In the reckless mountains, a grain convoy stretching for nearly ten miles was walking along an official road in the mountains.

This is the Sui army grain team sent from Wugu City to Liaodong City, and the commander Zhang Xuan has personally led the army to the north, and their food logistics support will depend on the grain team of Wugu City to supply.

The official road is already narrow and difficult to walk, on both sides are majestic mountains as high as hundreds of zhang, the valley is not more than a few zhang wide, because of several heavy rains in the past two days, the official road is very muddy, making the grain convoy not only difficult to travel, but also very dangerous.

At this moment, there was a sudden thunderous rumbling sound ahead, the whole mountain trembled, and the soldiers carrying the grain were so frightened that they fell to the ground.

In a moment, the thunder disappeared, the ground stopped trembling, the soldiers trembled and got up, and everyone was stunned by the situation ahead, only to see that the mountain in front of them had almost collapsed in half, filling the entire valley, and dozens of ox carts in front were also flooded with mud and rock.

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The capture of Xincheng was a key in the Sui army's counterattack against Goguryeo, because most of the grain in Liaodong City was transported to Yancheng, and the 100,000 stone grain in Xincheng was a guarantee that 70,000 Goguryeo generals could safely withdraw to Pyongyang.

However, the importance of Xincheng grain was not only for the Goguryeo army, but also for Zhang Xuan, who personally led 30,000 troops to the north.

Zhang Xuan's army has entered the third day of attacking Liaodong City, and in the past three days, they have launched five consecutive attacks, all of which have failed, and the Sui army has suffered more than 4,000 casualties, and in the face of heavy casualties, Zhang Xuan had to temporarily stop the siege.

Unlike Xincheng, Liaodong City is close to the east bank of Liaoshui, and the 10,000 troops left by Yizhi Wende are stationed in Liaodong City, and the defense capability is very strong.

Liaodong City is Xiangping City in the Three Kingdoms Era, the Eastern Jin Dynasty Yixi six years, after Goguryeo took Liaodong, it was renamed Xiangping City as Liaodong City, rebuilt, the city is square, there are two city walls inside and outside, three city gates, the city wall has a corner tower, there are two high-rise buildings in the northwest of the outer city, the scale is magnificent, the city is tall and solid, easy to defend and difficult to attack.

In the ninth year of the Great Cause, 100,000 Sui troops besieged Liaodong City for a month under the personal supervision of Yang Guang, the Son of Heaven, with tens of thousands of dead and wounded, and still failed to capture this fortified city.

The Sui army camp is stationed on the bank of the Liaohe River about two miles away from Liaodong City, covering an area of about 1,000 acres, the Sui army cut down big trees to make a camp fence, and dug a deep ditch outside the camp gate, because the attack on Liaodong City is unfavorable, the morale of the Sui army is somewhat low.

Zhang Xuan was also quite depressed, sitting alone in the big tent and drinking alcohol, many things are called disasters not alone, just when the Sui army attacked the city unfavorably, there was unfortunate news in the south, the mudslide broke out on the official road in the south, and a valley that must be passed was filled with a mudslide as wide as two miles, and the grain carts of the black bone city could not go north.

"Your Highness!"

Du Ruhui appeared at the door of the tent and tactfully persuaded him: "When the two armies are fighting, Your Highness still don't drink bars!" ”

Zhang Xuan waved his hand and took away the wine utensils from his soldiers, and he asked in a deep voice, "How long can we support food?" ”

"Five days at most, and if you slaughter a few hundred animals carrying heavy loads, you can hold on for another two days."

Zhang Xuan sighed, pacing back and forth in the camp with his hands in his hands, of course he was not exhausted, he could cross the Liao River to join Pei Xingyan's cavalry, but in this way, his previous efforts to attack Liaodong City would be wasted, and more than 4,000 soldiers would also be sacrificed in vain, he really couldn't make up his mind.

"Your Highness, I think there may be insufficient food in Liaodong City."

"How do you know?" Zhang Xuan looked back at Du Ruhui.

"I specially asked the soldiers to observe that the day before yesterday, the food delivery in the city was once at noon and once in the afternoon, but today it is only once in the afternoon, and there is no food delivery at noon."

Zhang Xuan shook his head, "This kind of observation can't be taken too seriously, because today's truce, it is likely that the defenders of the city head will go down to the city to eat, and there is no need to send food to the city again." ”

"But they still delivered food to the city at night, and the defenders didn't change the guard today, so Weichen was suspicious."

Zhang Xuan frowned slightly, is there really not enough food in the city?

Du Ruhui said again: "If the other party is really short of food, it is recommended to feint and withdraw, and the guards in the city will definitely send people out to hunt and find food, as long as we catch the people who go out of the city, the situation in the city will be clear." ”

Zhang Xuan was also a little tempted, if the food in the city was really out of food, it would be a pity for him to withdraw like this.

Let's just try it, Zhang Xuan finally made up his mind, and he immediately ordered: "Let General Shen come to see me!" ”

After a moment, Shen Guang walked into the big tent quickly, knelt down on one knee and saluted, "See the big handsome!" ”

Zhang Xuan said to him: "I plan to feint, you can lead 500 brothers to ambush in the woods, if the Goguryeo army in the city opens the city and sends troops, you immediately kill and seize the city gate, if you can't seize the city gate, you also have to take a few prisoners for me, understand?" ”

"Ignorance, understood!"

Shen Guang saluted and hurriedly went, and Zhang Xuan immediately ordered, "The army immediately pulls out the camp and goes south!" ”

The main general of Liaodong City is called Ning Wuli, who is the right-hand man of Yizhi Wende, who is good at defending the city, and after Yizhi Wende led into Liaodong, he ordered him to lead 10,000 troops to defend Liaodong City.

Yizhi Wende took away most of the grain in Liaodong, and the animal carts were all taken away, leaving the food in the city to support at most half a month, of course, Yizhi Wende did not want to cut off the army food in Liaodong City, but because the Black Bone City would continue to transport food over, so as to ensure the consumption of military food in Liaodong City.

But Eulji Wende never dreamed that as soon as they crossed the river into Liaoshui, Zhang Xuan's army killed the city of black bones and conquered this important city of support, so that Liaodong City lost its support, and the Goguryeo army in the city began to gradually go to the point of food shortage.

Although the Goguryeo soldiers repelled the Sui army's five sieges, as the food became increasingly scarce, they could only support it for a few days, and as a last resort, Ning Wuli had to order a reduction in the food supply, and the soldiers only ate one meal a day to see if they could survive until the rescue came.

In the evening of this day, Ning Wuli heard that the Sui army had withdrawn south, he hurriedly ran to the city, looking at the Sui army camp two miles away, the huge royal flag had disappeared, and the soldiers at the gate of the camp were gone. ”

Ning Wuli nodded, he felt that it was very possible, so he immediately ordered: "Strengthen night vigilance, beware of the Sui army's sneak attack at night." ”

But what if the Sui army really retreated?

Ning Wuli thought about it, and sent ten teams of spies out of the city to inquire about the Sui army's intelligence in all directions, and at the same time asked them to hunt some deer from the forest.

Early the next morning, the Sui army that feinted to retreat returned to Liaodong City from ten miles away, and the Goguryeo army did not leave the city in Zhang Xuan's expectations, and his generals would not make such a low-level mistake, but the information he asked for was obtained, and Shen Guang captured more than a dozen Goguryeo soldiers who went out of the city to inquire about the news.

"Marshal Qiyu, they have all explained that the food in the city is indeed very tight, not only the rations of all the soldiers have been cut in half, but the food supply of thousands of wounded soldiers has also been stopped, and it is estimated that it can only last about five days."

Shen Guang's report made Zhang Xuan couldn't help but smile bitterly, their situation was not much better, at most two or three days better than the Goguryeo army.

Shen Guang was very aware of the boss's worries, and he said: "I have been in Liaodong City for a few years, and I know that there is a lot of game in this area, especially rich in deer, as well as a large number of edible rhizomes such as yams, ginseng, and yellow essence. ”

This is a good suggestion, Zhang Xuan smiled happily: "Then take five thousand soldiers to hunt, catch a deer and reward the same money, and so on!" ”

In just two days, thousands of deer were hunted, hundreds of bears and more than 100 tigers were also hunted, as well as wild boars, goats, hares, pheasants and other prey countless, which greatly enriched the dinner of the Sui soldiers, so that the supply of military rations for the Sui soldiers could be delayed for two or three days.

At night, Zhang Xuan sat alone in the big tent reading a book, at this time, there was a sound of footsteps running outside the tent, and then he heard the excited voice of Luo Shixin, the main general on duty tonight, "Dashuai, there is important information!" ”

Zhang Xuan put on a coat and walked out of the big tent, only to see that Luo Shixin was followed by a soldier, Zhang Xuan asked with a smile: "What important information?" ”

"Dashuai, the new city has been taken by us, and we have sent a hundred boats of grain!"

Zhang Xuan couldn't believe his ears, Xincheng was actually taken away, and he didn't send troops to fight Xincheng!

He asked anxiously, "What's going on?" ”

Luo Shixin hurriedly recruited the scouts behind him, and the scouts stepped forward and knelt down on one knee and said: "Marshal Qiqi, the humble position is Wang Canghai, the captain of the second battalion of the scout army, our hundred scouts have captured Xincheng with the help of the Yan people, and the three thousand Goguryeo defenders of Xincheng have all been annihilated. ”

Zhang Xuan was overjoyed, seizing the new city would mean that their food problem was completely solved, and he hurriedly said: "I heard it in detail!" ”

He said to his soldiers again: "Go and invite Du Senjun and General Shen." ”

Not long after, Du Ruhui and Shen Guang hurried over, and Shen Guang heard that it was his subordinates who had made great contributions, and he was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth.

In the big tent, Wang Canghai told them that they met the envoy of the Tudi Inspector, and pretended to be a folk man and were arrested into the city as coolies, and finally joined forces with the soldiers of the Yan Ya to seize the new city in one go, and told them in detail.

Everyone looked at each other when they heard this, and Zhang Xuan turned around and asked Shen Guang, "Is this Sun Ying the young man who caught Sun Xuanya in the first place?" ”

Shen Guang said with a smile: "It is this person who has now accumulated merit and been promoted to the general of Eagle Strike." ”

Zhang Xuan nodded, "This merit is not trivial, it is a key move in the Liaodong Campaign, and he can be promoted to Huya Lang General after the war!" ”

Zhang Xuan smiled at Wang Canghai again: "You can also be promoted to Eagle Strike General, and you will be rewarded with three thousand taels of gold for one hundred people, and each of you will be promoted to one level!" ”

Wang Canghai was overjoyed, and hurriedly kowtowed to thank him, at this time, Du Ruhui groaned and asked: "Captain Wang just said that there were originally 10,000 defenders, but in the end only 3,000 were annihilated, so where did the other 7,000 go?" ”

This is also a very critical issue, and the strength of 7,000 troops is not a lot, so we must not be careless.

Wang Canghai hurriedly said: "They were originally stationed on the east bank of the Liao River, preparing to receive Yuan Gai Suwen's army, but after we captured the new city, we sent people to the Liao River to inquire about the news, and after catching a few remaining soldiers, we learned that they had crossed the Liao River to Liucheng. ”

"Why didn't they counterattack Xincheng, but instead crossed the river to Liaodong?" Zhang Xuan was a little puzzled.

Du Ruhan said with a smile: "I can guess the reason, isn't the defenders of the new city arresting people everywhere just to supply them with food?" Now that there is no food supply and no equipment to attack Xincheng, they can only cross the river to Liucheng and join Yuangai Suwen. ”

"But how did they cross the river?"

Luo Shixin asked on the side: "Could it be that Lao Pei still allows the existence of a pontoon bridge on the Liao River?" ”

"We found a large number of sheepskin rafts in the warehouses of Goguryeo, and we speculate that they probably used the sheepskin rafts to build pontoon bridges."

Zhang Xuan was silent, he actually neglected the most commonly used sheepskin raft of the Khitans, the Khitans would use it, and the Goguryeo people would definitely use it, which was a big hidden danger, I don't know how many sheepskin rafts there are in the hands of Yuangai Suwen and Eulzhi Wende, or whether the Khitans will secretly help the Goguryeos.

At this time, Luo Shixin reminded in a low voice: "Dashuai, there are more than 100 boats of grain by the river, do you want to go and see it?" ”

Zhang Xuan put aside the matter of the sheepskin raft for the time being, got up and said with a smile: "Now food is more important than anything else, let's take a look!" (To be continued.) )