In order to prove the integrity of the division, he even announced the specific number, composition and detailed march plan of the army in the edict. In order to prepare for the surrender of Goryeo as soon as the army saw the wind, and the battle had not yet begun, Yang Guang immediately ordered each army to set up a full-time "one person to surrender". Before leaving Luoyang, he had ordered officials to build a high platform in front of the Jinguang Gate in preparation for the ceremony of sacrificing prisoners.

This expedition looks more like a "deterrent event" on a grand scale. Such war preparations are undoubtedly a bit bizarre in the eyes of others, but in the eyes of Yang Guang, they are taken for granted. Although he is known as a soldier and can even be described as "experienced in a hundred battles", in fact, in the wars he has personally experienced, there is hardly a single hard battle. In the Pingchen War, he was the supreme commander, and he saw with his own eyes that the extremely extreme Chen Dynasty immediately collapsed under the pressure of the army, and the 500,000 troops of the Sui Dynasty were almost bloodless, and they won the victory. In the war to pacify Tuyuhun, it was also the great momentum of the Sui army that frightened the king of Tuyuhun, and almost without a fight, they fled. Therefore, in Yang Guang's experience, the most important thing in dealing with such an opponent with asymmetrical strength is to do a good job of deterrence, the number of troops must be large, and the military appearance must be strong. That's enough. A small Goryeo, of course, will not have much resistance in the face of his prestige, talent and luck. However, the outcome of the Goryeo War was unexpected.

Goryeo is not the Chen Dynasty. This is a small local hegemon in the ascendant period, and there is a hegemonic spirit in its bones that has been cultivated in the long war. Seasoned in battle, they know that quantity does not determine a single qiē. In the face of a million-strong army, they were not afraid, and they had already organized a defense when the Sui Dynasty army was slow to march. When the Sui army arrived in Liaodong City, they were faced with a city as strong as a golden city and a pond. The Goryeo people, who were experienced in battle, risked their lives to hold on, and the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Sui Dynasty were helpless.

One is well-prepared and determined, and the other is unprepared for war, and the outcome of war can be imagined. The Sui army, which was blocked under the fortified city, was impetuous, and in a hurry, they simply selected 300,000 elite soldiers, bypassed the city of Liaodong, and went straight to Pyongyang, hoping to rendezvous with the navy and break the heart of the enemy country in one fell swoop. The scheming Goryeo people kept luring the enemy deeper, feigning failure, and then launching a general attack when the Sui army crossed the Qingchuan River. The Sui army was defeated, and the generals of all walks of life rushed to flee for their lives. On the way back to the division, the Sui division lost all food and grass, and under the pursuit of the Goryeo pursuers, countless people died of illness, starvation, and trampling on each other. After the war, the 350,000 Sui troops who crossed the Liao River returned to the west of the Liao River with only 2,700 people!

twenty-three

Failure is even more difficult to bear because you are not mentally prepared. Looking at the military uniforms and the dead bodies thrown by the deserters on both sides of the return road, Yang Guang looked in a trance. has been returning to Zhuojun, and he has not come back to his senses.

He was knocked unconscious by the accident. Since he was sensible, he has not tasted failure. He didn't know that there was still the word "failure" in the world, and he didn't expect it to hit him on the head. For half a month, he didn't say a word, hid in his big tent every day, and didn't summon the big.

What he couldn't bear the most was the shame. Yes, there may not be a greater shame than this: in this expedition, the Sui army not only carried a large-scale military band, but also invited several foreign vassal kings to watch the battle with the army. Yang Guang hoped to prove the unchallengeability of the empire with an easy victory, but he didn't expect that in front of the world, he would be so ugly and so wolfish! For those subjects who watched this drama with bated breath, he was even more difficult to explain: how could he, a great emperor who was "always correct", "wise and great", and "only one in hundreds of years", make such a low-level mistake!

He was a little afraid to see these foreign vassal kings, and he always felt that there was mockery in their eyes. Even in the face of his ministers, he felt that there was disrespect lurking in their expressions. He had been accustomed to the praise of his life, and it was only then that he had tasted shame for the first time in his life. It's so hard to swallow!

Yang Guang's main character weakness is exposed at this moment: he has not cultivated the necessary ability to withstand frustration in the good times of his life. In front of the blow of defeat, he was out of order. He was like a boxer who had been knocked down by a punch, getting up dizzily, not thinking about anything, and rushing towards his opponent again. He was anxious to prove that he was still as great, glorious, and right as ever, and the mistake just now was nothing but carelessness. Just like a famous actor who stumbled as soon as he appeared on the stage, causing a burst of laughter, his first thought was to do his best to bring out his entire collar and sing the rest of his singing voice more gorgeously than ever before, so as to save his face as a famous actor. Half a month later, the first thing he did after getting out of the tent was to announce to the world: next year, he will personally conquer again, will not destroy Goryeo, and vow not to give up!

This seemingly manly declaration was eventually proven to have ruined the Great Sui River. Under the tremendous stimulation of frustration, Yang Guang lost the least sense of reality. The hot shame burned him so much that he forgot about it. You know, this is a war that the whole country is preparing for. For this war, the gold and silver in the imperial treasury flowed like flowing water, and the common people were squeezed to the last drop of sweat. He should have calmed down and taken stock of the silver in the treasury. He should have known that after causing the loss of nearly a million lives and the waste of the empire's immense wealth, he had to take a low profile and soothe the disgruntled people. You must know that his image at this time is no longer "victorious in a hundred battles" and "consistently correct", but an unqualified general.

However, it was impossible for Yang Guang to do so. He could not lower his noble head. He believes that his mistake should be characterized as "negligence", and that this small mistake should not affect his "glory", "correctness" and "greatness". The most important mistake was made by the generals who led their troops across the Yalu River, because they did not strictly follow their instructions and advanced without authorization, so that they were so badly defeated. As soon as he returned to Luoyang, he ordered the three generals to be arrested, one to be beheaded, and two to be stripped of their posts. In order to be foolproof in the next war, he announced that the amount of supplies prepared would be twice as high as the last time.

&Section] Yang Guang: Crushed by the Great Cause (19) [Transferred from Iron and Blood Community >

Hearing the news, the last string of the people was crushed. After reaching the limit of patience, another expedition weighed on the people with heavier labor. Wang Bo, a native of Zouping, Shandong, was the first to rise up. Dou Jiande, a native of Zhangnan, and Zhai Rang, a native of Weicheng, also responded immediately, and for a time, more than 20 beacon fires were ignited in the Great Sui world. The desperate people burst out with unprecedented bravery: "Suddenly hearing the arrival of the official army, he raised his sword and swung forward. For example, if Liaodong died, he was injured by beheading. ”

twenty-four

Yang Guang didn't care much about the news of the peasant uprising reported in various places. From the Three Kingdoms to the beginning of the Sui Dynasty, politics has always been a game for the aristocracy, and there has never been a peasant uprising that has been able to change the general direction of history. He believed that these uprisings were nothing more than the itch of the Empire, and that the mud-legged men could not do anything great. Therefore, he only deployed the magistrates to "step up the arrest" and asked them to extinguish these beacon fires before returning from the victory.

He was still bent on preparing to attack Goryeo again. Only by stepping on this small country can we save face.

In March of the ninth year of the Great Cause, nine months after the last failure, Emperor Yang of Sui once again embarked on a journey.

This expedition would have saved his fate. Yang Guang, who embarked on the road of the Eastern Crusade again, was still in a good mood. Good things are grinding, and the wine of success may be more mellow because of a small delay. After a painful summary, the strategic deployment of the Sui army became more practical. After another large-scale search, the Sui army was well paid, with sufficient grain and grass, and morale was quite high. Under the city of Liaodong, they once again encountered the entrenchment of Goryeo. However, this time the Sui army came prepared. They made more than a million cloth bags, filled them with soil, and piled them up into a high road with the city, and Liaodong City was just around the corner. At this time, another large army broke into the Yalu River, and the navy also gathered at Dongnae Cape, and Goryeo's "national situation is declining" and it has reached the autumn of peril. Yang Guang finally put his mind at ease, and made a great deal of poetry under the city of Liaodong, and made the famous poem "White Horse Chapter" of Yixing Yanfei, with the ambition of this trip to the white horse golden shell outfit, rampant Liaoshui.

Whose family is it? Su Wei Yu Lin Lang.

Wen rhino six armor, sword seven starlight.

The mountain bow resounded, and the horns of the earth sounded long.

Wanhe pushes courage, and Longshu is good at power.

Luntai was captured, and Gao Que was the famous king. However, just when the hearts of the people in Goryeo were in turmoil and the Great Sui was completely unified and captured, he suddenly rode into the dust, arrived at the camp in Liaodong at noon on June 28, and reported to Yang Guang:

The aristocrat Yang Xuangan rebelled in Henan. Many of Guan Longxun's sons and daughters rebelled, with tens of thousands of troops, and went straight to the eastern capital.

Every word that came out of the mouth of the panting messenger was like a sharp arrow, shooting into Yang Guang's heart. Beads of sweat the size of beans instantly appeared on his forehead.

He didn't delay for a second, and immediately ordered someone to issue an edict: "The six armies will be returned on the same day." ”

The order to withdraw from the army was issued secretly and quickly. On the second watch of the same night, the 1 million army of the Sui army stopped the onslaught for several days, gave up the fruits that were about to arrive, and gave up the mountains of military rations, tents, materials, and equipment, like a wild wave that was violently beating the city wall, and suddenly returned to the west. The Goryeo soldiers at the head of the city, who had almost given up resistance, were unable to recover for a moment when they saw this spectacle.

If the news of the peasant uprising was nothing more than the sound of mosquitoes and flies buzzing in Yang Guang's ears, then the news of Yang Xuangan's rebellion was a bolt from the blue. Yang Xuangan is not comparable to ordinary people. He is the son of the former prime minister Yang Su, and is now the general of the Zhu State, who attacked the Duke of Chu and repeatedly held the power of the imperial court. This man openly rebelled and recruited a large number of noble children, which proved that the aristocratic forces had launched a frontal challenge to him. The fear that had been in his mind for so many years finally appeared.

Like his father Yang Jian, Yang Guang often had a dream of being hunted down by several sword-wielding nobles in the court. Growing up in aristocratic politics, he has seen too much internal strife, bloodshed, conspiracy, and coups since he was a child. Since ascending the throne, Yang Guang has not relaxed his vigilance against the political opposition. In order to prevent rebellion, he had to take almost all the political opposition and powerful ministers with him on each parade, and led a huge army. He knew that the nobles still had great power.