Chapter 1365

Pyeongyang City (Pyongyang) is the royal city of Goguryeo. Thousands of years later, the light of the General will shine on the people here.

Now, there is also a General shining on them, bringing them civilization and more advanced productivity.

Wang Yan rode a tall horse, leading the great army slowly to the outside of Pyeongyang City.

Many people were already waiting here; some had faces full of sorrow, while others had faces full of joy, even pointing fingers at others.

Wang Yan's horse didn't stop until it was close, and he jumped off the warhorse lightly.

"Greetings to the Great Sui Commander."

The King of Goguryeo, humbly hunched his waist and lowered his head, handing over the letter of surrender of Goguryeo.

"General, I told them to surrender long ago, but they wouldn't listen." Someone leaned over with a fawning face, looking like a dog.

Wang Yan smiled, simply drew the sword at his waist, and slit the man's throat. The man covered his spurting throat in disbelief, and when he realized there was no turning back, he widened his eyes and pointed at Wang Yan, as if saying he wouldn't let Wang Yan go even as a ghost.

Ignoring this silent curse, Wang Yan took the letter of surrender, looked at the Goguryeo King who was trembling with anxiety, and patted his shoulder kindly.

"People who don't love their own country and don't respect their own lord will not be looked up to anywhere they go. They did indeed help my Great Sui conquer Goguryeo faster, but they shouldn't have appeared in front of me with the posture of a victor. He didn't respect you, nor did he respect me."

An interpreter told Wang Yan's words to these Goguryeo controllers. Wang Yan scanned them with a smile; this time no one laughed, and there were no more fawning dogs.

Wang Yan continued to say to the Goguryeo King, "Don't be afraid. His Majesty the Emperor of Great Sui has already issued an imperial edict to protect the safety of your family. From now on, you will live in the wealthy Great Sui and live a wealthy life for the rest of your lives. Perhaps in a few decades, your children and grandchildren can also be officials in my Great Sui. Set your heart at ease."

The Goguryeo King just shook his body, nodding and bowing in response, without the slightest demeanor of a king.

Because Wang Yan was too terrifying, killing Goguryeo people until heads rolled and they were defeated. After pacifying the Central Plains rebellion, it took only a year and a half to fight Goguryeo until they had to surrender.

There was no way to beg for peace; Great Sui did not agree to peace. Under Wang Yan's powerful performance, the overall will of Great Sui was to thoroughly destroy Goguryeo and carry out actual rule like the Turks on the grasslands, rather than just paying tribute without much effect.

The monarchs and ministers of Great Sui naturally understood this, but it was difficult to fight before, or rather, it was impossible to end the war quickly, and long-term war consumption was not worth the loss, so they would teach them a lesson when necessary, let the surrounding four barbarians pay tribute, and tolerate some small provocations that appeared from time to time.

Now that Wang Yan was invincible in the world and had never lost a battle, he had been beating Goguryeo all along. The war cost was not that huge, and it could produce benefits. So the Great Sui monarchs and ministers naturally firmly supported thoroughly clearing the surrounding hidden dangers and actual rule.

And during the war, Wang Yan was also constantly conducting psychological warfare. He absorbed Goguryeo commoners and also violently intimidated some Goguryeo people who did not cooperate. For example, he fought all the way from the Hebei region out of Shanhai Pass, to Liaodong, across the Yalu River, to Pyeongyang Royal City, leaving behind many Jingguan (monuments made of enemy corpses).

Wang Yan comforted the Goguryeo King and glanced at the group of people of different heights, weights, and ages who were sketching with charcoal pencils on the side.

This group of people were the historians recording with the army.

According to General Wang, these people were already criticizing him and were very dissatisfied with his violent behavior here.

The process of his destroying the country of Goguryeo would absolutely not be recorded, but some bad things that he, Wang, did in the process of destroying the country were absolutely clearly recorded.

The historian's pen is truly a sword that kills people.

In fact, Wang Yan also knew that these recording historians themselves were dissatisfied with Wang Yan. This dissatisfaction had many reasons, such as his background, such as the slaughter of the great clans, and so on.

Otherwise, how could they be so sick as to disgust Wang Yan in the matter of dealing with foreign races.

Perhaps the rumors he could hear were also spread by this group of people themselves, tired of living and wanting Wang Yan to behead them to further ruin Wang Yan's reputation.

Perhaps the great clans of the Central Plains had relatives among them...

Wang Yan would naturally not argue with these people; there must always be people to praise and people to scold, and one couldn't block people's mouths. Even if this batch was killed, there would be the next batch. Even if history books were not allowed to write it, they would still secretly write unofficial history in private and bury it in graves.

This matter has no end, and it cannot be stopped by killing.

The great families cannot be stopped by killing either; that stems from human greed, but not killing the great families has far-reaching harm, while a little slander in writing is not worth mentioning.

After appeasing the panicked Goguryeo dignitaries and distinguishing the components of some people, Wang Yan arranged for people to send the Goguryeo royal family and some dignitaries to Luoyang to live a good life.

Not withdrawing the troops; destroying the highest ruling group of Goguryeo did not mean the end of the war. There were still quite a few resistance elements who gathered some brainless Goguryeo commoners to resist desperately; these people had to be cleared out.

At the same time, in the Northeast region, there were other barbarian tribes that also needed to be cleared out. After all, Goguryeo had been destroyed, so the fertile Northeast land should naturally be taken down along the way.

Even if all these were done, the troops still couldn't be withdrawn.

For the newly acquired land, there must always be the iron-blooded suppression of the troops to ensure effective rule. Just like the Turks, one must always go through suppression and integration to thoroughly swallow a nation.

So Wang Yan didn't return to Luoyang; he wanted to govern here. Carrying out population migration and resettlement, carrying out various infrastructure construction, and arranging various policies for ethnic integration, he could only resign and return after the situation here stabilized.

However, the reward for destroying the country of Goguryeo had already come down; the title of Duke of Wu had been implemented. At the same time, in order to administer here, he was given the post of Minister Ling of the Liaodong Branch Secretariat, becoming a local bigwig who was in charge of one side and grasped both military and political affairs.

In order to effectively rule the Northeast region and the peninsula region, he naturally drew on the advanced experience of the Turks.

A large number of officials were transferred over to carry out the rule of Great Sui with the assistance of Goguryeo's former officials. And in the process of rule, he struck at the former great families of Goguryeo. Winning over ordinary Goguryeo commoners, gradually winning the hearts of the Goguryeo people, and making them truly turn their hearts to Great Sui and consider themselves Great Sui people—that would be success.

Besides these, there was also resource development in the Northeast and peninsula regions; Great Sui was now very professional in this point.

Because of maritime trade and the discovery of the New World, very professional exploration teams appeared. They were proficient in Feng Shui, surveying, astrology, and geography, and had developed very professional detection knowledge to find mineral veins and study various local specialties.

Transferring a professional team like this over could solve the problem very well.

As for the laborers after discovering various resources, as the labor force of the defeated country, they naturally had great use; these were all jobs they did.

Various other construction projects, etc., were also mainly done by Goguryeo's labor force.

Only women and children could be considered settled down, living a stable life with Great Sui soldiers. Having land to farm, money to spend, school to attend, and normal production and life.

Of course, not all women and children were like this; there were still some women and children who risked their lives, and they were all quite miserable...

After another year or so, experiencing a round of bumper harvests, and after the overall environment stabilized, Wang Yan requested an imperial edict to return to the court.

"You group of bandits have all made quite a few contributions, and many of you have mixed up a title. You were brought by me, and I am not a person who kills the donkey when the mill is finished; I have to be responsible to the end no matter what."

Wang Yan drank wine, ate dishes, and looked at the group of burly bandits in front of him who still didn't have any dignified appearance.

"I have already requested an edict from His Majesty and will return to the court in a few days. Tell me what your plans are; whatever can be arranged, I will handle it for you. No need to look around; besides you, who else is there? We are all our own people; just say whatever you have to say."

Cheng Yaojin was the first to express his stance, "General, I don't know about others, but I, Old Cheng, am determined to follow you. Whatever you arrange, I, Old Cheng, will do."

Others also followed suit, laughing and saying words of loyalty, which was very lively.

They first fought Goguryeo with Wang Yan, and later, when the Central Plains rebelled, they were also transferred back to quell the rebellion, and then went back to fight Goguryeo. They all killed their way up. Those who survived basically had titles. The highest were Cheng Yaojin, Wang Bodang, and Xu Shiji, who all mixed up to become Marquises.

The difference was that Cheng Yaojin and Wang Bodang killed their way out, while Xu Shiji used his brain more, and all kinds of military strategies were used. Of course, they must have participated in the war; they were all front-line generals, and it was impossible not to charge and fight.

They listened to Wang Yan's command and fought all the way here, deeply understanding Wang Yan's ability. Especially since Wang Yan had outstanding merits and was now the undisputed first faction in the Great Sui army, many people surrounded him and obeyed his orders. No matter the reason, they had to follow Wang Yan.

And to be honest, it was Wang Yan who saved their lives; otherwise, it would have been impossible for them to be as happy as before, and it was very likely they would have died. After all, if they were asked to work, they couldn't do it, and they were even less willing to do it; going out to rob houses was death.

Even though these things were all started by Wang Yan, they had no reason to blame Wang Yan. Even if they were unreasonable, they wouldn't dare to blame Wang Yan. They still had to thank Wang Yan for giving them the opportunity to gain a foothold in the army, even if they killed their way out by risking their own lives.

After all, Wang Yan was the highest officer; if Wang Yan didn't agree, they wouldn't be able to rise...

So everyone expressed their stance happily, only Xu Shiji, who was sitting in the front, didn't speak.

So Wang Yan's gaze fell over: "Maogong, what are your thoughts?"

"This subordinate has no thoughts; naturally, I will follow the General with the brothers, but..."

"Speak your mind; we are all brothers."

Wang Yan raised his wine glass with a smile, and everyone drank a sip of wine together. Cheng Yaojin even ridiculed Xu Shiji for having too many thoughts and being full of twists and turns.

Xu Shiji didn't care, wiped the wine from the corner of his mouth, and said seriously: "This subordinate wants to say that the General should consider himself."

Wang Yan shook his head and smiled; everyone was telling him to consider himself.

Before fighting Goguryeo, people told him to consider himself; after pacifying the Central Plains rebellion, people told him to consider himself; after destroying Goguryeo, people told him to consider himself; when governing the Northeast and the peninsula, people told him to consider himself.

Now that he was about to resign and return to court, people were still telling him to consider himself.

Wang Yan's eyes swept over the people present and smiled: "I believe in His Majesty's character. Wait..."

"General, we can't wait any longer!" Xu Shiji rudely interrupted Wang Yan's words, "First destroy the Turks, then pacify the Central Plains, and then destroy Goguryeo. Tuyuhun and Lingnan are not a climate. Now the Great Sui empire can be said to be peaceful in all four seas. The General's merits cover the world, but now you have no place to use your skills. If you return to Luoyang..."

"Alright." Wang Yan waved his hand, "His Majesty still trusts me. If it weren't for His Majesty, I wouldn't have today. Even if there is no place to use my skills, I am willing to be a wealthy idler in Luoyang. You don't need to worry; even if I am idle at home, I can arrange your affairs and guarantee your wealth."

"General!" Xu Shiji wanted to say more, but was interrupted by Wang Yan raising his glass to invite him to drink.

Xu Shiji let out a long sigh and finally didn't say anything more. He just watched Wang Yan eating, drinking, and laughing, while he drank his wine in silence.

He knew Wang Yan was not a stupid person, and he knew Wang Yan couldn't fail to understand the current situation, but he didn't know what Wang Yan was thinking; he couldn't see through it, he really couldn't see through it...

Wang Yan made some arrangements and handed over some matters. More than a month later, he received the imperial edict from the court, allowing him to return to the court.

The return journey was naturally still guarded by a thousand-strong army. If it were just him, bringing some retainers would be enough. But there was a whole family, and he had many enemies, so safety issues still had to be taken care of, even though the Central Plains had been pacified, there were still many people who wanted him dead.

However, the return journey was very smooth; no one who didn't have eyes rushed up to find death, and in the current Central Plains, there were no families that could organize an army of thousands or tens of thousands; they had all become the past.

After nearly three years, although it hadn't been able to restore the vitality of the Central Plains—after all, a lot of population had been lost—it was already thriving.

Everyone had quite a bit of land, and a considerable number of people had moved to the Northeast region, so there was naturally more land here. Everyone was working enthusiastically and had hope for the future.

So there were many children born in the past few years. Wang Yan saw many pregnant women along the way. In another twenty years, the population of the Central Plains would be even greater than in the peak period before.

It was just the medical and health problems; Wang Yan hadn't spread them on a large scale in Great Sui, and Great Sui hadn't paid attention to this problem yet. Currently, he was just training some people himself, opening some raw medicine shops in various places, and recruiting some midwives to study safe delivery methods with doctors, as well as various precautions for children's survival.

It had been going on for many years, and there had been a considerable improvement in children's survival, and the team was constantly growing. He did it himself, and the strength was not small...

In short, he was prepared for all kinds of problems that needed to be considered.

Looking at the magnificent Luoyang City, which was still under construction, Wang Yan urged his warhorse to go and pay respects to Yang Guang, who had come to welcome him...

?? Daily thanks to the good brothers who tipped, voted for monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and silently read the book for their strong support!

? (End of chapter)