The 20,000 people under Wei Yunqi's command were the frontier army, and the frontier army was very capable of fighting. He was defeated as soon as he came into contact with Gao Jianwu, which is enough to illustrate the combat effectiveness of Gao Jianwu's troops.
Wei Yunqi burned three of the eight mountain cities east of Liaodong City, and the remaining six had a total of 16,000 people, who had already moved towards Wunv Mountain.
As a Western Master, Gao Jianwu's home base is Liaodong City. If this place is lost, he, a Western Master, will become an empty frame.
Therefore, Gao Jianwu's entire defense deployment has only one core: Liaodong City cannot be lost.
Because there is food stored there that can last for half a year, as long as Liaodong City can carry it until August, the Sui army will retreat.
"Xiuyan Niangniang City, Anshi City, Futu City, and Desheng City were captured by Shi Xiang, but now they are taken over by Xin Shixiong. These two Sui armies are controlled by different generals. How should we choose?" See Zuoke's Illustrated Record road.
Shensuo can be understood as Changshi, which is the military staff officer. Ketulu's surname is Ke. This surname comes from the surname given by Gao Jumong, the first king of the Goguryeo Dynasty.
Gao Jianwu was riding on his horse and said with a smile:
"Yang Guang has made the list of general managers of the 24th Route and the marching route known to the world. Xin Shixiong is the general manager of Dongxun Road, which shows that he is fighting against Beishe. Mai Tiezhang is the general manager of Xiangping Road. This is a black bone. The two routes return. Li Jing restrained himself, these three have now taken the lead. It can be seen that their mission is to go south. After Shi Xiang defeated the four cities and retreated to Liaodong, it can be seen that they belong to the Sui army attacking Liaodong. One of these two groups has a magic weapon with treasure armor. If one side doesn’t have it, then of course it’s going to pick the one that doesn’t have it and fight.”
"Are we leaving Xin Shixiong alone?" Ketu Lu said.
Gao Jianwu said: "Because he won't care about us. He wants to go south and is reluctant to spend time with us in Liaodong. Of course, to be on the safe side, we should test it first. If Xin Shixiong cannot retreat, we will concentrate our main force to attack outside Liaodong City. The enemy army, before this, ordered Fen Qianyu Hunchou to lead his troops to attack Shi Xiang's tribe. They escorted more than thousands of our people, and they could not go fast or far."
Division is a military position, similar to that of a general.
Gao Jianwu was sure that Xin Shixiong and Shi Xiang were not part of the same army and had different divisions of labor, so he planned to take charge of Shi Xiang because Shi Xiang belonged to the siege force.
Wei Yunqi was defeated and retreated, and the remaining troops were incorporated into Tu Wanxu's headquarters. It was difficult for Tu Wanxu to hold him accountable. After all, Wei Yunqi was working with the main force. There was a huge disparity in strength and no terrain advantage. He could It’s not bad to have resisted for so long.
However, Shi Xiangbu had not returned yet, and Tu Wanxu had already guessed that something was wrong.
Shi Xiang's return route was all mountainous, with eight mountains, one water, and one field. If he was overtaken, he would not be able to form a formation. It happened that the emperor's order had also been sent, and Tu Wanxu had no time to hesitate, so he directly organized his army and went south. Go and save Shi Xiang.
If Wei Yunqi and Shi Xiang's troops were all defeated, his southern cover would be gone, and he would have to rely on Li Jing's Xin Shixiong. But Xin Shixiong was the main support force going south, so how could you move them?
All the siege equipment was withdrawn towards Sanfo Village. Li Jing felt bad. If you retreat like this, I will have to carry it if Liaodong City raises troops to fight.
Putting aside whether I can bear it or not, am I going south?
Fifteen thousand people complained, and they were reduced to a piece of loose sand.
You can't say he's wrong, and you can't say he's right. It's hard to tell what's right and what's wrong.
As soon as Tu Wanxu left, Zhongshi Wei's army in Liaodong City was dispatched, chasing Tu Wanxu's rear troops and fighting them. Li Jing, knowing that he had already been dragged in, made up his mind and ordered Mai Tiezhang to lead 10,000 people. , deployed a defense line southward to prevent the enemy troops leaving the city in Liaodong from returning, while he himself led the remaining 20,000 people plus the 6,000 siege troops left by Tu Wanxu to attack Liaodong City.
This is called attacking the enemy and saving it.
On April 17, the Liaodong offensive and defensive battle officially began, and in the mountains sixty miles northwest of Wunv Mountain, the Sui army and the Goguryeo army, totaling hundreds of thousands, also started a head-on battle.
Outside Liaodong City, a total of 8,000 soldiers were arrayed behind them. Anyone who dared to flee would be immediately executed.
Li Jing took charge of the central army and commanded the siege troops to form an array to attack.
More than forty catapults, hundreds of heavy crossbows, and eight ladders were all pulled up. Li Jing knew that the current defense of Liaodong City was empty, which was the best opportunity to attack the city, and he must go all out to seize it.
In just one morning, the Sui army had killed more than 2,000 people. However, Li Jing did not order the troops to be withdrawn. Instead, he ordered the supervising team to force the soldiers to move forward. Even if they were filled with corpses, they would still have to fill Liaodong City.
If he loses here again, Liaodong will stop fighting, and that will be a situation of complete defeat.
Outside Liaodong City, corpses lay everywhere. As the sun set, the moat was filled in, and the ladders slowly advanced towards the city wall. If this thing was hit by a stone, it would be useless.
"Chang Linghu, Guo Siben."
"The general is here!" The two came out at the same time.
Li Jing ordered: "Go to the front line quickly, command the city climb, and buy time for the ladder to advance. If the ladder is not available, you can't retreat. Anyone who disobeys the order will be killed."
"yes!"
The two quickly left and went to the headquarters to make arrangements.
As night fell, torches filled the sky outside the city. Linghu Chang and Guo Siben each led two thousand infantry and rushed towards the city wall carrying the boarding ladder.
Tu Wanxu had prepared the ladder in advance, and it was high enough to climb the city wall. It was pure cannon fodder and many people would die.
The Sui army's catapults were loaded with kerosene bombs, which were made of oil-soaked cowhide wrapped in round stones layer by layer. They were then ignited and thrown all towards the Wengcheng to provide cover for the troops climbing the city on both wings.
As long as they are hit by this thing, the soldiers will basically have no combat effectiveness, and the enemy's catapults and heavy crossbows set up on the city walls will not be able to withstand them.
This is life-threatening consumption, it depends on who can consume more than whom.
Two of the eight ladders were hit, and the remaining ones managed to get close to the city wall. Li Jing immediately pushed up the eight thousand supervising team, and personally led two thousand people to press the rear of the formation.
Yang Yuanqing was the most fierce. His headquarters suffered extremely heavy losses, but he did not retreat a step and kept urging the soldiers to climb the city. Of the 2,500 men, only 600 were left.
But these six hundred people went up from the ladder.
As soon as he went up, the pressure on the other five ladders suddenly eased.
This is what happens when you siege a city. How many soldiers can you put on the wall? Once he was climbed up the city wall, the defense was immediately in chaos. At this time, the more he could not retreat. If he retracted in one breath, it would not work if he tried to lift it up again.
As Yang Yuanqing's 600 men successfully climbed onto the city wall, relying on the power of weapons, they directly penetrated the northwest wall of Liaodong City. As long as they were in close combat, the losses of the Sui army were almost negligible.
The only things that can cause damage to refined armor are throwing stones and heavy crossbows, and nothing else.
Ordinary arrows could not break the refined armor at all. The morale of the Goguryeo defenders was suddenly drained, and deserters increased sharply.
More and more soldiers climbed up the city wall. The two thousand Goguryeo soldiers guarding the barbican pulled down the white flag and surrendered, because when you look at the barbican from the city wall, you are looking from high to low. You can't shoot me, but I can do whatever I want. Shoot you.
After Hulala was shot down across the lake, there was no other option but to surrender.
As the west wall of Liaodong City fell and the city gate was opened, Li Jing ordered the army to enter the city and clear out the defenders in the city.
This process was very long and lasted for about four days. The city was filled with flames and the sound of fighting could not be heard.
Looking at the flames soaring into the sky in the north, Da Zhongshiwei, the great model of Liaodong City, who was fighting fiercely with Mai Tiezhang, knew that the situation was over, so he urgently withdrew his troops to the east, completely leaving the Liaodong defense line, and leaving Gao Jianwu behind.
But Gao Jianwu didn't know that Liaodong City had been lost, and he was still fighting with Tu Wanxu desperately.
It was not until three days later that he received military information about the fall of Liaodong.
"Zhong Shiwei, you bastard, how dare you leave the city without permission?" Gao Jianwu fainted from anger.
Shen Zuoke Tulu headed toward Liaodong, cursed a few words bitterly, and then withdrew to the east on behalf of the general.
They did not dare to retreat south, where Xin Shixiong was. As long as the other party saw that they were a remnant army that had fled, they would never let go of the opportunity.
The Liaodong War ended with the capture of Liaodong City by Li Jing after sixteen days of fierce fighting.
Tu Wanxu didn't say anything on his face, and he was furious.
This is my Liaodong, so I was beaten by you.
It took another six days to clear the battlefield. Li Jing's troops suffered heavy losses. Of the 25,000-strong siege force, 6,000 were killed and nearly 10,000 were injured. The Mai Tiezhang Division that was supposed to attack Wugu City was crippled. It no longer has the strength to go south.
Wei Yunqi's troops were also disabled, and Shi Xiang was even worse. He almost died. Counting the losses of Yu Wenhuaji in the north, the battle losses were staggering.
Ashina Danai, who was supposed to be cannon fodder, suffered the least loss.
As for the Goguryeo tribe, the total number of casualties on the Liaodong defense line was 17,000, and 18,000 were captured. Liaodong City and Wuliluo City were lost. The 30,000 troops heading south from Wuliluo City were captured by Duan Wenzhen and Yu Wenhua. In a combined attack, the entire army was wiped out.
In Liaodong City, the generals of Li Jing's tribe and the generals of Tu Wanxu's tribe had already started to quarrel.
It was true that they had captured Liaodong, but Mai Tiezhang was crippled and could no longer go south, and Wugu City was the only way to go south, which made Mai Tiezhang furious.
"Didn't you go to fight Gao Jianwu? Where are the people?" Mai Tiezhang was angry directly at Tu Wanxu: "Being greedy for merit and rushing forward made our troops have to attack Liaodong. Now it's better. My soldiers are all injured. Let me What are you going to use to attack Wugu City?"
"This is ridiculous," Wei Yunqi sneered: "The attack on Gao Jianwu was His Majesty's order, and the attack on Liaodong was the order of Li Jing. You are blaming us. Everyone is in Liaodong. Are we the only ones risking our lives? , are you watching the show?"
Mai Tiezhang said angrily: "Your Majesty asked you to attack Gao Jianwu, but he didn't ask you to abandon Liaodong to fight. He actually dared to transfer all the troops besieging the city without making any progress. How can you face His Majesty?"
"What the hell!" Shi Xiang, who had a colorful arm on his arm, slapped the table with his other hand and stood up, saying:
"Gao Jianwu is the main force of the enemy's Liaodong army. If we hadn't held them back, how could you have attacked the city so smoothly? Didn't you accomplish anything? If you dare to say another word, I will kill you today."
Shi Xiang followed Yang Guang south to destroy Chen. He was also the emperor's original follower, so he didn't use the iron staff at all.
The two groups of generals were quarreling more and more fiercely, but Li Jing and Tu Wanxu remained silent because they each had grievances in their hearts.
Tu Wanxu is angry because you took all my credit, and Li Jing is angry because you just left me in Sanfo Village without saying hello. If Zhong Shiwei from Liaodong City hadn't gone after you , but came to attack Sanfo Village. Didn’t you just sell me out?
The bickering between the two groups showed no sign of stopping until Wei Xuan, the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Route Army, arrived in Liaodong City.
(End of chapter)
