Catkin indeed has two important things to say. The first is related to Yang Lun. Because Gaimou City, Anshi City, and the Liaodong Peninsula benefited from the victory of Niangniang City, the victory of "Thousands of Mountains and Green Sand Rivers", and Zhou Fashang's sword pointed at Goguryeo. In the hinterland and to the north, there is Yang Ji who is staring at Yuan Ziche, turning it from the frontier of the war to the hinterland. If heavy troops are used to guard Anshi City in Gaimou City, it will be a waste of manpower and troops. Therefore, Yang Lun personally led 10,000 troops. Five thousand troops went north to join the battle, and their lieutenants were Zong Luohu and Xue Wanjun, who had made the trip in vain.
In the previous battle plan, Yang Lun's fifteen thousand men were originally responsible for cruising outside and containing Yuan Ziche, so that Yang Ji could concentrate on annihilating the other two armies. However, Yang Ji had many elites and progressed too fast; and Yang Lun also spent some time in the ambush battle of "Thousands of Mountains and Green Sand Rivers", so before Yang Lun's army sent troops, Yang Ji had already defeated Yang Xian's army and Dong Chong's army outside Hengshan City and Lishan City.
However, as the saying goes, a good meal is never afraid of being late. After Yang Jijun chased and fought two battles in the wild, his troops and horses were somewhat exhausted; and the arrival of Yang Lunjun happened to become a new force in the battle of Goguryeo City.
Secondly, the scouts brought the latest military information of Goguryeo City. Judging from what the scouts knew, Yuan Ziche and Wu Taian had 60,000 infantry and cavalry. However, after Yang Xian and Dong Chong were defeated, they also brought their defeated troops to join them. , plus the defeated troops who fled back, the total strength was close to 80,000; this means that in the two battles Yang Ji fought before, the number of enemies he annihilated was only about 40,000.
The Goguryeo City where they were stationed faced the north bank of the Haicheng River in the south, Lishan City in the east, Jian'an City in the west, and Yantong Mountain in the north. However, because Goguryeo City was relatively narrow and was only an isolated city, the four generals divided the army into two and led by Yuan. Zi Che and Yang Xian led 40,000 soldiers to garrison on the hillside of Yantong Mountain in the northeast of the city, while Wu Tai'an and Dong Chong led more than 30,000 soldiers to garrison in the city.
Returning to the Chinese army's tent, Yang Ji immediately summoned the generals to discuss matters. After all the generals arrived, he explained the two military situations.
After listening to Yang Ji's introduction, the tent was quiet. Seeing everyone thinking silently, Xue Ju took the lead in expressing his opinion: "Your Majesty, the enemy's total strength is about 80,000. Although our army is not afraid, if we attack by force, our army will You will pay a heavy price, and in the end you will think that a forceful attack is not an option, and that it is better to be smart."
"Your Majesty, what General Xue said is very true. The last general also believes that taking advantage of wisdom is the best strategy." After Wang Xingben finished speaking, he bowed his hand to Yang Ji and asked, "But I wonder if your Majesty has any good strategy to defeat the enemy?
"General Wang, don't worry. Let's wait until we understand the situation of Goguryeo City." Yang Ji thought for a moment and asked Hulu Jin: "General Hulu, the situation of Goguryeo City and Yantong Mountain, as well as the connection between the two, Have you ever understood?"
Hu Lujin had used his actions to prove his loyalty to the Sui Dynasty in the two battles. What's more, everyone knew that Gaogu City was in danger and could only follow the Sui Dynasty all the way to the end. , there is no other choice.
Yang Ji also knew that it was impossible for him to foolishly rebel against the Sui Dynasty at this time, so he took the lead in asking this Liaodong native who was familiar with Liaodong.
Hu Lujin knew the terrain of the Liaodong Plain well. He bowed to Yang Ji and said, "Your Majesty, I will be very familiar with these. Considering the current position of our army and the upcoming western expedition, Goguryeo City is a strategic hub." , its location is right between Yantong Mountain and Haicheng River. If our army captures Goguryeo City, we can march straight in and attack Jian'an City behind it."
"If we cannot capture Goguryeo City, we have only two ways to capture Jian'an City. One is to cross the Haicheng River and march from the south bank. However, Jian'an City is on the north bank of the entrance to Liaoning, and due to the large amount of water downstream, our army will There are no boats to cross the river; this will be very time-consuming and laborious. Second, the army bypasses the northern foot of Yantong Mountain, but this will take three or four days longer to travel."
Hu Lujin first introduced the importance of Goguryeo City from an overall perspective, and then said in detail: "Yantong Mountain lies on the plain, and is a gentle hill running northwest and southeast; when viewed from a distance, It seems to be a lush mountain forest that is difficult to walk, but because the trees on the mountain are all tall pine forests and fir trees, they block the sun and make the ground clean and weed-free. The Yantong Mountain Camp, which is relatively close to us, is located in the middle of the southeastern foothills of Yantong Mountain. On the mountainside, the city of Goguryeo is more than ten miles southwest of Daying."
Hearing this, everyone understood that in order to break Juli City, they must first conquer the Yantongshan Camp. Since the military camp was close to the Sui army, it was no wonder that there were more soldiers in the military camp than in the city. Yang Ji asked again: "Is the city of Goguryeo integrated with the southern foot of the mountain?"
"No!" Hu Lujin shook his head and explained: "Goguryeo City is an independent existence. The north city wall is one mile wide from the south foothills. This gap is a flat land that slopes slightly to the south. The south city wall is about 1 mile wide from Haicheng Hebei There are about four miles of shore, and between them is a beach formed by alluvial water. In addition, the river water surges during the rainy season and is irrigated all year round. The beach is very soft, making it difficult for cavalry to travel, and heavy siege equipment cannot pass through this beach. "
Seeing that he had introduced him to this point, Yang Ji already had a good strategy in mind to defeat the enemy. He smiled and said: "After General Hulu said this, this battle has become very easy and simple, and there is no need to even attack by force."
The generals were overjoyed when they heard this, and asked one after another: "I wonder if your Majesty has any good ideas?"
"Fire attack!" Yang Ji looked through the tent door to the sky outside. Seeing that the clouds in the sky were still shining with magnificent colors, a flash of excitement suddenly flashed in his eyes. He turned to the generals and said: "The camp at Yantong Mountain is located on the mountain. The camp was built to provide us with a fire attack. As long as we use flammable materials to ignite the pine and fir trees on the mountain, the fire will spread quickly. If we set the fire at night, we can easily break through the camp. And burned some enemy soldiers to death; as Gaoju City was only about one mile away from the mountain, the soldiers in the city had no choice but to abandon the city and leave under the fire. And what we have to do next is to follow the fire Attack and deploy troops according to the enemy's escape route."
As Yang Ji presented the battle plan one by one, the generals' eyes gradually brightened: "Your Majesty, this method is excellent. Please assign tasks to your Majesty."
"We will send a partial division to sneak into the mountains tonight to prepare for setting fire!" Yang Ji said: "And the main force will march towards the enemy camp on Yantong Mountain early tomorrow morning to divert the enemy's attention from the front. In terms of distance, the day after tomorrow will It will arrive at that time, and the enemy must seize the time to rest the night after tomorrow in order to prepare for the next day's battle. So what I mean is that fires are set off at four o'clock the day after tomorrow, when people are sleeping the most deeply. Once the fire comes down, at least Able to burn some enemy troops to death.”
After pondering for a while, Yang Ji added: "If you want the fire to spread quickly and become a disaster, you must use a large amount of flammable materials. However, there are no flammable materials in the military camp and Lishan City, so they need to be transported from Hengshan City. Can Wei Yun He led 6,000 cavalry from Hengshan City to join the battle and was responsible for intercepting deserters northwest of the enemy camp at Yantong Mountain. At the same time, he was asked to bring a large amount of flammable materials and hand them over to the partial divisions that were joining him."
"As for King Teng's army, there is no need to join us. Let him go around to the west city of Goguryeo City to ambush the enemy troops fleeing towards Jian'an City."
With that said, Yang Ji asked Ling Jing, "Does Ling Canjun have anything to add?"
Ling Jing said: "Your Majesty has thought very carefully, and there is nothing much to add to this humble position."
"Yeah!" Yang Ji nodded.
When Hu Lujin saw that the arrangements were completed, he stood up humbly and asked for his orders: "Your Majesty, the last general is a middle-aged man. His intelligence and bravery are not as good as those of other generals. However, the last general is from Liaodong. He knows the terrain here very well and knows how to do it." Only in this way can I sneak into the enemy camp and Goguryeo City, so I think I am more suitable than other generals to set fire to the mountain."
Everyone couldn't help laughing when they heard "It's suitable to set the mountain on fire".
Yang Ji originally planned to ask Hu Lujin to set the fire, but when he saw him volunteering, he said, "Okay, I'll leave this matter to General Hu Lu. You can bring your troops to meet with General Wei Yunqi tonight and get the After removing the flammable materials, immediately sneak into the mountains and set fire to them at the fourth quarter of the day after tomorrow."
Hu Lujin was overjoyed and solemnly responded to the order: "I will obey your orders! I will definitely live up to your great king's trust."
After arranging the most critical "arsonist", Yang Ji no longer wasted time and immediately dispatched scouts to convey combat instructions to Wei Yunqi and Yang Lun in an urgent manner of 800 miles.
.
.
.
Early the next morning, Yang gathered all the soldiers and horses in the camp and advanced towards Goguryeo City in the west.
The army marched all the way west. When they camped to rest at night, they received a military message from the scouts. It was that more than 10,000 allied troops from Songshugou and Naogoumen in the north were heading south. It seemed that they were coming to harass the Sui army's rear army. However, they Knowing that the main force of the Sui army was marching westward, how could they dare to continue going south? So they turned around and withdrew to Songshugou, which is known as the southern gate of Liaodong City.
Although Yang Ji did not follow to attack this enemy army that was likely to cause a huge change, he did not turn a blind eye either. He immediately asked Yang Yan to leave the army and led three thousand elite cavalry northward for surveillance. He was also responsible for spying on the military situation and terrain of Songshugou.
After dinner, we received another battle report from Yang Yichen. But it was a 'good intention' plan to return Gao Yuan's family papers, and it was already a great success.
First, the Goguryeo defenders at Changgong Ridge were demoralized by the corpses of Gao Huizhen and Gao Xinggong, and the heads of Wu Bin and Eulji Yideok. In addition, Yang Yichen harassed them day and night and continuously sent troops to conquer and eradicate small strongholds, resulting in A large number of deserters appeared in his army. Although Yang Wanchun continued to defend the ancient city on the mountain, Yang Yichen dug springs at the foot of the mountain and drained all the water from the wells on the mountain.
The water at the gate of the city naturally dried up. In such a sultry summer weather, the soldiers and horses in the city could not hold on for long without water.
Yang Wanchun was faced with the worry of water shortage. At first, he sent 5,000 soldiers to fetch water from mountain streams and pools several miles away. However, Yang Yichen and others had long expected that Goguryeo would go out of the city to fetch water, and sent 3,000 Sui troops over the mountains in advance. Passed by, occupied a dangerous place, and successfully ambush the Goguryeo army that was fetching water.
After a fierce battle, more than 3,000 of the 5,000 soldiers and horses who were fetching water were killed. In the end, they could not fetch water, so they fled in vain because of their defeat.
On the second day, the situation of the ancient city defenders immediately deteriorated. People could survive as long as they had a little water to survive, but the horses could not support it, and a large number of horses began to die of dehydration. This resulted in even more desertions.
Forced to have no choice, Yang Wanchun obtained Gao Yuan's consent, abandoned the Changgong Ridge defense line, and joined forces with Yuan Zicheng in the military camp on the south bank of Daliang River and northeast of Liaodong City. However, Yuan Zicheng's army was also under the control of Gao Yuan's family. Influence. Finally, they returned to Liaodong City together. Prepare for a vigorous offensive and defensive battle with the Sui Dynasty.
Liaodong City is known as the northern capital of Goguryeo. The Gao family dynasty and the Yuan family attached great importance to city defense construction. Not only was the city tall and strong, but the two high city walls inside and outside made the city into a big "hui" shape. If the urn city outside was If it fell, the Sui army would be blocked by the five-foot-high inner city wall.
Moreover, according to the military information provided by the inner ghosts Tan Yun and Gao Jianwu, Goguryeo has stockpiled enough food for 300,000 troops for three years in Liaodong City, as well as a large amount of weapons and equipment since the first year of Daye. In addition, during this period of time, Gao Yuan has continued to move people and supplies from surrounding small towns and villages inside. Even if it was besieged by the Sui army for two or three years, the supplies inside were enough for the soldiers and civilians in the city to eat, drink, and fight.
Therefore, the next offensive and defensive battle in Liaodong City will definitely be an extremely cruel battle. Of course, this may only be the opinion of Gao Yuan and Yuan Ziyou, but Yang Ji does not think so.
Although things are getting more and more interesting, Liaodong City is also developing in the direction of Yang Guang's first expedition to Goguryeo in history. However, Yang Ji had "the lesson of Yang Guang's defeat" and wiped out a large number of Goguryeo's viable forces beforehand. Even if he divided his troops and went south like Yang Guang, he would not be defeated.
After reading the battle report handed over by Yang Ji, Ling Jing couldn't help but shook his head and said in a teasing tone: "Your Majesty, although Gao Yuan finally knew that it was time to make amends, I thought it was too late. Give up the two lines of defense now. , joined forces in one city, isn’t it like lying in a coffin?”
"This comparison is very appropriate. Gao Yuan and the others have indeed put themselves in the coffin." Yang Ji laughed and said: "If Gao Yuan really thinks that a lonely city can stop our Sui army, then he is looking down on others. We have a large number of people in the Sui Dynasty, and there are a lot of supplies in Hengshan City and Anshi City. Even if we try our best, he will be the first to be unable to sustain it. Since he has given up the outer defense line now, it just gives us a chance to decide the outcome in a battle. , to avoid having to fight city after city.”
"Reply a letter to Yang Yichen in my name and ask them to continue their strategy of exhausting their troops against Liaodong City. After we kill Yuan Ziche and seize Jian'an City, we will immediately march north."
——
Second update, please give me monthly votes and recommendation votes! 】
