The fire rose into the sky, the smoke covered half of the sky, it was clearly visible dozens of miles away, the air was mixed with the smell of food and corpses, the Sui army had annihilated the Goguryeo cavalry that was guarding the grain, and most of the people who carried the grain fled, and the Sui army did not chase after it, but simply piled up the dead bodies and grain together and burned them, until the fire was no longer saved, and then left with the bodies of their wounded and dead companions.

When some of the escaped Goguryeo cavalry returned to the scene, even if they had the heart to put out the fire, they had no choice but to watch all the grain in the fire turn to ashes.

When Yuan Taizuo received that the military rations were burned and even his younger brother committed suicide, it was already the next day, and Yuan Taizuo seemed to have aged ten years all of a sudden, and his face was like ashes. This 3,000-strong food protection team only escaped from Yifu Zhili and more than a dozen of his own soldiers, and now Yifu Zhili is kneeling in front of Yuan Taizuo, but Yuan Taizuo is not even in the mood to punish him.

A sound of footsteps came from outside the tent, and the voice arrived before the person arrived: "Yuan Taizuo, I heard that the military rations were burned, is it true?" ”

Since Cheng became a Goguryeo Mo branch, Yuan Taizuo has never heard others call him by his name, even if it is the king of Goguryeo, he has to call Yuan Aiqing respectfully, at this time hearing such a disrespectful voice, Yuan Taizuo did not react.

Gao Jianwu stepped into the camp tent, saw Yuan Taizuo's appearance, and saw Yifu Zhili kneeling on the ground, and suddenly his face was bloody, although this army is not his own, but now this army is the only hope for Goguryeo, and it is also his only capital to make a comeback, if the army collapses, how many days can he have even if he can become the new king of Goguryeo?

After a while, Gao Yanshou, Gao Huizhen and others also entered Yuan Taizuo's big tent. They all got the news from the personal soldiers of the Efu branch and hurried here.

"Lord Mo Lizhi, where is our army going, let's get an idea quickly." Gao Huizhen said with a miserable face, in order to prevent chaos, Gao Huizhen personally ordered the execution of the personal soldiers brought back by Yifu Zhili, but the news still spread among the young people, and it is estimated that in less than a day, the news of the burning of grain and grass will be known to the whole battalion, although the camp still has five days of food, just under fear. No one can guarantee that the soldiers will not make a fuss during these five days.

Yuan Taizuo's spirits perked up and he raised his head: "The official has ordered that all soldiers must not leave the camp and must not make a noise. Violators, behead! In addition, the commissar was ordered to double the food distribution for the soldiers tonight, so that the sergeants and horses could have a full meal. ”

"Yes."

"Your Excellency. But to fight a decisive battle with the Sui army? Gao Yanshou asked cautiously.

"No, tonight's third watch, the Chinese army. The rear army retreated together. The look on Yuan Taizuo's face became firm. He has been in power for more than ten years, and his nerves are extremely tenacious, and he has finally recovered from the blow of losing military rations and his own brother.

Everyone let out a burst of exclamations, thinking about it and taking it for granted, now that the military rations are burned, there are only two choices, a decisive battle with the Sui army or an immediate retreat. If it's a decisive battle. The Sui army was all cavalry, and its back was Bei Shui. There is no need to pay attention to Goguryeo at all, and there is only one way left to retreat.

"This officer needs a general to lead the front army to stay, I don't know which general is willing to serve?"

There was silence in the camp for a while, this left-behind person was undoubtedly an outcast, and after half a sound, Gao Yanshou stood up: "My lord, the last general is willing to stay behind." ”

"Okay, General Gao is really loyal, this official didn't misunderstand you, his Japanese official will definitely show General Gao's loyalty to the king." Yuan Taizuo stood up, couldn't help but come to Gao Yanshou's side, and patted Gao Yanshou on the shoulder several times.

"My lord, although the last general is willing to stay, however, there are a few conditions that the last general hopes your adult will agree to."

"Say, no matter what the conditions, as long as it can be done, the official can agree." Yuan Taizuo said generously.

"First, the last general hopes that the last general can authorize the last general to command the front army with full authority, and if anyone violates the order, there will be no forgiveness."

"Of course, this is the official's arrow, and you hold the arrow as if the official is there." Yuan Taizuo returned to the desk, took out a golden order arrow, and handed it to Gao Yanshou.

Looking at this golden arrow, the eyes of everyone in the tent were full of envy and jealousy, this is the arrow that the king of Goguryeo gave to Yuan Taizuo to mobilize the country's soldiers and horses, the person who holds this arrow can not only manage the army but also the people, this kind of arrow Goguryeo has built a total of three, one is left by the king of Yingyang himself, one is given to Princess Pingkang, and one is in front of him, without this arrow, even if Yuan Taizuo is not a branch of Mo Lizhi, he can't mobilize the army.

If it was usual, everyone would rush to be the first to touch this arrow, but at this time, although they were a little envious of Gao Yanshou, no one would compete with Gao Yanshou. 、

After taking the arrow, Gao Yanshou said: "The second condition is to ask the lord to leave three thousand cavalry for the last general." ”

"This ......" Yuan Taizuo hesitated, the cavalry was not among the three armies, and now Yuan Taizuo only had less than 10,000 cavalry left in his hands, if he went to 3,000, then there would only be 7,000 people, and Gao Yanshou was given 3,000 cavalry, what if Gao Yanshou was used to escape?

"General Gao, you only need to hold the big camp, why do you need cavalry?" Gao Jianwu asked, since Yuan Taizuo gave the order to retreat, he had regarded this army and horses as his own troops, and the cavalry was extremely precious, so how could he be willing to keep them as outcasts.

"Lord Wang, the last general is not using cavalry to defend the camp, the last general is going to use them to attack."

"Attack?" Yuan Taizuo looked at Gao Yanshou puzzled, with just 3,000 cavalry, he dared to attack nearly 40,000 Sui army elite cavalry?

"Yes, the third condition of the last general is that I hope that the lord will agree to launch a night attack on the Sui army tonight, so that he can cover the withdrawal of the army and hide it from Silla."

Hearing Gao Yanshou say this, no one spoke, although Silla and Goguryeo were divided into two battalions, but if you don't pay attention to it, the Silla people will be alarmed when withdrawing, and the secret camp withdrawal operation will go bankrupt, and if an army launches a night attack on the Sui army, the attention of the Silla people will be completely attracted to the battlefield.

"Okay, the official has approved, what other conditions do you have, you can also submit them to the official."

Gao Yanshou shook his head: "No, the family of the last general is in Pyongyang, and I just want to ask the adults to take care of it, I'm afraid the adults can't take care of it." ”

Gao Yanshou's words made the tent heavy again, and the vast majority of the people and families present were in Pyongyang, and now they not only can't get rid of Pyongyang's encirclement, but even they can't protect themselves.

"The city of Pyongyang is thick and there are tens of thousands of troops, and this official believes that even if it is a few years, those Sui dogs will not be able to attack Pyongyang, otherwise why don't they attack Pyongyang after they have been besieging it for more than half a year?"

"Yes, yes, the Sui dogs can't be attacked."

As if to comfort themselves, everyone agreed, but everyone's hearts were still heavy.

The smoke of the cooking stove rose, the routine attack of the Sui army had been repulsed, and it was time for dinner, a group of Goguryeo soldiers walked listlessly together, most of the soldiers had vegetables on their faces, the days of half-starvation had lasted for more than ten days, the oil and water in the stomachs of the soldiers were almost consumed, and today there was another news circulating in the camp, the military rations on the road had been burned by the Sui army, and in a few days, the previous half-starved days were gone, and everyone was likely to fight on an empty stomach.

How can this work, people are iron, rice is steel, if you don't eat a day, you will be hungry and panic, and you will be hungry for three or four days, and you can't even afford to hold weapons, if it weren't for Yuan Taizuo's strict military discipline, I'm afraid that when I learned this news, there would already be a commotion in the camp, but everyone's eyes flashed with an indescribable light.

"Hey, what kind of scent is this?" Before they got close to the room, a smell of meat spread in the air, and the soldiers sniffed greedily: "Horse meat, it's the smell of horse meat, there is horse meat to eat tonight." ”

Hearing the smell of horse meat, the soldier couldn't help but speed up a few points faster, almost rushing into the room, where a large cauldron was set up, and the fist-sized horse meat was tumbling in the pot, and the salivating fragrance was diffusing from the cauldron.

An anxious soldier couldn't help but reach out and take a piece of horse meat from the hot pot and bite it down, ignoring the fact that there was still blood in the horse meat.

"Don't worry, it's all there, it's all there, everyone will eat a full night tonight." In the past, the stingy gang leader in the gang room laughed, and did not approve of the soldier who reached into the pot to get horse meat.

In order to keep the soldiers from worrying about the burning of military rations, Yuan Taizuo ordered that all the wounded horses be killed, and everyone could get at least a few catties of horse meat, so that the leaders of the army naturally did not have to worry about no one being able to eat them.

Hearing the words of the gang leader, there were dissatisfied soldiers in front of the gang room suddenly smiled, when the soldiers eat food, these years, the Sui army will invade the east and west banks of Liao every year to fight grass valley, so that Goguryeo's military food has been tight, the soldiers sometimes have a hungry stomach, can have a full meal plus a meal of horse meat will be very satisfied, after eating this full meal, sure enough, the soldiers' dissatisfaction during the day is all gone, and the spirit is also greatly lifted.

That night, when sleeping until the third watch, all the soldiers were woken up by the officers, and the Chinese army and the rear army began to secretly leave the camp and leave to the rear, while the 3,000 cavalry led by Gao Yanshou secretly sneaked to the Sui army camp, for fear that the Silla people would find out that the Goguryeo army left the camp, after nightfall, Yuan Taizuo also sent someone to inform Silla of his attack on the Sui army's camp, so that Silla misjudged that the movement in the camp was to steal the camp from the Sui army.