The vast land of Liaodong, the mighty Liaoshui meanders and flows, heading straight to the sea.

On the gentle slope of a hill on the east bank of the lower reaches of Liaoshui, there is a grayish-white embankment-like structure about two meters high and hundreds of meters long.

From a distance, I saw that the embankment was covered with dust and gray, and it was not clear what material it was made of.

If anyone could walk up to this embankment and see it for what it really is, they would be so frightened that they were all human skulls!

This is the famous Goguryeo Gyokan!

After reading Liu Renliang's recital, Zhang Liang showed a look of horror on his face and remembered the past that made him unforgettable.

Thirty years ago, when Zhang Liang was just a 13-year-old child, he followed his uncle to participate in the war against Goguryeo as a man who transported grain and grass for the Sui army.

In 612, Emperor Yang Guangqin of the Sui Dynasty led an army of 1.13 million, known as an army of 2 million, and suffered a crushing defeat in his conquest of Goguryeo, killing and wounding millions of people.

The Sui Dynasty general Yu Wende led an army of 100,000 to surrender to Goguryeo, but was beheaded by the Goguryeo people.

Zhang Liang and his uncle were in the 100,000 army led by Yu Wende, but they happened to go out to transport grain and grass at that time, and they did not surrender with the army.

When they returned, they saw the Goguryeo people slaughtering the unarmed Tang soldiers who had already surrendered.

Zhang Liang, who was hiding in the grass not far away, was frightened at the time and couldn't help but scream.

The Goguryeo people found out that there were people here and chased after them on horseback.

In order to cover the young Zhang Liang, Zhang Liang's uncle ran out to lure away the Goguryeo people, but was killed by the Goguryeo people.

Zhang Liang hid in a small ditch on the grass and narrowly escaped.

Recalling the scene at that time, Zhang Liang still has palpitations.

After the Goguryeo people beheaded the Tang prisoners of war, they used their 100,000 heads to build a Jingguan on the east bank of the Liaoshui River as a demonstration of deterrence.

For 30 years, the heads of those soldiers are still sitting there, let the rain, snow, wind and frost erode, but no one dares to retrieve the skulls of their relatives.

Since then, this Jingguan has become the unspeakable chiru of the Central Plains people.

The suggestion in Liu Ren's recital is to go and retrieve the skull of Jingguan, and ask the Marines to complete this task.

Li Shimin agreed to Liu Renliang's request.

This matter was explained by Li You to Liu Renliang.

As a prince, Li You has no interest in making more contributions, and he is willing to give credit to his cronies and generals.

Not long ago, the trick of digging a trap on the ground to deal with the Tura cavalry was also thought up by Li You, and he attributed this matter to Xue Rengui.

In mid-June, the western and eastern Liaoning regions entered a period of peak rainfall, and the water level in Liaoshui rose, creating conditions for naval operations.

On this day, Wang Yaozu, commander of the Marine Corps, led 1,200 marines to take eight flat-bottomed Yaoyang warships of the Dengzhou Navy Division at night to swim upriver from the mouth of Liaoshui to a destination 18 miles away.

On the battleship Yangzhou not far away, Liu Renliang looked at the marines who disappeared into the night, and was very worried about them.

Liaoshui is the border between the Tang Dynasty and Goguryeo, and a large number of Goguryeo troops are stationed on the opposite bank, and there are also Goguryeo inland river naval division warships in the river.

The water was shallow, and the navy's sail battleships had a deep draft, which made it impossible to support the marines.

Once the trail of the operation fails, the Marines are more than lucky.

At the beginning of the operation, it went very well.

Because of the strong strength of the Tang navy, near the mouth of the Liaoshui Sea, there were no naval divisions of the Goguryeo people.

The river at the mouth of the sea was hundreds of meters wide, and the actions of the marines were not detected by the Goguryeos.

Since the Tang army had been driving on the right side of Liaoshui, and there were no river divisions of the Goguryeo people on the road, the operation was very smooth.

At 2 a.m., the Marines arrived at their destination.

With the help of the starlight, Wang Yaozu looked towards the other side of the river, it was so dark that he couldn't see anything, and the night was like a huge monster, with its mouth wide open, ready to devour everything that entered it at any time.

Wang Yaozu couldn't help but feel a little uneasy in his heart.

However, he didn't have time to reconnoitre, and they had to leave Liaoshui before dawn and return to the sea.

Wang Yaozu decided to start acting immediately.

He commanded the ships to sail across the river. Soon after the warship passed the middle of the stream, it approached the shore, where the water level was even shallower, and even the flat-bottomed Yaoyang warship was about to run aground, so it could only lower its sampan from above and row towards the opposite shore.

Just as the Tang army was on the riverbank, the Goguryeo sentinels discovered the Tang army's movements, and they fled in all directions while shouting for the alarm.

On the other side of the river was a mountainous terrain, which was not suitable for large armies, so the Goguryeo defenders in this area had only a few outposts, and the total strength was less than 100 men.

Seeing so many Tang troops coming ashore, they did not dare to fight the Tang army, avoided the Tang army, hid in the night darkness in the distance, fired arrows at the Tang army, and waited for the arrival of reinforcements.

The Tang army did not chase either, their goal was Jingguan here.

Soon after disembarking, the Marines came to Jingguan.

Looking at the heads of countless ancestors, the soldiers were full of grief and indignation.

Wang Yaozu led the team members to kneel on the ground, and said in a choked voice: "Ancestors, we are here to take you home." ”

The 100,000 heads were huge, and the average Marines had to carry nearly 100 each, making it extremely difficult to carry them.

Moreover, those sampans could not be transported much at one time, and the work of transporting them was rather slow.

Those Goguryeo people used cold arrows to sneak attack the Tang army from time to time, and many Tang soldiers were killed and wounded by arrows.

The team members didn't care so much, picked up the heads and ran to transport the sampans. The sampan that transported the skull did not return for a while, so they temporarily stacked the skull on the shore and continued to carry it.

Wang Yaozu sent people to drive away the Goguryeo people, so as to avoid their interference in the carrying work.

Time passed minute by minute, and in the blink of an eye, it was more than an hour, and most of it was finally transported away.

At this time, reinforcements from the Goguryeo people arrived.

Now, the Marines are faced with a dilemma.

They had now taken about 80,000 heads, which was supposed to be enough, but the 20,000 heads they left behind were still a huge chiru.

However, if the head continues to be carried and the Goguryeo army arrives, the Marines are in danger of being wiped out.

What to do?

The officers and men of the Tang Dynasty, who were full of grief and indignation, all demanded a battle and vented their evil anger.

Wang Yaozu thought the same as the soldiers, he was furious at the moment, and he wanted to fight the Goguryeo people happily.

However, he was a commander and could not be impulsive.

Wang Yaozu is a veteran who has fought for many years and has rich battlefield experience. Based on the topography of the area, he judged that there should not be too many Goguryeo people stationed nearby, and there may be a large number of Goguryeo people in other places a little farther away, but it will take time for them to arrive.

Moreover, he believed that the Goguryeo people could not figure out the situation of the Tang army at night, and it was entirely possible to defeat the Goguryeo reinforcements.

Wang Yaozu decided to give it a hand.