On April 12, Cui Hongsheng, the general of Zuo Wuwei, commanded an expedition to select the front army to force the crossing of Liaoshui, and the third eastern crusade began.

The Goguryeo people retreated on the Liaoshui front line after a little resistance, and without making unnecessary sacrifices, they all withdrew into Liaodong City, held on to the city, and made use of their strengths and avoided their weaknesses, so as to maximize the use of their limited forces to achieve the best results and achieve the expected goals.

After Cui Hongsheng crossed the river, he ordered all the troops of Xuanfeng to take advantage of the victory to advance, kill Liaodong City, and surround Liaodong City.

Liaodong City is only more than 100 miles away from Liaoshui, it is the first important town of Goguryeo to defend Middle-earth, the defensive ability is very strong, in this protracted war, it has been besieged by the Middle-earth army for several months without losing, creating an unprecedented miracle, successfully containing and consuming the Middle-earth army, and making great contributions to the survival of Goguryeo.

This time, Liaodong City faced the third attack of the Middle-earth army, or adopted the same strategy, but the war for three consecutive years has made it suffer heavy losses, it is difficult to continue, its existing strength has been difficult to resist the fierce attack of the Middle-earth army, it has been difficult to achieve the expected goal for the third time, so even if the fighting spirit of the Liaodong City is high, but there is no belief in victory, only a blood, sworn to defend the country.

On the morning of April 13, Cui Hongsheng Pegasus rushed to the city of Liaodong to investigate the military situation on the spot, and listened carefully to the reports of the generals, and then issued an order to surround on all sides, but besiege but not attack, waiting for the arrival of the main army.

He also ordered Wu Benlang to lead the men and horses of his headquarters to attack the front line of Qianshan, opening up a safe passage for the east of the Xuanfeng Army to attack and fight the Black Bone City.

The generals of the army asked for orders to attack Liaodong City, and capture the city at any cost to wash away the shame.

Liaodong City has become a nightmare for the expeditionary force. The first Eastern Crusade was blocked under the city of Liaodong, and the attack was not overcome for a long time, resulting in a serious delay in the attack process, and the second Eastern Crusade was the same, it was still blocked under the city of Liaodong, and the holy lord even came to the city to supervise the battle, but in the end it fell short. Liaodong City is like a rock lying across the path of the expeditionary force, and like a thorn piercing the hearts of the expeditionary soldiers, and even its existence has seriously affected the morale and morale of the expeditionary force, and affected the attack strategy of the expeditionary force.

Cui Hongsheng was quite emotional about this. Before the war began, who would have thought that this small barbarian country's border town would play a huge and decisive role in the war, not only directly affecting the course of the war, but also changing the fate of both sides of the war and even the general trend of the world.

This war is destined to go down in history, and the city of Liaodong will be remembered for eternity, even if it may be reduced to ruins in the final stage of this war, but it will not be able to erase its glimpse of its glory.

However, Cui Hongsheng had no intention of attacking Liaodong City, in fact, he had a lot of criticism about the Holy Lord and the Commander's insistence on attacking Liaodong City in the first two Eastern Crusades, and even attacking Liaodong City with all his strength and at any cost, but because of the situation and identity, he didn't dare to declare it. Among the expeditionary generals, there were many who had the same opinion.

Because of the expeditionary operation, there are too many factors that are constrained in this war, so militarily speaking, the best strategy is to attack Pyongyang as quickly as possible, as long as Pyongyang is conquered, there will be no suspense about the victory of this war, so the degree of attack is the key, and we must not fight for the gains and losses of one city or one place, let alone invest limited forces on secondary or even insignificant targets. If Liaodong City can't be defeated, it won't be fought, it can be surrounded on all sides, why is there any need to waste a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, as well as precious time, to attack a border town, a non-main target?

However, the Holy Lord not only interfered in the military command, but also went to the front line to supervise the battle, and the result of the amateur command professional can be imagined, the things that should be done are not done, and the things that should not be done are in full swing, and the main army is not rushing to kill Pyongyang, but wastes time and life meaninglessly under the city of Liaodong, and finally shoots himself in the foot, reaps the consequences, brings his own trouble, harms others, and harms himself and the country.

It is foreseeable that for Liaodong City, which has not been attacked for a long time and has brought great humiliation to the Holy Lord and even brought political disasters, the Holy Lord is bound to kill it quickly, and it is bound to start the third siege war, and it is bound to go on the wrong path without looking back, which is bound to bring immeasurable risks to the Third Eastern Crusade.

Preventing the Holy Lord from driving the expedition in person, this is the consensus of the Eastern Expedition Command, but this is obviously not practical, the Command does not have this ability, at most it is trying to set up some obstacles, so the generals of the Command Department have joined forces very tacitly, from Yu Wenshu and Guo Rong to Li Jing, Xue Shixiong and Cui Hongsheng, they have all made their own efforts, such as refusing Andong's army to go south to Huaiyuan to rendezvous, adjusting the attack plan, crossing the river in advance to attack, etc., of course, they do not have much hope.

However, perhaps with the favor of the heavens, the Holy Lord actually made the decision to stay in Linyu for the time being, and did not go to the Liaodong battlefield to drive the expedition in person, which was a surprise for the command. In the third year of the Eastern Crusade, the high command really got the command of the battlefield, and the professional things were finally done by professionals.

However, the Holy Lord and the Central Committee did not make the decision not to go to the battlefield in Liaodong, and the Holy Lord did not make it clear that he would not go to the third imperial expedition in person, so the palace may continue to go north to Liaodong at any time, and the Holy Lord may also cross the Liaoshui to come to the battlefield at any time, and the time for the Command to fully control the battlefield command without any interference and command the Third Crusade is very limited.

Specifically, it is to draw the bitter lessons of the first two defeats in the Eastern Crusade, no longer compete with the enemy for the gains and losses of one city and one place, no longer reverse the priorities and put the cart before the horse, no longer make low-level mistakes, resolutely implement the established decisions, attack Pyongyang with the main force, and surround several important towns such as Liaodong City and Wugu City on the way to the east with auxiliary forces, and besiege but not attack, and only ensure the safety of the grain route of the main army at the minimum cost.

In this way, Cui Hongsheng's task will be arduous and the risk will be great, but as long as he kills under the city of Pyongyang with lightning speed and opens the passage for the main army to follow up and encircle Pyongyang, then even if the Holy Lord and the center arrive at the battlefield of Liaodong, the Holy Lord comes to the city of Liaodong in person, rudely interferes with the command of the Command, and wants to attack Liaodong City again to wash away the shame, and the Command also has sufficient reasons to advise and plead with the Holy Lord, after all, Cui Hongsheng has gone deep alone, if the main army does not follow up and support quickly, it is equivalent to putting Cui Hongsheng and the Xuanfeng Army to death. It is equivalent to putting the Third Eastern Crusade in a desperate situation of defeat, and this is unacceptable to the Holy Lord, so the Holy Lord will inevitably make the right choice, and it is absolutely impossible to concentrate on attacking Liaodong City again, and then make the same mistake in the same place.

Choi Hongsheng wanted to kill Pyongyang, but he couldn't and didn't dare to tell his subordinates publicly about this decision.

In fact, the High Command did not make this decision publicly. Out of political considerations, several generals at the top of the command obviously had this idea, but they did not dare to make this decision openly, but they only formed a tacit understanding among themselves, and this tacit understanding was that as long as Cui Hongsheng's selection of the front army pushed the battle situation in the direction preset by the high command, the high command would cooperate closely, and the four great generals Yu Wenshu, Guo Rong, Li Jing, and Xue Shixiong would do their best to follow up and throw their main forces into the supreme goal of attacking Pyongyang.

The reason for this situation lies in the centralization of power, in the weakening and encroachment of the military power of the Weifu by the Holy Lord and the center, and because the Weifu has lost the status and right to speak in the decision-making of war.

In this Eastern Crusade, the Holy Lord and the Center have not yet been on the battlefield in person, and the Command Department really controls all the battlefield command, but this does not mean that the Command can do whatever it wants, and it can throw the Holy Lord and the Center aside, and can simply strive for the victory of the Eastern Crusade from a military point of view, without considering the harm that this kind of behavior will bring to the Wei Mansion and themselves politically.

In the first two Eastern Crusades, the expeditionary army crossed the Liaoshui River and began to storm Liaodong City, and after a long time of attacking, he was angry and impatient, like a wild bull that lost his mind, staring at a pair of red eyes, regardless of the crazy attack, completely forgetting that the goal of the Eastern Expedition was Pyongyang, not the border town of Liaodong City, but this is a central decision, it is the edict of the Holy Lord, and even the Holy Lord personally came to the battlefield, risked the arrows and stones, took the lead, and took the lead, what else can your military say except sacrifice to die? If you don't fight, you are resisting the will, you are cowardly, and you even have other motives for plotting against you, and politically you are killing yourself, can you still coaxively accuse the Holy Lord and the center of being wrong?

Centralization leads to authoritarian supremacy, and authoritarian supremacy leads to a hall of words, what is right is right, and what is wrong is also right, if someone accuses the Holy Lord and the center of being wrong, of course, it is a provocation of authoritarianism, that is, ***** is the enemy of authoritarianism, so it will be wiped out.

In this kind of political environment, even the absolute henchman of the Holy Lord, Yu Wenshu, is still walking on thin ice as if he is on the edge of the abyss, trembling, fearing his feet, lest he make a mistake and become a thousand years of hatred, so in the Third Eastern Crusade, even if he showed his intention to stop the Holy Lord from driving the expedition in person, and carefully set up some obstacles for the Holy Lord, but he was under the banner of "maintaining the Holy Lord and the authority of the central government", politically correct, even if he angered the Holy Lord, he would not pay an unbearable price.

From this, it is not difficult to deduce the psychology of the four generals such as Guo Rong, Li Jing, Xue Shixiong and Cui Hongsheng, they can never make mistakes politically, and if they want to be politically correct, they must not fight against the Holy Lord and the center in military decision-making, and after crossing the Liaoshui, they cannot help but fight Liaodong City, otherwise how do you explain it? Do you dare to say that it is wrong for the Holy Lord and the Central Pivot to attack Liaodong City with all their strength in the first two Eastern Crusades? If the attack on Liaodong City was wrong, then wouldn't the defeats of the first two Eastern Crusades be caused by the blind command of the Holy Lord and the Central Hub? Aren't you openly questioning the authority of the Lord and the Center? Aren't you ****?

Therefore, although Yu Wenshu and others did not want to attack Liaodong City, they all wanted to kill Pyongyang quickly, but no one dared to make this decision openly, so they could only form a tacit understanding, saying that they would attack Liaodong City, but in fact they would kill Pyongyang, so as to not only cater to the will of the Holy Lord and the center, maintain their authority, and maintain political correctness, but also readjust the attack strategy without leaving a trace after the Holy Lord and the center came to the battlefield in person, so as to maintain their own security.

Cui Hongsheng was very conflicted because of this, in the face of the generals' requests, he did not refuse sternly, so as not to hit everyone's enthusiasm and dampen morale, but he couldn't agree, and he couldn't let Liaodong City drag down the pace of the army's progress and delay the time for the army to attack Pyongyang, so Cui Hongsheng could only push it, when to attack Liaodong City, the command had the final say, and the princes should be a little restless, and wait for Yu Wenshu and Guo Rong, the two main and deputy commanders, to come.

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