Tongyang Fort is actually behind the Tang army. Tongyang Fort is about 160 miles away from Wugu City, so it is not too late to return at this time.
Fortunately, the army advanced in three directions, so although there were traces left behind, there was no need to worry about the traces.
Qibi Heli and the others rode back and forth in these places countless times, and no one would suspect anything about these traces.
After Li Shiji finished the meeting, the three armies immediately began to return. The other two armies were located in the north and south directions returning to Tongyang Fort. The other two armies would directly arrive next to Tongyang Fort and then enter the mountains and forests, crossing the mountainous area and arriving near Tongyang Fort.
Because the official road to Tongyangbao is the closest official road to Liaodong City, taking the other two roads will take at least ten more days of detour according to the advancing speed of the infantry. This is definitely unacceptable to the Goguryeo army.
So they must take this path.
The encirclement drawn by Li Shiji was large enough. If a large army really attacked, not to mention 60,000, even 160,000 would probably be able to enter.
It would be easy to hide hundreds of thousands of troops in the surrounding mountains.
Fortunately, they now have enough time. Although heavy crossbows are difficult to carry, they should not carry them. There are archers and medium-sized crossbows on the mountains surrounded by them, which is enough.
Three days later, when Hudar led 50,000 Goguryeo troops to cross the Datong River, the Tang army led by Li Shiji had arrived near Tongyang Fort. There were more than a thousand people in Tongyang Fort. Li Shiji directly asked the soldiers to give them away. Migrated away.
Although these people are said to be Goguryeo's own people, after the war breaks out, these people will inevitably be killed or injured, so it is better to move them away directly. As an area ravaged by Tang Dynasty cavalry, it is reasonable for this small town to have been destroyed and destroyed for a long time, right?
In order to make it more realistic, Li Shiji also had people deliberately damage many houses in the city, and then let the war horses run wildly inside for several times, smashing the city gate, and then they evacuated here and entered the surrounding mountains.
Thirty miles west of Tongyang Castle, the canyon here closes. Datang will directly establish a line of defense here. The portable roadblock carriages originally used to set up camps will directly form a simple city wall here, and all large beds The crossbows will remain behind this wall.
Although the peaks on both sides of this road are not high, they are steep and densely forested. It is impossible to climb out of the mountains on both sides.
The reason why we established a defense line here was to prepare for the worst, so as to avoid Hudar Gou jumping over the wall and forcefully attacking the front to break through.
At that time, the only ones blocking the opponent's path were Qibi Heli's 20,000 cavalry and about 5,000 infantrymen operating crossbows.
After all, the areas left to guard in other directions are too large, and all other soldiers have to surround them from all directions.
Of course, if the plan went well, Hudar wouldn't have discovered it at all.
According to the information given by Liu Zhao, although Hudar was brave in battle, he was poor in strategy. He was born in the Xi tribe and was also a nomad. He was born to know how to fight, but he did not read much. He was loyal to Yuengai Suwen. able to take on this important task.
There are only a few outstanding generals in Goguryeo. Some of them, including Yu Ling and others, are not on the same side as Yeon Gaesumun to defend Silla, and the remaining generals have been distributed in various important cities throughout Goguryeo.
Therefore, Hudar is already considered a trustworthy general under Yeungai Suwen.
At his level, it was not easy to see the arrangement of all this, especially when the time given to him by Yeon Gaesumun was quite urgent.
Just as Li Shiji had guessed, Hudar, who finally crossed the river, immediately contacted the defender of Wugu City.
After announcing Yeon Gaesowun's order, Hudar will lead the 10,000 cavalrymen from Wugu City and the 50,000 cavalrymen led by him to form a 60,000-strong army and set off directly.
"General Hudar, the soldiers have been traveling for several days, and there is only half a day left before dark today. Why not temporarily camp outside the city to rest and wait until daylight tomorrow before setting off again." The guard of Wugu City He suggested helplessly.
"No, General Yuan ordered me to rush to Liaodong City as quickly as possible. Now we have lost contact with Liaodong City for nearly twenty days. If this continues, once Liaodong City is destroyed, the entire Liaodong front line will completely collapse. ." Hudar directly rejected the other party's suggestion.
"General Hudar, it's not that I don't agree with hurrying, but the cavalry of the Tang Dynasty has shown signs of gathering on a large scale recently. If you rush on the road tired, you are likely to be directly attacked by the cavalry of the Tang Dynasty waiting to work, causing huge losses. "
"Although our scouts cannot reach Liaodong City, it is still possible to conduct reconnaissance near Wugu City. The scouts will return soon. If we must set out, wait until we get news from the scouts before setting off." The guard of Wugu City Jiang said helplessly.
It's not that he cares about Hudar's life or death, but that he and Hudar are now one. If Hudar suffers heavy losses, Wugu City will not be far away from being breached.
For guards like them, no one knows how the Tang Dynasty will deal with them. If the city is broken, they will be killed by the Tang Dynasty. Is that unfair?
"Okay." Hudar didn't refuse after thinking about it.
What the guard of Wugu City said was true. They only waited for about an hour before the scouts who went out to detect intelligence arrived.
"Two generals, we found a large number of Tang cavalry gathered about twenty miles ahead. We paid the price of three brothers to get the latest information. There are at least 10,000 Tang cavalry gathered there. About five, all of them are heavy armored cavalry." Several scouts reported with lingering fear.
Fifteen thousand!
"The Tang Dynasty cavalry has never gathered in such a large number. It seems that our previous intelligence was correct. The Tang Dynasty has at least 20,000 cavalry gathered in this area. It seems that the Tang Dynasty has received the message from General Hudar From the news that you arrived here, they probably guessed that you wanted to support Liaodong City, so they gathered together to prevent you from supporting them." The guard of Wugu City said immediately.
Judging from the current situation, this is the simplest analysis.
People like Hudar who are not good at strategy can roughly analyze it.
"Thank you for your reminder. If it weren't for your reminder, we might have fallen into the enemy's trap. But now it seems that we can't go any faster. But this is also good news. It proves that Liaodong City has not fallen yet. , I just don’t know how long they can support it." Hudar nodded and expressed his gratitude to the defender of Wugu City before speaking.
