The location of Liaodong City is very important, and Goguryeo naturally cannot allow it to be captured by the Tang army.
However, Goguryeo did not engage in a large-scale decisive battle with the Tang army, and its understanding of the Tang army came more from the intelligence collected.
In addition, the more important point is that the Goguryeo people have the confidence to successfully defeat the Sui Dynasty's million-strong army in three violent attacks decades ago.
In their view, the Sui army and the Tang army had similar origins, so it was natural for them to be included.
The last point is that the Gaogu (Gou) beauties believe that they are more tolerant of severe cold than the Tang army and have an advantage in fighting in the cold winter.
Yeon Gaesumun, the powerful minister who really took power in Goguryeo, was extremely ambitious and wanted to defeat the main force of the Tang army through a cold winter field battle.
In this way, as long as the Tang army was defeated, it would be a pure dream for those defeated soldiers to flee thousands of miles back to Youzhou in the cold wind and heavy snow.
If hundreds of thousands of Tang troops were buried in the ice and snow, there is no chance that Goguryeo would still have a chance to peek into China.
Yuan Gaisuwen was ambitious and wanted to defeat the main force of the Tang Dynasty in one battle, and even captured Li Er to peek into the Middle Earth.
After all, I have won before, so I feel like I can still win now.
After reconciling with Gao Jianwu, the two pieced together a force of more than 100,000 troops.
This is basically the entire field mobile power of Goguryeo at this time.
Because of the freezing weather and the difficulty of marching, they trudged all the way to the twelfth lunar month before finally arriving near Liaodong City.
After learning that Liaodong City had not been captured yet, Yuengai Suwen breathed a sigh of relief.
If Liaodong City had already fallen, then this risky attack would have lost its cornerstone.
On a hill forty miles southeast of Liaodong City, Yuan Gaisuwen and Gao Jianwu stood side by side.
Looking at the dense Tang army camp in the distance, Gao Jianwu put down the single-barrel telescope smuggled from Datang at a high price and asked worriedly, "Can we win?"
Yeon Gaesoo-moon, who also put down the monocular, responded in a deep voice, "I have lost so much and come here, I must fight."
They gathered troops and horses from all over the country and rushed here. They lost thousands of troops and horses along the way, and the number of logistics workers transporting supplies was lost several times that.
If we return without starting a war at this time, it will really become a big joke.
“It’s a rare opportunity right now.”
Yeon Gaesumun stretched out his hand and pointed in the direction of the Tang army's camp, "The emperor of the Tang Dynasty is over there. This is Goguryeo's best opportunity."
In his mind, he imagined that he could defeat the main force of the Tang army, even shoot Li Er out of his eyes, and then pursue them all the way to Chang'an City. Everything in the prosperous Tang Dynasty would be theirs.
Seeing that Gao Jianwu was still hesitant, Yeon Gaesumun felt contempt in his heart, but he persuaded him sternly, "It's cold and freezing now, and the weather is with me. The Tang army traveled thousands of miles, but they couldn't even capture Liaodong City. The geographical advantage is with us." . Our soldiers protect our homeland and our country. Humanity is with us.
. "
"Goguryeo is the right place at the right time and with the right people and we will definitely win."
After taking a tube of chicken blood, Yeon Gaesumun breathed out, "We all know why the Tang army wanted to march in winter. If they can't be driven away, wait until spring comes..."
"knew."
The livid-faced Gao Jianwu turned his horse's head and said, "Then fight!"
Gao Jianwu's strength was average, with only 40,000 to 50,000 troops, and the other troops belonged to Yeon Gaesumun.
Originally, in history, Gao Jianwu would be destroyed by Yeon Gaesumun after failing to fight for power in two years.
It's just that now it's a matter of life and death for Goguryeo, so we can only join hands to resist the Tang army first.
While Goguryeo was busy preparing for a decisive battle with the Tang army, the Tang army was naturally not idle either.
Li Er in the big tent was discussing the battle procedure with a group of generals.
Faced with such a battle that would surely go down in history to destroy the country, everyone was extremely enthusiastic about putting forward their opinions. Even the young Xue Rengui loudly explained his opinions to Li Er.
After everyone finished speaking, Li Er's eyes fell on Li Yunze, who was sitting on a horse in the corner with his eyes closed and concentrating.
"Zihou, what do you want to say?"
Li Yunze opened his eyes and said calmly, "The main attack is on Yeon Gaesumun's headquarters."
Li Er raised his eyebrows and asked, "Why?"
"Yeongae Suwen is a powerful minister and has irreconcilable conflicts with Goguryeo King Gao Jianwu. If the Tang Dynasty does not come to fight, they will fight among themselves."
"Yuan Gaisuwen is stronger and defeated his troops. Even if he is allowed to escape by chance, he will definitely attack Gao Jianwu immediately."
Xue Rengui was very confused when he said this, "Why is this?"
Li Yunze glanced at him, "Because he has lost his strength, Yeon Gaesumun can no longer suppress Gao Jianwu. If he doesn't want to die, he can only strike first."
Xue Rengui was still waiting to ask again, but Li Er over there already said, "That's it."
Both sides are gearing up and looking forward to the decisive battle that will determine the fate of the country, and both believe they can win.
Goguryeo's confidence came from what they believed was the right time, place, and people, as well as their confidence in defeating the Sui army before.
The confidence of the Tang army came from their fully guaranteed logistics, which overcame the strength of the surrounding countries, and the high morale brought by the emperor's personal expedition.
Two days later, the heavy snow that was flying all over the sky finally stopped, and the dark clouds dispersed in the sky, revealing a rare glimpse of sunshine.
Both sides prepared meals in advance, and then troops drove out of the camp one after another and gathered in the open space between the two armies.
The Tang army did not show its strength advantage, because it had to leave enough troops and horses to block the Liaodong City behind it, and the number of Tang troops sent to the battle was not much greater than that of Goguryeo's reinforcements.
However, when the two sides completed their formation, the gap quickly became apparent intuitively.
The Tang army basically wore iron armor outside their cotton-padded clothes, and they were all equipped with leather hats, leather gloves and boots.
The armor coverage rate of Goguryeo is less than 80%, and the armor coverage rate of iron armor is just over half.
Over the years, Goguryeo smuggled many iron products from the Tang Dynasty at all costs and rebuilt them after melting them.
The most important thing is the number of armored stomachs, which is naturally inferior to the Tang army. Not even the quality.
The Tang army basically used plate armor forged by water conservancy, while Goguryeo mainly used fish scale armor and chain armor.
Yeon Gaesumun originally thought that the Tang army would be tortured by the cold weather, but when they faced the battle, they were shocked to find that the Tang army was very powerful. It was not at all due to the cold weather and the imagined inability to transport supplies in time. And the depressed look
.
In Yeon Gaesumun's view, the Tang army's supplies had to be transported with difficulty from Youzhou, thousands of miles away, to the front line in such cold weather conditions.
Considering the number of people in the Tang army, the amount of supplies required was extremely large, and the difficulty was naturally greater.
He never expected that the Tang Army's supply team could really meet the needs of so many Tang Army.
What Yuan Gaisuwen didn't know was that in order to support the Tang army in this battle, Li Yunze concentrated almost all the Sharma horses that the Tang Dynasty had cultivated over the years here in Youzhou.
Tens of thousands of Sharmas dragged specially modified sledge-like trucks from Youzhou to the front line.
In order to maintain this transportation line, thousands of Shire horses are lost every month, which really makes the person responsible for raising horses heartbroken and faints from tears.
It's just that Li Yunze and Li Er were indifferent to this. Good steel should be used on the blade, and they raised so many Shire horses in order to play a decisive role at this critical moment.
The result of such no expense wasted that the Tang Army was able to maintain its combat power in today's decisive battle.
Even before the battle in the morning, Tang Jun ate hot food. As long as he could eat dried meat and cheese, he could eat as much as he wanted.
On the contrary, even if Goguryeo is fighting locally, its logistical supply capabilities are far inferior to those of the Tang army. Before they go to war, ordinary sergeants only eat dry food.
The various differences between the two sides would not have much impact individually, but the cumulative effect would eventually be reflected on the battlefield.
Li Yunze did not go into battle, but stood on the viewing platform with his hands folded and looked towards the battlefield.
Opposite Goguryeo's military formation, the central army was flying the flag of its leader Gao Jianwu, while Yeon Gaesumun's troops were distributed on the two wings.
After thinking for a moment, Li Yunze understood Yeon Gaesumun's plan.
This is the main attack that wants to use Gao Jianwu as bait to attract the Tang army. After all, he is the king of Goguryeo.
Then he took advantage of the main force of the Tang army to attack Gao Jianwu, and sent troops to flank the two flanks of the Tang army. Moreover, it seems that he mainly concentrated the cavalry on the left wing, and he also planned to seize the opportunity to quickly attack Li Er's central army.
"Ah."
After seeing through Yeon Gaesumun's subordinates, Li Yunze sat on the horse and hugged his knees and weighed his legs, "Li Er is not called the God of War. This trick is useless to him."
Yeon Gae So-moon's plan is wonderful, but the key question is whether it can be achieved.
Speaking of Goguryeo, it was also unlucky. It had been dormant in the mountains and forests for hundreds of years. It developed in a low-key manner and slowly accumulated strength and began to rise.
After the country's national power entered an explosive period, it was hit hard by Cao Wei, and even the capital Marudo City was destroyed.
At that time, Cao Wei thought that Goguryeo had been destroyed, so he withdrew his troops. Otherwise, there would be no more problems with Goguryeo in the future.
Goguryeo licked its wounds and lay dormant for another hundred years. When the Middle-earth was in chaos, it not only rebuilt Wandu City, but also gradually annexed the four counties of Liaodong.
Then he attacked Baekje, Silla, Khitan, Fuyu, etc., and became a local hegemon.
The result of being too high-profile was that he was beaten repeatedly by Gao Yang, Yu Wenyong, Yang Jian and others, and even the capital was destroyed many times.
In other words, he just defeated Yang Guang.
Of course, in history, it also resisted Li Er's personal conquest, but during the Li rule period, when Goguryeo was at its strongest, it was still wiped out by the Tang Dynasty.
Now, there is no need for Li Zhi, Li Er himself is determined to destroy Goguryeo.
After the battle began, the Tang army was just as Yeon Gaesumun thought. The main force concentrated on attacking Gao Jianwu in the middle. It looked like they were competing for the great credit of killing the leader of Goguryeo.
Moreover, the right wing of the Tang Army was relatively weak. After several rounds of charge with Yuengai Suwen's cavalry group, it showed that it was unable to do what it wanted.
After careful observation, Yeon Gaesumun concluded that the best fighter opportunity he had been waiting for finally appeared. He immediately led tens of thousands of cavalry without hesitation, like a torrent, bypassing the main battlefield in the middle and heading straight for Li Er's big banner. .
If he were called the God of War instead, he would probably be able to run away.
It's a pity that Yeon Gaesumun is facing Li Er, the most tyrannical emperor among hundreds of emperors.
Everything that happened before was just Li Er's arrangement to seduce Yuan Gaisuwen.
When Yeon Gaesumun's cavalry approached, the Tang army's backhand quickly launched. More cavalry than the Goguryeo people trampled them with their hooves, colliding with each other and outflanking them!
