At the beginning of May of the 19th year of Zhenguan, he left the city of Gaimu for more than ten days in Pangeng, and the army of Liao finally embarked on the journey again, this time the goal was Liaodong City, the most important military center of Goguryeo on the east bank of the Liao River. [This site has a new domain name. initials, previously registered accounts can still be used]

Liaodong City is a terrible place, it was once the capital of Yan State in the Warring States Period Xiangping, after two Han Dynasty, Wei and Jin, are the seat of Liaodong County, near the Liao River, both politically and economically are well-deserved centers along the Liaohe River, and it is also here that once blocked the three-month trip of Emperor Yang of Sui's million-strong army, unlike Gaimu City, once taken here, both political significance and strategic significance are great.

However, to conquer Liaodong, it seems that Li Ji's army is a little more than enough and not enough, the 80,000 troops who crossed the river in order to guard against the new city, the defenders of the Liaodong Peninsula came to fight, nearly 30,000 people were divided into the southwest of Gaimu City, and the sacrifices were removed, and there were more than 40,000 people who could be brought out, and the defenders of Liaodong City had 60,000.

Thanks to Li Jie, he opened up the most precipitous pass on the road to Liaodong City earlier, such as the Kushan Pass, so that the army could successfully kill directly under Liaodong City, but standing near Liaodong City, looking at the majestic and magnificent stone city wall built by the mountain more than ten meters high, Li Ji's black face was like an old farmer on the Loess Plateau, and he was silent for a long time.

"The Grand Steward?"

Zhang Shigui's voice sounded softly in his ears, which made Li Ji come back to his senses, looking at Li Jie, who was holding two long tubes, and shook his head with jealousy, and then slowly asked: "On the Liao River, has the pontoon bridge been erected?" ”

"Returning to the Grand Governor, the pontoon bridge has been erected to ensure that His Majesty's army can cross the river smoothly when it arrives."

"That's good, at this time, I have to wait for His Majesty's reinforcements to arrive, and then send troops to attack Liaodong City." With a sigh, Li Ji rubbed his head and asked Li Jie softly: "King Shuo, it seems that there is nothing to be done in the short term, why don't we go back first?" ”

"In that case, according to the Governor's words." Putting down the binoculars, Li Jie also knocked his head with a headache.

The Tang army camp is stationed about 20 miles away from Liaodong City, next to the Liao River, the large military camp of more than 40,000 people is scattered, once the enemy attacks, several military camps can quickly react, quickly suppress, Li Ji has been fighting for many years, and the ability of the veteran is fully displayed.

However, at this time, the military camp was a little lively, a large number of cavalry hooves rumbled into the camp, and it happened that Li Ji and others, who had reconnoitred back to the camp, caught up, and suddenly came reinforcements, which was a surprise, seeing Li Ji, Li Jie and others returning to the camp, Zhang Jian, who stayed behind, was also excited to lead a long black armor veteran to greet him.

"Ha, Uncle Jiangxia Wang, you actually came over." Far away, Li Jie had already greeted him excitedly, looking at him wearing a Xuan Helmet and Xuan Armor, Xiao Kill capable appearance, Li Daozong also smiled and stroked his beard, patted Li Jie on the shoulder and quipped: "If you don't come early, you can't do it, King Shuo is so capable, if we old guys don't come early, we won't have a chance to play." ”

Li Ji couldn't help but feel a bruise in his head when he said this, didn't he make any useful feats when he started Duliao? Seeing Li Daozong's playful eyes sneaking over, with a black face, Li Ji directly stabbed him with a fist.

"Okay, you old thing, turn around and scold me for being old!"

"Hehe, this king didn't say it!"

After the greetings, the group returned to the tent, and gathered in front of the big map, Li Daozong spread his hands on the map very simply: "This king brought 4,000 Wuling cavalry to fight for His Majesty, Your Majesty has a lot of baggage in the army, and it will take more than ten days to get to the bank of the Liao River, now, how is the battle going?" ”

As soon as it came to this, Li Ji, Zhang Jian, and Li Jie all glanced at each other, sighed, and saw that Li Ji couldn't wipe his face, Li Jie first shook his head helplessly and said: "The current battle situation is really unfavorable, although our army rushed to cross the Liao River, broke the Great Wall of Goguryeo, disrupted the defense of Goguryeo along the river, and resisted our deployment west of the Liao River, but because of this, Goguryeo now seems to have implemented key defenses, and many nearby cities have directly given up, 60,000 troops have gathered in Liaodong City, our army is small, and Liaodong City is steep, It's really not easy to chew. ”

"Therefore, the old man thinks that our army should first encroach step by step, pull out the three fortresses in the southeast and west of Liaodong City, show a semi-encirclement trend, and wait for His Majesty's army to arrive, and then attack the city." After dealing with the confirmation, Li Ji also became serious, and his fingers drew a circle around Liaodong City, so that Li Daozong and other generals nodded with him, but at this moment, the curtain of the commander's tent was suddenly opened, and a fat round general hurriedly got in.

"Li Rong, you are also the captain of the Tanma Battalion, what kind of system is it to be so flustered?" Several generals looked at themselves, and Li Jie, who couldn't hold his face, reprimanded him angrily, but this weasel wiped his sweat and still trembled and said: "Your Highness, the two Goguryeo reinforcements in the direction of Xincheng and Wugu City have just gathered together, and they are rushing to Liaodong City, and there is still half a day's journey from the city." ”

"What?" At this time, even Li Ji couldn't sit still, so he jumped up and grabbed Li Jiao's collar and asked, "Who is the commander of the army and how many cavalry are there?" ”

"When the army fights Zhao, there should be at least three thousand cavalry, guarding the front of the army." Li Zai's eyesight is still good, scratched his head slightly, and answered.

"The subordinate captain Zhang Ergou is still following the Goguryeo reinforcements, and when he bypasses this army and checks the traces of last night's campfire, he should be able to count how many Goguryeo reinforcements there are."

"Let's go and explore again!" Without waiting for Li Jie to speak, Li Ji already waved his hand and ordered with a gloomy face.

In the evening, Li Zao can be regarded as returning with specific news, the main general Xincheng Brother Zhao, a total of 40,000 troops, Xincheng 25,000, and Wugu City 15,000.

The Great Wall along the Liaohe River Goguryeo deployed a total of more than 80,000 soldiers, and at least 20,000 were eaten in the battle of Gaimu City.

Under the light of sixteen butter candles, the more than twenty important generals gathered in the tent all looked at the map with frowns, the firelight swayed on everyone's faces, making yin and yang uncertain, but no one made a sound, Li Jie looked around, and the cowardly expression had been completely written on the faces of the generals.

"Chief, the enemy army is strong, I think we should temporarily avoid its peak, retreat to the area of the Kushan Pass, defend by the mountain, wait for His Majesty's army, the art of war, ten will surround it, and the times will fight, and now the enemy army is more than twice as large as me, and it is unwise to rush to war!"

After hesitating for a long time, the head of the rear army, the general of Zuotunwei, Jiang Qu, cautiously arched his hand, and immediately asked Zhang Junyi, the head of the former army, to follow and happily bow his hand and said: "General Jiang Qu is the words of seeking the country, at this time, the Goguryeo army is in the limelight, and it should be avoided to be the talent of its edge, and relying on the mountain city, it can also consume the sharp energy of the Goguryeo people, killing two birds with one stone." ”

"No!"

Without waiting for the other generals to speak, Li Jie first interrupted Zhang Junyi's words in a deep voice, which immediately provoked this guy to look at him angrily, Jiang did also show a disdainful gaze, he was young and vigorous, and he didn't know where the soldiers were in danger.

However, Li Jie's words made all the generals tremble, squinting their eyes, Li Jie looked around slowly, and then asked: "Could it be that you want Your Majesty to take a detour to Liaodong?" ”

Everyone who said this time was silent, the place where the river was crossed, either to build Mu City, or Liaodong City, retreating to the Kushan Pass is equivalent to giving up the Liaodong City Ferry, not to mention the political influence, the emperor's majesty alone is not allowed, if you dare to retreat, it is estimated that you don't have to wait to go back, and now you can take off your official hat and ask for the punishment.

Deeper Yicheng, retreat if there is a little difficulty, how can this battle be fought?

Li Jie's eyes were blazing, and every general lowered his head in a deliberate manner, dispelling the idea of retreating, only Zhang Junyi secretly glared at Li Jie with resentment.

There was silence for another moment, and this time the silence was broken by Li Daozong, the king of Jiangxia, coughed lightly, and said faintly: "The ferry must be guarded, everyone, we may not be afraid of those Goguryeo barbarians in the field, since the army and China are outnumbered, why don't you go to the deep ditch and high fortress to defend on the spot with His Majesty's car, what do you think?" ”

In fact, it seems that there is no change in the same place, at most digging some trenches, this idea is equivalent to not saying but has won the approval of most of the generals, even Li Jie can't help but nod helplessly, it seems that there is only this way in the case of insufficient troops, and he does not want to spend his elite troops in the siege battle in vain, only Li Ji, the general manager of the march of Liaodong Road, looked at the map with an expressionless face.

"Guys, don't you think this is also an opportunity?"

Li Ji's sudden words made everyone stunned, including Li Jie, but Li Ji was still so serious, and his old fingers kept drawing circles on the mountains and rivers near Liaodong City.

"Everyone, you all feel that the enemy is outnumbered and cannot fight, Goguryeo is twice as large as me, it is estimated that the commander of his army thinks the same, 100,000 troops fight according to the city, even if Your Majesty arrives, Liaodong Jiancheng, our army seems to have no other tactics except for siege warfare, but at this time, what if we lure out the Goguryeo people? Field battle, who have our Tang army been afraid of! ”

As soon as these blood-boiling words came out, more than 20 heavy generals couldn't help but be suffocated again, and didn't give them a chance to think, Li Ji continued to explain loudly with a red face: "Our army still has three victories, first, our Tang Army's war horse is stronger than Goguryeo Guo dismounting, and the Liaodong City Plain is widely distributed, which is suitable for cavalry galloping. ”

"Second, the Goguryeo command system is chaotic, the eldest brother Zhao Xun is a scholar under the reinforcements, and he is not familiar with military affairs, Liaodong City is the seat of Gao Yanshou in the east, if Gao Yanshou is here, it will be troublesome, but now the city is playing with the banner of the negative Ding clan, if the old man did not miscalculate, it should be Gao Yanshou's son-in-law, and the second younger brother is responsible for Ding Zou, and the two of them have similar official positions, and there is a dispute over the command."

"Third, that is, the problem of soldiers and horses, our army is all capable soldiers, Yingzhou soldiers, Guanzhong warriors, Wuling boys, Wuyuan wolf soldiers, long-term war divisions, strong and persistent, and then look at Goguryeo, you have also seen the situation in Gaimu City, this is still the front line, the sergeant armor rate is only three layers, and many people are directly recruited by farmers."

"Colleagues, our Datang Heavenly Army, can't we beat a group of mud legs?" The last sentence. Li Ji almost roared out, his eyes were red when he was stimulated, and more than 20 heavy generals held their chests neatly, and they responded violently, and the sound shook so that the candles in the tent jumped with it.

Among the many generals, only Zhang Junyi showed resentment and timidity in his eyes......