Zhang Yan once said that this era is an excellent era, which actually makes sense.
Because in this timeline, it is not the decline of one family or one country, but the decline of the whole world. So much so that the Khitan's force can be regarded as power.
At this point in time, whoever rises first can easily achieve hegemony.
Similarly, the Korean Peninsula has not escaped this strange circle. They have now declined to the point where the entire peninsula can no longer find tens of thousands of armored soldiers. Even Pyongyang, the former capital of Goguryeo, has lost its defense.
Pyongyang has lost its defense, which does not mean that Pyongyang has lost its city wall, but that Pyongyang's own defense conditions are very weak, which is somewhat similar to Kaifeng in the Central Plains.
Both cities are located in areas with excellent transportation links and are surrounded by great plains. Even if there are a few mountains, they are only a few tens of meters high and can only be called hills.
However, Pyongyang is still better than Kaifeng to some extent.
Kaifeng has no mountains or fortresses that can block it, but because Pyongyang is located in a small plain and the peninsula is mountainous, it still has two and a half barriers that it can rely on.
One is Xuanzhou, which blocked enemies coming from the coastline, which was later known as Xuanchuan in North Korea. The other one is Anbei Mansion, which is sandwiched between two mountains in the north.
The remaining half is Anshu Town south of Anbei Prefecture. The reason why it is half is because the geographical advantage of Anshu Town, which is later known as Anzhou in North Korea, is only slightly better than that of Pyongyang.
At this time, Wang's Goryeo was still very weak, with a population of only about one million, and the relationship between the wealthy family and the king had not been completed.
Therefore, although Pyongyang bears the name of Xijing, its important defensive barriers, Xuanzhou and Anbeifu, have insufficient defense forces.
In history, during the war between Liao and Goryeo fifty years later, Goryeo's defense line north of Pyongyang was relatively stable.
Although the Liao Kingdom captured Pyongyang and looted Kaijing in the second Liao-Li War.
But soon they were attacked by the Koreans because they went deep alone. When they struggled to capture these two places, they suffered serious damage. In the end, they could only win the battle and had to swallow their anger.
But at this time, Wang's Goryeo strength had not recovered. Xuanzhou and Anbei Prefecture were almost defeated at once, and the entire Pyongyang immediately lost its defense. If Anshu Town was breached again, it would be basically undefendable. .
Xin Kang, who was left behind in Xijing and was deeply trusted by Wang Zhao, was extremely frightened after receiving the news. He immediately sent his subordinate generals and three thousand troops to reinforce Anshu Town.
But just after leaving the city for more than twenty miles, the battle report came from the front. The Liao army had captured Anshu Town.
Xin Kang was shocked. While he urgently asked for help from the imperial court in Beijing, he evacuated the people on the north bank of the Datong River. He burned the food and cloth that could not be taken away, killed all the cattle, horses and other livestock, and scuttled all the boats in the river into the river. .
But until now, everyone in Goryeo still couldn't figure out whether it was the Khitan Liao Kingdom, the legendary Tuyuhun Liao Kingdom, or the Central Plains Zhou Dynasty that came to attack them.
On April 11, Murong Nobunaga personally led the army to more than 30 miles north of Pyongyang and began to send troops to cross the Datong River (Datong River).
At this time, Pyongyang was still very different from the North Korean city of Pyongyang in later generations.
Pyongyang City in North Korea occupies a vast area, and the Daedong River runs through the city.
But at this time, Pyongyang was still more than ten miles away from the south bank of the Datong River, and the area was not large.
Between the Datong River and Pyongyang City, there is an earth wall that stretches for dozens of miles. The earth wall is not high, but it can also prevent the cavalry from quickly passing through.
This is the Jishui Great Wall built during the Silla period to block the rapid advance of the Tang Dynasty cavalry.
When it was first built, the defensive power was actually very good. The wall of the Xishui Great Wall was very close to the south bank of the Datong River. It was built after the river bank was dug low and the soil was transported here.
This means that even if the enemy crosses the Datong River, they will immediately encounter a city wall that is five or six meters high including the foundation.
In addition, the river beach is narrow, the army cannot deploy, and the cavalry cannot run. At this time, only dozens of archers are needed to guard a large section of the city wall to stop the enemy.
But no matter how effective the defenses are, the key lies in the people.
Murong Nobunaga's 50,000-strong army came overwhelmingly. Whether it was heavy-armored infantry or cavalry, there were fewer Han people than in the past. The Andong Tang army, which had many soldiers from Mohe and other tribes, had much higher combat effectiveness.
And long before departure, Murong Nobunaga predicted that the Koreans would scuttle the ships in the Datong River, so he had already brought enough wood to build the ships directly on the Datong River.
On April 20th, the boats for crossing the river and the materials for building the pontoon bridge were ready. Murong Xinchang ordered the governor of Xun to cross the river by force.
He personally led two thousand elite soldiers of the Xiaoguo Guard and more than a thousand beggars of Zhao Siwan, walked upstream for more than ten miles and built a pontoon bridge to cross the river, and then went straight down the river.
Although the Goryeo defenders were on guard, the Xiaoguo Guard soldiers under Murong Nobunaga moved too fast. By the time Nobunaga, who was left behind in Goryeo in Xijing, mobilized the Xijing garrison to stop them, Murong Nobunaga had already crossed Datong with 1400 to 500 elite soldiers. River.
Xinkang arrived with an infantry of five thousand horses and saw that Murong Nobunaga had few people and most of them were not wearing armor. He was immediately overjoyed and immediately ordered his infantry to go forward and shoot with bows and arrows from a high position on the hillside.
Murong Nobunaga glanced at Zhao Siwan. Zhao Siwan immediately stopped wearing armor and only wore an iron armor. Then he held the shield and roared wildly, taking the lead to rush towards the heights.
Most of these beggars are long-time bandits. If they were in the Central Plains, they would have been beheaded long ago. Now the only way to survive is to be relieved of their status as beggars by meritorious service, and then be sealed to live in Korea or Japan.
More importantly, they have a lunatic leader like Zhao Siwan. This person does not love money, power, or even life. All he pursues is to become the bravest person in the world.
Among the beggars, Zhao Siwan did not even practice the military law of the Great Zhou Dynasty, but played the tricks of the Cai thieves of Qin Zongquan and Sun Ru in the past.
In other armies, if you violate military discipline, you will usually be beaten with a military stick or, in the worst case, beheaded. However, among the beggars who imitated Cai Thief, there is a high probability that they will be pickled with salt and used as military rations.
Today we are good brothers. We drink human bile and eat meat as much as we can. But if you dare to hesitate on the battlefield, then good brothers can only 'keep you in their hearts'.
So when Zhao Siwan rushed out, these soldiers, bandits, water bandits, and rangers formed a group of beggars, howling sharply, like male dogs in heat, and followed Zhao Siwan without any hesitation and rushed out, even showing fear. Left behind, he was invited to the dinner table by his good brothers after the war.
The Korean archers were still shooting arrows. They had no idea that these men, naked from the waist up, jumped up the slope of a hundred steps in a few leaps.
Many beggars were shot to the ground, but the others rushed forward as if they had no feeling at all.
Zhao Siwan was only wearing a pair of calf-nosed shorts. After rushing into the hands of Korean archers, she and her followers shouted loudly. The two of them simultaneously pulled out a long horizontal knife that was almost four feet long from each other's waist. Then they held the knife in both hands and swung it in a round motion. Then start chopping.
Unfortunately, these archers had no armor at all, and blood spattered with every strike. Zhao Siwan became fiercer and fiercer as he fought, like an evil ghost in hell.
Nobuyasu was about to order all the infantry behind him to come forward to meet him, but he heard the sound of footsteps like thunder. It turned out that some of Murong Nobunaga's Xiaoguo Guards had already finished donning their armor.
Nobuyasu saw that the opponent's formation was like a solid wall. There was no coordination with the sound of the golden drum, but it could press forward extremely strictly. He immediately knew that he would definitely not be able to defeat it.
He was once a brave general under Wang Jian and had rich battle experience. He quickly made a decision and ordered his five hundred Qingqi to step forward.
Instead of attacking, he was going to delay the actions of the soldiers on the opposite side. He and most of the infantry turned around and started running towards Pyongyang City.
As for the hundreds of former soldiers who were entangled by the beggar, he gave up immediately.
Murong Nobunaga was a little impressed by Nobuyasu. Under such circumstances, being able to run away so smoothly was considered very decisive and far-sighted.
"Send an order to dig open the soil and water wall, and order Xiang Xun, Murong Yanchao, and Yuan Yanchao to raid various places to collect grain and grass, recruit civilians, and surround Pyongyang City to a certain family."
Murong Nobunaga loudly ordered that he was not going to continue going south, but to consolidate the occupied area north of Pyongyang.
Because there are many Jurchen and Bohai people in these mountains and forests that can be used, but there are relatively few Korean people.
The most important thing is that he turned to look at Master Cixian's disciples Fa Yan, Varo and others who were crossing the river with the army in the distance. It was time for them to take action.
. . . . .
Gyeonggi, Kaijing.
It was Kaesong near the north-south dividing line of the peninsula in later generations. At this time, Seoul, the loyal city of the universe country in later generations, was still a small village. The core city of Ganghwa Bay was the current Kaegyeong.
In the palace of Kaijing, Wang Zhao, the King of Goryeo, received an urgent report that Xin Kang was staying in Xijing. He was completely confused. He urgently summoned Wang Rong, a Hanlin scholar, to inquire about the situation.
Because this Wang Rong was originally from Wuyue, he was sent by Qian Yuanguan in the past to mediate the fight between Wang Jian and Later Baekje Wang Zhenxuan in Goryeo.
As a result, when they arrived at the peninsula, they discovered that Wang Jian had defeated Zhen Xuan and annexed the Later Baekje Kingdom.
Although he could no longer complete his mission, Wang Jian saw that Wang Rong was talented and kept him on the peninsula.
However, Wang Jian did not attach much importance to these Han people living on the peninsula, because he wanted to rebuild Goguryeo.
We only waited until Wang Zhao came here. He didn't have much interest in rebuilding Goguryeo. How to dismantle the powerful domestic powers was Wang Zhao's most urgent matter at the moment.
Therefore, the status of these people who came to join the Han people who had little contact with the local powerful people began to become important.
Wang's Korea is actually a bit similar to the Eastern Han Dynasty. From the day it was founded, Wang's Korea has gone astray.
Because Wang Jian himself relied on the recommendation of powerful people from all over the country, he overthrew Gong Yi and became the king with a basically bloodless coup.
This kind of country that was established without much bloodshed usually has inherent shortcomings.
The same goes for the royal family of Goryeo. Although Wang Jian completed the basic unification of the peninsula, the domestic power structure is such that although the royal family occupies the moral commanding heights and controls considerable central power, they cannot keep their word.
Because at the local level, with the election of Wang Jian as king and the subsequent victory over Baekje, the Jeongju Ryu clan, the Chungju Ryu clan, the Hwangju Hwangbo clan, the Gyeongju Pyeong clan, the Pyeongju Yu clan, and the Gyeongju clan gradually formed. There are more than thirty wealthy families such as the Lin family and the Shaanzhou Li family.
It is conceivable that Wang's Korea only covered half of the Korean Peninsula, and there were more than thirty wealthy families.
The best among them served in the central government, while their nephews controlled the local area, had legal private tribes and a large number of slaves, and controlled all local officials, large and small, except for the chief officials such as the prefects and county magistrates.
For example, the Liu family in Zhenzhou, the most glorious among them, had only over 1,000 households with over 7,000 people in Zhenzhou’s imperial household registration book, and the farmland converted into acres was only over 40,000 acres, less than one-fifth of the actual population. , one-twentieth of an acre.
The rest is naturally in the hands of the Liu family. It can be said that if the King of Goryeo who opened the capital wants to issue an order to Zhenzhou, he will not discuss it with the leading figure of the Liu family in Zhenzhou in the court. Zhenzhou will be huge. Basically, no manpower and material resources can be mobilized.
Historically, in order to break up the powerful and separatist regime in the country, Wang Zhao tried various methods to bring the situation under some control.
His two most important cards were to use the Han people to participate in the imperial examination to destroy the privileges of the powerful to hold official positions, and to use Buddhism to incite the people to rise up against the exploitation of the powerful.
Therefore, it is natural to take a fancy to Wang Rong and others, and Wang Rong, who came to join the Han people, also cherished this opportunity.
But it is a pity that although Wang Rong is a Han from Wuyue, it was already ten years ago when he came from Han.
At that time, Zhang Yan and Yelv Deguang were still fighting for the Central Plains. Within a few years, Zhang Yan began to consciously block information from Goryeo, so Wang Rong didn't know much more than Wang Zhao.
But there was one thing Wang Rong was very sure about, "Your Majesty, the Tuyuhun people have long been divided. When I was in Wuyue, I heard that the family of Emperor Shao Ming lived in Dunhuang for a long time. They lived together with a group of Tuyuhun people for a long time, and they could almost be regarded as one family.
Moreover, Zhang Zhou's defeat of the Khitan only happened in the past few years, and it is impossible for them to completely fall out so soon.
To put it bluntly, if the Tuyuhun people had a complete falling out with the Emperor of Zhou, it would be impossible for them to securely occupy Khitan and establish the Liao Kingdom.
I judge that there are only two situations when the Northern invaders are attacking.
Either the Tuyuhun people did fall out with the imperial court, but they still maintained their reputation. They were expelled and were not a large army of the Liao Kingdom.
Either this is Zhou's imperial army, coming to conquer. "
Wang Zhao was irritated after hearing this. It would be better if the Tuyuhun people were expelled south. At worst, he would temporarily give up his plan to weaken the power of the nobles.
The Tuyuhun thieves on the left and right are just a tribe. They can hold a few Jurchens hostage for up to 200,000 to 300,000, but only tens of thousands can fight, so the threat is not too great.
If they were a large army sent by the Central Plains court to conquer, it would be troublesome. Wang Zhao couldn't help but said:
"Since King Taizu of Goryeo, I have always served the Central Plains. During the Tang and Jin dynasties, I sent envoys to pay tribute. When the Zhou Dynasty was established, I also sent several groups of envoys.
I really can't figure out why the great dynasty wants to conquer this barbaric land east of the sea. "
Wang Rong swallowed his saliva and said with some caution: "In the past, when Taizu was the king, I once advised you that the word "Korea" is really inappropriate.
The land of Haidong originally belongs to Jizi, and it was also known as the Three Koreas in ancient times. Whether it is to go to the Central Plains as a descendant of Jizi to ask for a country name, or to call itself Dahan, it is better than using Goryeo.
If the great dynasty really sends troops to attack now, the only possibility is that the national title violates the taboo. "
Wang Zhao took two steps back and forth irritably, and then said to Wang Rong: "The war has started now, and it is useless to say anything else. I think we will know the truth soon.
If it is true that the word "Korea" violates the taboo of the great dynasty, I will go to Luoyang as an envoy to tell the difference for a certain person. "
Wang Zhao had no choice. No matter whether he could repel the imperial attack or not, it was always unnecessary to be beaten because of a national title.
Wang Rong nodded in agreement, but he suddenly remembered something, "Your Majesty, Buddhism is prosperous in Liao. Although Murong Nobunaga blocked people from our country from traveling from Liaodong to the Central Plains, he could not control the exchanges between monks in the two places. Therefore, the Daming Temple The eminent monk Srivara may know the inside story."
Wang Zhao nodded slowly. At this time, he had not yet begun to rely heavily on Buddhism, because it was very risky to use religion to deal with powerful people. Regardless of whether the powerful people were weakened or not, religion would still be getting bigger.
But now that the situation was like this, he couldn't care much anymore. Wang Zhao immediately ordered people to recruit Shili Fula to come.
With his aquiline nose, white skin, and curly purple hair, he is a monk with very obvious Indian Aryan characteristics.
By the way, at this time, the Tianzhu monks were quite intent on turning the tide before the building was about to collapse.
Buddhism in Tianzhu was defeated by Brahmanism and was unable to fight back. Even in large temples like Nalanda Temple, there were not many dignitaries coming to worship Buddha.
But in order to save Buddhism from dying out, the monks from Tianzhu unleashed a powerful fighting force during this period. Of course, this fighting force was not at home, but abroad.
Although there are no statistics, there should be 100,000 Tianzhu monks who have traveled from Tianzhu to various places, mainly in the Central Plains, Qingtang and Southeast Asia, to preach.
For example, Master Cixian and his disciple Varro, and another example is the hook-nosed Sri Vuluo in front of him. Facing the questioning Wang Zhao, he smiled lightly and said:
"Last month, the poor monk reminded Liu Zhengkuang that the Tuyuhun people in Liao were intending to go south. Zhengkuang thought the poor monk was talking nonsense and ignored them.
Originally, the poor monk didn't want to talk about this matter anymore, but then he thought about it, if there is a war, people will definitely be devastated. If they know about it and don't report it, it goes against the teachings of the Buddha. "
Sri Vuluo stopped talking when he said this. Of course Wang Zhao understood what he meant.
These monks naturally have to compete with the government and powerful people for population and cultivated land. Therefore, although there are many believers among the lower class people in Goryeo, they have been squeezed out by powerful people when they preach in various places.
Sri Vuluo had come to see Wang Zhao several times before, hoping that he could support the Sangha's missionary work. However, Wang Zhao had never thought about whether to use religion to deal with powerful people, so he kept giving him rewards, but he didn't do anything.
At this time, when he heard Sri Vora stop talking, he immediately laughed and said, "Master, you should know that a certain Wang Zhao is a devout believer in the Buddha. The Buddha wants to show his compassion in our country on the east of the sea. How can I not support it?" Yeah. As long as we repel the Northern invaders and get through this difficulty, I will surely repay you."
After receiving Wang Zhao's statement, Sri Vuluo immediately chanted the Buddha's name with joy, clasped his hands and said:
"Khitan Master Cixian is my senior brother. Although he has been imprisoned by Murong Nobunaga, my nephews still spread the news."
As he spoke, Sri Vulu paused deliberately for a short while to whet Wang Zhao's appetite before continuing:
"That Murong Nobunaga is indeed the adopted son of the Emperor of Zhou Dynasty, and he is also the founding general of the country. He holds a high and powerful position, but because of this, he also has a group of civil servants and generals under his command.
Originally, Emperor Zhou had agreed to grant the old Khitan land to Murong Nobunaga, but he was dissuaded by the wise ministers of the country with the story of Goguryeo.
After that, although the father and son did not turn against each other, there was still a rift between them.
The fact that Murong Nobunaga is going south this time is actually a plan by Emperor Zhou to drive away tigers and devour wolves. He uses the 20,000 armored soldiers under King Murong to devour the King's kingdom of Haidong.
If he can annex our great country of Korea, he will be granted the title here. If not, then the poor monk would like to congratulate the king, thinking that the canonization and reward from the emperor of the great dynasty will come soon. "
Wang Zhao stood up slowly, thinking rapidly in his mind.
The thing is obvious, if Murong Nobunaga can swallow him, then he will be the King of Goryeo.
If he can't swallow himself, he may be lucky enough to return to the Central Plains and become a rich man, but it is more likely that Emperor Zhou wants him to die in Haidong. If he can accomplish this, as the monk said, he can be canonized. and reward will surely arrive immediately.
Moreover, Wang Zhao knew in his heart that he had no choice but to go north to rescue Xijing.
Because Xijing and Pyongyang were rebuilt in the hands of his father Wang Jian and stabilized in the hands of his uncle Wang Shilian.
Now the people around Pyongyang were all recruited from various places by Wang Jian. They do not belong to the powerful, but belong to the true people of him, the King of Goryeo.
It can be said that the power Wang Zhao can now mobilize with a direct order accounts for nearly one-half of the entire country of Goryeo, but half of the power is distributed around Pyongyang.
If troops were not sent north to rescue and Pyongyang was captured, the rest of the powerful would not matter, but he, the king, would suffer heavy losses.
Since the situation is like this, it seems that the original measures to conduct imperial examinations and release slaves cannot be done. At this time, we should unite all the powerful families and mobilize the whole country to recruit troops to go north to relieve the siege.
. . . .
As soon as Sri Vulu left the palace, the surrounding disciples gathered around him. When they saw Sri Vulu smiling and nodding, they were all ecstatic.
Only his direct disciple Lohana came forward and said, "Honored Master, since the King of Korea has agreed to our request, does it...?"
The smile on Sri Vuluo's face remained unchanged, but his tone was extremely cold, "This country in the east of the sea is thousands of miles away from home, and the country is small and the people are poor, so it cannot bear the compassion of my Buddha.
Only the Supreme Being is the true disciple of the Buddha. Wouldn't it be better for us to follow and serve him and spread the Buddha's teachings throughout Tochara and Khorasan? "
Rahana nodded in agreement. It was indeed what Sri Vulu said. Goryeo was too far away. Even if we took root here, it would not be able to solve the problem of the decline of Buddhism in India.
Then it is really better to follow the Supreme Heaven and build Tochara and Khorasan, which are close to India, into Buddhist countries.
