A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1294: The Smoke of War Rises and the Country Looks North

Sunset West Mountain.

Under Liaodong City,

The wolf smoke burned and shot straight up into the sky, and would not disperse even in the wind.

When the wolf smoke rose under the Liaodong city, wolf smoke soon appeared dozens of miles to the west, and then even further west.

Smoke of war rose everywhere.

When the emperor and the prince parted ways at Dingzhou, the prince gave his father a brocade robe, hoping that he could return victorious before winter came. Li Shimin also agreed with the prince to light a fire every morning and evening to report safety.

The smoke signal that was lit under Liaodong City at this time was not just one flame, but it was agreed that if Liaodong City was captured, the victory would be announced with three smoke signals.

The raising of wolf smoke was originally a warning, but because it spread quickly, it also became the best signal for transmitting military intelligence.

Coming from Dingzhou, every thirty miles there is a beacon tower.

Raise smoke during the day and light fire at night.

The Tang Dynasty stipulated that beacon smoke had to be transmitted over two thousand miles in one day and one night, which meant that it had to be transmitted by seventy beacons.

This speed is several times faster than the 800-mile express train.

"The Grand Commandant is truly a god. He said it would take three days to conquer Liaodong City, and it really took three days."

The two young men, Wang Fangyi and Zhao Chiman, have been officially appointed as leaders of the imperial army, holding the ninth-rank military position.

During these three days, they basically did not participate in any battles. They just stood guard and watched the catapults, crossbow carts, and archers bombard Liaodong City.
"After this fire, I'm afraid there won't be much left of Liaodong City."

The Tang army has entered the city.
The Goguryeo defenders in the city are being cleared out, and victory is already decided.

This war was unprecedented and will never be repeated. Even the emperor could not have expected it to go so smoothly before he went to war.
Although there was a lot of preparation work in the early stages, and various fake moves to mobilize the enemy,
But in the end, they attacked Liaodong City, a major city.

It actually took only three days to capture the city. The Tang army soldiers under the city of Liaodong could hardly believe it.

But the fact is that the city has been broken.
They didn't suffer many casualties and managed to take it down with giant catapults, heavy crossbows, and countless kerosene bombs, poison smoke bombs, etc.

"This smoke signal is really straight."

Wu Huaiyu did not enter the city.

He took his own thousand men and remained outside the city, also taking on the task of guarding the emperor's imperial physician.

"Is this smoke signal really made of wolf dung?"

"Where do we get so much wolf dung? Wolf smoke is actually fueled by weeds and shrubs such as mugwort, reeds, poplars, and red willows, which are mixed with wolf dung. When burning, dry wood is used to start the fire, followed by wet wood. The pile of wood is large, so there will be thick smoke that rises straight into the sky."

It is 1,800 miles from Liaodong City to Dingzhou.

Once the signal is lit, it will reach the Dingzhou base camp by noon tomorrow.

I’m afraid the prince will find it hard to believe it by then.

Wang Fangyi and others accompanied Wu Huaiyu to watch the fireworks, but they were all a little absent-minded. They kept looking towards Liaodong City. Although they were outside the city, their hearts were inside.

The cleanup battle continues.

They could only watch.

"Don't worry, there are plenty of opportunities to fight," Wu Huaiyu comforted them with a smile.

The cleanup lasted all night.
Until dawn,

The red sun is rising,

The battle was finally over.
In the emperor's tent, Li Shimin's eyes were red, and it was obvious that he had hardly slept all night.

The brave generals responsible for clearing out the city last night were Cheng Yaojin, Duan Zhixuan, and Liu Hongji.

Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong, the two cavalry commanders, were responsible for leading the cavalry to encircle and intercept the enemy outside the city.

The tactic of surrounding three sides and leaving one side open is always the most effective in undermining the enemy's morale. After the Tang army entered the city last night, the Goguryeo army did not resist for long. Seeing that the South Gate was not blocked, they scrambled to escape from the South Gate.

But escaping from Liaodong City did not mean escaping death. Instead, it meant even more desperate pursuit and killing by cavalry.

Countless Goguryeo soldiers and civilians fled, trampling each other and causing countless casualties. No one dared to turn back to fight, and they fled in all directions.
The result was that they were chased and killed by the Tang cavalry, which was much smaller than theirs.

They chased him for more than thirty miles.
Qin Qiong reported the results of the battle to the emperor.
Eight thousand cavalrymen chased the enemy for thirty miles last night. At dawn, they were counted as having beheaded more than 8,000 people, captured more than 10,000 soldiers, and several thousand civilians.

However, Cheng Yaojin and his men fought a mopping-up battle in the city all night last night, but they killed less than 5,000 people, captured more than 10,000 Goguryeo soldiers, and more than 40,000 civilians.

"How much food was seized?"

Li Shimin asked with concern. Compared with how many people were killed and how many were captured, he was more concerned about how much food, fodder, war horses, etc. were seized.

In fact, Li Shimin hesitated about using fire attack before the war. It was not because he wanted to be kind to the Goguryeo soldiers and civilians in the city, but because Liaodong City was the most important city in the western part of Goguryeo, where a large amount of food, fodder, and military equipment were stored.

Li Shimin was afraid of burning these grains.

"Your Majesty, we have seized more than 500,000 shi of grain in total. Our army entered the city quickly yesterday and quickly controlled the fire, so not many warehouses were burned."

When he heard the number of more than 500,000 shi of grain, Li Shimin finally smiled again.

"Hahaha, good, good, very good." The emperor said several good words and laughed very loudly.

After capturing two cities and Su Dingfang's raid on the grasslands, they seized 200,000 to 300,000 dan of grain, which could feed 100,000 people for three months. Now they have seized more than 500,000 dan, which is enough to feed 100,000 people for almost half a year. Basically, the Tang army no longer has any logistical food pressure this time.

The biggest difficulty was solved. The vassal kings, khans, princes, and envoys who came to Liaodong to watch the battle were actually numb.

Liaodong City is tall, strong and dangerous, and there are more than 40,000 defenders.

Not to mention that this place is 600 miles away from the Tang Dynasty's front line in Yingzhou. Even if you take the nearest Liaoze, it is 200 miles away from Liaoze. There are also the Liaohe River and the Great Wall, three lines of defense that the Goguryeo people have built for many years.

As a result, the Tang army now marched straight in. The emperor's 20,000 Tang troops alone, plus some auxiliary troops, took only three days to break through such a strong city.

It's a complete victory.
The Tang army suffered negligible casualties, but they beheaded nearly 15,000 soldiers, captured 30,000, and also captured more than 40,000 civilians and craftsmen, and seized more than 500,000 shi of grain.

The so-called Liaodong defense line that the Goguryeo people painstakingly built was in tatters.

Among all the vassal states, there were a few who were very calm. They were Ashina Helu, Yugushe and others from the Western Regions. At this moment, they couldn't help but think of the past when the Tang army led by Wu Huaiyu rushed thousands of miles and defeated and captured them alive.

At first they were still unwilling to accept it.

But after being sent to Chang'an, he increasingly felt the power of the Tang Dynasty and finally realized his own weakness.

The frog in the well.

Even in this battle, the strength displayed by the Tang army still made them tremble in their hearts.

"Yan Lide, you are responsible for leading people to repair Liaodong City,"

"Jingde, you and Zhijie, take the light cavalry to sweep the villages around Liaodong City. Remember, just sweep the villages, don't attack those mountain fortresses."

The emperor's intention was simple.
After taking the important town of Liaodong, they swept through the surrounding villages. Firstly, they wanted to seize grass and grain from the enemy, secondly, they wanted to abduct some people, and thirdly, they wanted to drive the Goguryeo people from these rural villages to the mountain cities to consume the enemy's food.

No matter how strong and dangerous a mountain city is, it can only be defended if there is food.

If a lot of people are added all of a sudden, the food in the mountain city will be consumed faster.

Finally, the emperor issued an edict.

Liaozhou was established in Liaodong City.

The emperor's treatment of the 30,000 soldiers and more than 40,000 craftsmen and civilians captured in Liaodong City was the same as before in Gaimu and Jian'an City.

All these 70,000 people were taken to Yingzhou and Jinzhou to be auctioned off, and the money obtained from the auction was used to reward the officers and soldiers.

However, the emperor finally pardoned a group of Goguryeo officials and generals, and sent their families to Youzhou for resettlement. These Goguryeo officials were given to Goguryeo King Gao Huanquan, who was canonized by the Tang Dynasty.
Gao Huanquan, the King of Goguryeo, established a temporary court in Liaodong City and raised the flag. His mission was to recruit and persuade the Goguryeo military and civilians to surrender, divide Goguryeo, and attack the illegality of the court led by Gao Baozang and Gai Suwen, who were regicide traitors.

No matter how big the effect is, it is still a chess piece and is of some use.

The emperor was in a very good mood.

The special decree allowed the entire army to rest for three days and gave wine and meat as rewards to the soldiers.

A new Liaodong Military Governor's Office was established, which was under the jurisdiction of Liaozhou and Gaizhou, and Prime Minister Zhang Liang was appointed as the Acting Liaodong Military Governor and Governor of Liaozhou.

Three days later,
Under the command of Yan Lide, the chief architect, and his brother Yan Liben, 70,000 captives in Liaodong City renovated the city.
The collapsed city walls were rebuilt, and the filled trenches were cleared.
The burned down houses were also repaired.

The emperor also moved into Liaodong City.

After moving into Liaodong City, they received more good news.

The 40,000 soldiers and horses in Qianxincheng and Guoneicheng fought outside the city in an attempt to intercept the 60,000-man army of Li Daozon Wu Huaiyi who were heading south to Liaodong City.

As a result, the Tang army won a great victory.

In this battle, Li Ji first fought with the enemy in the front, then deliberately lost the battle and led his troops to retreat, and Goguryeo pursued him.

When passing through a long and narrow valley area, Wu Huaiyi led his troops to make a detour and cut the Goguryeo army in half, leaving it unable to take care of both the front and the rear.

Then Li Ji immediately turned around and launched a surprise attack.

Prime Minister Ma Zhou also commanded the archers who had ambushed on the nearby hills to shoot at the enemy.
Sixty thousand versus forty thousand,
The Goguryeo army was defeated and fled, with more than 10,000 people being beheaded, and the rest of the troops fled into Xincheng.

This good news made the Tang army even more excited.

Since going to war, he has won four battles and never lost.

More than 30,000 enemies were beheaded, over 50,000 were captured, and four important towns were captured, which had already dealt a heavy blow to the Goguryeo people.

"Next step, White Rock City."

Li Shimin gained confidence and decided to move forward.

Baiyan City is not far to the northeast of Liaodong City.

"Let Duke Yingguo and Duke Song go directly to Baiyan City to join the forces."

King Gao Huanquan of Goguryeo stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I, Sun Daiyin, the Lord of Baiyan City, have a good relationship with him. I am willing to write a letter and send someone to persuade him to surrender."

"it is good,"

After getting permission, Gao Huanquan immediately wrote a letter to Sun Dae-in persuading him to surrender, saying that he had been canonized as the King of Goguryeo by the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and that the Gao Baozang supported by Yeon Gae-mun was a fake king. He also said that the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty promised that as long as Baiyan City surrendered,
Then Sun Daiyin will continue to be the lord of the city, and the officials and civilians in the city will be safe.

The letter was sent to Baiyan City.
After some thought, Sun Daiyin quickly sent someone to Liaodong City to express his willingness to respect Gao Huanquan as king and to submit to the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

"Baiyan City was taken without a fight. Hahahaha, great, another city taken."

The delighted Li Shimin ordered Qibi Heli to lead 800 elite cavalry to escort Gao Huanquan to Baiyan City to take over.

(End of this chapter)