As Wen Ting lit a brazier high up, ships came from a distance.
The boat was not big, and could only hold thirty or fifty people. The boat cut through the water and came slowly along the river.
The first ship docked, and the person who came was a fisherman. He stepped on the wooden frame by the river and whispered: "Shilang Zhang, there are only three or five people guarding the other side, just like in the past."
Zhang Daan looked at the sky and saw that it was already dark by the time the ships had gathered.
The boats rowed silently and docked neatly on the shore.
Wen Ting whispered: "Shilang Zhang, you can cross the river at any time."
Hai Dongqing was still hovering in the night sky, Zhang Daan said: "Send an urgent report of what happened in Goguryeo to Chang'an City, and I will go to rescue Li Yifu first."
"Here." A clerk received the words and left in a hurry.
The shore was very quiet, and the team was lined up neatly on the shore, just waiting for the order to cross the river.
Zhang Daan took out a map and said, "This is the map that Li Yifu explored during his stay in Goguryeo and the deployment of troops near the capital of Goguryeo."
Wen Ting frowned and said: "It seems that there are many soldiers and horses along the royal capital."
Under the firelight, the map could not be seen clearly. Zhang Daan looked solemn and said, "We can only use three thousand soldiers. We cannot easily use the soldiers and horses from all over Liaodong. We can only use these people."
Wen Ting whispered: "I understand the difficulty Zhang Shilang has. Once Liaodong soldiers and horses are used, he will be suspected of being a good soldier, and he will be criticized in the future."
Being understood by others made Zhang Daan feel relieved. His brother in the Ministry of Rites had repeatedly warned him not to resort to war if he wanted to capture Goguryeo.
In fact, the Goguryeo people's soldiers and horses were not powerful. They didn't even have many usable horses, and their weapons were even more unsatisfactory.
Zhang Daan looked at the team on the side and whispered to him: "There are indeed many soldiers and horses along the royal capital of Goguryeo. Now Yeon Gaesumun is clearing the royal capital. He will send heavy troops there early tomorrow morning. Let's cross the river at night. .”
Wen Ting nodded listening to the words.
"We only have 3,000 people. If we attack along the capital, we will suffer a lot. We cannot waste any of our soldiers. We must use all 3,000 people in the capital."
Hearing this, Wen Ting pointed to a route and whispered: "It takes a long detour and takes two more days to walk, but during this time we can avoid many soldiers and horses along the way. When we reach the north of the capital of Goguryeo, we can go straight to it."
The two reached a consensus that the current troops were insufficient and it would be unwise to directly collide with the soldiers and horses along the way.
If you want to win this battle, you must use your only manpower where it should be used.
It would be best to raid the royal capital of Goguryeo.
Wen Ting also sent people to summon the personnel from various county offices in Liaodong to the shore to give Goguryeo an illusion and let him know that Liaodong was still training troops and had not crossed the river.
Here we create the illusion that we are still in full swing.
"Secretary Zhang, according to reports from our spies, Goguryeo is mostly made up of rural villages and there are few towns. There is only one decent capital city. They are just a bunch of ragtag people."
The quality of Goguryeo's soldiers and soldiers was far inferior to that of the Tang Dynasty, let alone the formation of troops.
Zhang Daan lowered his bamboo hat and whispered: "Cross the river."
Wen Ting waved the torch in his hand and threw it into the river.
Everyone also put out the torches in their hands and started to get on the boat to cross the river.
The boats on the shore were lined up, and the soldiers took up the oars and became the boatmen. In the darkness of the night, the soldiers in armor used the oars to slide the river water, and the boats slowly moved towards the other side.
Goguryeo's arrangement is very interesting. They have deployed manpower on the opposite bank, but they are all staring at the other side. As long as they are patient and the ship travels for a while, they can land on a river beach in the west.
Under the moonlight, the ship was already far away from the shore.
The ship moved silently, silently.
Everyone held their breath and tried not to make any noise.
The boat traveled in the river for half an hour before reaching a river beach with mud on the shore.
People cannot get off the boat at this time. Once they get off the boat, they will inevitably fall into the mire, sinking deeper and deeper into the mud and drowning alive.
Not to mention that the Goguryeo people were careless in managing the river embankment. In fact, as long as the river bank is properly repaired and connected to Liaodong, it can be developed into a good port. Whether it is fishermen or trade, both sides can become rich. .
But Goguryeo didn't care. It would rather keep the fishermen along the coast impoverished than let the villagers here have more contact with Liaodong on the other side.
Zhang Daan was so disgusted with this feeling of dividing the territory to rule that many Goguryeo people could only secretly cross the river to do business in Liaodong.
The euphemistic name of Goguryeo is to prevent their wealth from flowing out, but in fact it is to prevent more and more Goguryeo people from fleeing to settle in Liaodong and losing their own population.
After passing this river beach, there was finally solid land to step on. Zhang Daan led the people into a reed field.
Three thousand people marched together, and the reeds fell one by one.
Some villagers saw the Tang army crossing the river and had already landed on the shore. They were panicking and were about to shout, but the other party had already run up to them, covered their mouths and pinned them to the ground.
Zhang Daan and Wen Ting walked out of the reeds, and the soldiers had already controlled all five families here.
While sending people to keep an eye on the surroundings, they were also arranging the soldiers, packing their gear here and preparing to go to the royal capital of Goguryeo.
Everyone then put on their horizontal knives and prepared their bows and arrows.
Zhang Daan treated these villagers kindly and talked with them in Goguryeo. He learned from the mouths of these villagers that these people also disliked Yeon Gae Sowen, and the Yeon Gae family was originally a general.
This person has a very bad reputation among the people and has done many bad things.
His reputation in Goguryeo was already very bad, and he wanted to seize power.
Wen Ting felt that Yuengai Suwen was a fool and this person must be easy to deal with.
Zhang Daan distributed the food he brought from the other side to the villagers here. They liked the rice, noodles and meat very much because they had never eaten such clean food in Goguryeo.
So much so that the villagers here wanted to send some dried fish to the soldiers. Zhang Daan smelled the pungent fish smell and almost vomited on the spot.
The Goguryeo people were very poor. They lived in thatched houses because Liaodong was opposite. The soldiers along the coast did not allow them to build ships, so they had to cast nets on the shore.
When people here want to distinguish between rich and poor, they can only distinguish by whose family has more dried fish and whose family has less dried fish.
Even when a family gets married, dried fish is a betrothal gift.
When Da'an gave them the copper coins, the villagers knelt down on the spot.
It stands to reason that the families closest to the Liaodong River bank should be the richest, but in Goguryeo it is the opposite, and the people here are actually poorer.
Wen Ting didn't know what Zhang Daan had to talk about with these villagers, and why they could talk for so long.
Wen Ting couldn't understand the Goguryeo language, so he could only wait until Zhang Daan was alone, then stepped forward and asked, "Shilang Zhang, we are all ready and can attack at any time, and the sky is about to light up."
Fish belly white has appeared in the east, and it is about to break out. Zhang Daan still looks calm and composed, which makes Wen Ting very dissatisfied.
"I just told the villagers here that my relatives from the south came here a few days ago. The wind has risen in the sea south of Goguryeo. They said that strong winds pass through every year. We are going to march now. The wind is blowing and the rain is blowing. There is no hiding place.”
Zhang Daan looked at Wen Ting's surprised expression and smiled: "It would be best to wait for two days after the strong wind has passed. Besides, the old man here is willing to guide us."
Wen Ting said curiously: "Brother Da'an."
Seeing him looking at him with more and more surprise, Zhang Daan wiped the horizontal knife in his hand and said with a smile, "What's wrong?"
"What on earth did you say to them that they helped us so much."
Zhang Daan put away his horizontal sword and explained: "We are Tang people, so they naturally dare not offend. We will not occupy their houses or disturb their lives. If we give them food and money, they will naturally be willing to help us, and I We also promised that as long as they help us spend three or two days here and rescue the envoy by then, we will let them settle in Liaodong."
"These people live in poverty in Goguryeo, but as long as they can move to Liaodong, their lives will become richer. Who wouldn't want to?"
Wen Ting sat under the eaves and watched the weather clear up, with thick clouds in the sky and no sign of rain.
I thought the old villagers here were wrong, but in the afternoon the wind blew violently and it rained heavily.
Fortunately, he listened to the advice of the villagers here, otherwise 3,000 people would have probably contracted the wind and cold if they had been soaked in the rain. Let alone fighting, it would not be surprising for people to die while walking through the mountains and forests.
Zhang Daan was sitting under the eaves of a villager's house, watching from a distance as the river surface became turbid due to rain, and the river water quickly rose up.
The river was about to overflow in front of the house, so Da'an asked his soldiers to build a waterproof embankment to prevent the river from flooding the place.
The Tang army was not a bandit and would not rob the villagers. Instead, it was of good quality and would even help the villagers.
Even those in the Goguryeo army would often steal food from the villagers here.
The old man in the village was very prestigious. He went out for a trip and came back in the evening with a piece of news.
The royal capital of Goguryeo had been sealed off, and Yeon Gaesumun killed dozens of ministers.
After this act, Yuan Gaisuwen did gain great power, but his reputation was also ruined. Everyone would be afraid of him and not support him. Even if he gained power for a while, he would be overthrown sooner or later.
The heavy rain was still falling, and as expected, Yuan Gaisuwen sent men to reinforce the river bank early this morning to prevent the Tang army from Liaodong from crossing the river.
It's just that he didn't know that three thousand Tang troops had already crossed the river first, and now what Yuan Gaisuwen was guarding against was just the suspicious soldiers on the other side.
In this way, Yeon Gaesumun continued to focus on the other side, making it difficult to notice that the Tang army had crossed the shore.
An arrogant, conceited, power-hungry fool who tolerates no dissent. Such a person will not be in power for long.
The Tang Dynasty envoy Li Yifu had already fled with the King of Goguryeo. Fortunately, the current King of Goguryeo was still alive. Yeon Gaesumun sent many people to trace the whereabouts of the King of Goguryeo and Li Yifu.
After listening to this news, Zhang Daan roughly understood the current situation.
First of all, we can know that Yeon Gaesumun deployed a heavy defense on the other side of Liaodong, with about two thousand people.
According to the news previously sent by Li Yifu, there are 20,000 soldiers and horses in the capital of Goguryeo, of which less than 8,000 are capable of fighting.
Yeon Gaesumun also sent many people out to look for traces of the king of Goguryeo.
Zhang Daan whistled, and Hai Dongqing, who was eating a fish in the rain, looked up, and it flapped its wings and came in front of him.
Hanging a small piece of bamboo tube on its paw, now even the Goguryeo people themselves can't find Ri Yifu and the King of Goguryeo.
One advantage of sea green is that it can find people it knows well at high places.
The day after Haidongqing was released, it still did not fly back.
It had been raining heavily for two days, and the ground was very muddy. There was a thick layer of mud in front of the house, which was very unpleasant to step on.
The rain stopped on the fifth day, and news continued to arrive from the royal capital of Goguryeo. The spies originally arranged in Goguryeo also came around one after another.
Zhang Daan felt much more at ease now. In the early days, these spies were arranged by the Ministry of Rites.
They had been lurking in Goguryeo for three years, and they had seen all the changes that had taken place here in the past three years, such as how Yeon Gaesomun gradually gained control of the military, and what Yeongaesomun's power was now.
Inside the house, charcoal fires were burning and plumes of white smoke were emitting. After the heavy rain, there was still a little rain falling from the roof.
Soldiers are repairing the houses here. At first, the houses here were dilapidated, but now they are being repaired.
Tang Jun was very dissatisfied with the place where he settled, and even hated having to huddle together to avoid the rain during a typhoon.
So everyone started building several large and spacious houses.
This village has become a temporary base camp for the Tang army.
Not long after, Wen Ting came back in a hurry. He opened the door and said loudly: "Li Yifu has returned with the king of Goguryeo."
Zhang Daan had already heard Hai Dongqing's cry outside the house.
When everyone heard this, they looked up and saw that Li Yifu's clothes were very clean, but the King of Goguryeo looked very embarrassed.
"Brother Yifu, I admire you for your resourcefulness." Zhang Daan bowed his hands in salute.
Everyone also saluted one after another.
Li Yifu sat down and ate the pasta in front of him, "Is it difficult to eat food from Liaodong? Where does this food come from?"
"Sent from the other side."
Wen Ting explained: "Our people will cross the river at night to deliver food. This year Liaodong has a good harvest. There is endless food in our rear. The Goguryeo people are not keeping strict guard on this area."
Li Yifu sat upright and wolfed down the food, while the King of Goguryeo on the side bowed and could only swallow his saliva.
When Li Yifu was full, he handed him three or two pieces of cake, and then the King of Goguryeo began to eat.
He took a sip of tea and began to explain what happened in the past two days.
It turned out that the King of Goguryeo went to inspect the army at the invitation of Yeon Gaesumun, but was intercepted by Ri Yifu, who took him to escape first.
The King of Goguryeo was kidnapped, and Yeon Gaesumun was so angry that he killed many people.
The King of Goguryeo knew that he could only rely on the Tang people to help him exterminate the traitors, so he could only turn to Li Yifu, the only envoy of the Tang Dynasty in Goguryeo.
After escaping from the capital of Goguryeo, Li Yifu summoned the current king of Goguryeo and asked him to pull the cart all the way here.
Now that he is alive, the King of Goguryeo would also like to thank Li Yifu for his life-saving grace.
A Goguryeo king was groveling to the Tang envoys, and even willing to be a servant. According to Li Yifu's explanation, in order to avoid detection, no one would think that a villager pulling a cart could be the Goguryeo king.
I will update a chapter today. The author will go to bed early today and will update normally tomorrow.
