The road from Lishan City to the upper reaches of the Blue River, via the Old Hat River to Lianshanguan is about 160 miles long. However, because the road along the river is extremely difficult, the normal march of Goguryeo soldiers would take a day and a night. , but this time their escape was slowed down by Gao Yuan's family papers, which slowed them down for a whole night. At 3:00 a.m. the next day, when the sky turned white, a team of more than 2,000 infantrymen meandered eastward along the Old Hat River valley.
The leader of this team was Gao Xinggong, who fled from Lishan City to Lianshanguan. When they left Lishan Field, all the troops were on horseback, but soon after the Blue River turned eastward along the Old Hat River, the horses could no longer move. . Gao Xinggong knew that if he was reluctant to abandon his horses, everyone would be trapped in the river valley and captured by the pursuing Sui army. Therefore, except for the more than 400 war horses used for food and those used to carry Gao Yuan's family scrolls, Gao Xinggong Decisively abandoned most of the horses.
Although the center of Goguryeo did not officially widen the roads in the Old Hat River Valley, the successive city lords of Lishan City and Liansanguan on the east and west sides subconsciously sent people to widen and smooth the roads for the convenience of transportation and communication. This also made the roads at both ends of the valley fairly flat. , not as difficult to walk as the middle ground between the two.
After setting foot on the flat road, Gao Xinggong finally breathed a sigh of relief. About half an hour after the team walked out, the soldiers walking in front suddenly shouted loudly, and a loud noise echoed over the river.
"What happened?" Gao Xinggong stepped forward and asked.
A general raised his hands and said: "General, the road ahead is blocked and we can't get through!"
Gao Xinggong ran forward, and sure enough he saw that the narrow place was blocked by stones. The stone wall that appeared out of thin air was more than two feet high, sealing the path forward tightly. People could climb through it. But the problem was that the sudden appearance of the stone wall made him realize something was wrong, and he immediately ordered: "Go back, go back quickly!"
Before they finished speaking, there was suddenly a loud rumbling sound above their heads. When they looked up, they saw dense rocks rolling down from the mountains on both sides and hitting their heads.
The soldiers were smashed to pieces and bleeding, and screams came one after another, but more of them were smashed into flesh by the rolling stones. The blood gurgled from the cracks in the stones, flowing into the old hat like a stream. The river dyed the river bed bright red.
The soldiers of the Goguryeo Army were already exhausted after walking here from Lishan City. However, panic and survival prompted the Goguryeo soldiers to step on the corpses of their companions and scramble to turn around and run back to identify the companions who unfortunately stumbled.
Gao Xinggong was lucky enough to escape. He immediately retreated to the center, desperately guarding Gao Yuan's family with a group of soldiers. He thought he would definitely die, but when he recovered from the shock, he found rolling wood and stone. It only hit the east intersection, but there was not a single log or stone in the middle.
After a moment's thought, he understood the plan of the enemy ambushing here. They wanted to capture Gao Yuan's family alive. Because of this, there were not many rolling logs and stones placed on the top of the mountain, and soldiers were probably ambushed at the exit. If they turned around and ran away at this time, they would definitely die.
Gao Xinggong thought about this and saw the soldiers screaming and running westward in confusion. He immediately shouted with mixed emotions to the pale and trembling soldiers beside him: "Their purpose is to capture the prince and queen alive. We It's safe here; step aside immediately and don't let the soldiers disperse."
At this moment, he is like a mud bodhisattva crossing the river and cannot save himself. He cannot gather the crazy soldiers at all. Please wish yourselves good luck!
The soldiers' psychological quality was stronger than the others. After hearing this, the soldiers rushed to the side to guard Gao Yuan's home, stood close to the mountain, formed a shield array with their round shields, and resisted the impact of the insurgents. .
Gao Shaozu, who was in charge of breaking up the rear, received the news and immediately led hundreds of soldiers to retreat. But at this moment, there was a sound of bangs, and dense arrows were fired like a storm. Gao Shaozu and the soldiers in front were shot like Like a hedgehog, he fell to the ground without even screaming.
There were groups of enemy soldiers rushing down the mountain in front of them, and there were rolling logs, stones and random soldiers pushing behind them. The Goguryeo soldiers had no choice but to raise their shields and charge forward desperately.
Group after group of soldiers died tragically under the dense rain of arrows, but their strong desire to survive still made the soldiers rush forward desperately.
Yang Ji and his soldiers did not participate in this operation of the Sui army, but
It was dominated by Yang Lunjun led by Gao Xingwen. After Yang Ji used Luan Li's military talisman to trick the five thousand defenders of Lianshanguan into heading to the military camp in the south of the city yesterday, he sent a signal to more than five thousand people outside the city to let his troops enter the city together.
Seeing that he did not have extra troops to guard the prisoners, Yang Ji directly used the crossbow arrows stored in the Xicheng military camp to kill all the Goguryeo defenders. Of the 5,000 defenders in the city, no one survived except the Luan brothers.
Then he ordered Gao Xingwen to wait here and ambush Gao Xinggong.
Gao Xingwen waited for about half an hour and saw that no soldiers rushed out of the narrow river valley, so he led the Sui army's sword and shield soldiers who were waiting for him to advance forward on the mountain of corpses, followed by a group of spearmen and crossbowmen. ; As they marched, they killed all the injured Goguryeo soldiers who were not dead, leaving no burden on themselves.
The Sui army was killing and marching, and the remaining Goguryeo power inside was quickly extinguished. The entire road was controlled by the Sui army. Gao Xingwen ordered the soldiers to move away the rolling wood and stones to clear the road, and he walked towards the shield formation surrounded by groups!
He glanced warily and said towards the shield formation: "You have no way to go, no need to waste time, come out!"
After a while, the shield formation slowly cracked, and more than a dozen tall Goguryeo soldiers held swords and fiercely rushed towards Gao Xingwen.
"Hush, rest, rest!" Just as everyone was running wildly, there was a sudden sound of breaking through the air, and the Goguryeo soldiers fell down one after another.
"Stop!" Gao Xinggong's expression changed drastically. Among the remaining soldiers, in addition to his personal soldiers, there were also many dead soldiers of the royal family who were not under his control.
These dead soldiers are a group of beasts who have lost their consciousness and reason, and since Gao Yuan is not here, they only want to capture the Sui army commander alive, and then exchange for the chance of life for the mistress and the young master, regardless of their own desperate charge What consequences will it bring.
One group fell, and the other group charged silently.
"Hush, rest, rest!"
The Sui army had long been prepared for their dying counterattack, and one fatal arrow after another failed to prevent them from getting close to Gao Xingwen. They shot them to the ground one after another. Gao Xinggong tried hard to maintain his calmness, but there was nothing he could do; fortunately, the Sui army The soldiers did not shoot indiscriminately, otherwise none of them would survive, so they could only watch these brainless soldiers die.
"Peng!" As the last dead soldier fell to the ground stiffly, only more than 20 soldiers and Gao Yuan's 60 family scrolls were left around Gao Xinggong.
"Abandon your weapons!" Gao Xinggong sighed and took the lead in throwing down the sword and shield in his hand, not even keeping the dagger.
"Dang, Dang, Dang!" Gao Xinggong's soldiers threw away their weapons without hesitation.
Gao Xingwen waved his hand, and the sword and shield soldiers immediately stepped forward and tied up Gao Xinggong's personal soldiers. When Gao Xinggong saw that the other party had no intention of tying him up, he strode forward, cupped his fists and said, "I am Gao Xinggong, may I ask the general's name?"
"Gao Xingwen, under the command of King Wei!" Gao Xingwen said.
Gao Xinggong was stunned for a moment, then said with a wry smile: "What a coincidence, we are only one word apart."
"You want to have a relationship with me? You are not qualified!" Gao Xingwen smiled coldly and said to Gao Xinggong: "My king has ordered you to go to Lianshan Pass to have a talk."
Gao Xinggong was surprised and said: "King Wei, he is here too? Has the mountain pass been lost?"
Gao Xingwen nodded: "Not bad!"
Gao Xinggong hesitated for a moment and said in disbelief: "You came over Motian Ridge, so where are our five thousand defenders?"
Gao Xingwen said calmly: "I have to say that your soldiers are very brave; everyone would rather die than surrender, and they will all die in battle!"
"I understand!" Gao Xinggong was not a fool, and he also knew that Yang Ji especially liked killing prisoners. How could he not know how the Goguryeo defenders died?
Glancing at Gao Yuan's many family records, Gao Xingwen said, "Let's go!"
"Follow your orders!" Gao Xinggong had no choice but to treat others as swordsmen and fish as flesh and blood.
At this moment, a scout from the east rushed over and loudly reported: "General Gao, the king is here!"
"Oh?" Gao Xingwen was stunned for a moment and quickly ordered the deputy general: "Watch the prisoner carefully."
Hey, we welcome the king! "
"No need!" Gao Xingwen followed the words and saw Yang Ji walking over, followed by Zhu Can and others. Everyone was carrying a baggage and looked like they were about to travel far.
He stepped forward and bowed deeply: "I will finally see you, Your Majesty!"
"Thank you for your hard work, Xingwen." Yang Ji had already received the report from Gao Xingwen's scout. Gao Xingwen performed much better than expected. He helped him up and praised him without hesitation: "You defeated Gao Yuan without any damage." Taking down the family document is a great achievement; afterwards, I will ask for credit specifically for you."
After hearing this, Gao Xingwen's face suddenly turned red. This battle was actually stress-free. Any other general could have done it so well. The reason why Yang Ji gave him the ambush battle was completely because Give him free achievements and make him famous.
He was moved and ashamed and said: "This battle is so insignificant that I dare not receive a reward from the imperial court."
"One thing you need to understand is that although I have given this battle to you, all I want is the final result. And you are the general at the front, and it is up to you to decide how the war is fought." Yang Ji said, "You If you win, you will naturally get the reward you deserve; if you lose, you will still be punished."
"General, I understand." Gao Xingwen was extremely moved. He had followed Yang Ji for many years and was very aware of Yang Ji's style of doing things. He was very kind to his own people. Once he had the opportunity to make meritorious deeds, he would give it to his people every time. Individuals have about the same opportunities; but in the end, it all depends on one's own abilities to see what fame and achievements they can achieve. Of course, if you do something inappropriate or suffer a defeat, you will be punished accordingly.
What he said now was not only to reward himself, but also to say that if it were others, they would also get the rewards they deserve, so that he could relieve himself of the psychological burden and not have any psychological pressure.
But it is precisely because Yang Ji is impartial, fair, and always considers his own people that everyone respects him and is grateful to him.
Seeing that he understood what he meant, Yang Ji stopped mentioning the matter and changed the subject: "After all the mountains are concerned, I should take the prisoners back. Everything here will be left to you. Don't let me down." .”
In fact, this was also a prior arrangement, but when the matter came to an end, Gao Xingwen couldn't help but look nervous, but he still solemnly said: "I will obey your order."
"Don't worry!" Yang Ji smiled and said, "In addition to your three thousand soldiers and horses, I will ask Yang Changshi to lead a thousand personal soldiers to help you."
Gao Xingwen was overjoyed and his heart calmed down: "Thank you, Your Majesty."
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Just as Yang Ji and Gao Xingwen were saying goodbye, a big battle was about to take place in the City of Empress, south of Qianshan and on the shore of Wuhu Sea.
Following the order of Zhou Fa Shang, Mai Mengcai led 5,000 soldiers as the vanguard and successfully captured Jili City in the northwest of Bisha River and Niangniang City in the southeast yesterday. However, they didn't even have time to rest when they heard the news of Daxing City. News of the city lord Wu Bin coming west with an army of 60,000.
Since Niangniang City was directly facing the enemy, General Mai Mengcai did not dare to be careless. He only left 300 soldiers and wounded soldiers to guard Jili City, and personally led 4,000 soldiers to take over the city defense.
At this time, the red sun was rising slowly, and the gorgeous morning glow penetrated through the thick clouds and fell on the Niangniang City with four closed gates. Teams of soldiers shuttled back and forth, sweating like rain, carrying the city defense supplies to the top of the city.
Mai Mengcai came to Dongcheng wearing armor and a horizontal sword hanging on his waist. He frowned and looked into the distance with a serious expression. After a while, he turned around and said to the heroic deputy general next to him: "Wu Bin's Army It consists of 30,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry. According to the report from the scouts, they have stopped twenty miles away. It seems that they have received news of the fall of Niangniang City and Jili City, and are preparing to attack the city. If As I expected, those who come first will need cavalry. Although the cavalry cannot attack the city, it can put pressure on us and consume our army's physical strength and energy."
His lieutenant general's name was Wei Kuangbo, whose courtesy name was to ward off evil spirits. He was a descendant of Jingzhao Wei's family, the grandson of Wei Xiaokuan, Duke of Yun, the second son of Chief Wei Wei, Duke Huai of Henan, and the younger brother of Wei Yuancheng, Duke of Henan.
In the fifth year of Jianwu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, when he accompanied Emperor Wu of the Zhou Dynasty to the Northern Qi Dynasty, his father, Mr. Wei, charged into the battle and died in battle.
On the battlefield of Bingzhou, he was given to the Duke of Henan Province and inherited by his eldest brother Wei Yuanzhao. However, his grandfather Wei Xiaokuan died four years later, so the vacated higher-level Duke Xun Guo was succeeded by Wei Kuangbo, the second oldest.
After Yang Jian established the Sui Dynasty, he did not deny the titles conferred by the Northern Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, the Wei brothers have always been the elder brother of the county and the younger brother of the country. In the first year of Renshou, Yang Jian awarded Wei Kuangbo the post of Zhonglang General of the Zuo Guard, responsible for protecting Yang Guang, who was the prince at the time. After Yang Guang ascended the throne, he was awarded Qian Niu to prepare for the war, and he was changed to Shu Guogong.
[In view of the general environment,
The reason why Wei Kuangbo was able to participate in the Battle of Goguryeo this time was mainly related to the transactions between Yang Ji and the big families in Guanzhong. As long as they transported grain to Liaodong and sold it to the army at the market price, he would not only recruit and give their children the opportunity to make meritorious deeds, but also Afterwards, he also recommended three disciples to Yang Guang who had made "great achievements".
The Wei family, like the Dugu family, also sent 300,000 stones; and sent more than a dozen of their children to fight with the army, and they hoped that the person they hoped Yang Ji would focus on cultivating was Duke Shu. This is because although Wei Kuangbo is a son of a general and started his career as a military general in the Sui Dynasty, he is already thirty-five years old, but he has not fought a single battle and has not made any achievements. There is a rather embarrassing existence in the system.
In this war, Wei Kuangbo was also a noble son sent by Yang Ji to work with Yang Lun. However, because he, the prince, had no experience in leading troops, he was reduced to a man who was nearly ten years younger than him and without a title. Mai Mengcai's subordinates.
It's just that he was well-educated and well-educated, and he was past the age of rebelliousness, so instead of looking down on and making things difficult for Mai Mengcai, he seriously studied with this young general.
After listening to Mai Mengcai's words, Wei Kuangbo said with some worry: "Wu Bin is going to rescue Gao Yuan, and he has the advantage of soldiers and horses. Once he arrives, he will definitely launch a fierce offensive, and our army only has four thousand, and the city It’s not high, so the only way out is to wait for help.”
After saying that, he asked: "General, I wonder when the Xiaoguo Army will arrive?"
"Tomorrow!" Mai Mengcai was silent for a while, then said, "But it's best to arrive the day after tomorrow."
Wei Kuangbo asked in astonishment: "But why?"
"We can hold it!" Mai Mengcai said confidently: "The longer we delay, the lower the enemy's morale will be, and the longer the Navy and Xiaoguo Army can rest. If both sides attack, Wu Bin will die. "
Wei Kuangbo smiled bitterly when he heard this: He found that all the generals brought out by Yang Ji were so domineering and confident; but it has to be said that they do have the ability to be confident.
