Chapter 108: The Battle of Hainan
Silla raised 1.8 million soldiers and horses, but accounted for nearly 30% of the country's population, and almost all men over the age of 13 and under the age of 60 were forcibly conscripted into the army.
After Hyun-gi took Jeju Island, he turned Jeju Island into the base camp of the naval army, and began to send a large army, and the troops were divided into two routes. One of them, led by Zhuge Yunzhi, traveled north along the coastline east of Silla to implement a plan to burn ships. The other 300,000-strong army, led by Xuan Qi himself, headed towards Hainan in southern Silla.
After leaving 30,000 sailors to guard the ships, the 270,000 troops all landed at the southern tip of the Hainan Peninsula, quickly took Nancangli and other small cities, and approached Hainan City. Pei Hongdao, the defender of Hainan City, only had 20,000 defenders, and in the face of the Xuanqi army, he could only shrink back, hoping that the Xuanqi army would just pass by from here.
Xuan Qibing besieged Hainan City, seeing that the city wall of Hainan City was only more than one zhang high, he immediately ordered the army to attack with all his strength, and he rushed to the city wall first. Under the rain of arrows from 20,000 archers, the Silla soldiers defending the city did not even dare to show their heads out of the city walls, so they could only lie under the battlements to avoid the arrows.
The city wall more than one zhang high couldn't stop Xuan Qi at all, as well as Chu Lin and the others behind Xuan Qi. Xuan Qi rushed forward quickly, and he was already jumping up in the air, and the spear in his hand was lightly touched on the city wall, and he was already on the city wall. In order to prevent accidental injury, the archers stopped, and the besieging officers and soldiers began to move forward quickly with ladders.
Seeing Xuan Qi rushing to the city wall, several Silla soldiers hurriedly got up from the ground and raised their spears to surround Xuan Qi. Xuan Qi's wrist shook continuously, and in an instant, three Silla soldiers were shot and fell. Xuan Qi waved his spear to protect a small piece of the city wall behind him, and Chu Lin and the others had already rushed to the city wall quickly.
Dozens of Silla soldiers couldn't resist the impact of more than a dozen Xuanmen disciples, and soon lost a section of the city wall seven or eight zhang wide, and the officers and soldiers under the city took advantage of the situation to set up a ladder and quickly climbed up to the city wall. As more and more officers and soldiers rushed to the city wall, the Silla soldiers could only keep retreating on both sides.
Xuan Qi left the Silla soldiers on the city wall to the officers and soldiers, and he took Chu Lin and others to jump off the city wall and head towards the city gate not far away. At the city gate, there were thousands of Silla soldiers blocking the way. Xuan Qi didn't say much, and threw out the spear in his hand with force, and the spear quickly shot into the Silla soldiers, and it actually passed through three Silla soldiers in a row, which stopped castration.
When the Silla soldiers saw that Xuan Qi was so brave, they all jumped. When the formation was slightly chaotic, Xuan Qi had already rushed into the Silla soldiers, grabbed them with both hands in a row, and threw them out as if they were weapons. Almost every Silla soldier who was thrown out would knock down two or three of his companions, and the Silla soldiers were in chaos. At this time, the officers and soldiers of the Celestial Empire, who had already climbed the city wall, also began to descend from the ladder and launched an attack in the direction of the city gate. The two sides fought each other in a melee battle.
Xuan Qi slashed a Silla soldier in front of him to death, grabbed the spear of the Silla soldier, and rushed straight towards the city gate like a dragon entering the sea. Everywhere the spear passed, the Silla soldiers were either killed or wounded, and soon, Xuanqi rushed out four or five zhang away, not far from the city gate. As the Celestial Empire became more and more officers and soldiers, more and more Silla soldiers fell, and the rout began to appear.
At this time, Xuan Qi had already rushed into the city gate cave, and Chu Lin and the others behind him followed closely. More than a dozen Silla soldiers in the cave of the city gate tried to step forward to stop them, but they couldn't stop everyone at all, and the city gate was quickly opened. Countless officers and soldiers rushed in from the city gate, and under the attack from both sides, the Silla soldiers at the city gate were quickly wiped out.
The army entered the city, and the one-sided slaughter began. Pei Hongdao knew that he could no longer hold Hainan City, so he rushed out of the north gate with five hundred personal soldiers. Outside the north gate, waiting for him was the famous general Gao Yao. Gao Yao saw Pei Hongdao rushing out of the city gate, and immediately ordered the whole army to surround it, tens of thousands of people surrounded the five hundred Hun regiments, and Gao Yao took the lead and rushed to Pei Hongdao. Pei Hongdao was not Gao Yao's opponent, and after three or four rounds, he was pierced through the chest by the iron spear in Gao Yao's hand, and he was killed. The 500 Silla soldiers were quickly swept away by the officers and soldiers, who rushed into the city of Hainan from the north gate.
Two hours later, all the Silla soldiers in Hainan City had been slaughtered. Xuan Qi ordered the whole army to drive more than 4,000 old, weak, sick and disabled people in the city together, looking at these old and weak and sick people, Xuan Qi couldn't do anything, so he had to disperse them.
After that, Xuanqi divided the army into two routes, one was led by Gao Yao, and directly took Kangjin, Changxing, and Baocheng, while Xuanqi led the army to the north, captured Lingyan, and forced Luozhou. Kim Ji-ri, the defender of Naju, held on to the city while quickly asking for help from Gwangju. Gwangju general Lu Hanying knew that the Xuanqi army was fierce, but he did not dare to send reinforcements, but stepped up the repair of the city defense.
Luozhou City is much higher than Hainan City, with mountains and rivers in its back, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the garrison in the city has reached 50,000. The guard Jin Zhili scolded Lu Hanying for not saving him when he saw death, and he could only step up the strict investigation of the city defense. Jin Zhili, who had heard a little about the name of Xuanqi's "butcher", although she was a little apprehensive, she was still determined to live and die with Luozhou City.
Gao Yao's army had already captured Baocheng at this moment, and turned from Baocheng to the north, quickly approaching Heshun.
Looking at Luozhou City, which could not hold out, Xuan Qi was still a little depressed. In order to check the terrain, Xuan Qi took Chu Lin and Li Xinchen to the top of the mountain, and looking down from the top of the mountain, Luozhou City was in full view. On one side of the mountain is a cliff, and it is impossible to go down. To the east and south of the city, however, it was close to the great river, which was so wide and so fast that it was impossible to storm the city. What can be attacked is the short thirty zhang city wall at the north gate.
The three of them continued along the cliff, but they saw a flat lake in the distance. Xuan Qi walked to the lake, took a look at the terrain, Pinghu to the direction of Luozhou City, but there is an old river, and a dam has been built against Pinghu. The three of them walked along the river, but the exit of the river was just near the north gate wall, which seemed to be built after blocking the Pinghu Lake and diverting the water outlet. Xuan Qi suddenly thought about it, and the three of them immediately returned to the camp and began to prepare.
After dark, a small group of officers and soldiers, led by Chu Lin, came to the Pinghu Dam. After a midnight effort, all the explosives were placed in the holes dug out of the dam, and a long lead was pulled up the hillside on one side of the dam.