A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1299 Redemption of the City
The next day,

Li Ji, Ma Zhou and Wu Huaiyi also led 50,000 troops to the city of Baiyan.

"The way of heaven is to put virtue first and then punish; the way of the king is to conquer without fighting."

After the two armies joined forces, Li Ji and Wu Huaiyi led an army of 50,000 to set up a battle formation in the northwest of the city, while the emperor and Wu Huaiyu led tens of thousands of people to set up a battle formation in the southwest.

There were large tracts of farmland at the foot of the mountain.

It was already the end of May, and large tracts of wheat fields were turning yellow and about to mature, but the Goguryeo people in Baiyan City could only watch as the Tang army harvested large tracts of unripe wheat.

The Tang army harvested large tracts of wheat fields, and the wheat, which had not yet fully turned yellow and matured, along with the seedlings, was used as horse feed.

The wheat fields cleared after harvest also made it convenient for the army to set up camp.

The catapults, crossbow carts, etc. are being assembled again.
Seeing the tall catapults being erected one after another, the Goguryeo soldiers on the city walls became more and more frightened and uneasy, but they were helpless.

Liaodong City fell, Gaimu City was lost,
The 40,000 defenders in Liaodong were completely wiped out, and the tens of thousands of defenders in Xincheng and Guoneicheng suffered successive defeats. The 10,000 reinforcements in Wugutcheng were beaten to the point where only half of them escaped.

Desperation is spreading.

The Tang army outside the city was in good order.

Easy even.

There is really nothing to be nervous about when an army of nearly 100,000 people besieges a small town guarded by 2,000 people.

Especially since everyone knows that the emperor does not intend to attack forcefully this time, there won't be much bloodshed or casualties.

Moreover, the emperor also promised that after the city was captured, money, silk and population would be distributed as rewards to everyone. Many people were calculating how much they would get.

In the previous battles of Gaimu, Jian'an, and Liaodong City, the prisoners of war and slaves were sold for money, and then distributed as rewards to the soldiers. Everyone has received a lot.

This battle went too smoothly.

"As the saying goes, silkworms grow old in a day, while wheat ripens in a short time. When wheat turns yellow and apricots turn yellow, the embroiderer gets out of bed. As soon as June arrives, along with the cuckoo's cheerful call, the green wheat in the fields begins to turn yellow day by day."

Li Shimin, Wu Huaiyu and others walked in the wheat fields beside the Taizi River.

The Goguryeo people were also an agricultural nation, but they also engaged in fishing, hunting and grazing. Their agricultural production was much more backward than that of the Central Plains. However, during the more than 700 years since the establishment of the Goguryeo Kingdom, they absorbed a large number of people from the Central Plains, as well as many agricultural technologies brought from the Central Plains.

The wheat they grow is also pretty good.

"This land is quite fertile, but the wheat here is not as good as the wheat in Guanzhong. I estimate the yield per mu is only about one stone."

Although the Tang army harvested a lot of wheat fields, they only harvested a portion of them. There are still large tracts of wheat fields between the mountains and the river, and they are about to mature.

Wu Huaiyu smiled and said, "Now, to the west of Jicui Mountain, several important towns of Goguryeo have fallen one after another, and most of the main forces have been annihilated. The rest of the troops can only hide in those mountain fortresses and survive. The wheat is about to mature, but they dare not come out to harvest it. I think we can organize troops to harvest the wheat.

"If they dare to come down the mountain to harvest the wheat, we will harvest both the people and the wheat."

Li Shimin also thought this was a good idea.
After this wave of wheat is harvested, the military rations can be increased a lot, and there is no need to transport grain from the interior.

"Do you think we can cross the Yalu River?" Li Shimin asked.

It turned out that the emperor just wanted to fight a decisive battle under the city of Liaodong to annihilate some of Goguryeo's manpower. It would be best if he could capture one or two cities, but the plan was to withdraw the troops before winter and not stay in Liaodong.

But now that the situation is so good, the emperor can't help but be greedy and is already considering whether to send troops to Liaodong from now on.

They were not even satisfied with the territory west of Jicui Mountain and were thinking of fighting to the Yalu River or even Pyongyang.

Jicui Mountain,
It is a branch of Changbai Mountain, the largest mountain range in Liaodong, the Qianshan Mountain Range.

This mountain range is an important support for the Liaodong defense line that the Goguryeo people painstakingly built.

"It will be enough to wipe out all the cities east of Jicui." Wu Huaiyu said with a smile.

Li Jing also nodded beside him. The strategic plan cannot be changed casually. Of course, it is still possible to make some appropriate changes.

"After taking down Baiyan City, our next targets will be Xincheng and Anshi City." Li Shimin looked at the undulating wheat waves.

If these two important cities are captured, then at least the Liaohe River line will be basically in the hands of the Tang army. Although there are still many small and medium-sized mountain cities and fortresses, it is not a big problem.

The most important thing is that if these two cities are taken, the Goguryeo people’s manpower in Liaodong will be basically exhausted.

As for the Yalu River, that was not the mission of the emperor's main force. Their mission had been determined before they set out, which was along the Liaohe River line.

The Yalu River is the navy's mission.
The generals Wu Heita, Zuo Nandang, Pang Xiaotai, and Liu Boying were tasked with sweeping the coast and looking for opportunities to go up the Yalu River and launch surprise attacks on both sides of the river.

The Tang army prepared for three days at the foot of Baiyan City.

During these three days, while building siege equipment, the Tang army had already begun harvesting the wheat that had ripened first outside the Goguryeo city.

The Goguryeo people were so angry.

It's no use being angry. The owners of the crops that originally lived outside the city now hid in the city and lived in makeshift straw huts. The mountain city was quite big and could even accommodate cattle, horses, pigs and sheep, but they were still eating up all the land.

Young and strong men were conscripted to guard the city. Standing on the high city walls, they watched their own wheat outside the city being harvested by the Tang army just as it was ripe.

Angry and anxious,
But there is nothing you can do,

The southwest and northwest of the city were filled with Tang troops. There were so many people.
They could only stand on the city wall every day and watch the Tang army harvest their wheat while assembling those huge siege weapons.

It is said that the Tang army used these things to capture Liaodong City in three days and Gaimu City in ten days.

This thing can throw fireballs.

The city of Liaodong was destroyed by the Tang army's fireballs that burned the city.

these three days,
The morale of the defenders was getting lower and lower, which was a real torture.
The next day, early morning.

This day was the first day of June in the seventeenth year of Zhenguan.

The wind blowing from the Taizi River is still cool.

The sun has not yet risen,

The trumpets began to sound, followed by the earth-shaking beating of war drums.

The Tang army launched attacks in the northwest and southwest at the same time.

But the Baiyan City defenders did not imagine that countless soldiers would climb the mountain like ants to attack the city.
Teams of soldiers lined up at the foot of the mountain in an orderly manner, but they did not attack.

The giant catapults started to move. With loud noises,

These giant counterweight catapults, developed by Wu Huaiyu, Yan Lide, Yan Liben, and Jiang Xingben, began to launch catapults.
What is thrown is not a stone,

It was a giant poisonous smoke ball specially made by Shen Ji Fang, which looked like a huge grass ball.

After being ignited, it was launched, emitting thick smoke in the air, leaving a long trail, and fell into the outer wall of Baiyan City.
After throwing hundreds of poisonous smoke balls,
The outer wall of Baiyan City has been completely covered by poisonous smoke, like a cloud of fog. Not only can you not see the bottom of the mountain, you can't even see the surroundings.

Moreover, the smoke was extremely choking, making tears stream down my face and even making it difficult to breathe through my throat.

But that’s not all.

Soon the next round of projectiles began, and this time the projectiles were no longer poisonous smoke, but kerosene bombs.

The kerosene bombs that fell from the sky were filled with processed petroleum. They exploded after hitting the ground and the fire spread rapidly.

Smoke and fire,
Although the attack was limited to the outer wall halfway up the mountain,
But the momentum is still amazing.

The city lord Sun Daiyin and his people in the castle on the top of the mountain all looked on with expressionless faces.

No one speaks.

Those officers and powerful people who had previously firmly opposed Sun Daiyin's surrender now kept silent.

The Tang army attacked with smoke and fire for a whole day.
Although the city wall was not broken, the morale of the Baiyan City army fell to the bottom.

night,

Sun Daiyin paced around the city lord's mansion for a long time, sighing and groaning, and finally decided to surrender. He called his confidant and asked him to sneak out of the city to surrender.

The messenger sneaked out of the city and just as he came down the mountain, he was captured by patrolling soldiers.
"I am the personal soldier of Lord Baiyan. Following the Lord's order, I come to ask for surrender to His Majesty the Tang Dynasty."

They were taken to the Emperor's camp.

This man took out a letter of surrender written by Sun Daiyin himself. He said that he surrendered sincerely, but was helpless because some people in the city refused to surrender.

Now he was willing to take the risk of opening the city gate for the Tang army.

Li Shimin looked at Wu Huaiyu, and as expected, he had predicted it right. There was no need to take the initiative to contact the Goguryeo people, nor was there any need to send troops to attack them.
Just set up the frame,

Within three days, Sun Daiyin wanted to surrender, but no one expected that on the first day, Sun Daiyin could not wait to surrender.

However, the fact that Sun Daiyin only asked for surrender made the emperor somewhat suspicious.

"Your Majesty, please give Sun Daiyin a white flag and ask him to plant the white flag after he has arranged his people on the city wall. Then our army can enter the city from here."

Li Shimin then gave the envoy a white flag.

The messenger hesitated for a long time, and then boldly stated another request of Sun Daiyin, hoping that the emperor would give him a handwritten letter, on which would be written in black and white that after the city of Baiyan surrendered, the emperor would protect the safety of the people and soldiers in the city, not kill a single soldier, and not rob money or women.

"Go back and tell Sun Daiyin that I can give him another chance and trust him again. I can also promise that after he surrenders, I will not kill or rob him. Go."

The envoy did not get the emperor's handwritten promise, but he did not dare to say more, so he had to quietly return to the mountain with the white flag given to him.

As soon as Li Ji and the other envoys left, he stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the soldiers have served Liaodong bravely, regardless of their lives. In addition to their loyalty to the country and Your Majesty, they also hope to receive spoils and rewards. Now that Baiyan City is within our grasp, you are now asking for surrender and promising to preserve their lives and property.
I'm afraid it will make the soldiers feel disheartened."

"Besides, Baiyan City is extremely dangerous and close to Liaodong City. If we accept its surrender now and still let the Goguryeo people control it, I'm afraid it will still be a hidden danger."

Li Shimin waved his hand and said, "I have discussed this matter with the Grand Commandant, Duke Wei and others. I promised to reward the soldiers, and I will not reduce the reward by a single cent. No matter how many people and money there are in the city, I will allocate them from the treasury and distribute them to the soldiers in full.

As for Baiyan City, although I accept surrender, I will not hand this city over to the Goguryeo people. I will send troops to defend it. I will not kill or plunder the Goguryeo people in the city. They can move to the countryside outside the city at the foot of the mountain, but they cannot stay in the city. "

Sun Daiyin can be granted an official position and serve in the exiled court under Gao Huanquan, but he will not be allowed to be the lord of Baiyan City.

Not long after,

Xue Rengui came to report,
"Your Majesty, a white flag is raised in the southwest of Baiyan City,"

"Sun Daiyin is very quick in doing things,"

"Your Majesty, be careful of fraud." Li Ji warned.

"It's okay, send a group of people to check it out first."

Xue Rengui volunteered.

Li Shimin thought about it and agreed, so Xue Rengui selected a battalion of soldiers and immediately went up the mountain.

All the way to the city wall, the white flag on the city wall was still flying, and no one attacked or intercepted it.

When they arrived at the city, the gates were immediately opened.

Xue Rengui waved his arm and said, "Enter the city."

all the best,
There were no archers or spearmen lying in wait behind the gates,

Only the city lord Sun Daiyin was there to greet them personally.

After introducing themselves to each other, Xue Rengui immediately arranged for people to take over the defense of the city gate, and then quickly waved a flag down the mountain to send a message.

He himself stood guard at the city gate,

Soon, more Tang troops arrived at the foot of the mountain and quickly took complete control of the city gate.

At this time, the other defenders of Baiyan City realized that the Tang army had entered the city. They heard that it was the city lord who opened the city gate himself. They all knew that the situation was hopeless.

They also raised the white flag and opened the city to surrender.

The attack on Baiyan City actually only took one day, starting with the stone-throwing attack in the morning and entering the city to accept surrender in the evening.

The news spread back down the mountain.

"Your Majesty, Baiyan City has been completely taken."

"Sun Daiyin is leading the city's civil and military officials as well as the local nobles and wealthy families to pay homage to Your Majesty."

Li Shimin poured a cup of milk tea for Wu Huaiyu, then smiled and said to the ministers who were waiting for news in the tent, "It seems that we can sleep well tonight."

(End of this chapter)