Liao River, known as Wuhou Qinshui in ancient times, originates from the bald head mountain at an altitude of 1,500 meters above sea level in the Laotu Mountains, and its upstream tributaries include Baicha River, Biliu River, Saleng River, Weitang River, Chagan Mulun River, Shaoleng River, etc. The peaks on both sides of the Liaohe River stand steeply, the river channel bends, the drop is larger, the water flow is turbulent, until the river valley vegetables in the middle reaches gradually open, the Liaodong City is on the opposite bank, a big city built in front of the mountain, connecting a series of castles built on the mountain.

Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty was not far from the bank of the river, and watched the flag of the Zuotun Guards fluttering on the riverside, waiting for the boats in the river, preparing to attack Liaodong City, the first fortified city of Goguryeo. The soldiers of the Zuotun Guard are all elites of a hundred battles, and there is no tension in waiting, even the war horses are leisurely eating the weeds on the ground; Yang Guang saw it in his eyes, and the smug excitement in his heart was indescribable, with such an army, what else was there to worry about.

The ministers of Yang Guang's center and the twelve generals who went out on the expedition were the most outstanding figures of the Great Sui, and they went through the ups and downs of these years with Yang Guang, making the Eastern Expedition to Goguryeo a fact. In the eighteenth year of the emperor's reign, Emperor Wen of Sui Yang Jian ordered Yang Liang, the king of Han, to lead an army of 300,000 to attack Goguryeo by land and water. Yang Guang believes that the campaign that begins today will prove that his Wenzhi and martial arts will surpass Emperor Wen.

Yang Guang looked up to the sky and smiled, pointed to the slowly rising sun, and said to the general of Zuotunwei, Mai Tiecane: "I am standing here today, watching the generals and the soldiers of the Zuotunwei army make meritorious contributions. ”

Mai Tiecane's long hair fluttered, and after thanking Yang Guang, he took out his sword and shouted: "The Great Sui will win!" ”

The sound of war drums followed, and the soldiers by the river pulled out their weapons and struck each other, and tens of thousands of soldiers echoed loudly, letting out a deafening roar: "The Great Sui will win!" ”

In the shouting, the first batch of ships to erect pontoon bridges, braving the locust arrows shot by Goguryeo on the opposite side, the Sui army with the cooperation of the boats, methodically built the pontoon bridge in the Liao River, all of which were semi-finished products prepared in advance, and the soldiers who built them had been trained many times and were very skilled. But after the last section, all the people were stunned, the pontoon bridge was not long enough, there was still a distance of sixteen or seventeen meters from the other side of the river, if you want to rush ashore, the last section of the journey can only be crossed by wading, you can't run fast in the water, and the short distance of more than ten meters is the road to death.

Hearing the report, Duan Wenzhen, the secretary of the Ministry of War, was in charge of building the bridge, and repeatedly emphasized to himself that he would send someone to obtain the figure of the width of the Liaohe River on the spot, and he mentioned it to Yuwen and Yu Zhongwen a few times, but he didn't expect it to be short. On the side, Yu Wenkai's thin face was a little tired, and he suggested: "Otherwise, collect the troops today, the materials of the Ministry of Industry will arrive tomorrow with the grain and grass, and give me three days to make up for the last section." ”

Pei Ju asked gloomily: "How can the pontoon bridge be short?" ”

Mai Tiezhu said loudly: "It's because the scout didn't explore accurately, after He Chou built it, I checked it, and it was built according to the figures we reported." Shengshang rest assured, even if it is more than ten meters away, the Zuotun Guards can still fight through, and the old man will go to command. ”

Seeing that Mai Tiezhu was about to go into battle in person, Liu Shilong, the right man of Shangshu, persuaded: "The general should sit in the rear and command, and it is enough to charge into battle with a tiger general." ”

Mai Tiezhu said coldly: "I will have the heart of death, and there will be no retreat." ”

Liu Shilong didn't expect the wheat iron staff to be so hard, and he was speechless for a while, Yu Zhongwen, the general of the right Yiwei, controlled the army, followed him to the river, and instructed Hu Benlang to protect the wheat iron rod Qian Shixiong, Meng Cha and others.

The Liao River was cold, and the Sui army could only show its head when it jumped into the water, and was attacked by the Goguryeo army. However, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty was supervising the battle, Yang Guang did not speak out, and Yuwenshu and Yu Zhongwen did not dare to withdraw their troops. Mai Tiezhu finally rushed to the bridgehead and jumped into the water without hesitation, Qian Shixiong, Meng Cha, and hundreds of elites of the Zuotun Guards followed closely behind Mai Tiezhu.

The miracle did not happen, although Mai Tiezhu and others were not afraid of arrows, rushed to the shore, the number of people was less than half, not to mention, almost everyone was wounded, under the attack of the swarming Goguryeo army, the general of Zuotun Wei Mai Tiecane and Hu Benlang killed Qian Shixiong, Meng Cha and others successively. Duan Wenzhen's heart was like a knife, he stepped forward half of the horse's head and shouted: "Holy Lord." ”

Yang Guang retracted his gaze from the other side, nodded wistfully and said, "Collect the troops, let people redeem the body of Mai Tiecane." ”

The first battle against Goguryeo ended dismally, and after Yu Wenkai returned to the camp and arranged for He Chou, the Shaofu supervisor, to prepare for the growth of the pontoon bridge, he found Duan Wenzhen worriedly and asked if there were any dams and ships upstream. Duan Wenzhen's eagle eyes flashed, and he asked, "Did Yang Chong's kid say something?" Otherwise, how would you care about such a thing? ”

Yu Wenkai was helpless, took out Yang Chong's letter and handed it to Duan Wenzhen and said: "Yang Chong said three things, I didn't dare to take it seriously at first, but today's pontoon bridge is really short." ”

After reading the letter, Duan Wenzhen took Yu Wenkai to see Yu Zhongwen together, Yu Zhongwen read the letter and said bitterly: "I really suspect that Yang Chong has come to Goguryeo." The upper reaches of the Liao River are also divided into the East Liao River and the West Liao River, and there are as many as 20 tributaries, all of which are distributed in the mountains and mountains. However, veterans who have been to the Liaohe River have said that the water volume here varies significantly between the flood and dry seasons, and floods and droughts often occur. ”

Duan Wenzhen retracted the letter and said solemnly: "Even if you send a guard, you have to find out." The first thing Yang Chong said has already happened, and the second thing does have this idea, I mentioned it to the Holy Lord, and the land and water are rushing to Pyongyang; Yang Chong is right, it will not work if there are fewer troops rushing to Pyongyang, and if there are too many troops, if the Liao River is cut off from food and grass, it will be a dead end. ”

Yu Zhongwen and Yu Wenkai's eyes widened, Yang Chongren was far away in Gaochang, and what he thought in his heart was just an inference made based on the map, but he didn't expect to be able to deduce two things in a row, Duan Wenzhen's secret strategy didn't even know that Yu Zhongwen could not leak it. Yu Zhongwen shook his head and said, "I knew that Yang Chong was so demonic, I should have brought him here, and maybe Mai Tie Staff would not have died." ”

Duan Wenzhen sighed and said: "It is not easy for Yang Chong to be in Gaochang County, the four counties of the Western Regions all rely on the counties of Chang'an and the counties in the northwest to be transferred to the outside of the country, and the transport convoy is dangerous and often encounters robbers and plunder, hundreds of millions of dollars per year. Gaochang County is the farthest away, but it is the county that spends the least amount of money on the imperial court, and from the pure money calculation, Yang Chong handed over a little more to the imperial court. ”

Just kidding, 10,000 catties of steel a year is not a small number, you must know that the output of all the iron factories in Guanzhong is only 200,000 catties a year, and most of them are not up to the quality of Gaochang Steel. It's just that the three of them don't know what kind of changes are happening in Gaochang, which is far west.

(End of chapter)