encountered a pack of wolves on the way. It was Miss Yun who saved me..."

Oh, I see.

With this said, Li Xiang began to understand Li Jingren a little bit. After all, it is common for a hero to save a beauty, but it is rare for a beauty to save a hero.

Li Jingren said with emotion: "From that time on, I found myself falling in love with her. She said that she liked heroes who galloped on the battlefield, but what about me? I have been under the protection of my father and brothers since I was a child. Not to mention the art of war, I didn't even learn the literature courses in the Imperial College well. I just thought I was happy at the time. Unfortunately, it was not until today that I realized how I wasted my time..."

"Brother, I also want to go to the battlefield and make achievements, but I have never learned the art of war. The battlefield is not a joke. I... I can't joke with the lives of the soldiers. What should I do? What should I do..."

Hearing this, Li Xiang's anger rose to a peak. He jumped up from the table, rushed to Li Jingren and grabbed his collar: "You should be like a man... You should be like a man! Look at what you look like now!"

At this point, Li Xiang imitated Li Jingren's decadent tone and cried, "'What should I do? What should I do...', ridiculous!"

Li Xiang imitated the tone and expression perfectly, and not only the teenagers around him, but even Li Jingren himself laughed.

"Then let me ask you, Jingren." Li Xiang looked at him with burning eyes: "Do you want to be a general?"

"Of course!" Li Jingren replied immediately.

"Is it for Ashina Yun?" Li Xiang asked.

"No, not for her." Li Jingren took a deep breath: "For myself, for the time I wasted! I want to make a career!"

"That's right." Li Xiang patted his shoulder and said, "When love comes, cherish it. When love is gone, just focus on your career. As long as your career is successful, Ashina Yun will not mind whether you lead the army to destroy Goguryeo, Baekje, or Western Turks."

"Of course, the point of what I said is that you should make achievements and gain a reputation. At the very least, you should make sure that the children of Goguryeo will not dare to cry when they hear your name."

"Brother, I understand!" Li Jingren nodded heavily, and looked at Li Xiang suspiciously: "Brother, you are still single, why are you so knowledgeable about love?"

"Heh." Li Xiang laughed: "Why else can I be your elder brother?"

"Brother, do you have any good advice for me?" Cheng Chubi asked from the side.

"Don't rush into a relationship with a woman." Li Xiang pressed his shoulder and said, "You might as well start by being friends with her, and then see if her friends are better looking than her."

"That's awesome, brother." Li Jingren gave a thumbs up.

"That's right." Li Xiang said with a smile. Seeing Fubao coming over with food to prepare for the barbecue, Li Xiang invited everyone to take a seat and said, "Everyone, sit down. It's time to eat."

Since it was a family banquet for brothers, Li Mingda and Li Shu also participated in the family dinner, with Pei Xueqing and Feng Yingying sitting next to them.

The playboys also knew that Pei Xueqing was Li Xiang's chosen wife. If there was no solid evidence, they would have called her sister-in-law long ago.

Next to Feng Yingying sat a cool girl.

Li Xiang didn't like that kind of temperament very much... Of course, it was useless to like her, because she was Li Jingren's sister Li Xueyi, a cousin.

"Brother, why are you so likable?" Wei Daijia took a bite of the scallop and found it delicious, so he ate a few more pieces.

"Hey." Li Xiang scratched his chin, "This is my secret - no, why are you asking this?"

Wei Daijia glanced at Li Jingren furtively, and seeing that he was bragging to Cheng Chubi, he whispered to Li Xiang: "Brother, I also want to make achievements, so take me with you when you go to Goguryeo this time..."

"Be obedient, you are too young." Li Xiang advised him, "It won't be too late to think about making achievements after you become an adult."

"But I can't wait." Wei Daijia scratched his head and said in distress: "I'm afraid she will get married before I wait for her..."

"Oh, you have a crush on someone?" Li Xiang immediately became interested in gossip: "Tell me quickly, and I'll make the decision for you!"

Wei Daijia said stealthily: "Brother, you guessed right, I have fallen in love with a girl."

Li Jingren was still bragging to Cheng Chubi. When he heard Wei Daijia's words, he turned around, hugged him, and asked jokingly, "Boy, are you in love with a girl, or are you in love with a girl?"

Who knew that after hearing this, Wei Daijia choked up.

"What's the matter?" Li Jingren reached out and nagged Wei Daijia's itch: "Are you still embarrassed?"

"I...uh..." Wei Daijia hesitated and didn't say a word for a long time.

"Hurry up and tell me, the brothers are waiting." Li Xiang picked up a conch and smacked it in his mouth.

"Yes, hurry up and tell me!" Li Jingren reached out and pinched Wei Daijia's little face.

Seeing that Li Xiang had spoken, Wei Daijia gritted his teeth and stamped his feet: "I, I like your sister!"

Everyone was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

Li Jingren's face flushed red, and he twisted Wei Daijia's face and said angrily: "You kid, I'm helping you with good intentions, but you scold me?"

"I really like your sister! I like Miss Li Xueyi!" Wei Daijia shouted, making the place silent again.

This time, not only the young men but also Li Shu fell into silence.

Li Mingda looked at Li Xueyi, whose face was blushing, and whispered a few words to Li Shu.

"Hmm..." Li Shu stretched out his elbow to nudge Li Mingda and whispered, "It depends on Xue Yi's opinion..."

Li Mingda just smiled evilly and whispered to Li Shu. "Look at you, Xiang'er's wife hasn't even married yet, and you're already thinking about who will be the queen between Xueqing and Yingying?" Li Shu said in a very soft voice, "Besides, Ayeke is still in office! You're thinking too far ahead!"

Li Mingda didn't say anything, but just bit a piece of bamboo shoot with his teeth, making a crackling sound.

Over there, Li Jingren, who had been petrified for a long time, took a long time to react. He grabbed Wei Daijia's collar in frustration and shouted angrily: "Tell me! Who do you like?!"

"I, I like Miss Li Xueyi!" Wei Daijia was also desperate. There was nothing wrong with admitting that he liked someone.

"Wow..." Li Jingren was angry. I treat you as a brother, and you actually want to be my brother-in-law?

"Jingren." Li Xiang held down the furious Li Jingren and said with a smile, "As the saying goes, a gentleman loves a beautiful lady. Daijia just told me that he wants to make a career and then marry my sister. What's wrong with that?"

After hearing this, Li Jingren had nothing to say.

After all, that's what he thought just now. Apart from the fact that Wei Daijia likes his sister, the two of them still have a lot in common.

"But listen to me, Daijia is too young to go to the battlefield, and there is no rush to make achievements." Li Xiang smiled and rubbed Wei Daijia's head, "How about this. For the time being, Daijia will stay in the Grand Commandery and learn about internal affairs from Feng Changshi."

"Brother, I want to learn military tactics!" Wei Daijia stiffened his neck.

"If you want to learn the art of war, why are you in such a hurry?" Li Jingren put down the juice cup in his hand and said in a deep voice: "In our Tang Dynasty, generals are born and ministers are appointed. You can't be fighting outside forever. If you are not in good health and return to Beijing to serve as a prime minister, but you know nothing about government affairs, how will you face your brother when the censor impeaches you?"

"I..." Wei Daijia opened his mouth, not knowing how to answer.

According to history, Wei Daijia did suffer this loss.

In the first year of Chuigong, Wei Daijia returned from the army and was appointed prime minister, and was granted the third rank of Tongfengge Luantai.

However, he came from a military background and was not familiar with government affairs nor did he know how to identify talents, which resulted in his selection work being disorganized and he was despised by public opinion.

Of course, no one present knew about this. Li Xiang didn't understand it either, but Li Jingren had figured it out to some extent.

Li Xiang also said: "When Lü Meng was in charge of the affairs of state, Sun Quan said that he must learn, but Lü Meng declined because he had many things to do in the army. Sun Quan compared himself to him, saying that one should only read a little and see the past, and that reading is very beneficial. Does Dai Jia think that he is not as good as Lü Meng?"

"I'm willing to learn from you!" Wei Daijia stood up and bowed respectfully to Li Xiang and then to Li Jingren.

"Study hard following Feng Changshi. I have high hopes for you." Li Xiang nodded affirmatively at Wei Daijia.

"Brother..." Wei Daijia choked.

As the saying goes, a gentleman will die for his friend, and Wei Daijia now feels this way to some extent.

Seeing his expression, Li Xiang suddenly said jokingly, "Jingren, you've already started to speak in your favor before the first word is even written."

"I, I just don't want my brother to go astray." Li Jingren quickly retorted.

Everyone laughed, and in short, the matter was settled.

All the playboys stayed in Dengzhou, and Li Xiang arranged places for them to study according to their abilities and preferences.

For example, Li Xiang arranged for Li Jingren and Cheng Chubi to become Su Dingfang's disciples, and also organized a military study class, which included Pei Xingjian, Li Jingren and Cheng Chubi, to go to the Grand Marshal's Office for classes.

As for who will give the class...it will naturally be Li Shimin.

Old Li was reluctant at first, but in order to give face to his grandson, he still grunted and told Pei Xingjian and others about his experience in leading troops.

Li Xiang was still thinking that after returning from defeating Goguryeo, he would definitely build a military academy and let Lao Li be the dean to train military cadres.

As for Wei Daijia, Xiao Shoudao, Changsun Quan and others, Li Xiang arranged them to work under Feng Qing to learn how to govern.

When he went to Goguryeo, he asked them to follow Feng Qing, Li Tai and Li Zhi to develop the new economic zone around the Bohai Sea.

This is the rear area, we can't be careless or negligent.

After staying in Dengzhou for more than a month, Li Shimin returned to Luoyang with Li Mingda and Li Shu.

In December, Li Shu sent a caravan to transport a large number of woolen products to the navy in Dengzhou.

The current navy is registered by Lao Li under the Dengzhou Grand Military Governor's Office.

To round it off, it can be considered Li Xiang's private army.

Li Shimin didn't mind. After all, he would be his eldest grandson sooner or later, so it didn't matter if it was earlier or later.

At the same time, Li Shimin once again issued an ultimatum to Goguryeo, ordering Goguryeo and Baekje to stop attacking Silla.

However, this last effort for peace has also failed.

Then there is only war!
Li Shimin ordered Li Shiji, the commander-in-chief of the Liaodong Road, to lead 60,000 infantry and cavalry, as well as the Hu troops from Lan and He states, to march directly to Liaodong, preparing to join forces with Zhang Liang and advance both by land and sea.

He also ordered all the troops and the vassal armies of Silla, Xi, Uighur, Pugu, Xueyantuo, Mohe, Urahu, Adie, Bayegu, and Khitan to attack Goguryeo in different directions.

As early as September, after much consideration, Li Xiang asked Li Su to write a letter to Tubo, specifically asking Lun Qinling to come to Dengzhou.

As for Qin Ling, Li Xiang wanted to win him over.

When they were in Shuozhou before, Li Xiang had a pretty good impression of him.

Tubo did not refuse, but was quite happy. He just said that it would take some time to prepare.

Li Xiang spent this year in Dengzhou.

Dengzhou was becoming increasingly busy. In order to prepare for war and stockpile supplies, Li Xiang was very busy.

In order to ensure the logistics of the soldiers, Li Xiang racked his brains. Since December, the salted fish in Dengzhou had not left the state borders. They were all stored in the navy and prepared to be used as military rations.

In January, all the troops gathered in Youzhou.

In February, Li Shimin issued an imperial edict to Zhang Liang to march, and ordered Li Xiang to come to Youzhou to meet him. He himself led his troops and set out from Luoyang to the east.

When Li Xiang received the imperial edict from Li Shimin, Lun Qinling also set out from Lhasa with 3,000 Tibetan cavalry. After more than two months, they finally arrived in Dengzhou.

The war between the Tang Dynasty and Goguryeo officially begins!
(Second update sent to you... It took me too long to look up information and figure out the plot, sorry)

(End of this chapter)