Among the more than 30,000 prisoners captured by the Sui army, more than 20,000 were elite soldiers. If they were given weapons and equipment and a strong fighting force, they would definitely not be released. catch
It is even more impossible to reorganize them for one's own use, because heavy cavalry and heavy infantry are special units with amazing lethality. Whether it is Goguryeo or the Sui Dynasty, they both value the combat effectiveness of special units, but are worried about their rebellion. , so in addition to bravery, the selected soldiers' background and family background are also key areas of assessment, and because their place of origin and family background are all registered in detail, this type of soldiers also have extremely high loyalty. Besides, it was a national war now, and Yang Ji couldn't instigate more than 20,000 elite soldiers to rebel.
But it doesn't seem possible to trap and kill them like the Turks and Chuyue people. The Turks and Chuyue people themselves are races with no national concept, and they worship the strong very much. Many people even think that the weak in their own tribe are incompetent and deserve to die. Therefore, the more ruthlessly Yang Ji killed him, the more they admired him, and they would not resist to the end because of his previous entrapment and killing actions. Moreover, when Yang Ji fought with them, they all won great victories, which caused the morale of the two tribes to collapse. Naturally, he could take whatever he wanted and do whatever he wanted.
Goguryeo is different. The Goguryeo people's views on right and wrong, friend and foe, and loyalty are not much different from those of the Sui Dynasty. Moreover, the war has just begun. Once he kills too much here, it will inevitably spread, and the soldiers and civilians in other cities will surely They shared the same hatred with the enemy and tried their best to resist, so that they suffered heavy losses but could not capture the city for a long time.
In history, one of the reasons why Li Shimin failed to attack Anshi City for a long time is that after the Tang army failed to attack the city many times, Li Shimin issued an order to massacre the city in order to boost the morale of the Tang army. The morale of the officers and soldiers of the Tang Army has improved, but the soldiers and civilians of Anshi City have also woken up from this——
Damn it, these fierce Tang troops not only want to seize land, they also want to destroy the country and destroy the species! Regardless of whether you resisted or not, whether you were wounded and captured or surrendered directly, whether you were a civilian or a soldier, as long as you were a Goguryeo, you had to die.
Damn it, why are you hesitating? Hit him!
Therefore, in the ensuing battle, the soldiers and civilians of Anshi City fought to the death, and with the power of one city, they held the mighty and powerful hundreds of thousands of Tang troops outside the city. 【Note】Capture
Now, the Sui army had just fought a battle and had not yet occupied the entire Liaodong Plain. If they massacred the prisoners mercilessly, all Goguryeo would surely rise up to resist. As for Gao Yuan and Yuan Ziyou, they probably wanted Yang Ji to do this. But Yang Ji doesn't have that many people to guard the many prisoners who are like "ticking bombs", so it won't work if they don't kill them!
He thought for a long time and said with a headache: "There are more than 30,000 prisoners who cannot be accommodated in the army. Not to mention the heavy logistical pressure, even the guards are not enough. You all tell us, what should we do? These prisoners are the best."
"As the king said, if we fully protect these prisoners, our army's combat troops will be reduced by more than half. As a result, the overall situation will also be greatly affected. If a small number of soldiers are used to escort them to Youzhou as coolies, They will definitely run away halfway, or they may even join forces to cause rebellion in Youzhou. So this is a big problem." Hao Yuan followed Yang Ji's words and continued: "Although Goguryeo was defeated, it was as thin as a camel. Bigger than Ma. Although we defeated the main force of the Xifeng Camp, if these prisoners are returned to the army, the enemy's military strength will greatly increase. I think that all these prisoners should be killed, which will cause heavy losses to Goguryeo. It cannot compete with us, and at the same time it reduces the burden on our army."
Ling Jing also said: "Your Majesty, I also think that keeping them is a burden. It is best to kill them all. Come and deal with them all."
As soon as these words came out, the expressions of the generals present changed slightly, and Yu Wenshu frowned and said: "It is possible to kill, but this will definitely make the Goguryeo people feel the same hatred of the enemy, which is not conducive to the next battle, and it is also not conducive to the next battle. The Sui Dynasty ruled Liaodong in the future. This is the reason why people often say that "killing prisoners is unlucky". Please think again, Your Majesty. "
"This is one of the reasons why I'm worried!" Yang Ji explained his concerns one by one, and finally said to Yuwen Shu: "General Yuwen, please tell me, what should we do?"
When Yu Wenshu heard this, he immediately put out the fire. As Yang Ji said,
What he was facing now was a group of elite soldiers from a foreign race. No matter whether he killed them all, released them, or recruited them to surrender or relocate them, it would not work. Even if he kept them, he would have to worry about them rebelling, so what could he do? catch
For a moment, everyone was silent.
Seeing this, Yang Ji was very angry and said angrily: "When the two armies are fighting, both sides always do whatever they can to eliminate the enemy's vitality. If they kill all these people on the battlefield, , that is a matter of course. But now that he has become a prisoner and surrendered, if he is killed again, all morality will be lost, and the enemy will be able to criticize him and make a big fuss out of it."
"If I had known this, you shouldn't have taken prisoners or captured them alive. If you had killed all the prisoners on the battlefield, how could you have been in such trouble?" He glared at the general who lowered his head and said nothing. Looking at them, Yang Ji said angrily: "After all, this huge trouble is all caused by you! I don't care about this matter. You can discuss it yourself, and you must do it safely and perfectly." Beautiful. If anything goes wrong, don't blame me for being rude."
All the generals: "..."
"Your Majesty, we can actually let them die in battle!" Fang Xuanling, who was standing next to him, said suddenly when he saw that everyone was at their wits' end.
Hearing this, everyone stared at him.
Yang Ji seemed to understand after hearing this and asked, "How do you say this?"
"If the prisoners rebel, it is reasonable and reasonable for us to kill them; if the prisoners try to kill the defenders during the escort, it is also reasonable and reasonable for us to kill them." After giving sufficient reasons, Fang Xuanling glanced at Yang Ji and said, He continued to hint: "Your Majesty, the war has not ended long ago and our army has suffered great losses. It is the right time for the prisoners to make an uproar!"
"Afterwards, we released hundreds of old, weak, sick and disabled people who only heard the mutiny but nothing happened, and gave them some money and food. However, when the soldiers and civilians in other cities saw that our army did not kill the prisoners, the old and the weak, they also If you are given travel expenses and property, your will to resist will certainly not be so strong.”
As Yang Ji listened, a familiar smell emerged spontaneously. Looking back carefully, Tuoba Gui of the Northern Wei Dynasty had done this before. When he attacked Houyan, he destroyed more than 10,000 cavalry and captured 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers. He was also fighting in a different place at that time, so he trapped and killed the prisoners. Afterwards, every time he attacked a city, he encountered stubborn counterattacks. No matter how he tried to recruit surrender, the army and people of Later Yan did not believe him.
Forced to have no choice, he adopted a method similar to what Fang Xuanling said. Not only did he not kill the prisoners, the old and the weak, he also paid the other party money, food and travel expenses. After persisting in this way for a long time, he regained the support of the people and finally made the Northern Wei Dynasty a The most powerful country.
Tuoba Gui was trying to make up for it, which led to very slow progress in "selling it well". However, their Sui army did not kill any Goguryeo prisoners. Therefore, if they adopted the method of letting the old and weak and paying travel expenses, the effect and progress would definitely be better than Tuoba Gui's. .
Thinking of this, Yang Ji asked everyone: "What do you think of this method?"
"Yes!"
"What!"
Everyone agreed.
"This matter has been decided, let these Goguryeo warriors mutiny!" After Yang Ji finished speaking, he asked Hao Yuan: "Chengyuan, how many soldiers are there who are seriously injured and unable to fight anymore, but who cannot die? "
"It's hard to say who will die! But there should be about 4,000 Goguryeo soldiers who are too seriously injured to fight anymore!"
"Place them in a battalion alone, but they must hear the news of the mutiny." After thinking about it, Yang Ji added: "Then give them some money and food for travel, and send them to Liaodong to the south of Changchun Tun. In the future, there will be All seriously injured soldiers like this will be given travel expenses and sent back."
As he said that, Yang Ji laughed and said, "Hey, I, Sui Dynasty, am quite benevolent and righteous, but Gao Yuan Yuan Ziyou is in a state of distress now, but he may not be able to treat kindly these meritorious people who have become a burden."
"Your Majesty is wise!" Everyone admired from the bottom of their hearts. catch
Treating wounded soldiers requires the use of a large number of doctors and medicines. If Gao Yuan fails to treat the wounded soldiers due to the emergency of the war, he will be notorious for "abusing" meritorious soldiers, and the military morale, morale, and fighting spirit of the Goguryeo army will definitely drop sharply as a result. , their loyalty to the Gao family dynasty will also decrease sharply.
On the other hand, the Sui army and the Sui Dynasty could not use these to form a
The burden of threats consumes Goguryeo's supplies and Gao Yuan's reputation, and it can also gain the reputation of a "humane and righteous teacher" who treats prisoners well. This will definitely be beneficial to the subsequent war and future rule.
"Without further delay, start the mutiny as soon as possible!" Yang Ji looked at Yuwen Shu and said, "General Yuwen, you are responsible for this matter."
"Here!" Yu Wenshu had no worries and accepted the order without hesitation to make arrangements.
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[Note: In November of the 16th year of Zhenguan, Goguryeo minister Yeon Gaesumun killed his king Gao Jianwu and established Gao Zang as king. He claimed to be Molizhi and was autocratic in state affairs. In that year, Baekje captured more than 40 cities in Silla, resumed its army with Goguryeo, and completely eliminated Silla's entry into the Tang Dynasty. In September of the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, Silla asked Tang for help. In the first month of the eighteenth year of Zhenguan, Tang sent an envoy to persuade Yuan Gaisuwen to stop his troops, but they were rejected. Li Shimin decided to mobilize the whole country and personally conquer Goguryeo.
Chu Suiliang and other court officials believed that if the whole country marched eastward, Xue Yantuo would definitely take the opportunity to invade south, but Li Shimin would not listen. In July of the 18th year of Zhenguan, he ordered the construction of 400 grain ships to carry military supplies and more than 600 warships to carry soldiers; Zhang Jian, the governor of Ying Prefecture, and others were sent to lead soldiers from You and Ying Prefectures and Khitan, Xi, Mohe and other tribes10 More than ten thousand allied troops attacked Liaodong; Wei Ting, the minister of Taichang, was appointed as the transport envoy, and all the grain from the states in Hebei was used to aid Liaodong; at the same time, official grain from the states south of the Xiaorui Canal was sent to Laizhou. catch
In November, Li Shimin appointed Zhang Liang as the general manager of the march to Pyongyang Road in Luoyang, leading 50,000 to 60,000 troops and more than 500 to 600 warships from Laizhou to Pyongyang; he appointed Li Ji as the general manager of the march to Liaodong Road to lead the Tang Dynasty. 60,000 to 70,000 cavalry and 30,000 to 40,000 Hu soldiers and horses from Lanhe Prefecture point directly at Liaodong. In December, Li Shimin ordered to gather more troops and civilians in Jixian County, and then attacked Goguryeo separately.
Therefore, the army sent by Li Shimin definitely had hundreds of thousands of main battle troops.
As for the Tang Dynasty's retreat, in addition to the well-known reasons, the main reason was that what Chu Suiliang and other court officials were worried about happened - Xue Yantuo took the opportunity to carry out special activities in the north.
Xue Yantuo was far less powerful than Dong (Turk), but the Tang Dynasty was also far inferior to the Sui Dynasty at its peak, so Xue Yantuo was still a behemoth to the Tang Dynasty. Li Shimin saw that a powerful enemy was approaching but his country was empty of troops, so he naturally wanted to withdraw his troops and return reinforcements. 】
