Yizhi Wende got the news of Yang Wanchun two days later, this news shocked him, it was obvious that the main cavalry of the Sui army had entered Liaodong, according to the information they had obtained before, the cavalry that entered Liaodong was at least more than 20,000 people, and they had not found out.

Eulji Wende already realized the seriousness of the problem, the situation in the Central Plains was by no means as they expected, and Zhang Xuan was dragged by Li Yuan and could not enter Liaodong, which was a strategic judgment mistake by the Goguryeo high-level.

Ulji Wendeok himself attended a meeting of Goguryeo's supreme decision-making last October, and their judgment that Zhang Xuan's army would be held back by the Tang army was based on Li Yuan's desire for Hebei and the enormous pressure of the new Sui on the Tang dynasty.

During their deliberations, they believed that Li Yuan would definitely give priority to defeating Zhang Xuan's army to establish the absolute superiority of the Tang Dynasty in the world, and it was based on this judgment that they unanimously made the strategic decision to seize Liaodong.

It should be said that Goguryeo's judgment was not wrong, and the new Sui did seriously threaten the status of the Tang Dynasty in the world, and it was also the biggest opponent of the Tang army, so the first major decision Li Yuan made after seizing Chang'an was to take advantage of Zhang Xuan's opportunity to intercept Yu Wenhua and enter Hanoi County, preparing to join Luo Yi's Youzhou army.

However, Goguryeo did not understand the situation in Guanlong, so their intelligence was backward, and they did not know that the three armies of Xue Ju, Li Liang and Liang Shidu posed a serious threat to Guanlong.

It was Goguryeo who didn't know about this situation when he made the decision, so until now Eulji Wende was still puzzled, Zhang Xuan dared to send the most powerful cavalry to Liaodong, didn't he need to guard against the Tang army's large-scale eastward expedition?

However, doubts are doubts, Yizhi Wende still needs to face the reality, the Sui army knows their details, but they don't know the situation of the Sui army, this is an extremely dangerous signal, they must withdraw the army back to the Liao River first, and then make plans after finding out the situation of the enemy army.

Of course, Yizhi Wende needs to start from the overall situation, he can't leave Yuangai Suwen's army behind, he must wait for Yuangai Suwen's army to withdraw before he can give up Yancheng and retreat eastward, if Yuangai Suwen refuses to withdraw the army, it's fine, but at least he has to put on a posture of sincerity enough, so as not to give a bad account to Yuan Taizuo in the future.

Yizhi Wende immediately wrote a letter to Yuangai Suwen, sent three soldiers to ride nine war horses, and told Yuangai Suwen about the appearance of the Sui cavalry at a speed of 100,000, and hoped that his army would withdraw to Yancheng first, and the two armies would immediately retreat to the Liao River

In fact, there was no need for Eulzhi Wende to report the news, and Yuangai Suwen received the news of the Sui army's cavalry attack on the grain transportation team almost at the same time, and more than 100 Goguryeo soldiers fled to Liucheng and told Yuangai Suwen this extremely important information.

In the big tent, Yuangai Suwen looked at the map in front of him with a solemn gaze, and he drew four circles on the map with an ink pen, which were Xincheng, Liaodong City, Yancheng and Liucheng.

As a young and promising commander, Yuangai Suwen will never trap himself in Liucheng for the sake of the so-called face, he knows that he must retreat, although the food in his hand is not yet tight, but without siege weapons, his capture of Liucheng is an empty word.

It's just that Yuangai Suwen is thinking about where he should retreat, from a normal point of view, of course they should retreat to Yancheng, but he wants it, and the Sui army also wants to get it, if he is not mistaken, the main cavalry force of the Sui army will definitely wait for him on the way to Yancheng.

Yuangai Suwen pondered for a long time, and asked Zhao Wannian, a staff member next to him, "Sir, how do you think I should retreat?" ”

Zhao Wannian thought for a while and said: "The most ideal state for the Sui army is to concentrate forces to break us all, and I think our biggest risk is in Liaoshui, our original pontoon bridge must have been destroyed, there is no good way to cross the river, we are likely to be surrounded by the Sui army in Liaoshui, at that time the food has been cut off, the morale is exhausted, and the end is the annihilation of the whole army, so Gongzi must avoid this situation." ”

Zhao Wannian's sentence stabbed the key point, and Yuan Gai Suwen nodded, "What about in your opinion?" ”

"I think there are two ways, one is to immediately retreat to Yancheng and join forces with General Yizhi, even if the other party has 30,000 cavalry, then we also have 50,000 elites, which can compete with it, and Yancheng's food can last for a month, we can wait for change."

"What about the second way?" Yuangai Suwen asked.

"The second way is to retreat to the Khitan territory, and ask the Khitan for help, you can cross the Liaoshui with the help of the Khitan."

Yuangai Suwen paced back and forth in the big tent with his hands, although it was more convenient to take the Khitan road, but he was very jealous of the Khitan, although Goguryeo and Khitan were each other's lips and teeth, but the Khitan was greedy by nature and did not speak of credibility, and his father said more than once that Dahe Duluo was unreliable.

The more important thing is whether the Khitan attack on Liaodong will be defeated this time, whether they will let their anger spread on their heads, or seize their own army to make Goguryeo compensate for their losses.

Yuangai Suwen pondered for a long time, he decided that he still couldn't go to the Khitan, the risk was too great, and he asked again: "I'm thinking about going to Yancheng, but how can I avoid being intercepted by the Sui army?" ”

"Childe, the Central Plains people pay attention to the real and the virtual, and the virtual is real, although Pei Xingyan is brave and invincible, but when it comes to strategy, he is too far worse than Zhang Xuan, if the son wants to trap the wolf of Yancheng, he has to give up a child, which is called reluctant to have a child, and he can't trap the wolf!"

Yuangai Suwen nodded slowly, he finally made a decision, he must retreat east immediately.

At the fourth watch, under the cover of the thick night, the 27,000 troops of Goguryeo did not even pack up their tents, so they hurriedly retreated to the east under the leadership of the main general Yuangai Suwen, they discarded all their baggage and grain, and only brought three days of dry food, and rushed all the way to the east.

But on their periphery, hundreds of Sui cavalry scouts had already watched their every move, and just when the Goguryeo army had just left the camp, they were discovered by the Sui army scouts, and the Sui army scouts immediately went to report to the commander Pei Xingyan.

Pei Xingyan and his main cavalry force were eighty miles north of Liucheng at this time, and after he got the news that Chen Jing had successfully intercepted the Goguryeo baggage team, he guessed that the Goguryeo army besieging Liucheng was going to retreat, and without logistical support, no army could support it, and there was no other choice but to retreat.

In a marching tent, Pei Xingyan was discussing the next operational deployment with Song Zhengben, who had joined the army, and several generals.

"The marshal repeatedly explained when we were leaving, we can't let the two Goguryeo armies of Liucheng and Yancheng converge, and they must be broken and divided into separate ones, so I consider the heavy troops on the road from Liucheng to Yancheng, so that Yuangai Suwen does not dare to go to Yancheng, so he has to withdraw his army and retreat to Liaohe, what do you think?"

Shao Yiming, the general of Hu Benlang, said: "The general is extremely worried, in fact, we don't need to do it immediately, as long as we accelerate the pursuit when the enemy retreats to the Liao River, we can wipe out the enemy army on the west bank of the Liao River." ”

The generals agreed, the marshal set the rules for them, each broke it, divided and suppressed, Pei Xingyan's plan was completely in line with the marshal's plan.

At this time, Pei Xingyan saw that Song Zhengben had been silent, and he was a little unhappy in his heart, so he reluctantly asked, "What does Song have in mind when he joins the army?" ”

Song Zhengben was originally Dou Jiande's strategist, and after surrendering to Zhang Xuan, he was named a cavalry Cao to join the army, this time Pei Xingyan led 30,000 cavalry north to Liaodong, and Zhang Xuan asked Song Zhengben to assist Pei Xingyan and give advice for Pei Xingyan.

However, Pei Xingyan and the generals don't like Song Zhengben, on the one hand, Song Zhengben is proud, but the more important reason is that he was originally Dou Jiande's strategist, and he has no qualifications in the Qingzhou Army, including Pei Xingyan, everyone looks down on him a little bit in their hearts, and rarely listens to his opinion.

Song Zheng was originally a very upright person, of course he knew the attitude of Pei Xingyan and the generals towards him, so he said lightly: "If you want to divide and attack, why don't you fight now?" Why leave a chance for the two Goguryeo armies to converge? ”

Pei Xingyan's eyes widened, "I'm waiting for them to run out of food and their morale is exhausted before fighting, so that our casualties can be minimized!" ”

Song Zhengben sneered and said: "I said before, the general doesn't know how much food they still have, and it will be a delay to fight when they run out of food, if they go north to the Khitan, is the general ready to fight with the Khitan?" ”

When everyone heard him say mean things, they couldn't help but look at Song Zhengben angrily, Pei Xingyan restrained his anger and said: "Do you think they will join the Khitan when they join the army?" ”

Song Zhengben put his hand behind him, raised his chin and said coldly: "Everything is possible, but I advise the general to do it immediately if he wants to do it, Liucheng and Yancheng are too close to each other, Yizhi Wende is an experienced veteran, he will not sit back and watch us gather troops to annihilate Yuangai Suwen, he will definitely come to respond, so the early general can grasp the initiative, and the later he is, the more passive." (To be continued.) )