Chapter Seventy-One: First Victory, Then Defeat

Owen Zhide was unaware that such a change had taken place. When he saw that he was going to die, he repeated his old trick again, ordering his soldiers to raise white flags and shouting surrender.

But this time, the Sui army ignored it anymore, and the two Goryeo soldiers with the white flag were shot into hedgehogs in an instant.

The Sui army, which was besieging the city, continued to attack, killing the Goryeo people in front of them who thought that the Sui army would retreat.

Ilmoon Zhide deserves to be a famous general of Goryeo, and when he saw that the situation was wrong, he immediately ordered a breakthrough. But he didn't expect that the Sui army had already surrounded the surrounding city walls, and the Goryeo army would not be able to break out at all.

"Go through the tunnel!" Yiwenzhide fled from the tunnel with his own soldiers and his own family.

Liaodong City, as the ruling center of Goryeo in the Liao River Valley, naturally dug a tunnel to the outside of the city, just in case the city was broken, the main general also had a way out.

However, although Ulmoon Chideok fled, most of the Goryeo soldiers and civilians in the city were unable to escape. And the generals and soldiers of the Sui army have long hated Liaodong City, which brought them great sacrifices. After entering the city, a massacre was carried out, and all the Goryeo people in the city, regardless of men, women, children, young and strong, were killed.

And whether it was Yang Guang, Yu Wenshu, Yang Yichen, Dugu Luo, etc., they did not stop it.

Because they are commanders who have led troops for many years. They all know very well in their hearts that the soldiers of the Sui army, who have been suppressed for too long, need to vent in their hearts, and if they are not allowed to vent, I am afraid that it will be greatly detrimental to the future war.

Yu Wenming's scout group did not participate in the massacre, and as a scout force, he naturally did not need to attack the city, and kept patrolling the periphery in case reinforcements from Goryeo arrived.

Although this errand is better than nothing, in the face of so many Sui army attacks, how can Goryeo, a small country and a widow, dare to come with reinforcements. But carrying out this mission also saved his troops from that kind of torture. Seeing that the city was about to be broken, but being ordered to withdraw the troops, that kind of depression can make people suffocate their sickness.

After the capture of Liaodong City, the Sanlu Sui army was stationed in the city, but there were too many corpses in the city. Although the three generals had ordered the bodies to be buried as soon as possible, they were moving slowly, and it was already mid-June, and the weather was hot, so many of the corpses began to decompose, emitting a foul smell.

After excluding the interference of the surrendered envoys, several other Sui armies also played triumphant songs and conquered the cities that had not been captured for a long time.

Yang Guang also felt that the war could not be delayed for a long time at this time, because so many troops and civilians were stationed here, and the food consumed by the Sui army every day was an astronomical amount.

So he decided to adopt a new battle plan.

And this new battle plan was to send Yang Yichen and Lai Hu'er to lead a division to attack Pyongyang, the capital of Goryeo, from the sea while maneuvering with the main force of the Goryeo army in Liaodong. Carry out a flanking attack on Goryeo from the north and south so that Goryeo can be destroyed in a short time.

Although it is said to be a partial teacher, there are more than 300,000 people. It is three times more than the army of the whole of Goryeo. In Yang Guang's view, not to mention attacking Pyongyang, it is enough to destroy Silla and Baekje along the way.

After the Sui army landed at Nampo, Gowon, the king of Gyungyang of Goryeo, sent a small army to engage the landing Sui army in a tentative engagement.

After a short battle, Gao Yuan found that the Sui army was much larger than his own, and hard work would inevitably lead to a crushing defeat, so he ordered the Goryeo army to pretend to be defeated and retreat to Pyongyang, preparing to ambush the Sui army.

Yang Yichen thought that the time had come for him to make meritorious contributions, so he personally led an army of 100,000 to attack Pyongyang, and he handed over the other 200,000 troops to Laihu'er and let him attack north, so as to cooperate with the Sui army led by Yang Guangtong to flank the main force of the Goryeo army in Liaodong.

When Yang Yichen led his army to an acropolis outside Pyongyang, he found that the gates were wide open and the walls were unguarded. And when he sent people into the acropolis, he found money and weapons scattered on the ground.

Yang Yichen is also a veteran who participated in the destruction of the Chen Dynasty and Tuyuhun, so he can naturally see that this is probably a trick by the Goryeo people who want to ambush their own army.

So, out of an abundance of caution, he ordered that soldiers should not compete for these things.

And when the Sui army arrived at a temple in the acropolis, they were ambushed by the Goryeo army.

However, Goryeo did not have many troops to ambush, and after a battle with the Sui army, they were defeated, leaving hundreds of corpses and fleeing.

This time, even Yang Yichen really thought that Goryeo was no longer good, believing that the main force of the enemy army had already been concentrated in Liaodong, and the area around Pyongyang was very empty, and he was no longer able to confront his own army.

So, he finally agreed to the adjutant general's proposal and plundered the property in the acropolis.

However, Yang Yichen never expected that this acropolis was full of fire-starters, and once the jack gate of the gate was lowered, it could not be raised without a winch. The winch had already been destroyed by the Goryeo army.

Gao Yuan saw that the Sui army had really hit the plan, so he ordered the Goryeo army outside the city to shoot dense rockets into the city, igniting all the things that had been buried for a long time.

The city burst into flames and smoke. Yang Yichen led the Sui army to flee outside the city, only to find that the city gate was closed and could not be opened. And when he was in a hurry, he led his troops to climb the city wall and tried to put a rope out of the city from the city wall, but he was killed by an arrow from the Goryeo army, which was already waiting.

When the Sui army saw that the main general was killed and trapped in the city, their morale suddenly collapsed, and they scurried around the city like headless flies. At this time, the fire is getting bigger and bigger, and it is impossible to extinguish it.

By the end of the night, the entire Acropolis had turned into a sea of fire, and the flames could be seen dozens of miles away. Of the 100,000 Sui troops in the city, all but a few escaped by narrowly, and all the rest were burned to death or shot to death by the Goryeo army as they climbed down the city walls. The threat from Pyongyang was completely lifted.

The 200,000 Sui army led by Lai Hu'er was discovered by Yizhi Wende, who had retreated from Liaodong and was resting in the rear, when they were marching towards the Yalu River.

Seeing that it had rained heavily in the past few days, Yiwen Zhide immediately had the idea of annihilating the Sui army with floods.

He immediately ordered the construction of a dam to store water in the upper reaches of the Cheongcheon River between the Yalu River and Pyongyang.

And when Lai Hu'er led the Sui army to the Qingchuan River, he saw that the river was very shallow, and the soldiers entered the water only waist-deep.

So, Laihu'er ordered the Sui army to wade across the river.

Just as the Sui Dynasty army crossed the river, Yizhi Wende ordered the sluice gate to be opened and the water released. More than 100,000 Sui troops who were crossing the river were suddenly swept away by the surging flood and drowned.

Eulji Wendeok then led the Goryeo army and launched a fierce attack on the Sui Dynasty army trapped in the flood.

Because he was well prepared, he had already prepared his warships and boats. The Goryeo soldiers on the ship rained arrows and shot to death the Sui soldiers who were still struggling in the flood one by one, and only Laihu'er escaped.

In the end, only 2,700 soldiers with better water skills swam across the Yalu River and returned to the army.

At this time, the main force of the Sui army, which was originally preparing to attack, also fell into a panic. Because there was an epidemic of plague in the camp on the east bank of the Liao River. Many soldiers and civilians fell ill, including some of the generals who were stationed there. And the plague spread very quickly. And this is the place where the Sui army's grain and grass are stored, and there is a serious plague there, which will inevitably affect the offensive of the Sui army at the front.

Under these circumstances, Yang Guang had to abandon the original plan of flanking the Goryeo army from the north and south.

He ordered a meeting to be held immediately, and all the high-ranking generals and accompanying ministers of the generals were summoned to the big tent to discuss the next course of action of the Sui army.

"Everyone knows the current situation, Yang Yichen and Laihu'er, two old horsemen, lived up to my expectations of them, and led an army of 300,000 to raid Pyongyang, the capital of Goryeo, and even caused a total annihilation. It really deserves death! Ruined my plan to expedition to Goryeo! Yang Guang roared angrily.

As an emperor, he even exposed a foul language, which shows that he is really angry to the extreme.

He had thought of using the expedition to Goryeo to eliminate the power of the Guanlongmen lord in the army, but he never thought of losing this war. If a million troops were dispatched, millions of people, and tens of millions of stone grains were transported, it would end in a fiasco. This will seriously shake his prestige, and those family gates who are already a little dissatisfied with him will be even more ready to move.

Seeing this, Pei Ju hurriedly stepped forward, bowed and saluted: "Your Majesty, please stop your anger!" At present, although our army has lost, the Goryeo army has also suffered heavy casualties, and according to the spies, there are less than 30,000 soldiers around Ulwen Zhide. They can only stick to the fortified city, and it is absolutely impossible for them to counterattack our army. In fact, the most important thing at the moment is how to deal with this epidemic in the barracks, otherwise, I am afraid that in less than half a month, most of the soldiers of our army will be infected and die, and if the Goryeo army takes advantage of the fire to loot again, I am afraid that it will ......"

Although he didn't say the last sentence, everyone knew that if the Goryeo army really covered up when the Sui army collapsed due to the plague, then even if the Sui army was not wiped out, I am afraid that not many people would be able to return to the Central Plains.

After Yang Guang heard this, his color also changed slightly, so he turned his head to Yu Shiji and asked, "Lord Yu, have you asked the imperial doctor, can this plague be cured?" ”

Yu Shiji hurriedly squeezed out a trace of an ugly smile and said: "Back to Your Majesty, the old minister has asked several imperial doctors who have returned from the rear camp, and they are all helpless against this plague. Although the chief imperial physician Liu Wenfeng has not yet returned, I am afraid that he will not be able to heal him. According to an old doctor, this disease may only be cured by the medicine king Sun Simiao......"