A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1297: The Grand Commandant Arrives
"The Goguryeo man who assassinated Qibi Heli must be found and brought back to Qibi Heli for personal punishment!"

The emperor was furious this time.
He was indignant at the Lord of Baiyan City for his fickleness and breach of promise, and angry that the reinforcements from Wugu City almost killed Qibi Heli. He also felt guilty for not listening to Wu Huaiyu's advice and being too confident and underestimating the enemy, which led to this situation.

"Huaiyu,"

"The minister is here."

"You will immediately lead six thousand cavalry to Baiyan City to take charge of the situation."

It's not too late to make amends.

Although Qibi Heli won the battle with his fierceness, he was seriously injured and only defeated the enemy temporarily.

There are still seven or eight thousand reinforcements in Wugut City, and there are still several thousand defenders in Baiyan City. If they join forces to attack Qibi Heli and Wu Sigong at this time, I am afraid that more than a thousand people will not be able to hold on.

Li Simo's three thousand Turkic cavalry were still not enough to reassure the emperor.

Now he has really begun to attach importance to Baiyan City, and specially let Wu Huaiyu take charge of the situation. The 6,000 cavalry given to him are naturally the troops that defeated 40,000 enemies under the city of Liaodong that day.

Wu Huaiyu had one thousand guards, and An Lushan and Shi Xinshou had five thousand men.

It was possible for Li Shimin to issue an order to massacre the city.

This time, Baiyan City really offended the emperor.

In order to ensure absolute security, Li Shimin even pulled out his trump card, Wu Huaiyu.

They took Beisha City in one night, Liaodong City in three days, Jian'an City in five days, and Gaimu City in ten days.

Now a small city of White Rock,
They actually dared to play tricks on the emperor. Did they really think that ten thousand reinforcements could rescue them?
Massacre,

After the city was captured, all the young and strong men were executed, and the women and money were distributed as rewards to the soldiers.

After making the arrangements, continue eating.

The emperor picked up the fish with chopsticks, but after two bites, a fish bone got stuck in his throat.

The frightened attendants quickly called Wu Huaiyu over.

Fishbone stuck is not a big problem.
After a long time, he finally swallowed the thorn.

The emperor had no appetite for the meal.

Wu Huaiyu also bid farewell to the emperor and without further delay, he assembled 6,000 troops and set out for Baiyan City overnight.

Liaodong City was the Xiangping City in the Han Dynasty, and Baiyan City, also known as Baiya City, is very close to Liaodong City.

The city is located on the mountainside and by the water, with steep cliffs on all sides, like a thorn stuck beside the city of Liaodong.

Although Liaodong City is an important and large city, it is a flat city, while Baiyan City is an extremely dangerous mountain fortress. If this city is not taken, Liaodong City will never be safe.

Wu Huaiyu led 6,000 men to Baiyan City overnight. He was cautious along the way and sent out 24 teams of light cavalry to explore the way.
Every mountain, forest, and valley that we pass through must be explored thoroughly to prevent ambushes.

Duan Zhixuan was ambushed and suffered a loss. Although he killed 28 generals in a row, he was exhausted. After returning to the camp, he was in a hurry to take off his armor and drink cold wine, which caused him to die.

The scouts in front are doing reconnaissance in armor.

The other troops were not wearing armor. Their armor was carried on another horse. This was to maintain sufficient physical strength. Otherwise, they would be exhausted after rushing all the way, so how could they fight when they encountered the enemy?

Fortunately, we were careful along the way and did not encounter any ambushes.

At noon the next day,
They successfully arrived at the city of Baiyan.
The river under Baiyan City could be seen from afar. That should be the Taizi River of Fushun in later generations. It was called Yanshui in ancient times and was also called Daliang River at this time.

Prince Dan of Yan committed suicide in Yanshui after Jing Ke's failed attempt to assassinate King Qin. To commemorate this event, Yanshui was later called Taizi River.

"No wonder it's called Baiyan City or Baiya City."

Wang Fangyi looked at the mountain city in the distance and couldn't help but sigh.

There are two white walls on the mountain, which are very conspicuous and look like two white cliffs. The outer city wall actually covers half of the mountain and covers half of the mountain along the ridge.

The other side of this half of the mountain faces the Taizi River, and there are steep cliffs on the other side.

The top of the mountain is the inner city, which is also a relatively independent fortress.

Only one side of the city is relatively gentle, while the rest is either a cliff by the water or a steep cliff, and there are also tall white rock walls.
We can only attack from the west.

The outer city wall is very large, but there is not much space to launch an attack.

This kind of city wall looks rough, but it is made of huge stones and has mortise and tenon structures.

Wu Huaiyu's troops arrived.

Baiyan City had naturally discovered it early. They stood high and had a good view of the place. They saw reinforcements coming in such large numbers.
Suddenly filled with despair.

They thought they had received 10,000 reinforcements from Wugut City, but unexpectedly they were no match for the Tang army of more than a thousand men.

When Li Simo arrived with 3,000 cavalrymen,

The people of Baiyan City refused to give up and sent people to contact the reinforcements from Wugut City. The two sides launched a surprise night attack.

Neither Li Simo nor Qibi Heli had expected that the defeated Goguryeo army would dare to launch a surprise attack.

In the melee, Li Simo was old after all, and he was unfortunately shot by an arrow and fell off his horse while riding his horse. Fortunately, he was rescued by his subordinate Fuli Wolf Cavalry.

A night of fighting,
Li Simo, Qibi Heli, Wu Sigong and Gao Huanquan, a total of more than 4,000 people, fought against an enemy force three times their size. Fortunately, they were brave and fought all night.
As a result, they defeated the Goguryeo army and beheaded more than a thousand of them.

The reinforcements from Wugut City did not enter Baiyan City, but instead camped in a valley not far away, with the two sides responding to each other from afar.

Wu Huaiyu arrived at the camp.
Looking at the tragic situations of some people, I didn't know what to say for a moment.

Duke Qibi Heli of Liang was already missing an ear, and now he had a large piece of cloth wrapped around his waist, emitting a strong smell of blood, and he almost died.

Li Simo, Prince of Huaihua and Khan of Eastern Turkic Khaganate, was not in a better condition either. He was hit by an arrow in the arm, an arrow in the leg, and an arrow in the waist. The dignified Turkic Golden Wolf almost became a hedgehog.

Wu Sigong was also wounded in many places, but fortunately he was young and his injuries were not serious.

Several people saw Wu Huaiyu leading his troops to come in person,
I felt relieved but also ashamed.

"Let me treat your injuries first." The battlefield conditions were poor and the injuries of several people were not treated well. Qibi Heli's wounds were emitting a foul odor. They must have been festered and abscessed. If not treated in time, it might be very troublesome.

Qibi Heli was straightforward and took off all his clothes.
The wound was severely swollen and ulcerated. Wu Huaiyu's treatment was simple. He first gave him a bowl of anesthetic soup, and then took a knife to cut off the rotten flesh.
After cleaning everything, apply gold wound powder, then bandage it with gauze, and finally give him oral medicine.

His method was simple and straightforward, but the medicines he used were of excellent quality. The internal medicines were all made of top-quality medicinal materials, such as bezoar, which was the best quality.

Qibi Heli just sat there without saying a word from beginning to end. Although he drank the anesthetic soup, it was not completely anesthetic. It only relieved the pain a little. The wound was still extremely painful.

Li Simo was shot three times.

But his wounds had not yet festered. "The arrows of the Goguryeo people were quite clean."

Li Simo smiled and said, "Then I'm lucky."

Many soldiers' arrows would be contaminated. There was no need to coat them with special poison. Just soaking them in feces and urine, or letting the arrowheads have rust or something, would add a lot of damage.

Clean the wound, apply medicine, bandage, and then give oral medication.

Wu Sigong's wounds were also cleaned and bandaged again.

As for the other soldiers, there was no need to trouble the general Wu Huaiyu, as they would be taken care of by the military doctors and nurses from the sick children's camp he brought with him.

Now the proportion of military doctors in the Tang army has greatly increased, mainly from the central government to local prefectures and counties. A large number of medical schools have been added in recent years, and more medical and pharmaceutical talents have been trained by the government. When war breaks out, they can be directly recruited. Unlike before, there were only a few real doctors in an army of ten thousand people.

"I apologize to the Grand Commandant for underestimating the enemy and causing casualties among the soldiers." Qibi Heli apologized to Wu Huaiyu.

Li Simo also apologized. He actually allowed the Goguryeo people to attack at night, killing hundreds of soldiers.

"You guys played pretty well."

Wu Huaiyu first conveyed the emperor's will,

Wu Huaiyu was not too worried about how to fight next. The city of Baiyan would not run away, and the population and garrison of this city were far less than those of Liaodong and other cities. Sun Daiyin had previously expressed his willingness to surrender, saying that the city had a population of 10,000 and 2,400 soldiers.

These few people can't make any waves.

The key now lies in the reinforcements from Wugut City outside the city.
After two defeats, more than 3,000 of the 10,000-strong reinforcement force had been beheaded by Qibi Heli and Li Simo, leaving only about 6,000.

This support force is basically on the brink of collapse.

In ancient times,
If more than 30% of the troops are lost, then this unit will basically have no combat effectiveness.

"Since the Goguryeo people like to attack at night, let's do one tonight."

Wu Huaiyu decided to deal with the reinforcements first.

Several groups of people joined together, and now there are nearly 10,000 people in total.
Wu Huaiyu ignored Baiyan City and first asked people to build camps and fences, fetch water, chop wood, and make fire to cook.

Smoke curls from the kitchen,

The soldiers first had a hot and filling meal.

Then they waited for dark, and chose the time for the night attack in the second half of the night, when they were the most sleepy and least prepared.

Wu Sigong personally grilled horse meat buns for Wu Huaiyu.

Dig a pit, sprinkle some salt water on the prepared horse meat buns, and then stick them in the charcoal pit and wait for the charcoal fire to slowly roast them.

"Foster father, I think the thousands of defeated Goguryeo soldiers from Wugut City might run away in the middle of the night."

Wu Sigong had fought two battles with the soldiers from Wugut City and felt that these people were mediocre.

Not only is morale low, but tactics are also very backward.

Wu Sigong was from the Buyeo tribe. Unlike Li Keyong's family, which was from the Mohe tribe, Buyeo was not Mohe. Instead, Goguryeo originated from the ancient country of Buyeo. Wu Sigong's father could not stand the oppression of the Goguryeo people, so he followed the Mohe leader Tudiji to migrate westward and submit to the Sui Dynasty.

Wu Sigong grew up in Youying, but the tribe still retained some of its old traditions.

"It's okay to run away."

"Not intercepting?"

Wu Huaiyu smiled and said, "Why stop him? Our first target is Baiyan City. If they come, we will fight them. If they run, let them run."

"They only have about 6,000 people. Their morale is low and I'm afraid they have no fighting spirit. We can't let this fat sheep get away."

Now the Tang army has nearly 10,000 people after joining together, while the opposite side has only 6,000 people. Even if there are still 2,000 or 3,000 people in Baiyan City, the Tang army still has the advantage.

Wu Huaiyu remained calm, "Don't be greedy for that little bit of credit. If they want to run, let them run. Don't stop us when we return, understand?"

The other party doesn't want to fight now and wants to run away, but you still insist on stopping him, which will only force him to fight to the death.

Wu Huaiyu is not a person who is bent on making achievements now. To him, the main task is more important. Baiyan City is the target. Those thousands of people in Wugut City can just run away.

"Baiyan City is so dangerous, it's not easy to attack."

"There is no unbreakable city in this world. Moreover, the Baiyan City defenders only have about 2,000 people, and the civilians in the city are no more than 10,000."

Wu Huaiyu did not think that Baiyan City could not be captured.

This is just a city after all.

midnight,

The scouts reported that the Goguryeo army in Ugut City was indeed secretly escaping.

"Captain, General Qibi Heli has already led his troops out of the camp."

Wu Huaiyu rubbed his face. What power did this Qibi have? He actually disobeyed his military orders.

But there is no way to pursue these matters now.
He immediately sent Shi Shouxin and Wu Sigong to lead 1,500 cavalry each to provide support, while he and An Lushan stayed in the camp and kept an eye on Baiyan City on the mountain.

At dawn, Qibi Heli, Shi Shouxin and Wu Sigong returned to the camp.

The pursuit last night lasted until dawn. The defenders of Wugut City had no intention of fighting and only wanted to escape. They only beheaded more than a thousand people in the dark and failed to stop them.

(End of this chapter)