A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1298 The Emperor Sucking Blood
"Confucius said that one should give up food and soldiers, but not trust. Baiyan City surrendered and then rebelled again. This is unforgivable."

The emperor hated Sun Daiyin for breaking his promise and was also angry about the injuries of Qibi Heli and Li Simo.

When the emperor rushed to the foot of Baiyan City and listened to Wu Huaiyu's report that in three battles under the city of Baiyan, although 5,000 heads were beheaded, more than 800 Tang soldiers were also killed in battle, Li Shimin's face turned red.

This number of casualties even exceeded that of the previous major battles of the Tang army. Su Dingfang captured Beisha and Jian'an, Li Ji and Wu Huaiyi broke Gaimu City, and Li Shimin captured Liaodong City. Each battle involved tens of thousands of people, but the Tang army did not suffer so many casualties.

But Li Shimin himself had to take a great responsibility for these casualties, as he underestimated the enemy.

This made the emperor a little angry and embarrassed.

Standing on the bank of the Daliang River, the emperor drew his sword and pointed it at Baiyan City, and reiterated to the soldiers that if they could capture Baiyan City and massacre the people in the city, money, silk, and women would be rewarded to the soldiers.

"Simo, He Li, how are your injuries?"

"The Grand Commandant has personally treated our injuries, and they are now fine." The two Hu generals replied, "We are incompetent, and we have lost many soldiers and generals, which has damaged the prestige of the country. Please forgive us, Your Majesty."

Li Shimin looked at Huaiyu,
"I was just about to change the dressing. Your Majesty, please take a look. The wound is serious, but it is under control and there is no more redness, swelling or ulceration."

Wu Huaiyu changed the dressing for the two people.

Li Simo's wound was indeed not so bad, there was no redness, swelling or ulceration, and it was getting better. The emperor lowered his head to examine it carefully, and then did something that no one expected.

The emperor actually lowered his head and used his mouth to suck the blood from Li Simo's wound.

Wu Huaiyu was stunned watching from the side.

He had read history books before and had read that in ancient times there were generals who sucked pus and blood from the wounds of soldiers, and there were also ministers who sucked hemorrhoids for the emperor, sucking carbuncles and licking hemorrhoids to please the emperor.

But this is the first time I have heard of or seen a dignified emperor sucking blood from a general's wound.

Although Li Simo's wound had been cleaned and the situation was not so bad now, there was still some pus and blood, which most people could not eat.

Even Li Simo, the old Turkic wolf, was stunned.

All the generals and soldiers saw this astonishing scene. At this time, the emperor was not in the tent, but in an open space in the camp, surrounded by countless generals, ministers, and soldiers.

Everyone saw the emperor sucking the blood from Li Simo's wound one mouthful at a time.

Wu Huaiyu really wanted to step forward and pull the emperor away, telling him that doing so would make the wound more susceptible to bacteria or viruses infecting it.

Li Simo finally reacted and supported the emperor, "Your Majesty, you must not do this."

The old wolf was so excited that he shed tears.

"I am a mixed Hu..." He choked up as he spoke. Although he was old, he was really moved. Although he was of high rank in the Turkic Ashina royal family, he was born to a Sogdian Hu slave and had a Sogdian appearance.

Since he was a child, he was not accepted by the Turkic Ashina royal family. He was always called a mixed Hu and he never had the opportunity to command troops from other tribes.

But the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty not only conferred him the title of Prince, but later made him Khan. Now, with the dignity of the Supreme Emperor, he personally sucked the blood from his wounds.

The emperor also wanted to suck the wounds of Qibi Heliye,
He Li knelt on the ground and refused to give in. He blushed and told the emperor that he had always felt guilty about it. He had come to the Tang Dynasty when he was desperate. The Tang Dynasty accepted the Qibi tribe, who had lost their homes, and settled them near Liangzhou. They set up a special governor's office in Helanzhou.
He asked his younger brother to serve his mother and lead the tribe, and summoned him to the court to appoint him as an official and grant him a title. He had good intentions for more than ten years, but in the end, his tribe rebelled and joined the Xueyantuo in the northern desert.

Although this matter had nothing to do with He Li, he was unable to stop it. Even though he cut off an ear as a pledge of oath, the tribe still rebelled in the end.

Eventually they were defeated by the Tang army and surrendered again, but the emperor still treated them well.

Why did he fight so hard with 800 Hu cavalrymen under Baiyan City and attack the 10,000 reinforcements from Wugut City? It was because he always felt guilty towards the emperor.
Li Simo and He Li's faces flushed with excitement. They patted their chests and told the emperor that they would lead their troops to capture Baiyan City for the emperor personally.

"You have fought several battles here and killed five thousand enemies. You have made great contributions. Now you should have a good rest."

The emperor didn't care about the fact that Wu Huaiyu let thousands of reinforcements from Wugut City run away. He was now keeping a close eye on Baiyan City, and it was enough since he had defeated the reinforcements.

"Baiyan City is difficult to attack, what good plan does the commander have?"

Baiyan City is not really that big, especially the real main castle, which is actually very small, but very dangerous. The wall around the city is about two miles long, but the terrain is particularly dangerous. The Taizi River blocks the way in front, and the other three sides are several feet high white rock walls.
"The traditional siege method is indeed difficult to attack. Even if we join forces with Lord Ying and his men, with 100,000 troops, we still cannot deploy them here. The area we can attack is limited."

As soon as Li Shimin saw the actual situation, he realized that if he attacked by force, he would probably leave a mountain of corpses and might not be able to capture the city.

"Let's attack with fire."

"It's not easy for a catapult to throw that high."

"It's really hard to throw a 300-jin boulder, but if it's just a kerosene bomb, it's no problem."

"It may not be possible to capture it just by fire attack," Li Shimin pointed at Baiyan City. You see, their outer wall is built halfway up the mountain, but their real castle is on the top of the mountain.
The outer city is very large, and there weren't many people inside originally. Now that there's a war going on, many nearby civilians have evacuated here. They still live in sheds built close to the hills, and crops are planted near the outer city walls.

Trying to break the city by direct fire attack like we did in attacking Liaodong City won't work here.

Kerosene bombs could be thrown into the outer city, but the outer city was all farmland and barren slopes. The castle on the top of the mountain and the houses, sheds, warehouses of the people near the castle could not be burned.

"Your Majesty, attacking the city is inferior, attacking the heart is superior."

The arson ability of kerosene bombs is very strong, and the fire is not easy to put out. Now that the reinforcements from Wugut City have been repelled, Baiyan City is left alone to defend the city.

There were only about 2,000 soldiers, and the civilians who had retreated into the city and the original people numbered more than 10,000. Even if these mountain cities had a lot of food and grass stored and could hold out for a year or two, the problem was that if they were isolated and helpless, they might not have the determination to do so.

To know,
Baiyan City is the sub-city of Liaodong City.

The defense system built by Goguryeo in Liaodong was a thousand-mile defense line from north to south, and then there were double city systems in some key locations.

For example, Xincheng and Gaimucheng are two cities in one place.

Liaodong City and Baiyan City are also two cities in one place.
This dual city setting is to deal with the attack from the Central Plains. The two cities support each other and form a horn. In the past, the Central Plains attacked Liaodong, which was restricted by geography and seasons. Generally, they could only attack for half a year and had to withdraw before winter. Otherwise, the cold in Liaodong would make it difficult for the defenders to continue, especially the supply would not be able to get through. Staying would be like waiting for death.

For this reason, the Goguryeo people formed a defensive combat idea, which is to build countless mountain fortresses. If the Central Plains attack, I will first retreat into these large and small castles and play the turtle tactic with you. When you can't hold on anymore, I will intercept, attack, or regain the lost territory.

The dual-city system is an added insurance policy. If one city is not defended, there is still another city. This way, the passages to the east of the Qianshan Mountains can be defended.

To prevent the Central Plains army from advancing quickly and breaking into their rear areas,

Liaodong City is large and solid, built on a plain, while Baiyan City is small but dangerous, built on a mountain.

The two cities were not far from each other and supported each other, but now Liaodong City was breached in a few days, and the reinforcements from Xincheng were blocked in the north of Gaimu City.
The reinforcements from Wugut City were annihilated and half of them escaped.

Baiyan City is now in the most desperate time.
At this point, it often only takes one more straw to break the camel's back.

Fire attack does not necessarily mean that a city can be captured like Liaodong City.
But as long as the pressure is enough,
Baiyan City Lord Sun Daiyin may surrender.

"Sun Daiyin is a thief who is untrustworthy and fickle. He can never be trusted." Li Shimin gritted his teeth.

Zhang Sun Wuji also said, "Your Majesty has promised the soldiers that if you capture this city, you will massacre the people and give all the money, silk and women to the soldiers as rewards. How can Your Majesty break your promise to the soldiers?"

"In fact, as long as Sun Daiyin is willing to surrender, Your Majesty does not have to break your promise to the soldiers."

"Do you want Your Majesty to break faith with Sun Daiyin, pretend to accept surrender and then massacre the city?" Li Jing questioned Wu Huaiyu from the side. Breaking faith with either side is not a good thing.

"Your Majesty, you don't have to break your promise to anyone."

"Oh?" Li Shimin was a little confused.

"Your Majesty, in fact, the total number of Baiyan City's soldiers and civilians is only a little over 10,000."

Li Shimin wondered what this had to do with the number of people.

Wu Huaiyu continued, "If all these 10,000 people were sold as slaves, they wouldn't be worth much, probably only 100,000 or 200,000 strings of cash."

Li Shimin seemed to understand something and said, "Go on."

"Your Majesty, as long as Sun Daiyin is willing to surrender, then Baiyan City can be taken without a fight, which can reduce many casualties. Soldiers' lives are precious. Moreover, if there are casualties, the court will have to spend a lot of money to provide them with pensions."

Li Shimin understood and said, "You mean if Sun Daiyin surrenders, I will pardon them, but I will pay the soldiers the money, silk, and women in the city that I promised to give them separately?"

Zhang Sun Wuji was dissatisfied, "How can this be possible? Are you going to ask His Majesty to redeem the city?"

"There is no need at all. There are only 2,000 defenders in Baiyan City. With 100,000 soldiers from the Tang Dynasty, we can capture it in one day and one night."

Wu Huaiyu smiled and said nothing.

Li Shimin was also silent.

Baiyan City is right there. This city is not big and there are few soldiers, but it is definitely more difficult to attack than Liaodong City.

If we really launch a forceful attack, there may be thousands of casualties, or even more.

Several thousand soldiers is not a small number, and they are all elite soldiers. Li Shimin was reluctant to let them go.

If the city was to be redeemed, then paying two or three hundred thousand strings of cash would not be the same as redeeming the lives of Goguryeo people like Sun Daiyin, but exchanging for the lives of thousands of Tang soldiers.

Li Shimin thought this was still a good deal.

Of course, there is one more thing.
Up to now, several cities have been destroyed, but no Goguryeo city lord is willing to surrender.

If we can get Sun Daiyin to surrender, it will be a good start.

Changsun Wuji has no knowledge of military affairs at all. Does he really think that he can easily capture Baiyan City with his large numbers?
More than 800 soldiers were killed under the city this time. Although most of them were Khitan Hu soldiers and Goguryeo surrendered soldiers, Li Shimin was also very heartbroken. He was even more reluctant to use the lives of his own elite Tang soldiers to fill the gap.

"Just follow Huaiyu's advice and attack with fire first."

"Prince of Liaodong."

Gao Huanquan quickly stood up, a little uneasy, "I am here,"

"Please contact Sun Daiyin again. I am willing to give him another chance."

"Your Majesty," Wu Huaiyu stepped forward to stop him, "Don't contact Sun Daiyin yet. Wait for him to contact you first."

(End of this chapter)