As the capital of the Goguryeo Kingdom, Pyongyang City has an outer city perimeter of only forty miles. However, after all, Goguryeo has been a country for nearly a thousand years, and Pyongyang City has been built for more than two hundred years. Under Goguryeo's painstaking management, the city's magnificent Buildings abound. Moreover, the architectural style in Pyongyang City is deeply influenced by the culture of the Central Plains. There are countless cornices, brackets, pavilions and pavilions in the royal palaces and the mansions of powerful people.
When the ancestors of Goguryeo chose the site to build the city, they also considered the Dongfang River, known as the "River of Tears" and the "River of Resentment." When they built the city, they specially rammed the earth as the foundation to make the city ground higher than the historical water level of the Haishui Plain. , and among the "Hui"-shaped city, the inner city is one foot higher than the Wengcheng. However, since the Sui army built embankments and blocked the ordinary river, water poured into the city through the city bricks, city gates, water gates, and drainage channels, turning this fortified urn city into a vast ocean. The water in the city has been more than a foot deep. And it's still rising slowly.
The landscape pools in the inner city, including the palace, have long been filled with water and have spread to the palace foundation. Although sandbags have been piled up on the inner city walls and at the entrance to the palace walls, the water outside still comes from the drainage of the inner city and the palace. The system flooded in, and the water in the inner city reached the soles of my feet.
After the civil and military officials who stayed in Pyongyang heard about the fall of Liaodong City, Gao Yuan's fall to the Sui army, and the Sui Dynasty's appointment of Gao Jianwu as King of Korea, they adhered to the idea that the country could not live without a king and the army could not live without a commander, so they hastily supported Gao Dayang. His son Gaozang became the king of Goguryeo and was called the treasure king.
It's just that Gao Zang is a child under ten years old. How does he know anything about military affairs? Therefore, he was only a symbolic existence, and the military and political power was in the hands of Yuan Zicheng, Gao Tiancheng, Tan Yun, Gao Yue and other important ministers.
Among these people, there is no doubt that they are divided into the determined war faction and the pessimistic capitulation faction. The focus of the conflict between the two sides is not on the side of the Sui Dynasty, but on their own interests.
The main fighting faction is still dominated by Yuan Zicheng and other northern factions. Most of the strength of the northern faction has been lost in the north, but they still have troops in Pyongyang City, and the navy was built by the enemy faction in the north. It is still no worse than the southern faction. , they were afraid that after surrendering to the Sui Dynasty and Gao Jianwu's Goryeo Kingdom, they would be liquidated by the Sui Dynasty and the Southern Faction. It was precisely because of this consideration that they were unwilling to surrender until death.
During the debate, Yuan Zicheng and others' point of view was the weather. They believed that the heavy rains are now continuous, and it will not be long before the long winter again. As long as they stick to Pyongyang City, which has a large number of troops, sufficient weapons and equipment, and sufficient food and grass, they will eventually be able to It will be no problem to drag the Sui army to the end of the force and recover the area south of Sa River.
The pessimistic surrender faction was represented by Gao Tiancheng and Tan Yun. They believed that Goguryeo suffered huge losses in its army and territory and was unable to resist the powerful Sui army. Moreover, Baekje and Silla in the south were ready to move, so the result of stubborn resistance must be The city was destroyed and the country was destroyed. And Gao Jianwu's Goryeo Kingdom caused them to lose the last trace of their fighting spirit. Although Goryeo was different from the current Goguryeo, it was still of the same origin. As long as they surrendered to the Sui Dynasty and Gao Jianwu's Goryeo, it was actually not the same as before. There is so much difference, so why should we choose the road of death rather than the road of survival?
Although the two sides are at loggerheads, their opinions on one thing are highly unified, that is, the defense of Zhushui and the safety of the navy.
The Xu River is not only the back door of Pyongyang City, but also the natural chasm for them to retreat to the south. Once the Sui army annihilates the Goguryeo navy and takes control of the Xu River, Pyongyang will be completely reduced to an isolated city. At that time, whether it is the main combatant or the Regardless of the capitulation faction, they will lose the qualification to confront the Sui Dynasty and negotiate terms. The Sui army was even able to besiege Pyongyang without attacking it. They first united with Baekje and Silla to capture the territory of Zhushui, and finally came back to attack Pyongyang.
However, the rising water in the city has made the northern generals start to become pessimistic. Now the people and soldiers living in Wengcheng cannot light fires. They can't even eat a hot meal. How can they still have the will to fight? And judging from the current situation, the water is still rising, and it won't take long for the supplies in the inner city to be soaked and submerged.
Of course, what's even more terrible is the logs that rush up from the upper reaches of the Dongfang River. Whenever a log hits the outer city wall under the flood, the city wall will tremble hugely. If things go on like this, the strong and tall outer city will The walls will collapse. However, these days, due to serious water accumulation inside and outside the city, it is not suitable for fighting, so the soldiers and civilians in the city have a chance to breathe.
This morning, the alarm from the Xishui beacon tower had already reached Pyongyang. The three pillars of beacon smoke indicated that there was an incoming army. The beacon smoke came from the west of the city. There was no doubt that the Sui navy came upstream.
Although the Pyongyang defenders did not know what the fighting was going on ahead, this did not stop the panic in the city. When the beacon smoke came, the soldiers rushed to the top of the city to prepare for the battle.
By the turn of the afternoon in the early afternoon, the most accurate results of the water battle between the two navies came out, which also eliminated the last trace of luck for the soldiers and civilians in the city.
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On the Zhu River southeast of Pyongyang, the Sui navy came with the momentum of a great victory. All Goguryeo's civilian ships, merchant ships, and fishing boats were forcibly seized by the Sui navy.
The purpose of the Sui army was very clear, which was to completely destroy Goguryeo's water power and ensure that the entire Xu River was under the control of the Sui Dynasty. This resulted in the Sui army's midship warships patrolling along the river everywhere, trying to search for hidden ships.
Although the Sui Dynasty Navy was very busy, when the Goguryeo Navy was completely annihilated, the protagonist of the war changed. The naval officers and soldiers were reduced to supporting roles in attacking fortified cities. The next war mainly depends on the land army.
The reason is that the Xishui River is six or seven miles away from the city of Pyongyang. The catapults mounted on the Wuya warships and the Huanglong warships cannot hit Pyongyang city at all. However, although the warships with flexible midships can continue to swim upstream, Enter the Pyongyang City area from the cofferdam of the Dongfang River, but the ships are too small to carry large and medium-sized catapults. If the small catapults on the ships are forced to approach the city to attack, they will be perfect targets for the catapults on the city. As for the Wuya battleships and Huanglong battleships with deep drafts, they simply cannot enter the Pongjiang River.
Yang Ji looked north from the side of the Five-Tooth Battleship and saw the outline of a huge majestic pond in the misty and rainy distance.
Looking forward, I saw that the area between the city and the river had become a vast land, making it difficult to tell whether it was the river or the floodplain. In this area, undulating forests can be vaguely seen, like green gems embedded in the torrent.
Yang Ji knew something about this place, and he knew that this was a plain with scattered hills. The reason why it turned into a vast ocean was mainly due to the actions of Hao Yuan and Yang Yichen. Although they achieved their goal of flooding Pyongyang City, , but it also prevented the navy soldiers and the Xiaoguo Army from getting ashore.
